sometimes you stumble across something that is so good it almost hurts. that said i have to rave about ghostly swim. released as a completely free download at the Adult Swim site, you need to go download it and you need to go download it NOW. this stuff is simply delicious. i listened to the entire thing this past weekend and i was floored. because for the first time in a long time my ears were perceiving the rare musical miracle that results when damn near every song on an album kicks major ass.

ghostly swim

i’ve had my eye on this lovely boy for some time. for a little over a year i’ve been contemplating him and that’s my standard wait time when it comes to making a decision on an asian ball jointed doll. no impulse buyer, i’ve come to a point where my money is preciousssssss and hence i contemplate a doll purchase for a loooong time before i jump in. i figure if a doll still holds my heart after a year (and hasn’t stopped being manufactured, lol) then it’s time to consider making the purchase. alas, elfdoll standard k has held my heart tightly by the force of his intense gaze and beautiful face for the required time span and i finally gave in this morning, making my first layaway payment to dollsandfriends (http://dollsandfriends.com) since he was out of stock at the elfdollwebsite. we’ll see how it goes and i’ll definitely document my experience here.

and now the real fun begins: the itchy pain of anticipation, the fun of deciding on a name, ordering a few extra wigs, eyes of the same startling shade of lime as the picture and also creating his homecoming outfit.

photos: from elf doll

things are currently in a bit of a “rough draft” format, but here’s a look at a bit of a pseudo stop-motion film project i’m working on: the shadow theater. mainly featuring asian ball jointed dolls, it’s been a project i’ve been both looking forward to and dreading all at the same time. i’ve got so many pictures to cull through, as well as a quite a bit of text i’ve been cooking up since last year.

the little slide movies are currently made up mainly of images that are “raw” in that many of them haven’t been cropped, color corrected or had any photo shop razzle dazzle applied to them. i’m slowly going through all the images and revamping them and you can see these “clean” images in “of the absinthe of ambergris” at www.pixxxiepie.com/thedollhouse.

as i get more time i will eventually re-master the images and slide show films accordingly, so you may see the examples below changing over time. damn hard to find free programs that make really cool slide shows though. i mean, like “the hunt for red october” kind of hard. it looks like if i really want these little movies to shine out i’m gonna have to sit down and do something i reeeeeeally haven’t felt like doing….learning some flash. my photobucket account has some interesting slide show theme options, but they all just fall a bit short of the prize. there’s not a “slide show theme editor” that just lets me set a few simple variables. there’s one theme i really like –an old silent film look– but it kinda sucks because it only seems to be available in black and white…and these images are full blazing color. bright and vibrant. it would be great to get the same old scratchy silent-film look and feel …but leave the images in color damnit!!! and again, the theme sets the slide show to just play the moment you arrive to the page…a start/stop button would be awesome since if you put more than one slide show on a page you get this issue where suddenly the page is waaaay too busy with slide shows playing willy nilly. ideally, you’d come to the page and have to hit a start button to get the film rolling. duh, photobucket. but the themes they offer have no consistency in that certain ones allow for a start/stop button and others don’t. even with a button option you’ll still get multiple shows going all at once when you open the page and you have to manually hit the stop button for the shows you weren’t yet ready to watch. but oh well. enough with the bitching, lol. i realize photobucket throws out this stuff to please the most common denominator: people who have simple needs because their showing off pics of their friends/family on sites like facebook and myspace….not for artsy chicks shooting for the pseudo-stop-motion-animation vibe. i’ll just have to make do until i take some time to sit down and learn just enough flash to pull off what i want.

the licorice rose project:

if you’re in the mood for an in depth look into the realm of asian ball jointed dolls, then the bjd orbyrarium is just the cup of tea you’ve been craving. its got everything in it, that’s no exaggeration. i thought i was pretty well versed and then this book and i stumbled upon each other. needless to say, i learned a lot. from the various manufacturers to the basics of stringing, un-stringing, face up methods, photography tips, garment patterns…you name it. priceless knowledge rests therein.

pros: great book, great pictures, well written, interesting articles, book bound with a plastic jacket since you really will be using this as regular reference material. however, i am experiencing the unfortunate effects of constant use of a reference guide in southern heat: the binding glue of the book is not such tough stuff over the long haul. i’ve had this book for a little over a year, really milking it, and it just couldn’t stand up to me. but the book is so good and sooooo damn useful that i know i’ll happily buy another copy if the one i have completely falls apart on me.

cons: there are no cons. except in the event that you really use the book and discover that one day you have to buy a replacement. we can only hope that the producers of the book will come out with updated versions of this handy little number every few years.

http://www.hautedoll.com/shopping.php?id=13