If I Were To Say "Twister"

You'd Probably Accuse Me Of Being Far Too Vague

Quite correctly, too.  After all, if we here at the blog got straight to the point, you'd be reading no more than a couple of hundred words.  Whether that's good or bad is pretty much in the brain of the beholder.

     OKAY!  The image conjured up in Conrad's brain when "Twister" is spoken is, of course - obviously! - "Twister", the film.  You know, starring Bill Paxton (sorely missed), Helen Hunt and Cary Elwes as the Bad Guy, because he's British and Hollywood casting directors have no imagination.  Art!

     It's the kind of engage-eyes-turn-off-brain-scoff-popcorn film that one needs to see every so often.  The most terrifying thing about it, in my humble opinion (which is the only one that matters) is that it's nearly 30 years old.  For your information, it made book at the box office, scoring $250 million on a $92 million budget.

     It's not the 'Twister' we're after.  Sorry.  Art!

     I've not seen this one, and am only putting it here since I'm a completist.  Nowhere near as successful as the singular tornado iteration, it cost a lot more: $155 million, making $185 million at the box office, which profit was probably eaten up by the distribution and marketing.  O well.  Still, it's only been out for 3 months and they may make more money selling it to Netflix.  Art!

1989 vintage

     No idea about this one, it just came up in the list of images.  A brief check on teh Interwebz shows that it's an hilarious comedy - it says here - about a disfunctional family against the backdrop of a tornado.  It does have Harry Dean Stanton present, so it can't be all bad.  Art!

Hmmmm.  
No.

     Conrad has never played this, nor ever seen it played, so it may be more of a South Canadian indulgence than British, because we're reserved enough not to want to have someone's sweaty unmentionables shoved in your face.  It's for breaking the ice at parties?  Kindly uninvite me from that type of party right now.  Art!

     Now we're getting places!  For those of you on this side of the Pond, I need to elucidate a tad.  "Nancy Drew" is the female equivalent of "The Hardy Boys", being a teenaged detective who - you may be ahead of me here - solves mysteries.  Which is well and good.  Creating mysteries would be contra-indicated for a detective.

     Her origins date back to the Thirties, with the series of novels featuring her being tied up in 2003, after 175 novels, after which her publisher created two more series about her, having grown up slightly over the course of 80 years.

     Still not the 'Twister' I'm after.  Art!

     Say how-do-you-do to "Buster", a comic Conrad used to read back in the day, when the day was 1970.  Since my memory is like the Yugolavian Army (nothing ever thrown out) one of my recollections was a bonkers story about a master criminal, whom I thought was called the "Tingler".  He drove an ice cream van whose broadcast chimes hypnotised all children who heard them; they then became his willing accomplices, robbing banks.  To do so they used guns that fired sedative-laden ice cream.  I'd like to have been in the planning session that gave this the green light.  I thought it was called along the lines of "Tunes of the Tingler" , which is incorrect, if on the right lines.  Be merciful, I read it once 54 years ago.

     It appears that I am not alone, nor completely raving.  Art!

The Twister (or something like that)

• Quote

Post by scorpion » 04 Aug 2009, 11:51

Had a scan through the topics but can't find a reference to this mini-series. It kind of stood out for me in the same way as Jellymen and Iron Eaters. It featured a mysterious ice cream van that played a tune that hypnotised the kids who heard it. I think the ice creams may have been spiked too. The ice cream man had a striped jacket and boater hat - I'm pretty sure he was called the Twister - and he got the kids to commit crimes. Oh, and his van was a like a tardis - bigger on the inside than on the outside. I was very young and it certainly intrigued me at the time. Quite scary actually. Does anyone know of this or did I dream the whole thing up.

Strikes me as something that would have appeared in Beezer or Buster. Apologies if this is referenced elsewhere.

     Ask and ye shall receive.  Another poster tracked down the title.  

Re: The Twister (or something like that)

• Quote

Post by Digifiend » 04 Aug 2009, 12:03

It's Trail of the Twister, from Buster.

     "Trail of the Twister", "Tunes of the Tingler". in the ball park of the next city over.  Art!

     Sorry but there are no copies of the actual strip in any archives I can find.  The episode I read was mid-serial so I don't even know how it ended.  What you might call a twist in the trail.

Our Journey Continues

The one we're taking with Berni Wrightson, who was well-described as 'Master of the Macabre' on the FPG trading cards he illustrated.  Art!

     Hmmmm.   Quite.  Conrad is unsure which is Leo and which is Roger.  Does Ol' Berni mean the walking stick? and why isn't the title either e-

     Ah!  Just realised - this is card #51, when we need card #19.  Hang on!  Art?

     Okayyyyyy.  Now we know who's who.  After all, every practically-naked young lady simply has to have a dinosaur to cuddle up to, because - er  - I'll get back to you on that one.  I hope #20 isn't as hard to track down as this one.

"Space 1999: Black Sun" Hot Patooty Continuity

Just 5 minutes into this episode, which I remember involved the Moon (and Moonbase Alpha with it) transiting a black hole, which they name a 'black sun', skirting correct astronomical terms.  Art!

It's big, it's black, it's on the attack

     The intent was that this episode would be broadcast second in sequence, thus explaining how the Moon got thrown so far into deep space, light years away from the Solar System when it couldn't travel faster than light.  Unfortunately, for no clear reason, it got broadcast weeks later, completely undercutting the planned continuity.

I Am Still Convinced This Is All A Giant Wind-Up Targeting Me

To what am I referring?  O I thought you'd never ask!  Art?

How can this be?  What does it mean?  Will it affect how I polish my brass hand? and other questions nobody ever asked or wanted an answer to.  One day all these people will turn to the cameras and chorus "Fooled you, Conrad!".

     Which will get them a sentence in the uranium mines, O yes indeed.

Scenic Italy

I've been chugging along with the Italian Front in "The Great War In Europe" and just conducted the first Italian attack against the Austro-Hungarian lines.  Art!

     

     This is where the Italians attacked with 6 divisions against a single AH division, the 1st.  What the combat constitutes is 12 Italian Attack points versus 3 AH Defence points or a 4:1 ratio.  This looks pretty unfavourable for the AH side, right?  HOWEVER - O that word again! - the AH get to move the odds one column to the left as the Italians are attacking Mountain terrain, thus 3:1.  Then the odds get moved another column left because all 6 Italian divisions are attacking across river hex-sides.  So, down to 2:1 odds ratio.  I can't remember the dice roll but it didn't favour the Italians, and they lost 2 divisions as a result.

      Believe it or not, this is quite an accurate result.  Italian gains in real life were minimal with very heavy losses.  Consider also that this is May 1915 and within another couple of moves, the AH will be considered to have an Entrenchment Factor of 1 across the front, meaning another shift left on the odds table.

     Those Romans have their work cut out!  Art?

Mountain warfare not easy

Finally -

Better go box up that stew, hmmm?  And liberate the laundry.