D. Hunter Phillips's Blog, page 9

AwesomeConDC Awesomeness

This past Saturday, the 20th of April, I could have been found wandering the hallways of the DC Convention Center. It was time for another Con! Not a work Con, but a fun nerdy Con!

The price was a very reasonable $15 for a one day pass. I’d say that the price point was perfect to entice me to go even though I wasn’t sure about it. After all, if it was bad, it wouldn’t be that much of a loss and I would have gotten to at least peruse the exhibit hall for crap to buy. I did find some gothy costume stuff for very cheap, ran into Tony Tribby of Dead Bat Designs (who make awesome nerdy shirts with original spice to them) and collected my kickstarter reward for supporting his book, and bought some art as well.

The panels that I saw included Preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse, Star Wars vs. Star Trek, and Super Art Fight!

The Zombie Apocalypse panel was fairly entertaining but had its ups and downs. The screen for the projector was far too low. It was pretty much impossible to see anything but the heading on all the slides. This panel was one where you had to sort of set your expectations that it wasn’t REALLY going to tell you anything new, but it was a fun little get together with nerds that like zombies.

The Star Wars vs. Star Trek panel had a great set up as a moderated debate with two teams. There were a few strong moments and entertaining quips, but I was very disappointed that the “experts” never really brought up the expanded universe. Yes, you may have lost some of the audience, but really, you are at a nerd convention and specifically a panel about two specific shows. I bet that 80% of the people there read Star Wars or Star Trek books and know episode names and such by heart. Spice it up a little and make us feel like we are really listening to experts or serious fans. For instance, in the question about which would win in a war, the Federation or the Empire, I would have loved to hear the technical break down of a Star Destroyers armaments. People know this stuff.

Super Art Fight! is always a fun event. I just saw it for the first time at Katsucon and I was so intrigued. I’m really starting to enjoy art and artist sense of humor much more now. The hosts and the set up are great. Also, they score the winner based on audience loudness, but they actually have a decibel reader which makes it SCIENCE! I suggest going to the art fight at any convention, you’ll laugh and see some serious creativity.

The costumes were sparse, but I expected that for a smaller first convention. The guy costumes were much more awesome than any of the girl costumes. Step it up girls! And, of course, there was a large contingent of HomeStuck cosplay. So odd how big that cosplay has become. I wanted to wear my old Captain Harlock costume, but it was too wrinkly.

Overall, I’d say that I will most definitely go if they do this con again next year. Maybe I’ll even have a booth and sell my books too!

This Week in Swing

My intermediate class was pretty laid back this week. We sort of just reviewed a bunch of materials and talked a little bit about “musicality”. Musicality meaning the flow and rhythm of music and trying to match some dance moves to it. I didn’t pay much attention to that part, to be honest. I’ve been dancing to music and trying to hit the notes with goofy silly single moves for years. That’s pretty much the main thing I do when I go out dancing at goth clubs.

I’ve got a video this week, with my guinea pig being Alexis this time. She showered me with compliments on how I have improved, making me blush immensely. Thanks Alexis!

I got down a couple of moves that are pretty basic but we just haven’t gone over yet. (Including one that they went over the one week I didn’t make it to class) You can see them in the video. The “dude” turn, which I have started using in social dance and it has not confused any girl yet. The other would just be the under arm turn instead of the over arm turn to spin the ladies around the other way. Hannah, on Tuesdays, makes that one look awesome with the flowy skirts she is always wearing.

I also tested myself with a couple of the girls on Tuesday at Carlyle Club to dance six count with just the one hand connection. I’m definitely getting better at using my left hand to actually lead moves, even more subtle things like if I want a girl to do a rock step or to come toward me. Still no master, but there is still plenty of time to face off against Obi Wan in a couple Episodes.

Remembering the Trails

As I plan for a long overdue backpacking trip this weekend, I am stuck looking at the maps for Shenandoah and trying to remember all the trails I have already taken. I have sort of a bucket list life goal of hiking every single trail along skyline drive. How the hell am I supposed to get that goal down right if I can’t even remember where I hiked before? I now realize my memory can’t hold all this stuff all by itself. It is going to be a battle, a challenge, as it were. I must now go back and try to document all the hikes and trips.

So, of course, I’ve done Old Rag. It is not really conducive for camping though, more just for a nice epic day hike.

The other hike I definitely recall with fondness was the first actual backpacking trip I did. The crew was mixed with people who were out of shape and in shape and my buddy Joe brought a full on air mattress. It must have weighed about 50 pounds. It was no wonder he barely made it out alive.

The Hike: Piney Branch and Little Devils Stairs

We parked at the Hogback Mountain overlook and travelled down to the trailhead for the Piney Branch Trail. We took that all the way down to the Hull School Trail and ended up camping there at a beautiful stream intersection. The bad part was, we did all the down hill the first day and had a ton of up hill left. We traveled up the Hull School Trail and when we got to the fire road, those that were out of shape took it up. My buddy Jesse and I hiked up the Little Devil’s Stairs. It was glorious and beautiful. We barely made it out alive with all four of us.

The Hike: Millprong Trail to Laurel Prong Trail

We parked at Milam Gap parking. This was a pretty brutal hike for the three of us that went, but fortunately, we were all in pretty decent shape. The first day of hiking was pretty boring. The Laurel Pront Trail was pretty though, and good for camping next to a fresh water supply. At the top, when you get to the split to Cat Knob, I thought it was breath taking. It looked like a little secluded glade. Then, the rest of the trip was a pretty easy hike back down the Appalachian Trail. Once we got to the top of Hazeltop Mountain, the rest of the journey was a relaxing walk along the AT. Also, the Rapidan Camp and Five Tents were an interesting little foray in the middle of the woods. Random museum.

The Hike: Beecher Ridge Trail and Overall Run Trail

We parked at the amphitheater and got lost trying to find our way through the camp grounds. Once we did, we hiked through a rainy, dreary day, but that didn’t make it any less fun. The Overall Run Falls were pretty, and they were a nice reward for a hard day of hiking. It was just my buddy Jon and I and I can’t remember where exactly we camped or how it was.

The Hike: There was this other hike that I can’t remember the trails.

The hike ended up being a 17-miler overnight. If anyone other than Jon or I had done that hike, we might not have made it out. We did about 15 miles the first day and the last two on the next morning, we LIMPED out of there. Me more than him. I need to figure out which trails that was because that was obviously a lot more I can mark off my list that I have hiked. (I think that it was AT to Neighbor Mountain Trail to Jeremy’s Run and back up, but I can’t be 100% certain)

I need to use my mapping abilities to actually just get a big map of all the trails and highlight them as I do them all. That would make things one hell of a lot easier. Cheers to the future of making this goal a reality I can complete. With the blog, it’ll certainly make it easier to keep track of all these trails.

The Frozen Pizza Showdown

Frozen Pizza

Christine, Mary Beth, and myself sat down a couple weeks ago for a frozen pizza showdown!

We started the extravaganza with the kid-like comfort food of bagel bites. I sort of assumed that would be like starting from the lowest of the pizzas and working our way up. Well, indeed, after eating the other pizzas, I regretted wasting some of my valuable stomach space on these little bites. Too much bagel and no flavor from the cubes of pepperoni. I am devastated that this struggling teenage favorite has fallen so far. Where have my taste buds gone?

Second, we went for the Amy’s pizza. I’ve grown to love mushrooms and olives over the past year. So, I was actually incredibly excited to try this “fancier” brand of pizza. Well, the dough and crust were actually nice, but I found something from the olives or the mushrooms or combination there of to have a strange aftertaste. The first couple of bites really smacked me in the face with earthy, salty goodness. That faded though and then I just found myself eating it to pass the time. It was still a hell of a lot better than the bagel bites.

Finally, we tried the Newman’s Own pepperoni. Newman showed up, guns blazing. Neither of the other entries could dodge those smokin’ six shooters. There is just something about a frozen pizza that is well seasoned and just has the basics of cheese and pepperoni.

We were left so satisfied by that one that we never got around to the Balducci’s store brand pizza. Christine and I tried the Balducci’s store pizza. The goat cheese was delicious as can be expected. I thought the crust was a little doughy and Christine added cherry tomatoes to spice it up a bit.

In the end, I do believe that we all agreed, the Newman’s Own pepperoni was the best. Paul, you did us right, just like you usually do with your salad dressings.

Rumors Buried Deep Volume VIII

Rumors Buried Deep

News from outside the towns

Refugees spotted

The plague ridden and refugees, hoping to stay ahead of the spreading disease, have been spotted at the newly created road block on the road south west of Guddereicht. Rumors are that this nomad populace has split between the farm lands to the east while others have started to travel up into the hills near Sir Lothar’s village. A new knight with a strand of refugees following behind has come from the direction of Boggsville and camped on the western edge of town.

Barbarian threat

The concentration of Augrock’s forces and rumors of siege engines under construction points only to the town being assaulted in the next couple of days. Scouts report a cloaked, dark figure that does not fit in with the hordes that is training them to fight as units. New commanders have been appointed to replace those defeated by the Tidewall Militia. Skirmishers are constant, just out of range of the archers at the borders of Guddereicht.

Local News

Sir Reigel returns

Sir Reigel claims that evidence of Lord Lindthurst has been discovered and that he believes he still lives. Sir Reigel’s own injuries are grevious and the Elder Apothecary Foyle sees to his injuries with every waking moment.

Ser Bellsworth in command

Ser Bellsworth and his Zupus priests have butted heads with all the religious authority figures in town. The temple guards are far outnumbered compared to Bellsworth’s now bolstered command of the militia. Rumor is that Sir Grishom and Sir Lothar grow concerned by the possible division and what will happen to the town if and when the battle should be won against the barbarians.

Religions for the newly initiated and the lay man

With all the religious contention, the editor has decided to breakdown the situation for those that don’t have much knowledge of the complexities of the religion upon Enchiridion.

The chief faith in Guddereicht since the Worshipper’s War has been the Shardborn Ascendancy. Those gods that were once mortals, those that know our plight. They have a piece of the dead, one true creator within them. That power in town has been waning.

The Luminatus, led by Karl Backer, have been gaining in strength and with the loss of Lord von Fuerst, they may just gain the nobility’s official endorsement. The Luminatus belief wraps the gods of both the Shardborn and Nobilis pantheons together. It isn’t important where a godly source of power originates, it is about which gods serve the Light and which serve the Darkness.

The problem in town is that Zupus, the god of the current warmaster, Sir Bellsworth is both a Nobilis and considered Dark. This puts the faith of his priests, and the warmaster himself at odds with all the religious authorities in town.

Plague Rumors

Vanusiil’s Brood has mysteriously stopped their western movement and most of them have disappeared to deep within the southern farm lands. Their inevitable clash with the Purged mercenaries seems to have been put on hold. Meanwhile, a scouting party of the Purged has run up against the road block of Guddereicht, with no social interaction. The party quickly retreated after getting a good look at the road block defense.

GenCon 2013

I already feel my blood boiling with excitement for this year’s GenCon! I do wish they would move the dates back to the beginning of August (since DragonCon is literally two weeks later). But, hey, should I really complain about two conventions in two weeks? NNNNOOO!

In the coming weeks, I plan on digging up and releasing some of the info I gathered from the last GenCon in celebration of the approach of this year’s convention. Yes, I know, in a lot of ways, its a little late. Let’s just say that life happens, things get lost, and the best of intentions are not always met.

Now that I have the blog plowing forward into the future, I hope to share a great many of my observations and tips about the best four days in gaming.

Let’s start with some of the basics.

Take a shower once per day, missing 5-10 minutes of the convention will not kill you, but the shower may save you or find you that lucky someone.

Aahh… you’ve heard the tips before, but what can you do for others to help them if they have failed to follow these rules?

You could go for the old school method of the clove and cinnamon infused orange to wear around your neck… how medieval of you!

Instead, just carry around a small and helpful pack of supplies. Your D&D character would never go anywhere without his adventurer’s kit… right? Spray on deodorant could save lives, you just need to gain the guts to tell somebody they need to use it. A big ol’ bag of nuts and a hefty bottle of water could save you from a trip to the water fountain or from the really crappy convention center food. Carry a camera, not just a cell phone to take pictures of the nice people that dress up in awesome costumes. Sometimes you’ll see a costume that no one has ever done and that no one will ever do again. Immortalize that person and keep a copy for yourself!

Sign up for events the day that event sign ups start, May 14th. Don’t just use generic tickets. I have tried this a number of years and the flexibility is not worth the disappointment of constantly full games.

Next year, get a hotel room on the day they release them. If you don’t, have fun driving from the Airport every day. Also, check back in with the housing bureau for the last couple of months before the convention and you’ll probably be fortunate enough to get a room attached to the convention center.

LARPing: I have returned

So, after a long hiatus of over 5 years, I have finally shrugged the dust off of the figurative and literal LARPing cloak. Fore those of you that don’t know what LARPing is, it is Live Action Roleplaying. And if you didn’t know that, prepare yourself for picture goodness! Don’t be afraid. It is just people improv acting and other people making a story line and there is some combat with rules put between those elements.

Baron Petra Slouchin’

Baron Petra – action

The two above pictures are actually a character I used to play way back in the day. He has been the evil knight, he has been the tempter; he has been betrayed by others of evil; he has been imprisoned; he has been rescued; he has been redeemed; he has… what’s next? We shall see.

Fourth Royal Drinkon?

The above picture are two members of the 4th Royal Guard, the military unit stationed in town. All the below pictures are pretty much just candid shots I took when people weren’t paying much attention. Nothing better than catching people off guard with a picture when they are doing something nerdy.

Larp Walking

Battlin from afar

Battlin from afar

Jarek of the Royal Guard

Jarek of the Royal Guard

Larp Pose

Forge time

National Kite Festival

Last Saturday was the National Kite Festival. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. The mall was packed. It looked like DC was being attacked by a whole bunch of super tiny UFOs!

National Kite Festival

National Kite Festival

National Kite Festival

Washington Monument

Random shot

National Kite Festival

National Kite Festival

The next few shots are all from the kite battles. I’ve never heard of a kite battle, but it was a lot of fun to watch. Essentially, you try to get the other kites knocked down to touch the ground or break the string that holds them to their user. The wind died for part of two rounds of the battle, which made for short and boring runs. Though, when the wind picked up, it was pretty fun to watched the kites fly around and the people run around trying to get an advantage on the other kites.

Kite Battles

Kite Battles

Kite Battles

Kite Battles

World War 2 Memorial

World War 2 Memorial

National Kite Festival

Vietnam Memorial

I feel like I would get much more understanding out of the Vietnam memorial if I went with my dad. I didn’t feel right taking a picture of it until I saw an older gentleman rubbing his hands along a few of the names. Then, the moment struck me. I always envisioned the wall being taller. Still, that moment really brought forth the emotions I expected.

Lincoln Memorial

I’ve driven by the Lincoln Memorial so many times, it almost has lost its luster. Though, it is so huge and so classical European, I loved seeing it on foot and up close. Though, it was so packed inside, I decided discretion was the much better part of valor.

All my clothes are so dark that my body disappears! I had to get myself in a shot up there.

Reflecting Pool

This is such a beautiful part of DC. I must say, I actually like the monument with the scaffolding, it gives it more dimension.

Me Being Goofy

Me

I had to get goofy and pretend to hold up some heavy stones, its such a classic pose for me.

Scary car

The tour of the mall ended and then on the way to dinner, I spotted this gem. Really? Only a Cowboys fan would do something as silly as this and in enemy territory too. I just had to shake my head and capture the moment in a picture.

Adventures in Painting

In the last few months, I have done some serious damage to the remaining Warhammer 40k models that I had not yet painted. I didn’t have too far to go to get to the end of my queue, but it had been years since I actually did any miniatures painting.

I didn’t even give myself much of a chance to brush up on my skills. I pretty much jumped right in to painting some of the more awesome models that I had saved up. I painted the Warboss that came with the Assault on Black Reach set almost first thing. He has been my profile picture on facebook for about a month now. I am actually very happy with that particular model.

Black Reach Warboss from the front

Black Reach Warboss from the back

I’m feeling super happy about the way that my Nobs turned out. I tried a new technique with all their guns and banners. I used to paint guns black and then dry brush silver or paint them silver and then ink them black. This time, I painted them brown, dry brushed them silver and then inked them black. They look awesome! They look all rusty, old, and orky!

Nobz!

Nobz!

Nobz!

Nobz!

I painted 20 gretchin in the span of an hour and a half with the help of one friend painting their bases and one or two other minor things.

I also jumped into painting some Ratling Snipers for a friend of mine. I warned him that I was not going to base them. So you won’t see any effort into the bases. I am so used to painting orks and tau that the faces and some of the details were a real challenge for me to conceptualize.

Ratlings ready to hide

Ratlings ready to hide

Ratlings ready to hide

When posting some of my pictures and discussing things on facebook, I remember a debate sparking between two of my friends about various painting techniques. I was sad to say that they quickly left me in the dust with the technical chat. I want to learn how to do washes and what those are all about. I do a lot of dry brushing and inking, but I don’t really understand the whole “Wash” thing.

TO DO:

Get some texturized paint and paint and grass up all the bases for my ork and tau army. I want them to just look awesome beyond the fact that they all actually have some paint on them.

I need to paint my PainBoy so that I can have some nobz with Feel No Pain.

Query:

I want to do a warboss on a bike with a power klaw and a I want it to look good. Does anyone have any tips or know a good model to start with to pull this off? Having a boss with toughness 6 and a strength 10 attack is really just too good to pass up!

Quick TV Note

Really? Really? Really?! That is the finale of Walking Dead? I don’t say that in such a way that I am hoping there are more episodes. That finale was an utter let down in almost every way imaginable. If you watch the show, I don’t think I have any need to explain and I don’t want to spoil it for you if you haven’t seen the episode yet. Let’s just say that the previous episode SHOULD have been the finale. I mean, yes there were a bunch of things left unresolved at the end of that episode, but most of the same things were still unresolved after the “finale”.

To cap off my Sunday (which is my only day for watching tv) TV watching disappointment, Game Of Thrones finally led me to believe that indeed the books might be better than the show when all was said and done.

(SPOILER ALERT)

Why did they have to make Samwell utterly pathetic and inept. Yes, he’s craven, yes, he’s fat, but he did his damn job in the books. He knew stuff, he mapped stuff, he let the ravens fly with all kinds of messages in a smart way so that his cravenness wouldn’t get in the way. So what… he’s the comic relief character now? Hahah, everybody laugh, the fat guy failed again. He can’t do anything right! I know this change might not affect the overall story, but do you really have to make him a total loser?

Battle Skipping

Okay, I realize that the budget might not be… wait a minute… this is HBO right? This is probably their most successful show right now, right? I mean, I know people don’t love CGI, but it does make doing some big battle effects cheaper. Shows have been doing it for years, Lord of the Rings did it. So we get to look forward to them skipping every single battle sequence and just have people talk about them? YAY! There are ways they could do them, even showing a short scene from far away or something.

Barristan Selmy

In the book, when Selmy reveals himself, it is like half way or more through the book. It is epic and a big surprise. In the show, they take a crappy 30 second sequence for him to just out himself randomly and she just accepts him like that, no worries, he couldn’t possibly be a spy or assassin or something sent by the Usurper king to kill you. This just makes me worry as to how they will handle Jorah later.

Sansa getting rescued?

Okay, I know they aren’t doing the Ser Dontis thing at this point. But really? Did they have to reveal that it is going to be Littlefinger already? I mean, in the books, when she gets out to the ship, I was like, WOAH! What? Its Littlefinger? In the show, they just had to spell it all out, right in the first interaction. Random.