Tag Archives: idle muse

Parliamo Glasgow – Stanley Baxter

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While live is mighty fine by the sea in sunny Girvan, Ayrshire I do sometimes miss the city of my birth; Glasgow.  Following a recent conversation with a friend who has never been to the city and in trying to explain to them that when I was a ‘wean’ the dialect spoken there was often impenetrable not only to non-english native speakers but also the majority of the other residents of Britain!   While I speak reasonable ‘Glasgow’ I am long out of practise (except for creating Joccian dialect in Flintloque!) so I directed myself and friend to YouTube and Stanley Baxter.

Long, long ago the great Scottish comedian Stanley Baxter did a series of sketches, quite hard to get these days it seems, where he acted out typical scenes of the city and then after delivering the lines in ‘Glasgow’ he would then switch to a proper RP English accent to give a translation in the style of a travel programme.  Have a look and enjoy…even if you have to run it back a couple of times!

Oh and yes all Scottish people can speak proper English when they want, but what would be the fun in that.   Differences and diversity make Britain the great nation it is today.

GBS

Jingle Bells, Bloody Hells its Christmas!

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Xmas gets into Halloween and more…

A short posting today as I have a lot on just now but its a good one.  When can you tell its not only Christmas but also the blatantly sad side of commercialism?  Well its easy, walk down the main street in Girvan on the 6th of August 2013 and see Christmas decorations for sale blazing away merrily in a shop window.

Yes, I kid you not.  Its a little game my good lady and I play every year with the festive season and also with other dates such as Valentines Day, Halloween, Easter, Summer Holidays and the juggernaut that is Christmas Day.  I can tell you as a FACT that since 2004 not only has the festive season been happening a week to two weeks earlier (taken from first seen as in today) but it has also been pushing aside other famous days too with the full swing of Xmas now occurring before Halloween in the shops in 2012.

It makes me all the more determined to make some seasonal miniatures this year, keep the fun in it, its not all about the money after all.  Not all about trying to grab every single possible sale. Well for some of us.

It made a grim vista as I stood there in a t-shirt in the sun….

GBS

Cuddly Alien gifts from America

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Huggable Face Hugger and Comforting Chest Burster

A while back my good lady wife got a package in the mail from America from our good friends the McAlisters who came to stay earlier this year.  Yes, I know, its been a while coming but while my good lady opened the box and took this picture on the day I have only just gotten to this posting now.  Honestly you would think I sat about doing nothing eh!

I have always loved the Aliens franchise and particularly the second movie Aliens which to me is the best one.  As a movie it has entered the popular conciousness and been borrowed from countless times and its also had a massive effect on wargaming too being sourced for LOADS of science fiction systems.

Thanks McAlisters!  These might not have acid for blood but they do have the stuffing for hugs a plenty.  🙂

GBS

Totally Choosing a Baby Name…badly.

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Recently in a conversation with a friend the subject of baby names came up.  Now I know that is not something you would expect a fellow like me to think about but I have done it three times in the past for myself and also chipped in a couple of suggestions for others.  So why this posting?

Aside from a fun little read I decided to do a quick browse for ‘choosing baby names’ and came across this video.  To me this is an example of a poor way of choosing names for your children.  Have a watch.  The first mother chooses something that will cause endless confusion for her daughter (but not to worry it makes her sound edgy and trendy..well for at least a year as nothing changes like trends!), the second something traditional (after suffering a bit of brain death beforehand) and the third…well she is the best of all.  The third will not tell you the name of the child for ‘internet security reasons’ thereby making her whole appearance on the video pointless (incidentally I found her and the name in less than two minutes online so bang up security job there self promoter!).

My idle muse on this is actually quite simple.  When you have the joy and honour to choose a name for a child do it with kindness and care.  It is the biggest choice you will ever make for that baby, toddler, child, teen, adult, parent before you.  Ignore trends, ignore your friends, choose wisely and choose fittingly too.  That name will benefit or hinder them for their entire life.

I followed my own grandmother’s rules, you might find them amusing or useful:

1. Choose something you are not afraid to shout out loud in the street.

2. Never choose anything beginning with the same letter as your surname (alliteration is not cool!).  Simon Syme anyone?

3. Avoid the names of children of your friends or the friends themselves.  Also give each child a different starting letter in their names, avoids you accidentally calling the child their siblings name!

4. Find out the most common regional names where you live and do not use them (in South Ayrshire it is James and Claire for my generation).

5. Trends change and celebrities are vapid.  Have integrity and give the chosen name time to solidify in your mind before committing to it.

GBS

Time for a Change….discarding a now useless bit of kit!

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oldaashirt_june2013

I just had to do it.  I was left with no choice, circumstances and conversations led me to the decision to cast off a piece of useless garb and replace it with something new!  An image here of my original Alternative Armies work t-shirt which has, after ten years of excellent service, given up the ghost.  No point holding on to it any more.  Stitching, holding it together and kind words would not be enough.  No point looking back, ah happy memories indeed but when its done it’s done.    Sometimes when you invest time and love into something it works out, other times it just falls apart on you with nothing but fabricky excuses.

Off to the bin now with you me laddo…

Before you ask…yes, the company has furnished me with another at no charge!  I hope it lasts just as well and as long.

GBS

Iain (M) Banks dies aged 59

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A Great picture of Banks…nicked from Neil Gaiman’s blog!

I only learned of this sad news this morning after a rather dramatic Sunday which saw me having to rush my darling wife to Ayr Hospital’s emergency room after she fell and hit her head.  A mild concussion was the result and she is fine now but it did give me rather a bad fright.  Headlining newspapers here in Scotland today the news that renowned science fiction and other genre author Iain (M) Banks has died at only 59 from cancer of the gall bladder.

This is sad news indeed as it was partially this author and his book Use of Weapons which encouraged a teenage me to aspire to writing fiction in the first place.  Also fifty nine is just too young in this day and age to die I lament all of the lost stories his great mind will now never produce.  I also took great pride in my shared Scottish identity with this author as there are not many writers of Iain Bank’s standing in Scotland these days and I had and do hope to emulate him through my own titles.  I do not have his flair for gothic humour but I we share other traits.

If you have not heard of this author’s work then I do suggest you have a look around (the given link will show you all his work) and try him out.  His novels about ‘the Culture’ especially.

Rest in Peace Iain.

GBS

Long time no Blog, Long time no Break

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The Thinker ran the fastest that day!

Its been two weeks since I last made a post on this site.  Have I been away, been abroad, been missing in action?  No.  Not really.  I was here all the while but I was trying out a ‘working break’ that is an effort to cut my workload down while still being at work.  How to do this you ask…well its not complex.

Essentially I wanted time to spend with my children and my wife as the weather here in Scotland finally and I do mean finally began to heat up and it meant time down the beach in Girvan and trips out and about.  I work long hours and answer many hundreds of emails a week along with organising several projects and a dozen other tasks a day.  On top of the wargaming company workload I have this website and a blog and the Notables Yahoo Group too along with other online profiles to update and interact with.  To have a ‘working break’ I organised two weeks where I continued to do the office work but not the additional tasks such as this website.  Call it working to rule instead of working on rules if you like.

In the last two weeks I have attended two large outdoor events, the Mauchline Holy Fair and the Girvan Lowland Gathering.  I have had guests to stay, helped a long term and dear friend and her friend move house, written about ten thousand words of fiction, read four novels, watched half a dozen anime movies and listened to several new and older albums.  I have spent quality time with the greatest lady in the world (my wife!) where she reminded me why she is still my number one after sixteen years together and I had the pleasure of learning that my middle son came third in his sports day at school and my eldest son came first at his (hence the image above).

What has been most interesting though is the concern from several wargamers and others for me.  Why have I been so quiet, am I all right and so on.  Let me say I am fine and what I have been working on will be happening later this summer.  Thank you for your concern one and all!

Lastly I have decided that I can no longer keep up efforts to maintain my tabletop wargamer blog.  So instead of putting it on hiatus I am going to end it totally.  This will be in another post shortly.

GBS

Star Trek into Darkness – Film Review

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See a big cardboard standee…I was there, I was!

I boldly went last Saturday night…to the cinema…to see Star Trek into Darkness.  My recent trips to the cinema have been a sad, sad disappointment really.  Poor equipment, over priced (very), lack luster films and a feeling of regret that I wasted thirty pounds and a rare evening off work on them.  But not this time!  Into Darkness has had mixed reviews which if you have not seen it you should NOT read.  I avoided every ruddy advert, critic and everything else as I really wanted to see this movie and did not want anything spoiling it.  So was it any good?

YES it was.  I really enjoyed it.  The plot was thin in places but hey for a blockbuster it was fine, the 3D effect actually WORKED (that is a first for me).  It was superbly shot and rendered and the action sequences were very good.  Star of the film no doubt was Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan, he was excellent as Sherlock and excellent again leaving the other actors way behind.  But for me it was the last thirty minutes of the movie that made it superb and not for anything you would expect.  I have always been a fan of Chris Foss the sci-fi artist and it seemed to me that the film lifted his view of the universe and plonked it down wholesale on the Earth of the future, cars, buildings, fire and rescue vehicles.  From art to a moving reality. Brilliant.

Should you go and see it.  If you want a good film for science fiction fans that is about more than the USS Enterprise then yes.  A die hard Star Trek fan…not so sure.

GBS

Ray Harryhausen dies aged 92

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Jason and the Argonauts  Seventh Voyage of Sinbad and Clash of the Titans to name a few famous ones.  All films made fantastic by the stop motion work of Ray Harryhausen who died peacefully yesterday.

Harryhausen was a legend among fantasy and science fiction movie fans and I see at least five of his films a year during festive or other holidays.  In fact I know some of them off by heart.  What makes it even more sad is that his good friend Ray Bradbury died not that long ago.  An age really is ending.  Its going to be CGI over substance all the more.  Something akin to parts of the wargaming industry but that is not for now.

You Looking at me!

You can read a full obituary here and check out the clip above.  Its old, its creaky but man it’s still awesome!

GBS

Girvan Folk Festival 2013

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ohn Watt & Davie Stewart, in the dance hall at the first festival – 1974. © Peter Fairbairn, Kilmaurs

It was the annual Girvan Folk Festival at the weekend and by all accounts a good time was had all around.  While I did not attend any of the two dozen or so events I do live in the very heart of the town of Girvan and this meant I was within earshot of most of the pubs and hotels which hosted the groups and bands playing their music and teaching others the skills of folk.  This was the thirty ninth festival, tinged with a hint of sadness as the instigator of the festivals Bobby Robb died last year.

In the Roxy Beer Garden 2013. © Tog Porter – Wigwam Photography

While it is no secret that Girvan has suffered in the current recession I was proud of the way that the town managed to bring in a couple of thousand visitors over a weekend and take good care of them.  This despite the diminishing in facilities in the town (don’t get me started on politics!) and weather that was thankfully mild but dull and rainy.  Listening to the music gave me free entertainment and some joy too.  It is always good to hear people having fun (my neighbours got married at the weekend too) and while I got little sleep on Saturday night I lay awake with a smile on my face while the guitars played away the wee hours.

I have heard a rumour that some people complained about the charge for a weekend in secure parking and camping in the town.  This charge being to turn away those not interested in the festival and for security, including a police presence, to keep families and others safe.   I personally think that about 35.00GBP for a family of four for a weekend pitch during an event is perfectly fine but some did not.  The security was needed after the activities of some ‘people’ (and I use the term loosely…cretins would be more accurate) last year and some property damage.  There was no trouble this year that I am aware of.

If you have an interest in Folk Music check out the website for the festival and even if you don’t do it anyway as it is worth five minutes to see all the pictures.

Perhaps my schedule will allow me to attend some of the gigs next year for the big fortieth festival in 2014.

Well done Girvan!

GBS