Closet Cosplay Challege - Results

 
First of all, you guys rock. Thanks so much to everyone who sent challenges! For a couple of these I borrowed something from a family member, made little things out of construction paper, or had actually already made something for a character, but otherwise this is stuff out of my closet. And sorry in advance for the quality of the pictures! I alternated between an iPod and digital camera, both with ups and downs.

Speaking of things I already made for characters - Shaak Ti suggested Elizabeth Swan, who I actually dressed as for Halloween years ago, so I had something okay for this:

accidental cosplaying in front of picture of actual character (right middle)

Shena had a few challenges- first an undercover Jedi (thought it was cool how this was open to interpretation, which I may have had a bit too much fun with) (I am wearing my Jedi tunic, it's just hard to see!):

cover

deep cover

deep deep cover

Sherlock Holmes:

I take the precaution of a good coat and a short friend

Rose Tyler (I went with her outfit from The End of the World, since I already made a shirt to look like hers):

we're in the year 5 billion! but first let me take a selfie.

Mary Margaret:

she makes me want to cut my hair and completely change my style

And Eowyn (was able to sort of pull off her costume from Dunharrow):

might be my new favorite costume of hers

Faith suggested two disney princess - Belle (who I'd love to cosplay for real now):

far off places, daring sword fights, magic spells, a prince in disguise...

And Cinderella:

learned my face doesn't like to cooperate for princesses so better to close eyes...

Zenta said Professor Layton (thank you bro for the shirt. and jacket. and hat.):

every puzzle has an answer

And Miles Edgeworth:

now then, if the defense is quite done embarrassing itself...

And last but not least Misty who, after I specifically said Smaug would be tricky, suggested I do said dragon. But just for you, my dear friend:

Benedict doing the motion capture for Smaug!

Mwahahaha! (I only laugh because I fail at doing a scary face)

And that's it! Again, thanks so much for the challenges, this was a ton of fun to do! Have a great week, keep calm, and cosplay motion capture versions of characters that are too hard.

Piñatas, Puzzles, and Princesses

Hey guys! Sorry for the lack of posts. I have been meaning to post and worked on a couple, but, and sorry I keep saying this, I'm busy and "one thing drives out another," but here's a quick one about what's been up with me.

School is good overall, though I've felt behind the last couple weeks. I like all my professors and enjoy homework...occasionally. No it's ok, just takes a lot of time. This week to celebrate the upcoming Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), we had a piñata in Spanish class (that teacher is pretty great). We did it under an outside balcony and a few random passerby's were smiling and one guy was saying "is this real?" and taking pictures. There was candy inside the piñata and when we went back to the classroom we had an opportunity for extra credit points. Whichever candy we had the most of corresponded to a certain question, like name five of the "evil ten" irregular infinitives in the future tense (it was open book too so super easy). So that day was fun. I also like my computer class a lot - my teacher is really nice and the classes are fairly relaxing. Math was ok until I took a polynomial to the knee, and English is ok but finding the meaning of stories and poems can be hard. So there's my quick school update!

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask (for 3DS) came out on Sunday! My brother came to my school with me on Monday so we could get it afterward. So far it's fun - the story and characters are good as always, puzzles good, but the new features and look it has because of the series' transition from the Nintendo DS is difficult to get used to. It's fun to be playing a new one though!

I didn't do much for Halloween but my brother and I made a couple simple costumes from stuff around the house and played around a little bit. We did Phoenix Wright and female!Klavier Gavin from Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. For my brother's costume we made the hat that Phoenix wears in that game and it turned out really cool!

Other things...I joined a choir at church and really like it - a couple good friends are in it and I'm getting to know the others, and I'm singing alto which is fun (I'm kind of a second soprano so I end up in whatever part needs people...).

Haven't been doing a lot of reading, but really enjoying the Fruits Basket manga when I can get it from the library - I think I'm past the parts covered in the anime, so it's all new stories to me now and still awesome!

Oh yeah, apparently there was some big news about Star Wars the other day. Yep, Disney bought Lucasfilm which was surprising, but they've had close ties for a while so at the same time it's not too surprising. The announcement of three new movies, though, I still can't believe that! Trying to stay positive about that right now. The thing is, I know what it's like to love the SW movies that everyone (exaggerating) hates, so I don't want to be one of the haters for the new generation of fans. If all else fails, maybe they'll be fine movies but not in my idea of how the Galaxy Far Far Away goes. But a lot of good could come from this change too - it'll be interesting to see what the next few years are like for Star Wars. The worst part is that the news broke on Facebook when I was trying to do homework. Who cares about how mind mapping works for math when you realize Leia is a Disney princess! Haha, I don't think she'll be included but it's still cool.

Thank you to those who tagged me in the 11 tag - I wrote up most of a post about that but need to shorten it - I'll get to it eventually...hopefully.

Oh, and I'm sorry I haven't been commenting much on other blogs. One day there were a bunch of posts to read that I didn't have time for, so I got behind for a while - just now trying to say something on occasion.

Well my brother just finished playing Layton so I'm going to play for a bit before dragging myself to bed. Thanks for reading, hope I can post more soon. May the Lord be with you all!

The Twelve Days of Christmas - Day 11

Two favorite Christmas recipes...

These are (imperfect) snowman top hats.  Mom and I saw them in a store once and thought they looked really cool, so we tried to make our own allergen-free version (three out of the four of us have food allergies).  They're kind of tricky to make, but so, so worth it.

They are made with chocolate, large marshmallows, and Oreos/sandwich cookies.  To make them, first melt chocolate chips (we used a make-shift double boiler).  The way I assembled them today was I dipped a marshmallow in chocolate, put it chocolate side down on the Oreo, spooned more chocolate on the top, and used a toothpick to spread the chocolate on the sides of the marshmallow and Oreo until getting something resembling a top hat!

I don't really have a second recipe, but I wanted to share a couple pictures of the cookies we decorated yesterday!  The recipe we use is a basic cutout cookie recipe from my aunt with powdered sugar frosting.

Here is a platter with cookies decorated by my mom, brother and myself...

And a few I did just for fun.  First is Piglet, then a japor snippet from Star Wars, Bilbo Baggins (as best as I could do by memory), Phoenix Wright, and Professor Layton (a snowman version, at least).  Piglet has frosting and the others were drawn with food coloring markers

Definitely had a lot of fun creating these Christmas treats and doing it with my mom and brother.  It has also been fun to eat a couple!

'Tis the night before Christmas, our goodnights have been said.  We're going to Mass in the morning, so I better go to bed!  May the Lord be with you this Christmas night!

Fall Releases

Ba de ya, say do you remember
Ba de ya, dancing in September
Ba de ya, never was a cloudy day
September - Earth Wind & Fire


I like September.  Even if it's not any cooler than August, and even though school is starting.  It's a promise that autumn is coming.  And it has a pretty name.

It also marks the beginning of new seasons of TV shows, holds many other releases.  My brother and I recently put together a list of all the releases and premieres we're looking forward to the rest of the year.  Here's what we have:

September 16

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 4

It's almost here!  The trailers and photos released promise an epic season.  Dave Filoni said Season 4 will be darker than the previous seasons, and the subtitle "Battle Lines" hints at more battles this time around.  As events move toward Revenge of the Sith, it seems Anakin is going to becoming closer to his dark side self this season.  But with Gungans in the second episode, hopefully we'll have some fun too.

September 19

The Sing-Off Season 3

The Sing-Off is a musical competition between a cappella groups.  It's really amazing the music they can make with just their voices.  The contestants are always very talented and great people as well, and there isn't any backstage drama, which I really like.  Also, the judges give kind and informative critiques on the performances.  I always watch this with my mom and brother, and it's a fun thing to do together.  Definitely looking forward to the next season.

October 4

Perry Mason Season Six, Volume 1 DVD

CBS begins to release the sixth season of Perry Mason for fans of the expert defense attorney.  Perry Mason is a courtroom drama based on the series of books by Erle Stanley Gardner.  Along with secretary Della and detective Paul, Perry cracks open murder cases the prosecutor, Hamilton Burger, thinks are perfect.  Perry will not only prove his client's innocence, but unmask the true murderer as well.  The shows are always very complex and exciting.  Volume 2 will be released November 22.

October 4

The Heroes of Olympus: The Son of Neptune

The second book in the series following Percy Jackson and the Olympians!  I can't say much about the plot as it would spoil the previous book (The Lost Hero), but it's going to be incorporating some new characters and put an old character in an intriguing new setting.

October 17

Professor Layton and the Last Specter

The fourth game in the Professor Layton series for Nintendo DS is being localized!  This one is a prequel, and will show how the main characters, Layton and Luke, first met!  I've heard a lot about Emmy, the Professor's assistant in the prequels, and am looking forward to getting to know her.  This game has more puzzles than any of the other games, so that should be fun.  My brother and I are going to pre-order it and figure out how to play it at the same time.  I am so incredibly excited!

October 18

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides DVD

The new movie sails to the shelves on DVD and Blu-ray!  Although the first three are my favorites, this movie was still a lot of fun.  It will be great to watch it again and have a better understanding of what's going on, and opportunities to memorize more good quotes!  Plus my mom will get to see it so my dad, brother and I can stop trying to avoid spoilers!  There are a few different versions coming out - the regular DVD edition will come out November 15.

November 4

(poster from Japanese version)

Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva DVD

Another Professor Layton localization - this time the movie!  Following Last Specter, the movie has been out for a while in Japan and Europe, and is finally coming to North America!  Although I've been spoiled on one cool part from looking at fan art, I'm as excited for this as Last Specter!

November 23

The Muppets

They're baaaack!  And in a new movie!  Although I've always preferred Sesame Street to The Muppets, but I've been enjoying a few clips lately (particularly the Swedish Chef), and the hilarious trailer promises an entertaining movie.  If only Yoda were in it...

December 6

The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers: A King's Ransom

A King's Random is the second books in the series following The 39 Clues books.  Each book is written by a different author (some write more than one), and this one is by Jude Watson, my favorite Star Wars author!  I'm definitely looking forward to it.  The books are set in the modern world, but they incorporate history and give it a different meaning, which is very cool.


A few other things coming out soon are:
September 16, Star Wars Blu-ray
October 11, Kung Fu Panda 2 DVD
October 18, The Clone Wars Season 3 DVD
November 1, Cars 2 DVD

So those are a few releases I'm excited about this fall!  What are you looking forward to?

Farewell Summer

I don't have much school this week as one subject we were planning still and a couple classes that I'm taking outside of my homeschool courses will start next week.  So I just did a quick introductory Geography lesson today.  To try and keep my mind on it and keep my hands busy, my dear friend Obi-Wan joined me.  I believe he did actually help.  Last year a few times during a boring subject I would imagine I was Padawan in a class at the Jedi Temple who kept getting distracted.  I don't remember it working that great.  Maybe I was role-playing this distracted Padawan a little too well...

And with the start of school comes the end of summer...  It was really nice.  I spent the first week and a half obsessing over the video game Professor Layton and the Unwound Future and the following weeks obsessing over Layton fan fiction, even writing a couple one-shots.  I think I set a record for the most time spent on the internet this summer...  But it's been fun and relaxing.  And now I say farewell to the long lazy days of summer and try to get my mind back in reality and do well in school.

Well...do well in school at least.  I don't think there's much of a chance of my Jedi/hobbit mind coming back to "reality" anytime soon.

But I kind of like it that way.