Okay, I May Be Doing Too Many Crosswords
I get to do the one in "The Metro" of a morning, then I get the "M.E.N." when alighting from the bus of an evening - which picture of transportation banality is quite beside the point and
ANYWAY we have a theme for today, namely WIRE. And that title is how a crossword compiler would clue you in about WIRED. Ah me, I'm so clever I impress even myself at times. Art!
That ought to bring a few people in. It's a Technology And How It Affects Us kind of mag, and that title is becoming obsolete, matey. It dates you. Not quite along the lines of
- but close.
"Wire": The band not the substance. They arrived on the scene with their debut "Pink Flag" in 1977, initially being associated with the punk scene, but they had deeper roots than that. Art!
They have been very much an on-again-off-again band, splitting up to do side gigs and solo work, and are still around. They have changed musical styles and direction several times, and have been influential since their early days. Art!
Conrad remembers some of their earlier singles with affection, including the ridiculously catchy "Outdoor Miner", which actually became a minor hit for them. Is it on Youtube? <pause to check> Yes it is. Can't make a jot of sense out of it, mind. Still sounds great.
Nicky Wire: Still with the musical theme, that's me being clever again <pauses for applause, hears none, sulks>. Nick is the songwriter and bassist for those eminent Welsh musos Manic Street Preachers, none of whose albums I have, although I've liked what tracks I have heard. They seem rather dark in tone, as do their song titles. I mean, "If You Tolerate This Then Your Children Will Be Next" implies that their ouevre is not going to consist of heart-warming songs about lovely fluffy bunnies and rainbows. Art!
Nicky. Looking pretty ..... manic*.
"Wires": Still with the musical theme within a theme <pauses for applause again and receives a modest smattering> this was one of the singles from Athlete's second album, "Tourist". Art!
"The Wire": This was a police drama of such unremitting 'grittiness' and 'realism' that Your Humble Scribe gave up on it after a few episodes. It was set in Baltimore, I remember that much, where everything that isn't bad goes badly wrong and everyone (yes the whole city) is either evil or corrupt or evil and corrupt. Baltimore, it seems, is the Eighth Level Of Hell. One would think people would move out. Art!
Interestingly enough, two of the major leads were British: Dominic West and Idris Elba. Because British actors have such strong acting chops, I suspect. A series worth watching if you are currently experiencing an excess of sweetness and light in your life.
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| Baltimore! |
"Wire In The Blood": Another police series with "Wire" in the title, how could I resist having a crack at this one? Conrad has never actually seen this, and frankly has no desire to, police series not being my cup of Darjeeling. Art!
That looks a bit grim and forbidding, doesn't it?
The casting was brave, because Robson Green, who played the criminal profiler Tony Hill, had previously been associated with more comic roles. His job is to come up with a profile for possible serial killers, which he is extremely good at. As a counterpoint, as with Will Graham of "Red Dragon", getting inside the head of a psychopathic killer is not great for his own mental health. The title comes from a poem <hack spit> by TS Eliot and implies corruption (it says here).
It ran for five seasons, so some of you out there liked it. Who knows, our paths may cross in future.
"Barb Wire": If Your Humble Scribe had few moral scruples then he'd have lead with this as the first item, because then Facebook would feature Pamela Anderson and her co-starring cleavage, wearing too much make up. However, we've been there and done that earlier this year, so no revisiting. No. No, I refuse. Shan't.
O go on then. And yes, ONLY FROM THE NECK UPWARDS, you pervy letchers. Or letchy pervs. One of the two. Possibly both.
"The Wire": NO I AM NOT REPEATING MYSELF! bafoons. Cast your mind back to June of 1940, which is when opportunist Fascist Italy decided to get in on the Second Unpleasantness before France surrendered. Their - or more correctly Il Duce's - declaration of war also took in Perfidious Albion, without alerting the Italian Tenth Army in Libya. The British, having picked up the radio announcement, promptly crossed The Wire and attacked several astonished Italian convoys, who didn't realise they were at war. Art!
Aged Rolls-Royce armoured car about to cross The Wire
The Wire, you see, was the nickname given to an entirely useless stretch of barbed wire along the border between British-controlled (mostly) Egypt and Italian-occupied (most definitely) Libya. Useless because it could easily be either pushed over (as is about to happen above) or trampled down. More a political statement than a practical one; you can amuse yourself by imagining that it was an art installation hundreds of miles long.
Thus, in Eighth Army slang, to 'go up into the blue' meant that you were swanning off into the desert, and to do that you had to cross 'The Wire'.
Finally -
We only need a short item here to hit the Compositional Ton, and I know just the thing, even if it's a picture we kind of covered earlier this month. Art!
As I may have already mentioned, when originally released on vinyl, this had a large sticker covering the wiring seen here, as it was feared the nation's youth (and the not-so-youthful) would immediately re-wire their domestic plugs in dangerous fashion. Because that's what you did when you saw an album cover, at least in the minds of a fearful authority.
And with that we are done, Vulnavia!
* O come on! He so clearly is.
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