Vapnartak 2015 and "Her"

Sunday, 1st February.

The day started badly with England playing Australia in a one day 50 over cricket match and losing, badly. Australia were very good, England were....mediocre. This does not bode well for the World Cup that starts in two weeks time with Australia v England as the tournament opening match.

The afternoon improved as I went across town to Vapnartak 2015 at York racecourse. I heard someone saying this is the largest wargaming event in the UK outside London. I had a very pleasant afternoon, talked to some dealers, made some purchases and watched a few games and resisted the temptation of fish and chips.

One of the games brought back some schooldays memories. "Ilkley Old Boys" staged The Battle of Blastof Bridge, as written in Charge. This is a book I remember well and played some games using these rules. A fairly simple ruleset, the idea was to try to entice some youngsters at the fair to try wargaming. It seemed to be working.

Purchases. I am buying and painting a few Middle eastern figures, Ottoman and Arab troops, for mid-18th century armies. I wanted to buy some sample figures.

Ottomans from Dixons, two blisters covering half the Dixon range

Arab Militia spearmen

These Saga Saracens look fantastic

Saracen shield transfers, also from Saga

A couple of blister packs to complete another project 

£90 worth of figures and transfers. £500 of temptation resisted, in particular the Early War Miniatures 1940 French Army vehicles and figures.

Home and close the doors and curtains for the evening. B made a lovely roast duck dinner and we had a nice bottle of Cote de Rhone. We settled in to watch a film. Our first choice  was "300 Rise of an Empire" was a mistake, after 15 minutes we gave up, just in time to catch "Her" on Sky Movies. It was billed as a romance but it was good. Joachim Phoenix is a young actor who is starting to shine.

Sunday finished very well.

Stephen Sondheim "Into the Woods"

B is going through a good run of film choices at the moment. This is the third very good film in a row that she has chosen.

We like Sondheim musicals. "Into the Woods" was the first we saw in a theatre, the Theatre Royal here in York, about fifteen years ago. Another of his, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum", again at Theatre Royal, was one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

The film was very enjoyable, full of small, cameo performances, including Johnny Depp as the Wolf, great production, scenery and costumes. The plot covers several fairy tales all rolled together, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Repunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk, this makes the plot very difficult to describe but, basically, the childless couple (James Corden and Emily Blunt) have to go into the wood to lift a curse on their horse by the witch (Meryl Streep) to complete a number of tasks. Silly stuff but well written and scored.

Good to see Tracey Ullman, first time for many years

Playtime and Budapest

This week I have seen two very good film comedies.

First "Playtime", written, directed and starring Jacques Tati as Monsieur Hulot.

Tati wrote films that created social situations as his main story line, constantly in the background, but he concentrated on the individuals on the edge of that situation, those who were not socially blessed, a little awkward, don't quite fit in. Tati's main creation is Monsieur Hulot and he is one of those, he has a funny walk, he dresses badly, not good at small talk, he is very cack-handed with gadgets and technology, loved by kids and dogs. There isn't much dialogue in a Hulot film, the comedy is nearly all based on situations and reactions.  "Playtime" was Tati's last film and he had a huge set built, an American style business and office park of the 1960's, all glass and steel (I loved it). The plot is simple, Hulot has to go to an appointment in one of these buildings but everything goes wrong - just getting into the building is a major challenge. Marvellous stuff, so funny, particularly a glass door (Tati and doors, in his films he gets so much humour using doors).

The second film was "Grand Budapest Hotel", directed by Wes Anderson and starring Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori and a huge cast of current great names in small parts. I was surprised by how much I liked this film, B had wanted to see it, I had doubts, but I am glad she prevailed. This is a lovely film, very funny, beautifully conceived and designed, beautifully acted.

Not much snow in York

We don't get much snow in York so people make the best of what falls. We had a bit last night and this morning so a few kids were out before school started. We spotted this poor chap when crossing Museum Gardens.

A nice try, high marks for effort.

This photo was taken at about 11:30, the snow has melted already.

As I said, we don't get much snow but when we do, York is very picturesque. These photos are from Winter 2010.

Museum Gardens, almost the same spot as today's snowman.

St. Mary's Abbey

The Roman Tower

A medieval building

York Museum and the Abbey

Our house and garden at the time.

Paddington and Vimy Ridge

Saturday - a visit to Cityscreen in York - it was B's turn to choose the film - she chose "Paddington". Not my choice but I have to hold up my hand and admit I laughed, a lot. It is a very funny film. This was followed by an Italian lunch at Carluccio's.

The highlight of last week's domestic viewing was a feature length history documentary "The Battle of Vimy Ridge", made by a Canadian company so the emphasis was very much on the 1917 Canadian Corps attack. The film is a mix of film and photographs from the Great War, re-enactors filmed in black and white and actors reading soldiers' letters and reminiscences, all linked together by a spoken commentary from Canadian actor Paul Gross. The timed length of the programme was 96 minutes which allowed plenty of time to go through the planning stage, how the Canadian Corps Commander Lt Gen Byng and his staff and Divisional Commanders, particularly Arthur Currie, developed new tactics and training methods, including talking to the French Army about their experiences at Verdun in 1916, creating new combat teams and initiatives like using sand boxes and giving maps to all soldiers. As my area of interest is French military history, I found this DVD to be very informative and well produced.

I have booked my battlefield tour for 2015. I am switching from Holts Tours to Leger Holidays for their June trip to the Maginot Line and I am very excited about this. The trip is four nights in Longwy, itself a Vauban walled town on the UN list, a day in Belgium to see Eben Emael, a day at Ouvrages Fermont and Villy le Ferte and the last day at Ouvrages Immerhof and Hackenberg (the daddy of them all). I can't wait, already I am very excited.

Charlie Hebdo

I've been trying to write a blog about the assassinations at Charlie Hebdo, to express my disgust, dismay and anger at the extremists, but I am lost for words.

Chef

2015 has started well. This afternoon I watched "Chef", written, directed and starring Jon Favreau. Two hours of gentle, good film making, nothing particularly serious or heavy, just good film making. I loved the scenes in the kitchens.