Raithe

Doomsday. Rhona Mitra and cannibalistic punk-rockers in a sort of post-apocalyptic Scotland.. Backed up with supporting cast from the likes of Bob Hoskins, Malcolm McDowell, Alexander Siddig, Adrian Lester and Sean Pertwee. A lethal virus spreads throughout the British isles,infecting millions and killing hundreds of thousands. To contain the threat, acting authorities brutally quarantine the country as it succumbs to fear and chaos. The quarantine is successful. Three decades later, the Reaper virus violently resurfaces in a major city. An elite group of specialists, including Eden Sinclair, is urgently dispatched into the still-quarantined country to retrieve a cure by any means necessary. Shut off from the rest of the world, the unit must battle through a landscape that has become a waking nightmare And thus.. the boss entrance.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGA7q9VLfps&feature=related

That's because the Africa campaigns had that magnificent bastard Rommel. Great history does tend to require some great personalities....

The Sixth Book...

Heh. Pentagon Quits the Avengers

Speaking of obscure military history, I was reading the Timeline of Military History, and you had mention that in the 4,000 years or so of recorded history of the world, there's only about a century or so (in collected years) where no "recorded" wars have occured. Also, since the beginning of the 20th century, there has been only a single year where no member of the UK's Armed Forces has been killed on duty somewhere in the world. The majority of which were various "peacekeeping" duties rather then actual "war". Now that's an interesting distinction isn't it....

Marvel has said that they do hope to get all of the licences back together under one group, so that you can have potential cross-overs of both Heroes and Villains.. So the likes of Spider-man and Doctor Doom both could have a spin in a future Avengers film..

And they're even working on a Nick Fury film to show his origins.. Everyone I know who have seen the Avengers have the same list of about 5 scenes that made them laugh out loud. But yes, Joss certainly showed he has managed to bring a certain elegance to out-ZOMG'ing Michael Bay's summer blockbusters.. and the assortment of dialogue and geeky comic-book references he worked into the script.. Edit: And I have to say, I'm actually a little impressed with how well the guy playing Loki handled it. The combination of delivery of lines, facial expressions and body language was top notch. He managed to chew the scenery in just the right manner.

I half feel it's worth it just for the Hulk / Loki scene. Seriously. And Lou Ferrigno voices the Hulk once more..

Had an afternoon splurge of TOR. Got my Smuggler to Corellia, and landed my Jedi Knight on Alderaan.. missed running some flashpoints with guildbuddies, but juggled some stuff around between characters..

A full chorale variant of the amusing "John Williams is the Man..." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il1YhUrqaH0&list=UUKynxaAizvbQWD-hmf6OgEA&index=9&feature=plcp

And the Avengers certainly show a fine sense of Joss Whedon's style and writing. There's some quite humerous moments spun out in the midst of it all. Fun cinema, and while there are plenty of explosions and wotnot, it doesn't actually take over the characters. Without giving away too many spoilers as such: Jackson's Nick Fury gets a whole hunk of screen time (as expected) and plays nicely as that manipulative magnificent bastard. Captain America comes across as a bit uptight, but gets back to the man of principle more then a "good" soldier. Thor is more of the background character in a lot of ways then taking forefront. Robert Downey's Stark pushes to the forefront in pretty much every scene he's in.. Although I think it comes across as if Stark and the Black Widow have the most "on-time" out of the whole group. Bruce Banner is fairly subtle as well for his presence, he plays the only one who can talk with Stark at that level and plays with a quiet confidence for most of it. The Hulk side not putting in an appearance towards the end of the film. Although I do think there's going to be a handful of scenes that everyone who goes to see the film will find stuck in their memories. Natasha's introduction and the "reverse-interrogation" hit my humour, Loki's interaction with Agent Phil Coulson (yes, Agent is not his first name), and the impeccably timed and shot Loki/Hulk moment... Gwyneth Paltrow does her 5 minutes as Pepper Potts, whilst Natalie Portman is just a photograph and datasheet shown to Thor...

Well the oratory tradition of the Sagas is generally considered a form of poetry. Or at least, prose. From what I've heard, when properly told in Old Norse there's a real rythm and cadence that works with the story... Quite often forms of stanza and alliterative verse as part of what's going on..

It's not like you could actually fire that many rounds through an M60 without barrel droop and premature cookoff... or so I've heard. At least the video clips of the "new" M60E was quite suitably impressive a few years back..

Okay, for the slightly bizarre pondering.. The random thought struck me on whether it's actually possible to create a new "nation" as it were in this day and age. I'm not talking about the natural evolution of countries to grow, split, change politics and wotnot. I mean more in the lines of.. if you got a few hundred folk together and settled on some uninhabited island that isn't under any countries control, could you declare it an independent nation? Creating an artificial "culture" or general differences to other societies? What would it take to do so and be recognised as such? Established infrastructure and government? Legal issues in ownership? Having some folks say "yes, we've created a new nation, now the UN must recognise us." ? Would the people there still be viewed as whatever "nationality" they'd originally been? But still, throwing the floor open to general thoughts on the subject...

And they've got Karl Urban as Dredd. And the man loathes wearing helmets. Apparently it's become one of those amusing in-jokes in hollywood that he keeps getting into films where his character is supposed to be all helmeted. And he always finds reasons why he can get away without..

For the weird.. The reference of "May the Fourth Be With You" was first used.. by the Tory party as a bit of advertising/pr back in 1979 for one of Maggie Thatcher's election. Having it turn into a recognised geek cultural thing came yeears later. Actually decades..

Star Wars Day - May the Fourth be With you..

Since it's May the 4th.. I'm pondering if I can get away with doing bugger all work effort, and spending large chunks of the day playing Star Wars games instead..

For the nature shot... I can't quite decide if it's all the Shadowrun or just this view that make me want to visit Crater Lake at some point..

Hm, although looking at Amazon to check on some book release dates and I see Space Marine is going for

I'm not quite sure what happened today. After spending large chunks of yesterday hiding from the headache.. I sat down to achieve some work.. started having a poke at reading and understanding some things from Prince2, ITIL, and Modaf..and somehow ended up going to project managent and then onto Arcologies, Future Architecture, and the assorted basic sciences, methodologies and funky art surrounding them...

And who has been following anything about Masdar City? A solid attempt at a "proto-arcology" style city.. Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company working with the British architectural firm Fosters and Sons have been working on this for a few years now.. Even though the finished date has been pushed back by a decade..they're still cheerfully developing and building it. BBC Fast:Track - Masdar City http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyghLnbp20U&feature=related

Ah, actually that's kind of a subtle disguise. It's actually a way to sneak in on the whole Rogun the Butcher arc of the storyline.

For the totally random Interest - What are peoples favourite time periods/places and why? Are we going to focus on a decade in the 20th century, or ancient history? Various Empires or just periods of growth and mythology? In the midst of my assorted science and related matters and courses, I took Classics at college and wound up with a wide range of Ancient Greek and Rome battering around in my brain (that and too many years role-playing has scattered my interests all over the place). I've travelled through Cairo and walked around the Sphinx, even taken entrance into one of the Great Pyramids (they're suprisingly cool on the inside) which has helped expand my Ancient Civilisation interests.. (that and probably playing waay too much Civilisation as I grew up...). Hell, take the slide into the early Phoenicians, the ruins at Crete - If you ever get to look at Knossos Palace and the likelihood that it's behind the early stories of the Labyrinth... Even the wanderings into Mesopotamia and the growth of Sumeria, Babylon... The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire - Politics, Intrigue, Treachery, Warfare, Lies, Sex and an amazing amount of letters and firm records of it all going on... Even the split of the East/West Roman Empire. Byzantine Rome turning more Greek and the battles they had with the Persians.. I've also enjoyed the wanderings around the Topkapi Palace (the treasure rooms and harem are amazingly fun) and that expanded my enjoyment of the Ottoman period.. Ever since reading Shogun, I've had a certain love interest in medieval Japan - combined with interest in philosophy and martial arts its just interesting to see how a culture develops and wars.. In a similar manner, the Warring Period of early China and the unification of the Warring States.. hell, if you can't enjoy the period in which Sun Tzu gave us the Art of War... Or to sidestep onwards.. Renaissance Italy. The Artists, the Politicians, The Clergy, The Moneylenders and the Scientists... "You know what the fellow said

I recently stumbled on this, referencing one of my favourite cult movies of all time. "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzaii Across the 8th Dimension!" It's a video of Kevin Smith at the NY Film Festival a few months back talking about how this movie shifted his worldview and has both Peter Weller and John Lithgow along to talk about their experiences in making it waaay back in '84. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8R8wmlggwc * Warning, it's Kevin Smith so some of the language might not be the cleanest...