A gun was found in the bathroom of Starbucks in Brookline. Turns out it was the owner's, "who accidentally left it there," says Wicked Local Brookline. So... don't worry? [WL via BRT]

8 января - день Рождения Руководителя Ким Чен Ына.

Ранее здесь не раз писалось о том, что Корейскому Народу вновь, в третий раз подряд, посчастливилось встретить на своем 5000-летнем пути еще одну неординарную личность...

Редакция шлет горячий революционный привет и поздравления товарищу Ким Чен Ыну,!  От всей души желаем Полководцу и его народу дальнейших успехов и всех мыслимых благ. Особо хочется пожелать Руководителю не терять набранного темпа в святом деле служения народу.

Мансе!

Ниже - небольшой рассказ об отношении Лидера Ким Чен Ына к будущему Корейской Революции

Любовь к будущему

то сегодня приковывает к себе наибольшее внимание мирового сообщества? На этот вопрос все, наверное, ответят, что это не кто иной, как высший руководитель КНДР Ким Чен Ын.

Его инспекционная поездка по многим участкам страны является объектом самого большого внимания мировых СМИ.

Он общается с людьми фамильярно, свободно и великодушно. Поэтому перед ним каждый чувствует теплоту в душе и погружается в очарование.

Особо трогает людей безмерная любовь Ким Чен Ына к потомкам

Издревле говорят, что чувство любви к детям есть самая самоотверженная, активная любовь, которую не выдумывать и не навязывать. Это самое искреннее и прекрасное чувство.

В новогодний праздник этого года Ким Чен Ын посетил Мангендэское революционное училище. Он с чувством родного отца то ощупывает щеки его курсантов, от радости проливающих слезы, то долгое время глядит, как они кушают.

В июне этого года предпринял меры беспрецедентно в крупном масштабе организовать торжественные мероприятия, посвященные Дню создания Детского союза, и сам лично принял участие в них. Вместе со школьниками-участниками мероприятий он побеседовал в теплой обстановке. Его облик был впечатляющим и очаровательным.

При инспектировании заставы на отдаленном острове Чанчжэ Западного моря, он обнял шестимесячного ребенка и со светлой улыбкой на лице сфотографировался на память.

Навещая семью рабочего, переселившуюся в новую благоустроенную квартиру на улице Чханчжон, он посадил на свое колено младшего сына, школьника начальной школы, и с нежностью научил его рисованию.

А в августе предложил организовать торжественные мероприятия, приуроченные ко Дню молодежи, и послал участникам слета, всем юношам и девушкам страны поздравительное приветствие, сфотографировался на память с делегатами.

Дети – цветок и будущее страны и нации

От политики в отношении к грядущим поколениям зависит судьба страны.

В памяти людей еще жив облик Ким Ир Сена, основателя социалистической Кореи, который, предложил сшить всем учащимся страны новую школьную форму и так обрадовался, когда увидел школьников в новом наряде. Он, даже забыв обед, надолго сфотографировал их. Есть еще легендарный рассказ о любви Ким Чен Ира к грядущим поколениям. Для тройни, рожденной в горном поселке, предложил даже отправить вертолет. История любви Ким Ир Сена и Ким Чен Ира к потомкам теперь достойно продолжается Ким Чен Ыном.

Не случайно, что в тяжелых испытаниях истории социалистическая Корея непоколебимо продвигается только вперед.

Чувство любви к потомкам исходит из человеколюбия

и уверенности в будущем

От того, у кого нет будущего, нельзя ожидать любви к детям, а если возможно, то это уже не любовь, а не более чем лицемерие и показуха.

Любите будущее и будьте уверены в победе! Вот таков взгляд Ким Чен Ына на грядущие поколения, взгляд на будущее!

Мировое сообщество видит в облике Ким Чен Ына, который безмерно любит детей, светлое будущее Кореи.

Совершенно очевидно, что корейский народ, твердой поступью идущего навстречу светлому завтра под руководством Ким Чен Ына, ждет только славная победа.

P/S     Чучхейский календарь на новый 2013 год. Отличный подарок и сувенир из КНДР

светодиодные светильники

A new dining establishment called Conductor's Restaurant appears to be headed for Harvard Square according to license commission hearing notes for the City of Cambridge, as spotted by Boston Restaurant Talk. The new venture is slated for the space that was once Hoffa's Swiss Alps Restaurant in the Conductor's Building on Mt. Auburn Street. BRT notes that the new restaurant plans to have 133 seats and to serve three meals a day, every day of the week.

According to a 2007 video by Cambridge Community Television, the 1912 building is "the oldest surviving structure from the initial development of the subway in Cambridge," hence the name. That or perhaps the restaurant will exclusively serve orchestra conductors. No further details about Conductor's Restaurant are currently available - and at this early stage that may not even be its final name - so stay tuned and drop any info of your own via the tipline.

· Conductor's Restaurant may open in Harvard Square [BRT]
· You are here: Harvard Square Conductor's Building [CCTV]
[Photo: Yelp/Sonam V.]

Designed by Michelle Wang | Country: United States

“This is a branding and packaging project for beer being brewed in the White House. Instead of being sold in stores, honorary guests receive this as a limited edition four-pack sampler from the President.  This fictional brand is named We the People, drawing inspiration from the historic documents on which our nation is founded on. The labels on each bottle pay tribute to a different document. Similar to how these documents are displayed in the National Archives in Washington DC, the packaging is meant to be utilized as a display case.”

“Blurb on box: “The President of the United States is pleased to present the official White House line of home-brewed beer. This four-pack sampler features a Honey Pilsner, Pale Ale, Brown Ale, and Honey Porter, all of which are infused with honey from our own bee-hive on the White House’s South Lawn. This limited edition beer is dedicated to the four historic documents on which our nation is founded on — the Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. So here’s to the people, for the people, by We The People!”

Unité d’Habitation, Boulevard Michelet, Marseilles, France

In the fall of 2011, we traveled to a leafy suburb of Munich, Germany, to examine a kitchen that the Department of Architecture and Design hoped to purchase. When we arrived, there in the garage of a collector we found an assembled kitchen from Unité d’Habitation, Le Corbusier’s famous apartment building in Marseille. The kitchen, designed by Charlotte Perriand and Le Corbusier, had been disassembled for sale and the collector had reassembled it in his garage. Our job was to assess the kitchen’s condition, gauging what type of conservation treatment might be necessary to prepare the piece for exhibition.

From left: Charlotte Perriand and Le Corbusier Kitchen assembled in Collector’s garage in Munich, Germany; Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Frankfurt Kitchen from the Ginnheim-Höhenblick Housing Estate, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. 1926–27. Various materials, 8’9” x 12’10” x 6’10” (266.7 x 391.2 x 208.3 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Joan R. Brewster in memory of her Husband George W.W. Brewster, by exchange and the Architecture & Design Purchase Fund

This would not be the first time that MoMA purchased a complete kitchen. In 2009 the Department of Architecture and Design purchased the Frankfurt Kitchen (1926–27) designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which was featured in the exhibition Counter Space: The Design of the Modern Kitchen, organized by Juliet Kinchin and Aidan O’Connor. However, the Frankfurt Kitchen had been restored prior to the Museum’s purchase. The Marseille kitchen had not been restored, and, in fact, retained all the marks of use from its 60 years of existence. Nonetheless, we determined that the kitchen was in good condition in comparison to examples we had seen in other collections.

Marseille kitchen as it arrived to MoMA in packing crates

MoMA purchased the Marseilles kitchen, and it was again disassembled in Munich, and crated and shipped to New York. Upon its arrival it was unpacked and was assembled, once again, in the Sculpture Conservation Department at MoMA. We did a full assessment—recording the condition, identifying missing elements, and researching the various paint campaigns from its years of use. Not surprisingly, for a kitchen nearly 60 years old, there are approximately six layers of over-paint.

Unpacking and assembling the kitchen

Unlike the majority of the collection at MoMA, this work functioned as a household kitchen for half a century prior to its acquisition, and so can be interpreted both as an artifact and as a design object. Therefore we feel that it will be important to present the kitchen in a way that it sensitive to it history and use. The treatment strives to be consistent with this complex understanding of the kitchen, and requires collaboration with many departments throughout the Museum—exhibition design and production, registrar, conservation science, and curatorial—as we proceed.

Detail of over-paint removal from the kitchen with the aid of heat and a microscope

Anne Grady during conservation treatment

The aim of this treatment, ultimately, is to present the kitchen in a way that best reflects the original design and color scheme implemented by Le Corbusier in 1947, while maintaining the signs of use. We will be able to achieve this nuanced balancing act by using evidence collected through archival research and scientific analysis.

With the generous support of A&D Committee Members we were able to hire an assistant conservator to focus on the treatment of the work over the course of one year. With curatorial input, the final result will show both uncovered original paint surfaces and areas of limited restoration, coming as close to Perriand and Le Corbusier’s vision of a postwar urban kitchen in France as possible.

Nooooooo!

Musician Dave Schneider of hockey-themed rock band The Zambonis and Hanukkah-themed band The LeeVees usually carries his guitar on when flying to a gig. You know, so baggage handlers don’t get their paws on it, he can keep an eye on it, and did I mention the part where he doesn’t trust baggage handlers with expensive musical instruments?

Yet stubborn gate agents at Delta in Buffalo, N.Y. wouldn’t let him snuggle with his guitar. They made him check it. And then a horrifying screech came from the elevator that hauls luggage up to the terminal at their destination in Detroit. It was Schneider’s guitar, stuck between two steel beams, sustaining almost $2,000 worth of damage.

Before you say, “So just buy a new guitar already!” note that the instrument is a 1965 Gibson ES335, and he claims it’s worth as much as $10,000. Like all vintage instruments, it’s also priceless. As long as he doesn’t get it a frequent-flyer account under the name “Mr. Guitar,” he should be able to bring the instrument on board. Congress passed a bill last year that explicitly allows it.

Musicians worst nightmare came true [Facebook]
‘Musician’s worst nightmare’: Vintage Gibson guitar mangled by airline baggage handlers [Yahoo News]
Flying With Instruments Gets Easier for Musicians [NY Times]

Spiritual guru Asaram Bapu has made a bold assertion that a Delhi gang-rape victim is as guilty as her attackers. This proclamation comes as the world is still mourning the death of the 23-year-old victim.

The victim was allegedly raped while riding a bus on December 16 last year. According to authorities, the young woman was reportedly raped by six men, who in addition to raping her assaulted her with an iron rod.

She survived 13 days. On December 29, she passed away in a Singapore hospital.

The accused rapists have been formally charged under the Indian Penal Code with murder, gang-rape, attempt to murder, kidnapping, unnatural offenses, dacoity, hurting in committing robbery, destruction of evidence, criminal conspiracy, and common intention, according to India Times.

If convicted, five of the accused will be sentenced to death by hanging. The punishment for the sixth perpetrator is unclear as he is a juvenile and will be processed through the Juvenile Justice Board.

Spiritual leader Asaram Bapu asserts that the victim was equally responsible for the attack. In an address to his followers, according to The Hindu Businessline, Bapu stated the following:

“She should have taken God’s name and could have held the hand of one of the men and said I consider you as my brother and should have said to the other two ‘Brother I am helpless, you are my brother, my religious brother.’ She should have taken God’s name and held their hands and feet. Then the misconduct wouldn’t have happened. Galti ek taraf se nahi hoti hai (mistake is not committed from one side). The accused were drunk. If the girl had chanted hymns to Goddess Saraswati and to Guru Diksha then she wouldn’t have entered the bus.”

A spokesman for the guru said that the spiritual leader was simply pointing out how religious mantras to the Gods could have protected her and may have saved her life.

The victim’s name has not been released out of respect for her memory and her family.

Delhi Gang-Rape Victim As Guilty As Attackers, Says Asaram Bapu is a post from: The Inquisitr

[Photo: Cal Bingham]

OM Restaurant and Lounge in Harvard Square is indeed closed as it appeared to be last week. OM owner Solmon Chowdhury tells Eater that the restaurant closed on January 1 because the landlord "signed an agreement with a third party to sell our restaurant without our consent." According to Chowdhury, he then filed a lawsuit against the landlord to avoid that fate, and claims to have spent $800,000 in legal fees in the process. OM decided to file for bankruptcy protection "to save our lease," though Chowdhury says the business had been current in its rent. He also says that the landlord "has been doing everything in his power to make it difficult for us to run our business, including harassment of our employees and I while we were in the premises" and notes that "When a business closes it is common to put blame on the landlord, but in our case it is entirely true." What's more, Chowdhury says this isn't the first time, citing Alpha Omega and Bombay Club, both of which are closed, as other "victims" of the same landlord. The OM team also runs Moksa in Central Square and Shanti in Dorchester.

· All coverage of OM on Eater [~EBOS~]

WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO: authorize the production of a recurring television program featuring Vice President Joe Biden Vice President Joe Biden has a demonstrated ability to bring people together, whether at the negotiating table or at the neighborhood diner. We, therefore, urge the Obama Administration to authorize the production of a recurring C-SPAN television program featuring the daily activities and interactions of the Vice President with elected officials, foreign dignitaries and everyday American families. Such a program would educate the American public about the duties and responsibilities of their Vice President, while providing a glimpse of the lighthearted side of politics even in the midst of contentious and divisive national debates.

Philippe Starck, the design mind behind various Parrot wares, has teamed up with LaCie once more for a quite dapper external storage device. The duo has just announced the Blade Runner here at CES: a 4TB USB 3.0 hard drive wrapped in heavy-duty aluminum and sporting a LED power button in the shape of Mr. Starck's logo. That's not all. Only 9,999 of these bad boys will be produced so you'll need to have your affairs in order ahead of time if the gadget strikes your design sensibilities. The drive will also include 10GB of Wuala secure cloud storage to lend a hand with the archival process. No word on when the Blade Runner will arrive, but when it does, you can expect to nab it online from LaCie and other retailers after parting with the requisite $299. For a closer look at the goods, hit the galleries below to take a gander at the press shots and our brief hands-on.

Gallery: LaCie + Starck Blade Runner hard drive

Gallery: LaCie + Starck Blade Runner hard drive hands-on

Continue reading LaCie teams up with Philippe Starck on the Blade Runner limited edition hard drive

Filed under: Storage

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Source: LaCie

expertcosmotips:

oolongs:

russian wedding photos are completely fucked up if you ask me

this is what true love really looks like

A bill has been introduced to Congress to allow presidents to be re-elected indefinitely, effectively repealing the 22nd Amendment to the US Constitution.

Congressman Jose Serrano (D – NY) has introduced a bill that would allow US presidents to stay in office, well, forever, reports MSN. The bill is known as H.J. Res 15, and proposes amending the Constitution to repeal the 22nd Amendment, which prevents any US president from serving more than two terms (or eight years) in office.

Congress passed the 22nd Amendment on March 21, 1947. It was ratified by the requisite number of states on February 27, 1951. Prior to the passage of the amendment, very few presidents sought a third term in office. President George Washington dropped out after two terms, and it became something of an unwritten practice to only serve as president for that amount of time. Only Franklin D. Roosevelt was successfully re-elected for a third term in office, though he passed away one year into his fourth and final term.

Now I’m not sure how far uber-righties got into this article before they declared “A ha! Obama is a dictator!” or how long uber-lefties got into this article before they declared “Yes! An Obama dictatorship!” but there are a few things we have to mention about this proposed repeal.

As right-wing blog The Blaze points out, efforts to repeal the 22nd Amendment aren’t really all that new. In fact, Jose Serrano (the man who introduced the measure’s latest incarnation), has introduced a version of this bill to Congress every single year since 2001 (when “Supreme Warlord” Bush was in office) and every single year it fades into nothingness.

Furthermore, the US Constitution requires approval from the House, the Senate, and three-fourths of the states for such a major proposal. We can safely say that’s not going to happen any time soon.

Still, we have to ask. Would you like to see President Obama in office for more than two terms, or is two terms good enough for any president?

Let Presidents Be Kings: Congressman Introduces Bill To Allow Unlimited Terms is a post from: The Inquisitr

      Bluefin tuna may be controversial, but it's still very coveted. Yesterday, the head of a Japanese sushi chain bought a 489-pound bluefin tuna for $1.76 million—about $3,600/pound—at first Tokyo fish auction* of the year. [ more › ]

brofisting:justamus:

A rare vintage photograph of an onna-bugeisha, one of the female warriors of the upper social classes in feudal Japan.

Often mistakenly referred to as “female samurai”, female warriors have a long history in Japan, beginning long before samurai emerged as a warrior class.

dude look at how cool this lady is

A new series of George Orwell's books are being published by Penguin and this is the cover for 1984:

Cover design by David Pearson...more covers from the same series here. (via @torrez)

Tags: 1984   books   David Pearson   design   George Orwell

The shrinking bird population in urban settings led Netherlands-based product designer Klaas Kuiken to design an archetype Birdhouse Rooftile that replaces a standard ceramic roof tile.

The rooftop nesting place, composed of a specially designed removable basket with access below, … Read More...

Boston-based chef and restaurateur Will Gilson grew up in rural Groton, Massachusetts, working on his family farm (four acres passed down through 13 generations) and restaurant, Herb Lyceum (he learned to cook on a 1920s Glenwood range and bake pastry standing a hutch with a built-in flour sifter).

So the recently opened Puritan & Company, Gilson's latest venture in Cambridge's Inman Square, pays homage to his own Mayflower heritage and a simpler dining tradition. A modern Luddite when it comes to dining, Gilson told the Boston Phoenix that one of his aims at Puritan & Co. is to "let people get a chance to be human beings again, not introverts toying around on their iPhones." With an interior of serene blues and pale wood, the restaurant, designed by Anthony Sparandara of ASK Design/Build, allows for an undisturbed dining experience (the restaurant derives its name from the Puritan Cake Company, which previously occupied the space). Go to Puritan & Co. for more information.

Photography by Rachel Leah Blumenthal (except where noted).

Above: Dark wood chairs mix with upholstered banquettes that run along the back wall.

Above: The restaurant's layout includes two communal tables that run down the center, standard dining tables on one side, and a long bar on the other.

Above: Gilson and sous chef Mike Sheehan serve up fresh clams. Photograph via Puritan & Co. on Facebook.

Above: Integral to New England cuisine: a seven-seat oyster bar mixes with the charcuterie bar.

Above: Puritan & Co. is accented with vintage items straight from Gilson's childhood farmhouse, like this 1920s Glenwood range.

N.B.: Looking for more blue-toned rooms? See 93 more Blue Dining Rooms in our Gallery of rooms and spaces.

Photo by LithopsLand on Blogspot. A blog about Lithops and other plants. Check it out!

I absolutely love Lithops plants, they’re very cool (I mean they look like rocks, how is that not the best thing ever?) and are easy to care for.

This month sees the release by Magnoli Clothiers of a third, and improved version of their Swirly tie - a replica of Tie Four (the Christian Lacroix).

Here is my review

Aside from trawling eBay for the occasional hotly fought as-worn ties; or finding something that is evocative or similar to the tie you are looking for, there is another option – a rewoven copy by online costume maker Magnoli Clothiers.

Over the past four or so years Magnoli has produced copies of Tie Two (Daniel Hechter); Tie Four (Christian Lacroix) Tie Seven (Giorgio Armani); and Tie Ten (St George by Duffer).


It has taken several drafts to get the ties to something near screen-accurate.
The earliest version of Tie Two (Daniel Hechter) was printed, and though was replaced with a woven version the pattern was not changed. The latest incarnation is to a better pattern, but is not quite the right colours.


Tie Four (Christian Lacroix) has gone through two drafts to date, though the latter was a woven version of the appliquéd copy seen in The Eleventh Hour, so wasn’t quite right on several levels.


But this month has seen the release of further update to Tie Four, this time replicating its main original appearance in The Girl In The Fireplace (it did appear briefly in other episodes, but since Louise Page herself regards The Girl In The Fireplace as its main use, I see it as that too).

Since February this year, when I found my original colourway version of the Christian Lacroix tie, the pressure has been on to make a more faithful version.

The second draft Magnoli had improved the pattern, but it was out of scale with the real thing, something that was difficult to match without having an original in-hand to work to.

So, using the images from my posting a new version has been redrawn from scratch, correcting many of the errors in the pattern seen in the previous version.

The colour has also been improved, though I’m of the opinion it has gone a bit too far.


The original Lacroix tie is a very dark brown. A real dark chocolate brown, almost black. That description has been taken on board and a much better brown has been used, though this is almost too close to black for my liking, having seen an original as-worn tie close up.

The red patches inside the swirls haven’t been changed much since the previous draft, so look lighter in contrast to the brown. They could have done with being darker, but aren’t so bad I guess.

The scale of the pattern has been improved, but comparing it again to my original, it is still somewhat larger. I don’t know if this is an error that has crept in during manufacture, as ties are cut on the bias so tend to stretch a little after production.

That said, at US$45 this IS the best replica Tie Four to date, so is well worth the money.

The dedicated cosplayers should grab one while you can!

We still can’t seem to figure out what to call two people who act as if they are married but are not. Well, there’s got to be something better than POSSLQ.

The punk group that helped define the riot grrrl movement of the early 1990s hasn't reunited — but its members have teamed up to give those who weren't listening the first time around a second chance to appreciate the music and the message.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Brooklyn Brewery expanded its operations in Brooklyn two years ago and is now poised to go even bigger—abroad! The brewery announced yesterday, "We’re building an 8,000 barrel brewery. In Stockholm, Sweden." [ more › ]

Oh, irony! Buzzfeed noticed that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) met "two new gay Congressional spouses" at the swearing-in ceremonies of Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wisconsin) and NY's first gay Congressman, Rep. Sean Maloney, who represents the lower Hudson Valley. Maloney's husband Randy Florke and two children were on hand, too! How ironic, since just the day before, Boehner reiterated his anti-gay marriage stance. [ more › ]

Tamar Frank: Lampyris Noctiluca (500 LED lights, 2012) 

A light installation created for the festival Into the Great Wide Open 2012 on vlieland. 500 lamps were installed between the reeds of a lake inlet. When people approached the work motion sensors triggered a dynamic making the lights move around like a swarm of fireflies.

// via metaconscious via mydarkenedeyes

Subterranean Veins of Europe

Here’s an interesting “map” of Europe’s subway systems that was originally featured in a weekly cultural supplement to Milan’s Corriere Della Sera newspaper. The map looks fantastic, and allows all sorts of comparisons between the underground rail systems of Europe, from cost of tickets (cleverly shown as a blue ring of differing thicknesses: the thicker the ring, the more expensive a ticket is), users per day, total length of each system and even a simple chronological ordering of each line opening for the larger systems. I especially like the length comparisons to other long things in Europe at the bottom right.

The English translations are somewhat imperfect (I’m presuming it read a lot better in the original Italian), but everything is pretty understandable, as a good infographic should be!

However, there is one major flaw with this graphic: the large circles around each city are labelled as “radius”, which leads me to expect that the circle shows the relative geographic size of each system. However, it actually uses the entire system length as the radius, which is almost entirely pointless and greatly exaggerates the relative size of the systems. For example, London’s “radius” is shown as a massive 402km (250 miles), when the actual maximum geographical radius is closer to 30km (18.5 miles). Paris’ incredibly dense Metro network (almost all contained within the Boulevard Périphérique) suddenly becomes a huge circle that gives little idea of the system’s tight spacing. It’s a strange design decision that distorts the data underlying the graphic badly, in my opinion.

(Source: accurat.it/Flickr)

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(NEW!) Drew's blog is The Worst Things For Sale.

Pyongyang on the first dawn of 2013.

Game Over.

Here it is! Blogtor's personal countdown of his 50 favourite Doctor Who television stories, one a week till the big day in November 2013. Now, just to point out, this choice is purely my own. So don't expect reasoned debate or objectivity. Or even the need to please every fan out there. This is my list, and I stand by it. I will also add that I've seen every Doctor Who story released (at least twice), so I feel like I know what I'm talking about. Anyway, enough chittle of the chattle, let's begin...

47.The War Games First broadcast 19/4-21/6/1969 starring Patrick Troughton

At ten episodes, The War Games ranks as one of the longest Doctor Who stories ever and it also holds the distinction of seeing the end to the the black and white era of the world's greatest television show and the reign of one of the most beloved actors to play The Doctor, Patrick Troughton. Having said that, I'm not the biggest fan of his era (yeah, yeah - save your abuse for later), but I was certainly most impressed with his send-off.
Normally, Who stories that overrun the four episode mark tend to sag and suffer from "to and fro"-itis or "corridor familiarity", as it sometimes known. Pleasingly, The War Games, even at ten installments, keeps the momentum throughout. But what are these games all about ...?

The Doc, Jamie and Zoe find themselves in what appears to be the fighting fields of World War I (or the 'Great War' as it was known before its more successful sequel came along). The trio are quickly separated from the TARDIS (I lurve it when that happens!) and get some help from the Brits, but it turns out that our heroes ain't too liked by the top brass and everyone's favourite Time Lord ends up in front a firing squad.

As the story unfolds we are treated to the sight of soldiers from the American Civil War, the Roman Army and more - though all is not as it seems. It becomes apparent, quite early on it should be noted, that these different peoples and times have been placed by a mysterious force. Alien tech is present (though not seen by The Doc and his chums for some time) and there's hypnosis galore courtesy of some foreboding marshalls with thick-lens specs.

And this is where The War Games excels - in its sense of mystery. There may well be a limited narrative for the most part, even co-writer and general all-round legend, Terrance Dicks, admits "not much" happens throughout, but the audience find themselves caught within the puzzle, curious to unearth the identity of the aliens involved. Of course, it transpires there are two alien species - one of which are the Time Lords.

Quite a denouement, to say the least, as we discover the Doctor's race and their power over the universe. Troughton's last scenes are odd and unnerving as he gurns and floats off into the abyss. I can imagine children all over the UK were distraught and the production team have to be commended as it was a very brave choice for a series finale. There's a real sense of doom (mainly in part because of the calmness of the Time Lords) that this might indeed be the end for our hero. (Don't worry, though, kids. He did return!)

Troughton himself cuts an impressive figure and displays his range with some aplomb, going from coward (run away!) to hero to buffoon to posing as indignant army official to man beaten (at the hands of the Time Lords). But he is also supported incredibly well by an astonishing cast. As always, Frazer Hines (Jamie) and Wendy Padbury (Zoe) are nothing less than exemplary and this carries throughout the main players. Noel Coleman as General Smythe is just the right shade of bombastic and acts as a precursor to Stephen Fry's Melchett in Blackadder Goes Forth. Camping it up slightly, but still menacing, is the War Chief, played by Edward Brayshaw - who some of you may remember from Rentaghost. (I know I do!)

Counteracting this role is his superior, the War Lord, played by Who fan-favourite Phillip Madoc. He whispers his way through, chilling to the very end as he fights, ineffectively, it has to be said, against the Time Lords. I could go on as the cast list is immense but I will say there are a number of familiar faces to satisfy keen-eyed Doctor Who fans out there.

The production is stoutly served and, in particular, the location shooting is very un-Doctor Who (as noted on the DVD audio commentary), very fast and superbly dynamic, constantly moving and energetic. From a design point of view, the aliens are hauntingly reminiscent of the 1962 film La Jetée - futuristic but uncanny at the same time. The Time Lords don't come off as well but, thankfully, the performances carry them as all-seeing, all-knowing beings.

The War Games is an excellent introduction to the crazy black and white world of Doctor Who; the production values, the eerie score and cast are of a very high quality despite the story being stretched perhaps just a tad (but not by much). It also offers the first glimpse into the show delivering a mythology, painting the Doctor's background more fully than the previous six years or so. This is one to sit down and cherish.

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