I recently had the opportunity to try out a sample of Green Lantern movie toys from Mattel, the Colossal Cannon and an action figure.  My children John and Chloe were anxious to assist.

The box arrived and I removed the two items.  The action figure was Stel, a robot type figure from the movie that I don’t remember seeing in the comic.  Unfortunately he proved unpopular and has languished unloved.

The big hit was the Colossal Cannon, and for all the reasons kids love to play with toy guns.  You insert your …

This morning my daughter was awake as I went downstairs to make breakfast: she’s an early riser and the only one in the house who sees me leave for work.
I had the bacon going and the eggs on the counter ready to crack.  She asks me “Daddy, are those farm fresh eggs?  Did you get them at a farm?  Calliou’s friend gets his eggs from a farm”.

Say what?  As it happens these were double yolk eggs I get from a local farm.  I know Caillou is a Canadian cartoon character …

I was watching It Might Get Loud on the weekend: a documentary type film about technique and influence from The Edge, Jack White and Jimmy Page.

While chatting Jimmy Page mentions he was a studio musician when Shirley Bassey recorded Goldfinger.   It was done in a huge sound room with hundreds of musicians: she did the song in one take and then collapsed.  Wow.
Have a listen to the song and give this nugget some thought.

Picked up A Prisoner Of Birth at a bargain book warehouse; I knew Jeffrey Archer‘s work and needed some new reading material.  Two days later I had finished the best book I have read this year.  Here’s the publisher’s blurb:
If Danny Cartwright had proposed to Beth Wilson the day before, or the day after, he would not have been arrested and charged with the murder of his best friend. And when the four prosecution witnesses are a barrister, a popular actor, an aristocrat and the youngest partner in an established …

Let me start by saying I’ve read all the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, seen all the black and white Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce movies and Jeremy Brett BBC series from the eighties.  The new Sherlock Holmes film shares the character names only with these and is recreating it as a franchise.  And I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Sherlock Holmes is a new film starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law as Holmes and Watson.  It’s set in London of the late 19th century and focuses on Sherlock …

I had been looking forward to this film based on the previews: it appeared to be a solid western-ish action story focusing on a hardened traveler on a mission.  It definitely delivered.

The Book Of Eli is the story of a traveler, Eli played by Denzel Washington, who is crossing the United States from East to West on foot.  It’s been thirty years since the “pulse” that seems to have destroyed everything and caused the sun to become so intense that everyone must wear sunglasses and the environment is mostly desert.  …

With my new found interest in reviewing books and graphic novels it makes sense to lay out what I’m looking for before I tackle a review.

Another find at the bargain table was False Impression by Jeffrey Archer.  I had read Kane & Abel years ago but hadn’t read any of his other works since: I don’t like to take on new authors blindly and thought since I enjoyed the one book years ago I would give the others a try.  Here’s the official blurb:
The tale unfolds in New York, where Anna Petrescu is missing, presumed …

I picked up Stalin’s Ghost on the bargain table at a local bookstore.  Martin Cruz Smith rang a bell but I couldn’t place it; the description sounded interesting.  Here’s the official blurb:

Investigator Arkady Renko, the pariah of the Moscow prosecutor’s office, has been assigned the thankless job of investigating a new phenomenon: late-night subway riders report seeing the ghost of Joseph Stalin on the platform of the Chistye Prudy Metro station. The illusion seems part political hocus-pocus and also part wishful thinking, for among many Russians Stalin is again popular; …

I am a huge Wilbur Smith fan and my bias may come through here.  To sound impartial I will mention I didn’t get through his last book The Quest as it just couldn’t hold my attention.

Assegai is the story of Leon Courtney, a young man who finds his place in life by way of the military, hunting, action, adventure and a war.  This is Smith’s usual mix for his historical fiction and to be honest it works so why try and change it.  Here’s the publisher’s blurb:
It is 1913 and …

I recently purchased a new TV ( Sony SXRD 60″, simply stunning ) and decided to redo the all the wiring in my home stereo. For the most part cables simply had to be rerun and tie wrapped for neatness, but the big problem was speaker wire.
For a while I had wanted to get speaker connectors for my speaker wire ( or at least every time I had to connect them to the receiver ). You know the hassle: twist the wire so it stays together, try and …