Know Your Acronyms
Our distant Dominion cousins down under will know what that word means, because they grew up with Anzac biscuits. These, according to Oz colleague Renee, are made without egg so that they don't spoil on long voyages overseas to supply the Antipodean warriors with food. Also, it was Anzac Day on 25th April, which may have made people recall the word.
"Australian and New Zealand Army Corps" and yes, this is another relic of the First Unpleasantness. The ANZACs landed on the Gallipoli peninsula in April 1915 and proved to be doughty, if inexperienced, troops. Art!
 |
| "Flee! The Ockers are here!" |
There was neither the room nor the opportunity for the Australians to exhibit their terrible behaviour out of the front line, which they made up for when they got to France. The British army's Redcaps (Military Police) in France dreaded having anything to do with the Ockers, who took particular delight in picking on them for the slightest of reasons, or indeed no reasons at all.
ANYWAY we are focussing back on Gallipoli, and "Anzac Cove", where their corps had landed and where they were pretty boxed-in. The Turks held the high ground and had a solid trench network with a nice wide No Man's Land to shoot down any attackers upon. O Noes. Art!
An assemblage of keep binocular-collectors meets to compare models.
The Anzacs had a number of Tunnelling Companies, whose job was to carry out mining work underground, in order to place explosive charges under the Turk's frontline trenches, a favour the Turks sought to return in kind. Art!
A trench. Just so we're clear.
The Ockers, picking up despicable skills from their brothers-in-arms of Perfidious Albion, decided that they wanted a trench much closer to the Turkish front lines at 400 Plateau and Russell's Top. It was impossible to do this openly by either day or night, for the Turkish machine guns and snipers were deadly effective. So, they dug out mine galleries perpendicular to their own lines, getting to within a thirty yards of the Turkish lines. They then extended a gallery parallel with the Turkish front lines, which was very shallow indeed - having a 'roof' of only three feet in thickness. Come night-time, they removed the top cover from this gallery very quietly and - Hay Pesto! - instant front-line trench. The Turk was not amused next morning to find that they were now staring down Anzac gun barrels at much closer range than yesteryon. Art!
The binocular-deficient gathered, jealously.
If you feel hard done by in your employment, just imagine those Australian diggers (hah!) working away underground, in June, in (literally 'in') Turkey at the height of summer, and trying to be really quiet about it.
Motley! We're going to play Pick And Micks; you can have the Micks and I'll begin with the pick - don't worry, I put a rubber bung on the point.
Roel Roasts The Know Of The Snow
Not snow the substance itself, rather Jon Snow, that chap that all the ladies drooled over back in the day of "Game Of Thrones". For today Roel casts a critical military historical eye over - Art!
Roel cannily points out that, instead of standing around muttering 'watermelonwatermelon', these people ought to be out digging a ditch, and after that one's done, dig another one. He's not wrong; having to ascend a ditch after descending into it would severely discomfit an 'ice zombie' as he hilariously insults the army of wights. Art!
Not easy to make out, so I shall explicate; this scene is all the non-combatants hiding in the cellars, shivering with cold and fear. In straitened circumstances like this, as indeed Roel carps, everyone would be carrying out a task; supplying food and water, bringing ammunition, retrieving the wounded, bringing tinder, horse fodder, whetstones, you name it. Art!
 |
| Spot the deliberate mistake |
Conrad could point this one out himself. All that torsion-powered artillery, visible in lines to starboard, is in the wrong place. You do not put artillery in the front lines, in this or any other century. Artillery's strength is it's range, so you put it in rear, and preferably at height on the castle walls, which will give improved visibility and range. As you might guess, artillery is also heavy and cumbersome - look at the tiny wheels on that one nearest the camera - and takes time plus teams of draught animals to move around. Time you will not have when the 'ice zombies' attack. Art!
Don't put your daughter on the stage, Mrs. Robinson, and don't stick your cavalry in the front line where they have no room to manoeuvre or work up shock power. The tidied-up diagram above is what Roel would recommend when faced with an army of 'ice zombies': lots of ditches, artillery on the city walls, and cavalry on the flanks.
Very Jiggy And Quite Sawwy As Well
As you should surely know by now, Conrad is a one for jigsaws, as their assembly and completion is a perfect fit for his plodding pedantic pie-eyed* perspicacious purposefulness. Last night I began "The Road To Dunkirk", and have amassed (hopefully) all the edge pieces. Art!
Early days yet
Jocose And Morose
In another of those etymological (not a word you expected to see today) pairings that just happen to intrigue Your Humble Scribe, I went to see where both these words originate. "Jocose", for your edification, means "Humourous" and is derived (inevitably) from Latin and "Jocus", which means "Joke". Damn. Even our comedy is tainted with Latin <sighs heavily>. Art?
As jocose as Conrad gets
"Morose", which means "Ill-tempered or peevish" comes from the Latin (I KNEW IT!) "Morosus" which means "Gloomy". Art!
Morose: Conrad's default state
So now we know, and are better-informed than we were five minutes ago.
Finally -
I seem to have exhausted the possibilities of blathering on about matte work in "Forbidden Planet", so I would just like to mention, briefly, another film that Degsy brought up: "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea". I can't post a lot of shots for this because it's not available for free on Youtube and we don't have a copy in The Mansion, so I shall have to go trawling the DVD shelves in charity shops anon. ANYWAY have this pairing - Art!
An intersting juxtaposition (another word you never expected to see today!) don't you think?
I think we're done with that for now. In the meantime I have to go and acid-wash our hazmat gear, as the motley got disgustingly dirty in the Sanjak last night. Vomit Volcanoes and Garbage Geysers make for a vile combination**.
* I suspect the work of Mister Hand here
** No, we couldn't refuse. The pistachio harvest, before you ask.
No comments:
Post a Comment