Conrad: Still Hates Musicals

Also, Fortunately For This Time Of Year -
 - Your Humble Scribe is not overly fond of chocolate, either.  When the tubs of chocolates are going round at Christmas, I might have a single one.  So I have no predeliction for Easter eggs, thankfully.
     Actually not every single musical.  "The Blues Brothers" and "The Return of Captain Invincible" are two I make an exception for.  Art?

What do you mean, "Was he ever away?"

     "Spinal Tap" is a documentary, so that doesn't count, either.*
     And with that very short Intro, let us proceed apace!

"The Dance Of Death" By Hans Holbein (1538)
No!  That's not a 24-hour clock reference, it's when a series of woodcuts by Holbein were first published.
     These illustrations come under the heading of "Dance Macabre", which Your Modest Artisan had long been familiar with as a piece of music by Saint Saens, if not the concept behind it.

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

     Therein the link to said piece over on Youtube.  Okay, so DM was a type of religious artwork that purported to show that everyone, but everyone, not matter how pious or irreligious or rich or poor, was destined for the grave.  Death was not to be deferred indefinitely: your number was always going to come up.

Cheerful they are not

     This one, I believe, shows an armed combatant of some description attempting to fight off Death, which is not going to be successful, and is in fact a highly likely occurrence given his chosen occupation.  Art?

"But  Death, mate, I gotta get to market -"

     I know this is a travelling salesman trying to talk his way out of Mr. Death's hands, because I looked it up.  Also notice that strangely-groomed dog in the background; I've seen other dogs barbered like that in other Medieval woodcuts.  Maybe you had to be there.  TDoD was immensely popular in it's time, rapidly going into multiple editions and with naughty unauthorised copies, too, since people back then couldn't get enough misery and doom. 
     The cause for mentioning all this grim artistic stuff is that it got an incidental mention in "Nicholas Nickleby", though Ol' Chas mis-describes Hans as Dutch, when in fact he was German.

Happy happy Hans

Nicholas Nickleby - An Update
Nearly 600 pages in; I spent over an hour hard at work reading this morning, braving the sun and defying Jenny to sneak the toast off my plate, as she attempted yesterday, the cheeky mare.  Had she got it, she'd only have licked the butter off, but Edna would have bravely bounced in and gobbed both slices instanter.
     Anyway, that has nothing to do with the novel.  I wish to draw the reader's attention to not one, nor two, but three coincidences that Ol' Chas piles upon the narrative.
     SPOILER ALERT!




     NO, SERIOUSLY, SPOILER ALERT!


     You were warned.  He was warned - as though his ape's brain could contain the secrets of the Kr - no, wait a minute, that's "Forbidden Planet", isn't it?  Sorry, wrong medium.  Anyway, the novel is 181 years old, so some of the plot might have leaked already.
     Coincidence The First: Nicholas just so happens to be looking at the positions wanted and available in an agency window when, who happens to also be there but the philanthropic Mister Cheeryble?

Who employs Nicholas and finds a cottage for his sister and mum

     Coincidence The Second:  Nicholas just so happens to visit the coffee-room of a rather upmarket hotel, where the loathsome Sir Mulberry Hawk is conversing in low tones about Nicholas's sister, Kate, to his toadies Pyke and Pryce.

A toad.  Of considerably higher moral quality than Pryce and Pyke put together.

     Coincidence The Third:  Whilst Smike is walking homewards, it just so happens that the vile bully and extortionist Wackford Squeers comes across him and imprisons him.

     Recall that Squeers is normally based in Yorkshire and only comes to London a couple of times per year, and that the population of London at this time is <thinks> lots and lots -
     I suspect that another Coincidence is about to befall Smike, which we will put into abeyance until it does.  Come, come, Mister Dickens, you can only lard a novel with so many Amazing Chance Happenings before the willing suspension of disbelief frowns sternly and ducks out.**

What A Title ...
I have just been to visit "The Poison Garden" website again, just for a laugh <yes I am a terrible person>, and came across an entry for "Catnip".  Art?

Catnip and cat, nipping

     There are no recorded incidents of this plant harming humans, though anecdote has that consuming it will make you aggressive and argumentative.  Cats, on the other hand, go potty for catnip.  Pop on over to Youtube and put "Catnip" in the search box and see what comes of it.  The Poison Garden's creator, John Robertson, tells of how the Alnwyck Poison Garden's cat would binge out on catnip in the morning and then lie, in a comatose stupor under a bush for the rest of the afternoon.

The question that was often asked

     Thus leading to the title of his book, since groups of visitors asked it so often.  John's views on poisonous plants have changed considerably since the book was published and he doesn't intend to have another edition released, so Abebooks is your friend if I've intrigued you at all about this.

Finally -
Let me introduce you to the Nemeth Parasol, a 1934 design that actually flew, and flew pretty handily.  Art?

Aptly named

     As you can see, the single 'wing' is circular, helping to reduce the overall dimensions of the plane and making it very good at short take-off and landing.  The creator - Mister Nemeth - deliberately stalled the aircraft (i.e. the engine cut out) and the parasol wing allowed it to very gently float back to earth.

There.  Now we've hit the ton and it's lunchtime.  Later!

*  No, I don't like "The Rocky Horror Show", despite it mentioning "Forbidden Planet".  That's just desperate reaching, in my opinion.
**  Yeah, take that, Dickens!  Did he ever achieve anything?  Pshaw!