No, HMRC Has Not Just Explained That I Owe Them £5,388,927.13
That really would be a surprise, given that Your Humble Scribe faithfully pays his taxes. This is yet another reason why South Canadians regard This Sceptred Isle with a certain fond and wistful regard; there is no need for us to work out hideously complex income tax forms th
ANYWAY enough drivel about taxes. Let us lead with - Art!
ATOMIC-POWERED TANK!
Just to flush the taste of taxation off your tongue and out of your mouth. The thing about a tank with an atomic power plant is that you'd be very loth to destroy it on your own territory, as a fuming fallout-generating blazing hulk could well contaminate hundreds of square miles of terrain for decades and res
ANYWAY this particular surprise has come from left field and taken Conrad entirely by startlement, for a couple of reasons. Art!
So he deliberately designed characters that tended to the side of nightmarish. They populate a restaurant that the player, as a night watchman, has to survive until daylight. Art!
Animatronics, you see. As horripilatory as clowns out of context, because these particular children's entertainment become active after dark when their catering venue closes for the night. It's an old trope; the inanimate becoming animate when it ought never to. "Killdozer" is a prime example, and that episode of "The Goodies" with the excavators tracking Graeme, and "Maximum Overdrive", too.
ANYWAY the game has been around since 2014, spawning lots of sequels and a board game (meaning It Has Truly Arrived!) and now -
A film. Art!
Nope. Drive right on by.
Thanks to Ryan Kinel and his Youtube vlog for providing up-to-date figures for the film, as Box Office Mojo hasn't updated them from 27th October. To date it has raked in $78 million at the domestic (South Canadian) box office, which is pretty spiffy, in addition to the global box office take, which boosts it to $138 million. This is the 3rd biggest horror film opening gross of all time, which is a statistic to whistle at and where today's title comes from as it certainly took film reviewers by the neck and gave them a good throttling. Art!
Altogether now - "THEY'RE BEHIND YOU!"
What makes things even more interesting for the bean counters is that the budget was only $20 million, to which you can add perhaps $5 million for distribution and promotion. The rule of thumb for box office is that the studio gets back 50%, so they've made almost $70 million over their first weekend. That's the thing about a relatively low budget film; the studio suits keep their hands off and don't meddle because there's not a lot riding on it, so it doesn't end up getting produced by a committee with all the originality and vim blanded out. Art!
With these figures, Conrad can GUARANTEE there will be at least one sequel.
We shall see what kind of legs it has. Also, in under 2 weeks time, "The Marvels" is being released. This is - actually I could write another Intro about it, so we'll call it a halt right there for today.
Moderating One's Cruelty
Conrad, as ever, is busy slaving away over a hot keyboard in his Sekrit Layr, which means that Edna by default is up here, too. There's also the Codewords and crosswords to be completed, and "Official History of the Great War Military Operations Egypt and Palestine" to read and Kahn to annotate, which would be awkward to shift downstairs. Art!
Better than the cold cruel carpet.
Conrad Contemplates Conundrums
I think Anti-Wordle is harder than Wordle, probably because of the logical inversion and trying to avoid getting things correct. Arrt!
Not too shabby. One day I'll beat it and then you'll be sorry.
"City In The Sky"
Bucolic and low-tec New Eucla might be, naive they are not, and a pair of wary eyeballs is en route to watch the Doctor and Alex.
‘I want you to remember this feeling,
Alex. If I were a bit colder, I’d
explain about “paradigm shifts”. Instead
I want you to remember how you felt at this point when the townspeople of New
Eucla come face-to-face with an equally unsettling experience.’
The words went in, but Alex didn’t really understand what was meant at
that moment. Levering himself up on one
elbow, he turned sharply to try and find what invisible fingers were stirring
his locks.
‘That’s “wind”,’ explained his companion, grinning, all the solemnity of
his previous announcement gone. ‘Along
with “weather”, it’s something new to get accustomed to.’
The sombre expression returned.
‘You’re quite right about the so-called “death-sats”. Sheer nonsense. My first suspicion is that our mystery aliens
are trying to restrict any technological advancement along this coastal
area. My second – actually I think I’ll
leave that unspoken as yet.’
Six large fishing boats had earlier been run up the beach on wheeled wooden cradles that were now propped with rocks, and their crews were unloading nets, reels, ropes and buoys, having already sent their fish cargoes inland to the gutting and smoking sheds. Alex watched their easy, practiced operation, interspersed with laughs and casual curses.
I forget if he's wearing sunblock at this point. The ozone layer has very probably recovered by this point but it doesn't do to take chances.
O My Goodness! What's This?
A large dose of schadenfreude, that's what. Art!
'Erling Haaland' sounds like an island in the Frisian chain, prone to flooding in bad winters, principal produce dairy products and Air b'n'b for Continental tourists. Given the context we must assume he is a ballfoot player. Let me point out that the small icon at lower starboard indicates that a Commentary has been opened, so I'm going to go take a look. Art!
SCHADENFREUDE ALERT!
Over 2,000 Comments so far. Allow me to put up a typical one.
Most of them are gloasting like this. Bring on the popcorn! - if there's any left over after reading all those Youtube posts about Darth Marmalade.
Finally -
Better go downstairs and check on the laundry - O my rock 'n' roll lifestyle - and get some baked sandwiches on the go, not to mention bookmarking the following - Art!
They announced a list of nuclear missiles to be documented that we've been covering here on the blog of late, with the addition of "Rascal" which I'm not familiar with.
Every win they have has been narrow and scrappy. They’re a poor team and their position in the league table actually compliments them.
City will prove that to the world in a convincing victory!"
That was my comment on the pre-match preview and I was 100% correct.