- DB
Blog | World Cup + London Pride + Steve Ditko
Good evening and hello once again from sweaty, sun-soaked England. It's still stupidly hot for this bloody country and now there's no breeze either. Each day the temperature just keeps going up and there's nothing to stop it - it's like a super-villain getting away with some nefarious scheme.
However, without weather control powers, I a sticking to rocketing my electricity bill through the roof with multiple fans on at all times whenever I'm at home, and generally keeping to the shade whenever I go out. Anyway, enough moaning (again)...
Sweden 0-2 England
Football is still coming home apparently. I say apparently because I couldn't really be bothered to watch. No disrespect to Sweden, who are a solid side, but they don't really offer a lot going forward. As soon as England took the lead, I knew that was game over.
The only chance the former vikings had of going through was to nab a goal and park the bus, so as soon as they fell behind it felt inevitable that they would concede a second as they would have to open up more to try and get level.
The next thing to worry about is if Croatia make it past Russia as most expect. You see, they're actually really good at football, unlike most of the teams England have played so far. It'll be interesting to see if the Three Lions can raise their game when needed.
London Pride 2018
Also in the blazing heat, those taking part in the Pride march in London today who are wearing elaborate costumes or outfits have my sympathies. I imagine when planning months ago what they would be wearing, they expected the usual British 'summer' and were surprised when it turned out to be actual summer.
To be fair, I doubt anyone marching really cares about the heat, do they? From the pictures and videos, it looks as celebratory as you'd expect and would be just the same if it was rain chucking down. Hopefully, everyone involved enjoyed a fantastic day in the sunshine.
Steve Ditko
One last word about the death of Spider-Man's co-creator, Steve Ditko, who passed away at the age of 90. Thanks to reprints and collected volumes, I've read all of the early Spider-Man stuff and his art is simply synonymous with the wall-crawler.
It should also be noted that he created Doctor Strange too, and is responsible for not just some of the most visually stunning artwork in comic-book history, but also on the big screen as Marvel Studios have attempted to duplicate his work, just as they have done with Jack Kirby.
Ditko was a recluse, so there's not actually a huge amount known about him, but as a big Marvel fan I can only feel grateful to him for bringing to life a number of characters I have enjoyed a lot. I know he also did work for DC, creating Hawk and Dove, as well as the Creeper, so fans of either of comicdom's 'big two' will be mourning the loss of such a talent.
Currently playing
God of War (2018) - I think I'm pretty near the end now as I've been warned in a pretty obvious (and funnily meta) way that I should only continue with the story when my gear is as good as it can be. So I'm currently working my way around the game world to tie up as much as I can before finishing things off.
Currently watching
iZombie season 1 - three episodes in and enjoying it so far, although I'm hoping that the incident that set up the series does get explored a little more as it really stands out as odd right now. Also, not liking the character of Blaine, who I'm hoping develops over the series as he's apparently a regular but is a boringly-generic villain right now.
