Mandalorian 2.0

So, I had a good time painting a Mandalorian figure for my friend, and when I saw a guy selling the same (awful-looking) figure for cheap, I scooped up another one for myself.  It took me a while, and I'm not 100% satisfied with the final product, but it's enough for me to keep it going.

So, this time, I thought I'd try white and grey.  First off, I took the tan (sorry, the ugly tan) and painted that in a flat, very light grey--you can see the difference in the pants (painted) and the arms (unpainted).

Snow seems to be the best backdrop for photographs, for some reason.

I also turned the brown on the boots into grey as well, dark grey (above and below).  I left the straps and kneepads as they were, though.

I liked the dark grey, so I took almost everything that was brown and painted it dark grey.  

I couldn't decide what color to change the orange armor bits to, but tried white, and thought that it might work, with enough coats.*

It was starting to look like the prototype Boba Fett armor, which I've always liked, except that is just a uniform white, with no varying shades . . . and that shouldn't work, but it does.

I still had the brown bits, so I tried painting over one of them with black, to see if it looked good or terrible.  I sent this picture to Big, and he told me to go for it.

All in all, this is less successful than the Ewok, and also less successful than the Mando I painted for Big.**  But it still looks pretty cool, and the next time it snows, I'll take a photo of him standing in it, and post it here.

*Turns out, it took so many coats that the orange armor started getting crusty with white.  It began to look more like bat guano than paint.  But ah well.

**Could be worse.

Podcast That Dares 46: Night Call, Collect

Rish shares Ray Bradbury's 1969 tale "Night Call, Collect."  Just let it go to voicemail, kids.

Warning: Some sound quality issues.

If downloading the episode appeals to you, Right-Click HERE.

If supporting me on Patreon would please you, click HERE.

As always, the logo was created by Gino "Night Call . . . Erect" Moretto.

Not Bad For A Little Furball (1)

So, I mentioned that I painted a Mandalorian figure for Big Anklevich, and I find it both relaxing and enjoyable, so when I saw Hasbro had put the two most recent Star Wars Ewok figures on clearance,* well, I just had to grab up a couple to experiment on.

I had a Wicket figure from a few months ago that I bought for myself (usually I buy these things to sell), and so, while I waited for the clearanced ones to arrive, I grabbed it to start.  Wicket is brown, with a tan belly.

But I thought it would be fun to paint him either black or grey, and make the darker Ewok, Paploo, lighter.  But we'll get to him.

So, I took off the hood and did a dark grey paintjob first, but it was too dull.

I went over it again with a much lighter grey.  It looked better, I thought.

I went over his stomach and parts of his face with a tan, almost white.  The sculpt is highly detailed, and this really brings out the fur.

This process took a couple of days, and while I tried to keep Big Anklevich updated on my progress, I discovered that I could never make any of the details come out in the photos.  Makes me appreciate those who do professional toy photography all the more.**

But, I found that if I put the figure out in the snow, you could really see the work I had done on it.

By this point, the Ewoks I'd ordered from Hasbro had arrived, so I took the headdress from Paploo, and painted it, this time dark instead of light.

Once done, I put the headdress on Wicket.  It was way too big, but I stuck it on the figure, not realizing that it would cover up nearly all the work I'd done on the body.  But ah well, there are more where that came from.

With the harsh flash on, you can see all the places I missed, and it makes me want to do it over (I swear, if these bad boys went down to ten dollars somewhere, I'd buy a bunch more and paint them every time I listen to a podcast, maybe try stripes and patterns too.

There's lots more possibilities, and lots more work to be done.

*Technically, they put out a holiday-colored Ewok in November, but since I didn't buy it or ever see it in stores (it was only available on their website), it's easy to forget about that one.

**My cousin built himself a light box out of balsa wood and white cloth, and I never understood why you'd go to so much trouble.  Until now.

2024 Goals List

I need to post my goals/New Year's Resolutions much more regularly, because every time I do, I am reminded of where I'm falling short.  So here are the (admittedly-few) goals I set for this new year.*

1.  Exercise 222 Days
I'm well on my way.  By my math, I only have to exercise nineteen days each month to reach my goal, and I averaged 20 days a month last year, so it's fine.

2.  Put out 5th audio collection
To my surprise, Gino Moretto heard about my plight and created a provisional cover for it.  Since I'll never, ever do anything with it, I simply don't deserve a friend like that.

3.  Release "Balms & Sears" novel

4.  Clear out my room . . . a bit
I managed one box, then stopped.  But hey, I bought three more storage containers, and one day, I will fill them.

5.  Finish "Melancholy Christmas Night" story
As of January 18th, Melancholy is at 9010 words.   While that's not any great accomplishment (Big's last novel was nine times that), if I reach "The End," I'll feel pretty good, especially considering I was supposed to finish it in December.

6.  Write "Sins of a Sidekick" novella

7.  Write 10 stories (and finish them)

8.  Put out 10 episodes of The Podcast That Dares Not Speak Its Name
I got one so far.

9.  Sell Trypticon

10.  Avoid retail price, wait for clearance

11.  Do 3 things that scare me

*Episode 269 of the Rish Outcast goes into these in much greater detail.

Rish Outcast 269: New Year's 2024

Rish likes New Years, and talks a bit about that.  He looks at the many goals he failed at in 2023 and sets a few for 2024.  He answers a couple of questions from listeners, and despite this episode ending up obscenely long, reads "The Cremation of Sam McGee" by Robert W. Service.

Why?  Because he thought you would like it.

To download the episode, Right-Click HERE.

To support me on Patreon, click HERE.

Logo by Gino "New (Zealand) Year's" Moretto.

Rish and Marshal Pass Through THE GATE (1987)

A long while back, Marshal and I watched an Eighties horror flick with Stephen Dorff called THE GATE.   

It was a PG-13 horror flick about a gateway to the underworld in a suburban kid's yard from 1987.  Somehow, I never saw it.  Till now.  Check out the fun HERE, if you dare.

These creatures were really impressive, as little as they appeared in the film.  Note: Nice to see that Vin Diesel had steady work back in 1987.

Clearly, Fame Isn't Everything

 I had lunch at Taco Bell today* and glanced across the lobby as I waited for my order.  The man sitting against the window, chatting with his wife or daughter, seemed familiar to me.

It was Alan Rickman, the famous actor from ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES, HARRY POTTER, LOVE, ACTUALLY, and DIE HARD.  One of my favorite actors, my heart leapt at seeing him in my little town.  But the leap was short-lived, as I was reminded that Rickman passed away in 2016 (thereby robbing us of another dozen or so marvelous performances . . . and him of life, obviously).

But it would explain why his hair was a little whiter and he'd put on a few pounds since the last time I saw him in anything.

I glanced over several times as I ate, thinking that, even if it was just a lookalike, if I were him, I would cosplay every year as Severus Snape, Hans Gruber, or the dude that swears by Grabthar's hammer that you shall be avenged.  I texted my cousin, to tell him that Rickman was only a few feet away, and his response was:

"Isn't he dead?"

Followed almost immediately by--

"Maybe you are too."**

I thought it would be wise to snap a picture (I swear, I accidentally typed "snape a picture" the first time), and raised my phone . . . but almost every time I looked over, he glanced back at me, like he could sense my gaze and was thinking, "Ugh, the only good thing about faking my death and entering witness protection was being free of the damned fanboys."

Still, I strained my ears to listen to their conversation, and the only thing I could glean was that the man spoke in an American accent, which pretty much ruled out celebrity (it's not as if Alan Rickman did such a convincing American that John McTiernan wrote a scene for him in which to use it on Bruce Willis or anything).  I had wanted it to be somebody famous, and somebody alive.  You understand.

Finally, I had to concede that it wasn't Rickman, just a guy who, from the angle I was sitting, looked exactly like him.  Still, I'd rather look like the bad guy in QUIGLEY DOWN UNDER than myself, so there's that.  He stood up to leave, so I texted my cousin, "I wanted to send you a photo as proof, but he's leaving."  But before I could send it, the man walked past me and said, "Enjoying your dinner, Mister Cowboy?" then made his way out the door.

*None of that, now.  Save your snark for your own blog.

**I'm lucky; it could easily have been, "I sure wish you were too."

Exercise Report - 2023

Last year, I set the goal of exercising 200 days in 2023.  An achievable goal, as long as I didn't get sick twice.  Which, unfortunately, I did.

But no worries, I still had plenty of healthy days (oh, sorry, I needed to put an asterisk by "healthy" in that part, but it slipped my mind.  Er, "mind," sorry again) in which to get my exercise in.

Here's the chart I made for the first six months of the year:

And here's the chart for the second half:

Even though it's not pretty to look at, the chart makes me proud.  No asterisks.

Obviously, my worst month was January, but my best were a tie between August and September, with June in third place.  

So, both halves together, we get 249 days of exercise.  Not 200, like I had hoped, but I'll still take it.

Come And Support Me On Patreon, Danny

Look, I don't often tell you to go support me on Patreon (okay, in every posting of a Rish Outcast episode, sure, but I NEVER make posts on here that are solely that).  But today, I'm doing it.

I'm currently editing my New Year's episode, and unedited, it was 2:34:58.  That's two hours, thirty-four minutes, and another bloody minute.  I'm at the 1:29:26 mark (ninety minutes in, basically) of the edit, and I thought I would post a snippet of the Wendy Carlos soundtrack to THE SHINING.  I discovered it recently, and have only used it on the episodes where I feel like it would be funny* . . . except once.  And it was my most recent Patreon address, where I discuss a mental health episode I've had twice now.

I don't honestly know if there's something very wrong with me (besides the obvious, I mean), or if brains just sometimes short-circuit, but I invite you, if you're reading this and are a fan or friend of mine, to go to www.patreon.com/rishoutfield and support me there, just so we're on the same page.  If one day, I snap and start hacking up the Grady Twins, you can say that you know why.

In addition to my monthly Patreon addresses (which are usually as long as episodes--though not this hellish New Year's episode, I'll admit), I've started doing a shorter bonus show called Rish On Records, where I take a few minutes to look at a song, and read the lyrics.  I try to switch up the genre and era of the songs, so it's not insanely boring, and one day, I promise I will get to A Horse With No Name, because I really need to find out what that song means.  Only the Patreon supporters get that show (although I suppose I could start putting them here, since I'm blogging anyway).

Anyhow, it would really help me to have more Patreon supporters, and you can donate as little as a dollar an episode.  And it was nice to take ten minutes out of my editing and type this.  Bonus.

I'll just leave this here.

*Kevin Smith used it in CLERKS II in a pretty hilarious moment where it was all the funnier when I discovered it was the score to THE SHINING, so I'm copying him, basically.

Rish Outcast 266: Con Artist

Rish talks about the recent comic convention he went to with his nephew and Cousin Ryan.  

Warning: He could not come up with a better episode title.

Darn it, if you'd like to download the episode, Right-Click HERE.

Damn it, if you'd like to support me on Patreon, click HERE.

&!@* it, the logo was created by Gino "Leprechaun Artist" Moretto.