I love Dark Avengers #1

Dark Avengers is the much anticipated main title in the Dark Reign saga that follows on from Secret Invasion. It rocks!

It is written by Brian Michael Bendis who has been the driving force behind the Avengers line of comics for several years and who has brought us the epics Avengers Disassembled, House of M and Civil War. These storylines overlap with each other to make the Avengers the most exciting place in the Marvel Universe.

Dark Reign starts with the premise that the old guard were at fault during the war against the Skrull (Secret Invasion) and the new people in charge are the baddies who came good when it mattered. But being a Bendis story I am sure that there will be a lot more to it than that and I know that I am going to enjoy reading comics over the next few months.

The epic stories is what makes the Avengers a must-read but the artwork is a real plus too. Mike Deodato is the art hero in Dark Avengers. I've chosen these two pages from the sample pages on the Marvel website because of the contrast they give with the fairly standard, but well executed, superhero group picture and, at the top, a story page with a compelling layout and dramatic use of colour.

Good story, good art, great comic.

Upgrading to a Canon Ixus 80 IS

I've bought a number of Canon cameras over the years starting with a fairly large but simple Sure Shot Ace. Twenty years ago I paid something like 150 GBP for a 35mm camera with no zoom.

My next major camera was an original Ixus. I bought this because I wanted a compact camera that I could carry with me on business trips without looking like a tourist. I only stopped using this last Summer when I finally said goodbye to analogue film.

My first Digital Ixus was a V2, which cost me around 400 GBP eight years ago. I am shocked to realize, I have had a total of 5 Digital Ixus cameras all told.

My previous purchase, about two years ago was a Ixus 55 which I bought in anticipation of a holiday in Poland. It's still my main camera and is responsible for well over 1,000 photos that I have posted to the web.

My new Ixus 80 IS, a bargain at a little over 100 GBP, was bought in anticipation of another holiday, this time to China. Camera technology has moved on a lot in two years, making the purchase of a new one almost a necessity. Unlike the 55, the 80 IS has Motion Detection Technology, Face Detection Technology and a lot of other goodies. Basically that means it takes sharp photos even when you or the object are moving in poor light.

Buying it some months before the holiday gives me plenty of time to practice taking pictures in different situations so that I'll have a good record of the China holiday. And I should be able to get most of the holiday photos on one SD card as the 4Gb cards I bought for a mere 5 GBP each hold around 1,100 photos each.

I do love it when technology matures and becomes better and cheaper at the same time.

Great fabrics at MoDA

When buying some shorts in Liberty recently I was reminded of the unexpected discovery that I made of the Museum of Domestic Design & Architecture (MoDA) on what was meant to be a trip looking at art deco railway stations.

MoDA is somewhere near the top of the Piccadilly Line (I needed a guide to find the place) so is not the easiest place for me to get to, but it is worth the effort.

The museum building is quite small, as is the main exhibition area, but that is not why you go. The gem at the heart of the museum is collection which includes interesting quirky things like catalogues from plumbers' suppliers.

But what really got me excited was the collection of fabrics and wallpapers, some of which are shown here.

I was trying to find exact matches for some of my Liberty fabrics when I found these and while they are not quite the same they are clearly from the same period and style.

If Liberty did make shirts in these fabrics then I'd buy them.

Stop Heathrow expansion

The proposed expansion of Heathrow, a third runway and a sixth terminal, is going to be a major topic of interest to everybody living in west London for a quite a few years to come.

Many of us are puzzled by the government's love of both air travel and of Heathrow when trains are a better option for travel (as Spain is showing) and Heathrow is about the last place you would want to build another London terminal.

This map shows the extent of the proposed development, the blue area would be the new airport boundary, the red area the runway and the aeroplane the site of the sixth terminal.

The good news is the spanner. This is the plot of land bought by Greenpeace, with help from with Oscar winning actress Emma Thompson, comedian Alistair McGowan and prospective Tory parliamentary candidate Zac Goldsmith.

You can help too - sign up now by clicking on the logo on the right-hand side to get your own piece of the plot. It's not a financial thing, but you will be included as an owner on the legal deed of trust. I've signed up.

Sumptuous art in Authority #6

I am currently reading Authority: Worlds End #6 but have paused briefly to post a picture of some of the sumptuous art from Simon Coleby that is blowing me away. This double-page spread gives you an idea of how the art carries both the grandeur and the grimness of the story.