QotD: Thirst-Quenching Beverage

How do you like to quench your thirst on a hot summer day?

This was working rather well for me earlier:


Yes, it's beer! In this case, a beer from the Wooden Hand Brewery here in Cornwall. They're a lovely bunch of ales, easy drinking with some interesting flavour, and equally good at room temperature or slightly chilled. Good for a summer's afternoon.

QotD: Email vs. Telephone

If you had to give up either email or the telephone for the rest of your life, which one would your forgo?

No contest: the telephone.

I barely use my phone any more. E-mail is more efficient and useful about 70% of the time.

Kite flying

Steve flies a kite
Steve flies a kite

Down by the Sea

Cornish Coast
Cornish Coast

Who is Archie?

photo.jpg
photo.jpg

He Sleeps Standing Up

Me in Cornwall
Me in Cornwall

Portrait of the Blogger, Unshaven


Adam in Close-Up
I love this photo of me Lorna grabbed earlier.

Portrait of the Blogger, Unshaven

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I love this photo of me Lorna grabbed earlier.

From Comics to Screen

I have a long-held theory: that for comics to successfully adapt to the screen, they need to keep the key visual elements of the comic with them, especially when those elements have been developed and refined over decades. You can bee too slavish about this (cf: Ang Lee's Hulk), but on the whole, comics are a visual medium, and they're very, very good at doing images. 

So, whenever a new comics adaptation approaches, I always start my judgement with a look at how well the imagery matches those from the comics. Iron Man impressed from the start, with both armour and a Tony Stark that looked like they'd leapt straight from the pages of the comic, and certainly didn't disappoint on screen. 

Now, the first wave of material on the sequel is coming, including the first photos of the movie version of the Black Widow. 

How well does she match up to the iconic image test? Here goes:

read more…

From Comics to Screen

I have a long-held theory: that for comics to successfully adapt to the screen, they need to keep the key visual elements of the comic with them, especially when those elements have been developed and refined over decades. You can bee too slavish about this (cf: Ang Lee's Hulk), but on the whole, comics are a visual medium, and they're very, very good at doing images. 

So, whenever a new comics adaptation approaches, I always start my judgement with a look at how well the imagery matches those from the comics. Iron Man impressed from the start, with both armour and a Tony Stark that looked like they'd leapt straight from the pages of the comic, and certainly didn't disappoint on screen. 

Now, the first wave of material on the sequel is coming, including the first photos of the movie version of the Black Widow. 


How well does she match up to the iconic image test? Here goes: Here's the original Black Widow from a 1970s era comic:

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And here's Scarlett Johansson as the movie version:

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And the verdict? Well, allowing for make-up differences over the last 30 years - very promising indeed. Some suspension of disbelief is required (how is that hair ever going to be practical for superheroing/spying?), but otherwise very true to the source. A good sign.

London, I'm So Proud

Trashed Copmmuter Train

For a capital city, we don't show much pride in ourselves.

London, I'm So Proud

Trashed train
For a capital city, we don't show much pride in ourselves.

Holborn Freebies

One of the nice things about working in Holborn again is fun urban moments like this:


QotD: Only in My Dreams

What life dream or goal have you given up on?

GRID issue 1 cover
GRID issue 1 cover
Oooh! Good one. 
I've given up on my dream of being a magazine editor. 
Why? Well, I did achieve it briefly, when I was editor of a short-lived magazine called GRID. It was shut down when a new publisher decided to cut a lot of new projects. 
However, about the same time, I realised that the whole world was changing, and the arrival of blogs and other early forms of social media were completely reshaping the media landscape. The energy I was putting into GRID got pushed into my personal blogging projects instead, thereby setting the scene for the last three years of my career…
Time overtook the dream, and I don't miss it.

Your Son is Rather Rotund...


I have a ball for a head
Not my Mum's finest photographic moment...

Your Son is Rather Rotund...


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Not my Mum's finest photographic moment…

Knitted Horrors of 1970

Ah, knitting patterns of the 1970s:


Knitted scarf & beretHis'n'Hers Ponchos


I found this "two in one" pattern for his'n'hers ponchos and an attractive beret and scarf combo amongst my Mum's old possessions. I don't think Mum and Dad ever wore matching ponchos. At least, I really, really hope they didn't. 

Knitted Horrors of 1970

Ah, knitting patterns of the 1970s:


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I found this "two in one" pattern for his'n'hers ponchos and an attractive beret and scarf combo amongst my Mum's old possessions. I don't think Mum and Dad ever wore matching ponchos. At least, I really, really hope they didn't. 

Faces From The Past

I've been doing some more sorting of old stuff from Mum's and I came across this photo tucked into one of her books:


Mystery SnapMyself and Drew
I've no idea who they were, or when the picture was from. Another bit of mystery from the past.

QotD: One Day. $100,000.

If you had one day to spend $100,000 - and you had to spend it totally selfishly - what would you buy?

It would be a consumer electronics frenzy, I suspect: flat-screen TV, AppleTV, top end Canon digital SLR, new iMac, new MacBook Pro. And then, I'd see how much change I had, and start thinking frantically...