Robot Claw – Page 84 – “Life In The So-Called Space Age”

LEGO R2-D2

April 28, 2024

I recently bought and assembled this guy:

It’s a brand new model of R2-D2. Here’s what was inside the box:

About 1000 pieces and some stickers. A quick build therefore, and a less expensive one (even at $99). He went together easily and his main body is about as big as a rockmelon:

Construction is somewhat repetitive, but utilizes clever techniques to (mostly) hide the studs. He’s very solid too.

He has a few display modes once completed. Here he is with all his contraptions in use:

And here he is with his third leg, which is probably how I’ll display him:

I like this kit! At about 29 cm it’s not too big so it can be displayed even on a shelf, and considering the size it’s both poseable and a good likeness of everyone favourite droid.

LEGO has done two other versions over the years (excluding a terrible technic one 25 years ago), but they’re both more expensive and much bigger. Here they are:

The ultimate one on the right certainly looks great, but it’s also twice the size of the little guy I built so displaying it would be a problem which is why I never bought it.

I’m glad they made this new one. He’s cute 🙂

Ramen Universes Beyond: Pusheen

April 23, 2024

If you’re keeping track, this is the 5th ‘Universes Beyond’ post and the 31st ramen-related post! What do we have today? This:

Pusheen is a character created in 2010 by an American illustrator. In the years since the fat fluffy cat has become heavily merchandised and there’s a large array of Pusheen items available today. Apparently he’s big enough he now has his own ramen!

You can clearly say the package is labeled ‘chicken ramen‘, but when I opened it I found this:

That’s not ramen! Those are pho noodles, and since I’ve never tried a chicken pho that I liked I was immediately suspicious of this incorrectly labeled product.

I followed the sparse instructions and – like most other instant pho soups I’ve tried – the noodles hardly softened. My suspicion only deepened since the smell was abhorrent, but I sealed it and let it steep another few minutes.

Eventually it was time to sample it and – surprise, surprise – the taste was reminiscent of weeds and the noodles had the consistency of elastic bands. A dreadful product, not even worth 1% of the $4.99 I paid for it. Pusheen can go to hell!

The Circus

April 21, 2024

We just got back from a Cirque du Soleil performance at our downtown arena. It was completely free, since Kristin’s work had booked an entire performance for their employees!

As you no doubt know, Cirque du Soleil is a modern circus that has character and story-driven shows and no animals. Tonight’s show was Corteo, about a clown viewing his own funeral. It was comedic and celebratory, and has apparently been performed over 5000 times in 17 years of touring since its debut almost 20 years ago!

That was our view. The arena was split down the middle with the large stage, and the audience sat on either side. When the action began the curtains lifted and it looked like this:

But I’m ahead of myself, since I forgot to mention that thanks to Kristin’s work both parking and food was also free, which means we didn’t have to pay the insane costs for fries and hotdogs ourself!

The performance was wonderful. With live music and singing and every sort of gymnastic event you could imagine it was a fascinating couple of hours.

The round stage rotated, and almost every act included some sort of aerial element. The most impressive for me were the solo artistes, like this ‘aerial silk’ girl (who had phenomenal shoulder/arm muscles!):

Or the freestanding laddersman:

Or the elastic strapmaster, whose body seemed like it was 110% muscle:

In the above photo the stairs you can see in the background are the opposite side of the arena.

Every main act was interspersed with a modern take on a clown show, which were amusing distractions as they set the stage for the next gymnast. Plus, they had pantomime horses:

We also saw trapeze artists, jugglers, diabolo savants, cyr wheel masters and lots of girls swinging from chandeliers. It was a lot of fun 🙂

Thanks Regeneron!