Robot Claw

The Big Dig

December 7th, 2023

A couple of months ago we had a bit of water in our crawlspace downstairs which led to the discovery of roots growing into the pipe connecting the house to the main sewer line. Our options were to pay to have the pipe cleaned out every year or so, or get it replaced. Either way was an expensive proposition, so we chose the latter. Yesterday the work was done.

It was a fascinating procedure, since they only had a guess (within 3 feet) as to where the pipe exactly was under the ground, and the rise in our front yard meant they’d have to dig to a depth of at least five foot. The guy operating the excavator was a professional, and he was very careful and precise since he wanted to minimize damage to the front yard. almost immediately the scoop was breaking theough tangles of roots, and sometimes they were so thick his helper had to cut them with a chainsaw!

It took about 2.5 hours to reveal the pipe, and as you can see they had to shift the dig location a bit from their original guess. While this was happening there was another guy inside installing a new toilet and faucet in our downstairs bathroom, and he told me that on a previous dig they had unearthed (about 6 foot underground) a suitcase full of old style dolls, and that another employee had once found a box of cash (that the homeowner had let him keep)!

Here’s where the root had grown into the old pipe. It had created a dense root mass about 8 foot long and the guys were amazed we hadn’t had a serious blockage before!

The affected section was removed (the red circles show where it was cut out) and a new plastic one put in. They also added a clean-out access valve (apparently it’s required by code now) to make it easier to remove any future blockages.

The hole was then filled in and the work was almost complete. I say almost since the ground will settle so they’ll return after the thaw to add a load of dirt on top. Here’s what it looks like today, with the cleanout cap circled:

As I said this was very expensive, but we trust they did a good job and hopefully this will minimize problems in the future (plus we have a new loo and faucet downstairs). Stuff like this is just one of the many ‘joys’ of owning a home!

Posted in Blog, Home | Comments Closed

LEGO Rivendell

December 3rd, 2023

I bought this for my birthday earlier this year, and after many months of letting it age, it was time to build it:

This is Rivendell, the legendary elvish sanctuary in Lord Of The Rings and home of the powerful and ancient Elrond. Rivendell has always been depicted as a fantastic and beautiful place, and the LoTR films followed in the tradition:

When LEGO revealed this set I was simultaneously astonished and in love and appalled. The price was very high and it’s so big… but after several months of denying myself, I bought it 🙂

The box is gargantuan and heavy and there were fifty bags of pieces inside, as well as a sticker sheet (for the paintings, see below) and a hobbit-sized stack of instruction manuals:

The set is built in three large sections, and I did it in twelve sessions of about four bags apiece. It was a fascinating and fun build, and although I didn’t keep close track I would estimate it took me 25-30 hours in total. Some parts (the filigree and roof tiles) were a little frustrating, but it wasn’t exactly a difficult build. Here’s the finished set:

It’s so large photography was difficult! It’s about 80 cm wide, 35 cm deep and 50 cm tall. Here’s a view from the rear:

It can be separated into five different sections for ease-of-transport (and display). The first is the side of the main building, with Bilbo’s accommodations and the tower with statuary:

The middle section contains the elvish library, and the council platform where the Fellowship was first assembled. If you look close you’ll notice the small entry on the right side is at an unusual angle compared to the main building. This and several other slopes in the set were cleverly achieved using 3-4-5 Pythagorean triangles:

The last section contains the blacksmith, a waterfall and a removable pagoda. The instructions say the engineering of the base of the hexagonal pagoda was the most difficult part of designing the set. The small mushrooms you can see on this piece glow in the dark!

As you can probably see the detail is exquisite, with all sorts of furnishings and little touches that fans of the movie will spot. For instance the walls feature several cute ‘LEGO paintings’ such as this one depicting the forging of the rings:

And there’s also the shards of the legendary sword Narsil, no doubt waiting to be reforged at the smith:

The chairs on the platform are made from popsicle and frankfurter parts repurposed! Several of the mini figures have variant parts for sitting down:

Speaking of mini figures, the set has fifteen:

From the top, they are Bilbo, Frodo, Samwise, Pippin, Merry, Gloin, Boromir, Gimli, Aragorn, Gandalf, Arwen, Elrond, Legolas and a male and female elf. The set also includes many extra weapons, so even Arwen could wield a couple of axes were she so inclined!

The set has over 6000 pieces, but a few hundred of them are the roof tiles. These are applied to a single stud at a 45 degree angle, and getting them all aligned was not a trivial task! By far this was the longest and most tedious step, and I daresay I’ll shed a tear for this when/if I ever disassemble Rivendell.

Which brings me to the obvious question: Where the heck will I put this? It’s easily the biggest LEGO set I’ve ever built, and as far as I can tell fits on no surface in our house.

I think I’ll just leave it on the craft table in our library for now, and worry about that question when we return from our upcoming vacation!

Posted in Crafts, Movies, Toys | Comments Closed

Advent

December 1st, 2023

Advent is upon us (well… in two days it is) and you know what that means: Advent Calendars! This year, somehow, we have five.

This is perhaps the most mundane: 24 days of various skincare products. KLS bought this one for herself and started opening it about 5 days ago so she will finish it before we travel. It’s mostly small or sample-sized cosmetics.

She also got this super-fancy (and expensive) Florasis calendar, which shipped from China. It’s a sturdy box with a magnetic clasp and though it’s not visible in the photo has a lustrous coating that sparkles in the light.

Inside each of the 12 doors is a high-quality cosmetic item. As you can see door 1 was opened this morning, and contained a bottle of ‘Botanical Hydra-Sooth Balancing Cleansing Oil‘.

Since cats are well-known for their love of ceremony, naturally we got them an advent calendar as well!

It’s another fancy affair: well constructed with a meal behind each of the 24 doors.

Zoffy approved of day 1, which was a chicken pate 🙂

And look at this: a second advent calendar for our kitties. This was a gift from JK and is a dry treat version. I’m pretty sure Loppi will be a big fan since she love treats. We’ll open the first door when KLS gets home later.

Lastly there is this guy: ‘The Star Chaser‘. This is a jigsaw puzzle advent calendar!

It’s got 24 doors but only 19 puzzles since some doors contain portions of a larger puzzle. It seems each day is part of a story and the goal is to ‘find’ a magical Christmas star.

The box warns me not to open more than one box a day lest I interfere with the magic. Maybe I’ll break that oath since I want to finish it before we travel 🙂

The day 1 puzzle was a big surprise since it’s not only a postcard but also double-sided. Since this is a plastic Pintoo puzzle, the quality is sky-high and it was fun to put together. The calendar includes no instructions or images (you can get them online) but I didn’t earn my nickname of The Prodigy of Puzzles without reason and I knocked this one together in only a moment.

Did you get any advent calendars this year? If so, which ones? And will you be good and open only one door a day?

Posted in Cats, Miscellaneous, Puzzles | 2 Comments »

Sweet or Bitter?

November 30th, 2023

Has reviewing Salt & Vinegar chips become a monthly series? Is there even that many types to keep us going? For a third month in a row the answer is yes!

As a reminder the review systems is based on gatcha game rarity: C is worthless, R average, SR exceptional and SSR once-in-lifetime good! And for the first time today you’ll see a new category…

We found these Humble brand chips at a ‘health food’ shop, which was probably a warning. They were appalling, absolutely disgustingly tasting and quite possibly one of the worst chips I’ve ever eaten. They tasted like greasy rot, and had no real taste of vinegar at all. These were so awful I’m confused why they’re even on the market. Far, far below C, these things get the lowest possible grade of Z.

A slew of ‘not worth the calorie’ C rank chips this month, one of which surprised me since I used to think it a good chip!

The Siete chips released a pungent stench when the bag was opened, and the base chip had a taste of petrichor I found quite disagreeable. Upon further mastication I noted almost no vinegar taste but a hint of heat, which I quickly found unpleasant. They have serrano pepper in them! Obviously I hated them and give them a solid C, but KLS for her part thought them at least an R (due to the heat).

The Cape Cod brand has been a favourite of mine for years, and the normal version of their salt and vinegar scored an SR in the first installment. But this reduced fat version was powdery and a bit tasteless, and far below the quality of the ‘full fat’ ones. It’s not worth it even considering the lower calories.

365 is the Amazon brand, and while the chips were crispy and not too oily, the taste was terrible and not at all tasting of vinegar. The aftertaste was even worse, and reminded me of gherkin pickling juice. Overall, an awful chip and at the low end of the C’s.

Bowl & Basket is the store brand of Shoprite, which recently closed all its local stores and left our area! While I liked the supermarket in general, these are a very poor chip. They were paper thin to the point they seemed to be 90% oil, and the vinegar taste was excessively acidic. Not worth eating at all, and a very low C.

The shtick with these Dirty chips is they are a bit burned and a bit ugly and a bit like the sort of chips other brands would have removed during the QC step. I’m not a big fan of this, but I won’t deny the chips were crispy and had a good mouthfeel, and the vinegar was adequate if not exceptional. I’m putting them here only because the previous five were so poor, but I think I’m being (too) generous giving these an R.

Things were looking grim after six bags of very poor chips. Thankfully we struck gold as well, and these three SR brands were unique in their own way.

The Hannaford kettle chips specify malt vinegar, but did it make any difference? Yes it absolutely did! The taste of these was the same as the ‘brown vinegar’ of my youth and while initially sweet and moorish, I was shocked by how quickly it ramped up as I shoveled them in my mouth. Very quickly the vinegar burned and I started sweating! Heaven and Hell in a single chip then, and while I’ll never eat them again I won’t hesitate giving them SR.

The Kettle chips are air-fried, and this gave them a very light and airy feel quite different from the usual chip. They were very easy to eat, and as a bonus the vinegar was sweet and delicious. However there was a slight pining for the delicious taste of oil, which keeps them out of the highest rating and solidly SR.

I had been snack deprived the day I tore into the Deep River chips and they were exactly what I needed at that moment. A delicious potato taste in a not-too-greasy chip accompanied by a wonderful and sweet vinegar taste. These are a chip to fill your mouth with and then perhaps regret you ate so many, as I did that day. Regardless, a solid to even perhaps high SR.

I don’t even remember where we bought the Uglies chips, but for whatever reason I was hesitant when we opened them. My caution was unwarranted: they were superb! They were delicious and sweet and just kept going into my mouth with hardly any effort from me. They were perhaps the sweetest chip so far, and they have cemented in my mind that I prefer sweet over bitter and mild over strong. Without doubt, SSR!

Saratoga Chips are a local brand, and rather than wax lyrical I’ll simply paste the notes I took when I ate them: “Godlike. Best so far. The chips turn to joy in your mouth and you could live on them. Easily best so far!” I think you’ll agree such a review is absolutely worth SSR 🙂

That’s an astonishing 27 different brands reviewed so far, and I can say there may still be a few unopened packs in this abode waiting for our taste testing. But what of more exotic brands, perhaps even in distant realms? Let’s hope when we travel we might even find some…

Posted in Blog, Food | Comments Closed

Review: Riddick Series

November 28th, 2023

Last week, in order, we watched the 3.5 films in the Riddick series. We’d only ever seen the first one, and were interested in the others. Here’s reviews of all of them.

Pitch Black (2000)

This was a low-budget sci-fi horror film about the survivors of a crashed spaceship fighting for their lives against a legion of alien predators on an otherwise barren planet. As the name suggests, the film is very dark and this is doubly integral to the plot: the aliens only ‘come out at night’ and the antihero can see in the dark.

His name is Riddick, and he is played by a young Vin Diesel. He’s a villian and murderer, and for this reason there’s initially tension between him and the other survivors. Ultimately his martial skills and unusual vision make him invaluable to their survival, and a truce is formed.

The film is obviously inspired by Aliens but weaves a unique story of its own, and despite some dated visuals (especially use of colour grading) holds up fairly well. It’s not a great (or even good?) film, but it’s fun to watch.

The standout of course is Vin Diesel, who has strong charisma in the role of an (objectively) awful person, and very much carries the film. Pitch Black was a success and made a lot of money, and when it came time for a sequel it was obvious which way the story would go…

The Chronicles Of Riddick: Dark Fury (2004)

This was a direct-to-DVD short animated film spanning the time between Pitch Black and the sequel. It was directed by Peter Cheung (famous for Aeon Flux) and Vin Diesel returned to voice Riddick.

The story is simple and not at all required to understand the film sequel, and I found this animated interlude a little unpleasant due to the grotesque art style. Completely skippable!

The Chronicles Of Riddick (2004)

Set five years after Pitch Black, this sequel focuses on Riddick as he becomes involved in a plot to destroy a planet. The story is absolutely bonkers, and includes grand space battles, an evil empire called ‘The Necromongers’, magical beings called Elementals and all sorts of weird elements such as ‘the Underverse’.

We learn more of Riddick as well, including the fact he’s maybe not so bad after all. It turns out he’s one of the last remaining ‘Furyans’ and has superhuman abilities and mystical powers that may help wipe out the Necromongers. The film keeps throwing stuff at you hoping it sticks, and even when it doesn’t you won’t care because it’s always visually interesting (it here’s a strong Warhammer 40k vibe). Once again Vin Diesel’s weird charisma steals every scene he’s in.

Somehow they got Judi Dench and a young Karl Urban in this. There’s creepy alien dog things, many crazy fight scenes and one of the most insane endings you’ll see. The budget was obviously much bigger than Pitch Black, but for all its bombast the film underperformed and almost killed the nascent franchise.

We never saw this when it came out, but we thoroughly enjoyed it! It’s crazy and silly and very guilty of adding plot elements without any hint of explanation, but it’s also a lot of fun. The best film in this series and very much worth a watch!

Riddick (2013)

Nine years later Vin Diesel had become a megastar due to the Fast & The Furious franchise and the franchise holders decided to return once again to this series. But the budget was scaled back and the studio wanted a film more like Pitch Black and less like Chronicles Of Riddick.

What they made was a sort-of Pitch Black remake, only now the nocturnal aliens are replaced with weird scorpion-things. There’s a very lengthy setup sequence of Riddick being marooned on a planet (and befriending an alien jackal!) before mercenaries turn up to catch him only for all hell to break loose when hordes of the creatures attack.

It’s a well paced film – even if it feels like two – and for its lowish budget I thought the special effects (solidly in CGI territory now) were very good. There’s some decent acting from the mercenaries, including one that has become famous in recent years in a Star Wars show, but once again Vin Diesel steals the show. This is a much better film than Pitch Black, but not quite reaching the enjoyable lunacy of The Chronicles Of Riddick, and I think it’s worth your time.

And so – perhaps to our surprise – we thoroughly enjoyed this somewhat overlooked series! Despite very lengthy gaps between the films they tell a more or less consistent story, and the more we learned about Riddick the more we wanted to learn. There’s still many questions, about the Furyans and Necromongers, and it feels like this is a story that can continue.

So it’s perhaps good to know there’s another sequel on the way, likely to be released a dozen years (or more) after the last one. And with the working title of Riddick IV: Furya maybe we’ll finally get some answers to the true past (and future?) of this fellow Riddick? Let’s hope so.

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