Last week I received my FairyLand MiniFee Moe-line Mirwen! Now, I don't think I've mentioned it yet, but I like BJD's. Ball jointed dolls. They are awesome. They are really detailed dolls with joints, and they can pose wonderfully (or at least, MiniFees do).
I ordered mine on April 22, 2014. It arrived on August 19, 2014. Here's my box opening video!
More pictures soon!
Wednesday 27 August 2014
Monday 17 February 2014
Mario-themed Hama/Perler art!
This Saturday I was on a roll when it came to cleaning, and at the end of the day I thought I'd reward myself with some creative crafting. Ironing Hama/Perler beads, in particular.
We have this frame that can hold up to 8 pictures, but we never seem to find enough pictures to put in there. So I thought I'd make something with beads, to fill the frame with. Initially, it was supposed to be something that would be some sort of temporary placeholder. Just to fill the frame with, since seeing something in the frame would definitely be better than seeing nothing framed at all.
But the end result was so awesome, that we decided to keep it like that.
On Saturday, I was ready at midnight. This was the result.
Pretty neat huh?
Unfortunately at first, I didn't have enough light blue beads left to make a background with. But we were going to have lunch on Sunday at my parents and I had some coloured paper stored on my old room, so I thought I might as well just use light blue paper for the background.
So on Sunday, I brought back home a box with coloured paper. When I began cutting the paper to the right size, I found that the Mario, the coin and the question box didn't quite match with the rest of the designs in the frame. So I just remade those. And I must say, the end result was satisfying!
By using paper instead of beads for the background, it somewhat ended up looking kinda 3-D. It doesn't really show in the picture, but believe me, it does if you stand right in front of it.
And I know that not everything is correct in ratio, but due to the limited space I have in the frames I had to improvise a bit and make some things smaller.
Up next will be finding a frame to put the Space Invaders themed art in. They have been stored in a box for so long, but now I just really need to frame them in. The world needs to see it!
We have this frame that can hold up to 8 pictures, but we never seem to find enough pictures to put in there. So I thought I'd make something with beads, to fill the frame with. Initially, it was supposed to be something that would be some sort of temporary placeholder. Just to fill the frame with, since seeing something in the frame would definitely be better than seeing nothing framed at all.
But the end result was so awesome, that we decided to keep it like that.
On Saturday, I was ready at midnight. This was the result.
Pretty neat huh?
Unfortunately at first, I didn't have enough light blue beads left to make a background with. But we were going to have lunch on Sunday at my parents and I had some coloured paper stored on my old room, so I thought I might as well just use light blue paper for the background.
So on Sunday, I brought back home a box with coloured paper. When I began cutting the paper to the right size, I found that the Mario, the coin and the question box didn't quite match with the rest of the designs in the frame. So I just remade those. And I must say, the end result was satisfying!
By using paper instead of beads for the background, it somewhat ended up looking kinda 3-D. It doesn't really show in the picture, but believe me, it does if you stand right in front of it.
And I know that not everything is correct in ratio, but due to the limited space I have in the frames I had to improvise a bit and make some things smaller.
Up next will be finding a frame to put the Space Invaders themed art in. They have been stored in a box for so long, but now I just really need to frame them in. The world needs to see it!
Tuesday 11 February 2014
Tomorrowland ticketing system: what you should keep in mind when trying to get in
Perhaps you've heard about it. Tomorrowland, an amazing music festival in Belgium. Here's a quote taken from Wikipedia:
Last Saturday, the 8th of February, me and Michaël were focused on our computers. We initially didn't plan on ordering tickets for Tomorrowland at all, let alone go there, but a friend of ours was on a vacation and he asked us if we would order four tickets for him and some friends. So we, kind as we are, accepted.
It began around 10:55 in the morning. Michaël had set his alarm so that we wouldn't be too late. We clicked on the link we received in our e-mail (we were pre-registered for weeks first) and then we saw a page saying the ticketing system would open at 11. So we waited. Patiently. I started looking around in the source code, see if I could find anything interesting. While still waiting patiently, ofcourse.
Actually. I wasn't that patiently. I couldn't wait.
I refreshed the page at 11:59. And immediately, I was in a waiting line. It wasn't even 11 o'clock yet! Michaël refreshed the page at exactly 11 o'clock, and he too ended up in the waiting line.
I managed to purchase four tickets for our friend. At that time I was on Skype with him, and he was sitting somewhere outside on a mountain, in the snow, with his laptop. It was a miracle that he even had internet connection.
While our friend was giving me his credentials and credit card details over a Skype call, Michaël was checking out our lasagne. On his computer, we were still in the waiting line for tickets, so there was no use in just sitting there watching a dull screen.
At about 11:22, I finished ordering the tickets for our friend and he got a confirmation e-mail saying he successfully purchased 4 tickets. He and his friends will be going for the full first weekend; three days of joy and a pass to Dreamville for everyone.
Around noon, we were eating our lasagne while watching a movie. The screen from Michaël his computer was just a turn to the left of us, so we could check it whenever we wanted. And shortly after, the screen gave us a less pleasant message than before.
"The tickets for Tomorrowland - Belgian sale are sold out."
So sadly, we didn't manage to purchase tickets for our selves. But hey, we didn't originally intend to go to Tomorrowland. We just thought that while we were in the line for the ticketing system, we might as well buy some tickets, since they are so hard to get.
So, by refreshing their page at exactly 10:57:54, they were automatically first in line! Smart thinking guys, I should have paid more attention to the source code.
Also, to our foreign readers out there, it might be useless to try this technique to get tickets for the global sale this weekend since Paylogic (the company that manages the ticketing system) might change the code in order to prevent people from using this technique.
I would just strongly recommend you all visit that blog, translate it to English, and learn how to inspect the upcoming ticketing system on the evening of Valentines day. ;) Good luck to all of you who still want to purchase a ticket!
On a side note, I might try to obtain another ticket this weekend. Just try, and if I get in, then I guess we'll go to Tomorrowland for a day. I do however need to ask Michaël if he's still up for this. These tickets aren't particularly cheap you know.
Tomorrowland is a large electronic music festival held in Belgium. It used to be organized as a joint venture by the original founders, the brothers Beers together with ID&T, subsidiary of SFX Entertainment. The festival takes place in the town of Boom, Belgium (16 kilometers (10 miles) south of Antwerp, 32 kilometers (20 miles) north of Brussels), and has been organized since 2005. It has since become one of the most notable global music festivals.
Last Saturday, the 8th of February, me and Michaël were focused on our computers. We initially didn't plan on ordering tickets for Tomorrowland at all, let alone go there, but a friend of ours was on a vacation and he asked us if we would order four tickets for him and some friends. So we, kind as we are, accepted.
It began around 10:55 in the morning. Michaël had set his alarm so that we wouldn't be too late. We clicked on the link we received in our e-mail (we were pre-registered for weeks first) and then we saw a page saying the ticketing system would open at 11. So we waited. Patiently. I started looking around in the source code, see if I could find anything interesting. While still waiting patiently, ofcourse.
Actually. I wasn't that patiently. I couldn't wait.
I refreshed the page at 11:59. And immediately, I was in a waiting line. It wasn't even 11 o'clock yet! Michaël refreshed the page at exactly 11 o'clock, and he too ended up in the waiting line.
Now here's the fun part.
While he refreshed just a mere 30 seconds later than me, I got out of the line and into the ticketing system at 11:02 while he didn't get any further than the waiting line. At all.I managed to purchase four tickets for our friend. At that time I was on Skype with him, and he was sitting somewhere outside on a mountain, in the snow, with his laptop. It was a miracle that he even had internet connection.
While our friend was giving me his credentials and credit card details over a Skype call, Michaël was checking out our lasagne. On his computer, we were still in the waiting line for tickets, so there was no use in just sitting there watching a dull screen.
At about 11:22, I finished ordering the tickets for our friend and he got a confirmation e-mail saying he successfully purchased 4 tickets. He and his friends will be going for the full first weekend; three days of joy and a pass to Dreamville for everyone.
Around noon, we were eating our lasagne while watching a movie. The screen from Michaël his computer was just a turn to the left of us, so we could check it whenever we wanted. And shortly after, the screen gave us a less pleasant message than before.
"The tickets for Tomorrowland - Belgian sale are sold out."
So sadly, we didn't manage to purchase tickets for our selves. But hey, we didn't originally intend to go to Tomorrowland. We just thought that while we were in the line for the ticketing system, we might as well buy some tickets, since they are so hard to get.
So! How should we explain this?
Today I've read that three guys from this blog (it is in Dutch, click here for the English version) had discovered the secret behind the ticketing system, and the key to get in. They noticed that the page refreshed automatically every two minutes, and that it had a response time of 6 seconds.So, by refreshing their page at exactly 10:57:54, they were automatically first in line! Smart thinking guys, I should have paid more attention to the source code.
Also, to our foreign readers out there, it might be useless to try this technique to get tickets for the global sale this weekend since Paylogic (the company that manages the ticketing system) might change the code in order to prevent people from using this technique.
I would just strongly recommend you all visit that blog, translate it to English, and learn how to inspect the upcoming ticketing system on the evening of Valentines day. ;) Good luck to all of you who still want to purchase a ticket!
On a side note, I might try to obtain another ticket this weekend. Just try, and if I get in, then I guess we'll go to Tomorrowland for a day. I do however need to ask Michaël if he's still up for this. These tickets aren't particularly cheap you know.
Wednesday 29 January 2014
As if I don't have enough hobbies already: Hama/Perler art!
A few months ago, I saw some great 8-bit Hama/Perler art online. So of course I just had to buy those beads so that I could make my own geeky crafts. I mean come on, one cannot have too many hobbies, right?
My boyfriend would often find me ironing these instead of ironing clothing. But hey, the results were nice, so that's a good thing, right?
It all began with small things. Mainly Space Invaders. And tiny Game Boys. And some square things with whatever geeky design fitted, those were supposed to be coasters.
Don't mind the blue one with the smirking face. I gave him that look by accident, but he seems to enjoy it.
Then I kinda got obsessed with Space Invaders. I made tons of them. I just had to make them all. Make ALL the Space Invaders!!
Just imagine how cool it would look to have a huge frame with Space Invaders in it, as if you had the game on your wall... I still want to put them all in a frame.
(Pardon me for the poor quality picture, but it was evening and I wanted to show off my work on Facebook.)
After the bunch of Space Invaders, I made a mix of the Joker and Pacman. Which I thought was kinda cool. I found the design on the internet, just kind of copied it with beads. I also realised too late that this would have looked so much better if I had used purple beads instead of black beads for the background.
Not sure what I might do with this one though (ideas are welcome!).
I also had a short period in which I wanted to make cute things. So I created something based on a cherry tree. It's quite minimalistic and it is a good alternative for when you don't have any pictures of other people (but we will have framed pictures of people soon).
I have another one of this with different colours, but no picture of that one yet.
And lastly, something I was quite proud of, a Zelda heart container! This one is now hanging on the wall behind our microwave. Brightens up our kitchen a bit. Not that we have a dull kitchen or anything, but we do lack some wall decoration in general.
So, that was about it! I actually have many more Hama/Perler creations, but I don't make pictures of everything I create. Probably because I dislike the quality of most pictures I make. There's a perfectly fine working camera laying around here though. Perhaps I should learn how to use it.
Conclusion: these things are fun as long as you know what you will use them for. Most of the results can be made to fit in a frame, or you could use them for decoration. But other than that, they are mainly just for fun.
My boyfriend would often find me ironing these instead of ironing clothing. But hey, the results were nice, so that's a good thing, right?
It all began with small things. Mainly Space Invaders. And tiny Game Boys. And some square things with whatever geeky design fitted, those were supposed to be coasters.
Don't mind the blue one with the smirking face. I gave him that look by accident, but he seems to enjoy it.
Then I kinda got obsessed with Space Invaders. I made tons of them. I just had to make them all. Make ALL the Space Invaders!!
Just imagine how cool it would look to have a huge frame with Space Invaders in it, as if you had the game on your wall... I still want to put them all in a frame.
(Pardon me for the poor quality picture, but it was evening and I wanted to show off my work on Facebook.)
After the bunch of Space Invaders, I made a mix of the Joker and Pacman. Which I thought was kinda cool. I found the design on the internet, just kind of copied it with beads. I also realised too late that this would have looked so much better if I had used purple beads instead of black beads for the background.
Not sure what I might do with this one though (ideas are welcome!).
I also had a short period in which I wanted to make cute things. So I created something based on a cherry tree. It's quite minimalistic and it is a good alternative for when you don't have any pictures of other people (but we will have framed pictures of people soon).
I have another one of this with different colours, but no picture of that one yet.
And lastly, something I was quite proud of, a Zelda heart container! This one is now hanging on the wall behind our microwave. Brightens up our kitchen a bit. Not that we have a dull kitchen or anything, but we do lack some wall decoration in general.
So, that was about it! I actually have many more Hama/Perler creations, but I don't make pictures of everything I create. Probably because I dislike the quality of most pictures I make. There's a perfectly fine working camera laying around here though. Perhaps I should learn how to use it.
Conclusion: these things are fun as long as you know what you will use them for. Most of the results can be made to fit in a frame, or you could use them for decoration. But other than that, they are mainly just for fun.
Tuesday 12 November 2013
I modded my Game Boy Advance!
So last week Friday, I finally received the backlit screen that I had ordered for my Game Boy Advance. It's the same backlit screen as the one in a Game Boy Advance SP, but I planned on putting this screen in a regular Game Boy Advance. The screen came with a 40-pin ribbon connector as well. I ordered it from Zerey from Hong Kong.
The screen was $23.5, the ribbon cable was $18 and the shipping cost me $21 (DHL express shipping, it arrived here in less than a week). I could also opt for regular shipping for $5 but that could have taken the package a month or so to arrive. And I don't have that much patience. ;)
I actually received two screens. The first screen that arrived was damaged by DHL. It was clear that something had been placed or fell on the package, causing the screen to crack and have LCD leakage. DHL acknowledged the damage, and Zerey sent me a new screen free of charge. All I had to pay was the shipping, so I was quite happy with that.
I followed the instructions from the YouTube video below (this one is part 1 of 3, be sure to check out part 2 and 3 as well):
To begin with, I had to modify a new case I had bought from Ebay. I bought a spicy orange one (or at least I think that's its name). Looks just like the real thing, so it's a perfect replacement. Here's a picture of what I modified in order for the new screen to fit.
It had quite some edges that had to be cut off, and some small ridges as well. I think I spent about an hour on just getting rid of edges, and I even sanded down the cut marks to make the material smoother and to prevent it from scratching the screen.
Next, I screwed open my "old" Game Boy Advance case and removed the old screen from the motherboard. Then I unscrewed the motherboard from the case. I then took the new screen, connected it to the motherboard, soldered the wire to the motherboard (to set up the brightness of the screen) and tried it out.
It didn't quite work out at first. I accidentally soldered it on two parts on the motherboard, and the console wouldn't even start (the screen did nothing, but the led light lit up for half a second and then went out again). So I kinda panicked. But then my boyfriend came home and he did the soldering again. This time the wire was soldered to another point on the motherboard. Although this would give the screen a lower brightness, it now worked! Thanks dear!
Here's a picture of the motherboard and the screen, placed in the new case.
Now I just had to test if it works. I inserted a game I had laying around (The Sims 2 Pets), and this was the result.
Success! All thanks to my boyfriend Michaël, without him I would've probably considered my console to be broken. But he fixed it, and it made my day. ^_^
Finally I just had to reassemble everything. Placed the buttons, made sure everything fit well and screwed everything in place. And here we go! A modded Game Boy Advance, with a brand new case and a backlit screen.
What a beauty. The colour of the case is just perfect, I wouldn't want it any other way! And even though the screen is supposed to be brighter, I'm satisfied with how bright it actually is!
Now I can finally enjoy my games in colour, clearly visible. I no longer need to find a spot with sufficient light, I can just play in the dark if I want to! ^_^
Perhaps one day I'll buy another Game Boy Advance and mod that one too, for my boyfriend. Who knows. You'll certainly know when I did. :)
Enjoy!
The screen was $23.5, the ribbon cable was $18 and the shipping cost me $21 (DHL express shipping, it arrived here in less than a week). I could also opt for regular shipping for $5 but that could have taken the package a month or so to arrive. And I don't have that much patience. ;)
- Ordering from Zerey -
You can check out Zerey's shop on Taobao here, if you follow that link you'll end up on his page for the ribbon cable. Do note that you can't actually buy things from Taobao, it is for China only and foreigners might encounter problems when trying to order. So you'll need to order over e-mail.
If you scroll down his page, you'll see his description in English. He explains to you how you can check what ribbon type (32-pin or 40-pin) your Game Boy Advance needs. Also, based on which ribbon your Game Boy Advance will need, make sure you pick the right screen as well (also mentioned on his page). I ordered a 40-pin ribbon cable and the type AB LCD screen.
So if you want to order from Zerey, you first need to make sure that you know which type of ribbon cable you'll need and which screen will work with it. Then, all you need to do is send him an e-mail.
Zerey's e-mail address is zereyzhang@yahoo.com. When you e-mail him, tell him that you would like to buy a 32-pin or 40-pin ribbon cable adapter and a GBASP backlit screen (mention the type too). Ask for the price and shipping options as well and then patiently wait for his reply.
Because of the time difference (he lives in China), you might have to wait until the morning. I received most of his replies at mornings around 6AM.
It is best to pay with PayPal, Zerey will either send you an invoice or if you both agreed to the order you can ask him for his PayPal e-mail address and send the money with PayPal yourself. Ask him over e-mail if he received the payment just to be sure that you sent it to the right address. If everything went good, you'll have your screen and ribbon cable in less than a week (if you ordered with DHL, otherwise it'll take a month or so).
|
I actually received two screens. The first screen that arrived was damaged by DHL. It was clear that something had been placed or fell on the package, causing the screen to crack and have LCD leakage. DHL acknowledged the damage, and Zerey sent me a new screen free of charge. All I had to pay was the shipping, so I was quite happy with that.
I followed the instructions from the YouTube video below (this one is part 1 of 3, be sure to check out part 2 and 3 as well):
To begin with, I had to modify a new case I had bought from Ebay. I bought a spicy orange one (or at least I think that's its name). Looks just like the real thing, so it's a perfect replacement. Here's a picture of what I modified in order for the new screen to fit.
It had quite some edges that had to be cut off, and some small ridges as well. I think I spent about an hour on just getting rid of edges, and I even sanded down the cut marks to make the material smoother and to prevent it from scratching the screen.
Next, I screwed open my "old" Game Boy Advance case and removed the old screen from the motherboard. Then I unscrewed the motherboard from the case. I then took the new screen, connected it to the motherboard, soldered the wire to the motherboard (to set up the brightness of the screen) and tried it out.
It didn't quite work out at first. I accidentally soldered it on two parts on the motherboard, and the console wouldn't even start (the screen did nothing, but the led light lit up for half a second and then went out again). So I kinda panicked. But then my boyfriend came home and he did the soldering again. This time the wire was soldered to another point on the motherboard. Although this would give the screen a lower brightness, it now worked! Thanks dear!
Here's a picture of the motherboard and the screen, placed in the new case.
Now I just had to test if it works. I inserted a game I had laying around (The Sims 2 Pets), and this was the result.
Success! All thanks to my boyfriend Michaël, without him I would've probably considered my console to be broken. But he fixed it, and it made my day. ^_^
Finally I just had to reassemble everything. Placed the buttons, made sure everything fit well and screwed everything in place. And here we go! A modded Game Boy Advance, with a brand new case and a backlit screen.
What a beauty. The colour of the case is just perfect, I wouldn't want it any other way! And even though the screen is supposed to be brighter, I'm satisfied with how bright it actually is!
Now I can finally enjoy my games in colour, clearly visible. I no longer need to find a spot with sufficient light, I can just play in the dark if I want to! ^_^
Perhaps one day I'll buy another Game Boy Advance and mod that one too, for my boyfriend. Who knows. You'll certainly know when I did. :)
Enjoy!
Tuesday 22 October 2013
Trying to take over the world... One post at a time.
My boyfriend told me we should have a blog. To post about all the little things we do that make us happy. Creative things, crafts.
To begin with, my name is Magali and my boyfriend is called Michaël. We both graduated as bachelor in Applied Computer Science in 2012. We live together since May 2013 and have a cat named Chanel.
We actually had two cats at first, the other one was named Dolce.
The problem is that she:
So we had to move Dolce. She now lives with my parents. My dad loves her to bits, and Dolce herself seems to be much happier there. And Chanel can now finally walk around our house in peace, without any fear of getting a smack on her head from Dolce.
Anyway, please do enjoy our blog. Expect lots of crafting, geeky creativity, movie reviews and cat pictures!
- Magali and Michaël
PS: The cake IS a lie. No, seriously, did you see that recipe?
To begin with, my name is Magali and my boyfriend is called Michaël. We both graduated as bachelor in Applied Computer Science in 2012. We live together since May 2013 and have a cat named Chanel.
We actually had two cats at first, the other one was named Dolce.
The problem is that she:
- is a demon cat who likes to destroy things with her claws;
- often avoids contact with people;
- gets upset when she isn't greeted whenever someone gets home;
- likes to throw up on the carpet;
- likes biting in electricity cables and causing blackouts in the house;
- gets jealous and scratches the front and back side of your leg just because you were looking at another cat in the garden;
- dislikes Chanel.
So we had to move Dolce. She now lives with my parents. My dad loves her to bits, and Dolce herself seems to be much happier there. And Chanel can now finally walk around our house in peace, without any fear of getting a smack on her head from Dolce.
We also have a wide arrange of hobbies.
I, Magali, am often told that I have too many hobbies. But I enjoy them all. Variation, yay! Here's what I like to do:- play the piano
- watch series and movies
- go to the movies
- play video games (both on computer and consoles)
- make things with perler beads in 8-bit style
- sew hand-made felt plushies
- craft things out of cardboard (mostly miniature furniture)
- collecting Pokémon games
- going for a swim
- dozens of other things
- play video games (both on computer and consoles)
- watch series and movies
- experiment with cooking food
- make Magali laugh
- go to the movies
- collect vintage games for NES and SNES
- collect Game & Watch consoles
- organize gaming/movie nights
- send witty snapchats to friends
- probably many more things
Also, we are geeky.
Indeed we! I'm a geeky girl, he's a geeky boy. To us, being geeky means that we're passionate about something. Not only about computer business and gaming, but also about hobbies like crafting.Anyway, please do enjoy our blog. Expect lots of crafting, geeky creativity, movie reviews and cat pictures!
- Magali and Michaël
PS: The cake IS a lie. No, seriously, did you see that recipe?
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