Media round-up

• Intrigued by Snakes on a Plane, the movie? (IMdB: "On board a flight over the Pacific Ocean, an assassin, bent on killing a passenger who's a witness in protective custody, let loose a crate full of deadly snakes.") How about Cheetah on a Monorail or Tarantulas on a Ferris Wheel?
  
• For Better or For Worse - Note to Anthony: Just after you save a young woman from the violent advances of her co-worker is not a good time to pressure her for romantic commitment.
  
• Sluggy Freelance - Yesterday's made me wonder if the two longest, most drawn-out Sluggy storylines were going to meet. Today's seems to confirm.
  

Quote of the Day

"Look, I pity the fool who would fug Mr. T, so I'm not even gonna go there."

Fug Girl Jessica declines to comment on Mr. T's trademarked attire. His companion is not so lucky.

Beo-what?

There's a "motion capture" version of Beowulf in the works. Angelina Jolie has just been signed to play "the queen of darkness, who tempts the Viking as he makes his way in the quest to become king," according to Variety.

I must have somehow missed the queen of darkness the first four times I read Beowulf.

However, the Variety article also says Neil Gaiman is working on the script, along with some Robert Avary person (his only noticeable credit on IMdB is Pulp Fiction, but he gets points for that). This gives me some hope, that either:

A) The "queen of darkness" is a radical but well-done rewrite of either Wealhtheow or Grendel's mother

or

B) Variety's writers don't have any idea what they're talking about.


...wait, wait. Quest to be king? No, no, no. He becomes king off-stage, as it were, long after the Grendel incident, which took place in another country.

*sigh* If you want to make a movie about a brave Viking warrior who kills a evil monster (and resists the wiles of the queen of darkness) to become king, go ahead and do that. Gaiman seems to eat that sort of archtypical story for breakfast. It would be great fun, I'm sure. But why call it Beowulf when it's not? It's like I, Robot all over again.

Or maybe it's Option B. That would explain much.

Intelligensia

There are no fewer than six people with "Doctor" before their name invited to the wedding.

Five are women. :)