Privateer Press: Warmachine Short Animation Movie

Holy cow! It has been an awful long time since I posted the last time something on the blog. Hope someone is still around! Life is really chaotic at the moment. But after a awesome three week vacation in Scotland (if you have not been there, do it!) I am melting in our sommer heat and have some time to write again ;)

What better than to watch some awesome videos and this here came on my recommendation list yesterday and I think it is worth a share:

It is a short animation movie, playing in the Warmachine universe and shows in a very cool way the connection between warcaster and jack and also a bit of the cool universe. I wish the would do more like this! Hope you enjoy it.


So long,
Paradox0n

MMM - Random musings

After a long time I do again a MMM but switching from Monday Morning Music to Monday Morning Musings :) At least for today. I just don't want to post some music today (which I will do nonetheless) but also do some ranting and musing. Seems fitting at the moment because I just can't find the needed time for the hobby and even the blog is not traded as well as it should be (despite all the good intentions for this year). So I will at least start with blog care!

But as usual I will start this post with some music!
Woodkid - Conquest of Spaces:

Painting Buddha Academy: Aanchuth series

This time Matt and Mati paint Aanchuth the Cursed from Mierce Miniatures. The series shows you among other things how to paint fur, skin, horns and wood.

As usual I just bundled the free videos together in one playlist. The videos are produced and owned by the Bruddahs from Painting Buddha. All kudos go to them.

If you like the videos, please subscribe to their Youtube-Channel and have a look at their shlog/website.

Hope you enjoy it.


So long,
Paradox0n

Some unrelated Post Scriptum after the jump:

FFotW - Scale Model Challenge Collection

As most of you know, last Sunday was the Scale Model Challenge near Eindhoven. I thought about going there rather spontaneously, but after all the ~1200km drive (back and forth) which I would have to do alone (since Mrs. Para wasn't interested in the show) and the fact that I had to work on Monday kept me from doing something crazy.
Nonetheless I had a look at some of the emerging posts in the blogosphere and want to show you the reports I have found interesting so far.

The first was Tuffskull who also did a nice video of his trip:

Corvus' Miniatures also posted a video about the SMC 2014:

And in my Youtube recommendations I found another channel who did a multi-part coverage of the SMC (I just put them together in one play list, all kudos go to the creator of the videos):

Mot likely there are many more articles available, it seems that the guys from Painting Buddha also try to keep track of them. Their report about the SMC already has some nice image galleries linked.

Seems like it was a great event. Hope everyone who was there had a good time. Maybe I will join the party next year with some more time to plan and maybe get a hotel room for one night to ease the pain of driving :)


So long,
Paradox0n

Painting Buddha Academy: Horus series is finished

The next video series form the PBCC is finished. This time not only Ben works at the Miniature but also Matt jumps in with painting the base. If you don't know what the PBCC is, please check out Painting Buddha.

As the last time I bundled all the videos from the Horus series together in one playlist. Part 5 (painting the wolf) and Part 7 (painting green marble) are missing because they are only accessible for subscribers, so if you are interested in those or a 1080 version you must opt for a subscription :)

If you like the videos, please subscribe to their Youtube-Channel and have a look at their shlog/website.

But this week there is even more insanity from the guys. Up until now, you got some step-by-step introductions in a PDF if you opted in for one of their subscritpion models. But since Michael is absolutely nuts and hast lost his mind in the plans to conquer the galaxy (just kidding) they know make the PDF availably for everybody and even give out a voucher for those who already bought it.

Hope you enjoy it.


So long,
Paradox0n

Painting Buddha Academy: PBCC released the first video in their series

As you all know by now I am a pretty big fan of Painting Buddha and their DVDs. And they don't stop surprising me! Michael, Ben and Mati did another masterstroke: They opened up their own painting academy and just promote it.

If you want to know more about the Painting Academy, the features, costs and everything, please read their very informative and comprehensive blogpost concerning the Painting Buddha Community College.

 And what better way to promote that with the first tutorial video (out of 42 as usual)!

I put the released videos all together in one playlist for your convenience and hope Michael is OK with that. You can find the original blogpost from Painting Buddha on their new website/shop/blog and all the videos on their Youtube Channel.

I myself only opted to take the blue pill and hope they continue to produce DVDs and stuff (which I will most likely buy then) and not switch completely to this community thing. To not take a membership (for now) is just a personal preference, most paid communities I had a look on didn't just convince me. Have to see how the PBCC will be in the future.

Hope you enjoy it.


So long,
Paradox0n

P.S.: I think Michael really wants to take over rulership and be "El Presidente" ;)

FotW - The expert

Another Finding of the Week. This time completely unrelated to our beloved hobby but related to my daily work. Oh how I can feel with the poor guy in here.

Have a nice weekend!


So long,
Paradox0n

Painting a Fire elemental with Ben Komets from Painting Buddha

I am still alive and digging through videos and sometimes even blogposts. But my private projects (planing a hiking tour in Norway and the needed training) or my aquarium (which made some troubles lately) keep me away from painting and even blogging.
But today I stumbled upon a very nice (and free) painting video from our brudahs at Painting Buddha where Ben Komets paints a tabletop quality version of a Drakerys Fire Elemental. So sit back, watch and enjoy:

And as much as I hate advertisement mails, the one from Michael got me rolling and I will surely save me an Early Beard (so funny!) for the season 1.2/1.3 DVD bundle. I loved the first DVD set they did and want to support the work the guys at Painting Buddha do.


So long,
Paradox0n

MMM - Elder Scrolls Online Music

Wow long time since I wrote my last Monday Morning Music post. So time for a new one! You could suppose I would post something concerning our 5th season of the year, the "Fasnet" or "Fastnacht" as its called in my region. But since I am not into this festivity anymore I chose something different.

I had the luck to get a Beta Key for the stresstest weekend of The Elder Scrolls Online which I really enjoyed. Something which flashed me (besides the awesome graphics, the free character development and the cool stories) was the music in the game. Everytime I came near a tavern or a campfire and a npc bard was present they really performed songs! Not just some other music, real songs. That immensely pays in the general atmosphere of the game and therefore I will give you two examples from Malukah:

Hope you enjoy it.


So long,
Paradox0n

Color theory - 3 Colors Up

Long time no see... But today I will present you at least something hobby related. I put together a playlist from a very good video tutorial series related to color theory. Romain from Beasts of War explains all important parts, be it contrast, complementary colors, color triads and so on.

Complementing this I showed you the Color Scheme Designer some time ago.
So grab your color wheel and start experimenting ;)


So long,
Paradox0n

How to Play/BatRep - Flames of War on BoW

Normally I am not into historical wargaming. My time when I played with tanks and build those fantastic Revell kits is looong ago. I even had some trenches and bunkers then.

But yesterday the second part of a introduction of Flames of War was uploaded from Beasts of War and I really enjoyed this one. Therefore I put the parts together in a playlist and want to share them with you. As soon as they put up part III I will add it to the playlist.

So watch Warren & Dave play a game of Flames of War:

Important note: These videos completely belong to Beasts of War. I just share them for easy access and enjoyment.


So long,
Paradox0n

MMM - Woodkid

Wonderful Black and White art in his videos and very cool music in a way I haven't heard before: That is Woodkid.
Maybe you know Run by Run from an advert campaign of a big mobile provider (which itself is also very nice especially the start with the animated cat/robot).
I came across his music a while ago and my wife really liked the song on the advertisement and immedeately bought the album :)

The videos are really great and take you into a very unique black and white world.

Woodkid "Iron" from WOODKID on Vimeo.

Woodkid "Run Boy Run" from WOODKID on Vimeo.

Hope you enjoy them as I do and have a good start into your week!


So long,
Paradox0n

Still alive :)

First things first: Sorry for not posting this long. At he moment I am pretty much fully stretched at work and since I had a colleague to train (and everything had to be done in English) I am pretty exhausted when I come home. Most of the time its preparing food, spending some time with my wife and relaxing on the couch (or having some "leasure" time with my colleagues at Adventsmarkt or Christmas Party which is also most of the time in English).
Nonetheless I will return on blogging around christmas (maybe Father Christmas will bring me some nice hobby stuff). I also found some interesting stuff (not only hobby related) on the AEther and tried to make some pictures of stuff I am working on. Sadly the pictures aren't presentable, my Photobucket definitely comes to its limits with bigger miniatures/models.

Blogging update - Bug rant and moving pictures

Lately I got some serious problems with some disappearing pictures. Be it in the Followers Widget, in my Related Post Widget or even in my articles. Today this miracle is solved! I don't know why but the appropriate Picasa folder changed the displaying rights and therefore all links to the pictures in it where broken... I hope know this will now be solved and not happen again (had to correct  five posts, my widgets and some other stuff here). So be careful with your Picasa stuff, you never know what can happen :)

Another thing is, that I want to do some videos some while now. Perhaps you remember my posts from April where I started thinking about this topic and showed my camcorder and stuff. This weekend I played a bit with some stuff I found (and a trial license of an editing software) and don't want to keep this experiment from you. It nothing fancy but hey you have to start somewhere!

And I have two new adventurers on board! Welcome Remco and Old Fogey. Enjoy the travel and I hope you find your fortune on it.


So long,
Paradox0n

MMM - I don't want to set the world on fire

As someone who played Fallout a lot I also am a fan to the Fallout radio music. One of the favorites (and one I loved to head while playing Fallout 3) is: I don't want to set the world on fire from The Ink Spots.

I really love the moody and lonely feeling you get while playing the game(s) and at the same time the game(s) give you the feeling of hope and perseverance. It is really seldom that a game can achieve transmitting such feelings while playing.

And something on my own behalf: I forgot a rather important point (for me) on my DVD review for Painting Buddha Season 1.1 and therefore updated the article (added something about the shipping costs). So if you haven't read it already just have a look :)

Have a good start into your week!


So long,
Paradox0n

Review: Painting Buddha - Season 1.1:Target Identified | Tale of two painters

Alllriiiiight!!! So we start directly with an insider you will understand if you have watched the first three DVDs with Ben Komets :) After watching the 6 DVDs I was completely smashed and to be honest: I had some difficulties to find a way how to describe this set and writing a review about it. Not because it is bad, on the opposite, but because it has many different things to see AND you have two different painters who have a somewhat different approach to painting those two wonderful miniatures I already wrote about.

So where to start? Perhaps some general stuff first...
The set is completely in English with subtitles in English, German and Spanish. You get a DVD set from two painters with pretty different approaches how to paint exactly the same miniatures. Ben does everything "by hand" where Rafael starts with using an airbrush.

The menus are in English and describe the parts which are painted of the miniature (not the techniques though).
Both painters are setup straight in front of the camera and Zaphod does some Q&A while they are painting. These comments from the OFF are sometimes pretty funny e.d. that is where the ALRIIIIIIGHT!!! comes from :) Maybe here is some space to optimize so that the painters are watching a bit more into the camera and not to the side where Zaphod and/or the self-monitor is placed. Telepromter effect you know? And one odd thing I noticed: The aspect ratio of the filmed material seems to be a bit off on my TV. Some parts of the screen is cut off, I tried to fix it with on-board possibilities of my TV but nothing worked. On my PC everything works fine.

FFotW - Charlie Chaplin: Final speech in "The Great Dictator"

If only people today would take the words said here by heart... This speech is so breathtaking. Unbelievable if you think WHEN this movie was filmed.
Nothing more to say here, just listen...

So long,

Paradox0n

P.S.: I hope you don't mind posting me stuff far from our beloved hobby. But blogging for me isn't always just posting pics of miniatures or writing tutorials but also letting some of my personality shining through and giving a view beyond the horizon.

Quick tips from Kris Belleau

I just wanted to share some nice quick tips recently posted from Miniwargaming.com. To be precise the Quick tips"-series from Kris Belleau. I collected all those free videos into one playlist. There are even more in the Wargaming-Vault but since I don't have access to that I just wanted to share and point out those nice videos.

Hope you enjoy it.


So long,
Paradox0n

Painting Buddha - Season 1.1:Target Identified | First glance

Wohoo a long awaited package finally arrived: The Painting Buddha - Season 1.1:Target Identified DVD set is finally in my hands.
This boxed set was a birthday present from my wife and although it was marked as sent from Monday on it only arrived yesterday...
But nonetheless I am really happy that this thingy now is mine. And I couldn't wait to unpack this box. As you see the postal package is tightly packed with no air to move for the box. Unluckily the stuff inside wasn't protected by airfoil or something like this but luckily the content wasn't hurt even if the package had some small damages.

So what is inside? Inside is a personalized letter (addressed to my wife since it was a present), a certify card with the dvd number and a "hoopy" "Thank you" from the 3 producers, a small brochure with "How to prepare the miniatures", a small brochure which introduces Painting Buddha and their goals and targets, a pretty cool, sealed metal box with the minis (and the optional base) inside and the DVD box.
I REALLY like all the fine details you can find here, e.g. the metal box is sealed with Buddha stickers, the brochures are of really high quality. On the first look this stuff really holds the promise of "we do this with love and passion".

I can't wait to remove the protecting foil of the DVDs an risk a first look. But first my wife had a Tupperware Party and we had to prepare some stuff and clean up everything :)
So stay tuned for a closer look into this box.

Cya,
Paradox0n

FFotW: Bill Cosby - Himself

I think most of you know Bill Cosby from the "Bill Cosby Show". But he also is a standup comedian and the "Bill Cosby - Himself" show is really awesome. One man, a microphone and a chair. Nothing more needed.
I nearly fell of my chair with laughing. Pretty stupid if you are on work ;)

Hope you do enjoy him as much as I did.


So long,
Paradox0n


P.S.: I am still waiting for the painting buddha DVDs and hoping I can do a review of them soon. Perhaps I'll try to do one of the DVD of Jeremy meanwhile... We'll see.