What some people do for their kids..

So, is this the line for Hanna Montana tickets?

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Ooooooo!!! I just LOVE Christmas!
What did y'all get me this year???

A Study in Visual Acuity

Ya think SOMEONE would have noticed that they should have perhaps put a different colored top on this model, one that wouldn't blend in with the cords hanging from her cute little pengy-hat. The cords with the cute little fluffy white tufts on the ends. Unless warm, comfy, knitted holiday pasties have suddenly become all the rage in Canada this season... "in adult and kid sizes." Hello people! Use your eyes!

See: http://www.deluxknitwear.com/novelty_knits/novelty_knits.html

WDS: Bright Lights, Big Rodents

We are excited to present to you highlights from the World Domination Summit which took place yesterday evening. It was a moving and glamorous experience, full of the excitement and majesty that is the hallmark of The Hamster's enlightened rule. Here we go. . .

Here we are on glittering 4th Street Live in fabulous Louisville Kentucky, site of the summit! Excitement mounts are we casually stroll up the boulevard to the awe of onlookers. The Maker's Mark Bourbon House and Lounge is just down the street aways...

As everyone knows, penguins HATE to be late for anything. So we arrived in plenty of time for the beginning of the summit festivities. Having some time on Our Despotic Hands, we decided to take in a few frames at the Lucky Strike Lanes disco bowling alley across the street. Fun, fun, fun!

We were then able to meet Our Most Illustrious Woodchuck right on time and repair to our discussions. We entered our meeting facility where we found "the 57'8" ft. long wood topped bar is outlined in glass and underlit with soft white lighting. Upon entering, guests are met with an entire wall of backlit Maker's Mark bottles and a spectacular 'wall of fire'. At the request of Maker's Mark management, bourbons from each of Kentucky's distilleries are showcased." Woodchuck said that Squirrel would be most favorably impressed with the two pages of bourbon selections on the menu, which ranged up to $50 a shot for the very rarest. We all, however, restrained ourselves admirably since we had serious business to attend to.

As noted on WC's blog. the summit marked the appearance of the latest traveling penguin technology: the Port-a-Flock. This collection of diminutive but deadly warriors can be carried conveniently in one's pocket in a handy zippered case. Since penguins are such social creatures, TR invented them to keep him company on longer trips.

He also taught them the manly skills of hand-to-hand combat and bidding on Priceline.com. Perfect for undercover work and infiltrating behind enemy lines, here they were deployed as the Royal Penguin Guard to maintain security during the summit. Good thing, too. There were some pretty suspicious characters lurking about. Here, the guards confront one of the shadier-looking types.

Happily, it turned out to be only one of the local paparazzi trying to get scoop-photos of the assembled celebrities and despots.

The conference was rounded out by a very nice dinner of bourbon sirloin and veal ossobuco. A tyrannical time was has by all!

World Domination Summit concludes!

And what a swell time we all had! Film at 11!

Woodchuck for Dinner!

Whaddya mean "dinner"???

We here in Hamsterland are most enthused about the World Domination Summit annual bowling banquet this evening in fabulous Louisville! Arrangements have been made and the Imperial Progress will set off from Our Lexington Palace en route to bourbon and tasty, roasted quadrupeds later today. Yes, there will be pictures. Oh will there ever be pictures! Stay tuned!!!

Building better rodents

Likely readers here will already know this, but there is breaking news on Rogue Squirrel's blog.

Yes, it's true!

It appears that the Most Esteemed and Right-Trusty Woodchuck is journeying to the Hamster-Realms for The World Domination Summit. A variety of savoury entertainments are already being contemplated, many involving fine aged bourbon. We rejoice! And of course DG and TR will be on hand for the festivities. Let the earth tremble in fear!
-- By Decree of The Hamster

NOVEMBER 7TH

Around here, we know this as the day of universal rejoicing and thanksgiving.

Do the Woodchucks have a little extra room?

TR now wants to move to Washington, since the leadership there appears to be unusually enlightened.Celebrating Halloween: Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire dressed as Mumble, the world's worst singing penguin, and her husband, Mike, costumed as Loveless the Guru, another penguin.

now THAT'S scary!

For Halloween, TR decided to come as DG in the morning, before his first can of Diet Coke.

BOO!

Latest Brewing Headlines!!!

from the Lexington Herald-Leader for Tue, Oct. 23, 2007:

"Lexington Brewing Co. brought home two silver medals from the Great American Beer Festival in Denver.

"The Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale placed second in the wood and barrel-aged beer category, finishing behind the Oak Whiskey Red from Twisted Pine Brewing Co., in Boulder, Colo. There were 26 entries in the category.

"Also, the Lexington Brewing Co.'s Kentucky Weissbier, brewed only for the festival's pro-am competition, took a silver medal. An English Style India Pale Ale from Allentown/Bethlehem (Pa.) Brew Works took the gold. There were 48 entrants in the category."

The Monarchical Gift Game!

Hey everybody! Let's play a blog game, inspired by my occasional "Thoughtful Gifts for Monarchs" postings. Here are two photos that beg for funny captions. In the comments, send in your own. The winner will have their home town spared in any forthcoming invasions. Fun for the whole family! I'll get us started. . .

#1

"I know we have just the place for this around here... somewhere...."


#2

"Ha! Checkmate! You're country's mine!"

It's Greek to me

I've been meaning to draw your attention to one very, very odd occurrence. For some odd reason, on my office computer only, the tool bar across the top of the blog pages appears in Greek. To wit:

Έχετε επισημάνει αυτό το ιστολόγιο ως ιστολόγιο με απαράδεκτο περιεχόμενο.

Αποστολή ως SMS

Αναζήτηση ιστολογίου

Επισήμανση ιστολογίου

Επόμενο ιστολόγιο Αποσύνδεση

Happily, of course, I can read Greek, but classical Greek. The modern language is quite different, and of course, the ancients didn't have a way of saying "unflag blog." Trust me, after a while, you get used to your life being this weird...

New Obsession!

Well... many of you will be aghast to learn that I've retained my obsession with Korean historical dramas. Some may recall reaction to my post on "Hwang Jini" (see HamsterPost for 16 July 2007) which went over like the proverbial lead balloon. Well, now I'm into something far, far more butch. "Dae Joyoung!" This one is chuck full of war, torture, murder, deception, and... oh yes... FABulous costumes!

SYNOPSIS
This 100-episode epic drama vividly depicts the life of King Dae Jo-yeong and other heroes of the Balhae Kingdom, which dates back 1300 years ago. The role of Dae Jo-yeong is portrayed by actor Choi Su-jong, while the role of Yi Hae-go, Dae Jo-yeong’s rival for the supremacy in the northern territories, is portrayed by actor Chung Bo-seok. The two also face off over the love of Cho-rin, a woman from the Georan tribe, and King Bojang’s niece, Suk-yeong. The role of Cho-rin is played by Park Ye-jin, while Suk-yeong is portrayed by Hong Su-hyun. Several key historic figures in the drama are played by seasoned middle-aged actors, whose masterful acting underscores the drama’s well-knit plot. The drama drew the spotlight even before its premiere for efforts to produce a perfect picture, as even a special KBS video team was set up to create true-to-life fighting scenes, such as a massive siege warfare between Goguryeo and the Tang Dynasty created using 3D digital characters and the scene showing the collapse of a mountain during the Ansi Fortress battle.

A quick Google search will demonstrate what a world-wide phenomenon this is. The series is 100 episodes long. On AZN, we're somewhere in the 50"s Woohoo! Lots left to go! Here are some images for your delectation:

Blogger's Block

Well... I've been racking my brain for ideas for a post, and have come up with bubkes. Anybody got any ideas?

Start of Another Work Week

Here, imperial bureaucrats arrive for work at the office wing of the HamsterPalace. Another day, another Imperial Hamster Piaster!

You callin' me fat? -or- Read the labels carefully

So we're tooting around Yorkshire, and in many a shop there is an assortment of very Yorkshire products, from teas, and tea-cakes, to little sheep toys, you get the picture. Amongst the wares I always found some lovely looking soaps. But they all seemed to me to be made with sheep fat. I'm certain the soaps were very nice, but the idea of washing with sheep fat was not terribly appealing. Eventually, I succumbed out of curiosity and, mostly, because this particular little bar of soap had such a pretty wrapper on it. I figure "souvenir," and the thing certainly didn't smell like left-over mutton.

So we get home and I put the bar away with my other soaps. (I have developed a thing for quality soaps. Blame DG. He started it. He has really a rather nice philosophy of "affordable luxury." There are certain commodities that, given their nature, are priced so that one could reasonably afford the best in the world. Soap is one such item, there's socks, underwear is another. We won't get into the underwear aspect here... ever. But you get the picture. I've come to really, really love good soap.)

So I finally get around to opening my adorable little bar of soap. I mention to DG that I opened "the sheep fat soap" and it was really very nice. DG then pointed out that the soap was not made with sheep fat, but with wool fat, i.e. lanolin. Oh... lanolin... that's a whole different story. As you can tell from the wrapper, it clearly says "wool fat" not "sheep fat." They all said "wool fat." My poor little hamster-brain. To add insult to injury, "lanolin" comes from the Latin words for wool and oil, i.e., wool fat. Duh! I only realized that afterwards.

Don't tell anybody about this.

More Diversions for Kel...

so that hard-working field rodents can sneak out for another wee pint...

Imperial Scottish Hamster Gardens

for Kel:

10,000 years to the penguin!

In honor of the august occasion of Travel Penguin's second anniversary (see http://travelpenguin.blogspot.com/), I will now perform the Penguin dance!