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

Halloween in Australia

Okay, so Halloween isn't really celebrated that much over here. Not like in America at all.

Some parents like to let their kids dress up and go Trick or Treat-ing. I even saw one family attempting to do so on my walk home from the train station after uni. I'm not convinced they would've had too much luck. I saw ONE house decorated for Halloween today, and it was about a half hour drive away from my house. I'm actually glad I wasn't home around Trick or Treat time. I'm not sure I could handle answering a door to children expecting candy and have to tell them that all I have in my cupboard is brown rice, museli bars and a box of Wheaties.

Some people use it as an excuse for parties and to dress up in costumes, which is fine, if you aren't already of the opinion "hey, who needs an excuse to dress up silly and have some friends over?".

Me? I use Halloween as an excuse to indulge my love for horror movies. The problem lies in deciding which one to watch. I decided that since it was Halloween tonight, I should find something REALLY scary, and roped one of my housemates into it. But what movie to watch? In an attempt to find out what the scariest movie ever made was, I searched online for lists of the ten scariest movies ever made, found nine of them, and charted my results. Here's the top ten I came up with:

Top Ten (apparently) Scariest Movies Ever Made
10. Hellraiser
9. Alien
8. The Omen
7. Poltergeist
6. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
5. Psycho
4. Halloween
3. Rosemary's Baby
2. The Shining
1. The Exorcist

I have seen exactly.....ALL of them before. Here I was hoping that the internet would wow me with a list of movies that I'd not seen before, but no. Thanks, internet. Maybe if I expand my research to more than just top tens, and find some lists that actually have foreign films in them? I think the Japanese are pretty great at horror movies. And horror games too! Did anybody else ever play Project Zero? I think in some places it was called Fatal Frame. And just now, looking it up, apparently there is a Fatal Frame MOVIE in the works! YES!

Anyway, we ended up watching a couple episodes of The Walking Dead, and Saw. And then he went to bed and I sat at my computer and watched Unthinkable. Scary? No. Creepy? A little. Disturbing? Yes.

And, just in case anything I've said makes you think I have a personal vendetta against Halloween (I don't, by the way), I painted my nails with some ghosts.

And now I leave you with one of my most favourite cheesy Halloween songs!

Gig etiquette #1: Don't have stupid hair.

I am, by no means, a short person. I've had to stoop to get through a doorway before (it was in a castle in Japan, even the shortest person I was with at the time nearly hit her head), but there's a few good perks that come with being tall. Being able to see over things is a pretty good one.

Usually I have no problems being able to see the stage when I go to see a band play. I'm never the tallest person there, but tall enough that I can see past most people. But the other night I went to a gig where I had immense difficulty seeing the band moving about up on stage. My friend and I (he's similar height to me, which is about average dude height, I suppose) were situated behind what seemed to be a group convention of the tallest guys in town. That's never easy to see past, but one guy even more so. Not only was he tall, but he was wide as well, but that wasn't all. His hair was the part of him that was most difficult to see past.

Now, I've had hair mishaps at gigs before. Consistent dread-whipping at a Frenzal Rhomb show, a tall girl with a bun on the very top of her head, I've even been poked in the eye by some pretty impressive Liberty Spikes. But this guy...well, let me show you what his hair looked like:

Yes, the guy in the middle. Those are his super tall friends next to him, and those are his dreads pulled into a spiky ponytail on the very top of his head. Trying to see the stage while standing behind this guy was, I felt, akin to being seated directly behind Marge Simpson in a movie theater.


Anyway, apart from the obstructed view, it was a pretty darn good gig. Regurgitator always put on a great show.

How I came to go to a party as a banana hooker

So I was invited to a 21st, the theme of which was "fancy dress". I know, right? No specifications. Do you want me to dress all fancy, like with a monocle and everything, or do you want me to wear a costume of some sort? 

Originally, I thought I'd just dress as fancy as I could; the fanciest person at the party! That'd show 'em! But then I thought, no, that's boring. I know! I've ALWAYS wanted to wear a banana costume! EVERYTHING is funnier in a banana costume! And then I decided that I would combine the two, and go as a fancy banana. With a tux jacket and a top hat and everything!

So, I ordered myself an inexpensive banana costume online. I had some fancy-ish pants and shoes I could wear. My brother has a top hat and monocle I could borrow, and I'm quite good at drawing false mustaches on myself, if I do say so myself. All I needed was a tuxedo jacket. But therein lies the difficulty. Have you ever tried to find a tuxedo jacket with no size specifications other than 'it needs to fit around a banana costume'? Well, neither have I, because I was very busy in the weeks leading up to the party and ran out of time to find a jacket. 

The day of the party, and frantic for a plan B, I rushed out after work to buy some fishnet tights, threw on my heels and some false eyelashes, and rocked up to the party as a banana hooker.

Yes.

A banana hooker.

In hindsight, I proooooooooobably could've just worn the banana costume. It would make explanations a LOT easier, and I wouldn't have had to spend the night in uncomfortable shoes. Oh well, next time!

Actually, next time, I'm going to cut a bite mark out of the banana costume, cover myself in fake blood and go as a zombie banana. Maybe for Zombiewalk. 

Oh, and when I sat down, the costume puffed out considerably, as if I was now a pregnant banana hooker. My friend snapped a photo, which I (humbly) present to you for your amusement.

This photo is as good a reason as any to NOT invite me to your party

As I told my internet wife, "I'm having a WHOLE BUNCH, and they're YOURS!".

YAY!

BORDERLANDS 2!

...that is all.

Pet update

My dog died today. Rest in peace, Justin. May Doggie Heaven be full of things for you to chase and neighbours dams to swim in!

Bonus shot of 'ikkle me and 'ikkle brother with a younger Justin:

But on a (much) lighter note, Chupa is doing well! I took him out of his tank to clean it:

And added in a big ol' bit of dried grapevine for him to climb around and bask on:

Which he stared at, bemused, for a short while, and then promptly fell asleep under. He seems to like sleeping under it, which is probably a good thing, because he's getting a bit big for his favourite sleep spot, atop the rock wall:

Would you like to play a game?

Close eyes, draw cat. Simple as that.

Okay, go!

I DREW A HAPPY LITTLE TOASTER!

See? Here he is!

And an obligatory Chupa picture:

Come at me!

And another, because it's up to me what I post on here:

How do YOU sleep at night?

What's playing right now?

Gwar - Rag Na Rok

Did you miss Stompy?

Well, did you?
(That's okay, I know you did, even if you won't say it)
But that's okay, because I got my hands on some Polymer Clay and crafted up a 3D Stompy!

Not tooooooooooo horrible for a first attempt, no? That was pre-glaze, and this next one is with one layer of glaze:

He's currently drying, after a second coat of glaze. And that pin sticking out of him? No, I didn't skewer him. Well, I kind of did, but only so the pin could be twisted in to a hook so that he can be hung from things. I'm sorry, Stompy, but it's for a greater good!

And here's some more Chupa, just because!

I'm making a resolution (ha, it isn't even New Years!) to not go a whole month without posting again. WISH ME LUCK!

What's playing right now?

Kraak & Smaak - Fairy Falling

So....

It's been juuuuuuust over a month since my last post. Whoops.

I haven't really got any new comics or pictures or anything to show. I've been working on a couple of big ones, but they're not finished yet. However, I DID draw this:

And that's why you should all come and play badminton with Brett and I. SAVE ME WHILE YOU STILL CAN!

What I HAVE got, however, is this AWESOME stuffed bearded dragon made specially for me by the super wonderful and ultra talented Stephanie of Fleece Menagerie:

Isn't it AMAZING? I love it! His name is Cesar, after my favourite Joker.
Here's a shot for size comparison:

And as for Cesar's real life counterpart, El Chupanibre, I've now had him for just over a month. He's grown a little bit, shed a little bit and entertained us all more than a little bit.

Dude, that CAN'T be comfortable!

No, it's a towel on my knees. I'm not half-human, half-bear....I think >.>

Awwh, he thinks he's a tooth!

Can't.....resist......too.....cute...