Visit of the Leonardo da Vinci's Mansion - A travel into the past

Since I became a fan of Medieval Fantasy and Steampunk, my mind is more open to the desire for knowledge about the past history of our world, like the Middle Ages, 1900s, the Renaissance, etc .... well, today, I visited the final resting place of one of the greatest men of the past and whose name is still famous today: Leonardo da Vinci. The mansion is located at only 2 hours from my house, in the city of Amboise.

Le Clos Lucé, the manor of Leonard, at Amboise.

It is in 1516 that Leonardo da Vinci left Italy to come in France, away from those who wanted to harm him. Leonard was welcomed as a man of high rank, and got a gift, by the King of France himself, François 1er, a mansion near the castle, and took him under his protection. For three years, Leonard was able to live peacefully in this house, until May 2, 1519, where he lived the last moments of his life in his bed, died of a disease that was eating him since several months. He was 67 years old. He had the right to a grand funeral procession, and the rumor says that he is today buried in the castle of the city of Amboise.

The place where he passed away: his bed.

The visit was really interesting, and the interior of the Manor had been conserved as closely as possible. His bed room was the place of his death, and his bed is also stored in this room. When I visited this room and saw the bed, I felt strange, as torn between fascination and emotion, because I saw this bed, where 500 years ago, he passed away. I could also contemplate other parts, like the room or he kept his tools, plans of machinery and other inventions, his architectural drawings of great precision. Its dining room, lounge, his personal chapel where he was coming to pray, the basement, where are represented many inventions that he imagined. This man was a visionary, and deserved its status as "genius" because he was one. It was as if he could see into the future and draw very complex machines plans to launch as a kind of message to humanity. But no, he was just a very learned man, brimming with ideas and imagination, which had no limit. The mansion is not the only visit point, since you can also visit the large park just beside, where are now showed models of some of his most famous inventions.

And besides, it was a great philosopher. He seemed to know human nature better than many others, and some of his many quotes were rewritten and are now plastered on the walls of his mansion, and we can read them, to see how he was intelligent and had so much knowledge. But unfortunately, Leonardo had also a great intelligence for inventing war machines, he imaginated infernal machines, which could cause havoc in the enemy armies, as a tank with multiple canons and looked like a mobile fortress, or tanks rolling with blades on sides to slash the enemy soldiers during cavalry charges. Most of its arms were never realized because too complex, but it showed that Leonard da Vinci could also demonstrate himself as a genius for kill humans. 

The tank, as imagined by Leonardo Da Vinci

The helicopter, as imagined by Leonardo Da Vinci

But even if he had his defaults, as each of us, Leonardo da Vinci is remembered and respected as one of the greatest scientist that the world ever known. Mr Vinci, may you rest in peace wherever you are and I hope that wherever you are, you have a lot of curiosity and passion to see the modern machines of the 21st century, whose many of which were inspired by your works. 

Respect.

Mathias, the Killmaster

Fire and Blood \m/ 

DiscoveRock Edition N°18 - Special Legend Tribute - Kiss

"Alright! You wanted the best? You got the best! The hottest band in the world......"
If you recognize this phrase now become cult in the world of rock, you know the group which I will discuss in this special legend DiscoveRock article: Kiss.

Founded in 1973, despite a very difficult start, Kiss is now one of the most iconic rock bands on the planet, as much for his music than his appearance. Their style can be seen as a mix of Heavy and Glam Metal. The peculiarity of the group are the costumes and makeup that each member carries during their concerts and defines the character of each member. The four main icons of the band are the Starchild (Paul Stanley), the Demon (Gene Simmons), the Spaceman (formerly Ace Frehley, now Tommy Thayer), and the Catman (formerly Peter Criss, now Eric Singer). And with their incredible music, their shows are too. With a custom scene for them, mobile platforms, the pyro-techniques effects and confetti explosions, the group imposes performances of great beauty to his fans (I'm witness, I saw that with my own eyes). And more 40 years career and 20 albums later, Kiss continues to rotate, and fans await the coming of a new album. And like other bands like Motorhead, Nirvana, AC / DC or Black Sabbath, Kiss engraved his name in the legend, and left his mark in the world of rock, forever.

Members (Current)
- Paul Stanley: vocals / rhythm guitars
- Gene Simmons: vocals / bass
- Tommy Thayer: vocals / lead guitars
- Eric Singer: vocals / drums

See you next time, Rockers \m/

Mathias, the Killmaster

Fire and Blood \m/ 

Hero of the Month - Edition N°13

Greetings followers and hellcome again to welcome the new hero of the month. Go back in the world of Disney. She's not a queen like the others and with years, she became one of the most liked Disney princesses in the world: The Ice Queen, Elsa.

In the film, Elsa is the eldest daughter of the King and Queen of the Kingdom of Arendelle, a kingdom located in southern Norway. But Elsa was born with strange powers enabling it to create and control the ice. But one night, while she was enjoying herself, Elsa accidentally injures her little sister, Anna, with its powers, and it was only through the intervention of trolls, shamanic creatures, that Anna could be saved. Elsa learns that in growing, her powers will be strengthened, and can be of great beauty, but also become a danger to all. The king decides to isolate Elsa from the rest of the world, and for years, she grew up alone, but her powers becoming more powerful, Elsa must resign herself to wear gloves, but even this becomes insufficient and gradually Elsa locks herself in paranoia to hurt someone with her powers. At the funeral of her parents, died in a shipwreck, Elsa will not be present, preferring to stay in her room and wailing.

Being the eldest of the heirs, Elsa is crowned Queen of Arendelle, and a grand ball is in place. But things turn against it when with a dispute with Anna, Elsa, under the anger, unwittingly unleashes her power to the eyes of everyone, and nearly injuring several people. Panicked and seeing people looking her like a monster, Elsa decides to run away to the mountains and takes the decision to live away from everything, forever, in an ice castle she created herself. But she does not know and that her sister will learn to Elsa that, unwittingly, Elsa plunged the entire kingdom in a eternal winter. Refusing to see reality in the face, Elsa rages again and accidentally injures Anna again, but this time in the heart. And things get worse when soldiers led by Prince Hans arrived, and among them are two killers sent by the Duke to kill Elsa. Elsa defends herself with her powers and is about to kill the two men of the Duke, but with the intervention of Hans, Elsa is brought alive but unconscious, in Arendelle, where she is chained in a dungeon, from where to she can see the damage she has caused to her own people, and the powers do nothing but unleash increasingly, causing a terrible snowstorm. Elsa manages to break her chains and wants to run away again, but Hans finds her and tells her that Anna is dead because of her, which is obviously false. Elsa collapses into tears and Hans is about to kill her, but seeing her sister in danger and at the edge of death, Anna sacrifices herself and turns into ice statue, breaking the sword of Hans on her hand. Seeing her sister frozen for eternity, Elsa bursts into tears and with this sincere gesture of love, makes her little sister come back to life.

Why Elsa has become one of my favorite female characters in the Disney universe? It is largely thanks to her character in itself. Elsa is a dramatic character, tortured, because she is different from others, she knows it, and she is haunted by the fact that this difference could show her to the others as a threat, even if it is explained that her power can make also good than evil, as it depends in what mental state is Elsa. She is not a poor little princess in distress, she is a woman lost in a world where she believes to be a danger. Moreover, Elsa can show herself sweet and kind as she can be harsh, distant and angry, she does not hesitate to fight and use her powers to attack and defend herself against those who want to harm her. I always liked the dramatic characters, and Elsa is very interesting in this case. Some say that Elsa is the villain of the movie, but I really can not be agree, because even if all that happens is partly because of her, she has no bad intention and does not have made it voluntarily, although in the book that inspired the film, Elsa is evil, but for the kids, I believe that Disney changed some things. Elsa is one of the most complex characters I've seen in Disney, and I hope that in the sequels, we will learn the origins of her power, because it's a small criticism that I do in the film (although I liked it), is the fact that the origin of the powers of Elsa is not explained. Why she would be the only one with this power? I have a theory, rather sad, but for my part, I am tempted to say that Elsa is in fact a girl abandoned at birth and adopted by the King and Queen of Arendelle, who raised her as their own child, and never tell her the truth, for not hurt her. This is only a theory, but the idea does not seem impossible to me, and this would make the Elsa's story even more interesting and dramatic.

For all this, Elsa deserves its place in the greatest Disney characters, but also in the list of the most iconic heroes, all combined franchise.

See you next month, humans \m/ 

Mathias, the Killmaster
Fire and Blood \m/ 

Creaturepedia Edition N°3 - Titans

It was a few times that I did not showed monsters, well, Creaturepedia is back, and for this third edition, I'll talk about monsters from a Japanese anime that I discovered there are few, Attack on Titan, and contains creatures that I consider among the most creepy that I have seen in my life: the Titans.

Physical Description:

The titans strangely resemble to humans, with a difference: size. Titans, as their name suggests, can reach disproportionate sizes, the smallest being of 3 to 4 meters high, and the largest, the colossal Titan, which reaches the height of 60 meters! The Titans do not have reproductive organs, not outside, their body temperature is very high, and their faces are usually expressionless, with glassy eyes and twisted mouths. Some titans have long hair or short, or even are bald, they can also have beards or even mustaches. It is not known if there are female titans, because most of the Titans have a masculine appearance, although some titans showed in the series look more like women.  It is even unsure that the male / female concept may be valid with the Titans. The Titans are immortal, they can survive over 100 years without feeding, and have a powerful regenerative power. Even if the head of a titan explodes, he shall not die and his head is regenerated in one or two minutes. At first, the Titans seem indestructible, but they have one weakness: the neck, where the flesh does not regenerates. With their size, titans naturally possess superhuman strength, but the most powerful remains the colossal Titan, who is the only one capable of destroying the fortified walls. With their human form, I think the titans of the series are inspired from the giants of Greek mythology, who also had a human appearance and were known to devour humans. 

Homeworld:

One of the greatest mysteries of the series is the origin of the titans. Who are they really? Where do they come from? Are they a new species of humans, coming to supplant humanity as the dominant species? Or are they entities sent to the earth by divine forces to punish humanity for his many sins?

Behavior:

One of the most frightening things with the Titans is their behavior. Curiously, the Titans have no interest for other living species and focus only against humans. It is found that as the Titans are able to survive several hundred years without eating humans, it is concluded by the characters that the Titans do not devour humans for food, but only in order to kill them. We can therefore deduce that the titans for one purpose to eradicate mankind. The intelligence of the Titans is less than that of humans, but some can show high intelligence, and even some express on their faces, human expressions, for example, one named the "sadistic titan", which has a tight smile on his face, like the Joker, and who seems to enjoy devour humans. For my part, I call this titan, the "giant Joker". But what we still do not know is why they try to kill all humans? What is the true purpose of the Titans? They attack by their own bestial instinct, or under orders of something, or someone?

The face of the "sadistic titan"

See you next time, humans \m/

Mathias, the Killmaster
Fire and Blood \m/

Lights Out - Best Horror movie 2016 (WARNING SPOILERS)

Tonight, I went to the cinema to see a horror film which I had heard about and whose script interested me a lot: Lights Out.
Basically, this film was a short movie, which had made a buzz on youtube and was even awarded by a prize. Moreover, the actress of the short movie, Lotta Losten, appears early in the film, in a minor role, but where she is the first person to see the evil entity. Great tribute to the short film, it's well thought out. :)

The story is very simple and the film is not very long, about 81 minutes, but on the other hand, the horrific atmosphere is waiting for you. In the scenario, a family is targeted by an evil entity that is sensitive to light and can appear only in the dark. But in the film, we learn that before becoming a demon, this woman was human and was called Diana, and had been in a psychiatric hospital. Diana was not like the others, because she was suffering from a very rare disease that made her have a skin so sensitive she could not stand the light and constantly had to move in the shadows. In addition, Diana had a very reserved character, some even said that she was in fact evil and manipulative. At hospital, she met Sophie, a young girl who later, became the mother of the family who became the target of the entity. Diana had an aggressive behavior, and for the cure, doctors have tried on her an experimental practice, based on bright lights, but the experience has gone wrong and Diana died, burned alive.

After Kayako Saeki in The Grudge and Sadako Yamamura in Ring, a new horrific female character joined the ranks of the scariest: Diana. Although the film is short, moments of fear and suspense are feeling well and the jumpscares are well worked. When I was in the cinema, I saw several people jump of fear at some times of the film, as for me, I loved it. As a worshiper of horror films, I expected a lot of Lights Out, and I was not disappointed, emerged from the room with a smile and a great desire to get it at its DVD release. If you like fear and we're not afraid of the dark, go see this movie, I highly recommend it for all the fans. For a movie that was based on a short film, it was well worked and I congratulate the team for this film. For the note, I put it 9/10.

Good night, and especially ..... Leave the lights on, or she will come to get you... ;) 

But if you don't believe me, it's okay, but let's see the trailer, if you dare.... 

Mathias, the Killmaster

Fire and Blood \m/ 

DiscoveRock Edition N°17 - The Inspector Cluzo

Hell-O, rockers and metalheads, and hellcome in a new edition of DiscoveRock, and this time, come back in my country, France, to discover another rock band from countryside and who love to F*** the bass players: The Inspector Cluzo.

The Inspector Cluzo is a rock band formed in 2008 and consists of two members: "Malcolm" Laurent Lacrouts, who handles guitars and "Phil" Mathieu Jourdain who plays drums. They describe their style on their facebook page, like music Soul / Funk'n Roll. The group is also described as "Rockfarmers" because yes, Inspector Cluzo do not just music, but are also in the area of the farm and livestock, or they manufacture their products themselves, that they do not hesitate to share with their fans or other musicians when the opportunity arises. The Inspector Cluzo already has a reputation in the world of rock, and also abroad, because indeed, the group has already performed concerts across the borders of France, for exemple in a festival in Japan, at Mount Fuji, where they were very well received and acclaimed by the public. They also met with other groups and other great musicians, such as, for exemple again, the one and only Lemmy Kilmister, with whom they made a beautiful photo, and offered some of their products of their farm to the leader of Motörhead. Since the beginning, The Inspector Cluzo recorded an EP and five albums, the last, Rockfarmers, was released this year. This is already a very good start and I hope it will continue as long as possible for this excellent band that my dad made me discovered. If you love fucking good rock music, The Inspector Cluzo is made for you!

Members:
- "Malcom" Laurent Lacrouts: vocals / guitars
- "Phil" Mathieu Jourdain: drums / back vocals

Here they are, Phil and Malcolm, the fucking Rockfamers \m/

See you next time for the new edition

and Never forget: Be Rock N Roll \m/ 

Mathias, the Killmaster

Fire and Blood \m/ 

Villain of the Month - Edition N°13

For this new edition, we come back in a galaxy far, far away, to see a very interesting and badass character who joined the list of the great iconic villains of the Star Wars universe. The fallen Jedi, with the coolest lightsaber that I have ever seen: Kylo Ren.

In the story of Star Wars, Kylo Ren is the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa, born from their union after the episode 6. As his mother and his uncle Luke, Kylo Ren developed deep links with the Force, and when he was enough old to learn, Luke took him as an apprentice, with other disciples, hoping to create a new generation of Jedi, and perhaps revive the great Jedi Order from the ashes. Unfortunately, an evil lord called Snoke, managed to bribe Kylo Ren, making him fall into the dark side, and took him as an apprentice. That's at this moment that Ben Solo, took the name of Kylo Ren and let himself sink slowly into the darkness, by taking example of his grandfather, the legendary Darth Vader.

On the Starkiller base, as the squad of the resistance attack the first order to try to destroy the main canon, Kylo Ren finds his father, Han Solo, came to save Rey, but also to try to bring him back in the good side of the Force. Initially, Kylo feels shared, wondering if he would be enough strong. Han said he is ready to help, and Kylo accept, but not like Han would have believed. With his lightsaber, Kylo kills his father, under the horrified eyes of Chewbacca, Rey and Finn, powerless in the situation. And that's without remorse that Kylo watching Han fall into the void, disappearing forever into the mists of the base.

Later, Kylo finds Finn and Rey in the forest to prevent their escape. At first it was Finn who engages in combat with lightsaber against Ren, but despite the injury of Kylo inflicted by Chewie, Finn is quickly defeated and severely wounded in the spine. But under the astonished gaze of Kylo, it's Rey who gets the lightsaber with the Force which manifests itself more and more into her. Kylo then fights against it in a violent struggle still, and even after attempting to bribe her, promising to teach her the way of the Force, Kylo is defeated and wounded by Rey. It is not known what happened to him after the destruction of Starkiller, but we can think that he survived and joined his master, Snoke.

One of the most interesting points of Kylo Ren is his personality. He's a tortured character with a tragic past, corrupt from an early age by an evil spirit, who uses him for his powers. Many people have unjustly accused by saying that Kylo Ren was a villain "weak" and even "ridiculous". I disagree. Kylo Ren is young, and as said Snoke at the end of the film, he has not finished his training. Ren still feels at times the attraction of light, tearing him in half, one side wanting to close eyes and remain with Snoke, and another, wondering if he really does the good choice. And that's what I find really interesting with Kylo Ren. We don't know which side he'll finally choose in the end. Leia thinks that somewhere there's still good in him, and I think also.

One of the weaknesses of Kylo is his too great confidence in him. We see that he feels omnipotent, that he believes no one can defeat him, and that is precisely what plays tricks on him throughout the film. He thinks that no one can resist his powers of persuasion, and Rey manages to resist. He thinks she can not win against him with a lightsaber, and she defeated him. I think over time, Kylo will learn from his mistakes, he will become more vigilant but even more strong, determined and evil, especially under the influence of Snoke.

For his personality, his story, to have become the new villain for the new Star Wars trilogy, and one of the icons of the episode 7, Kylo Ren deserves its place in the list.

See you next time, in a galaxy far, far away.

Mathias, the Killmaster

Fire and Blood \m/