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I call this one “Heeeeeeeere am I floating ’round my tin can.”

I call this one “Heeeeeeeere am I floating ’round my tin can.” published on No Comments on I call this one “Heeeeeeeere am I floating ’round my tin can.”

Testing out imaginary spacesuits in preparation for a trip to the moon. 😀 Continue reading I call this one “Heeeeeeeere am I floating ’round my tin can.”

Master of the Universe as commentary on Twilight

Master of the Universe as commentary on Twilight published on No Comments on Master of the Universe as commentary on Twilight

I skimmed some of Masters of the Universe while I was doing something else, which is probably the best way to read it. :p Thoughts follow.

  • It’s very strange to read a story in which Bella and Rosalie are roommates. I kept thinking, Wrong! Rosalie is a Cullen, and she lives in a strange vampire family with all the other Cullens.
  • Very little seems to have changed between the self-published version of Masters of the Universe and the traditionally published 50 Poops. There was obviously a search and replace done on character names, some superficial clean-up for spelling, punctuation, and grammar, and a removal of some Briticisms. Other than that, though, it’s all pretty much the same: the scenes, the lines, the adverbs, everything. Made me realize how much 50 Poops could have used an editor. I think there was an opportunity here for some heroic editorial effort to turn improve the story by excising redundancy and making it overall more concise. Then it would have still be formulaic and cliched, but at least it wouldn’t have been so badly written and constructed.
  • Now that I think about it, E.L. James’ interpretation of Edward Cullen as a really bad dom who can’t separate his actual self from his pathological need for controlling everything is pretty accurate. No wonder Stephenie Meyer doesn’t really like E.L. James. E.L. James can see the grotesquerie at the base of Meyer’s characters.

Therianthrope with talons

Therianthrope with talons published on No Comments on Therianthrope with talons

I love Mankahoo’s original digital figure Bod. With her wide-set eyes, pronounced brow ridge, and talons instead of feet, she looks like an avian therianthrope. She’s the sort of character for which AprilYSH’s V4 Yolande Hair or V4 FeatherHawk would be perfect! I also feel like she needs a feathered texture…and some clothes, of course!

50 Shades and the fanfic shrew

50 Shades and the fanfic shrew published on No Comments on 50 Shades and the fanfic shrew

1. Stephenie Meyer writes Twilight saga.

2. E.L. James writes Twilight fanfic, Masters of the Universe.

3. E.L. James edits and publishes novels, the 50 Poops trilogy, based on Masters of the Universe.

4. E.L. James publishes Grey, arguably fanfic of her own trilogy.

I think we’ve moved past ouroboric territory. That snake is just biting its tail; no one ever said it was trying to consume itself from the end up. However, I hear that, when some shrews get exceedingly desperate [i.e., they haven’t eaten in about five hours], they start eating themselves. We’re in starving shrew country now.

Watch out. They bite.

“It’s a novel; it’s not a manual!”: the problem with 50 Shades of Pooooooo

“It’s a novel; it’s not a manual!”: the problem with 50 Shades of Pooooooo published on No Comments on “It’s a novel; it’s not a manual!”: the problem with 50 Shades of Pooooooo

50 Shades of Poooooooo somehow came up in discussion at the Friends of the Library meeting this evening when we were talking about the prospect of a book swap and donations this spring. I felt it apropos to mention that the first book in the series keeps getting stolen from the library, so I keep donating copies to replace it. [Okay, just twice, but still…]

Favorite response: “Why would you steal it?! It’s a novel; it’s not a manual. You’re supposed to read it and then return it, not keep it for reference!” That cracked me up because clearly the speaker was not thinking about the pleasures of rereading. I was also entertained because, distressingly, people actually do take the series as a manual for either an ideal relationship and/or how to practice bdsm.

On the subject of pooooooooooo, a friend has sent me a pdf of Masters of the Universe, which is, of course, E.L. James’ Twilight fanfic that eventually spawned the Media Juggernaut of Poooooooo. If I don’t get lost in some infinite wormhole of recursion upon reading it, I might post a thought or two about it here.

Breaking news: Kid with disability becomes object of contemptuous pity

Breaking news: Kid with disability becomes object of contemptuous pity published on No Comments on Breaking news: Kid with disability becomes object of contemptuous pity

James Rink hit his head in an Apple Store in Green Hills, TN when shopping with mom LynnMarie. Store employee Andrew Wall asked how he could help, comforted James, and programmed James’ iPad. For some reason, this is news.

 

Actually, I know the precise reason that this counts as news. It’s because of the way in which the culture at large views the kid, who has autism and Down Syndrome. Thus, because of his disabilities, the cultural narrative assumes that he is miserable, contemptible, and subhuman. The cultural narrative also assumes that non-disabled people don’t have to pay any attention to those wretched objects. Therefore, when a non-disabled person advances the radical notion that disabled people are persons worthy of respect and, as a result, treats a disabled person with basic dignity, respect, and kindness, the heads of most non-disabled people implode.

What beacons of compassion these non-disabled people are in according basic humanity to disabled people! Let’s keep our standards of humane and decent behavior so low that yet more non-disabled people can practice Level 0 Altruism and dehumanize even more disabled people!

Excuse me while I puke.

Jareth is awesome.

Jareth is awesome. published on No Comments on Jareth is awesome.

Okay, now he’s ready for prime time. I transferred Ghastly’s G2F Flat Chested morph to achieve his accurate breast size and modified his base texture to add some shadows under his eyes. I also took the subsurface scattering off his surfaces, and he looks much better — much less red. Continue reading Jareth is awesome.

Somebody is doing something with Labyrinth? I can’t tell.

Somebody is doing something with Labyrinth? I can’t tell. published on No Comments on Somebody is doing something with Labyrinth? I can’t tell.

Hollywood Reporter says that Columbia Tristar made a deal with the Jim Henson Company to have Nicole Perlman write a script having something to do with Labyrinth. Could be a redo, could be a sequel. Given the vagueness of details, I seriously can’t tell if this is legit. I dunno — is the Hollywood Reporter a reputable source?

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to work on something definite from a movie, i.e., my Pouty McShouty project.

Things I am going to model whenever I get around to learning

Things I am going to model whenever I get around to learning published on No Comments on Things I am going to model whenever I get around to learning

Digitally speaking, of course. Continue reading Things I am going to model whenever I get around to learning

Temperature scales with reference to cats, Californians, Floridians, Bostonians, and Minnesotans

Temperature scales with reference to cats, Californians, Floridians, Bostonians, and Minnesotans published on No Comments on Temperature scales with reference to cats, Californians, Floridians, Bostonians, and Minnesotans

This temperature scale amuses me. I figure that the “Bostonians” column applies equally well to all Vermonters. Being dissatisfied with the weather is practically a regional sport in New England. The “Cats” column [“Yell at you until you turn the heat up”] also entertains me.

Mad Mazzy Mickle’s musical inspirations

Mad Mazzy Mickle’s musical inspirations published on No Comments on Mad Mazzy Mickle’s musical inspirations

Mad Mazzy Mickle Goes Looking for Love owes significant and obvious debts to some real-life music and musicals. In no particular order, here they are.

1) That entire subgenre of songs in the 1950s and 1960s about vehicle crashes. Epitomized by Ray Peterson’s insufferably whiny Tell Laura I Love Her [1961], this group also includes the iconic Dead Man’s Curve [1964] by Jan and Dean. The song I most associate with the genre, though, is the Shangri-Las’ Leader of the Pack [1965], which actually includes sound effects of the devastating car crash at the climax of the song. As a bonus, it also contains the line “They told me he was bad but I knew he was sad,” which is a concise summation of the appeal of the Byronic hero right there. This subgenre probably serves as the source for the automotive theme in the film.

2) The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars by David Bowie. Mazzy’s general appearance recalls David Bowie’s circa 1975. Also much of the album has haunting, otherworldly notes of melancholy that I envision underpinning MMM. Lady Stardust really encapsulates the tension between ecstasy and depression because it describes the speaker’s — and everyone else’s — excited fascination with the performer, but the song itself is delivered in a halting, lugubrious manner, full of regret and nostalgia. Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide, with its desperate plea for connection — “Give me your hands because you’re wonderful” — also embodies that alienation.

3) The Rocky Horror Picture Show by Richard O’Brien. MMM initially rose from my desire to explore the transformative effects of cult movies on people’s identities without using RHPS as an example. Thus Mazzy is a Frank analogue, while the Dude and Cyn are analogues of Brad and Janet, and all their trajectories are roughly the same, as is the general flow of the plot. Songs like Toucha Toucha Touch Me definitely gave me the idea for playful, punny songs.

Mad Mazzy Mickle Goes Looking for Love: plot and core cast

Mad Mazzy Mickle Goes Looking for Love: plot and core cast published on No Comments on Mad Mazzy Mickle Goes Looking for Love: plot and core cast

As all of you who pay attention to my blog [maybe two of you] know, I have a cult classic film, Mad Mazzy Mickle Goes Looking for Love, recurring in my fictional oeuvre. Modeled after The Rocky Horror Picture Show, MMM is a musical melodrama about sex, death, and drag racing in really cool cars. So far it has appeared in two places. One, a short story with the same title as the movie, follows Sarah, who played Mazzy, dealing with the legacy of stardom and typecasting in her 30s. The film also shows up in Me and My Muses, where college student Ellery watches it as part of her journey of self-discovery. I’m also planning to bring MMM into Zombieville, but I’m not giving any details.

Characters

Preferred name: Mad Mazzy Mickle
Given name: Lee Masters
Age: north of 16, south of 21
Sex: “Sure!”
Pronouns: Ze/hir
Race: “Fast.”
Family: Unknown, except for twin sibling who died shortly after birth
Colors: Pale blue, pale green
Motif: Comet
Style: Neo-retro astro-chic
Job: Ticket seller/concession manager/usher/factotum at the Psycholodeon, the city’s art-house movie theater
Pastime: Star gazing
Car: Hearse rat rod
Conflicts: Parents are actual movie stars, but ze keeps this a secret, wanting to live unaffected by them. Convinced that ze should have died instead of hir twin. Not-so-secret death wish.

Preferred name: [the] Dude
Given name used at start of movie: Richard “Dickie” John Hitchcock III
Age: 19
Sex: Male
Pronouns: He/him
Race: South Korean
Family: Adoptive super-rich white fathers, adopted younger brother
Colors: Black, dark grey
Motif: Moon
Style: Greaser/biker/Goth
Job: Back-up vocalist for the Thereminions, an ambient space techno band
Pastime: Lucid dreaming
Car: Limousine
Conflicts: Feels divorced from origins as a transracial adoptee. Dropped out of high school and now working on GED, but feels fake. Has no idea what he wants to do with his life, which freaks him the fuck out.

Preferred name: Cyn
Given name used at start of movie: Cynthia Ann “Cindy” Sweet
Age: 17
Sex: Female
Pronouns: She/her
Race: Black woman of color
Family: Working class, mother, father, two older sisters
Colors: Red, orange
Motif: Sun
Style: “Whatever’s cleanest.”
Job: Auto mechanic at Sweet Rides, the family garage
Pastime: Queering old movies
Car: 1980s station wagon with fake wood paneling that she rebuilt herself
Conflicts: Overshadowed by academically successful siblings. Feels invisible and ugly. Pretends that she doesn’t care about her practical, grease-stained look, but would much rather be “elegant.”

Plot

Intro to Dickie and Cindy and their respective families and conflicts. Then Mad Mazzy Mickle shows up, and we’re off. Everyone sings a song about what they want, and Mazzy sings seduction songs with both Dickie and Cindy with automotive puns. Seduction scenes also include stylistic transformations for Dickie/the Dude and Cindy/Cyn. Dickie/the Dude > handcuffs off, color on. Cindy/Cyn > grease off, elegance on.

For a brief, shining moment, Mazzy, the Dude, and Cyn form a happy family. Mazzy sings a song about finally feeling happy, worth something, excited about life, not wanting to escape to the stars. Planning for the big drag race — car prep, more automotive puns, increasing excitement and obsession.

Cyn’s and the Dude’s families confront them, warning them to slow down. The Dude and Cyn interpret this as rejection of their new selves, Mazzy, and their coming out in general. They remain defiant. In fact, they throw themselves into race prep even more. Mazzy sings, worrying about going too far, too fast, crashing and burning, how nothing good can last.

The race occurs: Mazzy competing against Cyn and the Dude. Cyn and the Dude tie for first, but something goes wrong with Mazzy’s car. It hits a tree and gets totaled. Cyn and the Dude discover that Mazzy appears not to have been in the car, but no one knows where ze went. Convinced that ze’s dead, each of them grieve with their families. The final scene shows Cyn and the Dude watching stars together, and they see a shooting star. Mazzy sings a song over the credits about being a star.

Fandom

MMM came out a while ago — I have to check my notes. Critical consensus thought that the young unknowns were hot and the costumes were fabulous, but the acting quality was dubious, script hackneyed, lyrics inane, and ending a tonally discordant downer. Popularly, though, MMM proved to be a hit, especially with genderqueer, trans, and/or queer youth, poly people, Goths, transracial adoptees, gay dudes, lesbian women, bi people, lucid dreamers, amateur astronomers, feminists, femmes — anyone who could find something of themselves in the main characters. MMM was a movie that people came out to and cited as life-changing. [It also changed the lives of Sarah, Sean, and Bebe, who played Mazzy, the Dude, and Cyn. They were inevitably typecast and confused with their characters, but that’s another story.]

MMM showings turned into gatherings for all the weirdos who identified with the movie on some level. Talking about the movie and celebrating favorite characters, fans naturally started yelling at the screen, dressing up for the showings, and acting out the whole thing in front of the screen. Over time, people formed casts to do regular showings, and an audience participation script was codified.

In the present day, though MMM is decades old, it remains popular for all the reasons it originally sparked interest. MMM now has a reputation of being a rite of passage that enhances one’s cred, especially if one is gay, lesbian, bi, poly, trans, genderqueer, intersex, non-binary, or otherwise non-conforming in sexuality and/or gender identity and/or gender expression. Given the intensely personal nostalgic admiration with which this crowd views MMM, you’d think it was an exemplar of sympathetic, inclusive representation, intersectional feminism, and general awesomeness. Let’s just say it’s not, which gives scholars endless fuel for their academic analyses of the film and its subculture.

I should also mention that the ending of MMM has prompted much controversy. It’s a tragedy on the scale of Romeo and Juliet. It’s the ol’ homophobic Kill the Queer stereotype write large. It condemns Mazzy by killing hir off. It idolizes Mazzy by making hir a star. Cyn and the Dude are totally getting together at the end, and this is awesome. Cyn and the Dude are totally getting together at the end, and this is some heteronormative cop-out. Mazzy is dead, having become a metaphorical star. Mazzy is not dead, because the song ze sings over the credits proves that ze survived the crash and became an actual star like hir parents. Let’s argue till the cows come home!

My favorite prefix is trans-.

My favorite prefix is trans-. published on No Comments on My favorite prefix is trans-.

I cannot tell where my interest in the prefix began. Perhaps in Transylvania, arguably translatable as “Through-the-Woods-Land,” which is the most fairy-talish and coolest and vampiric place name ever. Or maybe it started with transformation and the magical protean changes it connoted. In any event, the beauty of translucency and its glass-like clarity certainly made me love it further.

It certainly continued in translation, a literal bringing across of words and communication from one language to the other that I’ve always pictured as a ferry across a river. When I learned about transcendence, which I envision as an airplane rising in a perfect steady angle across the sky, closer and closer to cruising altitude, I liked it even more.

Despite my dislike for transgression, which I associate with stuffy, verbose academic analyses of behavior outside of the societal norms, my interest in trans- only increased, especially because it contributes to really cool words like transducer. As for transducer, I learned this word from The Rocky Horror Picture Show [line from Planet Schmanet Janet: “The transducer will seduce ya!”] and never bothered looking it up until now. My loss, as it’s an amazing word that means “an electronic device that converts energy from one form to another.” Microphones and speakers are transducers, as are thermometers and antennae, even LEDs and incandescent light bulbs — so, in other words, all the sorts of items from which people would build prop supercomputers for sci-fi movies. [“What the hell is that mess of blinking lights and screens and speakers and dials and gauges?” “Oh, that’s just the Transductomatron.”] Transducers: they’re everywhere! [Not to be confused with traducers, who I really hope are not everywhere!]

And, of course, I think it’s stupendous that the prefix became a word all by itself: trans.

I kind of want to go to a forested area of Transylvania just so I can write in Latin, Eo trans sylvaniam Transylvania!, which is, of course, I am going through the woods in Transylvania!, or possibly, I am transylvanianing in Transylvania!, although that sounds kinda transgressive.

Bulge morph — fairly easy, right?

Bulge morph — fairly easy, right? published on No Comments on Bulge morph — fairly easy, right?

Just stick a D-form on the crotch, kind of between the legs, pull out and down, and inflate a bit.

Hmmm, apparently not. I thought I had successfully made one for G3F in about three minutes. However, close examination [i.e., I compared it to someone else’s] reveals that the deformation is occurring too high on the pubis. Fortunately, I saved the D-form preset, because I’m a genius like that, so, when I get home, I can move it a little more down and under and redo.

And yea verily G3F shall have multiple bulge morphs — because it’s 2016, people, and I know I can’t be the only one who wants them.

Time flies when you’re dressing up: digital models, clothing, body shapes, etc.

Time flies when you’re dressing up: digital models, clothing, body shapes, etc. published on No Comments on Time flies when you’re dressing up: digital models, clothing, body shapes, etc.

About eight and a half years ago, I failed spectacularly in my attempts to find mainstream gay or lesbian content, specifically poses, for digital models. I was also seriously pissed by my inability to put clothes designed for one figure on another figure.

 

Eight and a half years later, gay and lesbian poses have appeared slightly in mainstream markets like Renderosity and heavily in porno markets like Renderotica. The autofit function in Daz Studio 3+, and/or the Clothing Room in Poser Pro 10+, and/or PhilC’s Wardrobe Wizard, and/or Evil Innocence’s CrossDresser [okay, now it’s XD 4, to be cooler, I guess] allow users to fit almost all clothing items on different figures, though special things like therianthropic parts remain a challenge. I guess I can say that one of my greatest sources of digital frustration has disappeared.

 

Of course, I have a new one: clothing fit across the breast. Daz’ autofit does pretty good work in clothing conversion, but it can’t handle the pectoral area well. Conversion of clothing for prominent breasts to clothing for minimal breasts = weird peaks where the breasts used to be. Conversion from clothing for minimal breasts to clothing for prominent breasts = shrink-wrap effect with no realistic draping. Conversion from clothing from figure A for prominent breasts to clothing for figure B with same = shrink wrap and no draping.

Of course, there are the most problems with the two types of body shapes I most use: a) flat, minimal breasts [e.g., Jareth] and b) prominent, fat, sagging breasts [e.g., me and pretty much everyone else]. In the first case, rippling and puckering develops around the pectorals as autofit tries to flatten out all that “boob geometry,” as it’s referred to on the Daz forums. In the second case, autofit tucks the clothing up under the breasts and refuses to drape it. This is why vendors make a small fortune in products like “breast fixers,” “fit control,” and other suites of projection morphs to forcibly shove the mesh into a more realistic position. And, of course, prominent breasts [and fats] distort clothing meshes and textures unrealistically.

Thus, besides HAIR, one of my prime motivations for learning how to model is BOOBS. Specifically, I want to make some basic clothing that accommodates prominent, fat, sagging breasts without shrink wrap. I also want to make some basic clothing for same that doesn’t get stuck up under the breasts. Of course, I haven’t seen anyone else achieve this, but I also haven’t seen anyone with the same level of frustration as me. And frustration is a powerful motivator.

Jareth on Genesis 3 Female base

Jareth on Genesis 3 Female base published on No Comments on Jareth on Genesis 3 Female base

Tired of waiting for Dimension3D’s GenX3 to automate the process of transferring morphs, I decided to take another stab at approximating Jareth on the G3F base. I’ve been working on moving him manually to G3F for several months, with unsatisfactory results.

 

Last night I finally figured out how to move him over without distortion — or, more precisely, the chief components of his head morph.

  1. On G2F, I added to Favorites the head morphs that his likeness depends on: my RedPlanetArachnid [young David Bowie] and Genesis Head [because RedPlanetArachnid was developed for a Genesis 1 base].
  2. I then used the Transfer Utility.
    Source: G2F. Shape: Default.
    Target: G3F. Shape [and here’s the key]: Genesis 2 Female Head from Slosh’s Genesis 2 Legacies.
    Slosh’s Genesis 2 Female base morph included in this series provides much more accuracy than you would get if you used either the G3F clone shape under Source Shape or the G2F clone shape under Target Shape. As many people have noted, the G3F clone for G2F and the G2F clone for G3F do not follow the shapes that they clone exactly; distortion becomes especially egregious around the eyes.
  3. After transferring the morphs over to G3F, I did the usual rigging adjustment and ERC freeze. For some reason, even though I was just transferring head morphs, I had to leave pretty much everything selected in terms of bones to adjust and influencing face groups. For the first iteration, though, I unchecked Left Squint Inner and Right Squint Inner, as those bones tend to move way out of line during rigging adjustment. Then I did a second rigging adjustment with only those bones selected.
  4. I defined limits, colors, names, paths, etc. for the morphs and saved as usual.

After all that, I then loaded a new G3F and dialed in G2F Head 100%, Genesis head 50%, and RedPlanetArachnid 75%. Using the G2F version as reference, I used my G3F Morphalynn morph package, Dogz’ 200+ G3F Head and Face Morphs, and Daz’ G3F body morphs to reproduce the salient features of his shape. Anyway, here’s a full body shot. Needs a little more adjustment, especially the transfer of some age morphs and a Flatten Chest morph, but I think I’m finally ready to use him in digital photostories!

 

Continue reading Jareth on Genesis 3 Female base

Lupita Nyong’o, embodiment, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Lupita Nyong’o, embodiment, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens published on No Comments on Lupita Nyong’o, embodiment, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens

I recently held forward at length about the frustrating representations of women and/or people of colors other than pasty in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. One of my criticisms discussed Lupita Nyong’o’s character, the mocapped Maz Kanata. I interpreted it as a literal erasure of a Mexican-Kenyan woman and thus a very problematic maneuver with imperialist, colonialist overtones.

A December 13th, 2015, Buzzfeed interview with Nyong’o complicates my interpretation. Nyong’o explains her choice of the mocapped Force Awakens role as a calculated assertion of agency in a racially charged environment. Having recently won an Oscar for her performance as the enslaved [and much abused] woman Patsy in 12 Years a Slave, Nyong’o made the following remark:

“12 Years a Slave was a film that was so much about my body, and Star Wars is not at all. There was a liberation in being able to play in a medium where my body was not the thing in question,” Nyong’o told BuzzFeed News. “The acting challenge I was looking for was completely different, a complete departure from 12 Years a Slave.”

Let’s break her comment down a bit. 12 Years a Slave film centralizes the brutal violence to which black bodies are subjected in the form of kidnapping, rape, assault, and other kinds of torture. Thus Nyong’o’s performance as Patsey contains a crapload of racialized and sexualized suffering that the character experiences precisely because she is poor, black, and female. Patsey’s characterization thus becomes hyperfocused on her body, especially when she is hurt and violated. Nyong’o’s comment that it’s freeing to play a character like Maz Kanata where “my body was not the thing in question” implies that her body was “the thing in question” in 12 Years a Slave. Notice how she talks about her body as a “thing,” rather than part of herself. This leads me to suspect that she found her performance as Patsey objectifying to some degree, thus exhausting and disturbing. I think “acting challenge” underestimates the significant physical and emotional difficulties Nyong’o experienced in 12 Years a Slave.

Nyong’o’s description of the role of Maz as a “liberation” suggests that she found it a respite from the role of Patsey in 12 Years a Slave. Patsey is an enslaved woman who experiences physical, mental, and emotional abuse, all with the ultimate effect of making her blackness, femaleness, and enslavement the most salient things about her. In contrast, Maz Kanata is neither black, nor enslaved, nor a victim of onscreen abuse. As an old, wise character and owner of a popular intergalactic watering hole, she has a certain agency and independence denied to Patsey. Nyong’o acknowledges an “acting challenge” in doing a mocap performance for the first time, but I’d hazard a guess that, absent the history of degradation and mistreatment weighing down the role of Patsey, the role of Maz was less emotionally and physically taxing.

 

Nyong’o obviously does not see her portrayal of Maz Kanata as a racist effacement of a woman of color. In fact, she sees it as an escape from and alternative to the race-obsessed, body-obsessed, and emotionally exhausting work she did for the role of Patsey. So who am I, a white person, to insist that there’s racism and sexism at play here?

Well, there is. Nyong’o, as a woman of color, experiences a double bind created explicitly by the confluence of racism, sexism, classism, etc., in the movie industry. She can play a role like that of Patsey, which foregrounds her blackness, femaleness, and enslavement, and win awards, but suffer emotional and physical aftershocks. When she seeks to avoid physical and mental stress by playing a role like that of Maz Kanata, which is much less strongly determined by race, sex, and even physicality, then people go, “What the hell? Black erasure!” While Patsey and Maz do not represent all the roles available to Nyong’o, they do represent the ways in which racism, sexism, and classism limit her options. Cultural expectations of women of color reward highly sexualized, racialized, classed roles like that of Patsey and look down on less sexualized, racialized, classed roles like that of Maz. The variety of roles available to women of color may be slightly larger than it was 75 years ago, but the racism, sexism, and classism of the movie industry still literally reward them for playing poor, abused, enslaved victims of violence.

Digital likeness attempt 2: Adam Driver

Digital likeness attempt 2: Adam Driver published on No Comments on Digital likeness attempt 2: Adam Driver

…Seems to be going well for a few hours’ worth of work, all with free morphs, either DieTrying’s 182 for V4, ported to Gen1 by SickleYield, or my Morphalynn G3F set ported to Gen1 by me. Continue reading Digital likeness attempt 2: Adam Driver

Wait…that was supposed to be a smart sci-fi film? or, Ex Machina and Smug White People Feminism

Wait…that was supposed to be a smart sci-fi film? or, Ex Machina and Smug White People Feminism published on No Comments on Wait…that was supposed to be a smart sci-fi film? or, Ex Machina and Smug White People Feminism

I have no idea where all the reviewers of Ex Machina get off, thinking that it’s some novel, philosophical, highly intelligent piece of sci-fi movie making. It’s not. The first two thirds contain the insufferable misogynist bloviation of two straight cis dudes, objectifying all the female characters in the most blatant, unoriginal, and uninteresting ways possible. I mean, seriously — one of the robots, Kiyoko, is so objectified that she has no language, thus making her the ultimate silent, submissive, docile Asian woman stereotype. The last third of the movie contains the supposedly narratively inevitable consequences of their assholery, in which the women become scary and murder the dudes. Then all the women of color either die or sacrifice themselves so that the white woman can escape to her dreams of white-collar big-city life, and it’s all so tedious and sludgy and dull…except for the hotel where it was filmed. That was pretty. But aesthetically pleasing scenery cannot compensate for raging misogyny and racism.

This enraged critique of Ex Machina owes much to Sharon Chang’s incisive analysis, which goes into much more depth.

EDIT: And here’s a perfect example of someone analyzing queer subtexts in Ex Machina and completely failing to call out the racism and sexism. Sorry, Jeffrey Bloomer. I really don’t think that a white woman reconstituting herself from the bodies of women of color is merely a moment of queer transformation that should be celebrated. It’s also a reification of an ongoing colonialist project that should be acknowledged and critiqued.

We can be sad that an abusive person is dead, and we can also deplore the abuse.

We can be sad that an abusive person is dead, and we can also deplore the abuse. published on No Comments on We can be sad that an abusive person is dead, and we can also deplore the abuse.

Aida Manduley writes a nuanced article that addresses the fact that, yes, David Bowie was famous and talented and significant to a lot of people and, yes, he abused his power. Her title, “David Bowie: Time to Mourn or Call Out?,” is actually misleading. It suggests that the correct response is one or the other, but, as one reads Manduley’s analysis, one realizes that she is not proposing such a binary dilemma, but critiquing it. We can do both at once, she argues; in fact, she goes so far to say that doing both is the humanest, most compassionate response. In mourning, we respect the significant effect that David Bowie and his art had on people, while, in calling out, we respect those people that he disrespected and harmed. If we can hold a myriad of emotions in our minds, then we can respect the complexity of human experience.

Digital robo-dolls and stuff

Digital robo-dolls and stuff published on No Comments on Digital robo-dolls and stuff

Samildanach’s clown robot dolls Black & White are on clearance at Rendo. Time to get ’em!

 

Also at Rendo, Edart3D’s Pin-up Gynoid Phase 1 implies the future existence of later phases, so I’m keeping an eye on this vendor. As a bonus, this person also does accurate [from what I can tell] renders of outmoded technology in a way that I haven’t seen anyone else do.

 

Speaking of clearance and also of gynoids, Traveler’s Technophilia Retro Gynoids are in the RDNA discount bin.

And, in recent purchases, I acquired Mannequin for G3F last night. Much to my delight, the geografted head follows head morphs and expressions somewhat, allowing for rough likenesses. Woo hoo!

I also made some sorely needed disturbing overlays for the blank head. Below is one of them. Continue reading Digital robo-dolls and stuff

“Does it make a realistic digital human model look like an inanimate humanoid object? I’ll take it!”

“Does it make a realistic digital human model look like an inanimate humanoid object? I’ll take it!” published on No Comments on “Does it make a realistic digital human model look like an inanimate humanoid object? I’ll take it!”

Today’s digital models of people — I’m thinking primarily of Daz Studio 3D’s Genesis 3 Female and Male — are designed for maximum realism, mimic human anatomy, flexibility, skin translucency, muscle flexion, facial expressiveness, fat distribution, etc., as much as current computing technology allows. While I benefit from all the advanced features of such models, I spend much of my time dehumanizing them and objectifying them as dolls, puppets, mannequins, robots, cyborgs, statues, and inanimate humanoid objects.

I don’t feel like I collect actual dolls, preferring instead to refer to them as small populations. But I definitely collect digital dolls, to the extent that I have a whole category in my database of digital content devoted to them [and a separate one for robots]. Thus I am happy to see Mannequin for G3F released at Daz today. I’m especially interested in the geografted stylized head [effaced face :p ], but it would be infinitely cooler as geografted patches to seal up the eyes and mouth of any model, rather than a whole new head to be swapped out. But I can work with it — I wonder if I can make the geografted head a conforming figure for G2F? Anyway, I think the Mannequin needs some sinister textures…

 

Overrated persons, parts 2 through n [where n is a very large number]

Overrated persons, parts 2 through n [where n is a very large number] published on No Comments on Overrated persons, parts 2 through n [where n is a very large number]
  • Ricky Gervais. Yeah, it’s so entertaining when you punch down, you self-important gasbag.  Just because you’re miserable doesn’t mean you have to spread it around. Also being offensive doesn’t mean that you’re successful. It just means that you’re offensive.
  • Robert Frost. The inclusion of Frost may be a personal choice based on my alma mater, Middlebury College, where Frost was considered all that and a bag of chips because he taught at the Bread Loaf School of English for 42 years. Yes, he was the poet laureate of Vermont, and yes, he wrote regional poems in a compelling style that married nineteenth century formalism and new vernacular, and, yes, some of it is even good, but, no, he is not the greatest thing since sliced bread.
  • William Shakespeare. Elizabethan era fan fictioneer extraordinaire and floating signifier, about whom we know very little except, for some reason, English-speaking people like to think he’s like the pinnacle of their cultural output. That’s a depressingly narrow view of English-speaking culture.
  • David Bowie. Anyone who goes on and on like he invented ambiguous gender presentation is really not paying attention.
  • Straight white cis non-disabled dudes. All of them ever, especially if they’re already famous for doing something supposedly noteworthy.

People who are grossly overrated, part 1: Quentin Tarantino

People who are grossly overrated, part 1: Quentin Tarantino published on No Comments on People who are grossly overrated, part 1: Quentin Tarantino

I have no idea why people think he’s so great. He has bamboozled great numbers of individuals into thinking he’s an edgy, creative, incisive filmmaker because he legitimizes his derivative, sexist, racist crap with callbacks to movies by straight, white, cis dudes of the past. Nope — sorry — it doesn’t take much talent to hold the majority of the world’s people in contempt. I am severely underimpressed.

Dolls in various states of progress and what I need to do

Dolls in various states of progress and what I need to do published on No Comments on Dolls in various states of progress and what I need to do

For BJDs who bug me:

  • Delmar needs faceup, hair, restringing, and tail. Working on faceup.
  • Fritillaria needs faceup, eyes, hair, outfit.
  • Mellifer needs a complete do-over. Stalled.
  • Never the Less needs faceup, hair, clothes. Working on head.
  • Polly needs a seat belt. Stalled.
  • Thalia needs a shirt. Stalled.
  • Timonium needs a new wig cap and new hair. Working on wig cap.
  • Touralyn needs a new body and clothes. Body in progress.

For Zombieville denizens:

  • Doctor Z needs her own body with appropriate neck. Ordered!
  • Sylvia needs a new fat body. Need to look in raw dolls bin.

 

 

Salad ideas

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Cleveland Clinic’s overview of really cool, nutritious, and tasty salad assembly is mostly my kind of document. It suggests alternatives to traditional salad ingredients and explains their benefits. It also explains some of the things to watch out for in traditional ingredients, and it doesn’t say anything about losing weight.

 

I now have some ideas for interesting salad ingredients based on this list…

 

  • Kale mix
  • Peapods
  • Soybeans
  • Red onion
  • Beets
  • Avocado
  • Chicken
  • Hard-boiled eggs
  • Raw sweet potatoes
  • Olive oil and balsamic for dressing

 

 

I now want to make a salad with kale, peapods, soybeans, hard-boiled eggs, raw sweet potatoes, and balsamic and olive oil for dressing.

 

Notable ingredients to use in greater moderation than I have been include the following:

 

 

  • Cheese
  • Peas
  • Croutons
  • Raisins
  • Cashews

Timonium stars in “The Humiliating Sweater”

Timonium stars in “The Humiliating Sweater” published on No Comments on Timonium stars in “The Humiliating Sweater”

Christmas crap is 50% off at most stores, so I purchased several items for my dolls yesterday. The following photostory features a seasonal sweater ornament and an extremely pissed off fairy.

 

Continue reading Timonium stars in “The Humiliating Sweater”

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