Shoes to Go With My Army, or an Army to Go With My Shoes

It is not often that one can claim that one has the army to go with one's shoes, but I have succeeded.  I present Exhibit A, a pair of Dr Martens emblazoned with Renaissance Italian Condotierri.  The art work is D'Antonio's Triumph of Camillus (original in the National Gallery)

These were acquired during our sojourn in the UK last month.  I originally saw these during our four day stay in London on arrival, but balked at that time.  However with encouragement from my wife and sister in law I went back during our London segment of the return journey from Bedford to Southampton and voila.  They became my father's day present from my wife, and a damn fine one they are at that.

And for the record I have worn them in public twice so far.  Once to supper at a Thai restaurant in Marylebone immediately after purchase and then again at the local theatre in Regina.  Londoners of course paid no attention to them, but I did get catch some odd glances from fellow theatre goers - I figure that it's good for them to stretch their horizons a little.

AHPCV Curt Geld Socrates

So for this year's painting challenge, Curt has required that we paint up a 28mm entry figure of for this year's theme - Antihero.  Here's my entry figures - Socrates (the philosopher not the brilliant Brazilian footballer).   He's a metal figure by Reaper from their Chronoscope range.  I found them in December while off marking Actuarial exams in Santa Monica CA, at Aero Hobbies and Games.  It's a great little shop and I enjoyed my poke around.

So let's look at what an Antihero is, and no it is not the opposite of a hero so the semi-obvious choices of villain and heroine are out.  An Antihero is a character who is cast in the main role and sometimes acts as the villain, but who lacks heroic attributes.  Clint Eastwood's "Man With No Name" and Harry Flashman are prototypical antiheroes.

So why Socrates - in some ways I dunno really it just came to me.  But let's follow this through, is Socrates the obvious choice of hero.  Well, actually he's mostly portrayed as a old codger who asks a lot of probing questions.  Depending on who you read he could also be considered vain, curmudgeonly and having atrocious personal hygiene (think Oscar from the Odd Couple).  He doesn't fit the traditional heroic model, but I figure that he can be placed in a hero's role for two reasons.

• He fought in the Athenian Phalanx in at least three actions Potidaea, Amphipolis and Delium.  If you're up on your Thucydides, the first was an Athenian victory but the others were big defeats.  He also apparently saved Alcibiades' life at Potidaea (OK maybe that's not a plus as an Athenian). My first ancients army was ancient Greeks and the idea of the citizen Hoplite was part of the appeal.  And yes this is the one army where citizen soldiers actually meant people you study in history class!
• For being put on trial and executed for ...well basically for being a crotchety old fart who questioned Athenian politics and morality.  But the official charges were impiety and corrupting the youth!  According to his pupils Plato and Xenophon (yes the Anabasis guy), he did have the option to escape but refused and drank the hemlock instead.

Oh yeah, and he played a darn critical role in the history of Philosophy but I am not qualified to comment there.  Instead I refer the reader to the following education video by some prominent philosophy scholars.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_WRFJwGsbY

Enough historical babble, let's deal with the figure.  The reaper figure was cleanly cast, is on the large 28mm side and was nice to paint.  I opted for basic colours without much ornamentation on the clothing, as I figured that Socrates was a pretty basic guy clothes wise, but tried to bring out details with shading, washes and highlights.  There is a lot of layered folds in the clothing, arising from a clock over top of a tunic which took some figuring out.  I was amused that I actually got to use my "Linen" colour to paint his linen tunic and the "Parchment" tube to paint the parchment scroll.

I liked the base to the figure - it's a slotta type base with a circular well that extends almost out to the edge of the base.  I filled the well with white craft glue and a mix of kitty litter, sand and model railway ballast to give some ground textures.

Merry Christmas Everyone

When Reading and Current Events Collide With 90s Canuck Rock

Ok so currently I am reading Anthony Beevor's history of the Spanish Cicil War.

Highly recommended - a good read and good history and I am learning a lot about a period that I don't know much about.  His Introduction starts with the events of the attempted 1981 Coup which King Juan Carlos played a key role in stopping.

So today Juan Carlos announced that he is stepping down in favour of his son (this seems to be all the rage in Europe these days).  I am not always the biggest fan of monarchies in the 21st century but to me Juan Carlos earned his bacon on 21 February 1981.

IF you are Canadian and IF were into indie folk rock in the early nineties THEN you might have asked yourself some questions when you heard this news.

Will he work at Pizza Pizza?  Vaccuum the turf at Skydome (ok Rogers Centre)?  Or drive the Zamboni?

If not then I present for you education Moxy Fruvous
King of Spain

Pi Day - Tomorrow's Geek Fest

Looking forward to the math crafts….

The Defeat of the Auld Enemy

I should have posted this last week.  Readers will be glad to hear that my wife took the initiative to dispatch the cabbage while I was at work and the cabbage rolls were in the oven when I came home.

The cabbage rolls were delicious and no actuaries or wargamers were injured in the process.

The Return of the Auld Enemy

Yes it's harvest time so this week at the market I got another killer cabbage for cabbage rolls.  Wish me luck as I prepare for the upcoming knife fight with the beast.

Fletcher Pratt Outdoors

Looks like Tim Gow has followed our local gamers' lead by taking Mr. Pratt outdoors.

Now of course, real men would have experienced the North Atlantic conditions that we played in

(outdoors-adventures).

Big Lee, Considered Yourself Pimped

Ok, besides shameless selling my soul for the chance of getting free swag, there are reasons to plug
Big Lee.  His blog is both educational and entertaining.  Go check it out.

One Grain More

This is a goofy and clever video that appeals to me as someone who is both a celiac and has seen live productions of Les Miz several times and on several stages, including London's West End and the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.  In fact every time I hear the people sing, I get the urge to don the red braided waistcoat, grab the flag and man the barricades. 

I should point out that several of the products they are using may be wheat free, but are not gluten free.  personally, I go for purchased GF baking mostly as it's quality has greatly improved.  Besides, the last time we tried to bake a loaf of bread we needed to buy a new bread maker after ward.  The dough rose up out of the loaf pan like the Thing looking for victims.  As for the breads and such that my mum baked when I was a kid, well I've tried in vain to suppress those memories.

Liebster Blog

Liebster Blog Award

I've been nominated for this virtual award by the honourable Tim Gow  .  As I understand the  'rules' of this award (which, for the benefit of non-German readers among us, translates as 'Favourite Blog') are to post the above picture and nominate five favourite blogs.

So excluding Fine Blogs which I know have already been awarded, my list of 5 would be (in no particular order and drawn randomly from a field of worthy candidates)

• David Crook all round good guy and recently hit the kilo-post milestone.
• Curt at Analogue hobbies for hosting a good party last night (even if I did have to look at his legs under the kilt)
• Rob Hingley an old wargaming opponent with interesting facts
• Steven Page of Old Admirals (and not ex of the Barenaked Ladies) 
• Stokes at The Grand Ducke of Stollen fellow academic, family man and old school gamer.

Two Generations in Costumes

The pith helmet wil likely reappear next time we venture into Wascanastan.  I convinced my wife that it would be used after Halloween, but she didn't realize where and when.  I may steal Katie's hat if I ever do the League of Augsburg or Spanish Succession.