SnakeText: new version of an old joke

SnakeText.py

#!/usr/bin/python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

import codecs

# Open file and load lines

with codecs.open('msg.txt', encoding='utf8') as f:
    lines = [line.strip() for line in f]

# Counting lines

linesCount = len(lines)

# Max line length

maxlen = max([len(line) for line in lines])

# Make symbol lists, similar by length from lines

lines = [list(line + ' ' * (maxlen - len(line))) for line in lines]

# Rotate odd lines

lines = [(lines[line_num][::-1] if line_num % 2
         != 0 else lines[line_num]) for line_num in range(len(lines))]

# Show the stuff

print u'\n'.join([''.join([lines[i][j] for i in range(linesCount)])
                 for j in range(maxlen)])