Sir Christopher Lee

I'll level with you, I've not done much towards the end of this week. I've actually been quite upset by the loss of the last legend of screen horror and British cinema. 

This man - in his guise as Dracula - was responsible for my lifelong love of cinema due to the late night BBC2 showings of the old Hammer movies when I was a kid. 

I'd've been 11 or so, I think. Lee sweeping down the staircase, his urbanity, the sheer adrenaline of his and Cushing's fight as Van Helsing forces Dracula into the light... It's fair to say that my love affair with film started there. My opinion of him was only confirmed when I saw how much pathos he was able to wring out of the Monster in Frankenstein, even when deprived of his voice and the helpful makeup that Karloff benefitted from. 

He could turn crap into watchable gold via the alchemy of his gravitas, and the Devil Rides Out proves that monsterhood's gain was heroism's loss. I am glad that the last scene I saw him in was Saruman kicking arse in a truly operatic fashion as he deserved a send-off of some magnificence. The film was pants, but once again he was good. He rarely disappointed. 

A life well-lived but I still feel I was robbed as I wanted him to be as immortal as the characters I grew up with. As someone else said, if you have grandchildren - they know who Christopher Lee is. If you have grandparents - they know who Christopher Lee is. That's what being a legend means. 

So this week I dug The Wicker Man, my Hammer box sets and The Man With The Golden Gun out of storage and didn't do much painting. 

I did do a little bit of construction today, though, so here's a sneak peek at the first building for my western games: