It's Will Ryker - Being A Piker!

Surely You Remember Commander Ryker?
He was clean-shaven for the first season of "Star Trek: The Next Generation", until the producers wanted more contrast with the smooth-skinned Captain Picard, and Ryker got all beardy.
     Then he got all weirdy, or at least Jonathan Frakes* did, and went from acting to directing.

Literally.  A Piker.

Okay, I think we've thrown the Hamsters** off our scent, time to move on from Intro to the rest of our business today.

My First Day Of Being 54
This followed seamlessly on from my last day of being 53 - as it should do, or there would be something wrong with the laws of time and space - and it went well.  Work whizzed by as I must have been sitting in a fast-flow timestream, and the As Nice On The Inside Anna had done a strawberry cheesecake for the birthday boy, and Alex too, as she was 25 today, and Pip, whose birthday was yesterday.  Since I sat next to the cheesecake I got a lot more of it than either Alex or Pip.
     Behold the cards

Not the surprise it should have been -

     - as Liam had been given the job of getting people to sign it, as well as Alex's card.  He handed it to me to sign - and I should have done, but instead I burst out laughing.

This turned out to be this -

     If you seriously don't know who this chap is, then you have not read enough comics.  He's the writer behind "Watchmen" and "V for Vendetta" and I know you'll know those because they were films.  He served his apprenticeship with 2000 AD, and <Mister Hand intervenes to prevent a nostalgic rant of 35 pages>
     And here's a bottle of champagne that I bought myself, which nobody else likes, so I shall probably have to drink it all myself <sad face>

A Little Musical Critique
I only realised today that the single version of "Blinded By The Light" by the Manfred Mann Earth Band cuts out a whole lot of lyrics - I could keep going until next week on this song.  Simon and Garfunkel are probably sobbing with relief at the thought of not being ridiculed for that long - don't worry, lads, I will get back to, and at, you soon!  On withe the motley!

"Play the song with the funky break"

Sorry but NO!  Can you be any vaguer?  Only by saying "Play the song"

"And go-cart Mozart"

I beg your pardon?  Sorry to break it to you, Bruce, but Mozart is long dead.  And, were he alive, he'd have too much dignity to go around in a roller-skate with pretensions.

"Was checking out the weather chart"

Then he doesn't live in the UK.  Our chart's default is "Expect rain" or "Expect LOTS of rain"

"To see if it was safe outside"

Definitely not in the UK.  No tornadoes, hurricans, volcanoes or earthquakes here. Rather dull, really.

"And then little Early-Pearly"

This is your brain, Bruce, and this IS YOUR BRAIN ON DRUGS!

     Enough merciless musical mayhem.  

You What?
Sorry, but I can't resist posting this drivel from the Foobs:

"Musical Instruments Auction"  Yes you read that correctly

     As I have loudly asserted before, Conrad has 0.0 % musical ability, but given that he is large and weighty, could probably manage a bit of serious gong-bashing action***.  Although given that Conrad is also clumsy and ungainly, he'd probably break it.
     So.  Why on Earth - in fact, let us not be narrow in imagination - why in the entire Solar System did the Foobs think I would be interested in buying musical instruments?
     Clearly my days spent hanging around cool and trendy indie musicians has had an effect.

"Powers"
As I pontificated yesterday - as with every day - this series takes the background of the comics and works it up into a different version, not better or worse, just different.
     Take Retro-Girl, for example.  Let me illustrate the television version:

Michelle Forbes looking pretttty slinky.

     This is very different from the comic version.  Art?  Put down that coal^ and work!

Do you see the differences?

     Explained away in the programme because that cleavage-sporting dress comes apart at the seams when experiencing speeds in excess of Mach 1.  Hence the far more utilitarian and cover-uppy red suit^^.



* The actor playing Ryker, not a person I introduced at random.
** It's a long and convoluted story.  So you'll definitely get to hear it one day.
*** The musical instrument not the band.
^ Monkeys work for peanuts.  Not sure what the analogy is for coal.
^^ <sigh>