[unofficial weekender] Sleepytime!

[blinky465 17027xp 2]

@limburger – that’s pretty bleak. In the English version there’s no indication that so much time has passed. I actually quite like the way the song is left hanging at the end, with no final chord “resolution”. But played live, most people like to hear the main riff played through to “finish” the song on a high. I always feel the song loses something when we play it like that.

From memory, the last verse was something like:

Ninety nine dreams I have had, and every one a red balloon
It’s all over and I’m standing pretty, in the dust that was a city
If could find a souvenir, just the prove the world was here
And here it is, a red balloon. I think of you and let it go……

It’s sort of the same idea, but the German equivalent does feel more “hopeless” at the end!

When this came out in the UK in the early 80s, we still had government information adverts playing on the TV, telling us what to do in the event of a nuclear war. I was only a kid, but I remember asking my grandma how hiding under the stairs was supposed to save families from radiation fallout! (“up north” we still had Anderson shelters from WW2 in people’s back gardens – metal-lined, semi-underground bunkers always seemed a safer bet to my 8-year-old way of thinking!)

Actually listening to the words, especially back then, was quite profund. I’m often surprised by how few people really understand what the song is about.

[crazyredcoatParticipant 13642xp 0]

In my experience, most people I’m at Uni with (who are about 10 years younger than me) would read ‘In Flander’s Fields’ and just shrug and complain about it not being catchy… People just want to be entertained and not made to feel…

[blinky465 17027xp 1]

@crazyredcoat – I agree about languages. Here in the UK they’re seen (by most students) as “unnecessary”. Some schools still teach latin (I did two years of it early in high school, then moved to Wales and an entirely different education system) but mostly languages are “optional” (I didn’t do any foreign languages from age 13 onwards).

I only “taught myself” French (using the excellent Michel Thomas CDs) when I decided I wanted to learn – in all my time at school it was never impressed on us why we should want or need to learn another language (which seems completely at odds to most other countries who actively encourage it).

I always found programming in different languages relatively easy – the act of changing syntax is quite simple. But spoken language isn’t just about conveying instructions, it’s about expressing ideas and that’s much more sophisticated. I can make myself understood, speaking French for example, but the exact nuance of meaning doesn’t always come across.

I’m often sorry I didn’t learn other languages at an early age. I had the choice. But was never given a reason why it was important, so chose not to. Sadly, many people here in the UK wear their ignorance as a badge of honour!

 

[limburger 21668xp 1]

yeah, changing from one (programming) language to another is pretty easy as it is usually just syntactic sugar and rarely a different concept.

However I do hate VB.Net with a passion … I’ve yet to find any real reason to use it, except for the fact that we have existing code.

Must admit that the threat of cold war never seemed real to me.
Yes, we have NATO HQ in a former coal mine location (Brunsum). It’s called ‘AFCENT’ during the time Team Yankee is set.

We also never had any nuclear weapons … except we do as was recently finally admitted despite it being a public secret for decades. They’re technically owned by the Americans and apparently they’re also the sole reason why we ‘need’ the stupendously overpriced ridiculous American jet fighter as it is the only platform that can launch them … (at least I can’t imagine any sane reason why we shouldn’t buy the European alternatives for the F-16)

Anyways … the 80’s were the final decade of good music that also had really great music clips.  It’s when MTV was still known for the music and not the stupid reality tv nonsense.

The movie ‘Atomic Blonde’ was such a nostalgia trip because of the sound track …

This was so much the perfect song for that era :

They’re literally singing :
“Let it (the atomic bomb) drop because it’s going to happen anyway and it doesn’t matter if you run … ”

[sundancer 42900xp 2]

Morning you lot…. god my sleep cycle this week is for some reason totally busted… I was so tired yesterday that I had to quit watching the weekender 30  minutes in because it didn’t a flocking sense…. I couldn’t understand words.

And it hasn’t changed much since… this will be a long day.

[danlee 22433xp 5]

This week’s pledge is to finish the Nyx model I’m painting up in grey scale for my club’s painting competition. It’s making for an interesting challenge. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

 

 

1. How is your current sleep cycle? – Mine’s fine, but my wife’s is totally shot which has a knock on effect to the rest of us.
2. How long is your optimal sleep time? – About 7 hours.
3. Do you fall asleep in bed easily or do you take ages to get to rest? – I usually fall asleep quickly.

[horati0nosebl0wer 19610xp 4]

I Still Live!!! (despite my body feeling like I was thrown through the wringer)

I did indeed finish last weeks pledge for my Necromunda work. I just didn’t get around to photographing it. It was looking a little plain until I hit it with the weathering powder… and then the rain marks… and then the grime. I am glad to have this ready for table play.

Now, what was a quick project for my boss’ bday today after starting late Thursday afternoon in failing light and worked to finish this morning for the family party. Later today is the company party… ugh… I want to sleep so bad.

Ok, I’m a bit wiped. I might lay off the heavy duty push of mini painting this week. I’ll work on the barricades for Necromunda and perhaps slowly work over another figure for this week’s pledge.

My current sleep cycle is FUBAR. No better way of putting it.

My optimal sleep time is about 9:30 until 5:45

As far as falling asleep it depends on if I’m dog ass tired or not.

 

[crazyredcoatParticipant 13642xp 1]

@limburger That one song just reminded me of two wonderful songs that I will share with the gang:

[limburger 21668xp 1]

yep … @crazyredcoat who said that songs about death had to be sad ? 😀

Let’s end with this one :

[scribbs 14506xp 4]

I managed to get last weeks pledge of half a dozen Burrows & Badgers done, but got sidelined with painting up a MDF cottage rather than starting my next batch of Napoleonics. The cottage has been awaiting paint for an age, but it has not been a smooth process. I have just about rescued it to a satisfactory standard, and I am aiming to finish it off this week so I can hide it in a box for a bit. Still, learnt a few things about how best to tackle such things in the future. Some light dragoons have migrated onto my paint desk, so I’ll be getting them prepped and primed once the cottage has been vanquished.

1. My sleep cycle has finally settled down. I was struggling to get solid undisturbed nights for a while, so it’s a relief.

2. Optimal sleep is at least 8 hours for me, but that hasn’t happened since my daughter was born, so I run on permanent tiredness combatedby caffeine.

3. I usually fall asleep pretty fast, unless my mind is doing overtime on something that’s worrying me.

[danlee 22433xp 3]

I finished the grey scale model. I’ve been wanting to paint a model like this for years but never had the courage to try. In the end I really enjoyed it and plan to do some more. Being denied the use of colours really forced me to consider textures instead.

Full project entry here: https://www.beastsofwar.com/project/1467945/#snav

 

[sundancer 42900xp 2]

At first I thought she held a banana… but it was a moon… XD

[crazyredcoatParticipant 13642xp 3]

So I got a bit more work done on my Sister of Slaughter. Still got a fair few things to be finished on her, though. Stille not sure what colour to use for the main body of the whip…

Also…not the greatest picture…

[blinky465 17027xp 2]

@danlee – will be interested to see your progress on OSL. Yet another technique I’m still a bit too nervous to tackle!

[crazyredcoatParticipant 13642xp 3]

Finally finished my Royal Marines reference project, and also finished up my Sister of Slaughter. Should have been prepping school stuff, but did that instead… Such is life! Here’s a shot of the Sister.

[Author]

Posts