Mind you, the star-studded ensemble cast was still short a few faces from the glory years.  While Maclean’s mourned the missing Ant-Man(/Giant-Man) and The Wasp, I can appreciate that their inclusion would have increased the movie’s already considerable special-effects budget.  Me, I’d rather see Vision, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, but for all I know, Marvel could’ve killed off all those characters years ago.  However, Maclean’s writer Peter Nowak has a point: a true Avengers origin story would rightfully include the two size-shifters, who both appeared in Avengers #1 back in ’63.

Now, I can’t say I’ve read the inaugural issue, but as per Wikipedia:

“The first adventure features the Asgardian god Loki seeks revenge (sic) against his brother Thor. Using an illusion, Loki tricks the Hulk into destroying a railroad track. He then diverts a radio call by Rick Jones for help to Thor, whom Loki hopes will battle the Hulk. Unknown to Loki, Ant-Man, the Wasp, and Iron Man also answers (sic) the radio call. After an initial misunderstanding, the heroes unite and defeat Loki after Thor is lured away by an illusion of the Hulk and suspects Loki when he realises (sic) it is an illusion. Ant-Man states the five work well together and suggests they form a combined team; the Wasp names the group ‘the Avengers’ because it sounded ‘dramatic.’”

Truth be told, I wouldn’t have thought that Loki was the impetus for the group’s foundation, but it turns out the movie got things right in that regard.  That said, I can see how the above storyline wouldn’t make for much of a summer blockbuster–to say nothing of the decision to cast Scarlett Johansson as a character who didn’t join the team until issue 111.  I mean, the leather catsuit was pretty hot, but wouldn’t you have rather seen her dressed like this?  As a side note, I’m genuinely curious as to whether her Russian is better than Harrison Ford’s.  (She sounded better to these ears, anyways!)

But I digress.  The problem with tying such blockbuster movies as Thor, Captain America and the Iron Man duo together (not including The Hulk since neither Eric Bana nor Edward Norton were in this picture–though I did like Mark Ruffalo’s portrayal of Bruce Banner) is that you had to build on those storylines, none of which were written in the 1960′s, cept maybe Cap’s–and only to an extent.  This whole deal with Thor and the TesseracT came in much later–in fact, I’m not sure it was ever part of the Golden God’s domain until the Kenneth Branagh film.  As I recall, there was a Cosmic Cube associated with Captain Marvel, but I never read too many of his stories…

In any case, I thought the whole thing with them battling Loki and some strange alien-like gods from another realm was a little overblown, although it did look impressive in 3D.  Whereas I recognized most of the storylines that made up the first two Tobey Maguire Spidey flicks, this one completely lost me.  Now I guess I know how the purists who were pissed off at Guy Ritchie’s fast-paced Sherlock Holmes films feel.  On that note, I never did see A Game of Shadows…

The digs are Cotchford Farm in Ashdown Forest, Sussex, UK, home to author A.A. Milne from the mid 20’s until 1959.  Not only did he write many of his children’s books here, but several local landmarks worked their way into the stories.  As per the Forbes piece, “Galleons Leap and Hundred Acre Wood (whose real name is Five Hundred Acre Wood) – sit nearby in Ashdown Forest. So does the bridge where Christopher Robin used to play Pooh sticks.”

This couldn’t have been lost on the late guitarist, as there is still a sculpture of Christopher Robin as well as a sundial with several Pooh characters on the property.  And yes, the pool that ended Jones’ life is still there—and still in use, no less!

A property developer named Alastair Jones bought the farm in 1970, though he’s reportedly looking to sell it to spend more time in France.  (I guess he hasn’t heard of their new President’s tax proposal.)  Alas, the new owner likely won’t be a Stones-obsessed Pooh fan, according to the property’s real estate agent.  “I think the buyers will be British, with children between five and eight years old, and they will be living in either south or southwest London at the moment and moving here for a better quality of life.”  Unless Anton Newcombe has an extra $3-million lying around somewhere, that is…

This afternoon, I’ve reading some interesting slide about django in slideshare. Here’s some of them :

1. Django in the Real World

   View more presentations from Jacob Kaplan-Moss
2. Customizing the Django Admin

   View more presentations from Lincoln Loop
3. Building Pluggable Web Applications using Django

   View more presentations from Lakshman Prasad