Under Pressure

No! Not The Queen/David Bowie Song

Nor do I refer to my informational lectures on deep-sea exploration earlier this year.  No!  I mean the pressure of having to come up with the goods for BOOJUM! daily.  The blog averages about 20 hits a day, compared to the 3 or 4 way back almost 500 posts ago.  Conrad feels he has an audience to entertain*.

     So let's get on with it!

The Strain

In case you don't know, this is the TV horror series about vampires in New York, adapted from a series of novels by Guillermo Del Toro** and Chuck Hogan**.  Conrad is now up to Episode 6 and is enjoying what he finds is a stern corrective for the glitterghouls of "Twilight" and the arch sex-fiends of "True Blood".  These vampires are sexless horrors with - but that would be telling.

 - although this seems to be part of the inspiration

     Case in point: Herr Eichorst, a vampire of some decades standing, assembles his face at the start of Episode 3, as without the addition of nose, ears, throat and hair he would stop traffic.  And not in a Wonderbra way.  This is a touch ironic, as the actor already has prosthetics on to appear devoid of nose, ears and hair and has a gaping hole in his throat, and has then to apply prosthetics over those prosthetics in order to look human - at which point all prosthetics have actually been removed.

     The chief human villain of the piece also has a name I recognised: Eldritch Palmer.  Where was that from?  Aha!  From Philip K. Dick - "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldtrich".  A nice touch.

     I also like the fact that a Character British Actor (David Bradley) is a hero - perhaps a touch of the anti-hero about him, yes - but still a hero!  Well done that casting person.

PKD is sadly unable to complain or compliment, being dead.
At least that's what They tell us ...

"Kill The Moon"

Last night's Doctor Who, doncha know.  Conrad liked it, but damn!  Dog buns!  The cameras never lingered on the nuclear bombs long enough for me to read the Cyrillic on them, all I managed was "Drojhd-".  I also recognised Astronaut/Victim Number One as Tony Osoba, an actor who was played an android Movellan in a Dalek story about 40 years ago.  Hot stuff, eh? Even at this distance I can tell you're impressed.  There's also a crack the Doctor made about the "Bennet oscillator" that echoes a line of his in "The Ark In Space". Should I go look this up - Ow***!  

Green bubble-wrap was never so terrifying ...

     Okay, okay.  I did find echoes of "Apollo 18" here, a film so recent I ain't going to recap it; and also "The Falling Astronauts", an SF novel by Barry Malzeberg that involves atom-bombing the Moon; and a story in 2000 AD, where aliens in a star system see a giant space-bat come to hatch out it's eggs laid in their system's planets.  I'm pretty sure the art was by Gary Davis - but Mister Hand is hovering with that skewer -

     It also looks as if Clara is falling out of love with the Doctor, which is a pity as she is

Hit With The Coincidence Hammer - Again!

Last night I was witnessing my best mate Al Murray^ posting quotes from "The Battle Of Epping Forest" on Twitter. Up came the line about "Liquid Len and his smashed bottle men".  This rather gave Conrad pause for thought, as he was looking at the liner notes from Hawkwind's "Saga of Doremi Fasol Latido" at the time, and who gets a credit there?  Why, none other than Liquid Len and the Lensmen - responsible for the lightshow at Hawkwind gigs.

What the audience at a Hawkwind gig probably saw

First World War Verbiage

Reading my collection of short first-hand accounts, I came across the term "weaving barrage".  Not come across this term before - creeping barrage, lifting barrage, standing barrage, box barrage, them certainly.  Weaving?  One where the barrage remains on target and another is applied ahead of it, the original then moving ahead of the second?  Answers on a postcard c/o "The Mansion".

     There is also the phrase "frost cogs".  The internet doesn't help with this at all - thanks, internet! - but one gets the sense that these went either onto horses hooves or the wheels of horsed transport, to cope with icy conditions.

     Answers on a postcard c/o "The Mansion".

Frost Cops.  Close enough

<Short pause whilst I obtain pictures from mobile>

Conrad - Kitchen Commando

I have been busy in the kitchen today - note please how I avoid allegedly hilarious mis-spellings like "Kommando" or <shudder> "Konrad".  First up is Chilli Cheese Dip:

No!  It does not look like a big pile of sick^^!

 
     This I make because you don't get much in the pots from the supermarket.  Here is twice as much for half the price.  It doesn't really matter what it tastes like: Conrad made it so he is damn well going to eat it!

Here we have the chicken & veg soup:

Another metaphor for Conrad's mind

     And once again, it doesn't really matter what it tastes like: Conrad made it so he is damn well going to eat it!  Although, since there is about 5 pints of it, he does rather hope it's not too bad.

Then there is the Pear and Blueberry Polenta Cake:

"Bake for 30 minutes" my hairy white posterior - an HOUR and 30 minutes

     Gluten and dairy free, so Conrad will be fending off other folks who wouldn't mind a piece of the action.

Finally
May I present Edna Wunderhund, with her current toy of choice.

The orange plastic thing, not the feet

     Because it is almost impossible to get her to stand still, may I also present a picture of the toy in question:

Unclear from the image, but this thing squeaks when squeezed

     It squeaks very easily if pressure is applied, and Edna applies the pressure frequently.  You can track her progress through the house from the "squeaksqueaksqueaksqueaksqueak" as she trots around with it.

* And educate.  Note how I refrain from any of those hideous American portmanteau terms like "Edutain". 

** Yes, that Chuck Hogan!

*** Mister Hand once again deploys the bamboo skewer of "hurry up they're not all rabid fanboys"

^ Utter fiction, he doesn't know me from a hole in the road.

^^ Maybe a little pile ...