A novel by Lois McMaster Bujold published in 1989.
After their operation on Dagoola IV, the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet is
badly in need of repairs, and especially of money. The park in orbit around
Earth where Miles goes to the Barrayaran embassy, hoping to get his mony from
ImpSec. The consulate has not enough credits to cover such large expanses, and
Miles has to wait for a courier to go and come back. In the meanwhile, Miles
is affected to the staff of the embassy along with his cousin Ivan… Trouble
begins when Miles is recognized as Admiral Naismith by a reporter; Miles then
makes up a clone of himself to explain why Miles Vorkosigan looks so much like
Naismith. Some time later, Miles' commanding officer at the embassy disapears
mysteriously, while Miles wonders why his money hasn't arrived yet, and is not
even mentionned in the message from ImpSec. And right after that, Miles is
kidnapped and locked up with his C.O. He is interrogated by a Komarran rebel
who happens to be Miles' C.O.'s father, who wants to take revenge over Count
Vorkosigan, responsible for the invasion of Komarr almost thirty years ago.
The rebel had had a clone of Miles made by House Bharaputra, and then trained
as a mole and a killer, whose goal is to pose as Miles, kill the Count, become
the new count, and from there jump the the imperial throne. Miles is freed by
his fellow Dendarii just in the nick of time and manages to expose his clone
(who, according to Betan philosophy, he considers as his brother and
consequently names Mark, following Barrayaran tradition of naming the sons of
Vor families). Miles more or less convinces Mark that the plot against
Barrayar cannot work and that the real plot is about provoking a political
chaos on Barrayar that could allow a revolution on Komarr, by exposing the
Emperor as a fake. This would inevitably lead to the death of the Emperor
i.e., Mark. In the end, the old rebel is killed by Mark, and the latter
disapears with the help of Miles.
Three not-so-short stories by Lois McMaster Bujold, wrapped into one book,
where Miles explains Illyan why the Dendarii have been costing ImpSec so much
money lately.
In The Mountains of Mourning, Miles investigates the murder of a “mutant”
baby in a small village in the backcountry of Barrayar, where infanticide for
such a reason is still common. The mother accuses her husband of the crime
becaus he was seen near the house where the baby was sleeping while the mother
was picking berries at some distance. The murderer happens to be the mother of
the mother, who had had several “mutant” babies and had killed them herself.
The husband knew that she was the murderer, didn't say anything to protect his
wife.
In Labyrinth, Miles conducts a covert operation on Jackson's Whole in order
to help a geneticist of House Bharaputra to defect. The scientist won't leave
without taking some vauable samples with him, but these are currently hidden
into virus residing in the calf of a genetically engineered super soldier that
he helped creating. Alas, the super-soldier has too much physiological
drawbacks to be useful, and the project has been canceld; the only surviving
specimen has been sold to House Ryoval for the Baron's collection of weird
creatures. Miles then tries to enter Ryoval's facilities by night, but he's
caught and locked up in a cellar with the super-soldier, who happens to be a
female teenager, admitedly 8 feet tall and with sharp nails, but very friendly
if you are friendly with her. Miles manages to escape with the creature he
named Taura, just after destroying the whole collection of Ryoval's tissue
samples that is the core of his business.
In The Borders of Infinity Miles is a prisoner of war of the Cetagandans.
The prison camp is on Dagoola IV under an everlighted dome. The prisoners are
all living together, and organised as gangs; only the stronger survive. Miles
manages to organize the weaker people to control the distribution of food
(which appears twice a day in a random location of the dome as a heap of space
rations). Once he managed to organize all the prisoners, the Dendarii arrive
and extracts all the ten thousand people within two hours, the delay needed by
the Cetagandans to get their fleet to defend the place against the attacker.
Traditionalist dwarfs are mining under Ankh-Morpork. On the surface, dwarfs
and trolls prepare to re-enact the Koom Valley battle for real, in the streets
of Ankh-Morpork. A dwarf is murdered in the mine, obviously by a troll. Sam
Vimes thinks that the truth is not that obvious and starts to lead an
investigation, which leads to the discovery of other dead dwarfs in the mine.
These have been killed because they found the item that the traditionalists
had been seeking (a voice recorder that tells what actually happend at Koom
Valley, a thousand years ago), heard what it had to say, and the
traditionalist didn't want the truth to be revealed. Vimes and others
watchmen chase the traditionalists who have fled to Koom Valley and discover
the cave where the troll king and the dwarf king (now fossilized as
stalagmites) had met, ages ago, to discuss peace between the two species. The
traditionalists are defeated and taken into custody.
Arto Paasilinnan uusin kirja kertoo Antti Kokkoluodon elämän, syntymästä
Ykspihjalassa ennustettuun kuolinpäivään asti. Antilla on monia seikkailuja:
lapsena hän melkein kuoli kylmään, koska hän halusi mennä kävellen Ruotsiin
(hänellä oli paljon kuumetta). Myöhemmin hän salakuljetti pirtua isänsä
kanssa kieltolain aikaan. Hän myös pelasti isänsä hengen, jonka fasistit
halusivat ampua koska he olivat päättäneet että hän oli kommunisti. Antti meni
myös salakihloihin tytön kanssa joka kuoli vähän myöhemmin. Hän pääsi
sitten armeijaan, tapasi lotan, jonka kanssa hän meni naimisiin juuri ennen
lähtöän talvisotaan. Hän sai pari lasta, ja meni sitten taistelemaan
jatkosotaan. Venäläiset ottivat hänet vangiksi ja hän vietti kuusi kuukautta
vankileirillä. Kun hän tuli takaisiin Ykspihlajaan hän aloitti liikemiehen
uran, ja hänestä tuli myöhemmin poliitikko ja Ykspihlajan kansanedustaja. Kun
hänen ennustettu kuolinpäivänsä lähestyy, hän järjestää isot juhlat ja kutsuu
kaikki ystävänsä (poliitikkoja, ministereitä, toimittajia, jne.)
Frank Wayne, the big boss of the mafia, is movig all his money to Switzerland,
costing much to the State. The IMF attempts to stop him. Jim Phelps plays an
investigator from the Senate who harrases Wayne and finally arrests him. Wayne
is switched with Rollin Hand, disguised as Wayne. Rollin is then gettin his
real face back under the cover of instant aesthetic surgery performed by
Cinnamon Carter, who is actually only removing his makeup. Againts the will of
the Organisation's council, Wayne/Hand orders his henchman to kill the
investigator by exploding his car. Phelps escapes the attack thanks to a
trapdoor in the bottom of the car, leading to a sewer opening on top of which
the car was parked. Meanwhile, Hand manages to open the safe of Wayne's office
in which all the Organisation's ledgers are hidden. Wayne's is then sentence
to death by a full council, but Wayne/Hand manages to escape through one
elevator. Barney Collier had previously fixed the elevator so that it is
synchronized with the one just next to it. Hand crawls into the second
elevator while both are descending, rejoining his associates, and the real
Wayne (sedated until then) is put back into the first one and reanimated. When
the elevator reaches the underground parking lot, Wayne wakes up just in time
to be killed by his henchman. The IMF members leave the place unnoticed just
as the police arrives, called earlier by Cinnamon.
“This golden amber ale has a generous aroma of tropical fruit. The fruity
flavour has hints of mangoes, oranges, lemons and sultanas.”
I haven't really noticed the tropical fruits, but this ale is better than the
usual production of Shepherd Neame. Its' rather flowery than fruity. Contains
malted barley.
“… brewed to an original 1795 Thames Valley recipe, with a very special
pale amber malt that is rarely used nowadays, and balanced by a modest
addition of English Fuggle aroma hops.”
James Bond's first mission as a 00 agent. A mission in Uganda fails lamely
when Bond wrecks havoc in an embassy while supposed to spy on a terrorist.
Asked by MI6 to take some time off, he continues his investigation which leads
him to the Bahamas, and from there to the Miami's Airport, where a new
prototype plane, scheduled for test flight is the target of another hired
terrorist. The attacks are ordered by Le Chiffre, the banker of the world's
terrorist organizations, who invests his customer's money in hasardous
financial gambles. Because of Bond's intervention, he just lost all the money
of an Ugandan rebel chief. In order to regain money, Le Chiffre organizes
a high stakes game of poker in a casino in Montenegro. MI6 sends Bond there,
since he's the best card player of the service and Le Chiffre's loss would
destroy his organization, accompanied with Vesper Lynd, from the Treasury, who
is assigned to keep an eye on Bond's spendings. The game is interrupted by
pauses, during which Bond is almost killed by the Ugandan rebel wanting his
money back from Le Chiffre and poisoned by Le Chiffre who doesn't want Bond to
win the game. Bond barely escapes the latter attent to his life, and finally
wins (thanks to Felix Leiter, a CIA agent who extended Bond's credits after
Lynd refused). Vesper Lynd gets then kidnapped by Le Chiffre and Bond rushes
to save her, but he gets caught and tortured by Le Chiffre who wants the
password that would give him access to Bond's bank account that was setup for
the poker game. Bond's life is saved just in time by an unknown third party.
He then leaves to Venice with Vesper (with whom he desperatly fell in love).
She however betrays him, withdrawing all Bond's (and Her Majesty's) money and
brings it to an unknown character. Bond follows her, but is attacked by the
henchmen of the unknown one. He doesn't get the money back, and fails to save
Vesper's life who commited suicide rather than facing Bond. He then learned
that she was trying to save the life of her fiancee, who was kidnapped by
terrorists (the same ones she made a deal with that saved Bond's life when
tortured by Le Chiffre). Vesper however had left Bond a note before leaving to
the bank, setting him on the trail of Mr. White, the one who took the money in
Venice. Bond tracks White down, gets the money back and his takes hie revenge
on him.
The script is quite similar to Ian Fleming's Casino Royale novel (although
terrorists, poker and Montenegro replace respectively the russian spies,
baccara and the french riviera, not mentioning the abusive usage made of
mobile phones, the Internet and electronic gadgets). The movie is quite
different from the others by its structure (the poker game is central to the
story although there is no action, except during the breaks) and the fact that
Bond fells in love. Also, it is definitely a prequel to the series, but
at the same time, it is clearly set in time after the previous episodes…
“The Crystal malts int the brew give a sweet, nutty character to the beer,
whilst the Target, Challenger and Northdown hop varieties, help balance the
strong, satisfying dark ale.”
Just another ale, but a good one, not bitter. Contains malted barley.
Fuller Smith & Turner, London, England. 5.3% alcohol.
“For 30 days this honey-hued beer sleeps in hand selected oak barrels, locked
inside a bonded warehouse, gradually assimilating the subtle flavours that
reside in the wood. Barrels are then emptied and maturation continues for a
further 47 days in a marrying tun… Aromas of vanilla and toffee, hints of
citrus with a malty, lightly oaked palate.”
Very soft taste, that reminds of whisky and of chocolate mint. Delicious. Made of barley malt.
Saturnalia is about a cop who gets dragged into a group of vigilante who fight
for the right of androids, against another group who consider androids a
threat against the humans and tries to get them exterminated.
Ash was a boy until an angel messed up his life and turned him into a girl.
Emily is a girl who just managed to get admitted in college, and whose last
two years of hard work have just been erase by the same clumsy angel. Misfile
is about the two heroes trying to cope with their new lives and getting the
angel, exiled on Earth, to do enough good to be admitted back in heaven and
fix his mistakes (before his bosses actually notice it).
Maytag is a shy woman who turns into a cheeky girl when she puts on her
jester's costume. Bernadette is a fine swordswoman who dreams of becoming a
knight.
Dominic Deegan is a seer. His life taks a sudden turn when he meets Luna, a
beautiful girl (except for hers tusks) that her mother is trying to get
killed. Later on, he discovers that he is chosen to fight against the Storm of
Souls. And so on…
The series is quite fun and full of bad puns, just how I like it.
“Yet another bummed-out holiday? Lump of Coal Dark Holiday Stout is liquid
consolation. It's a deep, rich, sweetly rewarding stout to take the edge off
of that grim family gathering, that cheerless annual festival of alienation.
This brew is as dark as it gets, as black as the lump of coal you'll be
getting for Christmas. Because, let's face it, you've been pretty bad this
year.”
Le Nutella contient 6.5% de protéines, 57% de glucides et 31% de lipides. On
sait aussi qu'il est composé de sucre, d'huile, de noisettes (13%), de cacao
dégraissé (7,4%), de lait (6,6%), de lactosérum et de graisse solide.
Enfin, Fineli donne la
composition de divers aliments, on trouve donc les informations suivantes:
En outre, mon cacao en poudre contient 24,5% protéines, 11% glucides et 21,7%
lipides.
De toute cela on peut déduire que le Nutella est composé de:
sucre: 46%
huile: 15%
noisettes: 13%
cacao: 7,4%
lait: 6,6%
lactorsérum: 6%
graisse: 6%
L'erreur relative par rapport aux valeurs annoncées du Nutella est de 0,2%
pour les protéines, 0,4% pour les glucides et 1,2% pour les lipides.
Vers un nouveau Choco-Noursy
Mon chocolat au lait contient déjà du sucre, du lait (14%), du cacao (30%) et
du beurre de cacao (30% environ), plus les lécithines et l'arôme de vanille
qui entrent aussi dans la composition du Nutella.
Voici donc la composition théorique du Choco-Noursy à base de chocolat au lait:
sucre: 38%
huile: 18%
chocolat: 20%
noisettes: 13%
lait en poudre: 10%
cacao: 1%
Ce qui donne une composition nutritionnelle de 6,5% protéines, 57,4% glucides
et 32,6% lipides, ce qui est relativement proche de celle du Nutella.
Le sucre du Nutella est apporté sous forme de sucre et de sirop de glucose,
donc il faut peut-être essayer d'apporter le sucre sous forme de sirop plutôt
que sous forme de cristaux (qui ne se dissolveraient pas facilement dans
l'huile ou le chocolat fondu). La densité du sirop de sucre devra être
déterminée par l'expérimentation.
Composition nutritionnelle des précédents Choco-Noursy
La version 4 contient 6% de protéines, 40% de glucides et 31% de lipides (1915
kJ/100g). Elle était donc tout aussi grasse que le Nutella, mais moins sucrée.
La version 5 contient 9% de protéines, 28% de glucides et 41% de lipides (2110
kJ/100g). Elle est donc nettement moins sucrée que le Nutella, mais beaucoup
plus grasse.
“Judging by how you talk you are probably from north Jersey, New York City,
Connecticut or Rhode Island. Chances are, if you are from New York City (and
not those other places) people would probably be able to tell if they actually
heard you speak.”
Carcassonne est un jeu de société où les joueurs construisent une carte en
assemblant des carreaux tirés au hasard représentant des parties de ville, de
route, de champ et des monastères. Le jeu dispose de plusieurs extensions
(hors de prix comparées au jeu de base), mais aussi de deux extensions
gratuites à fabriquer soi-même : la rivière et la rivière 2. La rivière se
construit avant le début du jeu proprement dit, donc ses carreaux ne sont pas
mélangés à ceux du jeu de base, et n'ont pas besoin d'être identiques.
Pour commencer, on peut télécharger les avers des carreaux sur le site du
jeu (chercher les liens « Der
Fluss » et « Der Fluss II »), puis imprimer les carreaux (qui sont au format
PDF, en couleur). J'ai ensuite découpé les bords blancs, puis coupé chaque
planche en deux parties (plus facile à coller). J'ai collé chaque demi-planche
sur du carton de 2 mm d'épaisseur (approximativement l'épaisseur des carreaux
originaux) avec de la colle blanche. Le truc, c'est d'encoller le carton
(plutôt que le papier) et d'étaler la colle sur toute la surface avec une
raclette (par exemple une vieille carte de téléphone), puis de coller le
papier. On évite ainsi que le papier ne gondole, et ça sèche en quelques
minutes. J'ai ensuite découpé les carreaux au cutter, pour me rendre compte que
les marques sur les avers donnent des carreaux légèrement plus grandes que les
originales, j'ai donc redécoupé les carreaux en utilisant un carreau du jeu
original comme gabarit.
J'ai aussi scanné le revers d'un carreau du jeu de base et je l'ai imprimé en
24 exemplaires pour faire un revers à mes carreaux. J'ai découpé chacun de
mes revers, puis je les ai collés un par un au dos de chaque carte, en
utilisant la même technique que ci-dessus.
A webcomic made by Anne Onymous and Robin Ericson and published at
www.thewotch.com. Anne just arrived at Tandy's High
School. Robyn and his friend Jason soon notice that she has magical powers.
Anne is more than a witch, she's the Wotch, the most powerful witch in the
world. Except that she's just beginning with all that magic stuff. With the
help from Robyn and Jason, they are going to fight super-villains Anne made
come out of their comics, demons, djinns, a bunch a feminist who want to get
rid of all men, be turned into werecats and other magical creatures… One
recurring trick of Anne's is to turn boys into girls (and Jason loves becoming
Sonja, even if he won't admit it).
La fin duA a été écrit en 1984 par A.E. Van Vogt et fait suite aux
Joueurs duA. Au début de ce dernier tome de la trilogie du A, Gilbert
Gosseyn se réveille dans une sorte de cercueil, qui se révèle en fait être une
capsule spatiale. Il se rend rapidement compte qu'il n'est pas le Gilbert
Gosseyn qui a été le héros des deux épisodes précédents, mais le troisième
corps de Gilbert Gosseyn, que l'on croyait détruit à la fin du premier
épisode. La capsule est récupérée par le vaisseau amiral de la flotte Dzan,
originaire d'une autre galaxie et qui s'est retrouvé transporté dans la notre
de façon inexplicable. Gosseyn Trois fais la connaissance de l'empereur,
encore enfant, et déjà tyrannique, et de sa mère. Il emmène l'enfant sur Terre
(un peu par accident), dans le but de lui enseigner la sémantique générale
pour en faire une dirigeant plus juste, et aussi pour restaurer l'Institut
de Sémantique Générale afin de plus tard reconstruire une Machine des Jeux (détruite dans le
premier épisode) et de promulguer un État qui suit les préceptes de la
sémantique générale. Ses projets sont interrompus par plusieurs similarisations
intempestives qui le transportent pour un temps limité dans un vaisseau
spatial inconnu. Gosseyn découvre que ce vaisseau appartient aux Troogs,
ennemis héréditaires des Dzans, lui aussi transporté dans cette galaxie en
même temps que celui des Dzan. Les Troogs suspectent (à raison) que Gosseyn est la
cause de leur voyage intempestif et veulent l'étudier afin de comprendre ce
qui s'est passé et comment rentrer chez eux. Gosseyn finit par rencontrer le
capitaine (autoproclamé) du vaisseau qui est rapidement dépassé par la
situation et qui est sur le champ remplacé par un autre Troog qui
s'autoproclame capitaine. Durant la discussion avec les Troogs, Gosseyn
expose sa théorie selon laquelle les Troogs seraient des humains qui ont muté
à cause de la catastrophe qui avait forcé une partie des humains de l'autre
galaxie à migrer vers la notre, et à la peupler (chose qu'il l'avait appris
dans l'épisode précédent). À l'aide de Leej et de Gosseyn Deux, Gosseyn Trois
parvient à renvoyer les Dzans et les Troogs dans leur galaxie.
Après deux tentatives ratées, la troisième fut la bonne (voire plus loin pour
l'analyse des ratages).
Ingrédients
6 œufs
240g sucre
1L lait
sucre vanillé
Préparation
Séparer les blancs des jaunes d'œufs. Les jaunes serviront à préparer une
crème anglaise, et les blancs à l'île proprement dite.
La crème anglaise
Faire bouillir le lait avec 100g de sucre et le sucre vanillé (ou avec une gousse
de vanille fendue). Mélanger les jaunes d'œufs, puis ajouter le lait chaud peu
à peu sans cesser de mélanger. Fair épaissir au bain-marie ou dans une
casserole è feu très doux. Lorsque le mélange atteint 80 °C, la crème est
prête. Si des grumeaux apparaissent, c'est qu'elle a chauffé trop longtemps,
mais il suffit de la passer au mixer pour réparer les dégats. Laisser
refroidir.
L'île
Battre les blancs en neige, ajouter 80g de sucre et terminer de les battre.
Dans un moule métallique (non-recouvert de téflon, de préférence en inox),
préparer un caramel avec 60g de sucre et juste assez d'eau pour imbiber tout
le sucre: faire chauffer (ne pas remuer après que l'ébulltion a commencé).
Lorsque le sucre a pris la couleur désirée (vers 160-170 °C), laisser
refroidir, puis ajouter quelques cuillérées à soupe d'eau. Refaire bouillir
pour dissoudre le caramel dans l'eau et obtenir un caramel fluide. Laisser
refroidir (en trempant éventuellement le fond du moule dans l'eau froide),
puis faire rouler le moule pour répandre le caramel sur l'intérieur. Remplir
alors le moule avec le blanc d'œuf cuillère à soupe après cuillère à soupe, en
évitant de toucher les bords (afin de laisser le caramel remonter au fur et à
mesure que les blancs d'œufs s'entassent dans le moule). Placer le moule
dans une marmite un peu plus grande que le moule et remplir la marmite d'eau
bouillante jusqu'à ce que le niveau de l'eau arrive à deux centimètres du haut
du moule. Placer l'ensemble au four préchauffé à 150 °C sans couvrir et
laisser cuire au bain-marie durant 45 minutes. Les blancs d'œufs vont gonfler
d'environ un tiers. Une fois cuit, sortir le moule de la marmite et laisser
refroidir.
Assemblage
Une fois l'île et la crème refroidis, plonger le moule dans l'eau bouillante
pendant trente secondes, puis démouler l'île dans le plat de service (à bords
haut, ou alors utiliser un grand saladier). Verser doucement la crème anglaise
autour de l'île, qui se mettre à flotter naturellement.
Commentaires
Pour la première expérience, ma mère a suggéré de cuire l'île dans une
cocotte minute pour gagner du temps. Grave erreur ! La cocotte cuit sous
pression, mais les bulles d'air qui forment la neige, elles, sont à pression
atmosphériques. Résultat, j'ai obtenu un gel de blanc d'œuf caramélisé et
surtout tout plat.
Lors de la deuxième expérience, j'ai suivi les conseils de Mme de
Saint-Ange, disant qu'il fallait couvrir le bain-marie. Encore raté, j'ai
obtenu le même machin que ci-dessus, le blanc d'œuf mousseux ayant tenté, sans
succès de gonfler sous le couvercle trop serré il a perdu ses bulles et s'est
totalement dégonflé.
Je n'aime pas tellement l'idée de coller des videos dans mon blog (surtout que
la pérennité de la video n'est pas assurée), mais le plieur de T-shirt en
carton, il fallait absolument que je me le garde quelque part !
The Cradle of Life is the second Tomb Raider movie.
An earthquake in Santorini reveals an ancient temple built by Alexander the
Great. Lara Croft goes there and discovers a strange, luminous orb. As soon as
she manages to pick it up, she is attacked and the orb is stolen while an
after shock destroys the temple. The thief is a Chinese gangster who is acting
on behalf of the real bad guy, a bio-weapon manufacturer: the orb is a map
leading to the cradle of life, where Pandora's box is located. Lara then gets
a former boyfriend of her out of prison who will help her to get to the
gangster. She manages to learn that the orb is en route to Shanghai where it
is going to be sold. Lara can't get the orb back, but a tracer she managed to
put on the orb's crate leads her and her friend to Hong Kong. There she steals
the orb from the bad guy's secret lab (located in the middle of a shopping
center). There she dumps her friend, because he's too unreliable. Decoding
the map on the orb leads her to the foot of Kilimanjaro, where she is soon
followed by the bad guy and his army. The army is wiped out in a valley full
of strange monsters, but Lara and the bad guy manage to enter the cradle of
life (a maze of caves where gravity is not following the usual rules). The bad
guy forces her to get the cradle out of a lake of black acid (supposedly
Pandora's tears after she opened the box), but Lara's friend arrives just in
time to save her. Alas! He wants the box for himself (ain't he stupid!), so
Lara kills him. She puts the box back to the lake. End of story.
The first Tomb Raider movie was nicely bad, this one is just plain bad. It
looks like a video game, with completely useless shooting scenes which looks
just like a “shoot all the targets” sequence in a video game.
Les joueurs duA a été écrit en 1948 par A.E. Van Vogt et fait suite au
Monde duA. Gilbert Gosseyn tente d'aller sur Vénus, mais quelqu'un, un
être fait d'ombre qui se nomme le Disciple, cherche à l'en empêcher. Au cours
d'un voyage par distorseur, l'esprit de Gosseyn se retrouve dans le corps du
craintif Prince Ashargin, qui vient de quitter plusieurs années d'esclavage au
service du temple du Dieu Endormi pour rejoindre la cour d'Enro le Rouge,
dicateur du Plus Grand Empire qui veut étendre son hégémonie à toute la
galaxie et en particulier détruire la civilisation A de Vénus. Gosseyn y rencontre Reesha, la sœur
d'Enro, qu'il a connu plus tôt sous le nom de Patricia Hardie, la fille de feu
le président de la Terre, ainsi qu'Eldred Crang, son mari. Il y fait aussi la
connaissance de Secoh, grand prêtre du Dieu Endormi. Au cours d'un voyage en
distorseur, Gosseyn réintègre son propre corps qui se trouve dans un cellule,
dans la retraite du Disciple. Il parvient à s'en évader à l'aide de Leej, sa
co-détenue qui a un pouvoir de prédiction. Ils s'enfuient à bord de son
aéroulote. Apprenant qu'Enro cherche à enrôler le plus grand nombre possible
de Prédicteurs afin de mener son attaque sur Vénus et sur la Terre, Gosseyn et
Leej montent à bord d'un destroyer d'Enro sous prétexte de rejoindre ses
forces, et grâce aux facultés de Gosseyn, parviennent à se rendre maître du
vaisseau en peu de temps. Malheureusement, Gosseyn se retrouve une fois de
plus dans le corps d'Ashargin. Il cherche à joindre le destroyer pour s'assurer
que son corps est sauf, mais la communication est impossible. Il apprend aussi
que Crang a l'intention d'assassiner Enro, seule solution envisageable pour
sauver Vénus et la Terre de la folie du dictateur. Lors d'un autre voyage en
distorseur, Gosseyn rejoint son propre corps à bord du destroyer, et apprend
que le système de propulsion par distorseur a été saboté et que le vaisseau
est perdu dans l'espace. Gosseyn parvient à forcer le saboteur à se dévoiler
et à replacer l'élément qu'il avait remplacé par une version défectueuse.
Gosseyn, qui a acquis l'amitié du capitaine, rejoint alors Vénus juste à temps
pour en prévenir les habitants de l'imminence d'une attaque. L'évacuation de
Vénus est alors organisée et les habitants A se répandent dans toute la galaxie, commençant ainsi la
propagation du A au delà des
frontières du système solaire. En même temps, la défense de Vénus est
organisée à l'aide de « mines spatiales » qui agissent sur le cerveau des
équipages des vaisseaux ennemis afin de leur faire perdre connaissance.
Gosseyn entreprend ensuite de découvrir l'identité du Disciple et du
mystérieux deuxième joueur qui l'a plusieurs fois transféré dans le corps
d'Ashargin. Le disciple se révèle être Secoh, et l'autre joueur est le cerveau
électronique de la machine qui maintient le Dieu Endormi en vie. Ce dernier
est un survivant de la Migration qui avait eu lieu plusieur millions
d'années auparavant. Un phénomène inattendu avait effacé la mémoire de toutes
les autres machines qui prenaient soin des corps des migrants, seule cette
machine a conservé sa mémoire, mais en contrepartie a endommagé le corps, qui
ne peut survivre que s'il est endormi. La machine apprend à Gosseyn qu'elle
avait d'abord tenté de communiquer avec Secoh, mais que ce dernier avait
activé un dispositif expérimental qui lui a permis de se déphaser à volonter
et devenir l'être d'ombre qu'est le disciple. Elle lui apprend aussi que
Gosseyn-Lavoisseur est le seul des migrants qui a survécu (à moins que ce ne
soit un descendant, ce point n'est pas clair). Gosseyn prend alors possession
du corps du Dieu Endormi et force la machine à le réveiller, ce qui rend Secoh
fou et met fin au Disciple. Gosseyn réintègre son corps quelques minutes plus
tard, lorsque le corps du Dieu Endormi meurt.
Doctor Who and the Daleks is the first Doctor Who movie. The Doctor has
invented the TARDIS, a machine for travelling across time and space. The
fiancee of the Doctor's niece accidentally triggers a journey to a random
place and time. The travellers arrive to a planet where the vegetation has
been fossilized. All but the Doctor want to go back where they come from, but
the Doctor simulates a failure in the TARDIS to convice them to go and explore
the city, pretending to go there and look for tools. They are made prisoners
by the inhabitants of the city, the Daleks. A nuclear war has made the life on
the planet almost impossible. The Daleks have then build individual, mobile
protective suits that look like conical robots on invisible wheels (with an
insufferable voice). They send the Doctor's grand-daughter to go and meet the Thals,
the other people on the planet, who have an antidote to radiation poisoning.
Their goal is to get a sample of the medicine, synthetize it themselves and
get rid of their suits. The Thals, in need for food, are willing to help the
Daleks and give the medicine. In return, the Daleks lure them into a trap
(pretending to give them food), but the Doctor manages to warn them before
they all get exterminated. Since a vital component of the TARDIS is still in
the hands of the Daleks, the Doctor manages to convince them to attack the city. The
fiance and a couple of Thals are entering from behind (following the pipes
that bring water into the city) while the others show themselves in the front.
They finally manage to enter the city and destroy the Daleks (but I don't
remember how) before the latter can launch the bomb they intended to
exterminate the Thals with.
Fourth Harry Potter movie, The Goblet of Fire starts with a scene showing
Voldemort growing strong again. It then continues with the usual heroes going
to the Quidditch worldcup (without actually showing any part of the game)
followed by an attack of Death Eaters on the encampment where the spectators
have spent the night. The heroes then go back to Hogwarts, where the usual new
teacher of Defence Againts the Dark Arts (Alastor Moody) is presented, along
with the visiting students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. Soon after,
Dumbledore announces the Triwizard Tournament, which will oppose one champion
from the previous schools plus Hogwarts and presents the Goblet of Fire where
the candidats must put a paper with their names. The Goblet will later choose
the three champions. Unexpectedly, the Goblet spits out four names, the last
one being Harry Potter's. All his friends think he has been cheating and start
to loath him. Soon after, Harry is shown by Hagrid that the first task of the
tournament will be to fight dragons. Harry gets the nastiest of the four, but
manages to get the golden egg it was protecting, supposedly giving him a clue
about the next task. When he opens the egg, however, all that comes out is a
shrieking noise. Meanwhile, their new teacher of Defence Againts the
Dark Arts introduces the heroes to the three unforgivable curses (which allow
torture, mind control and killing). During the Yule Bal, Ron manages to get
Hermione even angrier at him. Harry later gets a tip from Cedric, his
co-champion from Hogwarts, that the egg must be opened under water. The next
task involves the lake and mermaids: he must dive in the lake during one hour
to save his friend Ron, prisoner of the mermaids. Instead of getting
immediately to the surface, he checks that all the other victims are taken up,
and finally saves the sister of Fleur Delacour (the Beauxbatons' champion) who
had to give up soon after the beginning of the task. He finishes last, but is
still granted second place for “high morale fiber”. Meanwhile, the creative
articles of the Daily Prophet about Harry increase Ron's hate towards his
friend, and Harry discovers that Barty Crouch, an official from the Ministry
of Magic who is supervising the tournament and has mysteriously been killed
just after the second task, had sent his son to prison for being a Death
Eater. Finally, it is time for the third task: the champions have to enter a
labyrinth and get to the Triwizard Cup located at its center. Harry and Cedric
get to the cup at the same time and find themselves transported to a cemetary
where Cedric is killed by a sycophant of Voldemort, while Harry is made
prisoner and a drop of his blood is used to give Voldemort back his strength.
Voldemort forces Harry into a duel with him, but Harry manages to escape
thanks to the help of the fantoms of his father, his mother and Cedric. When
he is back in Hogwarts, he is taken away by the teacher of Defence Againts the
Dark Arts, who actually is Barty Crouch Junior who had escaped form
Azkaban and was drinking Polyjuice potion all the year long to look like the
real Moody. Thankfully, Dumbledore and other teachers arrive just in time to
save Harry. At the end of the movie, Dumbledore warns the students that
Voldemort is back (although the Ministry refuses to acknoledge it), and Ron,
Hermione and Harry are friends again.
The movie is mostly an action movie, jumping from one task to another, like
the second movie did. One barely feels the time flowing through the school
year, and the background details about Voldermort and his history are barely
mentioned. In the Star Trek movie series, the odd-numbered episodes
are bad while the even-numbered ones are good; in Harry Potter, it seems to be
the opposite.
Fourth Wallace and Gromit movie, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is about
Wallace and Gromit working as pest control specialist who protect
a small town from all the rabbits that want to eat the vegetables grown
by the inhabitants for the coming vegetable competition. But instead of
killing all these cute, fluffy little bunnies, they store them in their
cellar, and the lack of space becomes a problem after they “de-rabbit” the
gardens of the local Lady, organizer of the competition. Wallace then decides to
brainwash the rabbits (with his latest invention) in order to make them forget
their love for vegetables. The experiment fails, and Wallace creates a
monster. Soon a giant rabbit, identified by the local priest as a were-rabbit,
wrecks havoc in the town, eating all the vegetables. Wallace and Gromit try to
catch it, but it manages to elude them. During the chase, another local noble,
a hunting maniac who promised to kill the were-rabbit, discovers that the
were-rabbit is actually Wallace, something that Gromit learns a bit later,
just after discovering that the rabbit that was turned into a monster actually
resembles Wallace in his love for cheese. During the competition, the
were-rabbit reappears, the hunter tries to kill it while Gromit tries to
protect it. Gromit finally wins, but Wallace seems to be dead. He is revived
thanks to the smell of a very strong cheese, which also cures him from being
the were-rabbit. Finally, the Lady turns her gardens into a rabbit sanctuary,
for all the rabbits that Wallace and Gromit had caught.
Second Doctor Who movie, Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. starts with a
robbery in London. A policeman is knocked out before he could have done
something and fails to stop the thieves. He then enters a police public call
box that happens to be the TARDIS and finds himself in London 2150 A.D. The
city is destroyed, the Daleks have invaded Earth and are enslaving people to
dig a well in an old mine somewhere not too far from London. Some humans are
turned into robomen that serve the Daleks. Doctor Who and the policeman are
taken prisoner while his niece and grand-daughter are taken by the rebels. The
latter try to raid the Dalek's mothership, disguised as robomen, but the
attack fails. The Doctor is free, but the niece and the policeman are still in
the ship as it takes off. The rebels then flee London, while the Doctor goes
on foot to the mine. The grand-daughter and another rebel try to join the
other rebels, but are arrested by the Dakeks on the way and taken to the mine.
Meanwhile, the niece and the policeman manage to leave the mothership
unconspicuously and join the Doctor who is hiding in a toolshed on the mine's
grounds. The goal of the Daleks is to explode a bomb in Earth's center to
eject its metallic core, responsible for its magnetic field which is harmful
to the Daleks, hence the need for human labour working deep inside the mine
close to the point of convergence of the magnetic south and north poles. The
Doctor then devises a plan to defeat the Daleks: if the bomb can be deflected
to the old mine shaft that happens to go straight the convergence point and be
connected to the Dalek's shaft with a secondary tunnel, the magnetic energy
that would erupt from the ground would destroy the Daleks. While the
policeman takes care of modifying the shaft to direct the bomb the tunnel, the
Doctor gets himself caught on purpose by the Daleks in order to use their
device transmitting orders to the robomen and turning them agains their
masters. The following confusion allows the humans to escape the mine while
the bomb goes exploding just where the Doctor wanted it to. The Daleks finally
get eliminated. The Doctor and his friends come back to their present with the
TARDIS, just in time for the policeman to arrest the robbers.
I saw the movie some time ago and I completely forgot to post a summary, so
the following is probably inaccurate.
Dead Man's Chest is the second episode of the Pirates of the Caribbean
trilogy. The story starts with a soon-to-be-married young couple who is
arrested for having helped a pirate captain in the previous episode. They
escape (or are released under condition?) and try to find the pirate captain.
The latter is trying to put his hands on the Dead Man's chest, which contains
the heart of the captain of the Flying Dutchman. They have a map, but need a
key to open the chest. The key is around the neck of the captain of the Flying
Dutchman, and they manage to steal it. They finally find the pirate
captain and together with the captain and a third person also looking for the
heart, they finally find it. Then come the crew of the Flying Dutchman, they
all flee in different directions, and the heart is taken by we-don't-know-who.
« Brewed using 100% Golden Promise malt, one of the olders varieties of
brewing barley. … full-flavoured malt, popular with Scotch Whisky
distillers … all the distinctiveness of a fine single malt whisky. »
Neither bitter nor sweet, with a little something that reminded me of whisky
(or was my sense of taste influenced by the name?)
Marston's Brewery, Burton upon Trent, England. 4.2% alcohol.
