What I'm Watching
Saw the second Thin Man movie: "Shadow of the Thin Man". More domesticated than the first one, as the couple now have a small child. Notably bigger budget. Dialogue didn't quite crack me up like the first one, but still pretty watchable.

I Heart Huckabees. Have had this hanging around for a while: suspected that it would be nauseatingly quirky, but actually liked it a lot: my quirkiness threshold must be higher than I thought. Plot concerns a guy who hires a couple of Existential Detectives to investigate a coincidence in his life, whose new age therapies have a cascading effect on him and others. Worth watching.

(Red=Entertainment,green=originality,blue=intelligence).

What I'm Reading
Mimi and Toutou Go Forth is a book about the battle between small British, Belgian and German warships on Lake Tanganyika in WW1. Well written though with a little too much emphasis on the zaniness of the mission's eccentric commander. The most interesting sections describe the impressive feat of moving the two motor boats overland to the lake. The actual battles are rather brief and anticlimactic: there just wasn't enough to them to make them interesting. Would make good train or plane reading: entertaining but not particularly educational.

Got through another comic by Astro City creator Kurt Busiek. Superman: Secret Identity takes an obscure part of the DC Universe: an Earth Prime parallel universe where superheroes only exist in comic books, and Clark Kent is just an ordinary boy embarrassed by his fictional namesake. The book has him developing superhero powers, but keeping his existence an secret.

Pretty well done and very-well drawn with some joyous flight scenes. The story covers various snapshots covering his whole life. Decent and thoughtful, not particularly exciting or startlingly original.

The Puppies of Terra by Thomas M. Disch is a 1960s SF book, set in a future where electromagnetic energy beings have turned a large part of humanity into their pets. The Pets are generally content with their comfortable fate, often enacting various forms of art and entertainment for their masters, and look down upon the wild Dingoes. Book is refreshingly short and snappy; not nearly as dated as I expected it would be. Protagonist is amusingly snobbish but still sympathetic. Plot is fairly perfunctory. Not a classic, but worth a look.

Operation Become Less Fat
CW: 12st 4
SW: 14st 4
Loss: 28 pounds
Weeks: 18
Loss per week: 1.6 pounds

Have now lost two stone. Was pretty strict this week: no meals out, no significant boozing.

If I can manage the willpower, hoping to keep that up for the next two weeks and reach 12 stone. Last time, I found it a lot harder to lose weight after that point. I was usually a bit over 11 stone in college.

I've been saving up some Marks and Spencers vouchers since Christmas: quite tempted to buy some new clothes. Might be a bit premature though. I can just about fit¹ into my last pair of M&S 32'' waist jeans, but without a shirt it looks rather like someone's plopped a water balloon into a teacup. On the other hand, while hopefully I can reduce the overhang, don't think the actual waist size is going to get much smaller.

Not sure how the sizings work either. They used to say that M&S were quite optimistic, so that if they said 32'' they were really 34''. However, I could comfortably wear my BHS "Comfort Fit" 32'' jeans before I could even do up the zip on the M&S, so that might mean those are really 36''. Now they're very comfortable and I used to be a proper size 32'' in college, so that might mean I ought to wait before buying any more. Hmmmm.

Saturday 1 Apr 2006
Breakfast: 2 coffee, 2 large slices bread, 5 cherry tomatoes, 1 egg, 1 slice gammon.
Supper: Duck breast (Skin-on, 503kcal, 35g protein), 320g potatoes, carrots, runner beans. Cherry Garcia Frozen Yoghurt (169kcal,4g)
Booze: 1 beer, 1 whisky
Snacks: M&S "Count on us" crisps (70kcal). 1 Ryvita
Exercise: 5BX Chart 4 Level C-.

Sunday 2 Apr 2006
Breakfast: 1 coffee. 200g bread (532kcal,16g protein), Tesco chicken and vegetable meal soup (210kcal,15.6g), 20g Edam (82kcal,6g protein)
Supper: 131g fillet steak (252kcal, 26g protein), mashed potatoes, beans, carrots. Cherry Garcia Frozen Yoghurt (169kcal,4g)
Snacks: 2 Ryvita, 1 tea, hot chocolate with shot whisky
Exercise: 5BX Chart 4 Level C-. Dumb-bells: light 5.5kg 3x10, heavy 15kg 3x10.

Monday 3 Apr 2006
Breakfast: 2 coffee. Cornflakes with sugar and semi-skimmed milk.
Lunch: Smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel.
Supper: 131g fillet steak (252kcal, 26g protein), 230g potatoes, sweetcorn, cherry tomatoes. 1 milky bar.
Second supper: 2 slices bread, 20g cheese, slice gammon, 3 cherry tomatoes
Snacks: 1 hot choc with splash whisky
Exercise: 5BX Chart 4 Level C-. 3.5 miles walking

Tuesday 4 Apr 2006
Breakfast: 2 coffee, 2 slices toast, tiny piece cheese, slice gammon, 3 cherry tomatoes
Lunch: Small crayfish sandwich
Supper: 2 Tesco beef grillsteaks (354kcal,22g protein), mashed potatoes (6g protein), petit pois (7g protein). Muller Light yoghurt (108kcal, 8.8g protein)
Snacks: Golden Lights crisps (94kcal)
Booze: 1 beer, 1 whisky
Exercise: 5BX Chart 4 Level C (11:20). 3.5 miles walking. Dumb-bells: light 5.5kg 3x10, heavy 15kg 3x10.

Wednesday 5 Apr 2006
Breakfast: 2 coffee, tin sardines (158kcal,19.2g protein), 2 slices toast, 20g cheese, 3 cherry tomatoes
Lunch: Small bacon sandwich
Supper: Waitrose Chicken and Porcini Mushrooms (315kcal,34.6g protein), rice. Cherry Garcia Frozen Yoghurt (169kcal,4g)
Booze: 1 beer, 1 whisky
Exercise: 5BX Chart 4 Level C. 3.5 miles walking.

Thursday 6 Apr 2006
Breakfast: 2 coffee, Ricicles with skimmed milk.
Lunch: Smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel
Supper: Chilli con carne (380kcal,36g protein), rice. Cherry Garcia Frozen Yoghurt (169kcal,4g)
Booze: 1 beer, 2 whisky
Snacks: Golden Lights crisps (94kcal)
Exercise: 5BX Chart 4 Level C. 3.5 miles walking. Dumb-bells: light 5.5kg 3x10, heavy 15kg 3x10.

Friday 7 Apr 2006
Breakfast: 2 coffee
Brunch: Small egg, sausage, bacon sandwich
Supper: 200g pasta (690kcal, 26.4g protein), Campbell's meatballs(381kcal, 19g protein), 35g cheese (143kcal,11g protein). Milky Way (114 kcal).
Second supper: 3 Ryvita with cheese spread. 1 orange.
Booze: 1 beer, 2 whisky
Exercise: 5BX Chart 4 Level C. 3.5 miles walking.

1. I can do up the zip, fasten the button, and insert or extract my wallet from the front-right pocket without undue difficulty.

Update [2006-4-8 4:39:56 by TheophileEscargot]:Bug report
If you have ampersands in the poll, when you click edit story they're substituted by &s. No problem there, but when you click Update, those are substituted too so you get & appearing in the poll. Workaround: manually resubstitute & characters in the poll each time.