Cleolinda everywhere

So. Emily (foresthouse) came to visit for a few days and we ate our way through the restaurants of Homewood (the new Which Wich was hands down our favorite, although Dave's Pizza was also excellent) (although my favorite Chinese restaurant, the Dragon, CLOSED FOREVER the day after we had lunch there), and then we watched The Hunger Games while she sewed on her DragonCon costumes and OMG PROMETHEUS ON THE HOTEL TV BECAUSE THAT IS A THING THEY ACTUALLY DO

( YEAH IT IS )

I was mostly clappy-hands because now she can read Prometheus in Fifteen Minutes (I refrained from doing a live recitation of it) AND THEN THEY EVEN COMPED OUR RIDICULOUSLY PRICED MOVIES BECAUSE HOTEL ROOMS ARE THE BEST and we also saw The Bourne Legacy in an actual movie theater and slept a lot and also she taught me how to play pool. And then I went home, promptly came down with a terrible sore throat in the middle of last night which turned into a chest cold and a twisted knee because... somehow. However, I interrupt my death blarg because there is something you need to see.

@Tonnerdoll: The Fall Holiday Release is NOW LIVE!! Place your pre orders now and get FREE SHIPPING!!






( YOU GUYS. YOUUUU GUYYYYYS )


Then that thing happened where you are kind of run-on-sentence giddy and recovering from fun but then something serious happens and you are somewhat at sea with the record-needle-scratch suddenness of the tone change. My stepfather had had some health issues that I didn't mention, and spent a few days in the hospital several weeks ago. It's worse now, and he's going to have to have a fairly major surgery next week--stomach issues, not cancer or anything, but still a little scary. People usually give me the side-eye when they realize I don't live on my own, but at least I'll be here to help take care of him when he gets home. He's also just been laid off from work ("displaced" is the term they use nowadays) so... taking time off isn't an issue, at least...? I guess. I'm in "clinging to fun that was had in order to ward off anxiety" mode at this point. Things are not great, but we will be okay. I've had a lot of health and money issues to deal with for... well, a long time now. Several months, maybe a year or longer, honestly. Hence the infrequency of LJ entries, and why some of the ongoing series-type posts just... stopped. I'm going to try to post more, maybe start with more Varney the Vampire for the tip jar, put up an e-book of the Twilight book entries, annotate some more Fifteen Minutes(es), I don't know. We'll see. Also, I haven't done it yet, but I'm going to have to turn on ads here on LJ. It is what it is, I guess. You do what you can, and try to keep your chin up as you do it.


ETA: Ah, my stepfather's come back from the doctor; it looks like he'll have to have a CAT scan to be sure, but not surgery now. So we've got that going for us.

I have a ton of catching up to do, but I slipped into a research/rewrite/productivity rabbit hole and didn't want to come out for a few days. So, here is several days' worth of linkspam, although I tried to stick to the essentials: ( Read more... )


I cut several news items for time (space?), but I'll see if I can't work them into the next spam, assuming one happens in a timely fashion.

The linkspam is up a bit later than I had planned, but I had some very important business today.

@cleolinda: House of Bark CBO at a business breakfast http://twitpic.com/5simcd

@cleolinda: BARK BARK BARK RT @LJmysticowl: Chief Barking Officer?




( Read more... )

Huh. I had no idea I hadn't posted in more than a week.

1) So... here's Tonner Jasper. Or rather, the page seems to have gone up too early and is now down. (I think the Toy Fair 2011 reveal is supposed to be on Monday.) Too bad I'd left the "click for larger image" tab open! MOO HA HA.

( Read more... )


2) I am feeling a lot better, although still busy and kind of winter-sluggish.

@cleolinda: After three days of fresh fruit intake, I feel much better. Maybe this whole time the Death Blarg was scurvy...?

@cleolinda: Yarrrr, we be at snow for three months, unable to reach the produce aisle. Two days ago, the salty dogs raided a Super Bowl parrrrty.

@cleolinda: Strangely, no one missed the fruit plate. Arrrrrrrr.

What I have been doing with my Feel-Bad Down-Time, besides feeling snerfy and/or lying in a quasi-tubercular cold-medicine coma, is reading. (Mostly research, a few classics, a new YA.) Writing is also going slowly but well. I was drafting a big "let's discuss all these books" post, but then I realized I ought to dole it out a couple of books at a time. And also, we need some more Varney.


3) I also saw True Grit on Sunday, but didn't mention it because--well, the Super Bowl. Which I spent curled up in my room reading Victorian vampire stories, but I figured no one else would be around. Feel free to discuss here if you want; I didn't really know what to say afterwards. The last fifteen minutes or so take the movie beyond what I had expected, and it stuck with me for a couple of days afterwards. I don't know. Oh, except that I officially endorse Hailee Steinfeld for Katniss in The Hunger Games.


4) Also, this:

omg so tired. Everyone's gone now, though, so I can have a timeout or a nap or something. My meds getting screwed up has made me slightly hysterical--well, let me rewind that. The night I mentioned the medication problems, I managed to get my doctor on the phone, and while she never addressed why she refused authorization, she sounded like nothing was behind that and she was eager to get things straightened out for me and cognizant of me not having any Lamictal being a Bad Scene. So... I don't know what kind of misunderstanding happened, and I kind of don't care. But a couple of days' disruption has thrown me off enough that I've felt like crying all day, not even for any reason. Like, intellectually, I feel fine, but I have this physical sensation of distress. It's weird. I'm just saying, I'm glad to have some alone time now.

(By the way, I ended up posting the Secret Life of Dolls entry last night.)

MORE IMPORTANTLY. I've got about as many character doubles as I could ever possibly handle, and I love my little Toy Biz Galadriel, so this is strictly off-story, but... ( IT'S... BEAUTIFUL )


Also: SNOW. ( Read more... )

If we've had a white Christmas before, I don't remember when it was. Five or six hours of it now, falling pretty thick and fast... and only just now starting to stick.

So, if applicable: what was your favorite Christmas present?

... is a combination of options I mentioned in the previous entry, having weighed various considerations and y'all's feedback, etc. What I'm going to try is this:

1) Continue posting things, like the suggested Varney commentary, in smaller increments, and for free. That way, everyone gets to read it, and I continue to benefit from any incoming traffic I get from people recommending things to others. If this turns out to not be the best idea, I can always switch to a pay-only model.

2) When we've got a good bit of content accumulated--like, say, Volume 1 of Varney--I'll put it up as an e-book/bound book to buy at Lulu, if anyone wants that. Kind of like a trade paperback in comics. I may do that for a couple of other things as well; people said they wanted to buy hard copies of the Twilight entries.

3) I'm trying to revive the Cafe Press store; we're working on some designs. One of the things I used to do was put up a number of little things--stickers, magnets--so I would get the markup but you could afford a larger variety of designs. I feel kind of weird to think that "Cleolinda Industries" is getting to be less and less of an offhand joke, but... I don't know. Most people probably think I'm crazy for not doing this sooner.

And finally: it only took me seven years to do it, but voila: a tip jar.

So. Um. Here is a magical dollhouse. Thank you for your time.





Oh! I nearly forgot. Tonner just got the Marvel license. This should be interesting.

The unifying theme of the day: interviews.

@cleolinda: Talking to a reporter later today about SOMETHING OTHER THAN TWILIGHT. #excite

@cleolinda: If you can't get someone of actual Potter importance, I am available for comments, interviews, birthdays and bar mitzvahs.

( Wait, you mean there are OTHER topics of conversation? )


Speaking of Tonner dolls, I have good and bad news for you guys, or at least bad for the Doctor Who and Firefly fans: Robert Tonner has had a three-part Q&A on Facebook. ( Read more... )

Meanwhile, I'm going to Midnight Harry Potter tonight, so I am trying to get some sleep in, and failing miserably. We'll have a discussion entry this weekend, once people have had a couple of days to see it. That said, counter-programming for Saturday is pretty much ready to go.

Okay. Secret Life. The entry coding is done, but I am still working on pictures, because honestly, some of these are hard to set up (and still look believable), and I'm having to choose just two or three of the simpler ones to pull off. However, at least one of the pictures is unspeakably epic and I think you will enjoy it.

Meanwhile, the read-through is properly updated--even the briefest mentions from the early days now have entries For Your Convenience. You will probably want to revisit Shelf to the Future and A Very Shelfy Christmas I, if nothing else, because the next entry is the second part of Christmas, because yes, I am nine months behind. This does, however, allow me to tell the story in past tense now, which may make the narrative a bit--richer?--so we will just deal with it.

However, one of the problems with the nine-month lag is that a number of y'all have only just joined us this year, and thus you have not the slightest idea what I am talking about. The Secret Life of Dolls is the saga of my doll collection, their shenanigans, and their beleaguered owner (me). It even has its own TV Tropes page. ("Guilty Pleasures: Oh god is it this. A soap opera played by dolls. Multiple primary characters are from Twilight. And this male troper CAN'T STOP READING IT.") There are also, however, a large number of Lord of the Rings dolls, an Elizabeth Swann, an Anna Valerious, a Lyra and a Serafina, two Ellowynes, and I am still probably forgetting someone. We are also now up to three new characters who will be appearing as soon as I can bring them in--one of them was supposed to debut last August, but the Compocalypse happened, etc. One of the three, however, will not be a main character, and I expect will only make a few minor appearances, or otherwise--well, let's just say it would be counter-productive to my goal of doing more with the original group of dolls.

What I would like to ask of y'all, however, is to explain in the comments, if you would, to the newer people why they would want to read it. Because I've had a number of people tell me they just skipped the doll entries on purpose, because, you know... dolls... but eventually broke down and started reading, and discovered that it wasn't what they expected. Which is why I need y'all to explain this (if you would), because it's not something you can really take my word for. I feel really conceited asking you to do this, but I sound completely delusional when I try to explain it. So.

Meanwhile:

YOU GUYS

NOEL CRUZ FIXED THE ALICE DOLL

THIS IS WHAT ALICE WAS SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE, OKAY ( omg )

I didn't get shit done today in the work department, but: TONNER ALICE DOES COME WITH THE LITTLE GREY CHOKER! ALL IS FORGIVEN. Well, a lot is forgiven. I can mess with her hair; I can't make tiny dumbass doll heraldic crests.

(I think Alice, particularly Alice the doll, has become completely divorced in my mind from Twilight. Shit, I think pretty much all the Twilight characters in The Secret Life of Dolls have nothing to do with Actual Twilight in my mind. It's a coping mechanism, people.)

(There is a new Secret Life coming soon, once I work some logistics out. No, really this time. Sadly, we're still on... Christmas... but I think you'll like the presents they get. We're working up to one of the most epic things that has ever happened, which is what's hanging me up to an extent.)

Meanwhile, Tonner's Zoe doll from Firefly is up. I have to say, it actually looks good.

Linkspam! ( We may have a Hobbit ) 

We here at Casa de Cleo are all cranky just now, because my mother had a really terrible day working-at-home on Friday that involved a lot of wailing "WHY ARE THEY SO STUPID" into her phone for about four hours straight; my stepfather has split his tooth in half (but has no idea how), and there's a lot of pain and swelling; and Friday the 13th basically shat on my head like an incontinent pigeon, but without any of the "luck" that supposedly brings.

However, no matter what happens to us, we still don't have it as bad as Edward Fashion Cat.





My first reaction to this was to scream and close the browser (this is my reaction to about 65% of links people send me). Then I opened it again (this is my reaction to about 83% of that 65%) and laughed my ass off. I want to feel sorry for this cat, but--look at him work that shit! Please.

However, the longer I laughed looked at it, the more questions I had. How does one measure a cat for a tiny jacket, and how many people die in the process? How does one keep a (rather amazing) wig on its head? Where does one buy wigs for cats?

Over the next 24 hours, I was able to answer at least two of these questions: ( ETA: It got worse )


Speaking of Tonners and Twilight, Alice Dollen starts shipping on Monday (8/16). Alice Dollen is not shipping to me on 8/16, but maybe I can get her for Christmas. My point is, Tonner Alices are now at large in the world, or will be next week.

@Ceilidhann: @cleolinda Does the Tonner Alice try and dress you up instead of the other way round?

There's only one way to find out.