Conrad. Damn! He's A Multi-Tasking Man

Okay, Now I'm Just Showing-Off
     Well, I have accumulated a bit more material.  Not enough for a themed blog on "Films about firemen", although that will come, oh yes.  I need films between the 40's and the 90's to make the item complete, which may be tomorrow's research subject.
     Aha!  "Farenheit 451" - that's either from the 60's or the 70's. There you go, Conrad, always thinking.
     Not necessarily thinking anything pleasant, but, still: thinking.

Oooh, no, this won't do!
We need live humans to be our slaves!

Watching Films - And Prepping Food
     Here we have Conrad watching "Evil Dead 2" and also peeling, slicing, dicing and chopping various vegetables.

That's camera flare, not Ash with a laser-cannon

     I haven't seen the film in an age and can't believe how much punishment Ash (Bruce Campbell's character) takes.  Not merely in cinematic terms but in the stunt and effects work - beating himself over the head with plates hard enough to break them - as an actor you'd only ever want to do that in one take!
     Anyway, the vegetables you see are now in the Chicken and Veg soup, which  is cooking on the hob as I type.  Made to help tackle Dogsitter Daughter's niggling cold, because SHE IS DRIVING ME MAD WITH HER SNIFFLES EVERY 12 SECONDS.  Just FYI.

Making Novel Notes - And Watching "Dredd"
     Yes, I am still making notes of the dialogue from "The Kraken Wakes".  Almost half-way into the novel and up to 20 pages of notes.
     

"The Kit stays in the picture"

     Oh, yes, "Dredd".  I've seen it at the cinema already, and have watched the DVD several times, so it's almost like having "Metal Machine Music" on in the background as a diversion.  I wouldn't be happy simply sitting and watching an old film, hence the simultaneous note-taking.
     You can't do this with any film.  Anything dubbed, or with subtitles, needs a level of concentration that means no other activity allowed.
     "Dredd" really brings across the spirit of the comic serial graphic media presentation, top marks to the producers, directors and especially Karl Urban.  I believe he influenced Michael Fassbender in his role as "Frank Sidebottom".

Frank's happy laughy cheery face - no, hang on a minute -

Listening To Music - And Cooking
     Getting the stock ready, defrosting sweet corn and petit pois, dicing chicken breast, frying the onion and leek gently and also listening to Elbow and "Cast Of Thousands".

     I tend to forward the i-pod from one track to another, jump between albums, change the volume and switch artists, which is a bit tricky if you're stirring in lentils and pearl barley to a vegetable mix before adding the stock - there is a distinct risk of sticking, and if the base of the pot gets any burnt-on detritus at this point, it will accumulate later in the cooking process and lead to burning.
     Sorry, Guy, but those lentils need scraping.

Reading Thomas Pynchon - And Drinking Wine
     Thos. P. is an American man of letters, a novelist whose novels regularly appear in lists of the top 100 novels ever, never mind top 100 American novels.  His stuff isn't especially easy to read, not so much thanks to style or density or vocabulary so much as plot and the very large numbers of characters.

Notice the cocked finger.  That's refinement, innit?

     Thus one tends to need one's wits around one's self, not to be distracted or diverted, and not to be squiffy, either, or you won't remember what you read.

Composing The Blog - And Occupying Edna
     If you regularly drop by BOOJUM!, gentle reader, you will by now be familiar with Edna the Wunderhund.  Edna demands attention when awake, and a comfy place to recline when asleep.  When Conrad is composing the blog he cannot have Edna on his lap

"Either I get lap - or you get a toilet wake-up call at 2:45 a.m."

 - since thanks to stool he has no lap.  This means keeping up a stream of inane banter with Edna, lest she feel - well, lonely and under-appreciated.