Rather warily, if the truth be told, for it has the evil ability to suck an hour out of your life if you're not careful and watching your chronograph.
Thus, I noticed that it has a double-page spread on "Stalker", that notable Ruffian science-fiction film created by Andrei Tarkovsky, way back in the days of the Sinister Union. Art!
Above you can see the Stalker of the title and his two paying companions sneaking into the Zone behind a train; then the trio wandering across the landscape, negotiating the hostile environment and finally in the room that grants one's deepest desires.
Here I must jump backwards in time to when "2001: A Space Odyssey" had been on television the night before. People at college were baffled: what did it mean? What was the monolith? Why bones? Did HAL get a raw deal?
Conrad, of course - obviously! - was not confused at all, and even deigned to explicate what was going on, because I'D READ THE BOOK. Which helps.
Thus too with "Stalker", which is based pretty loosely on "Roadside Picnic" by the Strugatsky Brothers. In the film we see a landscape affected by A Mysterious Event, with smashed military equipment, abandoned buildings and a countryside running to ruin. The novel also has A Mysterious Event, the repercussions of which are being dealt with years later; as one scientist postulates, Hom. Sap. is doing nothing more than dealing with the scattered alien rubbish left after they broke their journey to have a - roadside picnic. Art!
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| That, by the way, is an "empty" |
There are several interwoven tales in the novel, of which "Stalker" constitutes only one, and there is certainly room for Hollywood to do a crash-bang-wallop version of it. You never know, perhaps George Clooney might be willing to fund a pitch? or Netflix take a punt on a series?
We live in hope.
Also in slightly puzzled awareness that the default double-spacing between paragraphs has vanished, when I have definitely not done that. The sinister creeping influence of AI, warns Conrad.
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| This may be the motley, and it may be rejoicing at that above*. |
Whilst Dwelling On The Heavens -
Shall we have another astronomy picture? Why yes we shall. Art!
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| "Iceland Vortex" by Larryn Rae |
This is another picture of the aurora borealis, this time in Iceland, and is a composite of 20 different photographs. The photographer found an iced-over inlet where the aurora was reflected totally and took the series of shots. He then managed to get one with himself standing on the ice. Must have a very long selfie stick.
I'm going to include another one, because of it's sheer incongruity. Art!
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| "Luna Park" by Ed Hurst |
As you can see by the myriad longitudinal streaks of brilliance, this one has a time-delay operating to demonstrate apparent stellar movement - it's actually the Earth's rotation that imparts movement here.
What I wanted to comment on here is the hideous grinning maw that is the entrance to Luna Park. Which monster decided that people had to approach this diseased fantasy and get metaphorically eaten by it, in order to enter? How many children wept themselves to sleep recalling this demented visage! Art!
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| You cannot call this anything less than sinister |
GREAT GADFRY!
Also - DOG BUNS! <takes calming draught of medicine**> Okay, you're going to have to bear with Conrad for a sentence or two. Many, many years ago, Your Humble Scribe used to get a weekly children's magazine, "World Of Wonder" which the parents -
- considered a balance to "TV 21" and "Eagle", and because it was a new title, they tried to capture readers with a colour science-fiction strip adventure. Conrad only today recalled WOW, and only minutes ago came across an article on the magazine on the blog "Bear Alley" which deals with comicdom in general. Not only that, one commenter asked if the site's creator, Steve, could whistle up some picture from "A Leap Into The Future" as the series was named. Good for them, I had no idea.
So Steve did.
That above is the link to his blog, lest you wish to study the source. Once again, be warned, as there is an awful lot of content present. And now, Art -
Good lord aloft, it must be 45 years since I last saw this serial. I still remember the twists in the tail, but - being O so merciful - I shan't taunt you with these revelations.
In other non-news, no reply from Jonathan Ware about where, or even if, his work "Jocks, Dragons and Sospans" is available. Conrad is beginning to doubt the very existence of this book. Perhaps "Jonathan Ware" is simply an alias used by a cluster of sinisterly proliferating software***?
San Luis Obispo
Another apology is due to those who frown disparagingly at the random rubbish cast up on the mental beaches of Conrad's brain. This location came to the surface and bobbed ashore last night, for no good reason. After "Cuyahoga" there seems to be a trend towards South Canadian place names, for Lo! this one is a city on the Pacific seaboard, sitting about half-way between San Francisco and Los Angeles in California. Art!
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| Very idyllic. Mind out for sea urchins, however. |
There's not a lot else to say about it. They have a laughably modern house from 1856 that counts as "Ye Olde Howse Of San Louis O'Bispoe" or somesuch, and I type this whilst inhabiting The Mansion, which was constructed in 1899 I believe. Hmmmmm notable celebrities from SLO are - Zac Efron? I forget what he looks like. Art! Dig up a photo.
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| Ah. Human Guiness. |
He was in films, and perhaps still is. Conrad not bothered enough to check. You may do so on my behalf and report back. Anyone else? Hmmmm one Robert Hunter, who wrote lyrics for The Grateful Dead, very good Rob, splendid work. A real celebrity whom everyone has heard of?
O very well, Weird AL Yankovic hails from SLO. Is that good enough? Yes I think so.
Finally -
Still getting used to single-spaced paragraphs. Okay, I have not held forth in citric fashion about Codeword solutions YET but you are going to get the benefit, whether you are loath or not. Yes, I say, Hastings Ismay!
O and finally, Your Inept Internetter managed to put today's blog, which should have gone out at lunchtime, on last night's and this morning's retrospective posts, which has seriously done down the amount of traffic. That'll teach me to try working on autopilot.
And with a final cheery Chin Chin! we are out of here, Vulnavia.
* Or not.
** A.k.a. 'Gin' - the hideous truth courtesy Mister Hand!
*** Okay, okay, I nicked that from Bruce Sterling
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