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  • #2 – Scenes from an Italian Restaurant

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZdklK7RelQ&feature=related

    The long form transitional ballad. Is there no finer form of music? It’s like a movie in rock-and-roll format in only six to fifteen minutes! While I knew it was predominatly the chosen form of folk singers, imagine my suprise when I first heard the song on Billy Joel’s greatest hits. Here was a Billy Joel song that had a long story to tell, with the energy and east coast sound I liked so much in the eighties. It quickly became a favorite of me and my friends, with the culmination of this fandom happening in our first group trip to the Edwards AFB Open House and Air Show. We were climbing up 58 into Techachipi with a fogged up window, but we didn’t really care. We were young, stupid, and singing this damned song at the top of our lungs. I’m not sure we would have been looking at the road even if the window had been fine. It’s a song about nostalgia, culminating with the idea that while remembering is nice, you can never really go back. I can’t go back, but this song will always let me remember why I keep these idiots around with me today.

     

  • Music Commentary – The Return


    Song #001 on my Panasonic Music Player – “Hearts” by Yes (90125 – Atco Records)

    90125 was the first “serious” album I ever bought, at a Target next to the Ford dealership in Torrance, CA, 1983. I remember that vividly. Dad had given us some of his jackpot winnings and grandma was buying a new car.

    I’m not the biggest fan of “prog rock”, but I loved the quality and crafting that went into 90125. It was a last hurrah by a very influential band, and as far as swan songs go, this certainly qualifies as one of the greatest. The final track, “Hearts” is excellent. It cranks in at over seven minutes, something not all that unusual for album tracks from this genre, and features several transitions and style changes. There’s some clashing chords, romantic lyrics, societal musings, a soaring guitar solo, and a triumphal climax with a lyrical coda. It pretty much sums up the entirety of “90125″, and is one of the most fitting end tracks to an album I’ve ever heard. It might be a somewhat romantic song, but it’s also a song for the fans, letting them know how much Yes appreciated their support over the years.

  • Miniature Rules Monday

    When I started, there was an “outer goal”, the absolute limit to what I thought possible. Sixty Four shiny pages, if they could be done, would represent the holy grail, the lost ark, that bottle of Pepsi you fought for Hanse and Melissa’s wedding…

    TODAY IS COMIC SIXTY-FOUR! (To you NerdCore guys, that’s C=64 *rimshot*)

    So without further ado…

    MONDAY! MONDAY! MONDAY!

    For C=64 we have a very special comic, with an inordinatly convoluted history. Last year 3rdCrucisLancers was talking about GenCon stuph and wrote a little touch of dialog that I could see in my mine and I thought was funny. I printed it out, and then tried to think how I could Rule it. Finally I got a Cav miniature and it hit me how to make the joke work… but I lost the print and all I could remember was that it was in ONE of the High Command locked threads. Great… what’s 3200 times 4? More than I want to sift through. But this weekend we were cleaning, and I was preparing one of my own scripts for Miniature Rules for shooting when lo and behold, the lost print was found again. So instead of being MR#49, it has the honor of being the doubly special C=64.

    I’m sure 3CL sent his minions to do this.

    What happens when a PTB and one of CBT’s most rabid factional fans cross paths in the Jihad? Lord knows they’ve not gotten rid of each other in the Third Succession War, Fourth Succession War, Clan Invasion, Operation Guerrero, FedCom Civil War, or the Great Bank Robbery Rash of ’67. This doesn’t bode well for the Dark Age, does it? It’ll be like Highlander… and a Blake Edwards comedy… all at once.

    http://battletech.cavaliercavalry.com/mrules.htm

    MINIATURE RULES: Remember, anything you say or do on the forums can be used against you in the court of Internet comedy…

  • Operation: RED ARRAY – Scene III

    To: James Niell, CEO Niell Aerospace
    From: Mihn Than Dause, Production Foreman

    Sir,
    Regarding your inquiry, there is no way to ensure every drop thruster is perfect. I understand that the products we make are directly responsible for the safety of our countries armed forces, and we are doing everything we can to ship a safe and correctly working product. That said, sir, we are building machines that are designed to essentially operate under a contiuously exploding situation and directing that explosion out in a certain way. It shouldn’t have to be said that explosions are not always the most cooperative of methods. Every time a drop thruster fails someone usually dies, I know, but our thrusters have a fail rate of well under one tenth of one percent, and most defective ones that do arrive in the field are usually caught by the fine technitions of our navy. We will redouble our efforts to increase the quality and appreciate the concern you have for both the company and our fighting men and women, but frankly sir, we’re far from Quiksell here.

    ——————————————————

    OPERATION RED ARRAY
    The mercenary Ace Wrecking Crew has deployed a company of ‘Mechs to ensure that the remote area is secure before the invasion force lands… unfortunatly this means they have to get on planet without the comfort of a smooth and easy landing in their dropship.

    http://comics.cavaliercavalry.com/redarray.htm

  • Finally there were the “pros”, those Cosplayers dumb enough to appear on stage in front of 40,000 people.












































    Odd that this is the last one. Why?

    Th-th-th-th-that’s all folks! No more Cosplayers. :P

  • Miniature Rules Monday!

    It’s MONDAY! MONDAY! MONDAY!

    The Xanga is full of Cosplayers, and Miniature Rules has decided to jump on that bandwagon! Watch as one of the leaders of the terror of the Jihad is brought down by a humble and conciensious warrior for truth and righteousness! (Note for after reading the comic: No, I did not type that with a straight face.)

    http://battletech.cavaliercavalry.com/mrules.htm

    Miniature Rules: We need less screaming, that way when we do it, it’s all like dramatic and stuff. Thanks, Xerxes, and have fun in Cleveland!

    COSPLAYERS CONTINUE!










  • This train, it keeps on rollin’…

    Because frankly, there were just so many people there, and I had a brand new camera. This is officially a “dangerous situation”.











    I had to take their pictures twice (above), they wanted one for their cell phone.







  • Boy am I glad for digital cameras…

    …because this would have been a lot of film to develop, no?
















  • OH GOD! MORE OF THEM! RUN!!!!!














    I said I wasn’t going to take any Joker pictures, but this pair was too good. They won the ComicCon Jokerfest.




    There are more coming. And next year, I might just try my hand at it. >:)

  • COSPLAYERS PART II: THE REVENGE

    Day 2, of probably like two weeks. Sorry, there’s a lot of Cosplayers. :P













    MORE TO COME. RUN!!!!!!