OK, so I had a look at a few. Most of the paperbacks I pulled out at random were printed in Britian. 2 were printed in the US. The US ones didn't have any reccomended prices at all.
One of the British ones had Uk, AU, NZ and Canandian prices. That's the most any had.

It seems really wierd! Australia has old political and cultural ties with the UK, but we're such a long, long way away! What a weird commenwealth only publishing deal they must have had.

ozoneocean wrote:

It seems really wierd! Australia has old political and cultural ties with the UK, but we're such a long, long way away! What a weird commenwealth only publishing deal they must have had.

Not publishing, distribution deals. Remember also that the prices are usually only printed on the cover? Distributors can switch covers depending on where a batch is to be sent. Heck they also sometimes switch cover art depending on distribution. You know that “UK only special edition cover!” One of my Sci-fi histories had some of the variant covers from UK and Europe and some were much better than the one in the US.

These strange distribution deals extend to model kits too. Tamiya the model kit giant of Japan has exclusive distribution for Italeri in Japan and often reboxes them under their own label. Well Tamiya has a better rep for detail than italeri so some modelers go apeshit when Tamiya announces X when it's just an Italeri kit in a Tamiya box. *YAWN* Recently Tamiya got rebox rights for Asuka which is a premium company so started reboxing their kits for cheap. A boon for builders.

That's the sort of thing the expert collector learns.

I'm a pretty crappy collector of things myself. Things have to conform to some mental unatainable image of imagined perfection so that I can never be satisfied.
Soon after I've got my very first antique sword I wan to buy yet another sabre… Not an antique this time, just a weird repropduction. It's supposed to be the famous 1796 light cavalry pattern, but it's wrong. And that's why I want it.
Plus, it's cheap.

I will have ALL the sabres!!!!

You'll have them, but can you use them? I don't mean in random attacks kind of way but could you use a sword? Many years ago i used to e a fencer, I was pretty handy with a sabre, it was more my speed than the foil and eppee. Had a lot of fun training with stuntmen, olympic contenders and the like. I was never fantastic but capable.

A long time ago, when I was a child,
Of no more than six years, or seven,
I used to have friends, that were secretly foes,
And I used to send each one to heaven.

We'd meet by the playhouse, near to my home,
And gather our shield and our sword,
And then we would battle, until dusk arrived,
Or any of us would get bored.

Sometimes we'd play heroes,
Sometimes we'd be crooks,
We hadn't the armour,
But we had the looks.
We played and were happy,
With swords made of sticks,
We cared not for bruises,
And we took our licks.
And when we were tired,
And bloody, and done,
All of the dullness of life,
would be gone.

And then we went home,
and were children again.
And I miss that time,
Now that I am a man.

So I collect sabers,
And need more and more,
To regain that feeling,
Because my life is a bore.

;P

That Kroatz. He'll cut ya. XX

@Genejoke - nope. That takes a lot of training, which I haven't done, so no, I can't fight with them. They're a bit different from more modern sports sabres, being more about the hack and slash than the thrust. It'd be good to learn both types of fencing though.
The newest sword is very curved, only sharpened on the last 6 inches of the blade, and the point if balance is waaaay in front of the hand, about 7 inches. It's really tricky to learn to cut with. A very specialised cavalry sword.

@kroatz. My life IS sabres!l

@Oz
Do you display them? Have you ever taken a full display pic?
————–

Ended up seeing two war movies today- american sniper and fury. I really like this trend of ‘nonstop intensity’ in recent movies like american sniper. Captain philips did this, and to a lesser extent, life of pi kind of did, i don't know if there's an actual word for it.

I actually went to see american sniper with my mom because of her desperation to use a theatre giftcard. I laughed when she told me to look away from all the blood and gore…i'm so desensitized to it. I'm surprised it even bothered her. Ah, 'murca, killing little kids graphically on screen gets you an r rating, show a boob and its 17 and up.

Fury was a dissapointment. It reminded me of tropic thunder, not that it was funny, but basically a movie about pretty movie actors starring in a movie.

Ooo, the forum is displaying OK again in replies. Hmm.

@Skull- you know, I never have… That might be a good idea!
Normally I just hang them losely from the wall or put them in an umbrella stand, but it would be interesting to take a photo of them all together.

That assessment of Fury is exactly what it looks like from the previews…

well with sport fencing the sabre is about hack and slash as well. It's the epee and foil that are all about the thrusting, which is why I liked the sabre best. I miss those days… i suppose I could go back and do it again… but would rather find a medieval sword fighting school, but sadly there are none within 100 miles of me.

Here you go Skull:





@Genejoke - Matt Eastern, AKA Scholagladiatoria, it's pretty good with that sort of thing.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt14YOvYhd5FCGCwcjhrOdA
Even if you can't get to a school the vids are very informative and some offer a form of training.

Their newest school is out in Surrey apparently., but they're mainly based in London. I think there are other HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) groups in other parts of Britian though.
There are a few listed here (many are in London though…): http://www.dawnduellists.co.uk/fencingGroups.asp

I agree about Fury. It's more about acting and being intense. The tank crew really ednds up being a bunch of drama queens instead of killers. But the tanks and uniforms and general atmosphere is one of the best recreations of WWII ever. The tanks are especially accurate for 2nd Armored Division in PAril 1945 and that is a real-life Tiger tank not a simulation. But it's war as if fought by a bunch of Hollywood drama queens out for Mr. Oscar. Even the the understated lines are intense “FEEL IT!”

But then tank crews can be like that. We can be a bunch of drama queens on the rag because we know each other too well and really hate the buddy who you fight next to but realize you owe your life to him a thousand times over. Mother-fuck me I hate this shit.

But tons of little accurate details. You see it is full of actual events that happened to guys in WWII, just that they all didn't happen to the same five guys in one day. Really strains credulity.

Wow… that's a lot of swords.

I'm curious though. Is it just for “dramatic effect”? Why are swords so oversized in anime and video games from Japan? Heck… in the second game of the Grandia series, the giant sword everyone is talking about is the size of a space cruiser!

Hmm… maybe it's the same reason why Americans like oversized guns…

I know a good number of people (myself included) who would benefit greatly if women walked around with shirts or signs above their head that read: "Drama Queen on the Rag“ during the appropriate time of the month. Unfortunately, some people use PMS as an excuse all the time.

–

Ozone, you own a wonderous assortment of swords! They look like they could be deadly weapons. I really like the fine detail on the sword hilts. I am waiting for Inigo Montoya to ask, ”I do not mean to pry, but you don't by any chance happen to have six fingers on your right hand?"

My History of Islamic Law classes are quickly becoming the highlights of my week. I've genuinely never had a class that was so engaged before. It's about an even split between Muslim students who are quick to argue with the professor on the finer points of Islam, and those of us who are totally new to it all and eager to catch up. The classes are intended to be more lecture-style, but it's ended up being more of a seminar. Often when I pose a question it will be another student who jumps in to answer it. Overall just a very interesting and engaging atmosphere, although I have no idea what to expect from the final exam.

Also, there are a bunch of really cute guys in that class.

kawaiidaigakusei wrote:
I know a good number of people (myself included) who would benefit greatly if women walked around with shirts or signs above their head that read: "Drama Queen on the Rag" during the appropriate time of the month. Unfortunately, some people use PMS as an excuse all the time.

I'm unfortunately one of those women who are genuinely affected emotionally by PMS. It's pretty sucky most of the time, although I find that happy/excited feelings get amplified as well as grumpy ones. I just try to be aware that my feelings are a little crazy during that time and I shouldn't take things too seriously, which definitely helps. But yes, that t-shirt would come in handy for those times when you have to explain to someone why you're bawling your eyes out over an episode of Fresh Prince.

ozoneocean wrote:
Hippie, show us your new boots! BTW, neither of those links you posted are working.

Weird, they're both working for me! Maybe the site only likes Canadians. These are the bags I was linking to…the first one is the size and design I'm looking for (smaller, not roll-y), and I like the pattern of the second one.



And here are the boots! Not too exciting, but I like em. :)

@HippieVan:
The phrase “drama queens on the rag” was originally coined by bravo1102 in an earlier post used to describe the way a group of tankers act while on the field. I thought about how that same phrase could be used to benefit the emotional well-being of others. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air deals with dramatic subject matter, so tearing up during an episode is very understandable. I can become an emotional wreck over really random commercials like the Friskies “Dear Kitten:” ad, as well as the Budweiser Clydesdale commercials that reminded me of War Horse.

Those boot are really cute! They can go with all sorts of outfits and they look weatherproof. And this:



The strategically placed Romeo Bunny in the background is just too adorable for words.

@ Hippie - Those are GREAT boots Hippie! Good find. They have a bit of an army style look to them bt they're quite stylish and sleek. Utilitarian, but not plain. A great balance of style and function.
I hope you find the bag you're looking for, it can be so hard to get just the thing you want, beleive me. And making your own, or getting it made, is very hard and expensive -_-
-LOve the bunny Kawaii pointed out there! Sneak attack!

@Lonne - Purely dramatic effect. The bigest swords in use were about 5 and a half feet long. The Japanese famously had the No-dachi or dachi, and in europe there were the Greatswords.
They were big but wieghed about the same as smaller two handed swords because they had the same amount of metal in them, it was just beaten out thinner.
The purpose of a big sword is to give the fighter longer reach. But after a certain size the sword shape is impracical so you use a spear, pike, spontoon, bisento, naginata or somethong like that instead: basically a big blade on a pole.

@ Kawaii - the scabards make i look like there are more than there are :)
I hope I don't run into Inigo Montoya! I'm no Man In Black, or Dread Pirate Roberts… or Weasly… He'd beat me no contest!

So at least for the Japanese it's cool to wield a gigantic sword the size of a bus in anime, but in a real fight you won't last long… And perhaps length doesn't really count for much if you're facing a skilled dagger duel wielding agile opponent…

Gotta love how “dramatic effect” shows up everywhere in media. If you watch the gunplay in a lot of old FIlipino films, you'll notice one thing… that the guns (ESPECIALLY the handguns) fire more rounds than they could possibly hold. So why show reloading? For “dramatic effect”… -_-

Dramatic effect is very important, otherwise people would catch on that there is completely no reason to keep watching the waste of time and brainspace “Action” movie they're watching. I really feel like there could still be action movies with some meaning to society, but we'll need a new generation of writers first. It's a sad thing that the deepest things on TV are superhero movies and series.

- - - - - -

I finally got my hands on a good translation of Montaigne's “Essais” for a nice price. I can't wait to dive into it, but I want to read it all in only a few days, instead of spreading it out over a month, so I have to wait for my next vacation… Now I wish I still had the original French version. Damn it, back to Murakami, which is torture to read.

- - - - - -

I miss Robin Williams.

- - - - - -

Magic: The Gathering is so much fun to play, but I think I enjoy building decks even more. There's just so much different ways of winning. I have one deck right now with a lot of wizards, and if I have the right three or four cards out, I can make my turns last for five minutes, pass the turn, and win whenever I want to. It gives me a perfect opportunity to be a dick, without acting outside of the unwritten laws of social interaction.

Another deck of mine is based on dragons. DRAGONS! It is just big monsters beating the crap out of my opponents. It hardly ever works, but it's still evolving. And new dragon cards come out every few months, that have awesome interactions with cards that are over 10 years old, so I keep getting new ideas on how to beat my friends into a bloody pulp.

And then there's this deck that is completely designed to make it impossible for anyone to win. Players can't draw cards, play things, attack, lose life, gain life, or even untap any of their mana sources. If it goes off, I just smile and wait for everyone to sigh and give up. I especially like that it is also impossible for me to win, because there isn't even a single win condition in there.

Lonnehart wrote:
Gotta love how “dramatic effect” shows up everywhere in media. If you watch the gunplay in a lot of old FIlipino films, you'll notice one thing… that the guns (ESPECIALLY the handguns) fire more rounds than they could possibly hold. So why show reloading? For “dramatic effect”… -_-

Actually that shows up in a lot of movies. Once upon a time I'd count rounds to see if the guy reloaded when he was suposed to. A lot of Westerns are pretty good about that. Some movies like Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothersmake it an accurate plot point about how often you reload and the peculiar habits of certain weapons. Then there are films like Rambo where one belt of 30 rounds lasts forever (wonderfully spoofed in Hot Shots Part Deux)

In real gun fights it is high drama when you gotta reload. And then the misfire because you didn't do it right. Slap and tap and pull and whatever the rest was. Remember in a tank it is only one round at a time. MISFIRE! Screw it, open the breech, spin the round and spit on it! On-the-way-BOOM!

@ Kroatz - Interesting reading about your card strategies. It's like army choices in games like Warhammer 40k, which I played a few times, but more ordered. Interesting!

———

Ah, dramatic effect with gunloading… we made fun of that quite a bit in the Quackcast play The Lady Is A Stranger: http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/quackcast/episode-202-the-lady-is-a-stranger
With shotguns being cocked repeatedly, mad bombers running out of bombs etc.

I'm watchning the Underworld series of films at the moment and they're terrible offenders for that.
Well, at least in the first film! In the second one they reload waaay more, the acting is better and so was the plot and script. The first one however has nothing to recomend it appart from aesthetics. The reloading is just a minor thing compared to everything else but it's especially irking because this lady runs around firing hundreds of shots from BIG rappid fire pistols that could only hold 10 rounds each… maybe 15 if they were doublestacked or something, but they're PISTOLS! She uses them like light machine guns.
They show colseups of her firing them and the muzzle is bouncing right to eft and up and down, all over the place, and yet all her shots are on target.

I think that's something I'll remember for any fight scenes I do for Pinky TA with a shootout: rapid fire weapons are hard to keep on target, and big pistols are really hard to aim for subsequent shots if you're a small person.
Having details like that (As Bravo says), can make for good dramatic effect, as well as the illusion of increased realisim.

People who do those movies with the gurl with two guns shooting and shooting don't understand quantity versus qaulity. Suere there is volume of fire to keep the other guy's head down but the reason it's one weapon is so you can use your off hand to quick re-loads. That's part of weapons training. You have to be able to drop a magazine and reload in a second or two. But two pistols shooting and shooting you do what Mila Jojovich does in her movies with dropping the weapons and grabbing two more, which is really wasteful.

And the guys choregraphing this are the same one who think you'll hit something firing sidehanded. I liked it one of the Kickass movies when the old guy tells the kid “you'll hit yourself in the nose if you shoot like that” The kid shoots sideways and the recoil goes right into his nose. Hit-girl knew how to sustain fire and reload and it is shown relatively realistically compared to other films. One more thing to recomaned the two Kickass movies.

Funny how Hitgirl is the live-action counterpart to the killer Japanese schoolgirl trope. Even down to the plaid skirt and funny colored hair. I'm currently watching Those who Hunt Elves a funny take on fantasy anime with the super monster level boss coming out and they have a tank. And then there's the dubbed version ofHaganai which is even funnier than the original Japanese because the writers really expanded the insult vocabulary between Sena and Yozura.

Twelve hour shifts at work got to do something considering I've been taking so long to shoot pictures these days. I even downloaded the original Thunderbirds Supermarionation series from the 1960's.
5-4-3-2-1 THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!

My kids love Those Who Hunt Elves, and it doesn't have too many age-innappropiate things for the youngest one. Very silly stuff. Lots of curry jokes. The possessed tank is great. Wish there had been more than two series.

I read “it doesn't have too many age-innappropiate things for the youngest one” and thought Zzzzzzz…
But I searched the title anyway. Man, that looks cool! I'll have to see if I can find a stream online for that :D

———-

I'm about DONE with this beard experiment. I've kept it this long because I thought the new white patches on each side of my chin were a really cool adition, but it feels so horrible on the face.
I had facial hair for years in the past until I got board of it. I can't tollerate it for as long anymore though, it feels like having stickytape on your face that's constantly jussssst about to peel off. HORRIBLE!

Man up ozone, you can't be cool like the hipster kids without a bit if facial fluff. What's a little discomfort when you can look trendy?
I've been bearded so long I don't know what being without is like anymore.
So back to creating, it feels good to be able to get on and create again, stress can be a major creativity killer. I'm actually feeling charged and enthusiastic about BASO for the first time in ages. Had felt like treading water with it for ages, to the point I was even wondering if it was worth continuing.
I did consider changing the format too, perhaps to make it more traditional and focusing on one set of characters, but I felt that would ruin the comic quicker than anything else.
Watched pacific rim last night, not for the first time, but it made me think that is how the transformers films should have been done. The Jaeger's in that have more identity than any of the transformers do. Also the fight scenes make them feel like giant machines. The transformers are much smaller but even so they never feel like machines. More like big power rangers.

Google is scary. In the Valentine's Day thread i mentioned one girl (Kelly T.) who tormented me in grade school. I found her father's obituary, cross-chekced for past residences and surviving children and it could only be him and her. Then searched her and found a dentist in the town she now resides in. The girl who caused me so much pain in grade school is now a dentist? What sweet irony.

I looked up her successor (Cheryl D) as school tormentress and have her address. Now that is scary. I also found her on Classmates.com and looked through her HS year book. Hey she was Homecoming queen and persident of the Student Council! If I hadn't moved away I would have dated her. It was clear at the time that she teased me because she liked me. I did run into her in the mall two years after I moved away and she had been very pretty. Wow if I hadn't moved away I could have ended up dating the homecoming queen! There's a comic script in there somewhere. Maybe a harem.

I never realized it at the time but there were groups of girls who followed me around during my school career. I really was at the center of a harem anime and like the hero of one I was totally clueless. Funny how art imitates life and how things can be seen totally differently in retrospect.

Google my real name and you only find that mathematics professor. I remain safely anonymous.

Oh, no… it's that day I dread so much and it's on its way. I do have ONE remedy for this now. Shopping. Even if it's just a stroll through the mall at night. Most couples will be out watching movies and having dinner, so the rest of the areas of the mall should be fairly sparse with people.

And of course if that doesn't work I could just drown myself playing an MMO all night. Well… if I wasn't working that night that is.

ozoneocean wrote:
I hope I don't run into Inigo Montoya! I'm no Man In Black, or Dread Pirate Roberts… or Weasly… He'd beat me no contest!

That was the best possible response I could imagine for that statement. Still, scabbards or not, that is still an impressive amount of swords!

bravo1102 wrote:
In the Valentine's Day thread i mentioned one girl who tormented me in grade school.
(…)
I looked up her successor as school tormentress.

You were a magnet for aggressive female attention in grade school! Also, what kind of school setting were you in where it was okay for the girls to kick the boys? I hope no one from my K-12 years saw me as a “tormentress”. I typically would never bully any boy I had a crush on. It sets a weird precedent (especially if they enjoyed it).

Lonnehart wrote:
Most couples will be out watching movies

That's right. They are all going to watching Fifty Shades of Grey because it premieres on Valentine's Day this year. In fact, if you went to the theater, you would probably run into a TON of single women watching that movie on that day.

—-

Endorphins feel so amazing. Spending time in the sun feels equally wonderful. I just walked over five miles to hangout in my favorite drink lounge and I am prepping myself to repeat that same walk in the opposite direction. I used to think ten mile walks were a goal to reach, but now they are just a part of my routine.

Found out today that the guy I've been crushing on is allergic to all things furry. Well that's not going to work out.

—

I got through my crazy January…just checked my calendar and I don't have anything due for a month, except for one minor test! It feels pretty awesome, and I might actually get caught up on my readings for once. Plus, I finally get to play the Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright game I got for Christmas!

kawaiidaigakusei wrote:
Endorphins feel so amazing. Spending time in the sun feels equally wonderful. I just walked over five miles to hangout in my favorite drink lounge and I am prepping myself to repeat that same walk in the opposite direction. I used to think ten mile walks were a goal to reach, but now they are just a part of my routine.

That sounds so lovely! What is the weather like where you are? I'm getting to the part of winter where I'm going a little stir-crazy - I've been daydreaming about getting my bike out again once spring comes.

Yep. They'll all be watching. Unfortunately, they won't be “on the market”. They'll have a boyfriend, a girlfriend, or be an “undesirable” (as in “they only want you if you have a big wallet”). Even if I manage to get a small rapport with them and find out they're supposedly “single”, sooner or later, some guy/girl will confront me and tell me to keep away from them. And later I'll see those two getting together…

Just something I learned the hard way… repeatedly… a long time ago. And thanks to this happening too many times I decided maybe it's better to wait than it is to look…

Despite having mostly given up on that game, I have a little bit of hope. When I say “I'm waiting for a woman to knock me out from behind with a hammer then drag me to the Justice of the Peace”, I don't mean it literally. Highly unlikely as it is, I figure I'll end up being taken by surprise by a woman who's been looking at me whom I haven't noticed yet.

Wishful thinking, I know. But we can dream, can't we? :)