Travelling to Antarctica

No, no, don't worry, I don't intend to do it. Not yet anyway. But you may remember back in May 2024, I mentioned that I discovered thanks to Where'd You Go, Bernadette? with my favourite actress Cate Blanchett that you could take holiday trips to Antarctica. Well, a few days ago, during the school run, I heard on the radio an advert about such holiday. I didn't hear much about it, except that they were advertising travelling to Antarctica, but it must have got some traction to be advertised on the radio. If you have ever been, or are considering it, or have seen similar adverts, please let me know in the comments.

Antarctica Cold

I haven't published a Wolfism in a long while and there are so many to share here. One my son said last year, which I thought was very funny: "Daddy, I'm cold. Not cold sick but like, Antarctica cold." As you may or may not know, Wolfie sometimes gets obsessed by Antarctica. Earth poles in general, really. And it reflects on his psyche and the way he expresses himself.

Spirou pour Noël

 Petit billet souvenir des Noëls de jadis. Enfant, j'adorais la série de bande dessinée Spirou et Fantasio. Je n'avais pas beaucoup d'albums, allez savoir pourquoi, en fait la plupart des albums que je lisais étaient empruntés à la bibliothèque de l'école. C'est une série que j'aimerais bien revisiter. Enfin bref, je me souvient d'un Noël, 87 je crois, nous avions reçu plusieurs albums, dont Virus. L'histoire est banale, un genre de techno thriller avec l'humour bon enfant propre à Spirou, avec un peu moins de la naïveté charmante des albums précédents. Mais c'est une bédé parfaite pour Noël, d'abord parce que ça se passe l'hiver, ensuite parce que le gros de l'action se passe en Antarctique. Enfin bref, je crois que c'est un ouvrage à revisiter ces temps-ci.

Holidays in Antarctica?

 I recently watched Where'd You Go, Bernadette? Because it stars Cate Blanchett. Well, of course. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, which I had wanted to watch since its release five years ago, but that's not what I wanted to blog about today. I discovered, thanks to it, that you can travel as a tourist in Antarctica. Call me silly or uneducated, but I had no idea. You can a bit of info in this Wikipedia entry, but a quick Google search online should show you many companies offering trips to the continent. In the film, it was a ship, but I understand there are other means of transport. I don't think I would dare to go, I am far too much of a wuss, and I love far too much my comfort. Beside, a certain graphic novel scared me of Antarctica for good. That said, I find the concept of traveling to the most remote and cold part of our planet, just for the pleasure of being there, fascinating. It must be quite an experience. And you, would you consider it? Tell me in the comments.

Fixing a runway in Antarctica

I recently read this article, which for some reason came on my feed on Google. I found it quite interesting. It's about people working in Antarctica, grosso modo. I am not nearly technical enough to do this job, let alone liking extreme weather. Even tidying this house is a bit of a challenge to me and I struggle to keep myself motivated enough. So I admire these people and I also envy their skills and resilience. And when things get difficult at work (not very often in my current job, thankfully), I might take a moment and spare a thought for these people fixing runways in the most unforgiving place on Earth, in the worst weather conditions ever.

Whiteout ('Tis the season to be reading...)

'Tis the season to be reading and, as you may remember from the previous years, it means that I will suggest books for you to read during your Christmas holidays, or maybe ask for Santa to put under your Christmas tree. Today's suggestion (and the first this year) does not have so much to with the Season as it as with the season. I long for a proper winter and what's more wintery than Antarctica. So the book I suggest is Whiteout by Greg Rucka, illustrated by Steve Lieber. I blogged about it and its sequel last week, I thought it was just as fitting for a Christmas read. In this graphic novel the continent is pure winter nightmareland. Be that as it may, the protagonist, U.S. marshal and tomboy (you can even say butch) Carrie Stetko, has made the Ice (as it is called) her home. Then someone gets murdered. You have blood on snow, isolation, blizzard, violence, a thousand ways to die a gruesome death, a good deal of international intrigues and a dash of espionage to give it some weight as well as authenticity, there is a lot to love here. Whiteout is not only a great thriller, it's an intelligent one.

Cold War Crimes

I wanted to give one ultimate reading suggestion for #Noirvember and was not sure what to suggest. Then today I found by chance this article about climate changes and the way it is reshaping geopolitical interests and potential conflicts in the Arctic. The first picture of the article and its content made me think of the graphic novel Whiteout by Greg Rucka, which is set in Antarctica. But more exactly its volume two, Whiteout: Melt, as it features Russian mercenaries dressed pretty much like them. Anyway, I will not give much of either plots away, let's just say that they're dark, violent and, more to the point, cold. And both belong equally to the crime fiction and spy fiction genres, but they have heart. I try to revisit them this time of year. I will do it again, especially now that the graphic novels are very topical.