Congratulations!

If you're reading this, then you've successfully made it through the prophesized apocalypse.

I can only surmise that Buffy Summers has once again closed the gates of the Hellmouth. Or perhaps the Aesir kept Loki chained, Fenris tethered, and Jormungandr slumbering in the sea bed.

The next doomsday is slated for December 21st, 2012. On that date, Quetzalcoatl will return to mark the end of the Mayan Calendar. That's right, Mexican Doomsday -- not just for Tequila hangovers anymore.

It's A Long Way to the Top If You Want to Rock and Roll

AC/DC, with original vocalist Bon Scott, plays the greatest rock song ever that features bagpipes.
Yes, BAGPIPES!

Wicked Game

What can I say but... "DAY-um!"

Jeff Whye?

And the answer is: "Whye not."

Another Iron Sky Trailer

The folks making Space Nazi / Action / Comedy movie Iron Sky have released yet another trailer. I'm beginning to wonder if that's all they'll ever release.

Note: Space Nazis playing with toy rocketships and making engine noises are figures of ridicule. Actual Nazis are not cool. Not cool at all.

A Well Deserved Salute.

Better late than never. Good hunting, gentlemen.

A Fistful of Paintballs

I don't watch much TV. But I caught the first part of Community's season ender, "A Fistful of Paintballs."

Conan the Barbarian Movie Posters

My last post provided a tentative nod toward the new Conan the Barbarian movie based on how the trailer "looks."

"Looks" are important to a brand. It has to be recognizable to the consumer. Don't underestimate the importance of brand design.

So it's no surprise, really, that the movie poster also take cues from the visual design already associated with the Conan brand. While they aren't blatant rip-offs, the posters do bear a remarkable resemblance to Frazetta cover art from the Conan books.

Now, this isn't bad. It shows a certain amount of Brand awareness which is welcome. Also, there is a long and well-established tradition of borrowing from the masters. If a visual works, don't muck around with it. The posters are homage, not theft.

But on the other hand... Does it betray a certain lack of imagination? It would be snarky of me to complain too much, as the original movie poster was also more than a little reminiscent of Frazetta's work -- and he was still alive and working at the time! They could've at least hired him to do the poster.

New, Full Length Conan the Barbarian Trailer

Okay, as you know, I've had my eye on this one for awhile. And you must also know that I've had some serious issues with the buzz surrounding this.

But I'm willing to say that this trailer LOOKS pretty good.

Emphasis on the word "looks."

There are plenty of great looking movies these days. Take Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3, for instance. I love to watch -- note my choice of verb -- those movies. They are not great stories, and are redeemed mostly by Johnny Depp's astounding character work.

The new Conan movie "looks" promising. I will probably go see it. But I'm still very guarded about the story.

On the other hand, I recently saw the Solomon Kane movie and I was willing to give a free pass to some of their changes to the character based on how the production design succeeded. It looked like Solomon Kane's world and James Purefoy was excellent. I'm vainly hoping for a sequel that will take him deeper into Africa.

Men of Action : Action Figures

UBL's last Tweet: "BRB. Someones @ the door."

Not too long ago, the Hong Kong based action figure manufacturer, Soldier Story, produced an amazing 1/6 scale (12") action figure they labeled: DEVGRU Gold Team. This was a reference to the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, one of the current publicly known designations for the now famous SEAL Team 6.

What set the figure apart was the brand new AOR1 camouflage uniform, which was recently approved for SEAL Team use.

As an early release of this pattern, which is not available to the general public in full-size (or 1/1 scale) items, the figure was already highly collectible. Plus it included a number of unique pieces of gear and equipment.

Soldier Story had no way of knowing that SEAL Team 6 would become heroes by being the unit that finally brought justice to Usama Bin Laden's door.

I was sorely tempted to buy one of these. I don't buy many action figures these days, and most of them are characters, not military. The MSRP on this figure was about $130.00 and that was a little much for my wallet.

I immediately thought of this when I first heard about UBL overdue passing. It wasn't my first thought, but it was a thought. But I was already asleep when the news broke in my house. It wasn't until 4am when I woke up to use the bathroom that my wife rolled over and said, "Oh, they killed Bin Laden last night." So I was instantly wired, and I thought about a lot of things as I lay there in the dark.

I should've jumped on line and purchased on of these. The last eBay price I saw for one of these was nearly $200.oo and I expect it to climb. At least until someone makes a special UBL Raid edition DEVGRU figure. And they will.

But the folks who do have one of these in their collections certainly have something special. Because it is very likely a close approximation of one of the assault team that made a house call last Sunday. Except for one significant detail; I'll let you hunt for it.

This figure represents state of the art in Special Operations equipment, starting with the aforementioned AOR1 uniform by Crye Industries, to the Mechanix gloves, London Bridge load bearing gear...

This photo shows off the forearm wallet with window. You put your maps or the photos of your high value targets in there for quick recognition. It can unfold for quick reference to other vital reminder information.

Non-standard climbing boots -- most-likely Asolos.

ZAP tapes with alpha-numeric callsigns so names don't need to be used over the comms. These are reversible so they won't be visible if you need more stealth.

A personal lanyard. Some styles are designed to latch onto your downed comrade's webgear so you can pull him to safety. Others are intended to attach you to your super-secret-squirrel stealth helicopter so you don't fall out in the unlikely event the passenger compartment doors are left open.

Goggles so dust doesn't get in your eye when you're staring down a monster.

Minimal reloads because you make every shot count, and you don't need more than five magazines to bring the pain. Oh, and a blow-out kit just in case today is the day your Superman powers fail you and the bullets don't bounce off.

Your primary -- an HK416 with Eotech site -- for slaying bodies. And your secondary -- a SIG P226 or 228 -- in the unlikely event your primary jams. (And why would it? You treat it better than your wife or girlfriend, or both.)

A hydration system, maybe London Bridge, but looks a lot like the Eagle Industries Yote.

Cool, mock turtleneck with zipper, so you can look all fly when you get back to A-Stan and shed your second and first line gear so you're comfortable when you take digital pictures of your targets body and swab DNA for positive identification.

Even more pictures of this amzing figure and an in-depth review can be found at https://www.monkeydepot.com/Articles.asp?ID=197

But then again... It was night time. Maybe the SEAL raiders looked more like these Soldier Story CIA SAD Black Ops action figures. At least they have the missing piece of vital equipment: the Night Vision goggles.