Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

This is a bonus story that I didn't realize until getting home and googling the name of Saturday Night's Pub - Deacon Brodie's Tavern

With its upstairs restaurant, is situated on the Lawnmarket at its junction with Bank Street. It is a large traditional pub, popular with tourists and with a wonderfully ornate thistle ceiling. It is named after real life cabinet-maker, William Brodie who was elected a Deacon Councillor of the City of Edinburgh in 1781. By day Brodie was an outwardly respectable citizen and pillar of society, but by "night he was a gambler, a thief, dissipated and licentious." To support his lavish lifestyle Brodie would copy the keys of his wealthy clients and return at night to rob them. He escaped to the Netherlands after being recognised at the scene of one of his crimes only to be caught and returned to Scotland. He was hanged from the city's new gallows at the Tolbooth (which ironically it is said he had a hand in designing) on 1 October 1788. Such was the public interest in the case that it was said to have been attended by a crowd of over 25,000. It is also said that the story of Deacon Brodie later served as the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's story, "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde".

A glass of Strongbow over at the Tavern

You'll have to decide by yourself if this man is currently Dr Jekyll or Mr Hyde ...

Pour me a Scotch

This could be a hymn for her, celebrate the fun we had - the joy to see her - the times we spent.
But it's not ... this'll be a short summary of Edinburgh Town.

Got there late Friday night and signed in to "Royal Garden Apartments" - a decent place to stay all in all, free internet and muffinses situated a few yards North of Princes Street and Waverley Station.

The actual toursting took place between 8 am and 4 pm.

8:00 - got down to Holyrood Park after passing the University and House of Parliament. (The latter one apparantly given several international architecture awards - bullshit if you ask me)
From the westernmost plateu I got a good view of the City and the natural eyecatcher - the Castle.

9:00 - strolled slowly through Old Town and got to see a rich variety of pubs and clubs at Grassmarket (saw a few of them while driving in to town Friday night too) and eventually got up the "Granny's Green stairs" to the Castle

9:30 - Edinburgh Castle - the place where Royalties have been living since 12th Century and the place was an interesting attraction but not THAT fancy.

10:30 - "The Scotch Whisky Experience" - was an hour-long tour and taste experience through the four regions and their different flavours as well as a short tour on the production process of Whisky. All in all quite interesting. Well worth an hour an £11.

12:00 - found a cozy "close" and sat down for lunch, soup&sandwich with a *ehum* typical chocolate fudge cake for desert before the walk north started

14:00 - Edinburgh Royal Botanical Garden - this was a success. Didn't see even half of it but still enjoyed it quite a lot. Spent well over an hour going throught the ten zones in the Glasshouses and that was well spent £3:50

16:00 - met up with the Mrs, relaxed had a bath, got ready for down-town action and we ended up at "Hannah's" - a Kurdish/Iranian restaurant (The Witchery was full). Great meal there and then straight down to Grassmarket for desert before stopping by a genuine pub along the "Royal Mile" before finishing the day.

Urban Angel

Sunday had a wonderful start of the day at a cozy eco-fairtrade-local grown-modern-hippie-cafe (Urban angel) with the best muesli-fruit compote-yoghurt-jam-experience I've everhad as well as the sweetest scones man has ever sank his teeth in.

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I watch the Watchmen

Rorschach's Journal: October 12th, 1985:
Tonight, a comedian died in New York.

If I may, I'll just cut'n'paste my own review from the forum

Läste ut serien över en veckas tid, gillade den som fasen.
Men att sen se adaptionen till vita duken överträffa det -
ja det var baskemej trevligt. Att slås av den klockrena castingen
(nja ... dvärgen i fängelset var iofs pissdåligt val men kanske dåligt utbud av korta killar)

Vad har vi att göra med? Jo ett comic-epos från mitten 80-tal utgivet av DC-comics
ritad o skrivet av Dave Gibbons o Alan Moore (V for vendetta, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen)

Vi har kallt krig, vi har superhjältar, antihjältar vi har överhängande risk för kärnvapenkrig vi har kommunistskräck, vi har Nixon vid makten för 3e (4e? 5e?) gången i rad.

Vi får flashar av Warhol, Bowie, Kennedy-mordet, vi har underbar musik - Simon & Garfunkel, Dylan, Nena (!), Cohens Hallelujah.

Vi bjuds på (av-)maskerade superhjältar utan mer krafter än sitt civilkurage

Mycket jag kan spåna vidare runt, Rorschach's ständigt skiftande mask. Night Owl's duala natur som ärkemes o atletisk uggle-hjälte.

Ja jag sitter kort och gott igen med känslan efter 2:45 att här har skaparna gjort vad de ska i sina jobb.

10 av 10

What I do miss from the movie though - something that of course might be hard to translate to the screen - is the parallell story going on at the newspaperstand, where a kid reads a comic which is interlaced in the real story. A comic in the comic so to say. The whole story at the newspaperstand is actually left out. As well as the psychiatrists discussions with Rorschach, quite interesting ones in the book but all too short in the film. (Is it just me or does the voice of Rorschach sound hilariously similar to that of Clint Eastwood?)

What I don't really miss but what is a major difference from the paper copy is the ending. In my opinion it gets slightly too simplified - won't spoil it but the paper copy has a more intricate ending.

And as I said, what I really really love is the striking resemblances between the comic version of the characters and the ones on the screen.
Rorschach is brilliant, Nite Owl's glasses as nerdy as expected. Jacobi as sick as one could wish for. Ozymandias as distant and "plastic" as needed.

-We have to compromise! Rorschach
-No. Not even in the face of Armageddon. ...