Rudy Rudy Rudy!

I Have A Message For You

There you go, two song titles already.  "Rudy Rudy Rudy" by the Kaiser Chiefs, whom I never liked and still don't, but I have to take song titles where I can get them.  Then "A Message To You, Rudy" by The Specials, or as they were originally know, The Specials a.k.a. whom I didn't dislike.  "Ghost Town" was good, I admit that much.

     Now, we need a picture to enthrall the masses.  Art!

     No, I don't know why a skeleton, nor why it's wearing a hat and smoking a cigarette.  Don't suppose the health warning will bother it much.

     Inevitably, none of this is about the real Rudy I refer to, that being one Rudy Giuliani, and my message to him is that 2024 is going to be a costly year for him.  Art!

"I am too poor to afford a pen to twiddle.  Honest."

     "Honest" and "Rudy Giuliani" are not words you will often see together.  Last year he was hit with a charge of $148 million for defaming two election workers - yes this goes all the way back to 2020 - and he immediately sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.  Such a filing, if successful, would put all other cases against him on hold.  This is what's been happening for the last 8 months, as Honesty Rudy sought to avoid presenting information, failed to conform to bankruptcy spending limits, and lied - how shockingly unexpected! - about his finances.

     The judge overseeing the case threw it out on Friday, with a 22-page summary of what and why.  He, too, found Truthful Rudy's conduct 'troubling' and deemed there was no way on earth to get Melting Man to come up with the relevant data.  Art!

Like garlic to vampires, so the truth is to Rudy

     Well, things are going to heat up now, because Judge Lane forbade Trustworthy Rudy from claiming bankruptcy protection for another year.  This means that those election workers can now go after their money, as being able to do so had been suspended during bankruptcy proceedings.

     O I forgot to add - Decent Rudy has been disbarred in the state of New York, meaning that he cannot practice law there, as of earlier this year.  Tee hee!  I bet that stung.  Art!

     This young lady is Nicole Dunpy, who has lodged a $3 million claim against Uncle Rudy, for sexual harassment and wage theft.  Now, after 8 months in the legal doldrums, she can get the case moving again.

     What might have Upright Rudy's bowels a-quivering, more than the above combined, is that the defamation suits lodged by both Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic, are going ahead thanks to the judicial thawing-out.  Art!

     Dominion, you may recall, got $787 million out of "Fox News" for defamation.  These are companies with deep pockets and squadrons of lawyers - who are still allowed to practice law in New York - and will be sharpening the knives as we speak.  So you could add another few tens of millions of dollars to what he will end up owing.

     Now, what Donald Judas Trump would do in a case after losing it, would be to appeal it, and if the Appellate Court turned it down, go to the Supreme Court, and if they shot him down he'd go on Truth Social and whine whine whine.  Nor would he pay his lawyers.

     Revered Rudy doesn't have a platform to whine on; he was abruptly sacked from the radio station that employed him as a talking head, so that channel's out the window.  Also of note is that this is taking place in NEW YORK.  If Saintly Rudy wants to appeal, he has to come up with a bond to the value of what he's been fined, possibly with a 10% 'extra' tacked on for 'administration fees', and totally not 'don't try stiffing us on appeal you loser fees'.

     Keep watching this space and don't forget to place your orders for popcorn!

"I still can't afford a pen so I'll just twiddle my glasses."

Another Rob

Here we make a rare admission, that of my first name as used on a daily basis: Rob.  Art!

     Ignore the film title, because we're going to be whanging on about "Planet Terror", which Your Humble Scribe finished watching to the end of the end credits, as that's how I roll.  Or reel.  Depends on how much gin was in the cocktails.

     Ol' Rob was a busy boy indeed on that film.  Let me recite his titles:

Writer

Director 

Producer

Executive Producer

Visual Effects Supervisor

Re-Recording Mixer

Camera Operator

Mr. Rodriguez's Chef

Director of Photography

Editor

Composer

     Interestingly, there was one scene where I thought it sounded very much like a John Carpenter soundtrack, and was impressed at how well they did it.

     Of course, it was a John Carpenter soundtrack; "Back To The Pod/The Crazies Come Out" from "Escape From New York".  Since Ol' John gets a thanks in the final credits one supposes that he okayed their using his music.

     This isn't the last we've seen of PT, O noes.

You May Be Wondering -

Or you may not, but you're going to get an explanation anyway.  No, there haven't been any artworks from the "Interstellar Research Centre" because I've gone through all the images I liked in their Galleries section.  There is a caveat here, mind, because I went back and looked at "Atomic Rockets" website again, which is even more detailed that the IRC.  We may have featured a few of their designs over the years, and I may go back to them as there's an awful lot of data there.  Art!

One of their sourcebooks.  A steal at only $100.

Maybe for Christmas?

     To be honest, unlike Rudy, this is the most expensive version.  There's another at £80 with £20 post and packing, which totals £100 and is the cheapest version.  The next one up wanted £40 for P&P, which is where I've found people do their gouging on Abebooks.

"City In The Sky"

Not an accurate title any longer as the 'city' in question, Arcology One, has been successfully de-orbited intact, with nearly everyone surviving.

‘Alex!  Alex!’ she shouted.  ‘Come on, talk to me, you piker.’

     His face appeared.

     ‘What do you want, Dorothy?  I was just about to have a -

     ‘The sphere has landed!  We need you to get your caravan of love on the move.’

     ‘What!’ exclaimed Alex, wonderingly.

     ‘It’s true, down in one piece – well, mostly, bits were being scraped off.  Anyway, get your arse into gear and get moving!’

CHAPTER THIRTY: A Really Good Time

      Just as the friction of re-entry had created a bow-wave and elevated temperatures,  the bombardment of Arcology One by the Lithoi’s particle beam weapon generated a sudden blast of heat.  The arcology’s hydroponic “soil” seethed and smoked, plastic pathways became liquid and flowed like butter, the few retained dew ponds flashed into clouds of steam and exposed structural members glowed red hot.

     Davy, along with nearly everyone else aboard the sphere, thought they were doomed. He realised after an immensely extended, suffering ten seconds that he could still worry about being vapourised.  Also, the smoke and fumes didn’t get any worse.  Were they past the worst?

     Just when he’d decided that Arcology One had endured the worst an enormous shock came from the floor, a physical blow that rocked his wicker frame back and forth, sending clouds of dirt, dust, hydroponic soil, water and broken structural components into the air, to clatter back down again.

     Yep, at this point if you're still scared, you're still alive.

 "Tomate"

First of all, WASH OUT YOUR FILTHY MINDS!  Thank you.  Conrad was pondering, as he often does, on the origins of words, and focussed on "Tomato".

     It comes from the Spanish "Tomate", which itself is derived from the South American tongue Nahuatl's "Tomatl".  Because, yes, it's origins are in South America, even if what you're putting on your sandwich came from a Dutch greenhouse.  Art!

The critics didn't like it.  It got canned.

Finally -

Time to take Edna trotties, as it's still not raining!