It’s taken a little while to recover from the excitement that was IMP – the first ever Sheffield Irregulars event on Saturday.

The Golden Imp awards attracted an awesome 28 entries and the display table was groaning with models as well.

For those of you who couldn’t make it, here’s a quick recap of events.

10:30 Members start arriving at Patriot Games, and follow the signs down to the basement.

Goody bags were handed out, containing sweets, crisps, as well as a pot of paint and a 25mm base (donated by Jonathan Shaw)

The workshops kicked off and places quickly filled up.

Mike Dodds – our special guest, was running a workshop for painting scenic rocks with water soluable oil paints.

Mike and Fran Dodds

Here’s one of rocks painted by Sam in the workshop

Sam's workshop rock

Klaus Teschner from Dark Art Miniatures donated lava bases for the basing workshop that Jonathan Shaw was running.

Painters were given a print out of Klaus’ painting guide from issue 1 of Irregular magazine to help them paint their own 25mm base.

Lava and urban bases from Dart Art Miniatures

There were also urban bases from Dark Art Miniatures available to paint, and Jonathan had written a painting guide for these.

Workshops

There was a 12:00 deadline for entering the Golden Imp awards so the judging could take place during the lunch break.

Just some of the entries and display models

Head judge, Mike Dodds, along with  Jason and Becky Hubbard spent an hour looking carefully at each entry to pick the winners. It was a really difficult process, as the standard of entries was very high and it was hard to pick one over another.

After lunch, everyone returned to take part in the speed painting competition run by Nick Johnson and Jonathan Shaw.

This was an incredibly popular event, with some people taking part in both sessions.

Simon and Karolina speed painting

With only 30 minutes to paint an Ork (donated by Jason Hubbard) the pressure was on.

Hard at work

The afternoon break was spent shopping in Patriot Games.

Everyone attending also got the chance to vote for their favourite entry in the Golden Imp competition, to win Best in Show.

At 3:30, the chairs were all set out for the prize giving.

A blurry crowd ready at the prize giving

Becky Hubbard thanked everyone for attending and handed out a prize for the person who had travelled the further – Paul Morton, who came 125 miles, but there were quite a few members who had travelled over 100 miles to attend.

The team (Nick, Jonthan, Jason, Mike and Fran) were all thanked for their hard work to make the day a success.

Becky handed over to Nick to announce the winner of the speed painting competition, judged during the break by Jonathan and Nick.

Speed painting winner

There were some great entries – and some very wet entries! But there was one that stood out above the rest, Martin Walters ork even had a base added in the 30 minute time frame.

He received an old style Warhammer Giant as a prize before there was another surprise.

Jim from Patriot Games had donated a genuine Buddhist demon slaying sword to be used for this and future IMP events. The name of the speed painting winner will appear on a plaque attached to the scabbard.

Speed painting sword

As he wasn’t allowed to keep this one, Martin was given a foam sword to take home.

Martin with the speed painting sword

The raffle was drawn next, and it included some great prizes, including Mikes two mystery boxes (a set of Windsor and Newton brushes, and a Count Marius a Citadel Empire figure), a limited edition Elf Queen model donated by Jon Vern Griffiths, two 60mm Dark Art Miniatures bases, as well as lots, lots more.

Josh was thrilled to win the chocolate IMP plaque in the raffle.

Josh with raffle prizes

The raffle draw was followed by Mike announcing the winners of the Golden Imp awards.

There were medals to be awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in eah of the four categories.

Golden Imp Award medals

The medal ribbons were kindly donated by Melvyn Gill of The Trophy Shop

In the Unit category the medals went to:

• 1st place: Martin Walters with his Russian Civil War Infantry
• 2nd place: George Perkins for his Fellowship of the Ring
• 3rd place: Dave Barker for his WW1 halflings

In the Vehicle category the medals went to:

• 1st place: Martin Walters for his scratch built glider
• 2nd place: Alex Riley for his Tau Piranha
• 3rd place: Chris Daubney for his Ork Battletank
• Highly commended: Nick Johnson for his Warjack

2nd place Tau Piranha

Highly commended: Warjack

In the Monster category the medals went to:

• 1st place: Martin Walters for his 40K Ogryn
• 2nd place: Brett Johnson for his Ultraforge Giant
• 3rd place: Karolina Zalewska for her Rackham Ogre

1st place: 40K Ogryn

2nd place Ultraforge Giant

3rd place: Rackham Ogre

In the Single Figure category the medals went to:

• 1st place: Brett Johnson for his Beastman
• 2nd place: George Perkins for his Catachan
• 3rd place: Martin Walters for his Napoleonic Imperial Guard

1st place: Beastman

2nd place: Catachan

Fran Dodds counted up the votes for the Best in Show and the clear winner was Brett Johnson for his Beastman entry.

Here are some photos of the winners.

Brett Johnson

Karolina Zalewska

Alex Riley

Nick Johnson

Chris Daubney

Dave Barker

George Perkins

Martin Walters

After all that excitement we then had a choice of homemade cakes, Victoria Sponge, Chocolate Fudge and Flapjack – Nick Johnson is a mean cook!

3 kinds of wonderful

Then we all sat around chatting, showing each other minis and getting some painting tips.

Mike had brought along some of his collection, and was kind enough to pass them round for everyone to have a good look.

In all, a good day.

Post event info

Martin has decided to auction his winning 10K Ogryn for charity, and is currently taking suggestions for which charity – so please comment below if you have any thoughts on what it could be.

He has also offered to be a judge next year!

Due to popular demand – IMP will be back next year, hopefully bigger and better – but we do want to hear your feedback, thoughts and ideas on how we can improve – so don’t be shy, leave a comment – or contact the team privately if you prefer.

Photos taken by Jason Hubbard, Nick Johnson, Karolina Zalewska and Jonathan Shaw

I.M.P is only a week away – hope you are looking forward to it as much as we are.

Here’s what’s happening on the day (Saturday August 29th):

10:30 – Workshops start

12:00 – Golden Imp Entry closes

12:30 – Workshops end, Lunch time

12:30 – Golden Imp Judging

13:30 – Speed Painting (2 x 30 min sessions)

14:45 – Afternoon break

3:00 – Make sure you cast your vote for the Best in Show

3:30 – Awards ceremony (Speed painting, raffle, Golden Imp Awards)

4:00 – Cake, and group photos

4:15 – Free session (paint, chat, continue workshops if supplies available), you can also collect your models to take home.

5:00 – End of I.M.P

Workshops

#1 Guest Mike Dodds (Dragonsreach from CMoN) shows you how to paint rocks with oil paints for added realism.

• Oil paints provided
• Wear suitable clothing
• Bring a suitable paintbrush

#2 Dark Art Miniatures lava base and urban base painting workshop. Jonathan Shaw will be on hand to show you how.

• Bases provided
• Wear suitable clothing
• Bring your own paints and brushes
• Water, water pot and tile for palette provided

#3 Improving your photographs, Jason Hubbard will be helping you make your minis look their best.

• Bring a notebook and pen

Golden Imp Entries

Get your entry booked in before 12:00.

Award ceremony at 3:30.

Entries available for collection from 4:15.

Speed Painting

There will be two speed painting sessions lasting 30 mins each.

• Ork model provided
• Prize awarded for the best painted model
• Bring your own brushes and paints
• Wear suitable clothing
• Limited availability in each session

Parking

There is no onsite parking at Patriot Games, but there are two nearby carparks offering a low price on the day. (More details soon)

Victoria Quays -£3 a day ( a 5 minute walk away) and Alma Street (opposite Kelham Island Museum) £1 a day (10 minute walk away).

Location

It’s not a large venue – and to access the events you will need to walk down some stairs.

Only a short walk (about 7mins) from the city centre, cash points and places to eat are close by.

Patriot Games
1 & 2 Ladys Bridge
Sheffield, S3 8GA

I.M.P (Irregular Miniature Paintfest) is the very first Sheffield Irregulars hosted event.

Taking place on Saturday August 29th at Patriot Games in Sheffield, it gives group members and other painters an opportunity to meet up, chat, look at models, take part in workshops, demos and speed painting – and enter the Golden Imp Awards.

The Golden Imp Awards is a miniature figure painting competition.

Bring models with you on the day to enter.

There are 4 categories to enter – and you can enter one or more:

• Single figure (not mounted)
• Vehicle
• Unit (minimum 5 models)
• Monster

Entries can be from ANY manufacturer, converted, sculpted or adapted as much as you like. (But they won’t necessarily be judged on it!)

Rules

There aren’t many, and they’re pretty simple – but pay attention at the back!

• You must have painted the model entirely yourself
• The model must have been painted in 2009
• You can enter each category only once
• You may enter all categories if you wish
• Judges decision is final in all things
• You are responsible for your own miniature during the event. Sheffield Irregulars will take the best care of it they can – but accept no liability for any accidents.

Judging

A panel of judges (who will not be allowed to enter these categories) will award 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prizes in each category – as long as there are at least 4 entries in a category. The prizes awarded will be medals.

REMEMBER – judges will make their decisions based on MERIT, not on the best painted necessarily.

(medals illustrated are not the prizes for the competition)

Best in show

This prize will be awarded to the entry that wins the public vote.Everyone present on the day can cast a vote for the Best in Show – you cannot vote for you own model.

Judges may enter this part of the competition. As this is an entirely open system – anyone can win!

Miniature display

As well as the Golden Imp Awards there will also be a display of miniatures and we encourage you to bring along something to put on the display. We only ask that what you bring fits into one of the painting challenges that was set during 2009.

You do not need to have actually entered a challenge to display, we’re just using these as themes.

The painting challenges set during 2009 are:

• FEB: Paint and base a model for competition
• MAR: Paint a miniature from a manufacturer you haven’t tried before
• APR: Weathering
• MAY: Unit (min 5 models that belong together visually, does not need to be game legal)
• JUN: Spirit of Rackham style – with a Rackham miniature
• JUL: Hero/Heroine
• AUG: Swashbuckling

We’d love to see you and your models at I.M.P. Please RSVP via the Facebook event, or by leaving a comment on this post.

Source: The Daily Beast

Could George Clooney be the next Jack Ryan? According to The Daily Beast, this could be a possibility. Jack Ryan is a character from the series of books by author Tom Clancy. There have been three actors who portrayed Clancy’s character on screen. Alec Baldwin was the first to portray Jack Ryan in “The Hunt for the Red October”. Harrison Ford took over for two films, “Patriot Games” and “Clear and Present Danger” and in an effort to relaunch the franchise, Ben Affleck took over the part in “The Sum of All Fears” (2002).

I could see George Clooney as the next Jack Ryan but then again has this franchise’s ship sailed? I guess we have to wait for the trailer.

Is in post production targeting a release in late August 2009.

Tagline: The Race of Life Can Be So Deadly

After a teen’s premonition of a deadly race-car crash helps saves the lives of his peers, Death sets out to collect those who evaded their end.

Gregory Nicotero (The Last House on the Left, Drag Me to Hell, The Unborn) is the key special makeup effects supervisor.
Robin Mathews ( Into the Wild ,The Mist ,Deja Vu) is the makeup department head.

David K. Nami (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Evil Remains, Dante’s Peak ) special effects coordinator.

Elia P. Popov (The Bourne Ultimatum ,The Fifth Element , Spider-Man 3) is the special effects foreman.

Directed by David R.Ellis (Scarface ,Fatal Attraction, Patriot Games)

…more like this at  GoreMaster.com

It’s gone fast, and spring has finally arrived. Lets have a look back at all the fun stuff from the past month…

Merit Award

We started off by voting on the Feb painting challenge entries which were really fab and it was a close call on the voting. Really good to have more entries than January, but folks still seem to be a bit confused about how to vote. However, those who did left some really good comments.

The Feb challenge was to paint and base a model to competition standard – focusing on a display base.

The winner was Tim Cook with his Archeon. 2nd was Adam Balai with his shiny Sigvald, and in 3rd was Yarry by Alex Riley.

Feb painting challenge 2009 Merit Award Winner, Archaeon by Tim Cook

Painting Sessions

There were a good few painting sessions during March, including some really busy days at Patriot Games, but Jim still allowed the Irregulars to meet, which was mightly nice of him.

Members

The group welcomed lots of new members during the month, and it’s a pleasure to see the group growing and interacting in a friendly, helpful and positive way.

March Painting Challenge

The March challenge theme was voted on during Feb and was to paint a miniature from a Manfacturer you haven’t tried before, a very popular choice. To help people make their minds up a big list of manufacturers was posted with lots of links and it was interesting to see who hadn’t tried who before. The entries submited for the challenge were all different and no two were from the same maker. Voting for the winner of the Merit Award for this challenge is open until April 10th.

Facebook group threads – highlights

We tried getting a separate forum set up on the Wargames Emporium site, but this fell through as anonmous logins were disallowed.

New member Tom Davis asked for tips on painting skin and was offered advice, referred to magazine articles that were really useful, and a tutorial on the Brush Thralls site  – but as they’ve moved to a new site they haven’t finished updated their links yet, so that one is currently unavailable. (It’s a good site though). Lots of helpful members responded.

Edward Nicholson asked about moudling and casting at home and was offered the following helpful links from other members:

• Mould making – from A Year of Frugal Gaming
• White metal casting starter kit and other sculpting supplies
• Mould making supplies

Alex Garbett announced that Forgeworld were having an open day in April at Warhammer World in Lenton, and suggested this as a meet up for any Irregulars who could make it. (A bunch of us did!)

Salute 2009

Salute is a wargaming and model show, this year held at the Excel Centre, London on March 28th. There was a large painting competition and lots to buy. Jason Hubbard wrote a thread on Facebook about some of the highlights. Becky Hubbard posted some pictures on Flickr of her day at Salute.

Dragon Green on one of the trader stands

T-shirts

The Sheffield Irregulars t-shirt store broadened it’s range once again. For SI members, the sweatshirt has been a popular purchase. Available in a black hooded sweater or a red hooded zip up, it has the paint splat noticeably on the back and the name of the group on the left chest. A warm option for painting in the basement at Patriot Games.

Customised orders were popular and prices were reduced on all ladies products in a Mother’s Day promotion.

Other new t-shirts included the Brushlickers range and the Wargamers Range – see below.

Irregular Magazine

The most exciting news of the month was announced by Jason Hubbard and Alex Garbett. Sheffield Irregulars is going to produce a quarterly magazine, available as a FREE pdf download, or viewable online.

It’s going to be a magazine for gamers and painters by gamers and painters.

The response on the Facebook group was huge, with lots of members offering to contribute articles, short stories and artwork. Contributions are still being sort for issue one.

Blogging and microblogging

After feedback from meeting people, not everyone wants to use Facebook – so we set up this site as a place for non-Facebook users (and anyone else) to find out more about the group, as well as be a source of updates, and an alternative place to vote on.

We’re also on Twitter, and have successfully sent Tweets from events and shows, annoucing winners of painting competitions and providing links to useful traders.

Competitions

There were lots of online competitions during March and it was nice to see SI members taking part and joining in. Competitions are a fun way to push yourself a little bit further with your hobby – remember it’s the taking part that counts, but you have to be in it to win it. They weren’t all painting comps either, there was a 40K short story comp, and a basing comp.

Create a base competition entry by Alex Good

Paul Morton finished his Basilisk and posted some great shots showing lots of detail.

Gun crew by Paul Morton

New member Craig Allsebrook added a host characterful minis.

Sleepy Dwarf by Craig Allsebrook

And Klaus Teschner amazed us with his Word Bearer throne of chaos.

Word bearers throne of chaos - by Klaus Teschner

All in all a busy month – and April’s shaping up well so far…

Once upon a time, I saw a movie called Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. It was a fabulous movie and in it was the character Boromir, played by Sean Bean.

Sean Bean

After I saw this movie a funny thing happened, Sean Bean…started stalking me! I saw National Treasure and he was in it. I saw Troy and he was in it. I watched an old James Bond movie and he was in it!!!

You see once you learn about Sean Bean and you recognize him… he will start stalking you too. You’ll start watching a movie and he’ll there, playing the villain or some side character. That’s what Sean Bean does. He’s rarely in the lead role, but instead he just likes to sneak his way in so you won’t see him coming.

….In all seriousness though, the reason I’m posting this is that Sean Bean has become somewhat of running joke with me and my friends. We try to name all his movies by memory or talk about him like he is some big star and other people have no idea who were talking about. ‘Sean Bean movies’ is a good question for Categories during Kings lol. Kind of random I know but keep an eye out and I promise you’ll see him around.

As for me, I can ‘t wait till Sean Bean unexpectedly pops back into my life again. =)

Sean Bean is in like everything but the big ones you might recognize are…

-Black Beauty, James Bond: Golden Eye, Patriot Games, Lord of the Rings, Equilibrium, Troy, National Treasure, The Island, Flightplan, The Hitcher, and Silent Hill.

Catch him if you can. The Fugitive is on the run! Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones race through the breathless manhunt movie based on the classic TV series. Ford is prison escapee Dr. Richard Kimble, a Chicago surgeon falsely convicted of killing his wife and determined to prove his innocence by leading his pursuers to the one-armed man who actually committed the crime. Jones (1993 Academy Award and Golden Globe winner as Best Supporting Actor) is Sam Gerard, an unrelenting bloodhound of a U.S. Marshal. They are hunted and hunter. And as directed by Andrew Davis (Under Siege), their nonstop chase has one exhilarating speed: all-out. So catch him if you can. And catch an 11-on-a-scale-of-10 train wreck (yes, the train is real), a plunge down a waterfall, a cat-and-mouse jaunt through a Chicago St. Patrick’s Day parade and much more. Better hurry. Kimble doesn’t stay in one place very long!

Do you know anyone who hasn’t seen this movie? A box-office smash when released in 1993, this spectacular update of the popular 1960s TV series stars Harrison Ford as a surgeon wrongly accused of the murder of his wife. He escapes from a prison transport bus (in one of the most spectacular stunt-action sequences ever filmed) and embarks on a frantic quest for the true killer’s identity, while a tenacious U.S. marshal (Tommy Lee Jones, in an Oscar-winning role) remains hot on his trail. Director Andrew Davis hit the big time with this expert display of polished style and escalating suspense, but it’s the antagonistic chemistry between Jones and Ford that keeps this thriller cooking to the very end. In roles that seem custom-fit to their screen personas, the two stars maintain a sharply human focus to the grand-scale manhunt, and the intelligent screenplay never resorts to convenient escapes or narrative shortcuts. Equally effective as a thriller and a character study, this is a Hollywood blockbuster that truly deserves its ongoing popularity. –Jeff Shannon Do you know anyone who hasn’t seen this movie? A box-office smash when released in 1993, this spectacular update of the popular 1960s TV series stars Harrison Ford as a surgeon wrongly accused of the murder of his wife. He escapes from a prison transport bus (in one of the most spectacular stunt-action sequences ever filmed) and embarks on a frantic quest for the true killer’s identity, while a tenacious U.S. marshal (Tommy Lee Jones, in an Oscar-winning role) remains hot on his trail. Director Andrew Davis hit the big time with this expert display of polished style and escalating suspense, but it’s the antagonistic chemistry between Jones and Ford that keeps this thriller cooking to the very end. In roles that seem custom-fit to their screen personas, the two stars maintain a sharply human focus to the grand-scale manhunt, and the intelligent screenplay never resorts to convenient escapes or narrative shortcuts. Equally effective as a thriller and a character study, this is a Hollywood blockbuster that truly deserves its ongoing popularity. –Jeff Shannon

The Fugitive [Blu-ray] is available at Amazon for $13.99. To Order click here
Amazon Product Pages contain a lot of other details on this product as Customer Reviews, Sales Ranking, Special Offers, Alternate products that customers are going for and much more.Want to read these details? click here

Want to get some other Format / Binding / Version? You can search for them from here

Other Products of Interest

• Unforgiven [Blu-ray]
• U.S. Marshals (Special Edition)
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day [Blu-ray]
• GoodFellas [Blu-ray]
• The Hunt for Red October [Blu-ray]

I was pretty much wet in my proverbial pussy for this movie…..’till i watched this trailer. The 75 ft. thing gets me. Like as if the Transporter series isn’t gimicky and ridiculous enough they add in this silliness! Well either way come Nov. I’m going to see yet another Statham movie.

Why is he so appealing to me?

He plays the same role in every movie (well I might add) yet he is still a box office hit with an accent. I know I’ve said this before but he is like Nic Cage but British! He only play over-the-top assed roles and they are all the same. Given he has yet to make his Ghost Rider or his Bangkok Dangerous or Wicker Man, he has done some dumb shit i.e. Death Race, In the Name of the King, soon enough Crank 2, and Mean Machine (a British adaptation of The Longest Yard [football not football]Now if only we can teach him to speak with a East Coast accent he’d be perfect as the lead for my most anticipated movie of 2000-when-the-fuck-ever Without Remorse! He has the proper age and body type and can carry himself as volatile yet controlled explosion of human bad-assery! If you’ve no idea what I’m talking about I strongly suggest you pick up and read Without Remorse by Tom Clancy.

Clancy is a genius, and in the novel manages to blend his military expertise seamlessly with a Marvel The Punisher style storyline.

An excerpt read it please (MICHAEL!!!!!!):

It was almost three when Kelly selected him. A loner, as Kelly had taken to calling them. This one had no lieutenant, perhaps was a new one in this business, just learning the ropes. He wasn’t that old, or didn’t appear so from forty yards away, as he counted through his roll after the night’s enterprise. There was a lump at his right hip, undoubtedly a handgun, but his head was down. He was somewhat alert. On hearing Kelly’s approach the head came up and turned, giving him a quick once-over, but the head went back to its task, dismissing the approaching shape and counting the money as the distance closed.

Kelly had troubled himself to go to his boat earlier in the day, using the Scout because he didn’t want anyone at the yard to know that he had a different car, and retrieving something. As he approached Junior – every one had to have an assigned name, however briefly -Kelly shifted the wine bottle from his right hand to his left. The right hand then pulled the cotter pin from the tip of the bang stick that was inside his new bush jacket, held in cloth loops on the left side on the now unbuttoned garment. It was a simple metal rod, eighteen inches long, with a screw-on cylinder at the tip, and the cotter pin dangled from a short length of light chain. Kelly’s right hand removed it from the loops, still holding it in place as be closed on Junior.

The pusher’s head turned again in annoyance. Probably he had trouble counting, and now he was arranging the bills by denomination. Maybe Kelly’s approach had disturbed his concentration, or maybe he was just dumb, which seemed the more likely explanation.

Kelly stumbled, falling to the sidewalk, his head lowered, making himself look all the more harmless. His eyes looked backwards as he rose. He saw no other pedestrians within more than a hundred yards, and the only automobile lights he noted were red, not white, all pointed or heading away. As his head came up, there was no one at all in his view except for Junior, who was finishing up the night’s work, ready to go wherever home was for a nightcap or something else.

Ten feet now, and the pusher was ignoring him as he might ignore a stray dog, and Kelly knew the exhilaration that came the moment before it happened, that last moment of excited satisfaction when you just knew it was going to work, the enemy in the kill zone, unsuspecting that his time had come. The moment in which you could feel the blood in your veins, when you alone knew the silence was about to be violated, the wonderful satisfaction of knowing. Kelly’s right hand came out a little as he took another step, still not headed all that close to the target, clearly walking past him, not towards him, and the criminal’s eyes looked up again, just for a moment to make sure, no fear in his eyes, hardly even annoyance; not moving, of course, because people walked around him, not the reverse. Kelly was just an object to him, one of the things that occupied the street, of no more interest than an oil stain on the blacktop.

The Navy called it CPA, Closest Point of Approach, the nearest distance that a straight course took you to another ship or point of land. CPA here was three feet. When he was half a step away, Kelly’s right hand pulled the bang stick from under his jacket. Then he pivoted on his left foot and drove off the right while his right arm extended almost as though to deliver a punch, all one hundred ninety-five pounds of his body mass behind the maneuver. The swollen rip of the bang stick struck the pusher just under the sternum, aimed sharply upward. When it did, the combined push of Kelly’s arm and the inertial mass of the body pushed the chamber backwards, jamming the primer on the fixed firing pin, and the shotgun shell went off, its crimped green-plastic face actually in contact with Junior’s shirt.

The sound was like that of dropping a cardboard box on a wooden floor. Whump. Nothing more than that, certainly not like a shot at all, because all the expanding gas from the powder followed the shot column into Junior’s body. The light trap load – a low-brass shell with #8 birdshot, like that used for competition shooting, or perhaps an early-season dove hunt – would have only injured a man at more than fifteen yards, but in contact with his chest, it might as easily have been an elephant gun. The brutal power of the shot drove the air from his lungs in a surprisingly loud whoosh, forcing Junior’s mouth open in a way that surprise might have done. And truly he was surprised. His eyes looked into Kelly’s, and Junior was still alive, though his heart was already as destroyed as a toy balloon, and the bottom of his lungs torn to bits. Gratifyingly, there was no exit wound. The upward angle of the strike left all the energy and shot inside the chest, and the power of the explosion served to keep his body erect for a second – no more than that, but for Junior and Kelly it seemed a moment that lasted for hours. Then the body just fell, straight down, like a collapsing building. There was an odd, deep sigh, from air and gun-gases forced out of the entrance wound by the fall, a foul odor of acrid smoke and blood and other things that stained the air, not unlike the ended life it represented. Junior’s eyes were still open, still looking at Kelly, still focusing on his face and trying to say something, his mouth open and quivering until all movement stopped with the question un-asked and -answered. Kelly took the roll from Junior’s still-firm hand and kept moving up the street, his eyes and ears searching for danger, and finding none. At the corner he angled to the gutter and swished the tip of the bang stick in some water to remove whatever blood might be there. Then he turned, heading west to his car, still moving slowly and unevenly. Forty minutes later he was home, richer by eight hundred forty dollars and poorer by one shotgun shell.

Now picture Statham with say a Baltimore or D.C accent. That perfect mixture of Southern drawl and Northern whateverthefuck. If he could pull of the accent it would be perfect. Man I know I started this off talking about a Transporter 3 trailer and don’t worry it’s down there, but I’ve managed to sidetrack my thought train in the right damn direction. At first I was thinking Tom Jane but he did The Punisher and the roles are nearly the same. Also, I thought to myself what about our man Bond, James Bond (Daniel Craig) but nah he’s just not right. What about Eric Bana I thought, again just not right, not sure why but not right. Pitt is way the fuck out of the question. There was thought of someone along the lines of Vinny Jones but no 1 he’s too tall 2 NO! Anyway since I know that most of my “audience” hasn’t read this book I’ll shut my ass and get to the gettin’.

The trailer as promised (Green Band I’m afraid):

CIA agent Jack Ryan’s assignment is to investigate the murder of one of the President’s friends, a prominent U.S. businessman with secret ties to Colombian drug cartels.
The third installment in the cinematic incarnation of Tom Clancy’s CIA analyst Jack Ryan and the second starring Harrison Ford, this follow-up to Patriot Games is a more complex, rewarding, and bolder film than its predecessor. Ford returns as Ryan, this time embroiled in a failed White House bid to wipe out a Colombian drug cartel and cover up the mess. The script, by Clancy and John Milius (Red Dawn), has an air of true adventure about it as Ryan places himself in harm’s way to extract covert soldiers abandoned in a Latin American jungle. There are a couple of remarkable set pieces expertly handled by Patriot Games director Phillip Noyce, especially a shocking scene involving an ambush on Ryan’s car in an alley. The supporting cast is superb, including Willem Dafoe as the soldiers’ leader, Henry Czerny as Ryan’s enemy at the CIA, Joaquim de Almeida as a smooth-talking villain, Ann Magnuson as an unwitting confederate in international crime, and James Earl Jones as Ryan’s dying boss. The DVD release has a widescreen presentation, theatrical trailer, closed captioning, optional French soundtrack, and optional Spanish subtitles. –Tom Keogh

Clear and Present Danger (Special Collector’s Edition) is available at Amazon for $6.49. To Order click here
Amazon Product Pages contain a lot of other details on this product as Customer Reviews, Sales Ranking, Special Offers, Alternate products that customers are going for and much more.Want to read these details? click here

Want to get some other Format / Binding / Version? You can search for them from here

Other Products of Interest

• Patriot Games
• The Hunt for Red October
• The Sum of All Fears (Special Collector’s Edition)
• Men in Black (Collector’s Series)
• The Fugitive

Paramount Clear And Present Danger (Blu-ray) This is thethird film based on Tom Clancy’s high-tech espionage potboilers starring CIA deputy director Jack Ryan. Harrison Ford, returning to the Ryan role after his first go-round in 1992’s “Patriot Games”, is assigned to a delicate anti-drug investigation after a close friend of the President (a Reaganesque Donald Moffat) is murdered by a Colombian drug cartel. When Ryan discovers that the President’s wealthy friend was in league with the cartel, the President’s devious national security adviser (Harris Yulin) and an ambitious CIA deputy director (Henry Czerny) send a secret paramilitary force into Colombia to wipe out the drug lords. The force is captured and then abandoned by the President’s lackeys. It falls to Ryan to enter Colombia and rescuethem, aided only by a renegade operative named Clark (Willem Dafoe), with both his life and career on the line.

The third installment in the cinematic incarnation of Tom Clancy’s CIA analyst Jack Ryan and the second starring Harrison Ford, this follow-up to Patriot Games is a more complex, rewarding, and bolder film than its predecessor. Ford returns as Ryan, this time embroiled in a failed White House bid to wipe out a Colombian drug cartel and cover up the mess. The script, by Clancy and John Milius (Red Dawn), has an air of true adventure about it as Ryan places himself in harm’s way to extract covert soldiers abandoned in a Latin American jungle. There are a couple of remarkable set pieces expertly handled by Patriot Games director Phillip Noyce, especially a shocking scene involving an ambush on Ryan’s car in an alley. The supporting cast is superb, including Willem Dafoe as the soldiers’ leader, Henry Czerny as Ryan’s enemy at the CIA, Joaquim de Almeida as a smooth-talking villain, Ann Magnuson as an unwitting confederate in international crime, and James Earl Jones as Ryan’s dying boss. The DVD release has a widescreen presentation, theatrical trailer, closed captioning, optional French soundtrack, and optional Spanish subtitles. –Tom Keogh

Clear and Present Danger [Blu-ray] is available at Amazon for $19.95. To Order click here
Amazon Product Pages contain a lot of other details on this product as Customer Reviews, Sales Ranking, Special Offers, Alternate products that customers are going for and much more.Want to read these details? click here

Want to get some other Format / Binding / Version? You can search for them from here

Other Products of Interest

• Patriot Games [Blu-ray]
• The Hunt for Red October [Blu-ray]
• The Sumof All Fears [Blu-ray]
• Men in Black [Blu-ray]
• The Fugitive [Blu-ray]

Let’s see–he’s been Han Solo in three films and Indiana Jones in three more. So why shouldn’t Harrison Ford take on a new continuing character in Tom Clancy’s CIA analyst Jack Ryan? In this film, directed by Phillip Noyce, Ford picked up the baton when Alec Baldwin, who played Ryan in The Hunt for Red October, opted for a Broadway role instead. In this film, Ryan and his family are on vacation when Ryan saves a member of the British royal family from attack by Irish terrorists. The next thing he knows, the Ryan clan has been targeted by the same terrorists, who invade his Maryland home. The film can’t shed all of Clancy’s lumbering prose, or his techno-dweeb fascination with spy satellites and the like. But no one is better than Ford at righteous heroism–and Sean Bean makes a suitably snakey villain. –Marshall Fine

An American tourist prevents the assassination of a member of the British royal family. Soon, the ULA members responsible for the attempt try to take revenge on his family.
Media Type: DVD

Patriot Games (Special Collector’s Edition) is available at Amazon for $6.49. To Order click here
Amazon Product Pages contain a lot of other details on this product as Customer Reviews, Sales Ranking, Special Offers, Alternate products that customers are going for and much more.Want to read these details? click here

Want to get some other Format / Binding / Version? You can search for them from here

Other Products of Interest

• Clear and Present Danger
• The Hunt for Red October
• The Sum of All Fears (Special Collector’s Edition)
• In the Line of Fire
• The Fugitive

Sam Raimi, who’s apparently attached to direct the next Jack Ryan movie, is reportedly in a feud with Paramount over who to cast in the lead role. Basically, Sam wants James Franco and Paramount doesn’t, believing him to be too frail. Ryan Gosling was the last actor rumored for the role, and what you’re telling me he’s more buff than Franco? Raimi, who directed Franco in all three Spider-Man films is supposedly threatening to quit the movie should he not have his way.

Should he be cast, James Franco would be the fourth actor to portray novelist Tom Clancy’s popular hero after Alec Baldwin (The Hunt For Red October), Harrison Ford (Patriot Games and Clear And Present Danger) and Ben Affleck (The Sum Of All Fears). Personally, I think Franco could pull it off, but the real question is why is Paramount having so much trouble with this franchise? All the Jack Ryan movies have been well received and they’ve all made good money at the box-office. Why didn’t Ben Affleck get recast for a movie that could have come out three years ago? And, more shockingly, why does Paramount apparently want to go with an original Jack Ryan story instead of using all the books they have left?

Jack Ryan books which haven’t been adapted yet: Red Rabbit, The Cardinal Of The Kremlin, Debt Of Honor, Executive Orders, Rainbow Six, The Bear And The Dragon… What gives?

Source

Lost Boys: The Tribe
IMDB
Plot: In the shady surf city of Luna Bay, vampire surfers quickly dispatch anyone who crosses their path. Into this dark world arrive Chris Emerson and his sister, Nicole. Having lost their parents in a car accident, the siblings move in with their eccentric aunt and become new prey for the local surfers. When Nicole unwittingly drinks the blood of a vampire, Chris must locate and destroy the head vampire before his sister’s transformation is complete.

War Games (Buy 25th Anniversary Edition)
IMDB
Plot: Matthew Broderick (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) and Ally Sheedy (The Breakfast Club) star in this compelling drama filled with action suspense and high-tech adventures! Featuring superb performances by Dabney Coleman and Barry Corbin WarGames is “brilliant…funny…and provocative” (New York)a fast-paced cyber-thriller. Computer hacker David Lightman (Broderick) can bypass the most advanced security systems break the most intricate secret codes and mastereven the most difficult computer games. But when he unwittingly taps into the Defense Department’s war computer he initiates a confrontation of global proportions — World War III! Together with his girlfriend (Sheedy) and a wizardly computer genius (Tony Award (r) winner John Wood) David must race against time to outwit his opponent…and prevent a nuclear Armageddon.

Stargate – Continuum
IMDB
Plot. Ba’al travels back in time and prevents the Stargate program from being started. SG-1 must somehow restore history.

For you that are into Blu-Ray here is the listing of what was released today.

Lost Boys: The Tribe – In the shady surf city of Luna Bay, vampire surfers quickly dispatch anyone who crosses their path. Into this dark world arrive Chris Emerson and his sister, Nicole. Having lost their parents in a car accident, the siblings move in with their eccentric aunt and become new prey for the local surfers. When Nicole unwittingly drinks the blood of a vampire, Chris must locate and destroy the head vampire before his sister’s transformation is complete.

Shine a Light – A career-spanning documentary on the Rolling Stones, with concert footage from their “A Bigger Bang” tour. Four bonus performances by the Rolling Stones, not shown in theaters, Behind-the-scenes featurettes

Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay – Follows the cross-country adventures of the pot-smoking duo as they try to outrun authorities who suspect them of being terrorists when they try to sneak a bong on board their flight to Amsterdam.

Stargate – Continuum Ba’al travels back in time and prevents the Stargate program from being started. SG-1 must somehow restore history.

The Hunt for Red October – In 1984, the USSR’s best submarine captain in their newest sub violates orders and heads for the USA. Is he trying to defect, or to start a war?

Doomsday – A futuristic action thriller where a team of people work to prevent a disaster threatening the future of the human race. Details: Color, Widescreen, 2.35:1 Supplements: Anatomy of Catastrophe: Civilization on the Brink – a “making of” featurette , The Visual Effects and Wizardry of Doomsday – meet the visual effects wizards , Devices of Death: Guns, Gadgets and Vehicles of Destruction, Feature commentary with director Neil Marshall and cast members Sean Pertwee, Darren Morfitt, Rick Warden and Les Simpson (offered on Unrated Feature only)

Never Back Down – At his new high school, a rebellious teen is lured into an underground fight club, where he finds a mentor in a mixed martial arts veteran.

The Lost Boys – After moving to a new town, two brothers are convinced that the area is frequented by vampires.

Beowulf – The warrior Beowulf must fight and defeat the monster Grendel who is terrorizing towns, and later, Grendel’s mother, who begins killing out of revenge.

Clear and Present Danger – CIA Analyst Jack Ryan is drawn into an illegal war fought by the US government against a Colombian drug cartel.

Patriot Games

The Sum of All Fears: CIA analyst Jack Ryan must thwart the plans of a terrorist faction that threatens to induce a catastrophic conflict between the United States and Russia’s newly elected president by detonating a nuclear weapon at a football game in Baltimore.

Stargaze HD: Universal Beauty

Human Body: Pushing the Limits

for more info goto IMDB

The first time I watched this movie, I kind of felt like, “Is this movie a joke? No, they’re for real! They’re for real! Holy cow, they’re serious. Oh my god, this is awesome in such a bad way.”

Jack Ryan is all business. First he takes on the Soviets. Now he takes on…one crazy dude from the IRA.

The first irrational quibble I have with this movie: Sean Bean isn’t Irish. I say again, Sean Bean isn’t Irish. He’s not Irish in the slightest, as far as I know, and every time I see Sean Bean, I picture that heavy English accent coming out of his mouth, not an Irish one. I can’t say how well he does at the Irish accent, but this dude is the English bad guy in every American film…and I’m supposed to buy him as Irish in this? What? No! Look, I know we give a lot of roles to people who aren’t necessarily from that country who can pass the accent, but I didn’t like it very much when Anne Hathaway played Jane Eyre. (Seriously, now.) I know Sean Bean’s cute and all (really, why do you think I sit through this film repeatedly?) but wasn’t there an Irish actor somewhere willing to take this part? Didn’t they have Liam Neeson on speed dial or something? He’s cute and Irish! Two birds! One stone! (Plus he’s old! Which, as we all know, appeals to me! Hey, now I’m really curious. Did Liam Neeson even get a call to be in this movie? He would’ve been so much better than Sean Bean.)

Secondly, Sean Bean always seems to look in this movie as though he’s about to shiv you for your Big Mac. I mean, the guy looks like he hasn’t taken a shower in eight years and from his complexion, I deduce he might have a touch of the consumption. It’s just gross. And he’s kind of….mullet-y. It’s a bad look. A bad, greasy, tuberculosis-ridden look. Why do you make the pretty guy so ugly, Hollywood?

Thirdly, the whole story setup is just…oh, me. I know it’s based on a book, but bear with me please – the white knight American rides into save the fancy English people from the nasty splinter faction of the IRA? And then is targeted because he killed one of the IRA dude’s brother? Said IRA guy travels all over the world evading the CIA specifically to come kill Jack Ryan? Uh…implausible at best, but I’ll let it slide.

Luckily for us, though, Sean Bean plays eeeevil so very well, even going after Jack Ryan’s wife and daughter, while Ryan tries to catch up in a station wagon. Yeah, Jack Ryan’s very macho and all, tooling around in his Ford Taurus station wagon. And, you have to give Bean’s character credit: He really does live by the motto “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”. Nothing stops this dude! I wouldn’t be surprised if some day Hollywood made Patriot Games 2: Sean Miller Rises From The Deep because this guy just doesn’t quit.

Somehow, Sean scrapes together his crack team to infiltrate Jack Ryan’s home in the northeastern United States where a whole bunch of people are gathered (not before he’s traveled to a terrorist camp in North Africa though. What a vacation) to throw an annual “Jack Ryan Is Awesome” party or something, and Miller dies in one of the most unbelievably crackheaded ways I’ve seen – Jack Ryan bludgeons him to death with a boathook.

Really? After everything this man has survived? Bombings, shootings, interrogations, prison, traveling to North Africa which is probably dangerous if you haven’t had your shots, attempting to murder innocent women and children, tracking Jack Ryan all over the globe and he dies via boathook?

How very unfulfilling. Make a zombie Sean Miller sequel, Hollywood, I dare you!

All in all though, it’s such an addictive movie. I can point out to you twenty things I laugh at every time I watch the movie, but yet I watch it again and again. Is the combination of Harrison Ford and Sean Bean too much for me? Perhaps. God help us all if they had actually cast Liam Neeson in this film.

]]> http://vssystem.org/2008/04/14/uk-event-sheffield-golden-age-4508/ Mon, 14 Apr 2008 20:08:33 +0000 Kamiza http://vssystem.org/2008/04/14/uk-event-sheffield-golden-age-4508/

In an effort to continue the promotion of the game within the UK, I will be announcing any tournaments that are brought to my attention using the new events calendar plugin I’ve installed. Keep an eye on the calendar on the left hand side of the site as it will highlight events within the UK.

To get underway, we being with a Golden Age tournament in Sheffield.

As posted by Koopa182 on the forum:

Sunday May 4th

Format is Golden Age

Doors open at 11.00 and registration begins at 11.30.

Location- Patriot Games, Sheffield. The website is here:

http://www.patriotgames.ltd.uk/home.htm

and a location map is here:

http://www.multimap.com/maps/?&hloc=GB|S38GA

If you need any advice on travelling to the venue please email me or phone/email the store and we’ll sort you out with all the information you need.

So, it’s golden age, which means you can play any cards you want! (Aside from the banneed ones of course.) It’s a good chance to be creative. After the restrictive format of Bring Your Own Set this should allow some more flexibility in deck-building.

Prizes: We’ve got a Jean Grey T-shirt and a cool DWF prize pack that includes EA Batman (6) and EA Bat Got Your Tongue. There’s also loads of DWF participation EA’s to choose from as well as a bucketfull of Age of Apocalypse stuff if anyone needs those.

The format is good for new players or returning players as they can use any cards that they have. If you haven’t played before and would like to give it a go; or borrow cards; or have any questions at all then please email me at:

koopa182@hotmail.com

See you next month!

Matt Cooper

Jack Ryan has seen even more of resurgence since the Ryan Gosling rumors from earlier this month. Sam Raimi is in talks with paramount to revive the Tom Clancy series of films — as a developer and director. Tom Clancy is still not involved with the plot or development. It was reported earlier today in Variety.

Nothing is for certain yet, but Variety states the film be set in the present, during a “global threat.”

OOOO WOW! This movie is going to be the most original movie ever. It sounds almost as if they are just trying to take the name Jack Ryan and put it into a shitty action movie. I wonder if it’s possible that Sam Raimi and Ryan Gosling can actually make a good movie together.

If I was Paramount, I would make a good movie. Not a bad movie like they are based on these plot rumors.

Currently, Sam Raimi is busy with Drag Me to Hell, but Paramount will hopefully get him working on this picture so it can be released in the summer of 2010. Then again, he might be directing Spiderman 4-9.

Archived Jack Ryan Post