Arachne

Ha! I don't need mind-altering supplements to get brainless! *knocks hollowly on head* All natural, baby. All natural. Empty as the day I was born. I'm so jealous.

There are so many individual posts I want to quote and reply to here. Mentions of favorite beers, anything Buglips says, etc etc. I'm just going to come right out and say I've betrayed you all. I'm brainless on margaritas right now.

Wow, great trippy colors, too. It'll be great to see him really grow into the hobby, I hope he sticks with it.

That would be a lot of fun. I think that's one reason I love this community. You're like, my kinda people.

The commando ice cream thread? Sign me up!

You're making me really want to find my camera cord. I did the Ogre Chieftain you know. I finished it on October 27, while I was camping of all things. He's my best work yet. I did it as a late entry for the paint along. I really gotta show him off. My camera cord is gone-ish. Maybe, till I find it, I'll satisfy my urge by doing the ice cream thing.

Aw! I'll try not to. I think...after a long break, I really missed you, this whole community, and the hobby, and next time life takes a sucky turn (or, like another one, because the torture never stops) I'll just stick around here. I don't feel like I have a whole lot to offer, but I love reading people's writings and seeing people's painting.

Oooh, I love that color! Not scary, cute! I'd hug him and kiss him and name him George. And maybe share some of my good beer with him.

My mom had a weird flokati rug over the back of our couch for years that was a bunch of random hides and furs stitched together. Texture was sorta like that, with bristly boar hair, fluffy rabbit fur, and all everything in between, maybe a dozen different shapes and textures sewn in a circle. I think there was horse in there, and chinchilla. Looking back, that thing was kinda brutal. I'd paint it to look like that.

But think of the adventure...

You come on over too, I'll show you the meaning of toaded up. Is that a threat, promise, or proposition? If I go missing, they will send mounties to look for me. Okay, not the real mounties, but my cousin has a riding wolf that's only slightly mangy and can still probably make the trip. All three, and bring the mounties, cousin, and the wolf. I'll get us all wasted.

You come on over too, I'll show you the meaning of toaded up.

Or just load the wife up and come to my house for a barbecue, I'll send you home with a case of Shiner and a headache ^.^ The last Flemish I had was a Flemish Style Red. The Bruery Oude Tart. It was very...exciting. I kept having a sip, going "I hate this! It's sour! It's pickly! I want more!" I finished half the 750 ml bottle. "Gross! Pour me another!"

How far are you from NJ? Because we get Shiner here, as of a few years ago. Cross the border! Great stuff. There's a bar near here that does five dollar pitchers of Shiner Bock, when they have craptacular bands playing. You'd be amazed at what one can put up with nursing a pitcher of Shiner. Likewise, I'm jealous at some of the stuff you guys get, that NJ can't, due to distribution laws.

Avery is a good brewery, never had that one, but their Maharaja is a seasonal, and when I see it, I literally scoop all the bottles off the shelf and hoard them jealously. The Monty Python one...well...the bottle is cool. I bought it for the same reason anyone would "OMG HOLY GRAIL AIL!" It's not so good. Kept the bottle though.

Have you had the Ommegangs? Brewery is not too far south of here. Oh yeah, I like a lot of their offerings. Three Philosophers is great.

Man, that would be sweet. But I am only able to afford one convention this year , so I am making it ReaperCon. In an earlier post (which is escaping me ), someone mentioned about PBR being hipster-trendy. When did that happen? I have noticed the same thing. Restaurants and such will be sporting PBR on tap. I remember in college that PBR was the swill you drank if that was all you could afford. Now it is supposed to be all of that AND a bag of chips? No thanks. *shudder* Wild Bill I have no idea how it got trendy, but I think it has something to do with the price, and the fact that it's inoffensive, I mean that's it. It's inoffensive, that's the best I can say. I used to keep it on hand for my non-beer-nerd friends, and for cooking, till I discovered Ballantine, which is the same price, and actually has a bit of character. There's something to be said for a freezing cold can of something on a hot evening, and that's where these fit in. They're still better than the Big 3. If I go to a bar, and all they have on tap is Miller, Bud, or Coors, or even slightly fancy stuff like Blue Moon (yech, I hate wheat beer).... I get a gin and tonic. I'm not even a huge fan of Guinness these days. Once I tried some great milk stouts, like Keegan, or Left Hand...I just lost the taste for the old classic.

That's another brewery we don't get in NJ, bummer, because I love Belgians.

Inarah, that's more my style of beer, the dark, barrel aged, boozy, malty beers, stouts, porters, stuff like that. I love mead too, but there's few good commercial kinds. Buglips, my favorite "no one will ever steal this" is Ballantine. Old man beer, right in the price range of PBR and not half as hipster-trendy, AND it tastes better. It's got that faint ricey wheaty watery old-man-beer goodness, with a bit of an alcohol kick right at the finish. I have them when I need a palate cleanser between the big beers.

I would have something of a meltdown faced with 300-400 beers on tap. Our local place does about 150, and after like two beers, the tap list starts looking like gibberish.

Ooh, I've never heard of Optimator, but I really love Spaten's Oktoberfest, so I bet it's good, what kind of style is it? Pliny the Elder is one of those mythical unicorn beers, that's only available in a small area, but its reputation is ENORMOUS. I feel lucky to get a crack at it. IPAs aren't really my favorite style, I like a good Russian Imperial Stout better. A friend of mine planned a whole road trip around getting a pint of Pliny, from a taphouse three states away one time, because he heard they had a cask. I find, though, that lately the hugely hyped beers (like Brooklyn Black Ops, or Founder's KBS) are merely good. Very good. But not like "kill your mama" good. Edit: Dopplebock! I need to find Optimator, like yesterday.

A friend of mine on the west coast just sent me three bottles of Pliny the Elder, and I am positively bubbling over with excitement. No way am I putting it on FB, I'll have people camping out on my porch. But, I figured I'd share here, and see if you guys are into beer, too.

The cloak looks really rich and flowy, great highlighting, great color.

Gosh, he looks so proud of himself, doesn't he? It's amazing how your title changed the nature of how I look at the mini. I love it, paint job, concept, gore, the whole thing.

I love getting them in the mail. I get all giddy with glee when I see that tiny box on my porch. I also love painting clothes. I love blending and shading and highlighting vivid colors. I'm getting into monsters, lately too, and they're a lot of fun to paint, because there's fewer rules. I painted one of the bones 77007: Ghost with only two colors. Catseye Green and Monarch Purple. It came out AWESOME. I love experimenting and creating looks. When I paint, if I'm really into the char, I make up stories in my head about them. The Ogre Chieftain had so much character, I painted him as a grizzled old war vet, bloodied from one too many campaigns. Didn't hurt that I was reading a lot of Joe Abercrombie at the time...