Oh My Life - The Folly And The Strife!

As You Should Surely Know -

Your humble scribe is a bit of an anorak about military history, and the First Unpleasantness in particular.  As proof, I am currently reading "The Invisible Cross" by Andrew Davidson, about Major (later Colonel) Graham Chaplin, who commanded the 1st Cameronians.  Art?

My edition

     I have also just been looking through the bibliography of Paddy Griffith's seminal "Battle Tactics of the Western Front", his iconoclastic look at the British army from 1916 to 1918, and double-ticking the ones I have (37 of 'em), because - anorak, remember?

     Anyway, what I really wanted to yark on about was the film "Journey's End", since I have reached the 1 hour 10 minutes stage, where a raiding party from the East Surrey's is going to storm the Teuton lines.  Art?

Port - Stanhope (usually drunk); starboard - Trotter (usually eating)

     Unusually, the raid is to be carried out in daylight, under a smokescreen, which is not as daft as you might imagine.  Trench raids - heartily disliked both by those participating and on the receiving end - normally happened at night, taking advantage of the reduced visibility.  The canny Teutons knew this; if they suspected a raid was in the offing, they would evacuate their front lines trenches so that no prisoners could be taken, and all the more so for the period when JE is set, immediately prior to the massive Teuton offensive of 21st March 1918.  

Captain Stanhope (plus whisky)

     Then there's Ol' Stanny, who supposedly gets through the day by drinking half a pint of whisky, due to his nerves being shot to bits.  Well, there are a few problems with this.  Getting bottles of whisky in the front lines every day is tricky to start with, and he'd have to bring them himself, because if they were sent up in supplies, they'd inevitably get pilfered.
     Then, too, a battalion commander with any degree of competence, not to mention the MO,* would know Ol' Stanny was cracking under the strain and get him a couple of week's leave, or assign him to a sinecure training course back in Blighty for a few months (a favoured wheeze).  In real life the 9th East Surrey's MO sent at least one officer back home permanently due to "nervous exhaustion".  

     Hmmmm!  R. C. Sherrif, the author of JE, himself got sent home permanently to a cushy staff job after 10 months in the line.

R C looking very martial

     We shall see how the trench raid pans out.  I don't expect things to end well ...

Say Hello To A Sub-Subculture You Never Knew Existed
Zombies are big business nowadays - YOU SEE WHAT YOU DID, GEORGE ROMERO? DO YOU SEE!?  <ahem> what with films and television programs and computer games and comics and live action role-playing events.  This is not news.
     What is news, to your humble scribe at least, is that there is a faction within the zombie-bashing community:  Zombies Versus Trains.  Yes, really.  Art, once bamboo-skewered into action, can provide proof.  Art!

Gory and ghastly and gruesome and <runs out of appropriate words beginning with "g">

     I don't know what the story behind the above is, and since I'm on a tight schedule, I don't have time to check just now.  Maybe after I post this.  Nor is it a one-off.  Art  - oh, damn, my bamboo skewer broke, let me - Art?

Train - 1,257 Zombies - 0

     Similarly with this.  What on earth is going on?  I don't know.  Maybe later.  Just imagine the aftermath of the above - hundreds of shattered rotting bodies stinking to high heaven in both examples.  Who's going to clean that lot up, eh?  Tell me that!

They're coming to get you!

My "Incredibles" Project
You didn't ask, I know, so I'll just say that it's coming along nicely, although a "Zoom" function would have been ever so handy.  In case you've been living under a rock for the past few days, I am trying to establish a timeline for the pre- and post-court case against Mister Incredible, because - anorak, remember?  I might have to go back and rewatch it from the beginning,** to make more notes.
     It's rather tricky.  If you want another example, try to date what year "The Goon" is set in.

A film?  Count me in!***

     Thirties?  Forties?  Fifties?  All of the above at once or none at all?  Only Eric Powell can tell, and he stopped doing TG a good few years ago <cries into his tea>

*  "Medical Officer" - a doctor in uniform, usually attached to the battalion.
**  Feel my pain
***   -  said the slobbering fanboy.