Wolf's bane

TV Choice is one of Britain's bestselling publications, yet none of this revenue seems to go on proper subeditors. I don't mean a proofer to check the spelling and punctuation, which is generally okay. It's someone to think about the context the words appear in. Many a time I read a plot summary of a film which uses the names of the actor and the character interchangeably. Or maybe Ghost Rider really is about Nicolas Cage turning into a demonic biker.

Things reached new levels of silliness with last week's competition:

You read it right: to celebrate the publication of Changeling: Blood Wolf the magazine is giving away a 'five-star holiday for two to the beautiful island of Cyprus'. Aside from whether the prose scans, this is a remarkably specific form of celebration. Sadly it not not make it onto my calendar either, suggesting the tenuous hold of Changeling: Blood Wolf day on the nation's collective heart. How many cards did you get?

Not with a bang...

With a paragraph in the Evening Standard, and a bit of monstering in The Sun, the predicted national crimewave of Summer 2005 grinds to a halt.