My good friend Justin Ison recently moved up to Washington with his girlfriend Erin, whose birthday party was this weekend.
Erin is lovely, funny, clever, a helluva hostess and a wonderful person, but I honestly don't really know that much about her interests and stuff. When it came to choosing a birthday present for her, I was at a loss.
I knew that she was nuts for Star Trek: The Next Generation. I considered buying her some Star Trek:TNG goodie, but decided it'd be nicer if I could think of something to make her. Immediately - no joke, this was my first idea - I thought "A shoebox diorama of the Cardassian torture chamber from the second part of the episode 'Chain of Command' would be hilarious!"
That was my first idea, folks. And I don't even like Next Generation, I had to look up all that information. I only know the Four Lights scene because it features into a City Desk joke and because of that one LOLCat.
Anyway, I did a little photoshopping of scenes taken from a YouTube capture of the episode, got a box and some soft-foam from Michael's, inserted a quartet of watch-battery operated bridal lights (they're for bridal bouquets, atcherly, not for brides. Brides need bigger lights, because they're denser) into the lid, and after a liberal application of Modge Podge, voila, ST:TNG Cardassian torture chamber diorama.
It went over gangbusters. Hopefully, it will provide a reminder to Erin that, no matter the complications or circumstances, there really are four lights.
