Fellowship of the Backstreet

I found this in my internets the other day, and I've had no choice but to watch it again and again. Go ahead, watch it and tell me it didn't make you chuckle at least once. I dare you.

How archery should be done

So, say a combat round lasts 10 seconds. I counted seven arrows, and judging by the footage at the end, her grouping is flawless.

Iron Sky Trailer

I've mentioned this movie before, but it bears repeating. It premiers on March 4, 2012, but it's already received outstanding reviews at the Berlinale. To quote one critic, "it's like a heavy metal band just arrived at the Berlin Philharmonic in the middle of Verdi's Requiem and stole all the applause."


You should also read this article on The Daily Mail. It talks about both Iron Sky as well as WWII UFO conspiracies. Oh, and Bradgelina.

Historical References: Shield-wall

From antiquity to modern days, the shield-wall has allowed a small number of trained fighters to control or defeat a horde of rabble. The concept is quite simple: The men stand in formation, shoulder to shoulder so that their shields overlap. This way an enemy is denied the ability to flank the fighters one by one. Throughout history this tactic has been used by amongst others the Persians, Spartans, Romans, Vikings, Saxons, Normans, and in our own age, riot police.

The attacks

"Our answer is more democracy, more openness, more humanity, but without naivety."

-Jens Stoltenberg, Norwegian PM

Norway is a small country, and Friday's atrocities touched us all. We all know someone who were touched by this attack on the basic values of our society. 


The terrorist claims to be part of an international group, unified in their hatred against Islam and socialism. His goal was to force the hand of our government to take actions against what he sees as a threat against the Western Christian civilization. He failed. Norway of today is a nation without dividing lines; religion, politics and colour does not define us. Solidarity and humanity does.


Instead of seeding his own hatred in our souls, the terrorist has brought us all together. When I heard that he was of Norwegian ethnicity, and a Christian, I was relieved. How would Norway have looked today had he been a Muslim? It also made me realise that Christian terrorism hurts just as much as Muslim terrorism. We cannot fight intolerance with more intolerance. 


I have been reminded of one of our poets, Nordahl Grieg:


Here is your battle plan,
Here is your shield
Faith in this life of ours,
The common weal


For all our children’s sake,
Save it, defend it,
Pay any price you must,
They shall not end it


Please read the whole poem on Wikipedia.


I have never been as proud of my country as I am now.






[Picture source: NRK]

Boldly going...

I've now packed all my earthly belongings. Today'll be all about cleaning the gaff, plus readying my stuff for transport. Tomorrow I leave for a week with my folks, and when we hit August, I'll be crossing the ocean. Blogwise this means I may or may not be posting for the next few weeks. It all depends on factors I do not necessarily control, or am able to see at the moment.


I'll also take this opportunity to let you know that I've made a few adjustments on this here ol' blog o'mine. If you scroll down, you'll now find two new sections on the right-hand bar. One is called Featured blog, and I plan on changing that one semi-regularly. What ends up there will be blogs I think you aught to read. The other is called Podcasts, and... yeah, exactly. If you have any suggestions regarding 'casts, please let me know in the comment field. Oh, and it looks like the crowd likes the partial post-view, so that's staying.


Before I get crackin', here are a few posts on a game-relevant topic:


Rather Gamey 
["Cold Steel's Great Sword"]


the only successful one
["Science explains why running around in plate mail all day was not a good idea"]


Realm of Zhu 
["Animal Armour"]


Curse of the GM
["The spear is king."]


I'd Rather Be Killing Monsters
["This Is What I'm Talking About..."]


CoastConFan Blog 
["APACHES... IN PARIS?"]


Lastly, courtesy of Monte Cook's G+ feed, the Internet Movie Firearms Database.


For now, enjoy your summer (if applicable), and for the love of dice, get some gaming done.

Non-magical loot: Singing Bird Pistols

These should be worth a hefty sum in just about any setting, and probably well worth a little crime. This particular pair was sold for $5.8 million in May this year, after "[...] an epic bidding war between two of the world’s most connoisseur collectors who fought fiercely for more than 10 minutes." [source]  Now if that isn't enough to make you hum the theme from Mission Impossible, you're in the wrong hobby.


Thanks to Kevin Mowrer for the video.

Speaking of Trolling...

Sorry about that. You can go back to whatever you were doing now.

Schweine

The scheduled program will resume shortly. Have a smashing day.

A Gentlemen's Duel

Enjoy your day.

Word: Nemesis

It's been a good long while since I did one of these, and this time I'll go for a slightly different approach -- I'll let Brick Top do the talking. First, a word of warning: If you are scared of profanities, you should find something else to do.

Scoundrel Days

Trey asked a question about music and roleplaying. Just to illustrate, this album is probably the one with the most rotation over the last year.

A Familiar Face

Reference: Treasure Planet

Events have conspired to delay the chapter-post a little, so instead I'll post this one from my archives. Its also quite relevant, as there's been some failed attempts at placing the reference to the Orcus Galactica mentioned in the previous chapter.

Treasure Planet is by far my favourite Disney movie, and it scores high on my list of animated movies as well. Instead of delving into a synopsis of the plot-line, I'll just say that, yes, it is an adaption of R. L. Stevenson's Treasure Island. It follows the original fairly closely, except for a few minor changes. The main difference being the setting. Instead of taking place in our world in the mid-18th century, TP is set in an alternative universe. Space-galleons with solar sails have replaced the sailing-vessels of the original, and Long John is cast as a right charming cyborg. In addition, there are aliens, uncharted planets, laser-cannons, and space-ports. Also, Jim Hawkins is portrayed as a somewhat moody surfer kid with authority-issues, but given the general coolness of the rest of the movie, I managed not to let that spoil my mood (he's still more sympathetic than Anakin in E. II & E. III).

One thing I'd like to mention, while we're on the topic. Lately I've read Flint and Silver and Pieces of Eight, both by John Drake. These are the first two books in Drake's prequel-trilogy to Stevenson's classic. The third book, Skull and Bones is next on my reading-list. If you liked the original, or if you just have a soft spot for pirates, I can recommend these whole-heartedly.

Now, since this is a reference-post, here are the pictures.

RLS Legacy leaving the Montressor space-port

Space-galleon under sail

View of Montressor

Montressor's docks

The RLS Legacy under sail

RLS Legacy escorted by schools of Orcus Galactica

[The rights of all images belong to the Walt Disney Corporation]

A slight delay...

The chapter-post will not be up for a few hours yet, but that gives me the perfect excuse to post this bloody brilliant vid. Strike all that nonsense you've heard about Darth Vader's childhood, here's the true story. At least as it should have been.

Review: Black Death

"Be on your guard. God has slipped over the horizon."

Cast: Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne, Clarice van Houten, as well as a boat-load of British actors.
Director: Christopher Smith
Genre: Historical horror adventure epic. . . more or less.


I've intentionally kept this review very short, so as to avoid any spoilers (also, I have a wicked early day tomorrow).


In the year of our Lord 1348, the Black Death is ravaging England. Bodies are piling up, no one is safe from the plague, and people turn to God for deliverance. Rumours are spreading about a village deep in the marshes where death has no grip on man. The bishop's emissary, Ulrich (Sean Bean), is sent to find the village and capture the necromancer who rules there. The novice monk Osmund (Eddie Redmayne) is recruited as a guide for Ulrich and his men. As they journey into the marshes, they get further away from the fragile civilization of the Christian world, and closer to that which keeps people alive in such apocalyptic times. Here, their faiths are tested.


This is a seriously dark and scary movie. And I do not use those adjectives in conjunction easily. It has one of the best fight-scenes I can remember seeing, although this is not a sword-and-horses kind of flick. Likewise, it has some heavy Heart of Darkness over -- or is that under-tones? -- without it delving too deeply into the psycho-drama of either the book or the movie-adaptation. I would dare to say that Black Death masterfully balances traits from many genres as well as several themes and elements. It also bears mentioning that the location scouting in this film is absolutely brilliant -- it is shot in its entirety in Germany.


This is one film I highly recommend, and, yes, there is inspiration to be had.





Wikipedia
IMDb




On a related note, you'd do worse than read this article on The Guardian about religious films.




[Picture source: The Guardian]

It Sure Looks Like Winter is Coming

It'll be a slow bloggig week, this. I'll have a few off-topics for you, and I may sqeeze in a few on-topics as well, but time will tell what and when. To start this week, here's the last AGoT teaser. On word, damn.

Review: Itras by

Itras by means the city of Itra in English. It is a Norwegian roleplaying game written by Ole Peder Giæver and Martin Bull Gudmundsen, illustrated by Thore Hansen. It was published in 2008.

God jul, godtfolk!

(Happy Christmas, good people!)



In Norway, Christmas eve is the big day, so today we'll have our Christmas dinner, open our presents, and just enjoy good company. If you're wondering, yes, we're having a white Christmas, with -16 degrees (C) and a clear, blue sky.

Be well, and have a good day!

[Picture source: Selskapsmat.no]

TROLL!

There are two major types of trolls, mountain-trolls and forest-trolls. These all have a few things in common. One is their stupidity - trolls are very, very dim-witted. Another is their hatred towards Christianity, and it is a well known fact that trolls are able to smell the blood of a Christian. This causes trolls to go into a violent frenzy.

The greatest vulnerability of trolls is their severe intolerance to sunlight. This is due to their inability to properly absorb calcium, and even a very short exposure to UVB-radiation will cause a violent calcium build-up. In younger trolls this causes their blood-vessels to shut down, and the result can best be described as something akin to an explosion - the troll will essentially burst. In older trolls, this build-up happens in their skeleton, and the appearance is that of the troll turning into stone.

In Norway, trolls have long been a part of our fauna, and there are currently three troll-reservations in the kingdom. The government has kept this a well guarded secret for more than a century, and TST, Trollsikkerhetstjenesten, or the Troll Security Service, has managed to cover up all troll-related incidents. Up until now.

Earlier this year, two hard-drives containing hours of footage were delivered anonymously to Filmkameratene AS, a Norwegian production company. Despite thorough investigation, neither Filmkameratene or the police have been able to verify the material on the drives. Nor have they been able to get in touch with the people appearing in the material. The four youths have disappeared, and the troll hunter, a man named Hans, has not been found. The Norwegian government has denied any connection to the events, as well as the existence of both trolls and TST.

The hours of footage has been edited, though not manipulated in any way, and has been released to the public. The documentary Trolljegeren, or Troll Hunter in English, has been watched by thousands, and yet there's no word from the government. The media has been treating this as a joke, but I have seen the film.

If you have the chance, watch Troll Hunter. Universal Pictures International will release the film in France, Spain, Germany, Austria, Benelux, Switzerland, CIS and the Baltic countries. Following the film's world premiere at the Fantastic Fest in Austin, TX, USA in September this year, a deal for US distribution has been made (1).

Ain't It Cool News

Trolls in Norwegian art and folklore

Troll Hunter on IMDb

Troll-crossing - Norwegian road sign

TST rapportskjema for nedlagte troll (in Norwegian)