Quantum of Solace

Due out one week before my birthday, I know what I'm going to see when I turn 39 (that makes me one year younger than Daniel Craig by the way, I wish I had his energy!). I've never before felt any desire to see an upcoming Bond film, so I guess that means either the new Bond films are superior to the old ones, or I've just changed in my tastes.

It could be the latter actually, since I've all but lost interest in science fiction novels, which is odd as I've been hooked on sci fi since I was 13 and I still love to see good sci fi TV and films. The books I've read of recent years however have not held my interest and I've found myself bored with their formulaic plot devices and predictable bad guys.

'Casino Royale' was a good film though. Far superior to just about any Bond film since Sean Connery packed in the game. I think it may be because the tiresome gadgetry is gone, replaced with the 'style' of Bond. It seems to work better when Bond relies on himself rather than a laser in his shoe or a chainsaw in his sunglasses.

Havhingsten fra Glendalough update

Remember Havhingsten? Well she's back in the sea again. Having wintered in Dublin, the ship and her crew are now back in the water and are headed for home. This time they are going the other way around Britain though and have left Ireland and are now docked at Lands End. Ahead of them lies the English channel and then the European coast line. Considering these were the waters that sent the Vikings out into Europe, it ought not be too difficult for them, but who knows what the weather will bring.

Alas, this year the journey is not garnering the same enthusiasm as last year, but I may post further on the matter should anything interesting occur.

Goodbye Russel T Davies, and good riddance

I've kept my self in check until now, since I've been hoping things would pick up, but alas, I'm afraid that whilst individual episodes have been good, the over all story line behind the revamped Doctor Who has been far too insular for my liking. Doctor Who used to be about stories, but now its all about some Londonesque fantasy about saving the universe, over and over again, and frankly, its getting boring. Even the inclusion of the Daleks left me disapointed, for in episode 12; 'The Stolen Earth', the Daleks were back once again all powerful and stomping the puny humans into the dust, but once again, the day is saved by a pathetic plot twist straight from the Star Trek play book.

Deux ex machina strikes again.

I blame Davies, the man most responsible for the creative direction of the revamped series and its various spin offs. Like Miles Bennet Dyson, I wish some one could go back in time and stop him, but alas, the damage is done and not even a Time Lord can save us from this mediocrity. I know a lot of people love the new Who, but sheep love grass too, and that doesn't mean I'm going to start eating it.

There is so much going for the New Who, excellent actors, excellent effects, some pretty good characters (see image below), but they're all wasted. Thrown away to make room for some multicultural masturbation from the fabled centre of the universe; a.k.a. London.

Switching to full rant mode...

...and the Daleks? Whats with the Daleks? They used to be the best thing in Doctor Who, but in New Labour... sorry I mean New Who... the Daleks have been reduced to a side show. Where as before, despite the shoddy effects and microscopic budgets, the Daleks at least got an entire story arc, something longer than just a walk on part in yet another Doctor-snaps-his-fingers-and-ends-yet-another-Dalek-empire. Because seriously, where do the Daleks keep getting these new empires/leaders/space craft? We keep getting told that all the Daleks were supposedly destroyed in the Time War ...except it seems for Davros (the über Hitler who never dies), the Emporer Dalek, the Supreme Dalek, the cult of Skaro, an army of Daleks in a Gallifrean prison ship and not one but two Dalek empires!

But where are all the Dalek engineers? Who builds their ships? or their ship yards? who mines the minerals? where is the Dalek infrastructure? Where are their slaves? their victims? There used to be a time when the Daleks were scary. Now they've been reduced to a slick parody of themselves getting used to prop up Russel T Davies's crap writing, and if you need any proof of how weak the Daleks have become, you just have to count how many times they scream EXTERMINATE! in New Who as they have to compensate for the appalling lack of plot by tickling the audience into a gut reaction.

Sure its cool when a Dalek screams EXTERMINATE! but not when thats all it does.


Rant mode off.

Davies is being replaced by Steven Moffat it seems, and that may be an improvement. It remains to be seen. I don't mind one off adventures, but I prefer full stories, with multiple episodes driven by a good old fashioned plot. No amount of Dalek bling can replace that.

Idiocracy

One of the posters over at AD recommended this film during a debate about American stupidity and ignorance as an example of where the US is headed. 'Idiocracy' is a post apocolyptic film about life in the USA in five hundred years time and its both frightening and hilarious at the same time. The premise of the film is that stupid people will outbreed intelligent people now the pressures of evolution have been removed by science (note that its a comedy). Apparently this film was neglected by its owners (Fox I believe), perhaps because it doesn't portray them in a very flattering light at all. Its too bad. This is a film a lot of people might be well employed to watch.

Essentially this film is a biting comment on contemporary American society, but if I'm honest, I found plenty of jabs poking into my guilty conscience. Its easy to laugh at America, but lets be honest, the rest of the world isn't any better. Stupid people continually pumping out billions of babies is a global problem.

Luke Wilson isn't my favourite comedian, by any stretch of the imagination, but he does a reasonable job of playing the 21st century man who wakes up in 2525 after being freeze dried and forgotten by the US military. Waking up in a dystopian society populated by the offspring of 'dumb people', he is soon found to be the most intelligent man in the world, this despite being the quintessential average man in his own time.

Artist of the month: Gustav Vigeland

One of the best things I saw in Oslo was the Gustav Vigeland park. Vigeland was a Norwegian artist who pretty much devoted his later life to a park just outside of Oslo, and the crafty fellow managed to persuade the city of Oslo to pay for it all, including his master piece, a fourteen metre tall phallic monolith of intertwining human bodies surrounded by 36 statues (most with multiple figures). To say that I am impressed by this gargantuan example of 1930's style art is an understatement. Not only are the figures stylized nudes (which I appreciate above all other subjects) but they are staggered to suggest the wheel of life with the central monolith representing mankinds aspirations towards spirituality. The whole thing is also made into a giant sun dial, though I don't know if that was intentional.

There is also a museum at the park dedicated to Vigeland, which houses many of his smaller works and test pieces. If your ever in Oslo, its well worth taking half a day to go and see it. Mette and I went to see the park years ago with my friend Andreas and I have to say, it was far and away way better than any sculpture gardens have in Denmark.

Artist of the month; Index

I've been updating my artist of the month side bar list in such a way that the older links get lost, so, here is an index to keep tabs on who's been listed on JRC-1138 thus far:

2006
April. Jan Saudek -Photographer
May. Missing
June. Kurt Trampedach - Painter
July. Craig Mullins - Digital painter & concept artist
August. Geoff Hunt. Painter & illustrator
September. Emil Schildt - Photographer
October. Carol Peace - Painter & sculptor
November. Oscar Chichoni - Painter & illustrator
December. Egon Schiele - Painter

2007
January. Paula Rego - Painter
February. Jean-Léon Gérôme - Painter
March. Tamara de Lempicka - Painter
April. Gilles Tran - Digital 3d artist
May. TJ Frame - Digital painter
June. Angus McBride - Painter & illustrator
July. Pernille Brethvad - Sculptor
August. Paola Eeluteri Seriperi - Adult comic artist & illustrator
September. Howard Pyle - Painter & illustrator
October. Seerey Lester - Painter & illustrator
November. Mihaly Zichy - Painter & illustrator
December. Bernie Wrightson - Comic artist & illustrator

2008
January. Daniel Horne - Painter, sculptor & illustrator
February. John Bauer - Painter & illustrator
March. Juarez Machado - Painter
April. Lucien Freud - Painter
May. Maurice Leloir - Costume designer & illustrator
June. Daniel Dociu - Architect and digital painter
July. Gustav Vigeland - Sculptor
August. Alex Kanevsky - Painter
September. Stephane Halleux - model maker
October. Adolf Lachman - Illustrator, sculptor
November. Patricia Piccinini - Sculptor
December. John Harris - Painter & illustrator

2009
January. Viktor Vasnetsov - Painter, designer and architect
February. Ilya Repin - Painter
March. Akseli Gallen-Kallela - Painter & illustrator
April. Leonardo Da Vinci - Painter, sculptor, architect, designer, scientist, alchemist and philosopher
May. Rudolf Tegner - Scultor and painter
June. James Christensen - Painter
July. Mark Lagüe - Painter
August. Robert Ingpen - Illustrator & author
September. Jill Barklem - Illustrator & author
October. Bernie Fuchs - Illustrator
November. Alice Duke - Illustrator
December. Jules Dupre - Painter

2010
January. Rodney Matthews - Illustrator.
February. Norman Rockwell - Illustrator & painter
March. Tove Jansson - Author & illustrator
April. Patricia Bourgeois - Photographer & graphic artist
May. Michael Whelan - Illustrator & fine artist
June. Gaston Lachaise - Sculptor
July. William-Adolphe Bouguereau - Painter
August. Andrée Wallin - Concept & matte artist
September. Steen Andersen - Photographer
October. Julia Margaret Cameron - Photographer
November. Milo Manara - Graphic artist
December. Warwick Goble - Illustrator

2011
January. Franklin Booth - Illustrator
February. Wynn Bullock - Photographer
March. NC Wyeth - Illustrator
April. Derek Gardner - Painter & Illustrator
May. Moebius - Illustrator, graphic novelist & concept artist
June. Emmanuel Shiu - Concept artist & photographer
July. Kay Nielsen - Illustrator
August. Archibald Knox - Graphic designer & jewellery maker.
September. Ron Mueck - Sculptor & model maker
October. Michael Kaluta - Illustrator and comic book author
November. Elizabeth Shippen Green - Illustrator
December. Jenny Saville - Painter

2012
January. Missing.
February. Missing.
March. Hans Krull - Painter & illustrator.
April. Juan Giménez - Illustrator & comic book author
May. Theodor Kittelsen - Illustrator & painter
June. Alexander Leydenfrost - Illustrator.
July. Aristide Maillol - Tapestry designer and sculptor
August. John Atkinson Grimshaw - Painter.
September. Odd Nerdrum - Painter.
October. Tavik Frantisek Simon - Print maker and illustrator.
November. Missing.
December. Missing.

2012
January. Marcel Reider - Painter.
February. Heinrich Kley - Cartoonist and illustrator.
March. Arthur Rackham - Illustrator.
April. Egon Schiele, again - Painter.
May. Ivan Bilibin - Illustrator and stage designer
June. Missing.
July. Jeremy Mann - Painter.
August. Simon Stålenhag - Painter
September. Missing.
October. Missing.
November. Missing. 
December. Matthis Verginer - Sculptor

Other posts
The Philosophy of Beauty
Frank Frazetta. 9 Feb 1928 – 10 May 2010.
Lucien Freud. 8 Dec 1922 - 20 July 2011.

Turcopoles

One might be forgiven for supposing I had abandoned my interests of late, but the truth is, I've simply been too preoccupied to write about them. I have however not neglected my wargaming, and I have even managed to paint a few figures for my next planned campaign! Wonders will never cease as my Mother used to exclaim when ever I got off my backside.

The first Takshendal campaign went very well, and now I'm working on a sequel (I love calling it a sequel). The next campaign will feature more skirmish battles and a lot more running around, so I have been preparing my figures in anticipation. I bought a lot of miniatures a few years back (when I had more funds to waste on my pleasure and no daughter) and now finally, some of them are being painted after having lain dormant in cigar boxes ever since.


These twelve figures are all light horse cavalry of a type known as Turcopoles, and were bought from Perry Miniatures (though the three female riders are meant to be Armenians). I wasn't too impressed by the quality of the miniatures to be honest. They look okay on the screen, but in reality they are quite brittle, some what small (25mm scale), and the horses have ugly legs; often bent and in unflattering poses. Worst of all, half of them required extra sculpting with modelling putty after assembly. Given Perry Miniatures reputation, I was surprised at how poorly made these figures were.

I have a love/hate relationship with light horse archer (& wolf rider) elements because I really like the idea of them. They're fast, can engage at a distance and flee before heavier elements can engage them... but in practice the size of the game table restricts their movement (any one leaving the table top is 'downed'). I think perhaps we ought to have a rule that says such fast cavalry units ought to be able to leave the table and then return from a different direction, though perhaps with a movement penalty and they can't engage from off table... its worth considering)

Chill

The thermometer outside my window is reading 39 degress C today, and I'm busy trying get the flat in some semblence of order. Living with the Snoos is like living with a poltergeist. I've been told many times that the second child is often the direct opposite of the first. By that meassure moifling 2.0 will be a small, quiet, demure boy who likes to keep his things in neat order... I'm not holding my breath.

Right now I'm hardly holding onto anything at all. Its so hot I'm slippery... so in the mean time I've decided to make a cup of tea and relax to some nice, cool music....

Fecundity rules!

We're going to have another child. Mette is pregnant. Its very early days but I'm so happy, I can't keep my mouth shut. By my calculations, the baby should be born in late February.

(Well guessed Lesly)

E.T.A

Heres a nice little animated piece from Denmark