Ummagumma

Francis Ford Coppola overcame many obstacles including much self-doubt during the four years he spent making Apocalypse Now .  He was often driven to despair as indicated in this "playful" shot from Hearts of Darkness , a documentary about the making of the picture. “ I love the smell of napalm in the morning. ”  This is one of the most famous movie lines uttered in my lifetime.  Along with: “Saigon.  Shit, I’m still only in Saigon…Charlie don’t surf!...Never get out of the boat….You’re in the asshole of the world captain…Do you know who’s in command here? / Ain’t you?...Do you know that ‘if’ is the middle world in Life?...You’re an errand boy sent by grocery clerks to collect the bill…Are my methods unsound? / I don’t see any method at all, sir.” In September 1979, while starting my junior year of college, I saw Apocalypse Now six times during the first two weeks it opened.  (I have probably watched it two dozen more times since then.)  It blew my mind and I knew I was

Note: This is the final part of a series of posts on my playing of the opening scenario of GMT's The Dark Valley .  You can read the first post in the series here . Only two turns remain in the Barbarossa scenario.  To win, the Axis must capture Moscow and either Kiev or Leningrad by the end of January 1942 OR they must control 30 victory point (VP) cities.  The Germans control 27 VP cities going into December.  They will capture two more easily with the liquidation of the massive and stubborn Vitebsk-Smolensk pocket.  This means they need to capture one more to win the game. The Soviets are aware of this, of course.  Preventing that 30th city from falling is now their number one priority, given the fact that Moscow is unreachable at this stage of the game.  The Axis has a number of targets to choose from.  In the far north, it is still possible for the Germans to capture Leningrad, though that is probably the most difficult nut to crack at this point. Kalinin, to the north of