Sdtrk: ‘This is the Flex (Hi-fi mix)’ by Add N to (X)

So last Sunday was really ace, as Marika and I got to hang out with fellow iDollator Mahtek. We arrived at his digs a little after 6pm, mostly due to my dodgy sense of direction. Upon entering his home, the first thing I’d noticed about the place were his highly-polished hardwood floors — dude must mop every other day, as they were like glass. Mari & I got the penny tour of his tidy and spacious house, after which we were introduced to the gorgeous Phoebe, who was relaxing in the computer room. She was looking her usual sassy self, with a long black wig, a red tank top and shorts, with a red fishnet bodystocking beneath. That’s the thing about RealDolls, especially the ones that I like: they look great in photos, but seeing pictures of them doesn’t in any way compare to actually seeing them in real life. ‘Synthetik sexpot’ is a desperate understatement, to say the least. But then, I’m in love with practically every Doll I see, so I’m probably no-one to go by. 😉

Mari then nipped round to the service station on the corner for drinkies, at which point, Mahtek encouraged me to give Phoebe’s breasts a fondle, to compare their softness to that of Sweetie’s. After a couple of minutes 😉 , I assessed that they were a bit softer. Shi-chan’s have been well-massaged, obviously, but as she’s older than Phoebe by a couple of years, her silicone formula is slightly different. Very nice, needless to say.
After Mari got back, Mahtek went off for a slash, and I suggested that she give Phoebe’s boobs a squeeze as well. ‘Nooo!’ she replied. ‘O, why not? You did it with Sweetie!’ I answered. She hemmed and hawed for a couple of seconds, then walked over and felt Phoebe up. Mari hmmed approvingly. This sort of thing is perfectly acceptable in the Doll owner community, you see. 🙂

After ordering pizza, we wheeled Feebs into the livingroom with us, and chatted about this and that. Mahtek popped in the VCD I’d brought of ‘Eves de Silicone’, which was the French programme about RealDolls that Mari, Shi-chan & I appeared in, then the four of us viewed my DVD of ‘Love object’. We all thought that as a standard-issue horror film, it was effective — Mari was particularly squeamish during the bit with the trocar — but it left me with a bad taste in my mouth. If you’ve not seen it, honestly, don’t bother. I’m actually glad the film ended up in super-limited release.
The story in a nutshell is: boring lonely technical writer Kenneth gets tipped off to an Internet site a lot like Abyss creations that sells Synthetiks. He orders and receives one named Nikki, and after his own fashion, falls in love with her. Shortly after, he’s paired with temp worker Lisa for a project, and begins fantasising about her, and acting out how he would behave with her with Nikki. Unfortunately, Nikki starts growing jealous, and straaange things occur from that point onward. Is Nikki alive and out for revenge? NO-ONE WILL BE ADMITTED TO THE THEATRE DURING THE SHOCKING TWIST ENDING

What stuck in our collective craw about ‘Love object’ is that people will end up seeing it, and think that those of us who own Artificial companions are at best losers, or at worst, psychopaths. You’ve got scenes where Kenneth’s at work, getting calls from Nikki, among other things. The majority of viewers aren’t going to say, ‘Kenneth was a wee bit looped out to begin with, even before he got the doll,’ they’re going ‘Doll owner = cross the street to avoid them’. It’s rather like blaming videogames for events like Columbine. People inclined towards that sort of behaviour were messed up long before they bought their copies of Grand Theft Auto.
Doll Forum patrons got tipped off to this film back in 2003, when it was on the cusp of being theatrically released, and we all read articles about it online, and the director himself, Robert Parigi, had gone on record as saying that

‘When I was writing [the script], I was trying to figure out who would buy these things, because in real life, they’re quite expensive – $7,000. And so whoever is buying it would have to at least be functioning well enough to have that much discretionary income. So I believe it tends to be people who are borderline functional, and yet with – I don’t want to say psychotic tendencies, but something bordering on that.‘
(emphasis mine, Fangoria issue no.224)

It’s demonising and prejudiced. I’d say that films like ‘Love object’ would be better off released to the mainstream public several decades down the line, after Synthetik companions are more publically accepted; however, distributing a film like that now is anti-Synthetik propaganda, and does nothing positive to help the ignorant masses see that not everyone who desires a Synthetik companion is not a sociopathic loner with murderous tendencies.
So there’s your little film review-slash-editorial right there; hope you enjoyed it.

Back to Sunday! Mari and I suggested that next time we’re round, we’ll bring my copy of ‘Monique’, which is a much more iDollator-friendly film. And I still have yet to score a copy of ‘Tamaño natural / Grandeur nature / Life size’, damnit..
After several additional hours of chat, Mari and I made our leave round midnight. A handshake for Mahtek, and a kiss on the back of the hand for sweet Phoebe, and we took off, having had a really pleasant eve. It’s ace that most of us iDollators are in the Northern Hemisphere, but it sucks that so few of us are in Michigan — everyone’s either on the West coast, or in Texas, it seems. Nevertheless, knowing there’s another iDollator is in the same state only an hour away, who happens to not only have a lovely companion, but is nice and friendly to boot, is really fab.

Shi-chan is, of course, very jealous that both Mari and I felt Phoebe up, and she didn’t. I’d, err, better go lock up the sharp objects..