Are We Having Fun Yet?

I Won't Apologise For Dipping My Crooked, Scrofulitic, Be-Taloned Toes -
 - into the waters of Current Affairs, where BOOJUM!'s charter dictates that we avoid it as one of the trifecta of Avoid This Blog:  that and Religion and Politics.  The current isolation and lockdown affects 1/3 of the global population, so I think I can risk a quick dab in the shallows for such a unique event.

What harm can it do?

     Perhaps I should have begun with an inversion of the title: are you bored yet?
     Conrad is frankly astonished that anyone can be bored if they have access to a Book Mountain, as I do; I have dozens of books waiting to be read and since late last year I have now begun to annotate certain works, as this helps to bring out themes, concepts, ideas and omissions that a mere vicarious read won't.  It is slow work as Your Humble Scribe is - well, scribing; writing stuff out longhand with pens on an A4 pad.  Art?

Currently working on this

     This latest is part of a common theme: memoirs of the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, one of the best, most experienced and decorated tank regiments that Perfidious Albion fielded during the Second Unpleasantness.  I have too much to cover at present to go into detail yet, but rest assured, you are going to hear some feedback about this volume.
     And yes, the editor is that very ubiquitous James Holland, who gets everywhere.
     Then there is Netflix.  A panoply of televisual entertainment; Conrad has to find something there to make up the aching endless gap until "The Umbrella Academy" and "Doom Patrol" come back for a second season.  Case in point: I've still to finish the first season of "Ragnarok" and "Dark" and the latter is so complex that it's difficult to pick up the threads once you've left them alone for a couple of weeks.  Art?

NO!  Art, you bumbletuck - wrong "Ragnarok"

     Our resident artistic director Neanderthal is lucky I'm cracking on apace.  I was making a point about there being a lot to watch.  Nor is that all, as I am going through a giant book of puzzles in lieu of a crossword or two every day.
     And!  IGN posted a Tweet where Brian Michael Bendis - I'll get to him in a minute - himself listed a whole slew of outstanding comic books that would keep you entertained whilst in lockdown.  He listed 18 titles, of which I made a note of 16 - I do like to keep making notes, don't I? - and am going to have to check and see what they are in more detail.  I did want to do this before having at the blog, but at only a couple of minutes for each title that's over half an hour and I want to get to bed before midnight*.Art?

How to scare cats the Brian M. Bendis way!

     BMB has won scads of awards for the comics he's created over a decades-long career in comics, so if he recommends a comic book, pay attention.  Now, I can't exactly pop into Forbidden Planet or Travelling Man to pick these up, but there is online shopping and the telephone, so once again, why would I end up bored?

Or I could re-read all my copies of 2000AD

     One supposes this is an alternate reflection of those saddoes who retire and then croak it a month later as they have nothing in their hollow empty lives to keep them going; Your Humble Scribe positively looks forward to the day he can spend 16 hours reading books or doing crosswords or jigsaw puzzles or running a wargame or - you get the idea.  Except no computer games, as they are the biggest thieves of time ever invented.
     Motley, I challenge you to a game of blindfold tic-tac-toe!

|No, Art, no.

The Animals Are Revolting!
In a kind of listless way.  As you should surely know by now, our Small Domesticated Wolf, Edna, considers the entirety of Hom. Sap. to be put on the planet for the exclusive purpose of either feeding, walking or entertaining her.  If neither of these three panderings are in operation then she lets us know by means of - sulking.  With an occasional sigh thrown in for extra theatricality.
     And so to yesteryon.  I am working from home, which means actually working, not lounging around watching Netflix.  This is lost on Edna.  Art?

"I shall lie here and pretend to be dead and then you'll be sorry!"

     I carried on working.

"O Wicked Neglectful Humans!"

     I carried on working**.  Later on I had to take my tray down from Mancave to kitchen, only to find that Jenny was obviously conspiring with Edna - Art?

"O poor poor pitiful me -"

     Bah!

From Cakes To Conspiracies ...
Okay, you know by now - or you SHOULD do if you've been keeping up with BOOJUM! - that Conrad has been keeping a weather eye on "How To Cook That", a splendid Ocker channel on Youtube that has been valiantly attempting to combat the epidemic of fake life-hack videos there.  Pre-eminent member is Professor Ann Reardon, a food scientist; also present is her husband (or "Hubbo" in Ocker slang) Dave, who has the unpleasant chore of eating the guff she cooks based on things like 5 Minute Craft recipes.  Art?

Our heroes!

     Ann then pointed Dave at the people responsible for 5MC, Soul Publishing, who have over 200 Youtube channels that pump out 2,700 videos per month, because in a previous life Dave was a "Journo" (or "Journalist" if you want to be formal, and also because SP had been edging into anti-South Canadian and pro-Ruffian territory.  Surprise!  The two founders of SP are - Ruffians:  Pavel and Murat, who keep an extremely low profile and who eschew publicity.  O but you have Dave Reardon on hour bottoms, now, chaps, so that cherished anonymity is going out the window.
     We shall leave this here for the moment as you can only take so much cake and conspiracies in one sitting.

Pavel looking shady

And Whilst We're On About Ruffians -
Conrad, as we already know, has an unhealthy interest in the First Unpleasantness, and has acquired an enormous library of books on the subject, on all sorts of topics.  One that is horribly under-represented, however, is the Eastern Front during that period.  There is Norman Stone's epochal "The Eastern Front 1914 - 1917" and that's about it for English.  Though there are probably some Ospreys out there; and I may have a nosey and see if there are.  Art?

Hey, what do you know!

     There are several reasons for this paucity - another word you probably won't see again today - of works on the subject, one being political.  The years 1914 to 1917, you see, were when the Tsarist army was waging war, and this meant the Bolsheviks treated it as the historical equivalent of radioactive plague toxins treated with syrup of figs: utter anathema - again, I bet you won't see this word a second time today!  The Western Allies, having provide succour to the Tsar's armies, were then treated with scornful contempt by the Bolshies, threw their hands up in the air, damned them for ungrateful rascals and were loth to plot any kind of history for the selfish sausage-guzzlers***.  Since the advent of Tsar Putin, the Ruffian emphasis on history has been to lie about the Sinister's rule and bleat about how wonderful they were during the Second Unpleasantness, ignoring the First.

I say!  Another one - my cup runneth over!

     I have thus had recourse to my colleagues over on the Facebook group "Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers", and got a response about a Prit Buttar, whom I'd never heard of before.  He has written four volumes on the Ruffians in the First Unpleasantness, and if Art can put down his scuttle of dinner -

Ah me -

     I've not looked these up on Abebooks yet but it seems that the overtime I'm currently doing is going to be somewhat swallowed up ...

     Righto, lunchtime is nearly over, time to get back to the grinding-stone.

Finally -
I know today's post has been unusually long, and I've not even touched on half a dozen things that I wrote down in my notebook, quite besides adding in some of the horror stories about jobs posted by ex-employees in South Canada.  I can quickly post one: the narrator was working at a chemical plant, and management had assembled everyone for a meeting.  The big announcement was that there were going to be mandatory drugs testing carried out.  At which declaration 45 people immediately walked out ...

Tumbleweed town ...

*  Or risk turning into a mangosteen as the magic wears off
**  Heh!
***  Or - am I thinking of the Prussians?