a little wish list

Christmas was good. We didn’t go too crazy with gifts. We looked at finally getting me a Waacom tablet but I figure that I would need one at least 5x8 and that pushes the price from about $100 to about $200. I know I would find it useful for drawing and graphics but am not sure if I would use it enough to justify the higher cost.

Other reoccurring items that remain unfulfilled on my gift list are the next set of Cerebus tradebacks. I have the first four and keep meaning to get the rest of them. With Dave Sim fading into the woodwork, I should probably put more effort into getting these while I still can.

I also keep putting on the Young Indy dvd sets as well as season 3 of Kung Fu. The Indys are too expensive and the Kung Fu was in the bins for $10 but I haven’t seen it since. I finally was able to snag a season 2 of Kung Fu at Walmart as well as a used copy of most of the first set of Young Indy at the library sale.

The key problem with giving someone a gift list is that you cannot buy anything on it while that list is in effect. So the items have to be things that you want enough to get but not enough that you must go and and get them - at least not until the list expires.

Figure painting total - 2013

It looks like I had also picked up a Mantis Assassin/Hunter Bug for StarShip Troopers in October that didn't make an update.

So that brings my total to a reasonable number of bought vs painted for the year.

40K – Dark Vengeance boxed set - 48
Walking Dead horde – 14
SST Mantis Assassin - 1

Running total 2013 – figures bought 63, figures painted 0

I remain ever hopeful of putting a figure in the painted column - perhaps this year will be the one to do so.

Books Read September to December 2013

Sept
Neil Gaiman’s “Make Good Art” by Neil Gaiman and Chip Kidd
1000 Incredible Costume & Cosplay Ideas by Yaya Han, Allison DeBlasio, & Joey Marsocci aka Dr. Grym
Shadows in Flight by Orson Scott Card Marvel Comics – the Untold Story by Sean Howe
The Winston Effect: The Art and History of the Stan Winston Studio by Jody Duncan

Oct
Home Upgrades Under $600 by Better Homes and Gardens
Watchmen – The Film Companion by Peter Aperlo
101 Top Tips from Professional manga Artists by Sonia Leong
Matther Mead’s Halloween Spooktacular by Matthew Mead
The Art of Colored Pencil Drawing by Pat Averill, Cynthia Knox, Eileen Sorg, and Debra Kauffman Yaun
Warhammer Armies Dwarfs (6th edition) by Gav Thorpe & Alessio Cavatore

Nov
Apollo: The Epic Journey to the Moon, 1963 – 1972 by David West Reynolds
Bead Bugs by Amy Kopperude

Dec
Understanding Architecture by Robert McCarter, Juhani Pallasmaa
Built from Scratch by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank with Bob Andelman
Amazon.com: Get Big Fast by Robert Spector
Time-Life Books: The Old West – The Townsmen by Keith Wheeler
Period Costume for Stage & Screen: Patterns for Outer Garments, Book I: Cloaks, Capes, Stoles and Wadded Mantles by Jean Hannisett