Sdtrk: ‘Faith (RS home demo)’ by the Cure

Did everyone have an enjoyable Valentine’s day? Well done! As I’m usually out and about on Saturdays, and the Missus and I usually get together ahem on Sundays, we just looked at Saturday and Sunday as Valentine’s day and Valentine’s day (Observed)…
So while she’s momentarily resting up, here’s several exciting Doll news articles of Doll note:

Abyss creations have posted the Winter issue of the Doll Street Journal (it’s in the News section), which details quite a few new intriguing bits and bobs from the company, such as the two new MaleDolls, the still-in-development RealDoll 2, and more. Had I been able to attend the recent Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas, I’d be more privy to secret stuff from all the Doll manufacturers that happened to be there, and therefore, you lot would be more privy to stuff, but alas, no money = no Davecat flying out there. Grrr. But do give the latest DSJ a look-in; if nothing else, it’ll whet your appetite…

Also, 01 March will mark a dark day for those iDollators who prefer Synthetiks with jubbleys that require their own postal codes: Abyss have announced that they’ll no longer be making the Body 9, made initially famous by the Anna Mae-type, after that date. They’ll continue to accept orders up until 28 February, but after that, the Body 9 passes into RealDoll history. Tsk.

So not making the 2009 AVN means I missed quite a bit of unveilings! Yes, I’m still bitter. Abyss were there, obviously; 4woods put in their first appearance there, showing off the Mia- and Kurumi-types that were mentioned in my December article; and KnightHorse displayed their Lovable Dolls in an elaborate booth that resembled a storefront. It’s probably a good thing that I couldn’t make it, all told, as I would’ve been constantly licking the glass.
Matt K. & Bronwen had their first model, Yvette, there, along with the new Body 2 Head 2 type, Monique, and the Pixie-type Fantasy Lover head. As the highly-esteemed (and steamy) photographer Stacy Leigh was in attendance, she managed to get some photos in of the new girls. Yes, I’m still bitter.

Monique believes that walking up the steps takes less time,
but simply isn’t as erotic

‘Welcome to the Renaissance Festival, my good sir! Tra la la la la’

KnightHorse will also be releasing their first male Doll, as well as metal stands for any Doll that has a neck eyebolt, in the next couple of months, so you’d do well to keep an eye on them. But that goes without saying!

Phoenix Studios has just sent Miss Winter, of their Boy Toy Seasons line, out into the world, with photographs also by Stacy Leigh. Yummy results!

The sign says SEXY. I don’t argue with signs, as a rule

Like I’ve said, I think the closer-to-realistic styling of the Seasons series gives them a slighter edge over the standard-issue Boy Toy Dolls, but that’s rather like saying the MINI Cooper S is better than the regular MINI Cooper; it’s simply differing shades of desirability. Summation: it is all good.

Should you happen to be in New Yawk sometime between now and 15 March, you’ll want to stop round the hprgp gallery, as there’s a photo exhibit by Becky Yee entitled ‘More than a Woman‘, that sounds like it’s pretty much exclusively ta-bo-san‘s staggeringly huge Doll collection.

Photographed in a three-bedroom apartment in the outskirts of Tokyo. The single human occupant, a middle-aged computer engineer. He is the self-proclaimed world’s largest collector of “Dutch wives” (“Datchu-waifu”) also called sex dolls or love dolls. […] “More than a Woman” hopes to explore more than the Dutch wives’ obvious function of satisfying sexual and physical needs. Visually discovering the basic cravings for companionship, unconditional love, unwavering loyalty and the importance of trust, acceptance and intimacy. All of which he is unable to find in a human relationship, but is somehow satiated with his cast of Dutch wives.

The multitude of Dutch wives create his perfect world of women.

If anyone gets a chance to see it, let me know how it is. And let me know if there are programmes for sale! And send me one!

A new Doll maker from the US is making their way up the ranks: Private Island Toys. As the name implies, they specialise in erotic toys, but recently, they’ve branched out into the field of full-bodied Dolls, with their new Private Island Beauties line. O my goodness.

Does mademoiselle require another Zima?

Their lass is 80 lbs, 5’7″, with measurements of 33.21.36, and a size 5 shoe. She also features a ‘relaxed’ skeletal system, as well as the ability to swap with a number of other heads that the manufacturer offers. Currently, they’re now taking orders, and they offer a variety of customisation options, as it’s all about the detailing. Speaking of detailing, from the pics alone, their sculpting is Magically Delicious; the pic above hardly does her justice, but it was the only work-safe one I could use… Check out their site!

And finally, we have an amusing distraction: the quiz Pussycat or Real Doll? Amazingly enough, I got 100% correct. I know, I’m as surprised as you are!

So there you have it! With all these options to choose from, you might well have a gorgeous Synthetik companion of your own to spend the next Valentine’s day with! Just… don’t give her any chocolates, it’ll go straight to her hips

Sdtrk: ‘Unfavorable meanings’ by Teenage Panzerkorps

This Tuesday past was an interesting day at work: in SE Michigan, we were experiencing a sneak preview of Spring, as temperatures reached a high in the mid-fifties. The contrast between the mild climate and the piles of filthy snow everywhere was producing a huge amount of gorgeously thick fog. During my day shift, where I was going back and forth between being either sleepy or angry, my supervisor excitedly stopped by my cubicle, gesturing at the open windows in front of where I sat. As I was not only ‘listening’ to a client on the phone at the time, being in Drowsy mode, I couldn’t really make out what he was saying, but when I finally managed to get off the phone, I noticed that the sky had a polar cast of brightness through the fog. ‘You can actually look at the sun,’ my supervisor mentioned. ‘Check it out — it looks like the moon.’ I have to admit, it did look pretty ace.

This was round 10.15am EST, by the way

People in adjacent cubicles of course wanted to know what was going on, and a few took pics with their cameraphones as well. Apparently the volume of fog was so… voluminous… that it obscured the sun to the point that we could view it without microwaving our retinas, which is always a plus. Did anyone else manage to witness this?

In retrospect, one thing did cross my mind as a passel of us were looking indirectly-yet-directly at the sun — wasn’t this how The Day of the Triffids started out?

Sdtrk: ‘monk chant (live)’ by the monks

Saturday, as previously mentioned, found me in the company of A.Vial and S.Gladieu, round at Mahtek’s place. By the time I appeared over there, which was shortly before 3pm, Stephan was already getting photos in of him with the main love of his life, Phoebe. Everyone else had already been there for a bit — namely CJD, his wife, and Euchre — and I had showed up at pretty much the tail end of Stephan’s shoot with Mahtek. We still got a bit done, however! Post-shoot, we spent a number of hours discussing all things Doll, interspersed with Anne getting impromptu interviews with Euchre and CJD individually, as well as in a kind of a round-table context. Upon reflection, I really should’ve brought Clicky Mk III, but alas…

Classy Bethany, distracted Phoebe

Anne & Stephan had asked Euchre if they could get round to his, to photograph him with his lass Samantha. As none of us had really eaten anything of substance, someone suggested that we make a wagon trail over to Euchre’s, after which we’d get dinner at a nearby restaurant called Sila’s. Problem solved!

As Stephan, Euchre and Sam were prepping the livingroom for the shoot, Mahtek had made a call on his cellphone and handed it to me, saying it was Midiman, an iDollator putting together a documentary of his own. Shi-chan and I had actually missed the opportunity last year to be in his documentary, as the scheduling window was extremely last-minute, but we chatted for a good five minutes and exchanged contact information, so that was fab. For the remainder of the eve, the rest of us milled round in the kitchen, whilst Stephan did his thing.

Samantha, looking coy

It came to pass that round 6pm or so, Anne & Stephan had to get back to their hotel, as they’d be boarding a flight the next day and heading to Abyss creations, so after a warm exchange of handshakes and hugs (and Mahtek, Euchre and I utterly confusing them with directions), they made their leave.
What they’ll be doing is they’ll be shooting various pics of iDollators and luminaries in the Doll community over the course of a year; the photos are for Getty Images, and the interviews will be for whatever magazine that purchases the story. They said they’ll be sending us our pictures in a month’s time, so you might well see a couple pop up on ‘Shouting etc etc’, naturally. Once everything’s closer to finalisation, you’ll hear all about it. But that goes without saying!

Following that, CJD, Mrs CJD, Euchre, Mahtek and I got round to Sila for a well-deserved dinner. The parking lot was almost entirely filled, but we managed to find spaces, thankfully. And it was a good dinner! Great food (A+++ WOULD EAT AGAIN), great conversation with great people, and bizarrely enough, I learned that not only did Euchre and I attend the same highschool, but he graduated only a year before I did. That’s some serious out-of-left-field shit right there, right? iDollators: WE’RE EVERYWHERE.
Round 9pm, our wee gathering broke up, as Sila was closing for the eve, and Mr & Mrs CJD had a three-hour drive back to London, ON ahead of them. Handshakes, hugs, etc, and we’d made plans for the next meeting to be a Doll Parliament at CJD’s again in Spring. Looking forward to that! Maybe I should go ahead and apply for my passport now, and get that ball of paperwork rolling…

Aaand rounding out the evening, I spent an engaging three hours speaking with Midiman over Skype, discussing… well Doll-related topics, obviously. Gotta love that Skype: a three-hour call from the Bay of Fundy to near-Detroit, all for zero dollars and zero zero cents (plus anti-tax)!

All in all, a productive eve, I’d say! It’s all well and good to speak with colleagues over teh Internuts, but meeting face-to-face is always a pleasure. Now if only there were more iDollators within driving distance!

Sdtrk: ‘What did he say’ by Nite jewel

On my way to work today, I made my usual stops to grab the week’s issues of MetroTimes and Real Detroit, as well as Michigan CareerBuilder if their boxes aren’t completely emptied of their contents. As I was returning to my car with my reading material, I’d noticed a woman walking toward me, and this exchange took place:

MS MYOPIC (gesturing to the building behind me): ‘Ma’am, is this building the Post Office?’
ME (admittedly more rudely than I’d have liked): ‘What??’
MS MYOPIC: ‘Oh, excuse me, sir, is that the post office?’
ME: ‘Yeah.’
MS MYOPIC: ‘Sorry sir! Thank you and god bless.’

Now back in the day, I used to wear eyeliner and black nailvarnish on a habitual basis, but thanks to work and rampant chalazions, I can’t anymore. Man, I miss those days… But on a couple of occasions back then, I was mistaken for a lass, much to my mild amusement. Today, however, I was out in my Winter gear, which consists of exactly what you saw me in when I met Bibendum, only with shades on. Have you never seen a bloke with a ponytail before, madame?? Cos let’s face it, I would make the worst-looking lass in the history of humanity. Fact.

Also, while stopped at a red light, I spotted three robins hopping round! In 13°F weather, mind. Poor optimistic bastards.

Actual content is forthcoming! I’ve been lazy, as the weather’s gone back to being unspeakably cold. There’s an inverse proportion between the general temperature and my willingness to stay in bed where the majority of the heat is, but to fully explain it, there’d be charts and graphs involved, and I’m sure that’s not why you stop round ‘Shouting etc etc’. Or is it??

Sdtrk: ‘Sandpiper’ by Reg Tilsley

Another one for the ‘Organik woman made Synthetik through the use of Clever Art Magicks’ file — in fact, I’ve created a new category for it, called ‘Organik to Synthetik’ — witness Tamar Levine’s ‘Broken Robot Girl‘, apparently the first in a series. So far, so good!

We’ve all got problems, babe

And they say the Photoshopping of people in images is a bad thing? I cannot agree.
Some legitimate Doll news is coming soon! I have to sit down and forge a post detailing it. Soon, I say!

Sdtrk: ‘Closet romantic’ by Damon Albarn

Fellow SE Michigan-area iDollator Mahtek (you remember him) informed me a number of weeks ago that he was going to be interviewed by Anne Vial, a French journalist, concerning being a Doll husband and the subsequent joys thereof, and that Anne was looking for other iDollators that might want to be involved. Naturally, my name came up, although I can’t imagine why! So we arranged to meet at his on a Saturday at the end of January, along with colleagues CJD and Euchre, for shop talk and a photo session. Anne also wanted to meet with us separately for individual interviews and picture-taking, and that’s precisely how Sidore-chan and I spent our Tuesday afternoon and evening. Nice!
I’d gotten home from work at 5pm, which left me just enough time to scrub off the blood coating the walls of Deafening silence Plus, and slide the Missus into a cheong-sam. Mme. Vial and her photographer, whose name currently escapes me, stopped round about a quarter to eight, after a gruelling day of driving from South Dakota for an unrelated story they were working on. After introductions were passed round, Anne got down to the question salvo. She stated that the idea of doing a piece about Dolls and their owners was inspired after viewing ‘Lars and the Real Girl‘; specifically, how Dolls can be so much more than just ‘sex toys’, and can actually make a marked difference in one’s life. Sixty minutes of my idle ramblings later, the photographer bloke (yes, I will learn his name) started snapping pics of us. I’m not giving any of it away, but I know there’s at least one photo of Shi-chan and I in our kitchen, where I’m feeding her some dodgy AFC sushi that’ll look fantastic if it sees print…

As Anne and… friend… were growing knackered, they made their leave round 11pm, but not before profusely thanking us, and confirming plans for this coming Saturday. All in all, a very enjoyable experience! It was almost like having Elisabeth Alexandre and Elena Dorfman round simultaneously! It’ll be ace working with them again; rest assured, there’ll be a more detailed post about the possible article release dates, so keep your eyes peeled (sounds painful)!

And speaking of interviews, you’re all aware that Slade, the now-retired RealDoll Doctor, has a six-page article in the Jan/Feb issue of Details magazine, right? Well, you know now! I suppose you could simply read the article online, but it’s just not the same

UPDATE (28 Jan): The photographer’s name was Stephan Gladieu. Mea culpa!

Technorati tags: Abyss Creations, RealDolls, iDollators, Lars and the Real Girl, Elisabeth Alexandre, Elena Dorfman, Details Magazine

Sdtrk: ‘Skullcrush’ by SALEM

Had things gone as planned, you would be reading an extremely detailed review of the 2009 North American International Auto Show (long known to Michiganders as the Detroit Auto Show, despite fervent efforts to the contrary on the part of the Auto Show organisers), from when Zip Gun, goshou and I attended this past Tuesday, but between then and now, I managed to lose the paper I’d written it out on during work hours. This is why I loathe paper — it’s always getting lost, or wet, or being set ablaze, or eaten. DAMNIT PAPER, WHAT AM I PAYING YOU FOR
In lieu of a legitimate post, however, here are the highlights that I recall scribblin’ down:

+ We got to Cobo Hall about 7.30pm; about twenty feet from the entrance, a derelict/scalper asked us if we were going to the Auto Show. ‘Nope!’ was Derek’s enthusiastic reponse, as we walked briskly past him to go to the Auto Show.

+ Jack Lessenberry, a writer for our local free alternative paper, the Metro Times, mentioned in one of his recent columns:

I also don’t understand why they hold the North American International Auto Show in January, a month when no sensible human being in Detroit wants to go outside if they can help it. To attend what mere mortals still call the “Detroit Auto Show,” one has to try to navigate the potholes, the ice, the potholes filled with ice, and then try to find an affordable parking lot downtown. After that, all you have to do is walk however far on salt-studded and pitted streets, before getting into Cobo Center.

People who live in this climate should hold auto shows in late May, or September or early October perhaps, and have much of it outdoors. But no, we would rather make our already gritty experience a little more so.

In the interest of full disclosure, we happened to locate a car park for us roughly two blocks away. Good eye, goshou!

+ Considering that Ford, General Motors and Chrysler had recently gone round to the government with begging bowl in hand, it was a rather subdued affair this year. In fact, maybe it was the fact that I’d not been to an Auto Show since probably about 2005, but it looked somehow smaller. There weren’t a lot of attendees, either, but then, we were there on a Tuesday eve, as opposed to a week-end, which worked out fine, as I despise crowds…

+ One of the Maybach models had curtains inside! It had curtains inside. It looked a bit like a hearse! It was AWESOME.

+ Honda had a few large-scale banners that had pictures of ASIMO on them, so of course, in my mania, I was thinking ‘hey, ASIMO’s gonna be here!’
Of course he wasn’t!

+ ZG and I sat in a smart car. I was impressed with it; he was less so impressed. More smart cars for me, then.
ZIP GUN: ‘Where would I put my kids?’
ME: ‘Glove compartment, durr hey!’

+ Tesla Motors, you are so fab of a concept and company that you will probably be crushed by the other automotive giants, much like previous auto innovators Edsel and Tucker. We miss you already!
Also, why no brochures? I understand the whole drive behind ‘thinking green’, but give us something to take home and drool over, eh?

+ We encountered a crowd in the Mercedes-Benz area, and saw that they were gathered round this sexy beast: the Mercedes McLaren SLR Stirling Moss. The fact that the car was 90 per cent hood reminded me of the Sixties-era Jaguar E-types. Lovely lovely.

+ I sat in a MINI, and didn’t want to leave.

+ We saw the Brilliance motors area, which was oddly bereft of people. Partly because, I dunno, who the hell is Brilliance motors? O, it’s these also-rans. They’re Chinese-made vehicles that are being promoted in Europe, and now they’re making a go for the States. I guess? There were no brochures, and we couldn’t get in their cars, as they were all locked, so we kept moving.

+ Before taking off, we saw the concept Chevy Beat, which was ace. Not only was it in the kind of lurid neon green that only I could love, but they eschewed wing mirrors altogether, and replaced them with cameras. That’s future thinking. But again, no brochures?? If you’re not giving out brochures, you’d better be giving out cars.

Yes, that’s the lot. Of course, there were other interesting spectacles like the all-white Audi display area, or the Volkswagen area, or how we filled out contest forms to win a Hyundai and will now probably get put onto all manner of mailing lists for rubbish, but that’s the highlights from our two-hour tour. The crowning point of the eve, though? Zip Gun and I getting our photo taken with Bibendum.

I had no idea where his shoulder was