All You Need Is - Phil!

Not Quite As A Name -
     Yesterday Conrad attempted to round your education with a bit of Latin.  Tonight we have Greek.  Not, I hasten to add, in the original Greek alphabet as this would smack of Cruel And Unusual Punishment, but in the Roman version thereof.
     So - "phil" - derived from the Greek "Philia", meaning "love".  This root crops up all over the place.  Let us begin!
     The name "Philip" derives from the Greek "Philhippos", which means "lover of horses".  Yes, "Hippo" is Greek for "horse".  Trust me, we'll get round to the African hippo in time.  Ergo, Prince Philip is especially aptly named.
     Then there's "Philadelphia", which means "Fond of cream cheese", or, if you live in the city itself, "Brotherly love".  Awww!
     Then we have the London Philharmonic - "Lover of mouth organ music", "Philanthropy" - "Love of Humanity", bibliophile - "Book Lover" and "Philomena" - "Beloved".
     Phil - always in our hearts!

There's also "PhilCollins" - "Used to be a credible musician"

"Crime Has A New Enemy"
     Yes.  ME!
     Excuse me for my brusque response.  The title is a tagline seen on a bus poster today, advertising the remake of "Robocop".
     Excuse me, when did the world sit down and decide "Hmmm what we really, really, really need - is a re-hash of a film that didn't need to be re-made and was definitive in it's own right first time - without the butt-sucky sequels and the ultra-butt-sucky television series?"

Robocop!

Vehicular Pervert!

     Conrad foresees that there will be ... trouble.

Looks = 1  Sense = 0
A few posts ago I mentioned the "Darkside" trailer.  Looked impressive, sounded cool, but - completely divorced from actual reality, don't you know?
     Here's a full-length film of the same ilk:  Silent Hill.  

"Sorry!  Didn't realise this one was occupied!"

Apparently based on a Japanese game, I've seen it twice and couldn't make out what was going on.  Yes, it's set in a town abandoned when underground coal seams caught fire.  No, it isn't set on a hill, and it's not bloody silent either!  The warning sirens that blast out regularly disprove that.  It isn't clear how the female protagonist got into Silent Hill and it isn't clear at the end if she's gotten out.
     Don't get me wrong, it's a sinister and eerie setting with some unsettling monsters, but the sense of What On Earth? undermines* all this.

This is "Pyramid head"; a bit short on social graces.  Why "Pyramid Head"?  Because "Sphinx Head" would be silly!

Oh, and Anna, if you're reading this?  Not one of those films to watch before bedtime.  You can warn Kay off it, too.

Gridlock in Silent Hill

Tag-Team Utilities
     Ah, Corporation Street in Manchester.  This "street" has been closed to traffic since - let me think - at least summer last year.  First they dig up one side of the road, then the other, then the pavement, then they move the digging a few hundred metres away and begin again.  Then along comes another set of utilities, who dig up the - you get the idea.
     What you, the public, aren't being told is the sinister reason behind all these roadworks.  The roadworks of DOOM!  <ahem> let me try that again, with more emphasis.  THE ROADWORKS OF DOOOOOM!

Aboveground

Belowground

     Yes.  Nicking their idea from the film "2012", our leaders are building a secret underground Ark in order to preserve themselves whilst the rest of us get flooded out.
     Don't believe me?  Just check out the news. What kind of weather have we been having lately, hmmm?  

Bike Lights
     Any sensible cyclist carries at least two lights, one front, one rear, usually of a variety that blink and announce the presence of an item that might scuff your paintwork if you hit it an unstable nuisance near the kerb a bike.  The more cautious have another affixed to their rucksack.  Last night Conrad encountered one chap with lights fore and aft, a light on his helmet rear, a string of lights around his rucksack and a light built into each handlebar.  This led to the logical conclusion that -

Never knew so many Tinker Bell's existed

Ah.  I see someone got there before I did.

Right!  Now to go and do bad, bad, bad at the pub quiz.

*  Look, look!  You see what I did?  Eh?  O you did.