Howling at the moon

Curse of the Were-Rabbit is absolutely brilliant. But I've remembered today that I can't go to see Howl's Moving Castle tomorrow night, because I'm going out with work people for Zoe's birthday. This seems a bit excessive to me, since we're all going out next Friday too to celebrate our unemployment and/or unprecendented wealth. But still, it keeps me on the streets.

Thursdays off work also give me a chance to buy comics the day they come out, too. This week's selection are all pretty good, but don't inspire me to write about them. On the other hand, though, I read the Beano in Smith's like I do every week, and I was pleased to see a Billy the Cat and Katie story. They keep making attempts to bring Billy back, in the hopes that he'll catch on with the youth of today who don't buy the Beano for adventure stories, and I think that's highly commendable. The tastes of readers seem to be leaning more towards that kind of strip now, judging by the last vote-for-a-new-strip thing that selected Zap Zodiac, which is as close to a non-comedy adventure strip as the Beano has come for yonks.

Funnily enough, there was also the second part of a 'Beano gang' adventure (a multiple-page story with all the characters from multiple Beano strips, which they do from time to time - usually with much better art than this one) featuring Lord Snooty, who concludes that he's too old-fashioned to appear in the Beano nowadays. That's probably fair enough - they kept him on for years when nobody liked it, just because he was the last surviving character from the first ever issue - but it's strange that an attempt to resurrect an old character was put in the same comic as a definitive statement that they're not going to bring back another.

Also funnily, the story featured some snippets of old Lord Snooty strips, one of them showing Polly, the black caricature who (in a genuine attempt at political correctness) was part of Snooty's gang for many years, but who they generally try to avoid talking about now.

I also did a bit of memory training today. Just enough to convince me that I'm still horribly out of practice and need to do a lot more to get back up to my best. Sigh. Ah well, got to stick to those resolutions. When I'm settled into my new job, I'll take a week off and cram pi back into my skull. 25 days holiday at the new place, by the way! Wheee!