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![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) grrm | |
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Gamers attending last weekend's GenCon in Indianapolis found a surprise waiting for them at the Dark Sword Miniatures booth -- a half dozen new figures in the "George R.R. Martin Masterworks" range, being rolled out for the first time as special convention pre-release.  The talented Jeff Grace sculpted these new additions to the Dark Sword range, six wildings from beyond the Wall, to face off against the Night's Watch figures featured in the first wave.   Two are spearwives, the women warriors of the far north, but don't look for ludicrous chainmail bikinis on these gals. Fur and leather are a lot more practical in the wild.   The wildlings were a special GenCon run, available for purchase only at the convention, but Dark Sword expects to make them available for mail-order in another month or two, as soon as the rest of "wave 1.5" is ready. Gencon attendees also got a glimpse at prototypes of some of the other figures in the iopeline, including a court lady, two gold cloak guardsmen, and a stunning 54mm sculpt of Daenerys and her newborn dragons, fresh from the fires of Khal Drogo's funeral pyre, all from Tom Meier. Watch this space for pictures for those figures, when they are available. We'll also have pictures of the winning entries in the painting contest. My friends at Dark Sword tell me that some of them were truly spectacular. I look forward to seeing them. Current Location: Santa Fe
Current Mood:  happy
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z4nd4r | |
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Gris will be replaced by Fish.
I just finished watching the Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes cartoon on DVD. I can honestly say I'm disappointed that they didn't continue airing/making this cartoon. Johnny is awesome and they characterize him as a narcissist bordering on sociopathyDissocial personality disorder and is the primary focus of humor on the show (source and target). He is extremely hydrophobic, which I do not believe is canon for the character but his reasons are easily understood. The interactions of the group are really awesome between themselves and their villains. Johnny's insistence that Mole-Man is behind everything is pretty funny. I burned through this 4-disc set. I heartily recommend this title for Netflixing or whatever you kids do. If you saw the first few episodes and don't necessarily need to watch them again I believe discs 3 and 4 has the un-aired episodes.
Tropic Thunder is hilarious. I haven't seen anyone talking about this movie so I'll not spoil anything but goddamn I laughed so hard during this movie. Also lightning struck Robert Downey Jr twice this summer. After seeing so many movies (and trailers) of the actor playing the same character with a different name (Vin Diesel, Jason Statham, etc) it's refreshing to see someone play two (or even really three once he starts to emerge from his role) completely different characters. Even if one of those is "a [blackface] dude playing the dude disguised as another dude!" And yeah, it is blackface, but it's completely meta/self parodying in it's portrayal. What's funny is I haven't seen much complaining about Downey's blackface. Not nearly as much as the meta/self parodying "Simple Jack" that Ben Stiller's action hero character played in a horrible effort to legitimize himself as an actor. "You went full retard. You never go full retard."Look for the comments by Elisabeth's Mom. She bitches about people poking fun at mental disabled for laughs or whatever, then after about 5 or 6 comments she says No one is talking censorship here. I think we’re talking sensitivity.
It’s a sensitivity issue about how people are being used or portrayed because of their disability instead of who they are as a person.
Maggie, you write a person who is mentally retarded into your script, you better damn make sure you know what you’re writing about because I’ll be all over your ass like a Jewish mother!!! Whoah. And she totally gets called on her hypocrisy. Hilarity! Tom Cruise is also very awesome. Next to Downey Jr's role probably my favorite in the film. Sad to say, but I did not realize it was him until about halfway through the movie.
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ferret_herder | |
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I've been trying to cook healthier lunches to pack and bring to work, hitting various lunch-box-related blogs. The one that's been really good for me is Just Bento. Lunch in a Box is aimed at people making lunch for themselves and/or for kids, and is an excellent resource. I figured I'd post a picture to show a representative sample of what my little lunches have contained.  Pardon the office lighting and the camera phone photo. The box is a "lock-and-lock"/four locking-tabs-style box I got at the local Mitsuwa Marketplace. It's maybe 8 inches long, an inch or so deep, probably 5 inches wide. The pink muffin cups are silicone, so they're non-stick and reusable. The partition came with the lunch box; the box also has chopsticks in a compartment in the lid, and an insulated hot/cold bag slipcover. Left side, top to bottom: - Small container of an organic peanut-wasabi sauce. - Cherry tomato and vegetable gratin cup. I used more pesto and less mayo than the recipe called for, but probably won't do that again. This is fine cold or hot, but if reheated it seems to separate out more oil than I would like. I make these ahead, freeze them in silicone muffin cups, then pull out of the muffin cups and put them in a freezer bag until ready to pack. - Edamame in the pod, cooked in the morning and cooled before going into the box. Good filler. - Vegan dry curry made with soybeans. I froze it in an ice cube tray, about a tablespoon worth or so per cube, then emptied it into a freezer bag when frozen solid. Right side: Carrot rice (made using the microwave technique), with long grain brown rice as the base. I portion large batches of rice ahead of time, wrap in plastic wrap, freeze, and into another freezer bag. It was good, and very filling! I'm not sure of the whole calorie count - the rice and curry are together about 370 calories, maybe less. I used a lower-calorie healthy mayo in the gratin.
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grrm | |
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That shout you all heard last week was me, reacting to the news that Brett Favre had been traded to the Jets. Yes, he's old. Yes, he can drive you crazy with that now-I'm-retired, now-I'm-not stuff. But he's still Brett Favre. This year should be a lot more exciting in the AFC East. Could this be the year I get my Subway Superbowl? Well, probably not. But a boy can dream. (I am sorry to lose Chad Pennington. Chad's taken a lot of crap from fair-weather fans, but he was a smart, tough, gutsy guy who played his heart out, and when healthy, one of the best quarterbacks in the league. All those injuries took their toll, sad to say, but I will always cherish the memory of his first year, and that 41-0 playoff win over the Colts. I hated to see him go to the Dolphins, he's too dangerous a competitor to have in the division, but I will always wish him well... at least when he's not playing the Jets). Current Mood: excited
Current Music: When You're a Jet, You're a Jet All the Way
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grrm | |
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Back from Denvention, and this time I get to stay home for a while. Worldcon is always one of the highlights of my year. (I am still sorry I missed Japan last summer). This one had some problems, admittedly. We were scattered over seven different hotels spread out across most of downtown Denver, we had to share the cavernous convention center with several other conventions, the con was way too early (worldcons should be held on Labor Day weekend, the traditional date, not the first weekend of bloody August), and the party hotel (the Sheraton) really sucked. Even so, I had a great time. Hey, it was worldcon. There are good worldcons and not-so-good worldcons, but the worst worldcon is still great. For me, the highlight of the weekend was getting to go up and accept Michael Chabon's Hugo for THE YIDDISH POLICEMAN'S UNION. A great book, and a great honor, and the comments Michael made in the acceptance speech he sent me were very gracious. Calling him afterward to tell him that he'd won was also great. He really did not expect it; his surprise and delight were palpable, even across a couple of thousand miles. Melbourne won the right to host the 2010 worldcon (not unexpectedly, since they had no competition), so for all my Australian readers who have been emailing me to come visit Down Under, please circle the dates on your calendars. The Aussies always give great con. Visit the Aussiecon IV website and sign up now; memberships will never be cheaper than they are today. We had a great time -- and a good crowd -- at the Wild Cards panel as well. At my reading, I read the first third of "The Mystery Knight," my new Dunk & Egg novella, and that seemed to go over well. Did the usual round of power breakfasts, editorial lunches, and publisher dinners, had lots of good meetings on lots of projects... and, of course, there were the parties. As usual, the Brotherhood Without Banners threw the best parties at the cons. My thanks to Stego, Mr & Mrs X, Kate, Queen Julie the First, Yags, Skylark, Daj, Vanessa, and the rest of the crew, and my congratulations to the new Knights of the Tomato Pie. And a shout out to Pod and Lodey, who were missed. Only one more trip this year (Calgary, for the World Fantasy Convention), so for all you folks who are worried that I'm having too much fun, relax. My assistant Ty is getting the grindstone back up to speed, and I am about to press my nose to it once more. Current Location: Santa Fe
Current Mood:  drained
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