Tosca's Kiss

Just when you thought Ryanair airlines couldn't get any cheaper (and I use that word in the 'stingy and mean' sense) - not only are they hiking the price of stowed bags in summer months from £15 to £20, but they'll be charging you to use the toilet!

Yep, that's right - £1 to spend a penny on a Ryanair flight. Next they'll be charging you for oxygen too.

Yet another reason to fly BBI or Air Lingus etc to Ireland and other European destinations. By the time you compare their total cost to the total cost of extra fees + inconvenient seating + the sheer total bloody aggravation of Ryanair, they come out streets ahead.

So tonight I finally watched 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine', which I thought - sad to say - was kinda ho-hum.

Don't get me wrong - I love the Wolverine character and comics, and have the first fifty or so issues of his independant series, but whilst he's great in ink and quite good in an ensemble cast movie, he just couldn't carry the film by himself. Which really? Should not be so.

I blame the writers/producers/director myself, because [mild spoilers herewith] despite the fact he's a kickass fighter in any format, I thought the best action scene in the movie was not even his, but was Wade Wilson (later Deadpool) being supreme with a pair of katana. That's the scene where I went: 'Now that - that was just cool'. 

They're currently making the Deadpool movie - with Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool again - and will apparently be sticking close to the comic book character, in that he mentions his little yellow boxes and breaks the fourth wall. At least the character spouts a constant stream of strong, if off-beat, humour, which I think was a problem with Wolverine  the movie. Wolverine has a dry, sometimes dark, sense of humour but we got to see too little (if any) of it in the film. The only light touches were injected by secondary characters such as Wade and Remy le Beau/Gambit.

So thumbs up for Ryan Reynold's performance in Wolverine and of course I loved him as Hannibal King in Blade Trinity, which was by far and away the best of the series and is one of my favourite films. His King was also more fun than the comic book character, though Blade is prettymuch a judgemental jerk in both film and print (Nightstalkers - I was very good at collecting series that crashed and died). I'm looking forward to Deadpool - and hoping it's not as flat as Wolverine was.

Also coming out soon is the Green Lantern film. Never one of my favourite superhero comics - they were all a bit too wholesome and goody-two shoes way back in the '70s & '80s when I originally read them  (as a kid! I'm not that ancient). Guy Gardner made me laugh my ass off when I first read him in JLA. But they've cast Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan, Mr Squeaky Clean himself (until, you know, the whole turning-into-a-supervillain-for-a-season-or-two thing). Not quite sure I can see that casting - Reynolds himself has said he always wanted to play The Flash, which seems to me a more apt choice - so I'll be interested to see what they come out with.

Yes? No? What do you think of that casting? (has anyone else even read all these comics or have I just outed myself for no good reason?) ;-)

Anyone know a programmer who wants to work on an active volcano? If so, apply here:

Scientific Software Engineer vacancy

Hope it's a good one for you all.

I don't often make New Year's resolutions (in fact that usually is my New Year's resolution - don't make any), but this year I think it shall be: WRITE MORE FANFIC.






And try and cut down on the caffeine intake.

Sure to raise a smile out of you - a short gen Good Omens/The Saint crossover: Christening Gift by Marcus Rowland

This is too cute for words, but I wonder what effect it will have in later life...

Dalek Baby Quilt

.

About "Twilight". Scott Meyer's take:

Basic Instructions #1149: How to Set Someone Straight

Reading the reviews. For example:

"Imagine the horribly malformed love-child of "Days Of Our Lives," Anne Rice and some really bad Mary Sue fan fiction..."

A woman claims clothing firm Abercrombie & Fitch made her work in the stockroom because her prosthetic arm did not fit the shop's image...(and) is suing for disability discrimination and seeking up to £20,000 in damages.

A spokeswoman for the company said:

"Abercrombie & Fitch has a strong anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policy, and is committed to providing a supportive and dignified environment for all its employees."


Shop assistants aside, this is the company that splashes soft-porn shots of barely clothed young men across their ads, right?

Hmm. Yeah. They obviously know the meaning of the word 'dignified'.

A story arc of Weiss Kreuz drabbles - the prompt was mythological creatures:

( Seed )

( Shoot )

( Bud )

( Flower )