Callooh! Callay!
Which you ought to recognise as being from "Jabberwocky", Lewis Carroll's epic nonsense poem, which is relevant here because BOOJUM! takes it's name from another of his epic nonsense poems, "The Hunting Of The Snark".
Which has nothing to do with Indian tea plantations, although it will serve as an expostulation of wonderment. You recall that Conrad bought all the packets of loose-leaf Darjeeling in Sainsbury's on Saturday? At least you ought to BECAUSE ONLY THIS WAY WILL YOUR DESCENDANTS SURVIVE when my starship invasion fleet gets here. Art!
What I wanted you to post was a picture of that implement essential in the brewing of tea: a teapot. For Lo! Wonder Wifey and Degsy came back from the car boot sales with a Suribachi double-walled metal teapot, which has been swapped for the enormously heavy brown china one. Art!
No, Art. No.
 |
| Teapot and tub of Bigos for scale |
It's very obviously been used plentifully, as the interior has what Conrad describes as 'patina' and which other less artistic people might call 'grot'. Which persisted after a good deal of wire-wool scrubbing. So tomorrow morning we shall be taking this new pot for a test drive. How appealing will it make the Darjeeling?
Okay, Motley, you and Art are going to be playing Chicken With Alligators, and Art can wear the lead boots first.
What Do We Make Of This?
Yesteryon Conrad posted a sci-fi book cover, in order to force Facebook to pick it up as the default icon when posted on that forum. I recognised the style, yet did not know the artist.
You may rest easy for Your Humble Scribe has managed to identify the painter in question: Bob Fowke. Art!
Best not let little Timmy see this, let alone read it
His cover artwork used to be all over the place in the Seventies, from what I recall, and he seems to also have had a gig as the house artist for Coronet paperback's science-fiction output.
There are other covers, which are rather unsettling, so I shall leave this as is, and you can go Google them yourself. Don't blame me for nightmares and awakening at 01:37 because the floorboards upstairs creaked (and you live in a bungalow).
About That Jigsaw
It comes with a handy picture sheet for reference, which would have been even handier if it had been small enough to fit in the box properly. Art!
The artist is Nicholas Trudgian, who is apparently hot stuff in the field of aviation art, whoopee for him. Conrad can tell you that the central aircraft is a Hurricane, and the Teuton aircraft shortly to do an impression of a brick is a Stuka Junkers 87, and that's where his knowledge of aircraft runs out.
HOWEVER. Nicholas has been unerringly accurate in his depiction of the BEF ground vehicles; no generic 'TANK' or 'TRUCK' here. O no. That tank at the front of the column is an A13 Cruiser, you can tell by the centrally-positioned headlight. To it's port is a Vickers Light Tank Mark VI, kind of an armoured car with tracks. Behind them you can see a Bren Carrier, that unique British 2 ton Jeep-on-tracks, and next to it is a Bedford truck, with another Bedford behind it. Off to the port of the picture is a Morris 30 CWT (which is curious Imperial for one and half tons) looking in need of maintenance. Art!
Dalek Great-grandad?
There's a thousand pieces to this jigsaw, so if I set up a sheet of fibreboard to begin, there will be quite a time taken to complete. Don't worry, you will get progress reports.
Steaming!
Conrad has never realised this before, and you have permission to laugh mockingly at him*, but steam trains - as they chuff along, emitting clouds of steam - use up lots and lots of water, because it's all being vented as steam. The clue is in the "Steam" of "Steam engine". According to to Peter Hodgkinson, in his quite excellently detailed "The Battle Of The Selle" (about an obscure battle in October 1918 during the First Unpleasantness), your average steam locomotive consumes between a ton and a ton-and-a-half of water every thirty miles at the most efficient. Art!
Your Humble Scribe was well aware that the Royal Engineers of the First Unpleasantness were responsible for providing drinking water for the soldiery, and plain water for horses, who were much less fussy about potability, yet had no idea that locomotives were just as thirsty as Dobbin.
Who knew!
I also see that Peter has footnotes referring to the most boring book ever written, Henniker's "Transportation On The Western Front", which I have also slogged through, and I feel his pain.
Return To "Forbidden Planet"
Ha! No, nothing to do with <hack spit> musicals. I refer, of course - obviously! - to one of my favourite sci-fi films evah. I took a series of frankly rubbish photographs this afternoon, where there were intrusive reflections everywhere. The idea was to show how matte work was used in classic colour sci-fi films of the Fifties and Sixties (we may extend this arbitrary timeframe). I have now found enough pristine images online that we may commence with the article. Art!
Working with still is always a challenge when talking about a film. Here the United Planets Cruiser C57D is the only moving object, with a fantastic matte background. Sorry, don't know the artist**.
Ah. Henry Hillnick, apparently.
Okay, then we have the dust plume that indicates Robby the Robot Road-Rage Driver approaching, once again with the matte as backdrop. Art!
Once again, using a painting on glass is a lot cheaper than having to construct an entire set in miniature, especially if you can re-use it. Art!
This one simply does not work as a still, and even less so because it's a fraction of the size a full-screen image would have been. In this shot the pool at very dead centre is animated and moving, as if a shoal of piranhas were going at a herd of swimming cattle. Next!
Oops. We are well over the Compositional Ton. Guess the rest of this will have to wait for another day. Chin chin!
* For a maximum of FIVE SECONDS ONLY. You will be timed.
** Go on, go on, I shall attempt to find out.
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