Me More Steven Wright or Mitch Hedberg?

"He's so fat his briefs need suapenders."

Either/or?

A Sample from my Dad's Operational Record Book

The postings on this blog with some of the biggest hit counts are those regarding RAF Bomber Command No. 626 Squadron, with which my father flew during the war.  I thought it time to add a little more information regarding his operational record.

Here is a partial list ― culled from material provided to me by Dave Stapleton of The 626 Squadron Research Project ― of "ops" flown by Flying Officer A.R. Screen and crew:

Date - Target - Notes

12 March 1945 - Dortmund

13 March 1945 - Herne - The target was a Benzol Plant

23 March 1945 - Bremen Bridge

14 April 1945 - Potsdam

22 April 1945 - Bremen - Mission abandoned on Master Bomber’s orders.

25 April 1945 - Berchtesgaden - Hitler’s Eagles Nest in Bavaria (specifically, the SS Barracks)

With the Allied forces now advancing well into Germany, Bomber Command now turned its attention to humanitarian sorties and 626 Squadron was similarly tasked. (The Squadron’s Lancasters were converted to carry sacks of food in the bomb bays. Each aircraft carried 284 sacks; these were dropped from 500ft.) The crew flew two of these sorties:

30 April 1945 - Rotterdam - Operation Manna

2 May 1945 - Rotterdam - Operation Manna

Special thanks to:

Dave Stapleton

The 626 Squadron Research Project

Copyright 2010 ©

Postscript: Years ago I told a friend about how young these guys were who flew in RAF Bomber Command. My dad was nineteen; his crewmates would have been that age or a year or two older. I joked with my buddy that if this particular aircrew was known for doing something special during the war, and a movie were made about their experiences, the guy in the role of my dad would probably be an actor in his late twenties or early thirties. And Flying Officer Screen would no doubt be played by someone like Johnny Depp.

Film and television producers, who aren't known for being a particularly bright lot to begin with, much too often miss on details like the above.

A Discussion on BBC Radio 2 from Early this Year

The following I posted on January 5th. Has anything changed?....

I'm listening to BBC Radio 2 right now, "Jeremy Vine" (with Tina Daheley sitting in). The discussion is about Donald Trump's invasion of Venezuela, the kidnapping of ruthless dictator Nicolás Maduro, and the obvious driving motivation for this intrusion... access to rich oil deposits.

A big concern expressed is that it may well set a dangerous precedent: China has been threatening for years to reclaim Taiwan; Trump and his corrupt cronies have their sights on resource-rich Greenland; Russian president Vladimir Putin won't stop with Ukraine....

For about a decade now I've been saying something that some people find troubling, concerned about my sanity, and my twisted "sense of humour", while others just laugh it off:

"The human race will be done by twenty sixty [2060]... plus or minus a few years."

Photo Comp: Alienated Pierre Poilievre Is Screened!

Mr Sulu: "I remember that guy. He used to hang out at Woody's. Nobody would hit on him... he was pretty creepy."

Mr Chekov: "I think he has eyes for you, Captain."

Captain Kirk: "We've encountered many strange lifeforms in our travels, but this... this!... that!"

Mr Sulu: "He makes Yarnek look like a babe."

John Waters on Make Trouble Humour

Much of what filmmaker/writer John Waters says makes me laugh. The same would be true of Woody Allen. (Much of what they say rings true.)

In 2015 Mr Waters delivered a commencement speech to graduates at the Rhode Island School of Design, and his patented, at times subversive, sense of humour made his life advice go viral.

I, of course, was not surprised.

Courtesy of John Waters - Make Trouble (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill). Some:

"Okay, I'm supposed to inspire you. How's this? Somehow I've been able to make a living doing what I love best for fifty years without even having to get a real job."

Close to home:

"A career in the arts is like a hitchhiking trip: All you need is one person to say 'get in', and off you go. And then the confidence begins.

Poem: Time Merchants

This morning I coffeed

on Yonge Street               
with an old friend
caught up on
issues since

I last saw him
last week

He and I disbanded:
My friend went back
to his conference and
I decided
to do something I
rarely do
anymore

walk up Yonge

"Look at all the
bloody
Vertical
Cracker
Boxes!
(going up
or already spiking
the cloudy sky)"

This town is out of
control
Zoning going to
The Twilight Zone

Yonge Street has
changed
much these last few years
helped
by Premium stacks
sprouting
from holes

Before I made it
to Bloor Street I
was stopped by

a woman selling
something
in front of a shop

Cosmetics
Me?

Why not?....

No, I
don't use facial moisturizers
but I should

Perhaps
I could

The sales lady was
in top form
having worked a little sales

I know the bad
and
the good

The cosmetic's test was done
on my forearm
but
I can imagine

With every peek into the bathroom
mirror my imagination tweaks
with age

** return **

Bloor Street
away

less

eventful

___

2016
Simon St. Laurent

CD from the Shelf: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

While I did a quick scan of my CD shelves yesterday a certain disc caught my eye. Right away I realized I had not played it in years (25?). Without hesitation I fired up the Sony and the Samsung.

Great stuff. Ennio Morricone's classic score for the 1966 action-western flick The Good, The Bad & The Ugly is deserving of its status: being attached to a terrific and entertaining film by Sergio Leone does not hurt... in fact it only helps place it high on the shelf. (I've long said that film scores in the public record are those associated with films of some popularity. There are so many outstanding scores that play to enthusiasts only due to their binding to motion pictures forgotten, or never even noticed in their original release.)

That sound!

That timbre!

Those voices!

Not of Hollywood!

Writing this brief piece reminds me that I also have the composer's tracks for director Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West, also unplayed in many years. Back to the shelves....

Quote: Rod Serling on That Ugly

"I think that the singular evil of our time is prejudice. It is from this evil that all other evils grow and multiply. In almost everything I've written there is a thread of this: a man's seemingly palpable need to dislike someone other than himself."

That's from 1967? No way, man.

Film Design: Matte Painting Concept Thumbnails

In late 1988 I designed some concepts for the (very) low budget feature film Johnny Shortwave (released in 1996). A few of these were 'optical matte painting' shots, an attempt by the producers to "open up" the film. Unfortunately, as was often the case with older low budget pictures, the wish to include matte shots was one of the first things to be jettisoned. And forget about hiring a matte artist when you have no money; he or she is of a very specialized craft and charges accordingly. (Now, of course, for relative peanuts one can whip up something on a computer. And now we can call on the help of A.I.)

Below are thumbnail sketches of ideas I had for extending the industrial areas of Toronto into an heavily industrialized state.

With the producers' blessing I rendered a larger concept painting. Johnny Shortwave was photographed in black and white, hence my monochrome still photograph.

To those (original series) Trekkies or Trekkers out there it's pretty obvious I was inspired by Albert Whitlock's paintings for Star Trek, specifically his artwork for the show's second pilot episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before".

When I look at that painting now, it gets me thinking that perhaps I should use if for something... something "weird and futuristic".

Postscript: Just a few years later I would work in 'opticals' as a compositor, at times combining a matte painting with a live-action element, with the feature film Darkman III: Die Darkman Die (1996) being but one example.

Dare I, Again?! Leafs Talk in a Toronto Coffee Shop

The 2026-27 NHL (National Hockey League) season is well under way.  It's time again!

I first posted the following piece in April of 2017. In the years since, the names on Leafs jerseys have almost all changed but the story is always the same....

Enjoy!

We writers must keep our ears to the ground in search of a story. Sitting in a coffee shop is one way to do our work; to mind one's business, but not feel like an eavesdropper should fellow patrons talk of cultural issues at an audible level.

Recently two older gents sat at the table beside me and debated the chances of the Toronto Maple Leafs making this year's NHL (National Hockey League) playoffs.

Gent 1: "They have a real chance of getting somewhere this year."

Gent 2: "Really? We've been hearing this for years."

Gent 1: "Yeah, but they have Auston Matthews."

Gent 2: "Yes, I know, but we've heard this kind of story many times before; for a long time."


"Gent 2" is right. Over the years there has been a Darryl Sittler, Rick Vaive, Curtis Joseph, Wendel Clark, and more. Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner are just the latest stooges who will take the Toronto Maple Leafs to a place nowhere....

(I use the word "stooges" in the Toronto Maple Leafs Masterplan context. I'm sure they are nice people; and they are/were fine hockey players, of course. Most forgotten is the fact one must have a good team, not just two or three good players. Sports history is littered with Leafs-type teams — they are nothing special in that regard.)

Quote: Spock and Kirk On Our Place Whatever

"Each of us, at some time in our life, turns to someone — a father, a brother, a god — and asks, 'Why am I here? What was I meant to be?'"

"Is this all that I am? Is there nothing more?"

Athot for the Day: Progressing and Regressing or....

The older I get the more I feel the wrath of desiderium.

NFB Film: Test Pilot (1957) — Stars James Doohan!

The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) has uploaded to YouTube a wonderful selection of their old film shorts. One such film, from 1957, is titled Test Pilot, and its twenty-nine minutes are pretty wonderful, certainly for those folk who find such material engaging. And it stars one James Doohan, "Scotty" from Star Trek. (Hearing him say the word "engineers" several times... well, you know. If he only knew then that in a few years hence he would fly to the stars, and fame.) During World War II, Doohan flew observation aircraft while serving with the Royal Canadian Artillery.

"Dave Frost" works as a company (Avro Canada) test pilot; his job is to test various aircraft functions and potential capabilities. As with any job where one is a test pilot for a high-performance aircraft, there is always that risk, that possibility that something might and can go wrong. These pilots are of a special breed: recreational flyers, they are not.

Test Pilot's angle of attack is typical of a late 1950s short film, one with an educational bent. The acting is fine, especially from that famed starship engineer, and the filmmaking sound, which is to be expected from the NFB, old or new. The short-subject was shot primarily on 35mm black-and-white film but contains a few 16mm-35mm "blow-up" sections: some of the aerial photography was captured on the smaller film format, no doubt due to its extra portability. I was somewhat surprised that the filmmakers didn't mount a dashboard camera. That "pilot's point of view" would have given the aircraft climb some extra dimension, even if the viewer would have been treated to little more than clear skies and perhaps a few cloud formations.

 

The featured flying machine: the Avro Canada CF-100 "Canuck" was a great aircraft, an all-weather twin-engine jet-powered interceptor/fighter operated by the RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force). It served in that role from 1952 to 1961. However, the air force used the 100 for other roles before retiring the type in 1981. (The Belgian Air Force also bought and operated a few examples.) When I lived in CFB Borden a "Clunk" was parked in a holding area not far from our PMQ (Private Married Quarters). It may have been a static training example... or just forgotten. By the way, my dad worked on the CF-100 as an armourer. (When Test Pilot was produced he had already been serving with the RCAF for a few years — and would serve for many more.) A few years ago, while visiting the wonderful Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, I sat in a beautiful CF-100. One is allowed to sit in the machine, with a little help from the museum's terrific staff, of course. (Military-aviation buffs would enjoy visiting the CWHM. It's located at the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport in Mount Hope, Ontario, Canada. The selection of aircraft is wide and varied.)

Test Pilot was directed by Fergus McDonell, and written by Arthur Hailey, who, the year before, scripted the CBC live-to-air television play, Flight into Danger, which starred... James Doohan.

Postscript: Flight into Danger was produced by Sydney Newman, who, after that production was bought by the BBC and aired in the UK, went on to create The Avengers for ABC Weekend TV, and co-create Doctor Who for the BBC. Scribe Arthur Hailey went on to co-write the Flight into Danger-inspired 1957 feature film, Zero Hour!, which, years later, was adapted as the 1980 comedy flick, Airplane! He went on to great literary-pulp fame with his novels, Hotel (1965), and... Airport (1968), which was then adapted for the big screen and released to movie theatres in 1970. Airport was a big box office hit. I remember well the endlessly replayed television adverts.

Those Crazy Canadians and Their Flying Machines....

Athot for the Day: Accounting for Household Finances

 At Amazon, we make clicking away your savings fast and easy!

Book: The Sea Shall Embrace Them (David W. Shaw)

The Sea Shall Embrace Them

- The Tragic Story of the Steamship Arctic -

by

David W. Shaw

The Free Press

2002

"A riveting story told by a superb writer." ― Walter Lord, author of A Night to Remember

The Sea Shall Embrace Them - The Tragic Story of the Steamship Arctic is not a dry account of what happened on that day in September of 1854 when the Collins Line's grandest transatlantic passenger vessel sank off the coast of Newfoundland, but one told with flair by a writer who understands the mayhem of tragedy inherent in any such tale.

Just sixteen months after the SS Arctic sank, the Collins Line's SS Pacific disappeared without trace on a transatlantic crossing (and has never been found).

Picturing: Pup in Car

While walking about here in Toronto this past weekend I noticed a dog monitoring me from an open car window. Immediately I said hi and asked the owner, who was sitting in the driver seat, if I could take a photo of her friendly-looking pup. She smiled readily and said: "Of course. She's friendly."

"Hi sweetie."

She hopped to the opposite side.

The owner's hubby returned and chased pup back to my side of the car. He had noticed what I was trying to do. With the new picture-popping advantage I captured the above moment.

I love dogs. I prefer cats, but any cute puppy gazing happily in my direction gets my attention.

Postscript: As a general rule, dogs are so happy to see us around and about and are more than willing to greet us. With cats, we get the distinct impression that we're... "serviceable", as in: "we serve them." To cats, we humans are barely able to tie our own shoes, are ocularly-challenged (seemingly unable to read a simple timepiece!), and are clumsier than an obese poodle.

Picturing: Downsview the Seagull Takes a Stroll

Whenever I look at this photo I hear Leroy Anderson's "The Syncopated Clock".

Athot for the Day: Yep, That Bad

Pierre Poilievre is the "Susan Alexander" of Canadian politics.

Quote: Me on Sharing Our Homes

"Cats are not pets, but roommates."

Yeah, and they never pay rent... but we let it go.

Picturing: A View from the Oxford University Grounds

As I walked along a path a beautiful sight stood before me, and my Canon AE-1. My first inclination was to capture this lovely textural mix of stone and flora.

That morning as I readied my day in my London hotel room I asked myself: "Where should I go today? I know where. Oxford! A day trip!"

To Paddington Station!

Oxford is a beautiful city.