COOL STUFF: "Star Wars in France!" (14 May 2008)

. TOP: Darth Vader clearly knows how to...

Dominate French apartment blocks.

Hi All,

I had a busy weekend with Mothers Day and all, and barely got to touch my models. My mother and sister both love drinking tea and collecting tea cups and that's what we did... head off to a British tea house and have a tea party, from appetizers to horsdoeuvres and multiple courses of tea, of course, we did it all.

In gaming news, my 28mm Barbary Pirates crew is nearly done and I've started putting together a 28mm Orc-Gobbo pirate crew. Thanks to the awesome folks at Black Cat Miniatures, I have a few new goblins, some excellent sculpts of some Gobbo natives and a few more piratey greenskins in tricornes with cutlasses and flintlocks. I hope to share pictures when available.

I haven't written about Star Wars in some time although I have plenty of material to farm out when I have more time to blog again. There are some rumors that a new Star Wars television series will soon be coming out. I've heard conflicting rumors that the new series might be animated or live action. I have no idea as to the veracity of the rumors.

The below link is very clever insertion of Star Wars characters and images into still life photos taken in France. I thought they were very clever and would invite you to take a look. I enjoyed them. I always knew that France always had a bit of "evil empire" lurking under its "wine & snails" exterior... LOL ;o)

Link below:
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1738796,00.html?xid=rss-topstories

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This year, 2008, has also a tremendous year for history, between folks like Arthur C. Clarke, Gary Gyax, and so many others, we've really lost some major history makers. May they all rest in peace. One of the most recent deaths I heard of was of a woman named Irena Sendler, an amazing Polish-Catholic woman who represents what I find good in the world. You see, she rescued upwards of 2,500 Jewish children from the Nazi Holocaust. The Nazis later captured her and tortured her, but she was able to escape and has always taken pride in her actions to save those children. Her story is an amazing one and well worth reading.

Link here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irena_Sendler

May Irena Sendler rest in peace.

Have a great Wednesday!

Good gaming to you!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

Notes regarding photos / pictures / videos: These are not all my images and videos. I am using various images and videos from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images and videos under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (...if it is indeed an infringement).

POSITIVE VIBES: Taxis & Happiness (7 May 2008)

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TOP: One taxi ride away from happiness...

Hi All,

We've all had many challenges in life and been down at times. I have, you have, it's part of the human condition... at some point, you have to be unhappy. However, that unhappiness is always relative. Your worst day may seem like a wonderful day to a soldier returning from Iraq. He or she is simply happy to be out of danger, with their family again, and enjoying the many blessings of living in the United States. I have a friend, Deborah, who is one of those positive people who always seems to be able to find the "sunny side" even on cruddy days when she's cranky and unhappy. I suspect that one of her "pep-me-ups" is to find positive stories and share them with her friends on the Internet.

The story I'm about to share with you is one such "pep-you-up" that Deborah sent me...

Subject: Taxi's, Happiness & Compassion

Twenty years ago, I drove a cab for a living. When I arrived at 2:30 a.m., the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window. Under these circumstances, many drivers would just honk once or twice, wait a minute, and then drive away. But I had seen too many impoverished people who depended on taxis as their only means of transportation. Unless a situation smelled of danger, I always went to the door. This passenger might be someone who needs my assistance, I reasoned to myself.

So I walked to the door and knocked. "Just a minute", answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor.

After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 80s stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940s movie.

By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets.

There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware.

"Would you carry my bag out to the car?" she said.

I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman.

She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb.

She kept thanking me for my kindness. "It's nothing", I told her. "I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated."

"Oh, you're such a good boy", she said. When we got in the cab, she gave me an address, and then asked, "Could you drive through downtown?"

"It's not the shortest way," I answered quickly.

"Oh, I don't mind," she said. "I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a Hospice."

I looked in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. "I don't have any family left," she continued. "The doctor says I don't have very long." I quietly reached over and shut off the meter..

"What route would you like me to take?" I asked.

For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator.

We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.

Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.

As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, "I'm tired. Let's go now."

We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico.

Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her.

I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair.

"How much do I owe you?" she asked, reaching into her purse.

"Nothing," I said.

"You have to make a living," she answered.

"There are other passengers," I responded. Almost without thinking, I bent and
gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly.

"You gave an old woman a little moment of joy," she said.

"Thank you."

I squeezed her hand, and then walked into the dim morning light. Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life.

I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly lost in thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift?

What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away?

On a quick review, I don't think that I have done anything more important in my life.
We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments.

But great moments often catch us unaware-beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.

PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT 'YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU SAID, ~BUT~ THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL.

I have no idea if the story is real or simply an anecdote. Truthfully said, I'm not sure if it matters.

And if I didn't mention it, Deborah is legally blind... yet she "sees" far more than I ever seem to... LOL ;o)

Have a great Wednesday!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

Notes regarding photos / pictures / videos: These are not all my images and videos. I am using various images and videos from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images and videos under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (...if it is indeed an infringement).

MINI WARGAMING: Simple Trees (3 May 2008)

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TOP: A few 28mm Arabs with some cheap plastic trees in the background.

Hi All,

I actually made these trees awhile back, but I took a few photos during my last shoot...

One of my favorite kinds of terrain is cheap, simple, quick-to-assemble terrain... Plastic trees, cactus, bushes and the like aren't so hard to find...

They often come with cheap toy packets, cake decorations, party favors, and many other sources.

I found this tree in a bin packaged with cactus and a few other pieces of foliage and it cried out to be mounted on washers with some pebbles and sand to give it a good foundation. The tree looked a bit funky before so I nipped off a spare branch and made it into a new tree.

I've found all kinds of trees over the years: evergreens, palms, oaks, those tall, skinny ones (forgot the name), and many more.

TOP: The main tree on a 1&1/2" washer.

TOP: The "nipped" branch on a 1" washer.

May your gaming be good and...

Have a great Saturday!

And Gut Shabbos to my Jewish readers!

Shabbat Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

Notes regarding photos / pictures / videos: These are not all my images and videos. I am using various images and videos from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images and videos under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (...if it is indeed an infringement).