I figure that it’ll be here in a week or so.
And yeah, Rogue One is an obvious choice for my bomber’s name. We’ll see if I stick with that.
Forced?
If there’s one day that seems to divide Star Wars fans, it’s today.
Star Wars Day, 3 full weeks before the actual anniversary day of the original release in 1977.
Some say it’s a made-up holiday, but aren’t they all? Donut Day? Burrito Day? Sweeties Day?
I once read that if someone enjoys something, you shouldn’t shit on it and take away their joy.
Whovians have been making up celebratory days for a few years now, from the 2005 premiere date of the new series to the day the Doctor ‘dies’ to the day of the Silence. Trekkies have been celebrating First Contact Day and Kirk’s future birthday and Federation Day and Captain Picard Day, along with the series premiere date.
So why not let this day stand? Celebrate the anniversary on the anniversary, and let the fans who wish to celebrate today, do so.
Stop shitting.
Wargames: Other Time Periods
Today I was looking around for another solitaire war game, but out of my usual ‘comfort zone’, outside of the years between World War II and today.
I came across this:
Comanchería is the second game in Joel Toppen’s “First Nations” series. Like its predecessor, Navajo Wars, Comanchería is a solitaire game in which the player plays from the Native American tribe’s point of view.
In Comanchería, the player takes command of the Comanche nation. The player must drive hostile tribes from the southern plains, establish dominance over the region, set up trade networks with both friendly tribes and colonial powers, and finally defend all of this against relentless military and cultural attack.
Navajo Wars is out of print, or I would have went with that game first.
If anything, this may get me looking into other periods of history again, which I really haven’t done since high school/college.
In Stock!
Looks like the online stores are getting in their B-17 Flying Fortress Leader games, which means my order should be shipping soon.
There’s an option to fly your own personal bomber within the missions, where you command the entire squadron. This makes the game a bit like the old B-17: Queen of the Skies game.
So now I need to come up with a name for my bomber.
Suggestions are welcome.
Radiohead – OK Computer
The only Radiohead song I’m familiar with is “Creep”.
I have a pirated copy of the CD OK Computer sitting at home, but I’ve never listened to it.
In late 2001, I fell hard for a gal who initially was interested in me, but eventually decided that she wasn’t. For reasons lost in the passage of time, it hurt me more than any other rejection before or since. So much so that I actually sought out self-help guides, both in book form and online.
It was a dark time for me. Darkest I’ve ever felt. Really dark. Darkity dark dark.
One of the suggestions, strangely enough, was to listen to the CD OK Computer by Radiohead. I managed to burn a copy of it to a CD, but kept hesitating to listen to it. And eventually I was able to pull myself out of the despair that I was wallowing in.
As a result, I didn’t feel the need to do any more of the things that were suggested to me, including listening to that CD.
So I haven’t, mostly out of a sense of me having defeated those demons so many years ago.
I don’t know if any of this makes sense, but it felt right to post about it now, for some reason.
As for the CD, I know it’s at home, just not sure where exactly I left it. Probably on a shelf in my bedroom.
Notes to Narrative
8th Air Force
My interest in the B-17 Flying Fortress was reawakened when I recently started playing B-17: Queen of the Skies, though I’ve just made a quick check of games that I’ve ordered, and I have THREE other B-17/8th Air Force games coming in sometime in the near future.
- B-17 Flying Fortress Leader by DVG has been released, and should be in my possession in the coming weeks. It was pre-ordered a couple of months ago.
- Target For Today by Legion Wargames has been produced, and should be shipping fairly soon (June). Heck, I think I pre-ordered this one over a year or two ago.
- A Wing and A Prayer by Lock ‘n Load Publishing should be published/produced soon. It was pre-ordered a few weeks ago.
Even though Memphis Belle is the movie that really made this bomber popular, I remember reading about the 8th Air Force long before that, even before I played my first game of B-17: QotS.
And then there was one of Harrison Ford’s lesser known films, Hanover Street.
Harrison Ford stars as an American WWII pilot stationed in England who falls in love with a married British nurse (Lesley-Anne Down). When his plane is shot down behind enemy lines, he discovers that the secret agent he must protect is her husband.
I think I saw this on on cable, once, in 1979-80(?), and then it was on again recently at a Chinese restaurant near work, of all places. Ford’s character flew a B-25 Mitchell instead of a B-17 Flying Fortress. The newer games appear to have the B-26 Marauder available, which is historically more accurate from what I’ve read.
Anyways, I’m looking forward to these games, as each has a different take on game play. Queen of the Skies put you in command of a single bomber, while a couple of the new ones have you commanding the entire squadron on the bombing run.
And I recently bought a new book on the subject:
