The Casual Observer

The 1988 Wild Coast Trail – 25 year Retrospective Report – Part 3: In Too Deep

By Dean McCleland in Hiking 20 April 2014 2 Comments

Refreshed & reinvigorated, we charged off after a breakfast comprising the full enchilada – eggs, bacon, sausage, tomato & toast. The resort had even managed to wash & iron our clothes overnight. The menacing clouds had converted themselves into friendly wispy innocuous candy floss fluff balls, cute & cuddly. First we had to pass the hut where we were supposed to have stopped the day before. That made the day’s hike slightly longer but being as fit as we were, not an undue burden.

The 1988 Wild Coast Trail – 25 year Retrospective Report – Part 2: An ignominious start

By Dean McCleland in Hiking 20 April 2014 2 Comments

Clear blue skies welcomed in a brand new day. A steady radiant sun hidden for the past 5 days greeted all & sundry with gay abandon as if it was a long lost friend. But first things first! I had talked both Kurt & Mike into doing a quick 21km run before breakfast & prior to commencing the hike. A work colleague at Monoweld Galvanisers, Danie van Wyk, had challenged me to a duel, a 42km race from Fairy Glen in Pretoria East to the western side of Acasia Park.

The 1988 Wild Coast Trail – 25 year Retrospective Report – Part 1: The Journey

By Dean McCleland in Hiking 20 April 2014 6 Comments

An unrivalled experience awaited us, the four members of George Malan’s hiking club eponymously called George Malan’s Hiking Club, before its transmogrification into the Quo Vadis Hiking Club as we set out to hike the Wild Coast Trail in August 1988. Having only previously done the Fish River Canyon Hike & the Blydepoort Trail with the Club, I was still the novice in the Club, minding my Ps & Qs – pints & quarts – so to speak. By now the team dynamics were becoming evident but this trail would expose those that were not the team players. Unfortunately it was not the appropriate time to do so but when is it ever?

The German Epoch in Quo Vadis– Walter Baumgartl – In Memoriam

By Dean McCleland in Hiking, Personal 20 April 2014 0 Comment

In 1994 the Quo Vadis Hiking Club was still teetering on the brink of extinction. Mick Crabtree had been a new appointment & shortly afterwards, his two mates Norman Dellar & Barry Williams had been brought into the Club. On our previous hike in the Drakensberg, a squat rotund Austrian – never call him German – appeared in the Club.

With Mike Brown deciding to retire from hiking altogether ostensibly due to shoulder problems but more likely due to complaints from the Spousal Department, a replacement was urgently required. Being work mates at CBI, Gunther invited his physical antithesis Walter Baumgartl to decisively outnumber the Prussian element represented by Kurt.

Patton [The Movie]

By Dean McCleland in Movies & DVDs 20 April 2014 0 Comment

Summation: Unrealistic battle scenes using non-period weapons

Rating: 3 out of 5

If there is one thing I cannot abide about historical re-enactments is when they are phoney. In this case they were phoney in every sense of the word from the use of the same non-period tanks to represent both the German & the American tanks. Furthermore the battle drills of the Germans in their attack on the Americans in Tunisia displayed an amateurish attempt at non-martial tactics. Underwhelming & unconvincing.

Zero Dark Thirty

By Dean McCleland in Movies & DVDs 20 April 2014 0 Comment

Summation: Graphic but realistic depiction of what it took to find Osama bin-Laden

Rating: 5 out of 5

Doubtless there will be many more movies of this genre but the graphic scenes of torture & the female operative’s – Jessica Chastain’s – first exposure to the horrors of torture will always be etched on my mind.

STARK, GRIM & GRUSOME

Wild Africa in 3D DVD

By Dean McCleland in Movies & DVDs 20 April 2014 0 Comment

Summation: Mediocre uninspiring production

Rating: 2 out of 5

Compared with a BBC Natural History production this is a damp squib, a colourless uninspiring copy. Even the 3D effects appear to be bland.

Do not waste your money on this Blu-ray. Rather purchase Africa by the BBC to view how natural history documentaries should be made.

Cirque du Soleil’s “Worlds Away” in 3D

By Dean McCleland in Movies & DVDs 20 April 2014 0 Comment

Summation: A thoroughly enjoyable surreal fantasy

Rating: 5 out of 5

This video does not contain a plot as such which comprises a series of exuberant & dare-devilish stunts by the well-known Cirque du Soleil. There is a connecting theme, a forlorn maiden in search of her true love. This provides the continuity.

Being a movie instead of a live performance, it has allowed the creators the luxury of lush extravagant sets. Viewed in 3D, this results in an ephemeral otherworldly feel about it.

As can be expected the acrobatic acts are stunning & timed to perfection.

The production is a surreal transcendental fantasy where one should just float along in the extravagance of the production.

The Kingdom of Heaven: The Director’s Cut

By Dean McCleland in Movies & DVDs 20 April 2014 0 Comment

Summation: The Engrossing Saga of a Reluctant & Unlikely Crusader

Rating: 5 out of 5

It was mere happenstance that I ordered the Director’s Cut rather than the Cinema Release Version. It is a stunning period epic bringing to life the Crusades told through a blacksmith – Balian – as portrayed by Orlando Bloom – who unbeknown to him is the son of a Knight. “Convinced” to join the Crusades to escape justice after killing the local Priest, who we later learn, is his brother. Unfortunately his father dies en route at Messina in Sicily from wounds sustained preventing the arrest of his son. Cast as a sullen person either due to the script writer’s lack of character portrayal ability or due to casting him as being initially distraught due to the death of his wife & child or alternatively being out of his depth in a strange new land with strange new values.

Take these Men by Cyril Joly

By Dean McCleland in Books, Military History 20 April 2014 0 Comment

Summation: A vivid evocation & excellent cupola eye view of the armoured battles of the Desert war from 1940 to 1943.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Even though this is written as a work of fiction, the author based it 100% on fact. Presumably the main reason for this decision, I believe, was to protect his incompetent subordinates & fellow officers.

Unlike most of the other soldiers in the to and fro desert war, Cyril Joly served with the Armoured Corps throughout this part of the war. Unlike the other theatres of war, the desert was eminently suitable for armoured warfare. Without the distractions of civilisation such as towns & people, the true potential of armoured vehicles was unleashed.