This May Only Make Sense
If you, the reader, are as aged as Conrad himself, and remember that peculiarly-titled British film from the Eighties that rejoiced in the name of "Chariots Of Fire" and which had to do with - athletes? running? There was a beach in there, and pretty sure Vangelis had a hand in the soundtrack. That's as far as I venture, since it didn't appeal then, nor does it now. Art!
Now, this - this is a film with a Vangelis soundtrack Your Humble Scribe can get behind
Here an aside to an aside. You recall the title "Blade Runner"? and so you should unless you were living atop a column in the middle of the Gobi Desert. It had already been created and used by sci-fi author Alan E. Nourse, although it bore absolutely no connection with either the screenplay nor Philip Kendred Dick's source novel, "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep". Interesting author, AEN and we may come back to him.
Back to chariots. I think - sorry, what's that, Art? A Bare Sketch by Da Vinci? No, I've warned you before, we are strictly SFW here on the blog. If we can get back on - what NOW Art! O - you know of a "2000AD" cover that satirises the aforementioned film? Go on, then -
Ah yes, the good old days, when the character Slaine was a violent nihilistic mercenary, always looking for his next horn of ale, before they added in traits like "Political correctness 14,000 BC" and so on.
ANYWAY we are reverting back to "Ben Hur" and matte work, as illustrated by that mighty Antipodean film analyst NZ Pete. If any of you whippersnappers out there are familiar with anything about BH, it will be the chariot race where Judah Ben Hur is amongst the charioteers, facing down his erstwhile foe Messala.
Here another aside. Messala only just makes the chariot line-up before the race begins, and when he does arrive, his chariot has what one can only describe as an unfair advantage - Art!
Imagine this apparatus revolving at 60 r.p.m. and butting in against an opponent's chariot - it grinds a couple to pieces and causes another two chariots to collide rather than face being gouged to splinters. HOW IS THIS FAIR!
ANYWAY FOR THE SECOND TIME let us look at the arena where this knife-edge* competition takes place. Art!
Ignore the car! Ignore the car!
You may well have worked out that, no, not all of the above is part of the physical set, and you'd be right. Allow me to bring in NZPete's deconstruction of set and matte. Art!
Here we see reality in the cold light of day in the upper picture, which is what was actually filmed. In the lower one we can see all the 'trim' added to the film thanks to matte painting work, which negates the need to build gigantic sets and props and employ thousands of extras. Because most viewer attention is firmly focussed on the race, rather than the surroundings, any shortcomings in the matte are likely to be overlooked.
I think that's enough of NZPete's in-depth analysis for the moment, and I encourage you to go visit his website, there to peruse, enthuse and ask questions toos.
https://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com/search?q=ben+hur
That's his blog page for BH if you want to know more.
Motley! Bring on the dancing capybaryas!
Sorry, a weasel is the closest I can get
More Etymological Excursions
You may avoid this item if your delicate ears and sensibilities are easily offended, because we might be skimming the corners of SFW here. Let us begin -
"DASTARD": Generations of children have grown up with the knowledge that this word exists only because of "Wacky Races" and -
Hmmmm maybe. The origin of this word is apparently in Old Norse: "Daestr", meaning "Exhausted", from whence we get the modern-day insult
"BASTARD": Before the mid-twentieth century, this word had a strictly legal meaning, without any sense of insult, as it so often gets bandied about today. It meant the illegitimate offspring of two parents who were not married, and frequently came up in matters of royal or aristocratic inheritance where there might be both legitimate and illegitimate contenders for a title. The derivation is from Old French, "Fils de Bastre" or "Son of the packsaddle". Art!
One is a dastard and the other is merely a -
Don't forget that the Norse moved to Normandy so there may be a common language at the root of both these words.
Heavens Above
From grimy human interaction at the basest level to the music of the spheres, which is a phrase Your Humble Scribe has heard if not fully understood. Regardless, we are now back to another Astronomy Photographer Of The Year shortlist contender, so if Art will put down his Etch-a-Sketch -
Flame Nebula, by Steven Mohr
This rather eye-catching nebula is in the constellation of Orion, and can be found under the eastern side of the 'sword hilt'. Just out of shot here is the star Altinak (all these good Arabic astronomical names, hmmmm), which is a blue supergiant, and whose energy emissions help to make the nebula (NGC 2024 if we're being formal) positively jump. The various gasses present absorb energy and change state, leading to the fiery image above.
My Treacherous Mental Mindfield
It keeps throwing stuff up for no reason, and the latest is "Dormammu" which had occasion to pop up in the kitchen this morning. Not physically in the kitchen, you understand - it would have scared the neighbours - but as a concept.
What is it? A fertility goddess worshipped by the Sorbs and Wends of Dark Age Europe? A particular type of bid in the game Wei-Chi? A garage-door manufacturer based in Slovenia?
Well, no. None of the above. Art!
This entity is from the Marvel comic universe, and is the ultimate form of cosmic evil, revelling in death and destruction, dismemberment, passing port to the right, not returning library books on time and not filling the kettle again. And similar**.
Yes yes yes - but why did it's name crop up in my mind today?
Finally -
Darling Daughter is coming to visit tomorrow, so we shall undoubtedly consume a fair few mojitos whilst watching zombie films late into the night. Valuable dad-daughter quality time.
* Do you see wh - O you do.
** Not sure if you can lay the claim to "Unlimited rice pudding" at it's door.
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