Star Trek

To boldly go where no one has gone before...

Beam me up hottie....

Worf is NOT a Merry Man...

As usual, click on them to enlarge, but remember, once you do, you can't get back here.

Costumes

Costumes.  What with Ottawa Comic Con coming up fast, costume makers have been much on my radar.  These are a few.... Its just for fun.  Enjoy!

If you click on any of these pictures, you go to a gallery which shows them much larger, but I'll be darned if I can figure out how to get back here from the gallery.  So bookmark me now...grin!

The green lantern costumes have proved to be particularly libido peaking.

Live long and prosper.  No, look up there.  No, up here, eye contact...
Nope. not gonna happen. 

A golden statue....

I am trying to decide if this one is naughty or not.  Its pac-man...going after a ghosty...oh there it is.  Yup...its naughty.  

Now this one is just lovely.  I always liked the sixties bat-girl...gray costume, blue cape.  Seemed nicer than the black rubber fetish things that came out later.

Now who could fail to love this lilac sweetheart!

Then there are these guys!   The boxers under the green lantern tights are a nice touch....

Zoidberg? IzzatU?

Take me away to Valhalla....  prrrrrrrrr.

 So this is the kitchen in Valhalla?  Lets get cookin' then!

Hmmmm.  I don't know what to say!

Where do you get that costume?   Does it come with the stuffing?

I don't get it.  Let me study it a bit more....

And now to boldly go where no man has gone before.   Yeah right...

Purple bat girl.  

And always nice to show your team colours!

Platform 9 3/4

These pictures of of the subway station under Kings Cross railway station. 

This part of it is unused.  It must be pretty creepy. 

No doubt when you look closely, you can see platform 9 and three quarters. 

The real one of course....grin!

Just look at those marvelous girders!  And brickwork which was installed when Sherlock Holmes was in short pants!   

The arched tunnels were built when Jesse James was robbing trains.  

The Titanic was a distant far off in the future dream.

And they ran steam trains down here!

It is a steam punk paradise!

These are a fascinating glimpse of a part of the world which has been pretty much unseen since 1941. 

Dennis. Oh, Dennis

Dennis Locourriere....your voice is as smooth as Irish whiskey, and your lyrics...

Well....

You don't have Shel Silverstein to write 'em any more. 
So what is this?  A chip off old Shel's block!
Well, better than "Sylvia's Mother" and "a boy named Sue"!

Ask Her....  From Dennis Locourrier's  "Post Cool" album

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBnuKhMQGtM

Sleeper cars...

Vimeo seems to have some of the finest little shows!

This one is about a company which makes sleeper cars.

No, not the railway sleeper cars, these are cars which don't look like what they are.

http://vimeo.com/36160339#

And no, they are not like these guys....grin!

This is April?

This is April.  No, it is NOT an April fool's joke.  Half a meter of snow here still.

You can see how it is piled up around the house.

Above you can see how I had to dig through to get to the shop in the back.

My lovely tent out back has been flattened by the snow.

Above you can see the framework which was supporting the yellow tarp over there in back.  The snow collapsed it onto my van.  It took three to four hours to carefully excavate the van.  There was some damage, not  a lot...some dents in the roof.  

And the usual shop picture.  I take one of these every year at this time.  

Above are the dozens of little squirrel footprints.  They are starting to get hungry....they have probably run out of stored food.  

All that snow and ice was on the porch.  I am VERY surprised that the porch didn't collapse.  That pile of snow is not fluffy stuff...it is pretty much solid ice.  Equivalent to a couple of water beds for sure.

At least the dripping water makes a nice curtain of ice...

I wish this WAS an April fool's joke.  But sadly, no.  At the moment, 8:34 AM on April 4th, it is minus 6 degrees C, and it has been below freezing since I took those pictures on the first.

Jameson's

Dublin is famous for its barley products.  Guiness, of course, and Jameson Whiskey.   The old whiskey works are no longer in use (good thing, I fear they were very smelly) but the factory buildings have been lovingly maintained and serves as a tasting room and sales venue, mostly for tourists.  

The building is a fairly non-descript brick industrial building.  This Dickensian scene could be very bleak except for the little touches.  Antiques and such. Not enough to clutter up the place, but enough to  ease the eye.  The bench outside which was made from an old whiskey cask...the oldest they could find.  The casks are re-used, and many really do date from the 18th century!

Once the barrels were stacked high into wagons, pulled through the streets by horses.  Above are horse brasses which decorated their tack.  Those in the know will see that the hoofs are the size of dinner plates.   No doubt their feed consisted of spent barley from the distillery.  Lucky horses.

Above, if you click on the picture, you will see two antique bicycles which James Joyce would have probable seen whizz past him when he was alive.  The one on the left is a "velocopede" and the one on the right is a "hobby horse".  Check out the chandelier made from Jameson Whiskey bottles.  I think the joy of emptying all those bottles may well be worth the trouble....grin!

Bill on the bench.  In back is a copper distillation pot.  This is the smallest, the "third" distillation.  From there it is sent directly to barrels.  Which barrels?  Well it depends upon how long they plan to let it sit.  Five year old goes into used American Bourbon barrels, 12 year old goes into used Spanish Maderia barrels, and 25 year old go into used Portugese Port barrels. It is likely then that the barrel which was made into a bench up above originated in Portugal.

Above is the malting floor.  That round cylindrical thing.  The bottom half is where a fire is lighted to toast the barley in the top half.  The top half has a very hot floor!  They put barley on that floor, wet it down, let it start to sprout.  Then they light the fire in the bottom half. 

The nice old building with its nice old beams are supported by cast iron columns.  When you look over the railing (to my left in the above picture) you can see the original floor with the large circular bases for the several malting cylinders and huge copper mash and distillery pots.

Was it worth the trip.  Heck, it was worth the flight to Ireland! 

Stompin' Tom Connors

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy3knGGzZr8     The best man in Ottawa is Mufferaw Joe....

I was darned lucky to have caught two of his concerts.

Sudbury Saturday Night...    The song we'll be singin they might be wrong but they'll be ringin' All the light in town are shinin bright and we are all tight,  We'll get to work on Monday and tomorrow's only sunday but tonight we'll have a fun day for its Saturday tonight. They'll think no more of INCO on a Sudbury Saturday Night!


And of course....the good old hockey song....(with his last letter to his fans)
       When the Sens and Leafs were tied going into the third period, the announcers pre-empted the time to play the Hockey Song in its entirety.  Hey, this is Stompin Tom!  He wouldn't have known what to DO with a minute of silence his entire life. If there was a good way to find out about his passing, I can't think of a better way than at a hockey game.  How good is that!

Who we got to replace 'im now here biy?
eh?