Tag Archives: Batman

Aug 10 2012

Bellinis, BBQ and Batman

It’s Friday night and 35 degrees so it’s time for a BBQ and cocktails. We were sitting in the garden having a lovely evening when, through the flicker of a citronella candle (there’s more bugs here than bats in the bat cave), I realised that the Batman ‘garden gnome’ could be seen.

When we moved house the removal men broke just two things… One was a cute mug with an elephant on it (a gift from my Mum but no big deal really – sorry Mum!). The other was a £300 Warner Bros 24″ Batman Statue.

All credit to the removal men that that was all they broke. They wrapped, packed, transported and unpacked over 5,000 Batmen halfway accross Europe. All with pointy ears, gloves with fins, fragile capes and general high ‘breakability’. Let alone the art…

As we unpacked we discovered Batman’s torso and Batman’s legs were no longer connected. Queue very upset Scifi hubby and slightly freaked out removal men. The language barrier didn’t help as they only spoke German and Scifi hubby is Yorkshire through and through. “Tut mir leid Frau Scifi…” The insurance company were great and quickly paid out the value we told them.

As it happened this is one of very few things that we own two of. The second is safely in an attic in its original box. As a result Scifi hubby couldn’t really be too upset. The insurance paid for a few new toys and the broken Batman, now valueless, had his legs glued back on and he became a rather expensive garden gnome. Shhhhhhh don’t tell Scifi hubby but I quite like our Bat-gnome.

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Jul 28 2012

Is this the worst thing I’ve caught Scifi hubby doing?

I’m not sure if this is the worst thing I’ve caught Scifi hubby doing but it is certainly high up the list. His new ‘hobby’ is catching the local snails and transforming them into ‘batsnails’… The poor things are caught (although it’s not exactly an Olympic sport to catch a snail), placed on the lid of a jam jar, brought inside and then the transmogrification begins…

First up is tipex – “so you have a base for colour don’t you know”. He’d done this before I caught him so no photo, however I managed to document the next stages. It’s a bit like being a documentary photographer – you can take pictures but don’t interfere otherwise you risk the wrath of the locals.

The next stage is to add the colour:

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And then the details:

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Finally the poor snail is allowed to escape – although he has to leave his dignity behind.

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I’m just waiting for one of the neighbours to find a batsnail in their garden and scream…

Jul 21 2012

Midnight openings are special, don’t let one nutter ruin them

As you can imagine the gun massacre at the midnight opening of the new Batman movie and ongoing bomb disposal story is high on the list of conversations in our house at the moment. It’s a horrific crime and also brings out the worst in anti-scifi/comic commentators which, of course, drives Scifi hubby up the wall. Millions of people read comic books, watch comic book based movies, read scifi, play video games, like rock music etc yet for some reason that whole genre seems to always get the blame when something like this occurs. I know this guy went mad at a Batman movie but if you’re crazy you’re crazy – the movie is just an excuse.

Scifi hubby isn’t a huge fan of the recent Batman movies (actually that’s quite an understatement and a story for another time) so we decided not to go to an early screening but I happened to be up very early yesterday and was listening to the radio as I got ready to go to work. The DJ got a call from someone on their way to see the 5am (UK time) screening of The Dark Knight Rises (so before anything had happened in the US). He started out teasing them and saying he didn’t know that cinemas opened at that hour until he was flooded with calls and texts from people saying they were also on their way to see it. To hear the news from the US just an hour or so later was really sad.

It does remind me of the times we’ve been to midnight movie openings (or early morning openings given the US/UK time zones). We’ve seen Star Wars Episode One (I know, I know, but it was a preview showing so no one knew it was going to be so awful), Batman Begins and various others. I know it’s very nerdy to be the first to see it, as friends have frequently pointed out, but there’s something quite special about these screenings. There’s something quite naughty about going to a movie at that time. Its a bit like staying up late as a kid or reading your book under the covers with a torch. The atmosphere is great. Fans dress up, people scream and clap and there’s often an ‘exclusive’ movie poster or comic to collect. It’s no great surprise that the first reaction of the movie goers in Aurora was to assume it was all part of the event. I just hope this random act of a madman doesn’t spoil midnight openings forever.

I think the thoughts of every comic book fan (or wife therefore) are with the injured, families and friends (picture pinched from Little League).

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Jul 15 2012

What would you do with £70 million?

The lottery jackpot on Tuesday is huge and it’s got Scifi hubby thinking. He’s now spent the last three hours looking at everything he would buy.

So far Scifi hubby’s dreams include:

    VIP tickets to every US comic convention he ever wants to go to.
    Original art by lots of different people.
    Riding through every state of the US on a motorbike.
    Building our own house:

      The most important feature is that it would have a Batcave underneath, this would be a replica of the 1960s TV series set complete with the Batmobile on a rotating stand in the centre.
      A garage full of motorbikes.
      He’s been looking at life size characters to fill the cave up with from Batman to a Gamorean guard, Yoda, the Grinch…
      Any manhole covers on the ‘estate’ would need to be Gotham City themed.
      Stained glass windows of scifi characters.
      Huge TVs in every room.
      Life sized C3PO and R2D2 at the front door.

    A life sized dinosaur in the garden – we’re currently arguing over whether this has to be a herbivore (my choice) or if he can have a T-Rex.

I drew the line at a bed shaped like the Millennium Falcon and he’s kindly said he’ll let me design the kitchen…

I suppose I’d better buy a ticket.

Jul 8 2012

Coming soon: Scifi Nephew

My sister in law is due to have her first baby soon and our first nephew. We’ve got two nieces from the other sister in law but this is the first baby boy in the family. Predictably Scifi hubby has been looking for scifi themed baby stuff.

There is some really cute stuff out there but the crotched baby batman cocoon and cowl has to be my favourite…

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Although ‘Superbaby’ is quite cute too

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And I could be tempted by the cuddly Batman

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Unfortunately I can only imagine by brother’s reaction to receiving anything like this. So whilst I love them I think I’ll keep the credit card in my bag this time and go and find a nice, normal, fluffy bunny.

Jun 17 2012

Ten days with no Scifi hubby

Scifi hubby is on holiday for a couple of weeks without me so I’ve had a couple of weeks to contemplate what ice would be like without Scifi – I hasten to add I’m not dreaming about life without Scifi hubby, just wondering what it would be like if he wasn’t a scifi addict.

For ten days I haven’t:
Watched any Star Trek
Watched any Family Guy
Watched any American Dad
In fact I’ve watched no animation whatsoever ever!
I’ve not had to remember who wrote which Batman book
I’ve not had to try to remember which Batman Black and White statues we have, which a re due at the comic shop and which we still need to order
I’ve had no conversations about which comic hero you would ‘cliff, marry, or shag’
No one has sent art sketches I’ve needed to decide if I like enough for them to go on our wall
I’ve not bought hotwheels cars at the supermarket
Eaten any chips or baked beans (Scifi hubby’s staple diet)
Been to the comic shop

I have:
Eaten a lot of fish (scifi hubby hates fish)
Read a lot of books
Watched really rubbish murder mysteries on TV
Been for long walks
Sorted out the junk drawer in the kitchen.

Shh don’t tell Scifi hubby but crazily I rather miss it all. I was quite relieved when I got an email to say he’d bought a Jurassic Park dinosaur and then a huge pile of books arrived. Notice that I am a very well trained Scifi wife – the books are on a clean surface, on a teatowel and are now locked in his study where the cat can’t get to them.

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Roll on Wednesday when he, and the scifi madness, is home. I can’t wait.

May 21 2012

Kapow!

Comic conventions have a distinctive smell which makes the light and airy venue for Kapow perfect. In fact it may have been designed with comic nerds in mind. Spread over several levels with a very high glass ceiling the smell has a chance to dissipate and for once wasn’t the first thing you noticed!

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Scifi hubby was in his element – two days of comic book heaven. He got lots of autographs, a few sketches, too many new graphic novels (hard covers of course) and of course some comics. We also spent a lot of time in queues, made some new ‘queue buddies’, met Jonathan Ross, watched crap fake wrestling (don’t even ask but here’s video of Jonathan Ross taking part) and caught up with some fellow comic books friends including a few scifi wives.

I do love spotting the ‘girly touches’ at comic cons. There’s a growing range of DC and Marvel home furnishings available including mugs, cushions, tea towels and aprons. My new favourite has to be the Superman and Batman bathmats…

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Finally home with a load of washing, comics to put away, sore feet but a very happy scifi hubby.

Apr 20 2012

Plans for the weekend

I have an excited scifi hubby. He finally gets to collect all his stuff from the friend that was ill last weekend so boxes of Batman are headed our way. AND we’re going to Ikea.

Normally I can’t get him into Ikea without kicking, screaming, sulking and the promise if a hotdog but this is to find some glass display cabinets for said Batmen so apparently that’s alright.

Flat pack hell with Batman thrown in anyone?!

Apr 12 2012

Scifi road trip

Why did I let myself get talked into this…? Somehow we seem to have accumulated scifi ‘stuff’ in the attic of my parents house. Not his parents house you notice but mine. Four huge packing cases of Batman toys (sorry, obviously I mean ‘collectibles’), lead figures of DC characters, an Iron Man mask, a Tonka truck (an original metal one of course), the odd Star Wars figure, just a few hotwheels cars some of which are Batmobiles, oh and not to mention hundreds of comics. All of which need to make it back to our house 1500 km away.

I started by hiring a car. Collecting it I discovered it was a Golf and not the large estate car I had ordered. 50km down the road the oil light came on – and flashed at me for the next 2950 kms…. Somehow we made it to my parents and proceeded to empty the attic.

Getting everything out of the attic was amazingly easy, partly because a wonderful friend gave us a hand. Batman can be a heavy fat bugger at times.

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The helpful friend showing off her super powers

Then we had to load the car – in the rain. As I’m sure you know “the packaging is worth more than the product” so getting Batman boxes out of packing cases in order to fit them in the back of the car in the rain was a traumatic experience for Scifi hubby. After much packing and repackaging we got everything in so it wasn’t squashed but wouldn’t move around – its not even worth risking denting the corner of a box so bubble wrap and spare clothes were stuffed in every gap. Lucky we don’t have kids as there was only just space for the two of us in the car. It reminded me of one of those ‘guess how many sweets are in the jar’ competitions – ‘guess how many Batmen you can fit in a Golf’.

Heading home ‘someone’ decided we NEEDED to stop at Toysrus just in case they had anything he had to have. 30 minutes later we somehow have to get three more Iron Man toys, six more Hotwheels, foam Hulk hands, a Captain America mask and life size collectors editions Jessie and Bullseye from Toy Story into an already packed car.

Nine hours later through pouring rain we arrived home only to have to repeat the process by emptying the car whilst trying to keep everything dry.

Should I add at this point that Scifi hubby doesn’t drive.