Posts

Posted on

Day 487: trying again with sand

One Among the Dead

Sometimes you need a project that’s just for, y’know, goofing around. This is the ongoing saga of my Minecraft character. For lack of a better title, we’re going with “One Among the Dead”. 

Day 487:

Building my new frame didn’t take long because I’d started one the other night in case something happened, which we all know it did.

(I’m still picking shards of lava-smacked clay out of my hair. Not sure how I didn’t lose an eyeball.)

So now I’m packing sand into it instead of clay. The sand here seems to pack well – the grains look and feel pretty consistent – so i’m hoping I can pack the entire mould, carefully remove the wood templates, pour the metal once the sand has dried, and maybe have rails.

Posted on

Day 486: Hot rails

One Among the Dead

Sometimes you need a project that’s just for, y’know, goofing around. This is the ongoing saga of my Minecraft character. For lack of a better title, we’re going with “One Among the Dead”. 

Day 486:

I poured the molten iron into the frame and there was a lot of exploding and I don’t have a frame anymore.

Apparently ceramics shouldn’t be made with high speed and wet clay.

Back to the drawing board.

Posted on

Drive, Act 2 by Dave Kellett

Impressions

Not quite reviews, I talk about books I read and enjoyed.

Welp, that didn’t take long.

Drive Act Two is (obviously) the continuation of Drive, Act One, which I reviewed earlier today… because I inhaled both books today.

The second act of this story is as intoxicating as the first, filled with aliens and worlds beyond ours, introducing new characters and new twists and turns to the plot line at every convenience. The pacing continues to be spot-on. The art continues to be polished and delightful. The situation for our cast of characters continues to worsen, which, I mean sure, act 2, that’s it’s job.

I’ve reached the point in the story where even if I tried to explain the plot to the reader, it would take longer than actually reading the book. Plus I’d mess it up. Suffice it to say that I look forward to Act 3 with great admiration for Dave Kellett’s writing and a sincere desire to see how this all wraps up.

Or whether it does wrap up. There’s no law against a five-act space opera.

This isn’t one you’re going to find on Amazon. Buy directly from the Drive store in hardback, paperback, or PDF.

Posted on

Day 485: waiting for my clay to settle.

One Among the Dead

Sometimes you need a project that’s just for, y’know, goofing around. This is the ongoing saga of my Minecraft character. For lack of a better title, we’re going with “One Among the Dead”. 

Day 485: While the clay settles in its mould, I’m going out and chopping down small trees to make sticks, since the whole reason I came back to home base in the first place was that I was out of axe handles.

But I’m also looking at the sticks and thinking I’m going to need a whole lot of these to make the cross rails for the rails. If I don’t anchor them evenly the rails won’t align at their junctions and then the cart or whatever I put on them will jump off the tracks.

I say this having built neither the cart nor its wheels. But I figure if I can’t make consistent rails it really doesn’t matter what else I haven’t made yet.

So, much tree chopping. Which ironically would go faster if I had a diamond axe. Which I’d have if I was down in the mine looking for ore like I said I would be. Which I need to make good tools to go capture sheep to make warm clothes to climb a mountain. Which I need to do to get the heck out of here.

I’m so tired, y’all.

Posted on

Drive, Act 1 by Dave Kellett

Impressions

Not quite reviews, I talk about books I read and enjoyed.

I fell in love with Dave Kellet’s art and storytelling style with his strip Sheldon, a long long time ago when I had the time to read daily comics. I can remember when Drive launched.

But then life happened and I never got back to it.

This was a tactical error on my part.

Drive is a delicious mix of humor and heartbreak, a grandmotherly taking-no-crap human captain, two other humans that are in La Familia (the government) and all kinds of other aliens. The most important of the aliens are a Russian-accented Veeta the size of a rhino, and a tiny we-don’t-know-what named Skitter.

The thesis underpinning the story is that Skitter could conceivably save the human race and their empire by becoming pilots in their military. But there are mafias, planets full of dumb bullies, a parasitic-virus-based race spreading through the galaxy, a very very pissed-off group of aliens looking to regain stolen tech, and, well, space to deal with.

This book is the first act of the story. You will not want to read it without also getting your hands on the second act, which is now also available.

(Well, I mean, you could, but you’ll be like WHYYYYYY)

The art is fantastic, the storyline paced well for such a long arc, the switching of points-of-view to different places and times used to great effectiveness. The story is occasionally interrupted with important notes, historical elements, pages from an encyclopedia, and foreshadowing.

Oh the foreshadowing.

I inhaled this book in less than a day and as soon as I am done this review I’m starting Act 2.

This isn’t one you’re going to find on Amazon. Buy directly from the Drive store in hardback, paperback, or PDF.