Does Anyone Read This Thing Any More?

Got married, moved to PA, and waiting to build a house, a shooting range, recording studio, photo studio, and maybe a miniature golf course :) Should I even bother blogging, or just post to FaceBook?

Not Quite IL&M But....

Trying to finish up "The Reaper Strikes Back" in time for the Phoenix Comicon Film Festival's 31 March Deadline! Finished principal photography last night and am working the bugs out of the special FX.  Ought to keep me busy, for sure.

An Apple a Day

...empties the wallet pretty quickly.

After pondering upgrading my "ancient" (mid-'08 Aluminum) MacBook to the newer Operating System from Leopard through Snow Leopard, Lion, Mountain Lion, Mountain Goat to the super-new Andean Llama OS, I've decided to keep my MacTop in its original unbroken form. I guess I'm not an Apple Fanboy like some of my friends (you know who they are) who always pick up the latest Apple gadget like iPad/Pod/Pud/Ped, etc. As for me, I only have an iPhone and a MacBook for comms and an iMac for productivity. Yeah, I keep two WinDoze machines around for games and to keep my not-a-Fanboy cred alive.

I guess I'll drive that indestructible little MacBook until it fails or the Mayan Apocalypse/Christian Rapture brings us to Sweet Oblivion, whichever comes first. I hope it's the MA/CR, because if I want to buy the MacBook Pro I've been coveting, I'm gonna have to get a real job.

Art Direction Win!

Now there's a future I can get behind!

Memorial Day Gunnyness

This Memorial Day Weekend, my buddy Frank is coming down for some drinking, BSing, and computer war-gaming... and maybe a tour of the DM Boneyard.

Frank and I have been war-gaming since we were both instructors at the Goodfellow AFB School of Applied Cryptological Sciences, playing Panzer Strike, Typhoon of Steel, and Overrun! on his alien Apple IIGS. Our game experience gave us a little something-something on the podium; him more so, being a Marine and all. I think my Army compatriots were surprised enough that I could tell my FROGs, Towed's, and amphibians apart.

After his last visit, when we'd rolled the D&D polyhedral dice and come up with late-year PLO versus an unnamed Western army, we discovered some new game mechanics dealing with IEDs, suicide bombers, suicide tanker trucks, etc. Frank wasn't too happy when he discovered my next game featured a modern Islamist sub-cult against his beloved US Marine Corps. So this Memorial Day Weekend, we'll play our beloved Steel Panthers MBT and we will NOT endanger even the digital lives of our closest Allies. Time to remind Frank about some of the fun game vehicles like the EE-9 (pictured) while ignoring other stuff.

A Change of Pace

Meet Finster, named after a Bugs Bunny character. Halfling "Treasure Finder" whose first weapon carried was only a knife for slicing bread and cheese. He's the most intelligent member of the party and the most cute. So far, knock-on-wood, he's defeated every trap encountered, but has eschewed combat at every opportunity. It's a nice change from having to play a Wizard every adventure, but I kind of miss the hack-and-slash lifestyle of a Fighter.

But not that of a Paladin. Those are for needling to distraction.

Impasse

Sold out, dammit!

Get thee hence and request a reprint so I can own this awesome T-Shirt!

h/t to Emma G.

Geekery

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.

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.

RC Falcon

h/t Hank B.

It Never Fails

My GLOCK mid-frame (G17/19/22/23/32/etc.) Fobus holster blipped off into the black hole at my house, so I finally replaced it yesterday. I would rather have replaced it with a minimalist Yaqui Slide, but the shop only had the large frame version. At least the rubberized paddle on the Fobus is an improvement over my old one. I know some of you turn up your noses at Fobus, but I'm a big fan.

Gathering up my gear for tomorrow's ID4 Action Rifle Match, I began to wonder where I'd left my tube of SPF 50 sunscreen. I'd borrowed Jon's for my latest match in the great blazing PHX sun, but figured I'd better find my own or go out and buy some more. My first thought was to check my suitcase -- until I remembered it was still half-packed for a winter trip back home; but I checked it anyway and found my Fobus holster! Then I started a little memory exercise to place where I'd last used my tube of sunscreen. Movie set! I was the non-AZ native who had the only sunscreen on the set of Featherado, a student film, and immediately I could see down the hall in the other spare bedroom my cowboy wardrobe bin with the tube of sunscreen visible at the bottom. I wonder when Gabe is gonna give me a copy of that movie... it's my first movie musical credit, ya know?

So, I'm all set for tomorrow... except for the nagging sense of impending suckitude, wondering why our Forefathers couldn't have declared Independence in May or October, when it's not so blazing hot here.

Those Wacky DM Pilots

h/t to Teresita

Art Class: Where're the Robots?

Editorial Drawing

It all started at Ace of Spades HQ.

A Musical Interlude

From Josh

Like I Need Another Hole in My Head

...I needed another video camera. The Flip UltraHD fits in my pocket better than the Canon PowerShot and shoots in 16:9 High Def (720p) so I can shoot B Roll with it, in conjunction with my High Def SONY. I'm considering taking it to matches and placing it to get the wide "master shot" while I cover the closer shots with the Canon... but then there's the black side bars that'll show up when mix 16:9 and 4:3 formats.

Y'all don't care about that, do you?

Here's a screenshot of Jon enjoying a frosty adult beverage while launching a Thai Civil War.

Weaponized

Don't remember where I got the idea this week, but I found a use for the rest of the baby carrots in the fridge that were almost overstaying their welcome. A base for a habanero pepper sauce! After I've already made my first batch did I think to G00gle a recipe or two. I took two frozen (best way to store them, I think) little orange H-Bombs, two hands full of baby carrots, and a little vinegar and water. I put two teaspoons of it in a microwaved cup of Wolf Chili and some baked beans (chili in a hurry) and it kicked ass!

I might try this recipe next.

Tracy-Jo

Don't ya love a girl who gets into Halloween this much?

Tracy and I went to high school together.

I'm Not a Twanger

...but I play one in the movies. I don't watch CMT much (or even TV for that matter), but I've had an earworm off and on for over a year. I'm simply fascinated with how low Otto's voice goes during parts of the song. After decades of Beegees falsetto, it's refreshing to hear a male singer sound like he's got a pair.

Late Night FaceBook Prose

Deep fog outside, Monterey, 10:30 PM on a Friday night, muting the distant sounds, but somehow the sea lion barks are carrying through, along with the odd deep rumble of revving engines…maybe street racers, certainly muscle cars. I picture sea lions... laying upright in driver seats in excessively modified Japanese vehicles, shouting epithets at their challengers through open windows, betting pink slips on tuna stakes.

h/t PCB