Sdtrk: ‘Sm head, Lg torso; crushing grip’ by Dymaxion

Huh! Well, you lot have earned a non-sequitur picture as a reward!

Thanks very much to all who have visited; do please come back soon! Or, to make it even simpler, don’t leave! That way, you won’t lose your parking space!

EDIT (21 SEPT): Somewhat related, mostly demented! ‘You got your Colonel Sanders in my EVA 01!’ ‘You got your EVA 01 in my Colonel Sanders!’ &c.

Sdtrk: ‘Fire, damp & air’ by the Advisory Circle

You can call me a madman, or you can accuse me of stretching my love of Space-age Modular Living to its extremes, or even both, but I’d really love to stay a couple of nights in one of Japan’s legendary capsule hotels. That’s right.

The capsule hotel, if you’re not familiar with it, is a uniquely Japanese phenomenon. Definitely not for the claustrophobic, they’re hotel rooms condensed to their essential components: a three by three by six-and-a-half foot chamber that contains a television, alarm clock, radio, vents for air conditioning, a couple of small directional lights, and a tiny shelf. The ‘rooms’ themselves are stacked in rows of two, with pull-down privacy screens at the entrance of each. When you make your stay, you deposit your luggage at the check-in area, and the clerk gives you a locker key and a capsule number. As the primary function of the capsule hotel is for salarymen who are too fantastically drunk to make it home, at the communal shower/lavatory located on each floor, you can find disposable razors, shaving cream, toothpaste, and toiletries of that nature. As it’s Japan, you can also get various drinks and snacks from the numerous vending machines each building has, and as you’d suspect, most of the capsule hotels have wifi as well.

Television in the upper left corner; photo taken from here

Some capsule hotels feature up to 600 units — goshou & Liann were going to stay at one when they hit Japan a couple of years ago, and learned that they have separate floors for men and women — and they’re usually open 24 hours. Per night, the average price of a room runs about ¥2000 – 4000, or $21 – 42 USD. Convenient and affordable? I’ll say!

Interestingly enough, the first capsule hotel was designed in 1979 by Kisho Kurosawa, who also designed the Nakagin Capsule Tower, a building which just happens to be the subject of the very first instalment of ‘This was the Future’, back when it wasn’t even called ‘This was the Future’. See how that wraps around?

Sdtrk: ‘Falling for you’ by The Soundcarriers

Ah, good! It’s nice to be back, and nicer still to see that you lot haven’t set the place ablaze in my absence! Although I see our liquor cabinet’s been broken into, and all our absinthe is gone. That figures.

So what have I been doing during my Official Excuse for Not Writing Period? Well, attempting to take it easy, really. I caught up on a few Emails, which may not sound like anything significant, but anyone that knows me knows that my missives tends toward freight trains of paragraphs, with periodic months in between responses, so it was nice to polish some of those off and get them to their intended recipients. After having to reintroduce myself, that is. No, seriously. ‘Hi, remember me? You wrote me last year, and now I’m writing you back?’ *shaking head* Man.

Also, I contracted pleurisy! Which is a heresy. I got it from Morrissey! Alright, I’m done. But yes, I did indeed get it, which is frankly ridiculous, as far as I’m concerned. I mean, how Dickensian can you get? Although I did know two people that once contracted shingles, and one of my best friend’s past landlords apparently came down with gangrene, so I’m merely contributing to the Revival of Olde-Tyme Ailments and Maladies. Much to my chagrin.
The upper part of my lungs were somewhat sore for over a week, so I went in to my doctor’s office to be seen to. Unfortunately, my doctor was on holiday, the tosser, so I was shunted over to the other doctor that shares his office, whose curt manner left a little to be desired. She called for bloodwork, chest X-rays, and an EEG, which is the most activity I’ve ever experienced at my GP’s office — usually it’s just ‘stand on this scale, roll up your sleeve, breathe in, breathe out, here’s a script, GET OUT’. She did, however, prescribe me some Zithromax, and gave me an inhaler to use. Weeks later, I’m still making use of those, as I’m still fighting this sumbitch. Ergh.
Pleurisy, if you’re not familiar with it, in which case you should be grateful, is ‘an inflammation of the pleura, which is the moist, double-layered membrane that surrounds the lungs and lines the rib cage,‘ as WebMD says. It’s usually caused by bacterial infection. Of course, that has me wondering where and how the hell I got infected, as I’m one of the neatest freaks in Christendom. In lieu of a definitive answer, I shall blame my workplace, as it’s never brought me anything good.

Actually, no, I take that back; work has brought me exactly one good thing! Well, ish. Since there’s now a ban on bringing in books — I refuse to comment on that, cos you already know what my answer would be — they gave out company-branded notebooks made from recycled paper. Each one came complete with a pen, and a cloth loop to hold said pen, which was actually kinda cool. As I’ve been arbitrarily herded over to a different section, I’m surrounded by coworkers that I’ve never seen before, which means they’ve never seen me before. I tend to hide and keep to myself when I’m there, if you can believe that. But on two separate occasions, I’ve had coworkers, upon viewing me scribbling in my company-approved notebook, ask me if I was writing poetry. Poetry? Also, there was one lass who’d asked me if I was writing raps. Raps‽ Do I look like a rappist??* Well, I suppose if that’s the only reference point for music that you possess… no, wait, that still doesn’t make any damned sense!
So since there’s a ban on reading, and a ban on using cellphones, I spend my workdays writing posts or letters, and being made aware of two things:
1) Paper slows me down, and
2) My handwriting is a collision of indecipherable glyphs. Huh.
*tears out sheet, wads it up*

Apparently, BBC America aired ‘Love me, love my Doll’ again on the 22nd of August. I recall that evening I was poking round my blog’s Dashboard and checking its stats, as per usual, when I’d noticed that at one point, there were like ten people looking at ‘Shouting etc etc’ simultaneously! As I’m always the last to know whenever the BBC America programme directors decide to trot that documentary out again, I was wondering what forum / site was linking to me and making disparaging comments and snide remarks this time. It was all good, as the kids say, though. It’ll just be nice once the National Geographic documentary airs, as it won’t be so… dated. And no, I don’t have a date for it yet; I could tell you were getting ready to ask.
Coincidentally enough, I was spotted, thanks to ‘Love me, love my Doll’, at one of the stores I frequent! As I was making my purchases, some random lass stopped me and said I looked familiar.
SOME LASS: ‘Were you on television?’
ME: ‘Perhaps I was!’
SOME LASS: ‘Yeah, you were on that documentary with the Dolls, weren’t you! I thought you looked familiar!’
ME: ‘Yeah, that was me. My partner and I have been together for about nine years.’
SOME LASS: ‘That was really… interesting. How much do they cost, $10,000?’
CLERK: ‘You were on TV? What kind of show was it?’
ME: ‘Noooo, they’re only about $7000! (to clerk) It was a show about artificial humans.’
CLERK (takes my wrist, squeezes it): ‘Are you real?’
followed by hearty chuckling from all parties involved. You’ll note how I didn’t answer the clerk’s question, though. *winks*

Finally, if you cast your gaze to the lefthand sidebar, just below that ‘Today’s Kanji’ widget that remains largely ignored, you’ll spot a new addition to that particular area: my Amazon.com wish list. It’s rather large; you can’t miss it. Compiled over the course of seven years of wishful thinking, it’s a great way to click on and shop for things that interest me that might well interest you. It’s also a great way to discover what I’d like for a gift, and to buy it for me! Cos really, when it comes down to it, I ain’t too proud to beg.

And that brings us, roughly, up to now. Expect more posts soon!
So how are you, then?

*I don’t call them ‘rappers’, I call them ‘rappists’, as rap rapes my ears. I’m fairly certain you’ll agree

Sdtrk: ‘Here come the harvest buns’ by Danielle Dax

As those of us who live in the Northern Hemisphere may have noticed, we’re in the throes of summer. Awful, hideous, stifling summer. Technically, as it’s mid-August, we’re past the halfway mark, but this is by far the worst of the months. For the past decade or so, I’ve noticed that excessive heat (i.e, anything over 70°F) tends to exhaust me that much more quickly, as well as turn my brain into a lurid paste, so with that in mind, I’ve decided to take a wee holiday away from ‘Shouting etc etc’. To be honest, I should’ve done this after the blog’s anniversary, which would’ve made more sense… perhaps it’s time for a new tradition…

For those of you concerned that I’ll be on the same kind of hiatus that ‘Kitten with a Whip!‘ has been on since 2005 ahem, don’t worry; I’ll only be away about a month. For those of you hoping I’d be packing it in altogether, don’t worry; I’ll only be away about a month. Either faction can take heart in the knowledge that you don’t have a third straight year of me bitching about the fucking Woodward Dream Cruise again, so really, everyone’s a winner!
Now that I’m thinking about it, it’ll actually be more of a holiday from posting, as there are two articles I want to finish, as well as a product review I’ll be typin’ up rather soon, but I’ll burn those bridges when I arrive at them.

Right, that should be it! Should I manage to find out the airdate for the episode of National Geographic’s ‘Taboo’ that the Missus and I are slated to appear in in between now and the time I’m due to return, then of course I’ll let everyone know all about it, but apart from that, broadcasting should return to normal round 15 Sept. In the meantime, why not take this opportunity to hit up the ‘Shouting etc etc’ Time machine, found in the lefthand sidebar, and scroll merrily through this site’s vast and protracted archives? Or there’s always this! This is a hoot. Click her, drag her, but don’t judge her just because she has two left hands and feet. It might’ve happened to you too, y’know.

Looks like 1st-PC finally released their long-awaited Jean Seberg model Doll

And according to my WordPress Dashboard, it appears that this is post no.666. See you lot in a few weeks, and Hail Satan!

Sdtrk: ‘You’re not the only one I know’ by The Sundays

So upon getting home from work this eve, I learned that John Hughes, director of two of my favourite films, ‘Ferris Bueller’s day off’ and ‘The Breakfast club’, passed away today at the age of 59.

Comedy director John Hughes dies
BBC News | Published Friday, 7 August 2009

The US film director and writer, John Hughes, who created some of the most famous comedies of the 1980s and 1990s, has died at the age of 59.

The director died after a heart attack in New York, his spokeswoman said.

Hughes was the director of such successful films as Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club, and Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

He was also a leading script writer, penning films such as Pretty in Pink and Home Alone.

Over the past decade, Hughes withdrew from Hollywood and became a farmer in the Midwestern state of Illinois.

Hughes had been in Manhattan on a family visit when he died.

1980s zeitgeist

The BBC’s Vincent Dowd says Hughes had not directed a film since Curly Sue in 1991, but it did not matter – his early movies had become part of the 1980s zeitgeist.

If, in 1986, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off owed something to the on-screen energy of the young Matthew Broderick, it also benefited from Hughes’ sharp script and direction, our correspondent says.

He worked well with young talent, as he had already shown the year before in The Breakfast Club starring Emilio Estevez and Mollie Ringwald, he adds.

In the high-school story, our correspondent says, Hughes cleverly portrayed teen America to itself – and the box office was enormous.

“Many filmmakers portray teenagers as immoral and ignorant, with pursuits that are pretty base,” Hughes told the Chicago Tribune newspaper in 1985.

“They seem to think that teenagers aren’t very bright. But I haven’t found that to be the case. I listen to kids. I respect them. I don’t discount anything they have to say just because they’re only 16 years old,” he added.
the rest of the article is here

What he’d said above completely fits in with the way that ‘The Breakfast club’ starts — at the end of the opening credits, on the screen is an excerpt from David Bowie’s ‘Changes’:

…And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consolations
They’re quite aware of what they’re going through…

The films of John Hughes will always evoke an acute fondness for the Eighties, my formative years, as I’ll always see parallels between his characters and the friends that I grew up with. I’m sure countless others will as well, no matter what decade they grew up in

EDIT (10.11am): You’ll definitely want to read the witty, heartfelt, and, well, John Hughes-esque post over at ‘We’ll Know When We Get There‘, concerning one person’s pen-pal relationship with the man

Sdtrk: ‘Benway’s carnival’ by Abecedarians

Draycott Place, Chelsea, London. I think this is a fine, 20th Century Modern place for a person to live; what do you think?

A corner terrace house built in the late Sixties, featuring four floors, five bedrooms, two reception rooms, two bathrooms, a roof terrace, and a separate garage. And it’s for saaaalllle.

Interested? Check out its listing on The Modern House Estate Agents. Should you buy it however, you have to let Sidore and I stop round to visit once a month, as a sort of a finder’s fee. Also, you have to let us choose appropriate Modernist decor. It only stands to reason, y’know

Sdtrk: ‘All saints’ by David Bowie

As hinted at in the Prelude, this month’s edition can honestly be referred to as JUMBO-SIZED!!

+ This just occurred yesterday, so unfortunately, there isn’t a surfeit of details as of yet, but remember our lovely Gynoid HRP-4C? She apparently lined up another modeling gig, this time making her way down the catwalk at the 2009 Yumi Katsura Paris Grand Collection in Osaka.

She’s just proving that a Gynoid would make someone a fine bride

Naturally, I’d want to see her in less — technically, we’ve all seen her in less, that’s her natural state of being — but after viewing the video, I thought the bridal gown was actually quite impressive, and you will, too.

More details as I hear of them! One detail that I have to confirm is that several news sources are reporting her name as being ‘Miim’ now. Err, that’s something that needs to be looked into. After all, when Holon-chan first hit the scene, a few sites were saying that her name was Phorene…

+ Orient industry has changed their layout (again)! And they’ve retconned their model types! Again! O gods, this shit’s ridiculously confusing, and it’s doing my head in.
Right, they’ve gotten rid of the separate model lines for the CandyGirl Jewel Diva and the CandyGirl Jewel Rosa; both of those types are now listed under either CandyGirl Love Doll Rosa, or CandyGirl Real Love Doll Ange. As a result, they’ve stopped production on the Jewel Diva models known as Lisa, Mao, Miki, and Ran. Which is a real shame, as Mao-chan was a gorgeous lass. In addition, they’ve added a new line, known as Love Doll Separate, which means that you can now have a custom-made CandyGirl with detachable head and limbs, for easy storage and transport. Which is double-confusing, as that’s pretty much what all CandyGirls were up until a few years ago, when they began making certain model lines out of silicone, instead of the sofubi (short for soft vinyl, aka PVC) that they were made out of previously. And now it’s a distinct model line? For no discernible reason??
They’ve also added two new heads — the sexed-up Jun and the mature Yoko — which can be used with used with the Rosa or Separate lines. Consolation prizes for your patience?

OI! Stop writhing around and close those doors, you’re letting the heat out

‘Sounds like Jun-chan’s in the other room, letting the heat out’

Quality products aside, Orient industry retcons their product lines so much, I’m sure working there is hallucinatory. Imagine being employed at an auto company — say, Subaru, for example — and you’ve been working there for around two years, helping assemble the popular 360 and 1000 models; which, I should add, are two totally different looking vehicles. One day, the company heads announce that not only will you be making 1000s under the new name 360, but the original 360s will no longer be made. In addition, you’ll be building these cars out of silicone. It makes no sense, frankly.
At any rate, the previous links for those model lines found on ‘Shouting etc etc’ are all redundant, but they’ll at least take you to the main site proper. I can’t be arsed with swapping them out for the new ones, cos who’s to say they won’t change again in a couple of months?

+ Phoenix Studios has finally released Miss Spring, of the Boy Toy Seasons line! For a while, I was starting to think they forgot about her, what with it now being summertime and all.

It stands to reason that spring is the wettest season

She has a MILFy quality about her that’s definitely enticing, wouldn’t you agree? When you couple that with her stunning rubbery qualities, that’s a deadly combination…

+ Here’s the definition of ‘slipped past the keeper’: apparently in April, South Korea’s KiTECH finally debuted EveR-3 at the Hannover Messe industrial exposition. Of course, 90% of the info that I can locate about her is in Korean — oddly enough, Robot Watch, my go-to source for additional news about Japanese and Asian robotics, didn’t make a single mention of her — but I was able to find some pics, as well as this video:

Despite the fact that they had her singing awful K-pop like her older sister, her movements seem more fluid and natural than… well, her older sisters. Plus, this version’s face seems softer, and more appealing.

‘Man, I feel like I’m in a cone when I’m wearing this thing’

As she’s representing Korea, she’s wearing a hanbok, which is one of those incredibly high-waisted traditional dresses. Not exactly flattering, but tradition trumps style in this case. It looks as if she’s incapable of walking, or even moving a single leg, much like Actroid DER3 can, so perhaps that’s why KiTECH hasn’t exactly gone global with the news of her existence.
Further ‘investigation’ shows that she was acting and singing in a play back in February! Don’t ask me what it’s about, as my hangul kung-fu is pig dung.

+ A couple of Saturdays ago, Zip Gun tipped me off to a pair of upcoming Gynoid-related series due out later this year: Karakuri Odette, which is a six-volume manga series by Julietta Suzuki, and Fallout Toyworks, which will be a five-issue comic series by Brett Lewis and Sam Basri. According to Tokyopop, who happen to be the American distributors of Karakuri Odette, it’ll debut on 01 Oct, which will obviously be something to mark on your calendars. Its synopsis?

What does it mean to be truly human?…Odette is a lovely android built by Professor Yoshizawa. Curious to find out what it’s like to be human, she convinces the Professor to enroll her in high school. And thus, with a new group of friends in tow, Odette sets out to discover the true meaning of life as a human, where even the simple stuff is an adventure! A touching slice-of-life comedy, Karakuri Odette does nothing If not uncover the incredible possibilities of the “human” spirit!

And anyone who knows me knows that I loathe the so-called musical style knowns as ’emo’, and it appears that Fallout Toyworks is inspired by the ideas and music of Fall out boy, specifically a song entitled ‘Tiffany Blews’, but as it’s about a Gynoid, I suppose I can overlook that fact. According to the press release, the serial

tells the story of a brilliant young robot maker who risks his entire company for his factory’s newly produced android named Tiffany as she becomes his greatest passion and potentially his own destruction.
taken from this site

As long as I don’t have to listen to any whiny emo caterwaulings, it sounds like something entirely worthwhile! Image Comics will be releasing Fallout Toyworks’s first issue on 02 September, and you can check the website-in-progress here.

+ The folks o’er at Private Island Beauties are coming out with three alluring new faces for their Bathing Beauty body type: Desirae, Fujiko (a Japanese lass), and Gaia (an African-American lass). They’ll be joining the yummy ranks of Angelique, Bella, Calli, and Eden. Gotta love how all the faces they’re developing have names in alphabetical order. Nineteen to go, lads! Get sculpting!

Eden (left), tasting Desirae

I’d show more pictures of the other new girls, but the one above is one of the few on the site where the Dolls don’t have one or both of their loverly jubbleys out. Under normal circumstances, I obviously wouldn’t be complaining, but this is a family blog. Feel free to check their site for more information, though. And pics, if you’re into that sort of thing.

+ Whilst there was a lull in the filming of our segment for the National Geographic documentary, director J.Siberry asked me if I’d seen the monograph of RealDolls wearing Dolce & Gabbana fashion accoutrements. No, was my frantic reply, followed by OMGWHAT’SITCALLEDWHERECANIBUYITHOWMUCHISIT. After the other members of the film crew forcibly pried me off of him, I learned more about it, through the Series of Tubes.

Sexiest marionette show EVAR

Dolce & Gabbana have released a book of photographs that highlight the art of embroidery called Diamonds and Pearls. […] One of the really interesting facets of the book is that the pieces are modeled by “real dolls,” rather than human models to create a “timeless” beauty. […] The photographs were taken by Guenter Parth and features shots in nature, as well as the studio.
taken from this site

Now I can recall back maybe about three or so years ago, ‘Still Lovers‘ photographer Elena Dorfman had mentioned that Abyss creations was tentatively working on a high-fashion haute couture shoot, but I’d heard nothing about it since then, and simply thought the project fell by the wayside. I guess it didn’t!
I don’t know what’s sadder though: the fact that the book’s suggested retail price is $270 USD, or despite that fact, I’m still saving up for a copy. Hrrm. And hey, Amazon.com? You are not helping.

Sometimes it’s hard to choose the right face to go with your ensemble

+ Personally, I’ve never been a huge fan of online comic xkcd, as it’s too mathy, but it’s easy to see why I included this one strip:

+ Finally, thanks to a tip from good friend and Gynoid-in-training Alice Keenan, we now have a bit more of a peek at the film that I’d mentioned in last month’s ‘Doll-related news’ post, ‘Kuuki Ningyo’. Here’s the trailer:

If she wasn’t inflatable, I’d swear that she was an Erie Doll…
Looks winsome! And to satisfy your curiosity, Kat, you can peek at five additional clips from the fillum right here. I only watched one, as I didn’t want to spoil myself, but you lot can knock yourselves out!

Happy 23rd! ‘Shouting to hear the echoes’: where affictitious is synonomous with delicious