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":
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:
"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
What? Since when was two people showing a polite, vague interest "popular demand"?
Since now. Go and interfere somewhere else. This is my post!
I think you'll find it is our post. After all, whose name is on all those header images further down, hmm?
Oh, hush. Why don't you go and see to that ever widening Cusp interface before someone - or someones - falls in!
Fine. I'll leave you to your little doodles, then!
Right. Now that Witchface has gone, here is the Art vs Artist thingy I mentioned in the last post. It's something I saw on BlueSky so I thought I'd have a go, too.
The majority that I saw are 3x3 square grids with a photo of the artist in the centre square surrounded by eight pieces of their work, so I followed the same pattern (it's all Star Trek stuff as I rarely produce any other kind):
Even though the Big, Tiresome Work Project has come to an end (see last month's Rutherford post for slightly more details), I'm still finding it difficult to return to blogging. This is partly because something else has taken its place: the Allotment Drama! I won't go into all the whys and wherefores now otherwise I'll never finish this post, but I will do at some point soon because at least it'll give me something to blog about. Some of the other reasons are the same as in this post from a year ago except that I don't have any washing on the go and Ms Scarlet hasn't published a new post, although her current one says it's new..... Scratch that. In the time it's taken me to compose this, there is a new post!
Anyway, here are a very select few of some things that have been going on here recently:
Saturday 22 February: Sonic Shower Show Rutherford. Although number four in the series, this is the eighth Rutherford fantasy action figure I've created:
I hadn't realised just how much time had passed since my last foray into the Blogworld. I hope you've all been good - or, at least, not too evil - since I last saw you?
Anyway, one reason/excuse for my absence has been work - I've been dealing with a big, tiresome project which means that once I get home (or log-off when I'm working from home), the last thing I want to do is sit in front of another computer. So, instead I sit in front of the TV watching TaskMaster (thank you, Peenee), or sit at my desk drawing risqué pictures of Rutherford (from Star Trek: Lower Decks) like these two:
'Medical Experiment Victim Rutherford' is my take on the questionable medical cat-& mouse chase in the first episode of season 2, "Strange Energies". [More here]
Well, I did warn you (kind of) in the last post. Although I am a couple of days early...
Timekeeping
We know our Starfleet crews get themselves into all sorts of temporal scrapes, but how do they (and other galactic citizens) tell the time wherever they are? Apart from stardates, the odd PADD/viewscreen display, Sisko's Saltah'na clock, and a couple of "antique" 20th century watches, what do contemporary timepieces look like in the Star Trek time periods? Especially those from worlds other than Earth? After all, not everywhere has a 24 hour day...
Timekeeping was a theme I suggested back in March 2023, and it finally got the votes it needed last month to become this month's Fan Art Challenge.
I can't remember what my original thoughts/ideas for this theme were, so I came up with something new: a poster for the Star Trek: Lower Decks first season episode "Temporal Edict".
I began by looking at time travel film posters. Many of them feature someone or someones in front of a circular background somethingorother - usually a clock face or something similar. One of them in particular caught my eye: The Adam Project. I liked the layout - and Ryan Reynolds! - so decided to use it as the basis for my poster.
[The colour's a bit washed out due to the terrible lighting here (storm outside, and indoor lights are useless), so I might have to try this again on a nicer day.]
Don't mind me - Just popping in with a little Star Trek fan art catch up.
First up is the adorkable Sam Rutherford from Star Trek Lower Decks.
I did this pencil sketch back in September for The Trek BBS's fan art challenge,Alphanumeric Soup:
The Star Trek universe is littered with initialisms and acronyms for devices, technology and organisations: GNDN, UESPA, ODN, EPS, PADD, DS9, DTI, MACO. Take your favourite(s) and use them as inspiration for your piece of art. Alternatively, you could coin your own initialism or take one from the modern day and show us how, in the future, it might become the GOAT.
I chose to depict Rutherford from the second season's first episode "Strange Energies" undergoing treatment for falsely diagnosed Synthetic Memory Degradation (SMD). His friend and science officer Tendi didn't have Rutherford strip down to his undercrackers in the episode (he just had his top off), so I thought I'd correct that egregious error in this piece: SMD with a side order of PADD & LCARS.
Star Trek fan art time! But don't worry - I'll make it quick.
August's Star Trek fan art challenge theme was "Toon Trek":
Take some inspiration from your favorite non-Trek cartoon or comic and draw Trek scenes in the same manner. How about Looney Tunes, Arthur, Calvin and Hobbes, Garfield, etc? Alternately, show us your own unique drawing style.
Initially I was thrilled because I thought it would be a chance to finish the Ulysses 31 / Lower Decks poster I started last year, but real life got in the way so I had to reduce the scope of my plans. I didn't think I was going to have time to do anything, but at the very last minute I came up with this Bluey / LDS mash-up: Bluer Decks
From left to right: Bandit Heeler/Sam Rutherford, Bluey Heeler/Beckett Mariner, Bingo Heeler/Brad Boimler, and Chilli Heeler/D'Vana Tendi.
The final season of Star Trek: Lower Decks is out on Paramount+ 24th October! Yeah, I know I've already featured this teaser trailer before, but you can never have too much Lower Decks!
The brief for July's Star Trek Fan Art Challenge was, well, brief:
Not Good Enough:Art inspired by unpopular episodes
One particular episode came to mind as soon as this theme was suggested: "Precious Cargo" (a kind of screwball comedy). Although it's not my absolute favourite, it is one of my most watched episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise (and not just because the lovely Connor Trinneer is running around in his undercrackers again). However, almost everyone else considers it "a piece of crap" - even the episode writer, David Goodman!
I quickly gathered up some screencaps from TrekCore and put together the rough draft below. The inspiration for this came from the Romancing the Stone movie - specifically the odd couple romance and the crashing around in a jungle (I love that movie!).
Initially, I'd intended the backdrop to be a screencap of the watery jungle that Trip and Kaitaama find themselves in (similar to the RtS poster background), but the characters didn't stand out very well against it so I used a shot of their escape pod descending towards the planet instead. Happily, the top of the escape pod lent itself as a marvellous background for the episode title.
Yes, I know at the end of the previous post I said I may return the following day, but I also said that "normal service may resume" which, as you all know by now, means days if not a week or two between posts. And, if you hadn't already gathered, this post includes the previously mentioned space shuttles and golden towers - I'll do the Bitey walk and Norwich skyline photos another time.
So, why are there space shuttles and golden towers on the beach, I hear you clamouring - or at least tutting indifferently about? Well, it was all for June's Star Trek art challenge which had a "World(s of Star Trek) Buildings" theme. I had intended to construct a little cardboard castle or palace to represent Lwaxana Troi's family home, but despite collecting various cereal boxes for the raw material, time escaped me (again). So, in a last minute panic, I rushed down to the beach last Thursday evening with a carrier bag full of coffee jar lids and a small model shuttle. The photo above and those at the end of this post are the result.
I also took some non-Star Trek photos for those of you who couldn't give two figs about such things (i.e. most of you) - and these are them:
That's either the sun setting or everyone in Cromer forgot they left the gas on as they lit a fag.
Well, today is that day! So, be sure to thank TVM after you've hastily scrolled through this post to see if there's anything of interest other than the muscular merman at the end enjoyed the last two months worth of my Star Trek fan art!
Right. We'd better get on with it. Here's last month's Star Trek Fan Art Challenge:
April: Inspired by Laura
"As some of you might know, @Laura Cynthia Chambers has been doing her own, very unique starship designs in Microsoft Paint for a while. Some are simple and almost crude, while others can be super complex, especially if they were realized in three dimensions. For this theme choose one of her designs and make it your own. Recreate it in 3D, draw full orthos from all views, build it as an actual physical model, make a detailed pencil drawing of it à la @Atolm, let yourself be inspired … the possibilities are endless. And please make sure to post a link to the starship design you picked."
By 19th April I'd already picked three of Laura's starship designs (Starships 52, 57 & 58), but found another one that piqued my interest (31) and started sketching:
At the top is #57 - I envisage this "stuck with plungers" ship with a spherical hull bristling with sensor antennae.
The three middle sketches are of #58. To me, Laura's design looked rather Oberth-like, but she mentioned that this is a top-down view. So, rather than having a secondary hull/sensor pod overshadowing the saucer, I made it part of the primary hull (as in the USS Kobayashi Maru) with the central ridged part a 'greenhouse' dome (as this could be a botanical crusier).
At the bottom middle-right is a head-on sketch of # 52 - I imagine this is the side view, with the grey ovals on the left being the front of the ship, and the six vertical bars are large, exposed warp coils (or small, in-line warp rings like the Vulcans use).
And bottom left is #31 - what I interpret as its undercarriage. My sketch next to it is how I imagine a side view to look.
[Ignore the fishy Excelsior on the right - that's an idea for MerMay]
On Friday the 10th of May this year the Aurora Borealis was particularly spectacular over Great Britain (and other parts of the world) and no end of people witnessed its awesome show and captured photographic images for posterity. I was not one of those people because I had no idea such an event was taking place until the next morning when it was too late. Fortunately, it was scheduled* to put on an encore performance that night as well, although it wasn't expected to be quite so spectacular. This performance suited me because I was to be at my sister's down the road for an evening of cards and gin with a couple of friends and my other sister, so by the time we finished, I could just step outside and see it all going on in the sky above. Hooray!
Except I didn't see it because the performance was cancelled! Although I didn't find that out until we'd already staggered wandered down to the cliff top and stood around taking photos of the sky just in case we were too drunk (and in my case, too colourblind as well) to see it. Apparently the cancellation was something to do with a curtain malfunction or blown light bulb or something according to the conductor of the Nightship (which appeared rather
disconcertingly - and in a cloud of noxious fumes from its malfunctioning catlitter
converter - right next to where I'd set up Camera & Tripod. If I hadn't had that last G&T I'm sure I would have noticed the stop). Bah!
Anyway, despite that disappointment, I managed to get something out of the experience: some fuzzy photos of a few of the brighter stars:
The night air was a bit hazy, so these photos are not as clear as my previous efforts.
This is made all the more obvious by comparing poor Capella and Polaris - the brightest stars of their respective constellations, Auriga and Ursa Minor - with how they looked just over three years ago on a clear, cold April night.
Calling all Lower deckers! On April 12th Paramount+ announced the upcoming 5th season of Star Trek: Lower Decks will be its last. The cast, crew and fans have all expressed a strong desire to go beyond this season.
As Mike Okuda, a graphic designer best known for his work on Star Trek, posted to social media:
One of the ways that the success of a streaming show is measured is by the number of minutes that each episode is streamed. If a lot of fans replayed each episode a lot, it is conceivable that that could make a blip in the ratings.
Have you ever wondered how all those starships and spacecraft in the Star Trek Universe are made? Well, wonder no longer as I have discovered evidence that is sure to surprise you. The starships are not painstakingly fabricated on a planet or in orbit, but rather their parts are sustainably harvested from the giant machine lifeforms that grow in the Lightspeed Lagoon Nebula as the following illustration shows:
This botanical illustration must have found its way back in time somehow for me to have discovered it 250 years before it was created.
Mwah hah hah hah haaaaaa!!! It's my birthday and I can do whatever I like! Including publishing this self-indulgent Star Trek fan art post! Which I did warn you about in the last post. Well, I mentioned it, anyway...
Yes, when I'm not blogging-
So, most of the time, then.
You can talk! This is supposed to be YOUR blog. I'm only here to provide the necessary fingers & thumbs for all the typing and HTML jiggery-pokery.
Hmmph!
Anyway, when I'm not blogging in Witchface's stead, I can be found messing about with Star Trek related stuff, such as these monthly themed fan art challenges from the only other social media-type site I visit: Trek BBS.
The following are my efforts since August last year, so strap in!
August: Movies
"Get your drinks in and prepare your popcorn because we're headed to the cinema!
Which Star Trek movie era will inspire you: TOS, TNG, JJ? Or perhaps you'd like to imagine a movie for a series that never made it to the silver screen. And how about those new streaming movies on the horizon, can you predict what we might see in the Section 31 movie or what could follow after it?"
I'd intended to create another movie poster - Star Trek IV-B - like I did for February's challenge. Unfortunately, useable free time for such things was in short supply back then, so that plan was scuppered and all I managed were some sketches and a bit of MSPaint art of the Whale Probe from ST IV: The Voyage Home.
As you may have noticed, we haven't been around much this year. Certainly not as much as I'd've liked, and not even as much as in last year's Lazy Baggagery! So that means that our grasp on the year's happenings and your reportings thereof is weak at best. Sorry.
However, there was certainly enough memorable stuff (and things I'd thought to make a note of when they happened) to create this end-of-year extravaganza!
Extravaganza? That's pushing it, don't you think?
Nah. A sprinkle of glitter (thanks to Jon) will cover the cracks and gaping holes in this rather haphazard (as always) round up and turn it into the Event of the season!
If you say so... Shall we get on with it, then?
Yes. Oh, hang on! I've got to add a bit at the end about the return of the "Did I Win Yet?" Award/Quiz/Competition/Event/Festival thingy!
Well, you'd better hurry because I'm launching this thing now. Be ready with your Champagne flutes all you glamorous Blogorati!
Oops! Wrong signage. Try this one:
Strap in. Here we go!
January
Quote : "My smut well has almost dried up." ~ What a way to start the year: The Very Mistress answering a question nobody asked.
Event : The 6th January was National Cuddle Up Day, apparently. Although I'd want to cuddle up to those freckles EVERY day! Adorable.
Thank you for bringing this auspicious occasion to our attention, Mr Tonking.
Art : Nouveau, of course. I love the fantastical, soft intricacy of Art Nouveau, and don't indulge myself in it as often as I should. Fortunately, Maddie popped up with a themed Mood Board this month which hit the spot.
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.
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