tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-10-08:450754archmagearchmagearchmage2010-09-11T02:16:02Ztag:dreamwidth.org,2009-10-08:450754:16188These are the voyages...2010-09-11T02:16:02Z2010-09-11T02:16:02ZRadio Margaritavillethirstypublic0Day 28 - First t.v show obsession<br /><br />Really? You need to ask that question? Ok, fine. It's Star Trek The Next Generation. Do you now feel like you know something that you didn't already? <br /><br />I didn't think so.<br /><br /><hr><br />The Jo-Ann Fabric store near us just remodeled, and they sent out a huge number of coupons. Tonight Tigs and I took advantage of them and picked up a number of things. Unfortunately things aren't quite running at 100%. The girls at the cutting counter had all sorts of issues, which caused issues at checkout. Ah well. <br /><br />I also went to my barber today. I haven't had a barber since I was 10. I have to say that I actually like the feel of a straight razor, and I'm having some crazy thoughts about getting one for myself to shave with. <br /><br /><hr><br />Here are some work in progress pictures of my current Haloween projects. <br /><br />First up we have the Cthulhu statue.<br />In these pictures you can see that I've built up the cheek bones, smoothed out some of the rough spots, and bulked up the tentacles. <br /><img src="http://pics.livejournal.com/archmage45/pic/0011s0gf/s640x480" width="360" border="10" height="480" title=""><br /><br />Then I started to covered it with a coat of <a href="http://www.twistedvisions.org/index22.htm">monster mud</a>. It took a few stages to do the whole figure. I made the mud too thick, and it was really difficult to work with a brush. I gave up eventually, donned a couple of rubber gloves, and just smeared it on by hand. That actually worked pretty well, though in the future I'm going to make it thinner. <br /><img src="http://pics.livejournal.com/archmage45/pic/0011wpyp/s640x480" width="360" border="10" height="480" title=""> <br /><br />You can see here how I built up around the eyes with the mud. Once that was all done and dry I brought it outside. <br /><img src="http://pics.livejournal.com/archmage45/pic/0011xwf8/s640x480" width="360" border="10" height="480" title=""><br /><br /><img src="http://pics.livejournal.com/archmage45/pic/0011y5x1/s640x480" width="360" border="10" height="480" title=""><br /><br />Then I spray painted it green. <br /><img src="http://pics.livejournal.com/archmage45/pic/0011zae3/s640x480" width="360" border="10" height="480" title=""><br />That's where it's at now. I'm trying to decide if I want to go and make it a greenish gray or black with green coming through it, and some dark gray highlights. <br /><br />The other project I'm working on are a series of creepy books. This one is on werewolves. I started by drawing and cutting out a pattern on thick card, and then gluing it to the book.<br /><img src="http://pics.livejournal.com/archmage45/pic/0011p82s/s640x480" width="360" border="10" height="480" title=""><br /><br />Here I've added the paper mache paper towel to the cover, and painted it with brown while it was still wet.<br /><img src="http://pics.livejournal.com/archmage45/pic/0011qz3b/s640x480" width="640" border="10" height="480" title=""><br /><br />Here's one without flash.<br /><img src="http://pics.livejournal.com/archmage45/pic/0011rwtq/s640x480" width="360" border="10" height="480" title=""><br /><br />Since the pattern didn't show up well enough I decided to paint it.<br /><img src="http://pics.livejournal.com/archmage45/pic/0011tg0q/s640x480" width="640" border="10" height="480" title=""><br /><br />These are two other books that are in progress.<br /><img src="http://pics.livejournal.com/archmage45/pic/00122c8k/s640x480" width="640" border="10" height="480" title=""><br /><br />One of my purchases at Jo-Ann fabrics was a ghastly fur for a monster book. That one's going to be fun!<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=archmage&ditemid=16188" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-10-08:450754:15727Mr. Worf. Fire. *Da-da-dum bom-bom-bom Da-da-dum bom-bom-bom Da-da-duuummm*2010-09-09T02:16:18Z2010-09-09T02:16:18Zbusypublic0Day 26 - OMG WTF? Season finale<br /><br />As far as season finales go, Star Trek has had numerous OMG! WTF? moments. The first and most stunning time they did it was the end of season 3 <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/tubemandreke1#p/c/B427B77B6B497618">The Best of Both Worlds</a>, and did that make for an unbearable summer for me, and I’m pretty sure for my mom, who I insisted on going over all my theories with. All. Summer. Long. <br /><br /><hr><br />Alice’s last puppy agility class was yesterday and tonight was the club’s summer general meeting. Between them I did manage to squeeze in a few minutes of time to work on my statue, and do a little reading. I also got a gift from work – an old rusty horseshoe. Why is this exciting? <a href="http://davelowe.blogspot.com/2009/10/29-days-til-halloween-haunted-horseshoe.html">Because it’s going to become yet another Halloween prop</a>! This one will be a quick and easy one too. <br /><br />In non-Halloween related news, I should be finishing up the banister this weekend. The weather looks like it'll cooperate, and I should be able to get it cleaned and stained Friday evening and Saturday, and hung on Sunday, between the various activities that are going on. <br /><br />Also, next week is the primary election, and once again I'm serving as an election judge. So everyone in Maryland (and any other state with a primary coming up) go vote! Unless you've already done your absentee ballot or taken advantage of early voting. <br /><br /><hr><br />Afraid of spiders? <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7973024/Man-blows-himself-up-trying-to-kill-a-spider.html">Would you blow yourself up to kill a spider? This man did!</a><br /><br /><hr><br />Lucy thought that it should be pointed out that she is in fact awesomer than awesome. <br /><img src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs605.snc4/58575_1394239138501_1307866538_31001580_2600563_n.jpg" width="720" border="10" height="540" title=""><br />Just in case you weren't aware.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=archmage&ditemid=15727" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-10-08:450754:15230Is there anything better than a natural disaster: the panic, the people lost in the streets.2010-09-04T03:43:23Z2010-09-04T03:43:23Ztiredpublic0Day 23 - Most annoying character<br /><br />I had a visceral hatred of Darla, a minor vampire character from the first season of Buffy and then Angel. I’m not sure why exactly, and I haven’t re-watched it to see if I’d still hate her, but man. I’m glad she got staked. <br /><br /><hr><br />The Halloween decorations are starting to appear in stores! Last night we had to make an emergency run to Jo-Ann Fabrics, and just inside the door was the first of the Halloween stuff! Unfortunately they were out of the awesomely awful green tiger stripe fake fur that I was thinking of getting for the Monster Book of Monsters that I wanted to make. Oh well. <br /><br />Tonight I worked on my various creepy books, but didn't get around to the statue. Tomorrow. I also need to do a 50 book challenge post, and do some more school work. But for now, bed.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=archmage&ditemid=15230" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-10-08:450754:15081So, five-card stud, nothing wild. And the sky's the limit. 2010-09-03T01:48:52Z2010-09-03T01:48:52Zhotpublic0Day 22 - Favorite series finale<br /><br />Many of them do it so right. The West Wing, Gilmore Girls, Wonderfalls, DS9 and TNG. The ones that make the best ending are the ones that let you know that while the show is ending, the story doesn’t. When Sam turns out the lights at Cheers you know that the next day he’ll be back to turn them on again, that Norm and Cliff will be hanging out at the end of the bar. You know that Rory will go on to follow the Obama campaign through to the inauguration and that after that possibilities will continue to open up for her, Lorelei and Sookie will still have their B&B. <br /><br />Which one is my favorite? I'm going to have to go with TNG, if only because I know that after it ends I still get a couple of movies. <br /><br /><hr><br /><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_2SLq5ubrbls/TH6ZPHS1euI/AAAAAAAABA8/iJrPUTJdC9U/s576/DSC03227.JPG" width="432" border="10" height="576" title=""><br />There has been some progress on my paper mache statue. Since this picture was taken I made up some paper mache clay and added some cheek definition, lengthened the tail, and filled in a few gaps. I also bulked up the tentacles with some rolled up newspaper. They were looking too flat. Tomorrow I'm planning on adding one more layer of paper mache on top of what I've already got done, and then it'll be time to do some painting I think. <br /><br />One of the other Halloween projects I'm thinking about is gravestones, and I was thinking about who/what to put on them. I was considering putting fictional dead characters on them, like Wash "I'm a leaf on the wind" or Chewbacca "R.A. Salvatore dropped a moon on me!" Any other ideas or characters I should consider?<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=archmage&ditemid=15081" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-10-08:450754:14574The crackers, Danny. The cheese things that you have at a party? 2010-08-31T22:51:18Z2010-08-31T22:51:18Zuncomfortablepublic0Day 20 - Favorite kiss<br /><br />I’m a fan of the Kirk & Uhura kiss for it’s historical value, but in general there isn’t a whole lot of kissing in Star Trek (outside the original series anyway). <br /><br />CJ & Danny’s first kiss was really well done, so lets go with that one. <br /><br /><hr><br />I think part of the reason I’ve had Halloween on the brain is because some not so deep down lizard part of my brain has said that “<i>SUMMER IS DONE! I AM DONE WITH SUMMER!!!!</i>!” and the slightly more advanced part of my brain has translated that into Halloween. Plus for the last several years I’ve been filing all these neat projects that I keep seeing online into the back of my brain, and it’s now full, and spilling out. <br /><br />Last night, after dropping off the license plates, I stopped at a Salvation Army store that I had passed on the way to the MVA. I was looking specifically for either cheap toys that I could salvage for various projects, or old encyclopedia sized books to destroy/improve in a variety of ways. I found 2 good books, including a very appropriate <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mysteries-Unexplained-Carroll-C-Calkins/dp/0895771462/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1283294856&sr=8-1-spell">Mysteries of the Unexplaned</a>. As I left the store and started to walk to the car I noticed that there was a Goodwill store across the street. 3 more books, a bag of balloons and a nifty looking water gun. My plan is to turn them into creepy Halloween books like this: <a href="http://davelowe.blogspot.com/2008/09/halloween-08-making-old-creepy-books.html">Old Creepy Book</a><br /><br />And for the record, I am SO done with 90 degree weather.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=archmage&ditemid=14574" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-10-08:450754:14266Permission to barge in, sir?2010-08-31T00:24:22Z2010-08-31T00:24:22Zmelancholypublic0Day 19 - Best t.v show cast<br /><br />I’ve always been a big fan of larger ensemble casts, so there are a lot of good ones to choose from. The Star Treks of course, The West Wing, Firefly, Gilmore Girls, and of course Stargate SG1 all had fantastic casts. <br /><br /><hr><br />Yesterday morning around 10am I said goodbye to my small white Kia Rio. We donated it to the local NPR station. The process wasn’t too bad, and I’ll get more from the tax break than I would have in trade-in value. It was a little sad to see it being loaded up onto the dolly and taken away.<br /><br /><hr><br />I have Halloween on the brain. It’s always been my favorite holiday, even over Christmas. This year it’s kicking in HARD, and early too. Yesterday afternoon I went to Target to pick up a few items, and I ended up getting a bunch of things that hadn’t been on my original shopping list. 12 bottles of elmers glue (at $0.25 each) a couple of rolls of masking tape, a bucket, and 2 dragon figurines for $1 each that are perfect terrain items. <br /><br />Tonight I applied the first layer of paper mache to the statue I started over the weekend.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=archmage&ditemid=14266" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-10-08:450754:14006O R'lyeh? 2010-08-29T20:43:59Z2010-08-29T20:43:59Zhotpublic0Day 18 - Favorite title sequence<br /><br />Mad Men<br /><br /><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/4877093">Mad Men Main Title Sequence</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user1813657">Steve Fuller</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p><br /><br />It's just perfect. <br /><br /><hr><br />During the very late hours of the night last night I made a discovery in the depths of the cellar. An unformed thing, a creature that my minds eye has never before even conceived of. I was lead to the basement by a sick feeling, a slick dread that I could not name. This thing that both called and repulsed me was raw and unformed. It's very structure seemed to be forming before my eyes as it drew itself into my understanding, into our world. I don't believe that is from any world that we can conceive of, but from a time, a place early in the universe, if it is even from our universe. I snapped these photos before my camera refused to function further, and darkness overcame me. <br /><br /><img src="http://pics.livejournal.com/archmage45/pic/0011gg0w/s640x480" width="360" border="10" height="480" title=""><br />Ok, I actually took the photo this morning. I was too tired last night. <br /><br /><hr><br />Today I lost a friend that has been with me for years. I'm ok, just a little sad, but more about that tomorrow.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=archmage&ditemid=14006" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-10-08:450754:12039Treason, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. 2010-08-24T01:32:49Z2010-08-24T01:32:49Zcreativepublic0Day 12 - An episode you have watched more than 5 times<br />Any episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, DS9, and probably half of Voyager and TOS.<br /><br /><hr><br />Things I want to do this week:<br />Play Neverwinter Nights<br />Start WoW<br />Be a couch potato and watch Monk, The West Wing, Star Trek, Jericho, etc.<br />Draw dungeons<br />Read fun books<br />Hirst Arts<br /><br />Things I don’t have time to do this week:<br />Play Neverwinter Nights<br />Start WoW<br />Be a couch potato and watch Monk, The West Wing, Star Trek, Jericho, etc.<br />Draw dungeons<br />Read fun books<br />Hirst Arts<br /><br /><hr><br />It’s early, but I’m starting to think about Halloween, and what I want to do to celebrate. In particular I’ve been thinking about dog<br />costumes and yard decorations. For dog costumes, I’ve been thinking that Corgis are the steeds of the fairy court. Maybe for Halloween they can do that! One could serve the Seelie Court, and the other the Unseelie court.<br /><br />My other dog costume idea is to make them Star Trek uniforms. This would probably be the simpler of the ideas.<br /><br />As far as yard decorations go none of the trees in my front yard are big enough to put any decorations in yet. Sadly it’ll be years before they’re ready for that. We don’t have much of a porch either. I suppose something could be hung out the windows, but I’m not sure what.<br /><br />A couple of the thoughts I’ve had include doing a graveyard with a bunch of headstones or making a giant paper-mâché monster – maybe a spider? Or maybe a couple of smaller monsters like giant rats? Say corgi sized giant rats?<br /><br />Here is some paper-mâché inspiration<br /><br /><img src="http://communitydisc.westside66.org/HTML/colette/MASKMAKING/Slides/Slide_4.jpeg" width="360" height="524" title=""><br /><br /><img src="http://www.stolloween.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/STOLLOWEEN-DUNGEON-RAT-GALLERY-17-480x320.jpg" border="10" title=""><br /><br /><img src="http://www.stolloween.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/finalgargoyle16.jpg" border="10" title=""><br /><br /><img src="http://www.stolloween.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/stollowee-spiders-1.jpg" border="10" title=""><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=archmage&ditemid=12039" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments