NIMLAS Studios will be at Dragon*Cant!

Posted on August 30, 2012 by Nuchtchas

Every year geeks flock to Dragon*Con and WorldCon and many other cons, while more geeks are left at home wishing they could go. Three years ago a joke on twitter between @BrandG, @SVallie, & @Nlowell became a haven for those of us left out of the con club. Dragon*Cant, the virtual con, the un con, the all the con with none of the crud has grown and flourished over the past three years.

Through the magic of the internet (Ustream and Google Hangouts) we are able to not just host or attend a panel but to participate in them. Not only are the panels but meeting in the bar in between panels. With Twitter and Google hangouts over the next few days you can interact with geeks from all over the world, some your friends, and others friends you haven’t met yet. Both prior Dragon*Cants have brought me new friends I had never met before and gotten me closer with people I had only just seen on twitter.

Last year I hosted a panel on Pop Art, this year on Sunday, I will be hosting two panels and The Clockwork Doctor (our intrepid GunGeek columnist) will be hosting a panel of his own.

Panel: Nutty Debate: Listening to Fiction, or reading fiction, which is better?
Host: Nuchtchas
A panel of debaters will discuss the pros and cons or reading from a book vs listening to a podiobook when it comes to fiction.
Platform: Google+ Hangout
Starts: 2:00 pm – Ends: 3:00 pm, September 2, 2012 (Eastern Time)
More details
Panel: Our Friend Newton: How real physics should be used in Sci-Fi
Host: the Clockwork Doctor
A humorous, geeky panel with the working title of “Our Friend Newton: How real physics should be used in Sci-Fi”.
Platform: Google+ Hangout
Starts: 3:00 pm – Ends: 4:00 pm, September 2, 2012 (Eastern Time)
More details
Panel: How to visually represent your audio project
Host: Nuchtchas
In this panel we would cover album artwork, the visual aspect to your website, what’s needed in a facebook group/page or google+ page to grab your listeners attention between episodes. If there is time, we will also cover the elements of cover art for prose.
Platform: Google+ Hangout
Starts: 4:00 pm – Ends: 5:00 pm, September 2, 2012 (Eastern Time)
More detailsYou can find the rest of the schedule at www.dragoncant.com/schedule, follow on twitter @dragoncant, Facebook, and Google+, and keep checking back as new panels get added every day. I hope to see you there

What I saw on my walk tonight

Gallery

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Nuchtchas

This gallery contains 7 photos.

Every Tuesday since Balticon Tek, Encaf1 and I have taken to #OperationChikenWing, Where we get together at The Snooty Fox for half price wings and a geeky confab. We’re liking it a lot and since the weather is so nice, … Continue reading →

Art Re-Supply

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Nuchtchas

I don’t ask for personal donations, not for the podcast, not for my art or anything I create on this site. Actually, if someone wanted to donate to me I would direct them to one of the many projects I wish I had more funds to support and donate to.

Today I am not asking for donations per say, and this is not a plea for help, but… if someone out there wanted to help me in any way, the best way would be to buy art supplies for me. I’m always in need of new stuff and have been rapidly replacing a lot of things. I can’t tell you how much I have spend in the last two years or so on new brushes, new paints, new canvas and stretchers. Pencils, pastels, pads, sketchbooks, portfolio and carrying cases, you name it. A lot of my stuff is over fifteen years old and either at it’s end or dried up.

I replaced most of what I need, as I work I’m going through some consumables and it would be nice to have some resupply. I’m not at the moment of running out and buying some more, simply because I am making due with some of the older stuff (like a watercolor block with a big ink stain on one side that bleed through all of the pages, I cut off the end of the paper.)

I have set up an Amazon Wish List of some of the more inexpensive items that I will be needing soon. If someone wanted to buy me something from that, that would be cool. You could think think of yourself as one of my patrons :)

Can you tell I don’t like asking for things?
Also, if anyone knows of a better site to set up a wishlist or something easier (or in Canada) please let me know. So far as I have found mail order art supplies are pretty limited (I also wish NB had a Pearl Paint or even a DeSerrs.)

Thankful Thursday / Daily Creativity: Momacita

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Nuchtchas

Today is Thursday, so I’m going to tell you about someone I’m thankful for. It’s also lent, so I have a Daily Creativity for you also. I combined the two :)

I’m Thankful for my mother, who I lovingly call Momacita. It’s not just an internet code name I use, but something I started when I was younger. Whenever we were in a store and I called out “Mom,” looking for my mother, six women would turn around. So I started calling her Momacita to circumvent this.

My mother isn’t perfect, but she is awesome. She taught me a lot of things, like how to be strong, stand up for yourself and that you can take on a million things and not be a failure. I have a habit of wanting to do everything, and perhaps part of that is because my mother always was doing everything. With a father out to sea for half the year my mother was a single mother, not just when Dad was away, but even when he was home because she was the only constant parent (aside from the help my siblings gave her.) My mother took care of not only her nine children but also took in extras. She volunteered most of my youth and then went to work full time when I was in the eighth grade. I watched my mother rise from middle management to executive pretty quickly and found that to be an inspiration. My mother taught me how to interview, how to conduct myself in business and how to keep professional without being cold. (After an interview, send a thank you note, trust me, it works). I want to do everything because my mother (and other women in her family, I’ll get to those later) take on everything. Because of this I also know it’s ok to fail sometimes, it’s ok to not be perfect and it’s ok to pick yourself up and try again.

Years ago I was living on Long Island and Momacita and I fell into a nice groove. We would go to the Laundromat together each week and do laundry. We would meet at the gym and work out (I should post the picture of us crossing the finish line at the long island half marathon here, but I’m not sure I would have her permission) together five days a week and trained for races together. We would hit up the wholesale bulk store together and split up the giant packs of food. It was more than just doing errands, it was a time to talk and get to know one another. In my whole life I think that time might be one of the best times with my mother, we formed a bond then that I hold onto today. Now that I live in another country I miss my mom, I miss being able to run errands with her, to go for a manicure with her, or just workout. I miss her, but because of the bond we have I will always have her with me. That, and Facetime :) Thanks to Momacita being plugged in, all I have to do is use the facetime app on my computer and it rings her iPad, we make sure we video conference every week (since we realized we could do this) and it makes me very happy to be able to visit with her, even if I am so far away.

As for the daily creativity. I drew this with pencils, based off a snapshot I have of her holding my nephew. It’s not quite Momacita, there is something off, but it’s kinda close. It’s always hard to draw people who are so close to me. I don’t know why.

Thankful Thursday: LIZ!

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Nuchtchas

A good friend of mine, Liz, writes a blog called A Bowl of Stew(art) and every week on Thursday she posts about someone she is thankful for. I have even been featured there as someone she is thankful. I always look forward to this post every week, it’s a fun way to see into her life and the different people she meets that make life fantastic. As I like to focus on the AWESOME, I decided it was only fitting to steal this custom from her. So of course my first official “Thankful Thursday” should feature Liz.

I first met Liz when I decided to start my first NaNoWriMo back in 2010 (was it only two years ago? Feels like longer). She was (and still is) the organizer of the Wolfeville Wrimos in Nova Scotia. Thanks to that experience and the huge feeling of being welcome and invited into this group that Liz provided me with, a lot about my life changed. I met many other great people through that group and got involved in a lot of activities and local events. It actually made much sadder to leave Nova Scotia because I would be leaving Liz and all of those great people.

Liz runs more than just the NaNoWriMo group, she runs “Best Word” which is the local writing group that meets all year round. There are two regular meetings a month, first is a writing challenge meeting where we write and work on a theme for the month. The second is a share meeting where we share what we’ve written and compete for a prize (an old book that is dry and boring but we add to it with writing and doodles).

Liz is also a youth pastor so we have had many a discussion on theology and been able to talk about a lot of things that many people I know just won’t discuss. She has an open mind and a loving heart that helps when discussing something as polarizing as religion. I’ve visited her church a few times, got to hear her preach and went down with the kids and participated in the activities she plans for them. When I see someone doing what I consider is their calling, it impresses me and makes me feel good. I love watching Liz at work.

Liz is a lover of Dragons and of course loves Rory. She wrote about Farwin, the dragon in her NaNoWriMo novel (and who I just love). She squees over dragon items just as I do and has even made dragon inspired crafts (love the tiles she painted at ClayGround).

Liz loves board games, sadly I lived a touch too far to set up board game nights with her. She is a knitter and makes cute little crafts and is often found with knitting needles in hand, and perhaps one behind her ear. She loves local music and can be found supporting local artists. She can also be found at the weekly Farmer’s Market buying local food. She is a browncoat and an all around geek, I remember when she found out I had not only seen Firefly but also considered myself a browncoat she danced (she does that a lot) because she had someone to talk about her fandom with.

This past year, even though I had moved out of the province, I kept contact with my friends and planned to return for HalCon, we had a blast of course and you can see at the top of this post how Liz and I battled a Dalek. Not even a Dalek can defeat the Queen of the Trolls! (She was cosplaying as a character from Mark Oakley’s comic Thieves’ and Kings) We had so much fun we were talking about our costumes for the following year before the con was even over.

After HalCon I stayed over for a writing group meeting and then returned later in the month for a write all night event. While I got less writing done thanks to the travel, returning for the event was well worth it because I got to see my friends again and I really didn’t want to leave.

I‘m thankful to Liz for sparking my writing, for making me feel at home in Nova Scotia, for being a great friend and a fantastic geek. I’m thankful that even though I have left Nova Scotia I still have her in my life and always will. She makes me smile and happy that there are people like her on this earth. (Sorry if this sounds sappy to you, this is what Thankful Thursday is all about, me being sappy)

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