Matt Smith in 'Secret Diary of a Call Girl'...

I was reminded that I'd seen Matt Smith in Secret Diary of a Call Girl, and intended to watch that episode again. But before I dug it up on my DVR, some obliging soul named 'timelord50' posted it on YouTube.

For those of us who like the idea of sex between Time Lords and their Companions, it has a certain amusement factor.

Doctor Who Toys...

I don't think I'm able to resist these Doctor Who toys. I think the bendy Daleks are particularly cute. And that's a particularly nice ten.

Can we have the Torchwood crowd in this style, please?

P.S. Eek! They have Ood as well. Cute Ood? Who'd have imagined?

Solomon Kane

maaboroshi and I took a taxi to the hospital to visit maaseru from about 3 p.m. to about 8 p.m., which is what the visiting hours are. maaboroshi brought a string of coloured star-shaped lights to hang over maaseru's bed, which made it look festive. She has almost no room around her bed - her bedside table has to go sideways and there's no room for our chairs beside her, though we made room anyway.

We then proceeded to create delicate mayhem, and I do think a good time was had by all. Helped, in maaseru's case, by double doses of Percocet. But we got to see her walk, with her walker, to the bathroom - using two legs! Yay! I brought her a hot dog and popcorn - just as well, because her hospital supper didn't look good. It called itself "Chinese stir-fry" but it looked more like beef stew, and not a good beef stew at that.

At one point a nurse asked, "Is this the room with the party?" maaseru shares the room with a woman who was feverish, sick, and feeling awful, and a very perky woman of ninety-five, whose nieces visited and were fun. There was much admiration of maaboroshi's quilt squares, which she was working on, and quite right, too.

We managed to go online¹ and I discovered that they are making a Solomon Kane movie. How had I missed that?

And - I think I gasped aloud - Kane is played by James Purfoy. I done died an' gone to heaven.

Solomon Kane is my favourite of the Robert E. Howard heroes.² Remember when there were Solomon Kane stories in Marvel Premiere with art by John Buscema? I thought Kane was sexy, because he was so dark and repressed - sexy in the way 17th century Jesuits were, or certain English Puritans. I wonder if I'll feel the same about him in the movie.

Here's a nice pic I found of him by Mike Grell. Here is a drawing of Kane in an uncharacteristically heroic pose. Here's a fair-haired, bearded Kane. And - ooh - this, from the movie. Gorgeous!

Found an item about the movie by its writer/producer, Michael Bassett. It's hard to judge the quality from his comments - but the notion that it's 'character driven' is good. There seem to be no trailers yet, though. I wonder why not.

And I never knew this, The Solomon Kane Sketchbook, existed. Seems to be out of print. Damn.

~ ~ ~

¹ By "we" I mean maaboroshi, who is a miracle-worker. There is no Internet access in the hospital. But she managed to get maaseru connected, with all the aplomb and canniness of a true U.N.C.L.E. agent. Awesome.

² Unless you count Red Sonja as drawn by Barry Windor-Smith.