Graham

I thought the US was like Australia where nobody lives in the middle Joke. Graham

Anybody got John Williams phone number? Graham

Not necessarily. Recent shows like Farscape, Firefly and Battlestar Galactica have shown that you can do high quality sci fi on a moderate budget. HIGH quality!???? Dude, BSG is so budget... Think about it this way, if you saw 5 min of it and you didn't know what it was, you would KNOW it wasn't a movie you were watching. On the flip side of the coin, high budget does not necessarily equal high quality. Look at the number of big budget Hollywood blockbusters that are absolutely dire (about 99% of them these days IMO). And nobody said the new BSG is supposed to look like a movie. Graham

The only semi-funny US sitcom at the moment IMO is Malcom in the Middle. Graham

As there are always 2 Sith, who is the other one? And which is the master and which the apprentice? Graham

what are the currrent "hot" figures anyway? I think my wife has a hot figure. (Hope she reads this post, it'll score me some points). Graham

I'll second that. Graham

It was only a matter of time before he showed his dark side powers. Agent ONE, you are our only hope. Graham

Bad Taste is one of the best films ever. "Mmm......chunky bits". Graham

A friend introduced me to Firefly last year and I liked it so much I immediately bought my own copy of the DVD set. One of the best sci fi series ever IMO. Such a pity it was prematurely cancelled. There's only 3 movies I deem worth seeing at the cinema this year and Serenity is one of them. I just hope it gets a theatrical release here in Hong Kong. Graham

Try the MW Custom Toy Gallery 1/60 section. Graham

Just got my BSG PS2 game yesterday from EB Games. I'm really pissed off with them as the b*stards charged me $19 for the game, which is a good price, but $35 for shipping! . That is absolutely the last time ever I will order anything from them, if they are going to charge so crazy prices for shipping. I just wish Amazon would ship games overseas....sigh Anyway, pretty cool game so far, although I've only had a chance to try mission one. I just wish there were some training missions. As it is, they just throw you in at the deep end in the middle of a big battle. Oh well, nothing like the 'sink or swim' approach I suppose. Graham

So you like your planes with big martian antennae? The Voltes V head jet can shoot razor sharp boomerangs of doom!!! And it's red like the Red Baron's plane of death!! Combattler's head looks like a flying ladybug of fruity love!! Ah but Combattler V's jet has cannons in the ear pieces, spinning blades on the wing tips, a beam weapon in the tail fin and fires dart shaped missiles from the wings. Loaded with weapons. Graham

My Hasegawa SV-51 Ivanov kit came with a leaflet for this credit card promo in the box. The leaflet has a larger version of the Battroid pic and it clearly shows that the heatshield is a similar blue to the Low Vis heatshield and features a standard Skull. Graham

Ewwwww....... Graham

I've seen the Clone Commander & Clone Pilot at TRU here in Hong Kong. Heh, I like the action feature for Commander Baccara: - "Squeeze figures legs together to activate quick-draw attack." Sounds a bit like what happens to me after one too many beers . Graham

Unfortuantely, I think ARTMIC as a studio no longer exists. IIRC, their office/studio burnt down in a fire several years ago. I hate to think of all the priceless drawings that were lost . Graham

Y'all have no taste . Combattler's Battle Jet (head) is much nicer looking. Graham

It's about 6-7 years (sheesh, that long) since I handled one, so my memory is not that clear. Graham

I don't think I got to shoot the Walther P99, as IIRC it was just coming out when I quit my previous job at the gun shop/gun club. I did handle an early one though and remember thinking the trigger felt very mushy. I did like the interchangeable backstrap feature though. Also, the flush 'no snag' decock button on top of the slide was a neat idea as well. I seem to recall the P99 had a weird manual of arms, where you could pull back the slide to cock the gun and then manually push the trigger forward with your finger to the double action position. This would give you a single action pull weight, but with a double action length of pull. I don't think the Walther P99 or it's American version the S&W99 have been adopted by a great many law enforcement agencies, which should tell you something. I've always prefered full size service pistols with minimum modifications and based on my own shooting experience and personal preferences, the only handguns I would use for IPSC, IDPA or self defence (if I had that option) would by a Glock 17, Glock 21, Browning Hi-Power MKIII, S&W645, S&W745, S&W4506, S&W945 & SIG P226. I don't particulaly like 1911s, Berettas, or H&Ks for various reasons, which I'm not going to bore everybody with. Graham

I've very little shooting time with Ruger firearms, but I'll post my impressions. I've shot the Ruger GP-100 revolver with both 4" & 6" tubes and also the SP-101 5 shot compact revolver. Their revolvers are strong as the proverbial brick sh*t house. Sights are pretty good and grips are comfortable for most hands. They are probably the strongest production double action revolvers made. Trigger pull in both double and single action while not too bad, can't compare with either S&W (the best) or Colt double action revolvers. On the negative side, I did find that extraction of .357 magnum spent cases is not that smooth on some Ruger revolvers, as the cylinder chambers seem to be rougher than other brands of revolvers. There were several times I had to give the ejector rod a good hard whack to get the cases out, especially with CCI Blazer alumium cases. Never had this problem shooting Blazer with the S&W L-Frame 686 or Colt Python though. I've also shot the Ruger MKII .22LR pistol, which is probably one of the most reliable .22 pistols and the Ruger 10/22 rifle with various barrel and stock configurations, again a good rifle if you want a .22 and great for customising as there are so many options available. I've handled Redhawks, Super Redhawks, Blackhawks and various early Ruger 9mm and .45 pistols, but never had the chance to shoot one. To be honest the centerfire pistols seemed very blocky to me, with terrible triggers and a high bore axis. No one in our gun club owned one, although a gunclub we were affiliated with had some as rental guns. Graham

I'd never put decals on a toy, as IMO toys are for playing with and I find decals too prone to scratching, especially on transforming toys. I usually apply stickers, but only the essential ones. I very rarely use every sticker on the sheet. Most of my 1/48 VF-1 toys for example, have just the UN Spacy emblems, squadron numbers and Skull emblem on the FAST Packs. I seldom bother applying all the small fiddly stickers like the 'beware of blast' or 'no step' stickers, as I think the toy looks good enough without them. The only toy I have completely stickered up in recent memory has been the Toynami MPC Alpha, as I think it looks much better with all the stickers applied. Graham

The ISBN number of the Kazutaka Miyatake Macross & Orguss Design Works is: - ISBN: 4896016297 The publisher's website is here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the new book. The is no mention of an updated Kawamori Design Works on the publisher's website, so it's probably just those book store clerk jerks talking out of their asses. Graham

A4 size (landscape), 136 pages. All in color. Softcover. Graham

I like my toys stickered, my models decaled and my women naked . (Although I probably wouldn't say no to a pretty woman if she was stickered or decaled). Graham