Sakuracon 2013

Evening dance party

The month began with one convention, with a few days in the middle, and concluded with another convention--that being Sakuracon.  This marks a one year anniversary since the last cosplay montage video I posted prior to everything in my life undergoing a huge change (moving to Germany, etc.).  A return to normality hasn't quite yet been achieved, but it's getting close.  This year, being without any video stabilization equipment, I decided to make an attempt at being "Mr. Photographer."  However, I don't really consider myself to be a photographer but instead just a GWC (guy with camera--minus the negative connotation).  This year I just wanted to relax and leisurely take-in the Sakuracon experience, without any obligations, snapping pictures here and there, while letting spontaneity take over.

Haruna Luna X Eir Aoi

Sakuracon is a pretty unique convention in that many Japanese artists, singers, and industry members attend every year.  Sakuracon seems to have the most non-English speaking attendees I've ever encountered at an Anime convention.  I actually found the Japanese performers Eir Aoi and Haruna Luna just nonchalantly walking around the convention site with translators in tow.  At the time I didn't know who they were but it was interesting to see them being treated as "normal" people (amid having some level of niche fame) in that they're weren't recognizable or really known by anyone on this side of the pond.

"Japonese" Hot dogs

The weather during the convention was perfect for another year in a row.  I ate a "Japanese" hot dog, which I half-expected to be a normal hot dog slathered in corn and mayonnaise but in reality came in a variety of Asian-themed varieties.  I ordered a "Matsuri," it was pretty good.

Lux

Lux X Garen

Lux X Garen

Asuna

I bumped into a few more "up-and-coming" local cosplayers and did a couple impromptu "mini-shoots."  The first is RikkuGrape from Portland, Oregon.

Ahri

Ahri

And the second is Caitastrophic Cosplay, also from Portland.

D3

K'

Ganondorf X Zelda

Much of my time at Sakuracon was spent just casually taking in the sights.  I've been experimenting with some interesting photo editing style--incorporating atmospheric surreal complementary color grading and different unique ways to frame images.  I believe in a minimalist's philosophy of "less-is-more" when it comes to design.  The surreal color blended photos make me a bit conflicted as they pretty much go against that philosophy.  However, by comparison, the unedited photos lack a certain level of desirable "punchiness" which is my justification for making these edits.  Regardless, it's all done to learn and tryout new design techniques and ideas.

All-in-all, this year's Sakuracon was good as usual.  I noticed a marked decrease in the number of Hatsune Miku cosplays (is her legacy finally beginning to fade?) that were in attendance.  This year by comparison, the convention could be described as SAOkuraCon (Sword Art Online being the dominant IP).  Here's to another year in the interim!  And the rest of my photos:

Garen

Tira

MikuDonalds

Slenderman on stilts

Sejuani, there's a guy in that fur suit oven.

Gundam

Yoko

Vanquish

Mokujin

Zant

Gettin' My Nerd On

This weekend a friend invited me to attend Emerald City Comic Con or ECCC, here in Seattle (the Emerald City), and while I'm not sure if I would've attended this event without an invitation, it was an enjoyable experience.  I only attended a portion of one day but I managed to stroll around the maze that is the Washington state convention center taking a couple photos and just hanging out.  A lot of pretty well-known TV / movie celebrities were in attendance like Patrick Stewart and Christopher Lloyd--however, taking pictures in the room where the celebrities were situated was strictly forbidden.  To clarify, you have to pay on average $30-40 up to $85 just to get either an autograph or your picture taken with a celeb--which in my opinion is insane, but I guess that's pretty much the main incentive for these individuals in taking the time to attend these events (time is money).

Asian gandalf

Samurai Boba Fett

League of Legends X Link [Zelda] (I think)

Sentinel

I guess these kinds of things are also what separate fans from regular enthusiasts.  However, I think the term fan has lost some of its meaning in English, being that there's been an introduction of the dichotomy of whether one is actually a fan or a true fan...  Fan stems from the Americanized shortening of the word fanatic [a person with an extreme and uncritical enthusiasm or zeal, as in religion or politics.], people usually associate a "religious fanatic" as having pretty negative connotations however, somehow being a religious fan or perhaps a fan of religion is somehow more acceptably tame.  English is becoming more complicated than it should be and evolving too quickly.  I guess I don't really like using the term fan when describing myself or perhaps I'm just over-thinking things again.  Regardless, it's interesting to see people exhibit such passion for their preferred entertainment choices at comic con.  

Pawnstars spinoff (?)

There was a TV film crew present at ECCC, filming a pilot for something related to cosplay for the SyFy channel from what I understand.  I don't know too many details but it looked kind of like a cheesy reality TV style show format.  

Other notable events included getting to meet the "cosplay famous" Jessica Nigri, also hailing from Arizona, who is also apparently making a solid living as a promotional model--not a bad gig.

Finally, I managed to squeeze in a small "photo-shoot" with an up-and-coming local PNW cosplayer, Meepy-Gal.  Having lost pretty much all my filming equipment in my move back to the US from Germany, I made an attempt in trying out cosplay photography--it's something I'm really not used to doing as I feel I have a decent eye for motion but haven't really put much thought into suggesting aesthetically pleasing static poses.  Thankfully Meepy-Gal is a natural at posing so there's less needed from my end.  It's all done for fun though.

3D Printing the Future

A MakerBot hard at work.

I've been following the consumer 3D printing scene for a long while now and it's amazing to see the progress and developments that have been made in desktop 3D printing technology.  There's essentially been an explosion of 3D printers that have hit the market (through various means such as crowd sourcing-based Kickstarter, etc.) in the last 6 months with the most recent Kickstarter "3D printing" hit being the 3Doodler, a handheld ABS / PLA filament extruder which can be used to construct little artsy creations from plastic "wire."   What's really mind-blowing is how unbelievably simple the 3Doodler is (as I mentioned already, it's just the extruder / heater assembly from a desktop 3d printer fitted within a "pen-shaped" case, with literally the whole system costing dollars to make), yet the creators have become millionaires overnight--It's insane to ponder, but yet again I digress.

Last year I discovered a local Seattle gem, being the Metrix Createspace, which is described as a "hacker space" or basically a fully-fledged workshop for "Makers" of technical projects.  They offer tons of super cheap services including laser cutting, 3D printing, soldering, sewing, crafting, etc. and are open till midnight everyday.  Metrix is one of the coolest places Seattle has to offer--it's like all of Seattle's awesome techno wizardry condensed into an amazing "open-sourced hangout workshop."  Take a look at their VR tour page if you don't believe me.

Anyway, Metrix hosted a 2 hour workshop on 3D printing design which I just recently attended--the workshop ended up being 4.5 hours long but was pretty fantastic and insightful.  The future of consumer-level 3D printing has just begun and it is so very bright.  There are some issues associated with the technology such as intellectual property control and rights over 3D printed objects, but while the tech is not yet mainstream the solutions to these discussions are pending.  I learned quite a lot about the history of 3D printing and design considerations of printed objects.  There is so much untapped potential it's hard not to be excited about the ramifications of the technology.  I need to brush up on my 3D modelling / CAD skills and start putting my written ideas into fruition.

A hanging shio occolus.

While I was at Metrix I noticed there were a few shio lights hanging from the ceiling, which are really awesome "light sculptures" made from salt (crystallized sodium chloride) [shio / しお / 塩 is Japanese for salt].  I found out about shio lights last year on Kickstarter as well but didn't remember or realize that their studio is located here in Seattle.  The shio lights are insanely expensive (around $1000 each), but there's nothing like them on the market so I guess they have their own little niche.  I'd like to try my hand at making one using my chemistry background, but it seems like it might be a pretty messy process.  Maybe one day.

Nice Views

Freeway view - Downtown Bellevue

Since having to start life all over again in the US, I've been a bit slow with regard to re-accumulating "stuff"--things like furniture, everyday items, etc.  IKEA is typically a good one stop solution shop for this kind of problem and is where I perused for certain necessities.  In fact most all the big "furniture" items in my tiny apartment are from IKEA, first a desk and chair, and now a couch and coffee table.  While many of the household items from IKEA have a somewhat sought-after "modern contemporary European" look or style for an arguably inexpensive price, I can't help but notice how cheap and disposable all their goods are.  It's like everything is a giant façade or glittery shell covering over particle board and recycled plastic.  Sure it'll look "decent" for a little while, but any use will reveal its true cheap interior.  I'm not sure where I'm going with this rant, but I just wish there were higher quality yet inexpensive furnishings available from an alternative supplier.

（゜◇゜） - me

On a somewhat related note, a friend of mine finished furnishing his swanky high-rise apartment in downtown Bellevue and one of the bits he ordered was damaged on arrival.  He was sent replacements without having to return the damaged goods so I offered to take it (a nightstand) off his hands.  It's a nice solid wood piece which looks to have been dropped, but should be fixable with a small investment in a couple tools.  Regardless, I got to visit his amazing new apartment and it's like something from out of the movies.  It felt like how I'd imagine it to be if you were to "permanently" live in the fancy suite of a high-class hotel.  Sadly, the kicker is that his rent is pretty much more than my entire salary--the tech industry really treats its employees well.  

West Seattle - work view

That isn't to say that I don't have a view of my own, I sort of do, at my current work place.  I can't just look out the window of my office to get it, but if I go up a few floors of my building there's a small vista point which provides a decent view of parts of the university campus and West Seattle--not quite the same, but it's something at least!  

UW red square - work view

Last weekend I went to the local zoo with some friends which was my first time going to the zoo in Seattle (after being here for 5 years).  It's a decent zoo with; a good variety of animals, the smells weren't too excruciating, and it wasn't too crowded (although it is still the middle of Winter).  There wasn't too much of a selection of my favorite animals (lizards & geckos) but that's typical fare for a zoo--people seem to want to see the big stuff from Africa like elephants, giraffes, and lions.  I'd have to go to an exotic pet shop to get my fill of cute geckos and lizards if need be.  

The komodo dragons were active!

Finally, I found a cool shot of me in action (drifting) from the gymkhana a couple weeks ago.  Looks like I managed to get a little sideways in the shot.  Props to the photographer!

DriftDoctor Goes Drifting

Probably, the cleanest it'll ever be.

As mentioned in the previous post, and alluded to in post even earlier, I managed to pick up a replacement to my old beloved car.  What could possibly be suitable enough to replace that car?  Not too much, although there happened to be a fantastic driver's car that was released mid-2012 which I had been following with interest for a long while, though at that point in time I had never considered the possibility of owning one.  With "new years" come "new beginnings" and in this particular case, a new car.  The vehicle I managed to procure is the (Raven) Scion FR-S, otherwise also known as the Subaru BRZ, or in Japan, the Toyota FT-86.  I was unsure that I could ever own a Toyota, but the FR-S was just too good of a car to resist, being lightweight (2800 lbs), FR platform (front-engine rear-drive), OK power (200 hp), and fairly economical (4-cylinders).

Likely the cleanest the interior will ever be.

Having had the car for a couple months already and becoming pretty familiar with it's handling as a daily driver, I felt it was a good time to kick things up a notch and get better acquainted when things are taken to the limit--with a low-key gymkhana / drift event.  It's been a while since I've last been drifting, but it's kinda like riding a bike, you never really forget the basics.  However, in this case it's almost like going from a bicycle to a step below a unicycle.  I'll put things in simpler terms...  this car is hard to drift.  

There are many reasons why.  First, the power is OK, but the 4-cylinder motor produces little torque (151 ft-lbs at 6600 rpm).  If I suddenly slam my foot to the floor when applying gas, nothing happens, the car just slowly accelerates.  If I were to do the same in my old car, the rear wheels would quickly break traction and slide (like the beast that it was).  Second, the car lacks steering angle, at full lock I can't do a U-turn in a normal 2-lane road like I could with my old car (this is helpful for "catching" drifts).  And thirdly, the FR-S has "electronic active steering" which means the steering system is attached to an electronic assist system which modifies the steering ratio based on specific situations / speeds.  This is perfectly fine for slow-paced / daily driving, but during fast-paced lock-to-lock maneuvers while drifting, the steering feel is a bit strange.  It's manageable & learn-able but it's still just weird and a potential handicap until the disconnected feeling is mastered.  

Regardless, my first driving event with the car was a success.  I got to experience what the car feels like at the limit and found out that the car is very "grippy," you have to work really hard to get the car sliding well.  My first run of the day was a bit laughable--I didn't know how to turn off the traction control so I looked like a giant derp spinning out over and over as the car cut the throttle each time I tried to initiate a drift.  Lo' and behold I needed to press and hold the traction off button for five seconds till some lights in the dash appeared.  

Traction OFF - VSC OFF, OK, time to drift.

While drifting the FR-S is incredibly difficult, I did manage to pull off a few decent drifts and had a good time behind the wheel.  There were a few other guys at the event with the same car who were having a lot of trouble drifting as well.  But, the car is new, the drivers are inexperienced, and things will get better with time so I'll see how things progress later in the year.  

Prospects of 2013

Things have been largely uneventful as of late--I chalk it up to being due to poor Seattle weather and being in the midst of the middle of winter.  One indirectly positive aspect about this year's winter season is having a new car (new cars seem to have the reputation of being pretty reliable) which keeps me from having to stress over whether or not my car will survive the cold season and see the light of the coming summer or having to feed money into it for maintenance and potential repairs.  My last (precious) car, which was an absolutely amazing experience every time I got behind the wheel, was sadly in need of quite a lot of TLC and while it was very reliable, there was always the fear in the back of my mind that something expensive breaking was on the verge of becoming imminent.  Thankfully, I don't think I have to worry about anything breaking for hopefully a while, which is a nice relief (so let fun driving commence!).  

On an unrelated note, I've started learning how to program in Java and I'm enjoying it quite a lot.  Learning a new language is definitely challenging, but it's extremely rewarding when successfully figuring out the solution to a coding problem (using the new language you've learned).  I've only begun to scratch the surface of learning to program but I hope to get better and better with time and hopefully bring some of the project ideas I've written down into a reality.  I recently wrote a cheesy little program which displays a pixelated "8-bit" Hatsune Miku using another program called DrawingPanel. It doesn't do anything except code the graphical representation of Miku but I think it's really cool (because I'm a noob that's never done anything like this before).  I'm sure when I get better at Java I'll look back and be really embarrassed about letting myself post this, but everyone has to start somewhere, right?

All in all, I have high hopes that 2013 will bring some interesting and exciting new things.  What exactly?  I don't even know but I'll hopefully have more interesting updates to provide until then.

Fish Sticks (& small mammals)

Keep these away from me, thanx

So I recently had an eye-opening revelation which I had never really thought about before, regarding a certain processed fish-based food-product.  Fish sticks, you would think they are simply "pieces of fish" that are breaded and fried, right?  Well, unfortunately there is more to fish sticks than just that.  Basically, almost all fish are infested with parasitic worms--some more than others.  Certain species of fish in particular are characteristically infested with worms, Cod and Halibut (including other bottom feeders) are two of many such species which come to mind.  I doubt you will ever see "Cod sushi" due to this fact, but that's not to say it isn't impossible.

The story is essentially this: fishermen catch boatloads of Cod (or other) fish, and have them "cleaned / gutted" coming to realize the guts of the fish are full of worms, but not just the guts--the muscles and flesh are also riddled with small parasitic worms as well.  Fishmongers realized that although the worms are supposedly safe for eating (after being cooked), consumers would probably lose their appetite being given Cod fillets full of worms (with good reason).  So they came up with the idea that if you throw the infested fish meat into a grinder and grind up the worms with the meat, the processed fish could be battered, and turned into deliciously "safe" fish sticks--and the consumer would be none the wiser.

Who knew this was the case?  I didn't.  It makes sense but now I'm just a little grossed out--though I'm not one to eat fish sticks aside from Cod-based "fish 'n chips" which is likely also infested given that the meat is hidden from sight within a thick coating of batter.  Will this new found knowledge stop me from eating Cod?  Probably not but this information will likely be in the back of mind forever now.

For anecdotal evidence from fishing enthusiasts see: http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/showthread.php/4525-Worms-in-halibut

Now for anyone who had the displeasure of enduring that disgusting revelation, here is something to cleanse your mind.

Pictured above is the Etruscan Shrew, the smallest mammal in the world (by weight).  It lives in a wide-spread region spanning Eurasia and parts of Africa.  This shrew gets to be around 2 inches in length and weighs 2 grams on average.  They have a high metabolism and will eat around 4 grams of bugs throughout an entire day, everyday.



It's pretty amazing to think that such small creatures have complete vascular systems with a full set of internal organs within a tiny skeleton in such a small size scale.  Given that these shrews weigh 2 grams, the shrew's heart must be smaller than a pin-head--it's crazy to think that something that small is pumping the shrew's entire blood supply which also must be a tiny incomprehensible volume as well.  I'm having a hard time pondering it.

Back in Seattle

Black Butte, CA

A few days ago I made the long trip (driving) from Tucson to Seattle: a grueling 24 hour, 1600+ mile journey that was split into 2 legs--a 14 hour, 1000 mile leg on day 1, and a 10 hour, 600+ mile leg on day 2.  I mentioned previously that the last time I made this drive was during the middle of Summer so things would probably be a little different this time around, and they definitely were.

The excursion was largely uneventful and boring driving through the open desert from Arizona to Los Angeles, but then I found things to get really scenic through northern LA with its smooth rolling hills dotted with small shrubberies and I was reminded of how nice and varied the landscape and scenery is in California--my favorite state in the US. Whenever I drive up through California I see how self-sustaining (resource-wise) the state is with its huge expanses of fertile land for growing food, the pasturage for cows and other livestock, the pacific ocean and its fish stock, huge supplies of trees and lumber in the forests of northern California, windy zones with turbines providing power, oil pumps and deposits everywhere, not to mention the large quantities of gold and other precious materials that are present in the mountains.  California could likely operate as an independent self-sustaining country if it absolutely needed to.

Driving through the heart of California things were again uneventful through a good chunk of northern LA up to northern California where around Mount Shasta the scenery took a quick turn toward becoming a white mountainous wonderland.  Temperatures during my drive through the mountains of northern California dipped to as low as 19 degrees Fahrenheit (-7 C) and the roads definitely showed it with large portions being completely covered and iced over.  Many of the worst sections of road were coated with a thick layer of red gravel (?) which may have included some kind of ice-inhibiting chemical as well (salt, etc.).  The worst areas were those in shadowy valleys which didn't see much sunlight, preventing the road surface from heating up, and giving a nice un-melted icy slick on the surface.  I only experienced 2 "pucker moments" where the rear (thankfully) of the car nearly slid out but I quickly recovered, slowing down till reaching a slightly warmer area.  The scenery from Mount Shasta up to a little past the Oregon border was really nice, and barring the slippery conditions, was a pretty exciting drive.

Everything shifted to mostly green (scenic-wise) past this point and the drive was again uneventful into Washington state where the conditions felt a little strange.  It may have been the fact that I was 8 or more hours into the second leg of a long drive, but the snowy white scenery coupled with a white foggy sky and a lack of a definite horizon was throwing off my balance and there were times where due to parallax, I wasn't sure if I was travelling on a flat road or if I was going down a sharp declining road vs an inclined road.  It was only a little disconcerting and I mostly tried to ignore the feeling and get to the next area asap.

Things were familiar on the approach to Seattle and I managed to arrive at my destination and apartment without issue.  The next days were spent "starting over" in life with acquiring consumables and other junk needed to settle down.  Seattle doesn't seem to have changed much in the last 6 months when I was gone.  Though one thing I have noticed is that grocery stores and retailers are now charging for paper bags so the "ban of plastic bags" law must have passed recently.  People at the grocery store seem to be using their own reusable grocery bags now so I guess everyone is trying to be a little more environmentally conscious (people are going to have to do a lot more than that to make a drop of a difference though)--it's a start at least.

My new apartment is a tiny studio unit but I think it'll suffice.  Pretty much the only furniture I have is a desk and chair pictured below as my primary base of operations and from where I'll likely be making most of my future updates and postings.