Look Where a Whole Week Went!

At least I got my new iPhone working!

Been a busy week... might be a busy weekend too, with Casting Calls.

Weekend Caption/Photoshop Contest

Sticky until Monday -- Scroll down for new content.
Got a better caption or photoshop for this Getty Images pic? You could win a coveted Blog Ad on my side bar! If you're lucky, I'll be too busy to blog and you'll keep your ad up for weeks!

Original Caption: ORLANDO, FL - SEPTEMBER 22: Texas Gov. Rick Perry (L), and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) have a drink during the Fox News/Google GOP Debate at the Orange County Convention Center on September 22, 2011 in Orlando, Florida. The debate features the nine Republican candidates two days before the Florida straw poll. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

You need not be a blogger to win; however, if you post anonymously, it will be very difficult to recognize you again to design a Blog Ad.

Check out the links in Drinks Ordered for photoshops!

Judging begins Monday Night. Or not.

WINNER!

Rodney Dill of Outside the Beltway wins with:

How they keep from laughing when Ron Paul is speaking.

Other Contests:

Support your Local Gunfighter
Outside the Beltway
Wizbang

Feeding the Gun

This month, my buddy Jon borrowed my Stevens "coach gun" for the Practice Match and managed to beat most some of us shotgunners. (I was one of the Auto-gunners he beat.) It helped that there was no-shoot steel slowing down the speed shooters on the first stage and an Empty Gun starting requirement on the second. Jon's practicing for a Halloween Match that features a "Boomstick" Division.

Not Jesus

He wouldn't have so much gray.

In my Illustration Technique class, after the instructor had given us an assignment to complete a three-part "triptych" self-portrait, he pitched a fit when a class member mentioned he could use for one of them the self-portrait the Adobe Illustrator instructor had already assigned.

Since I'd put it off for so long, I hadn't even started mine, so I wonder whether my Illustrator professor will be so pissy if I re-purpose this thing I whipped up this morning... after I scribbled out a self-portrait in graphite too. Of course, it took him hours to tear himself away from all the pretty girls in class to tell me it needed more work.

This is Way Cool

h/t to Jesse J.

Looking Forward to the New Game

My favorite (NSFW) time-waster is getting a make-over! The Version 7 game is giving way to a "Second Date" that will reference your performance on the First Date. Yeah, I need to get out of the house more often.

Don't Ask

Click to Embiggen.

Weekend Caption/Photoshop Contest

Sticky until Monday -- Scroll down for new content.
Got a better caption or photoshop for this unsourced pic? You could win a coveted Blog Ad on my side bar! If you're lucky, I'll be too busy to blog and you'll keep your ad up for weeks!

You need not be a blogger to win; however, if you post anonymously, it will be very difficult to recognize you again to design a Blog Ad.

Check out the links in Drinks Ordered for photoshops!

Judging begins Monday Night. Or not.

WINNER!

Greg of Dum Vivimus, Vivamus wins with:

No, I wanted a hot ride with a leather INTERIOR....

Other Contests:

Support Your Local Gunfighter
Outside the Beltway
Wizbang

I Wish They All Could Be...

Home on the Range Grrrrrrrls! Or Women, if you'd rather. Don't argue, I'm a credited lyricist.

Happy Birthday, Big Blue!

Now get back to work!

Han Shot First

Cowboy Blob Productions has added to the Toy Box again. These might end up in my next short.

And now the touchy question: why did we lose Gene Roddenberry, but George Lucas is still sucking air and screwing up his movies? No, really: which universe kicks more ass? SW or ST?

Ya know, I'm gonna have to watch that Firefly program some day.

Is it Too Early to Vote?

As a fan of The History Channel's Top Shot, I'm now a fan of the Red Team, and anybody who sends this jackass home.

Zombie-Whacking Song?

The latest blog thingee going around I saw at Tam's, who got it from Phil.

As you load your last mag into your chosen weapon, what song comes up your MP3 player/IPOD?

Anybody remember this little number from Nazareth?

If I were more delusional about my fighting skills, athleticism, and other markers for Survival, I'd pick Wagner's "Ride of the Valkeries," Orff's "Carmina Burana: O Fortuna," and the New American Orchestra's version of "Bladerunner - End Titles Reprise," because the battle would last longer than that magazine would.

Blogiversary!

September 11 is a maudlin day to celebrate a Blogiversary, so I moved it to today, a date which shares another anniversary for me. I enlisted in the Air Force on September 12, 1979.

It's been seven years and 4,573 posts, with close to 640k visitors and almost a million page views.

I'd like to thank my readers who make this thing worth my time and my fellow bloggers, without whom the Saloon and Shootin Gallery would just be a pimple on the Internet's backside. Actually, compared to some of the mighty blogs that link here, this blog is a pimple on the Internet's backside.






















Of course, the greatest thing about blogging is getting to meet great folks like Tam, Breda, Brigid, Alan, Kevin, USCitizen, Kevin, DC, and others. Now, if I could only manage to get to a Gunbloggers Rendezvous.

Weekend Caption/Photoshop Contest

Sticky until Monday -- Scroll down for new content.
Got a better caption or photoshop for this Reuters / Korean Central "News" Agency pic? You could win a coveted Blog Ad on my side bar! If you're lucky, I'll be too busy to blog and you'll keep your ad up for weeks!

Original Caption: North Korean soldiers attend a military parade in Pyongyang September 9, 2011, in this picture released by North Korea's official KCNA news agency on Friday, marking the 63rd anniversary of the state's founding. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il flanked by his son reviewed a military parade of goose-stepping North Korean soldiers in Pyongyang on Friday, underlining a planned third generation of dynastic rule is on track. REUTERS/KCNA

You need not be a blogger to win; however, if you post anonymously, it will be very difficult to recognize you again to design a Blog Ad.

Check out the links in Drinks Ordered for photoshops!

Judging begins Monday Night. Or not.

WINNER!

Mostly Cajun wins with:

The sergeant said if the army wanted me to have a wife, they'd issue me one. And then this truck pulled up...

Other Contests:

Support Your Local Gunfighter
Outside the Beltway
Wizbang

Remember (a Repost)

Carol Flyzik of Plaistow NH.

American Airlines Flight 11

September 11, 2001

Carol was related to me through the Other-Side-of-the-Mountain (or Coaldale) Flyziks, so I never met her.

Rest in peace.

Featherado

A Gabriel Luna Film... with some help from Cowboy Blob Productions! Can you imagine me getting a music credit? Well, I did write "Gretchen" afterwards, if you can call that music.

Wanna Be in a Movie?

Click to embiggen.

Jobs are Up!

Last night, the Professor announced the jobs won by students in the production of "Ninja Quest," a contemporary short action movie written by Snuf Leamon (of "Gretchen" fame). Director AleX Pawlak will lead the student crew, shooting the latter part of the week including the Veterans Day weekend.

As for me, I'll be a Casting Director, Special Effects Guy, 1st Assistant Camera, and Stills Photographer. I think I'll bust out the K-100 and start practicing. And start researching blood squibs, and safety harnesses, and....

Quote of the Day

If Obama were serious about jobs creation -- instead of relying on technology, he'd hire two people to hold flashcards for him.

Original "humor" by Todd McIntyre Comedic Enterprises, a wholly owned subsidiary of Todd McIntyre Enterprises, a Division of THM, Inc.

Weekend Caption/Photoshop Contest

Sticky until Monday -- Scroll down for new content.
Got a better caption or photoshop for this pic? You could win a coveted Blog Ad on my side bar! If you're lucky, I'll be too busy to blog and you'll keep your ad up for weeks!

You need not be a blogger to win; however, if you post anonymously, it will be very difficult to recognize you again to design a Blog Ad.

Check out the links in Drinks Ordered for photoshops!

Judging begins Monday Night. Or not.

WINNER!

AlanDP of Blogonomicon wins with:

The Glock was for appearances only. The real danger lay in what she could do with a watermelon.

Other Contests:

Support Your Local Gunfighter
Outside the Beltway
Wizbang

Meet Maya PC

When I found out that Autodesk didn't produce a Maya (3D Animation) 2012 version for the Mac OS, I was in a quandary. I knew it wouldn't run well on my ancient Dell PC (left) which still has WinXP loaded and only a coupla GB of RAM. Some suggested I put Windows 7 on my trusty iMac through Boot Camp, but that would mean a partition that would hamper the rendering power of Final Cut Pro and my Adobe CS5 Production software. When I priced software at the Base Exchange, I learned I could get a new Dell PC with 6GB RAM for only $300 more than the cost of Windows 7 Professional (the only package that didn't upgrade from Windows Vista, which I don't have. Well that was a no-brainer! Now my only hope is that the graphics card and such will meet the requirements to run Maya well (the box wasn't very clear on the alphabet soup that Maya needs).

On the bright side, with the new PC's 1TB hard drive, I can still load some of the PC games with which the old Dell struggled and still have rendering power for Autodesk Maya. Not that I'll have a lot of time to play Call of Duty or Steel Panthers with all the course work I have this semester.

Good Thing Fall's Almost Here

Man, you don't want to see my front yard. The Yard Nazis are very lenient during the monsoons, so I have that going for me. If it wasn't so much work, I'd cut down all my shrubberies and trees and sow the gravel with Round-up, bleach, salt, and the ashes of my enemies. As it is, I'm reactive (or maybe allergic) to half the stuff growing there. You'd think some neighborhood kid with a rake and a hula-hoe would want to make some money, but no, he's inside with the a/c like I am, probably playing video games.

The guy who did my yard last year didn't return my call (probably recognized my name) and I've been reluctant to try some other bunch. Hmm, do I wait until I get the nastygram from the Yard Nazis?

Bustin' Caps in K-Stan

US Soldier on a SPG-9 (Probably)

Photo by Chris Kent, Soldier Extraordinaire

Worthy Charity

Carteach0 is giving away some schwag to help raise funds for the WWP.

Gretchen

Impressions: There were only four entries in the contest, and by applause, the only movie I beat was actually only a screen test of gun effects and sounds. The $200 winner deserved every cent and ripple of applause. That being said, I was surprised there were folks in the audience that I didn't even know who voted for my movie.

Update: At least I got a good movie review out of it!

Now, on to the next project....

RC Falcon

h/t Hank B.

It's Baaack!

Today I picked up from TPD Evidence my stolen GLOCK 23 that was recovered from an abandoned stolen jeep in June (the thief thankfully didn't lust after my truck). It was actually recovered before I even reported it stolen. It took so long to get it back because they had to send it to the crime lab to swab for DNA and test-fire it for ballistics. I wonder if they used my ammo to test-fire it, because I got it back sans the mag full of Winchester SXTs with which it was loaded. Or maybe the slicky-boy liked the ammo more than the gun. Or maybe it's TPD policy not to return ammo with stolen firearms. Who knows?

On the way home, I stopped off and bought it an Akers Yaqui Slide holster to welcome it back to the collection. So far the only premium defense .40 ammo I can find around around the house are some ancient Black Talons; that'll serve some goblin right if I have to defend myself with that stuff, huh?