Rubber Soul

Okay, Now You Can Accuse Me Of Being Deceitful
Forsooth, because what came up as the default picture of the day on Facebook but this -

Presto!

     Which, if you fail to see the connection, is a sandal with a rubber sole.  And also a drawing pin, the point of which penetrated just enough to tickle my sole, at which point (do you see what -  O you do) I took the sandal off.  I'm pretty sure that the book in question is the London Scottish, about that particular regiment in the First Unpleasantness, which has nothing to do with rubber, souls or soles, admittedly; I just like to keep you properly informed.
     That will do for today's Intro, as I am hungry and intend to go get some lunch. In the meantime, we shall send the motley down a zipwire - blindfolded!

Blatantly baiting by Beatling

BOOJUM! Reviews Films
Yes, more of our patent nonsense.  Hey, if you want a proper film review, go and check out Mark Kermode, who is also a fan of The Comsat Angels.  Our reviews are toxic, short and probably entirely divorced from reality; you don't have to pay for them, on the other hand.
"Pitch Perfect 3":  This sounds perfectly ghastly.  What, yet another film about female ballfoot players?  Conrad, as you may be aware, does not follow or enjoy the sport, and will probably ban it once he takes over the world.  That will devastate those amongst you who keep going to see these films, because that means they still keep making them.  Pah!

Enjoy it while you can ...

"The Greatest Showman": This also sounds perfectly ghastly, and from the posters is probably a musical, to boot.  I shall also be banning those when I take over, don't you worry!  Having just rewatched Hugh Jackman in the very excellent 'Logan', I find it hard to accept him as some happy, jolly laughing fool in a top hat and tails. Pah!

What?  You didn't think you were getting a TGS poster, did you?

"The Disaster Artist": Okay, this is where reality takes a turn for the stranger.  An awful film called "The Room" is taken as the source material for a critically-acclaimed film made by some of Hollywood's hottest talents?  I did not see that coming.  Mind you, "Ed Wood" also came out of left field.

Hmmm.  Just - hmmm.

Really Big Things
Yesterday we touched on the subject of the Transphibian Tactical Tree-Crusher, a monster piece of kit that was trialled in Vietnam as a potential destroyer of jungle.  Art?

Presto - no jungle

     It did the job, but was deemed unsuitable for a combat environment; too many exposed vulnerable bits, and if it broke down, there was no way to recover a sixty-ton immobile metal monster.
     The company that made it was Le Tourneau, and Ol' Tour had a bit of a passion for Very Big Things.  I used a photo of an LT G6 yesterday, and still have no idea what it did, apart from looking big and scary.  I can show you the G175, another BIGGER tree crusher, that rather dwarfs the Transphibian.  Art?

Enter G175, exit forest

     This behemoth came in at 175 tons and is now a tourist attraction in British Columbia.  LT seemed to identify niche markets for gigantic machines and then made them.  Have a look at this beast.  Art?

With added puny human for scale

     Note the size of the <ahem> puny human mid-left.  This thing was a Landing Craft Retriever, capable of driving into shallow water to recover stranded craft and either refloat them or transport them onto dry land.  Ol' Tour cannot be accused of thinking small!  Now - hang on, let me just check on Donald Fagen - Phew!  yes, he's okay, it was just a mild case of grippe, not Dengue Strangling Fever - now what was I going to say?
     Ah yes -
     I think we will revisit this topic in future.

By the way, this is going to be the only new post for today, it being New Year's Eve and all, even if it is a Sunday and I'm sure you've come to expect two new posts on such a day.  I do have a social life, you know: palsied and etiolated, perhaps, but it's still there.

Finally -
Proof that the Ruffians do have a sense of humour, and not all of them dream of dying happily having torn out a Westerner's throat with their bare teeth -

Woof woof!