"Surprise!"

 In the absence of anything with any substance - an impromptu adventure over the Cusp, for example - may I present another excerpt from 2017's Ms Scarlet in the Pantry with the Can-Opener, the unofficial and unauthorised biography of our very own Ms Scarlet!

 

 

 Today we'll be looking at chapter 4, "A Day Without Rain":

 

Four Photos: How am I supposed to read it now?!

Ooh, what's this?

 

 

Why, the business end of one of these, of course!

 

 

Wait a minute... I don't remember ordering a craply shredded tarot magazine.

 

 

Ah, that's better.  Beneath that packaging was this:

a little model Starship Cerritos (and accompanying booklet)

Hibernation-Mode Entertainment

 In my less than triumphant return to blogging last Saturday (after three weeks off), I mentioned that I'd been in hibernation mode, i.e. eating lots of chocolate while slumped in front of the telly.  However, I also slouched before YouTube and lolled about in bed reading. 

 And here are some of the things I watched, read and listened to:

 

Played

"Immortal Love" - MIKA

 Over and over and over again. Thank you, Jon!

"The Moon's A Window To Heaven" (Album Version) - Hiroshima

Because I rewatched Star Trek V: The Final Frontier after several years - It wasn't as bad as I thought (or as some on the internet would have you believe).  It's not a patch on III and IV, but easily bests VI.

 

"I Had This Thing" - Röyksopp

 I have been listening to a lot of Röyksopp in Car II on my way to work.

"Cold Sweat, Hot Boys!" - Bright Light Bright Light & Ana Matronic

 I found this one just now!

Can It Be?

 

Well, this is now the second day of sunshine with another due tomorrow, so maybe?

 

Thoughts for the Day

 Spotted in the same charity shop as last month's Invisible Dick.  What do you think?  Pornography or art?  (Not Chester Brown's take on Mary's foot fetish...)

Thoughts for the Day

  Ms Scarlet is doing an astonishing job of publishing daily blog posts while Jon's on holiday - really astonishing, considering.  However, for anyone looking for familiar Give 'em the old Razzle Dazzle style content, may I present this homage to Thoughts for the Day (as found under Jon's Gay Gossip label):

[Spotted in a charity shop window this morning while on my way to work.

I deliberately didn't crop out the tat in the background in case Mitzi or someone else wanted a look/laugh]

"I'm never gonna let you see that part again"*

 Just popping in to drop off these few bits & bobs - Hopefully you'll find something you like amongst them.

 And think yourself lucky as this was almost a Star Trek fan art post!

ReReading

⸰ Record of a Spaceborn Few, by Becky Chambers ~ This must be the third of fourth re-read of this lovely story from the Wayfarer's series.

 

 

Watched

⸰ What We Do In The Shadows (S4) ~ The BBC has finally picked up season four, so of course I watched what my favourite vampire housemates had been getting up to as quickly as I could.  Now I can't wait for season 5!

 

Rewatched 

⸰ Ghosts (Series 1-2 so far) ~ Because of course I'm re-watching it.  Again.

⸰ The Sound of Music ~ The Winterval holiday season just isn't complete without either Mary Poppins or The Sound of Music.
⸰ 9 to 5 ~ I didn't remember the corpse stealing, but then it has been an absolute age since I last watched this fabulous film starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton.

⸰ Ghostbusters 1 & 2 ~ More Winterval telly favourites.

⸰ Here's the Howard Huntsberry version from the clip above before we segue into the original.

 

 

Heard

⸰ The original Jackie Wilson version of "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher" (which is also heard in Ghostbusters II) that was playing at the pool while I had my morning swim on Tuesday.

⸰ The marvellous, wonderful, and really rather sexy Bright Light Bright Light's brand new release "You Want My..."

It sounds a little earlyish Pet Shop Boys to me, which is no bad thing. 

 

* Post title from this song

 

⸰ Inspired by either Mr Tonking or Mistress Maddie (although I'm pretty sure it was at Mr Tonking's that The Blue Nile was mentioned.  Maybe?), I thought we'd finish with Annie Lennox's sublime cover of "Downtown Lights":

"She doesn't want to see Fanny on camera"

 Just popping in to drop off a few things before returning at the weekend to wrap up the year and stuff it in the Sideboard along with all the previous years.

 

 First up from the 21st, I had a wander down to the promenade where the North Sea waved to me rather enthusiastically:

 

"... or shall I just whip out the Cock Soc?"

 It's almost the end of the year, so here are most of the things I've read, watched and listened to since my last updates back in July and August.  Unfortunately, I don't have much time to spend on this as I need all the time I can get to work on the end-of-year roundup - which I've barely begun - Eeeek! (The observant amongst you will notice that I copied this intro from last year's end-of-year update because it's still relevant.)

Hmmm... Is anyone else having deja vu?

 

Read

⸰ GHOSTS: The Button House Archives by Mat Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard, and Ben Willbond  ~  This utterly hilarious accompaniment to the TV series is the only new book I've read since the summer.  Written as it is by the creators/actors of the Ghosts TV series, The Button House Archives is absolutely true to form and packed with letters, articles, historical documents, and transcripts (by Alison, the "Living" who can see and hear the ghosts) which expand upon the lives (and deaths) of the ghosts.

 Here, Martha Howe-Douglas who plays Lady Fanny Button, reads an excerpt in character:

Re-read

⸰ The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers  ~  Just as delightful and warm and emotional and tense as on the first read.

⸰ The Galaxy and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers  ~  Because I couldn't stop at just one of Becky Chambers' Wayfarers novels.

 

 

Watched

 

⸰ No Activity  ~  I found this Australian police comedy on iPlayer after having watched Colin From Accounts earlier in the year.  Amongst others, it stars Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammell who created and starred in Colin From Accounts, so that was the main reason for watching it.  And also because Patrick Brammell is a fox!

⸰ Ghosts, series 5  ~  Perhaps not quite as funny as previous series', this final series makes up for that with more emotional and serious themes.  Plus, we finally learned how both Kitty and The Captain met their ends (The Captain's nearly broke my heart).  And the Christmas Special is yet to come!

* The post title comes from The Captain wondering "Are we still playing Food Club, ..."

(Cock Soc is short for the N.A.A.F.I. Home Forces canteen Cocktail Society)

[In lieu of the Christmas Special, here's March's Comic Relief sketch featuring Kylie]

The Sunday Blogger Club and other stories

 As I seem incapable of putting together any of the blog posts that have been lurking at the back of our mind recently, here is a quick update on some of the books and doujinshi manga we've read recently instead.  

 

 I stopped reading Smoke and Mirrors as it was too miserable and grim.  To help the Host get over it, while I was waiting in the Cusp departure lounge for my portal home, I picked up a copy of The Sunday Blogger Club.  But only because it came with a free blogging rota.

 You see, I've been on a "business trip" Over the Cusp;  The Very Mistress took to her fainting chaise in 1973 and has barely been seen since;  Jon is on holiday and jetting off to Amsterdam or somesuch;  Maddie seems to have only just got back and she's off again;  Mago managed a Sunday Music on Saturday - No, not the following one, Saturday before - which has thrown us all for a loop;  And Ms Scarlet emigrated from Wordpress to Blogger and now needs a prompt to get her going!

 Yes, I think that rota will come in very handy.

 

 Anyway.  Back to the reading material:

 A Fine Life - The story of a nascent witch whose unwanted commitments and obligations are arranged away by an unseen imp.  Although the witch is vaguely aware of the imp and its interventions, they do not know the full extent of the imp's arrangements and the subsequent consequences wreaked upon their friends and family.  Although, they are beginning to suspect.

 

 The Furtherest Ones - A collection of tales of unobtainable love and inappropriate lust in a beautiful but terrible land beyond the reach of mere mortals.  One such tale is about a sea spirit who yearns to touch the sun, even knowing that should it be possible, they'll evaporate.  They are teased by the Moon, and are drawn to him as a tide, but the Moon always releases them before they can overcome their world's gravity and join the Sun and the Moon as they dance together in the sky.

 Spindle: Wind the Thread Around Xem - A book about how to structure and write novels of the classic Karskat genre.  It's a bit awkward - translated as it is from ancient Andorii.

 Star Trek Costumes: Five Decades of Fashion from the Final Frontier, by Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann

 This is my first Trek book purchase for a LONG time.  And I only got it because it was a fiver instead of £35!

 I've only had time to flick through it so far, and seems not as comprehensive or detailed as I'd like, but it does have some wonderful concept art and gorgeous photographs.  My favourite Trek film, STIII: The Search For Spock appears to be well served with a good covering of the civilian clothing and Vulcan garments. 

 Definitely worth £5.

 T.S.D. Master of Poison Radio Wave and other selected manga of Dokudenpa Jushintei, by Kobucha Omaso. 

 Some of these tales of young men coming to terms with their sexuality and dealing with first love/lust are very dear and quite charming.  They're illustrated with adorable looking young men sporting perfect bodies and seemingly endless reserves of energy - which ends up being used for a LOT of gleefully drawn, enthusiastic sex!  But that's only a part of it - it's the emotional stuff that's most important, of course.

 Only a few are translated into English, and even that's rather hit-and-miss, but it's quite fun to imagine what's going on and what the characters are saying.  (I've run a few through Google Translate images and that's even more hit-and-miss, but I get the gist)

 Oh, and there are some that are definitely not my cup of tea, such as the ones with chibi or too young looking characters, and the ones with tentacles (I just don't get it).

 

Danger: RUDE!  For the gentlemen who prefer to travel up the chocolate escalator or are a receiver of swollen goods*, and anyone else who may be curious, click here for T.S.D. vol.1.  And once you're there, I'd recommend right-clicking any link to open in a new window - even if only clicking to the next page - to prevent unwanted video sex websites opening.  I use Firefox which blocks most pop-ups, but doesn't seem to catch them all on the linked to BaraMangaOnline site.

* Thank you, Derek:

"Grandad is a Poo Face"

Well, yes, quite frankly, he is.

 This, like last week's publication, is just another mish-mash post because I don't have anything specific to relay.  My niece, Lionel (not her real name) scrawled the always amusing epithet above on our garage wall some months ago, yet it is only now that I have got around to taking a photo of it to share here.  I'd actually only gone outside in the rain to take a photo of 'Eva Boerg' swinging away under a bird box, when I realised I could kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

. . .

 

 Now, a little music from our favourite Pop Princess, Kylie.  Apparently, this track - "Running" - didn't make the cut for her upcoming album, Tension, but it is still utterly fabulous!

. . .

 

 I finished The Bullet That Missed (see last post) and definitely have a crush on Bogdan.  The last page of chapter 84 cinched the deal - I just wanted to give him a big hug.  And then he'd reciprocate with those big, muscular, tattooed arms.  Ahhhhh...

 

 Anyway, enough about Bogdan (even though I don't think there can ever be too much Bogdan).  I have started a re-read of Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman (last re-reads here in 2013 and here in 2008).

 I've wanted to read this collection of short stories again for quite a few years, but had been thwarted by not having the book.  You see, I'd lent it to my sister, Indescribable (Lionel's mum), a long, long time ago, but every time I'd asked for it back she claimed to have already returned it because it definitely wasn't in her house anywhere.  Definitely.

 Except until it was (she found it behind some other books in her unruly bookcase a couple of months ago and sheepishly gave it back to me). 

. . .

 

 Star Trek!  I am EXTREMELY excited for the forthcoming episode of Strange New Worlds because it's a crossover with my favourite Trek show, the animated Lower Decks, and features a live action Boimler (in the clip below) and Mariner (both played by their respective voice actors, Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome).

 Unfortunately, I won't be watching it when it airs on Thursday because I don't have Paramount+, so I'll have to make do with clips and screencaps until it comes out on BluRay (or I can get a free trial of P+ or something).  Bah!

. . .

 

 Finally, last month I found this scrawled piece of advice in a field of oil seed rape while walking Bitey:

 

 I'm not going to pay it any heed as I like thinking, and don't like doing!

"Admiral! There be whales here!"

 Just popping in to drop off some things I've found:

 

 The lovely Lee Pace in Foundation season 2: "The Fight" (although, he's doing things that are slightly less lovely than those done by Ned the Pieman in Pushing Daisies which is where he first came to my attention) found at Tor.com here.

(I don't watch Foundation - don't have Apple TV - and haven't read the books, but Lee Pace!!!)

 

 

The Bullet That Missed, by Richard Osman.

 

 Well, I didn't find this - my sister, Indescribable, lent it to me (just as she did the first two).  I'm enjoying it just as much as the others, and I'm rather looking forward to the fourth in the series - The Last Devil To Die - later this year.

 

 Also, I think I have a crush on Bogdan...

 

 (Don't mind my Ctenanthe amabilis - it was rather put out that I haven't featured it on the blog yet, so I let it loll around in the background for this shot)

 

 

 . . . 

 

 Let's have some music, shall we?

 

 Röyksopp - 'The Next Day' ft. Jamie Irrepressible (Mind Against Remix)

 

 

 . . .

 

Oh!  Remember to take some photos of fields & grass for Melanie's Nature Led July photo challenge.

 

Skylark field (off Madam's Lane) from this morning's Bitey walk

 

 

 . . . 

 I'll leave you with this exhilarating clip from Fantasia 2000: Humpback whales flying to Pines of Rome, by Ottorino Respighi.

(Now I want to watch Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home!)

[From which this post's title was taken)]

"Summer Hath Aroused" thoughts of the Infomaniac Garden Photos Event

 Oof!  Nearly fell back into the all consuming "All".  Fortunately, the most recent questing tentacle from All turned out to be little more than a tendril, and is now* eating a cheese & coleslaw sandwich (made by me!) while safely ensconced in the recliner downstairs nursing a gashed shin. 

 So, as Summer has finally** reached the north-eastiest bit of East Anglia (which means it's too hot to be outside doing anything) I find myself with some unexpected free time - enough to whip up a reminder for:

the House of

I N F O M A N I A C

Garden Photos Event 2023

 

* About 11:30ish at the time of writing.

** Summer landed in most of Blighty last week.  Apparently, temperatures in the mid-to-high 20s abounded, but not here.  The cold North Wind (from the North Sea, funnily enough) kept the clouds in place and the temperatures at least 10 degrees cooler than practically everywhere else.

Until today.  It might get as warm as 20°C!

 Ooh, before I forget, in book news, I have finished The Thursday Murder Club, and have started the second book in the series by Richard Osman: The Man Who Died Twice.  While reading a few more pages last night, I found myself thinking that Elizabeth and Joyce are very much like Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg respectively, from Sir Pterry Pratchett's Discworld.  This is obviously a good thing.

 Now, back to the GPE reminder and some photographs of subjects you have (mostly) seen before a thousand times:

 

Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascenais) flower bud

 As you should all be aware by now, the annual Infomaniac Garden Photos Event is held here, rather than at The Very Mistress's hallowed cesspit knitting blog, The Infomaniac.  (For the forgetful, easily confused, and any newcomers, further information can be found by clicking on the Garden Photos Event page at the top of this blog).

 

 This year, just as in years past, the Event will be held in November, so please set to with your cameras and photograph the luxurient growth of your garden, courtyard, terrace, conservatory, windowbox, house plant (delete as applicable) so you have something to send in nearer the time.

 If you don't have a garden or pot plant but would like to take part, just take a photo/s of a favourite plant (or twelve) from a local park or wild area that you frequent (and I do mean frequent - somewhere you visit reasonably regularly to enjoy the greenery) and send them in, but please make sure you let me know where the photos were taken.

 

 I will publish further haranguing nagging reminders throughout the Summer and Autumn, as well as instructions and deadlines etc. (which are usually along the lines of: email me your photos and captions by the end of October - email address, if you don't already have it, is in my blog profile on right).

 

 As you may recall from April's GPE primer, this year's sub-theme is:

Honeybee swarm inspecting my compost heap

Flora and Fauna

 So, if you can take a photo or two of non-human, non-domesticated animal visitors - birds, butterflies, bees, bugs, and/or bears - to your unkempt undergrowth or manicured green patch, please do.  They can be sent in along with your main chlorophyll-based lifeform photos.

Breaking the Circle

 Enough moping around and using "all" (see previous post for barely any explanation whatsoever) as an excuse for not blogging.  I am determined to, if not make a grand return, then at least dip our toes back in and go from there.  I must admit, we have almost returned several times, but something always cropped up that was an easy target to use as an excuse for not returning.  And if we leave it much longer, everything that we've missed will become too overwhelming, and we'll never come back.

 

 Anyway, yesterday evening while having tea (the late afternoon meal, not the hot drink) I took to my bookmarks and selected a blog I hadn't looked at in ages: Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs, "a blog about the science, art, and pop culture of Mesozoic life" that I find to be witty and educational, plus it contains dinosaurs!  After reading a couple of the recent posts, I slowly scrolled down to see if something would catch my eye, and something did.  I recognised a photo of a family of Triceratops ambling past Dippy's Pizza & Fries and clicked the 'continue reading' thingy.  

Nieces about to be gobbled up like Children McNuggets

 My suspicion was confirmed: The photo was taken at ROARR! the dinosaur park right here in Norfolk that I ended up at for my nephew's birthday back in August 2019, so I read - and very much enjoyed - the article.  So much so, in fact, that I was moved to leave a comment.  And it was then that I remembered I had featured some photos of the park right here on this very blog that I could link to!  So, I found the requisite post - and very quickly became subsumed in our back catalogue of adventures Over the Cusp...

"Julian fingering Fanny's lip"*

1983 Bantam Books cover

by Yvonne Gilbert

 It's almost the end of the year, so here are most of the things I've read, watched and listened to since my last update back in September.  Unfortunately, I don't have much time to spend on this as I need all the time I can get to work on the end-of-year roundup - which I've barely begun - Eeeek! (The observant amongst you will notice that I copied this intro from last year's end-of-year update because it's still relevant.)

 

Read

Oh, gods, it's been a year and I'm still struggling through Little, Big by John Crowley.  And I haven't even re-read anything either!  We'd better quickly move on to the next category...

Watched

⸰ The Vast of Night (Prime Video) - I could not make out what the male lead was saying for much of this alien abduction film.  His accent and specific 50s dialogue combined to become almost impenetrable to me.

⸰ Star Trek: Lower Decks, S3 eps 7-10 (Prime Video) - Amazing! The finale was so exhilarating, but rather than post a video of that and ruin it for anyone who may want to watch it without spoilers, here is a clip from an earlier episode.

 

"Thanks again for the mimosas."

"Go Up Against Fanny Unprepared and She'll Eat You Alive!"*

 This is not the continuation of When Worlds Collide and a Pair of Striped Tights - I might pop that up at the weekend.  At some point.  Maybe?

 No, this is the third quarter's worth of stuff I've read, watched and listened to.

 Strap in!

Read

∘  Some more of Little, Big, by John Crowley - No, I still haven't finished it.  I'm convinced pages, nay, entire chapters get added when I'm not looking!

∘  A Prayer for the Crown-Shy (A Monk and Robot Book, vol. 2), by Becky Chambers - Just lovely and warm and thoughtful and wonderful.  A tonic for these trying times.

∘  The Guncle, by Steven Rowley - as recommended by The Very Mistress.

It did cheer me up, and it has replaced Bridget Jones' Diary

Re-Read

∘  Beyond Uhura, Nichelle Nichols - The great lady's 1994 biography (more from her later).

Watched

∘  Ghosts, S4 (BBC iPlayer) - Best thing on TV (even better than Star Trek)!  This clever, funny, heartwarming - and also quite sad in some places - sitcom about a young couple sharing a house with a load of bickering, but mostly well-meaning ghosts, has cemented itself in my heart since I discovered it at the start of this year.

"Oh, no! Fanny's exposed!"*

 Well, that's the second quarter of the year almost done and dusted - where is it going in such a hurry??  So, as is now traditional, here's what I've been reading and watching since the last update:

Read

∘  The rest of Typeset in the Future, by Dave Addey  (from Star Trek: The Motion Picture onwards - last seen here, and presented on the right by my little Box Fox, Rutherford, from Star Trek: Lower Decks)

∘  And I'm still reading Little, Big, by John Crowley (I'm just over halfway through, now.  I bought it on Kindle and thought it must be thousands of pages long as it's taking so long to get through, but I've just checked and it's 'only' 564 pages...) 

Watched

∘  Call Me By Your Name (Netflix)  - This reminded me of parts of my own teenage years.  Not that I was a cool, self-assured teen (far from it, in fact) who had a dalliance with an older man in Italy, unfortunately.  The fly on Timothée Chalamet's shirt right at the end stole the show, though.

∘  Cobalt Blue (Netflix) - My gods the artist lodger (played by Prateik Babbar) is handsome!

∘  Star Trek: Picard (Amazon Prime) - S2, eps 5-7 then I gave up on this incoherant mess, leaving eps 8-10 unwatched.  I should have known after the crushing disappointment of season one.

∘  A Monster Calls (BBC iPlayer) - Enchanting and sad.

Reasons Why...

 I've been half-heartedly trying to work out what's keeping us from updating this blog more regularly.  I mean, in the last four months, We've managed a paltry 12 posts - three per month, and they've been a struggle - whereas by this time last year We'd put up 29!  I know it should be quality over quantity, but I can't even claim that what We have published is anything to write home about - with the possible exception of the new and improved Freakin' Green Elf Shorts Travel Map, of course.

 Are We not blogging because the weather has been so nice?  Not really.  We've barely been down to the beach so far this year, and only partaken in a few perambulations inland.  Although, I have been spending rather a lot of time up the allotment... 

Apple blossom at the Device Allotment

(two eaters and a cooker)

For Dinah, my young Bramley with a close-up of its delightfully fragrant blossom

.  .  .

 Have We been dreaming too much?  Hardly.  I don't know about only living twice - We're scarcely living once - but it is an excuse to listen to Natacha Atlas singing the David Arnold produced "You Only Live Twice":

.  .  .

"These people came here for a glimpse of Fanny"*

 And Fanny they shall get!  (She's just there on the right, see?)

 Anyway, the first three months of 2022 are just about over and what have I got to show for myselves?  Practically nothing!

 So, just like last year's quarterly catch-ups, here's the first quarter's list of some of the things that have kept me entertained/distracted/sane(ish):

Read:

DS9: Revenant, by Alex White  ∘  No Shame, by Tom Allen  ∘  Typeset in the Future, by Dave Addey (Well, partly read - I've read about 2001: A Space Odyssey and Alien, and I'm about to start Star Trek: The Motion Picture)

Death by Chocolate/Asphyxiation/Explosion*

* Delete as applicable

 Just a quick post so that I don't forget how.  As I've STILL got nothing of substance to blog about, I thought I'd present my birthday haul:

 Let's start with the most exciting gift: the Lego International Space Station!  My sister Indescribable and her family got me that (you'll note that the space shuttle has already been built - my nephew, Count Podgkinson (4) "helped" me with it). 

 My niece, The Little Witch (8), made me the pretsles prestons out of pipe cleaners (she was closer the first time, but insists that they're called Prestons), and the other niece, Vom Smallhausen (5) coloured in the My Little Pony on the lower right.  I'm not sure why they thought I'd like a MLP card (nevermind two of them), but at least the more professional looking one has got rainbow hair and a Star Trek cutie-mark.

 Other than the two Co-op bars, all the chocolate has been devoured.  Well, except for the last three truffles and that Ferrero Rocher (the boxes are empty - the unseen FR box is propping up the Lego set).

 With some of the money that The Parents gave me, I bought Typeset in the Future - because I love Dave Addey's website;  Jupiter Ascending - because I love the ridiculously bonkers premise and the amazing worldbuilding - and Channing Tatum isn't bad, either;  and As I Try Not To Fall Apart by White Lies - because I can't help but love the 80s-esque songs that my favourite glum, beardy, miseryguts and his band belt out.  In fact, here comes one now: