OMG RWBY

RWBY - Red White Black Yellow

I've been a fan of Monty Oum's work since I discovered his Dead Fantasy series a few years ago, and was thrilled to hear of his new work with Roosterteeth - RWBY. After watching the trailer, I have to say...

It was like love at first sight. The music caught my breath, the fighting choreo and animation blew me away, and that weapon the main character uses, the Crescent Rose... I fell for it. So hard. If you haven't seen the Red trailer for his new webseries premiering 2013, check that out below before reading further: 

You see that gunscythe? I want to build that gunscythe.

No, wait.

I will build that gunscythe. A full-size model that would pack and unfold as the animation suggests (or as closely as I can replicate it). First, a paper model to visualize the shapes and use the dimensions to scale to a possible CAD model, then a small-scale model to test out any details, then, the final large-scale model.

After brainstorming and sketching out possible ways to make this thing work in real life, I paused to make a static version of the fully-extended head of the gunscythe from computer paper.

Above: The paper Crescent Rose head on a backdrop of my sketchbook.

Read more...

OTAKON 2012

Warning: Long post ahead!
TL;DR - The Otakon 2012 trip was overall very successful!

This past weekend I went to Otakon 2012 as Shiina Mayuri (Mayushii) from Stein's Gate, and had a blast! There were definitely a lot more Okabe's (the main male character) than any of the girl characters, but I'm glad we managed to find all but one character from the cast!

Above: Julia (as Christina) and me (as Mayuri) with Okabe #2.

Above: So many Okabe's! This was perhaps less than half of the total

number of Okabe's we encountered over the weekend.

In addition to the Black Rock Shooter canvas, I also submitted 3 chinese-styled wallscrolls and 2 sketches to the Otakon 2012 Art show.

Above: BRS canvas (this has its own post - check it out! ^_^ )

Above: Wall scrolls submitted to Otakon 2012!

Above: Sketch of gender-bender Legend of Korra cast.

(The finished version had some breezy leaves floating throughout the pic as well.)

Above: Working photo of the Mako-Bolin sketch - I don't have a pic

of the finished version unfortunately!

To read more about my trip and submitted art, click below to read more!

FOOD DAY

This past Monday, I toted back a load of groceries with plans to try out some new recipes. After pretty much spending the rest of the day making stuff - chopping, whisking, kneading, etc - I realized something. And I only realized it after I sat down at the end of the day to take a break, when I noticed my arms were sore and uncontrollably quivering a bit.

Above: A 4koma of my Monday.

Conclusion: My arms are weak and have low endurance. ^o^;

However, I think I managed to make a few interesting dishes. Since the rest of this post is picture heavy, here's just two preview pics of the chocolate Kahlua mousse and dango (Japanese dumpling) dish I made - you can click through the jump break to read more. :)

Above: Chocolate Kahlua Mousse, served with strawberries.

Above: Dango with two varieties of toppings - 

black sesame and sweet soy sauce.

(Click below to read more!)

4TH OF JULY ICE CREAM

Happy 4th of July! To celebrate, I made some banana ice cream decked with blueberries and strawberries, topped with raspberry or blueberry cream upon serving.

Above: There are a few stripes missing.........

To fill a ~6x4x4 inch container, cut up about 6 frozen bananas, and add to it about a cup and a half of heavy cream and a few spoonfuls of vanilla yogurt to taste. Feel free to substitute peanut butter or honey for the vanilla yogurt as well! If you only have access to a small blender, as I have, split the ingredients into proportional rations so they'll fit.

Above: Cutting off the frozen banana peels.

Above: Bananas, cream, and yogurt.

The cream was made from mixing a few spoonfuls of heavy cream, milk, and sugar for a good 3-5 minutes. (I also heated it up for about 15 seconds afterwards, but that's not necessary). Add and crush the raspberries and blueberries in the cream for the topping, and use the rest for drizzling on the ice cream.

Above: Prepping fruit and cream for decoration.

Above: Crushing the fruit to make cream topping.

Above: Voila!

Add some crumbled Nilla wafers and serve however you want!

Above: I'll be eating this watching the fireworks. :)

~~~

There were so many people camped out near the river where the fireworks were to be set off; some apparently have been camping out there for the entire day. Happy Fourth of July, Boston!

Above: The concentration of campers stays pretty constant down the entire length of the river.

VALENTINE ROSES

Tomato and cherry tomato roses, strawberry roses, cucumber leaves and a carrot garnish, topped over a salad of cherry tomatoes, strawberries and clementine supremes. For this year's Valentines Day, I created this meant-to-be-desert dish after being inspired by some online food art. I call it, "Bouquet" - Happy Valentines Day!

Above: Bouquet! Freshly delivered to you!

The salad underneath was just a mix of strawberries cut to be heart shaped, mixed with cherry tomatoes and clementines cut supreme-style. A little bit of mashed up strawberry and squeezed clementine juice was added, and then topped with the fruit roses and vegetable leaves. All in all, this took longer than I thought - this was my first time making fruit roses! Here are some preparation pics:

Above: In the process of cutting some fruit roses!

(Notice the tomato carnage behind?)

Above: My super messy desk space used for making the 'Bouquet'.

And lastly, another shot of the 'Bouquet' - Enjoy!

Above: Happy Valentines Day!

After it was all done and made, I removed the roses and ate about half the salad - not bad for an improv dish. I'll be saving the other half for the actual Valentines Day tomorrow. :)

BELATED BDAY + SWEETS

Last Sunday, I turned one year older!

The Saturday before my actual birth date, Vivian ([VENERABILITY]), Jocelyn and some other friends took me out to Karaoke and then presented me with this sumptuous looking cookie cake at midnight:

Above: Karaoke cookie birthday cake!

I sang a few songs with them and then retreated back to MITERS with Charles ([etotheipiplusone]) where I got in some flying practice with Tinycopter, Charles' little quadrotor (Me flying [YT LINK]: Him and Shane flying [BLOG LINK]). Then, on the day of, Julia, Chris and Emily (still name-throwing!) surprised me with another cake at MITERS. And yes, Charles had to blowtorch the candles...

Above: Charles blowtorching my birthday candles.

Above: Before and after shots of the MITERS cake! It survived somehow.

Above: What I did with the ribbon around the bday cake -

Drive a screw and attach a nut at the junction point and create an impromptu ribbon!

ALSO, BRANDI GOT ME THAT CUTE FEDORA! :D

Above: Bday present from Jocelyn! I can draw on my mug now?! :D

All in all, my friends definitely made my birthday into something special. Thank you all! <3

Just an update on RGBeta, my adapter arrived last week! Though, I accidentally hooked up the 12V adapter to the 5V rail and killed my first Arduino. :( BUT! On the upside, I installed SOLIDWORKS today, so I'm planning on updating again pretty soon with the CAD designs!

ALSO! I never realized CANDY LEGO's existed?! Charles got me some candies, and I was super amused with the candy Lego's inside! I had so much fun with them, I ended up not wanting to eat them, haha. Maybe I should actually buy a real set again - building with Lego's brings back lots of memories. :)

Above: Random candy LEGO structure!

Above: Candy Lego heart! There weren't enough pieces to make

a fully red heart, sadly.

On a side note, the Musical Theater Guild's original MIT production, "Hack, Punt, Tool" that I was a part of this January period started its showings yesterday! So exciting - if you're in the area and have a chance, come and see!

PIERCED EARS + CURRY

On 1/15/2012, holding the hands of my two awesome friends Vivian and Jocelyn, I got my ears pierced.

Above: Before and after shots of my earlobes! >o<;

Yes, needles make me nervous! And seeing the piercing gun, with the giant needle fitted and menacingly exposed at the tip... definitely didn't help. The conversation went a little like this:

Store Lady (L): "Are you ready?"
Me (C): ".........Uhhh, no, sorry. Can you give me a few seconds?"
[A few seconds pass, as C attempts to mentally prepare herself]
L: "Are you ready?"
C: "....Yes, I think. No! Wait! Give me a few more seconds."
[A few more seconds pass, as C clenches the hands of her supportive friends]
L: "Just let me know when you're ready."
C: "OK...."
[....even more seconds pass, as C looks desperately for an emergency exit route]
L: "....Are you ready?"
C: "....No, but you should do it anyways."

The very patient and understanding Store Lady pierced each of my ears on a count of three, and a few sharp twinges later followed by an hour or so of shock at what had happened, I realized...how pretty earrings made me feel. And despite my previous protests, I found myself really looking forward to getting new earrings.

In hindsight, the entire episode was pretty laughable, but I really did feel a pinch of fear when I saw the piercing gun about to be aimed so close to my head. I didn't imagine it quite so...big, and gunlike. Thank you, Vivian and Jocelyn, for your moral support - I wouldn't have done it without you! :D

On a side note, I was in the mood for curry yesterday, and decided to make a dish with my remaining fruits, vegetables and meat. Meaning tuna, carrots, onions, and a single apple (at the time). Here's what I ended up cooking:

Above: While the onions and tuna were sautéing, the carrots and apples were cut.

Above: After the apples and carrots were fried a bit with the onions and tuna,

they were left to simmer with added water.

Above: Vermont curry powder added!

Above: Cutting the apple bunny while waiting!

Above: Finished dish!

I call it, 'Rabbit on the Moon' apple-tuna curry! If you ever get the chance to make something similar to this, let me know!