So the creative bug had been biting me pretty hard lately. I really want to do some cool stuff, though I know a lot of it I just will need to learn how to do and it will be crap. I made a list of everything I want to do, and looking at it (it is pretty long) I think I am going to need to make a plan if I am ever going to get any of it done.

Warning: LONG post! Lots of bullshit! A bunch of pics! Feel free to read or skip as appropriate.

First thing, I have been working on a new stop mo. My camera has pretty much crapped out on me, so I am going to have to figure out how to do it without the camera. I have my iPad. I have figured out how to get pics from my iPad to my computer. I have found a few camera control apps for the iPad, though nothing that lets me control the focus the way I want. Also I need to anchor that sucker down somehow so it doesn't look like my characters are in an earthquake all the time.

So I have designed a frame thing that is made of PVC piping and foam insulation tape. I had planned on cutting the PVC with my hacksaw and mitre box. The box is missing. I packed them together, because I usually do not use either one by themselves. One of these days I will either go get another one or find a friend who has power tools to help me cut them at a 45 degree angle and cut a slot in the top for the foam insulation and a place to rest the iPad. Then I will drill a 1/4inch hole in the bottom for mounting to the tripod platform. Project number one. :)

So last weekend I helped a friend move. As per usual she wanted to get rid of stuff, and as per usual I accommodated her and took it off her hands. The first thing was this awesome globe thing that lights up.

Now I have to figure out how to costume this bad boy. I can't sew, and I have other sewing projects I want to do. So I will need to find a place to find South Korean looking jackets and grey slacks. And of course the mask. I HAVE to take a shot at making a mask of that face. I have no mask making experience. I do have liquid latex. I have been looking online and if I do it in 3 pieces I may actually be able to pull it off. One piece for the face, another piece for the tentacles, and a final piece for the head. I am currently researching the cost of latex foam. I also need to get myself a few styrofoam heads to use as bases. I think I would make a thin latex mask for the face, a molded latex foam for the head, then attach the tentacles to a large mesh frame that attaches to the mask. that will make it easier to breath. It would also be awesome if I can find a cheap voice modulator.

On the latex mask front, I decided if I am going to do an Ood, I also need to make a Vastra mask.

This is Madame Vastra (picture property of BBC and Doctor Who). She is strong and beautiful and a warrior and everything I wish I could be. She is one of my favorite fictional characters ever. She is married to Jenny, the lady behind her in this picture. If you don't watch any other Doctor Who, it is worth watching the episodes she is in just to bask is this dazzling character. I have been waiting out the last few years of less than stellar storylines and Moffet's version of Psych! and a Doctor who doesn't really feel like the Doctor, but her alone has made this wait worth it. As masks go, this one looks like the most comfortable one to wear for long periods at a time. I would do her Victorian outfits, though. She has some gorgeous black dresses I really want. Though, my next project could conceivably be used for her character.

I also got a green leather coat. It is HUGE. It is very 80's. The shoulder pads are gone, but thiey have left thier mark in the shoulders of this coat. there is enough leather fabric in that coat to make a steampunky vest or two. A vest that would go with the brown leather coat I found last winter. It would also go with the Vastra mask. I also want to sew some aviator pants to use with steampunk.


 

I want this look, pants boots and all. Except I want to make them black. These pants could go with steampunk and Vastra.

I also was given several sets of vampire fangs. So....I can do regular vampire, steampunk vampire, or vampire Silurian (Vastra is a Silurian). OR Vampire Steampunk Silurian! Oh this is going to be awesome. :)

I can't sew worth a damn, so I will have to find someone to supervise.

So the list....

Not in priority order...

1. Latex Ood mask
2. Latex Madame Vastra mask
3. Build a more interactable stop mo set
4.Leather steampunk vest or two, depending
5.iPad frame with foam insulation
6.Button over aviator pants
7.Steampunk goggles
8.Crochet sweater and vests out of mounds of yarn I have laying around
9.Spin the fleece I have sitting around
10.Play with armatures and different materials to decide on puppets for stop mo.
11. Finish all writing projects (web series, 10 minute short, play, novel)
12.Finish filming current stop mo

I once told someone I am never bored. If I had a bajillion dollars, I would have plenty to do. They didn't believe me. :)

So now I have to decide what needs to be done with each of these projects, when I want to have them done by, and what I need in order to finish them. Then I will make a general plan to get them done.

I am very good at learning lyrics to songs. I pride myself on how fast I can learn them. My mom was music teacher and had me performing from the age of 3, so I guess after this many years it just comes naturally to me. Now I forget them if I have to perform in front of someone, anyone, but generally I am good at learning them.

Then today, my ego was crushed. I was listening to No Rain by Blind Melon. Whether or not you like the song, it was one of the iconic songs of my high school years. It came out when I was a senior, and just learning how to tell my mom to fuck off when it came to her control over what I listened to. I LOVE the song. That was the year I finally burst out of my music plastic bubble and learned about other types of music. Other than classical, 40's, 50's rock, 60's rock and folk, and of course humor (Weird Al and Dr. Demento will always have a place in my heart).

So anyway, I was listening along, but this time I did not sing with it as usual. I was typing, so I just listened while I was typing. When it got to the chorus, such as it is, I finally HEARD the lyrics for the first time in nearly 20 years. I stopped typing and rewound it (well, placed the cursor at a previous point. Still stuck in the 90's). I listened again. Wow. The words that I had taken for granted for nearly 20 years were wrong. He was singing it wrong. I couldn't have learned it wrong. So I went backwards again.

Nope, I was WRONG. You see, I used to see this as an asshole slacker song. This guy wanted to sit around all day doing nothing, expecting his woman to go out and support him, AND he wanted her to let him cheat on her. Asshole slacker. Not really that surprising, considering some of the other songs other groups were doing. The words I heard are "I just want someone to say to me, oh oh oh oh, I'll always be there when you wake, yea ah ah ah./You know I'd like to keep my cheating strategy yeah yeah/ So just stay with me and I'll have it made"

Sounds pretty douchy, right? Well, turns out the lyrics are mostly the same, except that middle line is "You know I'd like to keep my cheeks dry today". That totally changes the song. Completely takes the asshole right out of it.

Then I started thinking.....maybe I am not as good as I thought about learning lyrics. Maybe I am just a schmoo who doesn't know anything. One of my few talents? Gone. I don't dare go through and find out what else I have misheard. I know of only one other in my entire life. That was Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. I used to think it was Dirty Me and the Dunder Chief. What the hell, they were high anyway. Didn't need to make sense. but this? He wasn't a tad clearer in his enunciation. Not much, but still.

And when I read the Bloggess's post on this very topic I think a month ago I was SO smug. I only had one. Ha ha losers. She is so funny. But now I am beginning to doubt myself. My abilities as a lyric memorizer...are they false?

Have I become one of those douches who thinks everything they do is awesome, even when it is total shit? That is the question. My generation tends to be very smug. When I started school they were doing the "EVERYONE gets first place because we want everyone to feel good about themselves" method of teaching. The problem with that is we didn't really learn the difference between shitty work and quality work. We were raised to think that no matter what we did, it was the AWESOMEST THING EVAR!!.  It has annoyed me over the years how entitled and full of themselves so many people my age are. It annoyed me way back in high school. I vowed never to become like them. Granted, there are a few that aren't. But still, DON'T want to be one.

Ya know, I like my version of the song better. I like the douchy statement. I am going to keep singing it my way. There is a difference between being bad at something, and being stubborn. As my mom used to stay, I choose to be stubborn. I know it's wrong, but I don't care. That isn't the same, is it?