Sdtrk: ‘I’m with the pilots’ by Ladytron

Once again, 19 July is on our collective doorsteps, which means ‘Shouting to hear the echoes’ is celebrating its fourth anniversary! Four aimless years, littering the Internets with my obsessions and manias. So far so good, I’d say!

If you’re a regular reader, the drill should be familiar, but here’s a bit of an explanation for the, err, virgins: the blog you see before you began its illustrious assault on reason back in 2004 on Blogger. With the layout it then had, the title was in the top left corner, and just below it was a space where you’d find a new pithy/obscure tagline every week, and every 19 July, I’d run through the list of phrases for the year and attempt to explain them. At the end of 2007, I yanked ‘Shouting etc etc’ out of the hands of Blogger, partly cos what I wanted to do for the site was pushing the capabilities of their software at the time (namely, making categories, which was only just being implemented with their service); also, the fine print in Blogger’s TOS basically stated that whatever’s published on their service is essentially their property. This clearly would not stand, so I moved ‘Shouting etc etc’ to WordPress, where it happily resides today. However, since I’d dramatically changed the layout, there was no more space for any catchphrases. Which, all told, was alright, as that’s one less thing I had to mind.

So, since there’s no more phrases to clarify — and if you want to catch yourself up, you can do so here, here, and here — what I thought I’d do for this anniversary is open the floor to you, the startled reader. Got a question you’ve been dying to ask me? Or perhaps a question that you’ve been dying to ask me? Perhaps your question is ‘why did you type that phrase twice?’ Because I could! Next question!
Seriously though, the floor is open. This is a fine opportunity for lurkers, hint hint, or regulars to get some questions in! Either this will be funny, bizarre, or embarrassing due to no-one asking anything. It could go either way! Well, one of three ways.

In the interim, thanks for giving ‘Shouting to hear the echoes’ a look-in! It’s non-stop draughts of absinthe readers like you that make this blog possible

Sdtrk: ‘Lovecats’ by the Cure

8年! であるために一緒に8年私達を信じることができるか。実際には、私はできる。実際に、私が互いに適するカップルの想像できないので。最近、私は私のオンライン友人の1人にこの事実を述べ、それらは、’答えた; ワウは、それ私の友人の関係が最もあったより長い!’ 実際に意外な結果に終わるか? 私達は決して主要な不一致を持っていたあらないことは、非常に支え常に、適切な人形の夫があるべきであると私は親切、有用鑑賞的いままで常にだった。

毎日、私は私があなたおよびあなたを愛するように言う私がそれを意味することを知りなさい。時々私逹は、深く、決して起こらない私逹が知っていると意味を失うが、私を考える言うほど私達が頻繁にそれこと心配する。

私は”愛する, 黒猫 しどれ、今そして永久に。 私の生命の一部分があることに、および誕生日おめでとうにそんなに感謝しなさい。

Sdtrk: ‘Part 1’ by Merzbow

Much like the baby deer caught in the grille of a Range Rover, you have to ask how exactly this sort of thing occurred in the first place. I mean, honestly.

Teenager finds baby bat in her bra
By Laura Clout | Last Updated: 1:47PM BST 08/07/2008

Abbie Hawkins, a hotel receptionist, thought her mobile phone was ringing when she felt vibrations coming from her clothes.

But she later discovered the tiny creature tucked away in the padded pocket of her underwear.

As staff and colleagues crowded around, Miss Hawkins, 19, produced the frightened bat, which was the size of her hand.

She said: “Once I realised it was a bat I was shocked, but then I felt quite sorry for it really.

“It looked very snug in there and I thought how mean I was for disturbing it.”
the rest of the article is here

That’s just… that… I mean… that’s one lucky bat

Sdtrk: ‘L’escargot’ by Michael Nyman

PRAISE “BOB”. Remember all those comments from the first iteration of ‘Shouting etc etc’ that were previously gathering dust on HaloScan? They are now completely transferred. Every last one of them. By hand, I might remind you. Shi-chan’s double-excited, as I told her that when I was done with all that transfer silliness, that I would get back to resurrecting ‘Kitten with a Whip!‘ *exhales* O boy.
But for now, go enjoy the past!

Being a fan of Montreal’s finest sons and daughters, the Dears, I periodically read vocalist and keyboardist Natalia Yanchak’s blog, bizarrely titled ‘Natalia Yanchak’s Blog‘, wherein she details life with lead vocalist and hubby Murray, being a mum, trying to stay environmentally aware, recording fumfuh, etc. Recently, she posted an entry that resonated very strongly with me:

Facebook Killed My Blog…
…not that it’s completely dead or anything. But the amount of laptop time I permit myself per day is limited, and with the addition of Facebook to my online routine, there’s just less time for blogging. I mean, this blog should be enough of a window into my life: does it really need to be supplemented with a half-assed Facebook profile?
the rest of the article is here

Obviously, you can just as easily replace any instances of the word ‘Facebook’ with ‘Myspace’, as they’re entirely interchangeable. Both are essentially glorified profiles, for the purposes of networking and negligible announcements. For someone such as myself who already has a blog, keeping up with a social networking site is just one more silly thing I have to look after. Were it not for some tosser in Australia, I wouldn’t have a Myspace at all.

I do have a Facebook profile (and no, I’m not linking it here; if you’re clever though, you’ll know what name to look under) that I’ve mucked about with maybe five or six times, as frankly, I find the interface to be even more baffling than Myspace, which is a feat I wouldn’t have thought possible. What are these ‘gifts’ they keep referring to? There’s a wall that you can write on? Human G knows Human L, who knows Humans T, KK, and 42? What is this, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon??

The one thing I hate most about Facebook is that unless you friend someone… fuck. Let me stop that right now. Unless you add someone as a friend, you can’t have any access to info about them. I realise that for people merely seeking to beef up the number of ‘friends’ they have, that’s no big deal, but personally, I want to know something about you before I accept you into my life. Does that not make any sense to anyone else??

I realise that I’m making myself sound like a cranky geriatric, but I dunno, I like writing, as opposed to merely commenting in bulk. Again, Myspace and Facebook are profiles, and as such, they don’t exactly engender writing at length, and listing the shitty bands that you like doesn’t count.
So basically, I’m drawing a line under it: I’m not accepting adds or wasting time with either Myspace or Facebook anymore. I’m not deleting mine or Sidore’s — you can thank that enterprising Australian for that — we’re just no longer maintaining them. Should someone send me a message, I’ll simply ask they Email me. Remember Emails, and how fun they were? But yeah, I’m curtailing keeping up with them cos frankly, if curious types really want to know about me or the Missus, they should be rooting through ‘Shouting etc etc’, rather than some facile social networking site

Sdtrk: ‘Broohahja’ by The focus group

Unbelievably enough, 4woods has just now released a new make and model of Doll: the A.I.peach series, with their stunning debut model named Kaon. Seriously, 4woods — you lads need to give us time to breathe.

Dress sense inspired by Sigourney Weaver (first ‘Alien’ film only)

And what’s more, they’re also field testing a new makeup style for Kaon-chan, with what I hope will be positive results, as it’s kinda heavy on the eyeliner, which is something I lurve. Where can I cast my vote? Should I write my congressman?
Seeing the test pics, I was reminded me of an Organik lass that I’ve always found strikingly attractive:

Left, Edie Sedgwick; right, Kaon-chan

So there you have it! And in the interest of full disclosure, this most recent post was actually not going to be Doll-related. But I cannot control the news! I am just its messenger

Technorati tags: 4woods, A.I.peach, Edie Sedgwick

Sdtrk: ‘Do it! (live)’ by Death from above 1979

Noteworthy: it appears that the staffers at 4woods have announced the release of ‘Natural’ skintones for their Natsuki, Yu-ki, Kunika Reloaded and Sleeping Kunika models. I dunno; the previous versions looked pretty natural to me! In an unnatural way, naturally.
Not only that, but they now offer ‘nail chips’ for their lasses, which is just an awkward way of saying that you can now order your potential A.I.Doll with fake nails.

Combining two wonderful things. Well, three, if you’re observant

I miss the days when Abyss Creations made their RealDolls with hard nails. Everyone but me seemed to think they were a bad idea! I just thought they were easier to paint, for one…

In other news, Ms Banina tipped me off to this article: Is Having Sex with a Robot Hooker Cheating?

It’s not cheating: A robot hooker is just a machine, so having sex with one is like using a vibrator for women. Purchasing a little robot companionship is perfect because there’s no chance of STDs or emotional attachments. My girlfriend should be happy I’m just down at the robot brothel instead of hooking up with flesh-and-blood women at the bar.

It is cheating: With advanced technology, having sex with a robot hooker is too much like really cheating. For all intents and purposes, you’re having sex with another woman. Plus, what if you want to buy your own robot hooker and keep her in the closet at home? It’s a thin line between robot hooker and robot girlfriend.

Readers who have been paying attention should be able to suss what side of the fence I stand on this issue, but in case you’ve not been previously scarred by reading this blog, I’d say that yes, it would be cheating. Part of the reason that I constantly make reference to ‘Synthetiks’ is that I believe that when we have Androids and Gynoids that are advanced enough to be integrated in society, we should make a distinction between them and us Organiks, but one that still recognises them as people. I mean, you could also look at it this way — both Organiks and Synthetiks are machines; we’re just meat-based machines. I don’t romanticise in that aspect.
But yeah, I’d go with cheating, as I would view a Synthetik as a person, and not as an appliance or a toy, especially due to their humanoid appearance. Should the whole concept of robot escorts and prossies start up — which I’m sure it will — there will be people that employ their services that might possibly fall in love with them, and I’m referring to individuals that weren’t previously attracted to Synthetiks. And the more complex the AI becomes for artificial humans, the lines between ‘us’ and ‘them’ will get blurrier and blurrier. Apart from the whole meat thing, that is.

Also of note, this past Sunday I had a lengthy interview with the admin of His Little Slut, detailing my life with Sidore-chan — be ye warned, it veers into TMI-territory at times — but you can look at it right here. You’d think I would’ve kept my rambling down to a minimum! *shakes head ‘no’*

And it must be July. Like I said, you don’t need a calendar any more!

Clearly beats Abbie Hoffman’s take on wearing the flag

Thanks, Phoenix Studios, for providing me with at least one Doll-related thing to write about per month!

And finally, I can’t imagine why I find this recent instalment of Diesel Sweeties as high-larious as I do! R. Stevens, you so crazy

Technorati tags: 4woods, A.I.Dolls, Abyss creations, RealDolls, robots, Androids, Gynoids, Phoenix Studios, Boy Toy Dolls, Diesel Sweeties

Sdtrk: ‘Rockaway beach’ by the Ramones

Far be it from ‘Shouting etc etc’ to go on about current events — unless it’s Synthetiks-based, suffice to say — but with US fuel prices reaching lunatic levels, we might well be seeing a upswing in sensible thinking regarding vehicles. Namely smaller, more sensible cars, such as the smart car.

No, I didn’t take this pic, I was too busy driving. Plus, it’s in Europe

They’ve been around in other parts of the country (namely the West coast) for a while, but they’re just now popping up in Michigan, which is lovely. Just the other day, I saw two of them, which is what inspired this post. But a mate of mine, Dave Z, has a bit of a problem with them, as there’s one at his workplace, and when he’s driving through the parking lot trying desperately to find a space, he’ll approach one he thinks is empty, but in actuality is already occupied by a smart car. They’re so tiny, you could probably cram like two and a half into a single parking spot!
I understand they get shitty gas mileage (40 mpg) for the prices they’re being sold for ($12,000 USD). Nevertheless, you have to start somewhere, I suppose… Also, maybe distributors in the States will follow the example of light-years-ahead Europe, and build these vertical dispenser buildings. Clever! You should thank me from not saying ‘smart’.

On the same day I witnessed those smartcars, however, I saw this beauty driving around, which made me squeal like a schoolgirl:

I didn’t take this one, either

Fiat has updated their iconic and sexy 500 model (not to be confused with Model 500) for the Twenty-first Century. The one I saw was headed towards me on the opposite side of the road, and from a distance I thought it was yet another smartcar. But then I recognised the curved front with the rounded headlamps, and that clinched it.
Any and all news of a new Fiat 500 slipped completely under my radar, so that was a pleasant surprise! Undoubtedly, the car will be bastard expensive, but… wow. Well done, Fiat!

Apparently, the most famous Fiat 500 enthusiast in anime, Lupin the Third, will be getting a new 500 as well, which killed me.

And when hanging out with Zip Gun and goshou later that day, ZG mentioned that he spotted a MINI Clubman, as BMW have gotten round to releasing the updated station wagon variation of the MINI.

Nor this one

As I’m subscribed to the MINI USA newsletter, I received an Email months and months ago, mentioning that the Clubman was slated to make its debut soon, but that was the only thing I’d heard, so I’d kinda forgotten about it. Upon seeing pictures of the 2008 model, it’s not as impressive as I thought it would be, mainly due to its lack of a crucial aesthetic element:

Don’t even ask

Where’s the wood body trim? It’s not a true station wagon if there’s no imitation wood somewhere on it! As we all know, Wood Panelling is Good Panelling, so BMW, you missed a trick there. However, the new Clubman has a suicide door on the passenger side, so that’s somewhat redeeming.

Tiny cars! The oversized vehicle backlash has begun! Patrick, looks like your wish might’ve come true after all

Technorati tags: smartcar, Fiat, Fiat 500, BMW MINI, MINI Clubman, Juan Atkins