The Download Munkey : Tracking the Treasure Down …

Just remembered this recent Chinese movie The Warlords while re-reading a book about the incredibly violent and destructive Taiping uprising in China from 1845 to 1865. I think it’s probably the first movie ever produced that featured the Taiping too

© Media Asia

Above are some of the wallpapers depicting the main characters from this movie who attempted to better their own lives as well as those of their followers during this turbulent period of Chinese history by joining the Qing forces attempting to put down the Taiping insurrections (albeit for differing ideological and personal reasons).

Can’t say how historically accurate the Taiping and Qing troops were represented in the movie though since the only illustrations of the Taiping I’ve seen come from Osprey’s Men-At-Arms 275 which offers an excellent if limited pictorial reference to the Taiping and their Qing (and later European) adversaries.

Most pictures of Qing military officers tend to depict men with brightly-coloured armour rather than the dour black armour worn by the leading men (Jet Li, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro) in the movie.

The book that reminded me of The Warlords is God’s Chinese Son : The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan by Yale University professor Jonathan D. Spence which thankfully reads nothing like a typical bone-dry history book. Accounts of the organization and tactics of the Taiping armies, the internal politics and infighting amongst the Taiping Kings and of foreign mercenaries fighting for the Taiping (pages 237 to 241) make for some really interesting reading.

Chronicling the rise and fall of the enigmatic Taiping Heavenly Kingdom from Hong Xiuquan’s purported visions of God to the formation of the Taiping Heavenly Kindgom partially inspired by Christian values and the eventual defeat and execution of the remaining generals and Fu Tianhui heir to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom by the Qing, this excellent book is a valuable addition to anyone interested in this strange period of history, more so when there are very few English books about the subject.

Download the wallpapers for The Warlords.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Illustration of Qing Troops from Age of Empires 3 : The Asian Dynasties
Romance of the Three Kingdoms E-Book

Some cool concepts from the upcoming Star Wars : The Force Unleashed game as well as from the older Star Wars : Empire At War RTS series.

© Lucasfilm Entertainment Company

My favourite piece is this one showing Jedi Master Shaak Ti and three other rancor-riding Jedi attacking a secret apprentice of Darth Vader. One of those fearsome rancors is illustrated in greater detail below.

© Lucasfilm Entertainment Company

The secret apprentice using the dark side of the Force to bring a gigantic Imperial Star Destroyer crashing down onto a bustling city before bringing it to a halt right in front of him. There’s footage of this amazing feat over at E3 2007 trailer @ Gametrailers (below).

© Lucasfilm Entertainment Company

Next up is Empire At War : Force of Corruption concept art from the fansite kit (FSK) of developer Petroglyph Games. There’s loads of concepts for various land and space vehicles from the Star War Expanded Universe + assorted artworks in the FSK like the one below.

© Petroglyph Games

Darth Vader : Aspiring Graffiti Artist – How can any Darth Vader fan miss out on this one

© Petroglyph Games

A MPTL-2A mobile proton torpedo launcher of the Rebel Alliance.

© Petroglyph Games

A T4-B heavy tank, also of the Rebel Alliance

© Petroglyph Games

Crusader class corvette in the service of the naval fleets of crimelord Tyber Zann.

© Petroglyph Games

An Imperial SPMA-T (Self-Propelled Mobile Artillery – Turbolaser) – reminds me of the Spider Kbot from the classic RTS Total Annihilation.

© Petroglyph Games

Concept for the badass Defiler unit of the Zann Organization.

View the Star Wars : The Force Unleashed concepts or download the Petroglyph Games / Empire At War : Force of Corruption fansite kit from Petroglyph Games Community Site.

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Video Games Paper Toys from Cubeecraft
Star Wars Papercraft – Boba Fett, Clone Troopers, Stormtroopers, etc
Star Wars Movie Concepts, Russian Propaganda Posters & More @ InertGreyMatter.com
Star Wars Wallpapers from Dark Horse Comics
Who’s That on Star Wars Tales #17 Cover?

A wonderful CG short film created by William Vaughan in conjunction with students from the September 2007 class of animation and visual effects school DAVE School. The titular character in this 8:22 min film is a timid little zombie with a tofu (or is that yummy swiss cheese) in place of his brain to curb the typical zombie preoccupation with human braaaaaaiins.

While poking his undead nose around the expansive mansion of Professor Vost whom which Tofu lives with together with the Professor’s daughter Addie as well as his faithful simian sidekick, Lab Monkey #5. The combination of Tofu’s inquisitive nature coupled with Lab Monkey #5’s love for fun and mischief is a potent recipe for disaster and that’s what happens in Zombie Dearest.

© William Vaughan / DAVE School Student Productions

What is Tofu & Lab Monkey #5 hiding from?

As you can see above, animation and visual effects like lighting and shadows are top-notch stuff. You’ll find that the sound effects and pacing are equally well executed when you watch Zombie Dearest

© William Vaughan / DAVE School Student Productions

Lab Monkey #5 does a Michael Jordan

The DAVE School Movie Theater has quite a substantial showcase of short films by their students – I’ll do up a more comprehensive follow-up post once I finish watching all of them. I do recommend Creeper featuring a gang of bumbling animal superheroes for a start.

Watch Tofu The Vegan Zombie : Zombie Dearest in Flash Video format at DAVE School or download the full high resolution video (68.1 MB) to enjoy at your leisure.

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Beat Back the Zombie Hordes in Boxhead : The Zombie Wars
Darkwatch Wallpapers & Concept Art
The Last Stand & The Endless Zombie Rampage & Crimsonland

Wallpapers for the Batman range of Lego mini-figs. Can’t wait for the upcoming Lego Batman : The Videogame to be released later this September since I’m a big fan of Traveller’s Tales games – their previous Lego Star Wars : The Videogame made me into a Star Wars fan.
Hopefully a romp through a Legofied Gotham City will change my opinion of the depressingly dark and gloomy Batman universe.

© Lego

Also check out the six promotional comics for a quick primer on the major villains (below) as well as Batman’s garage of Legofied vehicles. Almost all the villains are present except for the strange omission of Catwoman. Hmmm….

© Lego

More Dark Knight goodness in the exclusive debut trailer for Lego Batman : The Videogame which you can watch or download from Gametrailers.

© Lego / Traveller Tales

Travellers Tales has another soon to be released Lego game in the form of Lego Indiana Jones : The Original Adventures but I think the Dark Knight is far cooler – although I have to admit that the exotic locations in Lego Indiana Jones as shown in the wallpapers do have their attractions

Apparently, Lego no longer has the Harry Potter license so I’m wondering which license they would use for the next Lego game -a Lego minifig version of The Lord of the Rings would be fantastic

Download the wallpapers or view the comics for Lego Batman.

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Batman’s Batvan
BrikWars – War with Mini-Figs!
The Brothers Brick – Lego Blog

A HD trailer for Sergei Bodrov’s film on the infamous Temüjin who rose from a impoverished tribesman to become leader of the united Mongol tribes and later founder of the vast Mongol empire which stretched from central Asia to modern-day cities of Kiev in the borthwest and Baghdad in the southwest at its peak under his son Ögedei Khan.

© Picturehouse

Interestingly, the English version of the official Russian site names the film as Mongol : Part One which means that there might be a sequel to this film which received a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film for the 2007 Academy Awards.

From the trailer released at Apple Trailers, it appears that Mongol covers mainly Temüjin’s early years as the son of a Mongolian chieftain to his capture by raiders of another Mongolian tribe and later, his marriage with Borte at the age of 16. The abduction and subsequent rescue of his wife from Merkit tribesmen (below) is also portrayed in this film.

© Picturehouse

Some captures from the HD trailer.

© Picturehouse

Heavy cavalry with dual sabres – not too sure if these cavalry were Mongolian since I have never read about them being armed or armoured in this way.

© Picturehouse

Wonder which nation did this banner represent?

© Picturehouse

The Mongol hordes

While Genghis Khan was definitely a great and brillant leader, the extremely brutal result of some of the Mongol campaigns must have left a massive stain on his legacy – I read over at War and Game that an estimated 80,000 to 1,000,000 citzens were massacred after the successful siege of Baghdad in 1258.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this film will be shown in Singapore when it’s released later this year

Download the HD trailer for Mongol or visit the official site / official Russian site (English version).

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War and Game – Military History Blog
Osprey Publishing’s Military Art “Advent Calendar”
Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer vs Adrian Smith’s Karrig Sturn