You May Imagine You Know Where This Is Going
And you'd be WRONG. I know, I know, there's a sci-fi novel by Barry N. Malzeberg (who has to use the initial "N" because of the proliferation of Barry Malzebergs out there) which goes by the same title, and it does offer an interesting first picture for us. Art!
It's a great cover picture, and since the novel is the re-telling by the completely off-his-rocker narrator of a manned trip to Venus, focussing all those circles on his brain is quite apt. Ol' Bazza had a fantastically jaundiced view of NASA and astronauts in general, in that he detested the lot of them. Art!
I think this is one of my favourite sci-fi covers ever, as it epitomises the novel realllllly well. You have the bright, shiny patriotic astronauts in the foreground, with one of their (nuclear-armed!) LEMs above, and in the background another astronaut clearly terrified out of their wits.
ANYWAY sorry about the tangent from a tangent, because NO this Intro is not about Ol' Bazzer's novel. Art!
Say hello to one of the artefacts that went into Earth orbit after the culmination of the Apollo program: Skylab. As the name implies, this was an orbiting laboratory using the Command & Service Module component of a Saturn IV rocket and a bespoke laboratory unit (OWS), massing 90 tons and crewed for 6 months of the 10 it was active. Skylab utilised astronomical telescopes to observe the Sun and Earth, and served as the workshop for countless life science and engineering experiments. Art!
OWS 'stacked' ready for launch
Skylab fell to earth in the truest sense of the word in 1979, when it broke up on atmospheric re-entry over the Indian Ocean, ending up in Western Australia. Art!
The Ockers, possibly joking, possibly not, fined NASA $400 AD for littering.
Into the Eighties! where the Space Shuttle became the next vehicle beyond Ol' Appy, being a re-usable 'spaceplane' that took off vertically with booster assist, and landed on a tricycle undercarriage like a plane. These formed a NASA fleet that flew for 30 years on 135 missions until 2011. Art!
The shuttles were crucial in assembling another post-Apollo orbital platform, the International Space Station, which has now been in service for 25 years, making Ol' Labby look like a poor and distant relative. It's the size of three Jumbo jets and if Art will put down his bowl of coal -
Of course - obviously! - this is not what the Intro is about. No, what I wanted to yark on about is the band Apollo 440, who took their name from NASA's Moon missions and what 'concert pitch' is, it says here. Art!
These are the 3 studio albums of theirs that I have. There are two more, one of which, "Dude Descending A Staircase" (2003 release), is out of production as the staff at Fopp! told me when I enquired. "The Future's Not What It Used To Be" came out in 2012. No, they're not very prolific, are they? Nine years between the last two albums and nothing in the 12 years since.
In fact 2012 seems to be rather an end point for them, as I can't find info about any computer game soundtracks or film soundtracks that they've done since then, when such activity was one of their mainstays. They were never a touring type of band, which is perhaps why they only did 4 gigs in the past 7 years, the last one being August 2023 in Poland. Art!
Tellingly, they have no official website, there is no information on their Wikipedia page after 2012 and their Facebook page is only updated with that Polish gig of 14 months ago.
They have another identity as Stealth Sonic Orchestra, under which aegis they did tons of production work, mixes and remixes on other artists work - but again, nothing there after 2012.
Are they still a going concern or no? Bands don't always confirm or publicise when they break up, possibly because their management thinks being mysterious will keep the punters interested. After all - Art!
So, the Gray brothers and Noko may have moved on, unacknowledged, to do something beyond Apollo 440.
The Plot Thickens
You ought to recall that Conrad was pointing and laughing at DJ Sepia and his pimping a new crypto-currency just yesteryon, because what could possibly go wrong?
I have now more up-to-date information on the take-up of the $300 million offer, which now stands at $12 million, so a whopping 4% and thus an increase of 1%. You don't need to be an economist or an accountant to realise this is pretty rubbish. Art!
Take a look at the image here and study the symbolism about gambling, because DJ Sepia is the chap who managed to go bankrupt running casinos. Then we have the circus who run World Liberty Financial. Art!
This is Zak Folkman, who is the registered owner and grandly-named "Head of Operations" at WLF, whose qualifications for crypto-currency appear to be running a dating service. He and another 3 of the senior officers were all involved with another (dodgy) crypto-platform called 'Dough', which suffered a $2 million dollar hack earlier this year.
Can you say 'scamble'?
How To Queue The British Way
You may not be aware of an event taking place in Eastern Europe as of today, which is the Moldovan vote on whether or not to join the EU. Moldova is the small nation with Romanian heritage and culture that borders Ukraine, where most of the population are verrrrry keen on joining the EU, as it means a bigger, better economy and more for all. It's only sidebar-worthy on the BBC. Art!
These are some of the Moldovans living in London queueing up to vote, in a still from a video clip that shows the queue snaking along for quarter of a mile.
Early indications are looking good for Moldova and poor for Modern-day Mordor. Hah!
"The War Illustrated Edition 196 22nd December 1944"
Remember that, whilst this edition was being published, the Battle of the Bulge had been raging for a week already, which means it might get a mention in TWI in three weeks time. Art!
Here at 1), a barely-identifiable M10 self-propelled anti-tank gun moves forward, thanks to all the foliage camouflage. This amount of added fabric disguise serves to break up the vehicle's outline, making it harder to identify, and helps to blend in with the countryside.
At 2) a Churchill tank crew are proudly sporting their 'pixie-suits', which were a very well-designed fleece suit for winter wear, much envied by the South Canadians, who had nothing similar and whom would often attempt to trade for them. 3) shows a determined GI looking to get a little extra for the pot, 4) shows that bane of modern warfare, the mine, and 5) shows refugees fleeing battle, the inevitable human detritus of war in urban terrain.
Finally -
Hmmmm no those Chippy Saveloys were a bit bland, I'll have the next pair slathered with mustard or relish. Or - put them in the Monday Stew. Not made on Sunday as I still have a portion left for Monday.
Right, back to "Space 1999" and "End Of Eternity", as I am trawling through the first season after a long hiatus. Where are those remaindered strawberries?
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