War and Games

Let's get something down first before I inevitably forget.

Remember the excellent HBO miniseries Band of Brothers ? Did you enjoy it ? I know I did.

There's going to be another one ! This time set in the Pacific and it will be called The Pacific War. Read the sypnosis, it sounds quite fascinating. This time the story will be told from the point of view of a USO troupe travelling around the Pacific during WW2. Filming is suppose to begin around now.

This is great !

I have friends, family and neighbours who are either still in the armed forces or have been in the armed forces. I have a healthy respect for soldiers.

I like war films and I play war games, but that does not mean that I glorify or approve of war in any way. I have no illusions about the so-called "glory" of it. I've read the books written by soldiers and I've heard stories from veterans and other older people who remember events from The Emergency and The Confrontation. There's nothing glorious about it. War is dirty business.

The reason why I write this disclaimer of sorts is that I've been accused of being a war fan due to my interests in things like weaponry and military things. I find this quite insulting.

Guns and weapons don't make war. Technology does not make war. People do. Just because I like guns and jet fighters doesn't mean I'm raring to go to war. So-called "army freaks" like myself are not why wars happen. For the causes of war, we need to look at politics and religion. Put the blame where it lies please.

Ok, now that's out of the way, I feel much better.

And talking about war, remember the excellent first person shooter Call of Duty ? I went to Gametrailers last night and I'm so happy to see that the sequel Call of Duty 2 will be out very soon. Of all the shooters that I've played, none comes as close as the Call of Duty series when it comes to reproducing the noise and chaos of modern warfare. The levels and scenarios in the game can be brutal at times.

It made me wonder if I could cut it if I were caught in similar situations in reality. It gave me even more respect for soldiers.

The new Call of Duty will be excellent for sure. From what I've seen, there will be a British campaign in Western Desert (Desert Rats ?!) and a beach landing with what looks like US Army Rangers scaling a cliff (Pointe Du Hoc ?). It should be a blast to play these levels.

There's also a version of the game called Call of Duty : Big Red One. Too bad I don't have a PS2. Yet.

In other news, I know of some people who would be quite disappointed to read me waffling about video games instead of the usual introspection :-D. What can I say, I don't have much to write about these days.

Earlier this evening, I did in fact start writing a bitter, ranty, introspective piece. But as the night wore on, I started feeling much better so I'm shelving that post.

So is my life getting better ? Have things really changed ? Not really. What has changes is probably how I look and react to things. One might say that my so-called stride has widened a bit. I guess being old has its good points after all.

But not to worry introspection fans, the angsty posts will return in due time. After all, I still have all those familiar emotions and thoughts boiling under the surface. I still feel a bit lonely at times and I still yearn for a relationship occasionally. Even more so when a festival comes along.

Like Gawai. But alas, there's little that I can say about it now that I've not said before.

Meanwhile, I take everything in stride and move on. Hopefully, it'll happen when it does and I hope I won't have to wait too long.