I can listen to one of the most amusing NPR shows ever, Car Talk, at its own Web site. Unfortunately, no archives are available, but you may return every week for your fix. I like this show primarily because the hosts have such a good rapport. I like to hear them laughing at each other’s bad jokes.

I started listening to The Infinite Mind last week. Each hour it focuses on a mental health [broadly construed] topic, bringing in scientists, artists and first-person commentary. So far I have listened to Sextalk, Aspergers part II and Depression in the Brain [currently]. While free streaming audio is only available for the last few months of eps, there are some interesting ones in there [if you can get them to work]. Somehow this show does not seem as rigorous as Sound & Spirit; its tone is a little too naive and gee-whiz, but it’s an agreeable time-passer.

To the Best of Our Knowledge is difficult to describe. It’s kind of like The Infinite Mind for cultural subjects. For example, the show on Laughing at Death included a segment about Southern funeral cuisine, another on the art of a good obituary and another about last meals of death row inmates. You can listen to years of previous programs, and they all work! I really like its catholic and in-depth approach.

Studio 360 is kind of a music and talk show that I just started listening to. It’s an hour long, but it typically has one or two themes per hour. In the Wizard of Oz hour, for example, we got a bio of the author, a clip of Munchkin convention, an overview of lit crit theories about the book, a discussion [and lots of samples from] the score of the 1939 movie, etc. I found this hour fascinating and the segment of another show on the Orpheus myth powerful. A well-rounded and informative show. Shows seem to be archived by segment, making a smooth listening experience difficult.

So, while listening to This American Life’s 1996 Halloween episode, I learned about the long-running TV show Dark Shadows [1965-1971], starring a vampire with a soul who lives in a creepy mansion and suffers time-traveling, werewolves, ghosts, et hoc genus omne, all while accompanied by production values so cheap that you can see the prop guy in some scenes. Yes, folks, years before supernatural soap operas had their mid-’90s boom, there was Dark Shadows, hammy, campy and funny. This may be interesting to check into and laugh at.

Remember when I showed some Toy Fair 2006 previews of accurate, detailed resin busts of Labyrinth characters? Well, now these are finally hitting the shelves. You can find two currently available goblin statues on comic-store shelves now, with Jareth apparently arriving next month. See the pre-order for a Sir Didymus toy here too at Big Bad Toy Store:

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/menu.aspx?menu=666

Also, it appears that the 1:6 Jareth doll is back on track…as you can see, Big Bad Toy Store has sold out their pre-order for him and states that his issue date is “3rd quarter 2006,” which means right about NOW!!!

I don’t even like Smallville that much, but I’m looking forward to the release of season 5, the most recent season, primarily because JAMES MARSTERS appears as a guest star. Furthermore, there’s an especially amusing ep containing vamps [one named, in a bad homage to BTVS, Buffy Sanders]. Finally, the endless tortured posturing between Clark and Lana [who is more properly a plot device, not a character] makes for good mocking. I’m not sure which is the better bad TV: Charmed or Smallville. At least Charmed has some characterological consistency…

Clearly it is a slow day at work.

I saw The Illusionist last night. It’s a pure love triangle story between aristocratic Sophie, who is intended to marry the tantrum-throwing Crown Prince of Austria. However, she actually loves the working-class illusionist Eisenheim. After a thwarted childhood elopement, the two reunite about 15 years later. The Crown Prince hires Inspector Uhl to find out Eisenheim’s motives and magic tricks and somehow neutralize him, but Eisenheim threatens to use his magic so that he and Sophie can give the Crown Prince the ultimate slip.

While I saw the movie’s core as the aforesaid love triangle, the actual film wandered in different directions, taking a while to get started. Beginning with Eisenheim’s arrest by Uhl, the movie focuses so closely on Uhl [played by a very likeable Paul Giamatti, atoning for the BOMB Lady in the Water] that I hoped it would be a character study of him, but no such luck. The film then drifted into an extensive overview of Eisenheim’s life, which looked wonderfully atmospheric and sepia-drenched, like an early photo, but did nothing to provide insight into either Eisenheim or Sophie. The bulk of the film concerns Uhl investigating a cagey Eisenheim, who pisses off the easily pissable Crown Prince [played buffoonishly by Rufus Sewell, who clearly has bits of the scenery between his gnashing teeth] by remaining impenetrable. Not until Sophie threatens another elopement with Eisenheim does the plot really kick into gear. But wait…then there’s a whole red herring concerning spiritualism, which is an interesting subject in and of itself. But we don’t spend too long on that because somebody is dead apparently. The Illusionist frustrated me most by giving itself the perfect opportunity for a tight little character study — the close focus of a love triangle — and then meandering and digressing so that I was only half engaged when the romance and mystery really buckled down.

Anyway, I did like The Illusionist for its twilight, sfumato atmosphere, not murky, but smudgy and mysterious. Also Paul Giamatti does a really good job, a serious, smart guy with dorky tendencies, basically kind but drawn against his knowledge into questionable circles through his association with the immature Crown Prince. His character tracked an interesting, rather subtle, development from slavish devotion to the Prince to independent intelligence and an appreciation of Eisenheim’s cleverness. In this way, The Illusionist is a portrayal of Uhl as the quintessential groupie: a man who admires the illusionist because the illusionist represents the best potential of himself, something that he himself wishes to attain.

I’ve got a new essay up on the Realm. Sparked by some comments made by Brian Froud in the afterword of the new edition of Goblins of Labyrinth, it talks about the very real threats of death lurking everywhere in this seemingly innocuous movie.

Why oh why don’t they make their 1:6 action figs look this good? WHY?! All the 1:6 versions of Spike look jowly and middle-aged. Finally, when there’s a likeness that’s accurate, it’s $250.00, premium format and not articulated worth squat. Here’s the 1:6 version:

Here’s the premium format version:

Here are all the Spike lovers who want a decent, affordable likeness: 

🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁

Monday’s ep of Love Has Fangs, 8.4 “Plastic Girl,” was too murky in the original draft. My attempt to create a night filter by putting a blue layer over the scene did not work…instead the characters disappeared into shadows! Well, now the comic is bright — I dispensed with the night — and you can see Velvette in all her sexy sexy glory and Dom in all his mopey denseness. Go see!

If you really want to wake up when you just get into work, stream stuff from meaningoflife.tv, where notable philosophers and thinkers are interviewed by a guy who looks distractingly like James Marsters. Luminaries such as Daniel Dennett, Steven Pinker and Edwin Wilson [associated with Tufts, MIT and Harvard, respectively — I live in a hotbed of philosophy!!] discuss consciousness, free will, faith, the existence of God and death. Do not try to listen to eps [each about an hour] successfully, or your brain will be overloaded. The interviews so far have brought me favorable memories of my college philosophy classes. I can feel my brain working….

So far, I recommend the interviews with Daniel Dennett and Sharon Salzberg. Edwin Wilson mumbles, goddammit. I wish Antonio Damasio had been interviewed, but he practices outside of the hotbed [Iowa].

The Illusionist… At first I thought this was a movie knock-off of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell [by Suzanna Schwartz], but it’s actually based on a short story. Reports say that the movie doesn’t play well as a mystery, but it has reasonably intriguing plot and character development, not to mention magic, so I’m piqued.

Wicker Man…A remake of the 1973 classic, but this time starring Barforama Nicolas Cage and changing the sex of the grand high pagan wawbab to a woman. This movie, about heathen fertility sacrifices persisting into modern times, has been on my must-see list for about a year. I think I’ll watch the remake, throw popcorn at the screen, then go back to the original.

La Science des Reves…A French film [super-chouette!] about a naive guy whose dreams spill into his waking life and how this affects his attempted romance with a neighbor girl. I enjoy movies that explore dream imagery, and the cinematography shown in the preview got me hooked.

Stranger Than Fiction…Character discovers he’s about to be killed off by author and tries to stop it. This oughta be an interesting comedy with Emma Thompson, Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Dustin Hoffmann!!

I am very annoyed because I paid ~$146.00 back in mid-July to get seasons 1 through 7 of BTVS on DVD…and they never showed. I also never received any information from the seller, despite E-mailing three times [once through personal mail, twice through My Ebay]. Besides the fact that I’m out ~$146.00, I feel especially irritated because I was really looking forward to enjoying my favorite characters and eps in a huge splurge of indulgent gratification. [Hm, that sounded obscene.] 

Of course, I’ll get over it. It’s only some DVDs, and I have put in a claim to PayPal that will hopefully get most of my money back. I just feel cross because my indulgence was thwarted.

Oh yeah, stay away from seller mclarke6666.

As the author of an online serial story, I like to read as many Web comics as possible for ideas on story, pacing, posing, angles, composition, etc. I frequently discover new ones, so I will mention them here, along with a capsule review. Forthwith, some of my favorites:

Alien Loves Predator. Preston [the Predator] and Abe [the Alien] are two bachelors living in New York, as played by a Predator action fig and an Alien action fig respectively. I like this comic because it uses figs and also because the early strips contain hilarious jabs at city life [especially about riding the subway]. The strips have drifted away from NYC absurdity and toward slapstick stupidity, but it’s still one I read religiously.

The Order of the Stick.  My second favorite Web comic consists of a bunch of D&D characters having Epic Quests with plenty of humor and fourth-wall comments. I admire the control of the complex storylines, as well as the consistently upbeat and refreshing humor. This comic demonstrates that humor doesn’t need to be at someone else’s expense.

Action Figure Diary. 1:6 action figs talk to their human owners. It’s a cramped, four-panel format, but the writing is consistently good. Again, it’s more humor at no one’s expense.

Toyville.  Toys that know they’re toys fight evil toys and make wisecracks. Worth it for the constant self-deprecation and admittedly outrageous plots, this sporadically produced series also contains the largest collection of figs you’re likely to see in your life.

9th Elsewhere. I follow this one for the story, in which the depressed, introverted heroine gets stuck in her subconscious. With the help of her flighty muse, she must learn about her own strength so she can wake up and live a good life.  A firm grounding in psychology and a graceful following of small plot points make this one a gem.

And…finally…two new ones that I found recently:

Imaginary Friends. Widowed toy salesman struggles with older son who doesn’t speak and wants to draw monsters and loud younger son with many imaginary friends.  Written economically with great characterization, this comic is drawn with a very cinematic feel. Besides the subject matter, I also appreciate the author’s handling of the “camera.”

Dreamland Chronicles. In this bubble-gum-bright adventure, a college boy goes back to his dream world after 6 years to discover that his dream friends have grown up.  The gentle humor is perfect for all ages, and the CGI-generated characters look like cute 3-D models. You have to see the art in order to admire its rich, deep backgrounds and cartoony expressiveness.

Well, I’ve been listening to WBUR at work, which means about three hours of news reporting, then four hours of talk and analysis about the news. Thus I hear the news about seven times, one time each when it’s reported, then one time the talk show hosts and callers hash it out. Needless to say, all the violence in Israel, corruption in Iraq, stupidity in the White House, bitching about gas, bitching about hurricanes, bitching about heat and bitching about the budget really bores me after a while. I feel like I’m banging my head into a wall of information and becoming bludgeoned, rather than informed.

In lieu of news and the regurgitation thereof, I’ve discovered my home state’s NPR radio station, VPR. With three hours of news and four hours of classical music, VPR gives me a happier balance of information and entertainment. While my brain is resting to classical tunes, I can absorb the events of the day. Furthermore, VPR has extra folksy touches, like Garrison Keillor reading the Writer’s Almanac every morning…and the Eye on the Sky weather reports [from the Fairbanks Museum in St. Johnsbury — hooray for Mark Breen!] and Night Sky Updates, which make me feel like I’m back up north. 

But, for the past few days, I’ve been listening to something even better — Sound and Spirit, an hour-long radio show hosted by Ellen Kushner. After having caught it on a few Sunday evenings, I sought out its [primitive] home page and found that I can listen to streaming versions of previous shows! Each S&S focuses on a different theme [this morning I listened to (1) Break-ups, (2) Satan and (3) The Lord of the Rings], pulling together vocal and instrumental music from all ages, cultures and backgrounds. Bits of famous prose, poetry, plays and sacred texts often appear as well, along with author or scholar interviews. Each hour is like a Unitarian sermon, designed to open your mind, gladden your heart and kick you in the butt. You need to download Real Player to listen to each ep, but it’s free and worth it! ‘Scuse me…gonna go listen to the S&S ep on cities.

Return to Labyrinth, a Henson Company/Tokyopop manga, should be considered a companion, rather than a sequel, to the 1986 fantasy film Labyrinth, about 15-year-old Sarah’s coming-of-age journey to save her half-brother, Toby, from the Goblin King’s Muppet-laden Labyrinth. Continue reading Blog of Eternal Stench reviews Return to Labyrinth

My favorite character from the Return… manga is Hana, the stabby, snotty, snarky Faery, who fulfills the Sir Didymus function when accompanying Toby through the Labyrinth.

Other than that, I find the story an interesting retread of Labyrinth [lots of in-jokes from the Labyrinth realm and even the Dark Crystal — even gratuitous potty humor >_<]. However, Toby doesn’t capture my interest; as vapid as Sarah and even less sympathetic [she had real problems; he’s just a whiny and spoiled kid], he doesn’t engage me at all. I also have serious questions about Jareth as the window-jumping guidance counselor and then the “retiring” [kings don’t “retire” — they ABDICATE] king. I also have questions about his sexual proclivities.

Later. I’ve got to get back to work.

P.S. Despite what you may have heard, this story is not total crap. It’s not a masterpiece either. Just remember that it neither caters to the J/S romantics or the kids who just want puppetainment. Explicitly labeled “Teen,” Return… aims at people between 12 and 16, meaning those who didn’t see the original in the theaters and then spent 20 years whacking off to it. While Return… recalls enough of the original to keep the older fans happy, the primary audience consists of kids who want a blend of action and magic — i.e., people who want what the original was trying to deliver. It succeeds modestly at its goal [action/magic/romance], but adds nothing interesting, glamorous or substantive to the Labyrinth story.

I’ll still be hacking it to pieces analyzing it, though. Heh heh heh…

Thanks to mangacast, there’s an audio recording of the San Diego Comicon panel where Tokyopop and Henson Co. reps talk about the Labyrinth and Dark Crystal manga adaptations. Excuse me while I go get Quicktime and listen to it….

EDIT: The audio quality really varies. The voices of the panelists fade out easily, but the cheering audience occasionally overwhelms the track. I can’t listen to this at work; it’s too distracting! I’ll be back later with a transcription. Amusing note: Someone [couldn’t catch who — maybe Michael Polis?] said that the germ of the Labyrinth manga came from looking at Jareth and realizing that he looked like a quintessential bishounen. HAHAHAHAHAHAH…

LHF now updates every Monday. No more Tuesday/Thursday updates. I want to focus on quality, rather than quantity. Check out the horny robot in today’s ep.

Jareth and Frank would play endlessly with the pieces in this outfit by Cheerydoll. I can imagine CERTAIN PEOPLE [that means you, Frank!] prancing around in the skirt with just underwear underneath. 😀

Well, at least according to the Web site of the illustrator, Chris Lie: “The book will be in stores everywhere in the next 10 days.” [He said that in an update yesterday.]

• Notes for the Return to Labyrinth manga:
• – Takes place after the movie, Toby (the baby the Goblins stole in the movie) is about 14 years old.
• – The plot revolves around Toby exploring the world Sarah visited in the movie, but focuses mostly on the Goblins and Goblin politics.
• – A new character created by writer Jake T. Forbes for the manga is the Goblin Mayor, who is bitter about playing second fiddle to Jareth (David Bowie’s character in the movie).
• – The plot will also explore other kingdoms neighboring Jareth’s.
• – TOKYOPOP has sold out of the first volume of the Labyrinth manga every day during the convention. They will have more for sale tomorrow (Sunday) the last day of the con.

Goblin Mayor? Competition for Jareth? I foresee utter crappiness…How can a goblin character be competition for a ball-twisting rock star? This manga is gonna hurt my brain and my fond memories of the movie…and yet I can’t stop myself from satiating my curiosity.

T-shirts, buttons and such at the Henson Company’s Cafepress store: http://www.cafepress.com/jimhensonco/  Warning: While the MM section contains buttons with all your favorite characters, all the Laby section has is shirts with the manga sequel cover on them. Yawn yawn yawn.

Submit LHF to http://www.onlinecomics.net/ !!

Also get it running in http://www.ohnorobot.com dammit!

…Is now live…or, more precisely, given the inanimation of the key characters, dead! Sorry for the lateness. Enjoy the interesting twist and erotic tension [?!?!?]. Weirdness as usual ensues.

Every so often, someone on DOA asks, “Hey, where are all the BJDs with darker skin: Indians, Hispanics, Arabs and Africans? Why the heck are they all so deathly pale?” While more dark dolls have appeared in the last year [see, for example, Luts “tanning” dolls], they have usually been darker versions of the original pale editions. In my mind, this is like making an African Barbie from the same mold as the Caucasian Barbie, changing only the color of the plastic. Skin color alone does not denote race. There are differences in facial features that most BJD companies have not reflected in their sculpts.

…Until Iplehouse Cocori, who boots SD16 Olivia’s bland lil ass out of the ballpark in terms of quality and quantity.

A server crash ate the last posted ep of Love Has Fangs and all the comments, so I reposted it, but it’s feeling lonely. Please go read Anneka’s E-mail in 7.8, “Job Hunt,” and tell her what you think of her job search. Or check out Anneka and Will’s eye-bleedingly bright outfits in 7.9, “Fiery…and Fired,” and give them some fashion advice.

Don’t forget…you too can subscribe to LHF’s syndication feed here: http://lovehasfangs.livejournal.com. All the cool people [19 of them] are doing it!!

I saw Devil Wears Prada on Sunday afternoon while waiting for the sun to reappear. While I found the book repetitive, grating, stupid, annoying, childish, clunky, lacking in plot, momentum, character development and reasons to continue reading, I really liked the movie.

Rement, a popular source of detailed 1:6 food and household items, will be offering its eminently cool products in the U.S. later this year.

Here’s the E-mail sent to Rement collectors: http://www.re-ment.us/

Here’s the US site: http://www.re-ment.us/

I have no use for it, but I want the waffle iron.

Yup, title says it all. There’s a re-issue of the art book Goblins of Labyrinth [Amazon info here], containing conceptual art by Brian Froud and a foreword by Terry Jones. But wait…that’s not all! This new edition includes a new afterword by Brian Froud and NEW ARTWORK!!! Check below the cut for a scan of the cover and an example of the new art. The picture across the top of the cover, showing Sarah with a mask, is an example of the new and unknown goodies that we will discover within the book’s covers.

The Jim Henson Fantasy Film Collection, a trio of Labyrinth, Dark Crystal and MirrorMask, appears on September 5th. This is not actually news, just a bit of creative marketing, since the DVDs and all extras are just the same as previous releases. The only things that distinguish this collection from anything else are clips from the Return to Labyrinth manga and from the MirrorMask manga. Boring. You can go back to waiting for the Labyrinth sequel manga now.

More info here: http://www.dvdtown.com/announcement/jimhensonfantasyfilmcollection/3629

Apparently the MM manga isn’t coming out till early next year. >_<

Whoo hoo! Here’s some Laby news for y’all …The Labyrinth sequel manga, officially titled Return to Labyrinth [first volume of three], comes out on August 8th. Here’s the Amazon information. Here’s the back text, as taken from the Tokyopop Web site:

“The Goblin King has kept a watchful eye on Toby: His minions secretly guiding and protecting the child… Legions of goblins work behind the scenes to ensure that Toby has whatever his heart desires… Preparing him for the day when he will return to the Labyrinth and take his rightful place beside Jareth as the heir to the Goblin Kingdom…

“That day has come…

“But no one has told Toby.”

Here’s some information from the writer himself, Jake Forbes, as posted on the Tokyopop forums, in response to people who were disappointed that Toby, rather than Sarah, was the focus:

“I’m the writer of the upcoming manga. While I don’t want to give too much away too early, you can rest assured that there are several girls in the manga of various shapes and sizes–one of whom is a lead. Sarah, the main character from the movie, shows up too, but she’s not the lead this time. In any case, it’s not a boys-only adventure by any measure, even if Toby is our protagonist.”

Annnnnd…check out images of the cover below the cut. Manga Jareth! The first is a colored version and the second uncolored version shows you all the nifty detail.

And MAN is it hard to find. And, if I do find it, it’s in languages other than English. Anyway, look below for more goodies besides the links posted yesterday:

Downloadable high-quality stills and sketches of sets from the official French site [watch out for the Pale Man]: http://www.lelabyrinthedepan.com/

Press book [en francais] from the official French site: http://www.lelabyrinthedepan.com/download_img/dp.pdf

Reports from del Toro’s panel at the San Diego ComicCon: http://www.movietack.net/id932.html and http://www.aintitcoolnews.com/display.cgi?id=23929

Rough cut of a new English-language trailer: http://www.deltorofilms.com/Features_PansLabyrinthTrailer.php

Translation for the new trailer: http://www.deltorofilms.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=257&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=90

Source for a bit of film dialog between Ofelia and Pan [official Doug Jones site]: http://www.thedougjonesexperience.com/pan.htm

Early creature designs by William Stout: http://www.thedougjonesexperience.com/pan%7Edesign.htm

While looking at upcoming movies on IMDB, I came upon El Laberinto del Fauno, or, as it will be hereinafter referred to because I know no Spanish, Pan’s Labyrinth.

I just got all 7 seasons of my favorite TV show [Buffy the Vampire Slayer] for $146.11 [each boxed separately], incl s/h. That’s $20.87 per season, way less expensive than the set that boxes all seasons together [~$340.00 list price]. I’m going to sell seasons 1 and 7 because I don’t like them. [In season 1, no one has really developed interestingly yet, and, in season 7, nothing happens and my favorite characters die.]

Hooray, that leaves me with seasons 2 through 6 to watch…particularly all those parts in season 6 where Buffy is trying to adjust to being alive…and any eps where James Marsters makes more faces than the bad-ass expression…and any eps with robots in them.

I have watched about 13 eps of Veronica Mars season 1 so far. Continue reading “It was incredible, officer. She just jumped over the shark and headed for the soap!”

While goofing off at the Doll Palace [http://www.thedollpalace.com], I discovered an avatar maker that does not crash my compooper [unlike Meez]. Naturally I made Anneka and Will. I particularly like the dollmaker dress-up feature on this site, which allows you to combine elements from different dollmakers into a customized panel. That’s how I got Will into the sarong. Continue reading What sarong with you?!

So, thanks to SailorZeo, I found a free animated avatar program, Meez. Naturally I set to work recreating my current favorite characters, Will and Anneka. The browser crashed in the middle of Anneka’s pixelated construction, so you’ll just have to enjoy Will for now. Continue reading Little Will avatars and animations

I just ordered Veronica Mars season 1, Medium season 1, Tru Calling season 1 and Charmed season 4, all used, all for less than $100.00 total, incl s/h! I saw bits of Medium season 1, but everything else will be new and delicious research for Love Has Fangs. Well, okay, the first three are for serious research. Charmed is just for potato-chip value.

http://www.sideshowtoy.com/behindtheshow/?page_id=1639&source=wp_news

Next BTVS/Angel character to be released in 12″ is Cordelia. I smell doom, especially since the prototype looks reasonable accurate. The last time SST had an accurate prototype [regular Willow], the final draft just looked…warped. Please, Sideshow, just for once, could ya NOT mess something up?

Romantic Uyoo Angel: $238.00

Veronica Mars, season 1: $60.00

Veronica Mars, season 2: $60.00

Supernatural, season 1: $60.00

Smallville, season 5: $60.00

Arthur Spiderwick’s Guide to the Fantastical World Around You: $24.95

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Chosen Collection (Seasons 1-7): $220.00

Twilight Zone Season 1: $96.00

Twilight Zone Season 2: $80.00

Twilight Zone Season 3: $90.00

Twilight Zone Season 4: $90.00

Twilight Zone Season 5: $80.00

Mirror Mask: $26.96

a flatscreen monitor from newegg.com

a laptop cooling board from newegg.com

a love seat

foamcore for mounting LHF backdrops

a bulletin board

Damn you, Soom! Why do you have to make Uyoo so adorable? I’m gonna get a Romantic one eventually…her eyes will be much more proportionate to her head. It’s such a young, attractive, expressive sculpt. With the slightly parted lips, she looks ready to speak. She’s one of my favorite dolls.

Coming eventually to Love Has Fangs, it’s Absinthe Lefebvre, ex-sadist and the vampire who made Will… She’s a Soom Romantic Uyoo head [paper white, of course] http://www.dollsoom.com/shop/step1.php?number=1396 with the default Angel Uyoo faceup on a Limwha ToYou body. Maybe she’ll fit into all those Gothy Bratz clothes that I keep pining after…? Continue reading Absinthe Lefebvre

So I saw Superman Returns this afternoon. While Smallville leaches the superheroic magic and epic proportions out of the Man in Tights’ story, Superman Returns restores some of that power. Though the film felt overlong and populated by mostly forgettable characters as done by average actors, it did achieve a great sense of mood. All the dark, dank shots of Kryptonian crystal architecture …the drifting, serene isolation of outer space…and, most of all, the shots of Superman suspended, listening, almost overwhelmed by his power and responsibility…they really gave a wistful, melancholy key to the story. I didn’t really care about Superman as a character [or anyone else, for that matter], but I felt what he felt.

While no one figures out that Clark Kent = Superman, I finally resolved this blind spot in a way that makes perfect psychological sense at least to me. Clark and Superman just two sides to the same person, but no one can tell that because the sides just behave so differently. Clark acts inept and awkward, unable to express his emotions, while Superman has physical power and seemingly no feelings at all. People around him don’t expect Clark to be physically strong, just as they don’t expect Superman to be emotionally expressive. So when he is muscular and powerful, he seems like a separate entity from the Clark self…and when he is more vulnerable, he seems like a separate entity from the Superman self…mostly because that’s how he feels. Emotional attachments really confuse this guy; they baffle him even more than kryptonite. He may be masterful in lifting cars and small islands, but saying ‘I love you’ requires a different kind of strength, an inner strength that he’s unsure of. The bumbling human form is a physical reflection of his awkwardness. No wonder he goes out and saves the world… It’s easier for him than untangling the human heart.

Coming up: Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and Devil Wears Prada!!!

Vampires like the Fourth of July too! Check out the silly Independence Day episode of Love Has Fangs. Today marks the first appearance of one of the BJD characters, little Geordie, who is Dom’s niece. She’s an Elfdoll Jin dal Re, and she asks so many questions that they can’t fit in the frame! Check it out: http://www.oddpla.net/unreal/?p=82

For Slate’s Summer Movie Week coverage, Grady Hendrix writes an interesting article about movie novelizations. You should read the whole article because it brings in novelizations, tie-in books [slightly different], fan fiction, fan message boards, why sci-fi and fantasy get novelized, but not other genres… It’s a pretty cool overview. The article observes that novelizations have the following characteristics:

…Primarily because I haven’t written it, photoed it or laid it out yet. I know all two of you were champing at the bit, but please be patient until later tonight or tomorrow. 

In other news, reviews are divided on Superman Returns. I just listened to David Edelson’s review of it on NPR, and he slammed it viciously. But even more damning than his commentary was a sound clip between Lois Lane [Kate Bosworth] and Superman [Brandon Routh], in which Lois explains why she wrote the Pulitzer-winning article Why The World Doesn’t Need Superman. The set-up allows the Lois character to bring out her true feelings. Is she bitter? Snarky? Sarcastic? Sobbing? Brittle? Tremblingly vulnerable? I have no idea how Lois feels about Clark’s disappearance and return because Bosworth just played it casually and deadpan, like she was talking about what video she wanted to see this weekend. Routh seemed a bit more expressive, but still, the music was more expressive than both of them. If that sample is any indication of the whole content, I feel skeptical about it. Bryan Singer, c’mon! You gave us such cool X movies — can’t ya make Superman soar?

…I do want to see Lex Luthor torture Superman, though.

Like BTVS, only starring a guy and less compelling and individualized characters, Smallville follows a teen with superpowers and the archetypical struggle with adolescence, adulthood, identity and superpowers, all of which even out to be the same thing. Superpowers as metaphor for puberty is a concept that I find endlessly fascinating, probably because part of me still thinks I'm a cripplingly shy 15-year-old.

In summary, on July 20th, there’s a special 20th anniversary screening of Labyrinth at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences [Beverly Hills, CA], followed by a live [as opposed to dead, I presume] conversation with Brian Henson, who voiced Hoggle. 

Also, to quote the release, “The Academy’s current exhibition ‘It’s Alive!: Bringing Animatronic Characters to Life on Film,’ which contains original animatronic puppets from the film, will be open for viewing immediately following the screening.” Drat! Actual puppets used in Labyrinth, and I’m not anywhere near California. I’ll dig around for some more information on this exhibition and get back to you.

It’s not fair.

Here we go, latest press information from the Academy’s Web site http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2006/06.06.22.html .

Will someone please explain to me why Jareth, who executed a great belly flop from the table to the floor this weekend, shows no damage whatsoever, while Frank, who has spent all this time standing around with a dirty little smirk on his face, has a chip in his lipstick? I have to reapply that fire-engine red some time this week. >_<

Also, can someone please explain why I bought a 1:3 chair expressly for Jareth and/or Frank to sit in, and Jennifer is the one who uses it all the time to do her sketching and journal writing in?

With all the hoopla about the Volks SD16 boy at the end of last year, I expected the Volks SD16 to come with a similar fanfare. Nope. Olivia Morgan just snuck in quietly as an LE 100 available only at some party and then through Fashion Doll Quarterly.

Buzz over on DOA is lukewarm. People like the more mature body, but the jointless ankles really turn them off. People also seem to like her more mature face, but everyone pretty much agrees she looks like a female form of Yukinojo. Both DOA speculation and the FDQ behind-the-scenes article conclude that Volks is chasing the American fashion doll market and therefore introducing a BJD with some of the same qualities [curvaceousness, blond hair, pointy feets] as Barbie.

I really like her. She has the type of body that Frank should have: tall, thick, strong and curvy. She also has a very sweet face that begs to be glammed up. She’s also much less expensive [as these things go] than Yukinojo. You can order her over at the FDQ site for $969 + $11 s/h in the USA. Not that I’m about to break my bank account for her. Frank could still kick her butt any day. :p Wanna see some pictures?

Continue reading Volks SD16 girl slips in under the radar.

Basic Photography: CCAE course, $149.00 no 

Summer Light: CCAE course, $125.00 got it 

The Art of Reviewing: CCAE course, $125.00 no 

Pirates, Sailors and Pasta: A North End Walk: CCAE course, $37.00 no 

What Makes Harvard Square a Square?: CCAE course, $37.00 no 

Boston’s Historic South End: A Walking Tour: CCAE course, $20.00 no

Mastering the Art of Aloneness: CCAE course, $44.00 no 

Arthur Spiderwick’s Guide to the Fantastical World Around You: $24.95 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Chosen Collection (Seasons 1-7): $220.00 

Twilight Zone Season 1: $96.00 

Twilight Zone Season 2: $80.00 

Twilight Zone Season 3: $90.00 

Twilight Zone Season 4: $90.00 

Twilight Zone Season 5: $80.00 

Mirror Mask: $26.96 

12″ Drusilla action figure: $45.00 no 

Elfdoll Tiny Adel: ~$300.00 got Jin 

Elfdoll Rainydoll Nabee: ~$750.00 no 

a haircut got it 

a new pair of shoes got it

the domain name for my Web comic got it

and a really good computer with a flatscreen monitor and a DVD player that doesn’t seize up in the middle of Minority Report!!! no

a flatscreen monitor from newegg.com

a laptop cooling board from newegg.com

a love seat

foamcore for mounting LHF backdrops

a bulletin board

I just bought a three-comic adaptation of Labyrinth. Published in 1986, this Marvel adaptation came out in three separate issues, which were then collected in a super special. If you watch Ebay, you’ll see that the super special appears much more frequently. “What a pity,” though, because the individual issues contain exquisitely awful cover art somewhere not duplicated in the super special. 

Anyway, stay tuned to Jareth’s Realm because I will scan and upload each volume of the adaptation so that you, too, can see how amusing it is [for all the wrong reasons — not a funny story, but heinous art]. Until I get a new scanner, please content yourselves with a sample below, illustrating JARETH THE FEARSOME BOOGEYMAN WITH GLOWING CONTACT LENSES OR SOMETHING!

Triad Toys has finally unveiled Eva [fem] and Evo [masc] 1.0.  As you can see in the photos, they have swappable heads, hands and feet; double-ganged elbows and knees;  and 40+ points of articulation. What you can’t see from the photos is just as impressive. Each fig comes with two chest options: unbound [for baring the breast] and bound [smaller, to go under clothes]. Furthermore, hair can either be swapped with molded hairpieces or size 4 mini wigs. And, if all that wasn’t enough, eyes [probably 4mm] can be swapped and positioned, just like in your average BJD! Much jubilation and speculation is now occurring over on MWD.

The bad news? Well, they’re not shipping nude bodies until November [why must they torment us so?!]. Additionally, the price will be $35-$40 for a nude without s/h. Oooh, my achin’ wallet… Triad clearly is not making cheap bash fodder like BBI’s Perfect Bodies. Triad is targeting the careful creator of high-quality customized figs. I remain disappointed that there are no cheap fems for bash fodder out there, ever since the PBs went out of production.

As for initial impressions, I appreciate Triad’s balance between aesthetics and poseability.  The standard masc and fem bodies look appropriately realistic, though I think that the lower abdomens are too long on each and the thighs too short for proper stylization.  Part of me wishes that the fems had bigger boobs and a more defined waist, but it’ll be nice to get someone who doesn’t stretch all tank tops beyond recognition [no thanks to Anneka certain people].

I see that I’ll have to stock up on a few just for bashing purposes, since I like the bulk and solidity of Cys, PBs, Triads and the like, as opposed to the slender, fashion-doll-like Obitsus. Cut for proto photo. Continue reading Long-awaited Triad prototypes photos!

My attempt to Frankenstein the aforementioned skinny body for Will failed. The muscular arms looked out of proportion to the narrow torso. Also the torso was too short. I moved Will back to a body type much like his Dragon body [sigh]. None of these changes have shaken his attraction to his tragically pink and gold cowboy boots. ~_~

I did, however, save the disproportionate body. I decided that it would be perfect for a male character who uses a wheelchair. [Thus his arms would be bulked up from wheeling the chair, while his paralyzed legs would be slender.] Since I have a male character that I want to embody, Max, I decided that Anneka’s dad would get the body I Frankensteined two nights ago. Since I painted his face last night, I just need to give him hair before he can break his invisibility and appear on camera. [Hey Max…stop hiding in the bathroom and flushing your pills!!]

Oh yeah…and I need to get Max a wheelchair. Fortunately he’s narrow enough to fit in a Barbie wheelchair…

Pictures later.

Note to self: Make a banner for trade with Action Figure Diary. [If you haven’t seen it, go read it. It contains 1:6 action figures in silly escapades, along with their human owners. Gentle and witty, with great character development.]

Also sign up for ohnorobot.com, not only for publicity, but also for easy storage of transcriptions.

Yippee, I watched X3 on Saturday night.

Back in the olden days when I purchased my first BJD [that’s spring, 2004], most BJDs for sale were 1:3.

Last night I developed two LHF T-shirts. My unofficial survey of two people reveals that they look pretty good! 😀

Design 1 just shows the comic’s URL.

Design 2, which I’m really proud of, says “Vampires do it in cold blood,” then the URL below.

If you spend over $20.00 [hint: black shirts are $21.00] in the next week, you can use the following coupon code for $5.00 off: MOTIFMETHOD. [Coupon code expires June 11.] So spread the LHF love…affordably!

We now have our very own LJ feed for easy addition to your friends list. Go here and add meeeeee!

http://syndicated.livejournal.com/lovehasfangs/profile

Since I just created it, entries may take a while to appear. But there is a special bonus ep up, so you can always go to http://www.lovehasfangs.com and see it.

EDIT: As of 2:00 PM, 7 people have added the LHF feed to their friends lists. Be one of the cool crowd! Add it!

EDIT: As of 3:00 PM, it’s up to 12!

Today marks the beginning of a new occasional supplement to LHF, When No One’s Watching. The first installment concerns Maximilian, Anneka’s dad. With such a large cast of characters, only a few are ever in the spotlight at a time. The other ones are still living their lives, though, just undocumented…until now. Now you can find out the cast’s dark, dirty secrets.

I started this supplement because I really like my characters. They all have detailed back stories that extend across decades and even generations, but, usually, only a small portion of this character development shows up in the main arcs. With the supplement, I get an excuse to play with my people more.

I also want to show off my kitchen. Isn’t it neat? I picked it up at Goodwill last night for $1.50. I’ve long coveted the Barbie kitchen as a backdrop, but it came with all sorts of plastic food and utensils that I already had. I finally just got the backdrop for a reasonable price.

Oh…and a deep, dark secret of my own… As you can probably tell, I don’t actually have a Max doll [YET!]. Despite the fact that he’s Anneka’s dad, I just haven’t given him a physical form yet. I need to find a Robert E. Lee doll…

Then he finally came home…and everyone was happy.

Well, goodbye, Muriel. As of today’s ep, “6.2: Pomegranate Land,” Will’s ex no longer belongs to the cast of Love Has Fangs. I’ll tell you a secret, though. Despite the fact that she has disappeared from the story line, she still stands on the “active duty” shelves around my desk. I can’t bear to put her away. Maybe it’s the stark simplicity of the Destiny headsculpt and paint ops. Maybe it’s the dramatic Galadriel gown / nightgown she wears. Maybe I just like her passionate and pissed-off personality too much to let her out of my sight.

There are various levels of death in Love Has Fangs. One type of death is the end of the mortal life. For some characters, like Will’s parents, this death is the end of their existence. For other characters, like Anneka and Will, the end of mortal life involves a transformation and a rebirth as a supernatural. 

Another type of death is the end of the supernatural life. Caveat, Dom’s right-hand man, clearly suffered this kind of death unwillingly. In this ep, by contrast, Muriel seems to welcome the end of her supernatural life.

I’m really attached to Caveat and Muriel, so I often wonder if there’s another level of life and death in my story so I can bring them back…an endless resuscitation between sleeping and waking.

I really need to get either a feed for Love Has Fangs or a “bounce” LJ so that persons with LJs can subscribe and comment easily!

Toot toot toot! [That was supposed to be a fanfare.] Announcing the inauguration of the Scholarly Articles category at Jareth’s Realm, I present you with the first file in this section of your online Labyrinth library! Read an excerpt of the only scholarly treatment ever I’ve seen of Labyrinth: Elycia Arendt’s highfalutin article, The Feminine Spectatorship of Jim Henson’s Labyrinth.” You’ll need Adobe Acrobat Reader, but it’s worth it for her clueless take on Internet Laby fans and fan fiction.

Click here for my take on the article. My reactions are ranty and disorganized, but I’ll let you know when I marshal them into an essay.

So saith Cosmopolitan’s lackluster review of Labyrinth. You can see this review and other vintage memorabilia at the newly updated Jareth’s Realm.

If you dislike the hack job that Cosmo did on Labyrinth, you can cheer yourself up with some pretty pictures. I finally got the scans of the beautiful Japanese program moved over to the new location.

I also put up a new 4-page Spanish program. I haven’t translated it yet, but you can admire the scans.

Yes, folks, Love Has Fangs is back with more 1:6 sarcasm in today’s ep, Vampirism Sucks. As you can tell by Anneka’s monochrome outfit, she’s feeling pretty bleak. As you can tell by Will’s paisley cummerbund and stacked heels, he’s feeling more and more daring. That’s one of the beauties of having a full dresser of doll clothes: the ability to change the characters’ outfits to reflect their current moods and personalities. I wish I could pierce Will’s ears, but I’m afraid of messing up the details on his resin head. Anyway, hop on over; see the strip; then leave me a comment. Thanks!

Armeleia finished Frank’s neck on Monday, balancing muscular tendons with a smooth, columnar look. Here he shows his temporary hair and some of the candy stripes that I bought him from Dollmore.

 

Armeleia’s mods sacrificed no mobility; Frank can turn his head and look up and down just as well as if he were on a Yukinojo body. I thought that he might have flexibility like he did on Jareth’s body [he could just swivel his head], but the results are more than I expected. In other words, now that he is truly at home on his fabulous figure, he can strike glamorous poses. I can’t wait until he’s lounging all over my furniture!

Despite Anneka and Will’s competition in the previous vignette, today’s ep of Love Has Fangs proves that Dom wins the angst contest hands down…well, at least in his own mind. The mope meister is, of course, treating his depression with a cheery tune by Type O Negative: Everyone I Love Is Dead.

Dom is one of my most enjoyable characters to write because he’s just so clueless. I don’t think it’s ever dawned on him that his life is so miserable because he spends most of his time whingeing and lashing out.  He’s not a bad kid, despite his murderous vendetta against Anneka. It’s just that he has very little empathy because he’s too wrapped up in his own pain and suffering, which is, of course, of epic proportions. Being an eternal teenager doesn’t help matters.

Today’s angst-ridden word of the day is Weltschmerz. It comes from the German “Welt,” meaning “world,” and “Schmerz,” meaning “pain.” Like that other wonderful German compound Schadenfreude, [“Schaden” -> “damage” + “Freude” -> “happy” = “delight caused by the sufffering of others”], Weltschmerz describes a state of mind both dismal and enjoyable. Weltschmerz is defined as “sadness over the general state of the world.” Coined by Teutonic author Jean Paul, it refers to disappointment that one feels when one realizes that the physical world cannot satisfy one’s spiritual longings. This pessimistic yearning for transcendence shows up in a lot of Romantic poetry.

To put it another way, Dom would like to think that he has Weltschmerz. But he probably just has Schadenfreude. 

If you have no idea what Love Has Fangs is all about, bite off  what you can chew NOW with the post season 5 interlude, beginning today. Learn what all those dead people are up to and why you should care. [Note: it involves lesbians, pink hair and vampires…that’s why! :p Even pink-haired lesbian vampires!]

Check out Vignette 1, in which our charming protagonists square off in a game of Who Has The Most Dysfunctional Life?

Don’t forget to gimme some love and leave a comment [over on Love Has Fangs, not here].

Oh yeah…and tell your friends. This comic has got something for everyone [well, mostly everyone]. If you’re a fantasy lover, it’s got vampires and ghosts. If you’re a sci-fi lover, it’s got mad scientists and cyborgs. If you’re a doll lover or action figure freak, you can watch me try to pose my characters realistically. If you’re a photographer, you can criticize my simple sets and painfully amateur photoing techniques.  If you’re a lover of drama, I’ve got more storylines going here than an average hour-long show on the WB. And if you’re a writer, hey…it’s not that badly written either.

Note to all you BJD lovers: I’m gonna suck you in too…just you wait… Stay tuned for the drama with the creepy vampire-killing character… Heh heh heh! Then I can legitimately pimp out post about Love Has Fangs on DOA.

P.S. Please leave a comment on the Love Has Fangs site!

P.P.S. Watch for T-shirts.

Like I said, I got a 1:3 beer bottle from Barb at the doll meet yesterday. Today it entertained Jareth and Jennifer. Continue reading 1:3 beer

Here’s a comparison of OrientDoll So pasted next to a line-up of [left to right] Dom, Anneka and Will. As you can see, So is perfect for a 1:6, well-articulated toddler to expand the Love Has Fangs cast. Continue reading What makes you think I want one of these???

I didn’t notice, but apparently Soom came out with a sleepy Uyoo head called Romantic Uyoo. While I titled the post “Sleepy Jennifer,” it doesn’t really look like Jennifer at all… She is lovely, though, and I want her head, even though I have no use for it. She has an Anneka Elizabeth look to her… I’m E-mailing Soom now and asking if it’s possible to get the Romantic head sold separately with faceup. It would be cheap too, $80.00, which is how much I paid for Velvette’s head. [Actually, Velvette was one of those super limited edition Mbili Barbies that I bought for $100.00, and I ended up giving away most of the designer costume, tossing the body, taking down her hair and transplanting her onto a poorly painted CG body. She’s one of my favorite and most beautiful dolls and absolutely worth what I paid.]

While I’m linking to things, I should note that Orient Doll has an affordable 1:6 toddler BJD at 4.65″. At $109.00 excluding s/h, an unpainted So is about half the price of Jennifer! I have plans for a toddler in the future of Love Has Fangs, but I’m not sure if I’m ready to invest that type of money in a tertiary character. He’d have to be a central character for at least a season [or he’d have to have a recurring secondary role like Velvette the hot and expensive!] to justify that expense.

Armeleia reduced a bit of Frank’s neck in length and added definition in the form of tendons. Given his hermaphroditic form, I didn’t want her to sculpt an Adam’s apple, so she has been sanding down the rough sculpture. After an application of the final, finer grit [and a drill through the ear lobes], he should be done. Continue reading Frank’s luscious neck [as of Monday]

Check out Will’s atrocious [?] shirt in the teaser below, and be glad you aren’t seeing the cowboy boots. I’m rather fond of his pink hair, though. Any suggestions on a new ‘do for Anneka?Continue reading Stay tuned for Love Has Fangs!

(un)real life is back, but with a twist! It went on hiatus toward the end of April. It is now resurrected in a sexy new undead format with a sexy new name, Love Has Fangs, and a sexy new domain name: http://www.lovehasfangs.com .

Everything’s the same except the name…which is better. And I’m working on T-shirts.

Stay tuned for more 1:6 Sturm und Drang…coming next week to a Web site near you. Tell your friends! :p

If you know me, you know my enduring interest in capturing Jareth’s likeness in doll form. I think I’ve done satisfactorily in the 1:3 department, but the 1:6 version has always eluded me. I’m getting closer to a great 1:6 interpretation of Jareth. He’s a repainted head from a Toy Biz Galadriel doll on an Obitsu slim male body, modified to accept Cy Girl bootfeet. He’s wearing a blouse from a Dreams & Legends Miss Fear doll and pants from a Blue Box Cy Girl Jet, along with a pendant that I made. He may or may not be done. Not sure… Continue reading Jareth doll #14 (?) in progress

…please see Dollmore’s recent additions to the clothing line for their 70 cm Model Doll [Frank’s body].

It’s summer time, and you know what that means?! It’s the season of sexual provocation, during which you reduce admirers to quivering lumps of admiration with your blatantly tantalizing and perfectly tailored wardrobe.

Armeleia’s been working on thickening Frank’s neck. Here, as we can see, it’s too long, but it is finally the correct circumference. Continue reading Frank update: toward a more perfect neck

• Basic Photography: CCAE course, $149.00
• Summer Light: CCAE course, $125.00
• The Art of Reviewing: CCAE course, $125.00
• Pirates, Sailors and Pasta: A North End Walk: CCAE course, $37.00
• What Makes Harvard Square a Square?: CCAE course, $37.00
• Boston’s Historic South End: A Walking Tour: CCAE course, $20.00
• Mastering the Art of Aloneness: CCAE course, $44.00
• Arthur Spiderwick’s Guide to the Fantastical World Around You: $24.95
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Chosen Collection (Seasons 1-7): $220.00
• Mirror Mask: $26.96
• 12″ Drusilla action figure: $45.00
• Elfdoll Tiny Adel: ~$300.00
• Elfdoll Rainydoll Nabee: ~$750.00
• a haircut
• a new pair of shoes
• the domain name for my Web comic
• and a really good computer with a flatscreen monitor and a DVD player that doesn’t seize up in the middle of Minority Report!!!

I finally put up all scans of the articles in the Realm gallery and linked the transcriptions to their associated galleries. I still have to put up the activity books and the longer programs up. Hurrah.

If you’ve been missing Laby humor, you can now get your fix, since I moved all the comics from the old location to the new one.

Next up: the parodies and the ephemera galleries. Ugh. The ephemera will take a long time. :p

…can be seen here. I enjoyed shooting this ep. Since it’s basically just a series of close-ups of dolls that, of course, don’t change expression, all the emotion is transmitted through the poses and the angles…and some minimal addition of closed eyelids [my one concession]. My favorite is the second picture of them lying together. They look so happy…but only for a moment. Stupid drama. :p

If any of you actually read this stuff, watch for cool changes on the (un)real life front. In an effort to extend the readership and general popularity, I’m changing the name, revamping [haw haw] the site, designing T-shirts [“This old thing? Oh, it’s for my Web comic…”] and trying to figure out how to promote it. I’m so excited about the new name. It sounds juicy and vampiric and kinky and looks good on T-shirts. It’s much more attention-getting than (un)real life, which is boring. I just have to figure out how to add another domain name onto my current package and re-route it to my actual site’s location.

In conclusion, the comic will go on hiatus while I work on overhauling it. We’ll pick back up in a few weeks. I’ll keep you updated, assuming I’m not just talking into a black hole…

Louisa Hammond, who I shall be forever grateful to because of this, mentioned that the book Braveheart and Broomsticks: Essays on Movies, Myths and Magic by Elycia Arendt, has a chapter all about Labyrinth!!

The chapter is called “The Feminine Spectatorship of Labyrinth on the Internet” and, according to my sources, deals with the sloploads of ooey-gooey “Jareth + Sarah = true lerve 4-ever” fan fiction. Apparently the author argues that these fan fiction rewrites foreclose on the feminist possibilities inherent in Labyrinth.

What a gas. Again Louisa makes my day. I simply must order a copy of this book when I have a spare moment.

Note to self: Look for other similar books mentioning L!!!

For those who are curious, here is the unpainted head of Bella Auden, who sacrificed her body so that Frank could have one. Thank you to Armeleia who took les photos. Continue reading La tete de Bella Auden

The thoughtful and analytical Louisa Hammond just sent me 8 pages of her thoughts on Labyrinth. Thank you! I’m not going to quote her extensively because I don’t know if I have her permission, but I’d just like to paraphrase some of her ideas on certain topics because I think they are thought-provoking… Continue reading Labyrinth fans make my day! 😀 😀

4/12 EDIT: Photos added. I enjoy photographing different dolls for different reasons. Continue reading Jareth the deformed

As you know if you follow this blog, Palisades Toys was planning to release a 12″ Jareth doll this month. But, as Raving Toy Maniac reports, Palisades Toys has been bought by Limited by CAS earlier this year. The status of unproduced stock, including the Jareth doll, is now uncertain. There is no news right now about whether the Jareth doll will be cancelled or produced. In any case, most Web shops have stopped pre-orders for this figure. I do hope that the Jareth doll is produced, even if it’s several months late. Anyway, watch this blog for news.

In other Realm news, I put up some more fan art by Melissa Findley, Joanna Oliver and me. My 2-D artistic skills really pale next to theirs.

I finished transferring the dolls gallery at Jareth’s Realm. I also started adding illustrations [screen caps with snarky comments] to essays in the Jareth category. Gawd DAYUM…I must have a book’s worth of material up on that site, accumulated over 10 years of ranting.

(un)real life 5.6, “Exhortation,” is up. You get to see a bit more of what Will does as the high and mighty Webmaster of lesbovamps.com. Disappointingly enough, his activities don’t differ that much from those of your average editor, despite the unusual contents of the site. His fights with freelancers are just an exaggerated version of stories that I’ve heard circulate in my years in the publishing industry. It’s pretty mundane, actually, much to Will’s disappointment [he was hoping for more hot undead girl-on-girl action].

Today’s word of the day is for Ashbet, who likes pomegranates. The word “pomegranate” comes from Continue reading Pomegranates, porn and a pain in the ass

EDIT: Link to Louisa’s picture fixed. More fan art, a quick Jareth sketch by Jamie Mckiernan and some detailed Photoshop pictures by Louisa Gallie, up in the gallery. Louisa’s painting, Jareth and Sarah, is the best piece of fan art I have ever seen. She captures accurate likenesses of both characters with smooth, fine strokes, puts them in dynamic and expressive positions and suffuses the whole picture with a combination of romance and realism. I want to frame it! Go see it…NOW!

Brittany Henry’s dramatic sketches, as well as an imaginative and striking black-and-white print of Jareth, Sarah and Toby, are the latest additions to the fan art gallery.

Also I started putting up the gallery of Labyrinthian dolls, starting with a Jareth doll that I customized about five years ago. Holy cannoli, what an atrocious paint job! Happily, my skills have marginally improved with time.

EDIT: Fan drawings gallery done! I discovered the joys of Coppermine. Now I’m adding all the galleries to Jareth’s Realm at its new location [a Coppermine photo gallery], fan drawings first. Check back frequently, as I’m breaking this tedious task into chunks over the next few weeks.

Like the subject line says, the Doll More Bella Auden body hit the States yesterday. Armeleia took several photos, notable for the alarming skinniness of the Bella neck, especially in comparison with the extremely broad Yukinojo head. Pre-op photos [appropriate for April Fool’s] below. Continue reading Frank’s body arrived at Armeleia’s!

Inspired by the release of two new Dollshe boy headsculpts, Saint and Bernard. [Pictures on eluts.com.] Ahem… Continue reading An “Ode” to the Dollshe Dolls

Each of my dolls is a character that I have fully imagined and formed in my head. When I transmit them into doll form, I want to give them a physical form appropriate to their personality and appearance as I imagine it. Though I’m a great control freak about my dolls [hence the Frankensteining to get just the right shape and size], I also like seeing how other people play with my ideas. This is why I like pictures of my dolls. I get to see how other people interpret my characters. Two pictures below the cut. Continue reading Jareth and Frank’s fan art, part II

Frank’s body and clothes have left Dollmore. They are currently on their way to the exquisite mod-maker, Armeleia. Maybe I’ll get him before my bday!

Over here in the LJ MM community, sleepall_day took a screencap that shows a Valentine doll in Helena’s room [when she’s playing with the sock puppets].

I didn’t even notice that doll! In fact, I left him out of my essay about sex and dolls in L and MM, where I mainly focused on the sexualizing music box dolls that attack Helena in the Dark Queen’s castle.

Currently tossing around the notion that Valentine’s appearance as a doll relates to the movie’s exploration of Helena’s sexuality. Dolls are vehicles for sexual expression, as I demo in the aforementioned essay. So perhaps the Valentine doll represents Helena’s wish for a boyfriend who’s a magical hero and a charmer [as opposed to the punky smoker guy who’s Anti-Helena’s make-out partner]. Somehow this ties in to Valentine’s status as imaginary figure inside Helena’s dream and real guy [in the Future Fruit vision of him as a waiter, also at the end of the movie]. Could he be one of the most balanced and desireable characters of the movie [mischievous yet responsible, fantastical yet real]? Definitely need to chew on this some more…

Jill alerted me to the coolest Web site, TV Tropes. It’s the encyclopedia of plot devices, stock characters, cliches and genre fixtures for TV, movies and even novels. I was making smaller lists of such “archetypes” at the age of 14, and now, 14 years later, there’s a whole online encyclopedia of them!

(un)real life is a dramedy because it combines drama and humor, but it’s also a soap opera in the sense that the characters always experience life-changing events [never a dull moment]. Perhaps it could be best characterized as a supernatural soap opera, which gets in the constant plot twists, the high tension and the magic.

Anneka, as a hero, is probably an Extraordinarily Powered Girl, given the fact that she has vampiric powers. She also has strong Mary Sue traits, mostly because she’s semi-autobiographical and physically idealized. Because she resents her special status and just wants a normal life, she’s also a Part-Time Hero. Given her tendency to depression, suicidal thoughts and holding grudges, she may also have some anti-hero in her.

Will, as a hero, is most obviously an anti-hero. Specifically, his cynicism and cock-sureness make him an Ineffectual Loner. He makes sarcastic remarks about almost everyone, ensuring him the role of Deadpan Snarker.

Both Anneka and Will have a strong Beauty and the Beast aspect to their relationship. Anneka seems to be bringing out something good in Will [hmmm, maybe he’ll stop killing people], and he seems to be bringing out something good in her [though we’re not clear what it is]. As well, there is some Star-Crossed Lovers drama, but they keep crossing the stars by themselves. Fate has nothing to do with it.

Update your links and bookmarks, loyal fans. Today inaugurates the new location, look and architecture of Jareth’s Realm. Now found at http://www.oddpla.net/realm/ — this version of the Realm will be the most user-friendly version yet. I am now using a light, eminently extensible framework for the site, a PHP-based blog program called WordPress, so I can automate cross-references and category management. In other words, the site will be easier for you to browse and easier for me to maintain. Furthermore, since the software is Web-based, I can modify the Realm from any terminal, which means no waiting until I get a chunk of time to bang away on my laptop. That means more timely updates for you and more Labyrinthian fun for all of us. Hooray! I’m quite excited!

I’ve worked on and off for about three months on this upgrade, and, as you can tell, it’s not completely finished. For example, where the hell did all the fan art, essay pictures, wardrobe shots and “bad pix” go? Well, I haven’t figured out the best way to incorporate all my pictures into the Realm, so hang in there.

I wanted to roll out this new version of the Realm, though, because there’s a lot of cool new stuff that I’ve only hinted at in my blog. Look back over the last 20 years in a comprehensive history of Labyrinth and its fandom. Speculate on the possibility that Jareth = father figure [?!?!?!?!?]. Check out Nick Berquist’s two-part list for signs that you may be a male Laby fan. Part I. Part II. Scan the updated site history and credits.

Or, more accurately, do you believe in love after life? Will does. To find out what I’m talking about, see the pilot of season 5 over here.

In other (un)real news, Anneka, Will and their friends and enemies are now officially ensconced at their own Web space. Free from the blinking ads of Keenspace and open to comments by all, (un)real life now exists on my own server, easily updateable and controllable.

Everyone go over there and make comments now!! Or add a comment here so I can count you among my fans. I’d like to see how many readers I have. I’m making a list of fans below for my own reference. Don’t you want to be popular and join the list? :p Continue reading Do you believe in life after love?

Jennifer has always been a quiet, unobtrusive, meditative, anal-retentive, even repressed character. In contrast to Frank, her polymorphously perverse master, and Jareth, her theatrically melancholy friend, she has always been…well, normal, very down-to-earth and shy. Inexperienced in the ways of intimacy, she does indeed have a sex drive, but its very existence still perturbs her, despite the fact that she’s in her early 20s.

I chose Soom Uyoo for my Jennifer doll because I wanted a sculpt that looked at once mature and innocent. Now that I actually have the doll in my hands, though, I realize how sexy she can be. I think Jennifer is realizing this too. As you can see from tonight’s series of photos, she looks hot in a low-cut, sheet outfit, proving that someone can be sweet and sexy at the same time. Continue reading Jennifer: sweet and…sexy!

This evening I finally had the energy to set up Jennifer and take a few pictures. Well, actually, I took 40, but you only get to see the 4 most interesting. Continue reading Hi, Jennifer!

In the last entry, I just called Jareth queer. Yes, folks, he’s the Goblin Queen, and it’s screamingly obvious.

Jareth is certainly queer in his self-presentation. David Bowie plays him as a tongue-in-cheek drag queen. Like a drag queen, the Goblin King favors highly choreographed and dramatic entrances. Like a drag queen, he simpers and struts with a sly wink to the audience. Like a drag queen, he sings, dances and flaunts his assets. Like a drag queen, he never looks the same way for long; he’s always wearing yet another sparkly, elaborate outfit. Like a drag queen, he uses heavy eye make-up to stylize his striking eyes and pale complexion so that he has a mask-like, obviously artificial look. Like a drag queen, he has unnatural hair that defies gravity and changes color when necessary. Like a drag queen, he turns himself into a very sexy work of art. Like a drag queen, he reminds you that all the world’s a stage, and he’s the star of the show. His very physical presentation, full of beauty and artifice, embodies the phrase “things aren’t always what they seem.”

EDIT: Elle m’attend chez moi! Tracking says it was signed for by me despite the fact that I was at work downtown when the delivery occurred. I guess my signed note worked this time!

According to UPS tracking, Jennifer is “out for delivery” as of 4:15 AM. However, I do not know if I will get her today. Continue reading Jennifer: on her way here? AKA UPS annoys me.

Sounds like an intro at a meeting of SAA [Sadistic Authors Anonymous], huh? Well, it’s true. The main character of (un)real life, Anneka Elizabeth, died dramatically today in [where else?] the arms of her devoted [and dead] boyfriend, Will. Continue reading “Hi, my name’s MW, and I killed my main character.”

According to this amusing quiz, Anneka Elizabeth is a stinkin’ rotten Mary Sue. Well, of course she is. She developed out of a doll called AE for Alter Ego. She’s supposed to be semi-autobiographical.

I ran Jareth the Goblin King [movie version] through the quiz too. Guess what? He came up as an “Uber-Sue.” I think it’s because he has many traits [weird eyes, weird hair, weird clothes, weird name, magic powers, sexiness] romanticized by writers of fanfic. There’s probably an essay for the Realm in here somewhere….

As all three of you who follow this blog know, I’ve spent beaucoup d’argent sur les poupees since December. I estimate close to $3,000. @_@

I think my dollies have been so expensive because, last time I had BJDs [Zephque and Sardonix], I settled for ones that looked nice, but not exactly how I wanted. Now, determined to have BJDs exactly to my specifications, I’m willing to fork over serious dough to accomplish that goal.

My interest in 1:6 kitbashing also influences my BJD purchases. As far as I’m concerned, 1:6 figs are made to be stripped down, parted out and recombined to create the fig you really want. While BJDs are designed for customization, parting out and recombining [kitbashing] is not as prevalent. But, coming from the 1:6 land, I see BJDs as more expensive action figs, therefore made of swappable parts. Thus I may pay higher prices for BJD parts [like Frank’s head], but then I get to reconstitute the doll that I want.

Despite what people at the Burlington Doll Club tell me, I’m now done with my BJD shopping. Jareth, Frank and Jennifer form my entire collection. If I was to get another BJD, someone would have to go. Given Jareth’s extensive customization and resemblance to Cher, I really doubt that he would sell. Given Frank’s constitution [defaced male Volks LE head on DM fem body with super boobs], I doubt he would sell either. As an unmodded Soom Uyoo, Jennifer might sell, but I have no desire to replace her [although I would like the Soul Doll Metel body with its hefty curves!]. Since I’m stuck with my current dolls [woe is me!], I see no other BJDs in my future.

In conclusion, I’ve laid out an exorbitant amount in a short time. However, I have exactly the dolls that I want now, and I foresee them entertaining me for quite a while. I think that they will earn their keep. If they don’t, I’ll start forcing them to do dishes and laundry.

I’ve successfully paid for an unpainted Bella Auden, to be shipped to Armeleia, and a selection of the fabulous DM clothes: the rose-colored velour warm-up set, a pink-and-white-striped long-sleeved T and matching shorts, “slash jeans” for Haund, black lace underwear, black leather masc shoes and black leather fem shoes. Soon [relatively speaking] my BJD collection will be complete!

Note to self: Frank’s head headed to Armeleia as of Saturday, 3/11. Now to order his body.

Jennifer is in the mail from Lia as of today! With UPS 3-day, she should be arriving later this week. Then she and Jareth can have a mortifying confrontation in which she is naked and both of them attempt to suppress their attraction. Luckily for them, the discrepancy in their scales prevents them acting on their attraction outside of my head. They’ll have to go back inside my head to do anything about it.

Since it was so warm on Saturday, I frolicked outside without a coat on to capture the balmy morning. Jareth modeled a full-circle black cape made by MissMerrythe3rd and turned his face up to the light. My pictures lately tend toward the abstract and black and white. Continue reading Jareth up a tree

I’m making a deal with Lia on DOA to get my third and final BJD, a Soom Uyoo. She comes with the soft, natural Soom default faceup, blue eyes and a completely blushed body. I’ve never had a fully blushed doll before; from the pictures, the light blushing gives her an added delicacy. See my Uyoo, pre-Jennifer, below. Continue reading Jennifer [Soom Uyoo] is coming!

So I’m thinking that the DM Bella would be the best for Frank. Armeleia would mod the neck to make it fit his head. Then I’d sell the default head and buy a Uyoo.

While I’m lusting over DM merchandise, I would like to point out that they have a huge selection of afforadable and versatile clothes. I want a bunch of pieces for Jareth and Frank:

Since most BJD clothes are di$gus$tingly expen$ive, those of us who don’t sew search for well-tailored, affordable clothes. If you’re looking for simple casual wear or mix-‘n’-match separates/coordinates, I recommend Lynn at Annie’s Too. She offers long- and short-sleeved T-shirts, leggings, tights and leg warmers for all sizes of BJDs.

I commissioned some leggings and a long-sleeved T for Jareth, and I’m very satisfied. Waists are on the high side and legs on the long side, which is fine with me, since there’s nothing that I dislike more than clothes that are too short! There is a little extra room built into each pattern to allow for easy dressing and undressing, but the bit of roominess does not detract from the form-fitting look. All seams are sewn; the overall construction is very durable, which is great, as I manhandle my dolls a lot.

NB: The thickness of tops and leggings depends on what material you choose. The shirt shown here is made of 1:1 T-shirt material, while the leopard print is more translucent and more in scale for 1:3 legging material. Other leggings I received from Lynn have more bulk because they are 1:1 T-shirt material. If you are concerned about bulk, you can chat with Lynn about which fabrics would be most in scale.

Lynn charges very reasonable prices and offers exemplary customer service. She communicated with me frequently about my order and answered all my questions, no matter how small they were. She’ll work with you to make sure you are satisfied with your order. I’m definitely ordering from her again when Frank gets his own body.

I tried to take some illustrative pictures of Jareth in his Annie’s Too gear, but my creative tendencies kept making the pictures more artsy-fartsy. Continue reading Annie’s Too leggings and tops for Jareth

I think I like Bella’s head after all. She looks more like Jennifer than Uyoo. She has a child-like look in her large eyes, but also an appropriately serious set to her mouth.

Following the popularity of the ~70 cm Dollshe boys, Dollmore jumps on the trend of 65+ cm dolls with Bella Auden, a 70 cm BJD:

http://www.dollmore.net/shop/step1.php?number=1630

On the plus side… From what I can tell, Bella’s proportions weigh out much better than those of the other tall girl currently available, the etoliated Dollshe Afghan. Furthermore, Bella has much more defined hips and an actual waist, as opposed to Afghan, who looks basically like a 60 cm girl’s head on a Haund body. Additionally, since Bella has ankles [which Dollshe hates to include on its dolls], she fits much better into extant shoes for 60 cm girls. Finally, Bella has a much more attractive head than Afghan, but that’s immaterial for me since I wouldn’t be getting her for the head, just for her carcass.

On the negative side… Bella boasts double-jointed elbows [yay!], but only single-jointed knees [booo!]. She’s like a 1:6 CG 2.0 that way, with highly functional and poseable arms, but legs designed more for form than function. I also think her boobs should be bigger, but that’s not a design flaw, just a personal preference.

Bella represents a great improvement over Anorexic Afghan. She also gives me hope that other companies besides Dollshe and Volks will develop 65+ cms, and I’ll eventually be able to find a tall, meaty, curvy, hyper-articulated body for Frank. I just need to have patience, which is not my strong suit.

I’ve made 1:6, 1:3 and 1:1 books, both readable books and “dummy” books [to fill the shelves], mostly by studying the construction of my own books and working outwards and backwards to create my own from scratch. For an impatient person with no training in booksmithery, I’ve done pretty well.

I should now graduate to leather-bound books, with endpapers and spine ridges and all! I should also take pictures of my readable 1:6 and 1:3 books. Heck, I should even start making 1:1 books, especially since I go through them so quickly.

As I know from my overflowing collection of Laby fan art, people enjoy drawing pictures of Jareth. Over the years, I've collected many beautiful likenesses of Jareth from the movie, and, now that I have a Jareth doll of my own, people have been drawing him.Continue reading Jareth’s fan art, part I

Jareth now has a spiky blond wig in an attempt to replicate the Goblin King’s tacky freak-out hair in the movie. He shows it off, teaching everyone a lesson about photo editing in the process. Continue reading Spiky hair for Jareth / the magic of photo editing

Check it out: Materiel Celeste. It’s a forum for French-speaking BJD lovers and collectors of other imported dolls [like Pinky St., Pullip and Blythe]. It’s like DOA, but plus petit, plus lent et plus intime…et plus poli…ils n’ont pas rit a mon francais abominable!

Last Saturday [2/18], I went down the street to an informal little synagogue called Havurat Shalom. It has a great playground out in back, as well as a circular labyrinth, laid out in bricks like a patio. Jareth stood in the center [because that’s where he belongs] and tried to look imposing in a very Goblin-King-like outfit made by Gayle on DOA. Thanks, Gayle. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that he was looking introspective and knock-kneed, rather than imposing. Continue reading Jareth in a labyrinth

After a hiatus of about two months, (un)real life, my Web drama involving vamps, queers and action figs, returns. My two loyal readers rejoice. Here’s the latest episode. Continue reading (un)real life is not quite dead.

Since I’m undecided about what type of body to get for Frank, I decided to stick him on Jareth’s body, even though it’s the wrong sex, just to see how the fit was. With the addition of a rather flattened old wig of Zephque’s and a top hat, he actually looked pretty groovy. I wanted to invite him up to the lab to see what was on the slab.

The head fits on the body, though Yukinojo’s broad features were clearly built for a wider neck. Haund’s neck seems very slender by comparison. Furthermore, the Yukinojo resin has more undertones of orange and brown than the normal Haund body, which is very, very, very pale. Additionally, since Yukinojo’s neck socket is very deep, the poseability of the head on the Haund body is limited. It turns from side to side, but cannot look up and down much.

I’m not sure whether to go with an Iplehouse Soo Ri body for Frank, which would be appropriately meaty, but not tall enough, or another Haund body, which would be appropriately flexible, but not meaty enough… Anyway, see Frank voguing below. Continue reading Frank on Jareth’s body!

I worked on Frank last night. For those of you curious about my creative process, I’m afraid it’s much more haphazard and much less visionary than you would hope. Motivated by a combination of extreme impatience and only slightly-above-average artistic talent, I cannot precisely replicate the exciting ideas teeming in my brain. Therefore I strive to reproduce the spirit of a likeness, the essence of the character because all its particular details cannot fully translate between my synapses and my hands.

In practice, this means I was drawing last night directly on the resin without having treated it first. The scribbling above represents Prismacolor Dark Brown Fonce [PC947] for eye-liner and eyebrows, Tuscan Red [PC 937] for the lip liner and some red chalk pastel to fill in the lips. You can’t see it, but I used a little red pastel on the insides of the eyes and a mixture of brown and black pastel in the creases of the mouth. Read the rest of the story below. Continue reading De/Refacing a Volks LE

Yukinojo looks so much better without that smeary, hazy default faceup. After removing the paint, I admired the sculpt for some time. For my earlier griping about the unexciting nature of Volks sculpts, I must say that Yukinojo has won me over. The glowy quality and smoothness of Volks resin appeals to me in general, and the sheer amount of detail in Yukinojo’s sculpt pleases me. He strikes a balance between realism and stylization that I haven’t seen in other BJD sculpts.

Naturally I will DESTROY the delicate craftsmanship of the hallowed Volks LE by giving it a faceup with Prismacolor and pastels in a style worthy of circus make-up, bwah hah hah! See below the cut for more paintless pictures of Yukinojo, as well as a mock-up of Frank’s faceup. Continue reading Frank without paint and my plans for him

Look at what I just dug up on figures.com! Plan B Toys [Web site here, but has nothing to do with their Laby line] is showing off its upcoming Laby collectibles at this year’s Toy Fair in New York City. Continue reading Plan B Toys unveils resin Labyrinth statues at Toy Fair.

Jill and I spent over two hours on the phone on Saturday discussing Labyrinth. We noticed the following:

1. There’s a lot of water in the film. Jill pointed out that Sarah runs across a bridge over a stream when she is first seen in the park. Then she gets all wet as the rainstorm chases her home. Water appears again in the Bog of Eternal Stench [and another bridge as well]. Jill even argued that the ballroom bubble is made out of water, but I think that’s pushing it. We didn’t reach any conclusions about the significance of water, but Jill definitely thinks that the bridge in the park prefigures the bridge over the Bog of Stench, in another example of the real world affecting Sarah’s dream world. See below the cut for a laundry list of interesting themes and Jill’s and my speculation thereon. Continue reading Ranting about themes in Labyrinth

So Moggie’s Toyshop made a custom corset for Jareth. The lacing solved the problem of his stupid hip joint popping out; it also took about 15 minutes to do up, so, whether he likes it or not, he’s staying in the corset. Fortunately, though, as you can see, he’s pretty comfortable. I think he was even falling asleep toward the end of the shoot. See below the cut for more. Continue reading Jareth’s new corset

Because Frank’s head [SD 16 Yukinojo] came on Saturday, I’ve been thinking about him recently. I wiped his paint last night [hideous under-the-lip blushing!] and drafted a face-up on a print-out of the unpainted head. Then I harvested bits and pieces from various photos to create a mock-up of Frank on an Afghan body.

Boy…did he look pathetic. Afghan’s body has the right height and flexibility, but she’s so scrawny. She looks like a 12-year-old girl that hit her growth spurt before puberty. She’s painfully thin. As I looked at the mock-up, I realized that I couldn’t use her as a base.

My latest idea for Frank’s body is the Iplehouse long-legged masc body, shown here in tan skin. Great things about the Iplehouse body include: a) idealized, muscular physique; b) double-jointed elbows and knees; c) neat handsculpts; d) cheaper compared to getting a whole Afghan; e) no microcephalic Afghan head to get rid of!

The only cons are a) it’s a masc body and b) it’s shorter than Haund. Some creative shirt-stuffing should take care of a), and platform boots should take care of b). I should make Frank wear all the platforms and Jareth wear all the flats.

I wish that the new Dollfie Dream body with the porn star hooters was scaled up to Afghan’s height. No, better yet, I wish one of the doll companies would make a body like that of a female comic-book character: tall, muscular and well-endowed, with exaggerated curves. But Haund will never have a sex change and lift weights, so…sigh…

Oh yeah…and if anyone wonders what kind of doll I’m trying to make here with all this different parts, I refer you to the concept of the [anatomically impossible and endlessly fascinating] mythological hermaphrodite.

Today he tried to get me to fear him, love him, etc. Jareth is, first and foremost, a character in my head inspired by Jareth the Goblin King from Labyrinth. He comes out of my head in doll form to make smart remarks, steal my books, visit cemeteries and libraries and parks and other cool places with me, etc. Of course, he does the same things when he’s inside my head, but, when he’s in doll form, I get to take pictures of him doing it. Watch Jareth attempt to intimidate me, despite the fact that he’s two feet high. Continue reading Jareth is bossing me around…

Finally, about two and a half months since ordering, Jareth arrived at my house. Thanks to the following for their help with the Jareth Project: Dollshe for the body sculpt, Luts for the procuring and shipping, Armeleia for facial mods, faceup and endless IM chats, MissMerrythe3rd for an affordable and sexy handmade outfit for Jareth, Batchix for the gloves, Posh Dolls for the current pair of boots and Ajumapama for the imminent pair, Daniel Maher Stained Glass for the dichroic glass earrings, all you Laby and BJD freaks for following the saga and, of course, David Bowie and Labyrinth for starting this whole thing in the first place. I’m ecstatic to finally have a BJD to photo again; plus I’m so pleased with the results of my long-distance collaborations with everyone. See Jareth and his balls [well, more like his singular ball] below the cut. Continue reading Jareth and his balls

Heat first finger[s] of left hand with hair dryer??? Then bend???

For red flush on hands, either dilute reddish acrylic or shave red pastel and apply in cracks. Cover with matte varnish. Okay if it globs or drips, since it’s supposed to be sweat.

For fingernails, sand them down extremely short. Create hollows at tops of nails. Either paint red [he was biting them and drew blood] or darker color for shadow created by any existing nail. English Lace acrylic for cuticles [if any]? Hit nails with glossy varnish.

Buy lots of small-link chains from the hardware store. Attach to corset a la skirt???

Sueding may not necessarily involve disassembly!!

Ever since I spent about six hours on screencaps last weekend, I’ve been ruminating about L. Like Mirror Mask, its framing story involves an unhappy family. I asked myself how Sarah’s unhappy family affects her journey through the Labyrinth. Possible answer: It makes Jareth a parental substitute.

Note: Poor Jareth is doing double, triple, even quadruple duty in this movie. Rock star, fashion icon, pin-up boy, Byronic hero, antagonist, DAD?!!?! L is a freakin’ thematic goulash. Hmmmm, you could probably make an argument for Jareth as floating signifier, but that might mess up the entire pretense of the Realm… Anyway, click below for more. Continue reading Jareth as the alternative parent

Rapture, ecstasy, joy and all that. See below the cut for PICTURES! Continue reading Jareth and Frank together at last!

Looky looky — final photos! I’ll just quote my drooling to Armeleia: “I’m very pleased with the way that he turned out. You executed the James Marsters cheekbones perfectly, as well as the David Bowie nose. I think the mouth resembles Bowie’s as well, especially in profile. He also seems to balance between stereotypically masculine and stereotypically feminine pretty well.

“I especially like the rough, blurry nature of the pastels; they make his eyes seem even more shadowed. He looks tired, vulnerable and thoughtful. He looks like a vampire that’s been punched in both eyes. He looks like a skeleton with skin. He looks pale and smirky and bony and, in short, very much like Jareth.”

Pictures below the cut! Continue reading Jareth comes out: final photos!

Armeleia and I have created a new way of collaborating: telecustomizing! From 9:30 PM on February 5th to 1:30 AM on February 6th, we logged into Yahoo chat to do Jareth’s faceup together. Every 15 to 30 minutes, Armeleia pinged me to update me. [Yahoo chat has a BUZZ!!! feature that sounds like a doorbell and makes the whole window jounce.] I got pictures after his base coat, his eyelashes/liner, his eyebrows, his lips and the shading. [Pics at various stages below the cut now.] Continue reading Telecustomizing: how Jareth was done

I spent about six hours last night and this morning taking screencaps from every part of Labyrinth. Along the way, I noticed something very irritating: Labyrinth repeats itself constantly. This isn’t about thematic consistency. No, this is more mundane. The film recycles on a simple level [e.g., with repetition of dialog] and on a greater, structural level. It’s like getting two movies for the price of one, only they’re the same movie. Continue reading Labyrinth: two movies for the price of one

Thanks to Armeleia’s hack ‘n’ slash last night, Jareth’s nose is now much more proportional to his face. It also has more of a Bowie-like profile to it. I was looking for something straighter, but she gave him a bit of the bow shape that David Bowie has. Good thing I don’t mind. He still looks serenely devious.

PATION!!!

La tete de la poupee de Frank arrived at Rinkya today, so I requested EMS shipment. It should go out next Thursday. Curses. I will have no BJD or BJD parts to show off at the Burlington doll meet on February 11th. My first [and last — canceling Rinkya account after Frank arrives safely] experience with a deputy auction service has been fast, smooth and painless so far, but apparently not fast enough for the deepest part of myself that craves instant gratification.

I can’t wait for Jareth to arrive. No, seriously, I have great trouble waiting. My internal monolog runs around in my head, going, “IwantmydollIwantmydollIwantmydoll…” Though I go to work, do my other hobbies [yes, I do have those], prepare for said doll’s arrival and otherwise try to alleviate my obsessive impatience, it will not go away. It’s not that I’m particularly worried about the doll’s mods or that it’s taking too long; it’s just that I don’t have it yet and I want it.

The line I have drawn on his nose below shows where I would like to reduce that ski jump and make it more nasal in shape. Also see that I sketched his face in preliminarily. Look at his smirk!

According to additional press information that I dug up today, the 12″ Palisades Toys Jareth action figure will be released on April 26th. Accessories include three crystal balls, a riding crop and his pendant. Also [direct quote here], “one figure per case will also sport Jareth’s purple leather coat.” I have no idea what they’re referring to because Jareth doesn’t have a purple leather coat. I’ll have to buy one to make fun of it.

A few months back, my friend Katrine and her friend got into a big discussion about MM which gets at its central theme of dreams and responsibility. When Helena objects to performing yet again, her mom, Joanne, tries to coerce her into participating by saying, “You know your father keeps this circus running on peanuts. It’s his dream.” Later, in the Light Lands, when speaking to the Prime Minister, Helena states, “It’s my dream. I’ll find the Mirror Mask.” [Or something to that effect.] Further on in the movie, Helena talks to Joanne, who sees Valentine in the background and says, “Hullo, did I dream you a boyfriend?” So we have three dreams competing for supremacy here: Morris’, Joanne’s and Helena’s. Whose dream is MM? Thanks to mysterious LJ user lupa for the thoughts about Helena as child laborer. Continue reading “It’s my dream”: whose dream is Helena caught in?

Armeleia has finished blocking on the cheekbone seen in this photo. The other looks much rougher, so we’ll just focus on this side as a promise of things to come. I really like how these cheekbones are coming. They seem to emphasize the smirk of the Haund headsculpt, as well as the downward glance of the eyes. The photo also reminds me how ridiculously huge Haund’s nose is. I like the shape, but it’s too large. It looks like a ski jump. See for yourselves below. Continue reading Jareth’s updated profile

I figured out how to pull pictures from completed YJ auctions, so I proudly present two photos of what should be coming in the mail to me. Can’t wait to get out my trowel and apply something on Frank reminiscent of Tim Curry’s in Rocky Horror, only with slightly less foundation and eye-shadow. Continue reading Bring me the head of Yukinojo! [pictures]

I never fathomed impulse BJD purchases, primarily because of the large sums involved. Now, after having successfully bid a disgusting amount for an eyeless SD 16 Yukinojo Sawaragi head on Yahoo Japan, I still don’t fathom them. Nope, sorry…no pictures. I forgot to pull them before the auction ended. If anyone can help me there, I’d be grateful. Exultation and musing over BJD likenesses follows. Continue reading Holy fork, I won a Yukinojo head on YJ!

SD16 Yukinojo has such a sweet face. He would make a perfect Frank. But he costs five billion dollars, and he’s an LE, and all I want is his stupid head.

Just some blather about companies I like and dislike. Isn’t this fascinating? Continue reading BJD companies I like and ones I don’t

…and I was forced to spend it on BJDs, this is what I would get… Continue reading If I had $10,000…

There’s a running thread on DOA about dolls with disabilities. Since he’s based off me, Jareth has dysthymia and hyperhidrosis. I plan to blush his hands really red because that’s a prime effect of hyperhidrosis, and I might use some glossy varnish to simulate sweat drips on his fingers. I’m also going to make it look like he has bitten nails. Jareth will be the first doll with an anti-manicure.

Hyperhidrosis is a condition characterized by extremely overactive sweat glands. Continue reading Dolls with disabilities

Best of CG Cutey Honey Kisaragi Variant. The CH sculpt always charms me with the truly epicanthic eyes and slightly parted mouth, as if she will speak up. Despite my tergiversation about Kisaragi vs. Triad’s upcoming bodies, I guess I will be purchasing Kisaragi after all.

Due out in March of this year, Best of Cool Girl Gatchaman G3 Jun in CG Dark Version can be yours for a measly $85.00 from HLJ, not including shipping.

Takara’s Best of… line pisses me off. Continue reading Dominatrix Jun, or Takara cheaps out.

The Realm is busting out of its current organizational system. It really looks ugly and user-hostile [that’s the opposite of user-friendly].

And lo, the realization descended upon me in a flash: Jareth’s Realm needs to run like a blog with easy updating, tags, cleanly designed tables and such.

Off to look at the blogging options available on my magnifico Web server, Drak.net.

I bought Jareth some spectacular duds [better than MINE]: a custom set of gloves from batchix, a pair of CheeryDoll mixed black shitkickers and a custom corset from Moggie’s Toyshop, where the fetish gear is so realistic that people think it’s for 1:1 people, not 1:3 dollies! [I despair of ever owning corsetry this cool.] If you care why Jareth just got a vast closet expansion, see below the cut. Continue reading Doll plans change; Jareth gets a wardrobe.

…Which is exactly the effect I’m looking for. Armeleia has been sanding industriously away at Jareth’s left cheekbone [it’s on the right-hand side in the photos below]. She acknowledges that his right cheekbone [on the left side of the photo] is too large, but progress takes time. “He’s going to be perfect and symmetrical if it kills me!” she declares. Knowing her tendency for perfectionism, I think she might die before she smooths out his roughness. I jest. 😉 I think that, even now, the results are very promising. See for yourself below the cut. Continue reading You could hurt yourself on those cheekbones.

Nick Berquist, author of the original 50 signs you’re a guy Laby freak, just sent me 51 MORE signs today, including… Continue reading More signs of Laby obsession for guys

I put up a Japanese article from Rockin’ On, as well as a vintage promotion from Frontline magazine for Laby T-shirts. Both articles have great photos of Jareth and Sarah in ballroom gear.

I worked on Helena’s Room a bit last night, adding a biography of Stephanie Leonidas, who plays Helena. Since the bio is rather lacking in info, I also send fan mail today to Stephanie and to her agent. Hopefully I will get a response with more details on this talented and sexy actor! [Hopefully she’s not overwhelmed with fan mail, so I might even get a reply soon.]

Speaking of the pathetic bio, you won’t believe how hard I scoured the Net, seeking information about Stephanie. Despite consistent stage and screen credits since 2001, the girl remains elusive. What I did find, though, really impressed me. Look below the cut for fan blather. Continue reading Helena’s Room updated: bio of the star added, etc.

Armeleia showed me a photo of her intended Milliput additions to Jareth’s face. Let’s see how he’ll look in future, shall we? Continue reading Jareth concept update: “Old Man of the Mountains”

Besides the film, added features include: Day 16: A Time-Lapse Video of One Day On-Set, Neil Talks: A Conversation with Neil Gaiman, ComicCon 2003: A Q&A session, Behind The Scenes with Dave McKean, Flight of the Monkeybirds Featurette, Off-Set Making-of Featurette. MSRP: $27.00. I can’t wait!

I also ordered a copy of The Alchemy of Mirror Mask today, so watch for my review.

New essays up at Helena’s Room: Is Mirror Mask a rip-off of Labyrinth? What are dolls and sex doing in MM and L? [Lots of pretty pictures in this essay.] Also in Helena’s Room, I kicked off the Merchandise section with a review of the MM novella. I linked to the Labyrinth/MM section from the Realm’s analysis page too. Continue reading Massive Helena’s Room updates, small Realm update.

Anna W. has some cute manga-style cartoons at the Realm now. I can’t believe she was 11 when she did them. [Maybe I just feel old.] Also you can now read Nick Berquist’s full list for signs of Laby obsession in guys. He impersonates Jareth on a regular basis, and he’s proud of it. Now that’s my kind of man. 😀

DEDF now up to $358.64. 49.9% of the way there. Continue reading DEDF up a nice chunk o’ change.

A little late in posting, but check out my review of the Mirror Mask novella.

The stereotypical Laby fan is a lustfully hormonal teenaged girl [or a woman with the hormones of a lustful teenaged girl] who wishes she had a personal Jareth to do naughty activities with. MALE Jareth/Laby fans do exist, however. But they are just overwhelmed by the squealing of the aforementioned girls.

I have proof that guy fans exist because one of them wrote to me: a hilarious document entitled “50 Signs That You Are Obsessed With Labyrinth: Humor for GUYS.” I’ll post the whole list eventually, but here’s my favorite item:

21. Your answering machine message is Laby related. (Mine: “Hello, you’ve reached the Goblin King. Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and leave a message after the beep.”) Continue reading Humor for Jareth-obsessed GUYS!

fragileshell has a pirate hat pattern that I think I could actually follow, even given my complete impatience with the sewing machine: http://www.livejournal.com/users/fragileshell/8429.html

DEDF now boasts $248.64, just enough for a Uyoo! Must…resist…urge…to buy…Jennifer… I realize that, with Sardonix’ departure, I have no one to photograph in the cemeteries, and, given Jennifer’s current interest in graveyards, she’d be perfect. But what’s a Jennifer doll without a Frank doll first?

In future doll news, Kallisti has pics of the new Unoas up on Blastmilk http://www.livejournal.com/users/blastmilk/239890.html . Nope, no Unoa for me, but I think Frank’s breasts should be similar, only scaled up in proportion to the Afghan base body. [Heck, I think Afghan should have had a rack like that originally, possibly even bigger. Then again, my preferences for dolls’ chests are heavily influenced by top-heavy CGs.]

I need to figure out how to add filters on this thing. EDIT: I figured out how. I used my link list to add links to sets of tagged entries. I feel clever.

Sardonix sold for $160.00, her boots for $45.00. All money to Frank fund!

Armeleia sent photos this morning showing rough mods to Jareth’s head. Basically I commissioned mods on the cheeks [a la James Marsters because I don’t have a thing for BTVS’ Spike, no, not at all] and chin [a la David Bowie circa 1975 because I don’t have a thing for the Man Who Sold the World, no, not at all]. Let’s see how she’s doing, shall we? Continue reading DEDF update; Jareth progress pix

Looky! My review of SST’s Drusilla femfig got published. I’m famous!

Continue reading DOA links about modifications and tools

Jen [merryallthemoreso] finally finished the wardrobe I commissioned for my upcoming Jareth doll. Everything’s exactly to specifications, and I’m quite pleased. Her Haund, Damien, looks less amused, however, to be modeling clothes that just aren’t his style, honey! Pics below. Continue reading Jareth’s clothes: lookin’ good!

Thanks to some Xmas money, the DEDF now has ~$138 in it. Woo hoo! My goal is $718. That is the cost of a full Afghan and a regular Haund head from Tensiya. I wish I could just get the Afghan body and the Haund head, but noooo, Afghan comes with a head. I have someone who wants the head, though, so it seems that constructing la poupee de Frank is mostly a matter of money…and modification. That $718 doesn’t cover facial and boobtacular mods needed for a true likeness. I’m so impatient, been waiting to have 3-D forms of these characters for DECADES… Part of me wants to drop the $$$ RIGHT NOW. Grargh.

The Web boosted Labyrinth to true cult status during the early part of its second decade, but it wasn’t until the new millennium that the establishment registered just how much we loved the movie. And I was there [still…]. Continue reading Labyrinth timeline, part III: 2000-2006

The way I see it, very little happened in Labyrinth’s first decade. But, with the advent of its second decade and the help of the burgeoning Internet, Labyrinth hit cult status. And I was there! Continue reading Labyrinth timeline, part II: 1996-1999

In 2006, Labyrinth turns 20, while the Realm turns 10. Jesus, I can’t believe it’s been that long. As I reflected back over the past two decades, I started making a timeline of Labyrinth and its fandom. Continue reading Labyrinth timeline, part I: 1986-1996

I would have a modded SA Haund for Jareth, like I already do [only he’s not in my possessive little mitts yet]. Frank would be a modded regular Haund head on an Afghan body with severe breast augmentation. And Jennifer would be a Uyoo. Then I could have the whole Stichomythy in manipulable format! *…pauses to wander among thoughts…* Wow, I hope the D.E.D.F. (Disgustingly Expensive Doll Fund) receives an infusion this Xmas.

I haven’t been doing much with the Realm in the past six months, but I have lots of cool stuff in the pipeline. Continue reading Coming in 2006!

Pix from DollMore:

http://www.dollmore.net/shop/step1.php?number=1263

I was really hoping for a tall, sexy fem. But noooo…we get an anorexic with a face that’s 10 years too young for her body. And NO BOOBIES! She is clearly not the 1:3 Cy Girl I seek. No matter…Continue reading Anneka Elizabeth in 1:3

Jill thinks Jareth wants Toby because Jareth thinks it would be less intimidating to interact with a kid than a babelicious girl. Then he realizes that Sarah is an immature dolt like him, and sparks fly. Full theory, quoting Jill, below. Continue reading Bawk bawk: Jill says Jareth is a chicken.

Last night he arrived! I asked Armeleia to take pix on Jareth’s arrival. I also asked her modded Haund, Beau Morraine, to help with the box opening. He did, though Armeleia says he was very weirded out by the whole thing. Pics below. Continue reading Jareth arrives at Armeleia’s — Morraine deboxes!

I took many screencaps today for the purpose of adding smart remarks and using them as photo illustrations in essays. Dunno when I’ll have time to upload. You’ll have to make do with this for now.

Latest: Jareth shipped! Directly to the modifier. I don’t know who reads this, but I for one am excited!

http://toychest.diamondcomics.com/toys/11_05/14_labyrinth.htm

Looks promising. I hope the proto is equal to the final. Those pants, however, have GOT to go. He doesn’t wear anything so tacky in the film. He’s more…campy.

[First in a series, eh? I’m waiting for Drag Queen Jareth and Superwhiny Sarah!!]

Installment payments should start Monday. Cross your fingers for me! Continue reading I ordered SA Haund!

Yep. Can’t fight it. Want Haund. Am now looking about to see what I can sell to raise money.

This was the doll that I wanted when I got Zephque. Unfortunately Haund was not available.

Duuuuuuude, a mega Jareth doll!

The 2005 fantasy film MirrorMask is billed as being “in the tradition of Dark Crystal and Labyrinth.” Well, it’s more than that. MirrorMask is less of a tribute and more of a rewrite of Labyrinth [which is itself a rip-off of many classics]. I wrote an essay about Labyrinth’s influence on Mirror Mask, but I have yet to get it uploaded. See tantalizing sample below… Continue reading Mirror Mask: the hidden sequel to Labyrinth

I have two new essays up: one about why Jareth wants Toby, another about why Labyrinth stinks.

All you Laby freaks should go check out Helena’s Room, my site about the upcoming fantasy flick MirrorMask. It’s the same sort of twisted dream adventure as Labyrinth was, this time fueled by the imaginative power of Neil Gaiman, Steve McKean and the Henson Company. Helena’s Room contains analysis, photos, fan art and blather, just like Jareth’s Realm!

The Jim Henson Co., Tokyopop and Neil Gaiman collaborate to <strike>bastardize</strike> adapt Labyrinth and Mirror Mask into manga. That includes the prequel to Mirror Mask, which explains how the Dark Princess got the Mask in the first place, and the SEQUEL to Labyrinth, in which Toby, 13, revisits the maze to claim Jareth’s throne. Didn’t know there was a sequel? Me neither. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, but I will certainly buy. Full details below: Continue reading Labyrinth and Mirror Mask appearing as manga

Courtesy of Jen Gagne again: I read your point about how the Labyrinth’s ‘gradeschool boy humor’ seemed like the product of the real life men involved in the production, rather than being in-character for a fantasy of Sarah’s. But I think it actually made sense that way considering the whole thing was set up to turn her expectations on end and be less temptingly wonderful than she might’ve originally expected.

On September 30, MirrorMask, the latest film by the Jim Henson Company, is coming out. It’s the story of a 15-year-old girl who makes a stupid wish that jeopardizes a family member. In order to rescue her family member, she must journey to a confusing and dream-like alternate world populated by odd creatures. Hmmmm, why is this sounding familiar? I’ve ordered the book of the screenplay. Watch this space for a discussion about Labyrinth and MirrorMask. In the mean time, go to IMDB to find out more about the film: MirrorMask on IMDB.

Basically he says that Labyrinth did very well in the after market, so the Henson Co. decided to rip it off and cash in…which just goes to show that Hollywood was recycling long before you were separating your paper from your plastic.

“Jareth definitely appears to be a symbolic incarnation of Sarah’s mother’s boyfriend. I believe he represents what the boyfriend did to her family, rather than a specific act against Sarah personally.” So saith Jen Gagne, a devoted fan. Her thoughts follow…Continue reading Alternative theory for Jareth / Sarah’s boyfriend

Picture of Gigglegeek’s Haund:

http://www.denofangels.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=22414&highlight=hound

Note to self: Exploit the smirk when it arrives!

http://aanu.cafe24.com/angelthecool-2005/html/01info-aboutBM.htm

http://aanu.cafe24.com/angelthecool-2005/html/01info-aboutnewBM.htm

http://aanu.cafe24.com/angelthecool-2005/html/01info-BM-HD.htm

Info about body comparisons and measurements as presented by the artist who’s doing LEs of Bermann. It’s fun to read her posts because she really, really loves what she’s doing. 😀

Mess around with outfits and accessories on paper dolls mostly in the form of stylized female celebrities.

http://www.paperdollheaven.com/

FUN!

Today, for your reading pleasure, I translated a Dutch article where Jim Henson talks about working with the puppets of Labyrinth. Cool stuff.