Flowers Of DEATH!

Sounds Like A Doctor Who Title, Doesn't It?
From back in the Seventies, when those plastic pikers the Autons were up to polyethylene mischief in the shape of killer daffodils.  Really; go and Google and you'll find proof.
     Anyway, that's not what I want to talk about now.  What I refer to is a piece of incendiary horridness that was used by the RAF Pathfinder Force during the Second Unpleasantness.  It weighed in at 4,000 pounds, or nearly two tons.  Art?

About this big
(RAF humourous inscription optional)

     It was filled with a delightful composition of benzol, rubber and phosphorus, which generated an enormous pink flash when it detonated, also generating secondary fires from the phosphorus; as a marking aid it was unmissable, which was the intention.
     With a certain amount of mordant humour, it was dubbed the "Pink Pansy"; RAF wit could be a touch dark at times.  If you think the Pink Pansy was objectionable, go look up 'Grand Slam', which was over 4 times larger, and more aptly named.
     Having now explicated this evening's title, we shall move on to less bloodthirsty matters, pausing only to hurl the naked motley into a room full of mutant mosquitoes!

Ooops!  One escaped.  My bad.

The Ineluctable Validation Of Deductive Logic
Wow, that sounds dull, doesn't it? Don't worry, it's just Conrad gloasting again, no need to worry that this will be about applied tensor calculus.* Art?

Behold!  Behold my brilliance!**

     That on the starboard is 'Battleships', which, as you can see, I've completed.  It took a bit more effort than last weeks.  What I really wanted to point out is the Kakuro on the port side.  It took me at least an hour and a half, but I solved the whole thing, with no mistakes, and no access to the answers.  Compared to the painfully slow and woefully attempts I made when beginning these puzzles, I did pretty damn well.  As mentioned, thanks to deductive logic.

 The Haul Part Three
Whilst in Fopp I had a look around the CD shelves - it would have been rude not to - and came away with a mix of classic and more contemporary sounds, which Art will illustrate once he surfaces from his coal-induced stupor.  Art?

     The contemporary amounts to Eels and The National, and also Zombie Zombie, who were a bit of a speculative buy.  I remember them as the soundtrack to a staggeringly weird if well-thought out homage to "The Thing", done with - er - stop motion Action Men.  Art?

     WHAT THE HELL!  I'm listening to "The Royal Scam" and there's a line Walter Fagen just sang that mentions zombies.  Really, I just checked the lyrics.  What are the chances of that happening?
     Okay, back to our regular broadcast.

Action Man.  I never had one.
(Not keen on dolls and too large a scale)

     Now, I shall post a link to show that I am not raving and delusional (yet) so here you are:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT7AH4JyuNs

     It's not very long, yet since it's stop motion animation it must have taken days to make.  Some people have too much time on their hands.***  Anyway, that's ZZ.

     DOG BUNS!  THIS IS NOT FUNNY!  There's that Walter Fagen singing about zombies again, a line in "Haitian Divorce.

"Whoah, Connie - calm the heck down, man"

     Anyway - hang on, I'm going to check the lyrics sheet - no more zombies mentioned, good - this is the last of the classic series of records that Steely Dan did back in the Seventies, so it completes my collection.  The liner notes, as ever, are highly amusing; both Walt and Don hated the cover picture and had no compunction about saying so.  It is bizarre, and I've made the photograph extra large so you can see.

     Hang on, I don't think I like being called "Connie".  I'll see you about that later, Mister Fagen.
Rather puzzlingly, I-tunes has listed all six albums as "Unknown Artist", which seems a bit hard on Jeff Beck.  Don't worry, Jeff, we still love you!

"Thanks, Connie.  That means a lot."

     Oh - er - ah- you're welcome, Jeff.***

Finally - 
Er, more embarrassing truths.  I have obtained a copy of "Starcrash" and at some point in the near future shall watch it, although Degsy's dismissal of it hints that such viewing ought to be filtered through a bottle of Scotch.

Stark rash.  Close enough

*  Which I know nothing about, except that it sounds difficult
**  I'm not modest all the time.
***  I know, I know, I'm 100% hypocrite through and through.