Dutchnid

Youtube saturday 28th of January 2012

2012-01-28T02:32:00.000-08:00

Tray Chaney - Fatherhood
Tray's known for his role as 'Poot in The Wire.
Not the best track, but a great message and he's got style.

Foster the people - Call it what you want
Sticks to the ear and they've got another strangely fun video.

Cat Power - Troubled waters
Just wow.

L'Xtrmst - La treme
In a strange way this reminds me of Corvus Corax. Love it.

School is cool - Warpaint
Another cool song from School is cool.
I keep thinking this is a song by Warpaint which is also well worth checking out btw.

Marco Z - I'm a bird
A bit poppy, but it sticks and it has a fun video

Broodlord cheering

2012-01-22T13:01:00.000-08:00

It's a metal model and there aren't many poses you can put it in without cutting up so much that it might've been easier to just scratch build it. This is the basic pose in which you glue it if you don't cut up ánything.

It's a kind of a roar/cheer pose. I'm working on another version but this one's 90% done. Just some small touch ups on the lower arms. I've used the talon arms from the genestealer frame since I ordered this one from e-bay and it didn't have it's normal set of talons with it.
I'll get some better pics up soon together with the other but this'll have to do for today.

Youtube saturday 21st of January 2012

2012-01-21T01:29:00.000-08:00

Le Le - Neen
Solo project from one of the guys of De jeugd van tegenwoordig. 'Neen, laat maar zitten' translates loosely as 'no, nevermind (whatever)'. Brilliantly simple video, so don't use 'I don't speak Dutch' as an excuse not to check the video.

Pogo - Jaaam (The Fresh Prince remix)
Another ingenious collage of sounds. If you don't know Pogo yet, also check his track 'Upular'.

Aduke - Hear the voice
A song made around the Occupy movement in Nigeria. It puts things in perspective looking at poverty, hunger and safety. Starts after 18-19 seconds.

Tim Bendzko - Nur Noch Kurz Die Welt Retten
I think it's the first time a German song got featured here.It's from around May 2011.He sings that he'll be with his girl soon, right after he saved the world (which shouldn't take too long). Even if you don't understand German, you'll get the feeling.

Jónsi - Gathering stories
Dreamy music with a really cool video.
And since it's not new music by far, but cool to check out, I'd just say, check the songs of the Jimmy Castor Bunch in the Originals section of 22tracks. Weird and funny.

Youtube saturday 14th of January 2012

2012-01-13T15:19:00.000-08:00

This youtube saturday is filled with strange video's which are well worth watching and not just listening to in the background.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic zeros - Desert song
It's worth pulling through the first minute (either that or skipping it).

Goldfish - We come together

Gotye - Hearts a mess
There's a familiar sample in there but I don't know where from..
Another cool video to a beautiful melancholic track.

Lissie - Cuckoo
A bit sweet, but it sticks.

Dangermouse and Daniele Luppi ft Jack White (and Norah Jones?) - Two against one
It's been out since May 2011, but I'm not sure if I heard it before. Didn't see the clip before and it's well
worth watching.

Youtube saturday 6th of January 2012

2012-01-06T00:00:00.000-08:00

Apollo 440 - A deeper dub
A cover from Clivillés and Cole's 1991 original version "Pride (A Deeper Love). It's been a while since I heard anything from Apollo 440, good to know they're still around.

Avicii - The new day (2012 edit)
An energetic bit of dance music.

Szabó Balázs - Azt gondoltam ...
Don't ask me how to pronounce it or what it's about, but it sounds sad. A Hungarian friend of mine linked it
on facebook, so it's probably Hungarian (also the spelling hints at that..)

T.I. ft Dr Dre - Popped off
It's Dre!

Florence + The Machine - No Light, No Light
Just an awesome band.

Zoanthrope (s) January 2012

2012-01-02T14:00:00.000-08:00

In early december I posted a basecoated zoanthrope and somewhere in the end of december 2011 I finished it. Since I had three older Zoanthropes I thought I'd take some pictures of those too.

Click to enlarge (opens new window) and or click through the photobucket to see other beasties.

The new one is made of resin and has to be straigthened out a bit...

The other 3 in the picture are made of metal

Youtube saturday 31st december 2011

2011-12-30T05:45:00.000-08:00

Metallica - Hell and back
Trusted rough Metallica sound, if you don't agree..well then don't.

Amatorski - 22 februar
Starts of really slow so hold on for the first 30secs. Relax.

Year of the goat - Of darkness
Melodic metal.

Calvin Russel - Halloween
Not new (2009), but I only came across it on Oi va voi's myspace today and it's awesome. (I thought myspace was dead too..)

Now if you're done, go check out some Oi va voi on..their myspace (or facebook)
I know Oi va voi's music for a bit longer and I've seen them live twice, don't miss the chance to do so too, when you can!

Youtube saturday 24th of december 2011

2011-12-24T07:10:00.000-08:00

Lana del Ray - Born to die
About a relationship that's born to die. Quite a special video.

Foster the people - Don't stop (color on the walls)
Just bizar.

Bnj - Talking to myself
Don't mind the accent, just listen.

Other lives - Tamer animals
Easy indie music - really cool video

Woods of Ypres - Kish my ashes (goodbye part II)
Love the slow dark bass guitar

Youtube saturday 11 December 2011

2011-12-11T08:54:00.001-08:00

A day late..so it's actually sunday the 11th.

Kyari Pamyu Pamyu - つけまつける
22 tracks had this to say about it: "Japanese singer Kyari Pamyu Pamyu is the queen of harajuku, apparently, which means she has the most demented sense of style. Her new song "つけまつける" is all about the joys of fake eyelashes, of which she has her own brand. I wouldn't be surprised if she starts selling salty snacks too. I'll take a packet, thanks."

I'll just stick to wtf!!!

Sepalcure - See me feel me
Relax

Martin Solveig and Dragonette ft. Idoling - Big In Japan
That tune has been overused a bit, but the video is fun.

A bit of a lousy week as far as music goes.Couldn't find this on youtube so if you're falling asleep, check Slaves on dope - All I want for christmas is my two front teethChristmas metal..

Zoanthrope + Broodlords 2011

2011-12-04T12:33:00.001-08:00

You'd almost forget this blog is originally a warhammer 40K blog. I've painted some genestealers in the last couple of months but since they're not too much of a new thing I didn't take photo's.

But now I've taken the time to upload some photo's of models I'm currently working on.
Clicking on the thumbnails will enlarge the photo's (new page).
The 'new' finecast Zoanthrope. Cleaning it is hell..but necessary...

This is what a conversation between Brood lords could look like:
"Listen..."

"No!!"

"Ah ok...."
"[The Fonz voice] Eeeey"

"[The Fonz voice] Eeeey"

Erm..what are they doing...Brooding?

Youtube Saturday 26 november 2011

2011-11-26T04:03:00.001-08:00

Sivert Høyem - Moon landing
This is nót new (2009), but was new to me.

A bit louder/different try:
Sivert Høyem - Under administration

Naffer & Salah Edin - Voetendans
Dutch hiphop - just click play

Danko Jones - The kids don't want to rock
Energetic rock, pure awesome.

Gotye - Eyes wide open
The follow up on 'Someone I used to know'. Pretty cool video.

Youtube 'saturday' 13th of november

2011-11-13T01:34:00.001-08:00

Again a day late..but who cares.
Alexi Murdoch - All my days (from the Real Steel OST)
Typical sunday morning music. Love it.

Die Antwoord - Fok jullie naaiers
South African rap. They're back and they're pissed.

The chrystal method ft Yelawolf - Make some noise (put em up)
Also from the Real steel OST. Maybe I should check more of
The chrystal method, they're track from the Blade Trinity OST also rocked.

Rass motivated - Blackman country
Reggae. This is live footage from a show in Amsterdam (I wasn't there)

Youtube saturday 5th of november 2011

2011-11-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

Joe Bonamassa - Slow train
It sounds like classic rock but is fairly new. I'm sure there's a sample in there I know...Even though he's only in his early 30s he's already playing for over 20 years, pretty awesome.

Grim reaper - See you in hellApparently they're re-editing their tracks and that's probably the reason they popped up on 22tracks' radar. I didn't hear about this band, but they've been busy since 1979 and this track is from 1984. I bet somebody'll kill me for it but they sound similar to Iron Maiden and that's not a bad
thing ;)

Glyder - Long goneWasn't able to find a video for this (the one on youtube was removed and google didn't help).It looks like a classic rock revival overhere...And now for something completely different...

Maguaré - Jungle feverAnother one without a video. Jungle fever..says enough.

De hoop - Waar is de meisjeCrazy Belgian hiphop track. Even if you don't understand Dutch, the clip is
worth watching, simple but funny.

Headphone - MiraclesBelgian popmusic (in English..) some 'easy' music for your ears.

Youtube saturday 30 october 2011

2011-10-30T06:12:00.000-07:00

See what I did there...the 30th is today, a sunday and I called it saturday..hiding the fact that I'm a day late.. smart huh!

Duck Sauce - Big bad wolf
Even if you don't like the music the video is worth WTF'ing about.

The joy formidable - Cradle
Sounds a bit like a mix of the Ting tings & The Stereophonics.

Kahn - Illy
Dubstep. Relaxed and still energetic.

Spinvis - Oostende
Spinvis' new single. Dutch dreamy music with strange lyrics that sometimes confuse, often amuse and for some won't make sense at all.

Rammstein - Mein land
No good video(not the right track on youtube) available at the moment , so you'll have to do with my biggest source: 22 tracks. If you haven't heard it yet, check the new single from Rammstein. A bit strange, but I like it.

The still doesn't invite to click play, but believe me, it's worth it.

Bettye LaVette "Talking Old Soldiers"

This dóes invite to click, and rightly so.

The Bridges "Pieces"

Pretty cool video (22tracks daily vid)

Man Man "Piranhas Club"

As for Man Man, also check their older songs: 'Engrish bwudd'; 'Feathers'; and '10lb moustache'.

Terra Nova series premiere

2011-09-28T02:19:00.000-07:00

I watched the series premiere last night after seeing the trailer above. Of course I loved Jurassic Park but I was a bit aprehensive about this since I watched another 'dinosaur' series earlier this year http://dutchnid.blogspot.com/2011_01_01_archive.html" target="_blanc">that made my eyes bleed.

The storyline is pretty simple. It's the beginning of the 22nd century and mankind has completely fucked up the environment. Polution sucks, too many people, 'four is a family'-child policy which may sound strict but keep in mind that China has (or at least had?) a 1-child policy. But, scientists discovered some kind of tear in time where after checking that it's not the same 'time-line' which would make things FUBAR, they send an expedition to start anew.

Some spoilers will come - so stop reading if you haven't watched the premiere.

100% green energy. Selection by what you can do for the community, and bring your kids or get there by the off chance of a lottery win. A confined paradise where all is not as it seems. Going outside the gates tends to be a bit dangerous because dino's will take a snack where they can get it.

Main characters
Doctor-wife (Mira) + cop-husband (Jim) with 3 children (Josh, oldest daughter-don't remember her name and Zoë) . *beep...law violation!*. Suffice to say, they alle end up in the 'parallel' past (85 million years back).
The commander of the human camp: rugged marine kinda guy who'll risk his life for the community but has his secrets.
The group of friends that accomany oldest (Josh)

Some clichés
- Wife and husband have been apart for a while due to him being locked up after the violation got out 2 years back or so, now they're back together: some problems arise.
- youngest daughter hasn't seen dad since she was 3, so doesn't know her dad all that well. Dad solves it in a mushy way.
- oldest son leaves a girlfriend behind: sadness. Solved: new love interest on day 1.
- oldest daughter is a math-head and finds hér love interest also on day 1 in soldierboy.
- oldest son gets in trouble with dino's together with his earlier mentioned love interest + friends.
- There's a rebel faction
- the doctor has a strong English accent...because..well it sounds intelligent, we all know that..
I'm sure I could mention 5-10 more if I tried.

Bút, if you can look past the clichés which are a plenty, it leaves a pretty decent if not good opening of the series. Of course you can predict some stuff that will happen in the future because it's way too obvious.
1 example: the youngsters find math-scrablings on rocks which shouldn't be talked about. You can bet your life on it that the oldest daughter will find these scrablings in 2-3 episodes down the line and will figure out what they mean. Dun-dun-dun.

Bút (yes again!). The animation looks pretty good (especially compared to the horror that is Primeval (how the HELL can it already last 5 ffing seasons!!! - did I mention it makes my eyes bleed?) and it has characters you can identify with or at least (get to) like.
I'm going to keep watching this season at least. The premiere's getting a 7/10.

Youtube saturday 17th of september 2011

2011-09-17T05:20:00.000-07:00

Dio - Robot
Can't get this one out of my head.
*you can dowload this track and the next one for free here. I could easily include more songs from the same list (converse mixtape) but check them out yourself!

School is cool - In want of something
happy poprock.

Don Diablo - Mezelluf
The label for this one should get some mistaken visitors. It's NSFW, just so you know. But aside from that, you should really take the time to listen. If you're not Dutch, the only thing you should know is that 'mezelluf' is a bit of a 'youngster' way of saying 'mezelf' which means 'myself'(hard to write this without sounding stupid). It's been out a while but somehow I've forgotten to add it here.

I think you can download this one for free from Don Diablo's website or FB page.

Clare Louise - Be
Just..wow. Although I'm not sure if I would like an entire cd with this voice. Kinda the same thing I have with Sela Sue's voice.

Youtube saturday 10th of september 2011

2011-09-10T04:58:00.000-07:00

A quick note on the sizes...somehow it seems like everybody uploads their video in a different size each week..

Ledi Mamulashvili - When I look at you (Miley Cyrus cover)
Came across this on youtube, deserves a bigger audience :)

Knife party - Internet friends
Even if you don't like dubsteb this is funny as hell. *new link*

Primus - Last salmon man
Strange funky rock

My robot friend - 23 minutes in Brussels
I think this might be a shortened version, but it's hard to find the 'original mix' on youtube.
Otherwise check here

Youtube saturday 3rd of September 2011

2011-09-03T03:03:00.000-07:00

aNoo - Blush
Wait for it to begin. I first heard the studio version, but why not check them out live.

They're from Belgium. The live version was a bit long, but it's a love it or hate it kind of track anyways.

I was trying to find the youtube for Superlijm & Winterslag - Ruisverstuiving track 3 (not sure if the link's still to the right track by the time this post goes live but you'll find it.
Since the track above couldn't be found on youtube you'll have to do with this one, which is completely different, but also great:
Superlijm - Area 51

Both tracks are in English, and even if they weren't you should've clicked anyways.

Chilly Gonzales - You can dance
If you don't like the electric intro too much like me, just wait, it changes.

Dio & Vieze Fur - Techno
A bit of babble in the beginning, but wait for the track to begin.

Björk & Omar Souleyman - Crystalline
I really wanted to check Omar at the Lowlands festival..but there's only so many shows you can see. 4 years back I saw Björk and this is just a very special combination.

Let me know what you think of them.

Lowlands 2011 Day 3

2011-08-27T10:25:00.000-07:00

Sunday
De Staat A bit of a strange Dutch funkrock band, but quite good when you get used to it.

The Roots Loved it.

Warpaint I heard I really missed out on Skunk Anansi, but this was wéll worth it!

Trophy Wife A shame I couldn't find any Lowlands live footage. I read a piece by a journalist who didn't like it too much, but I loved it enough to stick around untill I really 'needed' to leave for the next thing on my planning. So here's a vid from London Calling festival:
There's a link on the youtube description for the entire concert.

Interpol They've been standing on Dutch festivals as long as I visit them, but never saw them live. Not bad, but not stunning either.

The Offspring
I've seen them live in 2009 on Huntenpop and was really looking forward to seeing them again. No, they don't have many new tracks and yes they're getting a bit old, but did I or the rest of the crowd mind? Héll no.

I was in the moshpit a little to the left of the first pillar:

I'll check some other youtube video's later on to see if you can see me bouncing around :)

Bands I unfortunately didn't get to check due to double schedules or just being too tired: Agnes Obél, Trentemöller, Skrillex and Karnivool and probably some others.

Monday
Waking up around 9 am, we had plenty of time to pack stuff up. Our neighbours were nice enough to leave around 70 cans of beer and soda's and some really great campingchairs which we were more than happy to bring along. We finally left the camping around noon to get stuck in traffic leaving the 'parking lot' (grass fields..) for two hours or so and arriving home around 5pm.

Suffice to say, Lowlands was awesome.

Lowlands 2011 Day 2

2011-08-26T09:40:00.000-07:00

Saturday
Palmbomen (Dutch for 'Palm trees')
The available live footage doesn't do justice to the music (really bad sound quality) so here's the studio version. It was one of my favourites.

Young the giant
Only heard it from a distance, but it sounded nice.

DeWolff
Classic rock was back. IIRC most of these guys haven't even turned 18 yet, it's good to know we might be able to enjoy this kind of music live for many years.

Flogging Molly
Great sounding Irish folkrock. Knew them for years, never saw them live before.

Within Temptation
The biggest musical export product from the Netherlands. And rightfully so.
Mother earth, as a bit of a tribute to what happened on Pukkelpop (currenly standing at: 5 dead and over 140 wounded).

Selah Sue
Some hate it, some love it. I enjoyed it sitting outside.

Elbow
Really awesome relaxing show to finish the saturday night.

Lowlands 2011 Day 1

2011-08-25T09:37:00.000-07:00

After 3 years I visited the Lowlands festival again. With 12 people in our group it was a bit of an expedition getting all our stuff (2 sleeping tents, a party tent, food and cloths etc) on the camping on thursdaynight, but using 2 carts and a lot of patience got the job done.

As usual we brought a lot of knakworsten (small kind of 'Frankfurters'), bread and mayonaise for breakfast and plenty of chocolate and golden power (cheap red bull) and other snacks. Driving to Lowlands we heared about the tragedy on Pukkelpop and hoped that the rain we had on the road would be the last or at least the worst. As it turned out we only had 1 or 2 major rainshowers.

Friday - Day 1 of 3
Anna Calvi

Didn't like it as much as I thought I would.

James Blake

It got off to a bit of a slow start, but the song above turned the crowd around. Some of the girls in our group complained about feeling a bit ill from the bass. I just got a major sunburn from sitting just outside the tent in the sun enjoying the music.

Rise Against

*this one is 1 of 5, so you can actually check the entire concert!!! I really need to check out more of them since I only knew them by name and I think I would've enjoyed it a lot more if I knew some of their tracks.

Noah and the whale

Most if not all of their tunes are borrowed (this one: Lola), but that made it recognizable and fun.

The naked and famous

Paul Kalkbrenner
I only walked passed this, didn't have enough time to really check it out. Looks like I missed out.

After the regular concerts there was a 'Zero's Heroes' DJ playing everything from 2000-2010ish which was fun, but the crowd almost exploded after they switched to all 90s music. Always nice to scream out your lungs on 90s hits and dancing around on happy hardcore tunes.

Don't know on which night this was, but probably every night...:
One of the strange highlights was a somewhat ad hoc party at the camping store from Hema:

'Where is the Hema?...The Hema's overhere!' Is basicly what everybody was chanting running around with inflatable sausages and plants...at 3AM.

Tomorrow: Saturday - Day 2
The day after tomorrow: Sunday - Day 3

Youtube saturday 13th of August 2011

2011-08-13T03:23:00.000-07:00

Noel Gallagher's High flying birds - The death of you and me

't Schoon vertier - Belgian girls

Sung in English, but great music from Belgium!

Gotye ft Kimbra - Somebody I used to know

The former lover is now just somebody he used to know.. Melancholic great song.

Arsenal - Lokemo

Also check out this
It's untypable..but this comes close: +++ - +hholyghs+
I'll have something other than youtube saturdays soon.

An ordinary keyboard

2011-08-08T01:28:00.000-07:00

This is what a keyboard shóuld look like:

But as most people who've had the same keyboard for years know, this isn't what an ordinary keyboard looks like.

I was too ashamed to take a photo of my keyboard with the keys removed and uncleaned, but suffice to say you could feed a small country for a day with the contents. The problem is that I regulary have breakfast, lunch or dinner at my desk so I use the keyboard with dirty fingers or spill food on it etc. So..I took a picture where a series of keys haven't been put back yet and where some final cleaning was needed.

And a photo of some of the keys to show how dirty separate keys were...

To be fair, I've had the keyboard for about 8,5 years before I cleaned it this thoroughly. It takes a while to clean your keyboard but it feels like new now.

Youtube saturday 23rd of July 2011

2011-07-23T07:08:00.000-07:00

5 tracks I heard this week that I really liked. All tracks are featured on 22tracks. Didn't listen to the Dutch 3fm radio this week because my radio clock couldn't receive them this week due to the fire and collapse of an almost 300m high radiotower last week.

Skrillex - Monsters & Nice spirtes(Dirtyphonics remix)

Had a track by Skrillex feature earlier I think. Drumm N Bass.

Athys & Duster - Barfight

Unfortunately there's a lot of talking from a dj screwing this up, so you might want to check out the better version on 22tracks.com Brussels -> Drumm N Bass.
On topic: uses JJ Cale's 'My cocaine' tune (at least that's where I know it from) and mixes it with scenes from the movie Boondock Saints. Gives it an Infected Mushroom feel to it.

DJ Fresh - ft Sian Evans - Louder (Drumsound & Bassline Smith remix)

A cover & remix from a dance classic. I don't know from exactly when (90s?) but it's done véry well!

dEUS - Constant now

A Belgian popband which deserves international credit. They've been at it for álmost 20 years!

Electric wire hustle - Perception

Relaxed electro music.

Youtube saturday July 16th 2011

2011-07-16T14:16:00.000-07:00

Broken bells - The high ground

A bit of a relaxed sad tone to it that fits the weather over here.

Sbtrkt ft Yumiki Nagano - Wildfire

Funky electric awesome.

Captain Dan & the Scurvey crew - Jolly Roger

Far from new (at least 2007), but I didn't hear it before and what's not to like about pirate gangsterrap. Even if the flow isn't always on point, it's darn funny.

Gesaffelstein - Hatred

Hard electro track. Reminds me a bit of Kernkraft 400's 'Zombie nation'.

Two steps from hell - Heart of courage

If you like the soundtrack (/score) music from Pirates of the Caribbean you might like this. I didn't link a particular favorite, there's about 3,5gb of it around and only one cd has been officially released.

Did you like it? Let me know. Did you find some music I should really listen to? Let me know!

Youtube saturday 25-06-2011

2011-06-25T10:33:00.000-07:00

Next to having an aweful cold and wearing a hoody covered in cathairs there's not much to report at the moment. Played a game of 40K each week. 1 full game got cut-short, but things could've gone either way. The other was against a starter just an introduction game, fun nonetheless.

Since 22 tracks has launched their Belgian expansion I expect to hear even more new cool music that I might not have listened to otherwise.

I already posted this one at FB, and there's not youtube for it (yet), but since it's worth checking out, here's the link: Wilow Amsgood ft Artik - Alors un danse (pas)
You cóuld complain that it's an easy score making a cover on this summertrack, but than you'd miss out on the grimey subwoofer coolness that is this track.

---Can anyone tell me why the hell Youtube keeps ffing around with their video size? Make up your mind! (it's 560x349 now)---

Bad meets Evil ft Slaughterhouse - Loud noise

As far as I'm concerned, this is the Eminem sound I love. No new strange voice. Aggressive, hungry. The 'Slaughterhouse!!!!!!' announcements could've been done without, but the rest of the track makes up for it.

In Solitude - The world the flesh the devil

I only knew In Solitude by name like so many metalbands. A good introduction for me.

Eddie Vedder - Without You (ukelele)

Since Dan let the world know he's a proficient Uke player (we already knew he played, just not that he was good), this had to be posted. It's fun that Vedder did this project, not overimpressed, but fun nonetheless.

Mastercab - Home

A Belgian band (they sing in English for those who are afraid they won't understand a word. A very relaxed popsong.

And finally..
Wolves like us - Deathless

Even if you're normally not into metal, dó click. Don't let the title scare you. You'll be surprised.

Youtube saturday 11-6-2011

2011-06-11T11:15:00.000-07:00

It's been a while, but I don't want my only update in a week to be a youtube saturday.
A strange mix of tracks, I hope there's something you like.

Royce da 5 9 - Second place

Recognizable as a DJ Premier production from the first second and Royce makes it even better. I'd say if Guru wasn't gone, it would've probably been a Gangstarr track. Proof that there's still great hiphop being made.

Graveyard - Unconfortably numb

Blues rock. Most of the cd Hisingen blues might be a bit louder, but if that isn't for you, check this one. It positively sounds as it was made in the times of classic rock.

When saints go machine - Fail forever (Nicolas Jaar remix)

Available for FREE HERE At the moment it's #12 in the list, but in a week it will shift down 5 places. Just hold your mouse over the shopping cart and then click on the 'Free!' button.

Carnifex #2

2011-06-10T01:49:00.000-07:00

Well, it's the 2nd 5th ed Carnifex. Otherwise I could argue it's the 3rd or even the 4th Carnifex I've built (including Old One Eye).
This carnifex is a pure close combat beast, which can hold its own with 5x I4 attacks with fraggrenades on the charge.
But enough with the 40K rambling. On to the photo's. *click to enlarge*

Lower body

It has it's own plastic pin which you would use as an extra bond next to glueing. For transport purposes, I just put the upperbody loosely on top of it which works well enough.

Upperbody and magnetized head + shoulderblades.

Right side

Left side

Front side

Charge! Just thought this portrayed the enemies view nicely.

A Ripper on the base used to add something ruleswise, now it just looks fun and I still have the odd 30 or so lying around.

The model was finished about 2 days before I came up with the idea for the base. It's standing on a 'Give the squiddies no quarter' Imperial Guard note.

Claying around and objective markers

2011-06-03T04:23:00.000-07:00

I've been fairly busy last weekend claying around and painting. Here's the result.

For those who are unfamiliar with it, the green stuff (it's litteraly called 'green stuff') is a clay that is made by combining a yellow and a blue part, kneeding them into the desired shape and it hardens after a certain time, depending on the mix of yellow & blue.

In this case I used it on the torso of a Carnifex (this is a carnifex) where I cut off it's normal spikes on the belly and glued the adrenal gland onto it and tried to make it look like it's grown into the torso.
You can also see the two magnets where I can attach different heads and shoulderpads.

In Warhammer 40K there are missions where the mission isn't just 'Destroy your opponent'. A far more important assignment is to occupy as many objectives (sometimes 2, sometimes d3+2) as possible. Untill now I used to use empty bases which is ofcourse a bit lame. A fully painted army fighting over an empty piece of plastic isn't what makes a battlereport interesting. About a week ago I remembered that there are alien plants on the Genestealer sprue and these would be simple but cool objectives. After about 3-4 hours (or so) this is the result:

I'm quite happy with them.

Gmail size counter

2011-05-31T07:05:00.000-07:00

I hate math and most things number related, but I do get a smile when I see certain number combinations. The amount of space I have on my Gmail account might give one of those combinations soon.

Last week it was this:

*enlarge*
--> 7587.748937 and counting.

I'm waiting for it to turn: 7654.321000 (and take a snapshot of it). I know 9876.543210 would be cooler, but that's not gonna happen for at least another year and a half... or so.

Mugs

2011-05-12T04:29:00.000-07:00

A tag on everyone by Idaho Dad got me to take this photo of my mugs.

From left to right.
- A mug from the Christmasmarket in Oldenburg.

- A mug with my name on it

- A mug with Marco van Basten on it (this one's quite old, at least 22 years old dating back to the 1988 European Championship Football)

- Brachiosaurus - there was a whole range of these must be around 15 years old too.

- A mug with my mugshot. Well, actually the photo is part of a family photo. My brother has one with his face, my parents with theirs (together) and my sister and her bf one with theirs (together)

Thinking about it, only the last mug isn't that old, the rest are around 10 years or older.

A package from across the Atlantic

2011-05-07T11:40:00.000-07:00

For some reason I can't exactly remember Arkonbey promised to make a drawing of something of my choosing. It took me a while to think of something but then I thought it would be cool if he made a drawing of Robot Chicken. For those who don't know who or what Robot Chicken is you could simply describe it as a series of sketches which parody popculture from the last 30 years featuring shows ranging from He-man or GI Joe till the Gummibears. It's just brilliant. The intro shows the Robot Chicken:

I'll always be a little bit jealous on people who can draw in this way since I can't draw for shit. But I'm happy to have these kind of things on my wall. Arkonbey ofcourse managed to make a brilliant piece:

Next to that he sent some candy along which tasted really nice:

Slightly comparable with the Dutch 'Stophoest' (stopcough) but different

It's made from Maple stuff from Maple trees. Overhere we've also got maple trees (Esdoorn) but wikipedia told me there are over 160 different kinds - I don't think we've got the same.

He also sent a cd of homemade music which is as cool as it gets and it's also quite good! Finally to top it off I got a pinhole camera which is basicly a photocamera without a lens and therefore is always in focus (according to the instructions). I'll definately have a go with it.

Oh and as a PS... it was all accompanied by a handwritten letter and how often do you still get these, really appreciated!

Youtube saturday - now for something completely different

2011-04-23T14:35:00.000-07:00

22tracks.com is one of my main sources for new music. Sometimes it's hard to find the stuff on youtube to link it here, and sometimes it's there for the linkin'...
A problem with relatively new tracks..no normal videoclip, which on the bright side means you can do other things in the meanwhile while you're listening.

Mastiksoul - Yakuba (Moombahton edit)
It's been 'summer' for a week now (well..spring, but temps are up!) and this fit my mood today. Just makes you want to move - and coming from me, that says something ;)

Korn ft Skrillex - Get up
I've been a latecomer to appreciate dubstep but I've been listening in for a while now. I'm more of a rock fan normally and that's maybe why it shouldn't have surprised me that I kinda like this

That's it for today.

Battlereport from the past...

2011-04-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

First of all, if you don't understand (or want to understand) much of the whole 40k wargaming, you might want to skip this post because it's hard to make sense of even with a basic knowledge of the game. Without it, it's probably just boring :)

Next time, I'll just take a notepad, it makes things that much easier. Also turn-by-turn photo's should help..A LOT.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Battle report 24-2 (so yeah, I wrote this of and one about 1,5-2 months after the fact..
1500pts Tyranids vs Chaos

Disclaimer: history is written by the victor - and what are minor skirmishes for the Hive Mind that's been around longer than it can remember. Furthermore, we didn't write anything down so I'm not exactly sure about the exact order of events (nor if there were 6 or 7 turns..), but next to that it's pretty accurate.

Turn 1
The sun was just rising when the winged tyrant landed behind a building accompanied by a restless group of venomgaunts. The Hive mind calmed their minds forcing them to be patient. Across the field they could see chaos marines setting up in a small row of trees. A psychic nudge told it that the majority of the battlegroup had arrived. Zoanthropes hovered into position, another squad of venomgaunts ran up and on the far right flank a mighty carnifex flanked by two variations of warriors marched up the field in the shadows of a small group of gargoyles swooping in sight. Now that the majority of the battlegroup was marching up to the entrenched chaos marines, the zoanthropes were charging up to fire some preliminary blasts when a terrible pain stung one of them. Only by reinforcing it's bond with the other zoantrope's warpfield it averted a grievous wound.

Still growling a rhino transport drove up and skidded to a halt flanked by more marines. The smell was horrible. On the far left a clanking sound told of the presence of a Dreadnought which made a screaming sound as it ran forward as if it had gone mad. The Hive mind was wary of this strange tactic, but then again, chaos was known for its incomprehensible schemes. The marines seemed blinded by the low sun failing to wound any creature significantly.

Turn 2
The tyrant searched for the minds of the two groups of genestealers which were supposed to press the flanks of anyone they would come across, they were still to far away. Without backup, the Tyrant and the venomgaunts ventured even further into enemy territory. On the right flank the gargoyles took a shot at the marines in the forest but the power armour clad warriors were too well dug in. As the zoanthropes moved further into position, this time they were better prepared for the dangers that come along with tapping into the warp, blasting aside trees and marines alike as the powers from the warp struck home.

Shortly after the first skirmishes the tyrant picked up somekind of signal from the opposing force, but no reply came. A warning of things to come. With screeching brakes one of the Rhino's came to a halt on the left flank and a squad of marines jumped out carrying flamers which immediately started scorching the venomgaunts. Kept in check by the synapse field they hardly flinched as some ran around in flames before falling down.

Just as they were back in order the dreadnought screamed out in madness again and lumbered straight into them throwing some around and stomping on others. The tyrant realized the venomgaunts would be defenseless, but it forced them to keep flinging themselves at it so it wouldn't be able to escape. Hopefully it could be dealt with later.

On the right flank Daemons appeared out of nowhere and charged and killed all the gargoyles, but not before they spat their venom in the eyes of 3 of their kind blinding and eventually killing them.

Turn 3
Contact. Both groups of genestealers were close now. The broodlord and it's group let out a roar as they ran up on the left side and the other brood came up on the right side, immediately smelling the daemons' scent with gargoyleblood still clinging to them.

The few Chaos marines still in the forest got another beating from the zoanthropes, they were seeing their squadmembers die one by one. Once the genestealers picked up on the smell of the daemons they ran forward and in the blink of an eye ripped them apart, the daemons were outnumbered and outclassed. The broodlord and the rest of it's brood on the left flank sensed the need for them to hurry, so they ran full speed and charged into the remaining marines, killing the last ones.

In the meantime the dreadnought kept flinging venomgaunts through the air or crushing them in its claw, but they wouldn't falter. If only they could hold on a little while longer...

----------------
From Turn 4 I'm not sure if events happened in the 4th or other turns sometimes - so it's one story. The Hive Mind somehow lost psychic contact with the carnifex (aka: I can't remember how or when it died), it's body was found later and dragged into the biopools.
---------------

The tyrant was bleeding badly from the powerfist that had crushed its ribs, but the broodlord and genestealers had come just in time to save it from a killing blow. With lightening speed they'd dealt with the last of the marines who had been fighting so furiously.

While the genestealers on both the left and the right flank consolidated their positions looking for new prey, the tyrant saw the venomgaunts were holding on by their teeth (litteraly), it stretched it's wings and swooped silently within striking range of the crazed Dreadnought. For a second a rattling noice of it's neural processors could be heared picking up on the danger from behind, but before it could react the tyrant had stabbed away at the armour completely destroying every possible function. The venomgaunts had fulfilled their task, this would be good genetic knowledge for the future.

All of a sudden the genestealers saw flash and heard a loud zooming noice...startled they looked at the same spot where just a moment before there had been nothing but air. Typhus and it's terminator squad let loose a violent burst of bolterfire and the genestealers were nothing more than drips of gore. The tyrant, sensing this loss urged the other brood of venomgaunts onwards to this new arrived threat.

The left flank was almost completely cleared,except for an immobile transport. The zoanthropes moved up to assist if necessary. The second brood of venomgaunts charged straight into the terminators forced by the will of the Hive Mind. Before they could land a single blow Typhus swung it's scythe cutting them apart but suddenly he let out a roar, somehow the cursed weapon had blistered it's hands. This weapon apparently was very powerful but not without a price. As the terminators and gaunts clashed violently the numbers of the gaunts dwindled fast, but the mighty terminators succumbed one by one to the many quick stabs. A final swipe from Typhus treaturous weapon finished the battle as he stepped out from under a pile of gore.

The sun was shining hard on the battlefield and after a day of hard pressed fighting the end of this skirmish seemed near. The tyrant was badly injured, if it would hold back it would be able to heal again. Still, avenging the cost in precious biomatter which the scythe wielding terminator had inflicted, pressed it onward.

Being careful not to overload, it tapped into the warp again, all but paralyzing the last remaining foe. As it stammered on the field two of the zoantrhopes tapped into the warp together focussing in two strong blasts. The power almost overwhelmed them causing one shot to miss, the other one struck the terminator full on. It started burning away it's main armour and after only a second's delay even it's reinforced armour lit up. As Typhus got hit, he almost immediately knew this was the end. That infernal rotting wound he got earlier from wielding the scythe weakened his armour. With a roar he flew backwards, a bright flash was the last thing he saw as his armour evaporated. He was no more.

The tyrant would be able to heal and send a signal back to the fleet, new groups needed to be bred. The biopools would feed the ships and send over the genetic knowledge aquired.

Type: Annihilation = killpoints
Result: Tyranids win: 9 (all) - 4

Bugman!

2011-04-15T06:31:00.000-07:00

Last summer, after finishing the walk, I went to Warhammer World in Nottingham and there I visited Bugman's bar and bought the Bugman mini. You can give him either an axe or a barstool - we all know that the stool is way cooler.

Bugman comes with it's own scenic base. Pissed off like only a true dwarf can be when you spill his beer, he swings the barstool at the villain who caused this alcohol abuse.

I was really tempted to buy Bugman's leather beer mug, but it was a bit on the expensive side.

Hive Guards

2011-04-14T06:20:00.000-07:00

Even more warhammer 40k. I know - it looks like I'm doing nothing but painting instead of trying to finish my study this year. I just took some photo's just now - that's all..really.

Hive Guard 1: the left arm wasn't long enough to reach the gun so I made a make-shift 3rd part on the arm. Not entirely happy, but not too unhappy with it either.

Hive Guard 2: the photo came out dark, fixed it a bit with some editing. The arm on this one was better, and just reaches the gun which almost looks like it fits so I left it at that - you can't see it on this photo anyways.

Hive Guard 1 & 2: dark photo, but I'm to lazy to fix it or get a new one.

These guys should make taking out vehicles a bit easier. #1 already scored a landspeeder and a half, a dreadnought a tank and an instakill on a captain :)

Trygon - Prime - Mawloc photo's

2011-04-12T13:41:00.000-07:00

I worked on this model for aprox. 4 months before it was finished. Because I magnetized the heads and put the different tails on a pin you can easily switch between Trygon, Trygon Prime or Mawloc.

Trygon:

Trygon Prime

Mawloc (I found out at the last moment that I had to reposition the talons to make the head fit)

Below is a close up of the base of the model.
I have also made a Trygon marker base where the Imperial Guard have repaired the propaganda add (a poster featured in the 3rd ed codex) that has been shattered here. The markerbase is finished except for the guard models themselves. I'll post it when it's done.

As for size comparison - it stands about 6"(15cm) tall.

Youtube saturday 9-4-2011 (ddmmyyyy)

2011-04-09T14:22:00.000-07:00

It's been ages since I've updated and that's kinda strange since I've had a lot of time. I've been solliciting for an internship and finally got one, it took 1,5-2 months. I'm back on track and so will this blog!

Youtube saturday is just an easy way to start up posting again. I've got material for 3-4 different kind of posts. Updates wíll follow.

Game ft Lil'wayne - Red nation

The dance part is ofcourse an easy cover, but I like this remix with a beat on it. Game's namedropping, but well he does it well. Reminds me to listen to his stuff again.

J Cole - Killer

Sounds a bit lyrically inspired by Queen's 'Mama'. A soft dramatic beat with a story-telling rap on top.

Enough rap..
Oh my! - Run this town

Catchy, pop, strong. This describes it.

The Mountain goats - Never quite free

The mountain goats tend to sound a bit melancholic but hopeful.
Also check an older song of theirs 'International small arms traffic blues' (used in the tv series Weeds) which has the most crazy ways of talking about how strong/deep/whatever 'his' love is.

Another 'comic' and more books and some prankcalling on the side

2011-03-07T03:06:00.000-08:00

Well, actually a Graphic Novell.
I bought Tolstoj's War & peace in Graphic Novell form. The text on the back has the best argument saying not everybody has the time to struggle through the entire 1500 pages of the original work. Maybe in time I will try and give that a go, but for now I'll give the graphic novell a go. Here's the Dutch version as I bought that one of course:

I've had my birthday little under 2 weeks ago and that's where I got some books and I went on a bookshopping spree with the bookvouchers I got. So I've got/bought the last 2 books from the Sookie Stackhouse series and also got (as asked):

which is the basis for the tv-series The Unit which I watched through (all 4 seasons) in about a month or less. That should leave me with plenty to read for the next couple of months.

In other news Dan & Lee have made it a habit of prankcalling me while recording their podcast. Under the cover of technical difficulties or just to talk about running fridges *silly people, I know*. Today Dan even tried to impersonate an Irish leprechaun promising me riches. I tried complaining at the English and Australian embassy, but they denied everything of course.
Anyways, the calls gave me a much needed laugh. Strange foreigners (that's what they are!).

Bought a comic..

2011-03-02T09:15:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I bought a comic, but since I had some euro's left on a voucher I decided I'd spent it on this:

Translates as: Buck Danny and the night of the snake.

It's originally a Franco-Belgian comic, but I've got the Dutch translation (there are English ones too). I've read Buck's adventures years before and I still like them. It's basically "about a military flying ace and his two sidekicks serving (depending on the plots) in the United States Navy or the United States Air Force.(wikipedia)"

The great thing is that they go through a lot of trouble to make the story understandable for everyone by explaining everything that might need explanation and they at least try to keep their facts straight. Ánd the drawings of the aircraft are really good too!
If you haven't read any of it, you sure should try and give it a go.

Youtube Saturday: grime & something different

2011-02-12T04:49:00.000-08:00

Again, 'stolen' from 22tracks, but I liked them. Dubstep/grime isn't my normal cup of tea, but I'm warming up to it. Btw, the 'video's' are boring this time...

S-X - 9.37 AM

I think someone could easily put a rap on this (if it hasn't been done already - since it explicitly says instrumental). I always wonder how they get these kind of titles though. Probably just looked at their watch when they finished the track.

Spooky - Spartan

I know that almost everything with these lines from '300' will sound awesome and that parts of the mix aren't all thát original, but I really liked this mix.

Skream & Example - You shoot yourself in the foot again

A bit dramatic. It has a bit of a Dizzee Rascal sound to it.

And something completely different: Kaizers orchestra - Din Kjole Lukter Bensin, Mor

Youtube Saturday 8-1-2011: a selection

2011-01-08T08:59:00.000-08:00

Once again it has been a week where I heard too many great tracks to keep it down to one. A couple of songs I've heard longer ago. This week it's simply 7 tracks I found on 22tracks.com
It goes from spacy pop to house to rock to relax music.

Creep ft Romy Madley Croft - Days : it's the weather that gets me down.

Enormous extinct dinosaurs - Household goods: (not only for the name of the band).

Tracey Thorn - Sister winter: Originally a Sufjan Stevens song (check his stuff out too!)

JJ - Still
Is Dre's Detox really coming in 1,5 month's time?@ I don't know, but the instrumental from Still Dre fits strangely.

If you like 'Pelican', you might also really like this. pure instrumental rock. If you don't know Pelican..check them out too.
Jesu - Christmas : I know it's not christmas anymore.

Wishing wars - Swim : just because it's dreamy.

Go back to the zoo - Fuck you : great Dutch band, English text, so no excuses checking them.

A bad tv start of 2011

2011-01-01T12:14:00.000-08:00

I was meeting Uncle Larry at our regular meeting spot and showed me a how to get to the first episodes of Primeval season 4. Nothing out of the ordinary you'd think. But, I didn't even see 1.01 and this series has been going for over 3 years now? Well, I thought, that must be at least a decent tv series that sounds like it's about dino's etc. And if you take into account how many good series have been cancelled last year.....

45 minutes of 'meh' later told me I was wrong.
Take a look at this short summary trailer.

Now tell me with a straight face that you are eager to watch episodes full of awesome.

I watch a lot of crap, and to be honest, I like a lot of it even though half the world thinks it isn't worth clicking play, for even 5 minutes. But this was at least as bad as the Lost world series (remember this.) and the Lost world has an 'untamed beauty' in it that runs around half naked.
So, I sincerely promise myself not to watch 1.02 unless I'm really bored out of my skull.

Did I only watch crap today? No.
I started 'Breaking Bad' this week and that's quit good. And out of new years day groggyness I watched Micmacs A tire larigot (on dvd) and that's still awesome. It's in French though, but I had Dutch subtitles and I'm sure there are English ones out there.

Youtube saturday: Beach House - I do not care for the winter sun

2010-12-25T02:01:00.000-08:00

Normally I really hate christmassy songs. I don't hate christmas, but please..no bells! This one is an exception. It's a bit melancholic, but I like it nonetheless:

Merry christmas!!!

Disturbed et. al 2-12-2010 Amsterdam

2010-12-04T11:28:00.000-08:00

I've seen Disturbed twice before (2006 in Paradiso and 2008 in the Heineken music hall) and I've come to really love their music. There are of course a couple of problems, living in Groningen means I've got to go to Amsterdam by train which cost me more than the Disturbedticket itself and it wasn't in a weekend.

Being this pricy and not in the weekend meant that I was on my own this time. Of course I don't really like going on my own, but I'd hate to miss out on Disturbed live!

Doors were open at 6pm and Halestorm started off. They were completely unknown to me, but they've made quite the impression. It's a tough task warming up a Dutch crowd that doesn't know your music. Most of the time we'll be standing there gazing..which doesn't mean we don't enjoy it. All around I heard people talking about how Halestorm really surprised them!

The following vid doesn't complete the song unfortunately, but it gives a good peek:

I was really on the verge of buying, but I decided to wait since it was already a pricy evening. In hindsight I should've spent the 10€.

Next up was Buckcherry. I listened to their last cd *mp3* on the train and thought it was ok. A bit Brian Adams'ish maybe. Live, it really sucked. I was bored and the attention w**ring from the singer didn't help too much either. Maybe if they'd had a crowd full of 13 year old screaming fangirls (no offence to the girls present of course) they would've been appreciated.

After the warming up and cooling down Papa Roach came on stage. Their music can go up and down for me. I like the older songs like 'Last resort' and 'getting away with murder' but I don't like the more soft Blink182'ish songs. Fortunately they played some great tracks from their last album and finished up right with Last resort which had me entering the moshpits.

Getting away with murder:

Unfortunately Disturbed hadn't much time to give a full show of their decade of existence. They opened awesomely..

..and continued full strength throughout the short hour that was left of the evening. Even though being on my own, I fully enjoyed Disturbed. Letting go completely during 10 000 fists, where we made a good start towards putting 10000 fists in the air and moshing around on many other tracks, which both made me glad to have come. Still aching a bit now, but looking forward to their next show..hopefully next year.

Demonstation against tuition fine

2010-11-30T13:47:00.000-08:00

Yesterday (29-11-2010) I demonstrated for the first time. In Groningen it was a completely peaceful demonstration as far as I know. Why did I demonstrate? Read on.

The Dutch government has come up with the idea that students who take even one year longer than 3 years for their BA title should pay an additional 3000€!! next to the normal tuition fee of around 1700€. Oh and as far as I know, that 3000€ fine is stackable for an extra year.

*scroll down if you don't care too much for my ranting but do like students freezing their asses off on the Grote Markt in Groningen.

Oh and if you want to start a MA? Well, no governmental support at all, you'll have to pay for the entire year by yourself. Now I've studied my fair share of years and I'll probably be done before the aforementioned plan takes effect but it pisses me off! I think you should demonstrate because you agree with the demonstrators, not just because something hurts you directly. The thing is, it cóuld've hurt me directly. I wouldn't have been able to pay for uni if they thought of something like this say 3 years back.

There are dozens of really good reasons not to be able to finish your BA in 3 years flat.
1) getting ill (apparently not an issue for the government atm)
2) being handicapped
3) being a member of a board of a study society (like I was) which can easily cost you a year.
4)choosing a study that didn't turn out to be what you thought it was..a pricy mistake!
5) I'll probably forget a couple..so fill in whatever

And then you have to decide to live on a loan for the MA even if you've managed to complete your BA in 3 years flat.
Mind you, the government hasn't let an opportunity go to point out that you:
1) Shouldn't borrow too much money because you'll built up a big debt.
2) Shouldn't work too much on the side because you won't have enough time to study..
...which begs the question how the F people are supposed to get through uni..

Ranting cut short..here are some photo's!

It says: 'Save the (school)banks!'

Loosely translated: 'Wanted: rich parents!'

Our current rector magnificus

I took some shots of the crowd behind me, there were aprox. 1500-2000 students in the freezing cold, it started snowing halfway through (btw, here I found out I had the setting of my cam wrong for the other pics - too lazy to correct):

Ignorant graffiti or on purpose?

2010-11-23T08:54:00.000-08:00

First of all, I listen to a lot of rap music and I know there's a lot of violent and sexist content in it, but it's not different from a lot of other music and it's not new so I don't think the discussion is all that interesting and it's not what this post will be about, it will just be slightly touching on that subject.

Dan was posting some graffiti he saw and I remembered I still wanted to take a photo of a piece of graffiti that always makes me smile and shake my head.

I was talking about rap music earlier on and as some might know, rap music is part of hiphop. But hiphop also includes among other things .... graffiti. And that's where the graffiti piece above turns funny. By spraying 'Stop Hiphop'the creator is participating in it.
The following questions remain:
1) Was the creator only against rap music (because of the content?) and in his/her ignorance wrote hiphop?
or
2) is he/she against anything hiphop related?
or remotely possible
3) the creator knows the nuance and made it on purpose as a statement against people who dón't know.

What do you think?

Youtube 'Saturday'

2010-11-06T02:27:00.001-07:00

I've found so many cool new songs this week that one song just didn't cover it.

Mr Probz - Drivin'

--> A song to play in your car while driving on a dark saturday night returning home.

Kaytradamus - Good friends (skip till 12 seconds)
--> really relaxt with a bit of sadness to it. Unfortunately it's not complete. This week you can still find it in 22tracks 'beats'.

The Walkmen - Victory
-> Vampire Weekend'ish.

Dinosaur pile up - Mona Lisa
--> it has a bit of a long intro, but get passed it. Think Foo Fighters.

One songs that is really worth listening too, but I couldn't find on youtube (or spotify):
Moon & Sun - where the wild things are If the link leads to another song, check down the list, it might have moved down.

A Trygon has been gnawing at my time, really!

2010-10-26T07:24:00.000-07:00

So what has been eating up time *pun intended*?
After around 4 months I've finally finished my biggest model yet, the Trygon (Prime)/Mawloc. I realized I didn't take a size comparison, so..it stands around 6" tall. Update, check this for comparison.

The problem with this model is that you can make 3 versions but they kinda want to make you buy 3 models for this. As most people know, these models are expensive enough as (around 39€ retail and 27€ via Maelstromgames.co.uk) is and don't get me started on time, therefore I compromised. They have parts for 2 jaws (mawloc and trygon/prime) and skull tops for all three. I had to get the top skull incl. skull base via e-bay and ordering another trygon where I sold the rest of the trygon. Next to that, the Mawloc has only very small claws and the Trygon/Prime has really big talons. Here I compromised by only using the big talons and leaving the small ones alone. They díd deliver all 3 different tails which I made interchangable with a pin which means the photo's sometimes have a Trygon Prime on it with a Mawloc tail.

Trygon Prime with Trygon tail

Trygon Prime with Prime tail

Trygon Prime from the back (Prime tail)

Mawloc - mawloc tail

Mawloc - mawloc tail

Mawloc tail

The model is done, the base is not. Normally I don't put in too much time in the base, but a large beast needs a decent base. This beast is able to dig underground and come up and I've tried theming the base around this. There's also an almost identical base that I'll use as a marker base. I'll post a decent base post when I'm done with that.

Hadrians Walk day 2

2010-10-25T03:14:00.000-07:00

There are wáy too many photo's to post here. Check my facebook or my photobucket for more. A short series of the photo's taken on tuesday:

We spend the night in this very nice Bead & Breakfast

Before we left

This church was going to be renovated into apartments, a thing they do with a lot of churches in the Netherlands too. This way the old building stays preserved.

Resting, the pub wasn't open and even though people were home, it took a darn long time for them to let someone in to take a pee.

Iain got himself certified.

A magnificent view

Another well deserved rest

Today was the day the Dutch football team would play the semi-finals against Uruguay, that's why I carried around the DUTCH flag. The first remark someone near a tea house made was 'hey..is that the French flag', suffice to say, it was repeated often.

A small waterfall

Some photo's before and during the match

Youtube saturday: The naked and famous - Young blood

2010-10-16T13:36:00.001-07:00

Came across it a couple of weeks back, sounded a bit like The Ting Tings, I liked it.

Do you have any new or old music I should really give a change?

Hadrians Walk day 1

2010-10-09T02:37:00.000-07:00

It took quite a while to make this post and next to a bunch of lame excuses I've also been quite busy, but here it finally is.

From 5-10 July I went on an adventure. I think, especially in hindsight, I can call it an adventure. Somewhere in June 2009, Dan asked his readers to join him in the Hadrians Walk, an 84 mile walk across the breadth of England. From Newcastle all the way to Carlisle! Next to the fact Dan was looking for a reallife meeting so he could push usall in a river and get rid of his readers, the walk was for a good cause (see note at the end of the post!).

Holding back, I could write 10 pages about the best holiday of my life, but I'll just tell the tale in photo's with some comments. Wanna know more? Ask and I will :)
Most photo's were taken by me, but there are also some who were taken by other walkers which are way to cool to leave out.
Click to enlarge, they'll open in a new window :)

Day 1
We started off. Most people were still a bit skiddish.

Walking

Official sign with Iain posing in front of it.

Catharine already tried to bust her ankle early on, luckily it wasn't too bad

The Tyne

An awesome looking museum, they actually had a Dr Who exposition, but I didn't have time to visit it

A gas regulation thing, my dad later told me we used to have them here too, I never knew.

Caterpillar!

One of many beautiful views

A well deserved pint

Phil

The good cause was The Joseph Salmon Trust which supports bereaved parents. Thanks to those who supported me and the other walkers we were able to raise around 27000 pounds (around 31000€)! Haven't supported yet, but still want to? You can! Check the Hadrians Walk website.

Finally: BA!

2010-09-26T22:53:00.001-07:00

As some might know, it took me a damn while with doing other usefull and less usefull things through the years, but finally I now (since the 17th of september) have my BA in Communications!
Some don't care much for the BA because the only thing they look at is the MA, but they are shortsighted. I can honestly say I'm proud to have received this one.

All suited up

So..I sign here?

Hmm ok

super secret handshake and it's done

On the stairs of the Academie building (main university building for academic ceremonies, they've got classrooms in there too though)

Brought some support

Youtube Saturday: Hurts - Better than love

2010-09-18T10:51:00.000-07:00

This band was live on the radio channel I tune into almost every day and I liked it.

Also have a look over at their myspace.

The Hague

2010-09-14T00:09:00.000-07:00

On 2 september I visited a friend in The Hague and decided to go into town the next day. It's been a while since I was in The Hage. I visited the gardens near the governmental buildings because there was an outdoor photo gallery which was really worth checking out, but I didn't want to take photo's of photo's.

There was however a statue of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt which was worth taking a snapshot of.

the Hofvijver (court pond...)

The so called 'torentje'(small tower) which acts as the office for the prime minister

The Mauritshuis (but you could read that yourself) which has a major collection of famous paintings.

Overview of the governmental buildings. Quite satisfied with this photo.

The portal to the Binnenhof, the square with doors to the governmental buildings

The formation of the government has taken around 100 days already and there were bound to be some politicians running around followed by the press and random people flocking together trying to get a glance.

Just a couple of people waiting for, well no one knew except the press

The Press was pressed in a corner, the wrong corner though

Stay calm people! It's just a guy taking a long time to get the job done.

Snapshots of Rutte *not Verhagen as I stated earlier..*, I didn't stick around to hear a no comment, I can catch those on the 8 o'clock news.

One of the nicer buildings on the Binnenhof:

I also walked around the local Chinatown and at first wanted to go to the beach near The Hague, but decided I was tired and took the train back to Groningen.

A decent update!

2010-09-09T13:22:00.000-07:00

The Hadrians Walk update has to wait a bit longer, but if this isn't a good update for this blog then I don't know what is.

The thing is, I've been filling up my time with lots of stuff. Watching Avatar the last airbender after the Gomiso spam of Dan and Lee convinced me to start watching it. I've been to The Hague to visit a friend and trying to take a snapshot of one of our future governmental leaders (well..when they finally finish squabling), I'll show those pics in a later post.

More importantly I've been busy on quite a big warhammer 40k project. Next to painting 2 more gargoyles in a fraction of the time I took earlier, I've been busy painting and building a Trygon. I know, the name says nothing. Therefor I present:
The tail:

Torso with 2 heads:

1 of the heads (Mawloc for those in know)

Torso with Trygon head:

While typing up this post I've glued tail and torso which makes it stand almost 6" high, dwarfing practically everything else in my army. I hope to have the entire módel finished by the end of next week. The base is a project in itself, I'll try and get the plans for those around, they should be really worthwile.

Youtube 'saturday': Ou est le swimming pool - Dance the way I feel

2010-08-22T11:09:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning the news broke that the singer of Ou est le swimming pool committed suicide. I only knew this song but seeing their performance on Pukkelpop (Belgium) (before the tragic stagedive one of the bandmembers took which injured a girl in the crowd) it pains me that it will never be performed like this again. It has a typical festival sound and makes me regret not getting tickets for any festival this summer.

*the stagedive probably had nothing to do with the suicide btw.
I could've posted the vid of the performance on Pukkelpop, but I purposefully didn't because I'm posting it here because of the music first.

Working on a scaffolding

2010-08-18T08:13:00.000-07:00

Last week my life was mainly about a couple of things: paid work in Groningen, driving the car to Veendam (40 min drive) and working on the scaffolding and getting some sleep.

We replaced the planks just under the rooftiles. They weren't screwed on, but stuck with nails. Which meant we had to hammer them out with chisels, running up and down the scaffolding, moving it from time to time. We're not überDIY experts, but we got the job done with hard work.

The week looked as follows:
Mondaymorning the job in Groningen, the afternoon and evening on the scaffolding in Veendam till 9pm'ish.
Tuesday: early in the morning till late afternoon on the scaffolding, racing back to work in Groningen in the evening till 10pm'ish
Wednesdaymorning: work in Groningen, afternoon & evening: scaffolding till 9.30pm
Thursdaymorning 7am till almost noon on the scaffold, racing to Groningen to work from 1-10pm.
Fridaymorning: zzzzzz and 1-10pm: work

btw, for the keen eye: wearing the buff :)

Upcoming post(s): Hadrians Walk (I've already uploaded the majority of the photo's, and the folder has gotten tons of hits!), Trygon photo's (warhammer 40K) and a good plug for http://the-coa.com

Interpol - Lights

2010-07-26T13:56:00.000-07:00

I just can't call it a youtube saturday post. Somehow it completely skipped past me. I did however want to post it now, since I've got a bunch of other stuff lined up for the rest of the week (Hadrians Walk & warhammer stuff).

Interpol has been around for years and years. I never gave them much listening time which is just stupid because they've made great music. I came across their new track which sounds great and is accompanied by a strange video.

Youtube 'Saturday' : Ting Tings - We walk

2010-07-18T06:21:00.000-07:00

We walked, the Hadrians walk. A post about that is coming..but I'll have to sort out some photo's etc..might be up on monday/tuesdayish.

The vid isn't great, but I really like this song. And if you just try and imagine them singing we walked, it fits the Hadrians walk.

Youtube 'saturday' : Smashmouth - Walking on the sun

2010-07-03T14:49:00.000-07:00

Hadrians Walk themed.

Setting off on monday.
Sorry, couldn't get any Trygon pics in...I'm afraid I still need to do a dishes before I leave.

Hadrians Walk - nice knowing you

2010-07-02T01:57:00.000-07:00

This post is long overdue and probably too late to convince anyone else to sponsor me now, but I think I never posted about the Walk before..which is a shame.

Monday till saturday I'm joining a group of people from the Netherlands, Great Brittain and the US in a fundraising walk across England. We're going to walk the 135 kilometers (84miles) along the Hadrians wall.

I've got good shoes, good socks, a reasonable condition and a 2L camelpack for water. I hope this keeps me alive.

So, why am I trying torture myself abroad? To raise funds for the Joseph Salmon Trust!

In short what the Joseph Salmon Trust does is supporting parents who have lost a child by providing financial assistance to those who need it most. Whether it is financial aid in paying for a gravestone or other practical financial help, it doesn't help the parents with the burden of losing a child, but it does help prevent financial problems adding to the horror of losing your kid.

Please consider sponsoring a dollar, a euro, a yen or whichever currency you use to support the trust.

How can you sponsor?
Via creditcard or paypal on:
my justgiving page

Via internetbanking: 596386249 to Arjan Beens (location: Groningen) mention Hadrians Walk

Or if you don't have any money, you can have someone else sponsor a dollar for you by leaving a comment at Frogpondsrock Even if you already donated, leave a comment anyway! Also, read the rest of her blog.

Want more info?
Hadrians Walk
Joseph Salmon Trust

*added some random tags in hope of attracting people to this blog and donating..as if that's going to work.

Youtube Saturday: Chuck Norris - All that she wants

2010-06-26T06:48:00.000-07:00

You might need to get past 3 things to enjoy this track.
1) the beginning
2) Do you hate Ace of Base? You still need to give this a chance.
3) the track is a bit long

Prepared? Click play.

Not world shockingly awesome, but you got to love that whistle.

Youtube 'saturday' : Ok go - End love

2010-06-17T00:19:00.001-07:00

It's not yet saturday you say? So what..I don't got time to post this on saturday. I have to work, watch the Dutch cheer Japan into scoring in their own goal and drink beer. Next to that, the clip is too awesome to have to wait another two days!

No more 'embed-blocking' hurray. They've broken with EMI who blocked embedding because they didn't get money from embedded views.

Youtube Saturday: We are scientists - Goal! England

2010-06-12T13:54:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it was only one goal for England and one for the USA, but maybe this will keep the Hadrian's Walkers happy.

Nonetheless a funny song made by Americans, themed for England!

Youtube saturday: The new pornographers - Your hands (together)

2010-06-05T01:57:00.000-07:00

This should get a bump in the view ratings just for the word pornographers. I've known this band since 'The laws have changed' which was featured on one of the Weeds OST's. Great pop-rock songs.

I also like the martial arts - dance combination :)

I'm a lazy consumer

2010-05-26T13:55:00.000-07:00

Today I've bought my first printer (printed at the faculty uptill now..it's cheap etc) and while I was installing this marvel of technology I thought about the fact that I'm one of thé easiest/laziest consumers you can think of.

I'm really the simple consumer who walks into the Mediamarkt (for those who dón't know this, it's Europe largest retailer for consumer electronics) for basicly any electronic thing I need.

Since last September I got the following: a LP-player, card-reader, headset, 1.5TB harddisk, mp3 player (yes..I actually bought a cheap mp3 player to be able to listen to the Midmo Club's podcasts on my way to work, I'm still sticking to my mp3-discman for the rest!) and a printer.

So next to the fact that apparently I spent too much of my hard earned money on electronics..how does that make me a lazy consumer?
Well I'll explain it with the example of how I bought my printer today.

Last weekend I decided that I needed (wanted..) a printer. So the Mediamarkt is an obvious choice to take a look (yeah right..'take' a buy). I walked in, hey..those pile of printers (a specific Canon Printer on offer) set apart look like a good deal. Hmm let's take a look at the other printers 5m down the printer-footpath. Hmm, yeah, more expensive, hmm so many options it'll take me an hour to figure out if I want this, hmm do I want to take that time or just buy the cheap plug&play printer that prints A4 text (and scans)....

Back to the pile of printers..fuck it, let's take this one. I kinda already knew this when I walked down the footpath. I knów they do this on purpose (well duh!) but that's how it works when I want to buy something. I obey the simplest marketing rules off all.
Cheap: check, set-apart: check, simple: check. Ok I'll take it.

I'm lazy like that. I know what I want to buy, I know I want it cheap with basic functions, I'll take the first offer I see where I'd probably be better off if I take a closer look somewhere in the pile of other products, I don't ask too many questions although I did ask what the 'Pay attention to USB cable' sign on every printer meant..it felt like the advice to plug in the usb cable or it won't work* and I buy the product.

*
But..it was kinda smart that I asked... They don't get you a seperate USB cable with a printer anymore, you need to get one for 5€. Supposedly (according to the salesguy) printercompanies decided that they won't include usb cables anymore. I assume because 'everybody' already has enough of these cables. Only the ones I've got are too short or are in use..and I don't want to switch cables everytime I want to use a different device.

*next up: a size comparison of the Gargoyle vs something..don't know yet..maybe this weekend..

Gargoyles

2010-05-24T03:57:00.000-07:00

Finally, a new model finished. I'm fairly happy with how the wings turned out. I didn't know how to paint them and just went with ink and I liked it. The pictures of course showed some small painting errors which I might correct, but then again..you'll have to look really close to see them..ssst.

Youtube Saturday: Grynch - My Volvo

2010-05-21T15:21:00.000-07:00

Just plain awesome. Some hiphop was long overdue.

I wás gonna make a post about The Lonely Island..but this one (no matter how awesome The Lonely Island is) smashed them away.
But as you've got nothing better to do..look up 'jizz in my pants', 'I'm on a boat' and the oldy 'Like a boss'.

Youtube Saturday: Blue Öyster Cult - Me 262

2010-05-15T10:08:00.000-07:00

I know, this is not a new track by far. But for anyone who didn't already know, I'm a really big fan of the Blue Öyster Cult and just got their 'biography' in the mail and thought I'd post this for the youtube saturday just because I can and because it's not the most well known track but still great.

Oh and I also like the fan-made video.'

*now..to find time to read this book..I think under work time shouldn't be too big of a problem.

Ninja's can fly

2010-05-13T11:07:00.000-07:00

As some of you might know I do martial arts. Of course we know that we just train hard and aren't ninja's like in the movies. But it's nice to fool the world at least for a weekend so at the end of April I went to Austria for a weekend and the majority of the photo's I took proof that we can fly.

Next to flying, we are also strong enough to carry the world, but well I don't have to tell you people how awesome ninja's are.

*ok, so I've flipped the photo..sssst!

We trained in this beautiful environment btw

Oh and I facebooked this photo a while ago, but I thought I'd post it again.
Germans got funny numberplates *click to enlarge..as with all btw*

Youtube saturday: Aloe Blacc - I need a dollar

2010-05-07T14:18:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned 22tracks.com earlier as a great source of new music and it has proved itself again this week.

I've posted 2 video's because you should watch the first video and turn of the sound and play the 2nd video for the music. The thing is, about 3 minutes in, the first video switches to a bit of a remix which I personally like less than the other version. If you've got the time, check both of course :) The embedded vid is a widescreen..maybe you'd like to open it in a newscreen..

Barry? I'm not sure if Lee knew this..

2010-05-06T02:45:00.000-07:00

It's been 2 weeks since my strange participation in the midmopodcast. It took a while before I listened to the endproduct (which is awesome btw), because I was away on holidays and had some problems with my pc so that's why I postponed this post till now.

It reminded me again that somehow Lee & Dan were unable to pronounce my name correctly. I know Dutch isn't the easiest language to learn and apparently that's an excuse to just rename me. So Lee decided that 'Barry' would be a good replacement name. Don't ask me how he came up with that, but they stuck with it.

Only a day and a half later my housemate (the guy who put the right plug from my headset in so I was able to do the podcast) came acros this:

Barry the giant sea worm

I double dare you to click that and read up on what a Barry is. I'm not sure if Lee and or Dan knew about this. Watch it, I bite :P

*..Lee came up with it..so I edited the entire post..

Youtube 'saturday': Mr Scruff - Keep movin'

2010-05-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

Youtube saturday leaks into sundayevening overhere..but what's in a name.
This track comes from the Hôtel Costes series (cd 2 out of 6) which have a jazzy-pop sound to them which probably won't be broadcasted on national radio because it's just out of the normal pop range. I really like the Hôtel Costes series. Listen to it as background music, or just loud as a bit of party music, it just works!

I got this from my friend over at italktoomuchtoo.

Youtube 'saturday': Department of eagles - no one does it like you

2010-04-17T08:25:00.000-07:00

I came across this one on a friends Hyve, didn't know it. It sounds ánd looks cool.

Youtube 'saturday': Mr Mister - Broken wings

2010-04-11T13:43:00.000-07:00

I know it's sunday evening..but it's still weekend :P
My housemate was talking about Train's song 'Hey soul sister' and the mentioning of mr mister and then this song came to mind. A classic.

Via this we came upon the intro to Valiant, also very cool. I saw you can buy the entire 65 episode series for only 25$ on Amazon (on dvd)..might be tempted to buy that. For now:

The Hadrian's Box

2010-04-04T11:57:00.000-07:00

In July of this year I will be walking the 84 mile long Hadrian’s Wall footpath. I am doing this in aid of The Joseph Salmon Trust, a charity that provides financial support to parents who have lost a child. This might be help with things like funeral costs for those struggling to afford them, or to allow the self employed to take time off in order to grieve.*

I've known since July, when Dan from All that comes with it asked around for fellowwalkers, that I wánted to join and I've known that I'd be really góing on this walk since early August 2009. Since then I slipped it in almost every casual conversation that I've had with someone who didn't know yet.

"But..are you walking alone? Or with friends? How did you come up with this idea? I didn't know you were such a walker."

These are just some of the first reactions. And then I'd have to explain that I have a blaaawg and that I've met some pretty interesting people in the blogging community (I can't even remember how I've stumbled across Dan's blog). And that, no, I haven't actually met any of these people yet and that I'm sure I'll survive..somehow.

My brother and sister didn't have that same trust in my survival skills and so they decided to put together a survival box as a present for my birthday last February. I've since named it the Hadrian's box:

What's in it? Why is it taped up and why the **** is there a chain wrapped around it!
Well..they decided that the stuff that's in the box really should only be used untill I'm in England. Till now they've put in a pocketknife, ducttape and a small spices set. They promised me that he'll fill it up with more 'usefull' stuff before I leave. To make súre I don't open it beforehand my brother has the key and won't open it untill early July or just to add more stuff.

So that's the story about the Hadrian's box. My brother will be joining me in Nottingham for a nerd-out at Warhammerworld and after that, to scare the locals in London.

I'll update with more information about the Hadrians Walk and where and how you will be able to sponsor me for it. For now you can read more on the Hadrians walk and my fellow walkers on Hadrianswalk.org

*Stole this text from Dan.

Youtube Saturday: Beirut - Scenic world

2010-04-03T10:20:00.000-07:00

This is nót the official (if there is any) video, but I liked it. I've known this song for quite some time but today I ran into Beirut's cd Gulag Orkestar which features this song. Running into it meant I bought it :)

Youtube saturday: Fun loving criminals - Scooby snacks

2010-03-20T12:48:00.000-07:00

I was wondering which video I would be featuring today, but as I'm going to see the Fun Loving Criminals tomorrow, what could be more appriopriate than posting this one:

The music quality isn't great alas, but others with better music quality were blocked for embedding.

Also check out "Smoke'em" and "King of New York".

Over at QYDJ, Lee was talking about how he was not actively checking out new music, I've got just the thing for him (and everybody else of course!).
Have a look over at 22 Tracks.com

Youtube saturday: Okgo m- This too shall pass

2010-03-13T05:39:00.000-08:00

Lee over at Qydjob came with the idea of a music video saturday. I like the idea because 1) I love music 2) it is easy to post a vid with some small commentary so I start blogging again.

Just a small note, this is the first post of mine in this series so I cheat a bit by posting 2 video's for the same song because they're both awesome.

Unfortunately they've decided to block embedding for 1 of the video's..so you'll have to click it.

Let it go this too shall pass (ghilly suit version - you'll know what I mean when you see it)

Rube Goldberg machine version:

I like the music and I like how they really put some time and effort in BOTH videoclips!!

Micmacs à tire la larigot

2010-01-03T07:55:00.000-08:00

I went to see this film with not much more knowledge about it than that the trailer looked kinda funny and the fact that I've read the abstract very fast. I had a free pass for the small filmhouse that played it so the only thing I'd lose was 2 hours of my time.

Obviously I should do this more often because for me, this was the best film I saw on the big screen in 2009. It's a French film, but fortunately they had subtitling which was done quite right (I don't think many jokes went bad after translation).

So what is this movie about? It's about Bazil who's father got killed by a landmine and he himself gets hit by a stray bullet. The bullet causes him to have some strange fits where he needs to smack himself on the head if he doesn't want to go crazy and die. He ends up living on the streets where he meets up with a group of really strange people who all got their own weird thing (the guy who mainly speaks in proverbs is really funny) and together they make up a plan to take down the two armsfactories who are responsible for Bazil's suffering.

The film rolls from one bizar happening into the next and you just keep laughing. If I find this one on dvd I'll immediately buy it.

I´m a pyromaniac

2009-12-29T04:24:00.000-08:00

Just to be sure, Dan, no I´m not going to light up our sleeping accommodations.

In short the story is: A package of matches fell out of my cupboard into my dishwashing water..tried to dry it on some toiletpaper but quickly saw they were useless for ordinary use. This was so much more fun.

Nr 1:

Nr 2:

Nr 3:

Learn some Dutch...it makes it even twice as funny hehe.

Bike trouble

2009-12-05T10:49:00.000-08:00

When you live in Groningen it's almost a bare necessity to have a bike if you're not living in walking distance (say 5 minutes) of the city center. I live a good 10 minutes cycling from the city center so when my bike breaks down it sucks big time.

Of course, there is a bus but I don't have a students public transport pass (free travel) anymore so I have to pay, and next to that the last bus rides at 1am, and since the pubs have no specified closing time I don't like to be forced to stick to bustimes or get a damn expensive cab ride home.
Last monday I got my rear tire fixed and enjoyed riding around again up to thursday night when I drove over a beerbottle which tore ..yes..my rear tire.

To keep it fairly short, I parked my tire-slit bike in the city, borrowed a bike from a friend to get back home at 3am. Picked up the tire slit bike the next day and brought it to a local repairshop (will be fixed on monday afternoon), borrowed a folding bike from the office where I work as a cleaner and brought the first borrowed bike back and got home on the 2nd one. Being 1,9m tall makes riding the folding bike feel like driving a small tricycle, but it'll have to do, awkward and tiring as it is. Tomorrow and on monday I'm stuck driving the bus because I've got to get the folding bike back to the office on time.

I feel like a bike-juggler. How dependant are you on your own transport vehicle?

Death Korps of Krieg

2009-11-03T03:32:00.000-08:00

Last sunday I finally fought Piotr's Death Korps of Krieg. They are Imperial Guard from Forgeworld and the models just blow your mind (nothing to do with the enormous amount of ordance they bring). For those who don't play 40K, just scroll down towards the photo's!!!! It really pays off to enlarge them *click 'em*.

We played a 2000pts game (I'm used to play 1500).
In short:
Broodlord + 5 stealer retinue
Flying Tyrant
19 hormagaunts (s3)
16 hormagaunts (s4)
18 spinegaunts
12 termagants
8 stealers
2x 3 leaping warriors
1x 3 shooting warriors
2 raveners
3 Thropes
1 carnifex with barbed strangler + venomcannon & spinebanks
1 carnifex with barbed strangler + talons

Against
4x 5 Roughriders (EVIL!!! )
3 Large artillery pieces
5 smaller artillery pieces (you'll see the difference in the photo's)
2 Diggerunits (unit can dig underneath the enemy, large blast s10 ap2, and then the unit behind it can still shoot & charge.
and a LOT of troops with lasguns and some other weaponry.

As you could see before, he's a great painter. The pics below proof it once again. Unfortunately the lighting was bad and I didn't take much time to set up a decent photo-shoot so I'm not happy with all pics. I will do that another time.

The large ordnance piece

The smaller ordnance piece

Roughriders

Part of the dig-crew

Some leader figures

Banner and flag

Random guards

The game was a big slaughter, but in the end we called it a draw because we lacked the time to finish it, but we agreed that I had the better chance of winning in the end, even though I've lost lots and lots of troops.

DSB Bank tumbling or not?

2009-10-13T05:27:00.000-07:00

First of all, I'm not big on economics so don't shoot me too hard if I'm off now and then..

About 3 years ago a bank filed for bankrupcy (this word seems thé perfect word at the moment), before that it was 24-25 years ago since a bank tumbled. Last year saw our government spend billions on banks to keep them running. I got all of my accounts with the ABN Amro which got taken over for if I'm not mistaken 51%. It's of course debatable if a country should invest so much in banks to keep them upright.

But yesterday the definite news came that the DSB Bank was in really big trouble and might have to file for bankrupcy. As we speak there are curators who are looking at possible ways to save the bank (and more important the money of its clients). The Dutch (and probably some other) customers already picked up a couple of hundred million euro's to put into accounts in other banks. The state declared that they would ensure any amount of money of the clients upto 100 000€. So for the little man there shouldn't be too many problems untill house-sales come into the picture.

But I just received a mail from my employment agency that if you called in today before 5pm (and only today!), you could change the account into which they pay your salary if you are a DSB client. That's a hard service.

There are two sides to this.
1) The trust in the states promise to guarantee your money upto 100K € seems to (if still possible) tumble even further. The fact that the agency mailed this enhances the distrust so even if people didn't transfer all of their money, they'll feel supported to do so now (even if they are far below the guaranteed amount) and if nothing else, if able, change their salary account. I hope for the people who have more than 100K in the bank that DSB comes up with a plan to be able to support itself and at least save its customers from MAJOR money loss.

2) As said before it's a hard service. A hard service, but in a time where jobs are sometimes hard to find and you really want to be sure of your income as well as you can, it's a writing on the wall that the agency does nót trust the government to be able to save all banks, let alone the DSB and the agency wants the best for its clients. The least it has done by this mail is to keep the trust of its 'employees'.

Has anything like this happened in your country or are you expecting it? People weren't expecting it here, that's for sure!

I'm sooooo retro

2009-10-04T03:04:00.000-07:00

It's a public secret I don't have an Ipod, I use some ancient device called an mp3-cdplayer to listen to my music while on the road. It's still working after 8 years and I'm not planning to replace it anytime soon (as long as it's still working of course).

Everytime someone sees me pull this one:

out of my pocket they're like WHAT THE F is that! But I like being able to just grab a normal cd or an mp3 cd out of a rack and press play, instead of hooking a machine up to the pc and having to erase-copy stuff and fix playlists and whatnot, and I'm not getting started about being forced to use itunes. I'm just lazy like that.

Another advantage is that I just use rechargable batteries and I always have an extra set with me so that I'm not stuck without music.

But what I was building up to was that about a month (or is it already 1,5?) ago I bought an LP player, brand new but it still has a retro feel to it buying a new thing to play old music. My parents got a ton of lp's that they want to put on cd, and I would just like to play them as lp's.
I'm really looking forward to be able to play Peter and the wolf or some other oldies again:

It's at least 10 years since I've heard this one!

Next to that, last week I bought 2 LP's. One with the best of Ennio Morricone and BÖC's Imaginos:

I'm really eager to play those.
But somehow I can't get my lp player to work. I only have an old miniset radio with an aux function on it but the LP player has the option of using a line-in connection instead of the phono. And besides that I couldn't get the thing to at least start turning which you would expect even if the music signal couldn't be transferred if it's plugged into current. I hope I'll be able to solve this and listen to old music again before long.

Of course the 'I'm soooo retro' is in jest, I just like the fact that my mp3 player still works and I really love to be able to play those old lps again.

Dutch movies (top 10) pt 2: Blackbook

2009-09-28T12:31:00.000-07:00

I watched Zwartboek (Blackbook) today. As said before I'm not planning on making a real ranked list but seeing this movie I do want to place it in the list.

In (very) short: the movie is about the resistance in the Netherlands (Holland..whatever Dan..) and about the Germans taking away & killing Jews. I could extend the synopsis, but you just have to believe me here that it's darn worth watching.

The movie is spoken is mainly spoken in Dutch, but when needed in German and English which is personally already a testament of quality. The version I got was subtitled when it wasn't spoken in English and it even mentioned when German was spoken (eg. (Geman) Thank you).

Stuff people throw out of the window pt 3?

2009-09-25T04:48:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if it's part 3, but it doesn't matter really, it could just as well be part 25 to me.

As some might know, I live in a flat filled with about 80-90% students or people who just finished their studies. The rest are a strange collection of young families and elderly people. The thing with students (yeah I know I'm one too) is that some think that because they are students they can thrash stuff and throw it out of the window and leave it there to rot just because no-one cares..
I care as much as far as to the point that it irritates me when someone throws a pc out of their window at 3AM or something or chairs or whatever. It wakes me up and instead of just throwing it away with the garbage it lies there waiting for someone (the flatowners possibly) to send a clean-up crew and take it away.

What it's all about:

The guy in the lawnmower was happy to shred some stuff like the pillow and the keyboard.

Blue Öyster Cult in concert!

2009-09-13T12:53:00.000-07:00

Last saturday (5 september!) I went to a Blue Öyster Cult concert in Zoetermeer and it was really really cool! There was a band warming us up that I never heard of (666 the nightmare) they were a Dutch band which played covers of great 80s rock tracks and performed really well, so I'd say youtube them and don't be scared by the way they dress up, all part of the act.

Around a quarter to ten the BOC themselves entered the stage and the whole crowd got excited. The band (although in a changing group) has been going at it for 40 years! As far as their fitness goes, they shouldn't have any trouble to add at least another 10 good years. Of course they played great hits like Don't fear the reaper, Burning for you and Then came the last days of May, but they also played a lot of other tracks. There was a 50 years+ guy next to me who completely broke the stereotype that you would've given him on the street (he looked like a major executive) and he just went completely crazy shouting and whistling. That was just awesome.

Eric Bloom & Buck Dharma:

Richie Castellano and the bassguitarist from Queen as a subsitute for the BOC bassplayer Rudy.

Eric Bloom telling us something important

He made these concentrated faces constantly, he would throw up his stick fetch it and just continue drumming like nothing happened, awesome.

The band:

Minor improvement points for the Merchandise stand: they only had 2 different t-shirts on sale and they didn't sell any cd's...would've been a smart move because the shirts sold like crazy (got one myself too).

Other small downside..I had to drive back home for 3,5 hours..well 3..but I took 2 breaks to prevent me falling asleep at the wheel..

The photo's above are all made by Moon in Virgo. Take a look either at my photobucket or her site (linked in name above) for all photo's. I'm still waiting for some photo's a guy would send to me, but this is what I ripped from the website of the Cultuurboerderij itself.

Tsunami vs 9-11

2009-09-04T01:46:00.000-07:00

I came across this Brazillian commercial from WWF, which as far as I understand is no(t) longer shown on tv.

WWF already excused itself for this and said it should never have been published etc. But on the other hand..if there wasn't such a fuss about it I would have probably not seen this on a Dutch newspaper website. Maybe..after 8 years (no matter how difficult it still is) people should no longer cringe about it as hard as if it was published on 10-11. Although it still doesn't feel quit right to put it out as a commercial.

The Offspring @ Huntenpop

2009-08-30T12:31:00.000-07:00

I went to see The Offspring at a small festival somewhere in the middle of ffing nowhere but it was worth the drive!
They did a couple of tracks from their new cd but the majority was old hits and about 90% of Americana *which ísn't a bad thing*.

I haven't checked closely but I wouldn't be surprised if I bounced in view in the vid below. There was a LOT of moshing going on including an enormous circle pit.

Some photo's that a friend of mine took:

Yes that's me on screen there for those who recognize me :-)
The only bad things about the day were: there was not enough decent food, there was no food or drinks outside the festival *there were a bunch of hungry people waiting outside* and there was very very heavy rain on the way back.

Dutch movies (top 10) pt 1

2009-08-23T12:29:00.000-07:00

I was tagged weeeeeks ago by Dan to do a top ten movie list of Dutch movies worth watching, at least I think that's what he wants. Because I'm working too much, trying to have a social life and still do other time consuming silly stuff, and of course because I'm lazy, I'll just use IMDB for short synopsis info (without spoiling) if I agree enough with it.

The list is at random, not specifically the best movie first, just some Dutch movies you should see. Because of said lazyness this is pt 1. This is 1 of the first titles that came into my head when thinking about good Dutch movies.

Soldaat van Oranje/ Soldier of Orange (also known as Survival run).
Trailer:

Synopsis:
SOLDIER OF ORANGE is a film about a group of friends who encounter the occupation of Holland by the Germans in different ways. The film splits up it's time dealing with the stories of the friends and that of one of them who becomes a high ranking member of the OSS and close political ally to the queen of Holland. The film, set during WW2, is even handed in it's approach. SOLDIER OF ORANGE is a unusual film and was made with a high degree of quality. The film goes for a sense of realism not often seen in cinema, the film,made in Holland is in dutch yet in the sequences in england it is in English. I recommend this film to WW2 buffs and fans of art-house cinema alike. Both groups will be pleased as will foreign film fans who can be assured of finding something worthwhile.

Personal adds: remember that it's a movie from 1977 and it shows a bit, but for the time it was (and is) still a very good movie. Directed by Paul Verhoeven.
I'll try to update with pt2 on wednesday.

Good and bad news

2009-08-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

I spray painted a white base coat on ALL of my remaining 40k plastic racks (just like model airplanes, everything is in racks), roughly 10€ off paint. So that's progress.

But while trying to grab a mouthcap..my Orljonok model airplane which was still work in progress came crashing down from over 2m high...wing broke off at gluepoint and some other stuff, I'll have to see how good I'll be able to fix it.
I think I haven't cursed as loud as today in a long while..

Spectaculair sand art & music performance!

2009-07-31T00:51:00.000-07:00

I found this over at a Dutch newspaper blog (nrc next). This was performed at Ukraine's got talent.
I can't say much more about it than that it's just spectaculair how she draws things in sand.

It's telling a story about the 2nd World War where around 5 million Ukrainians lost their lives.

Some movies I saw of late

2009-07-26T12:43:00.001-07:00

Some movies I saw lately in the cinema or on dvd. I'm gonna keep the reviews short because otherwise I'll probably say what others said tons of times. I'll keep it to a short judgement and a personal touch (where possible).

Terminator Salvation
I can be fairly short about this one, it wasn't as good as say the first Terminator movie, but I díd like it as an actionpacked popcorn cinema movie. Nothing too deep, just a saturday night action movie. What I didn't really like is what might be a problem MC described as the thin line between making a reference to a movie and ripping it off. In TS there were Matrix-like drones and a bunch of other things that were more on the ripping off side of the line than the reference-making side of a couple of movies.

Startrek
This was *yes your heart is gonna skip a beat* the first Startrek movie I saw in the cinema (not the first I saw!!). I really liked it though. I mainly grew up on startrek next gen with an older startrek version ep now and then on bbc or so. Of course I roughly knew most characters but not as well as with the other trek series. They told the story in a way that even when you're not a yearlong trek-vet you can get along just fine. I heard that a lot of startrek fans didn't like it, but well their problem. Another small thing I liked was that the accent of Pavel Chekov didn't irritate me. Sometimes you think..oh there we go again..the Russian accent guy, but it felt good here. There was a bit of too much drama at one point though (dramatic music etc) but I guess there's got to be something for everyone.

Windtalkers
I saw this on dvd. I liked the war-action scenes because the movie sketches the confusion of battle in the pacific as good as I might imagine it really was. But the movie was supposed to have a decent story about how the Navajo worked as code talkers and how important they were, but the entire story kinda got washed away by the action. It was more of a side-thing for the movie and I don't want to say that it should have been the other way around, but there was no balance. Oh and there was a very small love interest for Nicolas Cage which could have been left out just as easy, it didn't add anything to the movie.

Updates are coming

2009-07-17T23:25:00.000-07:00

During the week work and social life has just plummeted my internet time for the last week, and that is just únacceptable. I was able to comment here and there but wasn't able to get out a decent post and that at a moment where there's plenty to post.
I hope I will be able to make a couple of posts (set up the drafts and click publish later on) tomorrow.
Upcoming:
- Tv series, an addiction
- Top 10 Dutch specialty movies: characters, got tagged, not sure how positive 'specialty' is, but I'll run with it.
- Movies I've seen lately

That's what pops up at the moment.

Magnetized

2009-06-27T03:12:00.000-07:00

I've had this model for ages but this year I finally got around to start finishing it. One of the minor reasons was that I got decent magnets now.
I háven't finished the model yet but you're all smart enough to figure that out by yourself, this is just the last photo stage before I dó finish it.

The leg section with base:

I painted the magnetside of the magnets red (the other side I call the glue-side..wow that's creative!..not).

The model has 3 different shoulderpads, basic, weapon 1 and weapon 2.

The thing what is a bit stupid is that it has basicly 6 possible headcombinations, but only 11 headparts. The regen-part is combined with one of the basic-parts which leaves you with no nórmal head. Good thing that my 2nd carnifex has just arrived in a box, so I wíll make one.

So far I've magnetized the heavy weapons and 1 set of other guns, the rest (a bunch of other combi's) is WIP.

Heavy weapons above, other set below.

Even though I did the whole paint the magnetsize red so you know which side you need to glue etc..I did make a major error..the lower right torso magnet was glued the other way around than which it should have been and I already built in the heavy weapon arm magnet. If it was just the torso it wouldn't have been a problem to 'break' the magnet off, but I can't possibly get it óut of the heavy weaponsarm.
This just means that the places of the heavy weapons arms are fixed. The venom cannon is the lower set and the barbed strangler has to be the top set.
If not, it looks like this:
*the combi on the photo is a twin-devourer on top and a barbed strangler in the lower set, which doesn't work..*

As I said, the next carnifex has already arrived. I'm not sure I want to get that one magnetized too. Next to that I'm not sure if I want to built the error that I made on the above model into the new one on purpose so that all arms will be completely interchangable or that I want to do this one right and will have to wait a bit longer to get éach and évery possible combination (some sets such as the devourer only come in one set per model).

Pinkpop (music festival)

2009-06-18T08:35:00.001-07:00

At the end of May I went to the Pinkpop festival. I haven't been posting because I had too much other stuff to do, but I'm back.

Pinkpop is at least worldfamous in the Netherlands and it's the oldest yearly popfestival in the world (this was the 40st time!). A couple of years back there was a major decline in visitors but the organizers managed to get out of that dip and came back strong. A short explanation: it's around eastern (Dutch: pinksteren), the Dutch word contains 'pink', it has mainly popmusic, a 'pop' means doll in Dutch so you end up with a pink doll as a logo and lots of people walk around dressed in pink or with the pink hat sold for a good cause (amnesty international) and which is a real collectors item.

I've been going to festivals for years because at least the following reasons: 1) it's an affordable way to see a lot of artists in a short time 2)it's an easy way to get to know new music 3)we always go with a group of cool people 4)a long weekend of drinking and stuffing your face with junkfood..what's not to like.

I'll stop rambling, here are the photo's:

I saw in random order: The killers, Bruce Springsteen, the Tingtings, Kyteman, Placebo, Mando Diao, Franz Ferdinand, Novastar, Milo (famous for his cover of a 50ct track), Madness.

Some minor links to music which you should check out if you don't already know it:
Kyteman's hiphop orchestra (Dutch group, but a lot of English, and French texts)
The TingTings (poppy, but cool).

Walchsee: training and having fun

2009-05-24T05:04:00.000-07:00

Last weekend (thursday 14th-monday 18th) I went on a training seminar to Walchsee. I don't talk too much online about me doing martial arts because most(not all ;) ) people talking on the web about martial arts are a bit deranged and I don't want any spammers or too crazy people coming over here.

In short, we left on thurday with a rented car, drove to Munich, stayed the night, drove to Walchsee (meaning Walch-lake) in Austria, trained hard together with people from Munich till monday morning and in the afternoon we drove back (got back at 2AM) to Groningen. Great drive, great weather, great people, great training, great environment..etc..go check out the short photo vid I made with photobucket.

If anyone sees this and wants their photo removed from the vid, you know where to mail me :)

Dawn of war 2

2009-05-10T09:49:00.000-07:00

I know it's been out for a while now, but I only played it today.
It runs surprisingly smooth on my pc considering I heard it had high demands.
Like most RTS games, there are basicly 2 parts: the campaign and skirmishes.

Missions
I started off with the campaign which lets you fight as the Blood Raven space marines (no other campaign available as far as I know :P). They've mixed rts with a bit of rpg so that when you fight between missions you can upgrade your commander and your squads with equipment and with a sort of experience point system which lets you aquire certain traits. I really liked this system so far because it lets you really take control of the strengths of a squad and tune it to your way of gaming.

Bossfights
The missions (I think I'm in level 7 or 8 now) aren't too easy, but not too hard for a beginner either. After a couple of levels each mission ends with a bossfight. Sometimes the boss is a bit of a challenge and other times I find myself thinking, is dead already?..erm..oke.. You fight orks which are always plain funny if only for their acknowledgements and or screams when they run, the eldar (sometimes it's hard to see where they are standing, they're so thin) and after years and years of waiting..finally TYRANIDS! So far I've only played one mission against them, but they came in numbers as they should.

Skirmish
After the first mission against the tyranids I wanted to play around with the tyranids myself (hey..I've played Tyranids on the table top for years now) and started up a skirmish. The units are quite cool, the abilities look awesome and it's cool to finally see them running around on screen. But (you probably felt this one coming, there's a but) the upgrade system is sometimes a bit vague because of a bit of a disorderly system of upgrading the tyranids. Next to that as a table top player I think I've got the right to whine a bit, they change the rules or application of some upgrades quite a bit (a tyrant with reinforced chitin or crushing claws is impossible in the book, rending claws plain useless in the book). But those are just small tears because gamewise its all good.

The real minus with the skirmishes is that there isn't much to do than built up fast, crush your enemy as fast as possible or hold back (a bit) to make the game last longer. Either way, because with at least the tyranids there isn't much of the normal rts base-building (just 2 upgrades to your main building) which makes the skirmishes boring quite fast. I don't see myself play skirmish after skirmish online, let alone against a pc AI. The last option is still tons of fun in many other RTS games. In some games (even in small skirmishes) skirmishes give you the time to get a feel for a side, but you kinda have to force yourself to do this in DoW2 otherwise you'll just built some basic troops, some large critters and stomp the opponent.

Conclusion:
The campaign is cool. I like the tooling and upgrade system you use for your squads. The story isn't too deep, but name a rts where this ís the case... The abilities are quite cool, although there are always some abilities which won't be used in favour of cooler/stronger/better abilities. The effects of the abilities look really nice. But the amount of detail gets lost sometimes because either there is so much happening that you want to stay zoomed out or the detail is too small to really notice constantly. The acknowledgements are funny (orks), stern (marines) or arrogant/wise (eldar). But as cool as the campaign is, the skirmishes get boring quickly, and that's after playing only one skirmish. It seems skirmishes are just an obligatory option in this rts.
All in all:
The DoW games (1 + adds & 2) are a must for the warhammer 40k table top gamer (if only to see the different armies move around digitally) and are fun for most other gamers. As for DoW2, have a go at the campaign and it might even be fun to play around extremely with the upgrading system to see how much it affects your game. Try a skirmish, but don't be too disappointed if you get bored.

For more info: Dow2 website