I took some other pictures today, helping out with one of my mother's articles, and getting some more work done on "Picnic" (I only have three real shots left to get, since I can't do the whole story due to the fact that there are no boy dolls or grown woman dolls). Although I would love to figure out how to arrange a version of the scene where all girls in the dance class try to beat Irma up. Because it would also be a decent meta statement about the AG fandom.

( Rebecca gets ready for the holidays )

Well known eighteenth century poem/song, as interpreted by American Girl dolls Elizabeth, Mia, and Rebecca.

( Beware the multiple large photos )

( Bloopers and Outtakes )

The British are Coming!, The British are Coming!


( My favorite of the pics )

Voyage of the Doll Treader: Chapter One pt1
Voyage of the Doll Treader: Chapter One pt2


End Notes:

Well, this is no where near as polished and seamless as I'd hoped thanks to 1) like the Walden Media version, I found my budget greatly reduced, and 2) I have terrible Photoshopping skills. But I shouldn't need to photo manip anything for awhile after this part. Why didn't I ask someone else to do it? I couldn't picture myself asking someone to sit there doing that for me. I couldn't seem to get the picture the right size to glue into the frame either. You will probably all be thrilled to know that my cartoon bubble skills *have* improved, though, lol.

I've taken some liberties with the script. While I plan to stick close to the book's plot, I am not going to be reproducing most of the dialogue word for word. Also, the rest of the story is going to be posted in two forms, Gen version and Slash version.

I have "outtakes" as well, would you prefer I post them after each chapter, or save them all for the end?

Huh. I wonder *why* Poppy and Gabriel are conning Serena? THere seems to be a money angle but there are so many other, simpler ways to con someone like Serena. I think they might be trying to con the entire group, with Serena as their "in"?

I've been pretty down this week. Upset over practically everything. I had this long, emotional post about it but I took too long getting around to even attempting to write it so I'm not gonna bother.

I was going to post some doll pics but still need to work on the washout effect in their faces. The pictures that looked so good when I first took them just...don't on IJ.
( here are the ones that still sort of worked )


Also, read the the summary given for this drabble and join me in barely controlled snickering.

Nothing wrong whatsover with the *fic*, but that summary makes it sound like something entirely different!

Interesting new developments with The Doll Projects. I've been taking some casual pics on a simple set to practice storytelling techniques, and the story took on a bit of a life of its own.

I went for a long walk but not only did my legs and feet hurt, which tells me a) I am not walking enough and b) I need to start stretching but I am still having strong dizzy spells. Could I just be extremely dehydrated? Hypoglycemic?

Saturdays are *exhausting* now. Drive to Manchester, pick up sister, drive, shop, drive, deal with parents until someone's willing to drive me home.

Got two dolls- my "Dean" and my "Eustace". "Dean" is great, especially after I cut his hair but he needs clothes. "Eustace" is great but in a slightly wrong outfit and also, a bit smaller than I realized. He's smaller and thinner than Lucy. It's also funny that everyone who saw him said things like "I guess Tonner doesn't make a chubby doll." A strange, persistant idea that Eustace must be chubby- even though the books never say that he is- I think this comes from the BBC movies, where he kinda was.

But I feel like not only do people think I shouldn't spend so much money on doll stuff but also that I wouldn't keep going on about them. There's...not a whole lot else going on right now for me. Even if I do have two book reviews to write and really need to do SOMETHING about this writer's block.

Got my battery charger- no more ridiculously expensive non rechargable batteries than can only be ordered online. It was stupid to be doing that even as long as I was.

Dropped off some housing applications on Friday.

Went walking down on the beach at around 7 p.m. It's not getting dark and cold until 8 these days, which is really nice. And I had the place almost to myself, which has been rare on good weather days so far.

I found a tiny starfish. You have to understand, I've lived in this area for years, so I've been to this beach hundreds of times and almost never found a whole starfish. I also found one of those rocks that's been so smoothed over by the waves that it's practically glass. And did you know sea foam can remain in big lumps all over the sand even after the water recedes?

I got a great deal on the doll I'm going to use for Eustace. And I've found two options for Caspian, a book!verse and one that can be turned into a Ben Barnes type. Blonde guy auction ends in two days, dark haired guy (Tonner's new Romeo doll) hasn't even been released yet but a friend and I were talking about going halfsies on him so she could have the outfit.

American Girls in the cemetary

( Mary Magdalene Doll on Sad Saturday</a> <a href= )

I decided to shoot some pictures while killing time waiting for my sister to finish her laundry. Went to my parents house, where I made everybody soup and we drank this sparkling peach juice- which didn't go far. It only made four cups, so I guess it's better for those four ceremonial glasses of wine during Passover than it is as your sole beverage during a meal.

But the soup was a big hit. And I got some chocolate :)

Going to sew all the outfits myself. Borrow the extra dolls, the food, the weapons. Use foam board and really huge photos for backdrops. The hardest part, I think, will actually be the script. Adapting things someone else already wrote is such a pain, but I really want to do a project with the dolls (they might as well earn their keep).

I feel depressed for reasons I can't articulate. Well, I can articulate part of it. It's that living alone, not getting out much, not having a church anymore, I'm sort of at a loss for what to do on a day like this. I went out in the mid morning to do some housing application stuff which didn't really get...done...and then I came home and basically slept for four hours.

Oh And fixed the vid link for "Liquid".

A custom version of Lucy's PC outfit. I really like the choice of dolls there too. And the *detail*. Unfortunately, she's not for sale, although I think the pattern might be, I have chubby!little girl!Lucy.

Jadis!

An independently created American Girl Dollhouse. WEll, it's nice, but it's totally out of scale. AG dolls are supposed to be ten year old girls, the house needs to be bigger than that in order for them to look proportionate. It would work, however, for Tonners. The biggest Tonners I have, Snape and Peter, are 19 inches as adult characters, AG dolls are 18 inches. It's *perfect* for Tonners (they're thinner too, which means more than two of them could stand in one room *with* furniture).

this house is awesome, however. It's entirely custom made by the people in the video though, it's not for sale. Not that I have anywhere to put something that huge anyway. And um...I have no AG furniture, having no where ot put it.

I think if I want a dollhouse, or any kind of diorama/staging space for Tonners on my budget I have to build it myself.

Someone is coming over tomorrow morning to show the apartment to potential summer renters. Even though it makes no difference to me whether or not the place is rented, I still felt the urge to clean and make it all pretty.

Um...how long has it been since I chatted with anyone (my question mark key is stuck, btw)

I mean, I know I've been sort of out of it...and my net connection peters out the most in the evenings and whenever I'm not sitting in exactly the right spot in my apartment.



Btw, I found a pinstripe suit complete with red tie, and then a pair of chinos, for Tonner male dolls. All that's missing is a yellow polo shirt...but I missed the Hardy Boys auction anyway. And the suit went for $55, and I refuse to pay that for a glorified Ken doll outfit. So SPN Office!verse dolls are quite a low priority at the moment, like "Charmed!With Ellowyne Wilde Dolls" which is mainly going to be held up by a lack of a Leo. The Lucy doll was the first time in four months I've been able to buy a doll at all.

I just-I babble about stuff I want to buy, but you gotta understand, I'm not going to buy most of it, I just like to talk about it.

Finally decided to risk it and bought a Dressed Lucy. Shipping was free, which is a big deal when you’re buying a thirteen inch doll, and she was about $40 off her retail price. Only to find out a few hours later that there is another MIB one for a starting price of $32 and not likely to go much higher since it was only a two day auction. Oh well.

I was randomly surfing through Ebay’s Tonner section to see if they had any clothing in her size, for some future variety but none of the other dolls in her size have clothes that fit Lucy’s style. Alice is too fancy and Victorian, Agnes is too Goth and Victorian, and Marley is too modern and they're all too expensive. I’d buy patterns but I bet they’ll just sit in my sewing box.

I look at stuff for Susan too but I’m never sure if regular Tyler clothes will fit her. I know that Hermione and Nancy Drew can share clothes with her but their selection is limited and not always period appropriate.

I also get Tempted when surfing Ebay. I saw the Kai doll from the "Snow Queen" set and thought, wouldn't he make a good Eustace. No! No! You cna't afford impulse buys. And no, you cannot buy the Hardy Boys dolls right now either, I know you're planning to cut the blond one's hair and NO. Later. Stick.To.The.List.

( Doll blather )

Marvel to sell more products for women

Marvel just doesn’t get it. It’s not that women who read comics don’t wear makeup, as you can see from the comments to the article, many of them do. It’s that they already buy makeup from, you know, cosmetic companies. Having a line of makeup and girly type stuff will not result in more women reading comics, or women not complaining about comics being sexist if comics don’t change along with it. And not by making them more “girly” but by not actively trying to drive away female readers. It’s pretty simple… If the aim is to acquire more little girl readers, they could try thinking of little girls as being just like women but little. If they don’t like the comics, they’re not gonna want the makeup and clothes either.

Other female orientated companies who previously acquired the licenses to make merchandise with Marvel characters and logos were already doing this, so Marvel’s foray into it is a bit redundant. I mean, remember the Mary Jane statue fiasco?

Complain about fashion dolls all you want but compare that to Tonner’s MJ doll. Women who want girly comic book stuff get it from other places, from people who already understand them and what they want.

( More dolls )

Actually, I put the Peter/Ed photo story to music and it's on Youtube instead.

here