Blog & White

Recueil d'anectodes gastronomiques.

Grâce à la soeur jumelle de la jeune femme qui accompagnait la victime, les enquêteurs de la Special Branch découvrent que la jeune femme avait mené une enquête sur les malversations autour de la construction du Great Eastern qui avaient ruiné leur père. Elle avait découvert la complicité de l'Amiral (alors Capitaine) et tentait de lui faire signer des aveux qui permettraient d'impliquer les banquiers à l'origine des fraudes. Mais le capitaine a tué l'enquêteur qui l'accompagnait et drogué la jeune femme durant le reste de la croisière, avant de la faire disparaître aux Etats-Unis. Tous les détails du dossier sont retrouvés cachés chez les parents du détéctive.

Les enquêteurs de la Special Branch retrouvent le nom de la victime grâce aux initiales de sa montre et de la liste des passagers. Ils découvrent aussi qu'il a été drogué à la morphine avant d'être assassiné. Jules Verne leur parle ensuit de ses souvenirs de cet homme qui voyageait avec sa soeur. Le portrait de la jeune femme est ensuite diffusé dans le Times, tandis que les enquêteurs retrouvent le cabinet de la victime, détective privé. Pendant ce temps, l'homme qui avait assassiné les veilleurs est lui-même retrouvé mort.

Deuxième tome du deuxième cycle, publié en 2012.

Blanche et le professeur d'un coté, et Jan et le Brigadier voyagent à travers le royaume des morts. Les premiers sont rapidement fait prisonniers, tandis que les derniers traversent les enfers de diverses croyances et civilisation, à la recherche d'un moyen de sortir. Avec l'aide d'une démone muette rencontrée en chemin, ils arrivent dans une usine qui fait fonctionner les enfers, et un employé leur suggère de rencontrer le Patron, seul habilité à les laisser sortir. En ville, ils retrouvent Blanche, esclave travaillant dans un bar, puis le Professeur. Ils rencontrent alors le patron qui accepte de les laisser tout sortir, puisque les vivants n'ont rien à faire au royaume des morts.

Lors du démantèlement à Liverpool en 1866 du paquebot Great Eastern, un cadavre momifié vieux de plus de vingt ans est retrouvé dans la double coque, portant sur lui une photo le représentant lors de sa croisière sur ce paquebot, aux coté d'une femme et d'un homme aujourd'hui amiral. Les veilleurs de nuit qui avaient trouvé le cadavre après avoir chassé du navire un rodeur armé d'un revolver sont assassinés un par un, après avoir pu toutefois donner un portrait-robot du rodeur. La Special Branch mène l'enquète et finit par retrouver les initiales de la victime sur sa montre. Ils prennent contact avec Jules Verne, qui avait justement participé à cette croisière qui lui avait inspiré Une ville flottante, espérant qu'il se souvienne de quelque détail intéressant.

Cinquième volume d'Atalante, paru en 2012.

Atalante et les argonautes, montés sur des chevaux ailés, partent au secours de Calaïs et de Zétès, prisonniers des harpies dans leur cité des airs. Les harpies ont organisé des jeux du cirque avec les deux boréades. Lorsqu'Atalante et ses compagnons parviennent enfin jusqu'à l'arène et délivrent les deux prisonniers, ces derniers préfèrent se jeter dans le vide plutôt que d'affronter leur père.

Treizième volume d'Aquablue. Une colonie d'humains s'est installée sur Aquablue, qu'ils considèrent la Terre de leurs ancètres, mais les indigènes sont méfiants. Sur la banquise nord, un usine a été installée et Nao ne parvient pas à savoir ce qu'on y fait; Rabah y mène une discrète enquête. Dans les astéroïdes, de mystérieux individus détruisent les installations Atalanes. On découvre à la fin que les colons ne sont pas si pacifiques que ça, et qu'ils ont pour but de prendre possession de la planète.

Young Bilbo aspires to a quiet life, but he is pulled into an adventurous journey by Gandalf, along with twelve dwarves who want to retake their lost city of Erebor, now under the control of the dragon Smaug. On the way, they are captured by trolls, and saved by Bilbo's ingenuity. They then arrive to Rivendell, where Elrond helps them uncover the secret message in their map, telling them how to enter Erebor through the backdoor. In the moutnains, they fall into the trap of goblins and are made prisoner, except Bilbo who manages to escape. While Gandalf and dwarves fight the goblins in their underground city, Bilbo meets Gollum, finds/steals his precious ring, and escapes the wretched creature at the same time his companions escape the goblins. They are then chased by orcs, the leader of which is a personal ennemy of the prince of the dwarves, and saved in the nick of time by the great eagles of the elves, who take them closer to their destination.

“Aromas are of burnt roast coffee, malty molasses and a hint of smoke”

Quite sweet and roasted. Contains barley and wheat.

Buxton Brewery Co, Buxton, Derbyshire, England. 4.1% alcohol.

A few months ago, I started to use ruby for work. Twice I burnt my fingers on the following behaviour in Ruby:

def foo
  "bar"
end
 
puts "foo = #{foo.inspect}"
 
if foo.nil?
  foo = "quux"
  puts "Not coming here"
end
 
puts "foo = #{foo.inspect}"

The method foo returns the string "bar", which is therefore not nil. The result any sane coder expects would be

foo = "bar"
foo = "bar"

What actually comes out when you run this snippet is

foo = "bar"
foo = nil

I remember reading that in order to decide whether foo is a call to the foo method or the use of the local variable foo, Ruby checks the code before for any assignment to foo. As it happens, the local variable foo gets assigned inside the if clause, but the statement is never executed. My guess is that Ruby then decides that the local variable foo is put to use after the if clause, but is never actually assigned to, and therefore its value is nil. As it happens, the foo method still exists and returns "bar", as expected, when called as foo().

To win the love of Victoria, he promises to bring back a falling star that has fallen on the side of the wall, in the land of the faeries. His father then reveals to Tristan that his mother, slave to a witch, lives beyond the wall. He gives Tristan a magic candle that can take him any place he wishes for. Tristan wishes to be taken to his mother, but his mind wanders and finds himself near the fallen star, who happens to be a young woman named Yvaine. He takes her by force with him back to his village, but she manages to escape during the journey, seeking refuge at an inn which happens to be a trap set by the witch Lamia, who wants to use Yvaine's heart as a means for rejuvenation. The other stars warn Tristan that Yvaine is in danger, and he manages to save her in the nick of time, using the last of his magic candle. Both of them wishing for “home”, they end up in the air, where they are captured by the kind-hearted captain of an airship. He then takes them near the faerie village that lies by the wall, and Tristan, taking a lock of hair from Yvaine, runs to show Victoria that he has fullfilled his promise, but that he also has fallen in love with Yvaine and therefore won't marry her. Tristan also dicovers that Yvaine would not be able to live in the world of humans and rushes back to the other side of the wall. There, Yvaine has accidentally befriended Tristan's mother, before both are made prisoner by Lamia and taken to her castle where her two sisters wait for the fallen star. Tristan follows Lamia, battles the three witches and kills them. He also learns that his mother is the princess Una of the kingdom of Stormhold, and that he is the last male heir. Tristan and Yvaine therefore get married and become the new rulers of the kingdom.

Vingt-et-unième tome des aventures de Blake et Mortimer. Mortimer est invité à Oxford, à l'Ashmolean Museum, où d'étranges vols d'objets de peu de valeur ont lieu. En même temps, d'anciens amis de Blake meurent dans des circonstances étranges. Blake découve que les morts sont liées à un serment que lui et ces quatre amis, grands admirateurs de T.E. Lawrence, avaient prêté lors qu'ils étaient étudiants, de conserver le manuscrit original du livre de Lawrence, dans le quel il dénonçait les promesses non-tenue de la Grande Bretagne envers ses alliés Arabes après la première guerre mondiale. Chacun de ces cinq personnes avaient caché une partie du manuscrit dans un objet offert au musée. Les voleurs et assassins se révèlent être le fils et la fille du lieutenant Lawless, agent du MI5 après la guerre et ancien supérieur de Blake, qui détestait Lawrence car il le considérait un traitre à la patrie. Lawless est même allé jusqu'à organiser l'assassinat, sans ordre, de Lawrence, avec l'aide de Blake (qui, jeune officier du MI5, ne faisait que suivres les ordres sans comprendre). Le fils et la fille de Lawless cherchent donc à venger leur père, qui s'est suicidé en prison.

Vingt-sixième volume de Yoko Tsuno. Yoko et Émilia arrivent en Écosse, où un notaire leur remet une lettre écrite en 1935 par Gloria, l'arrière-grande-tante d'Émilia, la remerciant de lui avoir sauvé la vie; une deuxième lettre, écrite par l'arrière-grand-mère d'Émilia, est remise à Yoko. Émilia hérite d'un cottage, dont l'occupant, Malcolm, était le fiancé de Gloria en 1934. Incapable de trouver un remède à la tuberculose de Gloria, il invente une machine à voyager dans le temps pour aller chercher un médicament dans le futur, où il reste bloqué. Par la ruse, il envoie Yoko et Émilia dans le passé. Là, elles apprennent que la maladie de Gloria a été provoquée par un bijou que son frère doit livrer en hydravion le lendemain à Londres, à un comte russe qui compte le livrer à une femme qui prétend être la princesse Anasatasia Romanova. Mais le russe veut en fait utiliser les pouvoirs du bijou pour éliminer un dirigeant bolchévique, et prend en otage Yoko et ses amis pour les forcer à aller à la rencontre d'un autre hydravion soviétique. Grâce aux deux héroïnes, le russe est éliminé et tous s'échappent, emportant l'or et l'argent que ce dernier apportait aux bolchéviques. Yoko et Émilia rentrent au XXIè siècle en compagnie de la nièce de Gloria et du chien de Malcolm. En arrivant, ce dernier ne reconnait pas les nouvelles arrivantes; le faux Malcolm se révèle être l'assistant de ce dernier, qui a été assassiné par le premier. Yoko neutralise le malfrat.

Dix-huitième volume de Largo Winch, faisant suite à Mer Noire. Largo découvre que c'est la directrice de la flotte marchande du group Winch qui opère le trafic d'armes, à l'aide de son fils qui, selon elle, serait l'enfant de Nerio Winch, père adoptif de Largo. Largo parvient à s'échapper, non sans avoir délivré le fils du pêcheur turc, agent des douanes qui avait découvert les liens entre la directrice de la flotte marchande et le marchand d'armes; le frère de Largo tentait de forcer le douanier à réécrire le rapport compromettant, afin de laver sa mère de tout soupçon. Grâce à l'intervention officieuse en Turquie des agents du FBI venus arrêter Largo, les adversaires son éliminés dans un bain de sang.

“Simple pale malts… complex blend of hops… lemon citrus and floral flavours… spicy mouthfeel… earthy bitterness”

Just another ale. Contains barley and wheat.

The Durham Brewery Ltd, Bowburn, Durham, England. 3.8% alcohol.

“pale golden bitter… a blend of English, American and Czech hops give an aroma of citrus grapfruit with mild pepper and citrus orange notes”

Not bad, but just another ale. The bottom of the glass tasted something like bitter almond, maybe due to the sediment (the beer is bottle-conditioned). Contains barley and wheat.

The Durham Brewery Ltd, Bowburn, Durham, England. 4.5% alcohol.

Jean-Paul Hévin, Coro (Chuao, Vénézuela) 68% : bon…

Jean-Paul Hévin, Colombie 75% : pain grillé, fruits secs, peut-être caramel mou?

Jean-Paul Hévin, Porcelana (Criollo, Vénézuela) 70% : clairement lavande, très légèrement acide

Jean-Paul Hévin, Home (Bio, Amérique centrale) 70% : un peu acide

Divine, Dark chocolate 85% : lavande, curry, amer, pâteux

Montezuma's, Very dark chocolate, 73% : assez amer, pâteux, assez grillé

Ananda Chocolate, Pure extase, Ecuador 80% : amer mais arrière goût très fleuri (rose ?)

Chocolat Noisette, chocolat noir 54% : pain d'épices

1848, Noir 76% : fleurs, biscuit

Klaus, Noir Pérou (criollo) 80% : bonbon

Klaus, Noir Pérou (criollo) 72% : un peu toffee

Auchan, Noir 85% : amer, pâteux, pas très intéressant

Auchan, Noir 72% : arrière goût cacahuette, sinon pas très intéressant

Villars, Noir 72% : doux, bonbon, un peu farineux

Côte d'Or, Noir brut 86% : amer, un peu caoutchouc/plastique

Mascao, Bolivie/Rép. Dominicaine/Pérou, 85% : amer, pain grillé, un peu acide

Mascao, Bolivie/Rép. Dominicaine/Pérou, 70% : croquant, chocolaté

Mascao, Bolivie/Rép. Dominicaine/Pérou, 58% : « friable », peu de goût

Traidcraft, Bolibvie 70% : légèrement acide, bon

Ombar, Probiotic coconut 60% : noix de coco, salé, mou, pâteux

Christian, Java 73% : thé noir, un peu fumé, lapsang souchong

Christian, Colombie 70% : frais, pas mauvais

Mulhaupt, Trinidad Gran Couva, 68 %: je sais pas dire…

Mulhaupt, Caraïbe 66% : biscuit, un peu farineux EDIT (2016) : noix de coco ?

Mulhaupt, Venezuela 72% : je sais pas dire EDIT (2016) : praliné

Riss, Maralumi 65% : frais

Sequel to Iron Man, where Tony Stark is dying due to the poisonning effects of the arc reactor that keeps him alive. Stark also refuses to deliver the Iron Man technology to the US Army, leading his friend Lt.Col. Rhodes to steal one armor deliver it to his superiors. In the meantime, Ivan Danko, the son of the man who co-invented the arc reactor with Stark's father, wants revenge for his transfuge father's deportation back to USSR. Based on his fathre's plans, he builds an arc reactor of his his own. He then wreaks havoc in the Monaco Grand Prix, is stopped by Iron Man and sent to prison, but escapes with the help of Hammer, leader of Stark Industries's competitor. Hammer wants Iron Men of his own to sell to the US military, but Danko accepted Hammer's offer only because it gave him the possibility to build an army of Iron Men drones to launch against Stark. Knowing that his is dying, Stark is giving up on his company and his life, but Nick Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D's director orders him to find the solution to his problem in his father's legacy. Stark eventually discovers that his father had discover a new element that could replace the palladium in the arc reactor while being non-toxic. Stark synthesises the element, and appears at the Start Expo where Hammer is presenting his drones and Rhodes Iron Man armor, claiming it his own. The hardware is however being remotely controlled by Danko who uses it to destroy everything. Stark and Rhodes fight together the drones and later Danko himself in an armor of his own, and eventually stop him.

“pineapple, citrus and papaya… festive IPA”

Very flowery, quite sweet, still reasonnably bitter. Contains barley.

BrewDog Ltd., Fraserburgh, Scotland. 7.5% alcohol

“Californian Pale Ale… huge hoppy punch”

Strong smell of passion fruit, quite bitter. Contains barley.

BrewDog Ltd., Fraserburgh, Scotland. 3.8% alcohol

Henri Villon est le commandant français et hugenot d'un vaisseau flibustier dans la mer des Caraïbes vers 1640. Il collectionne aussi les maravillas, objets rares d'origine inconnue. Pourchassé par le Commodore Mendoza, il est finalement fait prisonnier par ce dernier peu de temps après avoir été attaqué par un navire gigantesque, entièrement fait de métal. Prisonnier des Espagnols, il fait la connaissance d'un indien Itza, Arcadio. Ensemble, ils parviennent à s'échapper et à rejoidre des amis d'Arcadio. Ces derniers lui confient un nouveau navire et un équipage et l'invitent dans leur capitale, en pleine forêt du Yucatan, où ils lui expliquent que les maravillas sont apportées par un être apparu quelques temps auparavant, appelé k'uhul ajaw. Les Itza sont déterminés à chasser les Espagnols de leur pays, et utilisent pour cela des armes modernes apportées par k'uhul ajaw et les siens. Villon découvre au fil du temps que les maravillas sont des objets venant d'autres temps, à travers des failles temporelles; k'uhul ajaw et d'autres comme lui tentent de réécrire l'histoire pour imposer leur vision du monde. Des nouvelles d'Europe indiquent que les grandes capitales ont été détruites. Après la destruction de Noj Peten à cause d'un abus de l'usage de ces failles, les Targui, observateurs venus d'un autre temps se déplaçant dans des sortes de montgolfières, donnent à Villon des armes capables de repousser les attaques venant d'autres temps (comme la flotte d'Alexandre le Grand par exemple) dans l'espoir de limiter l'effet des failles temporelles. Les terres semblent être la proie de tempêtes temporelles et Villon et ses amis se réfugient donc sur une ville flottante consitituée de navires amarrés les uns aux autres. Le porte-avions américain est la dernière intrusion d'un autre temps à semer la terreur dans la mer des Caraïbes. Villon et ses amis tentent alors de l'attaquer, et échouent; Villon y laisse la vie. Mais Mendoza, observateur extérieur rapporte que peu après, le porte-avions est détruit par un phénomène temporel, et tout finit plus ou moins par rentrer dans l'ordre.

In Turkey, while chasing a mercenary who has stolen a hard-disk drive with a list of NATO agents, Bond is nearly killed by friendly fire (on M.'s order) and believed dead. Learning that M.I.6 headquarters has been the target of an attack, Bond returns, and despite failling his atptitude test, M. sends him back into the field to track the man who stole the data and find his employer. Bond kills the man before having any information out of him, but finds a clue that leads him to a casino in Macau. There he meets a girl who promised to lead him to the killer's employer, on the condition Bond frees her from him. The employer is Raoul Silva, a former British agent turned rogue, who seeks revenge on M., whom he blames for his capture and being tortured on his last assignment. Bond eventually captures Silva and takes him to M.I.6. backup headquarters, while M. is summoned to answer for the loss of the list of agents in front of a committee. Silva's capture was actually planned all along, and he escapes through the Underground network. Disguised as a policeman, he tries to kill M. in the audience room, but Bond arrives just in time to save her. He takes her to a safe place in Scotland, the Skyfall manor where Bond had grown up before his parent's death. Helped by the old housekeeper, they prepare to receive Silva's men. The manor is destroyed in the process, and M. is wounded. Bond eventually kills Silva before he kills M., but she dies soon after.

“a light, dry palate and a fresh, fruity aroma”

Just another, quite nice, ale. Contains malted barley.

Wells & Young's Brewing Co. Ltd., Bedford, England. 4.5% alcohol.

Juno, 16, got pregnant. She first considers abortion, but eventually decides to give the baby for adoption. She manages to find a married couple, Mark and Vanessa who want to adopt her future child. Mark has similar tastes to Juno's in music and movies, and is not really ready to be a father, so he divorces Vanessa not long before Juno's baby is born. But Vanessa seems to be a good future mother, so Juno gives her the baby anyway.

Orlando est le gérant d'une pizzeria dans la Nouvelle-Courbevoie, au XXIè siècle. En réalité, il vient du XIVè, où il était un super-héros connu sous le nom d'Alban le Blanc. Ses anciens compagnons sont à sa recherche afin de lui demander de les aider à combattre la Princesse Microbe, super-vilaine responsable d'une épidémie de peste au moyen-âge. Orlando refuse d'abord, mais finit par se laisser convaincre de repartir à l'époque de la guerre de cent ans. À la Nouvelle-Courbevoie, deux autres super-héros rencontrent une équipe de super-héros amateurs qui ont découvert qu'une compagnie pharmceutique se prépare à une action mahonnête, dans laquelle le pape semble impliqué. Ils découvrent peu à peu qu'afin de redonnner la foi aux chrétiens, le pape a passé un accord avec la Princesse Microbe pour provoquer une épidémie de peste au XXIè siècle. Le Saint, un super-héros immortel, a prédit la réincarnation d'Eternal Savior (dont une incarnation a été connue sous le nom de Jésus Christ) en la personne d'Alban le Blanc, son retour sauvant le Monde de la peste. Mais en fait c'est le colocataire asocial d'Orlando, emmené au XIVè siècle un peu par hasard par une autre super-héroïne qui s'avère être Eternal Savior. Ce dernier sauve le Paris du XIVè siècle de la peste, avant de repartir au XXIè siècle combattre le pape, la peste et la Princesse Microbe. Ce dernier est aidé par la version XXIè siècle du Saint, aveuglément fidèle au pape, tandis que les autres super-héros, accompagnés de la version XIVè siècle du Saint, s'opposent à lui. Une bataille forcément épique s'ensuit, avant que tout ne rentre dans l'ordre.

Doctor Parnassus, the leader of a traveling theater troupe has made a bet with the Devil and takes audience members through a magical mirror to explore their imaginations and present them with a choice between self-fulfilling enlightenment or gratifying ignorance. They rescue a hanging man, Tony, whom they slowly discover to be a swindler, although he claims to be wanting to redeem himself. Parnassus had made a pact with the devil to regain his youth (so that he could court a woman) in exchange for his first-born child. Learning this, Valentina, the doctor's daughter, enters the mirror, soon followed by Tony. Discovering that Tony really is a fraud, she gives herself to the devil, but the latter finds this victory too easy and gives Parnassus a chance to free his daughter in exchange for Tony's soul. Valentina is free, but the devil cannot say where she is. Parnassus emerges from the Imaginarium years later, finds out his daughter has married and has a daughter.

“A traditionally crafted beer, infused with mixed bramble berries”

Very sweet and fruity, smells more like strawberry than bramble berries, verging on tasting too much like fruits. Contains barley malt

Wychwood Brewery Co. Witney, Oxfordshire, England. 4.2% alcohol.

• Daenerys has freed the slaves from several of the free cities (but as soon as she leaves, slavery goes on) and has become queen of Meereen. She has to deal with the slavers who oppose her and kill freed slaves every night. To put a stop to it, she accepts to marry one of the important persons of the city and has to make many concessions. Her three dragons also cause damages and kill people. One of them flees, while she keeps the other two penned. After her wedding, during a public event, the dragon comes back and start killing people. Trying to prevent it from being killed by the guards, she flees on its back, and she is presumed dead, but eventually joins a tribe of Dothraki. The two other dragons are freed by a prince of Dorne who wanted to marry Daenery but who had arrived too late; the dragons are wreaking havoc in Meereen.

• Tyrion, after killing his father, flees to Pentos. There he travels with a small group including a young boy who happens to be Daenery's newphew, Aegon Targaryen. The latter plans to join Daenery in Meereen before reclaiming his throne in Westeros, but eventually decides to hire sellswords and go west straight. During his trip, Tyrion is taken prisoner by Ser Jorah Mornont who wants to bring him to Daenerys, but they are made prisoner by slavers. They reach Meereen, but cannot make contact with Daenerys. They escape slavery during an epidemic and becoming sellswords, preparing to attack Meereen.

• Bran and his friends travel beyond the wall, guided by a mysterious character that may be a good wight. He finally finds the thee-eyed crow, a barely living creature who teaches him to become a greenseer and to read the past in the weiwoods.

• Jon is commander of Castle Black and, given the lack of soldiers on the wall to defend it agains the wights that will attack during the winter, he decides to allow wildlings to come south of the wall and to man the abandonned castles. King Stannis spends some time at the wall, before moving south to attack the Boltons. Just after receiving a letter informing him that Stannis has been beaten at Winterfell, Jon is stabbed by some of his men who don't like the idea of living with the wildlings.

• Theon Greyjoy has been tortured by Ramsay Bolton and turned into his creature. Bolton, his father and many followers eventually take quarters in Winterfell, Ramsay naming himself its new lord. Ramsay also marries a girl who claims to be Arya Stark, but was actually a maid of Sansa's. A plot to free the fake Arya leads Theon to flee Winterfell with the girl and is captured by Stannis.

• In King's Landing, Cersei is to be tried for having slept with too many men. In the shadow, Varys kills the people who would prevent Aegon from rising to the throne.

“We use the term lager/IPA hybrid because we cold ferment this beer with a classic lager yeast. The initial fermentaion takes at least 2 weeks, after which we lager (store) the beer at zero degrees for a minimum of 4 weeks, during which period we add a chock load of classic IPA style hops”

Quite sweet and slightly bitter, rather fruity. Contains barley and wheat.

Williams Bros Brewing Co., Alloa, Scotland. 4.1% alcohol.

“American Chinook hops… citrus flavours and aroma… grapefruit bitterness”

Very fruity, but also quite bitter. Smells more like apples to me than citrus. Contains malted barley and wheat.

Buxton Brewery, Buxton, Derbyshire, England. 3.6% alcohol.

“malt flavours and citrus, orange zest and tropical fruit aroma, fresh orange and grapefruit taste… Cornish Gold and Maris Otter malts… Fuggle, Willamette and Styrian Golding hops”

Very fruity, barely bitter, quite good. Contains malted barley.

St Austell brewery, St Austell, Cornwall, England. 4.2% alcohol.

The Penguin's gang is plaguing Gotham City just before Christmas. Max Shreck, a ruthless businessman is kidnapped by the Penguin, but manages to convince him that he can make him loved by the people of the city and that he can run for Mayor. Shreck needs a puppet in office, so that he can built a “power plant” that essentially steals power. To ruin the current Mayor's reputation, the Penguins' gang raids the city, and prevents Batman from restoring order. In the meantime, Shreck's secretary Selina, who discovered her boss's plans and was left for dead by him, turns into Catwoman and seeks revenge by destroying some of Shreck's property. She is stopped by Batman, but manages to escape and joins forces with the Penguin against Batman; Selina however falls in love with Bruce Wayne. When the Penguin tries to get rid of her however, she turns against him. Batman manages to foil Shreck's and the Penguin's plan, and the latter returns to his underground lair where is launches his army of penguins, armed with missiles, to wreck havoc in the city. Batman arrives in the nick of time and kills the Penguin. He then tries to convince Catwoman not to kill Shreck, but when the latter shoots her she kills him, apparently killing herself in the process (cats however have nine lives and she has used up only eight of them).

“English malted barley and wheat, European hops…”

Just another ale. Contains malted barley and wheat.

T&R Theakston Ltd., Masham, North Yorkshire, England. 4.1% alcohol.

“peach and melon flavours”

Very sweet, smells definitely like peach, not sure about the melon though. Contains malted barley.

Hall & Woodhouse Ltd., Blandford, Dorset, England. 4.5% alcohol.

Peter Parker's parents were killed when he was a kid and raised by his uncle and aunt. Now in high-school, he discovers research results left by his father, and investigates the latter's former colleague, Curt Connors, now a researcher at Oscorp. Sneaking into Connors's lab, he gets bitten by a genetically engineered spider that produces super-strong thread. Peter soon develops super-strenght and the ability to stick to any surface and uses his powers to find the criminal who killed his uncle on the street. He also befriends Connors by giving him a formula left by his father, allowing the latter to produce a serum that regrows a limb of an amputed lab rat. Connors missing himself a forearm, he is very tempted to use it on himself, and pressure from his management to illegally test the serum on unknowing humans makes hime use it. Parker makes himself a superhero costume, equipped with devices projecting Oscorp's super-threads. Connors's experiment turns him into a giant lizard, and wreaks havoc in the city trying to prevent his manager to test the serum on humans. Spider-man, understanding that he is responsible for the lizard's existence tries and stop him. The chief of the police doesn't like Spider-Man the vigilante, and that places Peter in a thight spot, since this person is also the father of Peter's girlfriend. Connors, becoming evil in his Lizard form, wants to turn the whole city into lizards, and plans to use for that purpose a device that would disperse the serum over the whole city. Peter asks his girlfriend (who happens to work at Oscorp and to be very smart) to make an antidote, and uses the device for spreading the antidote instead of the serum. In the end, Connors reveals he has some responsibility in the death of Peter's parents.

“Prior to the 1850s many Scottish coastal alehouses brewed their own ales using local malted barley grown on fields fertilized with seaweed. We have recreated the unique flavour of this traditional ale with the inclusion of fresh seaweed, Bladder Rack, which is taken fresh from the water on the Argyll coast and masehd in witht he malted and roasted barley. Kelpie is a rich, chocolate ale with an aroma of fresh seabreeze and a distinctive malty texture.”

Kind of chocolatey, but I can't really find the seaweed in the taste. Contains malted barley.

Williams Bros Brewing Co., Alloa, Scotland. 4.4% alcohol.

Thirteenth book of the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, published in 2010. Perrin is slowly learning how not to be drawn into the Wolf Dream. At the same time, he fights Slayer, a mysterious character who kills wolves in the Wolf Dream and who prevents Perrin's army from travelling in the real world through gateways, thanks to a rare ter'angreal. In the real world, he faces the army of the children of the Light, now led by Galad, Elayne's half-brother. The Children accuse Perrin of being a Darkfriend and of having mudered two Children back in the Two-Rivers. Ex-queen Morgase, working under a false name as a maid for Perrin, reveals herself and is chosen by Galad as a judge, which eventually allows Perrin to walk free. The Whitecloaks then join Perrin's huge army and move to Andor, the Last Battle being very near. Trollocs have attacked in the North in large numbers. Meanwhile, Mat also arrives in Andor and sells Elayne plans for a new kind of weapon (a gun). He then frees Moiraine, prisoner in the parallel world of the Eelfinns and the Aelfinns, entering their world through a legendary tower made of metal. In the Black Tower, Logain has mysteriously disappeared and Taim is splitting the Asha'men into two factions; men loyal to Logain find impossible to escape the tower using gateways, and make an alliance with the Aes Sedai sent by the ex-Amyrlin to go agains Taim. In the end, trollocs attack Caemlyn through a long-forgotten Waygate.

Vingtième album de Léo Loden. En bretagne, une journaliste qui enquêtait sur la disparition d'immigrés clandestins disparaît à son tour. Léo enquête, et rencontre un marin qui a vu son capitaine jeter à la mer un conteneur contenant des immigrés. Léo et Ulysse se font capturer par le capitaine et jeter à la mer dans un conteneur à leur tour. Ils réussissent à en réchapper et après une longue poursuite finissent par arrêter le malfaiteur. Ce dernier les met sur la piste de l'organisateur du trafic, un notaire, qui tente de les piéger. Léo réussit à l'arrêter et à libérer un groupe de clandestins.

Dix-neuvième album de Léo Loden. Au festival de la BD d'Angoulème, Léo tente de rattraper un voleur qui s'est emparé de planches originales d'un album non terminé, mais ce dernier est attrapé par l'enquêteur des assurances de l'éditeur. Les planches ont déjà été revendues à un collectionneur belge. Léo part pour Bruxelles, et après une filature du collectionneur, remarque que l'enquêteur rachète les planches. Ils le retrouvent dans la maison d'un homme qui ne collectionne que les planches inédites d'auteurs morts, et qui compte assassiner (à la bombe) l'auteur lors d'une remise des prix à l'Atomium. Léo découvre la bombe et sauve tout le monde.