The King In Yellow, The Queen In Red

The Girl In Blue, And The World Eaten Dead
Forgive me for being a bit obscure - okay, a lot obscure - and I shall entertain myself whilst educating you, which is, we must both agree, a win-win situation.
     "The King In Yellow" is a collection of what has been described as "weird fiction" (which is most of what Conrad reads) the title referring to a play that either sends people mad or suicidally despairing, kind of like Dostoeyvsky but with ghosts.
     "The King in Yellow, the Queen in Red", is actually a line from a Blue Oyster Cult song, "E.T.I.", further drawing out the weirdness.
     "The Girl In Blue" is a P G Wodehouse novel I'm reading, and "The world eaten dead" is in there because I had to force a rhyme with "Red" and finally reach my point.
     "Which is?" I hear you chorus.  Also "Get on with it, I'm going to a party."
     I shall retype the note I took earlier this afternoon:  "Looking across the landscape, the sun has vanished, the hills are now gone, all that remains visible are the foothills, and they are dimming rapidly."

Worth two or three hundred words at least

     I hope this has wrought a chilling sense of the macabre and sinister, because "the world eaten dead" refers of course to the Langoliers, those horrid inventions of Stephen King that whiz by the million across the past and eat it whole**.

All teeth no stomach

     There you have it.  The musings of your man gazing upon a rainy afternoon.
     I probably overdid it with the King and Queen, eh?

More Of The Pub Quiz
No, no boasting here, just a bit of reflection at another coincidence.
     Question 5)  Who said "Live long and prosper"
     No it wasn't Genghis Khan!  Mister Spock, that's who.  Okay - next -
     Question 6)  Who wrote "The Seagull", "Uncle Vanya" and "The Cherry Orchard"
     Chekhov, that's who.
     Now that's either coincidence or a quiz-setter with a sense of humour.

Proof that visual impairment is no handicap in Starfleet.  No, hang on a minute -

     Aside Number One
     Since Fletch was delivering his questions via microphone rather than monitor, the pub television remained on, and Conrad observed an extended advert for "Call of Duty: Black Ops" is actually "Black Ops 3", except it was rendered "III" in Roman numerals and I missed it as it was coloured red.  So I - er - mis-red it***.

Black Box.  Close enough

     Aside Number Two
     Sky Sports was the channel the television was tuned to, which is going to be the only time your humble scribe will ever roll an eyeball across it.  Playing "Grand Slam Of Darts" which featured large men of no facial wonderfulness, including one whose hairstyle made him look like a pickled onion, throwing darts.
     For THREE HOURS!
     And there was a colossal live audience.
     And data-analysing pundits.
     And on-screen statistical data.
     Some people have very strange ideas of what constitutes "fun"^.

These were fun

What's In A Name?
I conjured this lot up sitting in the atrium of The Electric Goldfish Bowl, which is my practice when on a late shift; get up only half-an-hour later than normal and thus end up with perhaps forty five minutes to make notes, if -  -
(a very big if) First are running efficiently.  I've composed them, so you are going to get them.
     Let the fillum spoofery begin!

BRIDGE OF PIES: "He's making a meal of it!"

THE LADY IN THE CAN: "Tinned!"

THE LADY IN THE NAN: "Curried!" or "She's currying favour!"

THE LADY IN THE FAN: "Blended!"

THE LAD IN THE VAN: "White-van man."

THE LADA IN THE VAN: "Gives the term "compact car" new meaning!"

VICTOR FRANKENFURTER: "Meat the men who bake a monster"

     There was an and for "Fathers and Daughters" in The Metro but I haven't thought up anything appropriately citric and biting.  Give me time.

The Girl In Blue (Yes, Again!)
I am currently reading this novel by good old Plum, dating from 1970, which was actually rather close to the date of his demise (1975).  It's quite timeless, but the occasional interjection does prove that Plum was no insular scribe adrift on the stream of time up-to-date <Mister Hand intervenes to iron out horrid pseudy attempts at "literature">.  In yesterday's readings he mentions "a horror from outer space", which is practically up to the minute.  Year.  Decade.
     Anyway, that's not what I want to yark on about.  Yesterday's post had a title heaping abuse upon Alexander Graham Bell.  This is because 50% of Conrad's job consists of dealing with enquiries by telephone, beginning at 8 a.m. and finishing at 6 p.m. and it can be very very very busy.
     So what about Plum?  What does he have his character Crispin say whilst I was reading at lunchtime today?  I give you a picture worth 

 - 75 words

     Thank you, Plum.  Here I am lambasting AGB and all the while you're building him up.  I have to say, Coincidence, you have really given Conrad a metaphorical kick in the pants.



* Don't sigh in relief, there's loads more.
** Not sure what the past consists of in terms of calories.  Quite high, probably.
*** Sorry
^ Irony laid on by a hundred trowel-wielding artisans.