I am now on Google Plus. If you are keen on keeping up with me more directly than here on the blog go along to this link and sign up to follow me. The system is easier for me to manage than Facebook is or Twitter so it suits me best. I will be expanding my presence on the plus as time passes but for now I am on the whole rattling around the 15mm science fiction communities to be found there.
GBS
Minions are cool..but purple minions are way cooler!
Now you are eight my little poet and bright you burn. A ray of sun in the world that promises much for a future not yet composed. Your face radiant and your words stronger and surer each day. Strong in limb and in mind my how you grow. Not so long ago to me a babe you were and a bundle in constant need of me. You need me still and you always will but it will be less and less and for that you will make me proud. My central son, my poet, my Daniel.
Happy Birthday!
GBS
Its been a long search and at times a painful one but at last I own a paperback copy of the Escape from New York novel by Mike McQuay. A close run thing (much like the Escape story itself!) with many bidders and a final price that might make you sweat but which is still less than buying a copy through a book dealer it has just arrived in the mail. I will do a review of the book once I read it but you might ask for now..why are you interested in a novel about a film that is thirty years old?
The answer is Snake Plissken (played by Kurt Russell) the character has had a big impact on me for as long as I can remember. Sure the film is a little ropey and in places it drags but it and its characters have real presence that many newer movies do not. Snake is an anti-hero living in a nightmare police state future America with a military past hinted at and a fame that he does not want. The book is meant to expand on Snake’s background and give weight to tag lines in the film. I sure hope it does. The novel is significant because it includes scenes that were cut out of the film, such as the Federal Reserve Depository robbery that results in Snake’s incarceration. The novel provides motivation and backstory to Snake and Hauk — both disillusioned war veterans — deepening their relationship that was only hinted at it in the film. The novel explains how Snake lost his eye during the Battle for Leningrad in World War III, how Hauk became warden of New York, and Hauk’s quest to find his crazy son who lives somewhere in the prison. The novel fleshes out the world that these characters exist in, at times presenting a future even bleaker than the one depicted in the film. The book explains that the West Coast is a no-man’s land, and the country’s population is gradually being driven crazy by nerve gas as a result of World War III. Awesome!
I actually do have a plan beyond the obtaining and reading of the book and that plan is to try and get 15mm.co.uk to back my idea of more HOF codes that are suitable for the EFNY setting. We already have the SFA which will stand in for the thuggish guards and we have HOF55 (pictured above) which will, with more packs coming this season, stand in for gangers in the prison city. But we don’t have what I yearn for….a Snake for the nest. A miniature like that could be put into many projects and wargaming settings. Perhaps a Maggie and a Cabbie along with a Duke and a Hauk too. Sometimes I get my way but with 15mm.co.uk’s customer base wanting it too…well perhaps this post will assist in that. Email me on sales@15mm.co.uk if you are as keen as I am. Eye Patches are cool!
GBS
A bill which allows same-sex weddings to take place in Scotland has been passed by MSPs in the Scottish Parliament. MSPs voted by 105 to 18 in favour of the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill. The Scottish government said the move was the right thing to do but Scotland’s two main churches were opposed to it. The first gay and lesbian weddings could take place this autumn. Religious and belief bodies can “opt in” to perform same-sex marriages. Ministers said no part of the religious community would be forced to hold such ceremonies in churches.
That is the first paragraph from a BBC News post online HERE. Its a good day to be Scottish. My country just got a bit more liberal and bright. Another piece of medieval darkness removed.
As for me I am all for love be it of any Human kind and I hope to get some more blog posts up soon. Its been a mad hectic week for me but the reasons will come clear soon enough.
GBS
1981 on the beach. One of my earliest memories.
I am now without grand parents. A life process that began before I was born with my paternal grandfather and then when I was a young teenager with my maternal grandfather. It continued with the death of my paternal grandmother in May 2012 which I blogged about here and it ended last week as my maternal grandmother passed away. She had been unwell for some time and had gradually slid away from the caring and wonderful woman that in many ways dominated my early years. I had expected her death and prepared myself mentally for it but it was still a shock and saddened me greatly.
Her funeral was yesterday and those who know me personally will have noticed my lack of work in the last week or so. I had not the heart for it. A simple service at a crematorium in Glasgow followed by a meal in the city all attended by family and friends alike. I have little time for religion and empty promises of a better place beyond and instead as the service went on I thought instead of the times I had shared with my Gran in the close years before I moved away to England. Then those times many years later when I stayed with her during my time at Glasgow University when we spent virtually every weekend together for the best part of five years. We were related and I saw her in myself but more than that we were loyal friends and I did all she asked and needed me to do. I was snapped back to the service by the touching eulogy which named me as her ‘little soldier’. I had not been called that in more than two decades.
1983 my 4th Birthday with my cousin Jennifer (she is even prettier now!)
Life moves on and in time this will become another memory but right now its sore to the touch. We are a small family and now we are fewer and poorer for this. My grandmother stood by me year after year and watched me pass each milestone that marked manhood and there have been many. Every challenge accepted and met. She loved her two daughters and her two grandchildren and my own children too and now this final milestone for her makes me no longer a grandson but a son only as the generations change. In the end death comes to us all but it is in those who continue that we matter for our fingerprints are on those whom we touched and guided and improved.
Goodbye Grandmother Fraser 1927-2014.
GBS
I recently got a new phone. I thought it was time, since my last one was bought before the advent of most social media. While its all business for me I did want to share the little luxury I bought myself to go with the phone. As you can see is a great piece of artwork by Sam Croes on a protective case. Depicting giant robots in a burning cityscape. From a future project, don’t ask, as this image is all you will see of the project for now. Its one for 2015.
Enjoy the picture and thanks to my good lady for taking the shot, as you can imagine its hard to take a picture of your own phone case while your phone is in it!
GBS
My good lady enjoyed a weekend away with her best friend which left me at a loose end (only kidding I just kept working of course). She travelled to Edinburgh to spend a night in a swish hotel and to take in the stage version of The Lion King at the Playhouse. I am pleased to report that my treat which included an excellent gift bag went down well and that a super time was had by both of them.
Perhaps I am too nice…but I do love her dearly.
GBS
Way back when with the Warrior dead centre!
Today is your birthday and now you are five. What a little terror and delight you have become my son. Mercurial and unlike your brothers you are the most testing and often the most rewarding of the trio. I see your mother and myself in you and your temper…well that is all me. Enjoy the presents and the cake and the birthday party too. It’s your day and now you are five.
As an aside there is an important member of the family not here today and he is missed. The picture above is from 2010 and shows the trio at Girvan Rail Station plus another….Uncle James. See you soon!
GBS
Twelve Years ago today I got married. I snapped this picture a few days ago and it sums up my feelings. I love you my lady as much today as I always have and no work, no money, no people and no damned nonsense of the world will ever come between us. Anniversary Day once more and while this is a short post it makes the point!
Now…Champagne Cognac or Botanical Gin….hummm…
GBS
Happy New Year to all. Yes, to all. All those who are a little mad, a little sad, a bit deluded and those who are hanging on as well. I am a happy guy, but why? Well I have just about all that a man might want out of life. A woman I adore, smart and sharp children, my own home, a free mind and the intellectual liberty to reject chaining nonsense along with great friends and a job quite unlike any other in the world. These are the true things of happiness to me. So no new resolutions for me. Its the same as every year with a straight back and a keen eye. Be a good person, help people, bring light to darkness and have fun. Oh…and type a hundred emails a day to keep everyone enjoying the input of ‘GBS’ across the world.
Big events coming up this year for all here in Scotland
The 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Not much on this from me but something maybe.
The 180914 Referendum for Scottish Independence. Expect some posts on this as well as what I actually decide to vote on the day. Biggest choice I might ever make in politics.
Enjoy the Winter!
GBS