Story of the Month: Brain Breaks

On November 19, 2013November 18, 2013 By James CastroIn Story of the MonthLeave a comment

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…

If You Want to Write: Journals

On November 17, 2013November 17, 2013 By R. PettyIn Writing for Web and TipsLeave a comment

Doctors will tell you to keep a journal in order to release stress and sort out emotions. Jotting down all your feelings and thoughts can help you resolve conflict, make decisions, and force you to learn about yourself. But why should writers keep a journal?

In this chapter, Ueland explains the benefits of journal writing and how it makes you a better writer. Not better in the sense of correct grammar and what the world expects of you – better in the way of more honest, real, and true to who you are.

But why is it important to be real?

Readers want to devour a good book. A good book deprives you from sleep, takes you away from your family and friends, and sucks you deep into the world it creates. As an author, you can’t do that without being real. Your reader will move onto something better, and frankly, honest is more interesting and fun.

Any writer can fill pages with words. It takes true talent to show a reader what you see rather than telling them. Ueland uses this example:

His muscles rippled through his shoulders. (Did they really? No.) So she asks, what do you see it your mind?

His muscles looked as if they would burst through the seams of his shirt. (Believable and descriptive)

The novel Gone Girl is a great example of this. And ironically, it’s set in a journal format. That’s no accident. Journals are people being who they are and who they don’t want to be. The best-seller captivated readers worldwide, and it remains one of the most talked about novels in my office. It was the nitty-gritty details of a relationship, and it felt real. You were smack in the middle of the story and couldn’t put it down.

What you can gain from your journal:

A greater love for writing – Sometimes it’s hard to write and get into the habit, but once it becomes a routine, you have to do it. It’s like an addiction, and if it’s not done, your day may feel incomplete.
It jump starts other projects – We all have a book or story idea that we haven’t made time for. We sit down at the computer and freak out because we don’t know where to begin. After journal writing, you’ll realize that you can just start, and edit and fill in gaps later. You can even trade the time you’d spend on your journal on that new project, or switch back and forth as needed.
Immerse yourself in your own life – If you took one hour a day you play on social media or watch TV and wrote in your journal, you’d have insight into your own life, dreams, and self. As scary as it may be, good writers aren’t afraid to explore their most inner thoughts.

She recommends keeping a journal and writing in it every day, but not looking back on it until six months have passed. Doing so, you’ll see honest progression and skill as the journal continues. You learn more about the personality that comes out in your writing because no matter how hard you try, it will come through for the world to see.

Want more tips? Check out our If You Want to Write section!

Off the Top of My Head: Painting 40k Ork Warboss Nazdreg

On November 13, 2013November 12, 2013 By James CastroIn Art, Games, Random Fun5 Comments

Since I’m a fan of both Dark Angels and Orks I found Gav Thorpe’s The Purging of Kallidus to be a perfect book for me. Not only does it include a lot of small details on the functioning of a Space Marine force in the field, but includes the two biggest and baddest ork warlords in a combined effort; the mighty Ghazghkgull Thraka, and the wily Nazdreg Ug Urdgrub.

Ghasghkull was and is still the king of all orks to me; his semi-religious role, brutish persona, yet strangely high-intelligence seems to encompass the most frightening combination of ork traits. However it’s nice to have options, while looking over an older ork codex I found Nazdreg is a GREAT option for an ork warlord (if only we could get modern rules for him GW!)

Nazdreg is not only a cunning leader, but also a remarkably good shot for an ork (BS4! BS4! With a PLASMA weapon!) He also has fun painting options, as he is a Bad Moons warboss and can be done-up right in bright yellows and ostentatious decorations.

NAZDREG

The old Nazdreg model is nothing like the current line and difficult to field. He’s SMALLER than most ork boyz, so that’s not an option. This one is mine. He came with his boss pole broken so I replaced it with a different one. Luckily I got an old metal Ghazghkull with the deal I mentioned in a previous post and decided I’d Nazdreg-him up.

I used the older Big Mek head so he had a different face from Ghazghkull that gave him a Mek look without having weird screws in his head. I also liked the smug grin and goggles.

There wasn’t an appropriately massive Bad Moon bosspole, so I made my own out of green stuff. I mounted it on the Lascannons from a Forgeworld Tauros Venator I turned into a warbuggy and stuck a deffdread face on the back. The skulls came from the Chaos Defiler kit, whose bitz have served me so well since I converted it to the Dredtrukk. It’s not perfect but I ended up really liking the look of the moon.

His armor, instead of black with flames, I wanted a bright, blazing yellow. Mostly to make his stand out even more from my Goff models. His custom power klaw is made of the lower-potion of Ghazghkull’s with two ork chain blades and a piece from the Skaven Hell-Pit Abomination kit as flexible spiked-knuckles.

The most difficult, but fun, part of the model was the Kustom-Blasta-X, Nazdreg’s supa-gun. It’s frequently described as being “multi-barreled” but because it has the “gets hot” profile and the same feel as a plasma gun I thought it would be good to make it LOOK like a plasma gun. I sheared off the twin-linked big shoota that came with the model (never cut off so much metal before) and used one of the plasma storm batteries from the Land Speeder Vengeance kit. The little piece underneath is actually a re-fashioned mace head and it has the power supply from a megablasta off of an extra Mek on top.

Basing is something that I’ve heard a lot of modelers complain about but it’s one of my favorite parts of finishing a model. I originally wanted to have him on a telly-porta but I couldn’t think of a good way to make that work on a terminator-size base. So I went with a scene from The Purging of Kadillus that is by far one of my favorites in the Black Library books I’ve read (along with Primarch Corax’s charge into the Iron Warriors in Raven’s Flight, also by Thorpe). If you haven’t read the book SPOILER ALERT!

In the novel, Chaplain Boreas leads a defense of a power plant against an ork attack. They initially succeed until Nazdreg himself arrives and dooms the space marine/imperial guard defenders. Boreas challenges Nazdreg to single combat, and, though he fights as best as he can, is ultimately smashed by the Bad Moons Boss. I like this narrative not only because the fight itself is rousing, but also because it’s a rare instance of orks portrayed in a Black Library book not as comic relief but as the martial menace that they are. Boreas and Nazdreg fight fairly, and Nazdreg beats Boreas through strength of arms, not blundering into luck. This is especially impactful in this book as future Deathwing Captain Belial took a similar beating from Ghazghkull in the novel’s background. I also have a strong memory of Nazdreg addressing the Dark Angel’s leadership through Boreas’ helmet comm with the typical Ork laconism, “Dey’s all dead…”

For my base I have Nazdreg stomping Boreas’ Crozius Arcanum. The Arcanum is made from the handle of a thunder hammer; the head is actually part of the angel wings off of the Icon of Old Caliban from a Land Speeder Darkshroud kit. For the Chaplain’s helmet I used a standard space marine helmet, sliced his face off, and glued on the face of a skull (again, those Chaos Defiler bits save the day!) I then added appropriate muddy texture and various pieces from the GW 40k basing kit.

Nazdreg’s my favorite model I’ve completed so far. I hope I can use him (WITH his profile) in games and I’m really hoping GW includes him back into 6^th edition when we get our overdue ork upgrade next summer!

Check out my previous ork painting posts for more!

Black Reach

Dredtrukk

Warboss with Attack Squig

Boss Zagstruk

Stormboy Nob on Flying Base

Salute Your Shorts: Revisited

On November 10, 2013November 9, 2013 By R. PettyIn TV ShowsLeave a comment

Do you know the words?

We run, we jump, we swim, and play.

We row and go on trips.

But the things that last forever

are our dear friendships…

If you kept singing or know the song, you must have grown up in the 90s. That’s the opening verse to Salute Your Shorts, the show about a group of kids at summer camp.

When I was younger, I liked the show a lot, but I liked Are You Afraid of the Dark and Clarissa Explains It All more. I couldn’t really relate to any of the characters on SYS, and I hated the one time I went to summer camp. I still think summer camp is overrated.

As an adult, I realize I miss 90s TV shows. I miss the simplicity, the minor drama, the awkwardness. Today, shows try to do too much or get way too serious. At 12, I didn’t want to hear about 15-year-olds agonizing about sex, and I still don’t.

Salute Your Shorts was simple. Each episode had a situation or conflict, and it was resolved by the end. In 24 minutes or less. So, here are some of my observations (old and new) after watching two volumes:

1. Bobby Budnick still reminds me of Axl Rose. Every time I see Budnick, I think I bet that’s what Axl Rose was like when he was 13 – smart, cunning, mean, and a natural leader.

2. I really dislike Dina Alexander. I never even thought she was cute. She was a terrible, terrible person, and I did not understand how anyone would want to even be in the same room with her. Had I been in her bunk, I would have hung her on the flagpole.

3. Most of the characters still irritate me. The only character I relate to now is Z.Z, the nerdy tree-hugger type, so I’m not sure what that says about me as an adult.

4. The show holds up, but it’s nostalgia that keeps it going. Would it survive if it aired now? No. There’s not enough drama and fighting; there were no tears. It was just kids doing kids things and solving their own problems without it being Earth shattering.

5. I can still sing the opening song word for word. And I’ll admit something to all our great readers out there: Until two weeks ago, I thought the song said “… are our dear friend Chips.” Yes, chips. It didn’t make any sense at the time, but I never tried to figure it out. Two weeks ago, when I heard it again, I said … “OH….” and laughed and laughed. And felt really dumb.

I encourage anyone who enjoyed Nick’s 90s era to revisit Salute Your Shorts. Amazon has two volumes for $6 each, and it’s worth it just to relive a time where things weren’t so dependent on technology and dramatic. If you want to learn what made us late 20-somethings and 30-somethings who we are today, watch the old Nick shows.

For extra fun, here’s a video from a “scary” episode. It still creeps me out a little…

Off the Top of My Head: Painting 40k Stormboy

On November 6, 2013November 5, 2013 By James CastroIn Art, Games, Random Fun4 Comments

Before the glory that was Halloween (It’s still going on as far as I’m concerned. I’m extending Halloween the way the rest of the world does Christmas…) I began posting some of the Orks I’ve been painting. Though I have two chapters of space marines (the two more “angelic” chapters…First Founding!) and now some Sisters of Battle, the Orks are still my chance to be the most creative.

This model is an old metal Stormboy Nob I got in an incredible deal on eBay along with a lot of other older metal models. I love the look of the older models mixed in with my newer plastic kits, but they are a bit static and don’t look very “Storm-y.” Luckily eBay also introduced me to these great flying bases for them. I have a full compliment of ten to do, but I started with the great Stormboy Nob to test how it works:

It was fun to customize and pose him on this base. I over tilted so I have a nickel underneath the base to keep him down.

That's a newer choppa he has. I liked the look of it better. — That’s a newer choppa he has. I liked the look of it better.

The site to buy the bases has a great tutorial on how to paint them to give that layered/glowing effect.

The Rokkit is a little plain, but the rest of the model is so bright I was ok with it.

I used a piece of the Chaos Defiler model to accessorize his helmet.

How to paint the flying base here.

And my previous ork posts:

Black Reach

Dreadtrukk

Warboss with Attack Squig

Boss Zagstruk

Halloween Flashback

On November 3, 2013November 3, 2013 By R. PettyIn Random FunLeave a comment

We hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween! We filled our week with horror movies, costuming, giving out candy, and having fun. That’s what it’s all about 🙂

As promised in my Little Costumes post, here are two pics of little me at Halloween. These were the only ones we found, but as you can see, I still loved the season:

Lil Jem and a hologram — Late 1980s: I think I was four or five in this one. My mom says we were Jem and a Hologram – I LOVED Jem. I vaguely remember this costume, but I do remember the headband with the bow. If you’d like a seasonal blast from the past, check out the Halloween-themed Jem!

Santa Claus and a Witch — 1991: This is a pretty adorable story. According to my mom, my little brother was scared of everything (except me lol), so she dressed him up as Santa Claus. I do remember him loving Santa! I was an evil witch in bright blue heels, which were my grandma’s.

We want to thank all our readers and hope everyone had a great October. We’re looking forward to writing new reviews, writing tips, stories, and whatever else we can dream up. We also celebrated our one-year anniversary of Lil’ Horsemen (on Halloween), so if you haven’t read it, we’d love for you to check it out!