Wolverine: The Brotherhood...

Excited from having seen X-Men 3: The Last Stand, I read my latest interlibrary loan book, Wolverine: The Brotherhood by Greg Rucka - yes, part of my ongoing Rucka-readthrough. I'd read parts of the story before, probably when they were in the comic originally.

If you look at the link above, I really like the second picture of Wolverine, with him on the motorcycle beside the "Welcome to Westfall" sign. It's by Esad Ribic. There was a cover of his I liked even more, a picture of a meeting between Wolverine and Nightcrawler, which I thought delightfully slashy. The interior story art by Darek Robertson isn't nearly as nice, though I rather like his rough, tough depiction of Wolvie.

The story: Wolverine meets up with a pretty runaway teen living across the hall from him in a run-down building. She calls him "the Mean Man" but thinks he can help her - she likes him because he reads a lot. (In the course of the story, he's reading such books as Rucka's "Smoker" and Thoreau.) When she is killed he tracks her killer to a megalomaniac survivalists' camp where women are being held captive; but his trail leads an undercover FBI agent to the place, which she infiltrates. She is left with erotic dreams of Wolverine, who escapes the FBI net.

A good story, with some details - like strong female characters - that I have come to recognize as Rucka touches. And how can I not like a story in which Logan is reading good books?

A surprising conversation...

For twenty years or more there has been a smoke shop called Tony's at the corner near where I work, underneath the DND offices. The man who runs it has always seems to me fairly quiet and dour, especially compared to his friendly, lively wife.

Today he seemed more cheerful and talkative. I was buying a Paris Match, on which I couldn't find the Canadian price - he showed me where it was and we mutually shook our heads at the almost-illegible tiny print. Then he saw I had a book on the Crusades in my bag, and asked about it. "You know anything about that?" he asked, and I said I studied it as a post-graduate. He said, "It was a fascinating time."

I wonder if he came from the middle east. I never asked, but would have guessed he was Lebanese.

Then another woman came into the store, and said to him, "Didn't you once have a store on Lola Avenue?" "Yes," he said, and laughed. "That was more than twenty years ago! You were this high! I remember you now."

Everyone has different sides to them.

Life is full of surprises...

Do you think hell has frozen over?

I've never been a Doctor Who fan in the past. My good friend Lionel showed me umpteen episodes of the show back about ten or fifteen years ago, and I was mostly bored. My good friend Marion showed me the Paul McGann Doctor Who and I liked Paul McGann, but not the show.

But I watched one or two of the Christopher Eccleston episodes, and I sort of liked it. I was intrigued. I started thinking about buying the DVD. Then the MonsFFA people showed me two of the David Tennant episodes (New Earth and School Reunion) and I think I am hooked. Talking about it with Simon and Mark just fanned the flames. So much so that I am encouraging Sandi to hold a Doctor Who video-party - she doesn't seem to need much encouragement - and I just spent an hour or so looking online for information, pictures, wallpaper and Doctor Who icons.

Huh. Suddenly the show seems sexy. Who'd have guessed?

My favourite Doctor Who item that I found is this wonderful photo-article by bellanut comparing Doctor Who to Mal Reynolds.

Maybe I'd noticed the subliminal resemblance....

So when are they going to show Season 2 in Canada? Hmm?

(no subject)

Somewhere in my reading today I came across a reference to someone bitch-slapping someone else. What does the word mean? I've heard the word before, but never quite understood it. How is a bitch-slap different from other slaps?

X-Men 3: The Last Stand...

Last night I saw X-Men 3: The Last Stand.

I'm not sure I'd have liked it if I weren't an X-Men fan. Being an X-Men fan, there was a lot that made me groan. But... watching it was a pleasure. I usually don't like movies with that much action - I think the great strength of the X-Men is the characterization - but my imagination could fill in a lot of gaps. Hmm, maybe I'll compare the good and the bad. Warning: spoilers ensue.( Pros and cons... )

All in all, it reinforced my belief that movies based on good comics don't reflect the best of the comic, and often reflect the worst - but there's so much good there, it doesn't matter. There was too much action for my taste, but it never got boring or repetitious. The special effects were maybe overdone, but to good effect - I particularly loved the Phoenix effect with Jean.

So... how long till the Wolverine movie now, I wonder? IMDB says 2007: dare we hope it will really come out so soon?

The Friday Five

Even though it isn't quite Friday yet, from thefridayfive:

1. What is (or would be) your dream vacation?

It would be at least a month long, and it would involve staying in either Sicily or Venice or the Shetland Islands or Queen Charlotte Islands or Bornholm or the Gaspesie or Jerusalem or the Loire Valley or Iona or Durham or Poitiers or somewhere else with history, and lots of it. I'd like to see the castles I've read about but haven't seen: Karnak, Kronberg, Chenonceau, Palermo, or Nicosia.

2. What's one thing no vacation can do without?

Books to read.

3. What has been the best trip of your life so far?

The trip I took to Orkney.

4. Who was with you on that trip and what is the role of that person in your life?

Anne Jeffery. A good, valued friend who has been dead for ten years now. I miss her.

5. What's the worst thing that can happen during a vacation?

Illness. I was sick one day in Orkney; that wasn't too bad. I curled up on my bed and read a Roald Dahl book I borrowed from the son of the owner of the b&b. I got sick once when backpacking through Europe, and that was much worse. I tried to stick it out but I just got worse and worse and ended up having to fly home prematurely from Vienna. Someday I'll return to finish the aborted trip.