The Fault In Our Stars

This Is A Bit Tangential -
 - although you should be used to that by now.  Bear with me!  
     Okay, Conrad has been perusing our recently-acquired Netflix functionality here at The Mansion; you know, Netflix, which appears to have taken over that half of the planet which Facebook hasn't.
     Well, there are some interesting looking titles there. Conrad knows little to nothing about them, so I have listed them for a little (anorak) checking later on.  'Van Helsing' - ah, banging on about vampires again, with a bit of film-title recognition built in, and a touch of 'Daybreakers' thrown in.  Hmmm.  Not sure if I'll follow that one up again.

Worth checking out.

     Currently I am watching "Area 51", a found footage film that got a 3-star rating on Netflix's 5-star rating system, which equates as 60%.  With me so far?  Being, as we have already established, an anorak of the worst (or best) kind, I went to check it on IMDB, and - what a surprise! - they only rate it at 4.2, out of their 10.00 rating system.
    Clearly, there is a discrepancy here.  Who to trust?  Who to trust!  Hence, today's title.
     What's that?  You thought that this was going to be about some soppy film drama that was itself based on a soppy novel?  As if!  Oh - not only that but it's a quote from Windbag Willie Shakespeare?  Get out of here!

     Wow!  There is sunlight outside - a rare event for this season.  I shall have to shut this down and take Edna for a walk.  Later -

     - bright and sunny but windy and cold is your humble scribe's verdict.  Okay, time to strip the motley naked and roll it in some snow!

Stars.  Just so we're clear.

Ivan Speaks Truly
I have just started reading "The Maisky Diaries", as transcribed and annotated by Gabriel Gorodetsky; which are the memoirs of one Ivan Maisky.

The personable chap himself

     "Never heard of him," I hear you confidently assert.  Well, he was the Sinister's ambassador to Perfidious Albion back in the Thirties and well into the Second Unpleasantness.  He has a couple of unkind if accurate comments about our climate and accomodation, to wit:

     "No, I definitely don't like London!  It's huge, dark, dirty, uncomfortable, with boring rows of identical little houses, permanently shrouded in fog ... You don't see the sun here for weeks and that's terribly depressing."

     Conrad considers it a badge of honour that our country's climate is capable of depressing even a Russian.

He does have a point, though ...

Usurped By Small Domesticated Wolf
This one is for Wonder Wifey, who always pines when separated from her small furry daughter.  Your modest artisan had gone downstairs to put a trayful of remaindered scoff in the oven, and Lo!  What sight greeted him on his return to the Sekrit Layr?
     No!  Not a yeti in the comfy chair.  This - Art?

SDW has taken possession

     This is more dog-on-the-bed than dog-in-the-manger.  Conrad was forced - forced I tell you! - to sit sideways on in order not to disturb doggie.  Then, after a few minutes of demonstrating who is really in charge, off she went.  Point made, I suppose.

Well, Duh
Okay, I have just completed watching "Area 51", which appears to have sat on the shelf for a good 6 years after production was completed.  Rather generic in tone, I'm afraid, and although I won't give either plot or ending away, it doesn't end well for any of the protagonists.  Art?

Groom Dry Lake and accompanying buildings

     Er - did they not think that perhaps the reason it's so difficult to get into Area  is because whatever's in there is - you know - dangerous?

Finally -
You might call this one "The Fault In Our Muffins", for it concerns Conrad's attempts at baking Maple Pecan Muffins.  Art?

     I baked about 30 of the little rascals, but only put a single pecan on the first 12.  The recipe called for 60 whole pecans just to decorate the muffins, in addition to the six ounces needed for the batter.  Since this would cost about £8 for the nuts alone, because pecans aren't cheap, I cheated.
     The"fault" bit comes when trying to get them out of the paper case; the paper sticks to the muffin.  I think the cases are partly to blame, having been sat in the cupboard for a great many years, so I've bought a new set and more pecans, and WE'LL SEE WHOSE AT FAULT!!!