The Singhsons

What the Simpsons would have been like if they'd been from India.

Various babble

So, have people been checking out the stuff on the Random Links Dumps, or do you prefer individual entries for stuff? I'm interested to hear.

Unrelated, I've been reading Hannibal by Ross Leckie, about the Carthaginian general, who famously foresaw that his people would eventually be swallowed by the Romans, and went on the offensive - crossing from Africa, conquering Spain, crossing the Alps with his huge army in the middle of winter, inflicting crushing defeats against the Romans at Trasimene and at Canae in the 15 years he was in Italy, before a lack of support forced him to abandon his campaign. A less accurate noel would have tried to add excitement to Hannibal's later life - but the fact is that his attempts to take Rome ended with a whimper, not a bang. This hurts the novel as a narrative, but as an attempt to compress Hannibal's life into a relatively short novel, it's a solid achievement. In parts it's a bit too brief - skipping through Hannibal's campaigns in Spain and crossing of the Alps, for which he is most well known, in just a few short pages. That's where it falls down - but in other areas, such as the descriptions of Hannibal's childhood, his relationship with his wife, the brutality of the ancient world - he pulls no punches. Hannibal's interestingly flawed as a hero - in some ways a "modern" hero who abstained from drink, invented a whole new form of cavalry warfare and clearly loved his wife - while in other respects, definitely of the Roman period, thinking nothing of inflicting violence and torture on men, women or children in the most shocking ways.

Leckie's prose is crisp but evocative. He doesn't waste time on flowery language and as the book is written supposedly in the first person by Hannibal himself, that's no bad thing where in other novels it might be a disadvantage. Leckie's written two sequels, Scipio, showing the conflict from the Roman side, and Carthage, describing the events of Hannibal's power base while he was at war. If I see them, I'll no doubt pick them up, although I doubt I'll actively seek them out. Apparently Vin Diesel will star in a movie adaptation that starts filming this month.

Unrelated, and more personally, I'd still like to shave a few more pounds off my weight, but at the moment seem to be holding steady around 12 and a half stone, with minor fluctuations, whatever I eat. Looks like I'm stuck there. But I'm happy with that weight, if not my current facial hair. Still, it looks right for the play, as the pics I posted yesterday show, hopefully.

Rehersal tonight, which seem to be going pretty well, on the whole. Only two weeks until the first performance, so it better be.

My new favourite song is A Minha Menina by The Bees. Great, fun, slightly weird, acoustic pop rock.

Caught the repeat of Torchwood last night, since I missed it on Sunday. File under vastly wasted potential. A partially converted Cyberman running loose should have been scary and sinister. Instead, the designers decided that a metal bikini, thong and metal high heels was the look to go for. Yeah, it looked ridiculous, like a 14 year old boy's idea of sexy sci-fi. The script called for terrifying, half-human monstrosity. The designers delivered Titsy McCyberthong.

Likewise, the script called for emotion, so the actors instead gave hysteria, sobbing and wailing so what could have been decent character development became melodrama.

This show still has potential, but until everyone - writers, actors and designers - learn some kind of subtlety, it's mostly being wasted.

In other news, the Pope's going to be releasing a photo calender.

Apparently for the July shot he'll be pictured wearing just the funny had and a cheeky grin.

Also, Chamber, Skin and Howard the Duck. Nuff said.