Robot Claw – Page 516 – “Life In The So-Called Space Age”

There Will Be No Dawn For Me…

December 7, 2012

…on Sunday!

Tomorrow, we’re going to see the marathon of the extended versions of the three Lord Of The Rings films. You may not have heard, but to celebrate the release of The Hobbit next week, the three original films are back in the cinemas for one-day only.

And I mean ‘marathon’… the extended versions are about an hour longer each that the original versions that were in cinemas years back. The marathon starts at 11 am and goes until 1:30 am.

Yes my friends, 14.5 hours just for 3 movies!

Even though we own them on Blu-Ray, we’ve never actually watched the extended versions, and since we’re both big fans of the trilogy we’re both quite excited!

How many other people will be there? Will they let us bring food in? How many times will I have to go to the toilet? Will I emerge with a ruined coccyx?

Will I be the only one in the cinema who stands up and yells along with Saruman: ‘There shall be no dawn for men!‘

If you don’t hear from me for a while, the above is the reason why 🙂

I Boldly Went

December 4, 2012

Yes, my friends, from an equally mysterious source, I very recently managed to obtain this fine treasure:

OMG part 2! It’s a factory sealed box of Star Trek trading cards all the way from 1992! Look at the sheen of the pristine shrink-wrap! What fabulous treasures must be sealed inside?

Let’s find out:

Oh, alluring black and pink and blue! These packs just scream ‘Open me!‘ don’t they? Interesting how the divide between the TNG and OS packs is horizontal now compared to the series 1 box isn’t it?

Here’s a closer look at two of these little pouches of loot:

And here are the exact cards from the rightmost pack in the above photo:

A ‘Vulcan Lyrette‘?? It’s difficult, in English, to describe just how truly terrible most of the OS series cards in this set are. I loved looking at and reading each one of these marvelous cards! Here’s a shining example:

If we had a merciful God, I would be joking. Alas, I am not 🙂

Oh, but the TNG cards! They are wondrous! Doctor Leah Brahms! The last tragic moment of Tasha Yar’s life! Lwaxana Troi! Doctor Pulaski! Even the wonderful, wonderful Q! Surely a better card set couldn’t possibly exist?

And then there’s this work of art:

Yes my friends, resistance to the charm of these cards is positively futile!

So, my original offer stands. I purchased these not only for myself, but for each of you as well. I just know you want some of these, and my condition is trifling.

Simply, in 100 words or less, complete the following sentence in a comment:

“Excluding the obvious choice of Reginald Barkley, the Star Trek: TNG character I most identify with is _____________ because ____________ “

Serious answers only please! Let’s join the United Federation of Planets together 🙂

Squirrels Of The World, Rejoice!

November 29, 2012

Here’s our new squirrel feeder:

The screw on the left is for a corncob, the and right hand side is a top-loading container designed to hold ‘squirrel food’. The squirrels can get into it by lifting up the hinged lid.

I installed it about a week ago, and it was a few days before any of the furry little buggers showed any interest. Here’s the first guy we saw using it (these photos are a bit blurry since they were taken at range with my phone and zoomed in):

Initially, as you can see, they just sat on the roof and ate the corncob. of course it didn’t take long for the cob to be stripped, at which point they immediately worked out how to get at the delicious mix or corn and sunflower seeds packed into the hopper:

Aren’t they fat!

When I say ‘they’, this could of course always be the same squirrel. But we think there were at least two, based on the ears. Here’s a ground level shot of one of them enjoying his all-you-can-eat banquet:

What a fatty!

Here’s a shot of the same guy, from inside the house:

It only took them a couple of days to empty the hopper. Right after this post, I’m heading out to refill it once again 🙂