Trying to catch up/Introducing the Beta Experiment

Today is Easter Saturday.

I went to bed at about 2am, and woke up late. Played computer for a few hours after I got up and then went into town, hopes held high that I could find all the bits I needed for the redux on the Weeping Angels that I'm doing with my mates.

Hopes fell. It was not my best day, and mostly consisted of driving around and not finding the plaster bandage that we need to redo the masks. There's like, one shop I know of in Newcastle that stocks the stuff - a two-dollar type thing that's down the road from my house. They didn't have any in stock. I tried spotlight, and failed, and tried Eckersley's, and couldn't even find the shop.

Filled with sads, I gave up on the bandage and went to bunnings, determined to be able to tick off at least one thing on the list. Finding mop heads, bondcrete and gap filler made things a little better. And then I remembered that there was ice cream at home, and maybe splurged a little.

It's now 7pm, and I'm sitting in the loungeroom, in winter flanno pjs, sucking down water because ice cream headaches are your own fault. The lights are off, and I'm staring into the soft white glow of my laptop screen, relying on the light spilling onto my keyboard and the touch-typing skills that I picked up in NaNo to write.

The house is very quiet - housemate is at a music festival. Just my music and the tattoo of the keyboard.

Anyway. Consider that the ice-breaking story for the day. I'm being a little quiet, and a little by myself, and I've not done the blog post for this week for Directed Studies. (Yes, I posted yesterday, but that wasn't in my plans for Directed Studies; it was more like something that happened along the way.)

So, this video tab has been sitting open on my browser for ages. Thought now would be a good time to talk about my next project.

N

You forgot the 'n', Gerard Butler.

Historical inaccuracies and the hilarity of having a man with a Scottish accent play a Spartan aside, my project has nothing to do with 300, or Sparta.

Spartan, though...

Last year, I made the foolish decision to start watching Red vs Blue. I mean, it's entertaining, and clever, but I got hooked and spent far too much time watching it when I could have been working.

Requirements:
Lots of Internet
Lots of Time
Understanding for internet humour
High tolerance for foul language

Win some, lose some.

The character Tex was appealing. The Halo Spartan armour was appealing. The job was something ridiculously impossible looking.

It was really only a matter of time before I took the project.

Why was it that Tex was appealing? How she fit in with the story, I guess. She starts off as a mercenary, and then you find out all sorts of interesting backstory that is...yeah. Interesting, and cool, and a little bit sad. She's a formidable fighter as well. (I'll probably end up putting her backstory into the documentation for Directed Studies rather than here. Spoilers. Blah blah blah.)

The thing that was kind of stopping me from taking on the project was uni. Mostly because it would be a big one, so I'd either need a lot of time or some way to actually incorporate it into my course. And then Directed Studies came along.

And I began the Beta Experiment.

Um.

Etymology.

At least according to Wikipedia. "In computing the term "beta" is used as (usually) the last pre-release in the software release life cycle. It is sometimes referred to as 0.x in version numbers or x.x bx where x represents a number."

So, the draft for your assignment or project that is titled "final_last_absolute_last_2.0_FINAL" before you go and rename the thing to send to your assessor? That's the Beta. The last version before the production model.

Beta is relevant because of the nature of the project, and Beta is relevant because of the nature of the character. I can only address one of these without referring to things that are a bit spoiler-ish in nature, so if, for whatever reason, you choose to familiarise yourself with the RvB universe, Beta becomes clear enough eventually.

Beta is an exploration into how I do things. I mean, I'm pretty good with figuring things out. But I always come out at the end of a project and go, 'this would have been easier if I'd done this and this and this...' And because all of my costumes are one-offs, they're never slated or made in a way that's suitable for production. My costumes are fun, and I love making them, but they're never cost-effective. I have friends ask if I could make this or that, and I usually end up directing people to a source that's better than mine. I mean, I could make costumes for other people. But I take too long doing them by themselves, and would end up feeling really bad about charging a price that would accurately reflect the amount of time put in.

So generally, my costumes are all left at the beta stage. There are some that I get to revisit (See 'The Sequel Machine' and also the post about the Weeping Angels. Ironfest is coming and we're getting the band back together.) but for the most part, once I make a costume, that's it.

This project kind of deals with that. Not as a problem. Not as something that glorifies that in-between state of imperfection (because that is something I find simultaneously fascinating and infuriating. Like having a picture hung just a couple degrees shy of straight). Just the ness of the state, if that makes sense.

I don't know if it's making sense. I started writing this post on Saturday night and it's now Tuesday. I've gone home, and my sisters are alternating between beatboxing and trying to get me to look at different things on the interwebs.

At the moment Prue's talking about the activity on her Tumblr. Something about Daryl Dixon and a dramatic zombie.

ANYWAY. BETA.

BETA PROJECT IS ABOUT HOW I'M NOT ABLE TO PRODUCE COSTUMES THAT CAN BE SOLD AT THE KIND OF PRICE A PLEB WOULD PAY FOR SOMETHING. THAT'S WHY THEY BUY STUFF MADE OUT OF POLYESTER FROM ASIA.

Thinking is at the moment, something I have to do by yelling in my head.

I guess Beta also kind of works with the armour because Boyfriend is making Halo armour too. And while I'm adamant at least in my head that I can't make his as well, I know mine will be the experiment. The one that has most of the mistakes happen because I'll figure something out, and then his will benefit from it. But I guess that's fine. Tex's armour can be the beta.

#firstbornproblems, or something.
ugh, hashtags.

Anyway. If it makes the entry any more amusing, I'd let you know that I put a box on my head this afternoon and actually felt really good about it. It was like some kind of security-helmet-thing. If this project doesn't turn me barmy, then I think it may end up propelling me through the other side of crazy. Ironfest is in three weeks and I haven't made anything.

I'm going to DIE.

Life lessons from Video Games and Anime.

I probably need to start this post by presenting you, the reader, with some important things. They aren't by themselves and of themselves of great importance, but they will make sense shortly.

It goes without saying that I am an avid gamer. It's pretty evident for my face-to-face mates, and probably traceable from the blog posts that exist so far. I'm into RPGs and puzzle games, but also a lot of the culture that comes with it. So, while I play games like Zelda and Final Fantasy, I also follow Red vs. Blue and understand a lot of the terminology that comes with the territory.

Like the bit where you don't give Caboose anything pointy, ever.

That aside, I actually spent a lot of my childhood during Christmas holidays playing Zelda. But not any other time of year, because it was our Aunts who lived in Queensland who owned the game.

By leaps and bounds and walkthroughs, we made it, and seven years after we started fiddling with the '64, we beat Ganon.

Well, Jack's file beat Ganon. It was a joint effort between him and myself.

So yeah. Ocarina of Time was kind of instrumental in how I see stories and the world and the characters. It was a little weird back in January when I realised the list of similarities between reality and Hyrule.

That can be saved for later.

But then.

Part of the whole Zelda thing is the fact that you, the protagonist, have to save the Princess and the Kingdom from the Evil Socerer and obtain the Triforce (magical thing that lets you do whatever the heck you want). But the push behind your character obtaining the Triforce, and the reason why the bad guy can't hold it, is because he is out of balance (and also evil.).

The Triforce splits and then he gets the third devoted to Power, which is what he has.

You, the player, get the bit that is for the guy with the most Courage, because obviously you have to be crazy brave or crazy stupid to fight giant spiders, dinosaurs, jellyfish, ghosts, dragons, more jelly creatures, more ghosts, witches and Big Bad himself.

The Princess (your girlfriend (or your sister, according to Jack)) gets the bit of the triforce with Wisdom. Probably because they need another thing to tie you and Big Bad and the Legend of Zelda, even though your character's name is Link.

So, Ganon just wants his Power bit and Zelda's Wisdom bit. And somehow you and Zelda beat him. Courage and Wisdom.

Courage and Wisdom.

Slightly monumental in how I see things. Because, well, not just the Triforce.

It takes Courage to go out and do something gutsy. But Wisdom kind of helps in making sure that you don't behave like a complete idiot when you do keep going. Power? Pfft. Power is good in getting you places. But I have found over time that, in keeping with Japanese RPGs and mute fairy boys, if you know what to do, all you need to do is be willing to stick your neck out and try.

And that's something that I wish I saw more of in the real world.

To keep trying. To pick yourself up and stand, even when everything else tells you that you should just lie down and die. To keep your heart in the centre of the maelstrom because there's every chance that if you stay, you can fix it.

This is especially important, because I spent a lot of my teenage years hiding mine and running away. When I wasn't trying to figure out how to interact with people who'd learned those skills back when they were eight.

Homeschooling has its ups and downs.

So yeah. Courage. Need it.

Wisdom. Need that too. I spend a lot of time with my feet in my mouth. Maybe not literally, but figuratively? Dude, if you want figurative I have three feet. It's ridiculous, and there's no excuse for it. So. Get Wisdom. It does miles of good.

What else?

Not Power.

Resolve.

I learned Resolve a little bit later down the track.

I mentioned Bleach a while back. You can read the synopsis there if you really want.

Part of the whole Bleach thing that I didn't mention in the post about the Giant Black Butterfly From Hell was how the protagonist has to go and rescue the girl and fight the Big Bad.

Sound familiar?

There's more drama and action and yelling in Bleach. And more blood. But, the thing that the protagonist has to learn before he saddles up and storms the fortress is that he would face up against things determined to bring him down. To kill him. And he had a duty there; to protect her. Save the girl from an execution, because she had saved him before. Protect her with the ability she'd given him.

I understand if it reads a little weird, or if it doesn't immediately make sense where all this is going just yet. I'll get there.

The guy who trains the protagonist teaches him the value of Resolve. Of deciding something and deciding it so strongly that your eyes glow and you gain the will to see this thing through.

So, it takes a certain setup to make one's eyes glow, and an even more careful one to make a human's eyes glow without causing permanent damage to them. But that's not really the point.

The point, and the value in learning Resolve, is that Ichigo, the protagonist, takes on an army of enemies. I'm including Squad 11 in there, for those who follow the series and want to get nitpicky. On just about every occasion he is only just able to defeat them; partially because it makes for a good story, partially because the Anime producers want you to tune in next week, and partially because he decides to get off his rear and do this thing.

Sometimes it's because Shiro rocks up. But Shiro will get a blog post later.

So, the series teaches the viewer/reader the importance of protecting what you hold dear (in Ichigo's case, it's pretty much always his friends. Unless he's sparring with his Dad.), and the value in Resolving to see something through. Because otherwise, nothing will change.

Like I mentioned in the other Post, Bleach didn't get discovered until I was in my final year of High School. But the idea of Resolve stuck, and stuck as well and as truly as the aforementioned Courage and Wisdom combo.

Because, when I started thinking about it, it takes Courage to stand up and grab your sword/item of a catalyst nature. It takes Wisdom to know what to do with that Sword. But it takes Resolve to hang onto it.

So go out. Be willing to do something, even when the odds seem poor. Don't do a half-assed job with something because you couldn't be bothered, or if it didn't resonate with you the way you wanted. Talk to people, whether or not you think that they're mad. Treasure what's around you, because chances are that you'll have to defend it at some point in time and not only will you want that thing you're protecting to be solid, but you'll want to be solid when you stand up. Start properly, and finish properly.

Be Courageous.

Be Wise with that Courage.

Be Resolute when you're being Wise with that Courage.

And something worthwhile might just happen.