Okay.. just before I show everyone these pictures, please note.. I never ever claimed to be a master painter..

So .. Yeah.. I tried my best, here is the Beastie with it’s skin base coat and getting ready for the armor.. it’s got a black base coat.. get to work on the armor tomorrow, as well as some metal stuff..

This is going to be an exsercise in learning how to paint.. I wish there were more comprehensive painting tutorials for these guys like there is for the Citadel guys.. *sighs* .. oh well.. we can only do our best right?

Well here we go.. Day 2.. I had this nice little glued together mini all ready for priming..

I took my little guy out to the garage, got me a cardboard box to use as a spray table and everything.. As I was spraying the little guy, I bumped the box.. stupidly I had placed the box on top of another for added height (I couldn’t be bothered to go and get my paint spinner or saw horses for stability) .. what happened.. the mini fell…

OH CRAP, I yell at myself (well you get the idea).. so I go about to picking up the wet mini, in the 5 pieces it returned to after hitting the cement floor when I noticed.. even worse.. it fell in a pile of leaves and hair..

So low and behold I spend the next 45 minutes scraping and cleaning the wet paint and getting all the gunk off the model.. went to re-glue all the pieces that fell.. at this time I was a little ticked off.. so I said.. this guy is going to be unique and I re-glued the head spikes at a wonky angle.,… just cause I thought it looked cool..

So here is my mini, re-glued at some wonky angles and primed totally.. now comes the skin.. that will be fun.. (maybe).. here’s hoping I can mix the paint in the right ratios.. the painting part should be easy.. paint the skin..

So.. I’ve been looking again at games.. and not video games this time…

I’ve been looking at board games and table top games, since my son is getting to the age, where I think he’d like it.. And I found something called Warhammer.. Yeah.. I know you are all saying.. where the heck have you been?

Well I’ve not been in a game shop in A LONG TIME.  I’m sure I’ve heard of it.. but didn’t really understand what it was…. but the minis had me transfixed..

So I went to “War Games” night at my game shop  (tempest games) and watched a couple people play warhammer 40k.  Yeah.. that was one of THE most confusing things that I’ve ever seen, however, the minis still intrigued me.. so I figured.. I’d meander around and watch some of the other miniature games going on.. this is where I found WarMachines..

Nephilim Bolt Thrower

Warmachines has everything I like about games.. Miniatures, Cards, and Books.. plus… DICE.. I love having a ton of dice..  So after watching several, and I do mean several, games of warmachine/hordes.. I think.. this is the one I’m going to do…. So what to do next?

Research of course, I downloaded the FAQ from PP and talked to some of the guys at the shop.. They are all really cool dudes who, as they play, explain what they are doing, and don’t seem overly annoyed doing so.

They told me, I have to come in sometime to play a demo.. They will pull out a couple armies and walk me though, albeit extremely slowly, a game.

So.. The major part of these games are.. well the miniatures.. so you need to have some sort of skill and artistic talent to do this hobby.. So I thought.. I’d buy a cheap character.. try to put it together and paint it to see if I have the chops..

Putting it together was ALOT easier than I thought, I have uploaded pictures to my G+ post on this.

Suffice it to say, when my birthday rolls around in a couple months.. warmachines is on the TOP of my list!!!

Now, as many of you know, I’m not overly eloquent.. I’m not a professional blogger like most of my counterparts.. especially when I get excited.. so please bear with me in this blog post as I rant and ultimately rave about why I’m excited about the next couple weeks..

First, I have to be upfront about this.. I’m going to be talking about Games.. that’s right.. What’s just around the corner?  Christmas.. and with that.. November and December have turned into BIG game release months.. there are several high priority titles coming out, like Skyrim, COD: MW3, Uncharted 3 and many others..

I, myself will not be getting Skyrim until it hits the “Greatest Hits” collection as I didn’t really enjoy Oblivion, I wasn’t going to waste 60$ on a game I probably wouldn’t like very much.  20$ however, I might part with to play.

The first game that has already hit the shelves but has me excited is U3.. We all know about Drake and his exploits.. th

is is the third game in the series, and probably the last unless Naughty Dog can come up with something SPECTACULAR for another sequel.  I would, however, love to see a live action movie try to be made (Yes, with Nathan Fillion in the role of Drake.. it’s a given).  I’ve heard this iteration of the game is a rehash of 1 and 2.. with a new story line.. For me.. that’s cool.. Uncharted is what got me into FPS games.. I’ve never been one to play FPS type of games, outside of the classics like Doom and such.  I resisted getting Uncharted for a long long time.. I bought it for a 9.99 special at Best Buy.. I figured.. 10$ isn’t so bad, and if I don’t like it.. I’m not out all that much.. Man I couldn’t have been more wrong.. The game was awesome, it lived up to the hype it got.. and it was one of the few games I have actually finished.. it kept me engaged enough to want to play it .. and had cut-scenes that, albeit there were a lot, weren’t overly annoying to the game-play.. gave you time to get a cup of tea or whatever.. Then came U2, and now U3.. I’m still in the process of playing U2.. so I won’t have a review of U3 until I get that finished.. And yes I will be getting Uncharted: Golden Abyss for my Vita when it’s released

Next on my list, and coming out soon will be the newest Assasins Creed, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood.  Now as I said before, was never really into these types of games.. but Uncharted really did spark my curiosity for these games.. once again.. got the original AC on a special at Best Buy.. Same reasoning.. and let me tell you .. not only did the game blow me away, the visuals were breathtaking.. I love how it transported you back in time.. and made you almost feel like you were there.. I like it so much, that once again.. I actually finished it.. (or I have almost finished it, I can’t rightly remember these days).  I have also bought AC: II and have this third one on Preorder from our Gaming Overlords at GameStop, as they upgraded the “version” for free.  I’m really excited for this game, because not only did they add more and more content, the visuals are just getting better and better.. Once again, no review until I can get through AC and AC: 2.. yeah when I play series games, I actually play them in series..

Onward we go into my the next game that’s got me writting this post.  That would be, Zelda: Skyward Sword.  Now I’ve always been very vocal about my love for Zelda.. after playing it on the NES all those years ago (top down, 8 bit.. love it), I’ve always vowed I’d buy any Zelda game that was made.  And so far I have.. I just recently acquired Ocarina of Time: 3D and Twilight Princess.   Now will this get me to play my Wii more?  Only to play this and Twilight Princess.  Will this get me to buy a Wii-U?  Only and I stress only if there is a Zelda game that requires me to do so.. I do love Zelda, and that being said.. yes I had to buy the special edition with Gold Wii-Mote.. why wouldn’t you?  When Spirit Tracks came out (which I’m still playing BTW) I got a special Stylus from NOA, that was pretty darned cool. Now that I have explained my love for Zelda, I have to express my jealousy over Jimmy Fallon for getting this awesome pre-release of a link statue:
This thing is freaking awesome..and knowing that, I’ll probably never ever be able to afford the thing, but I do think it would look AWESOME sitting on my shelf.. I wish the Wii had a little better graphics chip-set, something that could do this franchise more justice than the blocky graphics, that I feel, are worse than the 3DS.. I’ll be definitely playing this (trumping all other games) when it comes out on Nov 20th..

Now onto my RPG’s.. Many people know that I’m a WoW addict.. I have quit it several times, only to come back and play.. I have bought the special edition sets of the last two expansions, and probably will for the newest one that’s coming out.. I mean pandas.. who doesn’t love ‘em?  With that we come up to is Guild Wars 2.  Yeah Guild Wars was a good game, but there was something about it, other than loosing my install discs, that made me just not give with the world.. I’m not sure what it was.. but when I look at all the trailers for the upcoming 2nd version of the game, it makes me squee just a little.. it looks like it will be a lot of fun, and will fill my  need to try “Another MMO” .. I know, it’s not in the upcoming release window, it’s sometime in 2012.. but I just had to mention it.. I don’t know much more about the game than what I ‘ve seen in game-play videos, so I’ll reserve judgement until I get my grubby hands on it and give it a good play..

Now, I know there are lots of other games coming out.. Inlcuding BioShock: Infinate, and yes I own the other two, that will tickle me a little to play, but they don’t have my attention like the ones above do..

Now wait, you might be saying, if you are such a big MMO person, where is  your gleeful rant about Star Wars: The Old Republic.. Well let me tell you.. I have never been a Star Wars Fan, so the story line isn’t probably to my liking.. and I was burned with the Rift Preorder (yeah that game was not my cup of tea, every once in a while I re-activate and play and promptly cancel again), but I will be playing this weekend in the Stress Test Weekend, so I’ll be able to see if it lives up to all the hype that BioWare and Atari have been giving it.. I hope it does… The franchise is strong and needed a good game, the last few for the SW Galaxy (pun intended) have been a pretty poor showing..

We now that you have fallen asleep .. I shall return you to your regular scheduled day.. enjoy..

So.. Zelda Skyward Sword is coming out soon.. and I was thinking.. I need a new avatar (possibly a new tattoo).. so .. I fired up my good friend Cinema 4D and got to work..

Took me a couple hours with lighting (I was never good at lighting) and came up with this.. Glen Southern helped me with a few sticking points I had with looping the knife tool.. found out I shouldn’t ever make hard points if I want to knife..

I had lots of fun making this and hope to make more in the future..

Here’s a few renders, plus the wires if anyone is interested.. please contact me if you would like to use the image..

Hello again everyone..

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged.. and a lot has happened..

I lost a dear friend that I worked with at TCR… Most of you already know how I felt about him and the hard time that came after his passing.. I’m now doing some work at Theatre Cedar Rapids that he did whilst he was there.  I only  hope to be compentant enough to fill a fraction of what he did.

Now with that being said, there’s lots to come this year.  This Wednesday (Jan 19) I go and turn in my application to be a Volunteer Firefighter.. I’ve always wanted to either be a Vol FF or a Reserve Cop.. this is the only one the wife would let me try.. So, here’s hoping that I get accepted.  The Station is close to my house, but serves a township (as most volunteer departments do).  If, for some reason I don’t get accepted, there’s another Station up the street some more that I can try to apply at, but who knows if one drops me, both might.. Here’s hoping

Lots of development already in the new year, so hopefully I’ll have some more info to share on that front too.

I will try to check in more often and let everyone know about the Firefighter thing here in the next couple weeks.

Once again.. now that a lot of my work is clearing up, and I have some extra time on my hands I’m going to get dirty with 3D again.. I know I know.. I start and stop it all the time.. but I need to do something creative.. and I need to get creative.. and what better way?

So.. my friends have all given me lots of good ideas.. I know LW and Silo pretty well.. Maya has always been my favorite.. so I might try that again.. as well.. I’ve been hitting blender  hard lately, trying to learn the new layout and quirks in 2.55 beta.  As well, a dear friend of mine is also tutoring me in Cinema 4D.. Currently I only have the demo, so I can only do so much, but it’s an interesting program and I do like that interface..

Hopefully here soon, I can show some tests from blender and C4D and get cracking on making organics, which I’ve never been able to do in any program.

For the future, I’ll probably focus on C4D more than Blender.. Blender has a great community and well.. it’s free.. but I’m really waiting for it to come OUT of beta before I really start to hit it hard.. and the 2.4 interface, I just don’t want to learn it.. the 2.5 interface is much better and I enjoy it more..

That being said.. The next few weeks I’m going to be tinkering and trying to finish a project I have sitting on my plate..

If anyone has suggestions as to what “objects” (hard model right now only) I should try to do .. remember 1) I’m a n00b yet still.. and 2) I don’t have hours to do this.. so smaller objects would be appreciated, hopefully around the first of the year.. I’ll be able to devote a good portion of my time toward this endeavour.

So the other day, I heard about this game.. It’s name.. DeathSpank.  What?  I say to myself, and after watching videos on it’s website, it seemed very interesting.  It reminded me a lot of Torchlight, which I am still playing, as I’ve not had time to actually finish that game.

However, this small hack and slash dungeon crawler is top notch.  The controls are wonderful and the story was good.

The game is rated TEEN, and I would agree with that.  The game mechanics are simple.  Each button and arrow on the D-PAD are assigned a weapon, potion or orb.  This makes the game incredibly easy to play on the XBOX 360 controller.  The inventory gets full quick with old armor, weapons and orbs.  The mechanics show you a green background with good things for your level, and lets you “Grind” old things to obtain money.  The game was pretty easy and when I finished the game I had 2.2 million dollars in my inventory, as well as a full bag.

There was a mechanic for “blocking” enemies too, but it seemed really forgettable, I think I only used it when the actual hints popped up on screen but not after that.. I found that using the “Justice” powers served me more than blocking.

The story was good, the hero with the powerful thong battling a king who has been corrupted by the power of his throne.  Deathspank is the dispenser of justice and hero to the downtrodden.

When the game was over, it preludes a SEQUEL which I will most likely get.. I played DeathSpank Straight through, probably a good straight 10 – 12 hour of game-play.. got almost all the achievements, but might try to go back into my saved game to get the last two.

All in all, wonderful game and a good way to waste a weekend.

Rating: 9 out of 10
Recommended: YES

Well well.. yes I’ve been a little slacky when it comes to my posting.. I realize this, but the past few months have been pretty busy for me here at casa de…. well me..

First off, let me start by saying I did keep the nook and it’s a wonderful device for what it does.. especially after the newer firmware.. it is pretty darn kewl.. And I really like it.. that being said, I do have to admit that I got an iPad.. and yes I do love that too.. let me tell you, for regular books however, I’d probably use the nook, but for my technical books, even tho they look pretty darned good on the nook, I’d probably read them on iBooks just because the code blocks and sample pictures are easy to read and understand… I do like the iPad almost 10″ of wonderful goodness.  Yes there are many people that say it is essentially a large iPod, which in general I’m sure it is.. but movies, books and other things are much better on the iPad than I though they would be.. I do love it

On to my next endeavour, I have been busy with some local volunteering.  Our Theatre (TCR) re-opened the flood torn building we used to be in, so that took up a few months of my time as well as working with the Cedar Rapids Rollergirls.. these ladies are a blast to work with, and are alto of fun.. if any of you live in Cedar Rapids, I highly suggest getting downtown (or even if they are away) and seeing a bout.. it is a wonderful night of entertainment and a good damn sport too.

You can find thier season schedule on thier website (at least you can tomorrow when I promote it into production).  Go see a bout..

Now onto my final point for this long post.  I’ve been saying for years that I wanted to get a tattoo and I believe that everyone in my family thought that I was never going to do it, but after talking with some of the Roller Girls (wait… maybe they are bad influences) I found a pretty good damn tattoo artist to do me a medical tattoo.  She works for Lefty’s Tattoo parlor in Lindale Mall.  Wonderful place, stop by and see ‘em if you are thinking of getting work done.  See I hate wearing jewelry.. the only thing I wear is my wedding ring usually, so I thought.. what better way to let the medics know that I’m a diabetic, than to permanently get it etched into my skin.. Nice thing, I’ll never loose it (easily)..

Well that brings my ranting to an end.. in summary.. TCR is back, Roller Girls RAWK and I have a tattoo (and plan on getting more).. Maybe this is my mid-life crisis.. but I hope not, I prefer to spend that on video games

This, the beginning of 2010, has already heralded a few announcements of new eBook Readers at CES.  Alex was touted about, the Nook is still back-ordered, Sony has the Daily Edition and more.

I recently picked up the Archos 5 Internet Tablet, so I could use it as an ebook reader.  Well I’ve had it a little under 24 hours and have been very frustrated with it so far.  What this thing can do is LIMITLESS, with android and the Internet..  I thought this could be a contender for any ebook reader.  It’s small, it has an awesome screen.  It has an eBook reader.  It has Multimedia capabilities and WiFi.

My hopes were violently trashed as I tried to setup this device.  First, I could connect to WiFi on my home network, but I couldn’t actually get anywhere.  Due to this fact, I had to download the newest firmware manually and side load it into the device.  The update was easy and no problem have happened there.  With new firmware in hand, I try WiFi again.. Still no network connection, regardless that it has a local IP.

I took this device to work and was FINALLY able to connect to the WiFi network.  Now, mind you, I have another WiFi device sitting right next to it (my iPhone).  Both had a network connection, however the Archos would continually DROP the wifi connection, forcing me to manually reconnect every time.  I was able to get to the Internet, update Appslib (Archos’ Android Marketplace) and download the eBook Reader (Aldiko).  However, 70% of the time (with an active WiFi Connection) I was getting a “Network Error”

Archos 5 Reading a Book

Once I finally got my eBooks on this device, they look wonderful.  I did however have issues of the device just shutting itself off, and having to reboot, clear cache and restart what I was doing.

All the issues I am having with this device is thinking, I should just return this and wait for the Alex, or maybe get the  Nook. The reason I got this device, was that it was the same price as the nook, I thought it would do it all.. but more and more I’m just getting frustrated!

I figure, by the end of this year, I’ll have tried EVERY popular eBook reader, in my futile attempt at the perfect reader.

More to come…