Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 11-2-2020: SFTV

11th February, 2020.

Yep: I officially need to clean my socks.

Strange: but true!

Frankly, you can tell the lack of a job’s getting to me.

When the most exciting thing I have to do … ?

Is laundry!

~≈†≈~

Well … 

Apart from my bedtime reading.

Orwell’s The Lion and the Unicorn, since you ask.

Granted, I’m taking my time with it: the last time I mentioned it was at the end of January.

What caught my eye, last night?

Was simply Orwell’s description of government officials.

He said they had ‘prehensile bottoms.’

Well … it made me smile!

~≈†≈~

As another quick thought?   One that seems appropriate, given the theme of today’s Teaser.

Was simply the most recent episode of Dr Who, Can You Hear Me?

I mentioned one scene, in my review: where Ryan (Toisin Cole) and Yas (Mandip Gill) end up discussing their travels with the Doctor: whether they the going the right thing in staying.

Which got me wondering all sorts of things.   I wondered if — given how similar that scene seemed to others* — whether the pair would be staying on, beyond this season.

I didn’t make much of it: beyond publicly speculating when any pay off would come.

I’m not the only one wondering about that … 

It’s seems the Daily Express has been thinking the same way.

We’ll have to see what happens, won’t we?

~≈†≈~

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 10-10-2019: In Outer Space

10th October, 2019.

Right … 

I’m off to hospital, today.

Right at the moment, I’ve a CPAP machine: a pump that helps me breathe at night.

It’s helpful: I think I’ve had generally better sleep since using it.

Although the mask I have to wear overnight is … distinctly unflattering … !

Hopefully, though?

I’ll be able to keep hold the thing.

It’s useful.

~≈§≈~

Have you ever been to the Glastonbury Festival?

I haven’t: I’ve never been able to afford it.

I do try and keep an eye on some of the televised acts, when the BBC has them.

Especially the Sunday night Legends slot.

Next year’s has just been announced.

It’s Diana Ross.

I’m impressed.   Ms Ross is one of the authentic legends.

The only person bigger would’ve been Aretha: and she’d be a tough one to book.

~≈§≈~

2001: A Space Odyssey — The Review

4th February 2019.

Right … 

I have a lot of time on my hands, right now: I’m job hunting.

I’ve a call to make, tomorrow: chasing down one particular sunbeam.

My phone’s screen … ?

Is useable … but really does need fixing: although I’ve got that covered.

The laundry … ?   At least, the parts of it consisting of my socks, pants and bits … ?

Done, for the most part.

Although you possibly didn’t want to know about my pants.

Unless you’re looking for something really odd on Patreon.

Oh … and I had just enough savings to order a copy of German retro flïck, Der Golem, today.

I had a spout of arty German silent films, a while back: that, M and the various Mabüse movies are something I’d like to catch … at some point … 

Given I haven’t got them … ?

Given I had a quiet night in … ?

Given I wanted to catch a film I’d not seen in a while … ?

What could I do, except dig up the film its director called the “the proverbial ‘really good’ science-fiction movie … ”

2001: A Space Odyssey, it was.

And, yes: I think my intro video makes a point … 

~≈§≈~

The Daily Teaser — 16-12-2015: Arthur C Clarke

Right … I now have … a day off … !

Frankly … ?   It’s one I’m hoping to write a few Teasers on: as well as make the associated videos.

It MIGHT not go that way, though.

Remember me saying that my broadband usage seemed suspiciously high, over the past few months?

Well, BT are due to phone me, today.   One of my neighbours has suggested I turn off the BT Fon feature — that let’s people use the BT Wi-fi service — as doing so had helped her in similar circumstances.

Hopefully … ?

They’ll be able to talk me through the relevant procedure.

Although, to be frank … ?

I’m starting to wonder how much help it CAN be … ?

I’m not losing hope about the situation.   But I AM feeling mildly cynical about the whole thing.

~≈Â≈~

Crazed Ideas at 2 in Morning …

You know, I’ve got to admit, I — occasionally — have ideas.

No, seriously!

Some of them even work out: the one where I thought ‘I could do pub quizzes’ worked out, until the recession hit.   (I’m not cheap, in that sense: AND provided booby prizes.)

Another seems to be doing well: ‘I know, I’ve now got an internet connection, what about I write one of those blog thingies everyone’s banging on about … ?’

That seems to still be going, several years later … … … … 

Then there’s the ones you only get at two in the morning.

And have no conceivable way of putting into practise.

Like the one I had at two, this morning, when I couldn’t sleep: that still seems to make a certain vague amount of sense.

Even if it would take a lot more money and engineering skill than I have.

☱☲☴☲☱

Ever read Arthur C Clarke’s short story, The Sentinel … ?

No … ?

Basically, it’s the short story that formed the basis for the film, 2001: A Space Odyssey.

And follows a a moon bound scientist, when he and his team find a tetrahedral beacon — under a dust covered forcefield — tucked away in the one of the more obscure bits.

Well … 

It wasn’t so much the story that caught me.

As a mental image of an astronaut looking as this glass tetrahedron: and thinking/explaining to himself that it’s a marker beacon.

You see, what was floating around my mind, at the time … ?

Was Doomsday.

Sort of.

Well … 

A Doomsday vault, to be precise … 

☱☲☴☲☱

You see, what I also had in mind … ?

Was what happens to all that stuff, it everything goes — and I’m hoping you’ll excuse the phrase — tit’s up … ?

What happens to all that information … ?

All that knowledge, art, literature that we, as a species, have produced over the centuries?

And it sort of came to me.

We need somewhere to  put it.

Somewhere safe, along the lines of the Doomsday plant Vault, the Global Seedbank, in Norway.

Only … ?

Well, it occurred to me putting it on Earth wouldn’t necessarily be a good idea: earthquakes, volcanoes, continental drift, what have you, would be certain to do some damage.   Not counting what a nutter with a gun or a simple pair of pliers could do.

That idea, this morning … ?

Was this … 

What if we had a giant knowledge bank on the Moon … ?   Under a marker buoy of some sort … ?   Oh, and with SOME form of instructions on how to get to it: you know, literally, “Dig here, build a generator, here’s how to make a computer, and speak our language.”

That sort of thing.

Let’s be frank, here.

Death’s scary … 

It’d be nice to have something in place for the inevitable day the species pops its clogs …