Friday, July 27, 2012

favorite song of the week

Not new but new to me, the studio original of The Teddybears' "Get Mama a House" (audio only):


Want some visuals? Here they are in concert, not sure who the singer is there but every version of this song is great:


Have a good weekend!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

the day the internet finally broke my brain.

Sent to me by my friends in Switzerland, some Japanese-Bavarian Euro-pop yodeling. And rapping. And chickens.


Because, sure? Why not?

I actually think it's awesome that Takeo Ishii loved Bavarian music and yodelling so much he quit being an engineer, moved to Germany and became a full-time award-winning yodelmeister. But my brain still hurts.

Friday, July 20, 2012

end of the week round-up

It was a pretty busy week this week; lots of work, two minor injuries, classes, and weather that went from a heat index of well over 100° to me thinking I need to go dig a hoodie out -- in just a couple of days. Also, this happened:

kitten

She's a rescue kitten, maybe 3 months old, and we sort of ended up with her all of a sudden. Hopefully it works out (she and the big cat have to get along) because she is a sweetheart.

tweeted:


Not much! Mostly I chatted and shared some RTs like this fantastic article on health and weightloss from @comicsreporter, "Comics Made Me Somewhat Less Fat", and the awesome Your Logo Is Not Hardcore tumblr (via @robharrigan).
* * *

And this blast from the past, the Madness Colgate advert. We used to have this on vhs!



pretty pretty patterns:


My pinterest is full of vintage patterns I find and like and collect virtually (because I have too many in real life!). Here's a few favorites from this week:

I love this dress with it's fake princess lines. Definitely sleeveless though.


Super-cute, definitely for the younger set though. Also might tend to poke you a lot.


A spectacular bathing pattern (which had a spectacular price!).

horror of the week:


When I'm looking for pretty patterns, I sometimes find patterns that are...not. To save and share them I throw them up (har har) on tumblr at Patterns Of Horror. Here's my pick of the week:

Ugh. The only thing worse than hippies is middle class fake hippies with their creepy key parties and crap.  

And now I really do need to go find a hoodie. And maybe make a mug of hot tea.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Operetta has her own gang!

Frankie was my first Monster High doll, and when Ghoulia came out she became my number one fave. But when Operetta was announced I knew she would be my new must-have -- I mean, a rockabilly monster gal? Whose crazy facial scarification leads into a full-length arm tattoo? Who plays guitar and skates on the Roller Derby team? And loves biscuits? You can't ask for much more! Plus her pin-up style fashion set is for a day out shopping for vintage vinyl records. Swoon!

The only drawback was her hair -- while we lucked out and got dolls with good hair, the style wasn't quite what I'd hoped for. But there was no way I was going to wash it out and wreck my lovely doll!

Finally last week I got the chance to try doing something new with her hair, when I spent a lovely day with my friend Vivien playing with some spare messed-up dolls....she turned out a gorgeous record-shopping Operetta and while I roughed out what I wanted to do with my doll's hair I wasn't able to get it into shape that day. And when we got home from our trip and finally had a little spare time, I had Emily's doll to contend with as well! But at last we're done, and here are the results!

First up, for reference purposes, is what Operetta is supposed to look like out of the package:


(Click here for close-up.) She doesn't quite look like this in real life, to be honest; the curls in the back just don't happen, the rolls are sticking out to the sides, and the bangs tend to be a bit lower than on the prototype. She can look really good though -- here's my original Operetta with factory-fresh hairstyle (wearing the fashion pack plus her little cropped jacket):

Operetta - factory fresh fashion pack

The rolls are a little goofy, and now that I'm getting picky I see that her bang roll is tilted -- but she's still a cutie and I'll be leaving her be.

My remake is a wrong-side-of-the-tracks Operetta, maybe even a little on the J.D. side. Teased up beehive, little bang curl, and a lot of sass:

Operetta - bad girl side



Operetta - bad girl
 

Operetta - bad girl full

You can't see it, but there's a white rose on the back of her head at the base of the bouffant. Her belt's been switched out with a generic Monster High belt (from the witch set) and her jacket's gone. She probably smokes, too. I was pretty happy with the way she turned out.

But I have to say, my pride and joy is the Operetta I did for Emily. She spent a day looking through my Lauren Rennells books (Vintage Hairstyling and Retro Makeup) and settled on the "Happy Pomp" style that's shown on the cover of Vintage Hairstyling. I had to modify it a bit to make it happen on a doll, but we were both incredibly pleased with the results. She even asked me to fasten Operetta's mask on as a hairclip in the back (where the original style has a clip-on flower).

Operetta - pomp

Operetta - pomp side

Operetta - pomp back

Operetta - pomp full length view

I kind of think I want to steal from my own child.

Here's the Operetta gang all together:

Operetta Gang

Now she's triplets! Final judgement? Best restyling doll ever. I bet I could do half the styles in Vintage Hairstyling on her and they'd all look amazing. Those thick bangs really make a world of difference. Still, I think the next retro restyle needs to be someone different, more than three Operettas would be ridiculous!

Friday, July 13, 2012

elsewhere this week....

I can't say weekly wrap-up because I'm sure I'm so not going to manage this weekly....but here's some of the stuff I posted on other sites this week:

tweeted:


Exciting news for us -- the crossover between roller derby and monster girls continues! The dolls have started coming out (Ghoulia, Frankie, Operetta and Lagoona) with at least two more on the way (a K-mart-only Abbey and a Clawdeen later in the year); and a videogame for the Wii/DS is coming out November 13th. Unfortunately, it's a licensed game so the automatic rule kicks in that says it will stink, but you never know. In the meantime, we have our beloved Jam City Roller Girls to play.

* * *

Nicki Minaj on double standards:


I'm not really a fan of her work, but I'm totally a fan of everything she's saying here because it's true. And tiring. And annoying. I could go on at length but I'm not really in the mood.

* * *

Punks Not Dad has a video out for their song "Monkey Boots", featuring a war between the Monkey Bootz gang and the "Ant Peeple". 80s references coming at you thick and fast.


pretty pretty patterns:


My pinterest is full of vintage patterns I find and like and collect virtually (because I have too many in real life!). Here's a few favorites from this week:


Amazing early 1950s suit. If I was CEO of Something, I would totally want the black one.


Super-cute 1940s dress. Although those scallops look like they'd be a total pain to sew.


Check out that amazing bodice. Amazing bodices. They're both amazing.

horror of the week:

When I'm looking for pretty patterns, I sometimes find patterns that are...not. To save and share them I throw them up (har har) on tumblr at Patterns Of Horror. Here's my pick of the week:


It wasn't really the worst, but it was the funniest.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

92 degrees and climbing

Been trying to finish off a handful of posts but it's just TOO DARN HOT.


Yow. It's a scorcher.

Monday, July 2, 2012

Heroes 2012 belated wrap-up

So somehow we once again took almost no photos! But we've got a few, starting with this one from somewhere on US-85, probably in NC. Pulled off to get gas and this...business establishment...was across the street. There was no sign to indicate what this place was. All we know for sure is they have an ALL GIRL STAFF!

all girl staff
All Girl Staff.

We got in late Thursday and didn't do anything, but Friday we got up and had our table set up in plenty of time. We had a great day -- probably the best of the whole weekend, weirdly enough. To add to the greatness, our tables were adjacent to our Haus of Cute pals, Stephanie Buscema and Rob Harrigan so we got to chat with them on and off all weekend. And best of all, our BFFs Vivien and Dusty Hoffpauir arrived that afternoon to help us out all weekend (ha! didn't know you were doing that, did you?!) and join in on the fun. For dinner, Dusty found us the amazing King's Kitchen, where I can totally recommend any of the "Meat and Three" plates but have to warn you that you should plan on splitting dessert if you don't want to go into sugar shock.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and Evan headed off to the annual Drink & Draw fundraiser:

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Evan with Roger Langridge at the Drink & Draw; Photo by Heather Mobley Peager
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Yo! Photo by Heather Mobley Peager

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Love them with money! Photo by Heather Mobley Peager
Saturday was the big day at the con, the whole Stan Lee shebang was going on all day. The hall was so crowded I actually think it may have hurt people's table sales, because attendees could barely get around! Still a good day though; and Emily "cosplayed" for the very first time (pretty sure it wasn't the last!) -- she was a sort of Golden Age Wonder Woman as interpreted by the two of us.

wonder girl!
My little Wonder Girl!

I made it a wearable dress so that it would be reusable -- the eagle is from a 1978 Simplicity costume pattern I have, appliqued in felt onto a basic bodice with a circle skirt added. She had matching bike shorts on underneath and a set of accessories made from glitter craft foam. It was a big day for her, a good friend of hers was visiting and they had a good time running around the con. And thanks to her friend's mom (who is my friend!) Emily got sketches on her own for the very first time! A new Owly from Andy Runton, and a sketch of Marceline (from Adventure Time) from the very kind Jason Horn.

Dinner Saturday was at the excellent Diamond, which is apparently a sort of resurrection of the Penguin, which we'd been to in past years. Whatever the deal is, the menu was the same and the food was amazing. Got back to the Westin at the tail end of the art auction and ran into the amazing Paige Pumphrey (who I met last year) and her husband Phil -- she introduced us all to her friends Maria Danalakis  and Fenny  and fun was had by all until after midnight. Ahem. Luckily for me my kid is normally up that late.

Sunday was the "quiet day" and to be honest, at that point we'd been so busy all weekend it was beginning to all kind of blur.

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Evan signing a book, Emily probably playing Scribblenauts. Photo by Heather Mobley Peager
I did get a chance at the very end of the show to run over to the booth Paige and her friends had -- Fenny had left but I did scoop up some awesome stuff from Paige and Maria:

maria
Adorable pocket mirror from Maria Danalakis

paigey
Assorted Paigey goods

witches
cute witch earrings from Paigey! The frames reminded me of Locket Kiddles!

Incredibly, even though I was right next to Stephanie all weekend I never picked up any of her seriously cute stuff --  but the totes, notebooks and jewelry are up in her shop now, do yourself a favor and check it out!

Finally the show was over and booths and tables started coming down. We've been going to Heroes for several years now and I think this was the best show yet -- Heroes is always a great con, totally focused on comics and art and the friendliest con you'll ever go to -- but this year took top honors. Even Emily did well -- she ended up selling 7 of her floral hairpin sets!!

And the official end-of con gathering was great fun as well, while I was outside hanging with the rest of the Retro Girl Gang Evan and our girl were inside having a great time too; luckily Heather Mobley Peager caught the moment on film:

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Evan and Roger chat while Emily polishes off Mickey Mouse Vol 3; Photo by Heather Mobley Peager
Thanks again to everyone who makes HeroesCon so awesome, from the con and amongst the fans, and we'll see you next year! (And special thanks to Heather Mobley Peager for letting me use some of her excellent con photos!)
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