Go see! Jane’s blog
[And if you are following the Wiishu slideshows, you will have to seek them out, top bar, in the Slideshows, as she gets back to her regular posts, and in this case, a special offer for our blogsite regulars and others on her birthday—like atevi, she believes in giving on her birthday.]
For those of you who haven’t been following the Wiishu posts, understand—Japanese ball-jointed dolls are a blatant excuse for costuming and clever photography, and they’re cuter’n spit. The little ones not only imitate human jointing so well they can balance on one foot, they are also downright spooky to hold in your hand, because they move on their own, under gravity, and they move like people, unlike dolls that just flop, and you keep thinking—if this thing turns its head and stares at me I’m handing it to someone else. 😆 This is the offshoot of a really ancient artform in Asia, and when Jane has spare time (ha!) she wants to do some complex traditional costume.]
What’s really funny is that, while there is a long-standing doll tradition in Asia, the current BJDs were first inspired by early porcelain European jointed dolls. It all tied in with the Japanese Lolita subgroup, where the aim was to dress and act like a proper mannered little European doll (nothing racy). Then a ‘garage kit’group started and it blossomed from there. There are sub-genres of BJDs for all tastes, from the coma-inducing darlings like Wiishu to the truly creepy. I ‘know’ a doll named “Mort” who is simply a floating skull in a cage with taxidermy eyes and a pink tongue that shows when his mouth is open, as it usually is.
Many aspiring writers (and more than a few published ones) ‘shell out’ their characters as BJDs, saying that it helps them work out their story lines, or simply that it tickles them to see their concept ‘in the resin’.
I now need to look up BJD. Though I’ve seen dolls like Wiishu online, and it seems to go across the m/f gender gap slightly, more so with manga/anime fans, I *think*.
I can definitely see an artist using a manikin, or a writer using dolls/action figures and gaming pieces to think about scenes.
Man, I wish I had kept my Cylon Raider from the old show, too. Or the Imperial Walker.
BCS – Exactly!
I’ve been collecting the dolls for about two years and have a very non-standard group of dolls (eclectic is so over-used) that is loosely based around the concept of a Fae Court. You can see a bit of what I’m talking about with my Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dhawktx/collections/72157624407784642/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dhawktx/collections/72157624222954023/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dhawktx/collections/72157631511979540/
I’m not sure if ‘non-friends’ can see these pieces, but this is where Mort ‘lives’:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mathurine/
This simply amazed me at the time:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1391092/
Marwencol (2010)
83 min – Documentary | Biography | Fantasy – 8 October 2010 (USA)
7.5
After a vicious attacks leaves him brain-damaged and broke, Mark Hogancamp seeks recovery in “Marwencol”, a 1/6th scale World War II-era town he creates in his backyard.
I just checked, and I have the new (2010 and after) versions of Rusalka and Chernevog. I’ll be in line (en queue) for Yvgenie and Jane’s new NetWalkers prequel and the Foreigner short.
After much chaos last year, I will need to restart reading NetWalkers: GroundTies and Rusalka. I am in the midst of Invader, but real life is getting in the way of reading fiction. I’ve vowed to *make* the time for fiction reading and non-fiction, along with personal projects. Got to. I’m off-kilter otherwise.