I was in my bed of sickness, but that got boring. And from my chair of sickness I can watch television, specifically "Elementary", which continues to entertain with it's vocabulary - "befuddlement", "calibration", "exalted", revelry", "jubilation" and "obligated". That's from several episodes, and, yes, I really am that sad as to sit there and make notes in my notebook. Well, to you that's sad; to me, it's a badge of honour.
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| The chair in question |
With all that touching domestic detail out of the way, let the motley begin!
Dear Diary
"Guadalcanal Diary" by Richard Tregasksis, to be precise. You may be more aware of the film, which was made almost before the echo of the battle had faded. I've blogged about the film before, notably how the Internet Movie Firearms Data Base carps unkindly at some of the weapons used, because they were South Canadian stand-ins. Bad studio! Naughty studio!
The battle itself was an eye-opener for both sides. The Japanese found their headlong rush of conquest was stalled and that a bayonet charge, no matter how ferocious, was ever likely to be shot flat. The South Canadians found out what constitutes "fanatical" in the flesh, and that folks with no fear of death can dish it out.
Here an aside. "Tregaskis", considered Conrad, sounds Cornish. When I checked it out, it did indeed turn out to be Cornish. "Home in a sheltered location" is the definition.
Back on track*. Tregaskis himself saw the battle at close range, armed with nothing more lethal than a pen, which in 20th Century combat, is rather disadvantageous. "Mightier than the sword" only works as an aphorism. At best you could hope to squirt ink on their uniform and hope their sergeant gives them a telling-off.
Conrad also looked up a few unusual words - for instance "bolo knife". What on earth is one of those? Art?
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| Evidence |
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| Presto! |
AGH! Bitten by the Coincidence Hydra AGAIN.
I'll get to that. Firstly, JLD is an interesting departure from the usual superhero canon, in that the only regular league member present is Batman. The rest are more supernatural in nature. Zatanna, a magician and a looker also; Deadman, who can possess the bodies of the living (more useful than you might imagine); John Constantine, another magician, and a Scouser who <shudder> uses British vulgarisms; Jason Blood, an immortal human who is possessed by the demon Etrigan. I like Etrigan, he spouts doggerel verse at the drop of a hat.
| Etrigan holding forth. And surprising Bats. |
Swamp Thing also happens along as a reluctant ally.
The coincidence bit came about when I had my copy of The Metro open and next to me, all ready to tackle the Sudoku, when, onscreen, John Constantine makes a crack about Sudoku " - he's got two 9's in that row -"
Triethanolamine Triclosan
Aha, Conrad the anal-retentive Ingredient Pedant strikes again! This stuff is listed on a bottle of aftershave balm that I had close to hand, so I looked it up.
First of all, they appear to be missing a comma, as these are actually two separate chemicals. However, the odds of anyone actually checking on this, noticing and bothering to squawk about it are as close to zero as possible - except where your humble scribe is concerned. I am that one in a million. Special***.
Triethanolamine is a neutralising agent, used to adjust the pH of cosmetics and render them less harsh to the skin, which is a good thing as most cosmetics are intended to go on that very same skin.
Triclosan is completely different, in that it's an anti-bacterial and anti-fungal agent. It's there to help your freshly-shaved skin from getting traumatised after being scraped with a sharp bit of metal.
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| I mean one of these, not a kitchen knife |
* "Hooray!" I hear you say**.
** Cheeky monkeys.
*** Intentionally ambiguous!
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