(no subject)
Went to see Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows the other evening with braidsofdeath, A, reverendjmg and J, the latter's new beau. Verdict: other than the, er, subplot involving a certain female character in the beginning of the film, and a little too much Sherlockovision, I liked it! There was also some awkward racial stuff with the new female character, who is a Traveller, but.
Also discovered Stogo, a dairy- and gluten-free ice cream place not far from Union Square with lots of fancy coconut, soy, hemp and sorbet-based flavors. Though the ice cream was just a smidge too sweet (granted, everything in America is now just a smidge too sweet to my Europeanized palate, even taking six months of a carb-restricted diet into account), I was very impressed. You could certainly taste the coconut or soy base (I didn't think to tastetest the hemp, and am now slightly regretting not trying the ginger vanilla bourbon flavor), but it wasn't bothersome at all, and that comes from someone who's not a huge fan of either soy or coconut milk on its own. The flavors were interesting as well; reverendjmg and I shared soy salted caramel pecan (wonderful) and soy eggnog (could've been less sweet, but enjoyable nonetheless); braidsofdeath and A shared coconut sweet potato (again, a little sweet but good), and coconut vanilla (didn't taste it). J had coconut vanilla chocolate chip, which again I didn't taste, but he seemed to enjoy it even though he was skeptical at the onset.
If I'm in the area again I may have to stop by once to check out more flavors, assuming I'm not sugared out after the coming week. Definitely recommended for anyone with dairy or gluten intolerance (or with dairy/gluten-intolerant friends).
In Marvel-related news, a tidbit that makes me happy and a tidbit that both intrigues and concerns me:
HAPPY: The Spider-Man graphic novels of the 80s are getting reprinted in one mega-volume! I already have Parallel Lives, but I've been wanting Spirits of the Earth (Charles Vess Spidey!) and Hooky for quite some time, and it might be worth the extra pain of dealing with hardcovers (which are hard for me to carry back and forth across the Atlantic, a serious consideration when I don't know when or if I'm moving back to the US anytime soon) to have everything in one sturdy volume.
INTRIGUE/CONCERN: Marvel is rolling out a new line of prose novels next year. Previously Marvel's prose offerings have been either movie novelizations or original stories that mesh with contemporary continuity but aren't actually part of it (like how Jim Butcher's The Darkest Hours was a sequel to JMS's Coming Home, but the in comics sequel to same didn't take TDH into account). It's an approach that works surprisingly well and has produced some of my favorite Spidey stories. This time, though, the plan is to novelize pre-existing comics storylines, and they're starting with Civil War.
... Okay, so it's not the worst choice. It's high in Avengers and Spider-Man content, and it's a relatively recent storyline, meaning that in the unlikely event that a new reader wants to segue from there into the comics proper, it wouldn't be that difficult. It has a great high concept hook, and as flawed as the final product was most of the major issues could be cleared up by having one writer with a consistent approach to all the characters and enough space to tease out all the psychodrama.
And then there's the possibility it'll be a clusterfuck? I guess we'll have to see.
I'm also wondering what the other planned novels are. I'm betting at least a couple of the movie Avengers will get books based on their solo storylines (probably Cap and Iron Man first, or maybe Thor), and of course Spidey will get one straight off the bat, the question is what story is both sufficiently epic and sufficiently continuity-light that non-comics readers won't be totally lost. (Crossing my fingers that the second category disqualifies Shed, the Lizard story everyone except me adores.) The Death of Gwen Stacy is a definite possibility for obvious reasons. I could also see stories like The Death of Jean DeWolff or Kraven's Last Hunt being tweaked to be continuity-light. Coming Home might be a contender despite the way editorial tiptoes around JMS' run these days, as it fits both qualifications better than almost any other Spidey story in the last fifteen years. Spider-Island is also a contender, although it could be out of contention given that the co-lead is MJ, not Gwen. Hmmm.
Also discovered Stogo, a dairy- and gluten-free ice cream place not far from Union Square with lots of fancy coconut, soy, hemp and sorbet-based flavors. Though the ice cream was just a smidge too sweet (granted, everything in America is now just a smidge too sweet to my Europeanized palate, even taking six months of a carb-restricted diet into account), I was very impressed. You could certainly taste the coconut or soy base (I didn't think to tastetest the hemp, and am now slightly regretting not trying the ginger vanilla bourbon flavor), but it wasn't bothersome at all, and that comes from someone who's not a huge fan of either soy or coconut milk on its own. The flavors were interesting as well; reverendjmg and I shared soy salted caramel pecan (wonderful) and soy eggnog (could've been less sweet, but enjoyable nonetheless); braidsofdeath and A shared coconut sweet potato (again, a little sweet but good), and coconut vanilla (didn't taste it). J had coconut vanilla chocolate chip, which again I didn't taste, but he seemed to enjoy it even though he was skeptical at the onset.
If I'm in the area again I may have to stop by once to check out more flavors, assuming I'm not sugared out after the coming week. Definitely recommended for anyone with dairy or gluten intolerance (or with dairy/gluten-intolerant friends).
In Marvel-related news, a tidbit that makes me happy and a tidbit that both intrigues and concerns me:
HAPPY: The Spider-Man graphic novels of the 80s are getting reprinted in one mega-volume! I already have Parallel Lives, but I've been wanting Spirits of the Earth (Charles Vess Spidey!) and Hooky for quite some time, and it might be worth the extra pain of dealing with hardcovers (which are hard for me to carry back and forth across the Atlantic, a serious consideration when I don't know when or if I'm moving back to the US anytime soon) to have everything in one sturdy volume.
INTRIGUE/CONCERN: Marvel is rolling out a new line of prose novels next year. Previously Marvel's prose offerings have been either movie novelizations or original stories that mesh with contemporary continuity but aren't actually part of it (like how Jim Butcher's The Darkest Hours was a sequel to JMS's Coming Home, but the in comics sequel to same didn't take TDH into account). It's an approach that works surprisingly well and has produced some of my favorite Spidey stories. This time, though, the plan is to novelize pre-existing comics storylines, and they're starting with Civil War.
... Okay, so it's not the worst choice. It's high in Avengers and Spider-Man content, and it's a relatively recent storyline, meaning that in the unlikely event that a new reader wants to segue from there into the comics proper, it wouldn't be that difficult. It has a great high concept hook, and as flawed as the final product was most of the major issues could be cleared up by having one writer with a consistent approach to all the characters and enough space to tease out all the psychodrama.
And then there's the possibility it'll be a clusterfuck? I guess we'll have to see.
I'm also wondering what the other planned novels are. I'm betting at least a couple of the movie Avengers will get books based on their solo storylines (probably Cap and Iron Man first, or maybe Thor), and of course Spidey will get one straight off the bat, the question is what story is both sufficiently epic and sufficiently continuity-light that non-comics readers won't be totally lost. (Crossing my fingers that the second category disqualifies Shed, the Lizard story everyone except me adores.) The Death of Gwen Stacy is a definite possibility for obvious reasons. I could also see stories like The Death of Jean DeWolff or Kraven's Last Hunt being tweaked to be continuity-light. Coming Home might be a contender despite the way editorial tiptoes around JMS' run these days, as it fits both qualifications better than almost any other Spidey story in the last fifteen years. Spider-Island is also a contender, although it could be out of contention given that the co-lead is MJ, not Gwen. Hmmm.