A Replacement Found For My Dead Zune!

After about a week since the death of my Zune 120, I debated on what I would get as a replacement. Another Z120? A replacement hard drive to install myself? The Zune HD? Another brand of player altogether? Well, I can say that I made my decision and went and purchased a Zune HD, and I'm glad that I did!

This Zune HD is great! It sounds better, the form factor is nice, and the touchscreen is fun. I'll miss the storage capability of the Z120, so I only have my music, pics, and some podcasts installed at the moment, filling the player to about half of its 32 gigabyte capacity.

I am so happy to have on-the-go access to my tunes again!

Ack! My Zune Died!

After rewatching Lost's "Walkabout" last night (one of my favorite episodes!), I tried to start my Zune 120 to listen to some tunes before going to bed. Alas! As soon as I began to hear sounds coming from my player, I instantly knew things were not good. I eventually received an Error Code 5 and a message to contact support.

This morning I tried the various two-button and three-button resets for my Zune, but I knew it would be no use. I didn't need to contact customer support to know that the cause of death was the hard drive. I'm familiar with those whirring and clicking noises of the hard drive arm to know that it wouldn't be able to recover. My poor Zune has died.

My Zune had a good run, however. As you can see from my Zune card, I was able to get at least 35,000 plays out of it. In about a year's worth of time, I was able to fill it with about 45 gigs worth of music, podcasts, pics, and video. I always had my player with me. Keeping me company during the doldrums of cubicle life at work, keeping me focused while painting my minis, and soothing me to sleep at night. R.I.P. Zune 120...

What to do now? Go back to my older Zune 30? Nah, I had given my older Zune 30 to Munchkin No. 1 and I'd have to pry it from her cold dead fingers before I would be able to get that back. I'd like to get another Zune 120, but Microsoft has discontinued all of their other players since they released the Zune HD. Zune HD? Another brand altogether?

I can feel the withdrawals already... No access to my music.... Grrzztch... I need to get a player soon. Now. Damn, I miss my Z120.

Rewatching Lost

With the release of the DVD and Blu-Ray Season 5 of Lost, I will be ramping up my anticipation of the final season in February with a rewatch of the entire series. I've spaced out my viewing sessions to coincide with the season 6 premiere, but considering how addicting the series is, I don't think I'll be able to keep my schedule!

Happy Turkey Day! Gobble, Gobble...

I would like to wish everyone a Happy Turkey Day wherever you are! I won't have the munchkins with me until this weekend, so I'll be spending the holiday all by my lonesome. Sniff... sniff...

Well, boo frickin'hoo! Why should I crawl in a corner in my solitude? There's no point in feeling sorry for myself, so I had planned my holiday out.

First, after a tasty bowl of Cap'n Crunch, I'm heading out to go see Ninja Assassin. I heard it's got mindless action and gore, but gooood mindless action and gore. Shit, it's gots ninjas...

Yesterday, Gamestop started they're "Buy Two, Get One Free" used game sale, so after the flick, I'll be playing some games. Which games? Well, I'll be playing some Fable II, Fallout 3, and Beatles Rockband! Woohoo! Also, I downloaded Torchlight too, so I'll be dungeon delving as well.

What's for Thanksgiving dinner? Considering that it's just me, I won't have to go buy a bird. And I'm also vegetarian! I got some stuff from the grocery yesterday, so it'll pretty much be dinner like normal...

So that'll be how I'll be spending my Turkey Day! I hope you have fun on your holiday, and watch the tryptophan!

Woohoo! The Forums Are Back Up!

The Privateer Press message boards were down for the weekend (probably preparing for the release of the field test rules of Hordes Mk II), but they are now back online! It's pretty much empty at the moment, so I'm not sure if they're going to migrate the older posts. Message away!

Painting Lord Tyrant Hexeris

I like reading how people paint their minis, so I thought it might be fun to post on the blog my mini painting process. I am by no means a professional painter. Hell, I don't think I'm even a good painter. Just about average. So please don't take this as a painting guide, but just my journey through painting a mini!

After the black undercoat on Hexeris had dried, I began painting the figure, starting with the head. I used a basecoat of Bleached Bone, painting it over the entire head except around the eyes, openings of the nose, and the tiny area around his lips. It wasn't until after the basecoart was applied that I noticed that this guy has four fangs instead of two! I flipped through the Primal book, and yup, his picture shows him with four. It's funny since the pic of Hexeris on Privateer's site (which I printed to use as a reference) shows him with two. I also took this time to carefully put a little Codex Grey on the raised pupil of his scarred right eye.

Next, I brushed a wash of Ogryn Flesh over the head. I love the GW washes, because it saves me the time of having to paint the shadows in the recessed areas, which is much harder for me to do. I thought of using Devlan Mud for a greyish color to the shades, but I stuck with the Ogryn for the brown/red color, matching the picture from the Primal book.

After the wash had dried, I started painting the highlights to the raised and unshaded areas of the head. I just used Bleached Bone again, using very light drybrushing strokes instead of applying paint directly to the head. This way, some of the wash shows through the paint. For extremely raised areas such as the cheekbones, dome, chin, and eyebrows, I drybrushed it several times.

Next, I started detailing the head area. For the rings lining the top of the head, I used Chainmail. speaking of rings, I wasn't sure what was going on above Hexeris' left eye. I think it's a ring piercing over his eyebrow, so I painted it that way. This guy is bad-ass!

Now for the fangs. I was a bit undecided on a color for while. Using either a white or black color may not show up very well, considering his skin is a paleish white, and the mouth area is colored black. So I decided to go the middle route and painted the fangs Codex Grey.

Finally, the scar. Red/pink like the pic on Privateer's site? Brown like the pic in the Primal book? I chose the brown, but not like the book. Instead, I used Snakebite Leather, which has a slight yellowish tinge to the light brown. I think it turned out well, since the skin areas around the scar makes it look like a disgusting pus color.

Well, that's it for Hexeris' head area. It took me a total of about four hours to do, but hey, I'm a notoriously slow painter. I'm going to take break now, and cook up some pancakes and watch some low budget crap on the See Fee channel (Oh it's SyFy. Right....).

On A Mini Tear

In the past three months or so, my interest in wargming miniatures was rekindled after an eight year break. At first, it was back to painting my 6th Edition Warhammer Orcs. Then it was on to my Lord Of The Rings Fellowship starter Moria Goblins and Numenors. But after a few weeks of painting these older guys, I wanted to see what was new in the mini hobby.

After browsing through my FLGS, I came upon the Warmachine and Hordes line by Privateer Press. I believe I've seen these before, but I had always walked past them without even a glance. I was pleasantly surprised when I looked at them in more detail. These figures are fantastically sculpted compared to GW's line of figures! I was instantly hooked, but knew nothing about them.

After doing a bit of research on the 'net, I discovered that Warmachine was in the process of a revision and Hordes would be undergoing one pretty soon. Even though many recommended waiting on purchasing the rulebooks (the new versions were already online or would be soon), I still wanted to get all of the books since the lore is really good and the artwork is excellent.

Anyways, after looking through the all the factions, it looks like I'll be starting armies for Skorne, Cryx, and Cygnar, with Skorne being the first. I bought a few warlocks, a warbeast, and a unit or two. I like the Skorne color scheme, but I think I'll be reversing the black and red color schemes. As a test, I painted a Paingiver in the modified colors:

I think the colors turned out alright, so I'll stick to this color scheme. My next painting subject will be my first Skorne warlork, Lord Tyrant Hexeris:

Up to this point, I've never had the need to use Greenstuff, but in Hexeris' case, the socket for his weapon-wielding arm was just too deep for the superglue to bond.

I think I've applied the greenstuff OK, and it seems to have stuck well. Now it's on to painting the guy.

Wow, it's been almost three years since my last post...

Happy New Year!

Family, friends, work, and the recent holidays have kept me busy and away from blogging, so I wanted to spend this quick free time to wish everyone a prosperous and healthy New Year!

Here's some quick tidbits on my hobbies and interests during the time I couldn't post here:

Comics: I am seriously behind in my comic reading since about October(?), and the only book I read on a timely basis is 52. I've even cut my visits to my LCS from weekly to bi-weekly. With the major holidays behind us, I'm hoping to go back to my regular Wednesday visits.

Movies and Television: I haven't been to the theaters much, and the only movies I've seen at the theater since the summer were Rocky Balboa and The Good Shepherd! I have been watching Star Trek: The Next Generation on DVD, and have finished the first season, and I am currently about halfway through the second.

Music: I'm listening more to Netcasts (Sorry, the "P" word has been personally banned...) than music recently. I got a whole bunch of CDs for cheap before Tower Records closed down, so when I have the time, I'll rip those to .mp3. Speaking of MP3, My MP3 player went on the fritz, and I can only listen out of the right headset at the moment...

Gaming: Games I've played recently: MtG, WoW, Nightfall, EQ2, Star Trek: Encounters, Dyansty Warriors 3, Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows, Pirates CSG Online, Titan Quest, and Puzzle Pirates. Games I've dropped recently: WoW, EQ2, and Titan Quest. Games I've come back to recently: Pirates CSG, HeroScape, and EVE: Online (a three year break on this one!). I've been giving serious consideration in buying a XBox 360 within the next several months. Gears of War looks seriously wicked!

Again, I would like to wish everyone a happy new year, and may your casual time be spent with lots of fun!

8^B

Guild Wars Nightfall Funnies

I've been spending more time having a blast with Nightfall. The wide open spaces, the heroes, the quests and missions, and the humor. The humor?!? Yup, ArenaNet seem to be a lighthearted bunch of folks (God bless 'em for that!) who like to sprinkle their games with "easter egg" pop culture references or little bits of quirky humor. Part of the fun of playing with the Guild Wars series is finding these little snippets. Here's a few I found this weekend:


I found this Inscription on a focus item and had to salvage it. If you're a fan of the Seinfeld TV series you'll catch this reference.


Another Inscription, it'll be hard to find anyone who doesn't know this reference to the scene between Cuba Gooding Jr. and Tom Cruise from Jerry Maguire.


I received a quest to rescue one of my heroes who was captured by the enemy. I LOL when I read the description for the quest rejection option!


Ok, I wasn't really playing for 12 hours straight (I just left my character logged in while did some real life stuff), but I thought it funny that ArenaNet was concerned enough to remind me how long I could have been playing!


After just being rescued from a hellish prison, what's the first thing Koss wants to do? Go out and get some "perfomance enhancing" elixirs! I love the reject option description.


I can now hear the theme music playing in my head...

I'll post more yuk-yuks when I find them. You're a bunch of goofballs, ArenaNet! :)

8^B

Tags: Gaming Guild Wars Nightfall

Lost in Elona...

Where, oh, where, have I been? Well, I've been vacationing on the sunny isle of Istan! For those who don't know where that may be, it's located in the latest Guild Wars PC game release, Nightfall.

I've been an on and off player of Guild Wars since its initial release back in the spring of 2005. I was attracted to the game for its "No monthy fees" setup, the Magic: The Gathering style of skill management, and gorgeous graphics. After it's initial release, the game has seen a free update and two Stand-alone "expansions".

The latest Guild Wars release, Nightfall, is light years beyond it's previous two releases. Heroes, Inscriptions, templates, graphics, and gameplay make Nightfall the game to get. I've been spending most of my play time either customizing my heroes or getting my existing characters to the islands to unlock their heroes.

I have to admit I needed to take a "Mental Health" day from work just to play Nightfall. Other than that, I've only been able to devote a couple hours per night to play. So far, I haven't even been able to leave the island, but that's typical of my casual PvE playstyle. I like to stop and smell the roses...

If you see me in game, say hello! I play a variety of characters, all with the Chi Qin surname. So if you see Szechwan Chi Qin, General Chi Qin, Mu Shu Chi Qin, or Bharak Ali Chi Qin, that's me!

8^B

Tags: Gaming, Guild Wars, Nightfall