Ligne Claire and Record Breaking

I subscribe to Empire Magazine.  It is one of a number of magazines I subscribe to (along with Official Xbox magazine and Olive Magazine).  Empire is the one I most thoroughly read. Cover to cover, every month.  I've read it for years.  It is a good magazine, but not faultless. It often scores hyped movies with more stars than they deserve and it has its nose firmly shoved up the arse of Steven Spielberg.  This month's issue illustrates this affectation with the first of a 2-part feature on the great auteur.  Saying that, I am a fan of the man and did enjoy the piece.  The reason I even mention it is that there was a significant portion of this feature dedicated to Spielberg's upcoming movie - Tintin.

I like Tintin and always have.  And by that I mean the comic books. For some reason I could never gel with the cartoon (despite its complete faithfulness to the original texts).  I love the adventure, the humour and the mystery in the books, but most of all I love that he travels.  Tintin sees the world and through following him we get exposure to areas of the world we otherwise wouldn't.  Now, there are points at which the stories delve into outdated stereotypes and casual racism.  This is not good, and can be uncomfortable to read, but the sheer joy of seeing Petra, or Delhi or Chicago forgives a lot of the ills.

The style of art that Herge uses in his Tintin adventures is called Ligne Claire (or Clear Line).  The panels are detailed and busy, and leave no room for the sort of "filling-in-the-blanks" imagination that makes the best of Frank Miller's work so appealing.  There are limited artistic flourishes, rather simple lines, and blocks of shade or colour.  Ligne Claire can also be seen in the Blake and Mortimer books, or Moebius' run as artist on Silver Surfer.

I decided over the weekend to look into the style and see what else was available and came across Garan Ewing's Rainbow Orchid (http://www.garenewing.co.uk/rainboworchid/).  It seems to be following in the style of Tintin and is getting rather good reviews.  I have picked up the first volume on Amazon for less than £5 and will see what it has to offer at the end of the week.

Looking forward to that.
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This weekend, the first in October, was ridiculously hot.  29.9oC on Saturday made it the hottest October day in history.  People were sunbathing at the end of the Crescent and it felt like a summer's day (or at least like the sort of day you would hope for in summer).  Rina and I decided to have a BBQ for dinner.  What we neglected to realise was that just because it was as hot as a good July didn't mean the days were as long.  Not long after I started the coals we were in darkness - but a bit of ingenuity from Rina involving a torch and some candles meant we had a fantastic evening.
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Celtic lost to the Edinburgh Rangers.  I think Neil Lennon needs to look at his performance in role.  Not good.

First and Last

Sunday saw the first Glasgow Derby of the season (there is no "Old Firm", there is only Celtic and a bunch of animals) and the last BBQ of the season.

Having the last 9 months pretty much consisting of doing up our flat has had some significant bonuses.  Very near the top of this list is turning a scruffy yard into a garden.  Rina and I gambled and invited some people over on Sunday (The Bear, Fra, Jenny, Alistair and Jade).  We were mostly lucky with the weather - what little rain there was ended up being kept off us by the tree at the end of the garden (a small benefit in comparison to the amount of conkers and leaves it drops in to be cleaned up!).  I made BBQ sauce - from scratch. It was awesome.  I also got a wee bit drunk - but that's all fun.

As for the football game.  It was shit. 2-1 up at half-time followed by a second half of complete capitulation by Celtic.  That's all I'll say about that right now.

So the BBQ has been put away, the outdoor furniture washed and stowed and the garden has said its farewell to summer.  And a great summer it was.