Memorial Day Weekend

 

Happy Memorial Day little bots. This is going to be another brief monday blog, I have 2 days to punch out a sound mix for Team Awesome and this head cold isn’t helping.

All last week I was busy fixing the Dialog edit for Team Awesome, there were still some issues and overly processed lines that either needed to be fixed or replaced. Alas this means the due date has been pushed backed, I really wished that the issues were minute so I could be finished with at the end of May and not the begging of June.

I did get to see my parents for one day. We went shopping in downtown and they brought me all somethings from home. It was nice to have a day where you forget about work and get to relax.

As for this weekend, I saw the new X-Men: Days of Future Past. It was alright, I wished we saw more sentinels and the future world. After the film my lovely boyfriend told me that he was sick with the flu, which means I have to sleep on the couch for the next two nights in hopes that I do not catch what ever he has. But by the looks of things it appears that I have caught whatever bug he had. Tonight I am sleeping on the bed, I need a good night sleep and that couch hasn’t been comfortable in over 3 years.

Go out and enjoy today little bots. Fire up the grill, relax, and thank a veteran today.

See you on the other side

Supper Quick Post

Happy Monday little bots.  Last week was full of work, mostly cleaning up bad audio for a friends project.  But I did bake a marble cake from scratch for my man's birthday.  It was moist and delicious, he loved it.  I also cooked up rack of lamb on his birthday and gave him a pedicure.  If you want a man really like you and he runs around his job all day, a relaxing foot bath/massage the legs and feet will have him in a very pleasant mood.  Just don't paint the nails, they don't like that part.
   Good news is Team awesome wants me to finish up the audio and do the final mix for the film.  Supper excited to see this all they way threw and that they like my work thus far.  The bad news is I have to tell my friend that I will have to put their project on the back burner for a couple of weeks until this is done.  I know he will understand since this project isn't due until the end of June. 
   Other than work I've been feeling off.  I don't know if it is stress catching up to me of something else but I'm hoping to be out of this funk sooner rather than later.  Enjoy your week little bots and I will catch you on Friday.

See you on the other side

Bitch'n Friday: Godzilla Moive Review

I had the up most pleasure to see the new Godzilla film last night at the I max theater in downtown Seattle.  I will try to keep this as spoiler free as much as possible.

   When I was a child I would wake up early on the weekends and watch the old classic (poorly dubbed) Japaneses Godzilla films.  I loved how they would tease you with the monsters and then towards the end, BAM, the big battle pays off.  That's why I always like old monster films, gives you brief glimpse of the monster, shaking of the bushes, and when you finally see the creature it is a reward within it's self.   With this new rendition of Godzilla it does just that and stays so true to the original source material.
  

Love me bitches!

         Yes you do not see the monsters for a good portion of the film and when you do it's always supper up close, from a distance with fog or dirt derby, or on the news helicopter.  I didn't mind these perspectives since it is a take on different view point in which the humans (in the film) could see the monsters.  It add a sense of mystery and awe as these giants battle it out and humans are reminded how truly weak we are compared to nature.  But when the final battle comes it is a huge pay off with wide shots of the monsters battling it out.  I like to think that it is some random solider view it from a roof top.
         Another thing that sent me to the moon was the sound mix.  I know you must be rolling your eyes and mumbling to yourself, "well no shit you like the sound since you are a sound editor." Well I feel anyone with a decent pair of ears will appreciate how well they incorporated the sound design and music to add tension and fear giving you the perfect roller coaster ride for your ears.  The heavy Taiko drums leads the viewers into impending destruction long before the monsters even reveal a finger nail.  The build up from the drumming along with impending beeps has the audience on the edge of their seats, dying to know what is going to emerge from the foggy depths.  Even  better is when they decided to give the movie a quiet atmosphere, building up tension with each passing second to only jolt them back with a loud boom from the monster.  The most pleasing sound came for the king of monsters himself, Godzilla with his iconic roar.  Granted it leaned on the bass side of the vocal range, but by doing so the audience and actual feel the rumble of the beast's  powerful roar.
        Now I have to briefly discuss the appearance of Godzilla.  Finally America has got it right with his design!  He is currently the largest Godzilla to date but his looks closely resemble the original 1954 Godzilla.   Below is a pic of all the Godzilla's (including that god awful 1998 versions) So you can see how well the designers stuck with the original design while adding a bit of flair.

http://s1351.photobucket.com/user/TrueAmericanGodzilla/media/1954--2014GodzillaFamilyTree_zps1bff4fe7.jpg.html

 

 

 

 

         I also love how they gave him more facial expressions, telling the audience their is more to this monster than fighting and destruction.  Godzilla has some presence of intellect of what is going on around him and problem solving abilities.  Also when they do the first pan up shot of Godzilla and he roars, the whole audience flipped out.  It was not only because of his roar but is facial expression right before, it was almost invoking a bitch please look.   Also his face is just too cute!

     

        If you are on the fence, GO SEE IT!  While some people argued that there isn't any character development in this film, I just want to point out this film is following several people as they witness a never before scene event in human history.  It is a monster film giving a nod to it's classic predecessor and not a story about a guy who has to over come a monster to discover who he truly is.  What do you think of the film are you going to see it? Let me know in the comment section below.

See you on the other side

Dye Jobs And Some New Work

Top of the Monday to you little bots!  This past week wasn't that entertaining but I shall tell you it anyways!

     As some of you may know last week was my birthday, I turned 28 and I feel like an old fat woman.  While I tried to keep myself busy on Monday and Tuesday with job hunting I found my mind wandering to the great outdoors.  I couldn't believe how beautiful the weather was and how happy Team Awesome is with my revisions for the film.  I'm hoping that it is warped up and the film can be considered done!   we are just waiting on the dialog's editor to finish his revisions then fingers crossed that the film will be locked down and sent off to festivals. 

     Wednesday was my birthday and turned out to be the nicest day of the week.  It was nearly 70 degrees in downtown and thought I would go out and enjoy it.  I took the day off from job hunting and  put on my new dress from Victoria's Secret  for a walk around town.  The dress is not lingerie it was an actual dress.  After a half hour of walking around I found myself at Lake Union watching the sea planes fly off and come back in.  It was very peaceful watching the planes and people walk by.  Eventual i dragged myself back home and was going to make myself dinner until my boyfriend call and said he was going to make me something.  That something turned out to be mac and cheese with spicy sausage and broccoli, pretty much my favorite foods as a kid.  I went to be early that night so I could be prepped for my meeting tomorrow with an editor to see what I could do audio wise for a film that has been in limbo for almost two years.
  
     The editor is a friend of mine whom I've worked with in the past and this project is more of a favor than great pay.  Fingers crossed that it will help land me more real paying gigs.  I seriously need to start landing  more well paying gigs.  I have an expensive hobby to keep up with... cosplay.

     If you didn't read my blog Friday, I basically gave you little bots the run down of dyeing polyester fabric.  I started documenting and dyeing the fabric on Monday.  By Tuesday afternoon the fabric was fully dried and I could officially say that I didn't fuck up on dyeing it.  The color turned out better than I had hoped and was close to Catbug's true color as I was going to get out of that dye job.  Click here to check out how I dyed a white polyester dress: Bitch'n Friday: Cosplay Project: Dyeing Polyester 

     This week I am planing out my man's birthday.  It is so nice to only be a week apart, makes it easier not to forget it.  I will also be working on my friend's labor of love film and hope to have at least the dialogue edit done by Thursday to have him look at it.   Catbug costume is coming along nicely, I just need to finish up on a pair of "oven mittens" then get started on the wings rig.  Catch you all on Friday for something or other.

See you on the other side

Bitch'n Friday: Cosplay Project: Dyeing Polyester

    Happy Friday little bots!  I thought I would shake things up this week with a little project update/how-to of my up coming cosplay for Catbug.  Everything thus far is coming along nicely for this costume and I'm hoping to be done with it by mid June so it will be ready for RTX.  So here is how I went from a white polyester satin dress to a light blue polyester satin dress.

    I was looking online for a cheep bubble dress for Catbug since my sewing skills are still noob stage and I don’t own a sewing machine.  I found a supper cute bubble dress for under $30 on amazon but it is ivory.  Just about every web site that I went to strongly discourages trying to dye polyester fabrics due to the synthetic fibers not being able to dye well and un-evenly.
    I threw caution to the wind and bought the dress:

http://www.amazon.com/Strapless-Bubble-Cocktail-Holiday-Bridesmaid/dp/B00144I0HQ/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1399657962&sr=8-7&keywords=bubble+dress

As you can see it is very shiny and white (I forgot to take a picture of this dress in real life so this is a photo off of amazon where I bought it).  After reviewing what dyes would work best on polyester, I chose to you Idye poly from Jacquard in turquoise.  I wanted a lighter blue than what regular blue would give me and also be closer to catbug's true color.
The Steps to dyeing your fabric:

First you want to wash your fabric either by hand or in the washing machine.  I did it by hand with a little bit of dawn dish soap to get some of the residue and dirt on the dress.  This step help to ensure that your fabric will dye evenly.  DO NOT DRY YOUR FABRIC! Put it off to the side still wet, this will help absorb the dye easier and you don’t have to stand in front of the stove longer than need be.

 Next you want to prep your area so you don’t accidentally dye your counter tops or sink.  I've heard that it was a bitch to remove this dye from conter top and stainless steel sinks.

Next is to get a big pot large enough to fit your fabric, fill it with water, and bring it to a boil.  Once it starts boiling add your dye pouch and color intensifier. 
 

Stir until pouch is dissolved.

I did a test strip with two strings that came with the dress one I left in for 10 minutes the other for 30. 

 

These were the results:

As you can see the longer you leave it in the more intense the color will be.

I sucked up my courage and plunged my garment into the boiling dye.  I left my dress hanging instead of it still being submerged in water as a result I ended up fighting it for over 15 minutes to be completely submerged in water. 

Now the real fun begins, you have to stand over the boiling pot for 30 minutes to an hour constantly stirring it to ensure that every inch is evenly dyed.  You do not want tot end up with a blotch dress.  Have a show playing in the background, I was watching Markiplier play some horror game.  I enjoyed the commentary he had.

After an hour my dress looked like this:

So now it was time to rinse the dress and pray that it turned out.

When rinsing you want to do warm water with a little bit of  mild detergent to remove excess dye so it wont rub off on you or other objects.

The most intense part is drying.  You need to hang dry it and hope that it did not blotch up any where.  It is hard to tell if it did while it is wet.  Also the color looks darker than what it will be once dried.

After waiting all night my dress turned out better than what I could have hoped.

It is very wrinkly, but nothing like a little ironing wont help. 

Over all I'm pleased with how the whole dyeing process went.  If I every had to dye polyester again I would, but with a bigger pot. 

Hope this help you if you decide to try to dye synthetic fabric.  Keep in mind that the color might differ from what the color packaging might say.  Defiantly do a test strip to see what color range you will get.

Still have more to do on this dress, like adding beading to the bodice to add a little flair.  Right now it look dull and boring to me at least.    If you have questions feel free to leave them in the comments below.  Enjoy your weekend little bots, see you Monday for a weekly wrap-up.

See you on the other side

Early Birthday And A Sad Weekend

      Hi there little bots. Well this past week I thought I would sneak off to my parents house for some early birthday festivities. I received some cool gifts and not so good news but let us focus on the good stuff first.

     The good part of leaving town was that I missed all the May Day protesters.  My god those people (when I mean those people I am targeting those in the "anarchist" group)  need to be arrested on the spot.  for the past 3 years now they had their "protest rally" where it really is an excuse to cause property damage for businesses and personal property.  This year the cops did a decent job of wrangling them and keeping the damage to a minimum.  Even so, the vast majority of people who live downtown and Cap Hill are so sick of having to coordinate our lives around these punk kids (which a majority are not from Seattle but are bused in from Portland and Vancouver BC) who don't have a message and just want to cause trouble.      I say the city needs to put into effect that you need a permit to march if you are going to disrupt traffic.   We are sick and tired of these idiots marching without a cause, disrupting traffic, damaging property, and being overly violent towards people on the streets and police.  Get a job and move out of your parents basement you dumb ass children.  

 

      I left home Tuesday missing some networking events but I'm kinda frazzled out of networking and being social for the time being. A nice surprise while I was away was the gorgeous summer time weather that happened for three days. Highly unusual for Washington to be in the 80's in the spring time, but we will take it! The only down side to this weather is the yard work that is compact into two days so you can be ahead of the curve. Not fun to mow the lawn when the grass is so tall it stops the motor. Supper frustrating!

      My mom and I went out shopping and enjoyed my my birthday week. The presents I revived were awesome, some fantastic jewelry, cloths, and books, but the best had to be the facial. I've had facials in the past I highly recommend everyone to go get one at least once or twice a year to clean out the pores. 

     

      Sadly towards the end of my visit my mom's last cat was taking a turn for the worst. She was 18 years old and has been in poor health for the past year. My mom brought her in from the outdoors 6 months ago so she could be more comfortable during the winter months and at that time weighed 5 pounds. Mom tried everything to give her more weight but in the last few days before my mom had to make the call she completely stopped eating and was drinking minimally. We took her in to see if there was anything wrong to cause her to stop eating, her tests came back with a bladder infection and kidney failure. That is when we found out she only weighed 3 pounds. We took her back home and weighed to pros and cons of doing a treatment for the track infection, but came to the conclusion that in her current weight and having 0 body fat, she was barely on reserves as is and to try to fight off the infection might kill her any way. So we decided to do the humane thing and put her down peacefully.

That was the last of my mom's cats and one of the few childhood pets that I have left. We still have the horses but they are reaching their old age as well.

      Goodbye sweet Molly the barn cat. You were the best mouser we could ever ask for.

      Wiping away the tears now, so how are you? This week I received my dress for catbug, I am going to attempt to dye polyester and hope it turns out. I think I will be doing a photo log of my process and have it up for you bots on Friday. Finders cross that it dyes and it isn’t blotchy. See you Friday for my attempts at dyeing fabric!

See you on the other side