Thread "Rant, Moan and Rave - 2010 edition" in forum "Comic Talk and General Discussion *"

Posted at 5:10AM, Oct. 18, 2010

And the outer shell really makes a good stew pot.
With all that paint, polish, grease, and sweat?
I raise an eyebrow to you sir!
…Perhaps if you had nothing better to use, but I imagine most would prefer an actual stewpot and a well maintained on that that.

All I got to say is don't call me "sir"; I worked for a living. I'm talking about the shell, not the liner. The steel shell never touches your head. They're seperate.

The shell is also a good wash basin. How do you think the ones you found got that rusty? They were probably left in place after being used as washbasins. Do you have the fiberglass liners?

The one I was issued in 1988, the shell was marked as being from the 1950s and the liner was brand new. Then I was issued a brand new kevlar a year later. Can't cook or wash out of kevlar so I had to get a folding wash basin and an extra canteen cup.

Oh and the shiny edge is not stainless steel it's good out fashion metal brightly polished by wear and use. That's why the army went to cloth camouflage covers, the edges wore to bright and shiny metal within a few months from new.

Posted at 6:10AM, Oct. 18, 2010

Damn - that broken wah pedal I bought must've been infected with some kind of wah virus: now my regular 70s wah pedal won't work. I can't make any wickawicka porn soundtrack noises. :(

Posted at 6:10AM, Oct. 18, 2010

Damn - that broken wah pedal I bought must've been infected with some kind of wah virus: now my regular 70s wah pedal won't work. I can't make any wickawicka porn soundtrack noises. :(

LOL you'll have to stick with whistling.

Posted at 10:10AM, Oct. 18, 2010

good out fashion metal brightly polished by wear and use

No, you're quite wrong there. Polished steel rusts the same as unpolished steel given 50+ years under the open sky. I know steel.
Definitely stainless steel rims and strap loops.
–edit–
Yup, I just looked it up in Wiki. Not always a reliable source of course, but this is what it says about the M1: "On the earliest shells the seam meets at the front. This was moved to the back of the rim in 1944, when the rim went from being made of stainless steel to manganese steel."
I checked the helmets- the seem meets at the front, that means they ARE pre 1944! O_O
If you hadn't have said that about the metal I'd have never been sure, so thanks for that! :)

Here are some pics I just took. The shells used to be black/brown with rust but the rust stabiliser solution has made them grey now. Only two here unfortunately.. I think number 3 is in a box somewhere, it was quite a bit more damaged than these two so I put it away to be safe.

And I'm sure I'd prefer stew out of a nice normal pot, but I know for some poor bugger without much else beggars can't be choosers :)

Posted at 11:10AM, Oct. 18, 2010

So i really want to do a sci-fi comic after a healthy dose of mass effect and firefly(awesome series). I'm not really sure what to do it on, but i at least know what i want to avoid. Making sci-fi comics short seems like a problem though.

I had a cool other idea for a non-scifi comic but i do not have an ending for it.

Posted at 2:10PM, Oct. 18, 2010

Several million M1 helmets were made from 1941 to 1978 so there is no lack of them. Often when buying one you have to be careful as most have replacement liners, all different kinds of headbands and there can be mixes of shells and liners.

As for painting it. The USN had their's labeled with different designations in WWII and after, the US Army had divisional and or tactical insignia stenciled on the pots. Most commonly there was the 3rd ID insignia on the sides, First ID on the front, the playing card insignia from the 101 ABN as made famous in "Band of Brothers" and the rank insignia on the front and rear. Then post war the liners were highly shined with special insignia for parades. Check out the US Army "Constabulary" after World War II or the various bands wearing their liners and that glorious polished helmet worn by Patton.

Then there's MPs, SPs, Snow Drop MPs, any number of Medic/corpsman insignia how about that beautiful sky blue with the UN stenciled on the fornt?

And when not busy wearing it, take the liner out of the steel pot and try making eggs in the pot. Really it's fun.

And all the variations of camouflage covers? Open net, tight net, Beach head, Sand Beach reversible, Jungle, BDU, Desert…

That helmet was worn for 40 plus years so there are more painted insignia than you can imagine. And the outer shell really makes a good stew pot.

I'm sure it's one of the ones with a mixed up liner, webbing, etc. It's coming with a Vietnam-era camo wrapping on it too.

I'm not too particularly concerned about keeping it that historically accurate in this instance because I'm not necessarily buying it to keep as a historical piece. If I wanted a 100% authentic historical helmet, I'd beg my uncle to give me my grandfather's old helmet. That one still has a crease down the side from the machine gun that hit him. I just want this helmet to do something more creative with and to have it on hand as a model for drawing. What I have in mind for this helmet would probably be considered sacrilege by more than a few history buffs but judging by the photos of it, this thing never saw combat and probably was just discovered in some old supply depot in it's packing.

Posted at 5:10PM, Oct. 18, 2010

And I'm sure I'd prefer stew out of a nice normal pot, but I know for some poor bugger without much else beggars can't be choosers :)

Infantry just doesn't carry pots. You can issue them all you want but they always toss them. You'd be the odd one out who carried a pot that your sergeant would force you to toss the first time it clunked because your squaddies wanted to be quiet. ;) "Use your bully beef tin instead." No one likes things clunking and clinking on the march. Or you could just hand it off to your friendly neighborhood tank crew who'd love it to replace the flimsy fuel tin they had cut in half to use as a pot for tea.

The stainless steel rim was painted when the helmet was first issued. The paint didn't last more than a few weeks. Now I know why the gov't wanted all your stainless steel pots and pans during the war. :(

Posted at 7:10PM, Oct. 18, 2010

I have made my first sale on the new book, yay!

Also, the cut on the finger is mostly healed now. The swelling is nearly gone (a faint red ring around the wound remains) and the cut has sealed itself with fresh skin. There's still certain amount of stiffness when I try to curl up all my fingers into a fist and the finger goesonly to about 90-95% of how much it should bend, but the recovery is proceeding. I'll be able to draw comfortably in the next few days!

Posted at 7:10PM, Oct. 18, 2010

So i really want to do a sci-fi comic after a healthy dose of mass effect and firefly(awesome series). I'm not really sure what to do it on, but i at least know what i want to avoid. Making sci-fi comics short seems like a problem though.

I had a cool other idea for a non-scifi comic but i do not have an ending for it.

well, heavy metal mag features a bunch of short sci-fi's, take em as ya will.
but they're do-abl., on of my favorite sci-fi guys is philipe druillet, Aroura and i have both yaked on about em actually. he's got a different style then yours, but ya might appreciate what he does. alot of sci-fi one shots. i suppose with sci-fi, it depends on the point yer gettin across. if yer writing a series of adventures that a fleet of voyagers have though space, it might be lengthy, but if yer writing a short arc about the sun suddenly erupting, then it can probably be a bit shorter. as a matter of fact…i recommend the discovery channel if ya got it where ya are.

Posted at 7:10PM, Oct. 18, 2010

so… you guys have 54 days left to fill 110 pages of rants raves and lest we forget moans. Think you'll make it? Although technically it would probably be considered a GOOD thing if you can't find as much to complain about this year.

I don't know about you guys but up here in Canada it's the week of midterms… which has probably about 7 pages of rants right there… Ever wonder that if tests are made to prove that we learned the information correctly and can use it in real life, why on earth should we have to study for them? I mean if you learnt the information correctly you'd think you'd just be asked and know the question up front. Instead they ask you to study for days for a test of information you'll forget minutes afterwards

That is my contribution to the cause =D

P.S. OceanOzone… I didn't read everything but if those are army helmets that's awesome!…. although I wouldn't trust those to protect my head from much in that state

*edit* SWEET! I started a new page! Make that 109 pages you need to fill to tie last year

Posted at 1:10AM, Oct. 19, 2010

P.S. OceanOzone… I didn't read everything but if those are army helmets that's awesome!…. although I wouldn't trust those to protect my head from much in that state

Ya, they're old, old amy helmets. Got number 3 somewhere but I'm not sure where.

I just pulled some old newspaper out of one of them (I put it in years ago to support it).
There was a big ad on it that said "COMPARE PRICES, you will NOT find cheaper!"
$990 for a "big screen" crt TV, probably 30 inches max, Maybe not even that.
$450 for a VHS player with a "deluxe slow motion feature"
$65 for an AM/FM dual cassette player… lol

——————-
Nasty sinus ache still and pills are making me sleepy.
Stupid chemist requires my to present a driver's license or passport before they'll sell sinus meds with psuedoephedrine in them! >:[

I don't have one (refuse to learn haw to drive) and don't carry the latter with me.
So I thought I'd one up the buggers and get a gun license instead! lol!

…But I just found out you have to own a gun if you want a gun license.
I do NOT want to own a gun thanks very much, so that's that idea dead in the water.

Posted at 2:10AM, Oct. 19, 2010

So every time i browse the tv boxset section i pass one called 'V'. I finally looked it up and read the summary and i'm foaming at the mouth that i never picked it up. God it sounds soooo good…but seriously the cover design looked like butt puss in the store. >_> But my DVD and game collection is getting pretty big now though, wish i could display them instead of chucking them into the bed tub(it's a tub. under my bed).

Also i don't get the controversy over autotune? They really don't sound that weird to me, i don't even notice in most songs and when i do i'm not bothered by it…

Posted at 2:10AM, Oct. 19, 2010

So i really want to do a sci-fi comic after a healthy dose of mass effect and firefly(awesome series). I'm not really sure what to do it on, but i at least know what i want to avoid. Making sci-fi comics short seems like a problem though.

I had a cool other idea for a non-scifi comic but i do not have an ending for it.

I have been trying to get something loosely along those lines going, I have had a number of snags though. One is that actual story never seems up to scratch, even though I have what i think is a good universe sorted out. The other is the art as I struggle with things like spaceships. Maybe someday.

I do have a cyberpunk type comic in the works though it is still in the scripting and character design stages though. Really should crack on with that and writing more of the hero factor too.

I have this annoying habit of trying to do too much at once and then struggling to keep up with everything. Worst of all I know I do it and can't stop, grrr!!!

Posted at 2:10AM, Oct. 19, 2010

autotune

oh man… sorry, I have to comment on this.

Possibly in your case you're just used to voices sounding that way so it doesn't sound odd or irritating to you the way it does to a some other people.
For me it's like lens-flare effects in Photoshop: ok when used as a special effect in just the right instance, in the right way, very occasionally: unbelievably annoying when overused. A lot of current pop-music is like the equivalent of bad webcomics that feature several lens-flares on every single page.

But then these days I mostly listen to 70's music or live performances, so I avoid it :)

Posted at 5:10AM, Oct. 19, 2010

$450 for a VHS player with a "deluxe slow motion feature"

One of my favorite epsidoes of Columbo is one with William Shatner, where Shatner's tv star character is all proud of his 'vhs' (which was some kind of early version and ran on dual reels, but was mounted on the tv and would record tv), it cost him thousands.

Then he used the VHS to commit his murder of course, by using it as part of his alibi. He invited over a friend to watch a sports game, then made it so the friend would get drunk and fall asleep and wake up at the end of the game (supposedly live, but actually he was being made to watch the recorded version, so he'd slept through the murder).

If I remember right, he was SO proud of his machine that he actually showed Columbo how it worked at one point (he wanted to be Columbo's BFF), which pretty much just let him solve the murder right there.

Hm, I should re-watch all those Columbos. They were great to have one while drawing, they moved slowly enough that you didn't really have to pay much attention to them. (They'd be too slow to just sit and try to watch.)

There was another Columbo where some guy was super proud of his digital watch, which he invented. Everyone was like WOOOOOOWWWWW at the cheapo-looking number display. (He committed his murder with CCTV, which I think he also invented.)

Posted at 6:10AM, Oct. 19, 2010

He committed his murder with CCTV, which I think he also invented.

man those guys were clever! :)

Thanks for reminding me about Columbo. I'm gonna try and by all the series now on Ebay!

Posted at 6:10AM, Oct. 19, 2010

Our cat has to go down - just made the appointment. we were told during the summer she's on her last legs, and those were literally failing her yesterday. That and she's rejected food for the last 3 days.

her name is Bluebell. maybe the sweetest cat I've ever known

Posted at 9:10AM, Oct. 19, 2010

He committed his murder with CCTV, which I think he also invented.
man those guys were clever! :)

Thanks for reminding me about Columbo. I'm gonna try and by all the series now on Ebay!

Did you know Peter Falk actually came up with a lot of those plot ideas himself? Everywhere he went he'd be like "this thing does what?" and call the writers up. That Mac didn't come from the wadrobe debt either!

Ayesinback, sorry to hear that. When my cat had to go I decided not to get another - he was just too memorable!

Posted at 10:10AM, Oct. 19, 2010

One of my favorite epsidoes of Columbo is one with William Shatner, where Shatner's tv star character is all proud of his 'vhs' (which was some kind of early version and ran on dual reels, but was mounted on the tv and would record tv), it cost him thousands.

COLUMBO!!!! I know that episode, know most of his episodes. Loved Columbo and still do. Peter Falk rocks, even later on as the Grandpa from Princess Bride

Posted at 2:10PM, Oct. 19, 2010

ayesinback, I'm sorry to hear about your cat. :[ That is too sad. I start crying just thinking about anything happening to my animals.

Posted at 5:10PM, Oct. 19, 2010

So i found out the V series boxset comes out nov 2 and the ones i saw in the store were hideous things from the 80's. :0

But now i gotta get serenity because firefly was so good. My moneyyyyy

Posted at 8:10PM, Oct. 19, 2010

He committed his murder with CCTV, which I think he also invented.
man those guys were clever! :)

Thanks for reminding me about Columbo. I'm gonna try and by all the series now on Ebay!

Did you know Peter Falk actually came up with a lot of those plot ideas himself? Everywhere he went he'd be like "this thing does what?" and call the writers up. That Mac didn't come from the wadrobe debt either!

William Link the co-creator of the TV series has started writing "Columbo" stories. The first book is the Columbo Collection.

http://www.amazon.com/Columbo-Collection-William-Link/dp/1932009949

I heard a radio interview with him. It was by Mark Simone who is a well known Columbo expert and radio talk-show host in NYC. They also replayed the interviews with Peter Falk. Peter Falk was also behind getting the car. What a great actor he was.

Want an obscure part where he plays against type? How about a surgeon in the Italian Army in WWII? The classic epic war film Attack and Retreat about the Italian army on the Russian front.

Posted at 9:10PM, Oct. 19, 2010

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEEEE

just got denied retraining again. for a slightly different reason. "you have a time limit to wait"

WHUT? you said 7 months ago, i couldn't do it at all. so you have 2 policies that conflict each other, and on top of that, both contradict the AFI? (air force instruction, rule books on how to do stuff, there's one for everything, literaly.)
—-

i just sent an email to one of my high ranking acquaintances. (edit it said friends, but technically he's a superior and not a friend) all the way up sitting next to generals. take that stupid person sitting behind a desk.

Posted at 11:10PM, Oct. 19, 2010

So i found out the V series boxset comes out nov 2 and the ones i saw in the store were hideous things from the 80's. :0

But now i gotta get serenity because firefly was so good. My moneyyyyy

Serenity shouldn't cost much it's about Â£3 on average these days, I imagine it's similarly cheap in other countries.

Posted at 6:10AM, Oct. 20, 2010

I was at someone's house the other day conducting a social assessment, and I came to a point in the interview where I asked the gentleman if he had any hopes or fears for his children or their futures, and he replied he had only one fear; me. Not me specifically, but child services.

And now I know what I'm going to be for Haloween. I'm going as myself. Nothing is more terrifying to parents than a knock on the door from one of us.