Free Comic Book Day 2010

It’s a busy weekend for us. In addition to everything else, it’s Free Comic Book Day! Be sure to swing by your local comic book store and see what they have. This site has a store finder as well as previews of what is being offered this year.
While not as much cool stuff as in previous years, it’s usually a fun time.

A burning

So, not a lot done. No sifting or searching done. I was able to finish up my demo set of Pret? Allez! for JP from Castle Games to look at.

We had a few people over on Saturday and had a fire. We sat around and toasted marshmallows and hot dogs and chatted. It was a nice low-key evening. The weather was beautiful – no wind, not too hot or cold, no mosquitoes. We caught up with a few friends that we haven't seen too much lately.

It seems I'm not the only one getting back into 40K. It looks like Don and JP are feeling the pull as well.

A day off?

With the continued good weather we finished cleaning the shed and raking the yards. We trimmed more of the tree over the pool and garden and (more importantly) were able to clean up most of the wood from those branches. A lot of the wood from last year has dried out nicely so we’re looking forward to some fires.

Shan was talking about getting a few yards of dirt for the garden and a few yards of gravel for the driveway. But, so far, she hasn’t ordered either.

Which means that I don’t have anything scheduled to do tomorrow on my day off. Maybe I’ll try to sift into my room to find my 40K figures or even try to clean up my stuff around the table again. I should move the compost bin and cut up more of the tree branches – but we see what I actually get done.

8-bit Dr Horrible

Doctor Octoroc took the happy goodness that is Dr. Horrible and did a version of it as if it was an old 8-bit game. Check it out here:
http://www.doctoroctoroc.com/8-bit-dr-horrible/
There is a minor bit of music with it - so keep that in mind when you check it out.

It's only the first act so far - but it's brilliant!

I only have one nitpick - there should be one more remote access - you'll know where if you have seen the original.

Shed Clean Sweep

On Sunday we got into the shed and did a clean sweep, of sorts. We took everything out and swept everywhere, and sifted most of it back. We cleaned out two garbage cans of items.
We found no more mice – but all the warfarin I had put down was gone. There was evidence of their presence though – rattan mats had been nibbled, a nerf football had been hollowed, all the tissues from a box had been moved to the other side of the shed.
It took a good three hours to clean the shed as well as bag all the leaves that Shan raked out of the flowerbeds.
On the upside, we do have a bit more room and there wasn’t a mass exodus of living vermin or even evidence of dead vermin. On the downside, we got rid of a box of old patio lights that would have been good for scenery – at some future point.

Towards basing and painting

While not actually achieving anything (no surprise) I am slowly working closer to getting some of the western figures finished. On Mar 26 I popped into Michaels and picked up some basswood for basing the figures. I already have some 1/8 but it looks too thick. I had a sheet of 1/16 but that seemed a bit too thin. They had some 3/32 which seemed like it will be just right. I picked up a sheet and picked up another sheet this week as well - both bought using my handy-dandy Michale's coupons.

I still have to check if I can fit them easily on a 1" square base, otherwise I might have to use a 1.25" square base. The plastic figures are quite light so I should be okay and not have to worry too much about them tipping over.

Once I cut out some bases I can hot glue the figures down, and finish off some of the ones I started.

2010 Books read Jan - Mar

Jan
Ventriloquism for Dummies by John Wing
The Templars: The secret history revealed by Barbara Frale
Sculpting Mythical Creatures out of Polymer Clay by Dinko and Boris Tilov
Sit, Ubu, Sit by Gary David Goldberg
Ace of Cakes: inside the World of Charm City Cakes by Duff Goldman and Willie Goldman
Step by Step Art School: Watercolour by Patricia Monahan
Ventriloquism from A to Z by Douglas Craggs
Ventriloquism Made Easy by Kolby King
Toy Monster: The Big, Bad Word of Mattel by Jerry Oppenheimer
Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke

Feb
Ventriloquism Made Easy – How to Talk to your Hand without Looking Stupid by Paul Stadelman and Bruce Fife
Comics and Sequential Art – Principles and Practices from the Legendary Cartoonist by Will Eisner
Expressive Anatomy – Principles and Practices from the Legendary Cartoonist by Will Eisner
Bring Me That Horizon – the Making of Pirates of the Caribbean by Michael Singer
Starship Trooper RPG pocket edition by August Hahn
Watchmen the Film Companion by Peter Aperlo
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide by Richard Platt

Mar
Ventriloquism for the Total Dummy by Dan Richard with Katherine Moloney
Chess – A Celebration of 2000 years by Roswin Finkenzeller, Wilhelm Ziehr, Emil M. Buhrer
Who Was That Masked Man? – The Story of the Lone Ranger by David Rothel
Gunsmoke Years by John Peel
Mixed-Media Collage Jewelry by Janette Schuster
Starship Troopers RPG Mobile Infantry Field Manual by Matthew Sprauge
Bonanza: The Definitive Ponderosa Companion by Melany Shapiro
G.I.JOE VS COBRA – The Essential Guide by Pablo Hidalgo
Don’t Start the Revolution Without Me by Jesse Ventura with Dick Russell
The Second City Unscripted by Mike Thomas