Its been a strange week for me. I started getting sick last weekend and didn’t realize it at first. Sure enough, by Sunday night I had a bad cold and some aches. I ended up missing three days of work getting over it and returned to work on my birthday which is just about the opposite way of how things should go in my book! I’m just about over the illness other than a little bit of coughing thankfully.
In theory I should have had more time to paint but I don’t have that much to show. Part of that is that I took some time to varnish two sections of street terrain. And the other part is how the timing worked out with the Junk barricade. I finished painting the rest of it and varnished it and applied rust effects but I wanted to make sure the oil paints are totally dry before I add the matte varnish, so I will only show it before rust is applied. Here is a quick look.
On the back, I tried to recreate the look of moldy/rotting wood. I don’t know if the look entirely works but I think trying something different was well worth it. I’ve started on some other things while I wait to apply varnish to the barricade so I should have that finished and something else to show off Fallout related next week.
One other bit of news today is that I saw that Front Line Gaming has restocked their gaming table. I’ve been waiting for it to come back for a few months now at least and so I’m really glad to see its available again. It is not cheap at $220 but I think I’m going to pick one up soon so I can finally do some gaming again. In the more immediate future, I can finish up the last piece of street terrain and get all of those out on a mat which for pictures would be great as well. I’ll certainly report back when I get the table and share my thoughts.
One thing I’ve been meaning to address and kept pushing off because my last couple of posts are on the long side is my health. It has been a long and strange journey but I have been getting better the last month or so. The most concise way to put it is that the endoscopy showed that I had no bad bacteria in my stomach to my surprise. I waited almost a month to get the results and when I called, I have no idea who I talked to (it wasn’t the doctor who had been helping me for sure) and he told me to try a fiber supplement. I grumbled about this to my wife, brother, and Dad. For one thing, I equate that with being old and I don’t like thinking that I’m getting old. I also am vegetarian and since I become one in college, I feel like I do a pretty decent job of eating foods rich in fiber. More importantly, they could have mentioned trying to eat more fiber months ago and it would have been cheap and easy to try that out. I don’t understand why it wasn’t mentioned earlier. It could have saved me a lot of grief because it has made a bigger impact than I expected. I don’t feel quite as good as I did before all this happened but all my pain is gone and I’m pretty much eating whatever I want again. I’ve started working out again to make up for taking months off. Most importantly, I can eat spicy food again so there is color and joy in the world once again!
To be frank, its a bit embarrassing that this is how it all turned out. I can’t believe I was in so much pain that I needed to go to the Emergency Room in hindsight. I struggle to wrap my mind around that. But anyway, there you have it. I’m getting old and I’m going kicking and screaming!
With that out of the way, I did want to make Dave Stone’s day since he shares a birthday with me (or do I share a birthday with him?). He does an awful lot within our blogging community, not least of which are the challenges he put together so between his infectious interest in Judge Dredd and longtime friend, Bret’s helpful suggestion, I decided to check out Dredd aka Necromunda: The Movie on Netflix.
I know next to nothing about Dredd so I certainly watched it with fresh eyes. It is a dour movie with almost no humor in it and Karl Urban, aka Bones, scowls and grimaces his way through the entire movie with great enthusiasm. The movie is really well-cast with Lena Headey as the villainess. She really excels in that role and is probably the best woman doing it right now. The movie has a lot of ridiculous violence, Dredd is nearly unstoppable, there a ruthless gang just like in Necromunda and that is pretty much all you need to know! The movie is an entertaining hour and a half. With how long movies are these days, I mean that as a compliment. It isn’t going to blow your mind or change the way you think about anything, but it is a look at the dark future ahead of us at the same time! I don’t know if I can bring myself to watch Sy Stallone’s version but I’m glad that I gave Dredd a try and watched something a bit different. Hopefully this makes Dave’s day too!
Lastly, I only managed to read one comic this week and it was a doozy. Unlike past reviews, I’m not sure I’m really recommending this one to anyone. I just want to get my thoughts out there on it, especially after trying to absorb all 300 pages of it.
I read Rorschach by Tom King. Since I just read Watchmen and enjoyed it, I thought this was timely. Tom King is one of the hottest names in comics in the last few years and I haven’t read anything he’s written so this seemed like a decent place to start or so I thought.
Would you be surprised if I told that Rorschach doesn’t even appear once in this book!? That seems a bit confusing, doesn’t it? This book is set 20 or 30 years after Watchmen and so now Robert Redford has won three terms as US President and is running for his fourth. If you’re not US based, a person can only have two terms so that is the first sign that things are really wrong here. The book is basically an investigation into the deaths of two characters who try to assassinate the person running against Redford. The catch is that one of them was dressed as Rorschach.
There are interesting ideas in the book. It is an exploration of how dangerous ideas can become when people accept them too readily. Unfortunately, there were other things that I was really conflicted about. The first is that the Rorschach character is actually a fictional comic book artist who is basically a stand-in for Steve Ditko. If you don’t know, Steve Ditko was heavily involved in inventing Spider-Man and certainly did more for the character than Stan Lee did from what I’ve heard. More significantly, Ditko was a devout follower of Ayn Rand’s philosophies. I generally won’t talk bad about other viewpoints than my own but Rand’s ideas are terrible. Its like capitalism on steroids and even crueler than the form we all know. If you have ever played Bioshock, then you already know what I mean. Anyway, that character ends up participating in the assassination attempt which was a strange choice by Tom King. I even question a little if it is good taste or not. Steve Ditko passed away five years now and it feels weird to use such an obvious stand-in for the person.
Just as strangely, other comic figures who were into crazy ideas are also in the book. The most surprising one is Frank Miller who is depicted as being really reactionary and kind of gullible to me anyway. I don’t know anything about Frank Miller since his peak was well before me reading comics but I was very surprised by this as well. He’s obviously still alive so it isn’t just people who are deceased making appearances here.
All this is to say, Rorshach was a strange and challenging read. I’d probably give it 2.5 or maybe 3 stars. The art is beautiful, the story is sometimes engaging and thought provoking, and sometimes a slog. The ending was more perplexing than satisfying too. I guess the best thing to say is I’ve never read anything like it though the worst thing I could say is Alan Moore would probably not like Rorschach all that much and I wouldn’t really blame him for feeling that way.
Kuribo's Painting 
Love that fence, and the bit of worn wood with only part of the original varnish still on looks excellent.
Love the Karl Urban Dredd, it’s pretty much all I want out of an action movie, and yes it is a great mood setter for necromunda!
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Thanks, Nic! I’m glad you can see the effect I was going for so clearly. I really wasn’t sure about the wood even after I decided to call it finished.
I can see why you like Dredd! There are much worse ways to spend that time, that’s for sure 🙂
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It’s a really cool effect, really sets the scene!
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First the barricade looks awesome, and that’s before weathering, I think what you have achieved on the rotten wood looks awesome !
Great news on the diagnosis, tough break on it making you feel old though, at least they didn’t say you needed Prune Juice ! LOL
I would go with we share a birthday, rather than either ! LOL So you have now seen Karl as Dredd, in the comics he is known as old stoney face, as he never smiles, so Karl did a great job on it. As for Stallone’s version it’s the visuals that are so much better, the story and acting may annoy you, so try Judge Minty on Youtube instead.
The comic sounds disappointing, and it’s a character that I have a love hate feelings about, so I will probably give it a miss.
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I’m really glad to hear you like it. I was a bit unsure of how it looked to be honest but it sounds like I got it right in the end.
If they sentenced me to drinking prune juice, I’d have very little to live for haha. My parents tried to get my brother and I to eat prunes as children. That never got very far haha!
I’ll certainly give Judge Minty a try when I’m in a particularly dour mood one day. Those days certainly come around so it may only be a matter of time.
While I knew Rorschach wasn’t going to actually be in it before I read it, I still think you’re asking to disappoint readers by naming it after him anyway. Its a really strange comic and as I said, I don’t think I could recommend it to anyone, not because its bad but because I don’t know who its for and who would really enjoy it.
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The barricade is looking ace, even without the weather. You have captured the color tones very well and the detailing on the wood is excellent.
I enjoyed the subtle, dark humor in Dredd. Yes, I go on and on about how I dislike GW’s continuous Grimdark and yet I enjoyed Urban as Dredd. I found the Stallone version kind of cheesy in comparison with the dystopian setting further exaggerated more surreal and therefore less… threatening. But Urban’s Dredd is so skillfully put together that I felt very immersed while watching it. I admire stoic characters like Dredd and sometimes wish I was more like them but I far too transparent in my emotions and worry that stoicism like that may hinder empathy. As much as some folks may think my empathy makes me weak I am reluctant to change it.
If GW ever makes a Necromunda tv series or movie I hope it is the equal of Dredd.
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I hit send too soon…
It is good to hear you seem to have addressed that health issue. As a man some years your senior let me be clear. Getting old sucks. But it is better than the alternative.
That comic does not sound like my cup of tea. I found the movie disturbing enough and it sounds mild compared to that comic as well as the original Watchmen comic.
I have a long and complicated history with the works of Ayn Rand ever since high school and a teacher who inflicted her on me. I have alternated between hating and liking her philosophy of objectivism and rational self interest. Neo-cons have abused some of the worst elements of her work, the way Nazi’s did with Nietzsche. And I say that with a sense of irony in that Ayn Rand’s views were conceived as a direct counter to Nazism. I certainly view her work very differently today than I did as a blindly passionate patriotic, right wing Republican high school student volunteering to die for my country in the US Army. I can only imagine how the very left wing social studies teacher I used to debate The Fountainhead with saw my inexperienced yet strongly opinionated take on the world.
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I don’t look forward to getting any older but I don’t live in fear of it, I guess you could say. The alternative is not any better as you sagely point out.
I couldn’t go into great detail as I felt like this post was already too long by the point I got to Rorschach. There were elements that I thought would really resonate with you as they did with me. The Kid (one of the characters who was murdered) is brought up in a militia by her father and he teaches her basically that since the end of Watchmen with the Squid, you can’t tell who was affected by the Squid and who wasn’t. I think this was a stand-in for QAnon and all of these crazy, paranoid ideas that are permeating on the internet and in our politics unfortunately. Its a strange comic but the drawbacks don’t outweigh the interesting ideas enough to recommend it unfortunately.
Those are some great points and truthfully, I’m probably badmouthing Ayn Rand maybe a bit unfairly and certainly with ignorance in that I’ve never studied her work in any great detail. I know the gist of it and based my feelings off that which is not the best. I’ve never read any of her books either. I’m not sure if I could make it through them or not. Bioshock may have made it so I can’t look at them with an open mind. I was thinking you’ve played that one too but if not, I think its worth hunting down one day. In my opinion its one of the best of all time and I don’t generally like First Person Shooters all that much.
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I find the QAnon conspiracy stuff incredibly frustrating. Normally I can see some of the attraction of conspiracy theories but so many of the QAnon ones are so far out there it feels like they have to be satirical. I can not get my head around just how many professionals fall for that rubbish.
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I know what you mean. Its really crazy and out there in not believable way. Its scary how much things like social media are warping people’s minds. Its obvious that some technology is being used in ways that was unforeseen by its makers and people are not as “smart” or savvy as we’d like to think sadly.
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As for Bioshock, I never tried it. It looked to much like psychological horror for my taste.
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It has elements of horror but its more of a dystopia (that has been a running theme on this website the last couple of weeks, hasn’t it?) which happens when someone takes all safety measures that we take for granted away from government and society. Ironically, I don’t like horror movies at all but I love Bioshock for both its scary moments but also for how it makes you think. I give it a strong recommendation and I think you’d like it, especially since you know Ayn Rand’s philosophies and you’ll understand why Andrew Ryan (the main villain) thinks the way that he does. He basically starts an underwater city using Ayn Rand’s philosophies and you can imagine how well that goes…
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Thanks, mate! I look forward to getting it finished this week and showing it off one more time next week.
The humor is certainly subtle and dark in Dredd! At times, I wouldn’t have minded a little more but at the same time, I don’t want it to feel like an MCU movie. I have to admit that sometimes I’m a little too good at hiding my emotions from others and I don’t think it always serves me well offline. I do empathize with others well though, much like you, and I think that is something we should both try to maintain. A lack of empathy is already a big enough problem in this world as it is I’m afraid.
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Totally agree with you on both those movies. I too am mot so fond of the morbid Grimdark theme, but loved Dredd because it had that subtle dark humor. Probably the same reason I love Blood Bowl, because it has humor mixed throughout.
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The humor definitely helps. I do really like the aesthetic of Necromunda even if you’d never know because I’ve never painted any of the minis!
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Nice work on the barricades, Jeff! 🙂 Glad you’re feeling a lot better and you’re right, you would have hoped someone might have mentioned something sooner! Getting old to me means wearing reading glasses for painting minis now!
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Thanks, John! You said it well on the timing of the “cure”. The American medical system can be puzzling at times though I’m sure we all feel that way no matter where we live. I may have to don the reading glasses one day but for now anyway, I can still see up close pretty well. I’m very thankful for it too!
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I’m glad the cold is gone and sorry to hear the struggle with the stomach. I had struggled with mine for many, many years. I’ve come to realise that mine was all due to stress. When I was in sales it was a very stressful job and I internalised everything and even kidded myself that I was fine but my stomach told me otherwise. Anyway, since starting my own business in 2017 and having a much more chilled life my stomach issues have all but ceased. Food, excuse the pun, for thought mate. Great work on the terrain and happy birthday to you and the legendary Mr Dave Stone.
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That is interesting, mate and I appreciate you sharing. A job in sales would be very stressful for me as an introverted person! Fortunately, my job is fairly low stress so hopefully that isn’t a factor in this case. I’m guessing it is just a sign that I’m getting older and my stomach is less tolerant than it used to be though I don’t know that for sure. Thank you for the birthday wishes as well!
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First, glad that you are feeling overall better!
Second, Happy Birthday!
And C, watching Dread after several of us recommending it, time to watch Aliens! (the director’s cut)
Really liking the blockade, looking forward to seeing it in action on your new table.
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Aliens definitely needs the restored scene with the sentry guns!
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Thank you! Its good to be feeling close to normal again to be sure. I nearly said in this article, I’m not taking any further recommendations at this time haha and its clear that I should have! I probably wouldn’t have watched Dredd so soon but being sick made it easy. As we get closer to the holidays, we’ll see if I can find some time to give Aliens a try.
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The moldy wooden effect looks pretty good. I think you captures that quite well. The piece overall is really nice and I’d love to have one of those myself.
I really liked Dredd and was hoping they might make a second. Karl Urban was an awesome actor choice, even though it was probably a waste of his skills overall. And I tend to think of him as “Mr Butcher” rather than “Bones”! 😉
Hmm, I’m not sure where you heard Rorschach was based off Ditko. I’m sure the people who knew him would probably lose their heads over that one!! Rorschach was based off the character he created for Charlton, called The Question. Maybe Moore went a bit further than that. I’ve never totally understood the whole Ayn Rand and Ditkos philosophy. I have a couple books on him that I still haven’t read, and maybe that will make more sense afterwards. But you mentioned that Rands philosophy is like ultra capitalism, but I know Ditko was not interested in being paid anymore than what he was due. I think he was against creator royalties. In his mind the company owns the characters and the draftsman should just be paid for work done. It’s still not clear exactly why Lee and Ditko split. It’s hard to get the real story when one person refuses to be interviewed and the other is a showman who often spins stories.
At any rate, I didn’t like Rorschach either. It was pretty much a mess and didn’t make a lot of sense. I think Moore was right, that the world of Watchmen should haven’t ever been touched. All attempts I’ve seen so far have been bad. I’m not sure if I would have like it if Moore had returned.
Happy Birthday to you (and Dave)! Glad to hear you’re feeling better. What fiber supplements are you taking? I take some and pills for heartburn, but I sure wish I could figure out the triggers better.
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Thanks, Brian! I appreciate your kind words and I agree that Mr. Urban might not have had as much to do in other movies but I give him credit for pushing the role as much as he could!
One of the things I realized is that I shouldn’t probably be updating late at night on Friday when I’m tired, particularly trying to break down complicated things like Rorschach by Tom King. Let me take a second crack at this to see if I can do a better job. I should also add that I’m glad you weighed in because I figured you were the only person who might be able to help me better appreciate Rorshach by Tom King (if anybody can!).
There is Rorshach aka Walter Kovacs who is not in Rorschach by Tom King at all.
Then there is Wil Myerson, a comic book artist and writer who dresses up as Rorshach and is killed during an attempted political assassination in Rorschach by Tom King.
Wil Myerson is a stand-in for Steve Ditko because in Rorshach, they show some of his comics and he is basically writing Mr. A/The Question like Ditko did.
I think the theme of the book is trying to use actual comic book creators who have believed crazy ideas to show how anyone can fall for them, though I could be wrong. There is another character who sincerely believes in aliens and another who listens to tapes and thinks dead people are speaking to him through them. I guess in that sense its pretty highbrow and literary which I’m not convinced is something people want out of a comic.
I’m relieved to hear you didn’t like Rorschach either. It had moments that were interesting but it was not a fun read overall. I’m in agreement with you and Mr. Moore that Watchmen should have probably been left as it was. Expanding the story here, didn’t work all that well.
Thanks for the birthday wishes as well! I’m taking the almighty Benefiber daily. So nothing fancy. Do you have to take Omeprazole for heartburn? I was taking it but I’ve stopped because my heartburn/acid reflux has stopped thankfully. The only consistent trigger I’ve had for heartburn/acid reflux is greasy food. In my case, that was Olive Garden and a restaurant in Cincinnati called Penn Station. I guess you could call their sandwiches a variation of Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches. Those are two things that caused me instant problems and I’ve avoided them ever since. That’s not helpful at all to you but I do think it shows how arbitrary and hard to figure out this stuff is. Doctors are no help in my experience either. They just give you a big list of things that COULD cause it 😦
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Ahhhh, I got my wires crossed and forgot who was Rorschach in the Rorschach book. I should take another look, but I don’t know that I want to waste my time on it. I think I have a copy of Kings Human Targer arriving at some point. Mostly because I like the character, but it will be interesting to see if I he’s a writer that I cross off my list or no.
Thanks for explaining that, and sorry I confused the issue.
Yea, I’m taking Omeprazole and Meta Mucil. Omeprazole has some side effects that are worrisome, so I’d rather be off it. My doctor tells me to avoid everything, but even on days that’s I have, I can still end having heartburn. I should probably start a journal and/or see a dietician.
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I don’t know that I explained it as well as I could have either so no worries! Its confusing that a book titled Rorschach just has someone unrelated who dresses up as Rorschach and then dies at the beginning. I don’t think that part of it was well thought out at all.
Human Target is on my radar too! I’ve heard good things so I’ll certainly pick it up if I see it on sale on Comixology.
It sounds like we have similar stomach issues unfortunately for us… I haven’t had any issues taking Omeprazole but I don’t want to take it long term myself so I know what you mean. I spoke too soon about not having any issues last night because I accidentally consumed too much fiber and it has made my day more uncomfortable than I would have liked. A rookie mistake to be sure! I think talking to a dietician could certainly help. Heartburn is a very frustrating thing and any insight you can glean would be helpful I’m sure!
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Oh cool, we will have to compare notes on the Human Target. I think the first tpb is getting compiled, so I figured that’s an opportune time to check it out.
The side effects I’ve noticed for Omeprazole are headaches. I sometimes get strong headaches when taking it. But then again, I have a kid! Also numbness in the toes, which is a bit weird. I think there are some other nerve things too. I usually go off omeprazole and switch to Pepcid for awhile and then back again.
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Sounds good to me on Human Target!
Oh yeah, headaches and numbness is not something I experienced while taking it. Neither of those fun for sure. I hope you’re able to find a way to get off of it in the near future!
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The junk pile looks great! Nice bursts of colour popping out among the dirt and the wood at the back looks nicely aged and rotting!
Happy to hear that your health issues aren’t serious. As everyone’s said, getting old sucks (I’m 52 in January… I can’t be that old, can I?) so be prepared to start carrying Advil everywhere you go LOL!
Dredd is a superb movie. I was a bit apprehensive the first time I watched it thanks to the visually stunning but bloody awful Stallone movie, which just had “clueless Hollywood producers” stamped all over it. Yes, the plot is incredibly basic but if you want to see Dredd dishing out judgement via the barrel of his gun it’s the movie for you. Personally I think Karl Urban did a great job as Dredd and I really want to see a sequel or TV show next.
Oh, and as far as Ayn Rand goes, nothing sums her writing up better than this:
“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.”
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Thanks, Matt! I couldn’t agree more on getting old part… The ignominy of it all! 🙂
I’m glad to hear you liked Dredd too. I would watch another movie and to be honest, Karl Urban can be a lot older and it won’t affect the believability of the movie one bit with that helmet on!
That is a fantastic quote about Ayn Rand and I could not agree more! It made me chuckle as it puts her work into perspective in such an effective and concise manner!
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That’s a really nice wee bit of terrain. If only you didn’t now have to spend $220 on a (admittedly very swish) table to use it on!
I’m really glad that your GI issues have seemingly had a fairly practical solution. It’s rubbish getting old and having to do loads of extra stuff just to not even feel as good as we did at 19!
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Cheers, mate! Glad to hear you like the terrain. I’m doing the best I can with the GI issues. They seem to be resurfacing this week so I’m definitely cursing my age again. You don’t know how good you had it, until its gone. That is for sure!
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