I'm supposed to be practicing for the audition, or cleaning. Bleh. Here's a sneak peek at something I hope to be working on early next year.
Zombiesplode! My guest comic for Hijinks Ensue is now live. I thought I'd post a bit about what went into making this, warts and all:
I had a flash of inspiration immediately after Joel asked me to do a
guest comic, one that involved a three-page story about the whole HE gang (Denise included, to make a team of four) fighting off a
horde of L4D zombies to a full-length zombified parody of "The Night Before
Christmas" and almost escaping by helicopter as dawn breaks... then
Joel wakes up and realizes it was all a dream... except that Josh has
respawned in the closet and no one lets him out. I'm kind of glad that
idea got rejected, because I'm pretty sure I would have gone insane
trying to draw it. (Overenthusiastic fangirl, much?)
As something of an apology to some of the people who have had to put up with my deadline crazies this month, I've been making sesame candy. And to make amends to you few dear readers for having fallen off the blogging horse again, I'll also tell you how to make it. If you have a candy thermometer (and if you do not, why in Christendom not?!*), this is a cinch to make, attractive, and delicious. Happy Holidays!
Ingredients
1 c black sesame seed
1 c white sesame seed (I replaced this partly with some pumpkin seed I had)
1 tbs anise seed (optional)
1/2 c honey
1/2 c brown sugar
3 drops vanilla flavoring
butter for pan
Equipment
large skillet
small saucepan
9x9" baking pan
cutting board
candy thermometer
Directions
Grease the baking pan with butter, and set aside. In the skillet, roast all seeds on medium for 5 minutes, or just until aromatic. Set aside.
In saucepan, combine honey, sugar, and vanilla. Either keep the candy thermometer in a cup of warm water, or put it in your saucepan now. While stirring, slowly bring to a boil. Check temperature with candy thermometer. When syrup hits 275 degrees, remove pan from heat and add the sesame seeds, stirring constantly. Turn mixture into the pan. Spread evenly. Let it cool 5 min, then flatten the surface with a spatula.
Let cool an additional 10 min, or until the mix is warm but firm, then use spatula to pop it out of the pan onto the cutting board. With a greased knife, cut into squares (or rectangles, or whatever). Let cool to room temperature.
Place into wax paper or candy cups to serve.
PROTIP: if you misjudge the cooling time for the candy and it gets too hard for you to cut (as I did D:), heat up some water in the skillet and place the baking pan in it to soften the sugar again.
*Earl Grey ftw.
Right before the rainy season started, I cut down some bamboo culms in my backyard with the intent to make flutes and ocarinas once they've had some time to cure. These are not the traditional Madake variety or anything fancy like that; they're very leafy and crooked. Weeds in the garden, really (they snuck under my neighbor's fence two years ago; since then my neighbor has cut down his side of the bunch). But I figure, why the heck not? If I am in any way successful making a few ghetto-ass flutes from scratch I might give it a go with the real deal.
The root ball was a nightmare; I managed to get some roots--the prize of hardcore shakuhachi makers--on only one culm, after half an hour of careful digging. I fired up the barbecue and placed the stems over the glowing coals to sweat some of the sap out, and wiped it off (somewhat unevenly; it was dark outside when I toasted them and I was having trouble seeing the sap). They turn a very pale green in the heat, and develop a bit of mottling. Now they all hang from my rafters slowly turning a pale golden yellow. We'll see if any of them make it through without cracking.
...tastes like nothing. Therefore I am doctoring it with spices to give it something resembling flavor. Lots of cumin, some coriander, fenugreek, garlic cloves, mustard, dried habanero, rosemary and lemon peel. We'll see.
If you were wondering what all that crazy effort was going into, here is the final product:
On my way to page ten Sorry I dropped this whole blogging thing like an oven brick; I feel like I owe you an explanation: I'm submitting an application to the Evil League of Evil with the help of some of the Fancy Bastards. A shot at geek immortality comes by not often enough, and so I am very much not half-assing this. It's been intense because I'm having to slog past the cognitive issues and I will be... er, singing even though illness has severely diminished my lung capacity.
The scariest part of all this is yet to come; I have never done video editing before in my life and I don't know how long that is going to take. This whole project: costume, music, set and prop building, and video special effects has been a real shot in the arm and I am immensely grateful to Whedon et al. for giving us such a kickass reason to be creative.
That said, I would also like to warn everyone that Scorewriter 4.0 is a piece of shit. I had to upgrade from my old version to get it to work on my new computer, and it's like it was designed to piss you off and make you want to get GenieSoft's more expensive music composition software. Customizing layout for the workspace is pretty much impossible; it keeps reverting back to the defaults at the most arbitrary and worst possible times. And the cursor artifacts from using my pen tablet are extremely distracting. WTF? The unexpected learning curve on a deadline has been very unpleasant.
Faeriekind delight in spring,
That opens dainty flowers,
But warm zephyrs therein also bring
The calling of the Wander.
(This won't make much sense right now, it's for a project. Rough draftish. Making up a disease, and a culture and folklore that has sprung up around it. Think of this as their equivalent to "Ring Around The Rosy".)
Hey-ho, rosy-cheeks!
Come on out and play!
Step into the sun before
The Wander takes you away!
Mama will be cryin'
If you're out too late;
When you hear the pollen sing
You'll wander out the gate!
Thirteen days to reach the gorge
And then the clouds will sway!
Roots will be your only bread
While you grow flowers on your head!
Hey, ho! Hey, ho! Follow, follow me!
