Much Madness And Horror

 - The Soul Of The Plot
It's a quote, actually, from one of the better authors to come out of South Canada, Edgar Allan Poe.  I think he was describing his own creative process, which, to be honest, does not sound like much fun.  He may have been a laff-riot at parties but the odds don't look good.
     Whereas the rainbows and party poppers going off in my head right now are considerably more amusing and lightweight than guff about crows and sherry casks.  However ...

EAP.  Not exactly a rambunctious bundle of hoot, you have to admit

     I hope you don't mind hearing more of Conrad's ceaseless battle with the Forces of Chaos, a.k.a. First Bus*.  I have conflicted feelings about First.  On the one hand I hate their woefully unreliable service yet they do provide endless inspiration and a creative spur - how to remain entertainingly angry yet not suffer a myocardial infarction, or - much more serious an issue - bore the readers.
     The South Canadians have a phrase - "low-hanging fruit", when describing a very vulnerable victim.  First are more akin to cored, peeled, and diced fruit in a bowl on the table with cream and sugar to hand. An easy target?  This target dances up to the gun muzzle in a hi-vis suit shrieking "SHOOTMESHOOTMESHOOTME".
     Now that's the Intro out of the way, let us roll out the pantechnicon of piffle!

The Incorrect Suspect
I challenged Pete - of the stag do, please keep up - about the brand-new, if somewhat insulting, Comment new to BOOJUM! and he denied all knowledge.  It transpires that his brother posted this, later confirmed on Facebook as Wendell - the brother, do keep up - stated he loved doing Cryptic Crosswords but Pete was hopeless at them.
     Well, perhaps he is, but he does like to ask me if I'm stuck on any clues when I'm tackling a Cryptic.  On the principle that I've done all the heavy lifting, perhaps?

A crossword.  No - hang on -

"Assault on Arkham"
This is one of those animated films that are far better than bigger-budgeted live action films, and in this case AoA is what "Suicide Squad" wishes it was.
     The rationale behind keeping supervillains alive and risking them escaping, being sprung free or getting out because of impeccable good behaviour always eluded Conrad, who is, I'm afraid, a bit more direct**.  Here the reason is obvious - expendable and deniable cannon-fodder.

One of them had already perished by this point

     One thing that is interesting is the number of swears in it; Captain Boomerang, for one, has some Anglo-Saxon vulgarisms that Conrad didn't expect to hear in a South Canadian animation.
     And not only are there vulgarisms, there are also GORY DEATH SCENES! for an animated film.  People suffer cryogenic decapitation, explosive decapitation and decapitation decapitation, get shot, exploded and - eaten.  King Shark, you see.  Big chap, big appetite.
     They also - how does one put this? - put Amanda Waller squarely in the Queen Evil Bitch frame.  She has no redeeming features, rather like a Snake Plissken minus the guns (or an exercise programme). 

Chief Amanda Waller.  Er - not conventionally pretty?

Last Night's Events
As your humble scribe I feel it incumbent upon myself to explain why last night the posts were merely links to other, past BOOJUM!s.  I hope you enjoyed them, I've still not gone back to re-read as <cue stirring music and an overfly by the RAF> I firmly believe in looking to the future, not living in the past***.
     Anyway, I am aware that reading about other folks having a good time is deeply dull for those of you who weren't there, or who were there except sober^.  So I shall keep this brief, yet witty.  
     "Two rules he ought to follow more often" I hear you whisper YES THANK YOU MY HEARING IS EXCELLENT!
     So, we wandered around the Christmas Markets in Manchester.  Art?  Photo!

The marvellous marvellous markets

     I confess to being a trifle hungry, okay greedy, and resorted to chowing down on a Big Bratwurst and some cheese samples and then a Strawberry Strudel with vanilla sauce.  Don't worry, I checked first that it wasn't custard.
     Art?  More photo!

Wine.  Which I did not have.

     We ate our meal at the Spice Lounge and I wisely avoided having a starter (see above for reason), where we had a fantastic view of passing buses turning into Shude Hill Bus Station.  Yes I am serious about "fantastic", half this blog's film content is driven by bus posters.  Art?

The detritus

     Thus I realised that "Assassin's Creed" is indeed apostrohpised, which is good to know.

And thus we are done.  Since I am going to a house party this evening there won't be a repost, nor a second post, so - calm down calm down, it's not the end of the world - there won't be any posting from me after this until Sunday.

What ho!



*  Actually today it was on time, a double-decker and it had The Metro.
**  Simply put, waste the lot of 'em.
***  The irony of this is stunning as a person who reads nothing but history books.
^  That would be me