diff --git a/method/hg.py b/method/hg.py
index 0399c2f..17e56ea 100644
--- a/method/hg.py
+++ b/method/hg.py
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
+import os
+import re
 from subprocess import Popen, PIPE, STDOUT
+
 from method import Method, Argument
 from method.vc import VcBlame
-import re
 
 try:
     from mercurial import hg, ui
@@ -20,31 +22,23 @@ class HgBase(object):
             return False
         else:
             return True
-    def _hg_init(self):
-        ui_imp = ui.ui(verbose=True)
+    def _hg_init(self, **kwargs):
+        ui_imp = ui.ui(**kwargs)
         ui_imp.pushbuffer()
         repo = hg.repository(ui=ui_imp, path='.')
         return ui_imp, repo
 
 class HgBlame(VcBlame, HgBase):
     """Show buffer annotated with hg metadata"""
-    line_re = re.compile(r'^ *(?P<user>[^ ]+) (?P<rev>\d+) (?P<date>\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}): (?P<content>.*)\n$')
-    prefix_fmt = '[b:d:*]%(rev)-5s [c:d:*]%(user)-10s [b:d:*]%(date)10s[d:d:*]'
+    num_fields = 3
+    # user, rev, [changeset], date, content
+    line_re    = re.compile(r'^ *([^ ]+) +(\d+) +[^ ]+ +(\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}): (.*)\n$')
+    prefix_fmt = '[g:d:*]%*s [c:d:*]%*s [b:d:*]%*s[d:d:*]'
     _is_method = True
     def _open_pipe(self, w, **vargs):
-        cmd = ("hg", 'blame', '-nudq', w.buffer.path)
+        cmd = ("hg", 'blame', '-cnudq', w.buffer.path)
         return Popen(cmd, stdin=PIPE, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE)
 
-class HgBlame2(Method, HgBase):
-    def _execute(self, w, **vargs):
-        if not self._hg_check(w):
-            return
-        ui_imp, repo = self._hg_init()
-        hgc.identify(ui_imp, repo, w.buffer.path)
-        hgc.annotate(ui_imp, repo, w.buffer.path, user=None, date=None, rev=None)
-        s = ''.join(ui_imp.popbuffer())
-        w.application.data_buffer('*Blame*', s, switch_to=True)
-
 class HgLog(Method, HgBase):
     """Show hg log for this buffer"""
     def _execute(self, w, **vargs):
diff --git a/method/svn.py b/method/svn.py
index 88f7cce..402ec59 100644
--- a/method/svn.py
+++ b/method/svn.py
@@ -264,10 +264,12 @@ class SvnDiff3(Method):
 
 class SvnBlame(VcBlame):
     '''show blame output for the current version in SVN'''
-    line_re = re.compile('^ *(?P<rev>\d+) *(?P<user>[a-zA-Z0-9_]+) *(?P<date>[-0-9]+) *(?P<time>[:0-9]+) *(?P<tz>-\d{4}) *\((?P<vdate>[^\)]+)\) (?P<content>.*)\n$')
-    prefix_fmt = '[b:d:*]%(rev)-4s [c:d:*]%(user)-10s [b:d:*]%(date)10s[d:d:*]'
-    _is_method = True
+    # rev, user, date, [time], [timezone], [date-str], content
+    num_fields = 3
+    line_re = re.compile(r'^ *(\d+) *([a-zA-Z0-9_]+) *([-0-9]+) *[:0-9]+ *-\d{4} *\(.+?\) (.*)\n$')
+    prefix_fmt = '[g:d:*]%*s [c:d:*]%-*s [b:d:*]%*s[d:d:*]'
     pretest_err_msg = 'Subversion is not installed'
+    _is_method = True
     def _pretest(self):
         return has_svn
     def _open_pipe(self, w, **vargs):
diff --git a/method/vc.py b/method/vc.py
index 30f541c..7062fe3 100644
--- a/method/vc.py
+++ b/method/vc.py
@@ -10,34 +10,37 @@ class VcBlame(Method):
     line_re         = None
     prefix_fmt      = None
     pretest_err_msg = None
+    num_fields      = 1
     def _pretest(self):
         return True
     def _filter(self, line):
         m = self.line_re.match(line)
         if not m:
             raise VcException("couldn't parse %r" % line)
-        return m.groupdict()
+        groups = m.groups()
+        return {'fields': groups[:-1], 'content': groups[-1], 'tokens': []}
     def _open_pipe(self, w, **vargs):
         raise Exception('unimplemented')
-    def _execute(self, w, **vargs):
-        if not self._pretest():
-            w.set_error(self.pretest_err_msg)
-            return
-        elif not hasattr(w.buffer, 'path'):
-            w.set_error("Buffer has no corresponding file")
-            return
-
+    def _build_groups(self, w, **vargs):
         pipe   = self._open_pipe(w, **vargs)
-        groups = [self._filter(line) for line in pipe.stdout]
+        groups = []
+        gsizes = [0] * self.num_fields
+        for line in pipe.stdout:
+            d = self._filter(line)
+            for i in range(0, self.num_fields):
+                gsizes[i] = max(gsizes[i], len(d['fields'][i]))
+            groups.append(d)
         status = pipe.wait() >> 8
-
+        if status != 0:
+            raise Exception("There was an error (%d)" % status)
+        return groups, gsizes
+    def _lex_groups(self, groups, w, **vargs):
         if w.mode.grammar:
             lexer = lex.Lexer(w.mode, w.mode.grammar)
-            tokens = list(lexer.lex([d['content'] for d in groups]))
-            for t in tokens:
-                groups[t.y].setdefault('tokens', [])
+            for t in lexer.lex([d['content'] for d in groups]):
                 groups[t.y]['tokens'].append(t)
-
+    def _build_lines(self, groups, gsizes, w, **vargs):
+        self._lex_groups(groups, w, **vargs)
         lines = []
         for d in groups:
             if d['tokens']:
@@ -47,10 +50,21 @@ class VcBlame(Method):
                     suffix += code + util.cbuf_escape(t.string)
             else:
                 suffix = d['content'] + '\n'
-            lines.append(self.prefix_fmt % d + ' ' + suffix)
-        data = ''.join(lines)
+            tpl = tuple(util.flatzip(gsizes, d['fields']))
+            lines.append(self.prefix_fmt % tpl + ' ' + suffix)
+        return lines
+    def _execute(self, w, **vargs):
+        if not self._pretest():
+            w.set_error(self.pretest_err_msg)
+            return
+        elif not hasattr(w.buffer, 'path'):
+            w.set_error("Buffer has no corresponding file")
+            return
 
-        if status == 0:
-            w.application.color_data_buffer("*Blame*", data, switch_to=True)
-        else:
-            w.set_error("There was an error (%s)" % (status))
+        try:
+            groups, gsizes = self._build_groups(w, **vargs)
+        except Exception, e:
+            w.set_error(str(e))
+
+        data = ''.join(self._build_lines(groups, gsizes, w, **vargs))
+        w.application.color_data_buffer("*Blame*", data, switch_to=True)
diff --git a/util.py b/util.py
index 91e32c9..f3d135f 100644
--- a/util.py
+++ b/util.py
@@ -7,6 +7,13 @@ cbuf_re = re.compile(r'[\[\]\\]')
 def cbuf_escape(s):
     return cbuf_re.sub(lambda m: '\\' + m.group(0), s)
 
+def flatzip(a, b):
+    l = []
+    for x, y in zip(a, b):
+        l.append(x)
+        l.append(y)
+    return l
+
 def normal_path(path):
     #path = os.path.realpath(path)
     path = os.path.normpath(path)