The Painted Thumb

Sean Bean , the famous actor from Troy, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and a boatload of historical dramas, really cut his teeth on a great English TV movie series called " Sharpe's Rifles ". My friend Brian suggested these movies to me but I never found them in a store or for rental anywhere.  One day, I was browsing my local city library's DVD collection. Surprisingly, they had all 14 of Sharpe's movies for check out! Let's hear it for public libraries!  I picked up the first two movies in the series, " Sharpe's Rifles " and " Sharpe's Eagle " Sharpe and The Chosen Men For those who are not familiar, Sharpe's Rifles is a series of romantic adventure books by Bernard Cornwell. In the mid-1990's, TV movie versions were made with Sean Bean in the title role of Richard Sharpe. The story takes place during the Napoleonic Wars in the campaign known as the Peninsular War . England and Spain are allied against Napole...

This week, I finished the first book in the "John Carter of Mars" series, titled "A Princess of Mars" by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Not a day too late either because this weekend is the opening of the big-budget Disney movie with the shortened title, "John Carter". I don't know why they shortenend the name by dropping the 'of Mars' part. Perhaps they were afraid the original title couldn't fit on the marquee? Who knows. So, about the book? Yes, well, the book was published in 1912 and written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, who is best known for writing the original Tarzan stories. However, Burroughs chose to write a very different story with 'John Carter of Mars' and introduced to the world the genre of 'epic space fantasy'. The book is the story of Burrough's fictional uncle John Carter, a Virginia gentleman (with the emphasis on the word 'gentleman') who passes away after a quiet but productive life. Uncle John...

Book Review:  "The Keep" by F. Scott Wilson Just when you thought this would be just another blog about miniatures and wargaming!  Well, I've made it one of my personal goals for 2012 to read more books and "The Keep" was the first one I crossed off my list. This book was also my first purchase on my new Amazon Kindle  And I must say, if you enjoy reading, then you should really consider getting a Kindle. I was hesitant to embrace the technology, but now I'm converted.  I no longer have to scour through a bookstore or a library to find that one special book I was searching for.  Nope, I just browse the website from my device and download!  And no more shelf space issues! On with the review.  The Amazon description reads as follows, "The keep had stood empty in the Transylvanian Alps for 500 years. No one knew who built it, or why. But on the eve of WWII, German soldiers move in and awaken something - something hungry... " If that does...