New project!

First of all, I'm trying to post this from my phone using the Blogger app. I've not used it before and I'm not sure how it'll work out, mostly from a picture placement point of view. But I won't really know until I try it, so here we go!

Secondly, which is what I actually wanted to post about, is a new thing I've just properly started today that I should've started ages ago but didn't have the time or money for before. That 'thing' is my costume for AVcon, an anime and video games convention occurring next month. I know, I'm cutting it pretty fine, huh?
Last year was my fifth AVcon but the first one where I dressed up. I went as Maria Ushiromiya from an anime called Umineko No Naku Koro Ni. There weren't many pictures taken, but I'll see if I can dig one up for you cheeky scamps!
I decided on my costume for this AVcon pretty much the minute the first add-on character for Borderlands 2 was released, Gaige the Mechromancer. She's such a fun character to play, plus she has a wicked cool robot arm and an even wickeder and cooler robot sidekick dude named Deathtrap!

The first part of the costume I'm working on is the robot arm, as I'm using a material I've not tried before and also because I'll need to use a fair amount of Gesso and paint so that'll need ample drying time. 

The material I'm using is called Worbla, which if you are unaware of, is a thermoplastic that softens and becomes mouldable when heated but hardens upon cooling. So far I'm having lots of fun messing around with the Worbla, and I've worked out the best way for me to use it.
I started out by making a duct tape replica of my own arm to use for moulding, sizing and adjustments, because it's much easier to have both hands free to work and much less painful to drape heated plastic over. To do this I first wrapped my arm in cling wrap, then taped over it with duct tape. I then cut it off my arm, stuffed it with newspaper and sealed up the ends with more duct tape.

I've never been good at pattern-making, so I figured the best way for me to figure out piece sizing was to draw the pieces directly onto the fake arm, cut pieces of foam to fit (more flexible and sturdy than paper) and have the foam pieces do double duty as templates and as a cushioning between the Worbla and the lycra sleeve I'll make as a base for the arm. So that's what I did, adding a couple millimetres when I cut the Worbla to allow for bulking. I also cut two of each piece of Worbla for strengthening.

To shape the Worbla pieces, I first fixed the two matching pieces together while flat so I wouldn't get air bubbles. Since Worbla is self-adhesive I didn't need to use glue at this step, just heated both pieces and stuck! Once the two pieces were stuck together and cool, I taped the foam version to the fake arm, covered it in aluminium foil so the Worbla wouldn't stick to it (not yet, I need to sew the Velcro on first!) and then heated up the Worbla piece again with the heat pistol. Then I draped the piece over the covered foam, smoothed it down and left it to cool.

So that's how far I've gotten so far. I've lots of work left to do on it, but since this is a project I can do easily at home, I'm not limited to only during daylight hours. Works well for me because I have a mild version of insomnia where I very rarely get to sleep before 3am and wake up perfectly refreshed by 7am ready for work, so it's simply a matter of working on the costume in my spare time rather than playing video games all night.

Just in case you were wondering, this is what my arm looks like covered in duct tape.

Rough pattern drawn up and transferred onto the pretend arm

The trusty heat pistol and some pieces I've finished moulding

Triple J Hottest 100 20th anniversary

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This year marks the 20th year that my favourite radio station has been posting their Hottest 100, the top one hundred tracks released that year as voted for by listeners. So naturally, they're getting listeners to vote for their favourite twenty tracks released in the last twenty years. Fitting.

Voting doesn't actually open until tomorrow, but I managed to put together my top twenty much faster than I thought I would. I've revised it a few times, but I'm fairly confident that this list is now in its final form. I'm also fairly confident that at least fifteen of them will be nowhere near receiving enough votes to even be considered for the final twenty.

 I think it's a pretty well-rounded list. Although I was quite frustrated when putting it together because I'd think of the perfect song and it turned out to be released in 1991 or something.

Photogenic

So the other day I was just chillin' on the couch with my favourite cuddlebuddy, who was perched on my foot. It was cute, so I reached for my phone to take a picture. I guess he decided that if I was going to take a cute picture of him, he'd go all out and get his little face right up in the picture.

Photogenic little fella, ain't he?

And these ones are just because they're funny. And if there's one thing the internet needs, it's more pictures of funny lizards. Let's overthrow the funny cat pics once and for all!

Haiiiiii

There's somebody at the door?

Cover your shame!

Ninja mode activate!

Organisation

I am not a very organised person. I try to be, but forgetfulness often gets in the way. This year, however, I am going to kick that in the ass and attempt to be so much more organised. And I know how I can do it too. It's simple.

I love lists. I love making lists, and I love that satisfying feeling you get when you can tick something off. So even more than I love lists, I love ticks. No, not the itty bitty itchy arachnids. Think Nike.

I've already started this at work (a few months ago, actually. Aw yeah!). I have a notebook that sits on my desk and there's a page in it for every day that I am at work. When I first come in to work, I check my in-tray and my emails, sort them into priority, and write them in a list in my book. Then I start at the top and work my way down the list, ticking things off as they get done. If somebody else asks me to do something while I'm at work, it gets added to the list. If it's a high priority, it gets marked as such. And then when it's done, TICK! YAY! Feels good, man!

So to make the rest of me as productive as Work JM, I'm going to get myself a smaller notebook and carry it around with me in my bag. Every morning, I'll make a list of what I need to do that day, and tick them off when they're done. So I get EVEN MORE TICKS! It's like being rewarded with stickers, but cheaper.

Hooray for psychological validations!

Also, I am going to make a list of bigger things that I need to get done that don't have a set time frame and hang it up at my computer desk, which is where I spend a great chunk of time when I'm not at work. And I'm going to put it here too, so if I don't get things done, you will all know and berate me for being unorganised. And by 'you', I mean me, when I go back and compulsively check previous blog posts for typos that may have slipped past my attention the first thirty times.

Listening to:

Devo - Girl You Want

Cake

I really like cake. The band, not the thing you eat.
I also like cake. Yes, the thing you eat. But what I like more than eating cake is making cake.
Specifically, making cake for other people. I want to do more of that this year.
So that's why, at midnight last night, I was in the kitchen, making a cake for a friend whose birthday is today. It's a Mr Toast cake. Because reasons.

I made this one late last year for my younger brothers 21st birthday. He had a pirate-themed party. So I made a pirate-themed cake.

And here's the other side, so you can see the plank...that broke off during transportation .__.

And some of us dressed up in pirate-themed costumes.

This one isn't actually cake, it's gingerbread. But I'm including it because it was a lot of fun to make, and because there needs to be more Stargate-themed stuff on the internet that isn't fan-fiction.

And as usual, I'll leave you with a song that you should give a listen to. They describe themselves as the hardest hitting Hammond Organ Trio in Australia. That's reason enough to listen to them, right?

Oh look, a top ten!

I've been trying to make a list of my top ten favourite albums of all time for YEARS (seriously), but I guess fate didn't want me to make the list until #6 was released last year. I kind of cheated a little by putting a soundtrack in there, but I think it is justifiable because all the tracks are by the same band, I just happen to like that collection of songs the best.

Anyway, this is a list of my personal top ten favourite albums of all time. No explanations. Nuts to explanations!

#10

Regurgitator - Unit (1997)

#9

Goldfrapp - Black Cherry (2003)

#8

The Pillows - FLCL Soundtrack #3

#7

Dead Kennedys -
Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables

#6

Django Django - Django Django (2012)

#5

Dandy Warhols -
...The Dandy Warhols Come Down (1997)

#4

Jeff Buckley - Grace (1994)

#3

The Beat - I Just Can't Stop It (1980)

#2

Kraak & Smaak - Boogie Angst (2005)

#1

 The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow (2003) 

Well, there you go. That's my top ten favourite albums of all time. I feel a strange and satisfying sense of accomplishment. Thank you, Django Django, for allowing me to complete my list!

And on one last, final note, here's my favourite track from my favourite album of all time:

Thanksgiving

Just like Halloween, Thanksgiving isn't really celebrated here in Australia. I don't even know what it really is all about. I could look it up, but then my Google search history would look vaguely normal...for a short while, anyway. By the way, it is possible for a skunk to kill a dog. Just in case you were wondering.

Anyway, all that I know about Thanksgiving, I've learned from cartoons. Which means pilgrims and turkeys and pumpkin pie. And I suppose being thankful for things. Which is nice that there's a day specially for you to be thankful for things, but personally I think that if you're really thankful for things, you should remember it always and appreciate them ALL the time.

On that note, here are some things that I am forever thankful for:

• Sports socks. Thank you for keeping my feet comfortable all through the year and not wearing out as often as boring regular socks.

• Google. Thank you for revealing to me the answers to (almost) all of my stupid questions.

• Restaurants that let you split bills. Thank you for making dining out with a large group of friends that much easier.

• Ballpoint pens. Thank you for always being in the bottom of my bag, ready and waiting for whenever I feel like drawing something.

• Regurgitator. Thank you for all the albums, the live shows and being there for me all through my childhood.

• Octopuses. Thank you for not living on land and not being able to climb trees.

• Steam. Thank you for the awesome sales, being mostly reliable and letting me buy games without having to leave the house.

• Badminton. Thank you for being a fun sport that I can actually play even though I am terribly uncoordinated.

• Sunscreen. Thank you for making it possible for me to keep my pale ass outside all day while only getting partially sunburnt.

• Rollercoaster Tycoon. Thank you for allowing me to vicariously live out my dream of being a rollercoaster/waterslide tester.

Of course, there are many more things that I am forever thankful for. Friends and family, mostly, but nobody ever comes to the internet for sentimentality, do they?

Also, thank you to The Oatmeal for making awesome shirts.

What's playing?

Cake - Sick of you

Thank you, Cake, for making awesome film clips