On The Scenez With Another Themez

"Z"
That being the theme. As it's one of the shortest post titles ever, allow me to present a rather more grandiose version:

Z

     This letter is, of course, pronounced "Zed", none of your South Canadian nonsensese here,  thank you very much.  Zed.  Bear that in mind.

Zebra
I feel compelled to have this animal first as I was promoting BOOJUM! last week by mention of the "Quagga", which is an exctinct species of zebra that died off in the late nineteenth century.

                    Zebra                                                   Quagga
               
     The zebra is a member of the horse family, notable for it's distinctive black-and-white coat, making it look like the offspring of said horse and an Everton mint; the Quagga looks as if the bag of mints ran out before the end design.  They live in Africa, don't you know, are difficult to domesticate and have large poisonous fangs teeth adapted for grazing.  Sorry. The fangs belong to the Giant Jumping Spider.

Zirconium
Atomic Number 40, Notation "Zr", zirconium is principally used as an alloying agent due to it's resistance to corrosion, and also in machine parts that require an enduring cutting or abrading edge, or which have to sustain very high temperatures.  One of the most common uses is to clad nuclear reactor rods, or, as Zirconium Dioxide, a substitute for diamonds.

Zr.  A bit zzzzzzzzzzzz

     Frankly, Zirconium is a bit of a let down.  It's doesn't explode, fume, corrode, radiate or asphyxiate.  I don't think BOOJUM! will be revisiting this one; "worthy but dull" just about sums it up.

Ziggurat
A little more impressive than Zr, these were architectural constructs built across Mesopotamia pre-sixth Century BC.  They were pyramidal in design, consisting of gradually receding tiers with a flat top.  Herodotus informs us that a shrine stood atop the top, but thanks to millenia of erosion, no trace of any such remains.  

An artist's impression.
Obviously!  They didn't have cameras back then, you see ...

     You or I, as mere members of the hoi polloi*, would not be allowed to defile the steps of the ziggurat with our unworthy feet, since they were the domain of the gods and only the priests of the temple complex could enter.  Kind of like an exclusive Picadilly club.

"A Zed And Two Noughts" (1983)
A film by Peter Greenway, which ought to be warning enough.  Twin doctor's lose their wives in a car crash caused by a swan, and end up in a menage a trois with the now-one legged driver of the car, Alba Bewick**.  She gets the other leg amputated whilst the doctors study the decay of animals and everyone dies at the end.

Art, you see.
Hang on, is that a zebra on their screen***?

     Now that I've summarised it, you don't need to waste time and depress yourself watching it, do you?  If you feel the need to watch this film, I suggest you drink a pint of Angostura bitters, which will have exactly the same effect but take far less time.

Zinc
Atomic Number 30, notation "Zn", what can I tell you about Zinc?
     It's part of brass, alloyed with copper. It has an essential role in human metabolism.  It gets used in deodorants as zinc chloride, and batteries -

Zn.  Also rather zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

     Frankly, even worthier and duller than zirconium. What else can - aha!  Here's an interesting item - American penny coins made after 1983 are 97.5 % zinc, so if you happen to eat a lot of them, you can damage your stomach lining or even die from the sepsis caused, although you will have to eat in excess of 400 coins.

"Z"
Possibly one of the shortest film titles ever, this is nevertheless not a film to be dismissed lightly.  Made in 1969 by the ever-excellent Costas-Gavras, it purports to be set in an indeterminate land that actually appears to be Greece, under the dictatorship of the colonels.  Complex and atmospheric, it reflects European cinema at it's best, but you can still watch it and eat popcorn.  Conrad gives you permission.

"Popcorn?  Nooo!  Conrad, how could you?"

Zen
Complicated Eastern religio-philosophy, which means it falls outside BOOJUM!'s remit, thankfully.  Here's a link if you have a spare couple of hours -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen

And here's a quote, otherwise you'd not get a picture:

I want loose leaf Darjeeling in my pot, ta very much!

Zinoviev, Grigory
This chap is only barely acceptable here, on account of his umpteen names.  "Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky" was another collection he went under, and "Shatski" as well as the slightly more pronounceable "Hirsch Apfelbaum", and as a Bolshevik politician he ought to have known better - taking up enough names for four members of the hoi polloi proletariat.

Zinoviev: the Lard Diet years

     He was a politician, yes, but waaaaay back in 1917, so this counts as history not politics, nyahh boo sucks to you.  One of his passions was trying to foment revolution in post-war Germany, which he failed at every time.  He got on the wrong side of Lenin, then back on the good side, then he fell out with Stalin, then he got back into bed with Stalin^.

     Rather too late, as Comrade Dzugashvili was ever one to bear a grudge and had old Hirsch executed for ridiculous crimes in 1936.

Zebedee
Now, if I were really highbrow, I'd be talking about the fisherman who was father to two of Jesus' disciples -

  - but as you can see, I'm not

     This Zebedee is one of the characters from that wonderful Franco-British production "The Magic Roundabout".  He came out of a jack-in-the-box box in the first episode, which explains why he has a spring instead of legs.  The pillar-box red face is harder to explain.  Too much gin in his diet?
     Zebedee used to crop up in the story every so often but was always there at close of episode to finish proceedings with his catchphrase "Time for bed!^"

Oops.  Another long post.  Better publish before Doctor Who starts -

* If I can use a Greek phrase to depict the Babylonian public
** "Bewick" being a species of swan.  Subtle stuff, eh?
*** Today's coincidence, honest.  I didn't notice until I posted the picture.
^ Metaphorically, you gutter-minded slovens!