Damn You, Real Life!

As You Should Surely Know By Now -
 - some of Conrad's particular interests are atom bombs, tanks and - zombies.  You wouldn't think it would be hard to make a film about a Challenger tank crew taking on the undead hordes created by <cough cough> radiation resulting from World War 3, would you?  And yet nobody has done*.
     Anyway, I digress - which is par for the course round here, so do please get used to it.  My hopes did rise when I found this article heading on the Beeb website - Art?

     You must admit, it does look tempting, doesn't it?
     Well it's not!  Instead of an adaptation of the Japanese chapters of "World War Z", or even a mass zombie flash-mob in downtown Tokyo, it's about Japanese companies not being mercy-killed when they should.  Their creditors are too lean or something.  
     Bah!

Parsing Pynchon
Yes!  We are back to decyphering the cryptic contents of "Bleeding Edge", or at least the ones that are strange and unusual to readers not native to South Canada.  The Pynchon in question is Thomas, of course, he of the preternatural ability to know when someone was about to take a photograph of him.  Thus he avoided being spread all over the internet.  Go on, Google for a picture of him and I bet you don't find anything after the Fifties.  Now, if they could only take that ability of his and <Mister hand redacts a long screed that ends with Conrad taking over the world> make billions from it!
     Where was I?  Oh yes -
     "Plotz":  No, this is nothing to do with that miserable 21st Century creation, Textspeak.  Nor does it refer to any municipality in Germany.  It is Yiddish, and means, broadly, to collapse or faint, as from surprise or exhaustion.
     "Kanjobal":  This turned out to be real, rather to my surprise.  It's a Mayan language, native to Guatemala and parts of Mexico.
     "Celadon": No, not a mid-Seventies planet where the dramamentary "Doctor Who" takes place.  It is, rather, a species of pottery, which is fired with a jade green glaze.
     "Cy Twombly":  Another real item, again to my surprise, but you can't take anything for granted where TP is concerned.  Cy was a South Canadian artist, who did painting, sculptures and photography.

Don't mock, this is Art.

     "The Montauk Project":  This can be summed up in two words: conspiranoid drivel.  I don't mind TP including it in a novel, as a novel is - usually - fiction.  If you want the gist of this, I append a link to the excellent 'Iron Skeptic' website, which will fill you in.

http://www.theironskeptic.com/articles/montauk/montauk.htm

     If the truth will set you free, Ol' Irony will practically send you into orbit.

Above-ground Fifties-era radar at Montauk Air Base

BOOJUM! Reviews Films
Because some of you out there may not be familiar with the way we normally review a film here at the blog, allow me to explicate.  Firstly, we only ever look at the title and then generalise hugely from that.  Secondly, if you want a decent film review, get over to Twitter and follow Mark Kermode - who is a big fan of The Comsat Angels, a choice that will save his descendants when I take over the world.  Thirdly, I can break any of these four rules if I feel like it.
     "50 Shades Darker": Conrad feels that there is a logical fallacy somewhere in that title.  Darker than what?  Surely, if you darken Grey/Gray by a factor of 50, then it becomes black.  At this point I have to confess that I have neither read the books nor seen the films, which I feel does not leave me any the poorer.  Before you start carping, I've never  taken my leg off with a chainsaw either, yet I know it would hurt.

This chap is at least 150 shades darker.

     "The Promise":  Once again a wildly ambiguous film title that illuminates nothing.  Do these people not realise that a bus poster flies past in less than a second?  A promise of what to whom about which?  Unless I read it wrongly and we're talking about a pro-rodent film similar to "Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of NIMH" - 'Pro-mice'?

Not the definite article

     "Genius": I think the tagline is "The man behind the mind" although I could be mistaken, because once again - buses move at speed!  The picture is of a chap with a rather wild hairdo, so we might be talking about either Ludwig Van Beethoven or Albert Einstein.  Personally I would put Richard Feynman up there, because he was an awesomely clever chap with a fantastic sense of humour, yet whom remained entirely humble and non-precious.  With a neater hairdo.

The Comsats are on this soundtrack.
(It's a long story)

Speaking Of Grey -
Just to confuse things a little further - I do love a modicum of anarchy! - allow me to counterpoint Captain 150-Shades-Darker-Equalling-Black with the real Captain Grey.

Not one of SPECTRUM's finest, one fears.

*  Damn you, Hollywood, damn you.