Merry Christmas!

(Image from:  The List Love's 10 Christmas Tree Facts to Make You Feel Festive) 

Best wishes to you this Christmas Holiday Season and throughout the New Year. 

Angus and Bride: A Scottish Winter Story | Mythology w/ Dael Kingsmill

Geek & Sundry's Mythology Vlogger, Dael Kingsmill, presents the wintery tale of Angus and Bride.

Epic Proxies for 40K

(Image:  An Unending Crusade by 

I've use to see Epic 40K figures in game stores for years.  Even though I love sci-fi gaming and micro-scale figures, I never bought the rules, or any of the miniatures.

Despite being classified as 6mm, the figures always looked much bigger than the miniatures from other manufacturers, like GHQ, C in C and Ground Zero Games.

Now that I've been dabbling in WH40K, I almost regret not purchasing any Epic figures, especially since it is no longer published and supported by Games Workshop.

This is where proxies come in handy.  That is, different figures used in place of the originals.  Although according to this WH40K forum, a proxy is a temporary measure, where a "counts as," (CA) is permanent.

In my case, I'm using M-113 armored personnel carriers (APCs) and M-113 medium reconnaissance vehicles (MRVs), to count as Rhinos and Predators used primarily by the Space Marines.

Starting with six M-113s and five MRVs, I divided them up to match the color schemes of my other sci-fi micro miniatures.

Staged Photos

I used my terrain board and a backdrop to illustrate these new figures, and provided some examples of well-known Space Marine Chapters:

The White Scars make a quick strike against a suspected enemy position. 

The Adepta Sororitas searching for heretics. 

Space Wolves on the prowl. 

A Blood Angel Predator on patrol. 

A Dark Angel Predator  covering the same ground. 

Of course, there are the master craftsmen, like this guy...

(Image from Felix's Miniatures Gallery)

...or serious collectors, like this...

(Image from Steve Milford's Hobby Blog) 

...along with other "eye candy" you can find on the internet. 

Movie Review: 13 Going on 30

 

 

I haven't seen a made-for-the-big-screen romantic comedy in years.  For the past few months, any time we're trying to decide what to watch for an evening in, my wife would suggest 13 Going on 30 (IMDB)  I, of course would recommend something else, and we'd watch that.

This worked--until I ran out of alternatives. 

We finally watched the movie shortly before the Holiday Season and I'm glad we did.

While not a Christmas movie, 13 Going on 30 (Wikipedia) is an endearing, but cautionary tale, of wish-fulfillment. 

Jenna Rink is humiliated by a pack of popular girls at her 13th birthday party, and she wishes to be "thirty, flirty and thriving."  She wakes up to find her life has been fast-forwarded 17 years, and she has everything she's ever dreamed of.

Or so it would seem.

But, as everyone could probably guess, things aren't what they appear to be.  Because Jenna has no knowledge of the intervening years, she's slow to realize her life isn't what she appears to be.  She isn't who she thinks she is.  Jenna is no longer the adorable girl-next-door, but a vindictive, avaricious, "witch." 

She tries to make things right, and even win back the boy-next-door (when they were 13)--and fails on all counts.

When all seems lost, she's granted another wish, this time to be 13 again.  She wakes up in the midst of her 13th birthday party and gets to a do-over.

While I've know of Jennifer Garner and the show Alias, but I've never actually seen either the actress or the show.  I thought Miss Garner did a charming job of portraying a 13 year-old in a 30 year old body. 

I give this movie a 4-star rating.  In fact, I liked it better than Big, to which it's compared to. While 13 Going on 30 is predictable, it's a sweet 98-minute experience for you, your partner and your family--if your children are 13 years, or older.

College Humor Presents: The Six Christmas Movies You Live Through

While College Humor's humor tends to be risque and guy-centric, some of their videos have their endearing moments, like this one.

Best wishes to you in whatever "Christmas Movie" you're currently living through.

Book Review: How to Make Webcomics

 

My quest to change the format of my webcomic, Breakout from Bongolaan has begun.

A couple months ago, I attended the How To Be A Nerd For A Living panel discussion at Geek Girl Con.  Afterwards, I had a nice and informative chat with Rebecca Hicks (author of Little Vampires) about formatting webcomics.

She recommended the book How to Make Webcomics.

I took her up on her advice, ordered the book and have finally finished it.

How to Make Webcomics is a collaborative how-to manual written by four webcartoonists--

--Brad Guigar, author of Evil Inc. and editor-in-chief of Webcomics.com;

--Dave Kellett, author of Sheldon;

--Scott Kurtz, author of pVp; and

--Kris Straub, author of Starslip.

I found How to Make Webcomics informative and entertaining, which made it enjoyable to read.  Especially since the term "enjoyable" is something I normally don't associate with how-to manuals.

The book is divided into 13 chapters covering:  Your webcomic, your characters, formatting, image preparation, writing, website design, branding & building, interacting with audiences, monetizing your webcomic, books (print versions of your webcomic), conventions, next steps (once your webcomic is up & running), and final thoughts (on making your webcomic work).

Past the final chapter is a section on Scott Kurtz's studio, to illustrate what a successful webcartoonist's work area looks like.  The Additional Resources section contains two pages of reference material listed under the sub-categories of:  Cartooning, artistic inspiration, web design and maintenance, and small business.

Even though I've been writing Breakout from Bongolaan, at glacial speed, since 2008, I still consider myself a newbie when it comes to webcomics.  Probably because Breakout's blog-style format isn't like typical webcomics.

So reading How to Make Webcomics was fun and new to me, and therefore easy for me to give it a 5-star rating.  The book has earned a 4.4 out of 5-star rating on Amazon.  An overwhelming number of reviewers loved the book (39 x 5-stars, 9 x 4-stars).

Five raters, some claiming to be experienced in business or art, thought How to Make Webcomics was okay (3-star ratings), but consider various aspects of the book to be vague.  Another feels this was too focused on 4-panel humor strips.

The 2-star rater doesn't think webcomics to be true art forms and being self published means one isn't a serious writer.

Of the 2 x 1-star ratings, one can be considered a throw-away.  Mr. Throw-away claims he can't rate the book because he gave it to his brother.  This begs the question:  Why post anything at all?

There are some who try to torpedo a book's rating with a bad review.  The lower a book's rating becomes, the less visibility it gets, based on Amazon's algorithms.  (And thereby maybe elevating their own book?).

I certainly don't know what the motivation behind this low rating is, but no other reason makes sense to me.

The second 1-star rating is more extensive and generated four comments, along with 28 out of 47 browsers who found his (her?) review helpful.  In a nutshell he considers the authors' business model to be "...unprofessional and unreliable...," backed up by "...shaky, or non-existent "...key data."  Apparently, this person has also has exchanged some virtual volleys with the authors, and consider them the "...most pugnacious authors since Norman Mailer was throwing punches at cocktail parties."

Now, I'm no sketch artist, and my business acumen equals the square root of zero.  But I love comics, both print and web variety, so I don't care whether they're "true art" or not.

I'm sticking with my 5-star rating. 

I enjoyed the book and didn't think their business advice to be pie-in-the-sky.  Not even a slice.  In fact, the authors warn that if you want to get rich, then find something else to do.  I've heard similar recommendations in all the writing workshops I've attended.  Basically:  Don't quit your day job, until the income from your writing meets, or better yet, exceeds that of your current salary.

In the meantime, if you're interested in learning more about webcomics, be sure to save $14.99 (currently $11.18 on Amazon) for a copy of How to Make Webcomics.

Book Reviews: When The Tide Rises

It's been over three years since I read and did a review on a "RCN Series" book by David Drake. 

I've been focusing on webcomics and graphic novels for so long, I figured I'd better get back into reading a print-only book.

So I decided to see what misadventures Commander Daniel Leary and his signal officer/spy/librarian friend, Adele Mundy, get entangled with in When the Tide Rises (book #6 in the RCN Series).

In this story, David Drake borrowed from Lord Cochrane's exploits while serving in the Chilean Navy.

Leary and his ship, the Princess Cecil, are ordered to the frontier system of Bagaria, which just revolted against Cinnabar's enemy, The Alliance. The purpose of the mission is to relieve pressure from an important star system besieged by Alliance forces--and to get the well-connected and upstart Leary as far away from Cinnabar as possible. 

But Daniel, with the help of his fellow "Sissies" (as the crew of the Princess Cecil call themselves), manage to inject some esprit de corps into the Bagarian "navy," foil a mutiny, uncover treachery among the Bagarian oligarchs, and finally take the fight to the Alliance.

When the Tide Rises has earned an average 4.2 stars out of 5 on Amazon.com (25 x 5-stars and 12 x 4-stars).  Two common themes among the less-than-5-star-raters are: 

1. The characters aren't as fleshed-out as some readers would like them to be.

2. The story arc seems repetitive.  That is:  The hero is given an impossible task (and even expected to fail), but manages to pull off a stunning victory, with awards--and more importantly, prize money--showered upon the heroes.

Yeah, when reading a series of any sort, a certain repetitiveness and character arc flat-lining may creep in.  But I still enjoyed When the Tide Rises and give a 4-star rating.  I still find the age-of-sail method of space travel to be fascinating and well thought out.  I think by not binge-reading this, or any series, may help lessen the feelings of deja vu.

 Since this book is just over the half-way point of a series, my words of caution would be: Read books #1-5 first, before diving into When the Tide Rises. 

Currently, there are four more books after this one, so as long as most readers enjoy David Drake's work, the RCN Series tide will continue to rise.

Movie Review: Fury

 

 

If I had to limit my movie reviews to six words or less, I'd say this about Fury: 

It lives up to it's trailer. 

The story follows the crew of a Sherman Tank (an M4A3E8) during the allied offensive into Germany.  (A plot synopsis (with spoilers) can be read here).

If I had only two words to describe the film, they'd be:  Gritty and graphic.

The combat scenes are some of the most realistic--and graphic--I've ever watched in a movie. 

I had a couple quibbles on how the American tanks always seemed to be too bunched up, and about the mad-dash assault on the town, with the tanks in the lead.  But my friend Tim pointed out in an e-mail exchange that; terrain, weapon capabilities, operational imperatives, and inexperience often resulted in actions that were less than "field manual" affairs.

And this is a movie after all.  As is often the case, historical accuracy takes a back seat in favor of what looks good cinematography-wise.  But in Fury's case, it's great cinematography.

The American GI's are portrayed as "rough around the edges," to say the least.  Some are rough naturally, while others become so after "...fighting Germans in North Africa..." and are "...now fighting Germans in Germany."  The GI's harbor a special hatred for the S.S. (Schutzstaffel), which is understandable given the S.S.'s reputation for brutality.

But not every German is a Nazi Party member.  Fury portrays the Germans as a mixed lot:  From civilians desperate to see the war end, to die-hards, who are willing to kill their own people for not maintaining their loyalty to the crumbling "Thousand Year Reich."

Fury has earned 8 out of 10 stars on IMDb's rating system, and 4 out of 5 on the traditional system. 

I certainly agree with both ratings. 

Fury is a must-see-on-the-big-screen film and will be a must-own DVD, when it comes out.