Bits and Pieces…

I’ve worked out how to make my phone into a hotspot (and if you knew me in real life, well… you’d know that’s a pretty big deal for me) so here’s a little catchup on the bits and pieces that I’ve managed to read and watch over the last few days. Not a lot as it happens, it hasn’t been the best week for doing the things that I wanted to, or the things that I needed to for that matter. Oh well, hopefully next week will be a better one ;o)

I’ll be spend today catching up with a couple of books and maybe some movies too. There might even be a blog post tomorrow ;o) In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this…



‘300: Rise of an Empire’ (2014)

Greek general Themistocles of Athens leads the naval charge against invading Persian forces led by mortal-turned-god Xerxes and Artemisia, vengeful commander of the Persian navy.

While I’ve been waiting to get the internet back, I thought I’d watch a few of the DVDs that were hidden away in a cupboard (at the old place) and are now all over the place here. I knew there was a reason for keeping them…

I won’t tell you about ‘Deep Blue Sea 2 & 3’ all over again (because I already did Here and Here) but I did finally manage to watch ‘300: Rise of an Empire’ and…

I loved it, of course I did. It was everything that ‘300’ was, except mostly on water this time. The thing is though… ‘Rise of an Empire’ was so like it’s predecessor that it didn’t really have anything new to say for itself. That’s why I’m going to point you at my original post on ‘300’ and suggest that you just swap out the appropriate words as required. It’s late and that’s about all I have the energy for, I’m sure you understand ;o)

You could say that if it isn’t broke then it doesn’t need fixing; I’d agree but I can’t help wishing that ‘Rise of an Empire’ had tried to do at least one thing differently. Oh well, it was still a great way to kill an hour and a half so I won’t complain too much.

‘The Orphan of Pale Harbour’ and ‘Shadowglass Creek’ (Richard Strachan)

I bought myself a copy of the ‘Age of Sigmar’ anthology ‘Untamed Realms’ the other day. I was actually looking for a new phone (which I eventually found), I’m very easily distracted at the moment ;o) It’s a great anthology, from what I’ve read so far, but I’m discovering, the hard way that if you buy the AoS short stories individually for the Kindle, you’re not going to find much that’s new in the anthologies as they’re released… Oh well, there are still a few stories here that I haven’t read yet. I read ‘The Orphan of Pale Harbour’ and ‘Shadowglass Creek’ a few months ago but, for whatever reason, they never made it into a post here so lets do something about that.

As members of the Order of Azyr, Galen and Doralia Ven Denst wander the plains of Ghur, delivering the justice of Sigmar when justice needs to be done. The stories of their adventures became ‘must read’ for me, a while ago, and these two can hold their heads high up in the company of those others.

I love the ‘Wild West’ vibe to the setting of Ghur, wide open spaces and people trying to make a new life on the frontier, and how Galen and Doralia stride through it like they’re both Clint Eastwood, rooting out evil whether the settlers like it or not. I’m looking at you in particular ‘Shadowglass Creek’. Both tales set our heroes against lurking evil and while the outcome is never in any doubt, it’s the journey that matters with both Galen and Doralia showing why people look worried when they see them coming. Human drama set against this wide open backdrop, both combining to show the reader that while Galen and Doralia will never be truly accepted, their tireless hunting of evil can be all that stands between the making of a township or its breaking…

I won’t say too much more about these two tales other than that they were both very welcome entries in the travels of our heroes and I’m really hoping to see another full length novel, fingers crossed… ;o)

And now, it’s back to the books. Enjoy your Sunday and fingers crossed I’ll get my internet back tomorrow :o)