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

Sdtrk: ‘Arthur Cravan’ by Mount Vernon Arts Lab

Just a heads-up: my Texas-based friend Jaems, of int23.com, engaged me in a lengthy phone interview this past Friday, concerning being an iDollator (meeting new and interesting people with an interest in silicone partners), and life with the Missus in general (sometimes there is wrestling involved). Now the results of the interview are presented here, for your edification. For one, I particularly like the title!

How did your roommate react to you bringing Sidore home?

Steve, my other roommate at the time, was really laid-back and open-minded. Initially, when I started raising funds for Shi-chan in earnest, I’d half-jokingly asked if he wanted to contribute. He gave me a single dollar for the ‘I Hope You Don’t Buy A RealDoll Fund’. (laughs)

Give it a look! It’ll be something pleasant to round out the end of your week-end

Sdtrk: ‘Cherish’ by Ike Yard

Absolute zero, meaning the weather is neither hot or cold;
it is in a perfect null-state

I’m starting to believe that this ridiculously frigid weather is actually having an influence on my lifestyle and mindset. Since the beginning of Winter — not the official beginning of Winter, as it’s been freezing off and on in SE Michigan several weeks before that — I’ve noticed an increased willingness to hibernate, a drop in my writing output, which extends to my creativity at large, as I’ve had no inclination to either do legitimate research on potential posts, or work on other creative things, such as ‘Kitten with a Whip!’, for example, and worst, a dip in my libido; which, for any Scorpio worth their salt, is almost inconceivable. I undoubtedly sound like a broken record, but it is just too cold to do anything but stay in bed, where the heat is. At the moment, I’m at a creative standstill, which is really unsettling.
And the thing is, I’ve noticed similar behaviour in a couple of friends of mine. I don’t know if you can chalk it up to the whole Seasonal Affective Disorder thing, but I wouldn’t rule it out entirely. Don’t get me wrong; I love me some overcast days, but egad, you gotta break that shit up now and again. Couple that with polar temperatures and crappy driving conditions, and Winter’s approval rating just continues to sink. Really, the only thing that makes Winter better than hateful Summer is that it doesn’t make you sweat, but that’s a small comfort, all told.

Therefore, I propose that we follow the example of our friends, the bears and squirrels, and hibernate during the Winter season. Of course, I don’t mean that we should literally stuff ourselves with acorns and honey, crawl into a cave or hollow tree, and sleep for three straight months out of the year. Although you’d be free to do that if you liked, but that’d be weird. No, what I’m saying is that society should go for a general go-slow when Winter sets in. Not like a complete shutdown of industrialised society or anything, but more of a simple understanding on the part of companies if an employee calls in to say, ‘sorry, I won’t be coming in today; it’s like 3°F outside.’ All this, naturally, would be done without cutting into any time-off time, or sick time, or vacation time, et al. It’d be officially sanctioned, but regulated so that business wouldn’t be short-staffed. It’d be a lot like Golden Week in Japan, only it’d be more like Golden Twelve Weeks…
The hoped-for result is that people would be more well-rested and less stressed-out overall, and ready to tackle the remaining nine months. Honestly, what better time to stay indoors and recharge your batteries than when Mother Nature’s being a disagreeable tart?

In other news, due to considering how Tomas and Jaems are attempting to simplify things with their lives, I’ve deleted my Livejournal account, as well as sixsixsixties.blogspot.com, which is where ‘Shouting etc etc’ got its start, and my Facebook account. My Livejournal consisted of a single post that essentially said ‘Nothing here, go to my actual blog’, so there’s no loss there, and what remained on Blogger/Blogspot said the same. As far as Facebook, I’ve already expressed my displeasure with it, but between Thursday night and my drive to work Friday afternoon, I thought to myself, why do I still have a page on Facebook? Initially I started it due to that twat in Australia co-opting my identity on Myspace, so I started a profile of my own, in order to stop Hitler at Munich, as it were. The thing with Facebook, however, is that when a person registers, they’re required to enter both a first name and a surname. Obviously I wasn’t putting in my actual surname, so I used a ‘fictional’ one. In addition to me realising that in effect, no-one can make a Facebook page for Davecat, not even myself, and since I had very little interaction with the site anyway, I decided that deleting the account would be the best thing for all involved. Twelve out of the fourteen people I’ve made friends with all there already know other ways to get hold of me, and as for the other two, well, you’d be well advised to bookmark ‘Shouting etc etc’. Now, if only I could get rid of my Myspace profile that easily, and ensure that no-one else re-starts it…

via text, Saturday:
SafeTinspector (2.28 pm): Re: facebook.
I pretty much ignore mine and consider it a biographical aggregator. It auto-pulls in my twitters, flickrs and blog posts.
Davecat (2.38 pm): Yeah; the sole content of my Facebook is my Twitter feed, but then, why not just check my Twitter feed?
Davecat (2.39 pm): My Facebook is like a (Organik) appendix. If you can get rid of it, do so, cos you really don’t need it.
SafeTinspector (2.48 pm): You could also have it parrot your flickr, youtube and WordPress posts. It requires 0 maintenance, so mine shall remain, as my MySpace page, as a simple signpos
SafeTinspector (2.48 pm): t.
Davecat (2.49 pm): Bah. BAH! *dismissive hand gesture*
Davecat (2.49 pm): That was the idea with my Myspace, but people just stop there instead of going to my blog! I’m funnelling.
SafeTinspector (2.49 pm): I’m glad you specified “Organic” appendix, as I am a pig proponent of appendices.
Davecat (2.50 pm): Proponent of pig appendices?

Twitter’s always a laugh, though! That’s not going anywhere