Little and yellow...

I saw a goldfinch on the way to work today. He was flitting around a tree near the canal. A bit of yellow brightness on a drab, foggy morning.

Batman: No Man's Land, vol. 4...

Batman: No Man's Land, vol. 4 is an ongoing massive multipart crossover story published by DC Comics about six years ago. It was published chronologically in Batman, The Batman Chronicles, Detective Comics, and other Batman titles, until there was enough material to fill five volumes of reprint graphic novels. Leading up to it were several other story arcs telling how Gotham City was destroyed by an earthquake and plague, and was eventually declared "No Man's Land" by the U.S. government. People were evacuated, the bridges were bombed, and Gotham officially ceased to exist. Except of course that not everyone died or left; the remaining residents lived in a state of poverty and crime even worse than normal for Gotham. Think Escape from New York, with Batman and co. in it. Think post-holocaust. ( I'd bought... )

Ian McKellen on the Da Vinci Code...

Ian McKellen, from an interview about The Da Vinci Code:

"We went to Lincolnshire, which stood in for Westminster Abbey, because the Abbey didn't want us filming there. It would have disrupted their tourist take. I think that was the problem. So we went off to a quieter place called Lincolnshire, and there there was a demonstration against the filming in the hallowed portals of the cathedral, but the objections were only from one person who was dressed as a nun. And I said 'dressed as a nun' advisedly, because apparently the outfit she was wearing wasn't actually a nun's outfit. It just looked like one, and she'd borrowed it from some fancy-dress store. So that's the only person I know who's objected to this film, a fake nun. So I really can't help you."