2001 Monolith build

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OK,, i failed to get all the text into this photo...

The sun was too bright and i was just shooting the photo by guess.....
I had no idea what the screen of my phone was showing...?
 
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well....that wraps up this part of the 2001 Monolith build....
You already know I love the monolith build but now I just want to say that you may very well have started a nationwide trend of re-using basketball backstops as informational signs. It looks like it was meant to be. And the spot where the hoop used to attach allows for numerous creative additions that project out the front. So many of these across the world go in the dumpster every year.
 
THE TOUR:

The idea to build the Black Monolith from the movie 2001 a Space Odyssey was that I wanted interesting things on the tour I give of my vineyard.
I wanted people to see things that they dont get a chance to see at other places they might visit.

Building the Monolith was a huge job for a very old retired old man like me.
I did not want to spend any money on the project so i tried to make-do with what scraps of wood I had on hand.

Now that the Monolith is built, and set up into its position and is now a big part of the tour I give my guests, i thought I would post a few photos and give the members of this forum the chance to take a type of virtual tour of the same tour my guests receive.

enjoy...

The tour starts at my house,
This photo shows a bit of the garage driveway.
I built the Monolith in my garage due to the bad weather we were enjoying this spring.
Looking out to my backyard you can see the trees that are where my mower stops and God takes over the lawn care.

But there is a path to walk deeper into that woods, yet from here its hard for the guest to see.

I wanted the guest to think that the tour is just about the things they can already see from the driveway.
I want them to be thinking, "Not much of a tour"

Now lets walk..
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We now have arrived at the end of the yard, or so people might have thought.
A path comes into view here that seems to disappear into the trees and undergrowth.

I wanted the guest to start to wonder if perhaps this ' backyard tour" is going to be about more that just looking at the kid's swing-set off to the right?

"Where are we going?"
 
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The path you are walking does curve around a few times as we walk through the trees.
You dont see for sure what lay up ahead.
Then you see the first interesting thing on the tour, its a Ti-Pi.
I have a Ti-Pi that I ordered from the same maker of all the Ti-pi that were seen in the movie "Dances With Wolves".
This is the first stop on the tour, and most people are fascinated by being inside the Ti-Pi and looking at all the wonders that we find there.

But this tour is about the Monolith, and so lets continue walking.
 
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As we leave the Ti-Pi area we glance at what is next?, and this is where we first spot a large dark object about 100 feet away.
 
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We pause here to take in what we see before us.
Most people have no idea what they are looking at?
To them its just a road sign...a rather narrow road sign.

But there are still a few people left alive that from the first glace at the monolith knew right away what it was!

There also are a few people that notice that the Monolith does not seem to be bolted down, but rather it seems to be hovering?

There is a little fence that is set up before us and the Monolith that gives the guest the hint to "Stay on the path"
This was placed where it is to stop everyone from putting hand prints on the sides of the Monolith.
In the movie everyone wants to touch the Monolith, but in real life it just leaves fingerprints on the flat-black paint and ruins the effect for the next guest.
 
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We have now arrived!

The towering height of the Monolith becomes clear to us now.
it looms over the surroundings.
The blackness of the paint.
The lack of anything on the Monolith gets most guests to ask - "Alan, what is it?"

Some people notice the pile of animal bones off to the side.

To answer questions, I just point to the sign that talks about the monolith.
 
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The Sign:

yes its a homemade affair.
Constructed from items pulled from a dumpster, but I love it.
The Sign has a few photos on it that are taken from the movie, and a bit of Text that is also taken from the movie.

It is here that most people will for the very first time in their lives learn about a move from the 1960s that inspired the construction they see before them.
 
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While I wanted to give people some idea about the Black Monolith that they stand next to, i did not want to drop out of "character".
I want the guest to not be sure that this is just a movie prop, or is actually something else?
The photos show the guest that never saw the movie some parts of the movie.
The sign also has some text, but in reading the text the guest does not get much more information about the Monolith.

So the whole design of this informational sign is to promote the mystery of the Monolith.
To inform, and to inspire to do a bit of research and perhaps check out the movie in the future.
 
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