Schlock Mercenary

Fruits of One Night's Painting

Okay, I'm awake again.

Last night at 10pm I felt a little bit like I was already coming off of an all-nighter, when the truth of the matter was that I was about to start one. From 10pm until 5am I painted miniatures with fellow fig-painting hobbyists Ryan, Jason, Joseph, James, Derek, Robby, and Dan.

It wasn't a contest. We were just sharing techniques and keeping each other company with good* conversation. My project was kind of ambitious. I hoped to get my Circle Orboros Celestial Fulcrum painted to the point that it could be completely assembled.

I didn't even get close, but I did achieve proof-of-concept on my color scheme. Instead of the brown rocks in the studio version, I wanted cracked obsidian over the roiling, molten heart of the world (I may have touched up the prose in my concept piece too.) I also wanted each of the orrery's orbs to have a different color, since each of them represents a different magical weapon.

Bigger (and more!) photos are available for your admiration here.

We determined that the reason what is obviously a magical orrery is not CALLED an orrery is because it belongs to the Circle Orboros faction, and saying "Circle Orboros Celestial Orrery" is a like trying to imitate a junkyard dog with a mouth full of marshmallows. 

I digress.

The painting was great fun, and the company was awesome. I provided some chicken wings to thank Jeremy S. for staying up all night and hosting the event at Dragon's Keep, but he deserves some public accolades as well. Also, today is his birthday.

(*For "silly" values of "good.")

LTUE XXX: Too Hot for BYU

For the last 29 years, "Life, The Universe, and Everything: The Marion Smith Symposium on Science Fiction and Fantasy" (LTUE) has been held at Brigham Young University.

There is no truth whatsoever in the rumor that the designation "LTUE XXX" so shocked the conservative university's sensibilities that they'd have nothing to do with it. There is, however, truth in the fact that Utah Valley University welcomed the triply-X-enumerated event with open, (dare-we-say-loving? I do) arms.

Seriously, LTUE 30 is at Utah Valley University in the Sorensen Center February 9th, 10th, and 11th. The venue-switch came kind of late in the game so the registration page looks a lot like you're registering for a course at UVU. It's $30 for all three days, and I have no idea how it will show up on your transcript. 

The full schedule is here. The highlights include a live-studio-audience session of Writing Excuses, a solo presentation on humor by yours truly, and a panel in which I expect to be talked under the table by the moderator, Bob "Damn Loud" Defendi. And those are just MY highlights. 

LTUE is usually my first convention of the year (even if it is technically a symposium, which means the focus is on the panels, and the educational aspects thereof) and it's one of my very favorite events. If you're in the area, you should attend.

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I don't really have anything original to say about how bad the SOPA and PIPA legislation is. And yes, they're so bad that if I say something unoriginal, and the person who originally said it takes issue with that, they would have the power to replace not just my blog, but the entire site with something like that graphic.