Actually there wasn't a lot of yelling. Polite cheers, whoops and applause, yes.

so since I was tagged by like 7 people for this I figured I should probably actually do it xD

1:From all the dolls you own,who is your favorite and why.

without any doubt, Lena.

Lena is my oldest and most significant character.

I'd say that I definitely have days where I favor other dolls as far as who I want to play with, but Lena will always be my favorite.

2:Explain how you managed to get into BJD collecting.

one of my best friends went to an anime convention where junkyspot was vending, and she decided that she wanted one.

when she was waiting for her first doll and after she got him she was sending me tons of pictures and I thought they were really neat and that I'd like to have one but didn't really know what I wanted.

then I realized that I could sort of use them as a way to make my roleplay characters real, so I started to look for a doll that I thought could work for what I wanted and ended up ordering my dollzone aimi in december of '09.

3:Name the very first doll you ever bought.

Like I said above, that was my dollzone aimi.

at the time I had intended her to be Lena, but in the end she just really didn't quite ever fit for me; so I decided to reshell Lena as a minifee ryeon and developed a new character, Livi, for the aimi 'cause I love her to bits even if she didn't work out quite as I'd originally planned.

4:Which doll do you plan to buy next?

well it may sort of depend on a couple of things, but right now I'm planning to try and get my second minifee next.

I'm still not sure exactly what face sculpt I think will work best for the character though 'cause I was thinking karsh, but I'm super indecisive and probably won't actually settle on one until I can actually afford her xD

I'm also lusting hardcore for realpuki pupu, so if he were to become available when I have the money I'm not sure I'd be able to pass him up.

5:Are you currently waiting on any dolls?

nope.

I'm currently pretty broke after purchasing my new camera, so no new dollies for me right now xD

6:How many dolls do you currently have?

I currently have 2 minis, 1 pukifee, 1 pukipuki, 1 floating multihead, and sort of 2 floating yosd size heads that I don't actually have in my possession right now (but I wouldn't say that I'm waiting on them 'cause they weren't purchases)

7:Name the very last doll you bought.

Lena, my minifee ryeon.

and Nomi, my juri multihead came along with her as a free event gift.

8:What is the worst thing about this hobby?

drama.

but I think that's really an issue in any hobby.

9:What is the best thing about this hobby?

the friends that I've made for sure, some of my best friends are people who I've either met or grown closer to through the doll hobby.

also all of the offshoot hobbies that have come from bjd collecting.

I've always sewn, but not as seriously as I do now that I sew for dolls 'cause I guess I've kind of finally found the type of sewing I'm best at, and I've gotten much more into photography of both dolls and other things since I started collecting.

10:Which is your best dolly photo (of yours)

I really don't know.

it kind of changes all the time.

like, currently I'm quite fond of "forever yours.", the photo that I took of Lena and Erin together on saturday.

actually though, I'd be curious to see what you all think my best photo is?

11:Which is your favourite BJD company?

fairyland, as if that wasn't abundantly obvious xD

but I'm also quite fond of pipos and alchemic labo

12:Who are on your wish list?

like I said before, minifee girl of undetermined sculpt to be izzy. realpuki pupu. possibly souldoll lester to be michael, but I'm still holding out hope for more options in that size range. bodies for my floating heads. and I'd really love to have a lusis/minifee hybrid, but I don't know who she'd be so she's not on the priority list xD

13: Are there any dolls you wished you had never purchased?

nope.

I buy dolls because I want them, and even if that want doesn't last and I end up selling them I did still want them at one point so what is there to regret.

14: Who's your favourite face up artists?

well currently I have dolls painted by mendokusai and tsuminaki, so obviously I'm very fond of their work.

I also really love xhanthi's work and would love to have a doll painted by her at some point.

15:What is a must when considering a purchase/pose ability/faceup/age/etc?

pose ability is pretty important to me 'cause I have pretty high standards since both dollzone minis and all fairyland dolls are fantastic posers; but in the end, whether or not the sculpt is what will work best for the character is most important since most of the dolls I have plans for are pre-existing characters of mine that I already have clear pictures of in my head.

and I'm not actually tagging anyone, I'm just tagging the people who tagged me so they actually see my answers.

if you haven't already been tagged by someone to do this and you want to do it then have at it!

via Instagram ift.tt/1oo8m5n

...SONUVA BITCH! (disclaimer; that's actually the only Nazareth song I know). This is "General" Jeremy Mastiff, an old OC of mine and resident SAS badass in my Bloodfall stories. Haven't seen him in a bit but that'll change down the road, don't worry. He's actually inspired/based off of Captain John Price from the COD: Modern Warfare series. I even straight-up used a screenshot of Price to draw this pic. Say what you want about COD, the first Modern Warfare was awesome.

This story actually happened. Claire is not, or ever was, the girl in this story’s name. Other than that, the events are accurately depicted as they occurred.

Claire, an only child, received this antique ring from her Grandmother on her sixteenth birthday. Just two months later her Grandmother passed away unexpectedly. From the Grandmother’s estate, her parents gave Claire a small end cabinet that her Great Uncle, a Free Mason carpenter, had made. It was here, on an old fringed Doily of her Grandmother’s, that Clair kept the antique ring when not being worn for Church or some other fancy dress occasion.

On the morning after her senior prom Clair awoke to find that the ring had vanished from the fringed doily. She definitely remembered taking it off and placing it with the expensive necklace, earrings, and bracelet set her mother had lent her to wear. Her mothers’ jewelry was still there, but not her Grandmother’s ring. The end cabinet was searched; Clair’s room was searched multiple times. The whole house was then searched, and a lost ad was even placed in the local paper. No word or trace of the ring could be found, nor its disappearance explained.

Six years later, after completing her masters at the university, Claire move out of her parents’ house and into an apartment on the other side of town. With her went the old end cabinet and the fringed doily where Clair took off and kept the jewelry she wore on a daily basis when she retired for the evening.

Four years had gone by in the new apartment when Clair received an invitation in the mail to her private girls high school ten year class reunion. It was to be held in conjunction with the same private boy’s school that her class had shared graduation with. The night before the Saturday reunion there was to be a fancy dress dance in reminiscence of her prom. On a lark Claire decided to wear the same satin gown she had worn ten years earlier. When the day before the evening dance came, she stopped at her parents to pull the gown out of mothballs. She even borrowed her Mothers jewels again to wear.

That evening Claire partied deep into the night, finally collapsing into a deep sleep on her bed without even undressing. Late the next morning she woke up, groggy and hung-over. She suddenly startled herself awake when she started to take off her jewelry and discovered it was missing. She looked over at the end cabinet and breathed a sigh of relief, their it was, all laid out, even though she had no memory of removing it. Suddenly a creeping chill ran up along her spine, freezing her on the spot. There, on the fringed doily, surrounded by her mothers’ jewels, was the antique ring belonging to her grandmother that had disappeared mysteriously ten years prior. Claire picked up the sparkling ring and examined it, her hands shaking so bad she nearly dropped it. It was her Grandmothers ring, no doubt of that. Even her mother recognized it as such, but could also offer no credible explanation for the rings reappearance!

Over twenty years have since passed. The ring, when not worn by Claire on special occasions, still spends its time on the aged fringed Doily. It has never shown any sign of going back to wherever it had disappeared to for ten years.

The Whitcraft came through! It's a beauty... Usually, when it comes to the Reds I open, My Wife usually makes this look like she ate a real tannic/rancid grape. She'll say over and over "Kap Kap! Kapkap!!"... Bern, is she crazy??

Anyways, SHE even loved this one; It's not a fruit-bomb, but it had complex, aged characteristics. Wonderful stewed Plum, warm spice aromas...Reminded me of the time my Sister took me to Paris when I was 18, still going to CIA, and took me to Taillevent. She told me to just drink water because the menu(s) she got had no prices on them.. I, in the other hand got them prices, so we sounded like a couple of accountants at that 3michelin table; "How much is Foie Gras du Canard aux Sauternes?".. 'uhhhh, like, a gazzillllion Francs'.

I digress. The wine. Well, they had the Wine list printed on their poster-like menu. It was crazy! They really don't serve great wines by the glass at the time, so my options were; A) Drink water. B) Get half bottle under a 100francs. I convinced my sister that the water tastes funny, and that we should 'live a little', so I excitedly began the process of finding our Demi bottle... Yikes! Almost every selection are way up there; 200+ Francs. I was giving up hope, when out of nowwhere, like a superhero....... The Sommelier was at our side. He gave a glance at us for a split second, and knew these baby-faced Japanese tourists have neveer EVVVVVEER been to a fine dining establishment, let alone a 3 Michelin Parisienne Restaurant. This IS TAILLEVANT, dude!( He didn't say 'Dude', obviously)

Anyways, he points with his shiny Mont Blanc pen to his winelist and gently explains to the young Asian hillbilly-kids, 'Moisseur, eh we have some Nuit St. Georges for Demi boutilles, eh Perhaps a Chinon, ah Arbois..what are you planning to have for lunch?' The first one, the St.Georgia thingy sounded familiar and atleast I could pronounce the damn thing(?!), so we ended up ordering that.

The bottle said 1985 .. I honestly can't remember the rest.. The Sommelier opens the wine gracefully, examines the mold covered cork, smells it-squeeze it... Then he passed it to us. Then he takes the wine away...??? We were staring at the molding cork dumbfounded, like a couple of monkeys looking at a unplugged playstation, wondering when it will 'start'. In the corner of the room, I see our superhero pouring a few ounces into some silver ornament( Tastevin) that he's wearing like Flavaflav. WTF? He be drinkin' our Vino!? Moments later, the Supah Sommelier with the silver bling comes back to us, besides our table with a trolly, and a big Chemistry-set-flask thing, propped up on a 45degree angle, a slanted shiny funnel, candle underneath, tweezers and cloth. My sister looked at me like to say, "WHAT DID YOU ORDER, ASSHOLE?", I give the look back, " NO IDEA-DUDE, JUST GO WITH IT!"

The Sommelier begins to slowly pour our wine through the silver funnel, all the while having a candle underneath. The time it took for him to finish this bizarre ritual seemed like an eternity! My sister and I wondered if we should start singing or clapping or what, but before we knew it, the Wineguy says 'Haaa~ Voila!".. 'Pssst. I think he's done. he said', houlaah'.

He places in front of us the BIGGEST, Tall-as-the-Eiffel wine glasses in front of us, and poured me a shot first. I waited for him to pour my sister too, afterall, SHE'S PAYING!!~(Sucker). No. He is waiting for something. ?!..???..!?!?! Without sounding like a pompous prick, but like a father, gently telling his kids not to pull daddy's moustache- it hurts,..... "Moisseur, would uuur, care to taste dux wine?" Oh. Oh, then why don't ya say so? I nervously try swirling the wine in the fish aquarium-like wine glass, but not working. Screw it. Let me 'snifff',... Oh my god! "What's in HERE??", I almost shouted out of excitement. I never smelled anything so, great- Like Cherries, jam, plum, and bunch of other aromas that I could not register in my little brain. "Iz everyzsing, okeh? It's.. Badde???", the Sommelier had a look of disbelief. "It's just smells sooo good!" Drink up ya hillbilly!, When I did. The flavors that hit my tongue just made me smile.. Unbelivable! It was soooo good! That must have been the best thing I ever tasted in my life, and it's only the Wine! The Bread, let alone the Amuse Bouche hasn't even arrived yet. "You like??".. 'I~ LOVE!! OUI'.. My sister looks at me and shakes her head, 'You're retarded'. Thanx

Loooooooooong story short, this Pinot has the same characterists as that 85 Nuit St.Georges that my sister and I shared for lunch at Taillevent in 1995. Isn't it amazing how one bottle, one taste, could transcend you back into another time/dimention?

Memories~

Actually called a fancy dance. Click to enlarge!

Somewhere in Delhi.

Actually this train was going the other way, but I was surprised to see San Diego just added a few trains that are the same style that we have in Houston.

Actually on this bed the last homeless resident of the manor spent his nights.

Actually there wasn't any wind..! For some reason all the trees on the Down grow like this, as you can see from the ones in the background.

Dolls in photo (from left to right):

-1985 Barbie and the Rockers

-1977 Fashion Photo Barbie

-1981 Fashion Jeans Barbie

-1994 Tropical Splash Barbie

Rocker Barbie has the most ornate earrings of the collage. This is actually her second pair that I made her. After being decapitated for months, because I kept forgetting or putting off fixing her neck, I thought that Miss Barbie deserved some new bling. But I really did still like the way that her old pair coordinated with the style/colors of her outfit. So I took them apart, made two more strands of seed beads, and designed "shooting star" earrings with them. These star beads came from a small $2 pack from Wal-Mart, and I just love everything about them. I also paired the stars with small silver beads, to match the silver polka dots on her jacket. So her earrings are fuller and more eye catching now than her original pair. But the colors still coordinate just as well with her 80s themed concert attire. Barbie seems to like her new earrings...although she still isn't happy about how long it took me to fix her neck (can't say I blame her).

The other three pairs of earrings in this collage are all pretty simple, and I happened to make them at the same time. For Fashion Photo Barbie, I wanted groovy mod earrings to go with the Best Buy fashion pack she wears. What says 70s more than loudly colored wooden beads? For Fashion Jeans Barbie, I really wanted to make earrings that matched her statement fuzzy sweater. I happened to have these bulbous light pink beads, from a deconstructed necklace, that fit the bill. I've used them frequently--if you just look around my "Handmade Doll Earrings" album, you'll see a lot of these beads in collages. I also added some dark, navy blue crystals to compliment her jeans, and to give her a bit more class/sophistication. And last but not least is Tropical Splash Barbie. I LOVE making Tropical Splash earrings because their factory ones are so huge and obnoxious, so it makes me feel even more inspired to make bulky, gaudy earrings. However, this Barbie doesn't have her original swimsuit, so she instead wears a random fashion pack. So I decided to make those gaudy earrings to match this fashion pack...and if she gets her original swimsuit at a later date, I'll just make a new pair of earrings. The outfit she currently wears is a bright orange color with neon green trim and yellow details. So I just picked out my largest, most extravagant orange and green beads and paired them together, and topped them off with little yellow glass beads. I think these earrings are so vivacious, despite their simple design!

"Designing Mobile Games That Actually Get Kids Mobile

Nis Bojin, Ph.D. | Senior Product Designer, Zeros 2 Heroes Media

Location: Room 2001, West Hall

Date: Monday, March 2

Time: 11:15am - 11:40am"

This is actually a BIG decoration that hangs on one of our fences! :)

For our friends that don't know:

Mardi Gras, or "Fat Tuesday", is the last day of the Carnival season as it always falls the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Celebrations will go on until midnight of Fat Tuesday.

Like Easter, Mardi Gras is not a set date. This year, it falls on Feb. 12th.

Look through the mask LARGE

actually, the Big Smiley Face is at Storyland, an amusement park in New Hampshire. surprisingly, given the rather high mortality rate of amusement parks, it is still a going concern apparently. in color, glitzed-up for the modern world, it doesn't look half as inviting as it does in these old photos. i suppose the kids still have fun. the rides are faster, with added CGI wizardry. sad, to this old fogey.

Actually taken with ZM C sonnar 50 @ 1.5 on Leica M

Relief, or relievo rilievo, is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb relevo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane. What is actually performed when a relief is cut in from a flat surface of stone (relief sculpture) or wood (relief carving) is a lowering of the field, leaving the unsculpted parts seemingly raised. The technique involves considerable chiselling away of the background, which is a time-consuming exercise. On the other hand, a relief saves forming the rear of a subject, and is less fragile and more securely fixed than a sculpture in the round, especially one of a standing figure where the ankles are a potential weak point, especially in stone. In other materials such as metal, clay, plaster stucco, ceramics or papier-mache the form can be just added to or raised up from the background, and monumental bronze reliefs are made by casting. There are different degrees of relief depending on the degree of projection of the sculpted form from the field, for which the Italian appellations are still sometimes used. The full range includes high relief (alto-rilievo), where more than 50% of the depth is shown and there may be undercut areas, mid-relief (mezzo-rilievo), low-relief (basso-rilievo, or French: bas-relief /ˌbɑːrɪˈliːf/), and shallow-relief or rilievo schiacciato, where the plane is scarcely more than scratched in order to remove background material. There is also sunk relief, which was mainly restricted to Ancient Egypt. However the distinction between high relief and low relief is the clearest and most important, and these two are generally the only terms used to discuss most work. The definition of these terms is somewhat variable, and many works combine areas in more than one of them, sometimes sliding between them in a single figure; accordingly some writers prefer to avoid all distinctions. The opposite of relief sculpture is counter-relief, intaglio, or cavo-rilievo, where the form is cut into the field or background rather than rising from it; this is very rare in monumental sculpture.

Reliefs are common throughout the world on the walls of buildings and a variety of smaller settings, and a sequence of several panels or sections of relief may represent an extended narrative. Relief is more suitable for depicting complicated subjects with many figures and very active poses, such as battles, than free-standing "sculpture in the round". Most ancient architectural reliefs were originally painted, which helped to define forms in low relief. The subject of reliefs is for convenient reference assumed in this article to be usually figures, but sculpture in relief often depicts decorative geometrical or foliage patterns, as in the arabesques of Islamic art, and may be of any subject.

Rock reliefs are those carved into solid rock in the open air (if inside caves, whether natural or man-made, they are more likely to be called "rock-cut"). This type is found in many cultures, in particular those of the Ancient Near East and Buddhist countries. A stela is a single standing stone; many of these carry reliefs.

TYPES

The distinction between high and low relief is somewhat subjective, and the two are very often combined in a single work. In particular, most later "high reliefs" contain sections in low relief, usually in the background. From the Parthenon Frieze onwards, many single figures have heads in high relief, but their lower legs are in low relief; the slightly projecting figures created in this way work well in reliefs that are seen from below (see Moissac portal in gallery). As unfinished examples from various periods show, raised reliefs, whether high or low, were normally "blocked out" by marking the outline of the figure and reducing the background areas to the new background level, work no doubt performed by apprentices (see gallery). Hyphens may or may not be used in all these terms, though they are rarely seen in "sunk relief" and are usual in "bas-relief" and "counter-relief". Works in the technique are described as "in relief", and, especially in monumental sculpture, the work itself is "a relief".

BAS RELIEF OR LOW RELIEF

A bas-relief ("low relief", from the Italian basso rilievo) or low relief is a projecting image with a shallow overall depth, for example used on coins, on which all images are in low relief. In the lowest reliefs the relative depth of the elements shown is completely distorted, and if seen from the side the image makes no sense, but from the front the small variations in depth register as a three-dimensional image. Other versions distort depth much less. It is a technique which requires less work, and is therefore cheaper to produce, as less of the background needs to be removed in a carving, or less modelling is required. In the art of Ancient Egypt and other ancient Near Eastern and Asian cultures, and also Meso-America, a very low relief was commonly used for the whole composition. These images would all be painted after carving, which helped to define the forms; today the paint has worn off in the great majority of surviving examples, but minute, invisible remains of paint can usually be discovered through chemical means.

The Ishtar Gate of Babylon, now in Berlin, has low reliefs of large animals formed from moulded bricks, glazed in colour. Plaster was sometimes used in Egypt and Rome, and probably elsewhere, but needs very good conditions to survive – Roman decorative plasterwork is mainly known from Pompeii and other sites buried by ash from Mount Vesuvius. Low relief was relatively rare in Western medieval art, but may be found, for example in wooden figures or scenes on the insides of the folding wings of multi-panel altarpieces.

Low relief is probably the most common type of relief found in Hindu-Buddhist arts of India and Southeast Asia. The low reliefs of 2nd-century BCE to 6th-century CE Ajanta Caves and 5th to 10th-century Ellora Caves in India are noted for they were carved out from rock-cut hill. They are probably the most exquisite examples of Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain arts in India. Most of these low reliefs are used in narrating sacred scriptures, such as those founds in 9th century Borobudur temple in Central Java, Indonesia, that narrating The birth of Buddha (Lalitavistara). Borobudur itself possess 1,460 panels of narrating low reliefs. Another example is low reliefs narrating Ramayana Hindu epic in Prambanan temple, also in Java. In Cambodia, the temples of Angkor are also remarkable for their collection of low reliefs. The Samudra manthan or "Churning of Ocean of Milk" of 12th-century Angkor Wat is an example of Khmer art. Another examples are low reliefs of Apsaras adorned the walls and pillars of Angkorian temples. The low reliefs of Bayon temple in Angkor Thom also remarkable on capturing the daily life of Khmer Empire.

The revival of low relief, which was seen as a classical style, begins early in the Renaissance; the Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini, a pioneering classicist building, designed by Leon Battista Alberti around 1450, uses low reliefs by Agostino di Duccio inside and on the external walls. Since the Renaissance plaster has been very widely used for indoor ornamental work such as cornices and ceilings, but in the 16th century it was used for large figures (many also using high relief) at the Chateau of Fontainebleau, which were imitated more crudely elsewhere, for example in the Elizabethan Hardwick Hall.

In later Western art, until a 20th-century revival, low relief was used mostly for smaller works or combined with higher relief to convey a sense of distance, or to give depth to the composition, especially for scenes with many figures and a landscape or architectural background, in the same way that lighter colours are used for the same purpose in painting. Thus figures in the foreground are sculpted in high-relief, those in the background in low-relief. Low relief may use any medium or technique of sculpture, stone carving and metal casting being most common. Large architectural compositions all in low relief saw a revival in the 20th century, being popular on buildings in Art Deco and related styles, which borrowed from the ancient low reliefs now available in museums. Some sculptors, including Eric Gill, have adopted the "squashed" depth of low relief in works that are actually free-standing.

Mid-relief, "half-relief" or mezzo-rilievo is somewhat imprecisely defined, and the term is not often used in English, the works usually being described as low relief instead. The typical traditional definition is that only up to half of the subject projects, and no elements are undercut or fully disengaged from the background field. The depth of the elements shown is normally somewhat distorted. Shallow-relief or rilievo stiacciato, used for the background areas of compositions with the main elements in low-relief, was perfected by the Italian Renaissance sculptor Donatello. It is a very shallow relief, which merges into engraving in places, and can be hard to read in photographs.

HIGH RELIEF

High relief (or altorilievo, from Italian) is where in general more than half the mass of the sculpted figure projects from the background, indeed the most prominent elements of the composition, especially heads and limbs, are often completely undercut, detaching them from the field. The parts of the subject that are seen are normally depicted at their full depth, unlike low relief where the elements seen are "squashed" flatter. High-relief thus uses essentially the same style and techniques as free-standing sculpture, and in the case of a single figure gives largely the same view as a person standing directly in front of a free-standing statue would have. All cultures and periods in which large sculptures were created used this technique in monumental sculpture and architecture.

Most of the many grand figure reliefs in Ancient Greek sculpture used a very "high" version of high-relief, with elements often fully free of the background, and parts of figures crossing over each other to indicate depth. The metopes of the Parthenon have largely lost their fully rounded elements, except for heads, showing the advantages of relief in terms of durability. High relief has remained the dominant form for reliefs with figures in Western sculpture, also being common in Indian temple sculpture. Smaller Greek sculptures such as private tombs, and smaller decorative areas such as friezes on large buildings, more often used low relief.

Hellenistic and Roman sarcophagus reliefs were cut with a drill rather than chisels, enabling and encouraging compositions extremely crowded with figures, like the Ludovisi Battle sarcophagus (250–260 CE). These are also seen in the enormous strips of reliefs that wound round Roman triumphal columns. The sarcophagi in particular exerted a huge influence on later Western sculpture. The European Middle Ages tended to use high relief for all purposes in stone, though like Ancient Roman sculpture their reliefs were typically not as high as in Ancient Greece. Very high relief reemerged in the Renaissance, and was especially used in wall-mounted funerary art and later on Neo-classical pediments and public monuments.

In Hindu-Buddhist art of India and Southeast Asia high relief can also be found, although it is not as common as low reliefs. Most of Hindu-Buddhist sculptures however also can be considered as a high relief, since these sculptures usually connected to a stella as the background to support the statue as well as provides additional elements such as aura or halo in the back of sculpture's head, or floral decoration. The examples of Indian high reliefs can be found in Khajuraho temple, that displaying voluptuous twisting figures that often describes the erotic Kamasutra positions. In 9th-century Prambanan temple, Central Java, the examples are the high reliefs of Lokapala devatas, the guardian of directions deities.

SUNK RELIEF

Sunk or sunken relief is largely restricted to the art of Ancient Egypt where it is very common, becoming after the Amarna period of Ahkenaten the dominant type used, as opposed to low relief. It had been used earlier, but mainly for large reliefs on external walls, and for hieroglyphs and cartouches. The image is made by cutting the relief sculpture itself into a flat surface. In a simpler form the images are usually mostly linear in nature, like hieroglyphs, but in most cases the figure itself is in low relief, but set within a sunken area shaped round the image, so that the relief never rises beyond the original flat surface. In some cases the figures and other elements are in a very low relief that does not rise to the original surface, but others are modeled more fully, with some areas rising to the original surface. This method minimizes the work removing the background, while allowing normal relief modelling.

The technique is most successful with strong sunlight to emphasise the outlines and forms by shadow, as no attempt was made to soften the edge of the sunk area, leaving a face at a right-angle to the surface all around it. Some reliefs, especially funerary monuments with heads or busts from ancient Rome and later Western art, leave a "frame" at the original level around the edge of the relief, or place a head in a hemispherical recess in the block (see Roman example in gallery). Though essentially very similar to Egyptian sunk relief, but with a background space at the lower level around the figure, the term would not normally be used of such works.

COUNTER RELIEF

Sunk relief technique is not to be confused with "counter-relief" or intaglio as seen on engraved gem seals - where an image is fully modeled in a "negative" manner. The image goes into the surface, so that when impressed on wax it gives an impression in normal relief. However many engraved gems were carved in cameo or normal relief.

A few very late Hellenistic monumental carvings in Egypt use full "negative" modelling as though on a gem seal, perhaps as sculptors trained in the Greek tradition attempted to use traditional Egyptian conventions.

SMALL OBJECTS

Small-scale reliefs have been carved in various materials, notably ivory, wood, and wax. Reliefs are often found in decorative arts such as ceramics and metalwork; these are less often described as "reliefs" than as "in relief". Small bronze reliefs are often in the form of "plaques" or plaquettes, which may be set in furniture or framed, or just kept as they are, a popular form for European collectors, especially in the Renaissance.

Various modelling techniques are used, such repoussé ("pushed-back") in metalwork, where a thin metal plate is shaped from behind using various metal or wood punches, producing a relief image. Casting has also been widely used in bronze and other metals. Casting and repoussé are often used in concert in to speed up production and add greater detail to the final relief. In stone, as well as engraved gems, larger hardstone carvings in semi-precious stones have been highly prestigious since ancient times in many Eurasian cultures. Reliefs in wax were produced at least from the Renaissance.

Carved ivory reliefs have been used since ancient times, and because the material, though expensive, cannot usually be reused, they have a relatively high survival rate, and for example consular diptychs represent a large proportion of the survivals of portable secular art from Late Antiquity. In the Gothic period the carving of ivory reliefs became a considerable luxury industry in Paris and other centres. As well as small diptychs and triptychs with densely packed religious scenes, usually from the New Testament, secular objects, usually in a lower relief, were also produced.

These were often round mirror-cases, combs, handles, and other small items, but included a few larger caskets like the Casket with Scenes of Romances (Walters 71264) in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States. Originally there were very often painted in bright colours. Reliefs can be impressed by stamps onto clay, or the clay pressed into a mould bearing the design, as was usual with the mass-produced terra sigillata of Ancient Roman pottery. Decorative reliefs in plaster or stucco may be much larger; this form of architectural decoration is found in many styles of interiors in the post-Renaissance West, and in Islamic architecture.

WIKIPEDIA

Better Versions of what I already had up. Several people asked for them. :)

Shown here are two versions of the Jewelry box with the open pink (coral) one having a chibi Sailor Moon on the top as the featured character (which can be seen through the open lid.

Inside are the enamel rings and pins which is something I finally figured out what to do after having put them all on my fingers. Up till then I'd been finding it impossible to get a picture of the rings since being round they didn't want to stay where I put them. This worked well as it shows just how roomy a small box can be.

There is a Jupiter ring that seems to want to be on her own... Mercury went looking for her elsewhere in my stream.

Also shown here in the bottom of the open box is a lapel pin of Rini, (Chibi Usa) and in the top left is a Sailor Mercury candy premium from Morinaga Caramels.

~~

All these (and more) need new homes as I'm going to a different country for an extended stay soon so send me a Flickr Mail message (access through the arrow that appears near my profile photo when mousing over it) if interested.

Actually, many, many more times blessed. But I do, in particular, feel incredibly blessed to live in a home graced by these two beauties.

I've written accolades about sweet Vidalia's amazing personality already. She is simply amazing at welcoming and socializing the rescues that come and go from our home, but today as I watched Vidalia, Curio, and Pandora enjoy a group bath in the sun, I knew I hadn't said enough positives about the remarkable Curio. Curio also welcomes others, and he will happily bathe anyone presenting a body part in front of his face. Sure, he is a bit of Stinker the way he likes to entertain himself at the expense of the older ladies, but Curio really isn't interested in heirarchy. He's more of a 60's cat, fun-loving and carefree. And Curio will happily cuddle with anyone.

Our multiple-critter home runs beautifully, in part, due to these two beauties.

We are so very blessed.

[SOOC, f/2.8, ISO 100, shutter speed 1/250, -2/3 EV]

Actually it turned into a heavy rain before I got home. I was almost finished, but decided it would have to do. The trees on this side of the street are all gone, the new brick sidewalk is done and the awnings on the front of the stores are back. A new brightly colored front adorns each building and new light poles are up. The owners of the block across the street have cajoled the city fathers and their trees will not be cut, but I wonder what all of the digging is going to do to the root systems. Will they live? I'll let you know.

Actually, it just goes to prove that alligators really aren't green but they give it their all. Covered in duckweed - and smiling about it.

Although the airfield is actually closer to the village of Langham, it was given the name Boxted, an adjoining village, because there was already an airfield by the name of Langham in north Norfolk.

Boxted was built as a heavy bomber base and was opened in 1943. It was built to the Class A airfield standard set by the Air Ministry, the main feature of which was a set of three converging runways each containing a concrete runway for takeoffs and landings, optimally placed at 60 degree angles to each other in a triangular pattern. Boxted's main runway was 6,000 feet long on a SW-NE axis (01/19) and the two intersecting runways were 4,200 feet each in length (05/23), (16/34). There were fifty hardstands, chiefly loops but with some frying-pan types connecting to an enclosing perimeter track, of a standard width of 50 feet. Tarmac and wood chips were applied to the concrete surface and Mark 11 airfield lighting was installed for the main runway.

The ground support station was constructed largely of Nissen huts of various sizes. The support station was where the group and ground station commanders and squadron headquarters and orderly rooms were located. Also on the ground station were where the mess facilities; chapel; hospital; mission briefing and debriefing; armory and bombsite storage; life support; parachute rigging; supply warehouses; station and airfield security; motor pool and the other ground support functions necessary to support the air operations of the group. These facilities were all connected by a network of single path support roads.

The technical site, connected to the ground station and airfield consisted of two T-2 type hangars, one on the south and one on the west side of the airfield. A single blister hangar was erected which occupied a dispersal area at the northern end of the airfield, which used a farmhouse as its administrative and headquarters building. Various organizational, component and field maintenance shops along with the crew chiefs and other personnel necessary to keep the aircraft airworthy and to quickly repair light and moderate battle damage. Aircraft severely damaged in combat were sent to repair depots for major structural repair. The Ammunition dump was located on the east side of the airfield, outside of the perimeter track surrounded by large dirt mounds and concrete storage pens for storing the aerial bombs and the other munitions required by the combat aircraft.

Various domestic accommodation sites were constructed dispersed south of the airfield, but within a mile or so of the technical support site, also using clusters of Maycrete or Nissen huts. The Huts were either connected, set up end-to-end or built singly and made of prefabricated corrugated iron with a door and two small windows at the front and back. They provided accommodation for 2.841 personnel, including communal and a sick quarters.

USAAF use

The airfield was used by the United States Army Air Force Eighth Air Force and Ninth Air Forces. It was known as USAAF Station AAF-150 for security reasons by the USAAF during the war, and by which it was referred to instead of location. It's USAAF Station Code was "BX".

386th Bombardment Group (Medium)

Although Boxted was scheduled to receive the 96th Bombardment Group in June 1943, plans were changed and the B-17 Flying Fortress group went instead to RAF Snetterton Heath in Norfolk. In its place, the 386th Bombardment Group (Medium) was moved from Snetterton on 12 June to consolidate the Martin B-26 Marauder groups in Essex for operations. The group was assigned to the VIII Bomber Command 3d Bomb Wing and flew both B-26B/C Marauder aircraft. Its operational squadrons were:

552d Bomb Squadron (RG)

553d Bomb Squadron (AN)

554th Bomb Squadron (RU)

555th Bomb Squadron (YA)

The group flew its first mission on 20 July, with operations concentrating on airfields but also attacked marshalling yards and gun positions along the channel coast.

The group was transferred to RAF Great Dunmow on 24 September 1943.

354th Fighter Group

Construction work at Boxted was not finished until late 1943 when the airfield was turned over to the Ninth Air Force for use by the first fighter group to be equipped with the P-51B Mustang. However, the 354th Fighter Group, was under the operational control of the VIII Fighter Command during its stay at Boxted, arriving from RAF Greenham Common on 13 November 1943 Its combat squadrons were:

353d Fighter Squadron (FT)

355th Fighter Squadron (GQ)

356th Fighter Squadron (AJ)

The group provided long-range escort for US heavy bombers and received a Distinguished Unit Citation for its activities up to mid-May 1944 during which the 354th was instrumental in the development of the P-51 for use in long-range missions to escort heavy bombers on raids deep into enemy territory. As a result, priority for the Mustang was shifted from the Ninth to the Eighth Air Force, which converted 14 of its 15 fighter groups to the P-51. The 354th also gained the distinction of destroying more enemy aircraft in aerial combat than any other USAAF fighter group (701).

During that same period Colonel James H Howard won the Medal of Honor for his single-handed efforts to defend a bomber formation that was attacked by a large force of enemy planes while on a mission to Oschersleben, Germany on 11 January 1944. Colonel Howard attacked a formation of thirty German aircraft. Pressing home the attack for more than thirty minutes he destroyed three aircraft and. even when he was low on fuel and his ammunition was exhausted, he continued his aggressive tactics to protect the bombers.

In mid-April 1944, the 354th flew south to RAF Lashenden in Kent prior to moving to the Continent after the invasion of Normandy.

56th Fighter Group

With the departure of the 354th, its place was taken by the 56th Fighter Group which was transferred from RAF Halesworth on 19 April 1944 to enable that base to be converted to a heavy bomber installation. Its operational squadrons were:

61st Fighter Squadron (HV)

62d Fighter Squadron (LM)

63d Fighter Squadron (UN)

Flying the P-47 Thunderbolt, the 56th Fighter Group was the most successful of the Eighth Air Force groups in air-to-air combat, and the second most successful in the USAAF with 665.5 (the 354th FG had 701 while the Pacific-based 49th FG had 664). It engaged in counter-air and interdictory missions during the invasion of Normandy in June 1944. Supported Allied forces for the breakthrough at St Lo in July. Participated in the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944-January 1945. Helped to defend the Remagen bridgehead against air attacks in March 1945.

While at Boxted, the group received a Distinguished Unit Citation for strikes against antiaircraft positions while supporting the airborne attack on Holland on September 18, 1944, an operation in which 16 P-47s were shot down or crashlanded in Allied territory.

The commander of the 61st FS, Lieutenant Colonel Francis Gabreski, destroyed his 28th enemy aircraft in air combat, a record unequalled by any American fighter pilot in Europe. On 20 July 1944, Gabreski had to make a belly landing in his P-47 Thunderbolt after his propellor clipped the ground while strafing an airfield near Koblenz, Germany. Although he avoided capture for five days before being finally arrested and interrogated by the Germans, he was greeted with the words: 'Hello Gabby, we've been waiting for you for a long time!'

The unit flew its last combat mission on 21 April 1945. After the war ended two unusual aircraft could be seen at Boxted - an FW-190A and an He-111H which had been 'acquired' by the 56th on the Continent to be used as personal transport.

The 56th remained at Boxted until October when it returned to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, being deactivated on 18 October 1945.

5th Emergency Rescue Squadron.

Originally designated as Detachment B of the 65th Fighter Wing, the 5th Emergency Rescue Squadron was activated at Boxted in May 1944. The squadron's mission was to perform air/sea rescue missions with war weary P-47 Thunderbolts transferred from other fighter groups. The squadron's fuselage code was "5F".

The aircraft were modified to carry dinghies, marker buoys and flares on their bomb racks. The mission of the unit was to locate pilots who had bailed out over the North Sea and would drop liferafts and inform sea-based rescue units who would then pick up the pilots.

The unit moved to RAF Halesworth in January 1945.

RAF Fighter Command use.

After the war, Boxted was taken over by RAF Fighter Command and used at first by de Havilland Mosquito night fighters and then, in 1946, by a Gloster Meteor jet squadron No. 234. By the end of that year, the flying units had moved on and work had begun on resurfacing the main runway.

However in view of its proximity to Colchester, over which the main runway approach lay, the Air Ministry decided to abandon plans to make Boxted a permanent fighter aerodrome and the work was never completed. It was closed on August 9, 1947.

Civil Use.

With the end of military control, Boxted was briefly used for private flying but very little now remains on this site to identify it as a wartime airfield. The airfield was sold in 1963 and during the 1960s the runways, perimeter track and dispersal hardstands were removed.

Today, only a ghostly outline of the airfield remains with single lane far roads as the airfield has almost been completely returned to agriculture. The control tower has been demolished and a cluster of Nissen Huts remain on the south side of the airfield close to Langham Lodge.

A grass airstrip (04/22) has been built over the north end of the former wartime main runway, with a small amount of wartime concrete at the entrance along Park Lane. The Northern side of the Airfield is being redeveloped into a housing estate.

Actually this is just a common merganser.....a tad green because of the reflection off of the pond and trees.

...Actually they are all equalists..

Actually this is a Meal Moth (Pyralis farinalis) - 25 miles west of "The City" NYC

Dah Wife was headin' out the door for "The City" when she came runnin' back in shouting (OK, maybe walkin' and just talkin' loud), that she had spotted a "Horned moth" next to the garage door button. I went out to check it out and found that it was not a "horned" moth, and much more likely just a horny one!

You can't see it in these stills, but its little butt was pulsating, very likely puffing out pheromones with every pulse. Under good light it was a nicely colored little guy (about 4 or 5 mm, ¼ - ½ inch), so I made a number of captures.

Like I said this guy was tiny so the rig was a 100 mm macro, 60mm of extension tubes and a 1.4 TC. I also taped a white reference next to it, but that turned out to be unnecessary since the white lines in the wings worked nicely as a reference.

My thanks to Joe for the ID.

Joe also told me that these guys like sunflower seeds, so that explains what it was doin' in my garage!

Actually, this isn´t a bird photo. Just an experiment to paint with camera. Thought I have enough naturalistic Barnacles in my album to play with them occasionally. Hope it doesn´t bother you.

Estonia 2015 October

See more Geese in my album Swans and Geese

Shot taken at G.Liner Taytay terminal

You may recall last summer that I realized I was very much the "tenderfoot" and spent a number of evenings walking barefoot around the neighborhood. I also wore my "pain" shoes poking staples into my sole as I walked. But this summer I had been busy with other things and had only taken a few barefoot walks.

While on a mini-vacation in upstate New York, I hiked to the top of a mountain (only a few hundred feet, there was a road most of the way up, but that few hundred feet was a difficult rocky climb). And there is this husband and wife who hadn't paid attention to the "sturdy footwear recommended" sign and were climbing barefoot. They had both started with flip-flops and discovered they weren't "sturdy". They made it to the top, and that reminded me, I really needed to toughen my soles.

Shortly after I got back, I started wearing my "barefoot" shoes, most often my Asics wrestling shoes which had lost their soles to powder a couple of years ago, but also my older Nike white canvas wrestling shoes which lost their soles years ago, and my Capezio jazz shoes, on which most of the soles wore away, also years ago.

I wore them all day, every day for a month, shopping, to work, on long walks, everywhere. I then took a brief break of a couple of weeks, mostly to be able to photo some of the "new" shoes I had recently acquired. And now, I'm back wearing the barefoot shoes, at least until the weather gets too chilly.

I've made progress, but still need a lot more callus to reach my goal. The "yard" around the building where I work is filled with crushed stone, with sharp edges. When I started this exercise, I couldn't bear to stand barefoot on the stone more than a few seconds, let alone walk on it. I'm now to the point I can actually walk around on it, slowly and not at all comfortably. The sharp edges of the stones still hurt my feet.

My goal is to be able to walk barefoot on those stones without pain, just as I can with shoes on.

Actually, it was the light that struck me.

Just a photo dump of observations in my neighbourhood

actually it's not a 6x12, it's 5 135 spliced together, hand held w/o a tripod

Leica M6

Nokton

Actually it is a DVD player in my room

Love Actually (2003)

Un film di Richard Curtis. Con Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Keira Knightley, Martine McCutcheon, Bill Nighy, Rowan Atkinson, Denise Richards, Billy Bob Thornton, Elisha Cuthbert, Rodrigo Santoro, Laura Linney, Martin Freeman.

I do not actually know the name of this palace, as it was closed by the time we got there, but this is just the gate to get in so you can imagine what the palace must look like! I will go back and get in just didnt happen this time..

We spent the entire day in Seoul (Capitol of Korea) pretty much just finding things to do with no plan!

It was awesome and we found so many sweet places.. I wish you could have been there Ashley! :(

See the rest of the shots from our day here

tagged! actually a mostly attainable list I think, apart from the live concert one :P

(It's my birthday in December too so I'm hoping the Olympus wish will come true!)

1. Olympus XZ1, 2. Marzipan, 3. rinne, 4. coffee break, 5. {Barth Home}, 6. 272, 7. 8081, 8. Cocteau Twins In Concert, 9. 6pm

Lăng xê đê :))

Photo: Cẩm Anh

Edit: T.i

actually it was my first walk out with my new canon 6d and I am pretty happy with the results

This isn't actually Gal Gadot.

What? Really? You were pretty sure about that to begin with?

The Mezco One:12 line is a relatively new toy line, popping up in recent years as a response to the various 1/6 figure companies becoming more and more expensive. Most of them retail for $80 USD, though of course there are probably come con exception.

Now, through the years I've read reviews of various figures, but never bought any due to the fact none of the characters were particularly appealing to me, and I had missed the Armoured Batman from the BvS movie.

I had ALMOST actually bought Wonder Woman here over Christmas during the Boxing Week sale at the Silver Snail, but held out, thinking that my $100 + tax would be better used towards what I thought was going my inaugural analysis, Hela, which still hasn't materialized yet.

Mezco, as far as I'm aware, is an American company. I don't typically purchase American toys, with the exception of Transformers, so I had no idea what to expect, though I know enough that in general that my expectations should be tempered as compared to Figma, Figuarts, or even the Storm Collectibles stuff.

At any rate, enough preamble - lets get on with the show. As this is my first One:12 product, I'm going to be whining about everything.

So the exterior box is shipped protected by various plastic tags and sheets to protect against scratching. The actual packaging itself was fairly functional, consisting of an inner windowed box with a slip cover. Graphics are clean and bright, though somewhat simplistic compared to the Hot Toys, Medicom, hell even the Figuarts and Figma boxes, though that glossy image of what I think is the Mezco logo is quite nice.

Actual cardboard is pretty average quality, being fairly lightweight with a natural matte finish. I understand that the convention exclusives and other more uncommon figures come in a metal tin, which reminds me very much of those metal tins you get Mooncakes in.

The actual contents of the box are mostly spelled out on the back of the box: the figure, an alternative head, four additional hands, coiled and uncoiled lasso, her Godkiller Sword, her shield, a base with arm for dynamic posing, as well as a Figma styled plastic bag for holding the various loose goodies in.

Actual cardboard is pretty average quality, being fairly lightweight with a natural matte finish. I understand that the convention exclusives and other more uncommon figures come in a metal tin, which reminds me very much of those metal tins you get Mooncakes in.

The actual contents of the box are mostly spelled out on the back of the box: the figure, an alternative head, four additional hands, coiled and uncoiled lasso, her Godkiller Sword, her shield, a base with arm for dynamic posing, as well as a Figma styled plastic bag for holding the various loose goodies in.

The figure is, as one would guess, a 1/12 figure, putting it roughly 6 inches high. The only other competition the Mezco figure has is that Mafex BvS Wonder Woman that I picked up last year. I'll make this as painless as possible - with the exception of one factor, albeit a very important one, the Mezco destroys the Mafex I own.

Off the bat, I'd like to note that with the exception of the very fine detailing on her face and maybe some smaller metallic features, the overall paint work is actually pretty good. No areas where overspray caused me to gawk, nor was there any areas with obviously poor masking or line work, though I will admit that the lines on her bracers come awfully close. Her skin tone is a bit on the bronze side, which can make photographing her using yellow lighting challenging.

It goes without saying that the work here is significantly better than that of your Marvel Legends figures, and probably even the Black series stuff. Of course, these do cost almost 4 times as much.

Her sword is seems about the right length and girth, but the shield is definitely smaller than what the prototype picture on the box itself shows.

Grasping hands were all of a soft rubber which is easily malleable, allowing for easy manipulation to hold the sword without fear of constant breakage. Fingers look kind of muddled on these hands, and there are concerns on my mind about overall longevity of painted rubber parts (i.e. the split head on my Microman Chun Li) but only time will actually address that.

One of the key selling points of the One:12 line are the tailored outfits that the characters wear. Wonder Woman, unfortunately, really only has fabric skirt, and as such, much like the Hot Toys version, her armour is a moulded and painted piece of plastic.

The bracers and her leather strap are separate pieces, which is nice. I couldn't find any instructions included with my figure, so I'm guessing they never made a way for you to actually strap the shield and her sword to her back.

Her lassos are functional, though to be honest i didn't play around with the uncoiled one at all.

The box proclaims over 30 points of articulation. I didn't bother counting them because my point is this - it certainly didn't feel like there were that many. Her outfit effectively removes the waist as a point of articulation, nor are there any any ab crunch options. Shoulders do not collapse, which basically makes doing the cross armed pose impossible. Legs can at most be raised 90 degrees from a vertical position thus making kneeling poses with the figure very unnatural looking. Similarly, crossing her legs isn't happening either, making more stylish or elegant poses very hard to pull off. Thigh swivel joints are quite unsightly.

Now that I think about it, the elbows didn't bend more than 90 degrees either.

All in all, the various other high end 1/12 ish Wonder Woman figures offer better articulation than this one. I'm hoping this body is not the base one used for their various figures, but rather like the Hot Toys seamless body, one they developed specifically for Wonder Woman. But looking at preview pictures for all of the other One:12, articulation may be limited like this for all of their product.

While we're on the subject, if this is a custom body, then Mezco needs to improve the silhouette a bit, and really improve their game on the muscle tone, particularly on the arms and her back.

We now come to one of the greatest points of controversy for this figure, the face/head. From what I have read, release of this figure was significantly delayed due to Mezco fiddling with the heads, and many accounts I read said the final product was a marked improvement over the prototypes. Some even claim that the sculpt looks exactly like Gal Gadot.

Hence "This is not actually Gal Gadot".

No matter which way I stare at it, I honestly don't see any aspect of her at all in any of these, and still stick with my original analysis of "she looks like Olivia Munn".

Another hot topic is "why the hell does she look like she has chipmunk cheeks?". Several factors.

First off, to my eye, the base of the back of the neck for the default head sculpt is way too thick, and as such, this serves to widen her already problematic face. To my eye, the back of the neck on the alternate sculpt (one where she has no bangs) is slimmer in this area which helps to given a more streamline look.

Secondly, the sculptors really didn't emphasize her cheek bones that well. It's there, but you really need to have the light shining the right way for them to appear. Because these cheek bones are not emphasized, her jaw looks like a continuation of a blob that starts from her forehead. I also feel a dash of contouring paint apps would have helped with this issue, and allowed for easier photographs.

Sculpting of the hair is pretty good, but I think they missed an opportunity to have one sculpt feature a head of hair that is blowing sideways as opposed to having one that is all behind her head.

So that was my first foray into the One:12 line. A bit of a mixed bag, with my real disappointment being the surprisingly limited articulation, particularly given what Figma, Figuarts, and Mafex figures can do at a slightly smaller size. I'm going to wait for Hela to tell me how good their tailored costumes are, and hopefully see why people are highly excited about these products.

This isn't actually Gal Gadot.

What? Really? You were pretty sure about that to begin with?

The Mezco One:12 line is a relatively new toy line, popping up in recent years as a response to the various 1/6 figure companies becoming more and more expensive. Most of them retail for $80 USD, though of course there are probably come con exception.

Now, through the years I've read reviews of various figures, but never bought any due to the fact none of the characters were particularly appealing to me, and I had missed the Armoured Batman from the BvS movie.

I had ALMOST actually bought Wonder Woman here over Christmas during the Boxing Week sale at the Silver Snail, but held out, thinking that my $100 + tax would be better used towards what I thought was going my inaugural analysis, Hela, which still hasn't materialized yet.

Mezco, as far as I'm aware, is an American company. I don't typically purchase American toys, with the exception of Transformers, so I had no idea what to expect, though I know enough that in general that my expectations should be tempered as compared to Figma, Figuarts, or even the Storm Collectibles stuff.

At any rate, enough preamble - lets get on with the show. As this is my first One:12 product, I'm going to be whining about everything.

So the exterior box is shipped protected by various plastic tags and sheets to protect against scratching. The actual packaging itself was fairly functional, consisting of an inner windowed box with a slip cover. Graphics are clean and bright, though somewhat simplistic compared to the Hot Toys, Medicom, hell even the Figuarts and Figma boxes, though that glossy image of what I think is the Mezco logo is quite nice.

Actual cardboard is pretty average quality, being fairly lightweight with a natural matte finish. I understand that the convention exclusives and other more uncommon figures come in a metal tin, which reminds me very much of those metal tins you get Mooncakes in.

The actual contents of the box are mostly spelled out on the back of the box: the figure, an alternative head, four additional hands, coiled and uncoiled lasso, her Godkiller Sword, her shield, a base with arm for dynamic posing, as well as a Figma styled plastic bag for holding the various loose goodies in.

Actual cardboard is pretty average quality, being fairly lightweight with a natural matte finish. I understand that the convention exclusives and other more uncommon figures come in a metal tin, which reminds me very much of those metal tins you get Mooncakes in.

The actual contents of the box are mostly spelled out on the back of the box: the figure, an alternative head, four additional hands, coiled and uncoiled lasso, her Godkiller Sword, her shield, a base with arm for dynamic posing, as well as a Figma styled plastic bag for holding the various loose goodies in.

The figure is, as one would guess, a 1/12 figure, putting it roughly 6 inches high. The only other competition the Mezco figure has is that Mafex BvS Wonder Woman that I picked up last year. I'll make this as painless as possible - with the exception of one factor, albeit a very important one, the Mezco destroys the Mafex I own.

Off the bat, I'd like to note that with the exception of the very fine detailing on her face and maybe some smaller metallic features, the overall paint work is actually pretty good. No areas where overspray caused me to gawk, nor was there any areas with obviously poor masking or line work, though I will admit that the lines on her bracers come awfully close. Her skin tone is a bit on the bronze side, which can make photographing her using yellow lighting challenging.

It goes without saying that the work here is significantly better than that of your Marvel Legends figures, and probably even the Black series stuff. Of course, these do cost almost 4 times as much.

Her sword is seems about the right length and girth, but the shield is definitely smaller than what the prototype picture on the box itself shows.

Grasping hands were all of a soft rubber which is easily malleable, allowing for easy manipulation to hold the sword without fear of constant breakage. Fingers look kind of muddled on these hands, and there are concerns on my mind about overall longevity of painted rubber parts (i.e. the split head on my Microman Chun Li) but only time will actually address that.

One of the key selling points of the One:12 line are the tailored outfits that the characters wear. Wonder Woman, unfortunately, really only has fabric skirt, and as such, much like the Hot Toys version, her armour is a moulded and painted piece of plastic.

The bracers and her leather strap are separate pieces, which is nice. I couldn't find any instructions included with my figure, so I'm guessing they never made a way for you to actually strap the shield and her sword to her back.

Her lassos are functional, though to be honest i didn't play around with the uncoiled one at all.

The box proclaims over 30 points of articulation. I didn't bother counting them because my point is this - it certainly didn't feel like there were that many. Her outfit effectively removes the waist as a point of articulation, nor are there any any ab crunch options. Shoulders do not collapse, which basically makes doing the cross armed pose impossible. Legs can at most be raised 90 degrees from a vertical position thus making kneeling poses with the figure very unnatural looking. Similarly, crossing her legs isn't happening either, making more stylish or elegant poses very hard to pull off. Thigh swivel joints are quite unsightly.

Now that I think about it, the elbows didn't bend more than 90 degrees either.

All in all, the various other high end 1/12 ish Wonder Woman figures offer better articulation than this one. I'm hoping this body is not the base one used for their various figures, but rather like the Hot Toys seamless body, one they developed specifically for Wonder Woman. But looking at preview pictures for all of the other One:12, articulation may be limited like this for all of their product.

While we're on the subject, if this is a custom body, then Mezco needs to improve the silhouette a bit, and really improve their game on the muscle tone, particularly on the arms and her back.

We now come to one of the greatest points of controversy for this figure, the face/head. From what I have read, release of this figure was significantly delayed due to Mezco fiddling with the heads, and many accounts I read said the final product was a marked improvement over the prototypes. Some even claim that the sculpt looks exactly like Gal Gadot.

Hence "This is not actually Gal Gadot".

No matter which way I stare at it, I honestly don't see any aspect of her at all in any of these, and still stick with my original analysis of "she looks like Olivia Munn".

Another hot topic is "why the hell does she look like she has chipmunk cheeks?". Several factors.

First off, to my eye, the base of the back of the neck for the default head sculpt is way too thick, and as such, this serves to widen her already problematic face. To my eye, the back of the neck on the alternate sculpt (one where she has no bangs) is slimmer in this area which helps to given a more streamline look.

Secondly, the sculptors really didn't emphasize her cheek bones that well. It's there, but you really need to have the light shining the right way for them to appear. Because these cheek bones are not emphasized, her jaw looks like a continuation of a blob that starts from her forehead. I also feel a dash of contouring paint apps would have helped with this issue, and allowed for easier photographs.

Sculpting of the hair is pretty good, but I think they missed an opportunity to have one sculpt feature a head of hair that is blowing sideways as opposed to having one that is all behind her head.

So that was my first foray into the One:12 line. A bit of a mixed bag, with my real disappointment being the surprisingly limited articulation, particularly given what Figma, Figuarts, and Mafex figures can do at a slightly smaller size. I'm going to wait for Hela to tell me how good their tailored costumes are, and hopefully see why people are highly excited about these products.

Actually they both are good swimmers, I m not sure what are they doing on this photo..

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

The Temco Model 63 "Buckskin" trainer was designed by Texas Engineering & Manufacturing Company (TEMCO) as a private venture to replace the US Navy's piston-engine, land-based Beech Model B45 'Mentor' primary trainers in the mid 1960ies, but with better performance and more likeliness to modern jet fighters.

The Model 63’s forerunner, the Temco Model 51, had been initially proposed to the US Air Force in response to an Air Force competition for a jet-powered primary trainer, which was eventually won by the Cessna T-37 Tweet. A small number of the Model 51 were built and put into service, powered by a Continental Motors J69-T-9 (a license-built Turbomeca Marboré) jet engine and officially designated TT-1 ‘Pinto, but only saw a limited career.

The US Navy liked the turboprop engine, though, but wanted a less complex aircraft. This eventually materialized in the early Seventies with the T-34C Turbo-Mentor. After a production hiatus of almost 15 years, the Beech Model 45 returned, powered by a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-25 turboprop engine. Mentor production restarted in 1975 for deliveries of T-34Cs to the USN and of the T-34C-1 armed version for export customers in 1977, this version featuring four underwing hardpoints. Since the late 1970s, T-34Cs have been used by the Naval Air Training Command to train numerous Naval Aviators and Naval Flight Officers for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Coast Guard, and numerous NATO and Allied nations - and the small T2T fleet was phased out by 1979.

General characteristics:

Crew: two

Length: 32 ft 7 in (9.93 m)

Wingspan (incl. tip tanks): 29 ft 10 in (9.09 m)

Height: 8 ft 1 1/2 in (2.48 m)

Wing area: 150 sq ft (13.9 m2)

Empty weight: 2,848 lb (1,292 kg)

Loaded weight: 5,400 lb (2,448 kg)

Powerplant:

2× Turbomeca Bastan IV turboprop engines, rated at 650 shp (485 kW) each

Performance:

Maximum speed: 345 mph (300 knots, 556 km/h) at 15,000 ft (4,600 m)

Never exceed speed: 518 mph (450 knots, 834 km/h)

Cruise speed: 247 mph (215 knots, 398 km/h) at 25,000 ft (7,600 m)

Stall speed: 69 mph (60 knots, 111 km/hr)

Endurance: 2.5 hr

Service ceiling: 30,000 ft (9,145 m)

Rate of climb: 1,900 ft/min (9.7 m/s)

Armament:

2x underwing hardpoints for a total load of up to 1.000 lb (454 kg)

2x optional wing tip tanks

The kit and its assembly:

The final entry for the 2016 "In the Navy" Group Build at whatifmodelers.com, and a close call since I started work on this conversion only 5 days before the GB's deadline!

The original inspiration was the photoshopped picture of a private TT-1 in all-blue USN markings, created by artist "Stéphane Beaumort" in 2010 (check this illustration originally posted at AviaDesign: aviadesign.online.fr/images/temco-buckskin2.jpg).

A slightly bizarre aircraft with the tandem propellers and the twin tail booms, and IMHO with some fishy details in the CG rendition, e.g. including the idea of driving both propellers with a single engine through shafts and gearboxes. But the concept looked overall feasible and Special Hobby offers a very nice TT-1 Pinto kit, which I was able to procure from Poland an short notice. As a bonus, this kit comes with markings for this specific, blue aircraft (“13/S”), actually a re-constructed, privately owned machine.

The Special Hobby kit became the basis for my personal interpretation of the T2T, and it underwent some conversions, being outfitted with a variety of donation parts:

- The front engine once was a cut-away Merlin from a Hobby Boss Hawker Hurricane

- The tail booms and fins come from a Revell Focke Wulf Flitzer

- The stabilizer was created from two Hobby Boss He 162 tail elements

- Propellers come from a vintage, box scale Revell Convair Tradewind

- In order to attach them, styrene tubes were implanted and the props mounted on metal axis’

- The front wheel also belongs to a Hobby Boss He 162, longer than the OOB parts

- The main wheels are bigger, from a Matchbox Folland Gnat

Work started with the central fuselage, the added front engine and conversions for the rear pusher engine. Once the wings were in place and the propeller diameter clear, attachment points for the tail booms were scratched from styrene tube and added to the wings' upper sides (leaving the lower surface free, so that the OOB landing gear could be used). Then the tail booms and the tailored stabilizer were mounted, as well as the wing tip tanks.

The landing gear came next; the main struts and covers were used, but slightly bigger wheels chosen from the scrap box. For the front wheel well, a "hole" had to be dug out of the massive new nose section (consisting of 2C putty and lead beads) - the OOB covers were used, though, and a longer and more massive front wheel was mounted.

Sounds simple and conclusive, but things evolved gradually and the job involved a lot of body work - under dire time pressure. The fact that the kit fell from my workbench after day #2 and hit the floor in a nasty angle, so that the tails suffered severely and needed repair, did not help either...

Another issue became the canopy. I am not certain where the problem lies, but the canopy turned out to be 2mm too short for the fuselage? Could be the result of the massive rhinoplasty with the added front engine, but I am also a bit worried about the position of the cockpit tubs – when I mounted them, the appeared to be in the correct position, but once the fuselage was closed both seat positions appear to be too far to the back – even though the dashboards seem to be correct?

Painting and markings:

I used the CG drawing as benchmark, also because the Special Hobby kit came with the right decal set for an all-blue USN livery, which historically was about to be changed in the late Fifties to brighter schemes.

The interior surfaces, both cockpit and the landing gear, were painted in a very light gray (FS 36495, Humbrol 147), just as on the real world TT-1. All outside surfaces became Sea Blue FS 35042 (ModelMaster). Very simple, and some panel shading with was done for a more dramatic look on the otherwise uniform airframe.

The silver leading edges on wings and stabilizer, as well as the yellow canopy framing, were created from decal strips. The propeller spinners became, as a small highlight, bright red, and some of the OOB sheet’s red trim for “13/S” were used, too. No more weathering was done, and, finally, everything sealed under a coat of gloss acrylic varnish, except for the propeller blades and the black anti-glare panel, which became matt.

An odd creation, and taking into account the four and a half days time frame from sprues to beauty pics (including background research and text), as well as the body work involved in the building process with the new front engine and the tail booms, I am quite happy with the result. Could have been better, sure, but it was finished in time, just as planned/hoped for. ;)

Anyway, the T2T looks interesting; my build slightly differs from the benchmark CG renditions, but remains true to Stéphane Beaumort’s basic idea. Cheers!

If I were actually shooting this for quality I would have used a fill flash, but I do dig the bokeh. I was shooting this from across the lawn (200 mm). So with overcast skies and only 10 minutes out of the box, the lens did a great job. It will take a little while to get used to the flattened look though.

Actually, this is what remains of the stream bank when the water level was much higher during a rainy spell a few weeks ago.

Ocean Park, Washington

Actually it's the Bavarian Inn.

Nikon F5 - AF Nikkor 35mm 1:2D - Efke KB 100 @ ASA-100

Blazinal (1+50) 10:00 @ 20C

Scanner: Epson V700

Editor: Adobe Photoshop CC (2018)

Actually an ad for cotton fabric but isn't the dress cute? I wish this was in style nowadays

part 1 of 3.

mandatory grande and on black.

Centralia, PA

I was actually looking for something else, on ebay USA, when I stumbled across this and there were only two hours left. I took a chance and luck came for a visit.

UPDATE: A cap has been found and I should have it in a week or two.

The uniform includes, kerchief, kerchief slide, shirt, pants and belt.

A belated happy easter to all. I am somewhat under the weather, and realize my salutation is a day late.

" Viking Octantis "

The first Voyage of the " Viking Octantis " to the Port of Thunder Bay and Lake Superior.

There was 3 types of Site Seeing Boats being used at Silver Island . Enclosed Capsul type , Open with top cover and Submersables.

Trowbridge Island Light in the background.

Silver Islet - Lake Superior Canada

Enclosed Shuttle Boats bringing the passenger ashore .

The ship is not actually anchored off the west end of the Silver Islet Channel; It is using its thrusters & Global Positioning to remain static for hours.

Passenger Vessel " Viking Octantis " one of

Their award-winning fleet with an expedition ship built specifically to explore the world’s most remote destinations and allow you to immerse yourself in these regions.

Cruises Starting this Season to the Middle of North America (2800+kms to the Atlantic , 3000+kms to the Pacific , 2500+kms to the Gulf of Mexico, & 4600 kms to the North Pole). There lies the Fresh Water Sea Port of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada (Salt & Shark Free). The Western Canadian End of The Saint Lawrence Seaway.

Only 378 guests

Crew: 256

Length: 665 feet

Beam: 77 feet

Class: Polar Class 6

Year built: 2022

Silver Islet on the tip of the Sibley Peninsula ,Lake Superior . Canada.

A rich vein of pure silver was discovered on this small island in 1868 by the Montreal Mining Company. At that time, the island was approximately [50 m²] in size and only 2.5 metres above the waters of Lake Superior. In 1870, the site was developed by Alexander H. Sibley's Silver Islet Mining Company which built wooden breakwaters around the island to hold back the lake's waves and increased the island's area substantially with crushed rock. The islet was expanded to over 10 times its original size and a small mining town was built up on the shore nearby.

After most of the purest ore from the original site had been removed, a second vein was discovered in 1878. By 1883, most of the highest quality silver had been extracted and the price of silver had declined. The final straw came when a shipment of coal did not arrive before the end of the shipping season. The pumps holding back the waters of the lake stopped and in early 1884 the islet's mine shafts, which had reached a depth of 384 metres, were flooded. They would never be de-watered, and the mine's underground operations would never be reopened.

Actually saw this guy hunt and catch something. Not sure what...

Actually fits a Blue-throated Goldentail. Seems such a large variety of individual looks within one species.

ebird.org/checklist/S75764502