I Vomit Rainbows

I’ve been running around Japan and ComiCon the last few weeks! Will post more about Japan after the next thing I’m doing.. DefCon! The world’s awesomest hacker convention! On FRIDAY you’ll have a chance to get some original art from me, if you show up at the Queercon party that night. It’ll be in the hardware hacking area, two rooms, and there’s a bar. I’ll be making custom postcards, and projecting it on the wall. On SATURDAY I’ll be at the Ninja Party. Seeya there!

Kyoto was the capital of Japan for a while, and is a fascinating city seeped in tradition. My favorite parts of the city are the red pagodas and temples. Our bus took us to Kiyomizu Temple first, which has a large Buddhist temple built into the side of a mountain. It also has the Otowa waterfall where you can drink from streams to increase your wisdom, health, and longevity. You can only choose two, because if you drink from all three, you’re greedy and will just have bad luck. There’s also the Jinsu shrine, where you walk with your eyes closed between two rocks. If you make it to the second rock, you’ll find true love.

For lunch we went to the Tofu Resteraunt, Okabeya, where we had hot tofu and a bunch of side dishes. It was nice trying new things, but a bunch of us dashed off to eat crepes right after. Me and Dave split one that had blueberry cheesecake in it. No ice cream in it though   On the way back to the bus, I found a Miyuzaki and Domokun store (seriously, that’s all it had), which made me super super giddy.

Walking around Kinkaku-ji to see the Golden Temple was pretty awesome. It’s a zen Buddhist temple built in 1397, whose top two stories are covered in gold leaf. There was a really nice garden walk on the temple grounds.

After that, we went to another Buddhist temple, Ryōan-ji, and checked out their rock garden.

Afterwards, me, Dave, Matt, and their parents went hunting for some curry. We eventually found a place that we thought had it, but it ended up being something else. It was tasty though. It was their first time ordering food from a vending machine, having the kitchen cook it, and bring it to them.

Then, Dave, Matthew and I went hunting for Cat’s Time, a famous cat cafe in Osaka. We walked and eventually found it, but it was 9:30p and they were closing soon. We got to pet a couple cats though, and the place was adorable. We stopped at a grocery store on the way back (no Tokyo-X, sorry Erin). By the time we got home, our feet were throbbing and exhausted.

Photos in this post by David Mertl and Pinguino.

So I left off when we went to go find a bar playing World Cup at 2:30a. We got super duper lost, but eventually made it to the place we saw earlier, Pop Masters. When we went in, we were greeted by super friendly bartenders. Dave got them to put the game on, and we hung out there all night.

At 9a we boarded a bus to Nara, which was the first capital of Japan. It later moved to Kyoto. Nara is known for having tons of tamed deer, because the deer there are thought to be the descendants of the Great White Deer spirit. For a while, it was illegal to kill a deer, and if you were found with a dead one, the authorities would have you executed. Eventually, someone left a deer on the doorstep of parliment, and that law was revoked.

The deer are SO absolutely adorable. They’re all over the place, and very friendly. There were tons of baby deer running around, though they were a bit more skittish. Some of the deer had huge sets of antlers, which were fuzzy when you touched them. For $1.50 they sell packs of deer biscuits that are made of rice. It’s like crack for deer. They’ll follow you and try to eat through your purse to get to the biscuits.

We walked through Nara Park, admiring the hundreds of stone lanterns that were shrines to shinto spirits. Our guide explained that Buddhism is so easily accepted in Japan because the first main religion, Shinto, has about 4 billion dieties, and adding one more to the list was no big deal.

The first shrine we came across was one dedicated to love and it’s where single people go for ceremonies, charms, and to pray. It looks very Valentine’s day.

We saw lots of great architecture. One interesting thing about Nara was that since it’s older than the other cities, it had chinese architecture, inspired by the Tang Dynasty. When the Buddhists gained power and moved the government to Kyoto, that’s where the Japanese style of architecture was developed.

We took a break and had a super traditional Japanese lunch. There was somen, miso soup, sekihan rice (rice with red beans), and an assortment of fairly intensely flavored dishes in a bento box. There was some tofu that was super inflated with some broth, tempura fishcakes, pickled stuff, a smoked scallop, and some other stuff. Most of the people in our group were not fans of the bento, but really enjoyed the somen and miso soup.

After lunch, Dave and I went into a gift shop cuz Dave wanted to show me a cute kitten he saw playing in the back. The shopkeeper talked to us a little, and he ended up giving us a giant bag of broken deer biscuits. I went out and soon had four deer surrounding me (three males, one female). The biggest one kept hogging all the food, and actually bodychecked another deer to push it away from my hand. This was the most fun thing I’ve done on the trip so far. Deer have velvety lips, and don’t seem to bite. I did end up with deer slobber all over my hand though (gross!)

We walked to another temple, and there was a loud thunderclap. Instantly, about fifty Japanese people ran towards an alcove. It was sunny. A minute later, the hardest rain I’ve ever been in happened. We all ran for cover, too. I wish I had video of that.

I forgot to pack for rain. Jack gave me his umbrella so I could protect my camera (and Matthew’s camera, and 4 iphones). By the time we all walked to Tōdai-ji to see the biggest bronze Buddha in the world, water was sloshing in my shoes, and I was drenched up to my knees. But it was all worth it, because the Daibutsu (Great Buddha) was mindblowingly gigantic. He is housed in the biggest wooden building in the world. It is 2/3 smaller than the one one it had, which had caught on fire and was rebuilt in 1709. The reason it was made smaller was because the samurai had chopped down too many trees for their forts and castles when they took over, so there wasn’t enough wood.

We got back to the hotel and immediately went out to a pharmacy that Matthew had seen. Jack had gotten attacked by some vampiric bloodsucking insect, which he pulled off his skin and splattered onto a wall. I got 6 mosquito bites yesterday at Osaka Castle, and had a severe allergic reaction. The same thing happened to me 6months ago in Hawaii, so I knew what it was, but it was still really really bad. The pharmacist didn’t speak english, but he handed me a box with a bunch of smiling insects on it.

When we got back, we went to one of the resteraunts in the hotel with Dave’s grandpa. Almost everyone got sushi, which was arranged beautifully. The fish was so fresh that the octopus wasn’t chewy and didn’t have that octopus taste I hate. And everyone (except Dave) was scared of their salmon roe sushi (big poofy orange fish eggs), and gave it all to me Win!

After a five hour nap, Dave, Matthew, and I went back out to Pop Masters to watch another World Cup match. This time, for the most part, we were the only customers there. They were prepared for us; they had the game on and had english menus for us. I got a really delicious lychee orange drink. Then, I drew some pictures and was able to order a couple redbull vodas off-menu. Yay! Spain won, and we came back. I’ve been awake since then, because this is the only time of day I have decently fast internet.

To see all of my Nara pictures, click here.

Yesterday, I boarded a plane with Dave and his family. We spent the entire day traveling. Most of it was on Korean Air, which is a pretty good airline. The best part was the awesome entertainment systems, which also had USB chargers. Also there were cupholders. Why don’t all planes have cupholders?

We’re staying at the City Plaza Osaka Hotel. That night, we ate at the fancy Japanese restaurant with sweeping views of the city. I had some soba egg soup. Today, we  had breakfast at the hotel buffet, which had some American food, but was largely Japanese. It was awesome.

Then we took a walk to the Osaka Castle, in the dripping humidity that none of us were used to.

We found a really interesting shrine there, and bought some fortunes.

Then, we got lost trying to find the giant crabs on Dotonbori, and couldn’t find the amazing ramen place I went to last time I was here. But we ended up at a place that had absolutely fantastic sushi.

For dessert, we had Beard Papa. We split a pie flavored cream puff, which is a zillion times better than any cream puff I’ve seen in LA.

After that, we walked back to the hotel. One of the weirdest things we saw was a 30min line for a newly opened Krispy Kreme.

We found a Kit Kat store, which had aloe yogurt kit-kats. Amazingly, it was really good.

We also saw a random shrine set between a few apartment buildings.

Dave’s dad got me a badge for the International Puzzle Party, and then we chilled in the room. A phone call scared us cuz Dave’s mom let us know the hotel had a 1a curfew. We sent Dave’s brother Matthew downstairs, and he found out that it just meant that the hotel closes, but you can get back in through a door that works with your key. We were worried, because we’re planning on going out at 3a to watch the World Cup.

Uploading this post on our super slow internets; hope it works! More to come.

Why is it that liver is one of the grossest foods out there, but fattened duck liver is one of the tastiest? We went to the Breadbar to find out what happens when you make ramen out of foie gras. They normally do bread, but for one month they have guest chefs Ironnori & Kazu cook up something different. The event is called the Pop-Up Yatai Ramen Twist. Verdict: TASTY.

We started with the pork feet gyoza, which was good, flakey, and didn’t taste like feet at all. Not that I know what feet taste like!

This is the oxtail and truffle oil ramen that Dave and Chris both got. They liked it, but I didn’t as much. It had an overpowering smokey taste that I wasn’t into. I stole an egg though. Yum!

Erin and I both ordered the Foie Gras Ramen and loved it. The broth was incredibly rich and exploding with smokey flavor. The noodles were slippery and crinkley. The foie gras simply dissolved in your mouth, and they gave you a giant chunk of it, too. It was an amazing experience, and if I had the chance to get it again, I would. It’s probably a good thing that this place is only around for a month.

I got interviewed by a new site- ani.me!

Check it out here:  http://www.ani.me/zine/anime/article/13/

Every so often, I’ll hear about someone who doesn’t know who the Flying Spaghetti Monster is, and it makes me sad. It also makes baby Jesus cry. Flying Spaghetti Monster is the awesomest diety out there. He’s made of pasta and full of noodly goodness. He created Earth after drinking a lot. The Pope even likes the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

The religion behind the Flying Spaghetti Monster was created in 2005 as an argument against the teaching of intelligent design in schools as an alternate to evolution. It was presented to the Kansas Board of Education. It became an internet meme.. and now appears in cupcake form (for Paul’s birthday). I made these last February and forgot to post about them.

Noodles = frosting
Meatballs =  hazelnut candies
Eyes = bits of Pocky mounted to chocolate chips
Marinara = strawberry jam mixed with thawed frozen strawberries
Stalks = Pocky (original flavor)
Cheese = shredded white chocolate chips
Cupcake base flavor = vanilla.

(Above: Rickmond and Paul enjoy FSM cupcakes at The Rustic Spoon)

I hadn’t been updating my blog as much as I should have. I’ve actually been doing lots of fun art stuff this spring, so I wanted to post about some of them.

Eliot’s Birthday! Me and my friends went over-the-top with strange and sometimes edible art projects. First, Erin (readiness) and I made hacker cupcakes out of fondant. It’s the first time that either of us had messed with it. First we sketched out wii-style heads of our friends:

Then we cut shapes out, either freestyling with a knife, or using cookie cutters, and ended up with these:

Dave’s idea was to make Eliot some Laser Boob Cupcakes, based on a business card design he’d been using lately. We took two cupcakes and jammed laser pointers into them, with the “on” buttons taped permanently to “on.” Then, I covered the cupcakes in pink icing and added some red around the center.

Which brings us to the last art project. Jeans Top Hat (though it looks like a Dr. Suess hat). This hat is in response to a twitter. It took me 2 hrs to make, out of jeans, a grocery bag, duct tape, a clothes hanger, and safety pins.

from sweetums:
Things that should be denim: jeans. Things that shouldn’t: everything else. #denimbustiersrsly?!

Careful what you twitter around your birthday.

More pics and the hacker drinkup party at Rick’s Tavern are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinguino/sets/72157623602392806/

Dave got me into this crazy blog called Sleep Talkin’ Man. It’s about a British guy who talks in his sleep, and his personality does a 180. He says some really funny things. Since I first started reading the blog, I’d been wanting to draw some of the phrases. Here are a couple that I finished:

Chris (cnelson) showed me a video about augmented reality cookies, and I knew that had to be the next baking project. The premise behind this is to hold a cookie with a special mark on it, and a webcam would render a shape over the cookie, even if you rotated it. We were going to make it so that when you bit into a cookie, you’d get a silly mustache on your face.

Of course, I waited til last minute to make the dough, and was trying to measure out 1cm tall chunks at 2am. But the bigger problem was that the dough was defrosting fast as I was trying to build the cookies, and I was worried that it wouldn’t be smooth enough to scan.

But the cookie block did look fine the next day, and sliced easily. We laid them onto cookie sheets and baked them. In Chris’s sunny computer room, they did scan. However, the program was having problems with the contrast. Next time, add more blue and red food coloring, as well as more melted chocolate, to give your cookies more contrast.

Chris was in charge of making the code work with the cookies. He used Processing and NyARToolkit to make that happen.

I also made some onigiri rice balls with the trigger shape cut out, and some quick California rolls. The rolls didn’t trigger the software, but the riceballs did. We showcased these at Hacker Drinkup 100, at Rick’s Tavern.

I drew a bunch of mustaches that would display randomly. Here is what your options were:

Screenshots from Chris’s App: http://id.cnelson.org/augmented-stache

Eliot’s Blog Post: http://www.robotskirts.com/2010/05/27/augmented-reality-mustaches/

My Flickr Set of Hacker Drinkup 100: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinguino/sets/72157624155168304/

I think we’re a bit obsessed with augmented reality now, so expect more cool stuff from us soon!