Gas Powered Perambulations

Please bear with me as I take one of my occasional breathers from the world of modeling and delve back into other subjects almost as far removed from poetry and the symphonic, but still closely entwined with art.

A bit of background to catch up my newer readers: my wife is from Vietnam so I have recently had the pleasure of periodic travel to East Asia. While there I've spent most of my time in  a lovely vibrant town once called Saigon and now officially designated Ho Chi Minh City. I've come to the conclusion that one of the more characteristic things about any given place is the way we get around. Ho Chi Minh is quite unlike most other places I've been. (And I've covered some distance in my short life, touching the soil of forty-seven states, nine countries, and three continents. Typically for at least 24 hours and in many cases quite a bit more than that.)  The US is a car country defined by fancy highways of almost exorbitant length, with a few significant exceptions. (And even the exceptions have their share of pavement.) Europe, with less space for roadways and more people per square klick, is remarkably multi-modal.

Asia, particularly South and East Asia, make Europe seem only slightly more densely populated than the moon. I expect most people have seen pictures of Asian traffic; the solid walls of people on the streets of Mumbai, the miles long parking lots leading into Beijing, the trains breathing pressurized human life in and out of Tokyo. Ho Chi Minh isn't quite like any of these. There are no trains to speak of. There is but one highway (though a second is under construction) and it isn't as yet a parking lot. And no one seems to walk much of anywhere. (I'm a little surprised people walk from their bedroom to their front door, but the houses are small and vertical and motor vehicles don't do stairs well.) So what is Saigon traffic? Motorbikes: mopeds, scooters, crotch-rockets, even the occasional cruiser. It seems as though all the bikes at Sturgis have been hit with a shrink ray and gotten very jiggy populating the streets and lanes of a large, but surprisingly compact Southern Florida style paradise by the millions. It may be the largest collection of two-stroke love on earth. And of course everyone is honking or beeping at all times, traffic laws are fluid, and signals are scarce. In short, it . . . is . . . FUN!

Some minor temporal liberties have been taken, but I hope this gives you a flavor of where I'm going. It's a fun town, Saigon, a great place to relax, eat, visit friends and family. It's a busy, bustling place where a lot of people work and play hard. It makes for a truly memorable power-assisted walk in the park.

5th Annual NIFTI Fleet Review

Well, it's that time again. Actually, it's well past that time. In point of fact the fleet review has been ongoing now for more than a month, and I'm only now getting around to writing about it. While this is no excuse, life has been busy in NIFTI. Still, without further ado, the Review . . . 

Reviewing the Imperial Japanese section of the fleet.

New Cai Lay Harbor looking south from Bean Hill

Three Flowers steam around the North side of Soeur Trois in the West Bay

A pair of Secrataries patrol the East Bay

I won't spend a lot of time belaboring it, because I want to get down to reviews of new models in the near future, but I want to at least mention it and point you to the new review video:

I tried some new animation tricks in there. All very quick work. Haven't gotten so elaborate as smoke, wakes, or shell splashes yet. These will come another time. But I'm reasonably pleased with the results as experiments go. The animation begins about halfway in. Lots of slow pans of the fleet first. If you are curious, the pieces are my own "Fanfare and Fugue" and "March of the Robot Monster" as performed by some friends and acquaintances of mine. I anxiously await your thoughts.

Sincerely,

The Composer.

It's Good to be Dictator for Life

. . . But better still to be the Queen's Chosen Companion.

I have stepped down as God Emperor of My Basement with the coronation of the new Queen Empress and Goddess Among Us. Fortunately, in the first, and probably last election, I have been appoi . . . er elected by acclamation Duly Elected Dictator for Life. In honor of this I am renaming My Basement the New Independency of the Triple Florentine Intersection or "Nifty" for short. With my first act as Duly Elected Dictator for Life I have broken ground on a new capital to be called Cai Lay after the Queen Empress's birthplace.

The Annual Birthday Review was superseded by the Coronation Review, which perhaps explains why it's so late this year. Without further ado, I give you photographic evidence.

First, a pair of pictures from the royal yacht.

The review this year could also be seen from the loftier perch of a tethered balloon hanging over the West River. Below is some video shot from this vantage accompanied by a pair of the dictator's own compositions: Prelude and Fugue in C Major, and and Fugue in C Minor, both for organ. 

Following the surface and balloon tours we boarded the Dictatorial jet and  took to the skies. Here you can see a general overview.

Here's a nice shot of Her Majesty the Queen showing her keen interest in the proceedings.

I have also provided shots showing the individual national constituents of the Nifty Fleet. Most of my readers will be aware that the Duly Elected Dictator, being a fan of history, has constructed his fleet in the image of the various participants of World War II. Each national fleet is accorded its own position in the annual review. These have evolved over the years as the Grand Nifty Fleet has grown, but the allies and chief opponents of various belligerents have always been given close proximity where possible. And the U.S. has always been afforded the front right corner.

The United States Navy, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marine

Nihon Kaigun and the Imperial Japanese Merchant Marine

The Royal Navy and Merchant Marine of the United Kingdom

Italy's Reggio Marina and Merchant Marine

Germany's Kriegsmarine and her Merchant Marine

France's Marine National and Merchant Marine

 

The Royal Navy of the Netherlands

Warships and Merchant Vessels of Canada and Australia

The Royal Thai Navy and Merchant Marine

The Nationalist Chinese Navy

Harbor Vessels and Merchant Vessels of Neutral Nations

Lastly, I will close with a small foretaste of things to come. Let us simply say that next years review will be even more grand.

Music and Miniatures

I've been involved in an online discussion lately where a group of us are trying to refight the Second World War as Japan. We represent a kinder gentler Japan. (Though one still bent on securing the resources we need for independence. And liberating East Asia from colonial oppression seems the way to go about it.) For the most part this has involved cleaning up our military, treating the locals with decency so that we can gain their support, waging a PR campaign in the United States so that the electorate there knows that we genuinely have swept away Tojo and the militaristic nationalists, and of course lots and lots of logistics. (How many c. 5" rifles can we build? How many graving docks over 600' do we have? How much steel? How much rubber? How much bauxite can we get from Indochina? How much oil from Borneo? How many additional merchant hulls will we need? How can we prevent losses? How much efficiency will we lose by instituting a convoy system? Can we afford conversions? Destroyers? Carriers? You get the idea.)

Well, in the midst of all this serious talk our esteemed Prime Minister, while talking about what to call some of our proposed special use infantry units, suggested "storm troopers" and wondered if we could get someone from Hollywood to write some theme music. Well, that was enough for the good Admiral Noka Shijin. In his academy days his friends called him "Shinfonikku Shijin." (Or Symphonic Poet if you prefer English.) So he blew the dust off some "theme music" and posted a couple of videos to YouTube featuring our fleet, and one with some trolls and goblins just for entertainment. (Should we wish to be evil and twirl our mustaches.)

Since this is falls at the very intersection of all that I try to write about here, save for the poetry, I would be quite remiss if I didn't repost it . . .

So, if you want to hear my third symphony, you can listen to the first movement on YouTube.

Since it's longer than their beblasted ten minute limit there's also a second part to said first movement.

And the mustache twirling (from a ballet I wrote for my late sister) is also available for your listening pleasure. (With orcs.)

Sincerely,

The Composer

2011 Fleet Review

The fleet review last year was a bit late, as the God-Emperor of My Basement was overseas. (No constitutional monarchy, this basement. I'd like to hope the God-Emperor is an enlightened despot, but his rule is absolute and virtually unchecked within the boundaries of his empire. On the other hand, this may change since he's courting a God-Empress.)

Anyway . . .

The art depicting the fleet review is still not the best, but at least there's something. It gives you an idea of the last year's expansion:

2010


2011


Clockwise from the upper right int he 2011 review: The U.S. Navy and Merchant Marine, the Royal Navy and Merchant Marine, the Royal Canadian Navy and Merchant Marine, the French Marine nationale, the Chinese gunboat Ning Hai, Sweedish and Norse merchant vessels, the Italian Reggio Marina, the German Kriegsmarine and M.V. St. Louis, the Imperial Japanese Nihon Kaigun and Merchant Marine, and a few harbor craft.

If you look closely you will see that there are a few unpainted ships this year. I try to have everything painted and finished in time for the review, but the expansion was dramatic enough and I was busy enough that I failed this year. Ah well, there's always next year.

At least we cleaned up the harbor enough that it doesn't look quite so miserably fouled as it did previously. The water is blue. This is an improvement, yes? If you are interested, here's some video of the review accompanied by the second movement of my first symphony: "War."

For better or worse, I hope you have enjoyed my miniature folly. Stick around and we'll see what develops. The next fleet review will be even larger and more grand, and hopefully, I'll have better art.

Sincerely,
The Composer