Frenetic Kinetic

Or, If You Like, A Frantic Antic

For Lo! we are dealing with the remote manipulation of objects without any physical contact.  This is because Conrad is watching a hokey yet entertaining Sork film that has the English title "Psychokinesis".  The plot revolves around a third-rate near deadbeat absent dad, who is accidentally gifted with the power of - you may be ahead of me here - psychokinesis.  Art!

Shades of "Chronicle"

     The Youtube channel this screenshot comes from describes it as a 'Superhero action comedy fantasy', which sums it up pretty well.  The Sorks like to include umpteen tropes in their genre films and television shows, regardless of what the underlying concept is.  Just one of the reasons Conrad loves loves loves Sork television programs!

     Let me now resort to the trusty Collins Concise (my sole momento from a month's work at Ashton Children's Social Services*).  "Psychokinesis: (in parapsychology) alteration of the state of an object supposedly by mental influence alone."  Art!

     <excuse me, off to stir the Sunday Stew> 

     Conrad, because he is nothing if not thorough**, also looked up the very-closely associated term 'Telekinesis', which the CC defines as:"The movement of a body caused by thought or willpower without the application of a physical force".

     Well now!  We could create a dozen Intros dealing with nothing but telekinesis if the mood so took us.  It appears to be the second-most desirable or important ESP skill/talent/curse/blessing after telepathy.  Why, Conrad even went so far - because we all know how thorough he is - to create a rating scale for telekinesis (and telepathy) as background for a fiction work of his <avoid expressing any interest at all and maintain a dead-eyed stare or you'll get the whole thing inflicted upon you, warning courtesy Mister Hand>.  Art!

     This is one of the more extreme examples, where Baby Yoda Grogu, who cannot weigh more than a stone, if that, renders helpless a brontosaurian behemoth that must tilt the scales at three tons, at least.  At the other end of the scale, small manipulations can render a sense of creepy unreality.  Art!

     Ah yes, another trope exemplified: "The Power Of The Gods In The Hands Of Children" which is a sub-trope of "Things Man Was Not Meant To Meddle With (Nor Woman Either)".  One can understand where the scriptwriters were coming from on this one, at least.  If you were suddenly granted these awesome powers and abilities, with no experience or training, just how well would you cope?  Art!

Full Mental Jacket

     Many years ago on BOOJUM! I posted up a list of 'drunk superheroes', because the idea of Batty or Supes getting pie-eyed and blowing up half of Gotham was amusing to the nihilistic little swine I was then.  Imagine, if you will, these telekines hoovering up hard drugs or liquor and the resultant chaos that ensues.  O that would not be good!

     Which is only one facet of telekinetic superheroes or villains.  Art!

         Here you have Wolfie, a sixteen-year old with superpowers that include telekinesis - or psychokinesis, if you like - and absolutely NO IDEA how to use them.  Please be advised this is from "2000AD" and is nothing whatsoever to do with Citizen Smith, and the mind boggles if Tooting's very own Socialist Superhero had gotten ahold of powers alongside his slogans. He caused quite enough trouble when he got hold of a Scorpion Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance Tracked.

     I think we may come back to this topic, I like it!  Whether you do or not is quite immaterial.

The Case Of The Dog In The Night

For reasons I cannot fathom, it being quite dry and un-downpoury, the amount of fireworks being released tonight seems to be a whole lot less than those of yesteryon.  That is, if you are reading this on Monday, bear in mind it was created on Sunday.  Art!

     Here is madam, quite comfortably ensconced in a blanket on the floor, whereas yesteryon she was desperate to sit on my lap and get stroked, the latter of which she usually vehemently rejects as a Hom. Sap. invocation of ownership <cont. Page 94>

This Is How You Attribute

One of the things that broadcast media needs to cleave to is being able to squirm out of the gunsights of responsibility, accountability and legal jeopardy.  This is why one sees headlines and taglines and cover stories with the following.  Art!

     'Don't speak much, if at all' is bookended by quotation marks, which means that "The Daily Beast" is alluding to an anonymous source, who is providing the quote.  That way they cannot be held accountable nor sued for making accusations.  If there are quotation marks, you see, or if the person speaking includes 'allegedly' then there is substantial legal protection inherent in such a phrase.  Omit these and you lay yourself open to expensive extensive legal sanctions.

     Plus I keep telling you that the South Canadians sorely miss being subjects of the Crown.

"City In The Sky"

We are experiencing the corollary of being a city in the sky, namely being a suburb on the ground, and a sorely-troubled suburb at that.

‘Mike?’ asked Boyce.   The other man sighed, straightened his back painfully and wiped sweaty ash from his face.

     ‘Looks like the welds holding up an intermediary process tank cracked.  The whole thing pancaked, split, sparked.  You know the rest.’

     Boyce ground his teeth.  Murakow looked puzzled and angry.

     ‘We knew those welds were crucial.  I inspect – inspected – them daily.  No signs of any shearing or tears.’

     ‘How long to reconstruct?’

     Murakow’s face lightened a bit.

     ‘Only a couple of months.  The original engineering was a by-guess and by-golly job.  We know the short cuts this time.’  He gestured at the fuel storage tanks, now ringed with cameras and sensitive sensor equipment taken from towns all along the Gulf.  ‘The stored stuff is fine for another five months.’

     Showing rare emotion, the colonel turned to look over the Gulf of Mexico.

     ‘Dammit Mike, when are we gonna get a break?  Half the country nuked, half the population dead of disease.  Our official government stuck in orbit.  Every shuttle site on the planet gone.  If I didn’t know better - ’

     He bit off the comment from an unfathomable, almost unconscious dread.

     I think he's onto something here, folks.

"The War Illustrated"

In glorious monochrome.  With added single-colour on front and rear covers.  The colours are faded now, they must have been quite vibrant at one point.  Let us now bring on one of the montage pictures.  Art!

     This, as you may be aware, is a British mortar.  Not the more usual 3.1" version; this is the 4.2" bit of kit, which fired a bigger bomb a lot further.  You can see the crew ducking down or facing away to avoid being deafened by the weapon's fire.  Someone somewhere is going to have 20lbs of high explosive hate dropped on them, repeatedly, as this thing could manage 20 bombs in the air at once.  They had been introduced as a chemical-weapon deployed to fire mustard gas or phosgene, which sheer vituperativeness never actually occurred in the Second Unpleasantness.  Small mercies.

Conrad Rendered Speechless

Only for a moment!

     You see, Suchomimus, Youtube channel poster about the Ukrainian Unpleasantness since ages ago, did not originally establish a Youtube presence to analyse combat footage.

     No.  He set up his Youtube channel to go on at length about - 

     DINOSAURS!  Art?

     He apologised for being late with his most recent posting, as he'd been off buying dinosaur eggs.

     Yes, that's correct:"Dinosaur Eggs".

    I am off to go stir my Sunday Stew, you lot can talk amongst yourselves, or even type if the madness takes you.

*  Interesting but EXTREMELY GRIM

**  Okay okay okay, " - and also a nerd down to his very bones"