<p>They&rsquo;re big, they&rsquo;re robots and they&rsquo;re in his front lawn. <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/search/new+york-articles" target="_blank" rel="none noopener">New Yorker Curt Gray</a> might have outgrown his childhood pants, but not his fetish for superheroes. And now the 61-year-old has taken to making bigger-than-life-sized robots, that glow-in-the-dark and attract people from far and wide.</p>
<p><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2023/jan/Robots-2_e.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p>
<p>&ldquo;Around five to 20 people stop by my house every day. Kids desist going to school unless their moms let them see Batman, up and close,&rdquo; said the tile contractor. The characters from <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/search/world+news-articles" target="_blank" rel="none noopener">Bruce Wayne</a>, Gray&rsquo;s big league, Cyborg, Superman and Wonder Woman along with Iron Man in his &ldquo;Hulk smasher&rdquo; suit top the list of his amazing displays.</p>
<p><strong>Also Read: <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/news/world-news/article/deep-freeze-grips-us-as-winter-bomb-cyclone-looms-ahead-23262049" target="_blank" rel="none noopener">Deep freeze grips US as winter &lsquo;bomb cyclone&rsquo; looms ahead</a></strong></p>
<p>As a hyperactive kid, Gray loved art classes, and would enjoy exploring metal craft during his childhood. As a grown up, he took to crafting shelf-sized sculptures of favourite pop culture icons using old toys and household items. Over the decades, the pieces grew and grew, and, during the initial months of COVID-19, he started displaying these giant superheroes in his yard to &ldquo;uplift spirits&rdquo; in the neighbourhood. He uses recycled metals&mdash;car grills, parts of Radio Flyer wagons, base of stand-up basketball hoops, pieces of children&rsquo;s beds, ride-on scooters and various other crafty materials found at yard sales and on the street, to create his robots.</p>
<p><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2023/jan/Robots-3_e.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p>
<p>While Gray is known for his front yard display, his backyard is not bereft of some out-of-the-box action. That&rsquo;s where he constructs new robots and refurbishes old ones. He is currently on the route to bring back Frankenstein to life by putting together turkey pots and fence posts. A four-foot-long dog is also on his project list, which Gray&rsquo;s supportive wife Anne Marie Labianco, insists bears much more resemblance to a dinosaur.</p>
<h2>Dead for the bestseller!</h2>
<p><strong>This novelist of 14 books played dead to become the bestselling author</strong></p>
<p><strong><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2023/jan/Snake-lady_e.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></strong></p>
<p>In the world of a suspense novel, thrills introduced by a writer are what keep the writing going. And it seems like Tennessee-based, Susan Meachen not just took a leaf out of some thriller and pasted it in her life but she also went the extreme way. Meachen played dead for two years, just so she could become a bestselling author. She has authored a total of 14 novels so far. Like a failed plot, the mystery of her antics was unraveled by Meachen herself when she posted on Facebook about being alive. &ldquo;I almost died again at my own hands and they [family] had to go through all that hell again,&rdquo; alleged Meachen, who was the admin for the private page.</p>
<h2>Watch me eat!</h2>
<p><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2023/jan/Scottish-man_e.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p>
<p>A Scottish man has gone viral after paying to have a video of him eating bread broadcast in Times Square. Footage depicting his carb-heavy 15 seconds of fame, currently boasts nearly 1,70,000 views on TikTok. &ldquo;It was absolutely wild seeing my stupid face eat a slice of bread in New York City, what a buzz it was,&rdquo; Darren Dowling, a 26-year-old from Glasgow said. The Glaswegian goes by @yerboidazza on TikTok.</p>
<h2>Eat your Christmas tree</h2>
<p><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2023/jan/Christmas-tree-im_e.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p>
<p>The new trend online is to devour your Christmas tree, rather than throwing it away. Social media users are sharing how parts of the tree can get a new life as ingredients in recipes, after their task to dress up and stand in that corner of your house in the festival season is over. &ldquo;You can use the needles as you would use rosemary or bay leaves, for flavour, and can be blended into vinegar or crushed to flavour gin,&rdquo; a user said.</p>
<h2>Thieves call 911 for help</h2>
<p>Two burglars in Florida were arrested after one of them called 911 to get help with moving the belongings from a home they were burglaring. The woman confessed to the police. &ldquo;They also wanted a ride to the airport so they could spend the weekend in New York,&rdquo; the sheriff&rsquo;s office said.</p>
<h2>Choose the right one</h2>
<p><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2023/jan/Jeff-Martin_e.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p>
<p>Insta user Jeff Martin posted video of a &ldquo;hack&rdquo; for a pleasant flight in Southwest Airlines, with an &ldquo;open seating&rdquo; policy&mdash;where people can choose their seats. &nbsp;The clip with 103,000 views shows Martin and his wife sitting taking the aisle and window seat where they find the &lsquo;right&rsquo; passenger for the third seat.</p>
<h2>Wannabe Wolf!</h2>
<p><img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2023/jan/Wolf-a_e.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p>
<p>A Japanese man reportedly spent a whopping 3 million yen (R18, 00,000) on a handmade costume to fulfil his dream of becoming a wolf. A company specialising in special modelling, revealed that it also created a special dog suit for a client who always wanted to live like a dog. Recently, they also received an even more challenging order from a person who wanted to live out their fantasy of becoming a wolf.</p>

Kids can’t get enough of this 61-year-old’s gigantic display of robots in his front lawn

He’s all nuts and bolts — for robots

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast

Home / News / World News / Article / He’s all nuts and bolts — for robots

He’s all nuts and bolts — for robots

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast