needle

heya

and so another delve into the realm of commercial expenditure, look you see. or, if you like, a bit of a gander at something what i purchased on my travels. yes, indeed, bourgeois moi. and likely far, far more pictures, videos and animated stuff to share than i have words to go with. 

this all, of course, concerns me purchasing (or procuring) an effigy, or monument if you like, constructed to honour the humble hedgehog. regular readers of this blog shall know that this is a particularly fond passion of mine; one in which i engage regularly. 

except no, that's not quite true. i purchased one, once, and this is now the second. but, still, you know, man, if i ever see any more, like i did in this second instance, i will purchase them. hedgehogs are smart. 

my most recent acquisition of a tribute to a hedgehog is quite similar to the previous, except that it is radically different. whereas the last one, the first one i bought, was a squedgehog, and was all like a squeezy stress ball like thing, this one is solid, hardcore full tilt plastic. as you can probably see in the picture above, presented as it is in the greater good and glory of Commodore 64 mode. 

one concern i have about purchasing these homage to hedgehog things is the predominant structure of plastic. this is not a matter i would have concerned myself with. however, a schoolgirl off of Sweden or somewhere kept having temper tantrums about plastic, and for some reason all of the world decided to feel guilt, or shame, because of this. it gets to the point where one feels as though there is an expectation to hand themselves in to the police when they buy anything plastic these days. 

quite weird, that is. i mean, the plastic has been created and the damage done before i buy the item, so why is it or how come it is my fault? presumably by purchasing these items i am creating the demand for enemies of mother nature to merrily make plastic, but would such not happen still if i declined to purchase? had they made it a symbol of a lesser, more sh!t animal than a hedgehog - a badger, say, or even a squirrel - i would not have bought. yet the plastic would still exist.

so, as you can probably see in the above image, the hedgehog in this instance, called needle or needles as i am not sure (see below), is plastic and comes in a rather smart plastic spherical ball thing. this, the latter bit, is presumably to make it all easier to stock in vending machines. 

provenance and cost of this one? well, the (up to now) usual £1 coin was required to obtain this from a vending machine at a service station somewhere on the motorways of England. i really do tend to lose track of where i am in the world, momentarily. so many places, etc. 

why, exactly, do service stations have vending machines of this nature on the go? presumably to upset parents, really. on any long, exhausting drive - and if you have been on the A1 or A1(M) car park of a road you know this - what parents really, really want when they stop for a break is their children pleading for a pound to purchase one of the toys off of a vending machine. usually the toys are bouncing balls, or something that makes a noise - either way, entirely inappropriate to give to a bored child in the confines of a car. hats off to the service stations for this. 

above, then, is the vending machine what i got this out of. needles the led hedgehog it says, so i am not sure if the brand is needles, the name of the hedgehog is needles or a singular hedgehog is called needle, but the machine refers to a collective. i shall stick to needle for now, although for some reason i think that was also the name of a sword out of that game of dragons show, or whatever it was. the one with all the nudies and violence and the law of diminishing returns. 

further, i suppose, these vending machines could also serve as an ideal source of "f*** it that will do" thinking type of present if one has forgotten someone's birthday, or significant life event, such as a wedding anniversary. makes sense, really, to go "hello, happy [whatever the event], here is a gift", and hand over one of these specimens. let me try it out, some time. 

care for a look at needle(s) the plastic based hedgehog in a regular sort of image? being, or as in, not presented in the greater good and glory of Commodore 64 mode? most unusual, but very well, here you go. 

yes, indeed it is that shade of blue which is impossible to determine. or blue green, i think. one could, at a push, say it was kind of turquoise, allowing for the fact that momentarily i am not at all sure what that colour would look like. regardless, or irrespective, that's not really, or particularly a natural shade for a hedgehog to be. but, also, neither is it natural for a hedgehog to have a keyring ring attached to it. 

not sure that needle(s) the led hedgehog is all that a good idea for an actual, in use keyring. i mean, why would you do so. to me it doesn't look like that chain would last. perhaps, though, the keyring element is not there to add a key or keys to it as such, but rather to allow one to attach needle(s) to something or other. maybe dangle it off a bag, or even a belt loop on trousers. 

on, then, to the business end. so far there has not been all that much discussion, or mention, of the led element to this latest hedgehog artefact. behold, then, one of them animated gif things. 

indeed it is a bit of a bonkers, potentially headache (or worse) inducing light show it puts on. that this comes across in the greater good and glory of Commodore 64 mode is, well, a statement of sorts. 

so far as i am aware, no, it is neither natural nor normal for a hedgehog to emit such fantastical light displays. but, in this instance, it does. to be fair, it's not like if you squeeze a hedgehog it immediately returns to a more natural state, unlike the squedgehog. 

there are, i appreciate, one or two of you who(m) may feel that a "regular" video would give much more better insight into the led wonders of needle(s). i disagree with this feeling, but yes, we have got a video, and here it is below. 

my overall feelings on needle(s) the led hedgehog? well, for what it is, with respect to structure, materials, flashing lights and that, actually feels like decent value for £1 in the present day. i am not sure of all that economies of scale and that, but it does seem that manufacture, shipping and selling all probably (likely) adds up to more than a quid, but that is all the charge. our friends in america would, i have little doubt, say you get "bang for your buck", but that's just them. no, i have no idea if you get actual, real hedgehogs in america. 

finally, then (for this post, at the least), sort of, an unusual rare or "deleted" scene. here, have a look at this one, if you will. yes, another animated gif thing in the greater good and glory of Commodore 64 mode.  why not. 

personal opinion, of course, but i much preferred the first animated gif thing, which is why i included that one in the "main body" of this. to me this one is a bit spooky, and at one stage it looks like a ghost, spectral skull thing flashes up. not my sort of thing, really, but one or two of you might rather like such things, so here it is, above, for you. 

well, that's that. yes, certainly, as and when i make any other hedgehog related purchasing decisions i shall seek to share them here. 

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!