Mourningcloud

little red riding hood: mr. elf, what big eyes you have. elf: the better to see in the underdark with. wow that was so lame that i didnt even laugh. (usually i am amused by my own jokes even when noone else is) seriously, this elf has some EYE's ZELDA!!! wow, that one was almost as bad. thats it i quit. nice green -i too like the yellow band.

amazing jester-the work on loryn is both inspired and inspiring. i have a couple of questions for you regarding your nmm, if you will be so kind. do you go from shade up to highlight, or from highlight down to shade? find it infinitely easier to start with brighter tones and shade down-guess that is due to my inexperience. (or my early painting education with thinned citadel inks) second-what grey color did you use? most nmm's have a definite blue tinge (including most of yours) but this shade seems pure dark grey up to almost white, with no blue at all. im new to nmm and mine has definite blue in it, even though i used mostly my own black and white mix with a little gw codex grey, and id really like to "get the blue out". most use blue in their mnn recipes, (vallejo flat aluminum being a common favorite color for this) but ive been trying to do just what youve done on loryn-without blue. if you could drop me a hint id be very much appreciative. sorry to grill you with questions, but i saw your loryn and almost jumped out of my chair-i was like "theres the armor ive been trying to paint"

thats it- NO MORE HIPPOCAMPUSSESESES!

i saw both allison mack/chloe (she is an absolute CUTIE-physically and personality wise) and the new lios lane (all i can say is va va va vooooom...) at comic con this year, and the producers who were in attendance, and chloe herself, intimated that she was dead and would stay that way, but who knows-we shall have to wait and see.

your blending fu is good grasshopper now improve your color chioce fu and your miniatures will be truly enviable what i mean is, the cloak is nice, and the face is very expressive, but there are alot of different colors on this peice-youve got blue, green, red, all topped with a light brown/chestnut cloak. maybe reduce down to two colors-ie green and brown-make the red a red/brown, and get rid of the blue-perhaps another shade of green here-lighter for the clothing and darker/olive for the staff. the brown cloak gives the piece a warm tone-following through with this in your color choice for the rest of the mini would make it both more uniform and more dramatic at the same time. now if i can make my blending as smooth as yours consistently, i will too be enviable edit-in retrospect, scratch that-the blue and brown contrast nicely-perhaps something more neutral for the pants. im not trying to tell you how to paint your mini, but it would have more impact with fewer stark colors.

wait i got : King Con! and the mascot-a huge blondenapping gorilla in a fez!!! and if you have a second call it Conzilla vs. King Con!

heh thats exactly what i said-why the price increase on plastics? a single bike now costs $15.00 american!!! Heres the explanation from a guy at my flgs who who i also knew from a Games Workshop retail store (there is one in the same mall my restaurant is in, for any of you who have followed the recent "to tip, or not to tip" thread in off topic rampancy) Games workshop currently has something like 56 stores accross the nation in the united states. last fiscal year, 4 of them turned a profit- 2 in california,including my local ontario store, one i think in la, one i dont know, and the usa headquarters in glen byrnie back east. 54 lost money, to the tune of a few million dollars total. how are they dealing with this major oops? in typical corporate fashion, they are opening MORE stores, and hiking prices on everything! a space marine heavy weapon is now like 15 bucks. i knew my flgs informant from the ontario gw store, and he was supposed to be moved up into managment. as he was telling me some of the managment policies of gw, i started to feel ill. its like everything for the company-you literally sell yourself when you move up. so theres your tip of the day. no more gw for me, thanx.

well, this time around the steam wasn't rolling outta my ears. sorry if my last post seemed heavy handed, but is there any other way to slap sense into people? (you should have read the stuff i self-edited) Rodnic, Rowdymon, Dexter, Crusoe- you guys are welcome in my restaurant any time. Rowdymon-no pissing off-those guidelines are fair and what you demand should be expected of any decent server (i consider myself a decent server-i know many who can serve circles around me, but i do my best to take care of my tables). i make sure my table sees me at least six times-taking drink order, food order, asking how food is, refilling drinks, 2/3 way through meal check back &dessert offer, and check. and that doesnt include apetizer or dessert service, or subsequent drink refills. i work at the rainforest cafe in ontario mills-ontario, california. theres one in vegas, and one in mall of america and gurney mills (for you midwesterners) therea animatronic gorillas, elephants, a jaguar, an orangutan, and several thousand gallon salt water fish tanks. its dark, loud (especially when theres a thunderstorm-lightining strobes, thunder, and all the animals come to life at once-anyone remember the enchanted tiki room at disneyland/world? its like serving in the middle of that....), and did i mention loud? kids between about 2 and 4 often get scared as hell. my 2 1/2 year old can no longer go inside-he starts shaking when we turn the corner in the mall and he can see the restaurant, and buries his head in his mothers shoulder. the reality is people have a set amount they tip, whether that is 15%, 10%, 5%, or 2 dollars, and there is little you can do to increase that (although bad service will often decrease the amount they choose to give you)

anti hero i could have told em that from the beginning.

Well heres one from the other side: I AM A WAITER. heres some education: the word tips is actually an acronym (t.i.p.s.)-it stands for TO INSURE PROMPT SERVICE. as several wise folk have stated, it is to insure that the service does indeed go above and beyond the call of a flat salary. more education-law requires that you report all your tips. the standard minimun that most restaurants require you to claim is 8-10% of your total sales, if we claim below that we are written up. heres some math: in california, the standard at almost any restaurant is to tip out your bussers, and your bartenders; that is to give them an portion of your tips for services rendered (clearing your table and making your bar drinks). standard tip out is 2% to bussers, and 1% to the bar, although ive seen some places where it is 1.5% to bussers and 1.5% to bar-either way thats 3% of my sales im losing in tips. so if some lowlife cheapskate leaves me a 10% tip, i just made 7%. remember what i said the irs demands we claim? 8-10%. whoops. oh well, no skin off said lowlife's nose, just money out of my pocket. further, there are often otherpeople to "tip out"-some restaurants have tipped hosts, and at mine in particular, on weekends we have a food expediter/runner who sends our food out, and we give them about 2%, which means if im tipped 10%, i walk with 5% (tip out: 2% bussers + 1% bar + 2% expo/runner= 5% that goes bye-bye as soon as i get it) luckily in california we dont have that awful "serving wage", which is the official term for the practice of paying less than minimum wage and assuming tips will cover the rest. however, when you look at the cost of living out here in southern california (im about 1 hour away from LA), you realize the 6.75 an hour i'm paid in wages wont rent me space to put my cardboard box in the cardboard jungle near Hollywood and Vine in LA., let alone a decent place to live for myself, my fiancee, her two kids and our son. heres a little for Frank the dm and the rest who are against automatic gratuity (hereafter known as "autograt") it pays my friggin bills. it ensures that cheapass lowlife peices of $#*t dont take up all my tables, stay forever (when did any of you ever stay less than say 2 hours at a restaurant when there were 8 or more of you, or at least 1 1/2 hours-most big parties stay for about 2 hours) and then try to leave 8$ on a 150 dollar check, or 15 on 200. it happens alot. autograt makes up for the bad (5-10%) tips we get as part of our daily bread and butter. you dont want to know how often ill get a credit card slip back from someone who had autograt on their check, and find that they have scratched out the autograt and written in their own tip (of course LESS than the 17% autograt that is automatically tacked onto parties of 8 or more, because if they were going to tip MORE, they would have left the autograt and included it in the space for "additional tip"). we just laugh at them, as we collect our autograt, because it was already deducted from their credit card, and cannot be taken off unless they have a manager take it off. thats what ghetto trash gets for not only being cheap, but sneaky about it too. in case you have no clue (crypdyke and a few others here thankfully seem to have a clue): large parties take up a disproportionately large amount of my time and effort to keep happy and "well served" and i deserved to be compensated for it. they also take up my tables for a large amunt of time in which i am not getting any new tables, or making any more money. what some of you have said is true, there are servers who dont like to go above and beyond the minimum service, but i know that many feel this wayfrom disgruntlement at getting little in tips regardless of the service. heres what i have learned in my area: tip rarely reflects quality of service ive had bad days where nothing would go right and i gave crappy service and made 15-20% all day, and ive had days where my service was perfect, i told good jokes, anticipated every need, got one tables kids to stop crying (my restaurant is kinda scary) and even made a stripper feel like a person after a dehumanizing conversation with her mother, and got 5-10%on every table (except the stripper-she dropped me 25$ and asked me to go to a movie with her. but i am engaged. D'oh!) most either tip decent, or cheap, and nothing i or any other server can do will change what we are going to get from them. but there is one thing i can do-i can educate you, who share my beloved hobbies and interests to make sure we are not another of those groups that do no know how to tip. if you choose to remain in the "bad tipping" group i will still educate you. the servers will remember you if you frequent the establishment, they will say things about you and your wife, children and mothers behind your back you'd rather not hear-in fact we say such things about any bad tippers, not just repeat offenders, and they will wish things upon you such as a large car accident (involving you) on the way home. im not joking. your bad tips adversely affect our lives, many servers would like to return the favor-i knew one who practiced wicca and druidic magic -suffice to say he lit a few candles and such when he went home after getting a bad tip...also if you ever forgot something at a table where you left a bad tip, such as a purse, shopping bag, pair of glasses, cell phone, or small child or pet, dont even bother going back for it. its long gone and probably in little pieces in the trash. (except for the pet which now has a new home or the child which is on its way to be sold to Turkish slavers) Tip is 15%-plain and simple-it should never go below this unless A.the server has major attitude, B. stares at your wifes tits (and if you just kicked out three grand to have them enlarged, this does not apply-at least you know you got your $'s worth -call me a pig if you will, but remember how near hollywood i am), or displays gross negligence and/or incompetence. also remember that you dont know what is happenning behind the scenes. if the food took 1/2 an hour, and then someone else brings it to your table, know that maybe the kitchen screwed up, and your server was fighting to get your food out to you, and also that in most restaurants (okay, okay, not dennys) servers, runners, and expeditors run each others food out all day long. ive told my table i'd go see where their food is, then stood in shouting matches with the kitchen for five minutes to get it out to them (in spanish no less), fixed the stuff the kitchen screwed up (in california most cooks speak little english, let alone read it) only to have them leave a crappy tip because it took 22 minutes for 15 minute entrees and i didnt give them their fourth cherry coke as soon as the third was empty (thats when said shouting match was occurring). we're human too. i have a great attitude at work-i like dealing with people all day-i try to read my customers-ill engage in conversation if they seen receptive to it, or try to be as minimal a presence as i can while serving them if they seem like that is what they want (ie business lunchers). ill even joke and tease if they are of good humor and seem receptive. but at the end of the day, i dont want your arguments how you think autograt is wrong, or you dont believe in tipping. all i want is my frigging money so i can go pay my bills and feed my kids and buy more reaper minis-thats why i work for you and i expect to be paid for it. i wish there were boxes you could check where you indicate how much you tip, like "do you want the 5%[] 10%[] 15%[] or 20%[] service." and then that amount was put on the check and made legally part of the bill. boy youd see some service then (unless you are one who doesnt tip well, in which case youd be lucky to see a server at all) bottom line is, if you cant afford the 15%tip (or just dont want to pay it) dont buy the food! ps thank you cade, adam tls, lars porsenna, crypdyke, and others who display understanding and benevolence to those of unfortunate to be stuck in the service industry (i've had my BA for three years, but im still working my college job) and your right bachelor, and ill be the one in front of the revolutionary firing squad with the biggest gun, and non tippers will be FIRST shot. (after 10 hours torture)

smallville had its weak moments at the beginning of the second season (but hey its a show about teenagers, not superman) when they were pushing the clark/lana/chloe love triangle and the clark/lana love that could never be, but it got over that rapidly, and got better, and better, and better....... the recent story lines with lex /lionel luther clashes, revelations about where clark is from, and lionel dying have been stellar. cant wait till next season. angel is mourned by many. (but cmon, dude was gaining serious weight-that otter blood must pack more calories than human) my watched shows are third watch, crossing jordan, teen titans, justice league unlimited, and anythng good on discovery, tlc, history, tech tv. oh yeah, almost forgot my favorite-courage the cowardly dog!!! I'M GETTIN ME MALLET!

heh the sword is not hokey-it looks like it is nmm reflecting a desert mirage!

you are a sick man, and you need help. then again, such has been said of all who exhibit such touches of genius throughout history. (except perhaps for that obscure time period: When Dinosaur-riding Cowboys Ruled the Earth!)

wow its so funny this thread came up-i bought this mini two days ago at my flgs, and i asked for that new male elf fighter. one employee told me they were out of it, then another said all they were only out of a new female elf fighter mini. turns out it was this one, and i told the second guy it was male, and he cocked an eyebrow at me and told me with no room for argument that it was female. finally having it in hand, i see he was right. greenstuff side note-i am planning in making her BREASTplate into an armored breastplate with pectoral dilineation through the magic of a little filing and greenstuff manipulation. great mini either sex, though.

HOT WATER BABY! YOU GOTTSA HEAT EM UP GOOD AND HOT TO BEND EM! and then when your done, thrust them under cold water to re-harden the metal-kinda like retempering-wont make it much harder, but might reduce the chance of it rebending into the old position (ive noticed pewter has a tendency to do this of hit at the right angle) i take my metal very seriously now only if my painting would follow ....

as lady storm said, body heat can work fine-but i regularly reshape/bend my minis in funny ways, and heating with VERY hot h2o will reduce (if not eliminate completely) the crackling you get when bending pewter (which is actually the outer layers of the metal cracking-when a mini is cast and cools the outer layer cools the fastest; censequently the metal there is the hardest and most brittle, so when you bend em it crackles) trust me on this -im a FAR better converter than painter. sure i can turn your gnome theif mini into a halfling paladin of arvoreen, but dont ask me to paint it lol.

you gotta heat the darn things if you want to reduce chance of breakage-submerge the staff in very hot water, then remove after about ten seconds , make sure metal is hot to the touch, and straighten. some ive spoken to use a hair dryer to heat the metal (warning-ive heard this makes the metal VERY hot) and use several layers of paper towels to hold and bend. stay away from heating with a lighter -yes in my youth i was this dumb- the melting point of miniature pewter is lower than one would think (as i, and a bent sword, once learned the hard way )

earlier this week, i had coffee with Elvis and he said how you been, then he got a better look and said, "OH GOD, NOT YOU AGAIN! NO YOU DON'T!" "YES I DO, you see i got this little woman and i need some HELP from you" "Oh i can do that he said" he said, "just do me one favor and dont call her back.." -Steal Your Kisses Buchanan ps forget the jabberwock, hes dead. the jub-jub bird and the frumious bandersnatch are still out there. you have been warned.

ahem well there seem to be alot of constructive posts in this thread, and a few well....... heres a few librams i have mentioned elsewhere : Sharyn Mccrumb.bimbos of the death sun and zombies of the gene pool will make all of us who post here squirm uncomfortably at the insights into our shared hobbies. (see my post ont the "a good book"thread.) Joel Rosenburg-again with the stuff i mentioned waaay back on the a good book thread (and nobody responded-proof no one reads my too,too lengthy posts...) William Browning Spencer: post modern, tongue in cheek, cthulhu/bacchanalian psychofantasies. great stuff. enjoy thoroughly. Nancy Collins-i too worked in a book store, and as opposed to chasing people away from perceived "crap",i saw their interests and gave them something more worthwhile -ie steered them from Anne Rice and Laurel k Hamilton to (the former being unreadable past the first two books and the latter, though entertaining, rather derivative of-) Nancy Collins (and Poppy Z Brite-a little bloodthirsty and quite vampire-sexy, but a good read). White Wolf copied Nancy's universe and tone, Mrs Hamilton drew on her characters and ideas, but none match her for vampire slaying goodness (pre Buffy-even the movie. maybe mr whedon is a fan as well?) Harry Potter.no lie-read it and find out what kids everywhere know-there truly is magic in those books. single shot-Mathemagics by Margaret Ball-hillarious, exciting, and, er, mathematic? well worth the read (goes cheap on ebay-cool elmore cover too!) besides Feist's riftwar and serpentwar ( i didnt like the empire stuff he co-wrote) the one shot Fairy Tale. modern day fairy troubles. dark and kinda scary. despite scowlings meaningless drivel, a few good game related books: the greyhawk books by Paul Kidd (white plume mountain, descent to the depths, and queen of the demonweb pits). great characters, hilarious hijinks, and old skool monster bashy goodness. please read, then email wotc for more. the Gaunts Ghosts books by Dan Abnett. i cant give them a higher accolade. they make the warhammer 40k universe a fun place visit. best stuff out there. also the Eisenhorn series by ol Dan-best first person stories ive ever read. the Spearwielders Tale by Salvatore. not game related, but hey we all equate salvatore with a certain elf... . another modern day,through the magic gate to fairy-tale land story, but very entertaining. the first ravenloft book, Vampire of the Mists by Christie Golden. suprisingly well written, and the most tragic vampire youll ever encounter (wihought trying too hard, a la that silly white wolf game.) since you guys are doing the real classics: eddie allen poe-still the master, and one of lovecrafts main influences (along with lord dunsany-read him too if you can find him) ambrose bierce-good dark sometimes scary, always poignant american literature. Guy de Maupessant-french gothic lit. i believe one of poes influences(or vice versa, i forget) M R James-the father of the modern ghost story. still scary-you have been warned. j d salinger's catcher in the rye. for the misunderstood in all of us. dracula. the first, the best. (also sheridan lefanu's Carmilla) oh yeah, and pick up the comic Dork Tower. funnier and better art than knights of the dinner table, and its self (gamer) pointed daggers are just as sharp.

actually i have not been able to find Maybe Ill Call Anna. its been out of print longer than the others. I guess i could just go order it, but that would be too easy. different from the wb spencer genre of humurous pseudo-cthulhu/bacchanalian romps is nancy collin's sonya blue-you like descriptive? she is as minimalist as it gets, but as descriptive as you could want, with beautiful yet succinct prose that keeps you up late for weeks strait. more serious than spencer, but her vision is just as vivid. no joke-her stories have a dark, gritty yet romantic flavor that will leave you basking in the afterglow when you are finished. Bon Apetite

i would like to se more mounts (oh wait, brumbor just said that like 10 minutes ago-curse your faster connection lol) also more figures in helms as opposed to open faces (ive said this before) ("character" minis that is, not warlord rank & file troops, which are usually fully armored & helmed) this is especially true of garrity's sculpts-the new ones are great, but still often have some of that sameness that has been inherent since the mid 1980's i have some of sandras earliest sculpts from partha and grenadier-they have the same face as maria roseblade, (which incidently i didnt even give a second look-i must be missing something you all see in garritys female sculpts-i just dont like them) much of that sameness could be avoided by giving them really cool helmets with "characterful" face guards. IMO this can show even more character than an open face. also, i want more guthrie sculpts!!!!!!!! (incidentally guthrie wrote the book on characterful helmets/visors) you hear me-more julie guthrie!!!!!!! theres a reason both grenadier and ral partha gave guthrie her (his?-all this time and still dont know hehe) own lines inder their logo's. cause the sculpts kick some serious boo tay. even against current greats like wk and bobby jacko. IMO that is

hehe i thought i was the only chainmail gnoll lover-they are the best around. this line brought much to tha table (so to speak ) as far as rpg miniatures (ironic as it was designed for a tabletop battle game lol)-where else do you find miniatures with spears, bows, and various other missle weapons strapped to the warrior's backs? i am currently converting the superbly sculpted yet awkwardly posed gnoll cleric into an armored gnoll swordsman/archer. will post pics just as soon as i get a digital camera lol.

hehe saranthose you said zod whallop. i hope you have also read the required w b spencer books-resume with monsters and irrationalk fears . zod whallop was really good, but kind of a downer (although the end was a redeeming-both for the characters and the tone of the story, which was really sad) -now that i have a son of my own i dont think i could read it again. oh yeah, dont forget his last book (that i can find at least by him-did this guy disappear off the face of the earth, or what?) -the return of count electric (a short stroy compilation. really funny stuff. and mentioning good books-i forgot to mention elaine cunningham-anything by her in the forgotten realms is well worth the read-i think her writing is better than salvatores. and one more honorable mention-nancy collins. the sonya blue series is everything the anita blake series tries to be. what she created ALL of the white wolf games tried to capture in terms of content and tone. all borrowed heavily, obviously, and thanklessly from nancy collins, yet she remains virtually unknown. (think of reading stephen king, ramsey campbell, clive barker, and robert bloch [wrote the original psycho] without ever having heard of hp lovecraft, and thinking wow these guys are really good, and so original ya like vampires, yya NEED to read nancy collins. pushes anne rices vampire chronicles off the slide and drags it around the playground by its vampire-trendy pony tail. leaves mrs hamilton's anita blake series whimpering in the corner. i kid you not.

actually ive known many dancers whose spines /rear ends are easily that flexible. they stretch every day to maintain it, but there you go-they can do it. and they guys always kinda wondered about me being a dancer...... if they only knew.

actually deflagratio the actual le morte d'Arthur is sir thomas mallory old sir arty conan (not "arnie" conan hehe) wrothe the infallible Sherlock Holmes series, among others, which are excellent unto themselves. i saw someone who mentioned gotrek and felix on this thread-well ill give away some of the best kept secrets of current game inspired writing if you all are interested... anyone?... well since i have absolutely no proof anyone even reads my too-long posts, ill give them away anyway. Warhemmer (40k actually)- the Gaunts Ghosts by Dan Abnett. excellent. masterful. his writing is so smooth and vivid you can practically smell the soldiers, the ozone from las-rounds, the stink of chaos. i swear i hear people shouting in the background during the battle scenes. anything by him is well worth the cash. learn what warhammer 40k players already know-his books are the shizznit. no lie. wizards of the coast-the Greyhawk books written by Paul Kidd (and only those written by Paul Kidd). white plume mountain, descent to the depths of the earth, and queen of the demonweb pits. what! those are waay old d&d modules-books based on them? yucko! actually they are rip roaring fun, with excellent characters and good old d&d monster bashing and the only scene ive ever read in a book that gave me spider nightmares for a month. youve been warned. they are as good as anythiing lieber or howard ever wrote. no lie. this has been another mourningcloud dissertation. no lie.