Tintin

I just watched "The Adventures of Tintin -- the Secret of the Unicorn" and here are my impressions, as a lapsed but loyal Hergé fan. First, the visual effects are not only stunning, but admirably faithful to the cartoon. I was happy to see how much like the drawings secondary characters like Alan and Bianca Castafiore were. I was less impressed with Tintin himself, who looked ridiculous. Haddock also was a pretty big departure from the comic, but in his case I thought he looked pretty good anyway. As for the story: butchery. I hate to be "that guy", but I grew up with Tintin. I knew almost every book by heart (except au Congo and the Blue Lotus -- the only books that I did not have). The quality of the lines, coloring and complexity of the stories are what make Tintin transcend a normal comic. Understanding that adaptations are required for film adaptation, it all felt pretty slapped together and arbitrary. I can sort of see why Crab was added: to introduce Haddock. I have no idea why Sakharine was converted into a bad guy though. There was not even a hint of that in the book. What about the Bird brothers? Rastapopoulous? The latter is as good a villain as you could hope for! Finally, very little of Red Rackham's Treasure made it into the movie -- why? The story arc of hunting for treasure on an island, only to find it back in Marlinspike is wonderful and the film is poorer for leaving it out. I was also sad to see no hint of Calculus... it was after all the story that introduced him. Props for using the right font for the credits though.

A stupid plan

I somewhat foolishly signed up for a challenge on Strava:

Riders, do you think you can climb the cumulative elevation of five Spring Classics in 47 days? Do you think you can do it not just once, not twice, but three times? Now is your time to find out. Specialized and Strava challenge you to climb a grand total of 105,312 feet (32,100 meters) from March 15 to April 30.
The Classic courses may be better known for their distances or questionable pavement, but here are the cold, hard, climbing facts:

Milan-San Remo - 6,260 feet (1,908 meters)
Tour of Flanders - 5,709 feet (1,740 meters)
Paris-Roubaix - 3,259 feet (993 meters)
Liège–Bastogne–Liège - 10,883 feet (3,317 meters)
Amstel Gold - 8,993 feet (2,741 meters)

Do you have what it takes? If so, a custom Specialized and Strava commemorative water bottle and surprise finisher gift is yours if you can climb this set of Spring Classics three times, not to mention the gargantuan bragging rights you’ll earn. This challenge is going to take some serious guts, but you'll get some serious glory. Good luck to all!

No, I am not doing it for the bottle, but for the challenge. However, as every day passes and I get further into the hole, I am confronted with the impossibility of finding time for all 105 THOUSAND feet. As of today I have 10,305 feet climbed. It's not looking good.