The Man with No Time

The middle week of the 6 Nations has been and gone. It's always a bit of an odd one, week 3. There's a week's break either side of it, so the players are generally well rested and the matches are high quality. Plus it gives the managers a chance to step back, assess the progress that they may or may not have made, evaluate their performances, and maybe mess around with the squad lineups a bit. This year it was all that and even more; there were the two matches on Saturday, as is normal, but the third match was played on the Friday night, on prime time television, which I think is a great thing for the sport of rugby union.

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. As I've already talked about, one of my personal goals for this year is to read my way through the entirety of the Wheel of Time series. The natural place to start seemed to be the prequel novel, 'New Spring' . Published in 2004 between the 10th and 11th books in the main series, it's one that I've never read. What better way to start.

If you talk to a lot of fans of fantasy literature, then many of Them will cite the Lord of the Rings as a Major Influence on Their interest in the genre. But I would suggest the many que almost would bring up the Wheel of Time. Written (mostly) by Robert Jordan, the first volume was published in 1990 I say mostly, because Jordan sadly died before the Completing the 12th and final volume, Which was subsequently completed from his notes by Brandon Sanderson Extensive (turning into three volumes in the process). The series is almost the archetypal epic fantasy, with a sprawling storyline, large cast of characters, inventive magic system, and a good-vs-evil storyline.

As may have become obvious from some of my previous posts on this blog, I quite like science fiction. Whether it be novels, television shows, films, or games, if it's sci-fi then I'll at least give it a try. Like most genres there are some 'classics', one of which is the novel  Ender's Game  by Orson Scott Card. Actually I hesitate to call it a novel, as it's actually pretty short. But it packs a lot into its slim page count, and manages to tackle some pretty weighty issues (more on that later). A few years ago a film version was announced, to cautious optimism from sci-fi fans. How well would the parallel storylines of the book fit into a cinematic format, and would the film pull its punches on the moral issues? I love the style and composition of this image - Ender in the dark, staring out at the world. (Credit: fanart.tv) Sadly Ender's Game  was another film that I didn't manage to get to see at the cinema on its release. Which means it wa...

After what seemed like an interminable length of time with no lifesaving to do, the BULSCA calendar restarted at the weekend with the second official St Andrews league competition. Which meant that it was road trip time - yay!

The second weekend of the 2014 6 nations has been and gone. How did Scotland get on this week against 'the auld enemy' in the Calcutta cup? What about Wales after last week's shaky start? Could France keep their form against Italy? Would I get to watch any of it live?

It's early February, which can mean only one thing for Wargamers in the USA - it's Templecon time! Sadly, being in the UK, (now) busy with a full time job, and with lots of my holiday allocation for the year already taken, I find myself once more unable to attend. (One year I'd love to go to an American gaming convention, but that's a discussion for another day.) As is becoming traditional, Privateer Press chose Templecon for the start of year, state of the union keynote presentation. In it they detail all (or certainly a great number) of the projects coming out in the upcoming year, and tease ahead for projects that they're working on. Last year they announced the new Convergence of Cyriss faction being released as part of Warmachine's 10 year anniversary. What was going to be the big highlight on 2014? Luckily for those of us not actually at Templecon, there were plenty of people live-tweeting the keynote. Not only that, but Privateer Press live-...

After watching Scotland lose  their first match of the 6 nations yesterday afternoon, I was hopeful that the second sporting event of my day would provide a closer, and more entertaining contest. Superbowl 48 featured the two top seeds, and arguably a classic match up. The Denver Bronco's record setting offensive unit, helmed by one of my favourite quarterbacks to watch, going up against the tough, hard-hitting, take no prisoners defensive force of the Seattle Seahawks, led by the 'Legion of Boom'. It had all the makings of a great game, and was certainly hyped up to the nth degree before the actual game. But was it actually any good? Spoiler alert - no. This should have been a great game. Instead it was incredibly one-sided. (Credit: news.sportslogos.net)

The 6 Nations is back! It's about time too; with all of the hype surrounding this year's Superbowl (more on that later), my favourite sporting tournament snuck up on me this year. I feel rather ashamed, as I have basically no idea about what's been going on in international rugby union in the run up to the 2014 6 Nations, but now that it's here I'm certainly going to enjoy it. Or try to at least...although it's a new year, it's more of the same it seems as far as my favourite team is concerned.