eye color vote

Let's have a vote. Which of the below looks most like the above? I probably should have put on some makeup to make it a fairer comparison. But which of these is most striking?

My original color:


Brilliant Blue:


Sapphire Blue:


Pacific Blue:


Old Contacts I Already Have:

Malcom

Instead of lyrics to open up this entry, I will put this embedded video, to act as a soundtrack as you read.



I met Malcom during a temp job in New Orleans. He worked across the hall from me. I thought he and his friend (Alfonze?) seemed to have a lot more fun than my dysfunctional office (that is a whole separate entry's worth of dysfunction), but I later found out theirs was just as problematic. When he would come into our strife-heavy office, it was always a highlight of the day. He eventually invited me to see a movie with some work people (Phone Booth, starring Colin Eyebrows. Can't think of his name). It was probably the first time I felt like I was fitting in at a workplace. I went to the movie with Lauren, and she and I were astounded to find Malcom wearing a lot (a LOT) of tie-dye. Didn't quite know what to make of that, to be honest.

Later I found out he has a massive collection of figurines. Like, action figures. And loved video games. I discovered he was kind of a geek. Even later, I discovered he is like the biggest geek to walk the earth (in a good way; I after all belong to the Austin Pangeeks, so that's my position on it). But he's really creative. He designs and sends these hilarious greeting cards. One was of Neo and the Prophet, and another was of GIR from Invader Zim riding a pig.

He and his (now) wife moved to San Francisco several years ago. I've kind of lost touch with them since then, except for MySpace, which he stopped updating. But now we're friends on Facebook again, so that's good. Maybe if I ever make it to SF (a possibility in January), I will get to see them again.

He doesn't seem to retain anonymity in his blog, so here is his Facebook, if you're interested in what he looks like. (Obvs, I couldn't do that for Jane, who doesn't even blog under her real name)

Bluestocking (Jane)

we had our mindset
all things know, all things know
you had to find it
all things go, all things go

I'm going to start my blog introductions, which I mentioned doing a few entries ago. I will go from the bottom up. Since Jane's blog doesn't update in my feed for some reason, she's forever at the bottom.

I don't remember the first time I met Jane, but we met related to Russian as undergrads. She lived near the Russian House, and was in a higher year than Jamie and I were in German. She was one of the most impressive people I'd ever met. I think one time I found out she played cello and I tripped and fell because I was so impressed and jealous. She had a very cute boyfriend. She was incredibly smart. I remember deciding the Echols program was effed up if she wasn't in it. And she's super cute on top of it.

She has since proved herself all the more impressive, navigating upper-echelon academia despite frequent migraines and cold, cold weather. She seems to read about a book a day, according to GoodReads. And she travels like crazy! Again: jealous. She owns her own place, in a big city, which is awesome, and I hope I get to it soon. Then we can talk about Joss Whedon and costume dramas, because oh, did I mention, she is completely able to have non-academic fun, too.

Her blog updates are often about her list of things she has to do, or what work she managed on her dissertation, or if not, what events transpired that kept her from working on it. And all manner of things in between to document her days. When she travels, she makes wonderfully detailed updates about every aspect of her experience. She keeps things personal because she has managed to remain more or less anonymous for the past (10??) years she has kept the blog. She does all the layout herself, and it's tasteful and classy. She will address you "Dear Reader" in the manner of Jane Austen. She is probably my most prolific blog buddy, and sometimes I have trouble keeping up! But it's always a delight to have something fun to count on.

• "Chicago" Sufjan Stevens
  

How to make an Illyria costume, from Angel

"I wish to do more violence."

OK, I've been looking for a post like this myself. Rather than have people show off the costumes they DID make, I'm going to try to chart my progress as I figure out the pattern and have brainstorms about how to make this costume (my first; well, OK, no, I made my Morticia Addams costume in 7th grade). I had two of my friends over last night, both of whom are costume designers, and they gave me some good advice. Today is the first entry. I will start with the things one should buy to make it my way. Keep in mind I haven't finished all the parts I've bought these things for, so I might be making adjustments as I go along, in which case, I advise you to read any and all entries I make on the topic by clicking the "Illyria" tag at the bottom.

Here it goes.

First off, here's a really nice detailed shot of the real costume a woman put up in a similar post about her costume. You can zoom in really close, and it's really helpful to get to know what you're in for.

Second off, here are some links to pictures of other people's costumes. People who have gone before me have done an amazing job. I just wish they had recorded the steps of their efforts.
Illyria Costume 1
Illyria Costume 2
Illyria Costume 3
Illyria Costume 4
Illyria Costume 5

Ingredient list

Body

• Long-Sleeved Black Unitard. You could conceivably make this with a pattern, but I couldn't find a good one. In some ways, that would be the best option, if you're good enough--then it will be easier to sew the armor pieces tight on to the fabric before you assemble the unitard completely. I found one in cotton with a good collar (#6662 from BodyMotion, at left), which I had to special order from Movin' Easy here in Austin. Another option would be a leotard over jazz pants or leggins, but the best leotards I could find were these at NY Dancewear (thanks for the tip, mom!); however, I didn't fancy sewing onto non-cotton , and the turtleneck collars weren't quite right.
  This was the part of the project when I realized it was going to be expensive. But as I haven't sewed since I was 12, making one myself seemed too risky. UPDATED 10/21: I saw the perfect leotard when I went to pick up the unitard. The collar was a nice boatneck, but they didn't have it in black. This might be close, BodyWrappers BW0209.
  
  
  
• Red Vinyl. I got lucky and found some on a bargain table for $6/yard, but I think it's just more like $10/yard at most normally, so that's not really too bad. I may end up going back to get a better color because I think what I'm working with is a little too brown; I'll see if spray painting will work or not. If you go in to the detail of the Illyria picture above, you can see the texture of the fabric is almost a snakeskin pattern, so something like this (seen at left) might be ideal, though I haven't seen this fabric person.
  Not having finalized the pattern, I'm not 100% sure how much I will need, pretending I don't make any mistakes. I got 2 yards, and this seem to be sufficient, and I suspect if I start over, I'd use much less. But I haven't tried to do the back of the costume yet, which will take a lot of yardage. UPDATE 10/21: I found this vinyl at a local upholstery shop. I also found some faux suede for the boots. They were both about $11 per yard.
  
  
• Burlap. OK, this is tentative. My costume designer friend suggested this for the shoulder/upper arm (seen at left). I could spray paint it and sew those seams into it. Some of the burlap I've seen almost looks like canvas, but it's apparently very easy to work with.

(<-burlap)
UPDATE 10/21: See this entry on how I decided to do the "shimmery stuff."

• Stretchy Elasticy Trim Thing. I don't know what the heck this, on Illyria or in real life. I found it at the fabric store in the bulk trim section. It's like an burgundy elastic thing, and I got half a yard. It goes down the center of her chest, from supersternum to the pelvic cutout. Can it be called a codpiece if it's on a girl? Anyway, I may spray paint it so it's that mottled purple, if I have time.
  

• Thread. Obviously. And have it match the vinyl exactly. You don't see any of the stitches on the original, although you can tell they're there. UPDATE 10/21: If you have a serger, go for black thread and instead of hemming the seams, which is a pain because many of them are curved, you might just serge the edging with a rolled hem stitch. My mom's serger is unfortunately in New Orleans, whereas I am in Texas.
  
• "Rivets." I was undecided what to do about these things. At first, from memory, I thought they were more metallic, and I got some snaps and a snap applier, thinking the inside-out snaps would look like kickass, relatively simple rivets. Probably true, but when I went back and looked at the costume, it was more like rubies almost. To left, I have circled the thingies I'm talking about. Very clearly, they are not metallic rivets. Never rely on your memory when you're at the fabric store. Something like these might work. I have to go back to the hobby store and see what's available.
  

• Nurse Shoes. I've enlisted my shoe-loving mom on this one. What is up with Illyria's shoes? I will try to upload one of the screenshots (update 10/21, link to pic, link to screenshot entry) to illustrate the enigma of her footwear, but I am not one to question. They're boxy and huge. I read a woman call them "nurse shoes," which gave me the idea to use big clogs to simulate the look. I will need some kind of "boot-cover" (like what they have for little kids' costumes) type thing to make them look less like clogs and more like boots, I feel like if I had jazz pants at this point, they might do a good job of making the shoes flow more into the rest of the costume. Certain men's Doc Martens might also make a good option. At left is the first Google image search you get for "black nurse shoes." Thanks for the idea, random forum lady, and Mom!

Gloves

I get the feeling these are going to be tricky. I haven't seen a good version of them online anywhere yet. Here are a few tries, to varying degrees of success.














The items I have bought/will buy/already have are:
UPDATE 10/21: See the gloves updates. Here is the vote which decided I would do the gloves differently than below, close to the second option above. I will still use the opera gloves, though.

• Fingerless Black Opera Gloves: You can get these on ebay for about $10. Mine haven't come yet, but hopefully they will be stretch enough to a) truly be one size fits all (I kind of have massive forearms for a girl), and b) be able to fit the unitard sleeve underneath. If not, I'm going to have to fold the sleeve carefully above the elbow. You can see the shape of the glove matches the wedge shape over the hand, so I'm hoping that will make it easier to pattern the eventual rope design.

• Regular Black Gloves. I'm actually not 100% sure how to do this...I'm going to go shopping this weekend for them. Leather might work well, and luckily I need a pair of gloves anyway, so it wouldn't be silly to spend $20/30 on them. I don't think knit would work--it would be too thick. I mean, look how elegant Amy Acker's hands are (at left)! My mom had a good suggestion that glove liners might be thin enough to pull it off, so I'm going to check some sporting goods stores for that, and maybe Target or something.
  

• Silver Rope/Twisted Cord (no pic available) My friend suggested I lightly spray paint this to give it that gold-brown patina Illyria's seem to have. I tried soaking it in tea for a few hours to no effect. Not to mention it would take forever to dry.
• Black Rope/Twisted Cord with Ribbon. By wrapping it around my forearms in the store (no staring was involved, really), I determined I needed about 10 yard of each color cord. For the black color, I don't know exactly how to explain what I got, but it looks like of like the stuff at left. I'm planning on being able to wrap the cords around my forearm (or a friend's) and hot glue a silver rope to the ribbon of the black one, and then also the next row of the black one onto the previous black one's ribbon, if that makes sense. I'll see if it works once I get started. But I feel like this will give the 3D depth I need to simulate the real gloves pretty well. These items were a bit pricey in total, since they were just under $2/yard. So I really hope they work out well!
  

Hair and Makeup

This woman has some good and specific ideas for what products to use for makeup. I am probably going a less classy or specific direction with my ideas.

• Hair Extensions. Blue, obviously. I ordered a bunch of real-hair clip-in from ebay. They haven't come yet, but I think the more the better. They make Amy Acker's hair various colors blue, and sometimes it's almost all blue, and sometimes just the front is. I guess I'm going for a vibrant blue in just the front half. UPDATE 10/21: I have also gotten some spray on hair color, which is obviously what they use in the show. Be careful if you're blonde--the blonde will pick up the spray color more permanently than you might like. Same goes for blue grease paint.
  
• White Face Powder. Amy Acker is very fair. Illyria has a deathly pallor. My skin tone is at least at the same starting point. I think either the whitest pressed powder at the drugstore would work, or maybe I'll have to get some real costume store white powder. I will apply with a kabuki brush to make sure it's thick. UPDATE 10/21: I ended up with some "alabaster" face powder from the costume store. I will apply with a wet sponge. It looks pretty pale but not ghostly.
  
• Blue Grease Paint. I have this left over from some old costume. I can put it in my hair a little bit, too, for that smooth transition look (left; hmmm...I'll have to do some veiny things it looks like). I have tried it, and it looks pretty great, I think! When I continue the updates, I will of course include pictures of these things.
  

• Blue Powder. I think this will be good to have to outline some features. Use it as eyeshadow, and lightly as blush. It looks like they might even outline her eyebrows a little bit in blue. I might use this for the lips as well. UPDATE 10/21: My friend gave me perfect ice-blue lipstick, and I bought some vibrant blue eyeshadow at the grocery store for $3 that really does the trick. I might even use it for the hairline and neck, applying with a cosmetic sponge. It doesn't look as shiny as the greasepaint.
  
• Color Contacts. If I weren't nearly legally blind (long story), I would be able to get the Icefire Wild Eyes contacts. Part of me was relieved I couldn't because they would have cost $99 ON SALE! (~$115 regularly). You can probably get these from your ophthalmologist if your eyes aren't as bad as mine (they go up to a 6.0 prescription, I think). So I'm either going to wear an enhancer (my eyes are green), or I'm going to try opaques again (I tried these a few years ago, and they just darken my eyes too much to be all that dramatic). I will be posting the results soon (I have some samples to try out), and may solicit help in deciding which option to go with. UPDATE 10/21: Here were the contacts I tried out. I also found a place that will custom make your contacts for like $350. But I don't think they would do anything in my prescription. I've never been tempted to get Lasik. But now I am.
  

Illyria, last episode of Angel (UPDATE: see my 25 minute video for more great Illyria scenes; ask me for the link by leaving a comment with your contact information)

costume

a little crappy, but not bad for a first try. I might have enough fabric to do these over with once I get the hang of vinyl seams.

long update

I felt like I was bursting with stories today, but now that I'm stuck waiting for AAA to come jump start my car, I am sitting here wondering what I was going to say.

First off, the costume is coming along pretty well, but it's very expensive!

Secondly, I went to the Highball last night. It is the new bowling alley/dance bar that the Alamo Drafthouse folks opened up on South Lamar. They used the old laneboards from New Orleans's Rock n Bowl, so it looks homey and old-fashioned, but also very swank. I got a "Highball Old Fashioned," which at first tasted like cough syrup (it was cherry-infused bourbon) but then tasted like cognac, so I enjoyed it by the end.

There were 4 of us. One got drunk and was very funny. We convinced him to:
1) incubate a growing mermaid in his mouth by telling him she would grant him wishes
2) lick the bar table.

He really went overboard on item 2. HIJINKS!

A load of exciting stuff has happened this week, but not all of it can I talk about. I can't even check my phone to remember what all I've been up to, since I clearly can't rely on my memory. I can't check my phone because that particular battery in my life is ALSO dead (along with the car's). All I really wanted to do is go home and work on my costume, but I'm stuck at the office with no one to talk to, waiting for the tow truck. Lame!

I have moved all my entries over to another blog, but I'm undecided as to whether to switch over to it just yet or not. I wouldn't have much control over the look of the blog, not that I do a whole lot with this blog's style.

Quote:
"MF stands for motherfucker!" My Jane-Austen-loving coworker, explaining unneccesarily her earlier use of a euphemism.

I got my first exam back. Considering how little time I'm devoting to the class, and considering it involves multivariable calculus, I'm doing pretty well. I still might take it pass/fail. I don't need the pressure of knowing an A- will pull down my GPA right in the final stretch here!

OK, this is kinda cool. I've been making postcards for friends lately, and here is one that came out pretty well for as little time as I spent on it. Obviously, it is of Illyria, my costume. It helped that I know the pattern pieces by heart now, even if I had to cut them out at 1/10,000 scale.

illyria, again, but better

Oh distance has no way
of making love
understandable

Wilco was awesome! Wow. Great concert. They even played my theme song of late.

Had a really productive day. I love days like that. Boxing, brownies, underarms waxed, oil changed, inspection done, water donated, crafts returned, etc. etc. 15 steps, then the Wilco concert.

I think I want to do a little introduction to each of the blogs I list on the sidebar. Or rather, to the people that do them, and how I know them. And it might be things I haven't told them before. Or something.

Anyway, remind me of that if I haven't done it in a few days. I have a packed few days coming up. Well, few weeks, really. And I'm working on a Halloween costume that will be aMAZing. So I hope it comes out OK because I've built it up more than a bit.

Here's what I'm up to:
Friday: work, boxing, friend's hypnosis show and/or yoga, radio show
Saturday: lunch with C M &M, karaoke birthday party (oh, and buying present for them sometime)
Sunday: Accordion festival (all day, San Antonio), apply to graduate in December
Monday: work, walk with MJ, Music Monday at the Alamo Ritz (indie videos), problem set due
Tuesday: class, doctor's appointment, boxing
Wednesday: work, dinner with E, problem set due
Thursday: class, doctor's appointment (I'll get ice blue contacts hopefully!), boxing, C and M coffee at my place
Friday: work, spa appointment (it's spa week!), radio show

And things always come up. It actually seems quite doable written out like this. But when will I model the river basin systems?? That question remains.

• "Radio Cure" Wilco
  

somnophagia

Could you make me forget about?

I updated my S C A T T E R B R A I N website for those of you needing new music. If you didn't get the password, just email me or something.

I'm thinking of having a show about forgetting and remembering. Any suggestions for songs I could play on such a show?

I'm so exhausted today from subbing a 5am show. I need to sleep because I'm seeing Wilco tomorrow night.

I talk a lot about music.

• "Forget About" Sibylle Baier
  

boom shalaka

I’m getting off track
And I can’t control a thing

I just read some online evaluations of the first course I TA'd, and I got really nice feedback mixed in with the incredibly negative evaluations of the course overall. Of course I already got my anonymous evaluations, but it was nice to hear again anyway.

Speaking of beaming, a new music friend gave me a shout out on her new radio show. Which made me feel FAMOUS! I will endeavor to give dedications to people who might be listening. I haven't ever met this girl, incidentally. We just like a lot of the same music.

Saturday was a disaster, but I don't feel bad about it. As my mom pointed out, the only thing I did wrong in the whole evening was wear 4 inch heels.

Ladybird says hi. Or, she would, if she were a human, and awake. She's snoozing here right next to me. I love her so much.

• Boom Anjulie
  

I got a returned email that said "failure notice." I deleted it. That's just negative.