A Boy and His Duck

Not the best duck I've ever painted (or is it ? maybe this is the only duck I've ever painted . . .), but I like how the boy turned out. 
 

Venerable Wise One

Here's an ordinary citizen from the Pulp Figures line. Red seemed right for him. 

Chun King

Pulp Figures calls this guy "notorious warlord Chun King." I'm getting better at super-fine details such as moustaches and, in this case, medals. 
 

How Many Can I Identify?

Taylor Swift: I know who she is - I became a Swiftie with "Shake It Off" and the 1989 album. 
Bad Bunny: No clue.
The Weeknd: I recently discovered The Weeknd thanks to the Ms. Marvel show. I only know one of his songs, though: "Blinding Light." 
Drake: I think this is a Canadian rapper, but I don't know any of his songs.
Peso Pluma: No clue.
Feid: No clue.
Karol G.: No clue. 
SZA: No clue.
Kanye West: I know Kanye because he said Beyonce deserved the Grammy more than Taylor, and because he later embraced the alt-right. But I don't know his music.
Lana Del Rey: Never heard of her, but is she perhaps heir to the Del Rey publishing fortune?
Eminem: I know him, he's the real Slim Shady and he has that one song that goes "meep, moop, meep, moop...gangster's paradise" 
Metro Boomin: No clue.
Junior H: No clue.
Ed Sheeran: I believe this fellow has very orange hair, and I think he collaborated with Taylor Swift once. Don't know his music, though.
Arijit Singh: No clue.
Ariana Grande: The name is familiar, but I don't think I can count her because I can't think of any of her music.
Travis Scott: Judging by the name, must be a country and western artist? No? No idea.
Morgan Wallen: No idea.
Billie Eilish: I know the name because it's one of my Photoshop Express filters, but couldn't tell you about any of her songs.
Rihanna: She wrote a cool song for Star Trek Beyond, and she's a Trekkie!

9 out of 19, if you're feeling generous. I try not to fall out of touch with modern popular culture, but clearly I'm failing when it comes to 2020s pop.  

 

Fruits and Berries

Almost looks edible! Well...maybe not. 
 

Five Heavy Duty Consoles

I've painted some heavy duty consoles, as they're named in Fallout: Wasteland Warfare. I imagine these are used to operate power plants and rocket launch facilities, etc. Lots and lots of fiddly details threatening eyestrain for these guys, but they turned out sharp and clean. 
 

82

Dad would have been 82 today. Here's a nice photo of Dad in his natural environment by Mom. He loved the outdoors. 
 

Walk Don't Walk

My freehand painting needs a little work, as exemplified by my attempts to paint "Walk" and "Don't Walk" lights.
 

Two-Horse Town

Here's a pair of horsies, happily galloping through flowery fields. What idyllic lives they lead! 
 

Red Rowboat

Here we have a shockingly red rowboat. Why red? I'm tired of painting floating things brown. 
 

Ejector Seats

As Sylvia and I were talking about playing "Danger Zone" through the speaker systems of vehicles experiencing turbulence or collision hazards, I started thinking about the ruckus such a system would cause on passenger jets. At that moment, another ridiculous idea occurred to me: fighter pilots get ejector seats, so why shouldn't the pilots of commercial airliners? I imagine it would be way too expensive to make every seat on an airliner an ejector seat, but surely you could do so for the pilots and maybe the flight engineer. When all hope is lost, why not save two or three people instead of zero people? 

I suppose knowing pilots can bail out the moment a flight starts to go wrong might make passengers a little nervous, but surely most people would eventually see the utilitarian value of the concept. 

Collision Alarm

Imagine this: new safety rules mandate that all vehicles be required to start playing the chorus of Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone" whenever some kind of accident is about to happen, or has the potential to happen. How pumped and powerful and ready for action would you feel if your car or 747 suddenly started blaring "Highhhhway to the DANGER ZONE" at maximum volume? Adrenalin would flood your system, giving you the split-section reaction time you need to pull yourself straight out of that danger zone! Plus, you can enjoy the screams of your passengers. 

Special thanks to Sylvia for workshopping this idea with me. 

A Big Heart on an Orange Sleeve

Maybe it's just because I watched this movie at a very vulnerable moment with low expectations, but I was shocked to find myself loving Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. 

Why? 

Sincerity and genuine heroism. Above all else, a superhero movie should feature heroism, and far too often in this genre we've gotten what I would call surface-level heroism without the heart--witness especially the DC films of Zack Snyder. 

Yes, this movie is silly and cheesy, but it embraces those qualities and invites you to participate in that silliness. There's a moment where two characters reconcile and seal that reconciliation by shaking hands, and their gauntlets go "clang." But by that point of the film, you KNOW those gauntlets are going to clang, and it's okay because that's the tone this movie sets. 

But beyond the cheese we have a story about the importance of empathy and forgiveness told through the lens of broken families and climate catastrophe. There are no subtle metaphors here, but given the issues presented, I'm fine with that. 

This movie touched me with its aspirational qualities.  Too often, superheroes are really just keepers of the status quo who get involved in senseless fistfights, resulting in tremendous property damage and (presumably) loss of life. There are, of course, battles in this film, but the motivations feel organic and the crises authentic. Is it cheesy to call for a more united world? Is it silly to imagine people working together to fight climate change? 

Maybe what I appreciate most is that Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom isn't cynical; it doesn't try to be profound or gritty. Everything's on the surface--despite the movie being set underwater. 

Say what you will about the uneven quality of the DC Extended Universe films, but the project gave us a handful of good to great movies, and with this one, at least the DCEU ends on a high note.

Earl's Rational Chili

Ingredients:

2 lbs extra lean ground beef
2 cans brown beans
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp salt
2 cans bolognaise sauce
1 can pomodoro sauce
2 cups water
1 green bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 Spanish onion
5 green onions
2 cups shredded cheese
1 cup sour cream

Stir ground beef, beans, bolognaise sauce, pomodoro sauce, and water in a frying pan over high heat until beef is browned. Chop vegetables into small pieces and add to frying pan. Add spices. Stir for another five minutes. 

Put everything in a slow cooker for two hours. Remove and let cool for five minutes; add shredded cheese and sour cream as toppings. Serves 1-25 depending on portion size. 

Dumpster Trio

They're dumpsters, they have no lids, there's no garbage in them. But I like how they look so far--very "urban grime." 
 

Ancient Sentrybot

Here's a sentry bot that's been hanging round for hundreds of years, wandering without purpose. As a result, it's covered in rust and mud and fuel stains. I tried to make the left machine gun barrel look like it was glowing from just having been fired, but alas, the effect isn't terribly convincing. Next time...

 

A Pair of Radscorpions

I get a little freaked out whenever a radscorpion starts chasing me in one of the Fallout games. It makes a horrid chittering noise as it charges, and it skitters in a beeline toward you so fast that before you know it, it's driving its stinger into you, delivering an unhealthy does of lethal poison. Plus, they're just plain ugly. Yuk! 

Painting these was pretty simple; I just primed them in black and drybrushed Dark Reaper over the bodies to create highlights. I spent more time on the bases. 
 

Mirelurk Hunters

Here's a jolly pair of loathsome, clickety-clackety mirelurk hunters. I'm quite pleased with the look of the eyes. 
 

Release the Super Mutant Hounds!

 

Two-Fisted Gunslinging

Can't choose between energy weapons and good old-fashioned slug throwers? Why not pack one in each hand? 

(Recommended for fantasy violence only, of course.) 
 

Taste the Nuka-Rainbow

For some reason I have extra Nuka-Cola vending machines. Rather than paint them all the standard red and white, I decided to paint a few in the livery of different Nula-Cola flavours. 

Left to Right: Nuka-Cola, Nuka-Cherry, Nuka-Grape, Nuka-Cola Victory, Nuka-Cola Quantum, Nuka-Cola Orange, and regular Nuka-Cola again. 

Rocket Launcher

Here's another denizen of the wasteland, all nicely wrapped up in power armour and armed with a rocket launcher, perhaps the second-most weapon in Fallout. I like painting folks in power armor because they're great for experimenting with different colour schemes. 

I painted the parts for these guys while still on the sprues, which makes it much easier to get full coverage and to use different colours for different parts without spilling paint onto surfaces where you don't want it. 
 

Man with a Mini-Nuke

The mini-nuke launcher is one of the most potent weapons in Fallout, and now I have a painted model to carry that power into the battlefield. Kaboom! 

Fury of Dracula Playing Pieces

These Fury of Dracula pieces are about half the size of the 28 to 32 mm figures I usually paint, so the details aren't terribly fine. Still, I think these look okay for what they are, and better than plain grey plastic. 
 

Public Access Terminal

Strictly for the proles, i.e., 99% of us in the dystopian cyberpunk times to come.