Paths of Glory - Movie not the Game

Just watched Paths of Glory - liked it. Seemed heavy handed at the end, but good.

Screenshot from my Netflix iPhone window.

Good performances. And this is the first movie I would say was edited economically. What I mean I that there were several times when discussions where implied and the next scene showed the consequence. There wasn't a lot of extra fluff or exposition.

Very well showed the futility of the war, specifically the trench and back and forth of 1916.

I became interested in this because I'm reading Sleepwalkers and listening to the Dan Carlin Hard Core History podcast, currently running about WWI.

Star Wars 7, 8, and 9

What the frack?

Sorry, mixing my metaphors.

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSL1E8LUGV020121031?irpc=932

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iWaTR04Xmn044OFr-rdZEDUbVPew?docId=50a9b05149904f2c90b56c41cfc99681

Very cool.

Couple Points of Inspiration

Here are a couple of motivations or inspirations why I study WWII and play WWII games, both mini and board.

One is from my childhood and one more recent. Someone also recommended, "Beyond the Band of Brothers" by Dick Winters. I will have to give that a try. Someone also mentioned that the talks with the veterans are what inspired them. I think the way the producers tied in these real stories with the dramatization was incredible and very moving.

I well up every time I hear one of the vets say concerning losing so many friends and the sights they saw, "You just try not to think about them..." as he begins to choke up...obviously never able to forget.

Of course one is from the HBO series, Band of Brothers and the great movie, A Bridge Too Far.

War film And Sci-Fi Trivia

I like this sci-Fi take on the coexist bumper sticker -
http://twitter.com/#!/TheD6Generation/status/209387179259068416








I've not looked for the answer yet - but I'm very happy to see my favorite make it on there - Firefly.

And now, more appropriately for this blog's audience: War film trivia from
http://stephenwildish.co.uk/

Ran, Breakfast Club, and A Tough Chic

I've always wanted to see this, but I saw timmy! this week and he suggested strongly that I see it because it shows Samurai battle and armor well.

He was right. It's very well filmed. I thought it was an old one. Not really, 1985. Wait. Is that old?

Breakfast club is older. Oh boy.

Good movie - I'm currently on the scene where the widow becomes the brothers wife and licks his blood - crazy scene but awesome. She's gotta be one of the toughest women in movies. Toughest characters - man or woman.

As I'm typing this, she's still going. Incredible.

Watching this gives me hope in painting Samurai. In fact it may be fun to paint these armies.

Battle does seem to be a bit more chaotic.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ran_(film)

The Japanese woman is the actress that plays the wife - Lady Kaede
http://www.google.com/search?q=Mieko+Harada&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari

Oh yeah, happy BDAY mom!

Stuff I'm doing lately - variety edition

Gaming and Modeling time is at a premium lately with work and AW's business, and kids, and, and... I thought for this post I would discuss, like many of the podcasts I listen to, my general hobby/somewhat related activities:

The pic to the left shows me working on a "painting" project with my 10 year old. Helping him to color in the letters on a homework assignment. (If figure I would let him figure out the answers and read the stuff to get the work done and I would help him to do the filler work. I'm pretty confident he got the coloring part of his education down about 6 years ago.)

In addition, I saw the movie Valkyrie again. It's an enjoyable flic, keeps the tension up and is well acted in most parts. And the one battle scene seems well done. I don't  know much about the desert theatre to comment on the equipment, etc. Something doesn't seem right about the aircraft used...

And I don't know much about this particular attempt on Hitler's life. Fodder for future reading.

Saw Conan, the new version. Hmmm it re-energized my love of the Conan lore that I've had since I saw the Arnold Conan, then read the Marvel versions. However, the movie seemed flat, not epic...though they tried. It's like they ran out of money. At one point I thought I was watching a TV show - which might actually be better. Seriously, Howard's writing is very stylized - but it works for the genre and time period. I think any adaptations should adapt this somehow. I'm going to back and watch the Arnold version again. I wouldn't recommend this movie.

I'm thinking I would have enjoyed if they would've covered more Conan growing up and going through his early adventures...Not sure. Really, as I think about it more, it would make a better TV series - fits the form of the stories better.

Though I had said in an earlier post that I wasn't sure of Samurai, I'm following with interest a blog called, The Wargaming Site as he begins his journey down the road toward 6mm Samurai miniature wars.  He also did this great post of his searching for buildings and terrain of the Sengoku Samurai era.  Also, I like the way his site creates a magazine style.

Dry Dock paining - some completed ships

Lutzow

Lutzow

Started painting ships for Naval Thunder. These are the 1/3000 ships I found for a $1.00 each at Miniature Market.

This is harder than I thought.

And I will paint my destroyers from here on out with a grey paint and a couple touch ups like black on the stacks and perhaps some dry-brushing. I painted the HMS South Hampton and Arethusa. Yeah, this is not pretty. But I want to keep them the way they are to hopefully see how I improve.

The South Hampton I could find only had two stacks and I couldn't find anything about retrofits. Mine has 3 stacks - maybe I can say it's extra fast! Just kidding purists!

The Graf Spee and Lutzow however, were fun to paint.

And yes, I've reached new levels of Nerdaton with my attempt at painting a swastika flag on the bow of the Lutzow. Yes, using a filament off an old toothbrush. Better luck next time.

Graf Spee

It's fascinating the paint schemes they used on ships in WWII. Some of them are quite effective making the ship look different than it  is. You can imagine at sea and dusk that it would be hard to get a good spot while targeting.

I've been thinking of basing and was going to get some Litko But I'm really trying to not spend money. I'm either going to try cutting some plexiglass I have (though I hear it's challenging) or perhaps using a heavy letraset. Like a heavy cardstock. With the latter I'm concerned for warping.

On another note: tried playing Basic Impetus again with the paper representing Samurai and Korea. And not so much interest this time. Impetus is a good set. I like the rules. Nice and easy to get, like Naval Thunder. However, I just wasn't interested in finishing out my test. And, when I was looking over the rules to clarify a few things, I found myself forcing the issue. It's my hobby and have other things I would like to try. I'll put thoughts of this era aside for awhile. When I get around to reading the books I bought for the era my interest may be rekindled.

On yet another note: watched the original True Grit and enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I'm leaning toward the new one as my favorite. I was impressed with the 1969 iteration though.

Here are a few of the sites I'm using as guidelines for painting and books for inspiration:
http://www.bismarck-class.dk/index.html
http://steelnavy.com/gallery_cruisers.htm
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/index1.html
http://uboat.net/index.html 
 

From Amazon

From Amazon

From Amazon

You Guessed It, From Amazon

And My Favorite, From Amazon