Billy Kane (progress)

I've been working on a Billy Kane costume for a while. I was going to wear it last year at San Diego Comic Con but didn't get around to it. Now I plan to wear it at LA Anime Expo. I've been trying to bulk up a bit for the part. Here are a few progress shots. I know I forgot to put on the belt. Special thanks to my stepmother Tina for sewing the headband. Check out her Etsy store!

What I'm Playing:

• Main Campaign: Bioshock Infinite
• Side Quest: Super Mario 3D Land, Fez

On Skyhooks and Peeing In The Closet

So I could get my NECA Skyhook replica off the desk and display it properly, I decided to make a wall-mount. The box dimensions for the Skyhook are 26 by 11, and I had a spare piece of MDF that was 24 by 9...close enough. I bought a yard of dark patent leather, a 3/4 inch dowel, and copper end caps from Home Depot's plumbing section. I used a hot glue gun, Gorilla Glue, and a stapler to put it together. Check it out:

All in all, not bad. I could have been more careful about a few things, but it worked! During this project I came to a personal realization about my learning style. When working with new materials and techniques, I often have to make my own mistakes, even if better information is available. I consider this different from trial-and-error. I like to call it "peeing in the closet with confidence" (origin at 0:13). It means going forward with a plan with the foreknowledge that the results might not be perfect, possibly very messy, but that they stand a good chance of solving the problem. Neither random nor systematic, it's decisive, and means accepting the consequences, good and bad. I'm not saying that's a good thing, it's just something I now know about myself.

What I'm Playing:

• Main Campaign: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
• Side Quest: Ridiculous Fishing

!: #A Toys MGS Rex Unboxing and Assembly

He's here! This is the 3A Toys MGS Rex, special edition with scale Old Snake pilot. Observe...

Thank you 3A Toys and Konami, he's a beaut!

What I'm Playing:

• Main Campaign: Saint's Row The Third, The Witcher
• Side Quest: Spaceteam

Nice Cans: Senta Forty On-Ear Headphones

When the scroll wheel iPod was the hottest new gadget from Apple, Puff Daddy was rumored to have listened to his during sex. If that's so, he would have done well to ditch the stick-and-cup white Apple earbuds and strap on a set of Senta Forty headphones.

SDCC 2012 Photo Dump

Hey all, it's been about a month but I still have Comic Con on the brain. Good times, and my first. I figured by now I should post a few pics of some costume stuff I did and some way cool stuff other people did. Here it comes!

I updated my Ghostbuster costume, with some heavy non-canon customization. I'm carrying Tex, my vision of what the Ghostbusters might carry if they needed a heavy-duty proton gun. I'll do a full post on this build later.

Here I am with Deadpool, making everyone uncomfortable in Slave Leia garb. Genius.

Day 2 and 3 I wore my Aperture Test Subject costume, or Mell if you prefer. The Portal gun is the official NECA gun, vanilla flavor.

Klingons

Chell, with no gun but some sweet Longfall stilts

Posing with a very good Chell and a kid who I perceived as doing a tester/scientist mashup. The kid bought the Comic Con Cave Johnson Portal gun at the event, an exceedingly wise purchase in my opinion. He also built his own Companion Cube and had the voice-enabled GlaDOS module running off an actual potato. Kid was HARDCORE.

I went to the NECA booth and got my Portal gun signed by the models for Cave and Caroline Johnson, and Karen Prell, who animated Wheatley. Afterwards I was sitting near the booth, eating a sammich, and a dude tosses that turret at me. The turret is cosplaying as a Power Ranger.

Soon after I spotted Adam Sessler in the crowd (it was the Sess, no doubt.) It was a pleasure to meet him and have a nice little chat.

Here I am with Kratos and Nariko. I was happy to hear that Kratos had taken body paint tips from Mario and Alice! Nice guy.

There was a mess of awesome Team Fortress 2 players.

Other Mother

Dude with a pretty good Kuato.

Really good Cowboy Bebop team.

And then I was done...

What I'm Playing:

• Main Campaign: Fez, Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes
• Side Quest: Wizorb, Rock Band 3

[TEST SUBJECT NAME HERE], your uniform issue is ready.

Hey everybody! Rather than dwell on how long it's been since I wrote, why don't I just show you what I've been up to. San Diego Comic Con is coming soon, and I've had a few costumes in the works. Since it's fresh in my mind, I wanted to share the Aperture Laboratories Test Subject project I've been putting together.

Future-Now: The Running Man

I'm watching The Running Man again. That is, as of this writing, the credits have just rolled. I've also had a couple drinks, and this is the sort of post that happens when I drink and watch old favorites.

I'm not sure why I like The Running Man so much. It's not very well filmed. The script isn't good. The scenery is flat. It's fairly cheesy sci-fi all around. It plays like the most typical fare in the Schwarzenegger stable, with all of his usual punch lines.

Today, 25 years after release, The Running Man also seems surprisingly prescient.