The Way of the Wombat

S2C and I have just watched 'The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!' on Sky. I actually bought him the book as a stocking filler, or possibly an extra birthday present, a few years ago - and the film had us both laughing all the way through.

It was in cinemas about six months ago and is now out on DVD etc. We' thoroughly recommend it - especially if you have children (Looks at azalaisdep - I can see your two liking it for sure, if they haven't seen it!).

If you are an American, or an Australian I think, look out for 'The Pirates! Band of Misfits' - for some reason the distributors didn't think you knew what scientists are... :(

And Maia - it stars David Tennant - or at least his voice...

In the past couple of days we have read the following;

On the Guardian website re Serena Williams win at Wimbledon - 'Serena wins the title after two sets of surgery'.

On the Sky TV Guide, tonight we see that BBC Parliament is showing 'Localised Child Grooming Committee'...!

And on Friday, when the island had our extra public holiday to celebrate the Jubilee, it being the day after Tynwald Day and so giving us a 4 day weekend, it was very, very wet. Our local on-line news was doing its best to keep us up to date with what was and wasn't cancelled. We learnt that 'The Village Party in Kirk Michael will go ahead, indoors, but the parade through the village by the fire station has been cancelled.'

Yesterday, on the other hand was sunny. I thought both friends in the rain, and those whose gardens have been wilted by the heat, might like to see ( the first rose, the nasturtiums, and a visitor )

gailcarriger posted a link to this article entitled If Famous Writers Had Written Twilight where a blogger, her husband, and a writer friend consider what might have happened if other (read 'better') writers had undertaken to tell Bella, Edward and Jacob's story.

After we laughed over that list (James Joyce was my favourite), S2C and I would like to add a few more of our own, too:


Shakespeare’s Twilight and Cressida – in Verona, the love-life of star-crossed lovers Edward and Bella is complicated by Edward’s identical twin Jacob.

Piers Anthony - Edward and Jacob fall in love with Bella after seeing her panties. Puns ensue.

Tom Clancy – the story takes place in Washington DC, not Washington State, Bella is a presidential speech writer, Jacob & Edward are respectively a marine and a soldier in an armoured regiment, serving in the US forces invading Italy as part of Operation Breaking Dawn, communication with Bella is restricted to letters home sandwiched between hundreds of pages of loving descriptions of military hardware.

Terry Pratchett
Bella loves Edward but he loses interest in her when he becomes the president of the League of Black Ribboners, her fall-back love-interest, Jacob, loses all interest in Bella when he meets Sergeant Angua of the Ankh-Morpork Watch. Bella flees to remote Lancre where Granny Weatherwax give her a severe talking to, encouraging her to become an independent and self-sufficient young lady.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton – it was a dark and stormy twilight…

Feel free to join in, repost or whatever!

Gosh - I haven't posted anything in almost a week. The house is noticeably quiet still, without Shaka, but we all feel that we do not want to replace him, at least just yet. I do have some Shaka pictures to post - I'll sort them out and do it soon.

We had him cremated, and I asked that the ashes be left in an open container for scattering. So I kind of expected a small version of the plastic jar my father's ashes came in. I have to say Shaka's came in a much nicer container - it is a small carved wooden box with his name n a plaque on it.

This led to one of those silly conversations sometimes associated with death and mourning; D-d arrived home for work and saw the box where I had left it - mainly so that she could see it. "I can't eat my tea with Shaka sitting on the table staring at me like that...!" So she moved the box to the shelf that has family photos on. Then says "It's a very posh box." I agreed, and said to her that I had expected something like the plastic jar my father's ashes were in.

She considers for a moment. It is worth noting here that my mother insists she wants no money wasted on her funeral - it is to be as simple as possible. "If people usually come in Tupperware boxes, Granny would be really miffed if they were to put her in a posh box like Shaka," says D-d.

"Granny'd probably supply her own Tupperware box, just to be on the safe side..." I suggest.

"Actually," D-d goes on, "Granny might think Tupperware a bit extravagant. What's the betting she's got a plastic sandwich bag somewhere with a note on it telling us to have her ashes put in that to save money?"

We both ended up laughing hysterically, I fear.

Today we visited Mum and told her about the conversation - she ended up laughing, too.

Talking of D-d - she's gone to a Halloween party tonight. The theme was 'Famous People - as zombies'. It was both real life and fictional people. She said "It's hard to come up with something because the shops are already full of Christmas stuff." Then a short pause whilst you could see her brain working.

Yes - you've guessed it. She went off dressed as a Zombie Father Christmas. Pity I didn't get the camera out in time.

Oh, and she went bearing cakes - she had made fairy cakes into small ghosts and owls - and again, by the time she'd finished them she was in such a rush that they were in a box and ready to go before I could get the camera out - but they were fun.

Well - it was a beautiful wedding, the bride was radiant and elegant, and everyone looked as if they were really enjoying themselves. (With the exception of Victoria Beckham and Countess Spencer, who both seemed to have a nasty smell under their noses and be sucking lemons, and David Cameron who looked, as gillo said, hunted.)

But I think my previous observation concerning hobbits was born up by the small hobbit bridesmaid on the left -



( here is a hobbit wedding for comparison )

Actually Grace van Cutsem was very cute - in a slightly grumpy hobbitish way!

I've just been watching Scotland v South Africa. Well done Scotland, by the way, but am I the only person to be excessively diverted by South Africa having a player whose name is Bismarck du Plessis?

Now there is a name to conjure with.

I was even more diverted to read in his Wiki entry that his place of birth is called Bethlehem.

I am both amused and flattered! I fed a random chapter of each story I have up at Twisting the Hellmouth through it and got this result for Return of The Key - and for Starlight Bathing - and then for Brotherhood, too! And also for the piece I am doing for the Plot without Porn community...


Although the chapter of The Winter Tale I fed in came out as Edgar Allan Poe... and Pure Morning is apparently somewhere between Mario Puza and James Joyce - I realised the first time that I'd missed a couple of lines and tried again - those two lines made all the difference! The opening chapter of Ten Years After, the older Buffyverse piece I am currently posting there, came out as Dan Brown - which didn't really surprise me.

And - to my great amusement - Mid-day at the Lost and Found - the tiny Bagpuss/Buffyverse crossover is, apparently, in the style of Stephen King!

To be honest, I think I might just get Tolkien for my Tolkien pieces because they mention elves...

Is it just me, or do other people also think the world 'vuvuzela' sounds like a euphemism for the female genitalia?

I've just read an article on our local news site about the public accounts committee who are looking into the cost of building an extension on the runway of our airport and the report says;

A committees pokesman said: 'The committee recognised that, if the exchange rate had improved between contract date and purchase of euros date, resulting in savings on the project, they would not be reporting on this issue.

Don't you just want that job? Poking Committees?

If you don't know what I'm talking about go back and read the quote again....

Ok - it's silly, but why not?




Also - we just did a cake-stall at church, as part of a coffee morning, and made £130 for Water Aid.

And finally, Steve Davis is interviewing Ken Docherty about the snooker on TV as I write. He has, I swear, just said that John Higgins has won over twenty wanking tournaments!