The shirt this month is from Fantastic Beasts. I recently watched Fantastic Beasts and loved it. Even though it doesn't show Harry and the gang, it's a great  It has a lot of text but it's simple. Last month's Negan Sluggers shirt would have been better if it was just text. I really like the color as well.

The Doctor Strange item is an exclusive Q-Fig. I just watched the film and I thought it was great and now I can put Doctor Strange on display. I hope Loot Crate includes figures more often. 

The Big Trouble in Little China item is a comic mashup with Escape from New York, another memorable Kurt Russell film. 

The Game of Thrones item is a lined journal. The front and back cover shows Melisandre in both her forms with the line "The night is dark and full off terrors." The inside of the journal is not bad, I might actually use this. 

The pin is from The Elder Scrolls Online, a PC video game. I wanted to get the game for console but my friends were not interested in it. The pin lets you upgrade to the Imperial Edition from the standard edition but it's only for PC. I need to build or buy a gaming rig since I'm missing out on so many games! If you want the code, leave a comment below. I'll give it to the first person who asks. 

This month was not bad. The shirt and figure made this months box. The comic was okay but I was hoping for something more from the Big Trouble in Little China. The journal is alright but I don't know if I will use it. I would have preferred a house banner over an image of Melisandre.

If you want to sign up use this LINK, also use the promo code BOX5 to save $5 off your first subscription. If that code doesn't work you can use SAVE3 for $3 off any subscription. I also get credit towards more Loot Crates if you use the link.

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My wife gave me a Feiyu Tech G4 gimbal as a gift for our trip. I love taking videos on our trips but the footage is shaky at times. Hopefully the gimbal fixes some of those issues. I used a GoPro Hero 3 for this trip but I may pick up a Hero 4. This was a personal video of our trip but I wanted to share it with everyone. I will also be making a video for the other cities we visited. If you have any questions, leave a comment at the bottom!

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When I was discussing our European honeymoon my wife and I picked out four cities. My first choice was London. I wanted to visit London after watching BBC shows like Sherlock, Dr. Who and Luther. One of my favorite holiday films is Love Actually, set in London.

Cell Phones

We were able to purchase Lebara SIM cards at Heathrow airport for £25. They also had other options in a vending machine but a Lebara representative gave us a good deal. We were able to get 5gb of data and 500 minutes of talk time.

Transportation

We got into the city on a train from Heathrow to Paddington station. It was about £10 each person. From Paddington we purchased an oyster card to use on the Underground/Tube. We didn't buy the all day passes and instead opted for a pay as you go. The train and bus system was easy to navigate, especially using the City Mapper app. We would also take Uber rides if we stayed out too late or had to go to a place that was out of the way. 

London was the most expensive place for travel. The daily cap for fares were £9.40 but I'm sure I paid more than that in fares based on credit card statements. London is the worst in public transport cost if you're staying under seven days. 

Accommodations 

We stayed in North Peckham in the Southwark borough. London has great public transportation and we were able to get to any area of the city fairly quickly using the bus system.

The Fun Stuff

We started off this trip with a classic English breakfast and it was delicious. This was the first time I've eaten beans at breakfast and it wasn't bad. The bacon is thick and not as crispy but the hash browns were awesome.

During the planning of the trip, we picked places we had to visit: Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, Big Ben, Westminster Abby and the London Eye. We also strolled through neighborhoods like Soho, Covent Garden and Notting Hill. There were a lot more places but it would be boring to list them.


The Tower of London has a lot of history. The former fortress holds the crown jewels of the monarchy. Crowns of past kings and queens are also on display as well other royal regalia.



We were able to get tickets to the play "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" at Palace Theater. It was my first large theater production and it was a great experience. I'm a fan of the Harry Potter series but I didn't want to read the screenplay for the Cursed Child. I was hoping they would make it into a movie or I would watch it live. Thankfully, the theater had tickets for sale. We didn't realize how fortunate we were until we talked to people at the Harry Potter store in Kings Cross Station.


Before heading to London I researched some stores I wanted to visit. Orc's Nest is a famous game store in London that has a large selection of table top games and accessories. They had a small wargaming section but no Warmachine or Guild Ball models. I wish we had a game store like this back home.

Final Thoughts on London

Partner WOD - For Time

50 pull ups

--then--

4 rounds of:

15 overhead squats (95 lb.)

9 burpees

6 toes to bar

--then--

Run (400 m)

--then--

--then--

50 pull ups

This was a fun partner workout. Our goal for this workout was to finish under the time cap of 25 minutes. The movements that were going to be tough were the overhead squats and the pull ups. I was not concerned with the burpees or the toes to bar since the reps were low. We decided to split the reps as evenly each round. We were able to get through the pull ups fairly quickly. I was worried about the overhead squats but after a few reps, I was able to get into a rhythm. We flew through the burpees and toes to bar. We slowed a bit during the 400 m run but it wasn't by much.

I tore my hand on the toes to bar which screwed up the rest of the workout. I stripped the weight off the barbell and I did v-ups instead of toes to bar. I was a bit bummed during that second set since I knew I had it in me to finish all the movements. It was unfortunate that my hands tore but I wasn't going to keep on doing those movements without scaling. It's better to scale than to exacerbate the injury. We didn't finish our last set of pull ups which I was okay with. We pushed ourselves pretty hard and we didn't quit. I think we could have finished if my hand didn't tear but we'll never know. I'm happy with our performance.

Lift Heavy and Level Up!

I had a blast at Otaku Recon 2016 but it almost didn't happen. A few months ago I contacted the people from Kai Productions but they were not giving out spots for exhibitors. The group was disappointed but we understood. Two weeks ago the organizers offered us a spot  the main hall! I'm not sure what happened but we were willing to fill the spot. The short notice was unfortunate. I wasn't able to make a new diorama or display board but we did the best with what we had. I think we did a lot better this year since we had a wide variety of wargames. 

We decided to do a display most of our Wargames: Warmachine, Guild Ball and Infinity. Last year we did demos of Warmachine, this year we were going to focus Guild Ball and maybe Infinity. Since they were skirmish games, the demo would be easy. We set up the demo table with Guild Ball and the other table with Warmachine and Infinity. On the second day we had a small Warhammer 40k Ork display and a Dust Tactics display. 

We did a few demos of Guild Ball and Infinity. The new players really liked the games and will hopefully start playing with us. Instead of video, I was able to take a time lapse with my GoPro. I will upload the video soon. Check out the Limitless Fails Gaming Group Facebook page for more info about meet ups.

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I'm almost done painting my last three minis from the Butchers Guild. With three down, I have three to go. I'm planning on painting these all together since most of the colors will be the same. I'm sticking with standard poses as well. My last three models are Shank, Boiler, and Brisket. These will be my last few Butchers models before I switch to painting more Protectorate minis. 

Lift Heavy and Level Up!

Snatch - 4 at 60% (45 kg), 4 at 70% (53 kg), 3x4 at 75% (57 kg)

I haven't done much snatching since I've been back. It took a few warm up reps to get used to it and I started on my percentages. Overall, I felt great at these weights. I didn't miss a rep and was able to get through this fairly quickly. It was a lot more reps than what I was used to however but I took some time in between to rest up.

4 Cleans + 1 Jerk - 1 at 60% (62 kg), 1 at 70% (72 kg), 1 at 75% (77 kg)

This was just as hard as the snatches but I was able to pick it up. I'm more comfortable with heavy cleans than snatches. I didn't need much of a warm up and went right into my first set. This workout wasn't as bad since I had cut out two of my last three sets. I had to leave early. Four cleans are tough especially at the higher weights.

Bench Press - 5x5 at a heavy set of 5

My previous weight for this workout was 185 lb. but I wasn't sure if I would be able to complete a set. I warmed up and loaded 185 lb. on the bar. I was only able to complete three reps. This was not a big surprise since I haven't been doing much bench presses. 

WOD - For Time

Row (1000 m)

50 pistol squats

30 hang power cleans (135 lb.)

I wasn't sure how well I was going to do in this workout. The pistol squats were going to be tough and would probably slow me down. I wasn't too worried about the cleans or the row, I'm sure I would be able to get through them without much trouble. My pace for the row was about two minutes per 500 m. I finished the row at about 4:10. The pistol squats were tough but I broke the sets into 10 reps. I took some time in between each set so I could catch my breath but I took a lot longer than expected. The 30 hang cleans were not too bad. I broke it up into sets of 10 reps which were manageable. My goal was to finish within 15 minutes but I finished in 16:17.

Power Snatch - 2 at 60% (45 kg), 2 at 65% (49 kg), 2x3 at 70% (53 kg)

This was easier than Monday. The heavier Monday session was just what I needed to get better at my Olympic lifts.

Power Clean + 2 Jerks -  1 at 60% (62 kg), 1 at 65% (67 kg), 1x3 at 70% (72 kg)

Started to feel the fatigue in my arms at the 70% weight but it wasn't an issue. 

Back Squat - 3 at 60% (225 lb.), 3 at 70% (275 lb.), 3x3 at 80% (305 lb.)

This was my biggest workout of the day. I haven't squatted anything heavy in awhile. The last time I attempted a heavy back squat was back in July. I was a little nervous but I wanted to hit some numbers. My first set for the workout was okay, I wasn't too worried about 225 lb. My second set however was a bit worrying. The three reps at 70% were a lot harder than what I remember. I wasn't sure if it was because of the time between lifts or if my warm up was too short but I decided to move forward and go to 80%.

My July workout was 6x3 at 80% (305 lb.) and I felt great doing it. This gave me some confidence. I completed the first set but it was tough. I wasn't sure if I would be able to finish the rest of the sets. I took a few minutes to get some air and rest before going on to set two. I was able to finish two reps before racking the weight. It was too much and I almost needed a spot. I decided to stop there and end the workout. After reflecting on the workout, I realized that I needed to slowly get back to squatting. I should have gone up to 75% instead but I wanted to see if I could handle my weights from only a few months ago. I'm confident that after a few more sessions in the squat rack, I'll be back to my old self.

Lift Heavy and Level Up!

After what feels like forever, I finally finished the Butcher mascot Princess. In my previous post, I wanted to paint Princess with a typical bull dog coat. I ran into a bunch of snags throughout the painting process. I realized I didn't prep the model as well as i could. I didn't cover the seams in the legs. It's noticeable from the pictures. I also couldn't get the white part of the coat to a color that I liked and I couldn't get brown part to a decent shade. Rather than strip the model I decided to salvage it. It's not my best work but I'll use this as a learning experience. It's good enough for table top. Check out the pictures below. 

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Last month's theme was okay. Horror films are not my thing but I did like the autograph prints. I was thinking about canceling but then they announced this month's theme. I grew up watching most of these shows. My parents and grandparents did not want me to watch shows like the Simpsons and Bevis and Butthead. I'm an adult now and I can watch anything I want! I'm excited to see what the prints are going to be this month especially the autographed item. Lets hope it's something good!

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The Bam Box is monthly subscription box for collectors. Each month contains nerdy and geeky items as well as autographed collectables. Bam box also has an auto upgrade and instant winner system. You could receive extra items or automatically receive an upgrade to an item in the box. Upgrade examples are variant pin, print and comic colors. This was my first box and I was excited to see what was in it.

The first thing you see when you open the Bam Box is the monthly pin. This month had a few variations. You could have received Chucky from Child's Play, Sam (above) from Trick r' Treat, Billy from Saw or an all red Billy variant as a 1up. I haven't seen Trick r' Treat so I don't understand the reference. Maybe I'll watch it one day. 

Next item in the box is a "Demonic Box Puzzle Cube". It's basically a rubix cube with symbols instead of colors. It's an interesting piece but I would have wanted something different. 

Also included is a badge from the movie Evil Dead. The main character, Ash Williams, is the head of housewares at S-mart. This is a cool item that I may use for a costume next year.

The first autographed item is an issue of Kiss signed by cover artist John Lucas. You could have received an alternate black and white cover as a 1up. 

My first autographed print. This was made by John Branham and I could have received another variant of Freddy and Jason. Not bad for the first print.

The second print is from the movie, the Exorcist. It is signed by Linda Blair the actress who plays Regan in the film. The alternate print and autograph is from Scream. The picture is of Ghostface and it was signed by Skeet Ulrich. I've been watching the Exorcist TV show and I'm starting to love it. This is probably my favorite item in the box. 

This was not the best first box for me. I subscribed because I saw a lot of things that I liked in previous boxes but I probably should have waited for next month. The Exorcist print was my favorite item followed by the Leatherface/Michael Myers print. I will probably subscribe for one more month. 

Lift Heavy and Level Up!