Messages

My girlfriend, who is a biologist, says it makes no sense to kill Gene the Hackman for his genes. All they need to do is get him to gob into a flask and do PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction), sequence it, and Bob's your uncle. The point of DNA is it can replicate and it contains the codes you need to make both proteins and more DNA. By chopping up Gene to harvest his DNA, they would get his genes, but they would lose all his knowledge and combat experience.

This isn't complicated science. This is pretty basic stuff that a layman sci-fi writer or a GCSE science student ought to know.

And further to the time line questions - just notice what's on the big square telly.

I'd say that television looks about right for 1970. And that film being shown on TV would be about right for any date between 1960 and 1985.

I hope my library gets it in. A pity the Tories and LibDems took all the money.

a self congratulatory wank fest, otherwise known as Lunch With The In-Laws.

Oh I do hope not. Especially at the table!

Tura Satana? Oh noe! But at least she made it to 75. I should live so long! I was watching 'Faster, Pussycat...' only last weekend. Maybe I tempted fate too far.

Gary Moore? Oh well. At least we still have the recordings.

[Shakara]

I read mine dutifully. Shakara and Kingdom are highlights.

6/10.

'Flating,' on the other hand, costs nothing (best not to be sitting on your other hand in the first place, of course).

Girls are better than anime. Anime is what you fall back on if you don't get the girl.

I think his older work has great appeal to adolescents. I found his Michael Kane and Oswald Bastable trilogies quite an effort to sustain an interest in when I read them in my thirties.

That made me read it, thanks.

[Outlaw]

I'm almost to the end of Outlaw in Strontium Dog Agency Files vol.2. It's a real treat. I had forgotten most of the story, so it's like reading something new. The bits with Scots language are great, it's very funny in places, and there has scarcely been a Strontium Dog story this action packed. The way the situation escalates from one instalment to the next is a really impressive demonstration of the comic book writer's skill, and Carlos Ezquerra's artwork is perfection as always.

What I can't understand is why they went for Tangled as the title instead of Rapunzel.

Yes, it's stupid. On Radio 4 they said it was because Disney didn't want to restrict the film's appeal to an all-girl market by giving the film a girls' name for a title. It won't work, because even little kids aren't stupid. By opting to jettison the more obvious title, Disney may have thrown the baby out with the bathwater.

[The King's Speech]

Last film I watched was The King's Speech. I don't get out much. Most of the other audience members were over 50 and about a third were over 60. I was offended by the advertising reel, which contained two cars ads and holiday ads that suggested I might like to visit Italy or South Africa. It was almost as if they were expecting that the audience for this film in particular must have money for things more expensive than mobile telephones, vodka, razor blades and antiperspirant.

The promo film for holidaying in South Africa was interesting because although it looked like an expensive do, it didn't look like an advert aimed at old people. It was all kayaking, 18-30 barbecues and bicicle tours of Soweto with other young, white trust fund adventurers.

Someone just said to me - "what's that Hitchcock film called, with all the birds in it?" Classic.

Maybe he's played House of the Dead: Overkill and didn't get the joke, so now he needs to know what the film was called in order to understand why the joke was(n't) funny.

A lot of shops have a contradictory policy regarding customer service. On the one hand there are penalties that can lead up to disciplinary proceedings if you don't greet every customer who comes within hearing range and ask them how you may serve them. On the other hand employees can get admonished for spending too much time with the customers when they should be tidying up, refilling shelves, doing price checks and rearranging the shop fittings.

Pfffft! Facts? It was a costume drama! You mean to say there really was a King George VI?

Incidentally, the film featured my least favourite on screen portrayal of Churchill ever. Helena Bonham Carter was terrific as always though, and obviously really enjoyed herself.