If you have any literary pretensions at all, or merely pretensions, then you will be aware that today's title is from "Jabberwocky", by that pillar of the community Charles Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll.
| He wrote about Alice, who is seen here having tremendous fun. |
We derive the blog's name from another of his nonsense poems, of course - "The Hunting of the Snark", from whence comes BOOJUM!
I wanted to get the concept of "claws" out there, you see, in the sense that these are things that occur at the end of an arm, analogous to hands.
Are we there yet? Because we abruptly jump from a nonsense poem about claws to a film about hands. Do keep up!
| She didn't |
For those who cherish bad films in the same way you might regard a dirty, tatty, washed-out sweater, the go-to film de jour is not so much "Plan 9 From Outer Space", but rather "Manos: The Hands Of Fate". Which, if you know your Spanish, means "HANDS: The Hands of Fate". Two much of a good thing, eh? Ed Wood did have a background in film but Hal Warren, the <ahem> auteur behind Manos, was an agricultural food salesman - with a passionate vision!
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| Quiver in fear! Or boredom. Whichever gets you first. |
Actually he did it for a bet. Sterling Silliphant - a name to conjure with - had bet Hal he couldn't make a complete film from scratch.
Hal won. Whether this is a good thing or not is VERY DEFINITELY a matter of opinion. He also brought this baby in at a total budget of $19,000, and yet still failed to turn a profit (then). By legend the only cast member to get paid was the dog.
I say "then" because this undead turkeylope has taken on an hideous after-life and is available on DVD. Be warned, thogh, as it most definitely earned that 1.9 rating on IMDB, and if you are daft enough to watch it, see the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 version: yet even they can do only so much to alleviate the pain.
The plot? O yes the plot. A family gets lost and winds up in the middle of nowhere, where they encounter a Sinister Cult led by The Master. Also Torgo, his chief - indeed only - minion (clearly leading a cult isn't the money-spinner it once was).
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| Torgo. Who crops up in - well, see below |
| Torgo and his knees |
I think we can consider this Intro at least partially done.
"Why? Why did you subject us to this, Conrad?" I hear you quail. Elementary. Yes, the television series. MTHOF plays a major part in the tale of the corpse stolen from a cryogenic facility, I'll have you know. Your humble scribe brayed in strident acknowledgement when he saw the posters for this most execrable of films on the walls of a suspect's house.
The Terribly Toxic Tiny Tablets Of Termination
My course of Prochlorperazine has run it's one week course. "One week! ONE!" emphasised Doctor Hulse at A & E. "Or this stuff will disintegrate your liver, melt your kidneys and turn your hair grey" was the unspoken subtext.
Well, given the snowy whiteness of my hair at present that grey would be quite welcome. Thankfully the full gamut of side-effects have not come home to roost, which is a blessing as these included jaundice and Malignant Neuroleptisis, not to mention a dry mouth.
One of the contra-indicators was alcohol, so I am hopefully off to quaff a few pints at the Pub Quiz later. I shall let you know.
Being Less Ambitious
Or, accommodating your volumetric mastication capacity's optometic component*.
In addition to the frankly bewildering "The Cossacks Are Coming" I have also dug out another hex-and-counter wargame, "Beda Fomm", which is a lot smaller and easier to play. It's part of a run of games under the "Series 120" banner. It has an 8 page rule book, a much smaller and simpler map and 120 counters (as opposed to 600). Do you see what they did there? 120 counters and a ruleset that allows the game to be completed in 2 hours. I get the sense that TCAC will require at least 2 days to complete a game, but we shall see.
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| Mounting the counters |
* Not biting off more than you can chew.
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