I didn't get much done yesterday. I woke up late, re-watched episode one of Heroes (since I hadn't seen it since its first air date).
Then I made a press of coffee and a brie toastie.
And continued to watch Heroes ... I really just watched Heroes all day in my jammies until everyone else got back from the joint degree. By then I was at the latter half of the sixth episode.
Then I went out and sat in the living room in an effort to be social--but I really just felt grimy since I was still in my pajamas and everyone else was nicely dressed from being at the degree and the dinner after.
Somehow I decided that I'd go to the meeting at six, which prompted shower-time and the wearing of actual clothes. But after my shower, I was back in my room watching Heroes again until it was time to leave--because that show has me hooked.
And what did I do after we got back from the meeting? Some jump-ring attaching, the progress of which you can see here:
And more Heroes, of course, until I was completely caught up (it only took me until quarter past midnight to be right up to the point where
I love Mohinder. And Peter. And Isaac. And Hiro (but not romantically--just in the "awwww!so-adorable!" sense). And really, even Sylar is creepylove. The show is just full of ridiculously handsome men.
Then, this morning I finished watching The New Kids, which I had started watching on Saturday night after Mel had dropped me off at home. I'd paused it midway because it was giving me anxiety, and anxiety isn't something you need when you're intending to go to bed some point in the near future.
It's a really stupid movie that only affirms my loathing of small towns. And rednecks. And really, the majority of America. Actually there are a fair few movies out there that have helped this loathing grow--Snake Eater and any of its sequels (scarred, scarred for life, I was), Deliverance, and certain episodes of Highlander, The A-Team, and Renegade (actually, every other episode of Renegade).
What these films and shows teach us is this: "homeland" America is not charming. Andy and Opie are lying to you. Country-folk are retarded, inbred, crazy, and dangerous--and we're all better off avoiding them as much as may be.
I mean, I've heard Pennsyltucky, but this was Floribama. Joe-Bob and Chad-Bob (can we get some more [your name here]-Bob?) and Gideon (of course, "Gid"). And why the hell was James Spader playing a messed up hick? And blond? Why the uber-blond? Bleah.
Short summary: 1985 (that's when it was released, so I'm guessing that's the setting as well), boy and girl lose their parents in a car wreck and move in with their aunt and uncle in Bumfuck, Florida and immediately get harassed by a gang of rednecks (led by James Spader). There are fights, acts of vandalism, shootings, the setting of people on fire, electrocutions, and beheadings.
Where are the parents? It would appear that none of these assholes have parents.
And, in the end, after a super-massacre of the rednecks at the uncle's Santa's Funfair (or whatever the hell that place was called) there's only this little kid left over, and the parting shot is the boy staring creepily after "happy-ending" boy and girl driving off into town. What the hell was that supposed to be? Sequel warning? Like this slop would get a sequel?
What drove me to watch it in the first place? James Spader. And, yes, he's creepy and doesn't disappoint as a crazy villain.
I also received Dare mo shiranai (Nobody Knows) on Saturday, but between Heroes and the freaky hillbilly movie, I never got to it. I'll watch it this evening.
Oh, yeah. It's snowing.
And there was a car accident as I stepped off the T at Babcock. I didn't see it happen, but I heard the resounding *crunch* of the giant white truck smacking the little black sport car sideways. And then watched in amusement as moronic pedestrians still decided to dodge out into traffic during a green light, in spite of the obvious (as demonstrated by said car accident) slick on the road.
Massholes. But I'm not surprised.
Showing posts with label Joel Tobeck. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joel Tobeck. Show all posts
26 February 2007
holding out for a ...
15 February 2007
I pick things up; I am a collector. And things, well, things--they tend to accumulate.
I should've left earlier than I did yesterday--my own sentiment and Sharon (who generally comes in at the same time I do, and left an hour and a half earlier yesterday afternoon) agrees. Maybe if I had, getting home wouldn't have been such an ordeal.
By 3 o'clock, the trains weren't running between Kenmore and Washington due to electricity problems.
Instead, there were green line shuttle buses carrying sardine-can-squashed passengers from stop to stop in between. I splashed across Comm. Ave. at the last minute--through a foot of sludge--in order to get on one of these shuttles; and, in spite of there being other people behind me who would've liked to get on the bus too, the driver shut the doors and drove away without them.
And when he let us off at Washington to wait for the T to Boston College, the driver parked the bus in front of another slush puddle. Yay.
By the time I got home, my shoes and socks were soaked through and the cuffs of my khakis were filthy and wet. My extremities were basically frozen.
I changed into pajamas right away when I got in the door and spent the rest of the afternoon and into evening thawing.
No. I didn't vacuum.
But I did help Michelle take apart the lego couch and then put it out on the curb for trash-pickers or garbage-men to take away. And then we moved the futon from her room to the living room. So that was something productive for the evening.
--in addition to chibi-Strife's pants.
I didn't work on them during lunch yesterday--I just kept getting distracted by looking out my window at the snow and sleet coming down. So I had to finish sewing the front panels; cut out, pin, and sew the back panels; and then sew the front and back together. actually, I left the upper seams opem to make it easier to fit the waist. I have it safety-pinned on both sides right now, and I basically know what I'm going to do with it.
Getting him into those pants wasn't as difficult as I'd thought it might be. But I didn't over-stuff his legs, so they're pretty squeezable and will fit just about anywhere with careful handling.
I was split between starting his boots or his gloves today, but I think I'm going to go with gloves. After the 12-piece pants, I'm just not ready to deal with the boot/shin-guard-process yet. But then, those gloves are supposed to be kind of patchy too. Maybe I'll just hem the shirt and pant cuffs today.
Blah. I'll decide what I'm doing by lunchtime.
12 February 2007
chibi-Strife and George the orc?
He has hair, facial features, and basic clothes. I could stop now and be perfectly satisfied with him.
No, that's a lie. I really do want to finish his clothes and other accessories. It's just taking so damn long ...
I was watching Lord of the Rings: Return of the King last night, just to watch the part with "George" the orc. No, his real character name is not George but something more fittingly Middle Earth-ish. And his IMDb title is 'Orc Lieutenant 1' ... he's best seen in the extended cut of RotK, but you can find him in the regular release during the scene where the orcs catapult the heads of the Gondor warriors over the wall. He's identifiable by the skull that he wears as a hat.
Yeah. That's Joel Tobeck again. Not that you can really tell it's him under all the orc costume, but it's the thought that counts.
But I fell asleep before that scene, and woke up again when Frodo and Gollum are fighting for the Ring over the fiery chasm and Gollum bites off Frodo's finger. That was a hell of a thing to wake up to.
06 February 2007
another photo representation of progress
My last blogspot entry, about a week ago, featured the assembly of a muslin prototype plush person. I've been working on the velour version of that prototype, and this entry features the up-to-date progress of chibi-Strife.
Since I'd already photographed the body assembly with the first version, I didn't bother to do so with this one too. Instead, we jump right to the finished body, 31 January:
The head gave me more grief than with the first version, but I think it turned out better. I also stuffed it from a top-side seam this time around, so the lower region of the face is much smoother than with the muslin rendition.
Two additions to the velour version's body base: his ears, hand-sewn to the head during my lunch break on 1 February.
The first article of clothing I created for chibi-Strife was a simple half-circle cloak, cut and sewn on 2 February:
The pattern for the cloak is extremely basic and may be found here. I merely adjusted the measurements for chibi-Strife's proportions.
On Saturday, after a trip to Michael's for Art Wear iron transfer sheets, I worked on designs for his eyes, chose one that I liked, and fused them to chibi-Strife's head. Very carefully.
Sunday night, I sewed a pair of long underwear from remnants of old black jersey material. Really, very much belonging to the "remnants" category--it involved a lot of seam-ripping and removal of very old elastic (which tends to disintegrate and fall apart in its old age).
The waist-band of the pants is kind of ... iffy. They fall down. He has plumber's crack (except that it's cute on chibi-Strife, rather than horrifying and gross).
But it's okay, because yesterday I made him a tunic that sort of compensates for the tendency of the pants to fall down by being over-long.
And today? Yeah, I don't know yet. We'll see. Maybe he'll get a mouth.
Maybe.
30 January 2007
a gradual process
I've already posted images of this in my LiveJournal, but then today I realized I'd never updated blogger with any of it. So this morning's entry is a backtrack of last week's plush endeavors.
The body fabric is a natural-tone muslin, the eyes and mouth are black thread. This week I'm in the process of making a nicer version of the body out of velour fabric. I cut all the pieces on Sunday night with a few minor differences from the original (thumbs on the hands, a slightly different dart for the front of the head), sewed and stuffed the body yesterday, and today I'll hopefully finish the head.
Well, maybe finish the head. I'm thinking of purchasing some flat-black buttons for the eyes rather than messing around with the satin-stitch again; because it was hard enough to make an even satin-stitch on muslin, never mind piled fabric.
I also still need to make ears (the first prototype didn't have any). And, for this particular plushie, ears will be necessary, since a major part of his defining accessories is wearing funky earrings.
After I'm done with the body, the real tricky part will begin--hair, clothing, accessories. My experience with making doll clothes is so limited, it could be written on the back of a postage stamp in its entirety.
And Strife's clothes are kind of detail-oriented: the boots and gauntlets, fingerless gloves (good thing the new plushie has thumbs), and a nonsensically pieced-together [leather or pleather?] jump-suit with tiny metal rings and belts and such. For a better explanation of what I mean, I include photos:
Yeah, he's a skinny god. I don't care. He's going to make an adorable plushie.
But I get the sinking feeling I'll be hand-sewing Strife into his complicated getup.
24 January 2007
for my next trick
I think I'm going to make an owl. There's a very simple pattern for one that I copied from Craftster that has very few pieces, and I don't think it should take me too long to put it all together.
More of a long-term goal is come up with my own concept for a general plushie form (kind of like the UFO-catcher plushies, but probably not anime characters).
My feeling is that the head is going to be the biggest nightmare to figure out, since I want it to have more than the two-dimensional shape that two sides sewn together would provide. I want there to be a definite point where the nose is located, and I want the back of the head to have some dimension too. Suffice to say, I think that this is going to involve a lot of trial and error (and, during those trials, the cheapest broadcloth I can find).
Once I have a plushie design that I like, I'm going to make a Strife plushie (and break some sort of commandment in which I don't really believe, I'm sure). No, not Cloud Strife. Strife-Strife. My LiveJournal icon's Strife. Leather metal-ringed costume and all (though, more likely to be pleather). I'd like to make him a little cloak too, just for the hell of it.
Other idea--a Captain Jack Harkness plushie, complete with great coat, vest, and bracers.
You can see I'm really warming up to this concept.
02 January 2007
onward and upward
That’s mean and devious and sick. ... We should totally hang out more.
Holidailies has come to a close, and while I didn't complete the 30 entries they would have liked, I did complete at lest 20 entries they expected. Actually, I had 27 for the month, so I fell nicely into a "Satisfactory" category.
Still, I don't think I'm going to kill this journal now that December is over. I will never post everything here that I post in my LiveJournal, but that's for the best.
The quote is from fan fiction. Strife fan fiction. I joined a Yahoo group dedicated to Joel Tobeck's characters, because I love Joel-sama (his IMDb page now has pictures). The members of this group occasionally e-mail their written work to the list. I know it's old hat, but it's kind of awesome to be able to read fan fiction through e-mail.
I also read that my mom is sending me an AV kit for my iPod--a dock and cables that will allow me to hook the iPod to the television and watch iPod videos on a larger screen. She gave my dad one for Christmas (along with a new 80GB iPod), and we used the TV feature to watch Torchwood on the living room's big-screen television. Yes, it's a wee bit pixilated, but not in any way that makes it an unbearable experience. And besides, I rather like being able to watch Torchwood on something besides my computer or my iPod.
Speaking of Torchwood, I'm in the midst of downloading the final episodes of the season. They're going much slower than the last ones, but hopefully they'll get faster as more people obtain them. I also think that having two episodes released on the same evening didn't help this problem. I think it's much easier for people to seed smaller files released a few days apart. Still, I suppose I'll be happy once they're complete.
Yesterday was fairly relaxing (after I finally got home from traveling, that is). I spent the afternoon watching Forever Knight and Arrested Development. The last episode of Forever Knight is fairly disappointing, I have to say; and the second to last episode is also disappointing--they killed Vachon! How could they kill Vachon?! Yes, he has terrible hair (or, at any rate, a terrible wig); but with a decent hair-cut he would have been so handsome. Ben Bass is damned handsome in his own right.
I'd still like to talk more about my vacation and the kinks of travel ("kinks," here, meaning: "annoying" rather than "unexpectedly bizarre and fun"), but that might need to come later in the day, as I'm rather busy this morning.
For those of you in the same boat, welcome back to work, and Happy New Year!
18 October 2006
'tis the season
I believe in going for seasonal food; it's not always around, so you should get and enjoy it when you can (shamrock shakes, the odd Starbucks flavours, and certain kinds of fruit). So I tried the pumpkin muffin at Dunkin' Donuts today. And, yes, it was good, like pumpkin bread. Mmm.
Makes me want to carve a pumpkin. Except not really, because it's a big mess and then you can't leave it outside without some jackass from Boston College smashing it to bits. Sad, but we live in a high-population area. Somebody would be a douche.
--------------------
Got three discs from Netflix yesterday, two of which actually worked. The last disc of Angel came with two cracks at the center, and was therefore sadly unreadable. Customer service assures me that I'm being sent a replacement today.
That left me with Young Hercules, which I know I've seen before, but couldn't recall at all. So I watched it again. And was plagued by the questions, "Why does Ares want to be king of Ithica? What can he possibly achieve from being a king that he can't get from being the GoW?" And there was no Joel Tobeck as Strife. Just Meighan Desmond as Discord (and she serves the same purpose, really, but I prefer Joel-sama ... and Strife). I'm also still puzzling over the giant Ares head swinging from ropes. Were they in the middle of building a giant statue of him? And why didn't he just snap his fingers and kill everyone? ... It's shoddy. But Kevin Smith is (... er, was) awesome, so I guess I don't care.
And I also watched a 1985 made-for-TV version of Anne of Green Gables. I've never read the book(s?), never watched any version on film. I was just curious about what I was missing, since I know a few people for whom this was one of their favourites as a child.
I'm sorry. I just don't see it. She's too bloody perfect and winsome for me. I'm not a big fan of the winsome orphan-heroine of young adult fiction (this includes Anne Shirley, Sara Crewe, and even Mary Lennox to a certain extent--though she's kind of a bitch to everyone).
Actually, I just wasn't much of a fan of young adult fiction. I think i went from Berenstain Bears to Stephen King and Ray Bradbury without a big transition in the middle. I seem to recall somebody trying to introduce me to The Babysitter's Club, and being BORED OUT OF MY MIND. I did, however, enjoy Madeleine L'Engle and some R.L. Stine (not Goosebumps, anything but Goosebumps).
The redemption of Anne of Green Gables (over three hours long, by the way) was the rest of the cast. The side characters are much more real to me than Anne; their behavior, their reactions, their speech--all of it is more believable than Anne's anything.
And, of course, ...
All new tonight at 9, only on ABC (but, also, later at 2 AM on abc.com):
Lost - "Further Instructions"
The fates of Locke, Eko and Desmond are revealed after the implosion of the hatch, and Hurley returns to the beach camp and explains what happened when he, Jack, Kate and Sawyer encountered the Others. Meanwhile, Claire is shocked to find Nikki and Paulo (Kiele Sanchez, Rodrigo Santoro) in Jack's tent. Boone: Ian Somerhalder. Eddie: Justin Chatwin. Mike: Chris Mulkey. Jan: Virginia Morris. Sheriff: Joel Himelhoch. Kim: Dion Donahue.
But I'll probably end up watching it tomorrow morning if I fall asleep before it comes on tonight.
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