Terror on the Norfolk Broads!

 Oof!  Here we are!

 

 So, what have we been up to since last our paths crossed?  Well, we'll show and tell you.  Mostly show because The Host can't be bothered with a lot of typing...

 

 The day after our previous post, it was The Mother's 80th birthday and a couple of days later (on the Bank Holiday Monday) we had an all-day boat trip on the Norfolk Broads to celebrate.  We were all there: both my sisters - Inexcuseable and Indescribable - and their families (and Indescribable's dog), The Father, but not The Mother.  She decided she'd much rather stay at home with Bitey and have some peace and quiet.  I don't blame her - I wish I could have done, too.

 Anyway, here are some photos:

 

Amongst other things, the Broads are famous for their windmills.  This one's having a bit of work done.

 

We startled a cormorant!

Your Number's Up

 I keep looking at the shelf of mostly alphabetically ordered (by artist) CD singles I've accumulated over the years (above*) and thinking that I should play some of them, or at least save them onto a memory stick/card/whatever, but I just can't be bothered.  Besides, I can barely make out the artist/song on the spine of most of the brittle plastic cases and it's quite difficult to wheedle them out as they're packed in quite tightly**, so I might end up pulling out a single that I have no interest in any more (because I'm sure my tastes have changed over the years).

 I thought about randomly selecting a few to listen to, but knew the selection wouldn't be random as if I didn't like one I'd just pick another instead, so that's where you and your number picking came in. 

 

* Before you start counting and/or clicking to embiggen, the photo above doesn't show all my CD singles.  Goldfrapp's and Erasure's are with their respective albums on the shelves above, and there are two or three others languishing on other shelves that I can't squeeze back in this one (but they have been counted).

** Remember this.  It will be important once you've listened to/read the final pick. 

 

Anyway, here the results of your efforts: 

 

#73 Ms Scarlet : Pepe Deluxé - "Before You Leave"

"Before You Leave" - by Finnish band Pepe Deluxé - was released in 2001 and got to number 20 in the UK charts (but #10 in its native Finland).  I still really like this track but haven't listened to it, never mind heard it, in years.  I don't have any more singles or albums by Pepe Deluxé (who last released an album in 2024), so they're a one-hit wonder for me.

Sweet July

 Well, a new normal has established itself here in Hexenhäusli Device so I thought I'd pop in during a moment of respite and share some new and old music, some snippets from the garden, and a photo from this morning's Bitey walk:

 

I wonder why Take That decided to release "Sweet July" now...?

 

As there's no video for Sweet July yet, here's one of my very favourite TT releases

(first seen at Jon's back in April)

 

 

The YouTube algorithm prominently displayed Richard X's Burning Flame remix of Bananarama's "Venus" for me the other day.

 

I prefer Bananarama's original, though

(which wasn't the original - that being a 1969 release by Shocking Blue)

 

 

 Right.  On to the garden photos.

Wot I Did On My Birthday, by IDV (aged 44 & fourteen halfs*)

 Well, yes, I did go for a walk as the photos above attest, but the evening before, I actually went out.  With actual people (four friends).  To a bar (for cocktails)!  Yes, I know.

 

 Anyway, we went to Shoreline in Cromer because I didn't fancy spending all night standing in a noisy, packed pub getting hot and bothered (and not in a good way) and not hearing what anyone was saying.  I had three cocktails - a Cromer colada (basically a piña colada with apricot rum or schnapps or something), a Garden sour (a Spring special made with rhubarb gin, lemon juice and syrup), and an Ameretto sour - and didn't have to open my purse once because my lovely, generous friends bought them!

 Shoreline doesn't seem to have a website but they are on IG and FB (I'm not linking to them as I don't approve of the whole Meta thing, but if you're curious you can find them under shorelinecromer).

 

I neglected to take photos of the place or the cocktails, so I nabbed these from the web.  It was not raining or wet when we went.

  Right.  That's Saturday night out of the way.  Here are the rest of the photos from Sunday morning's birthday walk with Bitey. 

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!

"All the pretty girls and all the pretty boys are...

... Freaks"

 

 - Haute & Freddy

 

 

"Tectonic Plates" - Dubstar

 

 

"Thrill Of The Night" - Sébastien Tellier (feat. Slayyyter & Nile Rodgers)

 (Bits of this one remind me of Alcazar's "Tears of a Clone".  Kind of.)

 

 

"Mystical Magical" - Benson Boone

 (You can thank Mitzi for this one)

 

 

"Deeper Shade of Blue" (Steps 25 Revisited Mix) - Steps

 Yes, I'm still listening to this - and watching the video (Ahhh, Lee... 😍) 

 

 

"Love U More" - Sunscreem

 

 

 This has been a Tunes on Tuesday production.

  

 Oh, just in case anyone is expecting an end-of-year-round-up at the end of the year (Savvy's birthday allowing, of course), don't get your hopes up as I have been even more slack than last year (you'll hardly be surprised to hear).

 I think I heard some sighs of relief?

 Hmmm...

 

 

 P.S. Remember that the Freakin' Green Elf Shorts Caption Competition is now on at Rimpy's, so get yourselves over there and leave a caption to be in with a chance of winning the FGES.  You know you want to! 

GPE 2025 : Terrifying Triffidery

 

 Ah, here you all are - Welcome to the 6th annual Terrifying Triffidery extravaganza!

 

 Gathered here for your bewilderment and horror are some of the finest specimens of triffidery from across the globe.  And possibly from other globes, too.

 As always, the Bloggerati who supplied them did not see fit to provide any labels so it is up to you to identify these menacing monstrosities and from whom they originated.  The originators are listed on the poster above and, to make things a little more complicated, some of them supplied more than one triffid.  Good luck!

 

 A word of warning: Some of the specimens are mobile or have prehensile tendrils, so do keep your distance from the enclosures as you go by, and be sure to strap yourselves in. 

 The Hexenhäusli Device woodsman is on hand to ensure your safety and provide a demonstration of how to secure your extremities should you need it. 

 (I have personally gone through this with him several times - for certification purposes, of course - and still find myself somewhat breathless such was his enthusiasm and vigour!)  

 

  Oh, and please note: The Management cannot be held responsible for loss of limbs/head/life, and We hope you all manage to get through the tour relatively unscathed.  Or at least manage to Stay Alive...

 

 

 Yes, we watched Romy and Michele's High School Reunion the other day.  I love their dance routine to N-Trance's version of "Stayin' Alive" which is why I've featured it here!

 In fact, I've picked another Hallowe'en-adjacent song from Romy and Michele for later in this post.

 

Here's the full track for those who are interested:

 

Tunes on Thursday: You didn't notice my new leather catsuit, did you?

 I'll warn you now, this is a bit of a big one.  I started this post last week, but forgot to enable the auto-publish for Tuesday just gone.  And of course, since then, I've listened to more music, both new and old, so the list has grown.

  

 From old to new (but not in strict chronological order):

 

Shakespear's Sister - You Made Me Come To This

Best served in the car turned up to 11 so that anyone who can hear you screeching along to it just thinks you're Siobhan!

Donna Summer - State of Independence

Jon and Vangelis - State of Independence

I included this because I've only recently discovered that this is the original version.  I prefer Donna Summer's though.

 

 

Toto - Africa

Heard at the swimming pool this morning while I was gayzing at My Lifeguard 😍.

 

 

Tina Turner - We Don't Need Another Hero

Dubstar - I Can See You Outside

Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Stay On Me

White Lies - Keep Up

My favourite glum, beardy, miseryguts is back!

 

 

Haute & Freddy - Anti-Superstar

Haute & Freddy - Shy Girl

Thank you, Jon, for sharing your discovery of Haute & Freddy!

 

 And to play out - because I watched the film again last Thursday night - 

Monsters Theme by Jon Hopkins:

 

Four Photos: Wishful Thinking?

A hummingbird hawk moth drinking from one of the buddleias in the Hexenhäusli Device gardens this afternoon.

 

Oh my gods!!!  They're almost holding hands!  They're going to do It*!!!!!!

(Two of my three favourite** lowest of the Lower Deckers - Fin*** the super-hot, pretty boy human med tech and Charlie**** the adorable Andorian engineer - from the first episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4, "Twovix".  I took this photo back in April as I couldn't take a screen shot and couldn't find one online [I have found one since then, though] - I wanted it for research purposes, the end result of which will probably be posted here at some point.)

 

Bitey on the beach on Wednesday evening.

 

Someone in this house had this for tea on Wednesday - and it certainly wasn't me!

 

 

* According to First Officer Jack Ransom (in "Parth Ferengi's Heart Place"), the Cerritos is the "horniest ship in the fleet" (and doesn't have any married couples on board).

** The third is Buddy the Vulcan, as featured here with the other two.

*** He's not named in the show as he's just a non-speaking background character, but he looks remarkably like my backup lifeguard at the pool I swim in, so I've given him the same name.

**** Again, unnamed in the show, but someone has named him Charlie.  I'm going with it for now as I haven't thought of anything better.

Tunes on Tuesday - on Thursday!

 Its been a month since my last Tunes on Tuesday, so here's a collection of some new, borrowed, and old music that I've been listening to since then.

 

 Oh, and the reason this is on Thursday is because I forgot to set up the autopublishing thingy at the weekend when I put this post together.  Drat! 

  

Reverberotic - Alison Goldfrapp

Nothing on Me - White Lies

 A couple of new ones from Ms Goldfrapp and my favourite glum, beardy miseryguts and his band.

Tunes on Tuesday

 We haven't had one of these for a while.

 Here's a collection of tunes that have caught my ear recently.  No videos (except the last one) so you can be looking at something else while these are playing.

 

 

Love Shy - Kristine Blond (Sandgate Extended Remix)

 This remix is on a cheapo compilation CD I've had for years - if not decades - Chillout Moods.  I must have copied it onto the little memory stick that I plug into Car for music as it popped up yesterday as I was driving home from work.

 

Behind the Mask - Eric Clapton

 A song came on at the swimming pool while I was doing my lengths on Thursday and it reminded me of this.  I didn't know it's name or the artist, but searching YouTube for "Who Do You Love" soon brought it up.  I'm not a fan of Eric Clapton, but I like this.

Behind the Mask - Yellow Magic Orchestra

 And this is the original!

Head on the Highway - Great Waves

 This one took some sleuthing to find.  In Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV series) this track was often heard when the Rowdy 3's van showed up (along with the growling of its engine), and I loved it!  However, it wasn't mentioned in any of the articles or soundtrack lists I found.  It wasn't until a chance googling encounter in which someone had mentioned Great Waves - and then listening to pretty much every track by them on YouTube - that I found it.

You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) / Venus - Bananarama (Glorious: Live in London)

 This one by the Bananas popped up in YouTube's "recommended for you" section. It was right, of course. (Although I do think the transition from "You Spin Me Round" to "Venus" goes on too long.)

Rutherford...

 Oof!  Sorry I'm late.

 

 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]

A Colourful Effort at Timekeeping

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.

Bluer Decks

  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!

Romancing the Precious Cargo

 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.

"Wow, was that your girlfriend? What crawled up her boob window and died?"

 Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!1!!11!!1!!!!!!!1!!!

 The trailer for the fifth and final season of Star Trek: Lower Decks is out! 

 Jennifer!  A Bajoran lightship??  Creepy little cyborg arm hug!!  Decon gel scene!!!  Ma'ah is back!!!!

: :

 

 In other news, my niece, Lionel (not her real name), got a mobile (cell) phone two or three months ago.  She's eleven.  Far too young to have a mobile, but she was the only one in her class without one so her parents relented so she wouldn't feel left out.  She now has access to anything and everything.  Smut, filth, the rudest of swear words, Taylor Swift - It's disgraceful! 

5 out of 10 households prefer Godzilla Lois

 Having been threatened with the 10 Day Blogging Challenge thingummydoodah, I did briefly think about it but quickly realised that I'd never keep it up, so to speak, and you'd all be (un)lucky if I managed even half that.  Which sparked something in my brain to remember the last half of 5 out of 10 households prefer Kormorant & Tetris.  Which led me to look at the most recent ten videos in my YouTube history.  Which led to this post.  Enjoy!  Or not.

 

 Godzilla Lois

 I love Malcolm in the Middle - it's so clever and has great characters - and this clip is one of my favourites.  I use Dewey's "Seize him!" frequently to this day (mainly when encouraging Bitey to see which of the nieces or nephew have invited themselves in). 

All Hands On Deck(s) - Star Trek: Lower Decks

SaveStarTrekLowerDecks.com

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.

 

Our goal is to make that blip!

"I Slipped On Mah Beans"

 I think I've been in the Winter Doldrums - although, if I have, I seem to be coming out of it now thanks to two things: Janet & Rita, and new growth in the garden & up the allotment.

 First, old ladies Janet and Rita - AKA Bluey and Bingo Heeler from Bluey, a cartoon my youngest niece, vom Smallhäusen, introduced me to while I was babysitting a week or two ago.  They are hilarious!  The costumes, the voices, the shoplifting, the driving, the absolute glee with which Bluey and Bingo portray Rita and Janet - and the reactions of their parents Chilli and Bandit - all combine to form a delightful two or three minutes of fun that had me almost crying with laughter.

 There's a snippet of first appearance of Rita & Janet in the first minute of the video at the end of this post, but the video below is of the whole Heeler family having some fun:

(It didn't take many episodes for me to want a smoochy kiss with Bandit Heeler, either!)

. : .

 Anyway, enough of adorable Australian cartoon dogs, let's have a look inside my allotment compost heap, shall we?

For The Very Mistress, Ms Scarlet, Mitzi...

...and anyone else who's a fan of Noel Fielding:

The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin - as discovered at Reactor

 

And, as brought to my attention by The Very Mistress, here's a bonus video of Noel as Kate Bush dancing to Wuthering Heights:

That's all for now.