I Say By Golly, Here's More Strife And Folly!

Since That's Apparently What People Want
Of course, what really matters is what Conrad wants, because 1) It's my blog, 2) I write what I want and 3) It's my blog.  Yes, 1 and 3 are the same but it's an important point and I wanted to get it across.
     Where was I?  Oh yes.  Strife and folly.  J.R.R. Tolkein (who was an officer during the Battle of the Somme, First Unpleasantness, and who allegedly worked the shattered landscapes of the Western Front into Mordor) once observed that nice things, when described, are - well, a bit dull, really, and don't take long to go over.  Horrid things, on the other hand, are exciting and entertaining and take ages to get down in detail.  Come on, if "The Lord of the Rings" had simply been Frodo going for a walk and making lots of new friends, it would have been a short and boring work.  Art?

                       Mordor                                                 The Western Front
     Mark Kermode, over on the Beeb's website, has been going into different film genres and analysing how and why they work, his latest installment of "The Secrets of Cinema" dealing with horror films.  As proof of my assertion above, there is no film genre of "nice films", is there?  Where happy people go to their splendid jobs and earn lots of money and do interesting things at the weekend and have wonderful families - it would be excruciatingly boring to watch that.

Almost as bad as this.*

     Here an aside.  Ol' Mark's article goes on to mention "The Shining", Stanley Kubrick's masterly horror film, which I rather like.  It subverts one of the basics of the horror trope; nothing lunges at you out of the dark, because everywhere is very brightly lit.  Nor is there any sudden sinister oboe music or harsh jarring strings, because all the music is creepy.  Art?

NO PUNS!

     "All very philosophical, Conrad, but - the strife and folly?  Where is it?" I hear you wheedling.
     PATIENCE!  I'm getting there.
     Last night I began watching the 2017 film iteration of "Journey's End", quite possibly the most famous British play about the First Unpleasantness.  Art?

"Uncle" shaving in a trench.
Got to keep up appearances, doncha know!

     I'm only half an hour in, but am favourably impressed with the attention to detail in terms of set and props and uniforms.  There's a couple of issues I have about the plot, which can wait until a later date.

"Captain Stanhope was relieved"
(Don't you worry, Stanny, I'll get to you in good time)

     Right!  Time to put the motley in an industrial oven and see if it melts!**

     Excuse me whilst I pop downstairs and check on that chicken in the over.  Don't want it to burn!

     It was okay.  Another pause whilst I have lunch.  You don't mind, do you?  Thank you, that's very understanding.

Yet More Strife And Folly!
For we are back on the subject of vehicles improvised by Perfidious Albion in the aftermath of Dunkirk, when equipment was scarce and time was short.  You recall the laughable "Beaverette Armoured Car"?

"Grrrrr!" said the Beaverette, unconvincingly

     They did have a later version, which looked less like something from the Dada Design Department and a litte more forbidding.  Almost military, in fact.  Art?

"Grrrr!" said the Beaverette, a little more convincingly

     And I have seen an upgunned modification that takes it from Barely-Scarey to something more akin to I-Need-New-Underwear.  Art?

This Beaverette didn't say anything.  It didn't need to

     From a single light-machine gun to four mediums capable of laying down 40 rounds per second.  Ouch!

And Finally - 
Still enjoying "The Rockford Files" as much as I hope you enjoy reading about them.  If you want me to stop, there is the facility to suggest so in the Comments section, and if you send such a request in, I shall thoroughly read it, then ignore it.
     Okay, last night it was "The Mayor's Committee from Deer Lick Falls" and it began, somewhat oddly, with Mr. Rockford driving a fire engine around.  Art?

Thus

     I'm not sure this wasn't written into the script at James Garner's request, since he loved driving, and this would give him an excuse to drive a real fire engine, which is not something you get to do every day.  It turns out that he was investigating fire engines for sale, as the mayor's committee wanted one for Deer Lick Falls.  At the time of filming (1977) a brand new one would have cost £56,000, but Jim had found this one for them, going at £25,000.  
     Which still seems a bit thin as a plot line, but I'm willing to let it pass.

"Jim was relieved"

* Which I still haven't seen.  Heh.
**  Don't worry, we have lots of motleys.