Fighting Ire With Fire

How Clever Am I?

THAT WAS RHETORICAL DO NOT ANSWER!!  What I meant was 'Aren't I clever in mangling an old saying in order to re-introduce "The Towering Inferno" 'because that's what I'm doing.

     The ire, in this instance, is that of the Architect, played by Paul Newman, who discovers, thanks to a minor accident, that the Tower's electrical wiring is not in conduits and is thus less secure.  Art!

Integrity personified

     The target of his ire?  None other than Richard Chamberlain's character, who was the Electrical Whatever-High-Grampus for the project, and who plays sleazy and cheesy with worrying ability.  Art!

Sweaty nervousness personified

     The issue, it seems, is that Simmons (Richard's character) confirmed the wiring is up to code, meaning it satisfies industry standards in the South Canadian's peculiar argot.  Roberts (Paul's character) ripostes that the electrical systems needed to be above code.  This would doubtless have led to a prolonged court case taking years and millions of dollars to reach a conclusion - had both men survived the night of anguish.  Haven't seen the film?  Then my ambiguous comment is going to leave you hanging.  Heh.

     None of which, of course - obviously! - has anything to do with what I actually intended to talk about, which is par for the course with BOOJUM! and splendid mental exercise for you.  Art!

OJ when he was okay

     This is the Security Centre for the tower, and here you can witness the director/producer Irwin Allen's ability to squeeze a dollar out of a dime.  All that computer hardware in the background?  Left-over props from "Fantastic Voyage" so you can describe him as Hollywood's earliest upcycler, a man who wanted to be green on the screen*.  Art!

A scenic elevator, as the South Canadians call "lifts"

 
      Chekhov's Gun in the flesh, ladies and gentlemen and those unsure.  Well, steel and glass, anyway.  You can bet that, having been introduced, we are going to see more of these grate glass elevators.  O My Yes, Elliot Ness.  Art!

     An unlucky 13 minutes in, there's another electrical fault; you may not be able to tell from my frankly-rubbish photography (sorry folks no ability to Snip here) but an instrument panel suffers an electrical short, the access panel pops open and a furiously sparking wire lands on a collection of rags.  You can see Mister Roberts' point here; if the wire had been contained in a conduit, then this could never have happened.  It would have been a very short film, mind**.  

     Motley!  We have run out of Intelligent Hopping Anti-Train Mines after repelling that all-out assault last night from the lethal locomotives.  As an interim, we need to recruit a Suicide Squid Self-Immolation Squad.  Get on to it, will you?

"Did someone mention 'squid'?"

     <groans> not another word to avoid?  It's as bad as having to avoid saying "flamethrower" in case 

"Hi!  Aliens immolated, mutations massacred, I also do barbecues at reasonable rates.".

     Yeah right.  Next!

Love It To Pits

Aaaaand once again Conrad mucks about with the English language, because he's so witty and wise and woeful and wonderf - say what?  "Woeful"?  Has that malicious beggar Mister Hand been intruding again!

     ANYWAY we are back to ooohing and aaahing at "Quatermass And The Pit" because it's my blog and it's one of my favourite television serials.  No.  Nope.  Nyet.  What you think isn't important.  Art!

"New compact London apartments receive official blessing"

     This sequel was, unusually, better than it's prequels and a landmark television event.  One in three of the population at the time watched it, which in contemporary terms would mean an audience of twenty-three million viewers.  It also scared the living **** out of those watching it, a reaction that must have had the television people (and Ol' Nige) rubbing their hands with glee.  Pub landlords came to dread it's showing time as there wouldn't be anybody out drinking if they could possibly be watching television.  Art!

     If you haven't seen it, Your Humble Scribe recommends it unreservedly.  Just don't watch it alone in the dark.  Especially not on All Hallows Eve.

 

Talking Of Derelict ...

Your Humble Scribe has come across another selection of photographs on the BBC website on another theme, this time 'Derelict' and since it is the readers who interpret this word, you get responses that might not be expected.  For example:

Photograph courtesy of Andrew Cade

     We've covered these structures before.  They are the Maunsell Forts, constructed in the Thames estuary during the early years of the Second Unpleasantness, in order to bridge a gap in the nation's anti-aircraft defences.  Any Teuton bomber trying to fly up the estuary in the fond imagining that this put them out of reach of anti-aircraft guns were given a rude update.

     They also feature in "Fury From The Deep", a Doctor Who serial dramamentary that helps to explain why North Sea gas costs so much.  Art!

As they were

     There wasn't so much risk when The Doctor trod their boards, as they were only twenty-odd years old.  Nowadays they are rusted to beggary, and look ready to fall into the sea any moment, so The Mystery Jets were taking a big chance filming on them a few years back -

"Bubblegum" the track

     I bet there's nobody around when they do finally sink into the ocean depths.

Finally -

Your Humble Scribe, as is his wont, has hidden the identity of his Enormous Employer all these years, because you do not foul where you live if you want to keep getting all that sweet, sweet salary.  Besides which, there are people that major organisations hire to check social media for unflattering posts.  Conrad has known two people who were fired for injudicious FB posts.  So!  You can keep guessing where I work.  I will tell you that it has, across all it's business organisations, 175,000 employees.  And I have a remote interview on Friday for a different position, one where I can still make people cry on the phone (from happiness of course NEVER sadness O no not at all that).  This calls for a hasty review of my hastily-updated CV (resumé to my South Canadian readers) and a recap of all the fantastic things I've done in the office, such as turning the wallboard monitors on and off.

     I've not had an interview in over 4 years.  Oooer Matron!

Conrad is - apprehensive

     And with that we are most certainly done.  Goodnight Vienna!

*  Actually he just wanted to save money.  But I'm being kind today.

**  Or a very long one, concentrating on the legal battle between Roberts versus Simmons.  Which would have been quite a borefest, frankly.