Monday Morning Coffee Newsaper

Goooood Mooorning, Universe!!

Last week you told us, when you usually read the blog...

...and many said: First thing in the morning, during work or during breaks at work.

Homer just read masterminis.net - now for a coffee!

So chances are that you have a cup of steaming hot coffee in your hand right now! So let's raise our cups in triumph and celebrate the miniature hobby!

Newspapers...

...who needs them. Read here what you may have missed on masterminis.net last week:

• Winners 23-27 of our 42 giveaways were announced on Monday. 
• Crystal Brush 2013 and other event news (Tuesday)
• Winners 28-34 (Wednesday)
• Sculpting Virus Alert! (Thursday)
• Final winners 35-41 (Friday)

And don't forget to enter the drawings for two limited Dark Angels Codizes here and here by leaving a comment! Winning stuff? Now that's what I call a good way to start the week!

Paintingbuddha.com DVD Set update

Many of you have already pre-ordered our first DVD Set: "Season 1.1 -Target Identified" on paintingbuddha.com. We are very grateful for this, as this enables us to plan more hoopy projects for the future. In fact so many of you have supported us, that we have decided to add 'some cool stuff' - which we will announce over the next couple of days. 

Thank you all so very much! 

So what can we offer in return? A little teaser, mayhaps? Would I ever tease? Me? Nooooo, NEVAR! :D

Let's just say, we decided to throw in a hoopy extra DVD into the box, in which Ben and Stephan show you something that was not previously planned... but psssst :D

And there is even more stuff to be added to the already advertized deal.... Expect some teaser pictures and some additional information  later this week. 

Events this week

Last but not least, don't forget that there will be three awesome events this weekend - if you got time, you should consider going! 

• Tactica (Hamburg, Germany)
• Painting Crusade (Brussels, Belgium)
• Concours Lugdunum Figurines (France)

I only wished they would not hold three such high-class events on the same weekend. ;)

Have a great start of the week everybody, whereever you are! 

Zaphod

Final Winners of the Galactic Giveaways

The final winners of our 42 Giveaways ^^

With regards to me having the flu I got a lot of message wishing me well. Thank you so much ;) Let me assure you that the flu is doing really well and its representatives are motivatedly and tirelessly ravaging my tender body. I will head straight back to bed after this post :D

List of all winners: 

Something wrong with the universe...?

If you have won in any of the Giveaways, please send me an email to masterminis <<at>> gmail <<dot>> com with your username and address. I will reply to all of you after all winners have been announced, likely next week! 

• Winners 1-6b
• Winners 7-14
• Winners 15-22
• Winners 23-27
• Winner 28-34

All prizes will be sent out the first week of March (there is a LOT to be packed, labled and mailed!). 

All prizes gone, I have not won anything! What is WRONG with the Universe? :( 

Try again: Currently, there are two active giveaways: here and here! You can win one of two copies of the Limited Dark Angels Codex (limited to 2000 worldwide!) Good luck!

I love giving stuff away. Always have - so please look forward to more exciting giveaways in the future! The near future. The VERY near future! :D

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#35 Wish you were here

I dedicated my whole company to DNA
I wished he still was here.

Hoopiest of all froods

Not only is Wish you were here by Pink Floyd my favorite song of all times, but it is also the title of my favorite biography of my favorite author written in my favorite language. 

The Official Biography of Douglas Noel Adams (DNA) by Nick Webb is an awesome read - even if you are unfamiliar with the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I was moved by the astounding amount of similarities between what Douglas Adams thought and experienced during his life and my own humble existance. 

I will sign the book for you - in the Name of Zaphod Beeblebrox :D

So, Revolutionary #7, Shane aka The Crippled Bristle, you won! Didn't you already win something? I forgot :D Ah, the title, yes... Well, no rules against winning twice, so congratulations!

I am glad the book goes to a hoopy frood who really knows where his towel is!

I do need to let you know that another hoopy person was randomly drawn twice, before the prize finally went to Shane... Random.org drew my own comment twice. Alas, I am not eligible :D

"Life.... don't talk to me about life... with all the pain in the diodes down my left side"

(Marvin, the paranoid android)

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#36,38 Pangalactic Gargleblaster sets Crusade on Fire

This time I asked you to tell us your own receipe for a Pan-Galactic Gargleblaster. There was one entry which not quite followed the rules and I found was completely unlikely to win this giveaway.

And in true Hitchhiker's To The Galaxy style, it did.

So BACMS, this is your prize, and here is your receipe: 

"My favourite of them all. You will need:
Cocktail glass
Wine Bottle, preferably old Riesling
Cork ScrewUse the cork screw to open the wine bottle and pour the wine on your glass. You can add a slice of lemon just for decoration purposes"

(BACMS)

And then, Der Skuggan snatched the second Crusade of Fire campaign book in the 'shop opening' post from 26 other contenders. 

As you may notice, #37 seems to be missing. It seems, I did lose count on the giveaways twice, even though my 'list of winnings' added up. I guess Giveaway #6b just did not receive a consecutive number - balance of the universe is still working, we are at 37 giveaways :D

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#39 - 41 Don't split the party!

Many of us (especially the 'older' generation) has started their miniature involvement with Roleplaying games, such as "Das Schwarze Auge", D&D or AD&D.

Not splitting the party is always a good idea, but I went ahead and split the prizes regardless...

The 4th edition D&D Dungeon Master Rulebook goes to Lisius whereas the person he should be dungeon-mastering goes by the name of Nehr.

And finally, the RED BOX starter kit - the really cheap looking dice of which I will replace with an awesome set of paintingbuddha.com - color-style miniature dice (D4, D6, D8, D10, D12 and D20!) goes toooooo....

(drumroll for last winner)

Krawatte! You sir, are a WINNER!

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Again, CONGRATULATIONS to all the winners!

And let me say a big "THANK YOU" from the bottom of my heart to all of you who follow us and have entered into some of the giveaways. Even if you have not won anything, I hope you had a good time!

I would love to hear from EVERYONE who reads this in the comments - did you enjoy the giveaways?

42 giveaways are over - crazy times

"Vell, Zaphod's just zis guy, you know?"

Giving away 42 awesome, often times rare and limited prizes to you, the community has been an absolute blast for me. As I said earlier, I love giving stuff away - it seems to make people happy. 

The giveaways were crazy - in retrospect, some of them went way over the top even for my taste :D But hey... We all got through them together - and I think in the end they were entertaining as a whole. 

I again want to apologize again for the server outage in January which made us move back the drawing of the winners to January 31st. 

42nd giveaway - the GIVEAWHAT?

As the followers of this blog now, the giveaway #42 - labled the GIVEAWHAT - is me 'dedicating' my company to you. My goal is to grow and support the miniature gaming and painting community with what we do. 

All of the profits of the company will be distributed according to this: 

- 0% will go to me
- 42% will go to my employees as profit share and to reinvestment into the company
- 42% will be soley re-invested in community functionality, services, events, sponsoring, YOU
- 16% will go to charity (50% of which will go to 1love.org, the Bob Marley foundation)

The road ahead

We are working very hard on finalizing our first product. I want to extend our deepest gratitude to the many, many, MANY of you who have already pre-ordered the box (even not knowing 100% what will be in it). 

Starting next week you will here more about

• the final, bigger and better supporter box with even more content (at unchanged price!)
• details about availability
• tentative shipping schedule
• some exclusive and top-secret sneak peaks 
• more about what happens at paintingbuddha.com - the place where we learn to be a better painter!
• upcoming events

In the first week of March I have a lot of great, new information for all of you, but I won't tell more or else I could relapse into teaser mode :D

Final words

Don't catch the flu. Totally not worth it and highly overrated! :D

The REVOLUTION is just starting - Have a great weekend!

Zaphod

Double Virus Alert!

Double Virus Alert! 

Hint: There is WIN in this post, read it carefully!

Influenza - thou art a heartless bitch!

Wintertime. Freezing temperatures. A time of year where a lot of people get sick - the common cold, the flu and other undesired virus driven ailments have the times of their life.

Who am I to deny them their fun or even their existence? So I unvoluntarily became the host of some of these fellas and - to say it mildly - 'don't feel good at all'. 

Many of my friends are currently sick as well. I feel ya! Literally :D

So after an attempt of cutting video material for our upcoming DVD instruction set I went right back to bed for a few hours and give it another try now. 

Good thing that this flue will be all over in a day or two.

A different kind of virus - long lasting and possibly incurable

"Brad & Yanet" sculpted by Mati (Badsmile)
www.paintingbuddha.com

Over the last couple of month a second virus, one that I am not sure I will ever get rid of again, has taken hold of me.

This time I can't just wait it out to get 'healthy' again - I have to get busy actively fighting it so I can finally control its effects. But I honestly fear, this virus is here to stay.

I talk of none other than the sculpting virus. 

Working on our first (and currently already the second) DVD instruction set for paintingbuddha.com, I have the great pleasure of working with such amazing artists as Ben "White Rabbit" Komets, Stephan "Derwish" Rath and Mati "Badsmile" Zander. 

As far as the painting side is concerned, filming and editing over 50 hours of material and being able to look 'over the shoulder' of incredibly talented painters such as Ben and Stephan, it is a mild understatement to say that 'inspiration' struck me more than once. Even though Ben and Stephan use completely different techniques, they both create amazing looking miniatures. 

Yolandi Visser - Die Antwoord

Even with my limited previous painting experience (I say "experience", not "regular practice" :D). I KNOW that - following the upcoming DVD step-by-step - I will be able to aquire their techniques to create similarly good looking results. That's the beauty of being able to 'look over someones shoulder', watch what they are doing and have them give away their 'secrets' in the process - and all of you will all be able to do just that very soon, too. 

But wait! Didn't I say SCULPTING virus?

I sure did. Our sculptor Mati - who most of you know under his name Badsmile (and his smile is not bad at all, very misleading indeed) - infected me with another virus. The sculpting virus. 

Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton - America's Last Moonshiner
Youtube documentary about him (heelbilly english!)

Sitting next to him and experiencing first hand how he turns a blob of putty into some of the finest sculpted miniatures that I have ever seen is nothing short of a miracle to me - because I don't understand any of it. If I took a 90% finished sculpt and would try to finalize it, my skill would quickly turn it back into a blob of putty :D

For weeks now I notice myself wanting to paint stuff that means something to me, something that 'connects'. In 9 out of 10 cases, this 'stuff' does not exist yet. So I find myself wanting to sculpt stuff I see, with the goal of then painting it according to my vision. Artists (like Yolandi and Ninja from Die Antwoord), interesting characters (like Popcorn Sutton) or just crazy looking creatures, machines, spaceships and stuff I find in inspiring movies, concept art and so on.

Virus killing snake oil

Unlike Pop Sutton who illegaly distilled moonshine, I can't squash and boil Mati to get his 'sculpting essence' distilled out of him. This would be wrong on many levels, even though sometimes desperate times require desperate measures. But as soon as I finish cutting our first DVD set, I will 'press' him for answers - very carefully ;) 

This blog is full of WIN

So, how about you? Have you ever wanted to sculpt something? Or did you even finish something? Was it a scratch build or a conversion? Was it easy or hard? Would you like to learn how to convert/sculpt stuff? 

Leave your comments below - and by doing so, enter the next drawing of a limited Dark Angels Codex from Games Workshop - limited to 2000. And no, I did not buy all 2000 of them as some of you already suspected :D Let's just say that I secured 'a few' - for you!

Your other two chances of winning this Codex are here and here. Chances of winning are REALLY GOOD as there are not too many people who entered yet! So GRAB your limited codex - you know it has YOUR NAME on it ;) 

Have a great day - and don't get infected by anything else than the painting and sculpting viruses!

Zaphod

REVOLUTIONARY Giveaway: Winners 28-34

7 happy bruddhas... 

...are the winners of #28-34 of our 42 REVOLUTIONARY Giveaways ^^

Reminder: Currently, there are two active giveaways: here and here! You can win one of two copies of the Limited Dark Angels Codex (limited to 2000 worldwide!) Good luck!

Again, how all of this works: 

April 1st, fool! I pity the fool who does not claim his prize!

All winners were drawn using RANDOM.org. I generated a number, looked at the post and - if it was a 'valid' post, the winner was drawn. If it was invalid (e.g., an invalid answer was given to a specific question or I drew myself), I just rinsed and repeated ;) 

If you have won, please send me an email to masterminis <<at>> gmail <<dot>> com with your username and address. I will reply to all of you after all winners have been announced! 

Giveaway winnings will be reserved for 42 days (let's say until April 1st, fools day. I PITY THE FOOL WHO DOES NOT CLAIM HIS PRIZE).

I will send out the masses of boxes as soon as all winners are announced! 

34 prizes gone, I still haven't won :( 
*sadbruddha.pwnd*

There is ONE more chance: The final winners will be announced this FRIDAY - as always at 2:42pm.
Good Luck! 

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#28-32 Triple X? XXX!

On Games Workshop's 30th birthday these strictly limited dwarvish threesome came out. Beer, two axes and a shield - what more does one need?

Fun fact: These dwarves are a fully playable ARMY. That's right - they weigh in at 1000 points and - my 1000 point Ogres LOST against them. They are neigh indestructible... So if you want to win your next tournament... Here you go ;)

But of course, we want them painted in Showcase quality! Send us the pictures of your finished work and we will post it here ;)

So, who would be so lucky to win these?

Your lucky random numbers were: 23, 25, 38, 46 and 47. Free recommendation: Use them as lottery numbers!

So, Rafael Garcia Marin aka Volomir, mathieu, Leo, Chameleon and Dante - ready your brushes... ready... GO!

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#33, 34 The Dream Video #1 - Steampunk Alice

This giveaway is one of my personal highlights. 

First of all, it was the first time we started to explain our revolution with a video. 

We have big plans for masterminis.net and paintingbuddha.com and we are really excited that soon (tm) our first product will be ready to ship. Stay tuned for exciting 'upgrades' to the already known content of the DVD set. 

"Set your Phasers to 'Fun"
Dr. Sheldon Cooper

If you have missed the virst video, have a look and be blown away by the stunning Special FX and dozens of trained stand-ins in this Hollywood production, taken at minus 42 degrees in snowy Berlin City. It features myself in a Santa Claus costume.

Secondly, this giveaway gives you the chance to win something really special: "Steampunk Alice" by Sebastian Archer (Automaton) of Guild of Harmony. 

If you have not won, you can buy this awesome set here. Sebastian is a great painter and sculptor from 'down under' - which I have not met yet. I am looking forward to meeting him some day.

So, Tuffskull, you are a winner. I challenge you two in a fight man against ...well... woman in a battle-of-the-brushes (BoB, an invention of Skyle and myself) with Tatjana Jaeger. Make it gooood... Make it special.... Build a mind-blowing base... Make us all want this awesome miniature!

And maybe, just maybe, you want donate your work later to be represented in our upcoming secret Miniature Museum that we cannot tell anyone about yet... psssst.

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CONGRATULATIONS to all the winners!

The final winners will be announced FRIDAY at 2:42 pm CET. 
Stay tuned!

Events 2013 & Crystal Brush Update

Good morning everyone! 

Crystal Brush 2013
at Adepticon 2013
April 18-21st

First of all let me thank all of you who followed the call to help EMUSE (Enrique) to fly to Chicago to enter in the Crystal Brush in April. 

Only two days after we posted the call to the Bruddahood, EMUSE reached his $1300 goal, enabling him to go. Again, thank you all for sharing and supporting this project!

It did not stop at $1300! The first stretch-goal at 1500$ was taken shortly thereafter - which will get all of the supporters level C and above an additional Step-by-Step PDF of Enrique's next Golden Demon project! 

Right now the crowdfunding campaign is close to 2000$, with the next stretch goal - a high-quality, printed version of the three PDFs - just around the corner.

The second Crystal Brush Awards will be held April 21 2013 at AdeptiCon 2012 in Chicago. Venue details are availabe here: http://adepticon.org.

Update: This is what EMUSE posted on his indiegogo Campaign moments ago: 

Enrique Velasco has posted an update

Third stretch goal!
If I reach $3200 all the contributors at LEVEL C and above will receive a printed portfolio with my best paint jobs.
OK, to recap..Imagine that I reach $3200…All the contributors at level C ($50) and above will have:
- The three printed tutorials (about 90 pages)
- One DVD tutorial in over two hours.
- One printed portfolio with my best paint works. (20 pages)

But wait, there's more!

Dozens of us meet at miniature events
such as the Duke of Bavaria 2012

Last year, I announced 2013 to be the 'Year of the Miniature' - and we have big plans here at masterminis.net to bring the world of miniature painting closer to you. 

Not only are we working hard to finalize our first 'revolutionary' DVD Instruction set from paintingbuddha.com (we will announce some very cool bigger and better content of the already filled product box, soon!), but we also pledged to report from events all around the globe. 

So far, we have committed to report from a total of (at least) FIVE international events  by the end of April alone! 

As you probably already guessed, Adepticon / Crystal Brush 2013 will be one of them. 

The other four events we plan to travel to in the next two-and-a-half months are: 

- Tactica (Hamburg, Germany)

- Painting Crusade (Brussels, Belgium)

- Herzog von Bayern (Ingolstadt, Germany)

- Miniature Figure Art Collectors of America (Philadelphia, US)

If you know of an event that you think we should travel to, let us know in the comments! If the schedule allows it, we will go ;)

Status of Games Days 2013: UNKNOWN

Games Day Coverage 2013

Currently, there are a lot of rumors about the Games Days worldwide - ranging from cancellation of events (France) to different venues (Italy, Germany). Even GW staff does not know what is going to happen. As painters, gamers and hobbyists we can only hope that GW decides wisely and does not drop these events which are so important for the miniature painter and gaming scene. 

We plan to visit and enter in most  Golden Demon Events in 2013 - and as soon as we know what's going on, we will let you know!

Zaphod

42 REVOLUTIONARY Giveaways: Winners 23-27

Another great Monday continues... 

...with winners 23-27 of our 42 REVOLUTIONARY Giveaways ^^

For those of you who only read the first few lines of every post: Currently, there are two active giveaways: here and here! You can win one of two copies of the Limited Dark Angels Codex (limited to 2000 worldwide!) Good luck!

Reminder on how all of this works: 

42? No, Error 37! Diablo!

All winners were drawn using RANDOM.org. I generated a number, looked at the post and - if it was a 'valid' post, the winner was drawn. If it was invalid (e.g., an invalid answer was given to a specific question or I drew myself), I just rinsed and repeated ;) 

If you have won, please send me an email to masterminis <<at>> gmail <<dot>> com with your username and address. I will reply to all of you after all winners have been announced! 

Giveaway winnings will be reserved for 42 days (let's say until April 1st, fools day. I PITY THE FOOL WHO DOES NOT CLAIM HIS PRICE).

I will send out the masses of boxes as soon as all winners are announced! 

Boooo, I still have not won anything!

Your rabbit's foot on fire yet? Giveaway winners #28-35 will be announced on WEDNESDAY at 2:42pm. Good luck to you!

And here they are, winners 23-27: 

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#23 HOLY SH....ATNER!

On this one, I really don't know if I should congratulate the winner or not... Its fun - I dare you to listen to both CDs in ONE session ;) 

If anything its a cult item that every SCI-FI fan MUST have ;)

Here again, the captain's rendition of "Bohemian Rhapsody"

"Do you think we're alone?"
"There must be something out there"
"Holy Sh...atner!"

Well, zweischneid, I don't know if this is the prize you were waiting for, but... its yours! Enjoy!

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#24 Horus Heresy Board Game

Horus Heresy Review on the HogsOfWar 

This giveaway took the longest time of them all to determine a winner... Why? Well, the rules said that a) you had to create your own misspelled revolutionary slogan and b) have entered EVERY giveaway... So I selected a winner... Checked all posts... Didn't find him everywhere... selected a new winner... checked... and so on... 

Turns out: NOONE has entered ALL competitions (although some of you came really close)... 

So sadly I have to say this: Zaphod Beeblebrox is the no-winner. I am so happy, I won my own competiton :P I am looking forward to playing the game with some of my friends (and now I finally can open the box!).

Maybe we will film / stream the game as some sort of compensation!

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#25 - Pink Floyd Pulse CD

Something old, something new, something blinky, something blue... or something along those lines...

In this giveaway you could win my precious Pink Floyd "Pulse" CD - with a currently still depleted blinky flashy light thingy. ^^ 

Also, the winner gets to chose his personal revolutionary number (over 42) 

skywatcher, please chose your number, because...

YOU are the chosen one!  

You also came close to entering most (unfortunately not all) giveaways from everything I can tell, so I am happy you are a winner, too! Thanks for entering so many giveaways!

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#26 - The Hobbit Rulebook

I almost won something again... Seems to be my lucky day... 

Random.org came up with a number corresponding to my own post... ...But NO! 

I must not vin ze book! So I 'rolled' again. And Matt Cexwish, slayer sword winning miniature painter extraordinaire, came out as the winner - in true 'gypsy style' as always :D

Now this is one prize that I will save postage & shipping on. Come on Matt, pick up your prize!

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#27 - Limited Edition The Hobbit starter set "Escape from Goblin Town"

At the highest level of REVOLUTIONARY crazyness we gave away this starter set: "Escape from Goblin Town". 

I have been so busy lately, that I have not even seen the movie... But I must! Some day... Keep the theatres open for me! :) 

A lot of people wanted this box. I guess mostly because of Radagast, the limited mini in it. But as so often in life, there can only be one. 

Bastian, you are the ONE! #6 was your lucky number out of 49 in the drawing ;)

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CONGRATULATIONS to all the winners!

The next winners will be announced WEDNESDAY at 2:42 pm CET. 

Summary Week 6 - masterminis.net

Goooood Mondaaaaaay, Universe!!

When do miniature painters have time to surf the Internet?

Fridays? Saturdays? Sundays? 

Far from it: 

The weekend is when the miniature painters paint, play games, watch movies, go out or have all kinds of other fun ways to spend their time.

Workdays are the 'busy' day of the week for masterminis.net. Specifically, monday morning, right after the drudgery of the workweek started. 

There are a few 'peak times' - and I attribute them to people being at work. The following observations are true for both Europe and the US timezones (and probably other countries to).

• The first peak is between 6 and 7 am. People got up, they drink their coffee and check the web for what's new. 
• The second peak is around 9-10am. People have gotten to work, read their emails and need to catch a short break from the still early workday
• The third peak is around noon, for pretty much the same reason. 
• And the last peak is between 4 and 5pm, when people need to kill time before they can finally go home again to live.

This pattern is true from Monday through Friday. Friday afternoon is when it starts to get quiet(er). 

On average, weekdays get between 1750-4000 views a day (4000 was the peak after events such as Games Day coverages and other painting events). Weekends get around 800-1750 views a day.

Monday is a day for winners - YOU!

Free stuff is free, dude!

So if you are at work now, reading this, just drop me a comment below. - when do you usually read this blog? You can even win something! Today we give away another Limited Dark Angels Codex from Games Workshop. These codices were limited to 2000 worldwide and are highly sought after. And what's better than shelling out 70€ for a limited codex? Right - snatching it for free! :) I love giving stuff away. Expensive hobby, by the way :D

And if you were on vacation last week, here is a short summary of the posts you have missed while you were not at work. So grab a coffee, kick back and 'gather strength' for the rest of the day: ^^

• The blog was dead, long live the Blog! (Monday - with GIVEAWAY)
• REVOLUTIONARY Giveaway - Winners 1 through 7 (Wednesday)
• Buy EMUSE a Crystal Brush (Thursday)
• REVOLUTIONARY Giveaway - Winners 7 -14 (Thursday)
• The Weekend Workshops (Friday)
• REVOLUTIONARY Giveaway - Winners 15-22 (Friday)
• Newsflash - Figure Painter Magazine (Friday)
• Newsflash - WAMP/Portal (Saturday)

The next winners of our Galactic REVOLUTIONARY Giveaway will be announced later today! Maybe in time for coffee break at work? :D

Have a great week everybody, whereever you are! 

Zaphod