Would you like a Jelly Baby?

While attending the Toronto Hobby Show 2009, it was something other than the scale models and hobby models that caught my attention. There was a stand, a candy stand that was selling imported sweets and snacks from UK, and immediately I thought of the one single thing I knew about English snacks. Jelly Babies.

Now, there were quite a few kinds of Jelly Babies, as it turns out, so since I didn't know which ones were the ones that Doctor Who was so very fond about, I decided to get two of the most legit looking ones. As it turns out after a bit of research, the show doesn't seem to mention specifically the brand, which is quite different from things are done here in North America, where brand names are everywhere.

Further research revealed that Jelly Babies were first launched in 1919 under the name Peace Babies to celebrate the end of the First World War, but production was suspended when WWII started due to both a shortage of material supply and the irony of the name. All is not lost, since after the war, the brand was relaunched in 1953 as Jelly Babies. In 1989 however, the company that was producing the Jelly Babies, Basetts, was taken over by Cadbury Schweppes, but the production of the product Jelly Babies, thank goodness, was not stopped.

By this logic, if the 4th Doctor Who's tenure, who single handedly gave Jelly Babies more publicity than it will ever need, lasted from 1971 to 1981 then it is reasonable to conclude that, unfortunately, it will be quite impossible to enjoy the exact same kind of Jelly Babies that Doctor Who was so obsessed about since the company that produced the Jelly Babies at the time was acquired by Cadbury Schweppes.

I cannot say persoanlly if the quality and taste of Jelly Babies changed at all since I wasn't even born at the time of the aquisition, but if Coca-Cola is any good comparison, then I'm fairly sure that over the years, the product would have changed regardless of whether the acquisition happened or not. Products must change in order to keep up with the times and meet the requirements of the customers. Change is both a proactive force and a reactive response, which over time will produce something different, even if the name remain the same. One does indeed grow tired of Jelly Babies, but so as long the Jelly Babies continue to change and evolve, it will be nigh impossible for people to stop asking the question "Would you like a Jelly Baby?"

Have a Jelly Baby, and good day to you.

Is it just me, or does this barely look like a baby at all?

Aren't papier mache cuts the worst?

I was asked this random question when setting up my profile. Thought I'd share my opinion regarding this subject.

Paper, big deal.

Not really, no. As a matter of fact, I can never understand why it seems like such a big deal to many people. I mean, sure it hurts, but there's many other things that is much more painful. If it's about the blood, heck, I've seen too much of it to be really bothered anymore (from a combination of nose bleeding for no reason, to be exceptionally clumsy), unless it's hardcore gore, of course, which is quite disgusting. In fact, the only plausible reason why paper cuts could be so terrible of an experience wouldn't be physical at all, but rather psychological.

Like I said, there's much more things that could hurt you more than being cut by a piece of paper, but that's just why it sucks that much more to be hurt by it! Think about it this way, of all the damned things that could have not only cut you, but also make you bleed, it just had to be an apparently harmless piece of paper! A damned piece of paper not only cut you right open, but also made you bleed and feel surprisingly painful!

FFFFFFFFFFFFFUU- PAPER!!!

Damn you paper! Damn you to hell!!

... ahem! Although I regret the overreaction, these basically is my thoughts on paper cuts.

Good day.

1/100 Gundam DX

I finished this a while ago, but it remains one of my favourite among my gunpla collection. The simple shape of its silhouette coupled with fine details in every part of the MS makes it one of those designs that just seem to wear out no matter how many times you see it! Although my modelling skills are still a bit lacking, but there's certain things that I experimented with this model that I think turned out quite nicely.

Balance: The one thing that many newer kits should pay more attention to!

I usually don't like a lot of panel lines on my kits, but this is definitely one of the few exceptions. Unlike some of the Wing 1/100 kits, the panel lines on this kit just look so bloody good!

The internal parts for the Microwave Receiver has been detailed with metalic paint. It looks quite nice in person, but doesn't show up too well on camera though.

The way the white panel lining lit up the otherwise black armour pieces contribute quite a bit of detail to the overall look and fell of it.

Satellite System On!

Action Poses and Angle!

Overall, I'm quite happy with the way it turned out. White paint for the panel lines was a huge game for me, but it gave the dark armors a very refreshing look, which suits the rest of the model quite nicely. I also extended the neck by a millimeter or so to give the head a bit more range of motion, which also worked fantastically. The DX is deiniftely one of the MS that could use a bit more attention from modelers.

What is a man's worth...

...save for the value assigned to him by others? In other words, is there such a thing as self worth? A value that will hold true independent of external

factors?

Well?

PhotoSynth (Microsoft's Got Groove!)

For the last few years, it had seemed that Microsoft's has lost what's left of its zeal with the fiasco of Vista and numerous plans to at once salvage what they can from that terribly broken system(SPs anyone?) and to, against all rationality, "improve" the Vista system by completely failing at integrating various features(lol "Are you sure you want to_____?" message boxes) and softwares(Live everything, except for even the slightest chance for success) into its cruddy Vista OS.

For the last time, I am DAMNED SURE that I want the goddamned file to be moved the recycle bin!

However, despite Microsoft's shortcomings during the Vista era, it seems that somewhere along the way Microsoft has finally discovered its inner zeal. This ofcourse would be puntuacted by the tremendous success of Windows 7, but this article, like its title suggest is not about Microsoft's newest money grabbing flagship, but rather a software that appeared during the same year of Blackcomb was renamed Windows 7. This is software, the Photosynth, is Microsoft's new and much groovier approach to personal computing.

Photosynth is a software that allow you to create 3D environment simply by providing the program with a sufficient amount of overlapping pictures taken from a single point of view. In other words, all the user have to do is stand in one place, take pictures of the surrounding environment and the rest of the work is done by the program, which will analyze the pictures for edges and recreate a 360 view of the entire area. This innovative way of viewing pictures not only allow the artist to show more than just one part of a whole, but also it may also technically allow truly 3D films to be constructed and shown in real time. As of now, it already has the ability to zoom into a certain object within a whole panorama and rotate around it independently to allow for a truly 3D view of, well technically, any given object within the scene, really.

Enough talk, since if one picture is worth a thousand words, I'm sure that the 205 pictures that make up the world in the link below will do a much better job at explaining potentials of the Photosynth.

Enjoy the show.