Sdtrk: ‘Wow’ by Kate Bush

This post would be about a friend of mine and a fellow iDollator who you may have seen a number of times on ‘Shouting etc etc’ over the years; his name is Rob — online he used the pseudonym PBShelley — and his Synthetik partner was a RealDoll named Lily Godwin. Back on 30 March, he passed away quite unexpectedly, and I’d written this in a thread on Our Doll Community, an iDollator forum we’re members of. I’d held off on publishing it here, but reconsidered, as he would’ve turned 62 today.

Both Euchre and Ceej let me know what was going on via phone call and Email, respectively. That’s… that’s a mess.

I’d known Rob for almost a decade, and he always struck me as the quintessential artist/writer type — basically working on their craft to a single laser focus, and ignoring everything else. From the time I first met him and gorgeous Lily, he always spoke of Unbound, the story he had been working on for years, long before joining the iDollator community. It was really heartwarming to hear that he had finished it, cos working on a tale that extensive takes a lot of effort, and it was just great to see that he’d accomplished what he’d set out to do with it.

The problem was was when he had to move from his house in Washington state back to reduced accomodations in San Francisco, during the tail end of finishing his book. His flatmates weren’t as empathetic as they should’ve been, particularly when he couldn’t secure a supplemental income. From the Emails he’d sent me, I think a large part of his health deteriorating was due to stress from the people he lived with. One’s home should be a place to get away from the terrors of day-to-day living, and that wasn’t the case with Rob’s so-called friends.

When he told me Z-Dr was gracious enough to let him move in, that was fantastic news. He’d had a couple of burgeoning health issues develop before getting the move sorted, but he’d be able to relax, recharge his batteries, and hang out with a fellow iDollator besides. I also thought it’d be awesome, as I was fortunate enough to hang out with him in San Francisco in 2012, and was hoping to see him again this Summer for DolLApalooza 2014. Then back in mid-March, Rob let me know that he’d been diagnosed with cancer. He’d gotten down about it, understandably, but he didn’t let it keep him down. If his spirits were flagging, he didn’t want to bring everyone else down by going on about his health. He had correspondence and multiple anime shows that he had to catch up on, after all! Unfortunately, it seems that cancer doesn’t give a shit about what we as people have to do with our lives.

Saying that Rob was a kind, creative, cheerful, and unique person is one of those tip-of-the-iceberg descriptions. For those of us who were fortunate to have known him, it’s going to be strange not being able to hear from him again. However, he’ll be able to spend time with the spirit of Lily Godwin, his Doll and muse for Unbound, as much as he likes

image © 2004, by Elena Dorfman

Sdtrk: ‘Tonight, we fall (John Foxx and the Maths remix)’ by ADULT.

It’s almost Spring! That… should mean something in the context of Synthetiks and the people who build them and/or love them, but it really doesn’t. But the fact that everything’s attempting to thaw means that we won’t have to look at dirty snow for much longer! Dirty snow is an affront to the eye, as I’m sure you’ll agree. So while you’re waiting for your allergies to flare up, why not read this instead?

+ According to fellow technosexual Vokabre, Alisa Zelenogradova, who you’ll recall is Russia’s first Gynoid, is being improved and upgraded! Neurobotics have given her a better body with improved mobility, as well as a remote manipulator control for her right arm, as seen here:

It seems that Neurobotics are concentrating on developing humanoid robots for telepresence work, which makes sense. From the few telepresence robots I’d seen, she’d be the most attractive, with an appearance more like an Organik human. Which kinda brings the future of ‘Surrogates‘ closer to being a reality! You might want to hold off on asking Alisa to hold your martini for now, though.

Neurobotics also debuted another Gynoid they’ve been working on as a panelist on a Russian science telly programme! Much like Alisa, her silicone face is modelled after an Organik lass, and the Gynoid’s name would be — wait for it — Tuma Urman. *sigh* Try not to hold that against her.

Despite the fact that she has legs, she can neither walk nor stand yet, but I’m sure her handlers are working on that as well. You can read more about… Ms Urman… here, if you can automatically translate Russian with that big brain of yours.

+ Remember Private Island Beauties? Well, you should, cos they never went away. Head sculptor bloke Patrick Wise has been improving on what he’s had to offer with his silicone sirens, and I got some info on new developments from him via Electrode Mail.
He’s completed a new skeleton for the Girl Next Door body type after two years’ work, which boasts of a more fluid and easy-to-manipulate quality. Not only that, it can make for better posing, as it’s twice as strong as the original skeleton, he says. The downside is that the more advanced skeleton’s added a bit of weight — we’re looking at +/- 60 lbs — but that’s the price you pay for durability, squire. Believe me, 60 lbs, when speaking about a Doll, is a pretty damned good weight.

That’s the sort of motion that’s usually followed by a yawn. So can she yawn?

Also two and a half years in the making is the new Island Girl body type. She stands 5’7″, with natural-looking breasts that feature puffy nipples. The Island Girl body can use the same heads as the Bathing Beauty body, but Patrick aims to create new heads for it as well. As always, you’ll never be short on choices!

Isis, with the Island Girl body, in her churchgoing clothes

+ Catherine de Lange wrote an article for New Scientist recently entitled ‘Cure for love: Fall for a robot to fend off heartache‘. As you suspect, it is Relevant To This Post. Well, blog.

Attachment is one thing, but love? That will come in about 40 years’ time, with improvements in speech recognition and generation technology, says David Levy, AI researcher and author of the book Love and Sex with Robots. “When we can have entertaining, informative, loving conversations with robots, I think people will start to fall in love with them in serious numbers,” he says.

Just consider the fact that people can fall in love over the internet or through phone calls. “It is perfectly possible to feel strongly attracted to someone you’ve never met,” says Alan Winfield at the University of the West of England in Bristol, UK. “If a conversational AI is compelling and gives the impression of getting to know you, then you are going to form a bond.”

The level of language understanding and emotional intelligence displayed by the operating system in Her is still some way off, says John West, senior solutions architect at Nuance, the company that provides the voice recognition technology for Apple’s Siri and Samsung’s S-Voice. “Understanding and adapting to the way people naturally talk is the biggest challenge and requires an in-depth knowledge of linguistics and semantics,” he says.
the entire article is here

Granted, there will always be people who are keen on meeting, dating, and marrying Organik partners. But for those of us who’d like an equally-valid option as the technology gets progressively better, then artificial humans are clearly the solution, and as they provide a much more consistent alternative to bad partner decisions, or no partner at all.
Personally, I’ve yet to watch Spike Jonze’s ‘Her‘; as you suspect, many people have asked me if I have. To me, one of the crucial components of any romantic relationship I’d be in would be a physical element — long-distance relationships don’t cut it for me. So while the advanced AI in ‘Her’ would be appealing, it wouldn’t be the same as having someone to hold. Unless, of course, you were to place that AI within a prosthetic body! But there are quite a few people who engage in long-distance love, and if they’re the sort of person who not only can’t find the right Organik partner, but also have an open mind, an AI would do them rather well…

+ Ruby13 have refined their website — you know they’re on Twitter as well as the other social medias now, right? — and among other things, there’s a lovely page that’s dedicated to the head sculptor and founder of the company, Don Edmondson, who regrettably passed away last year. Give the site a look, and see what you think!

Ruby13’s seductive Face 10, in case you somehow forgot what she looks like

And you’ll find a new link in the lefthand sidebar as well: please add Doll Sweet to your List Of Potential Companies You’ll Be Saving Up To Get A Doll From. Doll Sweet have a solid pedigree behind them: it’s the Chinese distributing/manufacturing arm of Arte Tokio, which is a Japanese Doll-making studio formed by ex-employees of 4woods. And if that curiously doesn’t convince you to look into what they have to offer, here’s some photos of their Kayla head on the 161cm body. You should probably sit down, if you’re not already.

A beautiful rubber lass into The Beautiful Game, eh? Yeah, she’s a keeper

There’s enough photos and videos of the selections they have on offer to keep you occupied for a while, where you’ll be hamstrung by decision. That sort of thing happens in iDollator culture more than you’d think.

+ Quite a few people had pointed this out to me: so recently, there was a CeBIT computer expo at in Hanover, Germany that featured something that shouldn’t have taken as long as it has to realise, but it can only get better now that the idea’s out there. German software developer Tobit’s booth prominently featured robot pole dancers.
‘Why didn’t anyone think of this before??’ I know, right?

Apparently, Tobit employed the robots’ services back in 2012, but this year’s models, as stated by the Tobit rep in the video, have different movements and bigger breasts. *nods approvingly*
An article on BBC News adds, ‘Visitors with a robo-fetish can pick up one of the dancers for about 30,000 euros ($39,500, £25,000)‘. As I always say in these types of scenarios, for those of us technosexuals who prefer their Gynoids with silicone skin, a quick visit to one of those online shops for maskers can work wonders…

In that vein, here’s a sexier and more adept animatronic dancer. You’ll definitely want to embiggen the video to properly see the details…

…that is, apart from her face. Well, she’s wearing a mask. But what’s the story behind this affictitious sexpot? She’s an art piece by Jordan Wolfson, and is currently being exhibited in a private room *ahem* at the David Zwirner Gallery in New York, from now until 19 April. Jordan worked with a special effects company for her construction, and not only does she lipsync to the song’s vocals, but she has facial recognition software, so that her eyes can meet yours. Again, were she not wearing that mask, that would be incredibly appealing, but the juxtaposition of fear and desire is undoubtedly what Jordan is aiming for. Perhaps someone else will make a less-transgressive version of this piece, as her movements are incredibly fluid and alluring. Also, she needs some open-toed shoes as well, damnit.

+ And of late, the Missus herself has had a couple of interviews to her credit! As much as I enjoy doing proper interviews, it’s always fantastic when a reporter wants to speak with her as opposed to me, as Shi-chan can provide a unique perspective by the fact that she’s Synthetik. As always, my rubbery wife is doing me proud!
Over the course of January and February, she’d done an interview via Email with Sofija Stefanovic, for issue 21 of a bimonthly Australian publication called The Lifted Brow, as well as one with Sam Schneider for ZoomNews.es. The one for The Lifted Brow is print-only — a rarity in this day and age — but you can order one for yourself or a loved one here. As far as the other interview, entitled ‘El matrimonio de Davecat y Sidore Kuroneko visto desde los ojos de la muñeca’, you can stare at it here. Hope you can read Spanish! I probably should’ve mentioned that earlier, but I’m sure the title was a bit of a giveaway.
Here’s hoping that Shi-chan will get more offers to take up the interview mantle! Well, legitimate offers, I should add. Dr Phil and similar sensationalists hardly count

danke schön to Vokabre, for all the bits and bobs about Jordan Wolfson, Alisa, and… Tuma

Sdtrk: ‘Keepers of the dawn (Who loves the sun?)’ by Tropical popsicle

St Valentine’s Day, of course, is a holiday made popular by the very first gangster massacre back in 1929, when Al Capone had a buncha mooks lined up against the wall and ventilated, see. As many of the victims’ hearts were pierced by bullets, current generations memorialise this event by exchanging hearts to loved ones. How does Cupid enter into the equation, you ask? Much as how Christians appropriated the Easter egg from Pagans, so it was with celebrating St Valentine’s Massacre; Cupid originally symbolised a flying baby. It’s true.

Quite a few of the people I began following on Twitter were people I knew on MySpace. Remember MySpace? Okay, you can stop now. One of them, Hayley Heartbreak, is a Gothabilly lass from New Zealand who does pretty nifty illustrations in her spare time. Last year, she began doodling Valentine’s Day illos on Post-It notes for a set number of people who asked for one, and I managed to catch her this year. This is the fantastic result:

The Missus, our mistress, and I think it’s too damned cute. Thanks, Hayley!

Sdtrk: ‘She’s in fashion’ by Suede

First post of 2014! Written in 2013. Cough.
Were your holidays good? Did you witness The Descent of the Shimmering Death Sphere just before midnight in New York city? I swear, the recent New Years’ Eve ball is just one redesign away from becoming Leviathan. Give ’em time.

Allow me to recount part of another one of my amusing dreams, whether you want to hear it or not: in this one, I was round at my parents’ house, sorting through great big piles of things I wanted to keep or get rid of, and joining me in this task were a younger, late-Sixties-era Hugh Hefner, and Crawley’s Favourite Gothic Son, Robert Smith. Also, my parents’ house had four storeys instead of two, because why the hell not?

HUGH (going through large plastic bag): Are these [tools] from an IKEA couch?
ME: Yep! God bless the Swedes.
ROBERT: ‘God bless Suede’??
ME: No no, god bless the… I think you’d thought I said that last time! No, Brett Anderson’s cool, but they’re not that good.
ROBERT: Especially now.
ME: O no. God, no.
ROBERT: *frowning, shaking head vigourously*

A music critic, even in my sleep

Sdtrk: ‘Дом’ by Утро

Yes, I know, finally. You’ve read Part I and Part II beforehand, I’d hope? Excellent! Let’s begin.

SATURDAY, 27 JULY
That morning, instead of joining the lads for our customary 8.30am brekky at Foxy’s, I declined. For one, between the leftovers I’d had from Katsuya and BJ’s, it’d be silly for me to spend additional money on food for breakfast, and furthermore, Amber Hawk Swanson and I were due to convene there at 11am, to catch up and discuss more details for her upcoming project. So I got to sleep in! Any opportunity to get some extra Zs in is one that can’t be missed.
She arrived a few minutes before I did, and grabbed a table on the patio, which is something none of us have ever done there before. That’s due to the fact that there’s usually a minimum of five of us, and the patio tables are for smaller groups of one to two people. And speaking of people, Amber mentioned that when she got to Foxy’s that morning, one of the staff had told her that she had just missed ‘the boys’, meaning our crowd. We’re practically regulars there now!
Click here for the rest of the post, bunky »

Sdtrk: ‘Wasted place’ by Gary War

Have some additional news! Plus, it’s still November, and I couldn’t think of a decent new title.

It’s no secret that I don’t understand popular culture, and what passes for its music is one of the facets that either leaves me cold, or makes me angry. Like that Lady Gaga, as an example. Back in my day, we had a Lady Gagaga, but her name was Toyah Willcox, and her music was not as facile. I dunno; starring as a nihilistic punk in Derek Jarman’s ‘Jubilee’ made her truly cool, in my opinion. Three aspects about Lady Gagagaga redeem her from being an utter waste of space, though: she’s into Warhol, which is always good to hear; her overall message seems to be ‘be comfortable with who you are, no matter what others say’, which is definitely relatable; and GAGADOLL, which is a new and enticing thing.

As is the way of most media events these days, there are no details yet anywhere on the site, so I’m compulsively checking that shit, like, every day, so that I don’t miss anything. Are these Dolls that are going to be used in one of Lady Gagagagaga’s new music videos? Will they be for sale? Should that be the case, will you be able to dress them in architecture, much like the Organik Lady Gagagagagaga? We shall see!

4woods have just released two new heads, Sayo, and Sayo -drowsy-. Could you imagine being an iDollator who would want to solely concentrate on owning A.I.Dolls, and hearing news like this? You’d either be ecstatic that you have new additions to your collection, or you’d be flipping over a table, shouting ‘DAMNIT I AM RUNNING OUT OF MONEY AND SPACE FOR THESE!!’ Be careful what you wish for! Could’ve been worse, though, Inconsolable Fictional 4woods Brand Loyalist; you could’ve opted to collect every single body and head from Orient industry.

Left, Sayo, taking her earrings off before fighting; right, Sayo -drowsy-, struggling once again with narcolepsy

The Sayo head fits the A.I.NEO im body, and both Sayo and Sayo -drowsy- can go onto the A.I.Doll EX body. What next for 4woods, then? Well, give them a month, and they’ll more than likely have an answer.

Since late October, I’ve been in contact with Jury (pronounced ‘Yuri’), the head of a fledgling Doll studio out of Latvia (not Latveria; that’s Doctor Doom’s homeland), to see if he’s ready to release his creation to the world. Almost! His Dolls are different than the typical silicone fare that everyone’s familiar with, as Jury is building them out of fabric. They’re called Textile Dolls, and they’re rather impressive!

Clare head, 150cm body

Here are some facts about the Textile Doll series: Jury purchased a silicone Doll for himself, but despite the fact that they’re amazing for photography, he thought they were too heavy and could be too cold for funtimes in bed, so he created the Textile Doll. The head is lightweight and made of pressed fabric with glue, with painted makeup and skintone, and has plastic eyes. The body is soft and contains an articulated skeleton over a leather-fabric and Lycra skin, with batting and sponge for musculature.
So far, Jury’s developed two bodies: the Big Bertha (170cm, or 5’6″), which can accomodate the Melissa and Isabelle heads, and the 150cm (5ft) body, which takes the Clare head. Both bodies weigh 5kg, or 11 lbs, and the Big Bertha takes a sz 9 shoe. I’ve yet to find out if that’s an EU sz 9… Incidentally, her fingers and toes are articulated as well, and her lady bits are a Fleshlight. Her breasts and bum are soft; even though they don’t use silicone, but the fabric sags and droops appropriately like silicone. I’ll also be finding out soon what their measurements are, so look forward to that. In fact, Jury’s working on having a website made, so that’ll get a mention and a link once it’s up and running. Not bad, Jury, not bad at all!

And remember how I’d mentioned that Sidore, Elena, and I had a German telly crew visit recently? You can view the (wax) fruits of our labour here, on the site for the telly show Explosiv: Sex-Puppe: Dave braucht keine echten Frauen. Anyone want to have a go at providing a translation, for those of us who don’t sprechen Sie Deutsch fließend? Wartezeit. Warten Sie eine Minute. Ich spreche Deutsch! Dieses ist wunderbar! Es ist, als ob ich immer zu gekonnt habe speak German… o, wait, now it’s gone. DAMNIT *flips table*

EDIT (28 Nov 2013): Alert reader Christian Müller comes through with a translation of the Explosiv video in the comments here, as he knows German like the back of his hand. Or the front of it, for that matter. Thanks, Christian!

Sdtrk: ‘Prototype pop’ by Severed heads

As we can all agree, seeing numerous photographs of Dolls is all well and good, but it’s better to see video footage of them doing all manner of things as well. That’s beginning to change! New York music artist Hot Sugar teamed up with famed Doll photographer Stacy Leigh, and she directed a video for his song Erica. Observe:

Apart from the fact that it features several alluring RealDolls, I was really impressed with the concept; the ‘Video Intimates’ DVD idea is way too clever. Well done to all involved!

Before we move on to the other video, I’ll take this opportunity to mention that Phoenix studios have just released yet another make of Boy Toy. This series is called ‘Celestial Bodies’, the first lass in the stable would be named Star, and this is what she looks like:

Finally! A 100% artificial version of Pamela Anderson! Well, one you can take home

She’s 4’10” (I once knew a lass who was that height), weighs less than 60lbs, has measurements of B:32 / W:22 / H:32, and wears a sz 5 shoe. According to Phoenix studios, she currently has a full head design with a deep mouth insert, although they’re working on a version that’ll sport closing eyelids as well. Also she features a new design for her pelvic insert. I’m sorry, I have to side with the Japanese Doll makers on this: they refer to a pelvic insert as a ‘marriage hole’. There is no way that term isn’t amazing.
Check out the rest of Star’s photos here, and see what you think…

There’s a cluster of new photosets posted on Sinthetics as well; now available are new shoots detailing an Alicia head on a Body 1B, and two shoots of an Eliza head on a Body 1B, one of which has her getting to know a Gabriel-type. Well well. *raises eyebrow*

Of course it’s drafty, Eliza; you’ve just taken off your blouse

The good folk at Sinthetics are due to release another male manikin named William, so some of you have that to look out for…

Now the other video we’ve got coming up… good lord, for a moment there, I felt like a VJ. So! The other video we’ve got would be by DCUP (I rather like their name) featuring Mereki on vocals, and starring model Kozue Akimoto hanging out with her Gabriel-type lover by Sinthetics. Let’s take a look:

I’d have to say that video’s pretty adorable, too. And did you notice the part where they went to Shinjuku’s famous Robot Restaurant? Society needs more iDollator couples! But you’d expect me to say that.

Last but not least, Danielle of Womanicpation Proclamation has released the second part of her interview with me on her blog just recently. Like me, she got sidetracked by things, and like my review of DolLApalooza 2013, she thought it would only span two parts, but there’ll be a third. I forewarn every potential interviewer that I tend to ramble concerning my favourite subjects. I’m a rambler! A Nash Rambler, to be specific. I was produced briefly by the Nash division of the Nash-Kelvinator Company and was a forerunner to the American Motors Corporation’s entry-level cars. Produced between 1950 and 1957, I was North America’s first compact car *continues with this folly for an additional forty-nine minutes*