Just A Poser Juxtaposer

Ha!  If Your Vocab Isn't Up To Scratch -
- then that will baffle you.  Yes indeedy Ally Sheedy, Conrad is happy to do a bit of gloasting about how clever he is.
     As you should surely know by now, BOOJUM! satisfies it's mission to educate you, the audience, by defining a word every now and then, usually something long with a Latin origin, and "juxtapose" is no exception.
     "Er - quite," I hear you quail.  "But what does it mean?"
     Thank you for asking, and also admitting your lack of knowledge.  Armed with such honesty, we can only overcome all obstacles!
     Oh, yes, the definition.  It means to arrange things against each other to provide a contrast.  One might choose to compare the "Ivy Mike" thermonuclear device, rather cruelly called a "thermonuclear installation" by jealous Sinister scientists, 

Mike in his factory-sized shed

with the delightfully compact W78 fusion warhead, as currently fitted to the Minuteman III missile.  Art?

With humans for scale

     There you go, a juxtaposition.
     What's that?  Oops, sorry, forgot that bit.  From a combined Latin and French root, actually, which is a little unusual.  "Juxta" in Latin means "Next" and was combined with the French "Poser", meaning "to place".
     Now, I had planned to define the word before beginning my extensive background notes for tonight's post, and here is the proof:

     I shall explain.

"A Tale Of Two Cities" Versus "Down And Out In Paris And London"
You can bet I abbreviated these two as in my refined scrawl above:  ATOTC and DAOIPAL.  Conrad is currently working his way through ATOTC, where the squalid poverty of late Eighteenth Century Paris is wonderfully evoked.  At length, too.  Also included is a mocking satire of the French aristocracy at play and work, although, trust me on this, they do very little work.  One does not need an introduction nor footnotes to see where Charles Dicken's sympathies lie*.
     The only thing that Conrad knew about the novel before picking it up is that it ends at the guillotine, so he can rest assured that the popinjay collective** are going to be dealt with.
     London - there are two cities here, recall - on the other hand, is described with great brio,  Coming from the pen of CD the city teems with as much character as it does with characters.

Triple cliche ahoy!

     What struck your humble scribe as interesting is the contrast between ATOTC and George Orwell's autobiographical DAOIPAL - d'you see how I seamlessly worked in that juxtaposition?  In George's work there is a sense of adventure and humour about Paris, quite different from his experiences in London.  London in this work is, frankly, grim.  Unleavened iniquity, if you will.  Still, you know GO retired to a Scottish island and wrote "1984" so there is a happy ending.

His rabbit, Flopsy, had died

"Out, Out, Damned Spot!"
No!  Nothing to do with folks shouting at their dog.  Conrad refers, a tad reluctantly as he cordially detests the Barf of Avon***, to the play "MacBeth", where one of the characters spills beetroot pickle on a white sofa, something like that.  They then go on about getting it out in the wash, although since the lead character is a king, one would think they had servants for that.
    (Here an aside.  In ATOTC, Monsigneur, who may very well be the French king, has no less than four servants to aid him in drinking a cup of chocolate).
     Well, picture this article:

Cower in shame, electrical wretch!

     Conrad put a load into this very washing machine, and then promptly forgot about it.  Hey, I'm old, it happens.
     Wonder Wifey discovered yesterday that it had broken down, probably minutes after being turned on, leaving Conrad's laundry sitting and festering in dirty water for three days.
     "Is this a dagger I see before me?"  No Mister Washing Machine, it is not, it's a sledgehammer -

Gotta have a dream!

     A masterly juxtaposition.

Buzz Aldrin:  All American Hero
This guy is 90, and still compos mentis.  Art?

Respect Buzz

     There are only a few people in the world who can say "We looked back at the Earth", (and they really should have capitalised "Earth" in that caption) and mean that they were looking back at the planet, not a patch of dirt.  Also, he's talking about eating porridge, which he will no doubt eat with salt the way it ought to be.  
     Buzz also gets props for dealing with a repellent conspiracy-monger called Bart Sibrel.  Sibrel was fired from his broadcasting job for trespassing on the property of an astronaut, an event which seems to have inspired in him a hatred of all astronauts everywhere.  Conrad not sure if cosmonauts are in there as well.  He was pursuing Buzz and his stepdaughter with a Bible, poking him with it and telling him to swear on -
     BANG!
     Fearing for his stepdaughter's safety, Buzz hauled off and socked Sibrel smack in the kisser, causing him to get out of the way.  No charges were pressed as Sibrel didn't report an injury and Buzz had - THIS GOES WITHOUT SAYING! - no criminal record.  When Conrad takes over, Buzz will be given - well, let's just imagine that ...

Getting schooled by a 90 year-old.  Classy!

Finally -
Oooookay, Conrad is becoming a little worried.  Last night saw the highest figures ever for visitors, which concerns your modest artisan.

*  He's the author, in case you were wondering.
** The aristocracy.  I know, I know, a bit flowery and Dickens.
***  Shakespeare <grimaces and spits>