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werthead

[	website	\|	The Wertzone	]
[	userinfo	\|	livejournal userinfo	]
[	archive	\|	journal archive	]

Mistborn Minifigs Sale, Updates

[Nov. 10th, 2009|05:33 pm]

Brandon's assistant Peter here again. Brandon is still out on the road; at this moment he's at the Joseph-Beth bookstore in Lexington KY, hopefully with a fully recovered voice. Tomorrow he'll be in my old stomping grounds at Books&Co. near Dayton OH. (I used to ride my bike 12 miles to their original store location almost every Saturday, though I still haven't been to their new location. Some of my family members may show up to bother Brandon tomorrow. If you see them, say hi for me.)

A note about the Atlanta signings on Friday: There are actually two separate signings, one in Clarkston at 3:30 p.m. and one in Norcross at 7:00 p.m. Right now we only have details for the Norcross signing here on the site, but you can see the details for the Clarkston signing at Macmillan's tour page.

The folks at Garden Ninja Studios have announced a sale on their Mistborn miniatures/figurines (and also on their Goblin Quest miniatures). All are 30% off until the end of January. They also have a new Sergeant Schlock miniature (from Schlock Mercenary by Howard Tayler, who you should be familiar with if you listen to the Writing Excuses podcast regularly).

Speaking of Writing Excuses, in this week's episode comics writer Jake Black fills in for Brandon to talk with Dan and Howard about writing comics. Check it out.

Finally, in the most recent MISTBORN 3 annotations, Brandon mentions talking scenes and the number sixteen, the loss of half the sieging Koloss, and everyone's favorite Koloss, Human.

What I'm Not Teasing About

[Nov. 10th, 2009|05:43 pm]

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mood

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devious

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When I told my mother about my big "tease" her thought went to one place...and let me quell this now...we are NOT pregnant!

Not that we're preventing it from happening....hehe

That is all....

2009 continues to be a cruel year.

[Nov. 10th, 2009|08:14 pm]

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sad

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A few days ago,

xraytheenforcer made a post on the subject of how terrible a year 2009 has been for lots of people. I commented then that although 2009 has been OK to me personally, it has been an awful year for a lot of people I know, and unfortunately that trend seems to be continuing.

Today I got into work and found we had an unscheduled meeting where we were told that one of my colleagues died in his sleep last weekend. This was a big shock, particularly since he only graduated university last year and was just 24 years old. Cause of death is unknown, but apparently he'd been diagnosed with diabetes earlier this year and his health had been poor for a while (I hadn't known that before, he always looked healthy and usually cheerful when I saw him). I didn't really know him that well, but I liked him, he was always friendly and helpful when I needed to ask him any questions.

R.I.P. James.

3 comments|post comment

[Nov. 10th, 2009|01:58 pm]

Something's happened in the last 12 hours that has erased anything resembling the depression and malaise I've been in...but I can't talk about it yet! Let's just say it's made of awesome!

4 comments|post comment

Hippie vs. Goth

[Nov. 10th, 2009|01:22 pm]

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amused

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I love the look on her face--priceless!
http://wedinator.com/2009/10/24/little-hippie-cares-not-for-goth/

Somebody Sit On Me Before I Do Something Rash

[Nov. 10th, 2009|08:07 am]

xraytheenforcer

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

36 comments|post comment

living room wall

[Nov. 10th, 2009|11:25 am]

12 comments|post comment

[Nov. 9th, 2009|11:29 pm]

Has Cambyses' army been found at long last? Pretty incredible, if so, and the evidence is compelling.

Also, utterly awesome new jacket has been acquired. So awesome my sister got one, too.

10 comments|post comment

Like A Moth To A Flame

[Nov. 9th, 2009|11:53 pm]

[	Tags	\|	winter's discord	]
[	mood	\|	discontent	]

Despite my best efforts and a solemn vow to let it lie for a little while, I cannot avoid the siren's call of Winter's Discord. I really wanted to shelf it for a while and work on Sisters of Khoda, but I can't find my footing on Khoda and find my mind wandering to Winter. Could be the weather (even though much of the story takes place in a warm climate)...maybe it's the idea that the marking period is over and multiple vacations loom, so I might have some writing time....maybe I keep feeling like I'm close on the story....I don't know. But she's calling for me, begging me to work on her again. I'll have it worked out in another day or so what my next course of action is. First I HAVE to get caught up on grading for the MP, then I'll make my decision.

A slight conundrum has presented itself. The story takes place on a southern continent....and they celebrate Yule at the start of Winter...that doesn't work. My only thought is a simple explanation that it's just reverse of our world. Plausible? It's such a weird thing to get hung up on!

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nom nom nom nom

[Nov. 9th, 2009|10:59 pm]

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Shortpacked!: Men are from Mars, retcons are from Venus

Our hamster babies are finally old enough to wander out and about their living area themselves. Ham mommy doesn't like that very much, and will go drag them back to the nest, but ever so often we'll find them eating some food on their own. So tiny! Seriously, they're like a centimeter or two long. The video exaggerates their size. They could fit on a quarter.

Anyway, they're adorable. And there's five, we think. Five is the most we've seen all together at the same time, but there is a chance there's a sixth or more in there. But we've seen no evidence for that. They just spend most their time buried in fluff under their mom's butt, so it's not very easy to get a headcount of them.

I believe they're still blind at this point. Their eyes haven't quite opened. So they're just clawing about on the strength of their other senses. Not that adult hamster sight is incredibly great...

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Westeros.org News Roundup

[Nov. 10th, 2009|03:02 am]

hippoiathanatoi

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@westerosorg shipped by LoudTwitter

Winter is coming

[Nov. 9th, 2009|05:57 pm]

It took me 10 minutes this morning to get the car windscreen clear enough to drive.

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[Nov. 9th, 2009|10:36 am]

[	Tags	\|	travel	]
[	music	\|	Sigur Ros: Saeglopur	]

Italy!

Sue I returned from our trip to Italy last Wednesday night. Neither the flight there nor the flight back was particularly pleasant (nine hours is a long time to be crammed into a small seat surrounded by crying babies), we both caught nasty colds there, and I couldn't ever seem to get onto a regular sleep schedule while there (and still can't). And the trip was still 100% worth it.

We had an amazing time. The weather, first of all, was really nice, with sun and temperatures in the 60s and 70s. The first three days we toured around Florence, seeing all the sites in the central part of the city, like the massive cathedral there (a Renaissance church so grand you would say it wasn't even built to human scale), the Palazzo Vecchio and its numerous statues, the Santa Croce Basilica, the Ponte Vecchio, a bridge covered with shops that have been in operation for hundreds of years, and a lot more. We saw a number of Michelangelo works, including the David, of course. It was a great trip for history and art.

After Florence we went to the walled city of Lucca. Lucca was a city of Medieval importance, but because it (thankfully, I'd say) decreased in strategic value by World War II, it suffered little damage, unlike the surrounding region. This means that much of Lucca looks just as it had long ago, making it picturesque--and challenging to get around. Lucca was where the Lucca Comics and Games show was held, a 140,000 person convention at which I was a guest of honor. But I'll write about that tomorrow.

Toward the end of the trip we went to Pisa and saw the infamous leaning tower. (As the folks from Lucca like to say, "Pisa's only claim to fame is a mistake.") The tower had just been renovated, so its white stone glistened--practically glowed--in the sun. The nearby cathedral, while not as large as its counterpart in Florence, was very impressive and very beautiful on the inside.

It's been difficult for me to write even those three paragraphs about Tuscany without mentioning the food. I'm no foodie, but even a pedestrian like me was blown away by each and every meal we had in Italy. I'd often find myself saying things like, "This is just a potato. How can a potato be this good?"

Thankfully, my tour director, Sue, likes to maintain an aggressive schedule on vacations, and so we did a lot of walking and stairclimbing to work off all the fabulous meals. (And to be fair, our schedule was likely not as aggressive as she would have liked.)

I'd love to go back someday. I hope to see Rome and Venice someday, and more.

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Today's Random Thoughts

[Nov. 8th, 2009|09:06 pm]

12:10 Got to love the Sunday morning pajamas grocery store run! #

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Batman recruited a teenager with attitude.

[Nov. 8th, 2009|11:07 pm]

[

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batman, dcuc, power rangers, whoring

]

Shortpacked!@TNI: It's head-in-a-jar time!
Shortpacked!: Her, uh, anatomy makes slightly more sense than Blackarachnia's.

Hello!  Everyone and their mother emailed me asking about the lineart for the Mike/Amber Smoochy-Smoochy strip. Well, you can have it!  But you'll have to fight each other for it first. That's right, it's auction time.

As usual, it's on 12"x18" art paper, was rendered in blue pencil and Copic brush marker, and comes to you rolled in a mailing tube.  Add it to your collection!  Or start one. I'm not fussy.

Auction ends in 5 days.

So, like, even back before I started getting all the Batman guys from DC Universe Classics, I kinda coveted their Robin. It was my favorite Robin design ever! It kinda helps that Tim Drake's One-Year-Later-through-Batman-RIP outfit was based on hisNew Batman Adventures look, sure. You know me and my Bruce Timm designs. I liked that the green is dropped and he's just a red, black, and yellow guy. But the comic takes it a bit further and draws him closer thematically to Batman's motif. He's got a scalloped cape, for instance. And those little tufts on his gloves. And, oh, hey, pockets on his belt! He's like a mini-Batman with red. It kinda makes sense, don't it?

I passed it up at the time because I wasn't collectingDCUC, but I am now!  So, yay, an excuse to get him. And the fun thing is, BigBadToyStore still had him in stock for non-secondary-market prices! (they don't seem to any more) And so I was just a day or so away from just going ahead with the whole thing and ordering him when I found that damn Robin at our local Target. Just sitting there on the shelf. What?  Okay. Well. I guess miracles do happen.

Robin joins my Batman in punching villains now. Sometimes he even gets the punching!  (Okay, most of the time. He's only second behind the Riddler.) The toy comes with a few accessories. He's got his martial arts staff that Tim Drake likes to carry around and two Batarangs. (Robinorangs?  Birdorangs?) I kinda wish he could store the -rangs in some of his pockets. But no, they'll probably just get lost. I prefer the staff. He also comes with a stand, as he's not part of the "build-a-figure" deal.

I'm grateful that there's a smaller, teenager-sized body-type for Robin to be. It just wouldn't do, being the size of everyone else. Plus, y'know, I guess it'd come in handy for the rest of the Teen Titans.

Anyway, speaking of Power Rangers, you know how they all wore color-coded outfits when they were in their civilian identities?  Red Ranger wore red, Pink ranger wore pink, etc?  Robin totally did that in the very early comics, I noticed, as I've been reading through my Batman Chronicles collections. Dick Grayson is always in a yellow collared shirt under a red sweater and green pants. Wow, that's a bit conspicuous. Batman probably color-coded his civvies, too, but blue and gray formal wear is a lot less outlandish.

69 comments|post comment

Westeros.org News Roundup

[Nov. 9th, 2009|03:02 am]

hippoiathanatoi

( Read more )
@westerosorg shipped by LoudTwitter

[Nov. 8th, 2009|10:49 pm]

hippoiathanatoi

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This Tuesday was the first of two jumping lessons in a row (next week, its even a double-length jumping lesson), and I was -- rather predictably, given that Gamir and Fleur are gone now, put on Murphy once again. We were also going to continue some work related to the counter-canter of the last weeks, so most of us did get the same horse as last week. Murphy was still rather unhappy in the stable, if not as bad as the last few weeks, and he was also a bit less enthusiastic about the lesson itself, at least initially. I think it may be because he'd not had a good lesson, or maybe one too many lessons, earlier in the day.

After some warmup where we worked them on circles and trotted over rails on the ground, we started off the jumping proper nice and easy. We had an obstacle at each end of the arena and we cantered around and around, focusing on getting a smooth, steady rhythm between and over each jump. Easier said than done, though. Murphy was having more issues with his canter again, and I wasn't able to get him galloping on at a good pace without also having his hindquarters drifting out on every turn. We did manage to finish up with two pretty good jumps, though; both he and I tend to improve after we get a chance to feel it out.

Following that, we put up another obstacle between the other two, and were set the task of jumping all three in a figure-of-eight pattern. Ulrika made a good point about how to get the right canter after each jump: often, instructors give too many instructions for this, and when you try to follow them all you end up all tense and contorted. This has definitely happened to me, and trying to keep it more relaxed really helped. All she reminded me to do once it was my turn and I had ended up with the wrong canter a few times was to use a slight leading rein in the opposite direction of where I was going when jumping the middle jump at the cross-over point, to give the new inside room to come forward.

It didn't work every time, Murphy being who he is. But when it worked, I think it helped give me a feel for how to do it, and we did get a nice flow to the jumps after a while. But its not easy when both horse and rider have co-ordination issues.

Where Your Money Has Gone

[Nov. 7th, 2009|11:35 pm]

The downtown streets of the small town outside of which I grew up and where my parents still live have been recently repaved (much needed, according to my parents; there were potholes you could swim in, my daughter said) with stimulus monies. A local small phone company/internet provider for a relatively isolated rural/small town area north of here is applying for stimulus money to improve his internet access from dialup to high speed so that rural residents can have better internet connectivity. We hear about bailouts for the banks, and not so much (it seems to me) about these smaller local and regional projects.

Meanwhile, a 4 month old kitten was dumped roadside by my parents' house and has been allowed to take up residency in their garage: I am not a cat person, but this kitten is full of charm, very affectionate, and very attached to people. Oh, there he is, mewing outside. Alas, he is not allowed in the house. I think we all hope we can find a loving home for him as he is an absolute sweetheart. He needs a name, as the one my dad came up with is Not Acceptable. He's a tabby (I think), and very handsome.

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Westeros.org News Roundup

[Nov. 8th, 2009|03:02 am]

hippoiathanatoi

( Read more )
@westerosorg shipped by LoudTwitter

[Nov. 7th, 2009|04:56 pm]

If you didn't hear the news, we got a call on Wednesday informing us that THE GATHERING STORM had hit the number one spot on the New York Times hardcover Best Seller list. This was accompanied by hitting number one on the independent bookseller's list and being the bestselling hardcover fiction book at Barnes & Noble and at Borders. (And at the last one, I believe, we were the overall #1 book regardless of genre, which is impressive.) We did, in fact, knock Dan Brown out of the #1 spot—by a wide margin.

How do I feel? Relieved. When I first began this project, my largest fear by far was that I would disappoint the fans. As I have stated before, I consider this your book and not mine. That doesn't mean I'm writing it to please the fans specifically—I'm writing these novels to be the best blasted books that they can be, narratively, structurally, and characterizationally. (Is that a word?) My goal is not to produce fan moments, per se, but to produce the best story possible, if that distinction makes any sense.

Either way, the last four Wheel of Time books had all hit #1, and I worried a lot that it would be on my watch where we failed to do so. It is a testament to the beloved nature of the series, mixed with the ardor of the readers, that we have weathered a change in authors without a dip. We actually outsold KNIFE OF DREAMS' first week, which is amazing.

The thing is, I don't feel I can take much—if any—credit for this. The reason this book turned out as well as it did (and thank you all for your kind emails, posts, and reviews) was because of the work Robert Jordan did before he passed away. He literally lay on his deathbead dictating scenes for you, too weak to write. He loved his readers dearly, and those of you lucky enough to meet him know that he was a truly kind and generous man.

Beyond that, the strength of this book is directly tied to the excellent storytelling that came before it. It doesn't take much experience with construction to realize that the foundation of a building is far more important—structurally—than the roof. Robert Jordan's skill with worldbuilding, characterization, and plotting was amazing. Working on these books has only increased my respect for his abilities.

None of you ran out to get the book because of me. My job was, and continues to be, to stay out of the way and let you enjoy the story that Robert Jordan wanted you to have. I am honored and humbled that so many of you have enjoyed the book. Thank you for what you have done in giving me a chance to prove myself to you.

Somewhere, Robert Jordan is smiling.

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