M1A Scout

My choice for a long arm in 1650's America- see Triple Barrelled Rifle post for details- the Springfield M1A Scout Rifle in mossy oak.

Kettlebell routine

Though I'm still very much a beginner when it comes to kettlebell training, I have devised a routine which seems to be working okay. The basic guidebook to KB training is The Russian Kettlebell Challenge- and while it's pretty much essential to learning the techniques involved it's fairly vague when it comes to actually putting the routines together. There is lots of advice on training but if you're anything like me when you start a new training regime you want some sample programs to help break you in.

When I began training I simply went through the entire list of main exercises, doing one or two sets of each. It was hard, but fun, work but as I progressed and my reps went up, it simply became too draining. So I've now come up with a new routine. Here's how it breaks down-

Warm-up with 2 handed swing x 3 sets for 20 reps

1.clean and jerk
2.snatch
3.military press
All the above for 20 reps each hand, x 3 sets

End with box squats for 20 reps x 5 sets

My intention is to carry out this routine as a 'hard training' day and to alternate it with 'easy' days (yeah, right)- on the easy days sets are down and I will swap out the three main exercises with under the leg passes, floor presses and cleans. The aim is to train like so- hard, easy, hard, rest, hard, easy, rest. That gives five days training a week with two days off. My strength and endurance are still not what they should be, but this routine should hopefully rectify that somewhat.

Triple Barrelled Rifle

A while back on Kim du Toit's site he had a game- pick some weapons to carry with you on an imaginary journey crossing America coast to coast around 1650. The rules were one long gun, one handgun and two knives. It's an interesting idea and it gave me more than a little fun thinking about what I'd take with me on such an epic journey.

However, for me the most striking thing about the article was one of the suggestions sent into Kim- "one of those WW2 African survival (Luftwaffe?) drillings (9.3x74mm under two 12 ga. barrels)". I'd never heard of such a thing and every now and then I'll do a spot of Googling for it, but nothing ever seems to come up. If you know more, please put me out of my misery and let me know! Was such a thing ever issued during WW2?

There are modern variants on this theme, and 9.3x74mm seems to be a fairly popular calibre for drillings and even double rifles, particularly among the European manufacturers. One make of these types of weapon stood out when I finally decided to abandon my search for the WW2 variety and that is Heym, creator of excellent bolt action and double rifles in big game calibres.

They make a variety of drillings- twin 12 ga. with single rifle beneath, double rifle with single 12 ga. beneath, and the unusual looking single 12 ga. with single large rifle beneath and small rifle to the side. They also offer the Vierling, the Model 37V four barrel gun. This has double 12 ga. barrels with a small calibre between and below, and a large calibre barrel below that. The large rifle barrel can be had in a number of calibres including 9.3x74mm and the excellent 7x57mm. It weighs in just over 9lbs which is reasonably hefty but it's a gun which offers an amazing amount of versatility. With the small barrel in .22 Hornet, the big rifle in 9.3x74mm and two 12 ga. you have a gun which could handle pretty much any survival situation. Of course, there's an awful lot more ammo to carry when you have a gun in three calibres instead or just one, but the Vierling seems adaptable to just about any place on Earth.

In Kim's scenario this might not be the best choice as there was an 800 round long gun limit (of course with such a gun you would not need to take a side-arm and thus could use the 1,000 round maximum for the various calibres) but the usefulness of such a weapon is very desirable. It's also easy to see why a 12 ga./9.3x74mm would be issued as a survival weapon in Africa- I'm sure the Vierling would fit the bill nicely too.

BTW, for Kim's scenario I originally opted for a Springfield M1A Scout Rifle, a Bowen Classic 'Alpine' Redhawk in .454 Casull (with a mix of this and .45 Colt ammo), a Cold Steel Bushman (as well as being used as a spear, it's a very strong and light knife- you don't even notice you're wearing it when it's strapped on and the blade can very easily be brought up to a razor's edge) and a Cold Steel Rifleman's Hawk.

Terminator not so threatening after all

Sarah Connor is safe- for the time being. Robotics engineers pitted robotic arms equipped with polymer based artificial muscles against a 17 year old girl, who describes herself as a wimp, in an arm wrestling contest. The wimp won against three different robot arms.

The bad news for Sarah Connor, however, is that the originator of the contest didn't believe it would be possible for it to actually take place for decades to come- when he suggested it in 1999! While we still don't have ray guns and flying cars, there are huge advances being made in some fields.

Here comes the future.

Another writing exercise

My last writing tip was to select some old movies for a re-write. Well, I've come up with another- grab a list of movies (go to imdb and do a search for an actor or director) and then try to come up with a plot based on only the movie title. This will only work if you don't have any idea what the film is about, all you have to work with is the title. It's a pretty neat way to get the creative juices flowing and, as well as being a way to while away the time when you can't write, it's also a great way to come up with some new stories.

At the moment I'm working through a list of movies by the likes of Roger Corman and Fred Olen Ray because low-budget trashy sci-fi and horror appeals to me. Movies with titles like "Captain Nuke and the Bomber Boys" are also pretty fun to try and plot.

More remakes on the way

Though there must be literally thousands of eager writers scribbling away all over the world, creating new and original material, Hollywood is apparently unaware of them. Instead they continue to plunder their archives, remaking even more films. On the whole I cannot say that this is entirely a bad thing. I enjoyed the Dawn of the Dead remake, for example. In fact, I like it a lot. However, when I read about some of the things that are being remade my heart sank.

In particular I'm hugely disappointed with the news that the Night Stalker is being re-done. For those of you not familiar with it, the movie and TV show starred the superb Darren McGavin as Kolchak, a reporter who investigated the strange and unusual- vampires and the like. In a way, it was the X-Files of its day and McGavin even guested on that show. To hear of a remake is bad enough (they probably won't use the same stories so why not just create their own reporter investigating the weird?) but it gets much worse- to replace McGavin they've picked....Stuart Townsend. Obviously I am entirely underwhelmed by this news. Townsend will not be able to fill McGavin's shoes.

Next up is one that might- just might, mind you- have a little bit of potential, it's George Romero's The Crazies. This is one of my favourite Romero films and it involves an accidental release of a virus by the military on a small town. The virus turns those infected in to 'crazies' and a few townsfolk try to escape. It's a pretty grim tale, partly due to the low budget and partly due to the cold direction but it's been overshadowed- unfairly in my opinion- by his more famous zombie movies. Perhaps a remake might work, especially since Brad Anderson is directing. I haven't yet seen The Machinist but I do have Session 9 and it's a very neat horror movie. Very well put together, nicely paced and with a great creepy atmosphere.

Finally, one that I just don't understand- Nic Cage in The Wicker Man. This is a movie that has a certain cult status and got a lot of press a short time ago with its release on DVD- but even at that it is definitely not everyone's cup of tea. Not by a long stretch. Basically, it involves a Scottish policeman- a devout Christian- travelling to a remote island to investigate a girl's disappearance. When he gets there he is shocked to discover that the islanders are pagans. I think this was very much one for its time and while I enjoy it, it seems to have become very dated- and with today's sensibilities I'm not sure that a remake will work at all. Add in the news that they are already tampering with the plot (it's going to be a matriarchal society now) and it doesn't look good.

Number Six

Picking five guns was fun, but five just isn't enough so I'm going to add to the list every so often. Here's number six:

A wheel-gun would be a desirable addition to the collection and this was a very tricky one to choose. Do I go for a double or single action? What calibre? Tricky indeed. I eventually narrowed it down to two options- a .357 magnum or a .45 Colt.

The former, in a Ruger GP-100, preferably in low glare stainless with a 4" barrel, would make for another great defence weapon. However, there's just something about the .45 Colt cartridge. Maybe its the fact that while it's an old time cartridge it can still be loaded hot, with Corbon ammo giving similar power to the .44 Magnum in an easier to handle form. However, as the .38 Special might be suitable for most needs, in many cases it would be better to buy a .357 magunm, giving more power if and when needed- and the same applies to .45 Colt. Why simply get a .45 Colt when a .454 Casull will handle the Colt, but also gives one the added ability to take even more powerful ammo? For example, the hot .45 Corbon load can put a 335 grain bullet out at 1050fps. The Corbon .454 Casull can put a 360 grain bullet out at 1500 fps! While it would be tempting to grab one of the new Ruger Alaskans, I'd much rather have a 5-shot Bowen Classic 'Alpine' Redhawk conversion. Now there's a very nice looking gun indeed.

There's also the Wild West Guns option to consider too of course- their Wolverine Super Redhawk with moonclip conversion lets you shoot .454, .45 Colt and even .45ACP (Yay! More ammo compatibility). But I prefer the Redhawk to the Super and the Bowen is just such a fine looking weapon. Add the moonclip option to that and you'd have a very nice set-up- enabling you to do everything from home defence to hunting. It's also a heck of a lot more versatile than a .357/.38 GP-100.

I did briefly consider the new Smith and Wesson 460 XVR in .460 S&W Magnum as this brute will also handle .454 and .45 Colt. The .460 puts a 200 grain bullet out at a whopping 2,330fps! That's a lot of gun and it seems to be a really flat-shooting cartridge but it's beyond pretty much any hunting situation I'd want to be in. The .454 Casull would be more than sufficient. And even though it's not officially on my list, the Bowen .454 would pair up very nicely indeed with the Puma Model 92, a handy little lever action in .454 Casull, which was reviewed by Paco Kelly of Gunblast here.

Safety Announcement

I'll keep it short and simple. This is NOT what guns are intended for.

Thank you for listening.

A 17-year-old McCandless girl was accidentally shot by her boyfriend Sunday while the two were engaged in "bedroom activities," police said.

"They were engaged in some bizarre activities in his bedroom," Barrett said. "The gun, we believe, accidentally discharged."

The girl, who, as a juvenile, was not identified by police, was wounded in the groin with a .45-caliber handgun and was taken to an undisclosed hospital.

By the way, ouch. That's got to hurt.

Bomb Threat

I drove into town today and discovered a bit of a traffic snarl up- the police (quite a few of them) had cordoned off a street and were diverting traffic. It was only later that I discovered that the street was closed because of a bomb threat- a suspect package had been discovered behind a local business. When it was announced on the news (I was in Subway for lunch) no one batted an eyelid. It was a total non-event. It made me wonder how the same news would have been greeted in an American town, or even an English one. Terrorism is a way of life here- it was in the news every day, almost everyone I know knows someone who has been killed, and only here in all of the UK are the police armed and dressed in flak jackets. Only here do the Army launch foot patrols and armed check-points. Only a few years back if you wanted to enter a shopping centre you had to subject yourself and your bags (handbag, rucksack, shopping, etc) to a cursory search by security guards. Again, unlike the rest of the UK, we have photographs on our driving licences as a replacement ID card.

The so-called peace process which has been dragging on for about ten years now has served only to reduce the bombings. The terror gangs, loyalist and nationalist, carry on their business of extortion, drug dealing, robbery, punishment beatings and kneecappings. Now and then someone will be killed on one side or another but this is usually put down to "splinter" groups. Meanwhile under the "peace" deal the British Army has drastically reduced its presence here and nationalist politicians, members of the IRA like Martin
McGuiness, pocket the pay of a member of parliament and gain the benefits of that office, all the while refusing to take the oath of loyalty required. All this and the IRA still have their weapons and have been just implicated in a £26.5 million bank robbery. The bomb threat in town may (hopefully) be just that but the accepting attitude of the people who live here made me realise how much we have come not just to accept random bombings and assassinations, but to expect them.

Friendly Herbivores

Kris left a comment on a post I made on a new species of raptor, mentioning that it would probably be more frightening coming across a gigantic Seismosaurus than one of these small predators. For those not in the know a Seismosaurus is a sauropod, much like a Diplodocus, and the longest dinosaur ever discovered; running up to 170 feet, and weighing around 200,000lbs (that's the same as eighteen African elephants). It was 84 feet high. That's big. In fact it's so big that I can't even imagine what it might have been like to look up at one of these giants. Just pause and think about it for a moment.

Which leads me on to my next point- I'm a big fan of dinosaurs and dinosaur movies, though they are few and far between. Lately the Jurassic Park series has been the main contender and while I have issues with them, I'd sit and watch them over and over again just for the dinosaur action. One of my main complaints (apart from the only gun in the Park in the original movie being a SPAS12. What's that about?) is the protrayal of the herbivorous dinosaurs as being gentle giants. They're able to feed and pat a brachiosaur on the head it's so meek and mild. I just can't buy this- why would these vast herbivores behave like domesticated cattle? Wouldn't they behave a bit more like wild herbivores? Cape Buffalo for example are notoriously mean tempered. Even an elephant isn't that gentle- I'm fairly sure you couldn't just walk up to a bull elephant in Africa and pat it, not without being stomped to death anyway. Wouldn't a brachiosaur behave in a similar manner? I think part of the problem with this is, dare I say it, the liberal view of the wild. The carnivores are basically insane killers, rather than creatures which hunt to eat, and the herbivores are gentle peaceful beings that sing like whales. I think I prefer the sauropod in King Kong, which capsizes a raft and then proceeds to kill the sailors on board.

So now imagine a 200,000lb, 84 foot high dinosaur with a bad temper and a tail which it can crack like a whip (and probably not just one, there's most likely a herd of them). Now, that's pretty damn scary.

Hoplophobia

ACE today has a post on the ingenious way a Frenchman has circumvented a ban on the military .50 BMG cartridge- he's developed a new one using the same case and bullet! Of course for many Europeans the idea of using firearms for anything other than hunting (and even that it pretty much universally decried) is outrageous and so most European states see nothing wrong with banning military cartrtidges. Obviously they can have no other purpose than to kill.

In Britain semi-automatic long arms are banned along with handguns of all shapes and sizes. An awful lot of handgunners went out and replaced their handguns with lever actions and bolt actions when the ban came into effect. This must have made the country a safer place- better a man with a bolt action 7.62 rifle than a 9mm handgun. AR and FAL-type rifles can still be bought but the action has to be manually cycled- this somehow makes them less dangerous than their semi-auto brothers. Weapons like the Enfield and Mauser are also still legal- apparently the weapons of the World Wars are somehow less dangerous than the modern equivalent.

The problem seems to be that those who want to ban certain types (and eventually all types) of weapon or ammunition, do not understand firearms at all. Their hoplopobia is completely irrational. As I commented at ACE's place, it's illegal in some countries to buy 7.62mm ammo, but legal to buy .308. The former is of course a deadly military cartridge designed for no other reason than to kill people. The latter is a hunting round. Anti-gun types generally seem to have no understanding of what it is they are afraid of. For example, show a hoplophobe a Desert Eagle in .44 Magnum and a Marlin in the same calibre and ask them which is worse and I'm pretty sure they'd say that the former must be banned while the latter was okay. Well, okay, they'd probably want to ban both but if they could only pick one you know it'd be the more dangerous looking Desert Eagle. It would not occur to them that the Marlin could generate greater velocity and muzzle energy out of the longer barrel. The Californian ban on the .50 BMG makes no sense- and it makes even less for a Republican Governor like Arnie to have agreed with it. The .50 is not a noted weapon for criminals to use. It's not even a popular terrorist weapon, coming far behind the AK, RPG, car bomb and suicide vest. There was a .50 sniper rifle in use by the IRA here (obtained illegally- that's the other thing hoplophobes seem to have trouble with; criminals and terrorists don't often obey laws) but it was rumoured that there were only one or two guys capable of firing it. Maybe that's the biggest point that the hoplophobes don't get- it's not the gun, it's the person using it.

The .50BMG ban likely has more to do with a creeping ban of other "dangerous" calibres or types of gun than with any real perceived threat from its criminal use- has there even been a single case of the .50 being used in the commission of a crime in California? And how long will it be before someone suggests banning other "military" cartridges there?

More Movie Rambling

One of the movies that I'm really looking forward to seeing is Sin City. Hopefully with Frank Miller so closely involved with the film and with Rodriguez at the helm it'll be faithful to the source material. To check out a couple of photos of the cast in character then check out this page at SuperHeroHype.

While you're at it, ponder just what the heck the studio is thinking by possibly casting Kim Basinger as Wonder Woman? Huh? Jessica Biel I could buy in the role (maybe, I still haven't seen her in Blade Trinity) but I can't for an instant imagine that Basinger would be suitable. Or, for that matter, understand why they'd want to make a WW movie (probably hoping for a series of flicks) beginning with an older Wonder Woman? Strange.

There are some other films to look forward to though- Miami Vice not being one of them since I discovered that Colin Farrell is in it. The Wretched sounds pretty exciting in that the plot has Chow Yun Fat in the Wild West as a bounty hunter of the undead. Six shooting zombie killin' action, what's not to like? He's also going to be appearing in Pirates of the Caribbean 2. I thought the first movie was hugely enjoyable thanks to Johnny Depp's performance. Hopefully, this one will be just as much fun.

Then, there's some strange news. Sam Raimi is apparently considering an Evil Dead 4, with Bruce Campbell as Ash. Good so far, but his production company is apparently also going ahead with an Evil Dead remake- the film which was "retold" in the first section of Evil Dead 2. Even if it hadn't I don't see the point at all of remaking it. Maybe Hollywood is out of ideas.

Finally, there's a sequel to John Carpenter's Vampires, called Vampires: The Turning, out soon on DVD. Well, another sequel without Jon Bon Jovi, which can only be a good thing. This time the action takes place in Thailand and contains some martial arts hi-jinks. I liked the James Woods original even though it's not up there with the best of Carpenter's movies. It's fun enough. I'll bet this muay thai sequel isn't a patch on Mr. Vampire though, the all-time greatest martial arts vampire movie around. Trust me, it's superb. Crack open a cold one, sit back and enjoy.

Zombie Terrorist Charges

This is a pretty bizarre story. Taking everything at face value, it seems that an eighteen year old high school student wrote a zombie story which takes place in a high school (not his own). His loving grandparents apparently discovered the tale and, no doubt fearing their grandchild was a burgeoning psychopath, took the story to the cops who have charged him with making terrorist threats.

This is a pretty worrying development; police investigators say they found materials which "outline possible acts of violence aimed at students, teachers and police" - emphasis mine. I should hope so if they were zombies- violence is the only way to deal with the walking dead.

So a kid writes a story and he is arrested for using his imagination? Now, of course if this kid had turned psycho and caused some sort of massacre people would have been asking, but why wasn't he stopped? Didn't anyone know he was a lunatic? Wasn't anyone reading his journal? That's fair enough but when a theatre group can put on a play about assassinating the President, and who knows how may writers can publish books about all sorts of horrific massacres, no one bats an eyelid. No one is arrested for making terrorist threats. I can remember writing a pretty shoddy tale about Russians invading my school (well, they invaded the whole country not just the school) when I was a teenager. I didn't mention my school by name or the teachers or even the pupils, but I it was based on it. Should I have been arrested as a potential Columbine killer? Or is this a storm in a teacup? What about freedom of speech? Shouldn't we be encouraging kids to write down their fantasies rather than acting them out?

I'm in pretty serious trouble if writing stuff like this down is making a terrorist threat (whom was he threatening by the way? Wouldn't it be a threat if he'd actually, you know, threatened someone instead of writing a story?). In my own collection of scribbles I've reduced whole cities, even continents, to ashes. Millions have died in horrible ways- nuclear war, plague, natural disasters, vampires, and yes- even zombies. I've launched wars, struck terrorist attacks, spied on foreign powers and even planned assassinations. I've also repelled the odd alien invasion. None of it is threatening though (unless you count the writing style and that's more offensive than threatening) - it's fiction. It'll be interesting to see how this story pans out.

Gimme 5

Because I can only dream of owning certain weapons, it's a nice little mental exercise for me to imagine what I'd buy if I were able to. Kim du Toit once had a nice little skit like this- whereby you had a certain amount of money to spend at Collector's Firearms. Well, one I've been tinkering with of late is a five gun selection. If you were only allowed to own five guns, what would they be? It's trickier than it sounds- every time I wrote a list I had to take one away to add another. Trying to have a good selection for all your handgun needs, be they hunting, target shooting, plinking, or defence, isn't as easy as it sounds. Anyway, for the time being anyway, here's what I've come up with.

1. A 1911 was the obvious first choice really; not only is the design time-proven but so too is the cartridge it fires. There are a wealth of 1911s available at the moment and it was pretty hard trying to select an appropriate model. Eventually however, I settled on the Springfield Full Size. Specifically the Parkerized version. It's not only sub-$1000 but it has Springfield's reputation behind it. And I wanted a little more than the usual GI-version, which the Full Size offers; the ambidextrous thumb safety is essential for me (lefty), it's got an extended beavertail grip safety and Novak tritium night sights. Features more commonly found on more expensive models.

2. I was considering a pump action shotgun as a serious home defence weapon but I decided against it in the end. Instead I opted for the DeLisle carbine (either this or the Sporter model would suit me fine) by Valkyrie Arms. First, it offers ammunition and magazine compatibility with the 1911 and second, it's a light and handy weapon which is well suited to the narrow confines of a home. It would also serve pretty well in a shtf situation and the ability to carry one type of ammo and magazine would be a huge bonus. Unlike the shotgun option it's not much of a kicker and so the Other Half would be more than capable of using it too if needs be. Of course, as I've mentioned before, I'd like to see it modified slightly- add XS Sights; the Express Big Dot shotgun sights actually look like they'd fit the bill.

3. Next up is the M1 Garand. A centrefire rifle is a must have for me. I love shooting and a day at the range with this baby would be ideal. Not only is it a classic design, but it's also chambered for a manly, hard-hitting calibre suitable for target, combat and even hunting. Last, but not least, it's also a tough, reliable battle rifle should the shtf.

4. My first two options are ideal for home defence but then I had to consider a carry option. This is a bit of a tricky one. I would very much like something along the lines of Smith and Wesson's little and light Model 342PD in .38 Special but I was torn between this option and a Para Ordnance CCW, an LDA (Light Double Action) single stack .45ACP. The advantage of the latter of course is yet more ammunition compatibility- and the proven stopping power of the venerable .45. The recommendation of Wiley Clapp helped too. The revolver may be "the original point and click interface", but in the end I had to go for the .45 option.

5. My last slot was perhaps the hardest to fill- I've already got a rifle, a carbine, a full size handgun and a carry piece. There are a few weapons that I'd just like to own but after much consideration I went for the Ruger 10/22 rifle. The .22LR cartridge is one that even I'm very familiar with and my Dad taught me to shoot with a target pistol in .22. I'd also very much like a Ruger Mark II but I think that the 10/22 is the better choice, but that's maybe just me; better to train the young'uns on a long arm first? The 10/22 is good enough for a plinker in it's standard form but it can also be jazzed up considerably to turn it into a highly accurate hole puncher. It would be an ideal piece to introduce my family to shooting and, if needs be, a magazine of 10 rounds delivered rapid fire could also be directed at a goblin.

A-Square

I've been intrigued by the A-Square company ever since I saw a picture of one of their monolithic slugs removed from elephant and buffalo in a book called The World's Most Powerful Rifles and Handguns. I'm not sure of the status of the company right now, their web-page doesn't seem to have been updated in a long time, but it'd be a shame if they weren't still operating. I do recall reading about their founder, Arthur Alphin getting into some sort of trouble with a government agency, most likely BATF, but I cannot for the life of me recall the details.

One of the most interesting thing about A-Square, quite apart from their Hannibal rifle, is the Triad of Bullets they offer. For most of the calibres they offer they have three different types of bullet which, despite their varied function, have precisely the same trajectory as one another. So a hunter could have a magazine of, say, five rounds with different bullets for penetration or expansion or a combination of both- and he will know that all have the same trajectory.

The first of the triad is the Monolithic Solid, designed purely for penetration and where expansion is not required. This is one for punching holes through elephant, buffalo or the like. They are not supposed to deform at all.

The second round is the Dead-Tough. Intended as a general purpose hunting round the Dead-Tough is meant to offer expansion down a third of the bullet, offering a wide frontal area, but keeping the remainder of the bullet intact to stabilise it's path through prey.

The final round is the Lion Load, so named I presume because of the beast's thin skinned nature. This one will only penetrate 12-24 inches of flesh and offers maximum destruction. It appears to be a soft lead nose surrounded by a thin copper jacket, enabling the bullet to mushroom and fragment, dumping all of the energy into the critter shot. It's not recommended for use when bone might get in the way of the vital organs.

As well as bullets for reloading, A-Square offer ammunition from 7mm all the way up to the massive .700 Nitro Express, most of it in the Triad format.

Top 100 Horror Novels

This is a list picked by Stephen Jones (never heard of him) and Kim Newman (movie critic and novelist). It's fairly contentious. I wouldn't have included Macbeth at all. The greats are mentioned of course- Poe, Stoker (twice) and of course the bizarre Lovecraft. Ray Bradbury is at 55 (the list is in chronological order which is a bit of a disappointment- it's always fun to rant and rave about lists like that) with the collection, The October Country. Not with Something Wicked This Way Comes, one of the most beautifully written books I've had the pleasure to read. Outrageous.

There are also some pretty strange picks for authors who did make the list. Clive Barker comes in at 95 with The Damnation Game, but that isn't a patch on his short stories collection The Books of Blood. The same applies to Robert McCammon (99) who is credited with Swan Song. It's a good book sure, but it's not in the same league as some of his earlier works. They Thirst, for example, is a classic over-the-top vampire tale with the undead in LA. I must have read that book a dozen times when I was younger. If you're at all interested in the horror/vampire genre do yourself a favour and go read it. It's surely his best work. Or they could even have picked his Nazi zombie submarine The Night Boat or the alien invader story Stinger, which I'm very fond of. Or even the WW2-set werewolf spy thriller the Wolf's Hour, which sounds ridiculous but which is actually very good fun indeed.

One book I was glad to see in the list is F. Paul Wilson's The Keep. Set in WW2 it concerns a detachment of German troops occupying a keep deep in the Transylvanian Alps where they unwittingly unleash an ancient evil. Though it was also made into a movie (by Michael Mann no less, and starring Ian McKellan, Gabriel Byrne and Scott Glenn), do yourself a favour and read the book instead. It's one of the best modern horror stories I've read, very good indeed. Another of his works which might appeal is The Tomb which features a great character, Repairman Jack, and is a superb thriller with some wonderful monsters. In fact, the more I think of it, the more I have to recommend this book. It's an action packed Boy's Own type adventure with it's roots in British Empire India. This is the sort of book the term "rollicking good read" was made to describe.

All in all I think it's a pretty good list, as it covers pretty much all the horror writers of influence- Nathaniel Hawthorne, Arthur Machen, M.R. James, to name but a few- and it leaves very few out. Brian Lumley is one of the few writers I can think of who doesn't show, but should, for his Necroscope series.

New Raptor

Not the usual sort of thing I post about but I have a deep and abiding interest in dinosaurs, no doubt brought on by an interest in movies like One Million Years BC- I was so disappointed when I eventually discovered that millions of years separated humans and dinosaurs. Blasted scientists, always spoiling things!

Anyway, it seems that a new species of raptor, given the catchy moniker of Neuquenraptor Argentinus, has been discovered in Argentina. It was previously thought that the raptor dinosaurs never made it to South America but this find has been linked to an earlier one and now it seems that dromeosaurs (characterised by the raptor's famous hooked claw) did in fact exist there sometime 80 millions years ago in the Cretaceous period. Though they were only about two metres long they have an adaption to their skeletal structure which their more famous velociraptor cousins did not- making them into especially swift runners. You can what they looked like here.

My favourite brand of raptor, however, is the oversize Megaraptor, a beast which looked just like a velociraptor (though it it wasn't actually a dromeosaur), but which was eight metres long (26 feet) and which had a hooked claw of over 36cm. That's fourteen inches. And it weighed about a ton. Imagine coming up against that.

Chinese Developments

The always informative World Guns site has been updated today with a new entry for a Chinese sniper rifle, the 5.8mmX42 calibre QBU-88. Built along similar lines to the QBZ-95 (aka Type 95), the new issue assault rifle for Chinese forces, the sniper rifle (or designated marksman rifle, as it seems poorly suited to a dedicated sniper role) is peculiar in that it's not only a semi-auto, it's also a bullpup design.

I have no info on the Chinese 5.8mm cartridge but the QBZ-95 assault rifle is also offered for export in 5.56 NATO so I'm assuming it to be fairly similar. Not exactly a step forward technologically but it's a development in line with NATO moving from 7.62 to 5.56 and the Russians to 5.54mm. Hardly a great selection for a sniper rifle either. Rumours are that the Type 95 assault rifle has not yet widely replaced the Kalashnikov-clone Type 81 rifle in 7.62mm outside of 'special forces' and that it has been having some technical problems. It's available as a standard size rifle, shorty carbine and also as a Squad Automatic Weapon.

I'm not too aware of Chinese weapon systems but I'm going to have to start doing a little research on the subject as the communist state represents a major threat to the Western way of life. One of the best places to get started is Chinese Defence Today, a site I discovered courtesy of MadOgre. Small arms are what I know best but by all accounts the Chinese are modernising their military fast, from attack submarines to AWACS. Front page news on Chinese Defence involves them buying UAVs from Israel. Correction, make that armed UAVs. Surely this is not a good move by Israel regarding their longest standing ally, the USA?

Sky Captain

I finally got round to watching Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow last night on DVD. I'd hoped to see this on the big screen but it never happened. I'm sure that some of the film's impact has been lost seeing it on a small screen. Visually it is stunning and if you have fond childhood memories of watching Flash Gordon or any of the old serials like it, then there's enough in this movie to entertain you. That's not to say that it's perfect- it's far from it. For one the casting/acting is pretty bad- Jude Law just doesn't cut it as a hero, Gwyneth Paltrow is astonishingly wooden and unlikeable as Polly Perkins and I just can't buy Giovanni Ribisi as the super-intelligent side-kick. Perhaps with a slightly better script the acting would have been better but as it stands the characters seem like nothing more than another CGI effect. And one they scrimped on at that.

Law's Sky Captain doesn't cut the mustard as an action hero- there's nothing special about him at all and his character isn't given much of an opportunity to do anything particularly heroic- he gets beaten up a couple of times and he flies a fighter plane but doesn't actually do much fighting. Mostly he flies away from other aircraft . Also, he doesn't seem to be all that bright- the plot has to be explained to him by other characters. His big deal is that he flies a plane which has a few James Bond gadgets built in. Whoop-dee-doo. In this retro-futuristic world, I'd expect Sky Captain to fly a kick-ass jet at the very least. If Ribisi can built a ray gun (which is very cool) then why can't he make the Sky Captain fly something equally wonderful?

Aside from the not very heroic hero, we're lumped with Paltrow's reporter character who is about as tough and feisty as a wet blanket. Her leaden acting doesn't help of course but I found myself not giving a damn about her at all- why is she in the movie? Well, apart from explaining to the Sky Captain what's going on, she doesn't really serve any function at all. True, she saves him once but apart from that she does very little- there's no snappy dialogue between the pair (which is I think what they were aiming for- perhaps they should have watched the Hudsucker Proxy and then had Jennifer Jason Leigh reprise her role from that) and she doesn't even fulfill the role of damsel in distress.

Perhaps the director/writer forgot that the whole point of the old serials was that they were exciting- every fifteen minutes or so one or other of the main characters would be in a life-threatening situation. That's exactly what's missing here- Sky Captain has some great classic references, from the giant robot death rays (the sound effect is lifted from the War of the Worlds) to the image of Godzilla in a newspaper, but what it lacks is excitement. The film just plods along with no sense of real danger and with no characters in particular to care about. Sky Captain's plane gets hit at one point and a stream of smoke trails from the wing but no one seems to care- so the audience doesn't either. The plot's a bit clunky but that could have been overlooked if the film had contained a sufficient amount of danger and excitement. It's a shame really because there are some nice creative touches- from Polly's news story being shown on the window behind her desk as she types to the Sky Captain's plane flying through cloud over a map to show where he's going. Added to that the whole concept of the film was superb- a retro-futuristic New York being attacked by giant robots fought off by the valiant Sky Captain. To screw up a thrilling setting like that takes some doing.

On the whole I've got to say that this is pretty much a visual treat- the digital backgrounds and design are superb but that's about all there is to it. The plot is a tad silly- take the big threat at the end of the movie for instance, it's so ridiculous as to be completely unbelievable- flying giant robots I can accept but that- no way! The acting is sub-standard and the casting was just wrong. I don't know of anyone who can buy Jude Law as an action hero (my Other Half's views was, "This isn't fair, you get to watch Angelina Jolie and I've only got Jude Law"). Hell, I could kick his scrawny ass. But if you can ignore that the film is entertaining, albeit in a lost opportunity sort of way. Maybe Hollywood should plan a remake of this instead of another classic movie which is just fine as it is.

Episode 3

If you've seen the show Spaced (with Simon Pegg of Shaun of the Dead fame) you'll have a pretty good idea of how I too feel about Star Wars Episode 1. If you haven't, really, go check Spaced out- it's very funny. Anyway, Episode 2 was an improvement and I'm hoping that Part 3- Revenge of the Sith- will be even better.

If you're the sort of person who doesn't mind MAJOR SPOILERS then you might be interested in checking out this site- which is basically a page of stills from the new movie. It looks good, particularly the opening scene. Again, there are a lot of spoilers contained therein so if you want the film to be a surprise to you, don't go here.