On the Painting Desk 311: and we are off for a new year of painting

 Here we are, with the first update into 2025 and the battle against my very ambitious goals for the year.

And we did get off to a good start in the past week at least.

Both the Crossbowmen unit and the Doomseeker have been based up for the Escalation League, and on the side I have also finished painting the endless spell to represent a vortex in the game.  Aside from that, I have been painting on more "round 2" for the league with the command groups, and on a giant rat to be the final needed enemy for the first game of Rusty Dagger.

I hope to have all those finished and based by the end of the next week, as the new BATG on Chaos Dwarf Online will also be starting and get that gray mountain counter running for the new year.  A year where a lot of figures are under way as well, as you will see soon in a Haul Report... with big lots of Runewars figures bought cheaply, and a Warlord Games mystery box coming my way end of the month.

So it seems before we can dwindle the pile this year, it will first swell quite a lot, but I am confident that in the end I will be able to break the limit of painting more then buying...

The Last Voyage of the Demeter

 I'm not that horror movie watcher, but I do like my Dracula from time to time.

And this movie is based on a single chapter from Bram Stoker's novel, "The Captain's Log".

 

Now, often movies that linger long in development hell are rubbish, but this one is actually greatly enjoyable, especially as the idea for making it was formed... with Bram Stoker's Dracula from 1992, only to come out in 2023, 31 years later!

 

Even though the movie was a box office bomb, I guess that has more to do with the genre and blockbusters seemingly need to include the Hulk these days, then the actual quality of the film...

 

In August 1897, the merchant ship Demeter washed up on the shore of England, and in the wreckage investigators find the log of it's captain, Eliot, and the doomed voyage they endured.  One month earlier the vessel had taken cargo aboard in Bulgaria, delivered by local Romanian workers.  But the workers don't want to stay and go along with the vessel, declaring they must make haste before sundown.

 

Seeking more crew, Clemens, a doctor and Cambridge graduate, is enlisted after an other candidate refuses the job for seeing the mark of the dragon on the crates.  When an accident threatens to crush Eliot's grandson Toby, Clemens saves him and earns the gratitude of the captain.  Aboard the ship another crate falls and reveals a woman inside buried in dirt.  Clemens performs a blood transfusion on her, saving her life.  Later in Aegean sea, Clemens and Olgaren, one of the crew, spot a mysterious figure shrouded in fog on the deck.

 

 

A night later, all the livestock and the ship's dog are found dead, as the woman, named Anna, awakens and warns them of the "monster of Transylvania" that feeds on human blood.  She tells him it is known as Dracula and she was offered as a Slave of Blood by her village in order that he left them alone, revealing several bites on her body and telling he is already on board the Demeter.

 

Olgaren gets bitten, turning him into a thrall.  He escapes and starts hunting Toby, trapping him a room together with Dracula.  The young boy can't escape and is bitten by Dracula, as Olgaren, bound to the mast of the ship now, bursts into flames upon sunrise.  Despite blood transfusions from his grandfather, Toby dies and is wrapped in cloth for a burial at sea.  But Eliot believes that he sees him still moving, opening the cloth.  The now thrall-stated child attacks him, bursting in flame by the sun and burning the captain before being tossed in sea and sinking to the bottom.

 

The remainder of the crew want to sink the vessel to prevent Dracula from arriving at his destination and causing further chaos, but they fail as they are killed one by one by the vampire bar Clemens and Anna, who does suffer a fresh bite.  They think they succeeded when they trap the vampire under a part of the mast as they jump ship, but the vessel runs aground, allowing him to escape and scream victorious for arriving in England.  Anna herself starts to turn to a thrall, and sails off on a piece of wreckage into the sun, burning up, as Clemens makes way to the coastline.

 

 

Later, Clemens hears the typical "all clear" knocking of the Demeter in a pub, and spots Dracula, dressed as an aristocrat.  He gives chase as the vampire disappears into the night...

 

Yes, I truly did enjoy this hunter and prey movie, even though we all knew from the beginning that it would end in victory for the vampire.  It had suspense, just enough darkness without becoming annoying, and the score by Bear McGrady helped a lot setting the atmosphere.  

 

I recommend it, even though it might have bombed, it deserves better!

Fantasy Anime League: fall 2024 results

And so the game was on again this Fall, to predict which anime series would do well and score some serious points.

 

 

Like the previous seasons, I aimed to end within the top 50%.

 

So, how did my picks perform this season?  And did my restricted ones perform on top level as hoped for?  Did my wild guess gut feelings pay off?  Let's have a look!

 

Bleach Thousand Year War 3: This came in at 1st place, so a solid score

DanMachi season 5: Hitting 3rd, this meant I had the top 3 of the season predicted

Ao no Hako: The 2nd most viewed anime, and I managed to ace all top 3 for a great score

You are Ms Servant: Ending finally at 20th place, it was a good series for the first weeks before swapping it out

Ranma 1/2: Nostalgia scores my gut feeeling told me, and it came out at 5th place so I was right

Dragon Ball Daima: Always a stable score, the series ended 7th overall

From Common Job Class season 3: Not used in the end, it was a good 8th place

Ao no Miburo: My bad choice, but it didn't get used anyways, as it came in only 44th

 

So, that is a bit of a great result I guess, my 5 main anime's ending with the first 7 spots!

 

On a weekly level, it went like this:

 

Week 1: 306th place with 135461 points, succesfully aced Ao no Hoko

Week 2: 78th place with 355560 points, succesfully aced Bleach

Week 3: 41st place with 678514 points, swapped Ms Servant for Dragon Ball

Week 4: 28th place, 893541 points, succesfully aced DanMachi

Week 5: 285th place, 1104327 points

Week 6: 290th place, 1256897 points

Week 7: 315th place, 1622149 points

Week 8: 326th place, 1756307 points

Week 9: 381th place, 2012409 points

Week 10: 400th place, 2364727 points

Week 11: 418th place, 2530409 points

Week 12: 480th placce, 2785429 points, used Wild Card points bump

Week 13: 287th place, 3636325 points, succesfully aced Ranma 1/2

 

So, I went out solidly out of the gates, scoring some strong points in the opening phase, even getting to 78th place in week 2.   

This allowed the unavoidable fall down the ranking to be post-poned a little, but I kept hovering around the top 1% this edition to my own amazement.  Thanks to being able to ace Ranma 1/2 in the final week, for the nice 75k bonus points, I climbed almost 200 spots on the finish line, putting me in 287th spot in the end, and the top 1%.

So a really good season of predicting for sure, and that of course sets the bar for future seasons on this guessing game!

 

 

 

 

Lord Ipsqueek's Adventures: Plopsaland De Panne

 Hello loyal subjects to the King under the Mountain!

Do I have another epic adventure to share with you today.

You see, two days ago my godmother, Auntie Shefaly, took me along to Plopsaland De Panne (that is near the Belgian coast should you not know the map of my kingdom), and I brought Moeke, mommy and daddy along to serve my every need.

After a ride in what daddy called "it's a Beemer yeah, but a toy version on batteries" we arrived at the amusement park, basically a step up from the Plopsa Indoor Antwerp that I visited twice already.  

And so we entered this realm of stories and tales, ready to explore.  Though I must admit I was a bit tired the first part of the day, but luckily I pulled through to be my own joyous self again instead of a pocketsized copy of grumpy dad when he sleeps not enough hehe.

Our first visit was to Maya Land, where I went in a merry go round of flying flowers with mommy.

While daddy was taking some overpriced, limited edition and as he would call it by the end of the day, the only disappointment, coffee.

There was also still a small house that remembers Meli Park, the amusement park from daddy's young days (did they already invented rollercoasters back then????) and which later beame Plopsaland.

I also met my fierce mount for when I grow up!

After which I gave driving lessons to auntie Shefaly, can't beat a good tractor after all.

Mommy also took me on a balloon flight, from which I could see a lot of the park from up high.

Then it was time for lunch, and we went to the lovely Prinsessia Castle for a sandwich.

Even though daddy's seemed to come in a bottle... he mumbled something about Untappd...

I then went with daddy into the spinning Koffiekopjes, which is like Sindbad in the Efteling and something I really love riding in as they twist and turn around.

It even snowed in the park!  Though apparently it wasn't real one but foam, but it was fun to play with while daddy went to take a Big Splash.

We then took the train around the park, so we could see all there is to the place and what we definitly needed to visit still for me!  And there where even dinosaurs in the park!!!

The park was also dressed up nicely, with lovely houses and a heap of fun looking figures from television.

I then went to sail on some ducks with aunti Shefaly...

after which I went to ride some rabbits with daddy...

 

 

and hop along in some frogs with Moeke.

 

 

 As the evening set in, I took the ladies out for a nice sailing trip on the Tik Tak boats.

It was pretty with all the lights I must say.

The final ride we took sailed us through the forest of Kabouter Plop in a great animatronics darkride.

As auntie Shefaly's car still needed some charging before going home, and my tummy grumbling, we went to a little frituur nearby the park for some haute cuisine...

... and then we drove back home after a fantastic day in the amusement park.

Thanks eveyone for taking me there, it was another great adventure I had, and I look forward to the next one for sure!  Daddy will be putting some more videoclips of the day on his channel as well, so you can see me there in action as I brave the various attractions of the park!