Skarre, Queen of the Broken Coast

Just finished up this commission piece for a local gamer. 

Nice miniature to paint up and the face is probably one of the best ones I've done so far.

More photos and video below.
Wildchevy

5 Tips for making the most of Cyber Monday

The holiday madness has begun.  If you were brave enough to make it out early on black Friday I hope you got what you were looking for.... all I got was a headache from the hot stores, crowds, and long lines.   If you missed it then do not worry you still have cyber Monday.   Cyber Monday offers great online only deals that you can take advantage of from the comfort of your home or at work while pretending to work. (shh i won't tell).

Here are 5 tips for making the most of your cyber Monday madness.

1. Sign Up or search for for News letters, Coupons and deals
If you plan to shop at a particular retailer make sure you sign up for their E newsletter in advance.  Its the best way to stay on top of their details, special promotion codes.  Some stores have "subscriber only" coupons and codes for additional savings.

If you do not have a particular retailer in mind google coupon codes before checking out.  You will most likely find savings in free shipping, free merchandise or a percentage off your order.

I love using retailmenot.com  for last minute coupon codes.

2. Track your offers
Track your cyber Monday deals through sites such as cybermonday2012.com or dealio.com   There are also black Friday and cyber Monday apps that you can download for iPhone.

3. Use Sites that offer FREE shipping
Most sites will offer free shipping... If the site your on doesn't check a few of their competitors. 

4. Use those Rewards
Order through a rewards site and earn points towards more merchandise or even CASH.   Who wouldn't want a little something extra for themselves.

5. Compare Prices
Fill your shopping cart quickly but be sure to compare prices before clicking order.   There are comparison websites like pricegrabber.com or for more technical goods check out pricewatch.com   These sites usually include reviews as well so you can make sure you're getting the best price for the best product.  Use the copy and paste function to navigate quickly.


If you are new to Cyber Monday here are some sites to check out:

• Amazon
• Best Buy
• Target
• macys
• MacMall
• Shop.org
• Walmart

Happy Shopping!!

Fighting the Blues

Today was a really lazy day. I still have many podcasts that I have to get edited and ready to be released as I am leaving the last two weeks of December. I have a ton of things I need to do around the house, like continue painting the outside or prepping the deck for sanding. Again none of this has been done. On top of all that I was extremely restless today, more then usual. I couldn't sit still for more then five minutes and my mind was going at a million miles a minute. I had so much to do that I couldn't do any of it. I hate feeling this way and I have to say that this year has been particularly bad. I've only worked 2 1/2 months out of the entire year. That is the least amount of work I have every done since I started working when I was 14.

I should be taking this time to get stuff done and my mind knows that but I just can't motivate myself to do it. Of course when I get a job again I'll be kicking myself  for not getting more done while I was off.. it happens every time. You would think that would motivate me but it doesn't. I don't know what's wrong with me... everything is such a struggle.

I did mange to get about 2/3'ds done on an upcoming Alien Nation podcast. It's something but far from what I could have accomplished today.

I hope I can get out of this funk soon.... I gots stuff to do.

Lunch, Guardians and Argo

Today my buddy Christopher came over to my place for a visit. We went out to lunch at Chili's before coming back to my place to watch some screeners. We choose Rise of the Guardians and Argo for our movie selection.

I wanted to see Rise of the Guardians as soon as I saw some standee in a movie theater. I didn't know anything about the story but the characters looked cool. Then I saw the previews and it was a must see for me. I was actually going to go to the movies this weekend to see it but as I mentioned in yesterdays blog, I got a screener of it. I was so happy when Christopher picked this movie as his number one movie to watch. Here's a synopsis: When an evil spirit known as Pitch lays down the gauntlet to take over the world, the immortal Guardians (Santa Clause, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, Sandman and new addition Jack Frost) must join forces for the first time to protect the hopes, beliefs and imagination of children all over the world.

My Review.. I love this movie. The story, the characters, the animation.. everything just came together so perfectly. This movie had such heart, right off the bat you love these characters. I mean maybe it's because they are characters from our childhood, ones that we grew up with and loved. The Sandman character was my favorite.. which is crazy since he doesn't ever say a word.. but that's how great this animation and story telling is. The main character Jack Frost was charming and fun. You wanted to see good things happen to these characters. When it was over I turned to Christopher and said.. wow this has now been put on my list of Christmas movies to watch every year and even when I just need a pick me up. I give this movie a big A.

The next movie we watched was Argo. Here's a short synopsis: In 1979, the American embassy in Iran was invaded by Iranian revolutionaries and several Americans are taken hostage. However, six manage to escape to the official residence of the Canadian Ambassador and the CIA is eventually ordered to get them out of the country. With few options, exfiltration expert Tony Mendez devises a daring plan: to create a phony Canadian film project looking to shoot in Iran and smuggle the Americans out as its production crew. With the help of some trusted Hollywood contacts, Mendez creates the ruse and proceeds to Iran as its associate producer. However, time is running out with the Iranian security forces closing in on the truth while both his charges and the White House have grave doubts about the operation themselves.

My Review.. Now I was a kid when the Iran Hostage thing happened.. but I do remember hearing about it as it was on every TV station. But I knew nothing about this six who escaped. So I didn't know how this story was going to play out. This made watching this movie very intense. I kept waiting for something bad to happen or someone get killed. This movie is very well acted but I didn't feel it was Oscar worth. It was well paced and never gave you a moment to breath. I enjoyed it from beginning to end but I don't feel the need to watch it again and again. I give this movie a solid B

Podcasts, Hobbits & Screeners... Oh My!!

Today was a fairly productive day. I spent a good six or seven hours working on the next two episodes of my MASH 4077 Podcast. Got them edited and uploaded and ready to go with show notes and all.

Peter Jackson released a ninth production blog, this time it was all about post production, and for me being a post super it was a lot of fun seeing how they go about things in post. All nine of these videos are amazing and so informative. I do hope these production videos wind up on the Blu ray when it comes out. I'm super stoked about seeing the Hobbit in a few weeks (Dec. 3rd). It's going to be AMAZING...

And just when I thought I was only getting that one screener (Amour) this week I checked my mail and sure enough there were two more.. Flight and a movie I was actually considering going to the theater this weekend to see because I wanted to see it so much Rise of the Guardians. Super excited to sit down and watch that one. Flight wasn't on my list to see but I'll watch it if one of my friends wants to watch it with me.

Jam Hsiao 簫敬騰 - World Tour Concert London 2012

I found about this concert a long time ago, but I didn't book my ticket until the last minute because I didn't know if Miss Pinky would have anything planned as it was her birthday on November 22nd... I waited, and waited, and waited for her to plan something. But I gave up as I knew she wanted a quiet birthday, so eventually on one Friday evening (3 weeks ago to be exact) I lost my will and bought a ticket (^_^)v and with all hope it was going to be a great concert.

I hadn't heard of Jam Hsiao 蕭敬騰 (Xiao Jing Teng) until some time last year really. I think a relative of mine in HK is a fan of his and so I had a listen to see what he sounded like many months later.... Once I heard one of his songs I was soon addicted to his voice. My favourite song is Wild Dreams 狂想曲 from the Jam Wild Dreams album - can't stop listening to it!

Now on with the concert!

I learnt my lesson from the Mayday concert earlier this year in March. This time, straight after work I did some food shopping, went home and ate something before heading out to the tube station... I knew where I was going this time round so I wasn't too early or too late either!

When I arrived to the Wembley Arena, there were a lot of people there already, plus there was a long queue of people trying to get last minute tickets at the Box Office...

Outside Wembley Arena

Anyway, once I entered the Arena, there weren't a lot of fans in their seats. And the back part of the Arena was closed off. I guess they wanted people to fill in the other seats before deciding whether to release tickets for the back part... (that's called marketing strategy by the way...!!).

Inside Wembley Arena ... Where's the fans? It's 7.10pm!

Ah!! Here's all the fans! ^^

Well, just like the Mayday concert, it started late (by 20 minutes)... At least it wasn't a two hour wait like Madonna's concert. :P ... Another lesson I learnt from my previous concert trip was to use a better camera so I brought along my Olympus camera but I should've brought my other lens!! Here's loads of pictures... I tried to select the best ones for this blogpost because I took too many. ^_^

The concerts starting!! So where's Jam Hsiao?

Aaaah! There he is!! The one in the red!!! ^^

The camera crew, the production crew, the people managing everything!!! 

Ooooo he has changed into a white suit...

Jam Hsiao joking about ^_^

Woah... Pretty!

Jam Hsiao showing his hand

Jam Hsiao is a drama king!! For real!!

He is so handsome :)

(^_^)v

Nice pose!

More singing! :)

Red confetti!!

Mayday as guest speakers!!

I love this picture!! I must be a brilliant amateur photographer.
Give me a proper camera and I will take beautiful shots!

The sizzlers are out!

Jam Hsiao playing with the crowd again

I like this picture tooooooo!!!!!

Wow... Everyone is just joining in the fun!

The End :( Where was the encore.....?????????????

Everyone on their way out and heading home....

Apart from the late start and no encore I did enjoy Jam Hsiao's piano playing, high kicks, cute giggles and fun jokes... plus his singing which gave me the goosebumps! Awwwww... I LOVE Jam Hsiao! 我愛你蕭敬騰! ^_^

Videos are being uploaded now (but it's going to take hours!), so I will post them here later!

Jam Hsiao 蕭敬騰 come back soon with an encore!!!!

Update 10:52am
Here's some videos... My shortclip ones were rubbish, so I have uploaded the longer better ones... The fourth one will be uploaded tomorrow! (By the way, I have slept... :D).

Video 1 - Jump

Video 2 - Mr Jazz: A Song For You and 好想對你說

Video 3 - 好想對你說 (the rest of the song)

Update 25/11/2012

Video 4 - Holmes (sorry for the bad quality... a couple of girls were waving their arms in front of me and someone walked right in front at the beginning :P !!).

多謝你哋睇我個blogpost!! ^^
謝謝你們看我的blogpost!! ^^

Honda Poster Advert

This is going to be a very, very short post... I really liked this Honda poster ad! It really caught my eye when I first saw it, so it was obvious that I would take a picture during one evening. (^_^)v

Has that futuristic effect ^^

I just can't describe it. I think I have strange tastes in adverts... 

Brilliant stuff!

Update 26/11/2012

Saw this one on the weekend :D