8.19.2 Greatest hits from previous weeks

8.19.2.1 xkcd-style Plots
8.19.2.2 How to create a new "person curve"?
8.19.2.3 How to plot an ellipse?
8.19.2.4 Mathematica Minecraft
8.19.2.5 Extract real part of a complex expression better than Re does
8.19.2.6 Elegant operations on matrix rows and columns
8.19.2.7 Plotting Complex Quantity Functions
8.19.2.1 xkcd-style Plots

https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=11350

I received an email to which I wanted to respond with a xkcd-style graph, but I couldn't manage it. Everything I drew looked perfect, and I don't have enough command over ... 
[plotting] [generative-art]
 
asked by Amatya https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=2039 Score of 631
answered by Simon Woods https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=862 Score of 494
8.19.2.2 How to create a new "person curve"?

https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=17704

Wolfram|Alpha has a whole collectionź of parametric curves that create images of famous people. To see them, enter  WolframAlpha["person curve"]  into a Mathematica ... 
[graphics] [image-processing] [algorithm] [wolfram-alpha-queries] [generative-art]
 
asked by Simon https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=34 Score of 88
answered by Vitaliy Kaurov https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=13 Score of 47
8.19.2.3 How to plot an ellipse?

https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=20100

I'm new to Mathematica, and I'm finding it difficult to plot an ellipse. 
I tried using 
 
 Plot[(x/5)^2 + (y/3)^2 == 1, {x, -5, 5}, {y, -3, 3}] 
 
 
but I'm getting ... 
[plotting]
 
asked by Sriram https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=6075 Score of 19
answered by Jens https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=245 Score of 32
8.19.2.4 Mathematica Minecraft

https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=19669

Some time ago I asked myself: with all these great graphics and interactive capabilities of Mathematica, what kinds of 3D games can be implemented in it?  And the answer which came to mind is ... 
[programming] [dynamic] [graphics3d] [eventhandler] [development]
 
asked by faleichik https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=219 Score of 169
answered by faleichik https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=219 Score of 248
8.19.2.5 Extract real part of a complex expression better than Re does

https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=3306

I have a complex expression with real positive variables only. 
 
Mathematica Input Style: 
 
... 
[symbolic] [trigonometry]
 
asked by max https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=796 Score of 36
answered by nixeagle https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=814 Score of 56
8.19.2.6 Elegant operations on matrix rows and columns

https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=3069

Question 
 
The Mathematica tutorial has a section 'Basic Matrix Operations', describing operations like transpose, inverse and determinant. These operations all work on entire matrices. I am missing a ... 
[list-manipulation] [matrix] [array] [faq]
 
asked by sjdh https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=515 Score of 192
answered by Mr.Wizard https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=121 Score of 64
8.19.2.7 Plotting Complex Quantity Functions

https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=3458

Trying to plot with complex quantities seems not to work properly in what I want to accomplish. I would like to know if there is a general rule/way of plotting when you have complex counterparts in ... 
[plotting] [complex] [faq]
 
asked by night owl https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=116 Score of 42
answered by Artes https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=184 Score of 29