Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Darker than Black: Kuro no Keiyakusha: Yin and Hei

darker than black: kuro no keiyakusha cosplay - yin and heiAn elite Contractor with Meister Code BK-201, Hei acts as the spy and assassin in his team, swiftly dealing death without fail. Yin acts as a support personnel, using her observation ability to locate individuals for Hei’s team. Their names are colors with Yin meaning Silver and Hei meaning Black.

Stunning cosplay by Julie and Sashasunji! And is that real snow? I hope they’re not too cold while doing this photo shoot! Thanks to Mariana for sending this in!

SFX Magazine Special - bow ties are COOL!

Today saw the publication of the SFX Magazine, Doctor Who: A Celebration.

I particularly wanted to grab a copy as I knew it was to contain a number of costume related items and articles, and it hasn’t disappointed.

While I was on my way to Forbidden Planet to pick up my copy, it occurred to me that the free bow tie could turn out to be some cardboard thing with elastic at the back!
Luckily it is a pukka clip-on bow tie, though a cheap one (hey! what do you expect for a giveaway?)

Only downside is that it’s a child-sized one! (see right, top).

The magazine comes in a large card envelope (see left) which also holds the bow tie and two badges (see above).

From the costume point of view, there are a couple of highlights.

First up as a feature interview with Series Five costume designer Ray Holman.
The best part of this is a discussion on the matt Smith costume, and a reproduction of the design itself! (see below - click to enlarge and read)


Later in the magazine is a four-page feature on the Doctor Who crafting, a lot of which appears on the Crafty TARDIS forum.

There’s a lot of knitting involved! I love the knitted Daleks, as well as the more obvious scarf-work (see left).

There is also coverage of the controversial knitted Adipose dolls, which resulted in a Cease and Desist from the BBC.

Just under that feature is one on Kevin Coppa, who has done a lot of conventions in his various Tennant costumes. He is shown in his Tennant Suit, with a wasp on his back! (see left - click to enlarge and read)

Elsewhere, there are lots of great reference photographs and articles worth a read.


SFX Special Edition:
Doctor Who – A Celebration
is available at £7.99 for a limited time at good good newsagents in the UK.
It is also available for download to read on the iPad from the iTunes App Store for £4.99
All in all well worth the £7.99 investment!

WWCPJ: 4th Participant from Peru!

Hi guys! the 4th Participant for our beloved Worldwide Cosplayer Photo Journey project was supposed to be Pop*Gal from U.S.A but she didn’t respond to Laurie’s (3rd Participant, Brazil) email and all. So Laurie picked another participant, who is Rita-Chan from Peru!!!

Apologies for the delay in updating but yes, the parcel is now on its way to PERU!!!! Wow! I feel like WWCPJ can really teach me a lot of geography^_^!

  

Brazil spotlight entry to come soon :D

Hong Kong Halloween Treats: Day 3 (Sino Centre & Food!)

Read the previous days here and here!

And the final day of our lovely trip T.T. It was a really lovely day! We took the train to Mongkok and just walked around. We headed for Sino Centre, the Mecca for Hong Kong Otakus but alas, it has not opened yet!
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This was what we saw…
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Every shop was closed =(. So we just walked around to ‘recce’ the area and see what was being sold before the crowd comes.

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Had nothing to do so we camwhored xD

And we walked past  'Heng Hiong' the famous Wife Biscuit franchise store.

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I've heard much about Hong Kong's Wife biscuits and was tasked to bring a box back.but when I first bite into the biscuit myself, I was so touched by the taste that I decided to lug 4box back! Mind you, 4 box weighed like 2kg!
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The white lotus filling was so soft, chewy, sweet but not diabetical. The pastry outside was warm with light flaky layers. It was really awesome, especially when eaten fresh.

And with the kind suggestion from the aunties at Heng Hiong, we hopped over to our next destination.

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A dimsum/ cantonese restaurant called ' Dao Xiang'. And there, we finally had some authentic Hong Kong Dimsum!!! I'll let the pictures do the talking.

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Siew Mai with an entire prawn and some fish roe on top!

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Roasted Pork bun.
Didn’t try any of this but Hiyuki and Jason were swearing by it’s good taste.

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Crystal buns of 2 different sorts
Fresh and succulent. The one with chives in them also had a slight tinge of salted fish *_*

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Steamed Soup Dumpling
Of course, who can forget every chinese’s favourite Dim Sum, Xiao Long Bao (Steamed Soup Dumpling)!

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Sesame Balls
Some sort of fried glutinous rice balls with white lotus paste inside. Fragrant and not overwhelming sweet! The crunchy and fragrant sesame seeds really adds a lot of punch.

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Chinese tea!
Guess what? I got a floating tea leave! That symbolises good luck ^_^

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Pan fried Dumplings!
Akira, don't you just envy us xD?


Random Photos below!

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Rochelle’s camera gears. Flickr screen wiper!

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Liked my outfit that day though sadly, no pics of it.

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Everyone taking photographs of the food xD!

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The food was good and fresh though the tea at 'Kuang Tong Xiao Chu' (our dining place the night before) was much more fragrant. But overall, the place was still nice and reasonably priced. The waiteress there were very helpful too !

Would definitely love to check the restaurant out again if I ever visit Hong Kong in the future. My only regret was not eating more =(

But I had to leave space for these!

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I think the heart shaped one was ordered by yours truly. Its mango pudding with mango slices, mango sauce and ice shavings. The treat on the right was by Json (if I remember correctly) which was a blend of black glutinous rice and mango cubes.

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Hiyuki and Jerry’s very luxurious dessert. Mango pudding with bird nest!

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Pudding has mango cubes inside :DD

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Yes! Mango desserts at the famous 'Shui Liu Shan' !!! The franchise only opens after 12pm.

After gorging ourselves with food, it was finally 2pm and we rushed back down to Sino Centre!

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Sino Centre boast 5 level (I might have gotten this wrong, anyone who has been there before can help verify the among of levels it has?) many Anime, manga and games selling shops.  Definitely an otaku haven and no otaku's trip to Hong Kong would be complete without a visit here! CTMA was another otaku haven which we didn't managed to check out, someone please fly me back to Hong Kong T.T !!!! I wanted to visit the maid cafes!
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Vocaloid CD with keychain and plastic card of sort.
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Arashi shelf! The price of a single shocks me O_O

One thing about the mall though, was how VERY cramped it was. And it can be difficult to find what you want because the whole place is just SO overwhelming!

One thing you can do (taught by Rochelle), is to visit the mall before the stores officially open and the crowd comes in. Then you'll be able to have a mental note of the items sold there and just hit the specific stores when they open.

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BL =X

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Saw and took photos of these really cute Tohou Mastercard before the shops opened. Had wanted to get one for you guys but I got so lost in the mall that I ended up leaving without finding them again T.T 

So another tip, write the store name and level down! Otherwise you'll end up as clueless as me x.x

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The store in question. According to Jason it was at the top level

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Paper 3D art! Yes, that elf lady warrior is made of paper!

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Random Chinese tea advertisement. Is funny xD

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Gravure idols merchandise =x

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Katana Umbrellas

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Bought 2 gashapon APH figurines! Gave them to gin n-n

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Sadly, this marks the end of my lovely Hong Kong trip. We had to rush back to the hotel around 4+, leaving Jerry behind alone.

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Our ride back :D

This marks the end of my very fabulous and rushed Hong Kong trip T_T! I wanna go back again!!!