Daily Cosplay

Into the Black

Voyager 1, launched in 1977, is set to break free from the final bonds of our solar system. Last August she registered a massive increases in galactic rays and a sudden drop in solar particles. The sun's magnetic sphere holds her still, but that won't last long.

The spacecraft is over 11 billion miles from earth with a power supply that should keep her running until about 2025.

What a sad day that will be when she shuts down for good.

Fairs Winds Voyager!

Armor Up (Dragons)

From Andrea Miniatures . . .

Andrea Miniatures

Terminator Reboot

Its official. We're not going to see a Terminator 5, but rather a reboot of the franchise. The new movie, slated for a June, 2015, is already in the works. Arnold Swarzenegger has signed for the title role. The movie is slated to be one of three, but will be a stand alone, much like the original I suppose.

Several of the screen play writers from Avatar have been working over a script. Avatar was an okay movie but lost itself in the CGI and the story was nothing particularly new or exciting. I hope they break away from any of those themes in that movie, keeping the Terminator what it is; a machine whose construct is for the destruction of humanity.

He even runs over the kid's toys man!

Ahoy! The White Whale Cometh!

Moby Dick may have carted Ahab to the bottom of the brimey deep but his cousin, Migaloo is cruising the waters of the coast of Australia once more. He's been seen off and on for about 15 odd years, but this time he's not alone. There seems to be a white companion with him.

Its one of the signs of the end of days I'm pretty sure.

Migaloo is Aboriginal for "white fella."

Game Day

It was game day last night and the blog suffered as my 19th level warrior Kain the Godless waded through the blood of evil! So not much on the blog today. To pass the time I've uploaded these movie previews! Some we've posted, some are new, to me at least.

Enjoy!

A Viking Saga The Darkest Day

The Counselor (teaser)

Hell Baby

Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters

Elysium

Desolation of Smaug

Daily Cosplay

Curiosity

The Mars Rover meandered several yards over to the Point Lake Outcrop and took a hard and close look at the rock there. It seems that there are several types of rocks, one inside the other, but geologists are in some disagreement as to what type of rocks they are.

I'm not going to argue with the experts, but those little rocks inside the bigger rocks sure do look like the unprocessed form of Scotties Dilithium Crystals.

Climbing the HIlls to Mt. Rinjani

Now here's some terrain for your next adventure. Characters climbing through the broken country to top the rise of the battered mountain, only to discover the hidden lake within...

This might just be the inspiration for the Trial by Fire piece in A Giants Rapture.

Mt. Rinjani

 

Private Armies

Since the Pentagon has decided to cut the US Army by 10 combat brigades, it might be a good idea to brush up on your military mercenary knowledge.

Here's a quick link to the 9 largest private armies in the world. Stratrisks!

Its a time honored tradition that governments have done for centuries. It fell out of style with the massive national armies of the Napoleonic era through the 1980s, but since the fall of the Soviet Union, its back in style. Mercs have been commanding an ever larger role on the battle field, both behind and on the lines.

Sadly . .  .

Password Fatigue

I don't buy into much, its too expensive, but Psy.Org is giving us password fatigue. Passwords it seems have begun to proliferate out online existence and as our existence becomes more merged with the online world . . . from simple email to banking, from twitter, to facebook, to blogs, to every account with every store we buy from . . . those passwords become a greater part of what we spend our mental energy on.

I know I do.

Interesting read about it here. Carry on if interested.

But the cool part of the article lies in the biometrics of the future where you access will be granted off of finger prints, retinal scans, etc. As if the internet needs an even easier access to that living data that is our DNA.

Armor Up (Korean Warrior, Bust)

 

Pegaso Models

Marvel Takes the Stage

Almost literally, but not quite literally . . .

They've announced a very aggressive movie release schedule for a battery of super-hero movies, several of them untitled. ICv2 is speculating that one of these unnamed movies is Dr. Strange. That should be pretty interesting, but they must be careful to not make that indomitable wizard look a bit goofy.

It appears however, from insider info, that Dr. Strange is going to be the new Iron Man. Knowledge that audiences well grow tired of Iron Man and Robert Downy Jr isn't aging young means that they must revitalize the super hero movies. Entering into phase 3, Dr. Strange is up.

See the full schedule here.

Return of Marine Boy

Marine Boy made its first appearance in the United States in 1966. It was the color cartoon produced in Japan and held by some to be the grandfather of Anime . . . at least in the US. Warner Bros. has announced they are releasing the original series, no doubt remastered, on DVD.

Sounds pretty cool. You can't go wrong with dolphin-riding aquatic super child hero whose best friend is a mermaid, all teamed together to save the world.

Trollzah!

Kickstarter Update

Greetings from the Dens,

Where are we on Return to the Haunted Highlands?

Casey has sent me over the updated and expanded material for the adventure portion of the Kickstarter. As some of you may not realize six of the adventures in the Castle Keepers Guide to the Highlands have been previously published. These are the DB1, DB2, DB3, DB4, DB5 and DB6. All of these have been updated, revised and expanded. There are about 2-3000 words of new content to each adventure, that's about 15 pages of new content. He's finishing the Gazetteer today (or tomorrow, said he might take a nap).

But Dirty Bowbe's is going to rock it! With that in mind, A Call to Arms . . .

We must see this set of books in hardcover format. Its so much better for the shelf and usage . . . and the Players Guide and CK Guide to Highlands will see some use . . . so help us get the word out. Let all your Kickstarter friends know what we are up to. Help us get the best bang for your buck.

We have a number of items in the works for stretch goals, we'll post those by week's end. They definitely include the maps blown up to 18 x 24 inches. 

Spread the word! Return to the Haunted Highlands.

A very Kindly Thank you.

Steve

Daily Cosplay

The Closed the XFiles

It would seem Her Majesty's Government has decided that threats from deep space, at least the living kind of threat, are no long something they need to keep a watch over.

The Ministry of Defense closed the office and hot line set up for UFOs back in 2009 and they have been slowly releasing the documents generated by the office in the past 50 years. It wasn't for a lack of action, over 600 calls were registered in 2009, the second highest year on record. But according to officials it was for lack of any evidence gathered that showed signs of alien life, and this after the thousands of reports.

Most of the reports were eventually explained, or crazied away, but some few remain a mystery.

Armor Up (Thalassa)

I cant remember if I put this one up before or not. I'm going to start putting the title of the piece in the heading so I can search it. But regardless, this one is very cool. The Greeks really new how to Armor Up!

Massimo Pasquali

Movie Trailer - Willow Creek

Looks pretty interesting . . .

Rhodes Town

Here's a street view from Rhode Town which still possesses one of the largest fortifications in the world. It suffered a number of sieges, the largest in 1480 and then again in 1523 when the Turks attempted to batter the thing into submission. The first attack was driven off, the second last much longer and eventually saw the Hospitillers yield the town and fortress and remove themselves to Malta.

Any number of campaigns could begin right here . . .

This picture depicts the fortress walls to the left and the outer works to the right. The outer works protected the first inner wall from easy attack.

Another view of a street in Rhodes Town, the main gate is at the far end of the street.

Daily Cosplay

Its a Long Lonely Road (Star Trek)

The Enterprise shuttle Galileo was lost for many years after the show. Its a pretty cool story, tracing her design and life on set, to its eventual donation to the Braille Institute in Los Angles for kids to play on, to the front yard of a local man who bought it for his son (the neighbors hated it so they petitioned to have it removed). From there the shuttle moved to the California Creation Convention . . . where it slowly dissolved. 

And her story goes on. You have to scroll down a bit to it all but really a cool read.

Galileo

Classic Dance - Pulp Fiction

Walking Dead - Andrew Lincoln

On September 22 we'll see the Emmys and all the awards for Television. I'm not sure if Zombies have made it into the upper echelon of Hollywood silliness, but if they have not, they should. Anyone watching the Walking Dead (whether you like the theme or not) can't help but notice the insane acting going into the characters by all the cast . . . and I mean all. Its crazy and compelling.

At any rate, here a short and pretty cool interview with Rick Grimes, er Andrew Lincoln. Great quote from it "I think this is a family drama set in hell!" Love it.

Deadline.

Movie Trailer - Stranded

Lakes of Fire

Plant Life on Earth

Space.com has a pretty cool, if pretty short slideshow of plant life on earth, as compiled by NASA.

Check it out here.

Armie in Zombieland

Arnold has signed to do zombie movie. He plays a father trying to negotiate the insanity if the zombie apocalypse. The twist is in his daughter's role, she gets bitten it would seem and is slowly morphing into one of the undead.

Film is called "Maggie."

Aint it Cool News

Daily Cosplay

Movie Trailer - Gravity

Okay. I'm intrigued.

By an Act of Congress

I'm required to post this Neal Adams painting at least once a year . . . .

Seasons in the Sun

On Mars.  Mars speeds up and slows down in her lazy meandering around the sun, this means her seasons are long and then short, and its not as easy to set the time and date of these events. But the folks over at planet.org have done just that for us, mapping out the seasons on Mars for a long time to come.

Good for the Burroughs folks!

Mars Calendar.

Up next, July 31 earth time, the Spring Equinox.

Since I mentioned the song, I thought I should at least post it. Enjoy! 70s style!

Armor Up

Figures and Armours Blog

Crusaders and the Worms

Archeologists took a look at an 800 year old cess pit Saranda Kolones in Cypress. The island was a Crusader state for centuries, eventually becoming the house for the King of Jerusalem after the Mamluks drove the last of the Crusaders from the Levant.

The ancient, dried waste was hydrated and combed over; the comb over revealed both whip worms and round worms which clearly infested the digestive tracks of whoever popped a squat over the toilet hole some centuries past. This probably reveals a contaminated food source, probably water.

It is known to belong to some knight or soldier of the Kings, as the castle was destroyed in an earthquake way back win and never rebuilt. The ruins of it only being closely examined in the 1950s. The latrines survived the earthquake.

Livescience.

Here's the latrine. Just think, 800 years ago some fellow hiked up his shirt, dropped his trousers and plopped down right there. Probably had a knife belt on that scraped the floor and a crossbow leaning against the wall.

Now I See the Penguin

Two galaxies wrestling . . . first reported to be a Penguin and I couldn't see. Now I do. Dang it

Unusual Weapons

I Cant Believe It has compiled a pretty cool list of unusual weapons to look over. It has only one that I recognized, the Man Catcher, as I've used it from time to time in the game, learning of it in Gary Gygax's World Builder.

Its interesting to note that a number of these would be utterly useless against someone in heavy armor. Having read a great deal recently about the Religious Wars between Turkey/Islam and the Spainish Emmpire/Papacy the heavy armor preferred in the west cannot be overstated.

Check em out here.

Daily Cosplay

Kingdom Come . . . .

Man of Steel

I watched Man of Steel last night. It was through the roof bad ass!!! Review later so spoilers won't ruin it, but in short they captured the essence of the world's most powerful super hero . . . the genesis of it all. The costume was spot on. The look, the feel, the titanic battles. Perfect cast.

Very cool!

Enterprise Spotted

Was spotted flying in front of the moon earlier this week and a Romanian photographer got a fantastic snap shot of it. I'm guess Kirk sent the ship through a worm hole or some such and he traveled back in time a few centuries.

Photo by Maximilian Teodorescu, its of the Internaltional Space Station.