Wednesday 23 October 2013

The Sabines and a bit more

When I was just a young lad I had a friend who would host monthly mystery movie nights where we would watch films so bad they were good. This got me into a whole world of weird and wonderful films. At these events we would also watch trailers, one trailer which was particularly humourous was for the film "The Rape of the Sabines". Legend tells us that Rome wasn't built in a day, and they didn't have any women either so they went about using less savoury measures to acquire women and reproduce. The trailer had some great lines in it such as "we doubt this film will fill a gap in history, however it will broaden your mind" and "a film for the whole family" as well as exclaiming "The Rape of the Sabines" repetitively. Anyway here is the trailer for your enjoyment, don't worry it's mostly PG.


I thought of this film while in Florence because one of the squares we visited had some statues detailing the rape of the Sabines. Until now I only thought the film made up that idea as i didn't realise it was an actual myth. The statues are slightly less PG than the trailer: 


The square with the statues under the arches.


The rape of the Sabines statue with two men carrying off an unsuspecting Sabine women all in their birthday suits, and unsuspecting tourists (not in their birthday suits) sitting on the steps in front. It is quite an odd myth. 

While walking around Florence I also noticed a church I recognised.



I recalled quite clearly climbing to the top of the tower while playing Assassins Creed 2. I'm not much of a video gamer but that is one I have dabbled in and can appreciate it for its vast replicas of cities in Italy and the ability to climb all over them. While walking through Venice I felt at times I could almost recognise some of the streets from the game.

As this hasn't really been a gaming post I thought I would quickly go through some of the boardgames I have been contemplating while overseas. First up is Firefly the game, based on the amazing TV show Firefly. It comes out mid November in NZ. I have watched and read some reviews and read the rules, and it sounds like a lot of fun and quite thematic. I am getting excited about adding this to my collection and am considering pre ordering. 

I have also looked into A Study in Emerald a bit more, a kickstarter game which is getting shipped out this month. I pre-ordered it from my flgs a few months back. It's theme is a mix of Sherlock Holmes and Cthulhu, in some ways similar to Empire of the Dead. You may remember we did a play test of a print and play version of this game a few months back. The last two games are Sparticus which I mentioned a few posts back, although with A Study in Emerald and  Firefly I may wait a bit before possibly grabbing it, and the last one Bohnanza. Bohnanza is a card game where you grow and trade beans, it's pretty simple and quick but my wife likes it and it's good for the casual gamer. Another cool thing about Bohnanza is it is designed by the same guy who made Agricola one of my favorite boardgames. My wife has agreed for us to add it to 'our' collection. 


A photo of myself, my wife Sharlene and her sister playing bohnanza while staying at their place in London.

3 comments:

  1. Stunning Architecture. As for the AC link I'm sure my son would know what you are talking about, he's an avid fan of the game.
    I haven't plucked up the courage to view the video link, as yet! ;-)

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    1. Thanks Scott. Assassins Creed does seem like quite a popular game, I never did finish it however. It's quite an amusing trailer however it may seem like an odd thing to watch for people who may be around!

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  2. Great trailer there for the Rape of Sabines - you ought to do something like that for the Berhampore Film Festival, or 48 hours. Looks like you're having fun - see you soon.

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