All You Need is Kill or Live, Die, Repeat Review

I treated myself to a night at home not doing any work and rather spending time with my good lady and watching a science fiction film.  I know…how dare I!  Moving on from that the film we choose to buy (I tend to just buy DVD’s as renting them is now very difficult and downloading does not suit me) was Edge of Tomorrow or Live, Die, Repeat or All You Need is Kill.  Take your pick of the title.  Though the last title is the book the film is based upon.  So sitting in the dark with a beer or two how was it?

Well as an adaptation of the book it was quite a bit different which was sad really as the setting in All you need is Kill was to me better than a d-day recreation set in London and northern France.  As a movie though Live Die Repeat was very good with a nice look and a lot of action.  Here is the synopsis:

“The epic action of “Edge of Tomorrow” unfolds in a near future in which an alien race has hit the Earth in an unrelenting assault, unbeatable by any military unit in the world. Major William Cage (Tom Cruise) is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously dropped into what amounts to a suicide mission. Killed within minutes, Cage now finds himself inexplicably thrown into a time loop-forcing him to live out the same brutal combat over and over, fighting and dying again…and again. But with each battle, Cage becomes able to engage the adversaries with increasing skill, alongside Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt). And, as Cage and Rita take the fight to the aliens, each repeated encounter gets them one step closer to defeating the enemy.”

It is well worth checking out when you have a chance if you are a science fiction film fan.  Also it was good to see Bill Paxton back in the army!

So the book.  I have owned the book since near its English language translation date in the VIS Media edition in 2005.  I always thought it would make an excellent Manga but never thought it would be a Hollywood A lister live action film.  Here is the synopsis of the book:

“The story is told from the perspective of Keiji Kiriya, a new recruit in the United Defense Force which fights against the mysterious ‘Mimics’ which have laid siege to Earth. Keiji is killed on his first sortie, but through some inexplicable phenomenon wakes up having returned to the day before the battle. This continues and he finds himself caught in a time loop as his death and resurrection repeats time and time again. Keiji’s skill as a soldier grows as he passes through each time loop in a desperate attempt to change his fate.  After several dozen loops, he realizes his fate is tied to that of Rita Vrataski. He uses his knowledge of the day to get close to her and her mechanic, from whom he gets a copy of her massive axe, a weapon he learns to use well given the boltgun normal troops use runs out of ammo and jams easily. Realizing he is a fellow looper, Rita confides in Keiji, telling him of the system the Mimics use. There is a central nexus that can loop the day, as well as several antennae, all of which signal the loop to reset. Contact with an antenna is what trapped Keiji in the loop. Only by first killing all the antennae and then the nexus can Keiji escape. The Mimics constantly adapt to Keiji’s attacks, but he and Rita manage to eliminate the nexus, only to have the loop reset. After telling Rita this, she acknowledges that they missed one antenna. On the last loop (#160) they proceed to eliminate the antennae again, and then Rita attacks Keiji, explaining that being trapped in the loop has modified their brains so both of them are similar to the antennae, meaning one of them has to die before killing the nexus, else the loop will continue indefinitely. Keiji manages to kill Rita and then the nexus, and is hailed as a new hero of the Unity Army.”

Its a very original novel and its story works very well as a text, better than as a film if not using a narrator.  Confusion and despair mixed with a foreboding of events that will happen, have happened and will happen again.  If you have the inclination to read the book then you should and do so before you see the American adaptation of the book.

A last mention needs to be made of the alien creatures ‘Mimics’ which are described in the book but the film brought to CGI life.  It is a shame that no ‘making of’ book exists to be bought since I would purchase it.  The work that went into the design of the aliens was large and done in tandem with the designs of the armoured suits worn by troopers in the movie.  I got this information from two short documentaries included on the DVD.

GBS

School Daze a report from October 2014

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Parent’s Evening.  Its an event that most parents don’t look forward to.  A couple of times a year you attend the local school at a given time and then the teacher tells you all about what your little darlings have been up to in class.  What they have really been up to, not what they have told you after school each day.  This was the event for me last night in Girvan.  Now that only two of my three are at primary school for the first time it meant only two appointments rather than three which meant less running about making to a room on time.  So how did the Poet and the Warrior do….

How they did was a ringing endorsement of the parenting that myself and mainly my good lady made an effort to keep to.  Rewarding effort and initiative and punishing bad behaviour while giving the children as much responsibility as their ages can allow and not treating them as anything less than capable within their own limits.  It works.  It really does.  Both were given top marks with remarks made about their healthy attitude to life and high scores in tests and group work.  I may have to rename the Poet since his tendency towards mathematics and numbers is becoming ever greater and the Warrior is so sociable that his name may also change.

In short happy days.  Well done my sons!

GBS

Blasted out of Blast-Tastic 2014

This Saturday the long anticipated wargame show Blast-Tastic is happening in Bristol in the UK. The show is a new venture specialising in science fiction wargaming mainly in the 15mm scale. I had long planned to attend the show (one of the first to sign up to it!) but due to circumstances beyond my control (other meetings scheduled on the near thousand mile round trip pulled out on us!) it had to be cancelled.  This is actually rather upsetting as I had been really looking forward to going and had already got the stock ready and the demo game of Patrol Angis too!  The game is near completion and this would have been its only gaming public appearance before publication.

But all I can do is put a link to the details of the show and ask if you are near Bristol to consider attending on Saturday.

Seems a weekend in the rain of Ayrshire is now mine.  🙁

GBS

Sam Croes brushes up on some excellent Dragoons!

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I normally post up across social media and industry websites about two dozen times a week reporting on all the excellent things that I get up to in this brilliant job.  But this time its a little bit more special so I decided to feature this news here too.  The big whoop at Alternative Armies just now is the offer on the awesome modular wargaming miniatures the Elf Dragoons.  Their creator Sam Croes, a fine friend of mine, took the time to write up and photograph an article on building and painting one of them.  Sam is a master figure painter and a damn good designer too so its well worth a read and a look too.  See it HERE.

DPT2_RiderAssemblyThanks for taking a look.

GBS

Happy Birthday Darling!

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Happy Birthday my darling wife.  Though I sometimes do not pay enough attention to you know that I love you now more than I ever have.  Know that I and our three wonderful children could not do without you and that you are the loving bond that holds us together.  We have been together for a long time now but that has made us stronger and while those around us suffer their problems know that with me your future will always be golden and that you will always come first.

One of the many pictures from today.  Special thanks to Edward Jackson who sent my fine lady another of his excellent Dodo cards.  This one will join its fellows on the dresser in pride of place.  A new convert to the ways of the Dodo.

Enjoy your presents my love.

GBS

NO and perhaps its change or its trouble…

I don’t get involved in politics, I don’t get involved in religion,  I don’t get involved in social movements if I can help it.  Sometimes it cannot be helped.  I have to still see and listen to it and act.  The Scottish Referendum was one of these occasions and on 18.09.14 Scotland voted and decided to stay part of the United Kingdom; what had once been Great Britain the nation that built and ruled the modern world.  The vote was NO to the choice of independence by a margin of 55% to 45% and I think it was the result most people kind of knew was going to happen.  While I had prepared myself for either event I had noted down my own result and I was pretty close to what occurred.  I avoided putting this up publicly as I wished to stay neutral since I have friends on both sides.

So what now?  Well firstly politics will sink from this blog until and unless something big happens and it will be back to fun and games and family which is what I like (I still have eighty odd prog rock albums to source and listen to for the top 100 count I blogged about last month).  Secondly aside from some thugs causing problems in Glasgow city centre this weekend which frankly, take it from me, had little to do with the vote and more to do with being scum that take any chance to cause problems most people have accepted the result.  Some are trying to create a ’45 rebellion through social media which is amusing since from what I have seen they on the whole seem unaware of their own history and the coincidence of the actual ’45 Rebellion and Bonnie Prince Charlie.  Thirdly and most vitally I would like to follow up on the passionate speech former Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave yesterday as it links to my own feelings on what will come next.  Let me tell you what I think is going to happen for Scotland and the UK over the next couple of years.

Well Scotland said NO as I predicted.  The SNP were voted into power in Scotland to govern not as a signal for a thirst for separation but as a protest to the Labour Party who had been in power really forever in Scotland and had produced such failures and third raters for leaders such as Jack (now LORD!) McConnell.  The same thing happened a year plus later in England as Labour was put out and a Conservative and Liberal coalition took power.  Since then the financial crash and recession that followed it has shown the total lack of spine of the political classes in London, in the ‘Westminster Bubble‘.  Despite putting the UK nearly to the wall not a single banker or politician (don’t forget the expenses scandal too) was jailed or even seriously penalised.  The people of the UK have lost their remaining faith in the political class, of career politicians who have never worked in the real world and frankly stand for nothing as they are all ‘consensus’ and ‘middle of the road’.  The end result was a scare for Westminster as this all added fire to the YES campaign but also to the rise of UKIP as a party in England on the issue of Europe and the loss of power there which again no politician will even admit never mind speak about or do anything about.  So where from here.  Well promises were made to Scotland for further devolved powers being granted to Hollyrood in the event of a NO vote.  The BBC and the political classes have it seems already put the issue of Scotland Independence behind them saying ‘that’s it for a generation’.  Trust me its not.  Here we go.

If Westminster forgets or reneges on enough of these promises from September 2014 then I think the election next year in Scotland will see the SNP remain in power (they may well do since I also think the Labour Party is finished in UK politics as it stands) on a new mandate and will push again for another referendum.  If that is the case then the next time the YES vote will win as the momentum combined with swinging the NO voters who believed in union who will have seen the lack of action after the last time will move to YES.  It would only take a 5% swing.  Meanwhile in England the voice for a devolved English parliament will continue as will the one for a Welsh and Irish one too.  David Cameron will not be prime minister after 2015 regardless as to which party wins (the men in grey suits will ‘retire him’ from leadership).  The Labour Party will shrink and other parties take its place.  Then there is the promised vote on membership of the Euro Zone….

Pessimistic yes but based on this week I think Gordon Brown was pretty much right.  This is not over, not by a long shot.  The Scottish debate is a small part of something happening the UK over and actually all across the Western World too.

I am not interested in Politics beyond the local but as I said I thought I might put something out about it since its happening here and now.

GBS

Mullo AFV goes public on the 18th September!

I know something huge is happening on Thursday 18th and to be honest regardless of the result I am sure I will survive and prosper.  But I am fairly tired of talking about it and being pushed for an opinion.  So while I will be putting up the results and my thoughts on it..for the moment lets look at something awesome instead.  The latest 15mm model designed by my good friend Sam Croes goes up on offer at The Ion Age upon the morrow and its a beauty too.  The Mullo Armoured Fighting Vehicle a space opera dream made real.

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Ain’t she lovely! Thanks for looking.

GBS

This Week Destiny….YES or NO

Democracy.  Mob Rule.  Politics and all the dirt that comes from it.  It comes to Scotland this week in the biggest electoral decision that I and my Celtic brothers and sisters will ever have to make.  Its been getting increasingly rapid and even bad tempered in the streets of Ayrshire and elsewhere as the time grows close.  Both camps are hard at it putting their cases and belittling the case of the other side.

YES is focusing in on the failures of history and of distant rule from London while NO is focusing on the fails of the future and the terror of near rule from Edinburgh.  Frankly its all been a storm of smoke and sometimes outright lies.  I don’t really know what to believe but nothing YES has said has gladdened me and nothing NO has said has made me think that remaining is also a good idea.  More than a year of reading everything and pondering it all and I am no closer to knowing which way to go would be better.  Actually I could have written an entire new Flintloque book in the time I have spent on this and had way more result from it.  My notion of reporting here something solid to go on have vanished.

I must make note of the level of anger in me at some of the online comments left on Facebook, Gplus and Youtube aiming not only hatred but sheer idiocy towards the Scottish people.  I will not recount them but it is very saddening to read.  Actually its more upsetting the level of poor grammer, education and outlook presented that gets to me.  Is Great Britain or the UK one nation…no not really.  There is a real divide in climate, in attitudes, in populations, in wealth, in ideology and more before you even get to gender, race, religion and creed.  Perhaps we cannot all get along any more.  Or perhaps being as one will make us get along better.

I shall vote.  It is my right and my duty this week of all weeks.  For which case..alone or together…that remains to be seen.

I will end with the video clip below.  Perhaps Willy makes more sense than Cameron or Salmond.  He certainly makes clear points; something the others don’t.

GBS

(p.s. if you found this post confusing as to YES or NO from me..you were meant to!)

Club Tropicana for me the drinks were free

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I am back.  Not that I ever really leave the virtual world.  A week off work, the first in quite a while.  It was nice and the fun did beguile.  Not much to say really.  I see no need to talk about it beyond that I enjoyed myself and got a tan.  I like flying and heat makes a refreshing change too.  Really the reason for this little entry was just to thank all those who wished me well on my time off knowing I don’t get a lot of it.  Thanks chaps and ladies.  It was Club Tropicana and the drinks were free…my dancing was not videoed…just as well really.

Things are back off to a flying start though.  What I am up to?  Well click on these links to see.

Alternative Armies

15mm.co.uk

The Ion Age

Thanks!

GBS