Some of you may have noticed we missed the last issue of the digest.. Things simply got too busy in the last few days of the month and I was unable to meet the deadline..

As you will see in a moment, things are no less busy, and even this issue nearly didn't make it to your inbox.. But clearly it DID - so let's get into it shall we? We have a fair bit to get through..

CONTENTS

1. From the Desk of Paul Southren

2. Collectors Corner

3. Bad Sword of the Month

4. Video of the Month

5. Best Forum Posts

6. Project X and Forge Direct

From The Desk of Paul Southren

In between dealing with a backlog on the SBG custom Katana (which we are slowly but surely catching up on), Project X and a new product line launch (which we will discuss later) - I also had to plan another trip to China starting, well - today! So please excuse me if the digest is a little rushed - it is being written with a half packed bag and an eye on the door!

All of these trips have an end goal in mind for next year - and plans are well underway to take SBG to the "next level" that I think will be of a huge benefit to the sword buying community. Needless to say, each trip is always eye opening and is laying the foundation for something quite special. More on these developments as the year progresses..

In the meantime, I will return you to the regular mix of sword related nuttiness with a movie review by our friend Dan Dacombe..

Collectors Corner with Dan Dacombe

The higher the production values of the bad movie, the more you enjoy it.

I just watched "In The Name of the King 2" a couple months ago, which somehow managed to blackmail the incomparable Dolph Lundgrum into playing the lead.

Lundgrum - who is not only an actor but a martial arts expert AND a bonafide genius in biochemistry - trundles gamely along, teeth set in a fixed smile of determination to do his time among his community-theatre reject costars and get his paycheck. And I loved every minute of it! More than half the fun is laughing at how bad the film is.

Of course, that assumes that going into the film you didn't have high hopes. If you want a movie to be GOOD, I mean really good, then seeing it fall flat can be devastating.

Movie Review: The Hobbit Trilogy

The Hobbit was my favourite book growing up, and when I heard they were making prequels to the LOTR movies and that Peter Jackson (“PJ”) was involved, I was ecstatic. When I heard they were going to make two movies and show more material than was in the book - including Gandalf's jaunt to the Necromancer's digs, and the White Council driving him out/revealing it was Sauron returning to Middle Earth - I was thrilled. That "sidequest" had always intrigued me, and I never liked how Gandalf didn't bring the reader along for it.

So I went to see the first film, and I liked it - a lot. The scene of the dwarves singing in Bag-End, the start of their journey, the capture and battle with the Goblins, and especially the riddles with Bilbo and Gollum... all of them brought me back to the book. My inner child was happy.

I wasn't happy with everything, though... for example, I was pleased to see Radagast included, but was a little uncertain about how they portrayed him. I knew that Saruman in the LOTR books spoke derisively of him - a "lover of beasts and birds", I think he says - but we are simply not told very much about him.

Jackson extrapolates the little information we get into a loopy, ridiculous character who rides a sled pulled by giant supersonic rabbits and (it's strongly implied) spends his time alone in the woods eating psychadelic mushrooms and tripping absolute balls.

But even with all that, I still liked it - wanted to like it, so bad. So I bought the extended Blu-Ray when it came out, waited the required year to save up enough for more 3D movie tickets, and went to see The Desolation of Smaug.

And I hated it.

So was Tauriel a mistake, you ask? Yes and no. I’m actually not against the inclusion of Tauriel per se. I just think they could have done a better job of it. Stories need strong women. Just look at how successful the new Mad Max was – strong female characters are a recipe for success in all kinds of movies. But Tauriel’s problem is not that she is a female character, or even that she wasn’t in the books – her problem is that the entirety of her character's existence (who is supposed to be there to connect with female moviegoers as a strong woman on equal footing with the male characters) revolves completely around the romantic interests of those same male characters. That’s WORSE than no female characters by a long shot – she’s just an object to be interacted with. Not helping the problem, PJ. Not. Helping.

Deep breath... Deep breath... It's ok, Dan, it's ok. There's one more film left. The third LOTR movie was the best, they can still turn this around.

So. I bought my ticket, and went with a buddy to see the final Hobbit movie. And I'll be honest, friends, I didn't dislike it.

I loathed it.

Despite the changes made from the books the LOTR movies stayed true to their spirit - they simply took an unfilmable trilogy and made it filmable. And it worked - almost unbelievably well. But the changes, and additions, and extrapolations from obscure references into massive series-destroying macguffins (THOSE FRACKING SANDWORMS) did more than make it a "more watchable film" - they made the Hobbit trilogy into a bloated, confusing mess that bears almost no resemblance to the soul of the story it was apparently spawned from.

My wife asked me if I would go see the third Hobbit movie a second time, but with her. I responded thusly:

I would rather debate Shakespeare with an infinite number of monkeys;

I would rather cosplay as Jar Jar Binks;

I would rather have a laproscopic colonoscopy operated by a team of enthusiastic but poorly-coordinated first year medical students who all suffer from poor vision and crippling inner-ear disorders;

I would rather watch a Kevin James movie than go and see it again.

So that’s it, friends. That’s my rant. If you liked the movies then more power to you – I won’t blame you for it. But as for me, when my kids want to watch the Hobbit movie I know exactly what I’m going to show them.

Bad Sword of the Month

Video of the Month

Best Forum Posts

Project X

With demand for these heirloom quality swords understandably so high, Chris Scoggin from Ronin Katana and I had a chat with the Master Smiths and they reluctantly decided to offer one final pre-order opportunity with expected delivery in early December 2015 (we will bring it in via airfreight to ensure Christmas delivery).

The pre-order period will only last 1-2 weeks at the absolute maximum (last time, we could only keep it open for a few days before all the available pre-order slots filled up - this time, with two recent shipments having only just been fulfilled, hopefully we can hold it open long enough for everyone who has been waiting to get a proper chance to get in - but don't bet on it.. If you are interested, best to get your order in ASAP to avoid disappointment)..

Despite what some ebayers may claim, real Chinese forges do not sell direct to members of the public. While there are many sellers who claim to represent a forge in China, the reality is these sellers simply shop around at the big forges, getting the best that they can for their customers and passing it off as their own. Big forges only deal in large wholesale orders to distributors with minimum advertising quantities..

Until now..

Using the contacts we established over the years, and having gained a measure of confidence in who we are and what we are about with Project X, the Mastersmiths and owner of the largest and most respected forge in Longquan - they decided to make an exception…

Here is how it works..

The forge has allowed us limited access to a carefully picked selection of their premium grade swords that, because of how much they cost to import and because they are not "standard" heavily in demand swords like Katana or Longswords, have never been widely available before except in imitation form on ebay and Alibaba, etc (there is a budget, mid range and high end mastersmith version of these swords - be careful of sellers who try to substitute the budget or mid range for the high end stuff!)

These truly are stunningly beautiful pieces. To start, we were permitted four models: the first one, the Proto-Chokuto/Tangdao, is a rare blade style seen in both ancient China and Japan - the Katana's great grandfather as it were with its single edged, chisel tip blade - clay tempered with real hamon and full rayskin wrapped handle.

I mean seriously, just look at this thing.. Once again, mastersmith forged with a folded, differentially hardened double edge - another that I desperately want for myself..!

The only catch is, each of these models will only be available for a limited time period before a new offering is rotated in. So if you see a design you like, you had better secure it while you can as once we rotate a product out of the selection, there is no guarantee it will be available again..

Check out all these swords here: Project X - Forge Direct

Talk to you all again next month. Until then, stay safe and happy swordening!