Wednesday, December 25, 2013

A Geek Christmas

Ok here's the Nerdapalooza Holiday Haul for this year...

Star Wars Christmas Ornaments Set (10) with some cool unusual characters like Emperor Palpatine, Qui Gon Jinn, Jabba, and a Cone Wars era battle droid.

A Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock Tshirt.  I am already trying to work at getting better at the game now that I own the shirt...and the shirt makes a nice cheat sheet if you forget what Spock beats and what Lizard loses to.

Some more depth and breadth to my Blu-ray collection, including Inception, The Hobbit: The Unexpected Journey, Ironman 3, and the coup de grace, Star Wars The Complete Saga.  Good thing my new job is three or four days a week!

Some great drum stuff...a Remo ambassador clear head for the resonant side of my floor tom (the last head to complete the replacement of all my kit heads), a new new sided practice pad, two cool drumming books,  Stick Control and Mel Bay's Drum Fills.

A large Boba Fett plush key chain.

And some great non-geek stuff as well. 

Happy Holidays!

Peace...
@michaeldunkle

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Starcher Trek

Originally started as a bit of a geeky goof between Starcher Trek is a sort of mash-up of Star Trek TOS and the animated adult humor series Archer. Dialogue segments from Archer are then synced up to an animated version of ST:TOS.  It's pretty damn funny and well worth the couple of minutes it takes to watch an episode (I believe there are three episodes as of this post)  
With H. Jon Benjamin as Captain Kirk and Aisha Tyler as Lt. Urhura you really can't go wrong...

Peace...
@michaeldunkle

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Been a little busy...

Yea yea...just another abandoned blog.  Took a new position in late August as a clinical manager with the hospice group that I work for and it turned into a huge time suck for me. But I recently took a new position at Children's Hospital Colorado that has a more nurse-style schedule with great hours, so once the management responsibilities end in a couple of weeks, I hope to revive Flagrant Nerd to it's geeky goodness once again.  So prepare yourself for more on the gifts of geekdom from yours truly, the Duke of Dork.

Sunday, August 18, 2013

2013 Rocky Mountain Air Show

Had some spare time at work on Saturday, so I parked near Rocky Mountain Metro Airport and caught some great flybys of WWII planes during the Rocky Mountain Air Show.

Beechcraft C-45 Twin Beech

Boeing B-29 Superfortress

Boeing B-29 Superfortress

Consolidated B-24 Liberator

Consolidated B-24 Liberator

Rocky Mountain Renegades Formation Flying Team

Possibly a Grumman F4F Wildcat in the lead?

North American T-6 Texan

North American T-6 Texan

Peace...

M.D.
@michaeldunkle

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Elysium

So just saw Elysium this afternoon...interesting that I didn't opt to see The Wolverine first, but really it is just a matter of circumstance.  I'll see that too this week... O:-)

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

The 25 Best Nerd Road Trips

Cinder Lake near Flagstaff, Arizona where NASA crated a moon-like landscape to resemble the Sea Of Tranquility for Apollo astronauts to practice a giant leap for mankind.

Get your Call of Duty fix in real life at Fort Irwin National Training Center where the U.S. Military simulate real-life combat scenarios before deploying to the field.



Cute little article here from PopSci about 25 geek-friendly places to take your patient and understanding loved one on vacation.


My favorite of the 25 may be the Koreshan State Historical Site in Estero, Florida.  From the article:

"Estero, Florida
N 26.433601 / W 81.812155
In 1894, a “hollow Earth” cult called the Koreshan Unity Foundation settled on a homestead near what is now Naples, Florida. Cult members believed the Earth was round but hollow and that humans lived on the inside, with the sun at the center. Members took to the wide sandy beaches near Naples to try to measure the planet’s curvature, using their purpose-built “rectilineator.” The site is now a small state park, preserving for curious visitors the Koreshan Unity houses, general store, and other structures.
Open year-round, 8 a.m.–sunset. Adults: $4."
 
If they had been in business in 1894, Fox News would have probably hired Koreshan's to be on-air correspondents.

Not sure I would shell out $59 to tour Spaceport America in New Mexico...

Ok...maybe I would...

Peace...
M.D.
@michaeldunkle
 

I Spoke Too Soon...











Yea as they say...best laid plans...

Suddenly started getting the message "All boot options are tried, press F4 blah blah blah" on the new laptop 'puter (yes, my gorgeous Ferrari yellow Samsung Series 7 Gamer gaming rig).  First time it happened last week I played around a bit in the bios settings and then suddenly got it to boot in safe mode and then restore the system back to its latest restore point (arguably the day before).  But it happened again yesterday morning and this time...no luck.  No combination of bios changes gave me any joy, and the main HDD with the OS on it just wouldn't come up in the boot priority list.  Quickly became apparent that I most likely have a bad hard drive.

Why is my laptop dead? Is it the cord, the battery or the port?
After a couple of hours this particular action, see photo, crossed my mind (we've all been there), but realizing I was well within my warranty period I settled down and contacted Samsung Service using their Facebook page.  Kudos by the way to Samsung using social media to ask support/technical questions!  After a quick description of my problem and what I'd tried, the Samsung rep determined it was a service issue and set me up with a service ticket number and e-mailed me a pre-paid UPS label to ship it to Forth Worth.  The service rep also cleared with me the possibility of a swap to a new comparable system as well as the need to image-copy my current drive contents to a new one.   Turnaround time is 7 to 14 days...which really isn't bad...

Lessons learned so far:  bad drives happen...don't freak out, but be sure to back up your data no matter what computer you are using.  I typically back up my most important stuff to Dropbox and/or to a 1TB NAS I have attached to my home network, so really I didn't have anything irreplaceable on the new laptop.  Next lesson:  make sure if you're buying 'puter gear on places like e-bay or reseller sites that you have warranties for the items you are buying (in this instance I bought an open-box item that had not been registered with the manufacturer yet and still had the full warranty intact - not to mention a reasonable return policy from the e-bay seller).  In this particular example, things have worked exactly as they did if I'd bought this laptop from a big box store, such as Best Buy or Wal-Mart (in fact Samsung even lists e-bay as a store location when I registered the laptop - again, kudos to Samsung).  Third lesson:  try to always have another connection to the internet available - i.e. don't rely on a single computer/tablet/phone for internet service.  When your tech goes bad, you need the 'net to research fixes and, as in this case, to quickly contact service and repair.
 20090825-dead-hard-drive
Interestingly this may also make me more seriously consider moving toward SSD drives vs. HDDs.  My new 'puter came with a 16GB SSD cache which has been pretty awesome to see so far (if anything the laptop boots lightning fast).  SSDs, while being more expensive at the moment, have no moving parts to fry and arguably are more stable and reliable that HDDs...plus the aforementioned speed factor is pretty significant.  So we shall see...

Will update more on the repair process overall as they progress...

Peace...

M.D.
@michaeldunkle



Friday, July 19, 2013

New gaming rig


So I finally had to give up the ghost on my previous and much beloved laptop (a Gateway P7801u-FX) as my Nvidia GeForce 9800M just kept crashing to black and finally got to the point that it was just to unstable. Interestingly this was a known issue with the P78 series and the life of the rig could be extended with some tweaks to the clocking of the gpu, flashing the bios to an older system,  and the use of a good cooling pad,  but it finally just got the best of my 'puter and it was time for a new gaming rig.

That rig ended up being a Samsung Series 7 Gamer which received some great overall reviews about Samsung's first big foray into the gaming laptop world.  So far I have to agree...the features in this baby are pretty rich and found usually on laptops in the $2000 range at the least (this model of then 7 Gamer retails around $1600, with used/refurbished around $1100 - I snagged mine as an open box deal on ebay for $990 w/ free shipping.)  The 7 Gamer was the winner of Notebook.com's Best of CES award, Laptop Magazine's Best Laptop and PC Magazine's Best Laptop of CES.

Pretty sure I was going to miss my WuXGA 1900x1600 HiDef 17" screen that came with my Gateway P78...but so far the 17.3-inch display with 1080p resolution (1920 x 1080) and Superbright Plus on the Samsung Series 7 Gamer has really impressed me, particularly with its bright crisp display.  I'm currently sitting on the small deck of a cabin we're vacationing in with the sun overhead and the computer set to green mode and have no problems seeing the screen.
 
Also under the hood is a 2.4 GHz Intel Core i7-3610QM quad-core processor capable of 3.3 GHz with Turbo Boost Technology, and 2 500 GB giving a total of a full TB of hard drive storage that is assisted with a 16GB SSD drive for lightning fast boot ups and fast load times for commonly used programs. 
Installed are 8GB8 GB DDR3 RAM (maximum 4 x 4 GB and a snap to upgrade to 16GB with an easy access cover ), and a  AMD Radeon 7870 graphics with 2 GB of video memory which runs most of today's games on the highest settings.  

On the right side is a Blu-ray CD-RW combo drive, which again is rare to see in sub–$2K rigs.  And when you're kicking back to watch The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Extended Edition on Blu Ray you've also got a 4 W Stereo Speaker (2 W x 2) sub-Woofer with Dolby® Home Theater® v4 audio technology.

The 7 Gamer also comes with 2 ultra-fast USB 3.0,  2 standard USB 2.0 ports, and an HDMI port for connecting to a compatible HDTV or home theater system.
The keyboard is more of a throwback to older laptops, with curved keys that pushback a bit giving it a satisfying feel to the keystroke.  The keys are backlit - white during most modes (off in Library and Green modes) and they switch to blue in Gaming mode with the WASD keys lit in red...silly but cheese is often cool.  Not sure how much I'm currently happy with the little touch on/off buttons for sound, wireless, and keyboard lighting at the top of the keyboard...seems a bit much but they work.  

There's also a pretty slick rotating knob set in the hinge on the right side that quickly switches power vs. performance modes.  The rotating toggle allows users to quickly switch between four modes: green, library, balanced and gaming. These tune the rig to save power, run quietly (disable the fans), work efficiently or crank performance to 11, respectively.

It is a bit of cheese when you switch to gaming mode. Suddenly, the machine's display fades to black, temporarily blinding the user while a targeting reticule overlays the screen, accompanied by a series of mechanical and digital sound effects. As the desktop comes back into view, that target finds a home in the desktop wallpaper, which darkens to match the hardcore motif that power setting so clearly requires. The notebook's exterior layers play along as well: most of the backlit keys transition from white to blue. The exceptions are the "WASD" keys, which darken to a serious red. Crimson circles now surround the power and volume controls, pulsating along with the sound coming from the machine's stereo speakers. Tread carefully, son, you're in gamer country. The whole show is controlled by (and can be disabled through) Samsung's ModeShift.  One nice feature I've now set up is that when I switch to Gaming mode, my Windows key and trackpad switch off automatically.

By the way...the (awesome) yellow/orange color of this particular rig is part of this particular model number.  Called "Ferrari Yellow," it comes only with this configuration (that I can tell so far anyway) so the 7 Gamer is available in standard black colors too.  Personally, I love the color.

Only real complaint I and others have had so far that I can see is that it comes with Win 8 installed...no other options.  While on the surface it's nice to get the latest OS with a new 'puter, Win 8is such a radical departure from previous Windows OS versions that it takes a good day or two to get used to.  Frankly now that I've been using it for a week or two, I'm fine with Win 8.  It really isn't this horrible disaster that everyone seems to be laying on Microsoft's design team (which, arguably comes with every other OS version going back to the early 80's).  Just play with it, have some patience, and learn something new for a change.

One caveat...Samsung's updating system for drivers through Win 8 so far is pretty pathetic.  There's a pretty common note that the net card in the 7 Gamer needs to be updated to function properly with many routers...mine was no exception.  The laptop net card connected but the throughput speed was down to a crawl...nearly impossible to load any page in under a two minute period.  However the driver updates showed that the card had the latest driver installed - this was not the case.  Simply navigate over to Intel's Download Center  and install the driver update utility (note this takes some time if you have similar netcard throughput issues as I did...but such is life until you update this driver).  It should steer you toward the appropriate driver for your netcard.  It was a pretty big file so I downloaded over another computer and transferred it to the Samsung via USB drive to install (use the USB 3.0 slots...they are sizzling fast for such things!)  After that I have excellent wireless connectivity and throughput and you can go about fixing everything else!

Other than that, it's a great desktop replacement/gaming rig.  One of the best points for me is that I use my gaming laptops for things other than gaming, so the ability to quickly change configurations via the mode knob is really quite nice (I find that I leave it on balanced mode while plugged into AC when not gaming, and green mode when running on batteries).  And on gaming mode, it rocks.  Crank your settings up to max on most games and play until your carpal tunnel syndrome kicks in.  

Bang for the buck it's pretty sweet, and you should have no problem snagging one for around $1K.  Yea I would have loved to pick up a new Alienware rig, but my wife would have cut some beloved parts of my body off if I dropped $3K on a laptop these days...and frankly, this Samsung Series 7 Gamer does my just fine...

Peace...

M.D.
@michaeldunkle

The Return of the Nerd

So...after a long and somewhat unexpected hiatus...I feel the need to return to Flagrant Nerd. My apologies for being absent for such a long while (I just looked and it's been since GenghisCon in February that I've posted).  Changed jobs, had a ton of volunteer work that came up, etc. (you know...life).  So busy that I've barely rolled any dice during that time...

At any rate I'm am going to endeavor to get back to regular posting on the State of the Nerd Domain, so hopefully everyone still has their glasses taped, a replica of the One Ring around their neck, and their dice bags loaded and open. 

Excelsior!

MD
Sir Dork, the Geekmaster.  Flagrant Nerd and Knight Errant of the Square Table. 
@michaeldunkle

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Unexpected Break at GenghisCon

So we we're all having a great final day of gaming fun at GenghisCon and then the fire alarm went off emptying the hotel.

Interesting seeing a huge crowd of gamers, geeks, and nerds standing outside the hotel, most of them smoking, half discussing their next moves, the other half worried about someone stealing their stuff they had to leave before behind when we evacuated.

And they just let us back in...someone must have pulled the fire alarm as a gag...

Peace...

M.D.
@michaeldunkle

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Space Hulk, the opening salvo


The first game I signed up for was Space Hulk. This is a 'Specialist Game' from Games Workshop, though it's no longer published.  You could pick up a copy off ebay or some reseller on Amazon, but it's gonna cost you a couple of hundred bucks to do so.  Or you could just head to a game convention and play with someone else's, like I did.  Space Hulk is a sort of dungeon crawl where one side typically plays some Space Marine terminators and the other side plays Tyranids (there's some variations of course).  The Space Marines have to survive to get off the floating hulk in space...the 'Nids have to kill the marines.

Normally the game comes with flat cardboard sections to mimic the starship corridors, but the guy that was running the game on Friday (David) had sculpted, cast, and painted his own corridor scenery complet with bulkheads, doors, airlocks and other cool stuff.

the Space Marine Upper Level in the foreground, the Chaos Upper Level in the background.
The scenario was pretty dressed up too.  Space Marines on one side, Chaos Space Marines on another, and then David had someone playing the aliens and Tyranids.  The Space Marines and Chaos Space Marines were racing to get to a slide at the end of their corridor systems that would then take them down to the lower level.

The Space Marine Upper Level.

It was pretty tough...the Tyranids on the upper level wiped out the Chaos Space Marines before they ever made it off their upper level.  The Space Marines (whose team I was on) only had two marines survive to escape to the lower level...one of the sergeants I was running and a marine with a storm bolter.
The heroic two Space Marines trying desperately to get to the lower level
There was some seriously amazing dice rolls that got our two marines down to the lower level (one of the other players called it 'heroic dice rolls' :) but we did manage to get down the slide.

The lower level - replete with Aliens, Colonial Marines, and the Alien Queen (yes, as in Aliens).
We survived the first two rooms and killed off a bunch of aliens (though my sergeant did suffer some acid splashback on two occasions).  But when we blew the door open to the Alien Queen, she promptly came through it and ate both remaining Space Marines, to our dismay.

Overall it was a great time, with lots of racous shouting at die rolls (always a good sign).  Thanks to David and the rest of the group for a really fun time...

One last note...best thing seen today at GhengisCon:


Girl Scouts selling cookies...at a game convention...full of geeks, most of which have really bad dietary habits.  Genius!

Peace...

M.D.
@michaeldunkle


On Site At GenghisCon

(Apologies if some if these start coming iut of order...was trying to finish a Day 1 summary post but had to get some Zzzs to get up early today and back for another full day of gaming) But I have arrived! (had to hunt down a staff member to pick up my tickets, badge, and t-shirt as registration was closed for lunch). Space Hulk yesterday was awesome (post on that to follow later.

On tap for today... Some Savage Worlds Gunslingers of Karthador followed by Force On Force Cold War Gone Hot this afternoon...

Peace...

M.D.
@MICHAELDUNKLE

Friday, February 15, 2013

GhengisCon Is On!

GhengisCon began yesterday, and I'm headed down the the Red Lion Hotel this afternoon...


First on tap for this afternoon...Space Hulk!


Hope to get some live blogging in from the event all weekend and definitely will have some pics posted as I get them!

Happy gaming!

Peace...

M.D.
@michaeldunkle

Sunday, February 10, 2013

The One Ring...On Sale!

Ok...for the ultimate nerd gift...

That's right, it's the One Ring.  Ok, it's actually a gold-plated tungsten-carbide in a cobalt-free nickel binder with laser-etched elvish inscription replica of the One Ring with 7mm domed contoured comfort fit high polish mirror finish weighing in at a heavy 15 grams.  But it's pretty sweet anyway...

And right now, it's available for $29.99.  Lest you be skeptical of this tawdry price, consider that this is at 81% off...it's normally $159.00.  But it's on sale through SparkleCartel right now, so it's a great opportunity to grab that special gift for your special geek!  (Comes with a free gift box, so how could you go wrong?)




SparkleCartel is actually pretty cool...it's a deep discounter site for all things jewelry, modeled on the 'we sell one thing until it's gone' style of sale (ala SteepandCheap, which is responsible for many overspent months of purchases for yours truly). 

Be careful if you do purchase...know the proper ring size of whomever you are purchasing this geeky beauty for.  Tungsten carbide cannot be resized...and SparkleCartel provides a downloadable .pdf ring sizing tool.  Use it!

And yes...I bought one.  The ultimate nerd splurge. 

Hopefully it will be here in time for GhengisCon next week... :)

Peace...

M.D.
@michaeldunkle

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Games Workshop Attempts Trademark Claim to the term Space Marine




So it's no secret that I've often been a rather ardent supporter of Games Workshop's business model, and am often vilified as a defender of their business practices.  Fans of the game company's products are quick to demonize GW's high prices, regular re-issue of updated game rulebooks, army codexes, and figure lines...the argument being that they are shamelessly raping their own customers by forcing them to constantly purchase products to stay updated to the latest game components at exorbitantly inflated retail pricing.  The other love/hate with GW is that they are known for consistently quashing any possible competitors in brutal fashion, often going after very small start up companies and grinding them under the wheels of copyright infringement through greater legal and financial resources of the their success.  A good example of this is the takedown notice GW filed against Thomas Valenty who, using a MakerBot, designed some Warhammer 40K tanks of his own based on his brother's Imperial Guard army. 

Another is the GW lawsuit against Chapterhouse, a small Texas-based company that designs models and accessories that primarily complement the Warhammer Fantasy Battles and 40K universes. 

The latest incarnation that is sure to raise the hackles of tabletop miniature wargamers and science fiction fans alike is the trademark infringement claim filed by Games Workshop against the ebook version of Spots the Space Marine claiming that GW has a common law trademark on the term "space marine," most significantly because they have a large interest in the e-book market (ala The Black Library).  
 
According to The Escapist, GW currently holds trademark claim to the term space marine when referred to in regard to "board games, parlor games, war games, hobby games, toy models and miniatures of buildings, scenery, figures, automobiles, vehicles, planes, trains and card games and paint," but now seeks to assert that the trademark extends to fiction, in this case e-book fiction, as well.  The more ominous possibility that looms on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA) horizon is that GW could be looking to apply that trademark to any and all things Space Marine in the future, not just related to the gaming tabletop.  This could even push me to accuse Games Workshop of crossing the line.

Look, my stance on GW's business practices is this:  GW has done what very, very few nerds and geeks have ever been able to do...that is to take their gaming creations and create a truly serious and successful business out of them.  Oh sure, Gygax and TSR did well for some time, but eventually had to sell out to Wizards of the Coast (who made their success through Magic The Gathering), and let's be honest, Wizards ended up under the Hasbro umbrella in no small part to what most dice-rollers saw as screwing up D&D.  

(Granted there are some good things afoot for the world of D&D as the next incarnation is currently in play-testing via actual D&D players...something that not only rings of an application of video game beta-testing for pen & paper style games but of some very forward thinking on Wizard's part).

But Wizards can no longer claim to be a stand alone game company for the geek-o-sphere as they are now owned by Hasbro.  One could also point to Fantasy Flight or Paizo or Pinnacle or Battlefront and other such game companies, but Games Workshop is a juggernaut in the world of nerd games.  
No self-respecting game store worth it's gaming tables doesn't have at least a 'stockist' display of GW stuff, and the extremely deep backstory of their universes is staggering compared to any other game system...40K alone garners a towering fanbase of their fiction.  Find me another game system that has it's own fiction publishing arm that has real writers such as Dan Abnett and Graham McNeil and a pretty large library of offerings.  The Horus Heresy storyline has over 20 books in it alone and more produced every year.  GW is listed on the London Stock Exchange.  It owns the rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit tabletop games.  GW reported sales revenues just under $2 million (1.23 million British Pounds) in 2011.  They have nearly 2000 employees worldwide.

Because of all that, I have rather profound respect for Games Workshop.  Success is not won easily, and GW has done a rather spectacular job since it was originally formed in the mid-70's.  So while I personally get frustrated at another hardcover version of rules or what seems to be a once or twice a year re-issue of some codex, I understand it from a business perspective.  Companies have to remain solvent...this means producing new products to keep your customers buying.  If GW never produced anything new, eventually they would run out of sales.  Gaming is a very niche market with a limited customer base.  Apple crosses over many boundaries with its products...your grandmother might very well be interested in an iPod (or at the least own an iPhone) but she very doubtfully is building an army of Tyranids.  So GW has to keep fresh and they have to keep current.  And that often doesn't come cheap.  Sure I wish a set of five High Elf Sword Masters of Hoeth that stand about two inches tall didn't cost me $33.00.

I don't like it, but I get it.  And to those I meet at my local game store that are quick to tear down GW and swear they will never buy their products, I call shenanigans.  You will buy GW products, and you will play their games, and you will get the latest codex.  Even if you buy used stuff on eBay, you're just making money for some other hobbyist to buy new stuff from GW.  As long as you keep doing so, GW pulls in $2M a year.  So bitch all you want...you'll still buy.  If you truly are pissed off enough that you won't buy, the reality is that you'd play GW games if you could afford to do so.  In that respect...more power to Games Workshop for producing something we all want to buy. Love 'em or hate 'em, the fact of the matter is that the folks at Games Workshop are making a pretty nice living playing with plastic army men, while you're flipping burgers, selling cars, and working night shifts at the hospital (like me).  You come up with a successful career playing games and then you can talk smack about GW.

Because of all this, Games Workshop must protect itself, its products, and its brand.  That's just business.  It may seem cruel, heartless, and relentlessly evil, but it is what it is.  I get the challenge to people copying their designs on a 3D printer.  I understand to a limited extent wanting to prevent places like Chapterhouse from selling stuff that essentially takes dollars out of the GW coffers.  But this latest lawsuit claiming they may own the literary rights to the term 'Space Marine.'  Good luck on that one GW.  Space Marine was first coined in the literary world way back in 1932 by sci-fi writer Bob Olsen in Amazing Stories, Volume 7, Number 8. 

Since then it's had many, many versions in the literary world, most notably in Robert A. Heinlein's work Starship Troopers (1959).  Aliens (1986) was about Colonial Marines battling big ass xenomorphs on LV-426 (let's be honest, Tyranids are a direct ripoff of the Aliens franchise).  Even in terms of video games, id Software's Doom was a space marine character killing demons on hell-infested moons orbiting Mars. I would hope that GW doesn't try to sue Sega with it's upcoming release of Aliens: Colonial Marines. 


This is a reach for even Games Workshop, and frankly in this case, I'm calling shenanigans on GW for a change.  You can challenge anyone that creates a game that uses Space Marines, particularly if they use the backstory for your Space Marines that you have created...I get that.  But you can't really expect to try and squash the idea of the armies of the future flinging out armored and beweaponed marines on navy spaceships to the stars and suing everyone that wants to write a story about how they think it would happen.  Because you didn't think up the idea.  The idea has been around for a much longer time than Games Workshop.   I would hope that GW doesn't try to sue Sega with it's upcoming release of Aliens: Colonial Marines. We'd laugh at you, and I'll have to write another blog post.


So GW, you need to toe the line on this one...and probably be thankful that the Heinlein estate hasn't tried to sue you.

Peace...

M.D.
@michaeldunkle

Identifying with Movie Characters

Is it concerning when watching The 40-Year-Old Virgin that you find yourself identifying with Steve Carell's character Andy in the beginning of the movie who paints miniature war gaming figures, plays video games, reads comic books, and collects toys?

Just a thought...

Peace...

M.D.
@michaeldunkle

Sent from my 'nobody really cares what phone or carrier this message was sent from' phone.

Friday, February 8, 2013

GhengisCon Looms

Dice bags will be plentiful at the end of next week...
GhengisCon 34 is upon us.  Bountiful board games, masses of miniatures, role-playing riches, a wealth of wargames, plethora of painting (of the masses of miniatures), and a huge roomful of vendors carrying everything from crocheted Cthulhu's to pink fairy hats to dice bags embroidered while you wait (not too mention the largest freaking dice selection you have every laid eyes on).
February 14 through 17 is the biggest game convention in the Colorado region...four days of gameapalooza (TactiCon in the fall is number two) and is put on by the Denver Gamers Association.  It's a great time...and I scored a free pass for the whole shebang this year (door prize at Thanksgaming last November at Total Escape Games).  So far I'm signed up for Space Hulk on Friday, some Savage Worlds on Saturday morning followed by Force On Force in the afternoon, and some Gloom on Sunday.  In between I'll be checking out the vendor room (and trying not to spend money I don't have).

Check it out at www.denvergamers.org and I'll see you there (an maybe doing some live blogging while on the premises... :)

Peace...

M.D.
@michaeldunkle

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Spinning Off Star Wars





Disney has announced that it will put out two spin off movies from the Star Wars franchise that will be designed to be standalone films separate from the original Star Wars saga.  Both, if they happen, will come out after the planned release of Episode VII, currently scheduled for release in 2015 and directed by J.J. Abrams (ala Fringe, Lost, etc.).  Lawrence Kasdan has been tapped to write at least one of the spin offs.



Each film is reported to focus on a specific character, so we may see a Han Solo movie, or perhaps a Boba Fett film.

Let's dearly hope there are no plans for a JarJar Binks flick...


Peace...

M.D.
@michaeldunkle