It's John De Lancie - Looking All Fancy!

John De Lancie - Who You Knew As "Q"
The actor, of course.  Not someone I chose at random.  And yes, I know it ought to be "whom" but "who" rhymes better with the rest of the sentence*.  Anyway, here he is:

Looking happy and rather Nappy.

     "Nappy" being slang for "Napoleonic" if you must know.  Q did rather have a taste for melodramatic outfits, as you can tell from his first appearance:

Q, totally rocking the Medieval/Borgia look

     In that episode he was rather pompous and judgemental, where in later ones he was just mental.  I think that's healthy for the rather bland and characterless STTNG Federation, get it a bit stirred up, bring in a sense of anarchy and conflict, have them on their toes all the time wondering "What if Q turns up?"
     Of course he wasn't always dressed to the nines ...

"Red alert!"

The Car As A Method Of Transport
Yesterday Conrad went to work in the Murdermobile car, which he doesn't always have access to on a Friday.  Having the car means being able to do the weekly shop on the way home, rather than having to bus it back and then get the car and then do the shopping.  So it is more convenient.  Also, I can play my CDs VERY LOUDLY INDEED.  Don't worry, I'm not one of those ignorant twods who think the world should hear their poor taste in music with the windows wound down.

The Murdermobile.  Flamethrowers, atomic howitzer and lasers all retracted

     That's the plus side.  On the very definite down side we have - traffic.  Although there was remarkably little of it considering the schools are back. Then the biggest drawback - inability to read during the journey <heavy sigh>.  By car the journey overall only lasts an hour as opposed to the two hours plus on First Bus**, but it's still a blot on the balance sheet.

<Egad!  And also Gadzooks!  I've not had my second pot of tea for this afternoon - excuse me whilst I go remedy that>

A Little Musical Critique
Normally when that title appears as a post, Simon and Garfunkel quiver with fear and go into hiding.  Not today, chaps!  No, today we turn the caustic eye and citric spleen of BOOJUM! upon "Captain Beaky".  This was a success for actor Keith Michell back in the <thinks> late Seventies, and came back to me when I wondered who had been wearing a "reckless hat".

"The bravest animals in the land are Captain Beaky and his band"

Just a minute.  How did this "Beaky" rise to the rank of Captain?

I don't think HM Armed Forces take on animals as officers!

"That's Timid Toad, Reckless Rat, Artful Owl and Batty Bat" 

Wouldn't the Owl just eat the Toad and Rat?

Or do they have an internal non-agression pact?

"They march through the woodlands singing songs"

 Now you're being silly - none of these animals can "march"!

"That tell how they have righted wrongs"

I've read ahead and these incompetents right exactly ONE wrong! 

You have to admit, it is a pretty reckless hat

"Once Hissing Sid, an evil snake, kept the woodland folk awake" 

I'm confused.  Some of these animals are nocturnal. "Awake" is what they'd be

"In fear and trembling every night "

Every night?  Snakes get dozy after a big meal

"In case he gave someone a bite "

So what?  The adder, our only venomous snake here in the UK, has all the poisonous affect of a bee-sting

"Said Artful Owl, 'We'll lie in wait "

How can two birds and bat effectively "lie", let alone "in wait"?

"And one of us will be the bait." 

I bet it won't be Owl, will it?

"Said Captain Beaky, "Have no fear! For I alone will volunteer!" 

Ah, the Captain Kirk approach to danger!  I like it!

     There are a lot more verses, so I think I'll let you off lightly today.

"Time Considered -
 - As A Helix Of Semi-Precious Stones".
     This is going to be a bit conceptual, but please bear with me.
     Okay, this title refers to two works - one is a long short story by the sci-fi author Sam Delaney, the other is an album of the sessions that The Comsat Angels did at the BBC between 1978 and 1984.

Always glad to shoehorn a Comsat's reference in there -

     Which bears faint connection to Conrad's Model of Time.  Allow me to explain:

A sphere, representing Time

     This is an infinitely large sphere, and you can see one infinitely thin diameter measured across it, with a dot at the exact centre.  The dot, of course, is actually a cross section of the diameter and is infinitely thin.
     Okay, that infinitely thin slice is The Present.  Ahead of it is The Future, behind it The Past.  Now, because this diameter is infinitely thin, you can actually fit an infinite number of diameters inside this sphere, all rotating around that central point.  If you begin to look at those that diverge in orientation from "your" timestream, then the past and future begin to change.  The larger the divergence, the greater the alternative past, present and future you get.  You could, in theory, flip the diameter backwards and have time itself go into reverse.
     Of course, I could be overthinking this a bit ...

Enough Highbrow!  More Lowbrow!
Okay, here goes -

Buster Keaton on a velocipede

Will that do?
No?

Okay, okay, let's try again.

More "brows" than "brow"

 - and that will just have to do as we're getting close to 1,000 words.

* You see?  You see the quantity of thought that goes into this blog?
** Who, typically, managed to screw up their schedules this afternoon.