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Sardonix 1.0 reference pictures

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Below the cut.

Here is my plan for Sardonix 1.0. Of course it is heavily influenced by David Bowie’s make-up in Labyrinth…

And here’s how she came out.

Yes, she was an evil little dolly. I enjoyed her greatly. I think she might be nicer in this inresination, but I’m not sure.

We can rebuild her; we have the technology…

We can rebuild her; we have the technology… published on 1 Comment on We can rebuild her; we have the technology…

Sardonix 2.0’s head arrived on 1/24. No pictures of her, but you can hear about her mods and her impending eyes and such below the cut.

Unfortunately, Cerebrus Project thought it would be a good idea to sculpt a ski jump on her face, then put a blob on the end of it and call it a nose. I immediately gave her a rhinoplasty with a box cutter. Anyone who thinks that you can only mod a doll with sandpaper is a sucker. Your basic slicing and dicing tools work fine for the gross forms of things. Sandpaper is only for the final finishing touches. But I just used a craft knife for the final smoothing because I am a lazy ass.

I’m really liking the Juri ’06 as opposed to Sardonix 1.0, sleepy elfy Lishe. Ya see — sleepy elfy Lishe has a small Cupid’s bow for a mouth and a very narrow nose with a slight hook. I liked neither the small size of the mouth nor the narrowness of the nose. Juri ’06’s nose and mouth are much more in proportion to her face. Plus Juri ’06 has a built-in smirk. I cannot resist a built-in smirk.

I have Sardonix 2.0’s outfit coming from rattimoth on DOA. It’s a layered sort of chiffon thing that looks like old leaves. One of her eyes will be a clear marble, the other a pink cat’s eye [coming from Jolarocknrolla on DOA]. Undecided as to whether I will color in her lips a bit or leave her blank. Cyborgian decorations follow.

Most depressing movie songs ever

Most depressing movie songs ever published on 2 Comments on Most depressing movie songs ever

Home At Last, from Labyrinth. This is actually an instrumental that plays when Sarah is putting away her toys and pictures. It’s a very slow, tinkly version of As the World Falls Down, also known as the Jareth Is Dead Instrumental. You see why I hate it?

Superheroes, from Rocky Horror. This is the song that Brad and Janet sing in the wreckage of the Frankenstein Place as it’s blasting off to a distant planet.  Also known as the Frank Is Dead Song. Of course it depresses me.

However, for sheer slit-your-wrists despair, nothing beats the cover of Mad World on the Donnie Darko soundtrack. The original by Tears For Fears balances mopey lyrics with a surprisingly up-tempo beat so that the song veers between precious and poignant, making it a perfect evocation of teenage self-consciousness. The Donnie Darko version strips away almost all instrumentation, leaving just the singer’s quiet, steady voice. It is the naked, vulnerable personification of melancholy. I’ve listened to it on repeat, and every single time it gives me chills of beauty and gloom.

Sardonix 2.0!!!

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Sardonix is reincarnating [or reinresinating, since she’s not a flesh-based character] as a Luts Juri 2006 head on a ShinyDoll Thaasa body. Here you can see the stability and posability of the Thaasa body. While scrawny, it has an elegantly engineered flow that Domuya’s Flexi body, which looks blatantly mechanical, does not. I’m looking for Thaasa measurements, since I hear that the body is smaller around the waist than the average 60 cm girl, maybe closer to Obitsu size? If so, Sardonix could share clothes with Jennifer. [Not that Sardonix wears too many clothes…] Anyway, I look forward with interest and excitement to Sardonix’ new head, currently en route. It’s much more mischievous and androgynous than her original sleepy elfy Lishe head. No needle nose or rosebud lips either, much to my pleasure.

Pan’s Labyrinth: Shooting fish in a barrel

Pan’s Labyrinth: Shooting fish in a barrel published on 2 Comments on Pan’s Labyrinth: Shooting fish in a barrel

Yesterday I went to see the long-awaited Pan’s Labyrinth, in which 10-year-old Ofelia exchanges the horrors of post-WWII Spain for the equally viscous horrors of her imagination. While her mother dies in childbed and her shinily sadistic stepfather shoots resistance fighters for sport, Ofelia turns to an ambiguous faun, who offers her the prospect of royalty in a dream world if she can complete three disgusting tasks.

For 99.9% of the movie, I liked it.

I recognized the film’s world as a stylized one marked by lavishly excessive violence, pain and suffering, and I accepted it because I expected the film to go somewhere interesting or say something new. But no. Instead the film just copped out completely in the final minutes by having the sadistic stepfather shoot Ofelia at point blank in the center of the titular labyrinth. After that, everything was just stupid and I didn’t care.

I spent some time trying to figure out why Ofelia’s death seemed like such a cop-out. I decided that the reason was NOT because I liked her as a character. Heck, I liked Dr. Ferreiro and the sadistic captain as characters too, but their deaths seemed appropriate and satisfying in the context of the story. Since I had an emotional connection to Ofelia, I didn’t like her death, but my objection to her death is motivated by more than mere sympathy.

I finally decided that I objected to Ofelia’s death because it did not fit stylistically with the rest of the movie. The bulk of the movie was about the insidious ways in which violence, war and torture poison even the innocent imagination. The horrors of war are inescapable. The disgusting aspects of human nature appear even in the realm of our imaginations. Following this logic, we should have seen the captain’s final murderous act NOT coming from him. To have him shoot Ofelia is like the movie saying, “EVIL = EVIL.” No shit. I knew that already. I don’t care. The captain’s murderous act should have been transferred partly or fully to the Faun, who should have threatened not just Ofelia’s brother’s life, but also Ofelia’s. If the actions of the Faun and the captain worked in concert to kill Ofelia, this would have been much more thematically satisfying.

I swear…del Toro just chickened out at the end of Pan’s Labyrinth. Instead of following the slimy ambiguity of his themes to their logical ends, he chose to reinforce a superficial, artificial dualism. Despite the sheer awesomeness of the main performers [especially Doug Jones as the Faun and the Pale Man] and special effects and gore, I still feel let down.

Typety typety type

Typety typety type published on No Comments on Typety typety type

I ended up ditching the Zire/Palm keyboard combo in favor of a Clie + Clie keyboard, a cheaper set [$75 for both, including Documents to Go, which is the portable version of Word] with more technological advances. On the Clie, there is also a hard plug-in connection between PDA and keyboard, as opposed to the fiddly infrared sensor on the Zire/Palm keyboard set-up. Thank you to Super Todd, my landlord, who sold it to me.

Since last night I have been experimenting with data entry onto my new mini-‘puter. The cramped keys take some getting used to, but they’re responsive, requiring no pounding, so they’re not too hard on my hands. If I type quickly for an extended period of time, my wrists hurt, but they do that anyway with laptop or desktop boards. So far, my mini-‘puter appears to satisfy my need for light, compact, quickly accessible and comtaible word processing. Further updates as I continue testing.

Good book, bad movie.

Good book, bad movie. published on 1 Comment on Good book, bad movie.

Annette Curtis Klause has four weird, romantic YA fantasies to her credit. I especially like her first, the 1992 Silver Kiss, in which a mopey mortal gets it on with a broody vampire well before BTVS. [Check out the pallid beauty of the cover art. I’ll take a framed edition, thank you very much.] Later came Blood and Chocolate, a very sensual tale about a werewolf girl in love with a human boy and therefore in conflict with her pack. Great concept, right?

Not if the producers of Underworld [crashingly boring trilogy about vampires vs. werewolves] get their paws on it. Blood and Chocolate is now a movie, pusillanimously debuting in late January because the makers KNOW it’s a turd. Oh, it smells like a rotting carcass already…

Well, we know that crosses and garlic repel vampires, and silver bullets repel werewolves, but what effectively wards off evil film adaptations of good fantasy novels?

Kitbashing a computer on the go

Kitbashing a computer on the go published on 1 Comment on Kitbashing a computer on the go

Used Palm Zire 31: $60. Thank you, craigslist.

Palm universal wireless keyboard from provantage.com: $48.48.

Total: $108.48.

Result: something better and more compatible than the Alphasmart Neo for less than half the price. Take THAT, Alphasmart! I thought you were cheap, but your prices are clearly inflated. Look at my smart little back-lit cheapo computer with several MB of memory and more than 4 lines of text and an almost laptop-size keyboard. You are not as good as that. Weep for shame. WEEP!

Alternatives to portable word processors

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Alternatively, I could get a portable folding keyboard [Pocketop] and a cheap PDA. Pocketop keyboard for $20 here. Cheap, universal, but has small keys. Palm universal wireless keyboard here at $40. Keys small for extensive typing? More expensive infrared keyboard for $45 here. Nice size, but more small moving parts, stupid non-locking hinge.

Portable writing devices

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Introducing the latest tag, “writing,” which covers my Sarah and Milly story [formerly tagged “nanowrimo,” which it no longer is right now] and any other dreck I spew out.

I have a novel to write, but I dislike typing it onto my home desktop computer. First, I spend all day at my job at a desktop, so spending more time in front of another desktop is the last thing I want to do. Second, the large screen size of the desktop monopolizes my vision, allowing me no chance to look at anything interesting or restful besides the screen. Third, the desktop limits me to one place, at my desk, in my chair. It’s not portable.

I have several alternatives. One of them is a notebook, a regular paper notebook. A notebook is good because it provides variation [not staring at another big screen], no monopoly on my vision and portability, it increases the amount of time I spend writing because I think have to transfer the writing to the computer by banging it out on the keys. So basically handwriting only staves off the inevitable suffering of using the desktop. I don’t want to stave it off. I want to avoid it as much as possible.

Another alternative is a laptop computer. A laptop computer is good because it provides variation, no monopoly on my vision and compatibility with the desktop. However, I want something light and easy to carry to work and on trips. A laptop is too heavy and fragile, not to mention uselessly complicated. I don’t need huge amounts of memory or great programs. I just want to enter text and then transfer it to my desktop.

Another alternative is a handheld with a fold-out keyboard. This would be good because it provides variation, portability and ease of use. But it is too complicated and fragile, and the screen would be too small.

The final option, the Alphasmart Neo, is what I want to go with. It’s a small, light, durable word processor with a full-size keyboard and a 6-lines-of-text screen. it has a small amount of memory and can communicate with my desktop via USB cord. It doesn’t figure my taxes or connect to the Internet. It just holds medium-sized text files. That’s all I want. I don’t want to handwrite my stories. I’m saving manuscript for my diary [except on those rare occasions when I forget it and have to type up and print out an entry, then paste it in].

Lookit how cheap they are!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I must return to manuscripting my latest outline because I do not have an Alphasmart Neo yet.

And another Web comic

And another Web comic published on 1 Comment on And another Web comic

Count Your Sheep by Adrian Ramos features regular doses of whimsy in which little girl Katie talks life and play with her friendly countable sheep, Ship, and her mom. For example, she thinks the cheese wheel in her fridge is a piece of the crescent moon, which disturbs her because, if people are eating the moon, there will be no need for astronauts, and then what will she be when she grows up? Brilliant at capturing the childlike, associative, poetic mindset, Count Your Sheep is an enjoyable cartoon at no one’s expense. It remains consistently inventive and never becomes precious.

Another Web comic

Another Web comic published on 1 Comment on Another Web comic

I really like Dork Tower by John Kovalic. The Web comic about gamers seems to be a wrung-out subgenre too stale for its own good, but Dork Tower, with its high energy and unremittant silliness, rises above the stereotypes to be a great all-around comic. Tongue-in-cheek without being abstruse and parodic without being pompous, DT is the strip that the limp, pretentious, overdone Penny Arcade [God, how I hate that strip!] wishes it were.

My ideal mannequin

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After reading yesterday about the guy who faces life imprisonment for breaking into yet another store to steal yet another mannequin, I fortuitously found an article on Salon about the burgeoning [hahahahah] popularity of mannequins with large breasts. This got me thinking. If there was a relatively cheap mannequin with these breasts and this body [and a head goddammit — why don’t the “plus-sized” ones have heads????], I would get it.

What I really want is a life-sized, well-articulated, realistic doll…like a ball-jointed mannequin. I’ll just keep dreaming…

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