Thursday, January 23, 2014

Tab Clearing...

23 comments:

Borepatch said...

That cartoon is packed full o' win.

Clinton said...

Having spent a few years living in africa, being caught in the sidelins between mobs.. This film still gives me shivers.

Scott J said...

For a motorhome I want the EM50 from "Stripes".

Or maybe a Landmaster from that 70's campfest "Damnation Alley".

LCB said...

I've never been to Africa and the movie gives me shivers. How anyone could think that black men weren't capable of fighting after the Civil War and the Zulu War is beyond me. The went up against guns with spears for crying out loud...

And hats off to the Tommy's...stiff upper lip indeed!

sobriant74 said...

One of my fav Mike Caine roles, I was recently very happy to find this available on Amazon instent video, hadnt seen it for a number of years.

Tam said...

Borepatch,

"That cartoon is packed full o' win."

My friend Jen drew that back in the early Aughties, using for models my Martini and the 24th Regiment of Foot pith helmet I got as a birthday gift from Bayou Renaissance Man.

Fuzzy Curmudgeon said...

Damn it. Now I have this image seared in my head of British troops in the Raj during the Sepoy Mutiny. "Oh, bother." BANG. "Oh, bother." BANG. "I say, old chap, would you be so kind as to hand me that jar of hunny?" BANG. "Thanks ever so much. Oh, bother." BANG.

Kristophr said...

A class V Toronado.

Kristophr said...

LCB: Those were Zulus, not just any black men.

The Zulus re-invented the Spartan model, and replace family life with barracks and male-gang life.

When you replace the family with the state, you also replace tribalism and clanism with civilization. A very dark and scary civilization ( see the Spartans, again ), but civilization nonetheless.

The Zulus were soldiers as a result, and not mere warriors.

Cincinnatus said...

That is the greatest cartoon ever.

Discobobby said...

I just totally stole that image for my Book of Face status. :)

LCB said...

Kristopher,
Yes, I know about the Zulu. But the 54th Maine Regiment weren't Zulu...just soldiers taught to fight to the same standards as other soldiers of the day. They, and other black regiments during the un-Civil War, proved thier valor again and again. They didn't need the Zulu warrior/soldier culture. In all aspects, they were "just" black men wanting a chance to prove their worth to each other.

Cincinnatus said...

I'd pay good coin for that Pooh image on a t-shirt .... oh, I know, copyright ... but really. Good coin.

Gewehr98 said...

Oh, yes. That cartoon is still in a place of honor in my office. I had an ear-to-ear grin when Kaylee presented it to me in March of 2004 over at THR v1.0. My sigline there must've kicked over her giggle box something fierce! :-)

Windy Wilson said...

"It's Tommy this, and Tommy that, And chuck him out the brute,
But it's 'Savior of his Country,' When the guns begin to shoot!"

Which poem can be sung to the Irish pub tune "Hiring Fair"

cavemike said...

I will not say which forum it is, but someone made a batch of t-shirts with a very similar image on it. I have 2 of them.

Steve C said...

The warning shot law reminded me of a Mall Ninja many years ago testifying that he had fired a warning shot into the perp's kidneys.

Cincinnatus said...

cavemike, you are an awful tease.

Kristophr said...

LCB:

Nothing "just" about them. They had something to prove. They did so.

Greg Tag said...

The Zulus were soldiers in every sense of the word. The bachelor regiments were especially mean and spoiling for a fight; instead of medals and "mention in dispatches" the regiment might earn royal permission to marry.

Drawbacks , of course- no leave and home-life was limited.

Regards
GKT

NewjerseyThomas said...

My wife and I are expecting our first child any day now. The ladies of the family have lovingly decorated the nursery with a classic Pooh (not modern Pooh) theme. This cartoon I am going to frame, and hang in a place of honor over the crib.

Kristophr said...

GKT: Homelife would encourage loyalty to family instead of to the Zulu nation.

The Spartans destroyed family life for the same reason. Completely nuking family bonds is a damned hard way to force civilization on tribals, but it did work.

Paul from Canada said...

I was born in Durdan and I have relatives on my mothers side who fought in the Anglo-Zulu war with the colonial forces. There is a memorial to some of them at the Isandhlwana site.

A few years ago my brother and I went back for a family event and took a guided trip to both the Isandhlwana and Rorke's Drift sites.

They are both smaller than the movies make them look, but by and large the film makers did a good job.

They are both also rather awe inspiring.

There is a bunch of new research and archeology that firmly de-bunks some of the myths. The PBS/BBC show "Secrets of the Dead" did an episode about it and I highly recomend it to anyone interested in Isandhlwana.

I LOVE the Pooh cartoon! I think a continuing series would be a hoot! Pooh at the Alamo, Pooh as one of Roger's Rangers, Pooh the Roughrider, Pooh as a Rifleman at Waterloo etc etc.