Star Trek - Quick & Easy Cosplay!

Okay, so in my town they are going to have STAR TREK: MIND-SIFTER showing at one of the theaters and the guy who wrote it will be there and if for every person who shows up 'Trek-y' or in OTHER sci fi cosplay he will donate a set amount UP TO $500 to help out for reading where I am currently living.

Am I this much of a Trek-y to do this? Not really, I LOVED the original one with Spock and James Kirk. Have seen a few of the other ones here and there but not a full out Trek-y like I would say I am to.... Anime? Naw, okay so I am not a the why to anything I can think of at this time!

But I do love Science Fiction and the original one so yes I will see it, I will move things around so I can see it but am I going to dress up to see this for a cause? Sure, not because of  being a Trek-y or for the honrable cause but becasue I am a nerd who is a theatre person and LOVES to dress up when the situation comes by!

So this got me thinking... How can I do a REALLY fast STAR TREK costume? Sure it was any other kind a sci fi thing but I would do something from STAR TREK. I mean really, I am GOING to see it! So as I am thinking about it I think of the crazy aliens that I have seen in Deep Space, Voyager, and Next Generation and my friend who told this to me was talking about it and asking me for ideas for something fast. Then all at once it hit me! Go back to the roots! They are SUPER easy to do this time of year when there is no costume shop to be found and the hardest part will be that badge on there close! So here it is my QUICK & EASY guide to a STAR TREK costume in the middle of January!

First off you need to know a few basic before you pick out the color shirt/ short dress you are going to wear what I had NEVER noticed till looking up how to make my own badge is that there are different ones for different positions! Now if you didn't know that the color of shirt tells people where you sanctioned you might of just randomly picked out a color and did the COMMAND one being that is was Kirk has
The colors are...

• Mustard-Yellow (Comand - these are the people who are flying the craft.... yeah kinda vague in ST)
• Baby Blue (Science / Medical - Spock is science and Bones is the medic. Same color, same signage in original series)
• Red -strait up! (Engineer / Security - Scotty is an engineer and NEVER dies where as EVERY OTHER Red Shirt is security and DIES! Ura, I think she is the only security that lives. Mainly cause she BARELY leaves the craft but hey what ever works!)

These are the symbol with there colors to help out and so you know what field you are doing I also have a picture of the field jobs.

 

Now that you have chosen your field and have gotten your shirt or dress we move on to decorating it! The women outfits tend to very a bit more then the men's via neck line or around it but for the most part there is a black neck line that you could take a turtleneck, a T-mock, or Dickie to were under or black ribbon to sow / fabric glue it on there!

So with that done move on to the cuffs and badge... I would start with the cuffs just because! So I found these images online to help in rounding up the options then staring at various pictures!

There are a few ways I would go about doing the cuffs, one is to get that gold like spool of non-ribion but sold like it (can't think of it's name) and sow that on in dashes and lines or to use GOLD GLUE (used on fabrics) and glue it!

Way, Way to easy right? Okay cocky, now the badge! Again, you can use some type of fabric or felt and cut it out and BLACK FABRIC GLUE to make it stay OR take your gold glue and glue it out for those afraid of sowing. Now I think to glue it one might be harder just for the fact that you ARE gluing a picture on a shirt! I might get wax paper put a paper drawing under and glue out the gold then take it and glue it on the shirt with black... Might just easier then fighting the shirt!

There you have it! Quick & easy STAR TREK: the Original series cosplay outfit!

Uhm? Pants and shoes!? You can find those in your local Dresser or Closet!

Females: Black Tights and Black Boots (don't have to be Go Go not everyone can wear one do to big caffs!) You could get away with black heels if you wish, but boots is what was in the show!

Men: Black Pants and Black Boots. Could use black shoes and not boots for the same reason a woman might use heels.

Good luck my fellow nerds, Live Long and Prosper!

Reveiw - Rosario + Vampire

Happy New Year! It is a brand new year and did not get as much in learning Korean/Hangul as much as I wanted. I can read it with help now though! And lost more Japanese/Nihongo. Oh well, this is a new year and I will try again to get farther.... in between jobs.

Well, I don't know about you all, but to bring in my new year I watch a show called Rosario + Vampire. For those of you who know what the show is like, you might ask why on EARTH did you watch that? Well, I am a gluten for punishment and I will watch just about anything anime or with Vampires.... (Do to this I saw Twilight and thought about blinding myself for that crap! -sorry fans)

Another reason is it is one of my friends favorite anime, she calls it her guilty pleasure show. She really wasn't far off on that idea. I have heard from other people the same thing. So, if you like LOTS of undergarments shots and boob shots this is your show! But if you are of the faint of heart -or innocent minded, I would not recommend this for you!

So what is this show about? -Besides the underwear and boob shots? Well, it is about a human boy who ends up (by mistake) going to a high school meant for monsters! On his way to school he runs into a pink haired girl and they become fast friends even though she is a Vampire. In next few episode you meet a new monster girls who falls for the poor dumb human and quickly becomes a harem like show... like Tenchi or Ah, My Goddess.

Rubi Tojo

Over all the show is not all bad but there are MANY spots I could not understand what they were thinking?

For example, there is this girl, Rubi Tojo, they show in the opening of the first season but it is not til you are near the end that you meet her and from there on out she is still a VERY small part in the story yet the show her all the time! And then in the Second Season she is not AT ALL the same person! She is always going on about how her helping Jon Doe out is a "Long Story." Now, I did like her in the first season but drove me nuts in the second!

Kurumu

In the second episode of the first season Kurumu here says she is the on the endangered spices list... and is NEVER addressed again! Matter of fact you later see her mother. You never really see more then one of the same monster but wolves and vamps. So how many are "endangered"? And can monsters become endangered? I feel like there could be more of story with her and her kind yet they leave it hanging.... This bugged me but not really needed in the grand scheme of things.


I think the character I had the most trouble with is Tsukune AND both Mokas. In this one scene near the end of season one Tsukune is killed and the "vampire" Moka gives him her blood and at some point she flicks his nose and then later on yet the "nice" Moka does the same and he asked himself if he was falling for the "Vampire" Moka.... This isn't really flushed out till season 2. Later in season 2 the "nice" one notes that her "other half" is in love with him too.

 
The white haired Moka is the "real" Moka and the pink haired was made to "protect her." Protect her from whom by masking her power? NOT REALLY stated.... But yet in season 2 the pink Moka is her own person made by her rosary.

Here are others rants about RV and other fun titbits about the Word "ECCHI" and why the different kinds of underwear shots!

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Headscratchers/RosarioToVampire
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=2j0mdgd45imnjdntv3z24oft
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecchi

New year, New you?

Happy New Year! 明けましておめでとう!  새해 복 많이 받으세요!

Bonne année! And 'happy new year' in another languages you know or can think of! ^_^ 

Here year are again, as every year. If either one of us wasn't, well that would be sad for the ones around us. But as you are reading this all is good and as right as one can get in the world.

Have you made plans? Made your new year goals? What are they? My are always the same, live another day, take another breath and one day I will see the gold in the world but for now it is black and write with a TON of gray in it.

But I can say one thing on the matter of goals, this year I made a 2015 bucket list... 

1. Go to at least ONE craft show to sell at LEAST 1 thing and have fun with friends who join me and do more crafts as I am there.
2. Make (around) 4 Blogs on Learning Japanese/ Nihongo.
3. Become more of an person who has little and wants for little... Gosh I wish I could think of that word that describes this...
4. Get a better job so I am not running around with 2 and pinching pockets... I like to stand on my own thank you but standing is VERY different then crawling on one's own!
5. Make a better effort for Korean/Hangul and work that into lessons for plans on my new blog. ~_^
6. Work on my French again, gosh it has been to long!
7. And lastly, find that bloody cupid and take away his arrows so I don't have to deal with all this mushy love around me. ;P

So, I think I can do all but one quite easily!  Cupid and I haven't talked much or seen much of each other. I guess I shouldn't have returned fire that last time we met! hehe

So let's all do our best this year and get as many things checked off our list as we can! がんばって!

Sailor Moon, Moon Crystal Review! ^_^v

 

Hello Again! For all those Sailor Moon fans you know these 2 logos, and like myself have been waiting for the long awaited reboot to Sailor Moon (Sailor Moon Crystals) has stared! Has a Sailor Moon fan girl, I for one was not sure how I would feel about this remake. But hey Full Metal Alchemist did that with Brotherhood and people LOVED it! So I have hope!

So let me start with tell you all how I became a fan of Sailor Moon. I first received a gift with the head of Sailor Moon on it wishing I could see the show that this came off of the when I was around 11/12 we got Dish and I saw for the first time the US version of Sailor Moon! I have never been the same again!!! ^_^ Some my say this was the down fall for my love of anime some may not call it such but was the gate way to a new world!

Now as any fan now knows is that the names were changed and that there were MANY episodes that never made the cross over. The names we had were Serena Tsukino (Usagi Tsukino) Amy Mizuno (Ami Mizuno), Raye Hino (Rei Hino), Lita Kino (Makoto Kino), Mina Aino (Minako Aino) and Darien Shields (Mamoru Chiba), Trista Meioh (Setsuna Meioh), Amara Tenoh (Haruka Tenoh), Michelle Kaioh (Michiru Kaioh), Hotaru Tomoe! From here you can tell that Darien/Mamiru had the BIGEST change then Lita/Makoto, Trisa/Setsuna, Amara/Haruka, and Serena/Usagi. The rest staid pritty close to spelling and/or pronounced. The ONLY one who got to keep her name UNCHANGED was Hotaru (Sailor Satern). And that was only because the it was dubbed later and by then the names weren't changing to some weird American one. lol

We lost many episodes for the US was not ready to show some things and thought they should be masked over and or not even shown. In the first season ALONE we lost 5 and then the last 2 in the org. Japanese were cut/pasted to make it ONE last one for the US! And NEVER showed the Sailor Moon Stars season... there was no way around that one to change it for "family viewing." You fans know what I mean.

Since my mother HATED anime/manga I did not get a chance to read them and at the time looking for the online to read would only get me yelled at since it would tie up the phone line and it was in the main room were everyone was always at. So I would look for things like what Wiki is now!

Since I was/am a huge fan, I decided to watch the first episode to see what I think and how much is it like the old version. And to my surprise, I remembered it all and heard the American names and not the Japanese ones. And then decided I wanted t do something that would be fun since it has been so long since I have seen Sailor Moon. I will watch the new one then watch the old ones and read the manga to compare them!

So far I REALLY HATE the new transformation (and so do a lot/most of the other fans I have seen online) for adding a random cell shading 3D is one of the dumbest looking things I have seen! I am not a HUGE fan of the new animation if you look at one photo online look at Sailor Moon, she has her leg bent is such an UNREAL way it creeps me out and in her transformation her wrist bends weird too! She is also pandering to the "stick" crowds, I loved the old animation for she looks more real with more meat on her bones. But love that they kept the org names and REALLY missed the old US names.

So far I can tell you, that the old one was closer to animation style but the new one is closer to the costumes they had and that it is also closer to the story line in the manga. Were as episode 2 in Crystal and act 2/chapter 2 in the manga are the same were has episode 2(JP)/2(US) are not it is not until episode 8(JP)/5(US) for when they get to see Ami/Amy.

If you want to do the same thing Hulu has the Japanese version out there for free and if you look hard enough you can find the old English one out there on Youtube!

Til next time!

Movie Review - Prisoners

Over All Rating: 4.5/5
Make-up: 5/5 (This is of note to me!)

So the other night I went to go see this movie, let me just note that I HAD NO CLUE  that this movie was even made till a friend said, "we are going to see Prisoners!"

And I am a person who says, "okay" a ask very little about it. All I knew was that it was about kids who get kidnapped.... So imagine my surprise when I saw one of my favorite actors, Hugh Jackman. And I remembered why I do not ask much about movies and take what people give me, I LOVE to find people I have seen in other films!

The other person that hit was Alex Jones played by Paul Dano. I know he is not well known but he has a face that one can NOT forget! He was Ford's son in Cowboys and Aliens and was the brainy-ac kid in Knight & Day. For being B type actor he does a REALY good job in his roles. Now, I was surprised of how good his make-up was when he was being beaten, the face swelling and bruises where amazing!

Another person that caught my memory was Jake Gyllenhaal, Detective Loki. Now, sadly, I didn't pick him up as fast as the other two, but I will blame it on that he is beautiful and in this movie his eyes would twitch! I was tying to think of another movie where the hero's eyes would twitch not so much were he was from, but when I sat down to find out who he is I saw he was in Prince of Persia and I knew who he was in it and felt like a blond for not noticing that sooner! I felt the same for Terrence Howard, aka Iron Man/Red Tails. The only thing I could think of was planes when I saw him, it buged me that I could not think of the movie he was in.

Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) did a great job on acting like a cop. (I think) His hair was cut in a way that would be approved to be warn, nothing around the ears. Nothing bugs me more then seeing a shaggy haired cop in a modern movie! That was a huge plus to the make-up/costume crew

What surprised me was that the two wives didn't ring any bells till I looked up the movie, Viola Davis (also from Knight & Day who I knew Dano from) and the other wife, Maria Bello. When I saw she was Evelyn in the 3rd Mummy movie I knew why I forget her. I did not like her has Evelyn and really wanted the real Evelyn to come back, as many Mummy fans did.

Side people that caught my attention was the son, Dylan Minnette (seen in Awaken TV series) and Bob Taylor played by David Dastmalchian (Batman: Dark Knight). Why do they have a face I can't forget that makes me try to think where have I seen them? I don't know.

So far this is all one BIG rant on people I enjoyed seeing in here and some I should of known and very little of the movie! So as for the movie, GREAT! They did real well in getting the little things right on and how people react to something to devastating as having your kids taken from you! 

Jewelry Boxes

Okay, so either I have this compelling need to post and will post about anything or I like to post about no nonsense things like beds and boxes. X_x

So here it is, when I was out on vacation this past week, I went into a shop and saw a jewelry boxed that I fell in love with and would of taken home if not for the fact that it was cheaply made and would brake easy. Not that I am rough with things, I am just a klutz! But I liked it and might of taken it any who if the lining was in the right color... ie like the broken one at the shop.

I am a person that will shop for YEARS to find the right thing to belong in my collection, ie beds, boxes, shoes... I think one of the few things I will look and grab are plants, books and Asian art. So now that I found the "right box," I took a good long look at the box and it looked easy to make! So I started a quest to look up how to make a box like this one and try to make it only to find what I liked about it was that it was shaped like 2 books laying down covered in a cheap tin to look like a box made from India.

So now that I know what I like about it I thought why not make one that has all of the elements I like in a box to mix with the shape of the box?

Out of the two here that looks like a stack of books I feel, "Less is More" when it comes to these boxes. I like the idea of a mirror in the lid and I like the opening of the book for a cove that is in the bigger one but I think the spine might be easier. But neither one has the try that expands out of the try.

Then there was a wall mounted one that has almost made me get the cheep little box and go for this one! I still really like it and might end up one day getting it but to me this belongs in the bath room and I do not had the wall space in my current location for it and not sure if or when I will.







So now I know what I am looking for I thought I could make one very close to the idea of the box I fell in love with. But instead of using a tin to cover I would shape it like 2 books!

• So to make this box I deduced that if I made 2 boxes, about the size I would like then make 4 trays about the1/4th the size and about as half as deep as the main box. 
• Then either get a thick cardboard (or a thin thing of wood) and make the sectional to go across the front half to use as a base for the trays and glue/nail them in.
• In this box there are 2 small pieces that stick up for a ring/bracelet holder can be made and put a notch in the middle and get a dowel-rod cut to length of box and put 2 small nails in the ends to fit in the small cuts in the 2 small walls. (No joke, that is what they did!)
• Now for the lining I would either just line the bottom and the dividers or cut a bit into the wood to line it there and make the wood look like it is the trim or just polish the whole thing if it all the same wood!
• For the lid I would either put in a mirror to fill it or I would put the lining in it (maybe a small mirror) and put in a pocket on the bottom half and small hooks in the top to hang jewelry with it. 
• Then to attached the 2 trays I would use a thin metal (like the one they used) attach from the middle of the top tray to the end of the bottom tray and the middle of the bottom try to the divider lining up the other side to do the same all with small nails and to the same to the other tray

Now these last two are more of what I wish I could do if I was good at making things and had the space/time. I really fell in love with the Tardis for in this picture there are nothing but nerd jewelry in it! Rebel Alliance charms, Thor's Hammers charms, Batman earnings and so forth! (And in truth I could possibly make the Tardis like I would make the box above! Maybe that will be a post to come! ~_^) All and all I love the owl with the books it seem either very Potter-ish or very booky to me, it is for pure decor.

 

Dezign Zoo Animal Emporium

You Got Mail Around the Corner

So Summer is 'around the corner' and I have gotten my yearly summer/allergy cold that kicks me into the ground for a few days. But lucky me, I bounce back like it was never there just after the worse is over. And when I say worse, I mean it! But I almost never get sick...

So as I was trying to find something to put on my TV I saw my VHS of "You've Got Mail" with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks and I was reminded of the sick scene in it and felt like the scene was for me! So in the end I put it in my ol' VCR (that still works) that is hooked up to my box of a  TV. (So I was going vintage/retro/nostalgic)

This movie is one of my favorites from the late 90's, it is not the best movie out there but it is really good. This movie is also the second remake to Shop Around the Corner -witch is the name of Meg Ryan's Book store! Now, I don't usually like/or want anything to deal with remakes but both remakes of the original Shop Around the Corner are BEAUTIFULLY done! In this remake it points out things that were HUGE during the 90s that I knew/part of but never truly appreciated.

For example, AOL was the ALWAYS sending free trials to people so, many people had one and one of the biggest phrase you'd hear was, "You've Got Mail" is a male voice. Since everyone was getting the internet
people were always happy to get emails. (there wasn't that much spam and weekly/monthly emails from business) The only way one could get on line is if you'd tie-up the phone line and dial-up! Oh, hearing those screeches and bleeps brought back a lot of old memories! Also in this priceless movie you have the desktop computer screen and all the graphics that we had on our computer then.

But why would a second remake be any better or equal to the other 2?  It for the references to the other 2 movies before it, Shop Around the Corner and it's musical remake, In the God Old Summertime for me.

All were done with big named actors/ess of the time the movies were made; in the first one you had James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan and in the musical you had Judy Garland and Van Johnson and now in this "modern" day you have Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks!

The shop -as stated earlier, is named after the first movie and at some point you here the song "Over the Rainbow"  witch is song by Judy Garland in both her big brake movie (Wizard of Oz) and in the musical remake.

And after I finished watching it I wanted to go back to the 90s for about 20 min (about as long as it would take to get online) to enjoy how far technology has gone and wonder if they can or will do a remake to this beloved classic?