Webcomic Chapter 12 Posted

Chapter 12 (pages 364--382) of Breakout from Bongolaan is now available.

The pace at where I work didn't slow down any since my last chapter posting.

Not only that, but Chapter 12 was originally much longer than it currently is.  As the page length lengthened, I ended up dividing the narrative into more chapters as I found more appropriate stopping points.  So this part of the story grew from Chapter 12 and 13, to Chapter 12--14, and finally to Chapter 12-15.

By the time I reached this point, I decided to quit writing additional material and work on editing and revising.

By the time I was satisfied with most of my recent work, I did some final tweaking of Chapter 12.

My "cunning plan" is to do the similar tweaks to Chapters 13 and 14 within the next couple weeks and then post them.

Which brings me to Chapter 15.  I'm not currently happy with it.  I feel this portion will require some major re-writing, but I'll wait until Chapter 14 is posted before I even start.

In my last webcomic update, I said I'd launch a new format for Breakout from Bongolaan by 4 January 2016.

Well, I'm afraid I have to postpone the launch date.  With the little time I've had to spare, I devoted it all to getting these chapters written.  I'm hoping the delay won't be more than a month.  I appreciate your patience.

For this chapter's theme song, I chose Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.

You might think this is an odd choice for a chapter's mood music, especially since Star Wars is and epic  space opera, not a space western, like Firefly.

But I think the song fits for a few reasons.  First, in this chapter Callithea expresses her desire to return to her home planet.  This segways into a hint of what society on Callithea's home world, Tarsus, is like.  Finally, our heroes are essentially planning for a "road trip--IN SPACE," and depending on what list you read, Home ranks anywhere from #13 in Paste Magazine to #1 on BuzzFeed.

The Force Has Awoken!

(Image from:  Star Wars.com Theatrical Poster)

By now, thousands of fans have probably seen midnight showings of Star Wars:  The Force Awakens.

From initial accounts at the premiers in Hollywood and London, audience response has been enthusiastic.

It will be about a month before I see it due to my wife's and my own work schedule.  But at least we have reserved seats in a deluxe theater!

In the meantime, I submitted my picture of my Tantive IV fighting a couple of TIE fighters to the Seattle Times.  It was included in the gallery of an article asking Star Wars superfan? Share pictures of your favorite collectibles.

(Image:  From my Tantive IV product review, and Picture #3 in the article's gallery)

For those who'll see the movie before I do:  I hope the movie and the big-screen experience was everything you hoped it to be.

Upgrading the Millennium Falcon

Part of the appeal of science fiction in general, and Star Wars in particular, is the ability to roam the galaxy at ludicrous speed.

So for a Star Wars role playing game (RPG), acquiring a starship, but not necessarily "buying" one, is a critical goal for player characters (PCs) starting out on their misadventures.

If you're involved in a game which relies heavily on miniatures, representing a starship can be difficult.  While two-dimensional deck plans or graph paper, while effective, loses "cinematic appeal."  Models specifically made in typical "RPG Scale" (usually 15-35mm Scale) are invariably scratch-built by talented modelers, like Maker.e2oGame.

For those of us lacking talent and patience to construct our own ships, we turn to toys.

For my, now dormant, Redshift Chronicles Campaign, my friend Joe placed his Millennium Falcon Playset in my care, which was utilized on a couple of adventures.

(Utilizing the same Ink-Sketch program as in my Breakout from Bongolaan webcomic)

The playset isn't exactly to scale as my Star Wars Miniatures, but I figure starships are suppose to be big anyway.  Besides, there's enough room inside to get interior pictures.

(Han Solo and Chewbacca making last-minute repairs before taking off)

I've had Joe's 'Falcon for a few years now.  During this time, I've made half-hearted inquires about buying my own, but have balked at the "Collector's Edition Prices."

However, two events motivated me to acquire my own 'Falcon.

First, we're just 10 days away from the premier of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Which means Star Wars merchandise has deluged the market long before the movie appears on the silver screen.

And second, Joe is now the father of two little boys.

I reached my decision point a couple weeks ago, when I stumbled across Hasbro's "Force Awakens" Millennium Falcon, while Christmas shopping with my wife.  (Isn't it amazing how you manage to find gifts for yourself when shopping for others?).  I was hesitant to buy it, but my wife assured me it was okay, thus salving my guilty conscience, and the Base Exchange (department stores on military installations) was knocking off $25 for purchases of $100 or more as part of their "Black Friday Weekend Sale."

The price tag on this new 'Falcon alone qualified me for the discount.

I haven't opened it yet, since we've been busy putting up Christmas decorations.

Yes, at the risk of loosing some of the collector's value, I do intend on opening the box, because I want to have the ship "ready for flight" for any future Star Wars RPG/skirmish adventures.  But my "cunning plan" is to open it carefully and keep all the parts I won't utilize, in order to maintain a decent portion of any possible collector's value.

One possible point of concern is the new 'Falcon looks smaller than the older one, but I'm hoping it may be more appropriate for my Star Wars Miniatures I use.

In any case, I have a new 'Falcon, Joe gets his old one returned and he'll get to experience all the parental joys of watching his two boys fight over play with an iconic toy.

Everybody wins!

Honest Trailers - Star Wars

With less than a month to go before The Force Awakens, the folks at Screen Junkies has provided us with an Honest Trailer of Star Wars "...the first one..."

From everything I'm hearing, The Force Awakens will reboot the whole Star Wars franchise.  That is, a lot, if not all the material in the "expanded universe" (EU) will be null and void.

Attempting to reconcile Breakout from Bongolaan and the Redshift Chronicles with whatever direction The Force Awakens will take Star Wars, will be far too difficult for me. 

(I know this blog looks dormant, but I assure you I am working on posting content--I'm just moving at glacial speed--thank you for your patience).

So this tiny Star Wars niche will be some alternate reality.

In the meantime, I hope The Force Awakens meets, or exceeds our hopes and expectations.

Of Spammers and Derelict Sites

(Image by Seraphmx)

My apologies for this late post. 

Thanks to a Google-search, I discovered the sources of the spam I mentioned a few weeks back.  I posted the results on my Stern Rake Studio blog, but forgot to do so here on the Redshift Chronicles.

Here's what I found out:

 Last week I discovered the Reading List on my blog's administration page was overrun by Indonesian gambling sites. 

In response, I changed my password and filed a complaint with Google, who owns and runs Blogger.

The gambling spam was still in my Reading List the following day, so I fired-off another complaint to Google.

On the morning of the third day, the spam was gone, so I thought my problems were over.

But then a couple days later, I discovered two spam posts from the same Indonesian gambling sites.

This time I Googled "Spam found on Blogger Reading List."  Fortunately, I found a woman who had the same problem two years ago.

The first person to respond told her that the problem wasn't her blog, but one or more of the blogs she had on her reading list.  Spammers hijacked one of the blogs she was following and was using to spam other blogs.

It was like facehuggers infesting a derelict spaceship.

(Image:  The derelict ship in "Alien," found on Electric Shadow)

The recommended solution was to find the infected blog and delete it from her Reading List. 

I was following over 100 blogs.

Was I reading them every day?

No, of course not, but they were blogs I was interested in and would check out some of them when the mood struck me.

So I scrolled through my list.

I found five that were infected.  

However, I didn't just delete the five infected ones--I deleted over 40.  Some of them were from close friends and family.

These blog owners hadn't posted in anywhere from 1-5 years.  I figured sooner or later, these "cyber derelicts" would be too inviting for facehugger/spammers.

There were some I hated deleting, but I didn't want to run the risk of being spammed, or worse, passing along viruses.

(This Halloween-appropriate image found on The Richest: The 10 Most Dangerous Computer Viruses Ever)

Now I scroll down my Reading List every day I log on and scan for facehugger/spammers.

Possible Blogger Account Hack

I know it's been a while since I posted.  I'm currently working on Chapters 12-14 of Breakout from Bongolaan.

Unfortunately, a status update on my webcomic isn't the topic of today's post.

I think my Blogger account has been hacked.

On my Blogger homepage there's usually a Reading List displaying the latest posts from the blogs I follow.

About an hour ago, instead of seeing other bloggers' activities, I now have a list of Indonesian gambling sites.

I filed a complaint to Google, which runs Blogger, along with initiating a password change.

I'm not tech savvy enough to determine whether reading any of my blogs will cause any virus or malware to be transferred, but I thought I'd transmit this warning.

I hope to get this resolved soon.

Please accept my apologies.

Webcomic Chapter 11 Posted

 



I finally managed to get getting Chapter 11 of Breakout from Bongolaan (pages 330--363) posted. 

For this chapter's theme song, I stumbled across a piece of Epic Chase Music by Ross Bugden.

I now have nearly a year's-worth of daily material, which I mentioned as my trigger point in my previous webcomic post.

My life has been busy this year, involving work and family matters, so I haven't devoted any time exploring for new format for this webcomic. 

Now that 2015 is about 2/3rds near it's end, I want to set Monday, 4 January 2016 as the launch date for Breakout from Bongolaan's new format.

In the meantime, I'll be working on Chapter 12.

Thank you for your continued interest and support.

Family Emergency/Last-Minute Cross-Country Trip

My mom passed away just over a week ago after spending the past several months in the hospital, rehabilitation center and nursing home. 

I got "the call" from one of my sisters when I was on duty. Fortunately, the folks my wife & I worked for (WA State Emergency Management and Alaska Airlines) pulled out all the stops to send us back to my hometown of Binghamton, in Upstate NY.

We didn't make the wake, but were in time for the funeral mass at Saints John and Andrew Church.

I didn't post anything earlier for two reasons.

One, is that I was simply too busy at work and then preparing for cross-country travel. Second, I don't like broadcasting impending travel plans on social media. In fact, when we returned late Monday night, we discovered my wife's car was broken into while at the park & ride. Fortunately the thieves didn't follow-up and break into our house. (I've heard reports of crooks breaking into cars just to get the addresses of the drivers so they can break into their homes). Fortunately, our house was secure, but we weren't expecting to call-in a police report and schedule an auto-glass appointment when we got back.

But, despite the circumstances, there were a couple silver linings surrounding this trip.

The First Layer of the Silver Lining was that I had a chance to see all my siblings. Like most families, it's difficult for all of us to gather, unless it's a significant event, like weddings and funerals. The Second Layer of the Silver Lining was a chance to see most of our friends from a family that lived one house up from ours.  (Or for all intents and purposes "next door").

There are six siblings in this family and we all grew up together--and more often than not--got in trouble together. Our respective moms were friends as well. Their mom passed away 11 months ago, and the siblings still in the local area attended our mom's wake and/or funeral.

Not only were our "K-12 Friends" the last to leave the reception, but we got together the following night at their mom's house, now up for sale, in The Old Neighborhood.

We spent our time lounging in the backyard, reminiscing and catching up.  In fact, the radio station we were listening to, WAAL 99.1 ("The Whale"), is now plays classic rock.  So we heard the same songs we did during our collective childhood/adolescent years.

When I think about my youth, I like to say: We didn't just watch The Little Rascals (aka Our Gang)--we lived it!

Product Review--X-Wing Miniatures Game, VT-49 Decimator Expansion Pack

(Image from:  Boardgame Geek)

I bought this VT-49 Decimator because I thought it would make a good addition to the Imperial side of my Redshift Chronicles Campaign, and, I have to admit, because I felt it was really cool looking.

I'm happy to report that the same quality that went into making the Tantive IV was incorporated into this Imperial assault ship.

(Image:  A VT-49 on patrol "out in The Black")

Like the Tantive IV Expansion Pack, this kit contains a beautifully detailed model, lavishly illustrated cards, playing aids and an additional scenario, Mission 11:  Interdiction. 

Several famous, or infamous, individuals in the Star Wars Expanded Universe (SWEU) are associated with their time spent aboard Decimators.  Three of the four ship cards included in this kit are:

Captain Barrow Oicunn (game special ability card)

Commander Kenkirk (game special ability card ), and,

Mara Jade Skywalker (game special ability card)

With my attempts at being cinematic, what I like most about this expansion pack is the model's scale seems appropriate to the other ship figures in my collection.

(A Decimator overtakes a possible smuggler)

While the members of the cast of characters listed above are long-gone by the current Redshift Chronicles Campaign, there'll still be plenty of Decimators patrolling the galaxy, giving non-Imperials grief.

Decimators are highly rated by other buyers, and are still available at a discount on the following sites:  Miniature Market, Amazon.com and Boardgame Geek's Marketplace.  (At this time, they're sold out on E-Bay).

Notes:

The clear-plastic stands in Pictures #2 and #3 were edited out, while the images were done over with an "ink sketch" program using Paint.Net. 

The star mat used as a backdrop is by Monday Knight Productions, while the YT-1300 light freighter seen in the last picture, is actually a toy of unknown origin I bought from my friend Adrian.

Webcomic Chapter 10 Posted

Breakout from Bongolaan's Chapter 10 has been posted (pages 274-329).

Later this month, I plan to start working on Chapter 11.

I'm still exploring options on a new, webcomic-based format for this story.  But I think I'll wait until I reach, or surpass 365 pages.  Once I accomplish this, I'll have a year's worth of daily material to introduce Breakout from Bongolaan to a new audience.

In the meantime, I'd like to thank the "old audience" for your patience and support.

Chapter 10 is the initial fight scene in the Star Wars RPG (Role Playing Game) adventure this story was based on.  Since it took place in the Presidential Palace's Ballroom, I thought a fitting theme song for this chapter would be--what else?--The Ballroom Blitz by Sweet.

On Jury Duty

(Image from:  Wookiepedia entry on the Galactic Senate)

Hey Folks!  I know it's been a while since my last post.  Thank you for following this blog.

I've been working on Chapter 10 of Breakout from Bongolaan, but I'm also hoping to resume the Red Shift political/military campaign eventually soon.

In the meantime, today starts my first day of jury duty.

This life-getting-in-the-way will take a week or two, depending on how the court schedule and the jury selection goes.

I hope all of you had an enjoyable Holiday Season and best wishes to you in 2015!