Monday, August 29, 2016

The latest from the Cake Files

I realized today that I haven't posted any of my cakes in a while. Last month I did two cakes decorated in fondant to look like gift boxes.













The first cake was a black pepper spice cake I got out of an old copy of The Spice Cookbook - 1964 that was given to me a few months back.  The cake was good, but not nearly as spicy as I wanted.  I think next time I make it I'll add a bit more cloves and fresh ground black pepper.  I filled the cake with coconut cream. 

The bow was made with gum paste the week prior, and since I've been thinking a lot on the color yellow recently, I put yellow fondant polka dots over the main color fondant of pink.

The second cake I did was a two tier cake, the first tier being red velvet with a whipped cream filling, and the second tier was a funfetti cake (like the one I did for Mother's Day) with a dolce de leche filling.  Like the first cake, the bow was done out of gum paste and left to sit/harden for a week. I wrapped the base of each tier in a fake silver rhinestone ribbon. 

As I was carrying this cake to the person whose birthday it was, a woman told me she loved my "hat."  Looking at the photos, I can kind of see it now, actually. At the time I thought it was really funny that I had made a cake that was mistaken for a fancy hat.

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Movie Review - Mohenjo Daro

I haven't done a review in a long while - years, actually - and yesterday I felt inspired to finally sit down and write up another one.
           
A touching, heartfelt film that manages to breathe life into familiar story architecture against the artistically inspired backdrop of the ancient city, Mohenjo Daro.
Rating: (out of 5)

Have you heard the story of the orphaned farm lad who dreams of life beyond his provincial borders, so goes to the city/capital/castle and discovers he has a much deeper connection to the province/kingdom/royal family than he ever knew? Along the way he saves/falls in love with a woman of a higher station, and takes on an evil tyrant while learning the truth about his parents/heritage.

Yes? I should think so. It's a pretty standard Hero's Journey story across a lot of cultures and Mohenjo Daro hits all of those beats as well as a few other major tropes (see below).  But if I avoided every story that utilized storytelling tropes or followed a Hero's Journey, I would never pick up a book or watch a film ever again.  And in doing so I would miss out on the richness stories bring to our lives, and completely overlook gems like Mohenjo Daro.  This is a film that shines because of its heart, not its cutting-edge storyline.

Saturday, August 20, 2016

SDCC 2016 - The (late) Highlights Reel

So I'm finally getting back into a post-SDCC, post-Nerdfest!, post-GISHWHES routine - just in time for me to move in to a new place... Yup. That's how I roll.


Monday, August 8, 2016

Musings on Yellow - The Sun Dress

“I don’t think I’m going to get it.”

“Why?”

“I don’t look good in yellow.” I don’t, maybe, but my blonde hair matches the pattern of yellow flowers on the short, flowy summer dress.

“But it’s adorable.” It is.

I shrug.

“You usually love this style.” I do.

“Yellow makes me look all pasty.” It doesn’t. I don’t think.

“It does not. And it’s covered in sunflowers. Sunflowers are awesome.” They are.

“I can’t afford it.” I could.

“I don’t need it.” I didn’t.

I wanted it, though. It was cute. But… it was yellow. Well, a bit of white covered in yellow and gold sunflowers.  The soft material slid sweetly through my fingers, swished back into place.


Five years later and I’m still thinking about that damn sun dress.  I wish I had bought it when I had the chance.

Friday, August 5, 2016

Stabbing at a river...

"Where is the Orcslayer!?"
"Killing a river."
???

- Journey Quest, Episode 3

And of course, the next time we see this "warrior" he is, in fact, attempting to stab a river to death with a sword. Because.... reasons.

Anyways, July was crazy busy. So was June for that matter, but June was the kind of crazy build-up busy that leads to a level of schedule madness that can only be described as, well, July. My July at least.

San Diego Comic Con was amazing fun, Nerdfest!2016 (Wizarding World) was meant to be 24 hours of movie marathoning and themed food but actually ended up lasting over 25 hours, and I found a new place to live so I've been prepping a move. Last week was also finals week - 11 hours of finals which were done over the course of 1.5 days.  Also, I became an aunt to two beautiful twin girls.  So you know, not much has been happening. >_>

I have been working on writing up the panels I attended at SDCC, going through the pictures from Nerdfest, and working on a new piece I might serialize. So, unlike last time I updated, there is more to come soon.