Fly By Weekend
I had a very bad case of the Monday blues yesterday morning, especially since the weekend just seemed to whiz by. And I knew I’d be entering the week with a GEAR column deadline hanging over my head…
Friday
Anyway, on Friday evening, Paul and myself joined Warren, Kate and Kirsten to watch Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, which I thought was mediocre (but apparently I’m in the minority about it). You can read my review below.
While, we were out, I also found The Dirty Dozen Special Edition for my father’s birthday (in December, yeah…) and the Superman: Animated Series boxset for R100. I remember this one as a goodie, from the same people behind Batman: The Animated Series. Superman is more neutral, less goodie-goodie in the series, if I remember correctly.
Saturday
In the morning I joined Paul on a clothes shopping expedition. Slowly but surely the plan is to get him looking more smart-casual, as opposed to pseudo, baggy surfer-punk. After trying on some laughably unflattering jeans at Mr Price (I’ve never seen pants that accentuate a man’s package in such detail!), we found a few pairs of stylish, fitted dark jeans at Edgars.
After that we headed to Springfield to pick up some acrylic paints and primer from the model shop there. Back at Paul’s we began an activity that consumed most of the rest of the weekend – miniature model painting. More specifically, while Paul worked on his Warhammer Orc Boss, I started painting the 12 plastic models that came with the Runebound boardgame. The following is not my paintwork (I’ll take a pic of my work and post it soon), but the colouring – based on the character’s card – is the same, so it gives you an idea of what I was up to.
For the record, the models are just slightly bigger than a R5 coin. So detail and layered shading requires a lot of patience and slow, precise work. There were a few times in my head where I wanted to hit Ctrl-Z and undo mistakes.
Later on Saturday evening, while the paints dried, Paul and I played Titan Quest, taking our level 8 multiplayer characters to level 11. Paul has a rogue and I have an awesome battle mage (a warrior-earth sorcerer hybrid), called Gothicus. I’ve found some fantastic rare items that give major bonuses to Gothicus, but his red armour is rather unflattering. It makes him look fat.
Sunday
On Sunday, we slept late and once again spent much of the day painting. We did make a trip to Sibaya casino though to use the Sharks season ticket vouchers. For once, I actually did well on the poker machines, getting several full houses and at least 2 flushes. So we walked away with R450 of R600, treated ourselves to lunch at the food court there and headed home.
We rounded off the evening watching the animated full-length film Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman, which was actually quite good. Of course it helped that the film uses the same style, and voice cast from the older Batman: The Animated Series, which I still adore.
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Oh, and yesterday, Monday, I had a decent grapple at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, where I managed to stay in control against a less experienced Lauren, and actually got a submission via elbow lock from mount. Hooray, the laws of the universe (experience = an advantage) were in place, and functioning perfectly for 5 minutes.
Friday
Anyway, on Friday evening, Paul and myself joined Warren, Kate and Kirsten to watch Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, which I thought was mediocre (but apparently I’m in the minority about it). You can read my review below.
While, we were out, I also found The Dirty Dozen Special Edition for my father’s birthday (in December, yeah…) and the Superman: Animated Series boxset for R100. I remember this one as a goodie, from the same people behind Batman: The Animated Series. Superman is more neutral, less goodie-goodie in the series, if I remember correctly.
Saturday
In the morning I joined Paul on a clothes shopping expedition. Slowly but surely the plan is to get him looking more smart-casual, as opposed to pseudo, baggy surfer-punk. After trying on some laughably unflattering jeans at Mr Price (I’ve never seen pants that accentuate a man’s package in such detail!), we found a few pairs of stylish, fitted dark jeans at Edgars.
After that we headed to Springfield to pick up some acrylic paints and primer from the model shop there. Back at Paul’s we began an activity that consumed most of the rest of the weekend – miniature model painting. More specifically, while Paul worked on his Warhammer Orc Boss, I started painting the 12 plastic models that came with the Runebound boardgame. The following is not my paintwork (I’ll take a pic of my work and post it soon), but the colouring – based on the character’s card – is the same, so it gives you an idea of what I was up to.
For the record, the models are just slightly bigger than a R5 coin. So detail and layered shading requires a lot of patience and slow, precise work. There were a few times in my head where I wanted to hit Ctrl-Z and undo mistakes.
Later on Saturday evening, while the paints dried, Paul and I played Titan Quest, taking our level 8 multiplayer characters to level 11. Paul has a rogue and I have an awesome battle mage (a warrior-earth sorcerer hybrid), called Gothicus. I’ve found some fantastic rare items that give major bonuses to Gothicus, but his red armour is rather unflattering. It makes him look fat.
Sunday
On Sunday, we slept late and once again spent much of the day painting. We did make a trip to Sibaya casino though to use the Sharks season ticket vouchers. For once, I actually did well on the poker machines, getting several full houses and at least 2 flushes. So we walked away with R450 of R600, treated ourselves to lunch at the food court there and headed home.
We rounded off the evening watching the animated full-length film Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman, which was actually quite good. Of course it helped that the film uses the same style, and voice cast from the older Batman: The Animated Series, which I still adore.
---
Oh, and yesterday, Monday, I had a decent grapple at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, where I managed to stay in control against a less experienced Lauren, and actually got a submission via elbow lock from mount. Hooray, the laws of the universe (experience = an advantage) were in place, and functioning perfectly for 5 minutes.
Comments
I'm not that big a fan of the new The Batman series. While they've got Catwoman spot-on, they seem to be focused overall more on action than character development. They gave Mr Freeze an awesome new look, but eliminated his poignant backstory.