The Great Beyond

Last night I watched "Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond". I'd seen it before, but had forgotten. It's a documentary about the filming of Man on the Moon, the biographical film about Andy Kaufman. Rather infamously, Jim Carrey did not drop character on the set.

Near the start of the documentary, Jim mentions doing a lot of the "envisioning a thing and then getting it" mental self help thing. As the documentary continues, the interviews with Jim keep referring to Jim being unhappy and unwell. First, the characters Jim is portraying in the 90s talk about their perception of Jim. Then the interviewer asks if it was him talking about how he was, and they talk about that. Then, near the end, Jim says that it was devastating stopping being Andy, because he could no longer escape into being Andy.

In parallel to this is the Andy Kaufman narrative, of someone discovering they had advanced cancer and dying young. Kaufman died at 35, younger than I am now.

The pandemic is a traumatic event, for all we make light of it. For me, I don't cope well with things I can't control, particularly unexpected ones. It's put lives on hold, but then you realise you've never envisioned anything. You don't fail if you don't try.

I'm usually pottering about in the psychological levels of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Even this blog is more about my need for esteem, and my painting provides a feeling of accomplishment for completing something rather than a creative outlet.

I suspect for many of us, our escapism is the wargaming hobby. I also have LARPing, or rather, I usually do, when I'm allowed to go places and meet them.

But there's a healthy balance. It's healthy to escape from stresses and relax. It's less healthy to try and escape from a lack of ambition to make things better for yourself.

This is a lot of words to say "I painted some barrels. Fenris Miniatures make them, and you should check out their site and support their company."

Road Trip! Duxford: Restorations in progress and WWII

And now, the final part of my Duxford photos! Hope you've enjoyed them all.

This wasn't labelled, but it looks like some sort of trench telescope. Nice concept piece for the whackier end of 40K.

This vehicle was hit by an IED. The glass was peppered with either shrapnel marks or bullet holes. It was hard to tell.

Crashed German fighter, on a display showing it how it was after crash landing, with a photo reference.

Early war armoured up civilian vehicle, then used for guarding airfields and similar, hence the RAF numberplate and symbol. Was thinking about something like this for Konflikt '47.

Also a fascinating and whacky thing that I hope I can find Bolt Action rules for if I do Konflikt '47.

And what it was used for is absolutely fascinating! I took the photo so I didn't forget.

Road Trip! Duxford: Land War and a Blackbird

Duxford also has a nice "Land War" section, where as a Guard player, I'm inclined to take a lot of photographs...

Of course, being me, I'm also inclined to take random photos of piles of boxes.

Or close ups of bits of interesting weathering.

Wider picture of the actual tank.

The photo doesn't really give an indication of quite how large this truck is!

And here's a smaller one that was an interesting shape.

Remote controlled exploding thingy. Didn't work well. Games Workshop do a Death Korps version. It is also rather flawed an ineffective rules wise...

Odd looking utility vehicles might be a particular interest...

There was also a small model of fighting in the Bocage to indicate how easy it was to miss things not very far away.

Only thing I took photos of in the American hangar was the Blackbird.

No really good angles to get a good shot, as it's backlit by the huge windows.

This was about the best I could manage in the circumstances!

Road Trip! Duxford: Planes

I recently went to Duxford, which is where the Imperial War Museum keep a lot of their planes and big stuff that doesn't fit at the London site.

I will be honest, this was mostly just snapping some photos of random things that caught my eye.

This plane was commonly used to drop agents off in occupied France during WWII - mostly because it could land on a runway 150 metres long! The little ladder on the side is to help the passenger get out quickly so the plane can take off again.

Lancaster wings!

Lancaster cockpit! I really am not great about framing some of these, but there's not a huge amount of space - things are layered up all over the place and sometimes you can't get far enough back for a good picture.

A Mosquito...

Some WWII plane or other. For some reason labelled it as a Spitfire. Clearly not. Observer plane because of all the side windows?

I took a picture of this because I wondered what Horsa was - they were an Anglo-Saxon chieftan. I was getting confused with Horza, who is a character in an Iain M Banks novel I should really read at some point. The plan is the last surviving example of the make that had one crash in the middle of a desert somewhere.

The inside of Concorde.

A tactical nuclear weapon. It's really rather terrifying quite how small it is.

Lancaster tail gun.

The biplane again.

Flying fortress, with the right hand side painted with one set of nose art for filming purposes...

While the left hand side has the original art...

Art

 I want to tell a bit of a story, but it doesn't have a start, middle or end. The words are a jumble in my head, the sentences could come in any order.

I'm sitting at my computer desk, in an uncomfortable dining chair because my wife is using the one office chair in the study for Actual Work. I'm drinking peppermint tea and recently finished a cupcake with a flower design on, and the middle of the flower was a smartie.

So, currently scoring around 'moderate adult'.

Sometimes, I walk home from work. My job can be pretty stressful at times, and it's a good way of clearing my head. It takes about an hour and a half or so, and I usually end up listening to some podcast or other.

I'd been listening to the Independent Characters latest podcast, which talks about oil washes and different paint brands, so I was feeling a little bit in an artistic mood. I'd also chatted a little to a couple of people at work about miniature painting and very much in my head was feeling like the painting I do is art (irrespective or not of whether it's any good).

Then I started taking photos of things. It started with a parked up post office van which had some interested sun fading on it in the yellow street lights. You don't see 'faded red' as a paint job very often - I suspect because it's really quite difficult to do. Perhaps it's something I'd like to try one day. The dust pattern along the bottom of the van was also pretty interesting from a weathering point of view as well.

Then the Independent Characters podcast finished up, so I decided to listen to the Radio Free Burrito for the first time. In it, Wil Wheaton talked a bit about some art he was thinking about involving old film, projection and so on.

This got me thinking a whole bunch about the art projects I've never gotten around to doing. When I was at school, I was one of those kids who constantly had grandiose plans I never followed through on. One of my teachers did push me over a cliff on that once by then signing me up to direct and produce a play on my own. That was good for my soul. I need pushing into things, I think. I'm inherently pretty lazy.

I took a bunch of photos with light and shadow and machinery and things. I've put some up on a Tumblr account I created a while back I've never been quite sure what to do with. I don't really know if anyone reads it. I don't like the interface. I'm not sure really why I have it other than for posting photos I want to be able to find later but don't want to leave on the blog because I think that they'd be filler that would kill traffic.

But tonight, I'm thinking about art and writing stream of conscious and I don't care about my traffic stats. Which is weird. I usually do. I mean, I don't, but treat it as a kind of score for how well I'm blogging and how good my content is. Rubbish view scores are a motivation to up the quality of my content. Competing with my past self, really.

Oh. Things I mean to do that never have. Write a blog about fiction and books I read. Write actual fiction myself. Do that painting project where I follow all the painting tutorials in the old GW Masterclass book.

Everything is a bit of a muddle. I think the weekend will be focussed in on sorting out little things I've not finished. Making things more ordered. Tidying. My mind is stressed and having trouble focussing and little successes are needed to give that little happy bump of 'done' and 'organised', rather than the big project of doom which takes a lot of effort to get done. Remember the lazy thing? But I need some success about now.

What I do is art. Be that writing on the blog, photos I take or painting miniatures or telling stories. Is it good art? That doesn't matter. It's art, and I did it.

First Christmas hobby project

I had been planning on showing off my awesome travelling hobby set up today, but I forgot that I'm supposed to demonstrate some basic human decency and social contact this season. So today's hobby project was a Christmas Tree.

It's very pretty, and one of the few 1:1 scale pieces I've done...

William Blake Mosaics, near Dark Sphere - Lambeth, London

It seems I'm oblivious, because it took me a while to notice these.

They are just around the corner from my local gaming store, Dark Sphere. I took some photos of them when I finally noticed them back in April, and scheduled to put the photos up once I'd finished all the Salute stuff.

Sadly, it seems that someone decided to steal some of the mosaics. The sign explains that the abstract pieces are done by local children until the originals can be recreated.

I'm not sure which, if any, of the remaining mosaics are "originals" or reproductions done after the theft.

This ceramic plaque lists the artists who worked on the mosaics.

I do not know all the William Blake references in the pictures.

I hope you liked the slightly off topic post. If you like this sort of thing, you should potter over to Tears of Envy. She posts many eclectic things.

The Kickstarter Problem

I have a Kickstarter problem.

I don't think anyone who knows me will be even mildly surprised by this statement. I've 'properly' backed five Kickstarters, with another three on behalf of my wife for various reasons. Last week, I got my first ever Kickstarter fully delivered - which has motivated me a little to have a little talk about the Kickstarters I've backed.

(I've had an Indiegogo campaign fully deliver, but this post is long enough as it is, and I've already talked about it before.)

Oh no, wait, I haven't got all that Kickstarter yet. I just went back to the site to get the information to start putting these posts together and . . . I haven't got all my rewards yet.

So, still 0 for 5 on delivery so far...

So, the Kickstarter delivery which prompted this crazy post was the download notice for "Girl Genius and the Rats of Mechanicsburg". I pledged as a minion, so I got a shiny medal, a game, and a bunch of digital art.

The digital art is the bit I just realised I don't have yet. Not sure if it was delivered and I missed it, or if it hasn't been done yet.

The game itself? The voice acting and your little avatar are lovely and very pretty, with some nice cartoon-y artwork (it is based on a webcomic, after all). The mechanics are a bit . . . awkward at times. It's the sort of thing I'd download for free or a few pence, but not get super inspired by. I'd probably not have noticed it if it wasn't for the tie in.

I probably won't back computer game projects in the future - at least, not for the computer game rewards.

Funded: December 2012
Target Release: May 2013
Actual Release: March 2014 (ish)

Through the Breach was my first Kickstarter. I was utterly broke at the time, so only pledged for the Core Set. I do wish I'd been able to afford to go in for the full monty on this one and get All The Things, but financially, it just was not an option.

I did also pledge early, which earnt me a limited edition figure. Well, it will do when it finally ships. The entire project got delayed by Malifaux 2E, which was frustrating, but Malifaux 2E is also pretty awesome, so I'm not too narked about it.

I have had a partial delivery on this one, though. Wyrd sent the backers a PDF copy of the rules (along with a lot of beta versions along the way) as soon as they were ready. I'm still waiting on the physical copies of the books and the mini, but they will be along eventually. I have, sadly, not yet found the time to run a game.

Funded: January 2013
Target Release: September 2013
Partial Release: March 2014

Maki Games Kickstarter for plastic terrain was the first full wargaming Kickstarter I backed. It is Maki who are responsible for my unhealthy interest in collecting model shipping containers. I suppose there's worse things to be interested in.

And this is what I'm waiting for. Two of the most ridiculously "blinged out" shipping container models you will ever so. They are covered in skulls, and absolutely perfect for 40K. They suffered a hefty delay with their engineer falling ill but have been up front about that with the backers, and are giving regular updates to show what's going on. I am super excited about this one, and can't wait for the final delivery.

Funded: June 2013
Target Release: November 2013
Not yet received

I have mentioned Arcworlde on the blog before. Their website is down while the Kickstarter gets sorted, but I'm sure it will all be back up again soon enough.

I got a couple of warbands and the rulebook, so I could play with my darling wife. She's gone undead pirates while I've gone with Bayou Orcs. Their original plan was to deliver in February 2014, but they are currently running a little late.

Funded: September 2013
Target Release: February 2014
Not yet delivered

T5: Tile City was a recent Kickstarter for HDF terrain. These are pretty common at the moment, because people have realised they can buy a laser for their garage and off they go - and that initial outlay is perfect Kickstarter fodder. This one was going on at the same time as the Underground Lasers terrain Kickstarter, but for the sake of sanity and available money, after a lot of thinking, I went with T5.

Ooh, they have shipping containers. That's pretty! I don't understand why everyone doesn't find a well put together shipping container model gorgeous. However, I was incredibly strong about this and did not bulk out my pledge with some shipping containers as well as the core thing I was going in to get.

This is the set I went for - not the boards underneath, but the building. I'm getting a higher detailed version of this due to stretch goals, but it's a lovely modular art deco look that no-one else I'm aware of is really doing, and is really suited to laser cut terrain.

Funded: March 2014
Due: September 2014
Not overdue yet

In summary: Kickstarter (and Indiegogo) is a cool way to support companies who might not do something otherwise, or might not release as much. Do not pledge with any delivery date in mind. These are mostly start ups, and successful campaigns will end up getting swamped. Other times, illness or rookie errors like "forgetting to book your slot with the caster" will lead to delays.

There is another big danger. Stuff does not immediately arrive. That means that you have "hidden backlog", and the act of backing the Kickstarter doesn't necessarily associate in your brain with a big box of stuff you're going to need to assemble and paint turning up on your doorstep. Sim has more Sedition Wars models than she can count due to a runaway success. And that's before you talk to anyone who pledged on the "Vampire" level of the Bones Kickstarter...