Taken 2

I watched Taken 2 yesterday for lunch and I have to say it was a letdown.    The lead character Bryan Mills is played by Liam Neeson. Bryan continues to be a Hostage Recovery and Personal Protection bad ass.   The action takes in Istanbul, Turkey, but the begining of the movie takes place in the U.S.  The introduction was very stale and sappy.  The script was to invested in establishing family ties.  I know Bryan loves his wife and daughter, it was clear at the end of the first movie Taken.  I'm not sure why we need to revisit his family and friends for 25 minutes at the beginning of the movie.  The viewers don't learn anything new about Bryans abilties or back story.  We do catch up with him in Istanbul, but we never get to see his skill develope as he keeps a client safe from harm.  All the views gets to see is Bryan being given a fat bonus, and then his ex-wife and daughter show up for no reason.  This is where the bad guys get involoved and the story begins to spiral down to its demise.  

  
 I am not sure why every movie shot in a Muslim country has to begin with a Muezzin doing the Adhan, the Muslim call to prayer.  It’s to clique, and I wish Hollywood would stop doing it.  Just tell me their in a Muslim country, I get it.  The movie's bad guys are okay at what they do.  They are typical hairy back Eastern Euros.  I don't blame them for being who they need to be, every movie needs a stereo type to beat on.  All the fight seems one dimensional, Bryan is going to smash all comers.  There's one fight scene that was really good, towards the end.  Bryan fights a little dude Suko played by Alain Figlarz.  The 2 minute fight was great because both characters are using similar fighting abilities, one trying to out maneuver the other.  Of course Bryan defeats Suko, but it was a real hand-to-hand fight to the death.  Bryan pays Suko honors by closing his eyes at the end of the fight, which I thought was classy. 

I'm not sure where Hollywood was trying to go with Taken 2.  I believe the script could have been written to include a darker look into the world of kidnapping and human trafficking.  Instead the movie has over the top scenes where grenades are being thrown out into public parking lots, and The U.S. Marines shoot 50 Caliber Machinegun rounds into a cab and do absolutely zero damage to it.  I couldn't stomach Taken 2, and walked out before the closing credits.  I do not recommend Taken 2 on the big screen.  If you like watch it on Blue ray or Netflix some day in the distant future. 

West Coast Podcast Alliance weekend

Last weekend I attended the West Coast Podcast Alliance Golden Ticket Event in Palmdale, CA.  I was able to do everything I wanted to do.  I met the podcast hosts from Life After the Cover Save, The Independent Characters, and Imperial Vox Cast.  I thanked them for all the time and effort they put into their shows and promoting our hobby here in California. 

I met several LAtCS celebrities while I was there.  Lets see there was Matt "Long Hair" LAtCS Survivor Series Champion,  Dan "The Magnet Man" with a wonderfully magnetised Tyranid Trygon, and  "Colonel Dracus" of Forge World fame.  It was cool to meet the guys.  They were all friendly and easy going people.  We discussed hobby tips and game strategy while we were there.  I think everyone had a good time. Especially after the pizzas got there, Thanks Ed for ordering those pies. 

I was able to play a four-man game with Josh from LAtCS. We ran my Orks and Josh's Eldar/Dark Eldar vs Matt "Long Hair" and Matt "SavageJester" and their Space Wolfs and Blood Angles respectively. The mass infantry of the Orks, mixed with the rapid deployment options of the Eldar are tough to defend against. Our opponents were good sports and fought to the bitter end. Ultimately it was our numbers that kept our team one step ahead of the Marines. We won the game by a hand full of kill points. 

 

Here are a few pictures of the tables that were being used at the event. 

 

Life After the Cover Save recorded their 56 episode while the event was underway.  Here are some pictures of the hosts interviewing the crews of Imperial Vox Cast, and The Independent Characters.

I had a great time at the Thunderdome, and hope the WCPA makes the Golden Ticket Event an annual affair. 

I was at the Thunderdome well after the rest of the hosts and fans had said their good byes.  Late into the night you could still hear laughter and the sound of rolling dice coming form the Thunderdome. 

Relic

I wanted to make a relic for my 40K games.  A relic is used in the mission: The Relic.  I used the Joseph the Wonderer by Scibor Monstrous Miniatures, and Groundwerks Base Inserts - 40mm Graveyard (2) from Dark Age, sold on the Cool Mini or Not website. I used cork tile to give the relic some height, and gave the top surface some character by cutting lines into polystyrene to create a stone floor. 



Shapeways

I ordered some custom 3D printer models from Shapeways a while back.  I have to be blunt about my Shapeways adventure.  I placed my order with them and was patient to wait the allotted time of three weeks for my package to arrive.  The three weeks stretched on to a month and a half, at which point I decided to contact Shapeways customer service and inquire about my purchase.  Shapeways apologized for not filling my order on time, and asked me to wait a little longer for the models to be made.  I agreed and waited another two weeks, but unfortunately Shapeways was not able to fill the order.  I contacted them again and asked for my money back.  Shapeways was quick to refund my money via PayPal, and sent me the models I had ordered for free as a way to apologize for being so late in making my models.  I have to thank the Shapeways Customer Service department for turning a bad situation into a positive experience.

 

 

 

I'm writing the second part of this review to answer some of Adrenal Booster's questions about the quality of Shapeways miniatures. 

 

 

To begin with I have to say that Shapeways is not a miniature making company.  They don't work in metal or resin.  They do work in plastic, several different types of plastic.  When you order from Shapeways you can choose what kind of plastic you want their 3D printers to use during the creation of your models.  I used the cheapest plastic available, so the miniatures I received did not retain a crisp edge.  The matterial I ordered has the initials MAT:WSD, this matterial looks and feels like spun plastic.  MAT:WSD will not stick if you use crazy glue, you will need to use plastic glue to make the parts stick together.  I also ordered some clear plastic bits made from MAT:FUD, these bits feel solid and have more detail than the MAT:WSD. 

 

 

 

The bigest item I ordered were cannons made from MAT:WSD, which I use as Kannons for my ork army.  The MAT:WSD wasn't the best matterial to reproduce this kind of complex model.  Some of the model parts did not print out, and the detail of the cannons were dull, with a melted look to them.  I had to use some polystyrene rods to fix the axle, and I used plastic glue to put them together.  I was able to put the cannons together and paint them with my airbrush. 

 

 

Shapeways took a month and a  half to deliver my models.  I called them to complain about how much time they were taking to finish m order.  The Shapeways customer service ladies calmed me down, and hooked me up by refunding my money and sending me my models for free.  I thought that was cool.  I personally will not be buying miniatures from Shapeways again, but I don't discourage other gamers from using their 3D printers to make some pieces for their armies. 

West Coast Podcast Alliance

Every month I download several 40K centric podcasts.  Three of those podcasts Independent Characters, Life After the Cover Save, and Imperial Vox Cast teamed up last year and created the West Coast Podcast Alliance (WCPA).  These three podcasts cross promote the 40K hobby here in Southern California.  They are 40K community leaders in their home towns where they set up tournaments, league nights and local gaming events. This coming weekend the WCPA will be having their first Golden Ticket Event (GTE).  An exclusive invitational taking place in Palmdale, CA at the LAtCS Thunderdome.  Winners were chosen at random and received their GTE invite a week ago.  I'm happy to be one of the recipients of a Golden Ticket.  I'm excited and looking forward to meeting the podcast crews, and thanking them for having brought me closer to my hobby. 

I wanted to make a T-Shirt to commemorate the event, so I went to Uberprints.com and made a custom shirt.  This is an unofficial WCPA shirt, and the only one ever made.  I plan on getting it signed by the podcast crews.  Later on I'll frame the shirt, and hang it up in my garage as a momento of the event.   

 

 

I came back from the West Coast Podcast Alliance Golden Ticket Event with my shirt signed.  Mission accomplished.