Monday, October 15, 2007

GWOT: The Golden Age



From the Tora Bora Ted files of October 2001, check out this video of Donald Rumsfeld and Tim Russert's deadpan assessment of the really cool Detective Comics Batcave cross-section of Osama's Blofeldian mountain lair, which was exactly how my inner twelve-year old would have drawn it, except maybe he would have added a game room and some Heavy Metal babes.

(For the real thing, check out my very favorite Osprey manual for military modelers: Afghanistan Cave Complexes 1979-2004. I got my copy at the local hobby shop, where I plan to recruit some of the Tamiya junkies along with some of the model railroad landscapers to make our own 1/72nd scale Tora Bora in the basement. That would seriously be my kind of Make magazine feature.)

5 comments:

Jayme Lynn Blaschke said...

Ain't those Osprey books addictive? I'd love to find a cache at Half Price Books, but alas, those who buy them never part with them.

Christopher Brown said...

Yes, there's something compelling about the peculiarly English way of fetishisizing highly detailed catalogs of the ways of warriors so that they can be precisely reproduced in scale models by basement obsessives escaping their otherwise mundane world. Especially when applied to contemporary topics. Though I impatiently await their volume on American psychological warfare after World War II.

Anonymous said...

I need an Osprey book detailing German naval zeppelin officer uniforms for my zeppelin vs.pterodactyls illustration.

This is pretty amazing. Where's the cutaway of Cheney's secret lair?

Jayme Lynn Blaschke said...

Ask and ye shall receive:
Zeppelins: German Airships 1900-40
ISBN 978-1841766928

(Actually, I don't know if it includes the uniforms since I don't actually have it yet, but judging from my other Osprey books, yeah, it will).

Christopher Brown said...

Yes, I actually have a copy of Osprey Zeppelins in my library. (My son's copy, which may be even more disturbing, he not having the same reasons to relish the pulpy ghosts of the early 20th century.)

And yes, it does include some uniform photos. Stu, ping me at nakashima_brown at yahoo.com and I will send you some scans if you like.

As for secret government bunkers of the GWOT, that's a hell of an idea for an Osprey tome, to be bookended by "Rowena-decorated Bachelor Pads of the Ba'ath Party." I think we will have to corral a group to work on such a series.