What a long, strange trip it's been... A Writer's Reflection

After months of hard work, uncountable cups of coffee consumed, lots of jokes about nubs and copious amounts of gum and chapstick, The Seductobot hit the stage from March 2nd, 2011 to March 5th at Perrett's Corner, to a crowd of enthusiastic punters - some of whom got a little more than they bargained for when they read the blurb. Yes folks, we have scandalised, entertained, sang, danced and taught at least one important lesson about consent. And now, it's over and I must admit, I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do with myself. Sleep might be an idea. 

I'm very honoured to have met the following people through Seductobot - Saran Goldie-Anderson, Andrew Salisbury, Clare Meyer, Michael Rowlands, Scott Roy, Amy May, Louise Chow and Vynessa Smith. Thank you so much for coming on board. It's been so, so lovely to work with you and I hope we keep in touch and work together in future. 

It has been a delight to work with friends/acquaintances I knew pre-Seductobot - Kirsty McGuire, Hans Landon-Lane, Emma Wollum, Lorenz Wright, Cordelia Black, Jess Howison and Dom Whittaker. Some of you I've gotten to know a lot better, some of you have been putting up with me for years - either way, your support has been so inspiring and I really appreciate having had you around. 

Thanks to Jess Howison and her stage crew - Isaac Prentice, Oliver Ewert and Rueben Waine. You guys were awesome and kept us all in line on the nights. 

A huge thank you must also go to the lovely Elissa Moore of Perrett's Corner, who has been brilliant since we pitched this whole crazy project to her. A shout-out to the staff working during show nights - you guys were very patient with us, so thank you! Perrett's Corner Cafe and Bar is on the corner of Manners and Willis St - if you enjoyed Seductobot, why not show your support and head down for a drink sometime? Friday night is Happy Hour with some lovely drink specials... you know you want to... 

... I don't think we're quite done with The Seductobot just yet. I've heard some scandalous rumours... things like "repeat season" and "web series" so just watch this space, as there might be something in the works. However, we'd probably best take some time to recover. 

But in the meantime, this week has not one but TWO massive Song Sales for the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal! Come along to Medusa at 8pm on Thursday March 10th. Then come along to Cavern Club at 8pm on Friday March 11th. What's a Song Sale, I hear you ask? Check us out on Facebook or Blogspot...

Beth's Adventures Outside The Lab

Yesterday I ran out of coffee and it was hideous and I had to go and get some before lack of caffeine and constant goading caused me to attack the Lobster with the laser. While I was out I had to go and talk to my advisor, it being the start of a new academic year, and as if that wasn't bad enough I got to the university only to find it's overrun with first years. UGH.

I kept my head down and tried to scurry through without making eye contact but was stopped by a nurse and asked to make an approximate volume calculation on a jar filled with an unknown quantity of condoms. I could have done such calculations easily, but in actual fact it had nothing to do with volume at all. I assumed that the people filling it thought they were being clever, but through the logical deconstruction of their methodology I was able to deduce this: The stall was run by student health to promote student health and their services, including the prescription of condoms. The standard prescription is for an entire dispensing pack, which contains 12 packets of 12 condoms each, totalling 144. Therefore, they had filled the jar with 144 condoms as a method of advertising. Duh.

They rang me back later to tell me I had won a "shag bag". I have no idea what such a bag might contain. I hope it isn't a live shag, I'm not sure there is enough room in my lab for a frankenroboshag, though creating a voice mechanism to interact with a beak would be a fun afternoon.

I will pick up this "shag bag" today. Perhaps if I don't want it I can give it to Trevor.

Guest Blog: A Brief History of Robots

The word 'robot' was only coined as recently as 1921 by Czech playwright Karel Čapek, from the Old Church Slavonic for slave labour. The word then achieved widespread currency in the science fiction community, to the extent that when technology advanced far enough to actually create robots the word was transplanted from fiction to reality. But the idea of creating artificial life in our own image is, of course, much, much older.


In 18th century Austria, the Mechanical Turk (a chess-playing automaton) was accused of seducing and subsequently murdering a young noblewoman. The fact that the Turk's inner workings actually concealed a rather cramped Venetian dwarf was not widely known at the time.


Around the 15th century the Lords of the Golden horn, the sultans of the Ottoman Empire, were pleased to entertain a certain Arab who reputedly produced automata in the shapes of birds, fountains and beautiful women, which would variously fly, burble and sing. Although records of the Arab's works remain, none of the devices themselves have survived.


The Ancient Greeks had their legends of Pygmalion, whose love for his sculpture brought her to life.


And, of course, someone-or-other supposedly made someone or something in His or Her image, out of clay, spit, blood, wax, ribs and various other organs -- whatever came to hand, really -- a long, long time ago.


It's funny that for most of us robots suggest the futuristic, when the idea is one of the oldest we have.


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Blog by the ever witty Hans.