Chirita commemorates its 10th anniversary with the Louis XVI computer - a steampunk retro computer which is fit for royalty. Meant to blend in the elegance of a majestic living room or office, this computer is made out of brass, bronze, alabaster, malachite and lapis lazuli, while most of its metal parts are covered with gold leaf. The asking price for such luxury? €13,000. Now we truly know that the economic recovery is well underway.

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Okay, before you get too excited about getting some magic invisibility cloak like Harry Potter, you should know that so far, this technology has only made one thing invisible: a bump on a gold bar.

Yes, it is a bump that is only 0.00004 inches high and 0.0005 inch across, which you probably wouldn’t see in the first place, as it can only be seen with a magnifying glass.

Still, it is a start, and these researchers at Germany’s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology was able to cloak this tiny bump, could prevent its detection at nearly visible infrared frequencies. I’m not talking about camouflage, but the cloaking effect was visible in 3D from all angles.

How do they do it? Well, the cloak is a “a structure of crystals with air spaces in between, sort of like a woodpile, that bends light, hiding the bump in the gold later beneath”. As you might have guessed, size does matter when it comes to turning something invisible, and “cloaking larger items with that technology is not really feasible”.

In other words, we are a long way away before our vehicles can cloak like the Romulans on Star Trek. Still, I am experiencing both the wonder and horror of knowing that we have invisibility technology, even if it is still in its infancy.

Source

Whether it's sweet or savoury, breakfast or dinner, the addition of a little nutmeg can improve a dish no end

In this final part of my spice trilogy, I'm not quite saving the best until last, but I am perhaps saving the most versatile. Nutmeg is the spice that transcends cultures and cuisines, sweet and savoury, and takes the flavour-hungry cook from breakfast to dinner with its sweet, warming, pungent aroma.

Not surprisingly, such a miraculous spice has a history splattered with bloody rivalry – the gore shed over several centuries in its violent pursuit. Nutmeg is one of the two spices obtained from the beautiful, tropical evergreen tree, Myristica fragrans, the other being its lacy covering, or aril, mace. It is native to the Banda Islands of the Indonesian archipelago, whose spicy bounty was tussled over by the Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch, until the pragmatic French smuggled out a few seeds and planted them in Mauritius, thus breaking the Dutch monopoly.

Nutmeg was probably first brought to Europe by the Crusaders, though it wasn't until the 18th century that we really lost our heads over it (it contains myristicin, which gives it its warmth and savour, and which can also, in huge quantities, have a narcotic effect). It became the height of fashion to carry your own nutmeg around with you, along with a fancy silver grater, to scatter its sweet, aromatic and spicy gratings on everything from drinks to meat.

So much more than something to sprinkle on your cappuccino or hot chocolate, nutmeg's uses are almost too numerous to list. At breakfast time, it gives an added dimension to porridge, eggy bread or muesli. Later in the day, its pungency adds savour to all manner of savoury dishes. It softens spinach's slightly metallic edge, marries beautifully with creamy fried onions in the classic Alsatian tart, perks up cabbage and kale, adds depth to sweet carrots and squash, gives an added shot of subtle flavour to mash, and marries beautifully with charcuterie (see today's quatre-épices blend) and slow-cooked ragùs.

Of course, nutmeg's affinity with eggy, milky dishes is legendary; it's essential to perfect rice pudding and a béchamel sauce would be a poor thing indeed without a grating or two. It has an affinity for orchard or vine fruits – in which context it's more subtle and sophisticated than ubiquitous cinnamon: it steals less from the fruit. So try some in an apple tart, with poached pears or in a cake bursting with juicy dried fruits.

Writing this, I'm now thinking those 18th-century dandies were really on to something, so I'm off to commission a gold nutmeg grater on a chunky chain. Nutmeg bling – you read it here first.

This classic French spice blend is used most often in charcuterie, particularly in pork terrines and sausages. If, however, you'd like a sweet blend to add to gingerbread and other kinds of baking, for instance, simply replace the peppercorns with an equal amount of allspice and replace half of the ginger with cinnamon. The finished mix will keep well in a dark place in an airtight container for a couple of months.

2 tbsp white or black peppercorns
1 tsp whole cloves
2½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1½ tsp ground ginger

In a spice grinder or clean coffee grinder, whizz the peppercorns and cloves to a fine powder, then mix with the nutmeg and ginger.

If you have neither the time, inclination nor equipment to make your own sausages, give these simple patties a go instead – they're the perfect, spicy addition to a special cooked breakfast. You need to make a start a couple of days before you want to eat them, but it's not as if there's a great deal of work involved. Makes eight to 10 patties.

750g coarsely minced pork (you want it fairly fatty – a mix of shoulder and belly is good) or 600g pork shoulder, coarsely ground, plus 125g streaky bacon, very finely chopped
10g flaky sea salt (5g if you've used bacon rather than pork belly)
1 tsp quatre-épices (recipe above)
1 tsp rosemary leaves, finely chopped
1 tsp thyme leaves, finely chopped
8 sage leaves, finely chopped
¼ tsp chilli flakes
50ml red wine
1 egg yolk
1-2 tbsp groundnut oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 small handful sage leaves
1 bay leaf

Combine the first eight ingredients in a bowl, cover and refrigerate for two days. Then, when you want to cook your patties, mix in the egg yolk and break off a small piece. Fry this in a little oil, taste for seasoning, then add salt and pepper to the mix as necessary. Form into patties. Warm the oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat, add the sage leaves and bay leaf, and fry the patties for about four minutes a side. Serve with fried eggs and toast.

This English classic is the perfect combination of soothing, creamy, eggy filling and warming, spicy nutmeg. Makes one large tart or six small ones.

125g unsalted butter, softened
90g caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
250g plain flour, sieved
1 good pinch salt
1 egg yolk whisked with a little water, to glaze

For the filling
500ml double cream
100ml whole milk
1 vanilla pod, split
3 egg yolks
2 eggs
60g golden caster sugar
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg, plus a little more for grating over the top of the tart

To make the pastry, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth and light, then gradually beat in the egg. Slowly beat in the flour and salt. As soon as you have a crumbly dough, tip it out on to a lightly floured surface and form into a smooth, flattened disc. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for a couple of hours.

On a lightly floured surface, or between two sheets of greaseproof paper, roll out the pastry so that it's large enough to line, with some overhang, a 22cm loose-bottomed flan tin; or divide it into six and use to line six 10cm loose-bottomed flan tins. Don't trim it too closely at this stage, and reserve a little excess pastry for patching up gaps later. Lightly prick the base(s) all over with a fork, line with clingfilm or greaseproof paper, and fill with baking beans (or uncooked rice or dried pulses). Chill for 20 minutes. Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4.

Place the flan case(s) on a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. Carefully lift out the clingfilm or greaseproof paper and baking beans, and trim the edges with a sharp knife. Patch up any tears with the reserved pastry offcuts. Return the flan case(s) to the oven for five to eight minutes, or until it (they) just takes on some colour. Remove from the oven, brush with the egg wash and bake for another five minutes. Remove and set aside to cool. Reduce the oven temperature to 150C/300F/ gas mark 2.

Meanwhile, over a medium-low heat warm the cream and milk with the vanilla pod in a saucepan until bubbles appear around the edge of the pan. While the cream is heating up, beat together the egg yolks, whole eggs and sugar. Pour in the hot cream, stirring constantly, then strain through a sieve into a jug and stir in the nutmeg. Pour into the tart case(s), grate over a little more nutmeg and place on a baking tray.

Bake until just set – they should still wobble a little in the middle: about 13-15 minutes for small tarts, 20-25 minutes for a large one. Serve at room temperature or cold.

· Go to rivercottage.net for the latest news from River Cottage HQ.

• Food & drink
• Baking recipes
• Breakfast
• British recipes
• Dessert recipes
• French recipes
• Herb and spice recipes
• Main course recipes
• Pork recipes
• Snack recipes
• Spicy recipes

Apple now accepting iPad app submissions, get your jumbo-sized beer drinking simulations in before launch day originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: Podcasts

Continue reading Joystiq Podcast 131 - Exthrilarating edition

Joystiq Podcast 131 - Exthrilarating edition originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: Podcasts

Continue reading Joystiq Podcast 131 - Exthrilarating edition

Joystiq Podcast 131 - Exthrilarating edition originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Editor’s note: This post was written by Joe Stump, the co-founder of SimpleGeo, a geolocation infrastructure company. While much of the focus in location these days is on the front-end side of things, SimpleGeo focuses on the backend, allowing startups to very easily get started with geolocation.

There’s been a lot of coverage lately about the location “war” between Gowalla and Foursquare. Nobody is arguing that Gowalla and Foursquare aren’t, on some levels, competing, but I do think a lot of people are missing the big picture here. Which is the impending location gold rush.

My cofounder, Matt Galligan, and I firmly believe that location is in a similar position as social was in 2001 or so. By that I mean that, at the time, social was very nascent, but exciting as it gave us a whole new view of the data we consume every day. Over the course of almost 10 years we’ve seen social get baked into everything from photo sharing to financial tools. I think that location, similarly, gives us an interesting new view of our data.

This momentum has been slowly gaining steam since, essentially, the iPhone was released. We, the developers and general nerd populous, finally had an open platform that had location (in the form of latitude and longitude of our users) baked into it. The first wave of location services made location the core feature. Much like social, this isn’t sustainable long-term. You can’t be “Some Company plus location” and expect to sustain users. Especially after Some Company enables location themselves.

Which bring us to the second wave of location, which I think was started by our friends at Foursquare. They were, in my opinion, the first product to gain traction by moving past simple location and building an experience on top of it. It’s as if co-founders Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai said, “Okay, we have location, but that’s boring. Let’s make a game out of going out with our friends!” In other words, they worked under the assumption of having location and built a compelling experience from there.

I think people who are building location-based applications need to keep two things in mind:

1. If there’s any war brewing, it’s over presence. That is the very basic question of where you and your friends are and who may know those details. Gowalla, Foursquare, Loopt, et al, if they wish to own presence, will be duking it out with Twitter and Facebook. For anyone who’s not already in this game it’s going to be very hard to break into it at this point.

2. You need to move past the mindset that location is the feature. Build products under the assumption that you have a user’s location and that you can use the social plumbing we’ve been building for the last nine years. What kind of interesting experiences can you build on top of the potent mixture of friends, location, and the real world?

So who’s going to win? More than just one company. The users are going to get more interesting and compelling experiences, some familiar names will revolutionize their products with location, and some kid in a garage we haven’t heard of is about to make us all look like fools.

I can’t wait.

[photo: flickr/bogenfreund]

Paradox Interactive files injunction against SouthPeak originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Paradox Interactive files injunction against SouthPeak originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

There are only two weeks left until the iPad’s April 3 launch date, and Apple has just started reaching out to developers to say that they’re accepting applications that were developed specifically for the device. We’ve included the Email below. The key takeaway: If you’re looking to have your app available at launch, you need to submit it by March 27, at which point Apple’s team will let you know if your application is ready for the grand opening.

The first few weeks after the iPad is released will be a huge gold rush opportunity, as users look to try out the device’s large screen for the first time. In short, if you can make it to one of the App Store’s ‘top apps’ lists, you’ll likely do very well for yourself. The only problem is that the vast majority of developers have never had access to an actual iPad — they’re all working off of emulators, save for a handful of extremely lucky developers who literally have their iPads chained to a desk. Developers can tweak their applications all they want on their computer monitors, but until they’ve actually gotten to try it out for themselves, they’ll have a hard time figuring out if their apps feel right.

I expect most developers will scramble to submit what they have by March 27, and that we’ll then see numerous updates immediately afterward as developers tweak button placement and other interface elements. Some developers may choose to simply wait until they have a device in their hands so that they can try out their apps before submitting, but the App Store’s discoverability issues make this a risky move (of course, given the hundreds or thousands of applications that will launch alongside the iPad, there’s no guarantee that you’ll get noticed on launch day, either).

Keep in mind that users will also be able to use scaled-up versions of iPhone applications on their iPads. Given the choice, though, there’s little doubt they’ll choose a native iPad app over an iPhone app every time.

CrunchBase InformationApp StoreInformation provided by CrunchBase

Wish you had access to tools like milling machines, 3d scanners, and laser cutters, but don't have the budget or space to keep them at your home? Well, if you are a resident of Manchester, you might be in luck. The Manchester FABLAB, an open workshop with all of the aforementioned tools and more, will be opening up next week. They aim to provide a free place for people to build noncommercial projects:

The Manchester fab lab will be equipped with many different machines including laser cutters, milling machines, 3D scanners, embroidery and sewing machines which are mostly controlled by simple computer programmes, so you don't have to be an machining or computer expert to use them.

We are going to be open for use at the beginning of 2010. As always there are a hundred things to think of and a few more we haven't thought of.
Fablabs Basics:

• The fablab is free to use for non-commercial use. (A small charge applies if you are a commercial company)
• We aim to provide free basic materials like wood, plastics and electronic components for non-commercial use (Not gold or diamonds!)
• We have lots of different machines to use and don't worry we'll help you learn how to use them

· Kauto Star falls four out after a ragged ride
· Denman battles on to take second place

The miracle of this Gold Cup was that two great champions were dethroned and yet it still felt like a day of wonder for National Hunt racing. Ruby Walsh rode the fallen odds-on favourite, Kauto Star, back to the unsaddling enclosure from the scene of their tumble upright in the saddle, like a defiant cavalry officer, and Denman reached into his deepest store of energy to finish runner-up to Imperial Commander, who was cheered by an exultant crowd despite spoiling the romantic two‑horse script.

The Festival rose a level with Imperial Commander's seven-length victory at 7-1. So relentlessly dramatic was this 3¼-mile trial of the spirit that tens of thousands of spectators became part of the contest out on the track. Cheltenham crowds are often giddy and always appreciative but nobody could remember them being so consumed by the action with every jump. They gasped as Denman soared over fences and howled when Kauto Star crashed through the eighth and knocked the light out of himself before coming down four fences out.

In other sports Imperial Commander would have been greeted as an impostor who had ruined the decider between the winners of the last three Gold Cups. Instead there was a realisation that jump racing had erred by turning this occasion into a private duel between the two Paul Nicholls-trained big shots.

In the build-up the rest of the field had assumed the role of bit-part players. Imperial Commander was not the only contender to interject. Third home was last year's Grand National winner, Mon Mome, who rated barely a mention in the preamble. Plenty of shrewd punters were immune to this ballyhoo. As Imperial Commander passed the line under Paddy Brennan, damp copies of the Racing Post were tossed and hats flew like Frisbees. Some had noticed that the winner had been beaten by only a nose by Kauto Star in the Betfair Chase in November and was decent value at 7-1.

There is the theatre out on the track and then there is the betting, in which most punters were wiped out over the four days. If hope could take human form, it would have been driven away from the Cotswolds in an ambulance. The defeats of Master Minded in Wednesday's Queen Mother Champion Chase and Kauto Star and Denman were the biggest triumphs for bookmakers in a week when gamblers squealed for mercy.

So this was not a two-creature pageant but a test for the best of the National Hunt breed. For seven fences it was a masterclass of steeplechasing. But then Kauto Star exhibited the first signs of mental frailty since the bad old days when he would try to walk straight through fences late in races. Just as Walsh was doubtless starting to sniff his third Gold Cup win on Desert Orchid's successor as the nation's official horse, Kauto Star turned him into a rodeo rider, belting the top of the fence and almost jolting Ireland's champion out of the plate.

L'Extraterrestrial, as he was known in France, ploughed on but his confidence had evaporated. Denman, the darling of traditionalists, took up the stable's cause, jumping audaciously and barrelling into open country. The audience was entranced. Four fences out Kauto Star self-detonated, stepping in to the foot of the obstacle and sending himself over the birch in a somersaulting heap. As Walsh landed like a fly-half diving in for a try, he turned straightaway to check his partner was unharmed. Later, as Imperial Commander took the ovation, Walsh could be seen standing up in the saddle as Kauto Star's white noseband approached through the gloom.

This was how to come home vanquished: upright, proud. Kauto Star cantered back to the exit chute "as fresh as a daisy" in Walsh's plucky phrase. He was hardly that. But National Hunt racing folk do not make a tragedy out of a setback. Kauto Star had passed from invincibility to fallibility inside 10 minutes. His romping wins in last year's Gold Cup and December's King George VI Chase seemed an age ago. Like boxers steeplechasers never warn you the end is nigh. It was not the mistake at the eighth fence that pointed to his mortality so much as his inability to recover from it.

Denman, who could be trained for next year's Grand National, was transcending doubt and showing himself to be a great equine warrior from the old school. To achieve immortality here a horse needs more than one Gold Cup victory (he crushed Kauto Star to win two years ago) yet Denman has twice distinguished himself in defeat. This course jolts him back to life. His acolytes would say it is because he was bred for days like these. The heavy, saturnine mood that seems to afflict him at the Nicholls yard lifts and he attacks the Prestbury fences with joie de vivre. "That Denman, he never goes away, does he?" Brennan said.

Under Tony McCoy he was asked to make the final assault swinging for home but the sprightly, super-fit Imperial Commander was skipping along with him and accelerated up the hill to register a distinctly local triumph. Motor to a Cotswolds village called Guiting Power 12 miles away and you will find a pub called the Hollow Bottom, which feels like an extension of Cheltenham racecourse. It is also a shrine to Nigel Twiston-Davies, Imperial Commander's trainer, who has a share in the business and who said as he approached the winner's enclosure here: "This was a home win. We are where we belong."

Half an hour later Twiston-Davies's 18-year-old son Sam won the Foxhunter Chase on the stable's Baby Run, then their Pigeon Island took the last under Brennan. All leave would have been cancelled at the Hollow Bottom. "Paul Nicholls has done a wonderful job with his two horses but we need new ones coming through and ours is the best now," Twiston-Davies senior said of his champion. "I loved all the Kauto Star-Denman thing but I always thought we could beat them."

From a theoretically anticlimactic day the Racing For Change initiative had the perfect promotional DVD. This beat media training, decimal odds, simpler racecourse announcements and all the other ploys to get people to the track. It was the action speaking for itself. It was the purest sport.

• Cheltenham Gold Cup
• Kauto Star
• Denman
• Cheltenham festival
• Horse racing

Le Samsung Diva S7070 arrivera bientôt en Luxury Gold edition. Bien qu'on ne sache pas si c'est vraiment de l'or, le Samsung Diva S7070 semble destiné à la gente féminine, et il aura des spécifications hardware similaires que son petit frère au look classique: écran tactile 2.8" QVGA 16 millions de couleurs, interface tactile TouchWiz, un accéléromètre, intégration de réseau social, un APN 3.2 mégapixels et un façade arrière originale. Le prix n'est pas connu pour le moment.

Permalink: Samsung Diva S7070 Luxury Gold edition d'Ubergizmo FR. Aussi en Anglais

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Continue reading Review: The Bounty Hunter

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When we were driving out of town I said, "I hate the corpses of empires, they stink as nothing else. They stink so badly that I cannot believe that even in life they were healthy." "I do not think you can convince mankind," said my husband, "that there is not a certain magnificence about a great empire in being." "Of course there is," I admitted, "but the hideousness outweighs the beauty. You are not, I hope, going to tell me that they impose law on lawless people. Empires live by the violation of law." (Rebecca West, from Black Lamb and Grey Falcon)

Strange week this week. All Marvel and Vertigo. And lots of sex. Weird. And yes, I'm aware the fourth issue of Daytripper came out last week. I didn't get it, for some reason. I should have it this weekend. Dang. Let's move on!

Avengers vs. Atlas #3 (of 4) ("Hulk Smash!"/"Hey, Venus!") by Jeff Parker (writer, "Hulk"), Paul Cornell (writer, "Venus"), Gabriel Hardman (artist, "Hulk"), Leonard Kirk (artist, "Venus"), Elizabeth Breitweiser (colorist, "Hulk"), Brad Anderson (colorist, "Venus"), Tom Orzechowski (letterer, "Hulk"), and Joe Sabino (letterer, "Venus"). $3.99, 30 pgs, FC, Marvel.

Everyone reading this should know what I'm going to rant about. When Thor transports the Avengers and the agents of Atlas to Norway, he says, "But I know of one place on Midgard I can bring us all to!" Sorry, Thor - it's TAKE!!!!! Seriously, poor "take." No one loves it. So sad.

I love how Parker casually makes Hank Pym a dick even when he's not really trying. When the old-school Avengers find out that Bruce Banner is the Hulk (because Venus sang to him and calmed him down, turning him back to Banner), Pym says, "That's Dr. Bruce Banner! He's maybe the top physicist in the world -- well, besides me ..." Ha! And Parker makes Tony Stark a bit of a wuss, too - Marvel Boy telepathically informs Pym about what's happening, and Stark says, "He could have put the knowledge in me ... I would have gotten it." If that's not enough, in the next panel, Stark looks down at himself and says to no one in particular, "I built this suit ..." Whenever a writer is clever enough to drop stuff like that into his fairly standard superhero team-up (which this is), I appreciate it, because it just humanizes them and makes it easier to deal with the wackiness of a team from the 1960s (or a decade ago, according to Pym) joining up with a team from the present thanks to some time anomaly. They all fight the Hulk, Bob figures out what's up, and everything is set up for the final showdown. It's good, clean fun!

In the back-up story, Cornell and Kirk bring us Venus, love advice columnist. It's pretty hilarious (see the panel of awesome below), as she answers questions from Hercules, Deadpool (which is particularly hilarious), I assume Jocasta, the Hulk, Norman Osborn (more hilarity!), Kitty Pryde, and Clint Barton. It's very dependent on knowing Marvel continuity (unsurprisingly), and the only one I didn't get was the letter from Miss Dean. Help me out, more knowledgeable readers! It's a fun little tale.

Sex in this comic? Hoo-boy, you bet. It stars Venus in both stories, for crying out loud! In the first, Venus has to sing to calm Bruce down, and two superheroes get caught in the sound wave. Macking commences! And in the second, well, Deadpool's letter is the highlight, and I won't spoil it.

One panel of awesome:

Oh, Hulk, no one understands you!

Fables #93 ("The Little Murder Part Two of Two") by Bill Willingham (writer), David Lapham (artist), Lee Loughridge (colorist), and Todd Klein (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC/Vertigo.

It's been two months since the last issue of Fables. Strange. Anyway, I always dig the short stories of this series because they seem to contain standalone stories, but Willingham always makes sure that things get tied into the main story later. In other words, I doubt we've seen the last of the some of these characters. The story itself is not great but not bad, as Ambrose needs to figure out a way to deal with the serious transgression from last issue in a way that doesn't rip his kingdom apart. He does it, of course, but there's still some restlessness among the subjects, and that can't be good. I do like the only witness for the defense - at first, I thought it was absolutely idiotic, but once John started expanding on his story, it made better sense. And hey - those people who wish to read political intent into writers' books can kind of have a field day here, as Willingham tackles the death penalty and the idea of culture leading to what some would call crime. I honestly don't care when writers inject their political beliefs into comics (if, indeed, that's what Willingham is doing here), because this issue, while not superb, does show how much difficulty Ambrose is going to have moving forward. That's what makes this such a neat series.

Sex in this comic? Definitely. Off-panel and after the issue ends, but oh yeah, someone's getting lucky!

One panel of awesome:

Won't someone think of the ... squirrel children!

Hercules: Fall of an Avenger #1 (of 2) (Hercules main story/"Greek Tragedy") by Greg Pak (writer, "Hercules"), Fred van Lente (writer, "Hercules"), Paul Tobin (writer, "Tragedy"), Ariel Olivetti (artist, "Hercules"), Reilly Brown (penciler, "Tragedy"), Jason Paz (inker, "Tragedy"), Wil Quintana (colorist, "Tragedy"), Simon Bowland (letterer, "Hercules"), and Joe Sabino (letterer, "Tragedy"). $3.99, 30 pgs, FC, Marvel.

There are a few writers that I simply will not read. I've read their stuff, disliked it enough to know it's kind of a pattern with them and not an anomaly, and won't try it again. There are some writers who I dislike so much that even if they hook up with a fantastic artist, it's not enough to get me to buy it. However, if I like the writer, usually I can take lousy art, because I'm much more interested in the writing in comics than the art. If the art doesn't make my eyes bleed and tells the story serviceably, I can deal with it. Very rarely will the art on a book I want to read by a writer I like keep me from buying it. Let me tell you, I had one of those moments on Wednesday, when I looked at this book and Ariel Olivetti's art.

I can't really put my finger on why I don't like Olivetti's art. I didn't always dislike it. A decade ago, when he was still drawing using heavy lines rather than whatever the hell he's doing now, it wasn't great art but it had a kind of mad energy to it. Then he started doing more and more delicate line work, it appears he's given up on inking, and I don't know what's going on with the coloring (an Irene Y. Lee is credited with "production" on this book; does she do the coloring or does Olivetti?). It's that faux-"realistic" look that, to me, is ridiculously static and, at times, downright creepy. It's kind of the same thing that Salvador Larocca has done in the past five years or so, with color washes that drains everything heavy from the page but makes the art far too ephemeral. It's not a good look. Olivetti is fine telling a story, but the art just repels me. But I bought this anyway, because I knew that Pak and Van Lente wouldn't let me down. And, heck, they didn't. Well, except for one brief exchange. I'll 'splain.

The premise of the book is that Amadues Cho and a bunch of heroes congregate at the Parthenon to honor Hercules. Amadeus is peeved at Athena and wants her to show up, but instead the heroes do. So they all tell stories about how groovy Hercules was. Thor talks about the time he and Herc had to outdrink a bunch of giants, while Namor tells them of the time Herc beat on him to get him out of a funk. (I wonder why Namor is wearing his new, "I'm so cool" outfit in his flashback when he's wearing his old-school, "I'm so cool I can look UNcool" underpants in the original comic. I mean, will people reading this comic be that confused that he ... changed his clothes?!?!?!?) These are not bad stories, and Thor's is quite funny. Then the babes show up, talking about how hot Herc was (it's true - they all say it!). Snowbird says that they all "lay" with him, then continues: "I know there are others in the crowd who should join us ... don't be shy." At which Northstar says, "Is that the time? Gotta go!" while Namor looks on, a question mark above his head. Ha ha, Jean-Paul had sex with Herc and he's embarrassed about it! Now, this bugged me. First of all, Herc is a god. And he's, you know, Greek. I always assumed he was kind of pansexual, so the idea of him having sex with men isn't that strange. Second, Northstar is (wait for it) gay. And everyone knows he's gay! Who cares if he had sex with Herc? It felt, to me, that Van Lente and Pak were saying that a gay man would be embarrassed that he had sex with a man, while the women aren't. This would have, actually, been a perfect opportunity for another Marvel hero to come out of the closet - the joke would have been funnier if Snowbird had said that and someone like Warren or Logan had shrugged and said, "Hey, it weren't no big thing." But it's weird that Northstar is embarrassed about it. This weird feeling continues on the next page, when Alflyse starts talking about her time with Herc (see the panel of awesome below). Wolverine and Fandral looked shocked. After she's done talking, Namor too looks shocked (and Thor looks like he's fondly remembering his own experiences with the Elven Tickler, which isn't too surprising, given that he's, you know, Thor). Logan is older than a century, and he knows how to get with the ladies. Fandral is a freakin' god. Namor, I suppose, is the most stuck-up of them, so him I can forgive. But the idea in mainstream comics, it seems, is that men like the sex as long as it's not too weird, while the women kind of tolerate the sex but certainly don't do anything wacky. Pak and Van Lente are subverting the second assumption, but reinforcing the first. Are you telling me Logan never got really weird with any of the seriously crazy women he hooked up with? Are you saying Fandral never did anything bizarre to mix things up after a thousand years of the missionary position? I've seen this attitude before in Marvel and DC comics, and it's a bit strange. If someone who looks like Alflyse starts talking about how much she enjoyed Herc's mastery of the Elven Tickler, I wouldn't looked shocked, I'd be breaking out the instruction manual to figure it out!

And then Athena shows up and tells Amadeus that he's the new leader of the Olympus group, which leads into next issue. And the back-up story has Venus and Namora going around telling people that Herc is dead. It's a clever idea by Tobin - apparently Herc invested money in stuff and then forgot about it, so he has all sorts of weird holdings all over the world, some of which have done very well for him (he was an early investor in Stark Industries, for instance). It's a nice little story that features a hydra. Which is never a bad thing to see.

Sex in this comic? See above. Plus, Venus get naked in a totally non-sexual situation (one of Herc's holdings was a nudist colony), and all the people who lived in homes that Herc owned happened to be women. I wonder why?

One panel of awesome:

I love Wolverine's expression!

Joe the Barbarian #3 (of ВосемБ) ("The Dying Boy") by Grant "Yes, this is just propaganda to get you to keep rats as pets, why do you ask?" Morrison (writer), Sean Murphy (artist), Dave Stewart (colorist), and Todd Klein (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC/Vertigo.

Morrison unveils a few more secrets in this issue, as Joe is shown something that makes his journey through the strange world of more import than it already was, and a new adventurer joins the team. And of course, because it's a Grant Morrison comic, the very odd bad guys (well, I'm just going to assume they're bad guys; they could be kindly monks for all I know) are revealed at the end. There are typical Morrisonisms sprinkled throughout the dialogue, and it all moves along at a nice clip. Murphy remains the absolutely stunning star of the comic, though. The chase at the beginning of the issue is terrifically exciting, and when Joe and Jack arrive in Draka's town, Murphy gives us a full-page drawing that is simply gorgeous. When Joe collapses near the end of the issue, Murphy looks downward through his house, almost giving us vertigo. The book itself continues to get better, writing-wise, but Murphy's art is so staggering you almost don't need to read the text. That's so rare with a Morrison comic that it's almost unbelievable. But there it is!

Sex in this comic? It's about a boy in a fantasy land. Let's hope not!

One panel of awesome:

So portentous!!!!!

Marvel Boy: The Uranian #3 (of 3) ("Man of Two Worlds") by Jeff Parker (writer), Felix Ruiz (artist/letterer), and Val Staples (colorist). $3.99, 22 pgs + 18 pgs of 3 back-up stories, FC, Marvel.

This isn't a bad comic, and it looks great, but it does feel more like Parker is filling in the gaps of the characters from Agents of Atlas (or, I guess, Atlas) than telling a standalone story. He fleshed out some crucial points about Bob's past, namely his connection to Uranus and what his overlords really want (and if I call them "overlords," they can't be too benign, can they?), but this feels a bit trifling, as if it could have been told in a flashback in the regular series over the course of an issue or possibly two. Three issues is a bit much. I mean, we get to see a giant 1950s Marvel monster (see below), some nice parts about Bob's life, and a groovy mad scientist, but it still feels a bit too slight. Oh well. The art is fantastic, Parker's writing is fine as ever (even if the book itself is slight), and we get to see a bunch of reprints drawn by Bill Everett. If you're a fan of Jimmy Woo's team or Parker's writing, it's a fun book. For four bucks a pop, though, it's a bit steep.

Sex in this comic? Bob gets busy in a rocket with Violet. There's nothing better than zero-gravity sex! (Or, you know, so I'm told. By my astronaut friends. Of which I have many.)

One panel of awesome:

Jeff Parker + Felix Ruiz = awesome!

Spider-Woman #7 by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Alex Maleev (artist), and Cory Petit (letterer). $3.99, 35 pgs, FC, Marvel.

Bendis writes at the end of this book that it's over, because it's way too much work for Maleev to do it, motion-comic style. Why they specifically had to do it motion-comic style isn't addressed, but apparently putting together a motion comic takes a lot more time and effort by the artist, and it was killing Maleev. KILLING HIM!!!!!! So they pulled the plug. Oh well.

I'm not that put out by it, because I was probably going to drop the book anyway after the first arc. I will defend the Bendis/Maleev Daredevil to anyone who tries to put it down (which, to be honest, isn't many people), but this just never got good. It had a nifty hook but Bendis simply didn't do anything with it, and in the end, he had to bring in the Avengers to bail Jessica out. This issue is just a big ol' dumb superhero fight with a few clever Bendisisms, but mostly, it's dumb. And Jessica is a total bitch. She's not a bitch in a charming, fucked-up way that Jessica Jones was in Alias, she's a bitch in a "Gosh, I really hope that Skrull kills her" way. She keeps calling the Asian girl "dumb" because she claims that her Skrull boyfriend is Spider-Man. Now, the way Maleev draws her, it seems like she's blind. Second, the Skrull is, you know, a shape-shifter, so even if she's not blind, he could look like Spider-Man. Jessica points out that Spider-Man "famously" lives in New York, but she's only been dating him three weeks, meaning he could be on vacation or something. So, um, Jessica? Shut the fuck up. As Abigail points out, your track record so far in this comic isn't great in the intelligence department, so if the girl from Madripoor believes she was dating Spider-Man, you're the last person in the world to call her dumb. And then, later, the Skrull tells her that the queen chose her form because "of all the people in the world ... we discovered that no one on this entire planet cares enough about you to notice you at all." Really, Skrull? Okay, from the way Jessica behaves in this comic, I see Skrull dude's point, but that's a bit extreme, isn't it? I mean, she has plenty of friends, after all. It's one of those things that sounds cool the first time you read it but then, once you think about it for more than a second, makes absolutely no sense. And then Wolverine tries to stab a shape-shifter to death. You'd think he'd know better.

So I would have ditched the book anyway, but now I don't have to. If you've been thinking about getting the trade, I'd skip it. Spend it on something, you know, good.

Sex in this comic? Not a bit. Jessica finds the Skrull in a strip club, though.

One panel of "awesome":

Really?

Vengeance of the Moon Knight #6 ("Shock and Awe Chapter 6") by Gregg Hurwitz (writer), Jerome Opeña (penciler), Jay Leisten (inker), Paul Mounts (colorist), and Joe Caramagna (letterer). $2.99, 23 pgs, FC, Marvel.

And now, Moon Knight And Me: A Love Story.

I have never made my love of Moon Knight a secret. I dig him. I love the whole multiple personalities thing, I love the whole weird network of operatives, I love the Doug Moench/Bill Sienkiewicz run with a love that is probably a little unhealthy, I love the Doug Moench/Kevin Nowlan run that followed it, I love the "Fist of Khonshu" series that followed that only lasted six issues and wasn't very good, I liked the 1990s series that also wasn't very good but lasted longer than any Moon Knight series ever, I loved the James Fry issues in the latter part of that run that were really bizarre eye candy, I loved the Stephen Platt issues that ended the run ... okay, that's a lie. I hated those issues. They're AWFUL. I loved the late 1990s mini-series that brought the character back from limbo, with Mark Texeira and then Tommy Lee Edwards on art. I loved the new series that launched a few years ago, which made our hero truly insane for, really, the first time (as much as Moench explored the idea of multiple personalities, you never got the sense that Moonie was all that crazy). And I loved the first few issues of this series, which returned Moon Knight to New York and brought back Bushman (okay, that wasn't too great an idea) and featured out of this world art by Opeña. I bought the first Moon Knight Essential volume because I didn't have the early appearances of the character. I'm going to buy the new hardcover of the Moench/Sienkiewicz collaborations before the first series launched even though I own some of them, because I love the character so much. I think that the first series is wildly underrated, as it was one of the first (if not the first) series to be released through the Direct Market, bypassing newstands and therefore allowing Moench and Sienkiewicz to tell more mature stories than mainstream comics before it. I think the character has a ton of potential that has been tapped a bit, but not enough. But that's just me.

So why am I explaining this? Well, as much as I dug what Hurwitz did in these first few issues (even though I didn't agree with bringing Bushman back and turning him into Bane), I thought this was a terrible way to end this arc and it makes me wonder if I will even buy the next arc. It makes me sad, but that's the way it is. In the first issue, it seemed as if Hurwitz was poking fun at the silliness of superheroes, but doing it subtly. I can deal with Moon Knight as satire, because it's an interesting take, especially as he's a bit, you know, out there. But as we got further into the arc, Hurwitz stopped doing that and this became much more of a straight-forward superhero comic. And I'm just not that interested in that anymore. I mean, Hurwitz brought Bushman back. So what? What happens to him? He ends up in an insane asylum. So what? Bushman's death was interesting because it pushed Moon Knight even further over the brink and set the stage for the previous series, which was excellent. Now he's back, and he's just another boring villain. Even in the mediocre 1990s series, he ruled a country, which added a bit of tension to his dealings with our hero. Now, he's dull. And we get another joke about Crawley getting hit on the head and changing his personality, back to what it was. This wasn't funny when it happened to Guy Gardner twenty years ago, and it's still not funny. I realize that I'm too close to the situation and I should be able to laugh at head injuries just like those uptight [insert ethnic group here] should be able to laugh at jokes at their expense, but it's not the fact that Crawley sustained a head injury and it changed his personality. It's that this book isn't a comedy, so tonally it was all wrong, and it's also that nobody seems to care. That's what bugged me when it happened to Guy - wouldn't someone think, "Hey, maybe we should check him out?" even if they liked his new personality more? Shouldn't Moon Knight have suggested that Crawley ought to get an MRI? It's too fraught with potential pitfalls to make it really funny, and Hurwitz didn't do(...)

• Mar. 19: A Dialogue on Canadian Foreign Aid: Effectiveness and Accountability
• Mar. 20: Paralympic Ice Sledge Hockey – Gold Medal Game
• Mar. 21: Overcoming Perfectionism: Bringing More Ease into Life
• Mar. 23: Ecological Role of G-fibers in Plant Movement
• Mar. 24: Undergraduate Research Opportunities Student Seminar Series
• Mar. 25: Between a CMS and Social Media: Supporting Collaborative Learning in Hybrid Spaces