They've released a third image of dwarves from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. This latest picture is from MSN movies blog The Hitlist.
Fili & Kili
On the left is Dean O'Gorman as Fili and on the right is Aidan Turner as Kili.
Two of the youngest Dwarves, Fili and Kili have been born into the royal line of Durin and raised under the stern guardianship of their uncle, Thorin Oakensheild. Neither has ever travelled far, nor ever seen the fabled Dwarf City of Erebor. For both, the journey to the Lonely Mountain represents adventure and excitement. Skilled fighters, both brothers set off on their adventure armed with the invincible courage of youth, neither being able to imagine the fate which lies before them.
I arrived home today to find a parcel waiting for me. Milsims had a recent online discounted sale and I had ordered two expansions for one of my favourite war games of all time - Commands & Colors: Ancients by Richard Borg.
Unfortunately #4 Imperial Rome was out of stock so they have back ordered it for me at the discounted price, but I now have #5 Epic Ancients II in my hot little hands. This expansion allows up to 8 players to fight larger historical battles on a double-sized map board and contains a number of updated scenarios including Marathon 490 BC, Gaugemela 331 BC and Lake Trasimenus 217 BC. It can also be played by two players with each commanding a side.
Here is another production photo courtesy of Entertainment Weekly from the set of the new Hobbit movies directed by Peter Jackson.
This photo shows Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins at Bag End with the dwarves in the background. The dwarf with the black beard is Richard Armitage who will play Thorin Oakenshield, the leader of the dwarven company.
Freeman certainly looks the part and and I'm sure he will be great as a young Bilbo.
I came across some cool production photos of some of the dwarves from Peter Jackson's upcoming Hobbit movies. The photo just below is an edited version of two separate photos (further below) available on Jackson's facebook page that was provided to theonering.net by user Paul.
From left to right we have Jed Brophy as Nori, Adam Brown as Ori, Mark Hadlow as Dori, John Callen as Oin and Peter Hambleton as Gloin.
Here's the official description for the two photos:
Nori, Ori & Dori
These three brothers, all sons of the same mother, could not be more different from each other. Dori, the oldest, spends much of his time watching out for Ori, the youngest; making sure he’s not caught a chill or got himself killed by Wargs or Goblins. Nobody quite knows what Nori gets up to most of the time, except that it’s guaranteed to be dodgy and quite probably, illegal. Dori, Nori and Ori are intensely loyal to each other – and whilst they are perfectly happy fighting amongst themselves, woe-betide anyone who means harm to one of these brothers.
Oin & Gloin
Distant cousins of Thorin Oakenshield, these two doughty Northern Dwarves join the Company out of a sense of loyalty to their kin, and also because they have a substantial sum of money invested in the venture. Along with Bombur, Gloin is the only other married Dwarf in the Company (there being a shortage of female dwarves in general). His wife is an acclaimed beauty with a particularly fine beard. Gloin is the proud father of a young son, Gimli, who will go on to become part of the famous Fellowship of the Ring.
What strikes me most about these photos is how they have been able to give each dwarf his own individual style and look. My concern had been how they were going to portray the 13 dwarves in Bilbo's adventuring company but I am now reassured by these photos. They look simply fantastic.
It was a beautiful mid-winter day here today. A typical mid-winter day in Brisbane is a cool morning and evening, but a warm day with a clear blue sky and not a cloud in sight.
Fortunately it was also a day off work for me. I had made plans for a family day out with my wife Deb, daughters Maddie and Georgia, my Mum, my brother Mike, his partner Sharon and her son Tom.
The seven of us arrived around 11.30am at Progress Park at Scott's Point on the Redcliffe Peninsula for a BBQ lunch.
Progress Park is a nice little area with tables and free gas barbecues. It also has a lovely view of the beach below.
After lunch we went for a walk along the beach.
Georgia found a piece of coral shaped like a duck.
We then drove to Scarborough at the other end of the peninsula where we spent some time flying some kites I'd brought along.
After that we were all feeling like a treat so we drove to a Baskins-Robbins for some ice-cream.
Later that afternoon Mike took us to a park at Clontarf where he did some metal-detecting.
We found a bit of rubbish like bottle tops, cans and old ring-pulls, but we also found some coins and a couple of pendants, one of which was Stirling silver.
Today, 29 June 2011, the Limited Extended Edition of The Lord of the Rings became available on Blu-ray Disc.
I think I'll start dropping hints to my wife for this as a birthday gift later in the year, or perhaps for a Xmas present. It will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine.
This afternoon we (me, my wife and our two kids) went for a picnic at Bunya Crossing on the banks of the South Pine River. This lovely secluded area is only about 10 minutes drive from where we live.
A nice place for a picnic
This beautiful place, in the heart of the northern Brisbane suburbs, is only moments from houses and roads but feels like a world away. We were not even aware it existed until recently. We'll definitely be back.
I was excited to recently learn the official titles of the two new Hobbit films. They are 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' and 'The Hobbit: There and Back Again.'
These films are Peter Jackson's epic two-film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic The Hobbit with the first film slated to open on December 14, 2012 and the second film to be released on December 13, 2013.
I've been aware of Minecraft for a while now, perhaps since around mid-2010. I've seen some really cool videos on YouTube and have been considering getting the game for several months. Well, tonight I finally decided to take the plunge and purchased the Beta version. Yep, that's right, it's a game that is still in development but by January 2011 it had already had over 1,000,000 units sold.
Minecraft is a sandbox building game written in Java. The worlds are made up of three-dimensional blocks set in a grid pattern. Each block (and at this point in time there are well over 100 different types) represent various items or terrain. Players can destroy and create blocks, changing the landscape to their desire.
The graphics are very basic but it doesn't take great graphics to make a great game, it's the gameplay that counts. Gameplay is where Minecraft shines. It's a game that is part exploration, part role-play, part resource management and part creative building. It's also a lot of fun.
Type Minecraft in the search field on YouTube to see some game play. Also check out this post on VideoGameGeek by user ekted.
Another Saturday morning gaming with my mum (AKA Grandma) and 9 year old daughter Maddie. Our game of choice today was the recently acquired Forbidden Island by Matt Leacock, the designer of Pandemic.
Players in this game play explorers searching an island for four powerful artifacts. They must locate all four artifacts and lift off the island in a helicopter to win the game. The only problem is that the island is quickly sinking into the ocean and the players must work cooperatively to shore up flooded areas and find the artifacts.
The island - pale blue tiles are flooded and the gaps are tiles that have sunk
There are six different roles randomly assigned to the 2-4 players. Each role has special abilities to assist in the mission. In this our first game Grandma was the Engineer, Maddie was the Explorer and I was the Diver.
There is also a water level track. We started off on the Novice level which starts the water at the lowest level.
The mechanics are fairly straightforward with players taking up to three actions, taking two treasure cards and then taking a certain number of flood cards depending on the current water level. Maddie quickly picked this up and was soon suggesting actions for Grandma and I. I was pleased to hear her exclaim during the game "This is really exciting" and "This is fun".
We went on to win our first game at Novice level.
Later that afternoon after Grandma had left Maddie requested another game with just the two of us. We started at Normal level with her being the Pilot and me the Messenger. We did win, but it was fairly close. We'll up the difficulty to Elite level in our next game.
I can't believe it's been over a year since I last purchased some board games. I've certainly got a list of games on my "to buy" list but haven't been tempted until a recent Milsims Games overstock sale.
I picked up the following games for some good discounted prices:
I had the opportunity to try Commands & Colors: Napoleonics this morning with an old gaming opponent of mine, Chris (AKA BGG User Banjo666). Chris taught me how to play the miniatures rules DBM and it's probably been a good 8 or 9 years since we last saw each other or gamed together.
We played Chris' copy of the game and he had the first scenario set up for me when I arrived. It was the Rolica1 (French First Position) 17 August 1808 scenario which was historically part of the Peninsular War. I played the British/Portuguese army under the command of Sir Arthur Wellesley (more famously known as The Duke of Wellington) versus the French under the command of General Henri Delaborde. Historical Background
After landing unopposed at Mondego Bay, Sir Arthur Wellesley led a Portuguese/British army of some 15,000 men south towards Lisbon. Opposing him was General Henri Delaborde, with a force consisting only of some 5000 infantry, 500 cavalry and 5 field pieces. Delaborde resolved to fight a delaying action against Wellesley’s advance while awaiting reinforcements from Generals Junot and Loison. Delaborde chose his first defensive position in the hills just northwest of the village of Rolica. Wellesley advanced in three columns against the French, ordering the Portuguese troops under Colonel Trant on the right and Fergusson’s column on the left to turn the enemy’s flanks, while the artillery and infantry in his center were to engage the enemy in the front and hold them in position. The British attack was underway by seven o’clock in the morning on the 17th. Although the French were hotly engaged all morning, Delaborde’s outnumbered force still held onto the hill position. However, by early afternoon, the wary Delaborde could see that his position was being outflanked and quickly moved his forces back to a second defensive position to the south. The stage is set. The battle lines are drawn and you are in command. Can you change history?
The field of battle at the end
It was to be an unhistorical result to the real battle of Rolica with my British/Portuguese force eventually losing 3 banners to 5 against the French.
I love the Commands & Colors series of games by Richard Borg. C&C Napoleonics is a fine new edition to this series and although similar in play to other games in the series, it does capture the feel of warfare in the Napoleonic period. I loved the rule for Infantry being able to form square when threatened by Cavalry, and also the rules for Combined Arms Combat and national differences to similar types of units.
I'm very excited to hear that the first day of principal photography for THE HOBBIT will be on Monday 21 March, 2011. Shooting will take place at Stone Street Studios in Miramar and on location around New Zealand.
Martin Freeman who plays Bilbo (on the far right) with the actors who will play the 13 dwarves.
Confirmed cast so far include: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Ken Stott, Graham McTavish, William Kircher, James Nesbitt, Stephen Hunter, Rob Kazinsky, Aidan Turner, Peter Hambleton, John Callen, Jed Brophy, Mark Hadlow, Adam Brown, Cate Blanchett, Andy Serkis, Mikael Persbrant, Sylvester McCoy and Elijah Wood.
As if our state of Queensland isn't reeling enough from the recent floods, up north is going to be hit by Category 5 (Australian scale) Tropical Cyclone Yasi in about 4-6 hours (this evening between 10pm and midnight).
Tropical Cyclone Yasi due to hit north Queensland
They are saying this could be the state's most destructive cyclone in history. It's huge. They're predicting wind gusts of up to 295km/hr (183 miles/hr).
Tropical cyclone forecast track map for Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi. Issued at 8:12pm EST Wednesday 2 February 2011 by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology
For those of you who don't live in Australia here are a couple of images of Cyclone Yasi superimposed over the USA and Europe just to give you an idea of the size of this destructive weather system.
Cyclone Yasi superimposed over the USA
Cyclone Yasi superimposed over Europe
There has been a very concerted preparation in the last few days with 30,000 people evacuated from Cairns. All patients from Cairns Base Hospital and Cairns Private Hospital were airlifted to here in Brisbane. Thousands of other residents on the coast in the path of the storm have been urged to evacuate due to the potential for extreme flooding from large storm surges.
It's going to be one wild night for those in far north Queensland.
Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Rorke's Drift which was fought over the 22nd and 23rd of January 1879 during the Anglo-Zulu War. This battle, the defence of the mission station at Rorke's Drift, came immediately after the British defeat at the Battle of Isandlwana where about 20,000 Zulu warriors attacked a portion of the British main column, killing around 1,300 troops.
After the Battle of Isandlwana a force of about 4000 Zulus attacked the tiny garrison at Rorke's Drift. Defending the mission station against this force were just over 150 British and Colonial troops. This small force successfully repelled the Zulu attacks which began on the afternoon of the 22nd and carried on into the early hours of the following morning. 11 Victoria Crosses were awarded to the defenders, along with a number of other decorations and honours.
A film entitled Zulu, based on the Battle of Rorke's drift, was released in 1964. It starred Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, James Booth, and in his first starring role, a young Michael Caine. I first saw this film on television around the 100th anniversary of the battle in late January 1979. I was at the impressionable age of 11 and this film had a huge impact on me.
I've seen this film many times before but made a special point to watch it again today on the 132nd anniversary of the historical battle. I love the bravery and heroism this film depicts, on both the British and Zulu sides. I love the stirring music score by John Barry. I love the performance of the actors, especially Michael Caine and James Booth. Zulu is a film that still captivates me even to this day.
We've actually had some nice weather arrive after weeks and weeks of rain. The girls are both on school break and have been going stir crazy at home so I decided to take advantage of the break in the weather and take them out geocaching on Sunday morning.
Our first stop was the Giwadha cache located along the Giwadha Track in Chermside Hills Reserve.
This was a nice walk along a track that passed through fairly thick vegetation consisting of heath, grasses and shrubs. Particularly impressive were the number of grass trees with their long flowering spikes.
These grass trees were important to the Aboriginal people who lived here in the past. The long spikes make perfect fishing spears and, when soaked in water, the nectar from the flowers make a sweet tasting drink.
I was using the GPS from my phone along with a free geocaching app. This usually gets me to within 3m (10') of the location of a hidden cache. We searched for about five minutes before finding it hidden beneath leaves at the base of a burnt out stump.
Our next stop was the Arlington Triangle - Arlington Park cache. This was located in Arlington Park at Arana Hills. This is a nice little park with some playground equipment that the girls had fun playing on. The cache in this instance was a microcache with a magnet for attaching on to metal structures. The clue on the website helped and Maddie found it in the place I suggested she look.
The last cache of the morning, Bridge over Cabbage, was found a short walk away in William Scott Park, just where the path crosses Cabbage Tree Creek.
I was a bit concerned about our chances of finding this cache. The bridge had been completely inundated in the recent rains and there was still vegetation debris covering it in places. We knew it was a microcache we were looking for so I suspected another magnetic one. After a bit of searching Maddie found the container still securely in place.
We were very pleased that we went out to search for three caches and had a 100% success rate. It was also nice getting out of the house into the outdoors and in some fine weather for a change.
This poignant photo was taken this morning on Melbourne Street in the suburb of South Brisbane, looking towards the city, not far from such important buildings like the Gallery of Modern Art, the State Library of Queensland, the Queensland Art Gallery and the Queensland Museum.
On the left you can see The Fox Hotel, an establishment I've had the pleasure of drinking at in the past. It now gives new context to the slang term for a pub being a 'watering hole'.
For an up-to-date online coverage of the Queensland floods check this site.
The flood waters have reached Brisbane, with the river breaking its banks and peaking at 4.46 metres early this morning which is thankfully about 1 metre less than the 1974 flood peak of 5.45 metres. Nevertheless, due to population and building growth in Brisbane over the last three decades, the loss of lives, homes, businesses and infrastructure will unfortunately exceed the 1974 flood disaster.
Check out this dramatic footage of a yacht loose on Brisbane river this afternoon. Two men are trying to save the yacht and are thrown into the water as it sinks.
Luckily both men were rescued shortly after.
15 people are confirmed dead in south-east Queensland since 10 January, 61 people are still missing from the Toowoomba/Lockyer Valley area, and police hold grave fears for 12 of those missing people.
It's not just Brisbane, Australia's 3rd largest city, that is suffering. The whole state of Queensland has been affected by flooding since the beginning of December 2010. The floods have forced the evacuation of thousands of people from towns and cities. At least 70 towns and over 200,000 people have been affected. Three-quarters of the state of Queensland has been declared a disaster zone — an area larger than Texas and California combined.
Our local supermarket this afternoon - no fruit or vegetables left.
Water has flooded into the streets of over 30 Brisbane suburbs and it's been reported that around 30,000 properties have been affected by water damage. The central business district (CBD) of Brisbane has been virtually shut down since Wednesday 12 January with all power cut as a precautionary measure. My office, and thousands of other offices in the CBD are shut due to this disaster. It's unlikely the CBD will be safe for businesses to reopen until at least Monday next week. I've worked in Brisbane's central business district for 25 years and have never seen anything on this scale.
The bridge over our local creek on Brisbane's north side. There is a submerged footpath to the right of the handrails.
I've been on leave from work since 24 December 2010 to look after our kids while they're on break before school resumes later this month. I'm not due back at work until 31 January and I've been glued to the continuous television coverage of this natural disaster. I was 7 years old when the floods hit Brisbane in 1974 and I still remember the constant rain at that time and seeing the awful images on television.
It's not only the human population that has been affected. There has also been a loss to animal life and destruction of the natural habitat of many creatures. Some are more lucky than others. Check out the video below that I took of a kookaburra who took shelter on our deck during some of the rainy weather on Tuesday.
In the big scheme of world events this is only a minor natural disaster compared to, for example, the devastation and loss of life in the 2010 Haiti earthquake (est. 316,000 dead) or the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami (230,210 dead). To put it into further perspective, parts of Brazil are currently suffering flooding and mudslides and sadly it has been reported that the death toll there is over 400 and rising. We can count ourselves here in Brisbane to be relatively lucky. However, this local flood is affecting my community, my state and my country and is therefore naturally a more personal experience for me. Let's hope the tragic loss of life won't climb too much higher.
At least there is still a sense of humour around. Check out this photo tweeted by @mackiemarsellos showing the iconic Wally Lewis statue outside the flooded Suncorp Stadium.
Floods come and go and Brisbane will recover but I'm sure we'll be talking about the 2011 flood for many years to come.
The state of Queensland in Australia has had a lot of rain over the past month or so. Here in south-east Queensland it's turned into a natural disaster. Yesterday the inland city of Toowoomba (about 127 km / 79 miles from where I live) was hit suddenly and hard by a flash flood. Toowoomba sits on the crest of the Great Dividing Range and is around 700 metres (2300 feet) above sea level which makes this freak of nature even more bizarre. The flash flood has been described as being like an 'inland tsunami'. Sadly, several people were caught in the waters and drowned.
Check out this YouTube clip of amazing footage of cars being washed away in the heart of Toowoomba yesterday. I can't believe the guy at 1:13 who got his car out of the car park. Very lucky indeed.
Tragically there has been more loss of life in areas down from the range in Lockyer Valley. Since yesterday there have been a total of 9 confirmed deaths and 66 people are still unaccounted for in these floods. The death toll is expected to rise as emergency services enter the worst affected areas and conduct searches.
Check out this video of the Toowoomba CBD. Check out the man desperately clinging to a tree at 1:23 as a white van is swept into the tree almost dislodging him.
Thankfully the man holding on to the tree was rescued a short time later.
This body of water all flows down to the Brisbane River and then into Moreton Bay. It's bearing down on us as I type and is going to swell the Brisbane river which runs through the middle of the city. With this water, combined with ongoing rain, releases into the river from our main over-capacity dam and a king tide due tomorrow, it is predicted that Brisbane and surrounding suburbs are in for some massive flooding. It's even been suggested that levels could reach as high as the 1974 flood. Evacuations are now occurring in low-lying areas of Brisbane.
It's very sad watching this dramatic disaster unfolding on the news with people and homes affected from all over the state. 6500 properties in Brisbane alone are threatened with flooding over the coming days. Thankfully my home is not in any danger of flooding.
And to think we were in drought conditions just over a year and a half ago. Brisbane was under the toughest water restrictions of any Australian capital city at that time and our combined dam total was around 16%. They are now sitting at 160% capacity.
Check out news.com.au for the latest on this natural disaster. The flooding also has made front page news at CNN and the BBC. A government flood relief appeal site has been set up for financial donations.
The Platinum Trophy was awarded when all other 47 trophies in the game had been earned. The final 47th trophy first had to be unlocked by completing the game on the 'Hard' level of difficulty. Once done it allowed you to play the game again on a level of difficulty called 'Crushing'. Yep, 'Crushing', as it sounds, was extremely challenging.
The Platinum Trophy
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune was released over 3 years ago in November 2007. It's an action-adventure game that combines platforming and third-person shooter elements. The game charts the journey of protagonist Nathan Drake, supposed descendant of the explorer Sir Francis Drake, as he seeks the lost treasure of El Dorado, with the help of friend Victor "Sully" Sullivan and journalist Elena Fisher.
A screenshot from the game
This was an incredible game to experience, it had a fun story and addictive play from start to finish. It played like a big-budget Hollywood movie and the graphics and voice-acting were superb. I was also very impressed with the realistic water effects. The good news is that there is a sequel, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves which was released in 2009 and is touted to be an even better game than its predecessor. I'll have to pick this one up soon.
And if that's not enough, they've just announced a third installment entitled Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception which is due for release in November 2011.
This is now my 2nd Platinum Trophy, the first being for Red Dead Redemption.
We had decided to postpone Grandma's regular Saturday morning visit because this Saturday morning was New Years Day. So instead of Saturday morning Grandma came over today on Sunday.
Our first game of the morning was Der Schwarze Pirat. We originally had intended to play with 4 (almost 5) year old Georgia but on the first turn she had difficulty with the blower and then got upset and started acting up. A quick intervention from my wife first distracted and then removed Georgia from play so that left Grandma, 9.5 year old Maddie and me.
This was a really exciting game as the majority of gold built up on just a few of the islands. At one point in the game the red island had 9 gold on it. The winds certainly favoured me as we all raced for this particular island. I was the first to enter the harbour and claim these 9 gold for myself. That would have to be the most gold in a single haul that I've yet seen. Final scores were me 24 gold, Grandma 12 gold and Maddie 0 gold.
Maddie mustn't have been too impressed with her result in this game because she then dropped out leaving Grandma and I to play. Grandma suggested we play our old favourite Battle Line so I pulled it out of the game cabinet and set it up.
I always enjoy this game and Grandma is challenging to play. This time I had some good card draws combined with some early placement decisions that paid off. I ended up winning with a breakthrough of three adjacent flags in the centre of the line.
I'm married with 2 young daughters and live in Brisbane, Australia. I have a wide range of interests but most of all enjoy playing games. I enjoy most games but these days tend to concentrate on board games and card games. I occasionally get in the odd miniatures game or computer/console game. With work and family competing for my time, this blog will be a place where I can showcase my painted miniatures, record my experiences and share my interests.
Fili & Kili
