"Pile Pelion Upon Ossa"

Or, Thank You Brewer's - 
 - that's today's coincidence sorted.
     If you have a good memory you will recall Conrad burbling on about reading in Greacen's biography of "Chink" Dorman-Smith* and encountering the phrase about piling "Pelion upon Ossa".  The idiom means to create trouble needlessly, and I'd never encountered it before.
     Five minutes ago**I opened Brewer's Dictionary at page 1049, quite at random, and what do we find?  Today's blog title.  Never encountered for fifty-three years and then - it's like buses, isn't it?
     Anyway, on with the mitley!

"Minions"
How delightful to see Hollywood acknowledging the hitherto uncelebrated role of the lickspittle, the toady and the catspaws - behind (or beneath) every great supervillain there is always a flock of minions.
     No we have to kill them all.  Can't have them getting ideas above their station!

Onions.  Close enough

Shakeshaft
Once again Conrad rubs his hands with febrile glee (the best kind!) at the prospect of slinging mud at the Bald of Avon, a malicious enjoyment only slightly tempered by the thought of all those bored Russian squaddies manning radar stations in the wilds of Siberia, reading BOOJUM! to improve their English, and getting affronted by the insulting of Shakespeare.  Fingers away from those big red buttons, chaps!
     Anyway - this is from "Julius Caesar":

"There is a tide in the affairs of men"

Sorry, Bill, you'll have to start again.

It's not the same now, as it was then.

The fairer sex today get a mention.

"Which, taken at the flood -"

No, Bill, that's not good.

The H.S.E. really would

Freak at "Flood", you rash dude! 

" - leads to victory."

Oh, it does, I see.

Forgive my non-agree

Re Wonder Watery

     It's not deathless prose, but I wrote it so you are just going to have to endure it.

D.O.G. D.T.V.
Which, translated, means "Den of Geek" and "Direct to Video".  DoG is a website that I occasionally look at but normally avoid as it tends to make time travel waaaay to quickly for my liking.  Five minutes on DoG and in the real world half an hour has passed, and you'll never get those twenty-five minutes back.

"Speak for yourself, Conrad ... "

     I also need to explain "Direct to Video", as I imagine a lot of the younger readers have never seen a video tape except on display at the Museum of Science and Industry.  Back in the day, rather than release a film at cinemas, which is a complex and expensive process, cheapass studios would simply release it on video.  This meant that relatively cheap films could recoup their costs and move into profit quickly; nowadays it's actually a "Direct to DVD" - in fact that's the actual webpage title - but that has less resonance, and Conrad is, after all, a dinosaur.  

Conrad gets ready to tackle breakfast

     DoG's article:

http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/straight-to-dvd/31901/the-top-25-underappreciated-straight-to-dvd-films

 - by Wil Jones, is actually very interesting, and I read the whole lot with appreciation.  WJ puts across the point that there are some excellent acting and action films in the DTV category (plus some that are bitshizzle insane), which outperform films with vastly bigger budgets and promotion. 

"Man With Big Ass Gun" - always a crowd puller

 I have taken note of some films he mentions.  Plus it's nice to see British actors getting recognition - Michael Jai White stars in the hilarious spoof "Black Dynamite" which I encourage you to watch go out and buy - and also the faded action stars of yesteryear.  WJ puts a compelling case that these DTV releases allow such people to act in a nuanced way that simply wasn't possible in their heyday.  I'll let you know.

A Slightly Delayed Father's Day Celebration
Darling Daughter has come bearing gifts, so Conrad feels a little guilty sneaking away from the party to post this blog.  Do you forgive me, Sal?

"Mayyyybe.  Mayyyybe yes.  Mayyyybe no."

     Ah, how sharper than a serpent's tooth it is - hang on, that's Shakespeare.  Quick!  Art, we need a diversion -

Excellent!  An Apollo LEM.
No, hang on, it's an industrial bacon slicer.  Easily mistook.

     Moving on to the gift, we have a timely present of a lunchbox:

Hideously alarming, which is essentially all Conrad ever aims for.

     I've not made lunch yet - see!  see what sacrifices I make for you lot! - but when I do it will go into Sheridan the Shrieking Skull***.



* He was also Chink Dorman-O'Gowan but let's not egg the pudding too much
** I'm a slow typer.
*** "Sheridan" - I feel it brings a touch of class.