Gloomy Sunday

[cleolinda]

A quick linkspam so as not to fall behind:

Ex-Calif. bookkeeper accused of embezzling $10M. Change "shoes" to "lingerie" and throw in a hitchhiker, and you've pretty much got Stephen King's "Mute" there. Damn.

Shane Watson: "Why Do Women Feel Useless?" [Age Rage]. This is so me, with the arbitrary list of goals I did not accomplish before I turned thirty last year, and therefore my life is useless, etc. I honestly think that if I had accomplished those goals, I would have thought of other things I hadn't done just so I could feel sufficiently bad about myself.

Why Do We Destroy Our Barbie Dolls? Maybe I was just deficient in mischief as a child, but I never, ever mutilated my toys. What I really liked to do was change everyone's clothes and set up some kind of scene--I had so many plastic jibbly bits, food and drinks and dishes and makeup and appliances and accessories and pets, so I'd arrange everything just so (sometimes Barbie was having Ken over to the Dream House for a date; other times she might escape from a crazed rival or break back in as a cat burglar), and then I'd assemble the dolls in question and... kind of not know what to do next. You know, because I had set up this elaborate scene, that was the fun part, and as I got older, I felt stupid actually holding the dolls and pretending they were talking or fighting or whatever. So... basically my idea of play as a child was set decorating. Hm.

And... 20-25 years later, I... added a camera. Yeah.

(Well, since we're here, I'll just say that I do think that retaining a childlike sense of play and whimsy has value. I mean, yes, you want to be able to function as an adult the majority of the time. But there's something about being able to think like a child--well, it helps you relate to actual children, for one, but I also feel like it opens up your problem-solving skills, your flexibility, your sense of invention. For kids, anything is possible--a shoebox can be a racecar; it doesn't have to look anything like a car or even have wheels as long as you can slide it across the floor. And... I really don't remember where I was going with this now. Um. Well, my point is, I guess, that writing about dolls the last few months has made me feel more open and creative in general. And silly. Really, really silly.)

'Moonlight' Star Guests on 'Criminal Minds.'

Julia Roberts: Clive Owen is no George Clooney Prankster.

Images: Check This Out: Mysterious 'Order of Chaos' Poster; The first official still from Keira Knightley's 'Last Night'; Coco avant Chanel (2009); The Limits of Control (2009); The Boat That Rocked (2009).

Trailers and clips: 'Quantum of Solace' Blu-ray/DVD Trailer Now Online; New Spanish Trailer for ‘Broken Embraces’; Official Trailer for John Crowley's 'Is Anybody There'?

trailer_spot: Watchmen credits, Up, Broken Embraces, Merry Gentleman.

'Watchmen' takes box office lead; ‘Watchmen’ Manages Only $55.6 Million (I know that people were predicting $70M+, and yet... man, I wish I had "only" 55 million dollars); 'Watchmen': Which actor will become the biggest star?; EXCLUSIVE: Zack Snyder Explains His Favorite Additions & Subtractions From ‘Watchmen’ Comic; 9 Comics To Follow Watchmen; Buy This: Super Saucy 'Watchmen' Costumes. And somewhere, Alan Moore dies a little more inside.

Official Wolverine Site Updated.

Rupert Grint Talks Deathly Hallows Epilogue and Script; Dung Gone It! More Rumblings on Deathly Hallows Casting for a Smelly, Sneaky Thief.

Updates on Spielberg and Jackson's 'Adventures of Tintin.'

Tracy Jordan and Martin Lawrence Join 'Death at a Funeral' Remake. Yeah. Pretty much everything after and including this headline fills me with despair.

Streisand And Hoffman To Return For ‘Little Fockers’? Writer Says He Wants Them All Back.

Want to Watch 'The Cell 2'?

Marmaduke Coming to Theaters--If He'll Ever Get Off His Owner's Lap!

"HE'S SO AWESOME AND CANADIAN!" or, the worst movie advertising ever.

Jonas Brothers film voted worst movie of all time. Okay, this one fills me with something more like glee.

Vampire Lincoln Loves The Ladies, A Filthy Kaiju And Inhabited Island 2 [Cult Movie Worship].

Comments

[emmaorgana.livejournal.com]

I tried to dye my Barbies' hair with Kool-aid once. It didn't work so well. My dad was angry.

Then I cut all their hair short and made another mess. My dad was pretty angry about that too, but more because there was Barbie hair everywhere, not that i had cut it. I think he was pretty amused that all my Barbies had buzz cuts and smelled like sugar-drink.

Barbie stuff

[sleonhardt.livejournal.com]

I am about 10 years older than 30 :). Anyway, my parents were too much of cheapskates to get me a real Barbie so...I had the Sunshine family. It was a knockoff Barbie, Ken and KIDS! They had a house or a tent or something. I'm sure you can probably buy one, in the box, on ebay. Of course, mine is gone! They still made for some nice make-believe though.

[amberdulen.livejournal.com]

I regularly stuck tacks in my Jem doll.

She was pleasantly rubbery, and I was a little sadomasochist.

[sushixpack.livejournal.com]

I, too, am feeling quite melancholy today. As well as ill, nngh.

That lolcat made me lol, though :D

[melpemone.livejournal.com]

Maybe I was just deficient in mischief as a child, but I never, ever mutilated my toys.

Me either. My Barbies and My Little Ponys and junk stayed in mint condition in all the years I had them, and didn't get so much as a tangled hair until my sisters inherited them. I didn't even know Barbie's legs could bend until a friend's little sister cracked the knees on one of mine. Hell, even my green army men staged ground assaults in an orderly fashion. So either you're not weird, or we're both weird. :)

[madripoor-rose.livejournal.com]

I never broke my barbies. I may have given one a haircut once. I remember a lot of cocktail sword sword fights. And stuffing wadded kleenex under the dress to make them pregnant.

There's nothing wrong with whimsy and being silly. Insert psychobabble about inner child and playing as hard as you work.

[robinmc.livejournal.com]

I may have given one a haircut once.

I think I did that too. I kept waiting for her hair to grow back.

[sushixpack.livejournal.com]

Oh, the excitement of destroying a doll. When I was little I would chew on my Barbie's feet, and one time I tried to give my American Girl Doll some eye make-up... with a Sharpie. Both lids ended up completely black, and then it just scared the shit out of me.

It looked like it had pitch-black eyes that just stared at you when they were actually closed *shudder*

[supersyncspaz7.livejournal.com]

I had a cousin who would chew the toes off of Barbies. And I knew a girl who cut off all of her Samantha's hair and I remember being horrified, because I couldn't fathom doing the same to either of my American Girl dolls.

[smu.livejournal.com]

RE: Order of Chaos poster. Awesome poster, but dueling lawyers? Is Phoenix Wright being made into a movie? :D

I also remember epic battles between my My Little Ponies and my Barbies. I used to make the Barbie's be French and I could bring them to the "gullitone" (a tissue box on it's side) and behead them, as the ponies looked on. My father let me watch too much Discovery Channel as a child.

[shiraz_wine]

Your description of playing with your Barbies sort of sounds like your writing process with Black Ribbon.

[robinmc.livejournal.com]

'Watchmen': Which actor will become the biggest star?

I'm kinda hoping it's Carla Gugino. I've been a fan of hers since Son-In-Law. I feel like she keeps almost happening. She deserves it.

[chrryblssmninja.livejournal.com]

Carla Gugino!

[sabra-n.livejournal.com]

You know, because I had set up this elaborate scene, that was the fun part, and as I got older, I felt stupid actually holding the dolls and pretending they were talking or fighting or whatever. So... basically my idea of play as a child was set decorating. Hm.

Me too! I actually didn't realize until I went to friends' houses that you could cut Barbie hair and make them have arguments and stuff.

[michellerz.livejournal.com]

Same here!!

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

The advertising for One Week made me sad and I've never even heard of the movie. And the tiny way they have "YouTube comments" added down there at the bottom makes me think they're being serious.

[quitesometime.livejournal.com]

wondering if you've seen this? (http://community.livejournal.com/watchdom/125379.html#cutid1)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Oh WOW.

[frenchmoodle.livejournal.com]

My brother pulled my barbie's head off.

[lupegarou.livejournal.com]

my younger cousin once wanted to play with the one that i had, so she grabbed it by the hair and ripped the head off.

...i still don't think i forgive her.

[situveuxmoi.livejournal.com]

Oh Barbie.

I never thought she was a bad role model. Mostly because I knew she was a toy and that's not what toys are for.

All of my barbies went on elaborate trips around the living room and were sometimes my crash dummies when I wanted to attempt a parachute design with a hankie. Other than that, I still have all of mine in good condition.

(With the exception of Belle. My sister popped her head off very soon after I got her. She still owes me a new one)

[wolfsilveroak.livejournal.com]

Why Do We Destroy Our Barbie Dolls?

I... buried mine in the backyard with the Matchbox cars.}:/



I am so tired of remakes.

[aria624.livejournal.com]

I did that too, set up elaborate Barbie scenarios and then didn't really play them out. Like, I'd spent an hour setting up who was what character, what their backstory was, who was cheating on who with who else, and which three different girls wanted in Ken's pants (my Barbies had epic soap opera lives, lemme tell you.) Then I'd get them all in proper costume and setup, and then, after an hour and a half of just getting everything ready, I'd act out the ENTIRE story in like, twenty minutes.

I never exactly "mutilated" my dolls either, I didn't cut their hair although I tried every way to style it how I wanted. I did, however, discover that Crayola washable fine point markers make excellent Barbie makeup. This gave new levels of awesome to my resident Trampy Barbie, who always wanted to steal Ken away from regular Barbie or Belle, whoever was the hero of my current story. Crayola markers were awesome though, but I learned the hard way not to get them on the unpainted soft parts, after a Halloween party where Ken went dressed up as a girl. He had permanent lip lines for the rest of his sad little life.

trailer trash barbie

[sleonhardt.livejournal.com]

Did you all ever get the email with the pics of trailer trash barbie? You could insert your own city if you wanted i.e. "Franklin Barbie"

[dragonzair.livejournal.com]

Oh, God, Joshua Jackson is involved with that.

Oh, well. I always preferred Charlie in Fringe anyway :)

LOL JO BROS. AHAHAH.

[himhilien.livejournal.com]

I cut the hair of some of my Barbie dolls and was disappointed when it didn't grow back. I also had them do some questionable things. *cough* Though most of the time I had them play house.

Thanks for the link to the download for the opening to Watchmen.

I really don't get a vibe of anyone really breaking out from the cast but if anyone, it'll probably be JDM.

[moogleybacon.livejournal.com]

"I also had them do some questionable things."

When I read that, the Barenaked Ladies song Jane immediately popped into my head. "When she was three, her barbies always did it on the first date/Now she's with me, there's never any need for them to demonstrate~"
*cough* >_>

[dianesoprano.livejournal.com]

I was also into creating Barbie tableaux. I had tons of dolls and furniture and clothes, and a set of shelves that was exactly the right size for a six-room dream house. When they came out with Disney Princess dolls, I created scenes from Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella. The best part was digging up stuff that would work for carpets and wallpaper. I would haunt the discount bins for fabric scraps and gift wrap that could be used in the displays for floor and wall coverings.

[sienamystic.livejournal.com]

I only had a few Barbies, and was mostly bored with them, but I did similar stuff with my extensive My Little Pony collection. Set things up just-so and then not quite know what to do.

On the other hand, every night my stuffed animals were required to put on a variety show for me. Mostly singing, but occasionally they did short skits.

[sirinde.livejournal.com]

OMG your icon!

Older men in EYELINER ftw.

[schmoo999.livejournal.com]

I never destroyed my Barbies, my little brother did that.

Also Vampire Lincoln is awesome. Just awesome. lol.
and Watchmen doing only 55 million, don't think that is too shabby since I know it is not everyone's cup of tea.

[sirius20-81.livejournal.com]

what's funny with the watchmen only taking in 55 million, is if you take the reported numbers for the other 9 movies in the top 10 this week and add them together, they only made ~41 million... combined.

[leoprincess.livejournal.com]

Never had a Barbie. My mother refused to let one into the house.

[moogleybacon.livejournal.com]

LOL

If I ever became a mother, I'd probably do that, too. xD

Also, <3 your icon. :)

[lauconfidential.livejournal.com]

i was a decorator rather than destroyer as well. id set up the house and the clothes for an hour, and then get bored when it actually came to playing with the dolls.

[mrs-bruin.livejournal.com]

Just before I turned 30, at a time I was feeling quite lost, I found this in my horoscope:

Watch out for people moving at a fast pace and get out of their way. Just because they seem like they know the answers about the big questions in life doesn't mean they really do. Even if they do, it doesn't mean that the answers for them are the answers for you. It's important to go at your own pace in figuring things out. Any search for greater meaning has to start and end within you. Follow a path that is just your own.

I thought it was amazingly helpful in putting things in perspective.

Also, I hope feeling silly is a good thing for you, because I LOVE SLOD so much, and I think it makes you awesome.

Also, also, currently watching Harry Potter movies on ABC Family Channel and giggling everytime I see a scene that reminds me of your m15m parodies. "shire...baggins" hee. And squeeing when I see Cedric.

[lyricalnights.livejournal.com]

A friend of my mother's with slightly older children gave me and my sister the three story barbie townhouse with a elevator you pulled up with a string.

I think it took us two days to start propping barbies half-inside the elevator and yanking full-tilt on the elevator string, which would launch them into the wild blue yonder when it hit the top of the house. We competed for distance. =)