Sorry, World Take-Over Slightly Delayed

That' Me All Over
Hideously dilettante.  You do know what that means, don't you?  Of course you do.  "One who is forever dabbling in matters without ever resolving them", which is why we put "dilettante", as it keeps the word count manageable.
     I can give you proof posistive of Conrad's idle and dabbling manner - Art?

Blitzkrieg Commander wargame

     This is a game I set up in July.  July 2014. So, during my period of dog-sitting leave last week I only managed one and a half moves, yet this was more in five days than in the previous eighteen months.  It's also more of a getting-to-know the rules event than a proper game, as I'd forgotten everything about the rules in the meantime.
    "I say, Conrad, you evil camouflaged alien spy," I hear you quibble, "What's taking so long in assuming World Dictator pre-eminence?  I mean, we have the summer holidays to plan for."
     Well, you know how it is - you get into a bit of a routine: get up late, make a litre pot of tea, guzzle hot-cross buns and ice cream, read books - it's 15:30 before you realise it.  And I really need that wargaming practice for when I make my bid for total control, so you've got a few weeks of freedom yet*.
     
"The Making Of Full Metal Jacket"
I take it you have seen the film itself, one that Stanley Kubrick considered to be one of his best.  If you have then this documentary is well worth a visit, especially as it's only 30 minutes long so doesn't outstay it's welcome.  Available on Youtube.
     FMJ was Vincent D'Onofrio's (Private Pyle) debut (which I didn't realise) and at Stan's wishes he put on weight, ballooning from 200 pounds to 280, to look the part.  Since then he's done over 50 films, all of which he credits to Stan casting him in FMJ.

Look, he's smiling!  What a happy chappy.

     We also got to see R. Lee Ermey out of character - a genuinely nice old chap until he puts on the Drill Instructor Hartman persona.  In persona, as observed by Dorian Harewood (Eightball), he had an inexhuastible supply of novel obscenities.  None of which I can quote here as we cherish that SFW rating**.

"You what Conrad?  I amuse you?  I AMUSE YOU!  You ****ing pinko ****-******* slimey Limey ****-*****!

     Recall, if you will, the scene when Doc J and Eightball get sniped.  This took a month to shoot; for each take all the explosive squibs replicating bullet strikes had to be reset (plus, one assumes, all the bullet holes filled-in), a process that took up to three days each time.

"Roger that, Stan wants another take.  Take three days, men."

     Then there's Location.  If you've ever seen "The Bridge at Remagen" then it has extra realism because the Czech town it was being filmed in was being demolished to make way for an open-cast mine.  Thus the film crew blew up, knocked down and variously blasted the place to bits.  Same with FMJ: the giant East London gasworks it was filmed in was also being demolished, so - gratuitous mayhem ahoy!  Blow stuff up!  Knock it down!  Burn it!  Bash it! Crash it!
     Then add palm trees and it looks like Vietnam.  A lot of people still believe it was shot in the Phillipines.

The art of set-dressing: Before and After

"Houdini And Doyle" - "Bedlam"
Well now, here we have yet another creepy coincidence.  Finding strange marks on the bodies of possibly-possessed ex-mental asylum inmates, Doyle gets the name for this wrong.  It's "Pareidolia" - recognising apparent patterns in the random.  Art?

     Nothing spooky about that, no, except what does Houdini jump right in and gives as examples?  The Man In The Moon and a slice of toast.
     What were the examples of this that Conrad gave for the very first episode of "H&D"?  Yes, The Man In The Moon - and Nun In A Bun, and the only reason Houdini didn't use that was because it's from the Nineties, so the 1905 equivalent would indeed have been - a slice of toast.
     So <pauses to remove the Coincidence Hydra's teeth from arse>

 - And That's Not All
For coincidences, that is.  Remember Felix and TOP CAT, and Explosive Ordnance Disposal from earlier this week?  And Al Murray's simultaneous posting of Top Cat?

http://comsatangel2002.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/can-i-have-word-cross-word.html

     There's a link to the first.
     What did Conrad encounter on his walk into work?
     No!  Not flocks of purple fairy unicorns standing-in for traffic wardens - Top Cat, AGAIN.  This time for a building society.  Art?  Confound the disbelievers -

That cat ain't got pants on

   I'm beginning to get worried now.  


* Not to mention the time it takes for my laggardly comrades in the starship invasion fleet to get here.  2247AD at the last reckoning.
** Evil, alien and a spy - nonetheless Conrad does have some scruples.