If you haven’t already seen the trailer for Rango, pop on over to You Tube* and watch! This is going to be one hilarious animation, and since it features the voice of Johnny Depp, it’s going to be even better.

Once again reprising his role as a green lizard, Johnny seems to be on fine form, at least in the voice department (which is sadly all we are allowed in this one). I think I can detect a trace of Victor from The Corpse Bride with a little Captain Jack mixed in, so it should be interesting to say the least.

Some of you will recognise the second picture as one I posted quite recently. It’s from an article in an old magazine which was discussing the movie ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’.

Perhaps Mr Depp is a more interesting man than we thought, since it seems he can count shape-shifting among his many talents!

I’m using the screencap from the trailer under the ‘Fair use’ clause of copyright law, which allows limited use of copyrighted images in the pursuit of discussion and education. Do you feel educated?

Well, do ya?

*I would have posted the link to the official movie site, but they’re dragging their heels. It wasn’t yet up there, when I posted this.

Here is a picture of Sid. No, he doesn’t begin with ‘X‘, does he? But Sid might possibly be called ‘yellow haired’, no? And one adjective to describe such a being is ‘xanthous‘, so to kick off this week’s ABC Wednesday, Sid is modelling as a yellow-haired greyhound, even though there is no such official colour! I prefer to call him ‘golden’ myself, but there you are.

His belly isn’t xanthous though.

You’ll notice the skin is quite dark, which is normal for fawn dogs. What you can’t see in this picture is his xiphisternum. The sternum, as you probably know, is the central part of the ribcage at the front, where the ribs all join together, and the xiphisternum, otherwise known as the xiphoid process is a little bit of cartilege which extends down beyond the join. All dogs are different, and in some it’s ossified, and some don’t appear to have one at all. Sid does, but it’s not prominent so you can’t see it on the photo.

Jack had a very prominent xiphisternum, but unfortunately, he seldom showed his belly, and most times I tried to get a picture he’d look at me daggers and curl up. Renie, of course, was not at all shy, but she had quite a furry belly, so her xiphisternum was well hidden.

Yep, that’s definitely an X-rated pose, isn’t it? Which is why it was made into a ‘calendar girl’ shot. But The Princess wasn’t the only one to pose so brazenly.

That photo has been featured on this blog before, and is responsible for an eXtremely high number of hits. It turns up in the search stats with all kinds of X-rated keywords, owing to a post I did some time ago featuring the lovely, but perhaps slightly embarrassing Gracie Greyhound who belongs to a fellow Greytalk member. Her owner swears that the giraffe toy got there all by itself, or perhaps with Gracie’s help.

Anyway. Moving along here ..

Our first greyhound, Jim, used to be called ‘xylophone ribs’ by our younger son. I could see why.

But Jack was a far better candidate for that title, when he first arrived.

Don’t worry, he soon put on weight, once he’d settled in with us, and it wasn’t long before he was even carrying a little eXtra.

So, to finish on a cheerful note, how about a picture of the lovely Sid in his Xmas hat?

I know. I know. It’s only June. But it’s only a matter of time, you know!

And Sid will be ready!

I’m not sure this one needs a description. Suffice it to say that Son No. 1′s ‘nose ring’ is actually the Lovely T’s bracelet, and it was taken after his brother’s birthday celebrations in a pub.

Kind of suits him though, don’t you think?

For more Face Of The Week entries, pop along to Sistertex’s blog, Spacial Peepol

So. Here we are again with a puzzle for Macro Monday, and seeing as only one of you guessed correctly last week, I’m making it easy on you again!

This week’s object is found inside the house, and is a cheap, cheerful solution to one of those ‘how can I make this job easier’ questions. You don’t need it to do this job, another (more common item) will do it just as well, but it does speed things up a tad – and anyway, sometimes it’s more fun to have a specific, ‘so cheap it’s almost throw-away’ object to brighten up your day.

Is it found all over the world? I just don’t know. I know I’ve seen it in several countries myself, but they do vary quite a lot in style, materials and colour. However, the basic function is the same, so there is a strong similarity between them all. There is one vital component that they simply must have, and in every single one that I have seen, it is the same shape, and made of the same basic material.

I will be back tomorrow evening (UK time) to add a picture link to the answer at the bottom of this post – and I shall expect to have to congratulation quite a few of you!

Oh, gosh, late again! But here I am with the solution! And I must congratulate Granny Grimble as the ONLY PERSON to guess this one! I really thought this would be almost too easy, so I’m really surprised to see you all struggling, but I can see why some of you guessed as you did.

Never mind, folks. I’ll do my best to find you an easier one next time. Meanwhile, thanks for playing!