Under The Whip

Conrad Working Late
     Yes indeed.  Late home from work, then off to do the shopping, then bringing it in and putting it all away, fending the cats away from anything meat-themed, nibbling on a bit of smoked Polish sausage to keep the strength up - O!  the life I lead.
     Got a lot of date-expired stuff, too, so I am thankful that Wonder Wifey wasn't there to see what had been bought, or there'd be a lecture in the offing - and might still be!

Roadkill!  nature's free meaty bounty!
(And what Conrad draws the line at eating)

Any Excuse To Use An Old Photo Again
     Not exactly old - in fact from last night.  Well, time is relative, correct?
     Yes, it's the "Courgette and Lemon Cake" again, which simply whizzed off the plate at work today, and everyone who came to buy a slice had one question:
     "Why courgette?!"

     Well, consider carrot cake or beetroot cake as other examples.  The grated vegetable adds bulk and moisture - and sweetness with carrots.  The same applies to courgette; it doesn't have a strong flavour so the other ingredients come forward. I did try to promote it as "two of your five a day", but Lorraine put it better - "Fruit and veg in a cake".
     It is nice, as Conrad broke one of his rules* and actually had a piece himself.

The Mysterians
     No!  Nothing to do with Gerry Anderson!  Pay attention or there will be a slap in your near future, observe the spelling, "Mysterians" "IA" not "O".
     This is a Japanese sci-fi fillum from 1957, wherein the titular Mysterians descend on Japan and humbly beg the use of a small piece of land to live on (can't remember if there were violins playing - but probably).
     Those sappy, big-hearted Japs agree, and then start wondering if there's a connection between their mysterious alien arrivistes, and a giant robot that goes around flattening Japanese cities.
     Well, I mean, it could be a coincidence, couldn't it?
     SPOILER

Creepy, in Conrad's opinion, although he is a colossal coward.

     Well it's not!  The Mysterians are eeeevil, you see, simply eeeevil.  They intend to - to - er - actually I can't remember, but it does involve giant robots and things exploding.  
     The film title apparently inspired that popular American ensemble "Question Mark and the Mysterians", and - who knows - perhaps even Gerry Anderson**.

Fraktur
     "Fraktur".  Sounds like a Kraut-rock band from the mid-seventies, doesn't it?  Who featured on the soundtrack of "Last Year In Marienbad" and a video by Wim Wenders.
     Wrong!  It's a typeface.  You'll have seen it in any war film that ever featured Nazis or Germans:

"Achtung!  Was is los?  Donner und bli" - oh you get the idea.

     It's called "Fraktur" after the fractured nature of the calligraphy, entirely unlike normal Latin handwriting.  A swine to write in, Conrad feels, and also very hard on the eyes when reading: this is a complaint of researchers who have to go through script like this when researching hand or type-written records of Wilhemine or Nazi Germany.

See?  Not exactly easy on the optics

Bill Tidy
     If you have to ask who or what Bill is, then THE EXIT DOOR IS OVER THERE!
     Hmmm.  Then again, Conrad did know about him forty years ago.  Okay, you young snappers of whips are forgiven.  This time.
     Bill is a cartoonist, and has been since the Fifties.  He had a long gig doing "The Fosdyke Saga" for the Daily Mirror, relating the fortunes of a Northern tripe magnate, his rise, fall and rise again.

The Fosdykes, purveyors of the world's finest tripe

     Conrad also remembers Bill being on the Friday edition of "Look North", the local television programme fronted by a certain person now - well, let's not go into that.  Bill used to have a classical painting set up on a big blank canvas, such as "The Rape Of The Sabine Women", and he do a cartoon ad lib leading off from the painting in his own inimitable style.  And every week he'd promise "next week "The Death Of Nelson"! - which never came.
     Bill is still going strong at 80, much in demand for presentations at corporate functions.
     I wonder -
     Conrad works in a corporate environment.
     Folks there could do with a bit of a cheer-up ...
     I'll get back to you on this one -