Saturday, September 20, 2014

Spy-Fi to Hornblower: A Great Read and a Great Watch


Yes, I am still here! It always seems as if I do more hobby work once college starts in September than I do all summer. I'm not sure why, but I know it's true! For example, I've begun working on my 6mm and 15mm Quar that I got months ago. These are splendid figures with very little flash or mould lines. With the weather changing here in FL, I should be able to prime them soon.

Keeping with my recent spy-fi theme, I bought on the Amazon marketplace a fantastic 160-page book on spy-fi gadgets: The Incredible World Of Spy-Fi: Wild and Crazy Spy Gadgets, Props, and Artifacts from TV and the Movies by Danny Biederma, a consultant on 007 Bond films, and Robert Wallace, an ex-CIA technical director. I bought a used copy of the hardback version, which is the only way to go with this book, I feel, since I'll be referencing it often. I only paid several dollars after shipping. The book arrived last Thursday. Though the book was listed as "good," I would grade it excellent condition. My copy has several autographs. I'm not sure who they are from. Anyway, if you like Bond, Man From UNCLE, Wild Wild West, and more then you will love this book. BTW the author has trademarked the work "spy-fi," which I found interesting.

Friday, Amazon did one of their weird price-war things and dropped the price of the Horatio Hornblower Collector's Edition DVD set from $25 down to $9. The price lasted only a day. I had it my wish list and was checking it for price drops, which I tend to do often. (I also have camelcamelcamel price drop alerts set for some items.) So I grabbed this deal right away. Having Amazon Prime, as I do, made the deal even better since no shipping costs. My (young at the time) son and I loved A&E's Hornblower series when it first aired on cable TV and have not been able to watch it since. The series is chock-full of ideas for skirmish gaming.