Monica Bellucci as Cleopatra, Mama Mia.

Plus I never knew Gerard Depardieu played Obelix in FOUR live action Asterix movies.

Interesting to hear about younger players schooled on video games taking the route of talking rather than attacking. I suspect that this behaviour learned via the quest found in those video games came about because the folks that wrote a lot of the story lines in early video games played TTRPGs in the same manner as the games played with the earliest of TTRPG GM's like Gary, Dave and the California guys. People like Sandy Petersen, Jennell Jacquays and Ken Rolston started out with TTPGs via Chaosium and ended up with careers in video game design taking their gaming techniques across to video..

Quote from: Hermes Serpent;940114Interesting to hear about younger players schooled on video games taking the route of talking rather than attacking. I suspect that this behaviour learned via the quest found in those video games came about because the folks that wrote a lot of the story lines in early video games played TTRPGs in the same manner as the games played with the earliest of TTRPG GM's like Gary, Dave and the California guys. People like Sandy Petersen, Jennell Jacquays and Ken Rolston started out with TTPGs via Chaosium and ended up with careers in video game design taking their gaming techniques across to video..

The guy who wrote the first working* TTRPG in Bulgarian is a game designer now, too:). I met him via another common interest we share, and he introduced me to my first stable group. I can say I learned a lot from him.

Bottomline, I suspect Hermes Serpent might well be right;)!

*I say "working", because there was another before it, and I know its authors as well. Following the rules of that one resulted in weird outcomes, though:D!

Correction re the TCM Cleothon it isn't totally on Friday.  Claudette Colbert (1934) then Elizabeth Taylor (1963) are Friday but then there's a break and on Saturday we have Vivian Leigh (1945) and finally a very ancient version with Helen Gardner (1912!!!!)

One of the few things I miss about cable is TCM.

Quote from: Big Andy;940086I know the Good Professor liked Rome. What was his opinion of the less glammy version of her from it?

Since we are talking movies, dId he ever see Apocalypto? If so, what did he think of it? The imagery and costumes of it were awesome and always remind me of Tekumel.

No data, sorry; I found out about his liking of "Rome" after he passed away, when we were helping clean out the house and asked his wife about it. I suspect his response would have been "too English looking, and not enough Greek." Other then that, I think he enjoyed her portrayal in all her decadent glory.

No data here, either; the movie came out after he had fallen and broken his hip, and was effectively bedridden. To the best of my information, he never saw the movie in theaters, and he did not own it on DVD. Which is too bad, as I'd have paid real money to see it with him!

Quote from: CRKrueger;940110Monica Bellucci as Cleopatra, Mama Mia.

Plus I never knew Gerard Depardieu played Obelix in FOUR live action Asterix movies.

Yep; she does the role very well!

Quote from: Zirunel;940199Correction re the TCM Cleothon it isn't totally on Friday.  Claudette Colbert (1934) then Elizabeth Taylor (1963) are Friday but then there's a break and on Saturday we have Vivian Leigh (1945) and finally a very ancient version with Helen Gardner (1912!!!!)

They are running the changes, aren't they! I'll look forward to seeing the silent - never have seen it, just heard about it...

Cleothon update: Got the '34 version in the can, and we think we missed the '12. We're going to buy a copy of the '63 epic, so as to get the best possible look at the details. Love that scarab gong in the first palace in Alex scene - something that the Temple of Ksarul people would have given their eyeteeth for...

Quote from: chirine ba kal;940571Cleothon update: Got the '34 version in the can, and we think we missed the '12. We're going to buy a copy of the '63 epic, so as to get the best possible look at the details. Love that scarab gong in the first palace in Alex scene - something that the Temple of Ksarul people would have given their eyeteeth for...

Hear, hear!!! I liked the scene where Cleo is with her priestess/oracle and she see Caesar's death...The sets and costumes were beautiful. Not to mention the cool secret door!!! A great movie all around(for ideas & entertainment). I missed the Viven Leigh version(bad enough I was falling asleep on Liz. Good thing I've seen it quite a few times in past). I will have to seek out the '42 version, Viv is gorgeous. Liz is too... ;0) Good stuff.

H:0)

Quote from: Hrugga;940576Hear, hear!!! I liked the scene where Cleo is with her priestess/oracle and she see Caesar's death...The sets and costumes were beautiful. Not to mention the cool secret door!!! A great movie all around(for ideas & entertainment). I missed the Viven Leigh version(bad enough I was falling asleep on Liz. Good thing I've seen it quite a few times in past). I will have to seek out the '42 version, Viv is gorgeous. Liz is too... ;0) Good stuff.

H:0)

Agreed! The '63 version is just full of details that a GM can swipe to set a scene, and the 'secret' passages in the palace - which everybody except the Romans seem to be able to use - are crying out for adventures. The golden barge at Tarsus and the ships at Actium are my special favorites - I've always wanted to have a model of the small dispatch boat that Antony uses to get around the fleet. (I'm not sure, but I think it may the the same boat Cleopatra uses to leave Rome, but I'll have to go through the scenes frame-by-frame to be compare them.)

And tents! I don't know about you, but after spending a couple of cold desert nights out in the Milumaniyani desert, those Roman tents looked mighty attractive. So, Grand Manner: http://www.grandmanner.co.uk/search?q=Tent&page=2

The '34 version has a very nice set of palanquins, though; quite  the way to travel, I think, and something any self-respecting noble person should look into...

Quote from: chirine ba kal;940752Agreed! The '63 version is just full of details that a GM can swipe to set a scene, and the 'secret' passages in the palace - which everybody except the Romans seem to be able to use - are crying out for adventures. The golden barge at Tarsus and the ships at Actium are my special favorites - I've always wanted to have a model of the small dispatch boat that Antony uses to get around the fleet. (I'm not sure, but I think it may the the same boat Cleopatra uses to leave Rome, but I'll have to go through the scenes frame-by-frame to be compare them.)

And tents! I don't know about you, but after spending a couple of cold desert nights out in the Milumaniyani desert, those Roman tents looked mighty attractive. So, Grand Manner: http://www.grandmanner.co.uk/search?q=Tent&page=2

The '34 version has a very nice set of palanquins, though; quite  the way to travel, I think, and something any self-respecting noble person should look into...

Scaling hot during the day, freezing at night, grit in your boots, sand fleas under your kilt, hostile tribesmen everywhere... what's not to like about Milumanaya?  Except, of course, everything...

Palanquins are nice, but when with the Legion I always followed your advice that the troops think better of an officer who marches on his own feet.  And the General doesn't eat until all the troops are fed.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;940761Scaling hot during the day, freezing at night, grit in your boots, sand fleas under your kilt, hostile tribesmen everywhere... what's not to like about Milumanaya?  Except, of course, everything...

Palanquins are nice, but when with the Legion I always followed your advice that the troops think better of an officer who marches on his own feet.  And the General doesn't eat until all the troops are fed.

You could taste the dust in your mouth from Phil's descriptions. He admitted that he'd travelled in places like the Thar Desert, in the kind of transport that the locals used, and had "a bit of first-hand experience". To say the least...

(Yep. Brought that back from Ft. Knox in the summer of '76. My company officers all did this, and it was impressed on my lowly kay-det mind that if I wanted to have 'my people' follow me, then I'd better be thinking of their welfare ahead of my own.)

Agreed. Korunme had a very good reputation with the troops, because he was a 'fighting general' as well as a 'marching general'. The HQ tents got set up wherever we happened to be in the column at the end of the day's march - we didn't send a lackey up ahead to 'reserve' the best quarters for the commander - and we'd get our meals from whatever cohort we'd be located next to. Yes, we had a few people 'on the staff', but nothing like the elaborate retinues that some officers had to take care of their supposed needs. We'd make sure we had someplace to park the chlen carts, detail some troops to put up the tents, and that would be that. Put out sentries, and make sure that they get relieved on time and stay awake. (One very, and I do mean very, old trick is to put the known cowards on the long night watches. They'll stay awake.)

'Headquarters Duty" is not always considered with great happiness by solders. There's a lot of fuss and bother to be had, only offset by the possibility of 'perks' coming one's way. We made sure that we had as little of the former as possible, and as much of the latter that we could manage. One tended to allow a lot of latitude with the HQ details, once you could trust them. Old sweats were usually the best ones to have, as they knew how to play the system on your (and their, of course) behalf...

"The sergeants never go without; they've been at the game too long." - G. F. Frasier, LT, The Gordon Highlanders

Status Update - possible delays in posting...

I will be checking this thread regularly; at the moment, things are pretty chaotic here at the house as Fifth Daughter's worldly goods arrived from Zurich on Saturday with a half-hour's notice. We got everything in, but the house is packed to the gunwales with boxes and bubble-pack. Things may be a little slow, but we'll still be here...

Chirine,
I've decided to do a tubeway car for my game, but was curios as to how you exactly applied the coating. Did you trowel it on, or cut it with water and brush it on in several thin coats, then sand it to shape and smoothness?

Shemek