A Long-Awaited Journey

From the moment I had heard that The Hobbit was coming to the big screen I begun a long and patient wait... you could say I had been waiting for 12 years since I was introduced to the Hobbit novel at school. Reading the Hobbit with my English class at school was a moment of significance for me as it developed my growing interest in 'fantasy' as a genre. Many of my classmates were glad to have finished the book and be moving onto a new topic but at the age of 12 I was already an avid reader, every spare minute I could pilfer I would have my nose in a book. This included the short walk from classroom to classroom between each period. As soon as I had put down the Hobbit I couldn't wait to lay my hands on the Lord of the Rings. Hunting through piles of old and musty tomes at the local carboot sale my fingers stumbled upon 'my precious.' At the princely sum of 20 pence I could hardly have bartered the seller down by much.

I flew through the trilogy at an alarming pace and was often found by my mother in the small hours with my bedroom light left on, sound asleep gripping my copy of the book. My love of Tolkien's writing and Fantasy has not waned and far from being dragged to the cinema reluctantly, my girlfriend couldn't wait to see 'The Hobbit' on the big screen either. Rarely do I follow a film as closely, invest in magazines or treat myself to much generally but seeing that Empire was running a special on the film I bought a copy and eagerly read the 'behind the scenes' reports and interviews with the actors.
       
I cannot say that I was without reservations before seeing the film such as 'how do I feel about the Hobbit being another 3 film saga?' and 'How will Jackson deal with the Trolls having dialogue in the Hobbit where they had no grasp of speech in The Lord of the Rings?' the result of the film was very pleasing.  

Apart from the incredible cinematography and musical score, costume, sound and artwork I really felt that The Hobbit allowed for a greater focus on the ability of the actors and characterisation. I somehow felt 'closer' to this film perhaps due to the scale being less 'epic'. Martin Freeman's Bilbo was right on the nail for me and growing up in the English Westcountry I felt I could relate to his portrayal of the quintessential rural British everyman in local characters I can think of! The direction and acting of the Dwarves was balanced, no mean feat considering that numbering 13 makes characterisation a challenge with such competition and little dialogue for some. Ian McKellan's Gandalf was warmly familiar and there is definitely more 'practical magic' in this film meaning that the audience gets to see a bit more of what the Wizards can do beyond the hack and slash of melee and Gandalf The White's Ultrabrite Energy saving staff trick at Helms Deep.

For me though, my perhaps slightly unexpected favourite was Sylvester McCoy's performance of Radagast the Brown. One of my favourite literary archetypes is the Wizard; wise, mystical, powerful and often humorous guardians and advisers. I have always found what we don't know about the Wizard to be the most interesting element to them, they can always surprise us. This is what makes Radagast so much fun for me, although he doesn't get anywhere near the screen time as Gandalf there's depth of character and he doesn't just serve as comic relief.

One of my favourite depictions of the Wizard on screen has to be Nicol Williamson with his somewhat bizarre and beautiful vocal work in Excalibur (1981).

Certainly worthy of a mention is Barry Humpfries' Goblin king and of course the scene of the entire film has to be 'riddles in the dark' with the exceptional Andy Serkis playing a seemingly more carefree Gollum once again.

I'm not going to say that I'm not incredibly frustrated that I am going to have to wait two years to see the conclusion of the new trilogy but I am certainly used to it now! Like his cast and crew as well as avid fan following, I have faith in Peter Jackson and the very talented team he has put together to work on these films. If you haven't seen this... you should.

The Flaming Assasin, Finished

Until fairly recently I have found it very difficult to call a miniature "complete" and always manage to find a few missed spots or areas I would like to touch up a bit. I think this is down to the fact that I don't think I'm really very good at this painting malarkey! Somehow, I believe that a couple more days sitting on the shelf will somehow help to bring me the inspiration I need to make it just that little bit better. However, here is a rare finished article for my flaming, duel tomahawk wielding elf.

 

The Salvation Project

As a child I had appalling hand-eye co-ordination and very little patience for frustrating and fiddly things but one day my father helped me with my first 'scraper-foil' which is an image the 'artist' reveals by etching away a film placed over a foil sheet. It was definately the first stepping stone to picking up a whole host of fiddle and frustrating pastimes and sports I never thought I would be able to do. Even fifteen years on I would still consider myself to be a beginner or students of most of my hobbies although I love challenging myself to improve. If anyone is reading this blog with children or friends of children with limited motor-skills I hope this encourages hope that with determination and will these challenges can be overcome.  

The project I am working on at the moment is a terminator tabletop game I am devising with 28mm miniatures bought from range of suppliers. The period I am aiming for is the fourth film in the quadrilogy in the reality where Judgement Day has not yet occurred. The range of drones and machines represented in the film 'Terminator Salvation' leaves a lot of opportunity for imagination. Below are some of my most recent developments.

Above: Light transport in urban camo I believe this is from Games Workshop's Gorkamorka and is a Ork transport. The driver and gunner are Imperial Guard crewmen from 40K. The standing troops are from the Foundry.

Left: These merceneries are from Copplestone Castings.

Right: I'm currently keeping my eyes open for some reduced price Copplestone 'scavengers' because they look great and would fit nicely with the time-scale and look of the period 21C demise.

Right: Resin Scenery is from a 40k Barricades pack of five although so far I have only managed to paint this one which itself took me a day of drybrushing (yes that's quite slow.)

The Terminator models which entirely look the part are from EM4 and Copplestone Castings, the flying dronebots are pinched from 40K Tau and I think are quite fitting.  

Left: Finally, this model is from Reaper Miniatures and had to be bought because it is an awesome looking model. Its an elf dual wielding tomahawks (what's not to like?) what made it a have to have for me though was the fire/shadowlike effect of the cloak which I really wanted to make her look like she was exploding out of the fire in attack.

This took an undercoat, basecoat, foundation, three shades of red, one of orange, two of yellow and then highlights of white. However, I think its been worth it and now all I need to do is not screw up the rest of the model.

That's it for now. Flamin' brilliant.