Teacup Cafe XXXIX

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Okay, AGT. I was leaning towards Michael Grimm before, but my second, Prince Poppycock seriously bungled tonight, so now my fingers are definitely crossed for Grimm. Anyone else watching?

[Noble Elf Lord]

Anyone care to explain? :P

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Tonight was the finals of America's Got Talent. Tomorrow, we learn who won.

[Noble Elf Lord]

Blech. I haven't watched the telly for ages...

[Earniel]

I'm probably watching far too much of it lately. But it's hard to have tire or have enough of Attenborough's most excellent nature documentaries. Also, Syfy Channel...

[Jonathan]

Hehe.
I should get to sleep early, but Attenborough's on telly tonight

[Noble Elf Lord]

Well, must admit he's good.

Have any of you played Bullet Witch, btw? Just cleared the first level. Love it.

[Tessar]

Originally Posted by Gwaimir Windgem

Okay, AGT. I was leaning towards Michael Grimm before, but my second, Prince Poppycock seriously bungled tonight, so now my fingers are definitely crossed for Grimm. Anyone else watching?

I wasn't, so I was not aware of any of the performers, but I watched a video of Michael Grimm just now because a friend sent it my way. I got to say, I like him but I always feel weird about "liking" anyone with a messed up voice like that. He sounds great, but dang. You have to wonder how much longer his voice can possibly last, especially if he ends up getting a tour schedule. He sounds like he can barely speak over the vocal damage he has.

[Gwaimir Windgem]

I don't really pick up very strongly on things like that, doubtless because I am not a singer. I just hear a great voice, and I respond.

Obviously, I'm very enthusiastic that he won. Some people have made the critique that he's not so much in the way of spectacle, which is fair, since the dangling carrot is a Las Vegas show; more visually-oriented performances are better suited to it. Still, when he performs, what I hear is a real artistry (even though his music is not my type of music), and I'll always back that horse.

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Jonathan

Hehe.
I should get to sleep early, but Attenborough's on telly tonight

Well... all I can say is, thank god for recorders!

Just watched another Planet Earth episode yesterday. Dude, what an awesome planet we have...

[Jonathan]

Indeed! Much more awesome than, say, Mars

Ah, all the strange and wonderful creatures that we harbour here on Earth. One of my favourite Attenborough episodes is one where we get introduced to the various birds of paradise in New Guinea. Dude, I'm in no way a twitcher, but the courtship displays of these elusive birds are like WOW!

[Earniel]

We-ell... Mars is an awesome planet in its own right. Geologically fascinating, and I do adore Opportunity and Spirit. But no planet with only bacterial life at best can ever compete with a living world like Earth. Nu-uh.

Ooh, birds of paradise! There's one, a fairly nondescript black bird, that can pull up its feathers around its head like an umbrella until there's only a black rectangle with two little eyes in it, hopping around. The first time I saw it, it had me howling with laughter, I still smirk and giggle uncontrolably when I see it again.

[Rían]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

Well... all I can say is, thank god for recorders!

Yes, love those things!

I got the DVR service for our tv recently (you can pause, rewind, etc. live tv, and also record things). It's nice to have control over what you're watching, esp. if you really enjoy it and you're a mom who has heard "Mom!" screamed in a panicky voice many times ... It's nice to hit "pause", fix the catastrophe knowing that you're not missing anything, and then come back to it. Or save it for when the kids are at school and you know you won't get interrupted. My husband still isn't quite used to it - when he gets called for something, I have to remind him that he can just pause it (or record it if it's a longer interruption). If you're used to things one way, sometimes you forget when they change!

[Jonathan]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

We-ell... Mars is an awesome planet in its own right. Geologically fascinating, and I do adore Opportunity and Spirit. But no planet with only bacterial life at best can ever compete with a living world like Earth. Nu-uh.

Ooh, birds of paradise! There's one, a fairly nondescript black bird, that can pull up its feathers around its head like an umbrella until there's only a black rectangle with two little eyes in it, hopping around. The first time I saw it, it had me howling with laughter, I still smirk and giggle uncontrolably when I see it again.

Spirit and Opportunity both do a great job in promoting Mars. But my favourite planet will remain Jupiter, with its many diverse moons. (What does Mars have to offer in that department - two orbiting underdimensioned frigging asteroids? )

I know which bird you mean! My mum saw a clip of it in a tv commercial a couple of years ago. She just couldn't begin to understand what kind of animal it was! She pointed it out to me and it took a long while before I realised that it was in fact a very odd-looking (but oh so beautiful) bird

[Rían]

Jupiter and its moons have been lovely the last few nights You can really see them move around quite a bit! They were all in a line a few nights ago.

[Jonathan]

Implicitly with a telescope

Last month I tried to capture the planet and its moons by, very amateurishly, just pressing my camera to the ocular of my telescope

[Earniel]

Not bad at all, I never even managed to see Jupiter with my sister's old telescope.

Originally Posted by RÃ*an

esp. if you really enjoy it and you're a mom who has heard "Mom!" screamed in a panicky voice many times ...

Very often it is my mother who screams my name in a panicky voice when there's a large spider, or the cats have brought in yet another mouse and forgot to dispatch it before letting it loose in the house. (Sadly this happens way to often...)

Originally Posted by Jonathan

Spirit and Opportunity both do a great job in promoting Mars. But my favourite planet will remain Jupiter, with its many diverse moons. (What does Mars have to offer in that department - two orbiting underdimensioned frigging asteroids? )

Yes, Mars does not have much to offer on the moon-front, I agree with you there. But one can't send rovers to Jupiter's surface. Only perhaps to one of his terrestrial moons, like they did with Saturn's Titan. I admit having a soft spot for Saturn and his moons, rather than Jupiter, thanks to the incredible Huygens-Cassini mission.

She pointed it out to me and it took a long while before I realised that it was in fact a very odd-looking (but oh so beautiful) bird

Beautiful indeed, if somewhat special. To me that bird is the pinnacle of birds of paradise's totally weird designs and mating dances. But oh, the variety. So breath-taking.

[Rían]

Originally Posted by Jonathan

Implicitly with a telescope

Telescope? Who needs a telescope when you have super-vision!

*hides her telescope*

Gah! I just got a Barlow (doubling) lens to replace the one lost in our move, and what I thought was blurry contact lenses is actually a smudge somewhere on the optics (because it was twice as bad with the Barlow). Now I have to research cleaning smudges and/or find a place to do a tune-up. It's probably just on the main eyepiece.

[Earniel]

Elven eyes, right, I forgot.

[Acalewia]

Originally Posted by Noble Elf Lord

Well, must admit he's good.

Have any of you played Bullet Witch, btw? Just cleared the first level. Love it.

Never heard of it

Originally Posted by Eärniel

Ooh, birds of paradise! There's one, a fairly nondescript black bird, that can pull up its feathers around its head like an umbrella until there's only a black rectangle with two little eyes in it, hopping around. The first time I saw it, it had me howling with laughter, I still smirk and giggle uncontrolably when I see it again.

That sounds like quite a funny picture to see


And speaking of telescopes, I haven't used one since my parents sold mine when I was in 10th grade.

I wasn't using it because of the street lights they installed that flooded our yard with artifical light. Couldn't really see the stars very well