William Axtell's Blog
June 15, 2013
New Blog!
Yo, I've just launched my blog, The Hall of the Heroes, where I will be discussing all things heroic! Check it out if you like Heroes!
http://thehalloftheheroes.blogspot.co...
http://thehalloftheheroes.blogspot.co...
February 17, 2013
Goodbye to blogging
O.K. I'll admit, this hasn't worked. My blog is not very interesting. So, rather than keep wasting time, I'm just gonna quit.
Blog hop.
I had a lot of trouble with this and so I only have two blogs to link in. As I failed the seven, I don't think that I should be posting any lines of my book - not that anybody will be reading this anyhow!
Anyway, here are links to two awesome blogs!
Sarah Dalton - http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
And Louise West - http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
Blog hop.
I had a lot of trouble with this and so I only have two blogs to link in. As I failed the seven, I don't think that I should be posting any lines of my book - not that anybody will be reading this anyhow!
Anyway, here are links to two awesome blogs!
Sarah Dalton - http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
And Louise West - http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
February 3, 2013
Issue #10!
Yay! My tenth installment of my new blog!
@ Victoria - I'm working on the hop but I'm having trouble finding people :D !
Anyway, so it's February! Finally, the grimest month of the year is over and i can look forwards to the snowdrops!
The News!
Well, the news this week is simple. I've been busy dreaming up and ending to the Symbiot Vengence. Endings are tricky. I think this is because one has to assess everything which has happened before in the book and bring it together in both a thematically and narratively satisfatory way. So a bit tough but I'm making headway and next week I shall be writing like crazy!
@ Victoria - I'm working on the hop but I'm having trouble finding people :D !
Anyway, so it's February! Finally, the grimest month of the year is over and i can look forwards to the snowdrops!
The News!
Well, the news this week is simple. I've been busy dreaming up and ending to the Symbiot Vengence. Endings are tricky. I think this is because one has to assess everything which has happened before in the book and bring it together in both a thematically and narratively satisfatory way. So a bit tough but I'm making headway and next week I shall be writing like crazy!
January 27, 2013
The Job Which Had To Be Done (And I'm Glad It's Over!).
Hello everybody!
The News!
Well, the news is that I've just completed a very tedious edit of my novel, The Symbtiot Awakening. Not an edit in the sense of changing anything about plot, character or scenes, just going through the whole thing in a long slog to improve the grammar. After the euphoria of my sale, I received a slightly damning review which picked holes in my use of English and, while I don't believe in knee-jerk reactions,I nevertheless decided to give the thing a thorough seeing to. It was long, arduous and deeply boring - I mean, unless you are helplessly self-absorbed, how many times can you read your own novel? Still, I think I have improved it somewhat, clarifying many of the passages and adding a LOT of commas lol !
As for giveaways, well, I think I shall probably have one more, now I have produced a second edition, and then call it a day. After all, one does want to make some sales and not just be the book everybody downloads and then leaves to moulder in a sad corner of their Kindle!
My Greek Odyssey!
Yay, Greeks! O.K., so, this week, I finished my Greek cavalry!
I'm really pleased with these guys. As can be seen, Greek cavarly of this period was not really a fighting force for the battlefield, as they were armed only with javelins. In a time before either stirrups or javelins, enguaging in physical combat would have been tricky and in any case horses were not really in the war mindset of the period I've chosed, 460 B.C., when the Persian wars were only grudgingly making the Greeks aware of their use. Instead, they were for skirmishing and would only really make their presence felt towards the latter part of the fifth century, during the Peloponnesian War. The truth was that horse were difficult to rear on city-state Greece's poor soils and the rugged terrian of the land meant that, in a time also before horseshoes, they were not really practical for travel. Also, Greek snobbery tended to demand that you fought your enemy man to man, not chucked something and scooted. Consequently, horses, though revered (Poseidon, as well as being God of the Sea, was also God of Horses) were basically the expensive playthings of the rich, ancient-style sports cars, only useful for showing off at religious festivals and partaking of the sporting events of bare-back horse racing and chariot racing. However, Athens did have a patrol of horsemen in the fifth century, though it is noticeable that they did not bother to field them against the Persians during the Persian Wars. Perhaps, considering the fact that the Persians were great users of the horse and that the few horsemen-rich parts of Greece, Thessaly, Thrace and Macedonia also sided with Persia, it was considered a pointless exercise, rather like putting a one man in goal against an entire soccer team. Either way, cavalry's use in the period was distinctly limited. These fine men are likely to be aristocrats, for the above mentioned reason that only the rich had the spare land for the fairly useless beasts, and are dressed in the flowing Khlamys (or chlamys, if you are, unlike me, normal and go with the Romanised version of the spelling)travellers cloak, which was pinned at the shouler, and two of the horsemen are wearing the broad-brimmed petasos hat. I believe the other guys is wearing a pilados but I am a little hazy on that subject. The man in white and black is lucky or scardy-puss enough to be wearing a muscle cuirass. In truth, I had a little trouble with that. Looking at it, it could be either an old-fashioned bell cuirass or the muscle cuirass necessary for my period and I also had to manually draw in the pteruges, the strips of leather around the base of the cuirass. They are necessary for my period and I would have thought should be there because the pteruges appear in about 475 B.C., which is about the time the Greeks are starting to take cavalry seriously(ish). Either way, they have come out really well so I am happy :D !
My Reading!
Well, my editing bascially kissed off reading this week but I have started a new book, a book on the neuroscience underpinning magic called Sleights of Mind. So far it is a fascinating read and I hope to be able to write more fully on the subject soon!
The News!
Well, the news is that I've just completed a very tedious edit of my novel, The Symbtiot Awakening. Not an edit in the sense of changing anything about plot, character or scenes, just going through the whole thing in a long slog to improve the grammar. After the euphoria of my sale, I received a slightly damning review which picked holes in my use of English and, while I don't believe in knee-jerk reactions,I nevertheless decided to give the thing a thorough seeing to. It was long, arduous and deeply boring - I mean, unless you are helplessly self-absorbed, how many times can you read your own novel? Still, I think I have improved it somewhat, clarifying many of the passages and adding a LOT of commas lol !
As for giveaways, well, I think I shall probably have one more, now I have produced a second edition, and then call it a day. After all, one does want to make some sales and not just be the book everybody downloads and then leaves to moulder in a sad corner of their Kindle!
My Greek Odyssey!
Yay, Greeks! O.K., so, this week, I finished my Greek cavalry!
I'm really pleased with these guys. As can be seen, Greek cavarly of this period was not really a fighting force for the battlefield, as they were armed only with javelins. In a time before either stirrups or javelins, enguaging in physical combat would have been tricky and in any case horses were not really in the war mindset of the period I've chosed, 460 B.C., when the Persian wars were only grudgingly making the Greeks aware of their use. Instead, they were for skirmishing and would only really make their presence felt towards the latter part of the fifth century, during the Peloponnesian War. The truth was that horse were difficult to rear on city-state Greece's poor soils and the rugged terrian of the land meant that, in a time also before horseshoes, they were not really practical for travel. Also, Greek snobbery tended to demand that you fought your enemy man to man, not chucked something and scooted. Consequently, horses, though revered (Poseidon, as well as being God of the Sea, was also God of Horses) were basically the expensive playthings of the rich, ancient-style sports cars, only useful for showing off at religious festivals and partaking of the sporting events of bare-back horse racing and chariot racing. However, Athens did have a patrol of horsemen in the fifth century, though it is noticeable that they did not bother to field them against the Persians during the Persian Wars. Perhaps, considering the fact that the Persians were great users of the horse and that the few horsemen-rich parts of Greece, Thessaly, Thrace and Macedonia also sided with Persia, it was considered a pointless exercise, rather like putting a one man in goal against an entire soccer team. Either way, cavalry's use in the period was distinctly limited. These fine men are likely to be aristocrats, for the above mentioned reason that only the rich had the spare land for the fairly useless beasts, and are dressed in the flowing Khlamys (or chlamys, if you are, unlike me, normal and go with the Romanised version of the spelling)travellers cloak, which was pinned at the shouler, and two of the horsemen are wearing the broad-brimmed petasos hat. I believe the other guys is wearing a pilados but I am a little hazy on that subject. The man in white and black is lucky or scardy-puss enough to be wearing a muscle cuirass. In truth, I had a little trouble with that. Looking at it, it could be either an old-fashioned bell cuirass or the muscle cuirass necessary for my period and I also had to manually draw in the pteruges, the strips of leather around the base of the cuirass. They are necessary for my period and I would have thought should be there because the pteruges appear in about 475 B.C., which is about the time the Greeks are starting to take cavalry seriously(ish). Either way, they have come out really well so I am happy :D !
My Reading!
Well, my editing bascially kissed off reading this week but I have started a new book, a book on the neuroscience underpinning magic called Sleights of Mind. So far it is a fascinating read and I hope to be able to write more fully on the subject soon!
January 20, 2013
Big Thanks! (Issue #8)
The News!
Thank you everybody who dowloaded my book in the free giveaway and extra special thank you to the TWO people who actually BOUGHT my book - what a lovelly suprise! Anyway, I am delighted to report that I sold 267 copies in my sale which is super-duper awesome - I just have to hope that I get some good reviews from it! Anyway, if anyone who is reading this downloaded or bought my book, a heartfelt thanks :) !
My Reading!
Well, I've rejigged the order of my life and now I have a bit more time to read - woo! So, with that, I have managed to finish this book, The Ancient Greek Olympics by Judith Swaddling - http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17...! It was a truly lovelly book, the small size irrelevant as it packed more actual information, minus waffle, than many other books. Absolutely lovelly - here's my review:
![The Ancient Olympic Games: [2nd Edition]](https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1358681059m/17261984.jpg)
The Ancient Olympic Games: [2nd Edition] by Judith Swaddling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book is wonderful! It covers every single aspect of the games in great detail, answering the sort of question most books skirt around with blather. Excellently supported by beautiful and well chosen photographs, this book covers everything from the ceremonies, organisation, setting, training of athletes and the events themselves. Added to this is a fascinating chapter on the modern games and the various other attempts to resurrect them. The writing style is lucid and engaging and I cannot recommend this book enough, a great book!
View all my reviews
w:
Thank you everybody who dowloaded my book in the free giveaway and extra special thank you to the TWO people who actually BOUGHT my book - what a lovelly suprise! Anyway, I am delighted to report that I sold 267 copies in my sale which is super-duper awesome - I just have to hope that I get some good reviews from it! Anyway, if anyone who is reading this downloaded or bought my book, a heartfelt thanks :) !
My Reading!
Well, I've rejigged the order of my life and now I have a bit more time to read - woo! So, with that, I have managed to finish this book, The Ancient Greek Olympics by Judith Swaddling - http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17...! It was a truly lovelly book, the small size irrelevant as it packed more actual information, minus waffle, than many other books. Absolutely lovelly - here's my review:
The Ancient Olympic Games: [2nd Edition] by Judith SwaddlingMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book is wonderful! It covers every single aspect of the games in great detail, answering the sort of question most books skirt around with blather. Excellently supported by beautiful and well chosen photographs, this book covers everything from the ceremonies, organisation, setting, training of athletes and the events themselves. Added to this is a fascinating chapter on the modern games and the various other attempts to resurrect them. The writing style is lucid and engaging and I cannot recommend this book enough, a great book!
View all my reviews
w:
January 13, 2013
Promotion time! (Issue #7)
Hello fans!
Well, I have some exciting news this week! My novel, The Symbiot Awakening, will be absolutely FREE to download from the 14th to the 16th of January on Amazon Kindle! If you love superhero adventure and furiously paced action set off against a background of strong characters then this book is for you!
"The Symbiot Awakening is a furiously paced, action-packed novel for lovers of wild adventure and strong characters!
When Angela Wright is attacked by Verity Hart, the sister she thought long since dead, she is accidentally infected by the Meteor Bug and becomes a Valkyrie Phenotype Symbiot, gaining incredible powers as a result! However, she is immediately tipped headfirst into a world full of danger, a world only just realising the terrifying power of Symbiots, and soon Angela finds herself in a desperate struggle to save not only all that which is dear to her but the whole country from the rapacious clutches of her sister and the Sharapov family. Confused and barely in control of her powers, her only help comes in the form of the feared vigilante Philippe Hunter, the man whose life was destroyed by Verity years ago and who now harbours a deep and lasting hatred towards her..."
http://www.amazon.com/The-Symbiot-Awa...
So with that taken care of, I shall move onto other business!
My Greek Odyssey!
So this week I managed to finish my Scythian mercenaries! You may remember I promised lots of juicy pics so here they are!
As my army is 460 B.C., I don't get to use many auxiliaries. Hence I don't think I'm going to be using any Thracian peltasts (not usual on the battlefield in this period though perhaps they were used on occassion). However, archers go way back. Herodotos mentions the Athenian-rented Scythian refusing to fight or going over to the Persians at the battle of Marathon in 490 B.C. and Cretan archers were are known to have been used by the Greeks at the great naval battle of Salamis in 480 B.C. Indeed, those were the two sources of archers. What Cretan archer look like is a mystery. Xenophon makes a fuzzy allusion to some shields but he may not be talking about the archers! Some give them the recuved bow but Connolly thinks they had a rather straighter bow, though I'm not quite sure what he bases this assertion on. This being the case, I wasn't happy to go with Cretan archers on offer and went for the more reliable Scythians. How accurate these models are I don't know as it is not my area of expertise but Warlord Games says they are of a easter tribe of Scythians, from around Uzbekistan. This makes me wonder if they would ever have come to be emplyed by the Greeks but then again they did fight for the Persians in Greece and as a Nomadic people there really was nothing stopping them. Some Scythians even ended up as slaves and the Athenians used them as a sort of police force. The major difference between the Scythian and his Cretan counterpart weapons wise are the arrow heads. The Cretans used larger heads while the Scythians used tiny heads, giving the former the ability to do the greater damage but the latter the edge in terms of range. The Scythian recurved composite bow is a thing of beauty and genius! Unstrung it forms a C shape, but it is bent back on itself and held with the string so that it is already under tension before being drawn. The power stems not just from wood either but cleverly has sinew along the outside of the bow, which gives power as it stretches, while horn is along the inside, which stores energy like a spring as it is compresed. So when the bow is drawn the two materials work together to give great power to the shot. As can be seen from the models, the quiver/bowcase by the Scythians' sides allow a large capacity of arrows to be stored. If Herodotos can be relied on (he can be a bit shakey though his intentions seem to be good) the Sythians were a thoroughly disgusting people, turning the scalps of their enemies into napkins and cloaks, drinking wine from the skulls and using their arm skin to make really white bowcases. Nice. :<# !
Awesome stuff/news!
I have great news for symphonic metal fans! Leaves' Eyes, my fav band, have announced that they are working on a new album, Symphonies of the Night, to be released sometime this year. Woo!
My reading.
O.K. I haven't had a whole bunch of time for reading this week but I have got two new books which am very excited about. In Search of the Greeks and The Ancient Olympic Games both look excellent books and I look forward to talking about them more fully when I have read them!
Well, I have some exciting news this week! My novel, The Symbiot Awakening, will be absolutely FREE to download from the 14th to the 16th of January on Amazon Kindle! If you love superhero adventure and furiously paced action set off against a background of strong characters then this book is for you!
"The Symbiot Awakening is a furiously paced, action-packed novel for lovers of wild adventure and strong characters!
When Angela Wright is attacked by Verity Hart, the sister she thought long since dead, she is accidentally infected by the Meteor Bug and becomes a Valkyrie Phenotype Symbiot, gaining incredible powers as a result! However, she is immediately tipped headfirst into a world full of danger, a world only just realising the terrifying power of Symbiots, and soon Angela finds herself in a desperate struggle to save not only all that which is dear to her but the whole country from the rapacious clutches of her sister and the Sharapov family. Confused and barely in control of her powers, her only help comes in the form of the feared vigilante Philippe Hunter, the man whose life was destroyed by Verity years ago and who now harbours a deep and lasting hatred towards her..."
http://www.amazon.com/The-Symbiot-Awa...
So with that taken care of, I shall move onto other business!
My Greek Odyssey!
So this week I managed to finish my Scythian mercenaries! You may remember I promised lots of juicy pics so here they are!
As my army is 460 B.C., I don't get to use many auxiliaries. Hence I don't think I'm going to be using any Thracian peltasts (not usual on the battlefield in this period though perhaps they were used on occassion). However, archers go way back. Herodotos mentions the Athenian-rented Scythian refusing to fight or going over to the Persians at the battle of Marathon in 490 B.C. and Cretan archers were are known to have been used by the Greeks at the great naval battle of Salamis in 480 B.C. Indeed, those were the two sources of archers. What Cretan archer look like is a mystery. Xenophon makes a fuzzy allusion to some shields but he may not be talking about the archers! Some give them the recuved bow but Connolly thinks they had a rather straighter bow, though I'm not quite sure what he bases this assertion on. This being the case, I wasn't happy to go with Cretan archers on offer and went for the more reliable Scythians. How accurate these models are I don't know as it is not my area of expertise but Warlord Games says they are of a easter tribe of Scythians, from around Uzbekistan. This makes me wonder if they would ever have come to be emplyed by the Greeks but then again they did fight for the Persians in Greece and as a Nomadic people there really was nothing stopping them. Some Scythians even ended up as slaves and the Athenians used them as a sort of police force. The major difference between the Scythian and his Cretan counterpart weapons wise are the arrow heads. The Cretans used larger heads while the Scythians used tiny heads, giving the former the ability to do the greater damage but the latter the edge in terms of range. The Scythian recurved composite bow is a thing of beauty and genius! Unstrung it forms a C shape, but it is bent back on itself and held with the string so that it is already under tension before being drawn. The power stems not just from wood either but cleverly has sinew along the outside of the bow, which gives power as it stretches, while horn is along the inside, which stores energy like a spring as it is compresed. So when the bow is drawn the two materials work together to give great power to the shot. As can be seen from the models, the quiver/bowcase by the Scythians' sides allow a large capacity of arrows to be stored. If Herodotos can be relied on (he can be a bit shakey though his intentions seem to be good) the Sythians were a thoroughly disgusting people, turning the scalps of their enemies into napkins and cloaks, drinking wine from the skulls and using their arm skin to make really white bowcases. Nice. :<# !
Awesome stuff/news!
I have great news for symphonic metal fans! Leaves' Eyes, my fav band, have announced that they are working on a new album, Symphonies of the Night, to be released sometime this year. Woo!
My reading.
O.K. I haven't had a whole bunch of time for reading this week but I have got two new books which am very excited about. In Search of the Greeks and The Ancient Olympic Games both look excellent books and I look forward to talking about them more fully when I have read them!
January 6, 2013
New Year (Issue #6)!
Happy New Year everybody! It's blogging time! O.K., so it's a new year and time to stop stuffing my face, lounging around and periodically poking at my stomach and wondering if I'm putting on weight and get writing once more! Once more into the breach, dear friends, just as soon as I've hoovered those knavish pine-needles off the carpet!
The News!
I'm writing again. Yeah, I know, so what? Big deal!
The Video!
Being the New Year and all, I reckoned that the funny this week should reflect that. Therefore, please feel free to enjoy this, Randomguy's hillarious take on the worst kind of New Year greetings, featuring Deadpool!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqCaBe...
My Greek Odyssey.
I'm building an army! A great big Ancient Greek army, Circa 460 B.C., and, week by week, I'm going to be going through my progress, my ups and my downs, and hopefully sharing lots of juicy pictures of plastic greeks! What more could you ask for? Actually, don't answer that lol !
So what am I using? Well I ordered mainly off the Warlord Games Website and having collected a lot of figures from what used to be the company Immortal Miniatures, before the dude running it decided he wanted to spend more time birdwatching and sold up to Warlord. So, as well as musicians, Scythian archers, slingers and a few cavarly, I also got some of my main body of troops, my Hoplites, from this company.
So they are all awesome but I also ordered off Warlord some hoplites from a different company, Victirx!
So they are awesome! My impression having unboxed them and started work is that the Immortal Miniatures are more accurate but the Victix set is more attractive. Indeed, I have in my own geekish way been very busy with the craft knife in trying to ensure complete accuracy and the Victrix ones have really given me the jib! Incidentally, for those interested in my reference materials, I am usingWarfare In Ancient Greece: Arms And Armour From The Heroes Of Homer To Alexander The Great and Greece and Rome at War, which I am finding are answering all of my current needs.
My Reading!
O.K. Quite a lot of reading over the Christmas period and I have three main strands.
First off, I finished The Conversations of Socrates! I have to say, at times it was a bit of a struggle but it was well worth it! There was some interesting philosophy and for an fan of the period it shone a light on the mindset of those living at the time.
Second is A Potted History of Vegetables! This was a truly beautiful book, a real treat to own, and was just stuffed with facts! If one has an interest in vegetables this is a worth adition to the bookshelf!
Finally, I come to this, Before the Devil Knows We Are Dead. Honestly, this is absolutely amazing! Forget that this is an tie-in, I think that this is an absolutely terrific tale. Dark, moody, violent, yet thoughtful and shot through with done dry humour I cannot recommened this story to comics fans enough. Really, the tie-in simple acts as a catalyst for an amazing story. Oh, and the artwork was staggeringly good!
The News!
I'm writing again. Yeah, I know, so what? Big deal!
The Video!
Being the New Year and all, I reckoned that the funny this week should reflect that. Therefore, please feel free to enjoy this, Randomguy's hillarious take on the worst kind of New Year greetings, featuring Deadpool!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqCaBe...
My Greek Odyssey.
I'm building an army! A great big Ancient Greek army, Circa 460 B.C., and, week by week, I'm going to be going through my progress, my ups and my downs, and hopefully sharing lots of juicy pictures of plastic greeks! What more could you ask for? Actually, don't answer that lol !
So what am I using? Well I ordered mainly off the Warlord Games Website and having collected a lot of figures from what used to be the company Immortal Miniatures, before the dude running it decided he wanted to spend more time birdwatching and sold up to Warlord. So, as well as musicians, Scythian archers, slingers and a few cavarly, I also got some of my main body of troops, my Hoplites, from this company.
So they are all awesome but I also ordered off Warlord some hoplites from a different company, Victirx!
So they are awesome! My impression having unboxed them and started work is that the Immortal Miniatures are more accurate but the Victix set is more attractive. Indeed, I have in my own geekish way been very busy with the craft knife in trying to ensure complete accuracy and the Victrix ones have really given me the jib! Incidentally, for those interested in my reference materials, I am usingWarfare In Ancient Greece: Arms And Armour From The Heroes Of Homer To Alexander The Great and Greece and Rome at War, which I am finding are answering all of my current needs.
My Reading!
O.K. Quite a lot of reading over the Christmas period and I have three main strands.
First off, I finished The Conversations of Socrates! I have to say, at times it was a bit of a struggle but it was well worth it! There was some interesting philosophy and for an fan of the period it shone a light on the mindset of those living at the time.
Second is A Potted History of Vegetables! This was a truly beautiful book, a real treat to own, and was just stuffed with facts! If one has an interest in vegetables this is a worth adition to the bookshelf!
Finally, I come to this, Before the Devil Knows We Are Dead. Honestly, this is absolutely amazing! Forget that this is an tie-in, I think that this is an absolutely terrific tale. Dark, moody, violent, yet thoughtful and shot through with done dry humour I cannot recommened this story to comics fans enough. Really, the tie-in simple acts as a catalyst for an amazing story. Oh, and the artwork was staggeringly good!
December 30, 2012
Sad News :(.
I break radio silence to bring you very sad news for all those who love comics and superheroes. They. Have. Killed. Spiderman. I'm not kidding and I'm not trolling, it's true. The JERKS at Marvel have managed to find something worse to do than DC's new 52 universe and have completely screwed up Marvel's most memorable character, with Doc Oc now living in Peter's body while Peter died in Doc Oc's. Thank goodness I am not a big Spidey fan because I am furious enough as it is. Why is it that comics feel the need to keep doing this? Why do they need more, more, more sales? Why not instead of screwing up loved characters and stories make something new? You know, actually damn well think of a new hero, let Spidey gracefully retire, perhaps with Mary Jane. Man if you have to break his legs so that he can't web crawl again but make him happy. Or give him a hero's death. Soemthing real, meaningful and very moving which represents the perhaps unrealistic but hopefilled and inspiring sheer goodness of heroes like Spidey. But no, they have to mess it all up. So angry, so fed up, so sad.
December 23, 2012
Christmas (Issue #5)
Happy Christmas on and all! O.K. there is no news this week so it's straight onto the video. Oh and just to let you know that I shall be taking a break from blogging for a couple of weeks but I shall be back after the Christmas period with more new ideas for the blog and ways to waste your day - hopefull in the most entertaining way possible!
The Video!
This video, The Dark Knight Before Christmas, is from superhero spoofer extraodinaire, Random Guy! However, this is not a spoof but is a heartfelt ode to both Batman and Christmas and is a delight to watch. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FX_C_N...
Cool Stuff 8)!
This thread is basically being mothballed because there are simply not enough cool things in the world that people don't already know about. On occassion it will be revived but basically there needs to be some new threads methinks as this one is lacking inspiration.
My Reading!
I've been reading Xenophon lately.
Hmm, fun, I hear you cry sarcastically. But really it is worth a read if you love Ancient Greece because in this edition are two of the most important literary sources on Athenian Society, The Dinner Party and The Estate Manager. Both these source shine a real light on the conventions of the time and I look forwards to reading them. On the other hand, I have to confess that it is not the most electrifying writing in the world and I am a little bored sometimes. Certainly I have decided to move on from The Memoirs of Socrates and am focussing on the more interesting and more entertaining parts I mentioned above!
The Video!
This video, The Dark Knight Before Christmas, is from superhero spoofer extraodinaire, Random Guy! However, this is not a spoof but is a heartfelt ode to both Batman and Christmas and is a delight to watch. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FX_C_N...
Cool Stuff 8)!
This thread is basically being mothballed because there are simply not enough cool things in the world that people don't already know about. On occassion it will be revived but basically there needs to be some new threads methinks as this one is lacking inspiration.
My Reading!
I've been reading Xenophon lately.
Hmm, fun, I hear you cry sarcastically. But really it is worth a read if you love Ancient Greece because in this edition are two of the most important literary sources on Athenian Society, The Dinner Party and The Estate Manager. Both these source shine a real light on the conventions of the time and I look forwards to reading them. On the other hand, I have to confess that it is not the most electrifying writing in the world and I am a little bored sometimes. Certainly I have decided to move on from The Memoirs of Socrates and am focussing on the more interesting and more entertaining parts I mentioned above!
December 9, 2012
100 Big Ones! (Issue #4)
Woo! I just have to share the news so here it is -
The News!
I'VE HIT 100,000 WORDS WITH THE SYMBIOT VENGENCE!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOO! It feel fantastic, it really does :D. I know in many ways it is arbitary but hitting a big, solid rounded number like that feels really special and like an achievement I can pat myself on the back for before returning to my usual whithering self-criticism lol!
In other news, I've given the Symbiot Awakening a cover overhaul. I asked for advice and I was lucky enough to get it in spades and it all told me my cover at best failed to do what it needed to and at worst sucked. So, a big rethink and redesign later and I came up with a new one, which I hope works a LOT better!
The Video!
Well, the video for this week is for the Potterheads out there (like trekkies we could all be Potheads! Oh, wait, that's an awful idea). Potter Puppet Pals works on the level of turning Harry, a modest, brave and courageous character, into a complete monster and this video shows Potter at his worst - with Draco Malfoy! Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_kD5w...
Cool Stuff 8)!
This is cool. This is supercool. On both a metaphorical and literal level. Voyager 1, the craft launched in 1977 (ironically the year the first Star Wars film was released) which was primarily meant to examine Jupiter and Saturn and their moons and which carries Sounds of Earth golden disk on board, is right on the edge of the solar system and is sending back very strange reports of strange magnetic activity, suggest an interconnection of magentic force fields in the universe. This noble craft, containg the processing power of 100,000th of that gifted to an 8gig iPod Nano, is now 11 BILLION miles from the sun and is right on the very edge of the solar system, hoped to leave completely in anything from a few months to a couple of years and with on board instruments (cameras long since turned off to preserve energy)able to stay active until 2020 and a few hopefully until 2025, one wonders, if the fates allow and nothing stops working, just what else Voyager might discover as it truly "Boldly goes where no machine has ever gone before"!
My Reading!
Well, reading has yet again been tightly limited by time but my comics give me solace for my lack of time for prose. And this week Fear Itself kicked off in the U.K.! So, how is it? Well, this week I'm getting the Avengers portion and the X-Force tie in and I have to say I like one better than the other. The main event is looking pretty impressive and I have to say I find the Asgard situation intriguing. But the X-Force tie-in is amazing. Really, Before the Devil Knows We're Dead has started in fine fashion indeed! Not only is the artwork terrific but also the story is fantastic and is doing everything X-Force is good at. It is brutal, contraversial, questioning, real and is bringing a fresh take on the whole Purifier dimension. Shot through with devastating shots of dark wit, genuine shock and surprise moments, vicious action and bad guys who do not loose unreservedly, this is shaping up to be one fine tale!
The News!
I'VE HIT 100,000 WORDS WITH THE SYMBIOT VENGENCE!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOO! It feel fantastic, it really does :D. I know in many ways it is arbitary but hitting a big, solid rounded number like that feels really special and like an achievement I can pat myself on the back for before returning to my usual whithering self-criticism lol!
In other news, I've given the Symbiot Awakening a cover overhaul. I asked for advice and I was lucky enough to get it in spades and it all told me my cover at best failed to do what it needed to and at worst sucked. So, a big rethink and redesign later and I came up with a new one, which I hope works a LOT better!
The Video!
Well, the video for this week is for the Potterheads out there (like trekkies we could all be Potheads! Oh, wait, that's an awful idea). Potter Puppet Pals works on the level of turning Harry, a modest, brave and courageous character, into a complete monster and this video shows Potter at his worst - with Draco Malfoy! Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_kD5w...
Cool Stuff 8)!
This is cool. This is supercool. On both a metaphorical and literal level. Voyager 1, the craft launched in 1977 (ironically the year the first Star Wars film was released) which was primarily meant to examine Jupiter and Saturn and their moons and which carries Sounds of Earth golden disk on board, is right on the edge of the solar system and is sending back very strange reports of strange magnetic activity, suggest an interconnection of magentic force fields in the universe. This noble craft, containg the processing power of 100,000th of that gifted to an 8gig iPod Nano, is now 11 BILLION miles from the sun and is right on the very edge of the solar system, hoped to leave completely in anything from a few months to a couple of years and with on board instruments (cameras long since turned off to preserve energy)able to stay active until 2020 and a few hopefully until 2025, one wonders, if the fates allow and nothing stops working, just what else Voyager might discover as it truly "Boldly goes where no machine has ever gone before"!
My Reading!
Well, reading has yet again been tightly limited by time but my comics give me solace for my lack of time for prose. And this week Fear Itself kicked off in the U.K.! So, how is it? Well, this week I'm getting the Avengers portion and the X-Force tie in and I have to say I like one better than the other. The main event is looking pretty impressive and I have to say I find the Asgard situation intriguing. But the X-Force tie-in is amazing. Really, Before the Devil Knows We're Dead has started in fine fashion indeed! Not only is the artwork terrific but also the story is fantastic and is doing everything X-Force is good at. It is brutal, contraversial, questioning, real and is bringing a fresh take on the whole Purifier dimension. Shot through with devastating shots of dark wit, genuine shock and surprise moments, vicious action and bad guys who do not loose unreservedly, this is shaping up to be one fine tale!
William Axtell's Blog
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