You are a saucy boy

Now watching the BBC Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet (1978), with an i n s a n e l y young Rickman as Tybalt. His features look too big for his head. Lots of actors from Doctor Who, notably Jacqueline Hill (smashing!) as Lady Capulet. David Sibley (Pralix from The Pirate Planet and the reporter from B7's Deathwatch) bites his thumb.

ETA: Interesting to contrast the actors who make Shakespeare comprehensible and even interesting, and those who simply shoot out the words like machine gun bullets, sadly including Patrick Ryecart (Mindwarp) as Romeo. Also, Tybalt has a flowerpot for a hat.

ETA: Nursy from Blackadder II is based on Juliet's nurse!

(no subject)

When writing these anthology stories very very fast, there comes a point where you know instinctively whether this is going to be one of the ones that goes off like a Zen cracker (A Life Worth Living), a worthwhile exercise (Steel Skies, Life Sciences), or bunkum (too glutinous to mention). I fear my current effort (3000 words and counting) falls squarely into the latter category. I'll have to try and get away with it on the strength of the jokes. I'm screwed.

(no subject)

News Goofs. I laughed till I cried.

Genesis 34

Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah in a big way.

My crummy summary: Jacob and co are settling down when a local takes the virginity of Jacob's daughter Dinah. He falls in love with her, and agrees that all the men of his tribe will be circumcised, so that they can intermarry. Sneakily, a couple of Jacob's sons wipe the men out while they're recovering from the operation and pinch all their stuff.

Notes to self: Would like to know the precise word translated by "defiled". I assume Dinah and Shechem's congress was consensual, but actually, that might not matter. Does "make folly in Israel" mean their honour has been insulted, or that Shechem has done something which the Hivites don't have a problem with but the Israelites profoundly do? Do we ever learn the fate of Dinah?

Snape-o-rama vol. XXVIIIIIII

Snape at the office. Hilarious. Not Work Safe due to random smut.

Now there's a distorted pieta (this phrase (c) Ian Briggs c. 1990)

Snape and Narcoleptic Werewolf. Probably the least attractive Snape I've seen in fan art, but oh, teh funny.

Unmasked

The Many Faces of Severus Snape. Featuring the Pants of Erised. (G-rated except for a rude word)

Also fic! Strictus Snipe and a Cure for Writers’ Block. Snape/Lupin. PG by the skin of its teeth (ie it's feelth-free). I laffed out loud repeatedly. Carl the goblin!

Also, just because I liked, random cuteness.

Natural History

Today's phylum is the PLATYHELMINTHES. These worms don't have a body cavity, just a gut, which makes it tricky for them to get food and oxygen to their cells, meaning they have to stay small in size.

They come in five flavours classes:

- ACOELA
- TURBELLARIA - including the familiar Escher flatworm aka the planarian
- TREMATODA - flukes
- MONOGENEA - more flukes
- CESTODA - tapeworms

That first class, the Acoels, is the subject of a taxological dispute. There's a super picture of some of them here along with more details of this. They look like Jersey caramels.

(no subject)

[Poll #351474]

Bad Thoughts

He said: "[The British Medical Association's policy recommendation] was that the government should tax the fat content of food. Why does the BMA think it knows anything about how we should live? It may know that if I live in a particular way I'll become unhealthy, but why does it think that it can tell me that I should value my health more than my chosen way of life?"

He didn't mention: Who would pay for his medical treatment.

I bet he really meant: I wish my cigarettes weren't so expensive.

What the BMA said: "While we are not convinced of the efficacy of a 'fat tax', the government should monitor its effects in countries where it has been introduced, such as Sweden."
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Interview with Bright Jamie Whyte, New Scientist 4 September 2004.

BMA response to the consultation: 'Choosing health', July 2004.