Manoa

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And yep, I posted screenie (the in-game screenie/RL costume comparison for Crazy Old Cat Lady from HeroCon )

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Ah thats right! Hawt!

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Yes, that costume was quite hot (in the most literal sense possible!).

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I vote Manoa cause shes teh awesome!



er did she post a screenie?

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And yep, I posted screenie (the in-game screenie/RL costume comparison for Crazy Old Cat Lady from HeroCon )

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I'd vote for someone who has NO ART whatsoever. Even if it does leave me out.

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You know, there's a couple of us who fit in that category...

Oh, that's just mean!

My vote's going to go to Obsidius...cuz us art virgins gotta stick together!

Yay Alex!

Congratulations Fireforged! And great job as always Foo...I absolutely love how those eyes turned out.

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Hmm, virgins. Maybe I'll do one more, out of all the virgins.


...there's a sentence I haven't said since I was high priest of the Cult of T'kulkra.

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Uh oh, someone may get deflowered!

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You guys are such art tramps.

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Actually, I'm an art virgin when it comes to COH-related artwork.

As many as we can get away with...which in this case, appears to be two.

Ripping off the Girl Scouts...that's pretty darn low!

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Counterfeiters Collared After Trying to Scam Girl Scouts in Bremerton
Kitsap Sun
By Josh Farley
Monday, March 2, 2009


BREMERTON — Girl Scouts should be known for far more than “cookies, camping and crafts,” troop leader Monica Boyd says.

Tack on catching counterfeiters.

Boyd’s troop eagerly took turns Monday afternoon scrutinizing $20 bills from cookie buyers outside the Safeway store on McWilliams Road in East Bremerton. They used counterfeit detector pens, donated after a spate of fake cash Sunday that ended up in the troop’s coffers.

“It was a very eye-opening for the girls,” Boyd said.

It was for the East Bremerton troop leader, too.

“It’s insidious and unconscionable,” she said. “I can’t even imagine what we are coming to if people are preying on Girl Scouts.”

Boyd and her husband, David, discovered Sunday afternoon they had three phony $20 bills from the girls’ afternoon of work. The bills were a little off in size from the others and “didn’t feel quite right,” Boyd said.

Bremerton police believe they found the people who perpetrated the scheme on the very same day the counterfeiters passed the bills. Other fake $20 bills surfaced in the receipts of area businesses, as well as another Girl Scout troop that had worked outside the Safeway store on Callow Avenue in West Bremerton.

Bremerton Police Detective Sgt. Kevin Crane estimates that up to $1,000 in counterfeit money was used by the suspects in a money-laundering plan: a fake $20 scores not only a box of $4 cookies, but $16 in real money in change.

Bremerton police were initially called to the Rite Aid on the 4100 block of Kitsap Way just after 3 p.m. Sunday. A store employee called 911 after someone attempted to pass a fake $20. The man fled in a car driven by an 18-year-old woman, and another customer followed them from the parking lot, police said.

A North Cambrian Avenue man who was listening to his police scanner saw a car outside matching the description of the suspect’s, police said. He told police he watched the 18-year-old put something in a nearby garbage can. When police looked in the can, they found twelve counterfeit $20 bills.

A conversation with the 18-year-old led to other suspects, and police eventually served a search warrant on a 12th Street home. While police were preparing to serve the warrant, a bag containing what is believed to be meth was thrown outside, detectives said.

The 18-year-old woman, as well as a 21-year-old man and 22-year-old man, both of Bremerton, were arrested on suspicion of forgery stemming from the investigation, and held in the Kitsap County jail on $100,000 bail. Another Bremerton man, 23, was arrested at the 12th Street home on suspicion of possession of meth. Police expect more arrests.

A printer was confiscated from the 12th Street home, and police said they’d also taken other “counterfeiting” materials from the residence. The four suspects made preliminary appearances in Kitsap County Superior Court on Monday. They have not yet been charged, Kitsap deputy prosecutor Chris Casad said.

Carla Abrams, the regional director of the Girl Scouts organization on the peninsula, said such a counterfeit ring won’t deter troops from selling.

“We may be a little more cautious,” she said, “but we’re definitely going to be out there selling the cookies.”

Hehe, good point!

Hyper? Did ever occur to the guy that his cat was just being a typical kitten??

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Neb. deputies say man stuffed cat inside 'bong'
By Eric Olson, Associated Press Writer
Tue Mar 3, 12:03 am ET

OMAHA, Neb. – A man who tried to cool out his hyper cat by stuffing her into a boxlike homemade bong faces cruelty charges — and catcalls from animal lovers. Lancaster County sheriff's deputies responding to a domestic disturbance call Sunday alleged they saw 20-year-old Acea Schomaker smoking marijuana through a piece of garden hose attached to a duct-taped, plastic glass box in which the cat had been stuffed.

"This cat was just dazed," Sgt. Andy Stebbing said. "She was on the front seat of the cop car, wrapped in a blanket, and never moved all the way to the humane society."

Schomaker told deputies 6-month-old Shadow was hyper and he was trying to calm her down. The contraption she had been stuffed inside was 12 inches by 6 inches. Shadow was timid but in good condition Monday at the Capital Humane Society, executive director Bob Downey said.

"What the human mind doesn't invent, huh?" Downey said.

Schomaker, who was released from jail after paying a $400 fine on the arrest warrant, faces drug and misdemeanor animal cruelty charges. He did not immediately respond to phone messages left Monday seeking comment.

So ebil!! That one turned out awesome Foo!

Now you're just teasing us Foo!

I'm really looking forward to seeing more of your artz!

It appears that the forums censored part of the url for the second linkie. Either visit Toxic's main DA page (it's the first piece in the new section) or replace the [censored] part with a synonym for chicken that would often get censored (very cute piece BTW Toxic!).

I've always felt that the best photographs are the ones that were completely unplanned and are considered "lucky shots." This just further reinforces that idea! Great photo Mrs. Alpha!

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Wow I woulda thought this thread would be a little more busy, as did I think I'd have some messages from artists out there. Apparently you guys/gals don't wanna make any money ...

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I don't think it's that the artists don't want to make any money (particularly in these hard economic times!), but more so what Wassy pointed out...some of the artists likely have full queues and/or feel awkward approaching the customer (I haven't commissioned any artwork myself, but I'd suspect that the commission process typically works the other way around).

If you're not getting any bites in this thread or via PM, I think the best suggestion I could make is to visit TA's List of Commissionable Artists in his signature. You'll find a huge array of artists that you can commission along work samples and from there, you can pick what artists have the specific art style that you're looking for and inquire on pricing and if they're accepting commissions.

Dear gawd! Does this girl not realize that they make shampoo for that sort of thing??

Everyone did such a fantastic job on all of their pieces, so it's really a tough choice. My vote is going to go to Toxic_Shia's Ghost Baby. I love everything about this piece, but most especially the composition...baby Ghost Widow and puppy Mako in the classic Coppertone pose makes me giggle.

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Yes! Really wicked piece of art there, Foo!
Me likey so much... Malfaz and I are willing to kill for one now.



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Uh oh, does this mean we're all going to have to PVPz 4 artz?

Lovely work Foo! And a huge congratulations to Petey!

Yeah, me too. It was such a wonderful story I just had to share it with everyone.

Amid the grieving, a rare act of sportsmanship
Associated Press
February 18, 2009

The coach never considered any other option.

It didn't matter that his DeKalb, Ill., High School basketball team had ridden a bus two and a half hours to get to Milwaukee, then waited another hour past game time to play. Didn't matter that the game was close, or that this was a chance to beat a big city team.

Something else was on Dave Rohlman's mind when he asked for a volunteer to shoot two free throws awarded his team on a technical foul in the second quarter. His senior captain raised his hand, ready to go to the line as he had many times before.
Only this time it was different.

"You realize you're going to miss them, don't you?" Rohlman said.

Darius McNeal nodded his head. He understood what had to be done.

It was a Saturday night in February, and the Barbs were playing a non-conference game on the road against Milwaukee Madison. It was the third meeting between the two schools, who were developing a friendly rivalry that spanned two states.

The teams planned to get together after the game and share some pizzas and soda. But the game itself almost never took place.
Hours earlier, the mother of Milwaukee Madison senior captain Johntel Franklin died at a local hospital. Carlitha Franklin had been in remission after a five-year fight with cervical cancer, but she began to hemorrhage that morning while Johntel was taking his college ACT exam.

Her son and several of his teammates were at the hospital late that afternoon when the decision was made to turn off the life-support system. Carlitha Franklin was just 39.

"She was young and they were real close," said Milwaukee coach Aaron Womack Jr., who was at the hospital. "He was very distraught and it happened so suddenly he didn't have time to grieve."

Womack was going to cancel the game, but Franklin told him he wanted the team to play. And play they did, even though the game started late and Milwaukee Madison dressed only eight players.

Early in the second quarter, Womack saw someone out of the corner of his eye. It was Franklin, who came there directly from the hospital to root his teammates on.

The Knights had possession, so Womack called a time out. His players went over and hugged their grieving teammate. Fans came out of the stands to do the same.

"We got back to playing the game and I asked if he wanted to come and sit on the bench," Womack said during a telephone interview.

"No," Franklin replied. "I want to play."

There was just one problem. Since Franklin wasn't on the pre-game roster, putting him in meant drawing a technical foul that would give DeKalb two free throws.

Though it was a tight game, Womack was willing to give up the two points. It was more important to help his senior guard and co-captain deal with his grief by playing.

Over on the other bench, though, Rohlman wasn't so willing to take them. He told the referees to forget the technical and just let Franklin play.

"I could hear them arguing for five to seven minutes, saying, `We're not taking it, we're not taking it," Womack said. "The refs told them, no, that's the rule. You have to take them."

That's when Rohlman asked for volunteers, and McNeal's hand went up.

He went alone to the free throw line, dribbled the ball a couple of times, and looked at the rim.

His first attempt went about two feet, bouncing a couple of times as it rolled toward the end line. The second barely left his hand.
It didn't take long for the Milwaukee players to figure out what was going on.

They stood and turned toward the DeKalb bench and started applauding the gesture of sportsmanship. Soon, so did everybody in the stands.

"I did it for the guy who lost his mom," McNeal told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "It was the right thing to do."

Franklin would go on to score 10 points, and Milwaukee Madison broke open the game in the second half to win 62-47. Afterward, the teams went out for pizza, two players from each team sharing each pie.

Franklin stopped by briefly, thankful that his team was there for him.

"I got kind of emotional but it helped a lot just to play," he said. "I felt like I had a lot of support out there."

Carlitha Franklin's funeral was last Friday, and the school turned out for her and her son. Cheerleaders came in uniform, and everyone from the principal and teachers to Johntel's classmates were there.

"Even the cooks from school showed up," Womack said. "It lets you know what kind of kid he is."

Basketball is a second sport for the 18-year-old Franklin, who says he has had some scholarship nibbles and plans to play football in college. He just has a few games left for the Knights, who are 6-11 and got beat 71-36 Tuesday night by Milwaukee Hamilton.
It hasn't been the greatest season for the team, but they have stuck together through a lot of adversity.

"We maybe don't have the best basketball players in the world but they go to class and take care of business," Womack said. "We have a losing record but there's life lessons going on, good ones."

None so good, though, as the moment a team and a player decided there were more important things than winning and having good stats.

Yes, DeKalb would go home with a loss. But it was a trip they'll never forget.

"This is something our kids will hold for a lifetime," Rohlman said. "They may not remember our record 20 years from now, but they'll remember what happened in that gym that night."

I think I'll appreciate this much more than some of the other post-mortum works out there since this was at least in manuscript form at the time of Tolkien's death. Now the continuation of a storyline written by someone else after the author's death...yeah, I can't stand that either.

In an attempt to change the conversation from Poop™...

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J R R Tolkien's Sigurd and Gudrun
January 14, 2009 11:37 AM

The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun, a volume of rare Norse epic poetry by Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien, will be published in May, edited by Tolkien's son, Christopher, who also edited and completed 2007's The Children of Hurin.

Originally written in the '20s and '30s--before Tolkien wrote The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings--the book was in manuscript form and unpublished at the time of Tolkien's death in 1973.

The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun tells the story of the Norse legend of Sigurd and the Fall of the Niflungs, the same legend that inspired composer Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung).

Tolkien scholar and editor of The Annotated Hobbit and Tales Before Tolkien, Douglas A. Anderson, said that the publisher hasn't let out much information about the book just yet, but added that it presumably contains the two narrative poems that were mentioned in Tolkien's collected letters, which were published in 1981.

The poems were titled in Old Norse, which translates as "The New Lay of the Volsungs" and "The New Lay of Gudrun."

"They obviously concern the Old Norse legends of Sigurd and the Volsungs," Anderson said. "Tolkien's poems are written in a modernized version of a particular type of Old Norse poetic form, called fornyrthislag, which comprises an eight-line stanza."

The story of the hero Sigurd and the dragon can be seen as one of Tolkien's primary inspirations. A number of elements of the dragon Fafnir--the craftiness, the malice and other traits--can certainly be seen in the dragon Smaug in The Hobbit, Anderson said.

Very few people have read the poems--not even Tolkien scholars like Anderson--as until now they've been part of the unpublished Tolkien materials that are not available to the public.

"The poems in The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun ... were completed entirely by J.R.R. Tolkien many years ago and are part of another type of writing that he did, remolding or translating the medieval works that he worked on as a scholar," Anderson said.

"Tolkien is also known to have completed a prose translation of Beowulf, as well as writing a large part of another poem called 'The Fall of Arthur,' which is in modern English but uses the medieval technique of alliterative verse. ... Neither his translation of Beowulf nor his unfinished reworking of the King Arthur story have been published, so perhaps we can look forward to these in the future."