Fandom - Molly Skywalker

This segment will feature some other geek ladies who will open up their hearts, minds and fandoms and share with us the story behind their own different fandoms and the history behind them.

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Name: Molly Skywalker

Website: Here @ The Curiosity Complex and also The Princess & The Geek

Tell us a little about yourself... 26 years old, Australian. I've been blogging for AGES! I've always identified as a Geek, and I'm constantly called "Weird" but it doesn't bother me. I love stuff.  I'm a movie geek first, then a science geek. I love nature and facts and learning things. I'm constantly thinking about stuff. My mind is pretty crazy. :)

What are you current fandoms? Harry Potter (always), Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit (they're the SAME Fandom!), Star Trek, Game Of Thrones, Minecraft (that's a fandom, right?)

What fandom would you consider yourself most attached to? Harry Potter, I'm not a in your face sort of fangirl, so it's not well known with my "real life" friends that I'm a huge Harry Potter nerd. I think it sticks with me the most... It's also the fandom I've probably spent the most money on :D

Do you remember when you first discovered it? The books. The release of the 3rd book, The Prisoner of Azkaban. I didn't know it was a series and read that one first! Then they announced the movies. I was the first person in my small city to get book 5, 6 and 7.

Do you own anything from the fandom? [insert picture perhaps] Ah, yeah! Books, action figures, DVDs and Blu-rays, Posters, Wands, Coins, I flew across the country to go to the Harry Potter exhibition, a weird obsession with Fenrir Greyback!

What was your first fandom? Lord of the Rings. I was a little late to the fandom party. It started with my sister and I wanting to go to the movies and not knowing what to see, so we went to see Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, and it started there. I had read The Hobbit, but not LOTRs, but after seeing the first film I was in. Action figures, books, magazine cut outs, inapropiate crushes of cast members (looking at you Orlando Bloom) and the discovery of my favouritest actor in the whole Universe, Karl Urban.

Who is your main fandom influence [ie who got you into fandoms]? My parents. Mum is a big sci-fi nerd and dad loves books and tv series about nature and science. They are a big influence on the way my fandoms have developed. Also my sisters, I get them into Fandoms, and they get me into Fandoms. Then my friends and the internet. I like to have my own opinions, and I won't let people bully me into liking things (and not liking things), and most of my Fandoms do interconnect to each other.

Have you met anyone attached to any of your Fandoms [actors, authors, creators etc.]? Oh, yeah! But the most important person, the only one I actually really care about is Karl Urban. Not very many people get the opportunity to meet their favouritest actor. I was lucky enough to. I met him at Supanova in 2008, while he was promoting Star Trek. I got a signed photo of him as Dr. Mccoy in Star Trek (complete with my name and awesome grammar fail!) and a photo with him [even if I look like a complete spazz, I don't care]

Anything else to add [fandom related picspams are welcome]

Honorable Mentions [Fandoms not mentioned, but deserve mentions] Doctor Who, Sherlock, The Avengers, Cats (cats are a freaking fandom! Just ask anyone on Tumblr!), Adventure Time, BEING AWESOME!

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Stay tuned for Cupcake Stormageddons Fandom post. If you would like to get involved send us an email at admin[at]thecuriositycomplex.com or just leave us a comment!

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Geeky Goodies - Red Velvet Cupcake

Ingredients

1 large egg

buttermilk (120ml)

1 tbsp of white wine vinegar

1 tsp of vanilla essence

2 tbsp of red food colouring (30ml)

sunflower oil (180ml)

self raising flour (200g)

caster sugar (225g)

1 heaped tsp of cocoa powder

pinch of salt

PREHEAT OVEN to 180C

Combine wet ingredients

Egg, Buttermilk, Vanilla and Vinegar (the Vinegar keeps the Red, super bright)

 Add the dry ingredients, and mix together

Add the red food colouring (you need quite a bit)

I found out that you can also use other colours and make "Green Velvet Cake" and Blue, or even Black.

Transfer the mix into cake tin.

Yes I realise its a little messy!

Cook for 25 minutes

Red Velvet CAKE!

Iced with Cream Cheese frosting.

which is really simple.

Cream cheese and icing sugar, mixed together until smooth and creamy.

YUM!!!

Another recipe from Sorted.

Geeky Goodies - More Like Macaroon Puke Off

Molly hinted that she felt I may be at an advantage consider my online name is 'Cupcake'.

I will be honest that I went into this challenge feeling confident with my baking prowess and I think my over cocky attitude was seen by the baking gods as a sign of blasphemy which they expressed by way of my macaroons.

I used the same recipe as Molly (you can see her fabulous macaroon post & the recipe we used here) which is from Sorted (three/four adorable British men baking simple and delicious recipes).

The baking started off well and I had everything that I needed.
Ingredients, a recipe, confidence..

I separated and whisked my whites like I had done many times before..

 

I added the sugar and beat the shizzle wizzle out of it until soft peaks formed..



Then I sifted the flour and icing sugar and started to fold.. this is when things took a turn...

I COULDN'T KEEP THE AIR IN! The more I folded the more dense I could feel the mixture getting, but it still wasn't totally combined.. I HAD TO KEEP GOING! I paid the price for over mixing and coloured my shameful macaroons accordingly.



By this stage things were critical.. my spawn were arguing, the dog was barking, I had a sugar-induced headache and I could hear my Galah yelling F*@K OFF from outside. Piping was done with no love. THESE MACAROONS ARE LOVELESS.



Baked. Cooled. Attempted removal requiring an urgent geek-console with Molly.



For the icing I decided a simple purple vanilla. Then it was time for the taste test.



Oh my goodness they are amazing, I can't believe how well they turned out! Now let us never speak of this again. Despite how amazing mine are, Molly definitely won this round.



PS: I am sure you have all noticed the photographic differences between all those pictures and the last? They failed. They ended up silver and stuck to the paper like a symbiotic alien to its human host. I tried to make something out of what I could salvage, I call them 'Cupcake's Own Macafail Saucers'. They also taste disgusting (hence the marshmallows). I think I'll stick to cupcakes.

Geeky Goodies - Macaroon Cook-Off

Hello Fellow Curious Peeps!

This weekend marks the first ever Geeky Goodies Cook-Off between Cupcake and I. With a name like Cupcake, you'd think that she would have an advantage.... But we will see.

We decided to make Macaroons. (Which, by the way, is also the FIRST time I've ever attempted such kitchen sorcery!)

We are both using the same recipe. When I first decided to make Macaroons I went searching for a recipe and it was crazy. Even reading the recipe made me scared. But after some searching on the internet and came across Sorted Food on Youtube, who, not only are funny and full of cooking goodness, are not too bad on the eyes!

So here it is. My attempt (and I must say, a COMPLETE SUCCESS) at making Macaroons.

INGREDIENTS
3 egg whites
castor sugar (75g)
ground almonds (125g)
icing sugar (175g)
flavourings (I used Peppermint Essence)
food colourings (I used blue & green to make Aqua)
fillings (I made a quick Chocolate Buttercream)

Egg & Caster Sugar whisked together.

separate the egg whites from the yolks and in a clean, dry bowl whisk the whites until thick and glossy.
add the castor sugar and whisk again until stiff.
sieve the almonds and icing sugar into the bowl and carefully fold in, retaining as much air as possible.
divide the mixture between three bowls and add the colouring and flavourings to each:-
- raspberry flavour & pink food colouring
- lemon flavour & yellow food colouring
- vanilla flavour & blue food colouring.

I didn't need to divide the mixture, because I only did one colour. But you can do whatever colour/flavour you want!

I missed a photo here! Here's what the bowl looks like after I've scooped the contents into the piping bag.

put each one into a separate piping bag.
line a baking tray with baking paper or a silicon mat and pipe small circles (3cm across) onto the tray, leaving a small gap between each macaroon.

I attempted to decorate some. I sprinkled some left over Almond Meal on some and then tried to flick blue food colouring on some (which is really messy! I need to figure out how to do this properly)

put the tray to one side to rest for 15 minutes to allow a slight skin to form.
preheat the oven to 160°C.
pick the tray up and drop it onto a flat surface from a small height… this forms the ‘feet’ that is associated with macarons.
bake for 15 minutes, then remove and allow to chill at room temperature until completely cold.

At this point I sat down on the floor in the kitchen and watched the Macaroon cook!

I left them in a little too long so some started to brown a little. It doesn't affect the taste, just the way they look!

sandwich the macarons with a filling of choice… raspberry jam (pink), lemon curd (yellow) & nutella (bue).
serve and eat within 48 hours when at their freshest.

The end result. Yummy Chocolate Mint Macaroons! Now to share them with everyone :D

I did it! I successfully made my first ever batch of Macaroons, without any major failings. I'm pretty proud of myself. Now I'm pretty much a pro. The only thing that went wrong was I left them in a little too long and the Almond Meal was a little coarse. Next time I will either make my own Almond Meal or find a finer mix.

THEY WERE AMAZING! Crispy shell and beautifully soft in the centre. Everyone enjoyed them.

I wonder if there is a little pan for making the macaroon nice and round (or I could just use some more practice!)

Stay tuned for Cupcakes post later this weekend :D

Harry Potter - Page To Screen by Bob McCabe

First thing, first. This book is amazing and (even though heaps of people will probably complain) totally worth the price tag.

Also, this is a look and feel review. I plan to read it at my own speed (slow) and will try and do another review when I'm finished.

Harry Potter - Page To Screen, The Complete Filmmaking Journey by Bob McCabe

Purchased (special order that took over 2 months to arrive) from Dymocks.
Price: $110.00 but considering in Sydney at the Harry Potter exhibition they wanted $169.00, $110 is an excellent price.
This book is huge! It weighs 3.5kg (yes I did weigh it) and I was afraid that it wasn't going to fit on my bookshelf (but it does... geek dance). There are 540 beautiful glossy pages, some of them featuring clear embossed images, like shoeprints, wands and feathers, and there are a few fold out pages. Including one of the front featuring some of the main characters.

So, the contents...the book is divided into three parts:

Part I: The Making of Harry Potter 
Introduction 
Setting the Scene 
HP and the Sorcerer's Stone 
HP and the Chamber of Secrets 
HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban 
HP and the Goblet of Fire 
HP and the Order of the Phoenix 
HP and the Half-Blood Prince 
HP and the Deathly Hallows 

This section is full of candid photos (including Voldemort reading a magazine), set design illustrations and behind the scene photos. It also includes strange things, like the characters heights, and tidbits from the various directors.

Part II: The Art of Harry Potter 
Introduction 
Characters: Costuming
Locations: Set Design 
Creatures: Special Makeup and Digital Effects 
Artefacts: Prop Making 

This is my favourite section. It shows the characters costumes, including fabric swatches, information on tattoos, wands and makeup. It also showed art designs of main locations, including a snow covered model of Hogwarts (which is actually covered in salt, not snow) and designs from JK Rowling of Diagon Alley etc.
This section brought back a lot of memories from the Harry Potter Exhibition I went too in Sydney. Props of creatures and random artefacts that I saw, but had forgotten I'd seen.

Part III: Epilogue 
The Golden Boards 
Acknowledgements and Colophon

The last section isn't that exciting, but a little sad. Featuring photos from throughout the filming of Harry Potter, including the last group photos.

I've posted some photos of some of the pages I liked. Sorry about the quality of the photos. I used Hipstermatic, because for some reason my Camera app on my iPhone doesn't work :|

Sirius Blacks' tattoo designs

Barty Crouch Jr aka David Tennant

Severus Snape

My 2 favourite Harry Potter baddies :)

Blueprints of Hogwarts

Blueprints of the covered bridge that leads to Hagrids house.

I hope you enjoyed this quick look at Harry Potter - Page To Screen. When I picked this book up I ordered another Harry Potter book. Harry Potter Film Wizardry. So stay tuned for the review of that one :)