Author: James Castro

Story of the Month: Holiday Auto-Co-Wrecked…

On By James CastroIn Short Stories, Story of the MonthLeave a comment

StoryoftheMonthIt’s Christmas time!  That is supposed to mean harmony, togetherness, and good cheer; instead it’s usually stress, road rage, and social embarrassment.

This particular story relates to the latter category, and if I had an ounce of pride I would indeed find it rather embarrassing instead of merely hilarious.

I have recently purchased a new phone.  My old Blackberry Bold (shut up, haters, I loved that tough lil bastard) fell face first on the tile and cracked the screen into oblivion, so I got a new Samsung Galaxy SIII.  It was my first touch screen, my first smartphone, and my first real introduction to auto-correct.  I’ve actually adjusted well to the use of it and enjoyed the applications, but there have been some hiccups in the adjustment.  One such incident occurred while discussing a Christmas present I was getting for a good friend.

I enjoy picking out good presents and never expect anything in return, in what should be the true spirit of the season.  This friend loves owls, and in addition to a few other things, I got her a little stuffed owl ornament.  I should also mention that she is a NEWLYWED whose wedding I attended last year (and even danced Gangnam Style with her husband).  When I found out she was getting me something too, this was the conversation that followed, the blue bubbles are me:

AutoCoWrecked

Now…clearly I’m getting used to the swipe texting feature, and they have the words listed in alphabetical order…so “owl” became “oral” with hilarious results.

You don’t even want to know what happens when I mis-swipe-text “and”…

From the RevPub family to yours, may your holidays be filled with as few socially embarrassing situations as possible!

Off the Top of My Head: 40k Dark Angels Librarian Turmiel

On By James CastroIn Art, Games, Random FunLeave a comment

Off The Top of My Head

This guy I painted the same day as I painted the standard bearer.  In fact I may have painted him first but who can remember such details now?

He’s the Dark Vengeance Dark Angels Librarian and GW really showed off what they could do with plastic minis in that set.  So much so that I’ve heard that finecast has met its demise going forward.  I had a previous librarian, but since this guy was so utterly Dark-Angel’d up, yo, I moved my other one to my little Blood Angels army.

I didn’t follow the exact color scheme used in the Dark Vengeance literature, but it’s more fun to riff a bit right?  He, like my standard bearer, needs some serious touch-ups as I can spot all kinds of places I didn’t blend well, but I do like his force sword!  Other areas are just things I can look forward to correcting soon.

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I actually had two of these guys, but the crew in the sadly closed Woodfield Mall GW store gave me a GREAT idea what to do with my other one.  He’s been primered and painting has only just started on him but this is what I did with my other Turmiel:

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I altered the command bike to carry an extra Tome of the Long Hunt from the Ravenwing upgrade sprue on the wings of the angels on the rear fender.

I’ve included several other little additions, such as the second volume on the side of the fender, A scroll from Skaven plague monks on the front fender, and a cherub I got with an Empire General Standard bit.

I heard of a few ways to convert a regular Ravenwing sergeant into a librarian-on-a-bike (including using Grey Knights bits), but with Turmiel’s dynamic posing (love that outstretched hand) and iconography it was hard to think of another one that would look nearly as Dark Angels-y.

Once I have him completed I’ll post pics of him, hopefully showing, hopefully, more advancement in painting ability.

Check out my previous ork painting posts for more!

Black Reach

Dredtrukk

Warboss with Attack Squig

Boss Zagstruk

Stormboy Nob on Flying Base

Bad Moons Nazdreg

Dark Angels Dreadnought

Dark Angels Standard Bearer

Off the Top of My Head: Painting 40k Dark Angels Standard Bearer

On By James CastroIn Art, Games, Random Fun1 Comment

Off The Top of My Head

My dreadnought got me in the mood to paint more Dark Angels, and I decided to jump into robed characters rather than the standard green-armored tac-marines.

The new finecast standard bearer is a nice-looking model with a great bas-relief standard.  It’s what appealed to me about it.  The chance to paint the raised relief edges and also try my hand at the robes for the first time.  I had mixed results but I was happy with my first effort:

I like the standard, though my edging could use some touch ups...
I like the standard, though my edging could use some touch ups…
This kind of shows how I tried to do the robes. Not bad but it could use some honing it.
This kind of shows how I tried to do the robes. Not bad but it could use some honing it.
I'm actually most happy with the back of the figure and the banner. I like the red and gold.
I’m actually most happy with the back of the figure and the banner. I like the red and gold.  Again I need to touch up those highlights…
The base of the banner was fun to try, and I used ANOTHER piece from the defiler to accent the base.
The base of the banner was fun to try, and I used ANOTHER piece from the defiler to accent the base.

Dark Angel Standard Bearer 5

Check out my previous ork painting posts for more!

Black Reach

Dredtrukk

Warboss with Attack Squig

Boss Zagstruk

Stormboy Nob on Flying Base

Bad Moons Nazdreg

Dark Angels Dreadnought

An Unlikely Thanksgiving Treat

On By James CastroIn Movies, OpinionsLeave a comment

Let’s face it, sequels are lame.  They either do the exact same thing as the first film, only less effectively, or they do something completely different and lose all of what made their progenitor worthy of continuance.

Every now and then, however, a sequel can surprise you and sometimes even surpass the original.  A couple of famous, celebrated examples are Aliens and Terminator 2; two Jim Cameron films that built on what the original did and included new elements that added to their luster.  But then there are some less-well known films, where the original isn’t considered a classic, the sequel relatively forgotten, and, while both are actually fun movies, the sequel is by far the better.  In this particular case, I’m talking about Addams Family Values.

The original live-action Addams Family film starring Raoul Julia, Angelica Huston, Christopher Lloyd, and a very young Christina Ricci, was a fun little caper film.  Well-acted and entertaining.  Addams Family Values is far zanier.  It’s like the best episode of your favorite cartoon show, big laughs, satisfying stories, priceless moments.  The dark humor is spot-on, every actor is terrific (bringing great characters to the sequel are Joan Cusack as a psychotic black widow, with Peter MacNicol  and Christine Baranski as two sociopathically happy camp counselors, and you’ll even spot Tony Shaloub in there if you look carefully…) and still featuring all the actors from the first returning to their original roles.

It’s goofy, dark, simple, and damned entertaining.  I’ve seen it dozens of times and laugh all the way through it.

So why am I posting this on the day before Thanksgiving?  Because it’s the only movie I actually like (sorry but Planes, Trains, and Automobiles isn’t entertaining to me at all…) that has a memorable Thanksgiving theme and the ONLY Thanksgiving song I know.  The Thanksgiving song is one of my favorite movie musical moments.  It sounds ridiculous but it’s true.  Doubt me?  Well here it is!

And for the great full Thanksgiving play:

Happy Thanksgiving from RevPub!

Off the Top of My Head: Painting 40k Dark Angels Dreadnought

On By James CastroIn Art, Games, Random Fun2 Comments

Off The Top of My Head

It’s true I love painting orks but, like a lot of 40K folks, I have dedicated myself to a space marine chapter as well.  I went with the Dark Angels over a more codex astartes chapter because of their somewhat mysterious past, duel agenda, and their chapter structure.  Gotta love the Ravenwing…

Since I still consider myself a painting neophyte, I started painting my Dark Angels with something a little easier than even a tactical marine figure: a dreadnought.

With the big, flat surfaces and edges, and larger areas it was a simpler place for me to try out some of the layering techniques I’ve seen more expert painters use.  It also has lots of weapons and mixed colors (though still on larger surfaces) so it wasn’t just a single, drab item but required a bit of creativity.

I used the Assault on Black Reach dreaddy-nought since he’s relatively static and he’d be easier to clean off if I had any painting disasters:

I went with the Dark Angels color scheme recommended by GW: Chaos Black, Caliban base, Biel-Tan shade, Warpstone Glow layer, Moot Green layer 2, Underhive Ash dry brush, with Waywatcher glaze.  Pretty vanilla but I don’t feel ultra-confident enough yet to experiment!

SONY DSC

I added the red sarcophagus front-plate and weapon details to give him a bit of character, but still retaining the Dark Angels general scheme.

SONY DSC

I’ve decided I’ll have a lot of my DAs in 4th Company, so I used the munitorium “4” and “IV” from the transfer sheet to detail him, along with some extra bits from the Dark Angels upgrade sprue (pretty good deal, btw folks.  It’s basically the DA veteran’s kit $14 cheaper!) to make him more Dark Angel-y.  I named him “Puriel” an angel described (by Wikipedia at least!) as “fiery and pitiless”

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

Again, I love basing models and tried my hand at using some of the Forge World weathering powders on his feet and leg armor.  The rest of the base is pretty much just stuff from the GW basing kit again.

SONY DSC

That’s his big brother, Camael, the venerable dreadnought behind him.  He’s just primed (and yes, that’s part of an Icon of Old Caliban on his back…) I haven’t had the guts to finish completely gluing or painting him yet since, as a member of the Deathwing, he’ll be bone white and I want to practice that a bit more before I potentially mess him up!

Check out my previous ork painting posts for more!

Black Reach

Dredtrukk

Warboss with Attack Squig

Boss Zagstruk

Stormboy Nob on Flying Base

Bad Moons Nazdreg

Story of the Month: Brain Breaks

On By James CastroIn Story of the MonthLeave a comment

StoryoftheMonth

In the spirit of the Thanksgiving season, we at RevPub decided to do a special post about something we are very thankful for: the brain.

The brain doesn’t get nearly enough love. We tend to just expect it to work well all the time, and when it doesn’t, we think what the hell? Sometimes, the brain needs a reboot — just like our phones and computers. It’s these moments that make us appreciate the power of our brain. It’s these moments that make for some really awesome (and funny) stories.

10 Epically Stupid Things We’ve Done When Our Brain Breaks:

(10-6 are by Raven and 5-1 are by James)

10.) I have put my hoodie on backwards several times. And I mean hood full-over-my-face, and I ask myself every time, “Why is it so dark?!” and am really confused. I’ve even tried walking a couple times — probably looking like a mummy.

9.) One night when I got home from work, I got out of the car and walked up to my backdoor. It was locked, so I grabbed my car keypad and pushed the unlock button. And again and again, but the door wouldn’t unlock! Turns out, you need a KEY to unlock a deadbolt, not the car keypad…

8.) And one morning at work, I walked up to the elevator and swiped my key card in front of the buttons. After a few swipes and mentally stomping my foot, I realized what I was doing and pushed the button. (I’ll only admit to doing that once, the others I deny).

7.) For the girls out there: The last time I dyed my hair, I mixed the conditioner in the solution instead of the color. I even put it all over my hair until I realized I’d mixed the wrong thing. I couldn’t believe how thick the color solution was and it smelled great! I basically deep conditioned with chemicals for 15 minutes.

6.) Just last week at about 6 p.m., I was talking with a friend and getting ready to leave work. So, naturally I grabbed my keys and sunglasses. I put my sunglasses on top of my head, talked with her for 20 minutes, and headed outside. The moment I stepped outside I pulled my sunglasses down, and it got really dark fast! Because it was night.

5.) Not just once, but SEVERAL times I have washed my face with my glasses on. It’s something I will do again in the future too, I know it.

4.) Not only have I washed my face with my glasses on, but I have also gotten in the shower with my glasses on. Ever had rain get on your lenses? Try shampoo…

3.) I don’t know why this has suddenly been a trend, but three times in two weeks I found myself driving around with my emergency brake on. Including once on the interstate. As Mitch Hedburg said, “It doesn’t say much for me, but it really doesn’t say much for the emergency brake. More like the emergency make-the-car-smell-funny lever.”

2.) Recently while cleaning a bottle of super glue, I glued my eyelid shut. It was a brief moment of horror when I thought “I’ve gone blind!” which turned into “Oh good…I’ve glued my eye shut…” It took serious scrubbing with hot water to get it out. And I looked like Rocky at the end of his first fight with Apollo for a couple days. My only saving grace: I didn’t glue my eye shut with super glue IN my eye as well…  So not as stupid as it could be, although still pretty stupid.

1.) Once I had the brilliant idea of using Thai Chili oil in my olive oil do-it-yourself aerosol sprayer. I put the oil in it, pumped it up, and sprayed it on a pan thinking, “Why don’t they make chili oil spray like they do canola and olive oil spray? I’m a super-genius-man!” As my nose hairs burned out and my eyes watered, I realized why — because it’s pepper spray, you idiot. That’s why…