Brotherhood (taegukgi) trailer

My son who doesn't really like war films recommended this one - it's a Korean war film set in 1950 about a family divided. It has the sort of action scenes that saw it being compared to Saving Private Ryan. Watch the trailer to see what it's like.

New Fortean Times out

That excellent magazine of strange phenomena is out - the cover piece has the amusing title 'How the Nazis stole Christmas'.

Trevithick

I couldn't proceed with the steam theme without mentioning the great Trevithick - the neglected cornish engineer. Won't bore you with the details if you aren't interested but instead check out these images and savour the engineering geniuses of those early days - it was these people not the Wellington's and the Marlborough's that made this country so dominant in that era - in my opinion. Celebrate the man at Camborne's Trevithick Day

Photo from Steam art

Execution of Michel Ney

“Soldiers, when I give the command to fire, fire straight at my heart. Wait for the order. It will be my last to you. I protest against my condemnation. I have fought a hundred battles for France, and not one against her... Soldiers Fire!”

Today is the anniversary of the execution of Ney - one of Napoleon's greatest soldiers. From a humble background as a son of Jacobite rebel this was a man who did not desert the troops on the way back from Moscow. OK - he was probably nuts by the time of Waterloo but who wouldn't be with that service record.

Black Robe (1991) trailer

Don't you love trailers? I do - they're sort of movies in a nutshell - the best bits in an exciting way. Watch this trailer for this film set in 17thc Canada. It tells the tale of a Jesuit priest out to convert the Hurons - great music and performances. Wrongly tagged at the time as a Canadian Dances With Wolves - think of it as a prequel to Into the West if you like! If you enjoyed New World then you'll enjoy this, I should think. IMDB

Subway Sect Ambition/Staying Out of View clip

'Do you wanna learn - or am I being wasteful now'. I don't know how many times I've checked to see if any Subway Sect has been uploaded and now it's there - watch it now in case it disappears.Wiki here Discography
This lot of glum Londoners were to me one of the best punk bands ever - although they didn't really have an album out during their early classic phase they made one of the best 45s of the era - namely Nobody's Scared/Don't Splitit. Listen to it and the flip here. Their style was deadpan, flat vocals over trebly guitar and thunderous drums, a format that was discarded too early, as Vic Godard pursued a more rockier approach. I will never forget the disappointment seeing them supporting the Buzzcocks on the Love Bites tour when they had jumped on a power pop bandwagon. I still shudder at the thought of it. Never mind there are some early tracks knocking around - anyone know of a definitive compilation of that early stuff

The Bristol Connection? I think the Sect were a big influence on the Bristol scene - something just clicked I reckon - there were dozens of Subway Sect sound and lookalike bands and probably had it not been for the fact that we had Susan as a singer we would have been another. I think the Pop Group were influenced by them - of course this might not be the case but that's just a thought - their appearance on the White Riot tour and playing Barton Hill gave them a load of fans in this neck of the woods. Of course Johnny Britten - mentioned in an earlier posting joined them and apparently and this is something I didn't know - was in Joboxers. I remember him being a bit of a 'face' on the Clifton scene and also recall him joining the Media. I was in a documentary about Bristol's punk scene - I was interviewed in the Dug Out Club when I was at printing college there. ANyway enough nostalgia - buy the Punk in London DVD to see 'em do Ambition the way it should have been done as a single and Staying Out of View. Other not so good bands are featured like the Lurkers, Killjoys, JaM, Adverts and the Clash in a German documentary from 77 - also one from X-Ray Spex. Worth buying honestly. Pics and story
Interview with Vic Godard who is now a postman. His Myspace

Apocalypto

I don't know - this actually looks pretty interesting from the trailer - a film by Mel Gibson is not usually something I would admit to having an interest in but a film in a Mayan language about the destruction of this civilization looks worth investigating. Terrible title though - apparently there is a subtext to the film about Iraq and about our our own western civilization in decline - nice of him to point it out - Wiki on the film

Civil War game review

Germinal trailer

This is a great movie from 1993 starring Gerard Depardieu and is set during a miners strike. Based on the book by Emile Zola this epic from Claude Berri didn't really get the praise it should have in this country but now you can watch the trailer and decide whether you want to get the DVD.

Much of Berri's film was shot on location in the Lens and Valenciennes regions of northern France, and the extensive unemployment and poverty the cast and crew still witnessed there led to the formation of a society, "Germinal l'association", headed by Depardieu, to alleviate the suffering caused by crippling unemployment in the départements comprising the region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais.

L'association Germinal

Titfield Thunderbolt

Well I have been following a locomotive theme for a bit so I can't proceed without mentioning this Ealing comedy shot 'round here, back in 1952. Susan's uncle, Jim was in one shot where cricketers are featured. The plot involves locals running a railway themselves using a museum piece loco - the 'Lion' an actual antique which was damaged during filming. If you've never seen this film then put it on your list of films to see - it's a lovely comedy - not exactly funny - but one of the British greats.

Fansite here

Trivia here

Battle of Lund 1676

Battle of the Scanian War fought this day between Sweden and Denmark. I like this period...it's bloody obscure and maybe that's why I like it. The painting of the battle here sort of captures why I like the 1670s though looking at it I can't really put my finger on it. Be really nice to wargame this period though I am not sure of any decent figures that are available for it. A 1670s range could also cover Louis XIV's wars of the period, the Battle of Fehrbellin, and maybe even back to the Carignan Salieres regiment and the Restoration. Danish uniforms and more information on the Scanian wars here

Night at the Museum

This is my holiday movie tip for the season - a cgi heavy comedy with Ben Stiller and a host of other actors - basically the plot involves all the exhibits in a museum coming to life - watch the trailer to see what happens - Steve Coogan plays a tiny Roman officer. Looks great and you never know it might popularise museums... also features Robin Williams as Teddy Roosevelt and our own Ricky Gervais.

First Eagles

Well here's a benefit of allowing anonymous comments - someone recommended this - a game of aerial combat in the Great War - just the thing if you have developed a taste for shooting bombers and things from watching the movie 'Flyboys'. Funnily enough I thought some of the dialogue in Flyboys was a bit like the cut-scenes from a pc game - 'today's mission will involve you hunting a Zeppellin - you'll need to use explosive ammunition and hit it hundreds of times'. That sort of thing. This looks ace though.

Frome to Radstock Railway

As non car drivers we have to be into this idea - completing the Frome to Radstock rail link - it only needs 5 miles of track to hook it up. Let's hope it gets going before its too late.

Austerlitz

As today is December 2nd then it must be the day to celebrate Napoleon's great victory at Austerlitz in the battle of the 3 Emperors. Here's a photo by Keith Redfern of last year's bicentennial battle. There's a video here too, quite short and of the same scene.

Any comments?

I thought to celebrate the (sort of) success of this blog I would try and set up to allow anonymous comments.... so here we go - say what you like - I will try and leave it there unless it really upsets me.

David Fisher - Somerset artist

Today was the Christmas fayre for the local museum so we popped down for a look and this print was on sale from Somerset artist David Fisher. Called 'Let Battle Commence' it depicts Radstock in 1960 - the year I was born incidentally - and full size it is really eye-catching. Read about the picture and see a large version on his site. There are a number of local transport themed pictures on his site and if you have an interest in this area or the Somerset and Dorset Railway then I highly recommend you invest some time in checking the other pieces in his portfolio.
The museum is housed in the Market building depicted in the painting, and a fine museum it is, with lots of enthusiasm for the region's past.

1816 - the Year without a summer

Of course incidents like the Somerset coalminers' strike of 1817 (see Bread or Blood below) was all part of a global catastrophe that started back in april 1815 with the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia. This caused a summer that was wet and without sun the next year and was responsible for Mary Shelley writing Frankenstein, but mainly failures of crops throughout Europe, potatoes rotting in the ground, this all eventually trickling down to the coalfields of Somerset. Strange really how something like that can effect everything. Of course the massive amounts of discharged servicemen after the Napoleonic wars had ended was another factor. I don't know maybe this might an interesting tv programme or something. Oh it was in 2005. Maybe we should look at this as a cautionary tale about the environment.

French tanks of World War Two video

Been a while since I posted something about French tanks of the Second World War. Check out this collection of archive and modern clips of these elegant beasts, including the Char B.

Bread or Blood

This image of a miner in Yorkshire from 1814 is an intro to a piece about the Somerset coalfield strike of 1817 - this was a time of agricultural failure and high unemployment and faced with a reduction of wages the miners of Radstock, Camerton, Paulton etc struck. Gangs of hundreds of them roamed the countryside armed with cudgels and the mines were occupied. Troops were called in to restore order including the new Lancers from Bristol. Four were arrested for riotous assembly and order was restored. The steam engine in the background is interesting. It's Blenkinsop's Salamanca, on the Leeds and Middleton Railway, 11 years before the better known Stockton to Darlington Railway opened.
Around here one William Ashman built a steam loco-motive to run on the coal tramway tracks around Radstock in the 1820s but it was too heavy. Shame. Picture from here