How I met Andrew Jenks

Ohmygod it's been awhile, I go to an art school and Finals means absolutely no time. Between Pokemon League and homework I'm just swamped (and losing followers! No come back I can change!)

Despite being ridiculously busy I did make time to hit up a panel run by an alumni who works on the show World of Jenks, one of my favorites. As a college freshman I sometimes feel incredibly lonely sometimes and the first few weeks I spent a lot of time in my dorm. One night when my roommate was out I just felt a big cry come on, and as soon as I did this show came on. It was the Chad episode, which I've seen at least a dozen times but it really cheered me up and reminded me how many good and interesting people there are out there.

Aside from that mush, so alumni (I'm hesitant to post his name, sorry :( watch the credits!) comes and gives a presentation on how he went from being a Film student to working for MTV. We got to see a lot of production stills and posters from the show and he told us some great stories about working on the show and behind-the-scenes things that just made me giggle. My roommates spilled the beans about halfway through that I was a h-u-g-e fan and after the panel he turned to me and said "Well do you want to talk to him?"

I'm delighted and horrified my roommate Jenn (Everyday Acrophony) recorded a video of this. My IQ took a sudden drop in points as he handed the phone to me, and in between babbling and excitment I asked him to come speak at our school and that I loved his show, etc. etc. Of course all these people around me just had to start screaming so I had a harder time hearing what he said back to me :( However Jenks sounds exactly like he does on TV as he does on the phone, after a minute or so I said by and handed it back to our presenter, totally embarrassed. It's one of those really exciting moments where I wish I could have said something cool, but it was really sweet of him to take the time to talk to some giggling fan.

And that is my celebrity encounter, they're unsure right now if World of Jenks will have a second season since it all depends on ratings. It's no Jersey Shore but it'd mean a lot to me if everyone just checked it out, it really makes my week every Monday and I hope if a second season does happen Jenks will speak at my school.

In closing, World of Jenks is on Mondays @ 10 EST and usually the re-runs air on non prime-time hours (since it isn't the Jersey Shore). The Monday I talked to Jenks we ran back to our dorm to catch the V.V. Brown episode and I've been listening to this song nonstop:



In news other than my obsession with reality TV, trying to score Star Night Theater since it seems everyone's unloading it right about now...

Wig Dying: FW Ink and Nia formula

As a huge Gurren Lagann fan I can say without a doubt that Nia is probably one of the prettiest characters I've ever seen, period. Even next to Yoko, my wifey, her design just jumps out of the screen at me whether it be just her ~PRETTY CLOUD HAIR~ or ~FLOWER EYES~. I just really like the way she looks even if I'm not her biggest fan.

I've been cosplaying Yoko since 2008 and I've seen tons of people struggling to get her wig right. Ultimately I feel as if it comes down to "Do you want to be accurate or look good?" A lot of sharpie dyes on blonde wigs will turn the fibers a more green-teal tone rather than light blue. My group of friends has cosplayed Nia multiple times and here's our method:

First off, we use white wigs- not blonde. Oh goodness no! But Nia herself has very pale blonde and if you've ordered uber-platinum wigs before you'd know that they can be unforgivably shiny and gross. So already we are going down the path of 'Look more like the character than look accurate.', so if you want to be the most accurate Nia like no one ever was, then maybe you should stop reading.

Our white wigs always come from cog_marc, a quick search under 'white' may bring up a number of curly/wavy wigs. The exact one we've purchased over and over doesn't seem to be in stock but this may be where you experiment with other shops.

While their wigs appear more wavy than curly this is about what you can expect!

cog_marc's wigs are very well priced and if you can afford it, I might suggest buy two white ones and wefting them together. From here we essentially just throw the wig onto a wig head and get to painting. Painting? Yes, painting.

Things you need:

1. Sponge brushes, preferably 4-5. These are about $0.50 at Joann fabrics.
2. FW Ink, Get one in white and one in blue, go for Process Cyan. A little pricey but if you're cosplaying Nia you're probably already spending a good chunk on this costume anyways.
3. 70% Isoproyl alcohol, $3 drug store. Grab a 90% incase it becomes too blue, soaking the wig in it will take out some of the pigment.
4. Also some paper bowls to pour the mix into, this stains plastic ware.




Our formula for Nia is usually 3 parts white, 2 parts blue but that's for making a very subdued blue. If you'd like to go a tad brighter throw in a few more drops of blue. You can deposit this straight into the alcohol, when you've added the ink, shake it up and go at it.

Outdoors, no flash, shade/low sunlight. Point-and-shoot camera.

Indoors, no flash. Terribad lighting.

Outdoors, sunshine, no flash.

Outdoors, harsh sunlight, point and shoot.

Sorry having trouble finding indoor flash photos! But you get the idea. This is a very light, subdued blue that really comes across well in person and certain lighting situation but not always on camera.

I used the same FW Ink method on my Mieu wig except with 5 parts blue, 3 parts white:

Outdoors, no flash, point and shoot.

Indoors, flash, point and shoot. Demon face.

Indoors, no flash, point and shoot.

Outdoors, no flash. D-SLR. See the difference a nice camera can make?

For those looking for a bright blue pop to their wig might was to opt for 3 parts white and 4 parts cyan but make sure to test on a lock of the wig's hair first! Pour the mix into a bowl, dip with your sponge brush and just paint it on.

TL;DR, mix your own damn formula however you damn well please. Snip off a lock and do test strands if you're super paranoid about ruining a wig. Or just come up with your method for a Nia wig, this just happens to be ours!

Hope it was helpful, if you have any questions I can answer in the comments!

Wigfashion, and why you should buy from them.

I don't think I'm dedicating this blog solely to reviewing anything, mostly because I suck at being interesting and am horrendously biased. But I haven't posted much lately so here's another review that might be helpful.

Next to my Cyperous wig my Lal Mirch from Katekyo Hitman Reborn wig is my absolute favorite. I mean, look at this shit, it's glorious. And for only $27 it is one of the better cosplay purchases I've ever made. God bless wigfashion

The wig itself is really high quality for what I paid for, it's not horrendously shiny and actually has a nice matte-sheen to it like natural hair

Quality: Not heat resistant but heavenly smooth and extremely manageable. Even after a day of wear it takes less than ten minutes to detangle. The style doesn't budge a bit even if it's been sitting in a bag for weeks on end, though I do keep it on a wig head at home now. I didn't need any hairspray and barely had to trim the bangs for this wig.

Thickness: Nothing spectacular but it's the styling that gives this wig body, it's about medium thickness and I never had a problem with wefts or a wig cap peeking out.


Shipping: Shipping is what you can expect from China, but the total cost when I bought this a year and a half ago it arrived in about 2 weeks-ish.

I also purchased a blonde version of this wig a few months later (it doesn't seem to be listed on their ebay anymore) I was a little disappointed in it if only because the wig had a few flyaways that may have just been damage from the shipping. The fibers didn't feel as smooth as my Lal wig but still very nice and good for the price I paid.

First picture is indoors, no flash on a Nikon Coolpix.

Indoors, itty bitty hotel room w/ Flash. On a point and shoot.

Photobucket won't let me crop picture atm so enjoy this huge-ass picture of me and my frannns.

No flash, indoors. A really really sweet D-SLR.

Hope this helps~ <3

Guguguguguguguo

Hi blogger, it's been a hectic weekend, which is why I haven't been posting recently :/

Our school's bookstore is huge and reminds me of a store you might see in Diagon Alley, it's all elegant wood, grand staircase and books stacked on top of each other for pillars. Though I imagine there isn't a comic book section in Dervish and Banges, we do have one since we're an art school with a comic book major.

On a recent jaunt to the bookstore I picked up History of the West Wing by Sun Jiayu and Guo Guo, I just flipped through it before immediately deciding to grab it. It was just too pretty, and I find historical China to be fascinating, so this book was looking to be a winner. I dove into it as soon as I got back to the dorm and finished it about an hour later. I won't really go into much of the plot but you can get a synopsis here.

Wow, the story is just- kind of like a roller coaster you can't get off, it is just too quick. It's hard to tell where one clear thought ends and another begins because they jump around so much that I had a headache keeping up. The characters are also flat, boring and lack any chemistry on the page.

If I have any cheers for History of the West Wing it's that it is absolutely gorgeous, but in my opinion pretty art can't make up for a badly told story. The whole thing is in color and includes some extra illustrations at the end, but I'd rather they used those extra pages to help the story rather than LOOK AT THESE PRETTY CHARACTERS

Overall, Art gets and A+ and Story gets a thumbs down. I'd recommend flipping through this at your local Borders but I kind of wish I had my $13 back.