chronoturtle

[chronoturtle]

Marvel Movie Marathon

This post does not discuss Infinity War at all.

Wait... you did what?

I saw Avengers: Infinity War by sitting in Alamo Drafthouse in San Francisco and watching 11 MCU movies in a row, leading up to the new release. We didn’t get to see every single prior MCU movie because that would be 18 movies and almost certainly terrible for one’s health.

Why would you do that to yourself?

When Avengers: Age of Ultron was released in theaters, Marvel ran a bunch of official marathon events in theaters nationwide. Despite being funemployed and thus having infinite time off from work, I decided not to buy tickets because I didn’t want to travel to another city and I couldn’t find any events close to home. I regretted missing out on this event for the next three years and consumed a few different recaps (some podcasts, an AV Club article) about the marathon to try to live vicariously through other people.

My biggest point of pride is rallying three (!) friends to join me on this foolish quest. My second biggest point of pride is staying awake, more or less, with zero caffeine.

How did you stay awake without caffeine? Why would you stay awake without caffeine?

I was inspired by a recent round trip flight to Singapore during which I couldn’t fall completely asleep. I kept getting bursts of energy from meal service and from the adrenaline of scary turbulence. I dozed off for a couple of short minutes here and there, but I sat awake through a 16.5 hour / 14.5 hour flight and then proceeded to stay awake for the rest of the day at each destination.

I’ve also never really fallen asleep in public before. I never dozed off during classes as a student and I stayed awake for almost the entire night at the few hackathons I’ve attended. I also don’t fall asleep in theaters during normal movies, despite occasionally dozing off on the couch while at home. I figured I was pretty well prepared for this endurance event, and I was excited for the challenge.

The complication about caffeine is that I’m very sensitive to it. I suspect it’s partly genetic (it seems to run in my family) and partly environmental (I avoid coffee, tea, and colas). In addition to getting wired and jittery at small amounts of caffeine, I’ll also get stomach pain and a ton of anxiety. I don’t like how it warps my mood, and especially how it blunts my ability to empathize. That’s bad for being polite to people in real life and bad for enjoying the emotional highs and lows of a show.

But you napped during breaks, right?

They didn’t give us any breaks! The movies were almost completely continuous from Wednesday at 5:10 pm until Thursday at 10:20 am. We had a 30 minute break between Civil War and Homecoming, and another 45 minute break between Black Panther and Infinity War. That’s it.

I drank a giant cup of cold water for every movie, both because I was eating salty food and because that’s my usual tactic for staying awake. The problem is that most (but not all) MCU movies have two bonus scenes, one mid-credits and one post-credits, and I wanted to try to watch them all. I think I ended up missing a few, but I discovered that the gap between the two scenes is actually long enough for a quick trip, as long as there’s no line.

If I could change one thing about the marathon logistics, I’d schedule more breaks. The lack of free time is why I didn’t get to talk to any other strangers in the theater.

My one big asterisk on the claim that “I didn’t sleep at all!” is that I dozed off for 3-4 minutes at a time in a very light sleep. It always happened during Act 3 fight scenes rather than conversations because apparently I love hearing people say words but a lot of the punching and blasting starts to look the same. I only really had this problem during the overnight movies. Even though I never stepped out of the theater to see natural light, internal clocks are very powerful things.

Did you eat popcorn for 24 hours?

I love popcorn, but oh man, no way. The reason I’m glad that we did this at Alamo is that they have a very good menu for a movie theater with fresh ingredients and several vegan options. I don’t normally see movies at Alamo because I find the in-theater service to be too distracting, but since this was a serious endurance event and since I’d seen 11 of the 12 movies before, I figured it was a worthy tradeoff. During my marathon, I ate a veggie burger, avocado toast, fish and chips, and Buffalo cauliflower, in addition to the usual oversized bowl of truffle popcorn that I could not finish no matter how hard I tried.

There was no food service overnight, but the theater staff left us a table with tons of water, as well as complimentary fig bars, Snickers bars, and energy drinks. I restricted myself to just the fig bars because I knew I would be doomed if I had a sugar crash during Ultron or Civil War.

What did you think of the movies themselves?

I loved seeing them all together like this. In recent years, I’ve developed the habit of seeing each new release two or three times, but I usually don’t just sit down and watch movies at home. I was delighted to find that most of them hold up quite well! There are plot holes and conveniences, sure; more importantly, there are some elements I find deeply objectionable now in ways I didn’t understand before, like Tony Stark’s transphobic joke in Iron Man. But so far, nothing’s been disastrous on the level of, say, watching Sixteen Candles as an adult for the first time and wanting to scream what the hell is this racist, ableist dreck?! at everyone who had ever recommended it to me.

Most of my opinions haven’t changed over time. The only surprise is that The Incredible Hulk is growing on me a bit -- it’s an uneven movie, but the good parts are pretty good, and are tonally distinct from the rest of the MCU. I’m still bored with Asgard and everything that happens there (Shakespeare was the course that deterred me from a minor in English Literature) and I still love the character humor, like Coulson being awkward because he’s such a big fan of Captain America. I think Guardians laughs at its own jokes too much and Age of Ultron is a disorganized mess with characterization issues. I’m deeply ambivalent about Civil War and have changed my mind all four times I’ve seen it, and maybe I’ll just never settle on an opinion for that one. Homecoming is the most precious thing and endlessly funny and I haven’t felt so pandered to since Cady Heron was a mathlete in Mean Girls. Killmonger’s scene is still the only thing in the whole MCU that will make me cry.

Would you do this again?

Yes, absolutely, without hesitation. Sign me up for the next marathon at the end of Phase 4.

[chronoturtle]

Anime makeup routine

I cosplay a lot of characters who shouldn’t look like they’re wearing makeup, including anime characters and nonhuman animals. I liked Night Eyes’s tutorial on basic cosplay makeup and decided I should give it a try.

Here are some notes on a very rough attempt:

Something that looks absolutely clownish in the mirror can look like passable makeup in a photo. I still hate how defined eyebrows look on me though.

I skipped over a number of steps, including false lashes, mascara, and tightlining, and I’m content with how it looks without those things. I’m also wearing my normal contacts because I don’t wear circle lenses.

I need to work way more slowly with the ink liner. My wings don’t usually look quite this bad.

Products used:

Eyes

Anastasia Beverly Hills contour kit - medium to tan

bareMinerals brush - tapered eyeshadow

bareMinerals brush - angled definer

Shiro Cosmetics - Whiteout (Super Effective collection)

bareMinerals brush - max coverage concealer

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil - Milk

bareMinerals liner - absolute black

Kat Von D ink liner - Trooper

Foundation

bareMinerals Prime Time - original

Sephora 10hr wear perfect foundation - walnut

Target sponge (similar shape to Beauty Blender)

bareMinerals - Mineral Veil

bareMinerals brush - flawless face

Contour

bareMinerals brush - soft focus eyeshadow

bareMinerals brush - precision face

Cheeks

Nudestix lip + cheek pencil - Belle

Lips

Nudestix lip + cheek pencil - Belle Nudestix concealer pencil - Medium 5

Brows

Sephora brow pencil - Dark Charcoal

[chronoturtle]

Hamilton sing-along

Hosting a sing-along at home is a great way to celebrate your love of Hamilton. Whether you’ve already seen it, you can’t possibly get tickets, or you have tickets but they’re just painfully far in the future, singing it with friends is incredibly energizing.

Start your party planning with some high-level guiding questions:

How serious do you want to get? Are you going to assign roles to specific people, or should everyone sing whichever lines they feel like singing?

Are you going to sing through the whole thing? Not everyone will know the entire show in detail, especially if they’re holding off until they see it live.

Do you have many friends who are seriously into Hamilton, enough that they’ll attend such a focused event? If not, you’ll need to team up with someone with a different social circle.

Once you’ve settled on your style of party, figure out the details or delegate them to a friend or to your future self:

Do you have enough seating for everyone? If not, can you get temporary seating, e.g., folding chairs? Or can you host at a friend’s place with a larger living room?

What’s your technical setup? Do you have a TV or projector that takes input from a computer? How will you amplify audio and display lyrics?

When do you want to host people? If you schedule it close to a mealtime, you’ll need to decide whether you’re serving food, placing a delivery order for the group, or leaving it to everyone to figure something out for themselves. Remember that singing can get loud and be mindful of your neighbors.

More on food: there are lots and lots of options for delivery. Pick your favorite app / website. Then pick a cuisine that accommodates as many dietary restrictions as possible and clearly communicate the menu and prices so that people can decide whether to opt in.

Once you’ve gotten answers to those questions, you’re ready to spread the word. Send out your invitation at least two weeks in advance, and remind people a few days beforehand. This accommodates people who are advance planners and people who are more spontaneous. Be sure to get RSVPs and remind your guests to invite more guests if attendance looks low, since singing with two other people usually isn’t as lively as singing along with a whole room.

Hamilton-specific things I learned by doing this:

Many tracks lead directly into the next song. To keep the momentum going, play directly from the album so that transitions are smooth. Amazon Music has an “X-Ray Lyrics” feature that syncs up lyrics with audio playback.

Hamilton is a long show. People need breaks, and also just like to socialize with each other. Plan on stopping a few different times, not only at intermission. Don’t be surprised if people don’t have the energy or the lyrical familiarity to sing all the way through Act 2.

Try to have at least six people present so that the room feels lively and full when everyone is singing. If you can’t seat that many people, you might want to look for a bigger venue.

Bold, loud tracks get a better response from groups of people. Some tracks have complicated conversations with non-obvious rhythms. It’s necessary for storytelling but your group energy might lag.

[chronoturtle]

Super Heroes Half Marathon

Last weekend, my roommate and I flew to Anaheim to run a half marathon for the first time. We registered for the (Avengers-themed) Super Heroes Half Marathon, part of runDisney’s series of annual events. I was unprepared for the event and extremely reluctant to go through with it, but with a lot of hard work, we both made it to the finish line. I had a good weekend overall and would recommend it, although with some reservations.

Since the half marathon was early on Sunday morning, we decided to pick up our race materials on Friday night, spend Saturday at Disneyland and California Adventure, and recover at our hotel on Sunday after the race. We bought one-day park hopper tickets and spent the entirety of Saturday there. This allowed us to see a lot of things, since we got our first FastPass shortly after the park opened and we stayed until nighttime for both the fireworks show and World of Color. However, it took its toll, since we walked more than 24700 steps and then only slept for 2.5 hours before the race. Thank goodness for adrenaline and youthfulness, I guess.

How I ran the race, which is not necessarily how you should run races:

Lined up punctually at 5:25 am in corral J, the very last wave of runners.

Finally crossed the start line at 6:30 am. Ran a bit too fast through the theme parks for the first 5k, energized by the background music and by everybody’s costumes.

Ate sugar cubes / shots every 45 minutes and drank water and/or Powerade at every single available stop.

Didn’t use a single portable bathroom or medical table. Kinda wish I’d considered the latter because my toes were having some minor friction problems from the previous day’s aftermath. They seemed less squished while running than walking though, so I pushed through.

Took generous walking breaks to catch my breath or check my phone for messages. Didn’t bother trying to time any of these breaks.

Didn’t take photos with official costumers in the theme parks, but took selfies with the West Coast Avengers. They were cheering on runners from somewhere around mile 9, shortly after exiting Angel Stadium.

Stopped around the 10 mile marker to stretch my right adductor because it got extremely tight. Stopped shortly after the finish line because the same thing happened to my right hamstring but I couldn’t figure out how to stretch it while standing up.

I was worried that the long sleeved official race shirt was going to be too warm, but I didn’t have to push the sleeves up until the last couple of miles. I was worried that I was going to have to stop running because of pain in specific areas of my feet that I’ve tried to address with physical therapy, but I didn’t end up having many problems after all. I was worried that I would be swept by the van that picks up stragglers, either because I was too slow or because I just plain gave up, but neither happened, thanks to my roommate’s annoying optimism and encouragement.

I spent most of Sunday vegging out in my hotel room, including a short nap and a phone call with a friend. We ventured back out to Downtown Disney for dinner and more souvenir shopping, but the bottoms of our feet were hurting a lot, and my toenails hurt from how small my shoes felt after all that running, so we hobbled around pretty slowly. It’s been another full day and I’m still sore all over, including my core muscles that I never target because I don’t like planks or pushups, but I’m not expecting any actual problems with recovery.

The main reason that I’m reluctant to recommend this event is that I spent a whole lot of money and two vacation days from work, but I don’t feel like I spent that much time doing actual Disney things. I’m also a firm believer in exercising because you want to and have intrinsic motivation, not because your past self is trying to bully you with weak economic arguments about the sunk cost of event registration, and signing up for this half marathon messed with that process for me. I got some minor injuries while halfheartedly trying to follow a training schedule and as a result, I couldn’t run at all during two of the most stressful work weeks I’ve had in years. If your life is set up in such a way that you’ll actually do the work to train, and you have the budget for a trip like this, you might get a huge kick out of it. I enjoyed parts of the race and most of the weekend, and I do really like the shiny medal I got for finishing the thing.

[chronoturtle]

I love Halloween, and I’m always excited for more chances to dress up as Judy Hopps! My roommate (Nick Wilde) and I went to a friend’s party where I found a carrot (”auto-carrot”) and a hopping-related sign.

[chronoturtle]

My cosplay highlights from San Francisco Comic Con, featuring Falco Lombardi and Judy Hopps! Instead of making anything new for this con, I rewore my favorite costumes from my past two trips to SDCC.

I handed out a few Junior ZPD Officer stickers as Officer Hopps. I wouldn’t actually recommend these because the adhesive quality is poor and the color contrast is too low, but having some sort of sticker on hand is great because little kids get really excited when you give them stuff while in sort of in character. (Also note that a sticker is a lot less sketchy than a homemade lollipop, which is why Ben and I never did anything with our pawpsicle experiments.)

Some relevant progress posts:

- Falco makeup (part 1 and part 2) - Bunny ears - ZPD vest - ZPD badge

[chronoturtle]

Full breakdown of my friend Kara’s makeup work for my Falco Lombardi makeup!

Most of the materials are the same as my previous Falco makeup post, with the additions of Make Up For Ever aqua seal, the Anastasia Beverly Hills contour kit in medium to tan, a Sephora 10hr wear perfect foundation in 33 medium walnut, and a wedge sponge.

My face looks very shiny in most of these photos because I had a lamp pointing directly at my face from maybe a foot away and I was too lazy to find gentler lighting.

[chronoturtle]

My cosplay highlights from San Diego Comic-Con, featuring Diddy Kong, Judy Hopps, and Ash Ketchum!

I tried to make more things this year, but I don’t do any of this alone. All of my costumes are collaborations between me and my very talented friends, Ben and Kara. I’d especially like to highlight Kara’s acrylic paint work on Diddy Kong’s shirt and Ben’s spray paint and nail polish work on Judy’s ZPD badge.

[chronoturtle]

ZPD badge

I bought a TOMY Carrot Recorder and Badge set shortly after I had decided to do this cosplay, but I didn’t do anything with the badge for a while. My roommate recently had some spare time while working on his Nick Wilde cosplay and offered to paint the badge. This was tricky work because the badge was plastic and had the right shapes for all the details, but the wells were really small.

He ended up using Krylon gold spray paint to create a base, then using a folded up piece of paper (because even a toothpick would have been too thick) and DAISO dark blue nail polish to do the detailing, scraping away the excess with an X-Acto knife. Finally, he added magnets to the badge so that I could wear it without punching holes in my vest. The badge has five tiny magnets and the vest has a rare earth magnet salvaged from a hard drive, most of which are held in place with duct tape, especially the rare earth magnet so that I don’t lose it in the folds of my shirt (again).

[chronoturtle]

ZPD vest v2

This draft is the final version that I’m going to wear to SDCC this week. It’s a dramatic departure from my previous iterations due mostly to time constraints. Although I really like the closely tailored look that Kara designed, I haven’t managed to implement it in a way that hangs nicely when worn.

My starting point for this version was a tank top from a thrift store that was literally 60¢. (It was priced at $3 but was 80% off because the store was having some sort of summer sale.) I traced the shape onto felt, cut out the felt pieces, and pinned them together to see how they would drape on me. Then after minor adjustments, I used the felt to cut vinyl pieces.

The side panels are an accident: I was singing along to music while I was cutting the front piece and I accidentally cut it much smaller than I had intended. I like how it turned out though, because I think they help with the overall curve of the garment.

A few sewing details:

- I used a heavy-duty needle, heavy-duty thread, and a normal presser foot. Not a lot of jams this time, but I’m getting better at opening the machine to fix those anyway.

- I left the edges unfinished. It’s partly because I like how it looks and partly because I have about 48 hours until I have to be fully packed for this con.

- Because I didn’t make a muslin or follow a pattern, I ended up holding the pieces together while I was wearing the half-finished vest and struggling to keep track of where they overlapped so that I could trim and sew accordingly. I enlisted my roommate’s help for a few key measurements. I kinda wish I had a dress form or even a homemade bust for dealing with this.

[chronoturtle]

ZPD vest v0 and v1

Judy Hopps wears a different uniform than most of the other officers in the Zootopia Police Department. According to some of the concept sketches in The Art of Zootopia, she needs additional Kevlar-like armor that larger mammals like elephants and rhinos wouldn’t need, which is why she’s dressed differently. I don’t know how much I buy that, especially considering we do see a smaller mammal dressed in the standard uniform later on (no spoilers! 😛), but whatever the reason, I like that she’s visually set apart from everyone else.

I started working on this vest by going to the fabric store and the dollar store and buying armfuls of vinyl and felt even though I had no idea how I was going to sew it yet. After reading a few different tutorials for similarly-shaped clothing (including corsets, which I did not expect to be researching during this cosplay), I settled on an Instructables guide to making a crop top pattern. I used my cutting mat to sketch out the approximate shapes in the tutorial, then cut out those patterns from paper and taped them together. It looked sort of okay, if a bit angular, so I untaped it and used the pattern pieces to put together a felt prototype. I didn’t include any seam allowances, which in retrospect was a mistake since I was planning to sew right sides together and turn things inside out, as usual. After safety-pinning a few of the seams together, I got tired of it and decided to jump straight into sewing. (Another mistake! Clearly I make poor decisions when sewing at night because I’m tired.) The end result was weirdly pointy and bunched up in the wrong spots. It was far too long. It was also several inches too short (horizontally) to reach side seams that would connect to back pieces, which I hadn’t patterned at all yet. And it was a bit too short (horizontally) to reach those hypothetical side seams around my rib cage, but way too short to reach around my belly button.

There were a lot of problems with the way I had sewn v0. I think most of it came down to the exact darts that I drew (straight and fairly deep) and the lack of seam allowances. However, I was really happy to have learned something: unlike regular woven and knit fabrics, felt doesn’t drape at all. I didn’t have a solution yet, but I knew that whatever I did with vinyl would need to take that into account too. After some frustration and some research, I found this tip on eliminating darts: “Darts can be stiff and unattractive in leather, vinyl, or fabrics that don't have much drape. For a smoother look, convert the dart into a seam.”

I brought a large sheet of felt to my friend Kara’s apartment and we sat down for an afternoon of patterning. She started by browsing different pictures of Judy Hopps, including fan art, cosplay photos, and screens from the movie, and asking me how I wanted to tailor my own vest. Then she sketched the basic shape on a sheet of paper and started thinking about how to unroll each piece from 3D back to 2D. She drew a tiny version of the pattern and cut out each piece, then taped them together, which was similar to my own initial paper prototype but also way more efficient. Using the idea of eliminating darts, she used four separate pieces (center, side top, side middle, and side bottom) and trimmed each piece until they created a relatively smooth silhouette. Finally, she disassembled the prototype and drew large versions of each shape onto felt. She cut them out and we held up each piece against me, using pins and pens to keep track of where there was too much overlap and where the seams should go. The other big change in the plan was that since my inexpensive vinyl sheets are bulky and don’t crease cleanly, I was going to try leaving the edges unfinished and top-stitch close to the edge, instead of sewing right sides together and then inverting the pieces.

I took my friend’s paper sketch and the four felt pattern pieces home with me and tried to implement her plan for v1 a few days later. I wasted time at first with copying her pattern onto another sheet of felt and trying to figure out how I could adjust the lines or consolidate the pieces, but all I ended up with was sharper angles. Finally, I buckled down and actually cut some vinyl pieces that were close to my friend’s pattern and sewed them together.

The sewing is very sloppy, and I kept changing my mind about which pieces to keep on top and where to place the seams. I also had a great deal of difficult keeping things lined up because I didn’t want to use pins. I’d read that they poke holes in the vinyl that are conspicuous and damage the structure of it. In retrospect, though, I should have just gone ahead and used them for this prototype so that I could see how big a problem they’d actually be. My sewing machine also jammed a few times, and one time was particularly worrying because the main moving part that moves the needle up and down was making loud thunk noises and jumping off to the side. I tried a few different screwdriver heads in vain but couldn’t open it, then tried stitching again and things had started working, and I still don’t know why. For what it’s worth, I did buy heavy-duty needles and heavy-duty thread at the fabric store when I bought this vinyl. I just didn’t bother with a walking presser foot or tissue paper. We’ll see if that becomes a problem.

And here’s one last photo that shows the sad state of my room after a night of sewing 😓 I love my centrally located apartment, but the one time I wish I had more space is when I’m working on a sewing project. So many things would be easier if I had a dedicated studio instead of unpacking and packing everything every single time.

[chronoturtle]

Bunny ears

My friend Kara and I finally finished making bunny ears from scratch! After I showed her what I had sewn, she came up with a few different ideas for making ear-shaped frames and for attaching the frames to a headband. We undid my ridiculous stopgap solution of safety-pinning the ears to pinch the bottom portion and using cable ties to attach the ears to the headband. Then she cut two lengths of wire and used pliers to bend them into tapered arches. She used some duck tape to attach the two ends, then cut basket reeds and taped those onto the frame. However, after actually slipping the frames into the ears, we found that tape along the vertical part of the frame ended up making the frame too thick.

I had a very specific image in mind for these ears: I wanted them to be relatively parallel, in contrast to a lot of bunny ears that point outwards at 30 to 45 degree angles. Kara accomplished this by bending the ear frames themselves so that they conformed to the shape of the headband, then taping them onto the headband. Finally, she made sure everything would hold in place by sewing the ears shut at the bottom and sewing them to each other about a third of the way up the frame.

I’m thrilled with the end result, and it looks even better when worn with gray hair. It seems stable enough for now, and if I think it’ll slip, it should be easy enough to push the thin headband in between the wefts on the wig.

Next up: the entire rest of the costume... 😭

[chronoturtle]

Big Hero 6

When I first watched Big Hero 6, I was completely blown away. It felt like the movie was made just for me. I loved how it glamorized science and engineering by depicting the thrill of building something new. I also loved its emphasis on love and loyalty in a variety of platonic relationships, including family members and friends. And of course, I enjoy kid-friendly superhero stories. On top of everything else, I had the rare treat of seeing both my city and myself reflected in the story.

San Fransokyo has fictionalized buildings and fantastical floating balloons, but its streets are based on San Francisco’s streets and Disney’s animators actually used San Francisco city data as part of their research. Everything is twice as steep but otherwise true to life, which is apparent in the sweeping establishing shots. As someone who’s lived in three different neighborhoods in the city, I loved every single vivid rendition of my adopted hometown.

I also loved the diversity of San Fransokyo. Hiro, Tadashi, and GoGo are of Asian descent and Hiro and Tadashi are biracial. Honey Lemon and GoGo are women working in Professor Callaghan’s engineering lab at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology. Obviously it’s possible to identify with characters who don’t mirror you along those axes; my lineup of past cosplays proves that I have no trouble doing that. But a complete lack of representation eventually makes you feel invisible, and a dearth of it makes you feel like a token. I can’t remember the last time I had so many options in terms of both race and gender in a single movie.

On the street, in school, and in the workplace, there are people who go out of their way to tell me that I look different, and I get tired of it. While watching Big Hero 6, I was simply part of the team, and I was so utterly normal that nobody felt the need to comment on it.

[chronoturtle]

Bunny ears v2

After my last post, I watched my roommate use a tutorial to make fox ears and decided to see if I could adapt those ideas for a different shape. I started out by cutting up some gray and pink felt and sewing the pieces together to get a sense of how to translate 2D patterns into 3D shapes. I was mostly happy with the initial shape; the only thing I really changed was that I tapered the top of the pink piece on my second try.

I did also change a lot of things about how I used my tools and materials since my last post. My roommate swapped out the X-Acto blade for a sharper one, so I gave it another try, and with some patience I was able to cut better fur shapes. I also used the #1 comb attachment (1/8″ guard) on the Remington hair clipper and spent a lot more time on it, and I was able to trim the fur to be nice and short. And finally, I don’t know how I got this mixed up before, but I was sewing fur upside down this whole time. Now that I’m finally sewing it right side up, thanks in part to the Matrices.net tutorial’s clear drawing, the end result looks a lot better.

I was able to give the ears some structure with scrap wire and pliers. (I still don’t know the gauge of the wire.) I haven’t figured out how to attach them to a headband in a stable way yet, so my next step will be to enlist another friend’s help with that.

[chronoturtle]

Jumbo Pop Hustle

This post contains lots of spoilers for Zootopia.

I’ve been listening to the Zootopia soundtrack on repeat while working on my current cosplay project. “Try Everything” is fantastic, of course. It’s infectious and upbeat and it defines two joyous scenes, Judy’s arrival in Zootopia and Gazelle’s concert. I suspect that’s where a lot of people will tune out, but my favorite track of the album is “Jumbo Pop Hustle.” There are two recurring musical themes that highlight Judy and Nick’s key moments throughout the movie, and this track unifies them perfectly.

The beginning of “Jumbo Pop Hustle” follows a sweet and earnest melody. In this track, the melody is very energetic because Judy’s confidence has been bolstered by confronting Jerry on his blatant discrimination against foxes. However, in slower variations, like the one that starts thirty seconds into “Foxy Fakeout,” the melody sounds gentle and innocent, more like a lullaby. A similar version played earlier, during Judy’s graduation from the police academy. Since that scene showed a touching moment with family, the music supports the fakeout by selling us on Nick and Finnick’s father-son dynamic. However, twenty seconds into “Jumbo Pop Hustle,” the earnest melody takes a downturn when Judy trails off in her greeting to Finnick, “Hey little toot... toot?” At the exact moment that we see Finnick picking up a jar of melted Pawpsicle, the track drops down to just bass and percussion, then rises back up into a jaunty new hustle melody.

In contrast to the earnest melody, the hustle melody is brimming with attitude. It struts to the end of a short section, comes back as a new instrument or in a new key, and then does the whole thing over again. The series of solos creates a sort of baton that’s passed from one hustler to another in relay, continually evading the cops. Each solo corresponds to another step of their complex hustle, from melting down a Jumbo Pop to refreezing it in Finnick’s snow paw prints to selling the recycled popsicle sticks as lumber. The music fades when Judy confronts Nick, but when Nick reclaims control of the conversation, the music resumes with “Walk and Stalk.” Although this track sounds quieter during the movie because Nick talks the whole time, teasing Judy for her naivité, it’s still the same theme with new solo instruments and more layers.

There’s a similar melody the following day, when Judy drives up next to Nick and his stroller, but it’s a very brief sequence that isn’t on the album. This is another clever fakeout: we hear the melody and we expect more antics from Nick, but instead, Judy hustles Nick with her carrot pen. The main hustle melody comes back two more times. First, at the end of “The Nick of Time,” Nick has just finished telling Judy about a traumatic childhood memory. She physically reaches out to him and tries to comfort him but he changes the topic. In doing so, he stumbles into the epiphany that they can track down Manchas by looking up surveillance footage from the ubiquitous traffic cameras. The last recurrence of the hustle melody comes during “Ewe Fell for It.” When Judy and Nick stand together, the melody starts playing as they relish their victory.

There’s another interesting parallel between tracks: “Hopps Goes (After) the Weasel” and “Ramifications” have very similar melodies. They’re both played during action sequences involving criminals where Judy relies on her quick thinking, and they bookend Judy’s journey as a new cop. When she chases Weaselton through Little Rodentia, Judy doesn’t know it yet, but she’s actually trying to recover Night Howlers. Later on, after she and Nick see what Doug is doing, Judy flees from Walter and Jesse while stealing the entire Night Howler lab. Even though she’s not officially on the force, she’s driven by the need to deliver the evidence to the ZPD.

Throughout the entire score, Zootopia’s composer, Michael Giaccino, does a great job of characterization with music. If you enjoyed Zootopia, you should give the full album a listen. You’ll also want to check out his scores for The Incredibles and Inside Out.

[chronoturtle]

Bunny ears v1

I started working on my Judy Hopps costume by doing some wig research. Inspired by work photos I’ve seen from other cosplayers, I wanted to sew some wefts into an Arda Wigs wig so that I could customize the look. Before I ordered a needle and thread and wefts for that project, though, I realized that I wanted the wig and the ears to match, and that I’ll probably have fewer options for fur color. As excited as I was about the wig, I decided to put it aside until I had a clear plan for the ears.

Last weekend, I bought some fuzzy fabric at Fabric Outlet that isn’t quite fur and is too dark for this particular costume. I also picked up some pink felt which I think I will actually use. It wasn’t one of my more effective shopping trips, and I think I need to be more selective even when the whole store is 40% off.

This weekend, I bought a quarter yard of gray fur from the remnants section at Mendel’s. The hairs are too long, and the tone is too blue when next to my Arda wig, but I figured it was good enough and cheap enough to give it a shot.

I drafted the ears with paper first, then traced them onto the back of the fur with tailor’s chalk and cut with a somewhat dull X-Acto knife. Then I pinned the fur right sides together, then used my sewing machine to sew all of the edges except the bottom. I didn’t bother changing the style or length of my stitch, my needle, or my presser foot, and everything worked perfectly. I don’t actually know what needle I’m using right now; maybe it’s the one that came with my machine? Most of my other projects have involved thin woven fabrics like plain cotton or cotton-poly blends.

When I remembered that I had no specific plan for attaching the pink felt to the gray fur, or attaching the gray fur to a headband, I was already tired and decided to call it a night. I lazily stitched the bottom edge of the felt and safety pinned the top, then put them on top of the store-bought bunny ears that my roommate had lying around.

Some observations:

Using a dull X-Acto knife is a pain and results in jagged edges and misshapen pieces. It turns out that my normal sewing shears work fine and don’t seem to chop up the fur unacceptably much, so I’m just going to use those in the future.

The fur is really long. I tried trimming it with my roommate’s Remington hair clipper and a 1/4″ comb attachment, and that sort of worked, but the result is still longer than I would like. I might need to go back to Mendel’s to look for gray seal fur instead.

The fur is too dark. Judy has distinctive dark tips at the top of her ears, and I want to color that section of fur somehow, so I’ll need the base color to be lighter in order for that to stand out.

I bought gray thread, but that’s completely unnecessary because none of the stitching would show through the fur. If anything, I probably want pink thread to match the felt.

Fur is really heavy, and these ears are around 8″ or 9″ tall, so they’re already heavy even without wire or any kind of frame. When I put them on top of the store-bought bunny headband, the heft was noticeable and the headband felt like it might fall off my head.

To solve a whole bunch of problems at once, I think that for my second draft, I’ll sew the felt directly to the fur. That way, I won’t have to trim the fur as much, I won’t have to glue the felt to anything, and the ears won’t be as heavy.

[chronoturtle]

Falco makeup routine

I really enjoyed my Falco costume at SDCC last year, especially the dramatic makeup. Most of my makeup was waterproof and all of it had impressive staying power. However, mixing together components that were designed for waterproofing eyebrows or eyelashes got frustrating and expensive, so I did a practice run to see if I could take some shortcuts.

Here’s the result:

Some thoughts, in no particular order:

This wig definitely needs to be trimmed and/or styled. The bangs poke me in the eyes and also get in the way of showing off my makeup.

I love this absurd lip gloss so much. I’m super glad that Espionage Cosmetics took the time to help me choose the perfect mix of products when I visited them in the exhibit hall last year.

I used a clear gel primer for the yellow and a sticky white pencil primer for the red, and it really shows. I like the vividness I achieved with this red, but I also need it to look smoother than this for close-up photos. Also, the boundary between the two colors is tricky.

It’s basically just thick layers of eyeshadow and I don’t know how long it’ll last. I need some kind of setting spray.

Should I do something with my nose? Or maybe use contouring to exaggerate my cheekbones? How can I look more like a bird?

Products used:

Brush

bareMinerals angle brush - full-edged liner

Primers

bareMinerals Prime Time - Original

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil - Milk

Eyes

Sephora matte eyeshadow - Cherry on top N°39

Sephora shimmer eyeshadow - Banana split N°05

Smashbox Limitless eyeliner - Indigo Ink

Kat Von D ink liner - Trooper

bareMinerals Stroke of Light brightener - luminous 3

Lip

Espionage Cosmetics mineral pigment - Wub Wub

Espionage Cosmetics lip serum - Gilded Force