Friends

Yet another cheap off brand find! I wish i was shorter just so it wouldn't look SO ero on me lol, i plan on adding a ruffle once i get some trim or lace (for your reference i am 5' 9" or 169cm). Got this at hottopic for 20.00 because the zipper was broken. It's new and is about 40.00. The lace on the underskirt is not the worst i have encountered. It IS rachel, but its soft and mimics net lace very well. The dress is fully lined with side zipper entry, made from a decent cotton blend, has a good weight to it. I look like hell b/c its 4 am here but i wanted to share!
Edit: That is dot tulle on the top and it has waist ties.



(i seriously need to add that ruffle ASAP -_-;)

as soon as the hottopic website is back up i'll link it.

Why yes, that IS Sonic the Hedgehog's pal Tails menacing a Warhammer 40K Space Marine with a "chainsaw sword" while Frank Zappa saunters by in the background with a disapproving look on his face. What of it?



Bunches more, including one (1) image of two (2) David Byrnes, in the COMMISSIONS GALLERY. That place is getting to be the coolest gallery on my site, actually... If only my whole professional life could be nothing but Serenity Rose and peculiar commissions.

If you'd like to request your OWN rendering of Frank Zappa (or anything else) send your angry demands to SERENITY@HEARTSHAPEDSKULL.COM. The base price is $50, and $30 for each additional character on the same page. Shipping is all kinds of free within the U.S., and a mere $3 to parts beyond.

I probably won't be able to dig into any new commissions until around December 1st, so this is pretty much THE call for CHRISTMAS REQUESTS right here... And I already have a few folks in the queue, so if you were hoping for a sketch of mine to wad up in somebody's stocking this year, NOW IS YOUR TIME!

HERE ARE SUPERHEROES:



One of these guys is called "Wiccan." Not to be confused with Brendan "BAD ASS" Li's immortal character of the same name. (COMIX: Not just for kids anymore!)

Has anyone ever purchased anything of the Chinese brand DollscroPs?

You can get their goods through qcute- qcute.livejournal.com/tag/dollscrops
I'm wondering of the general quality of the items. Pictures?

PMX weekend! I don't have many pictures from the first and last day, but I have many from Saturday, the Wonderland Tea Party day. Sorry if I missed you, I was trying to get snaps of everyone, but there were so many lolitas!
( Careful! Lots and lots of BIG pictures... )
note: there's just a few cosplay pictures near the end that I really like.

i sew and have been meaning to do a full loli dress for a while now
(something sweet and not too OTT)

( look! )

I ordered the "Pink Deer Necklace" from Cute☆Plush recently.



Please see the review here!

Mr. Yan is having another one of his modeling contests! :D Is anyone going to sign up this time? Remember, FREE romantic dinner!

Since, the theme for this month is music, I was curious to know what instruments work well with lolita and what don't.

For me, I see 5 particular instruments that work well:
1. Violin
2. Flute
3. Piano
4. Harp
5. Clarinet

The five instruments that don't work (in my opinion):
1. Sousaphone (it's just too big and would mess with the lace)
2. Tuba
3. Baritone Saxophone (I play this, and the thing is 3x bigger then an Alto Saxophone..I don't think it would work =/)

4.Timpani

5. Double Bass (or String Bass, same instrument different name)

What's your 5 best/worst instruments that can or can't work with lolita?

(Edit: I mean instruments that are easy or hard to play if you were going to have a concert or something. I'm in a school band so I've seen a lot of clothing that will never work when playing an instrument. i.e. bulging boobs when wearing a low-cut shirt and playing saxophone)

Yeah, I realize I haven't updated this last week, like I usually do... these past few weeks haven't been so super (the most impersonal -- meaning, the only thing I'm really willing to share here -- being that mere hours before Halloween, my brother broke his leg and a few days later needed to go into surgery, which is just splendid. That's life, I suppose. :/), so I just didn't quite know what to write, but I'm back and with the promise that I might just update this thing more often. *hears one huge, collective groan*

No, but anyways, it's just been *great*, in the most sarcastic way possible, of course. And you know what, I don't like birthdays, and this is starting to get more and more obvious as each one passes by. Is that a sign that you're growing up, or something, because right now, I can't even remember when I actually looked forward to these things, *sighs* but anyhow....

Okay, all bitterness is aside now and all is done and over with. Yay! There was a Russian film festival going on this past weekend, which I really wanted to go to, since I just want to go to the movies so badly... but no, I check the website Thursday evening and click on the one promising movie (the brand new Anna Karenina movie, which no, I didn't know it existed, but still, I want, HAVE TO see it!! *_____*), only to find the one screening was at 7:00pm. On Thursday. Wtf, whyyyyyyyyy? It was a sad, sad moment for me, and so that was the end of that plan. ;__;

And as an end note, a few of you may have noticed that my rotation hasn't been updated recently, and that's pretty much because I finally, unceremoniously came to the decision a few weeks ago that it's going on indefinite hiatus, pretty much entirely because I want it to. The request to remove a link scared me into realizing that I don't want anything forcefully deleted or anything, so I'm giving it a (much needed, desired) rest. Erm, yeah, the links will remain until they, if, they expire, but I might change the font colour to black, so it's hidden and only those who know of their existence will be able to access them, but I don't know yet... right now, I'm not in the mood to put so much effort into it. :P

And omg, can it be? Not a single real 'smiley' here... that has to be remedied asap. ^__^v

I just got a good amount of Bodyline stuff today, so I thought I'd do a review!
(Fake-Cut to my blog!)

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/11/for-those-who-read-this-blog-for.html

(Serena Altschul and some author in July, sitting on the trampoline after two days of interviews. None of which, oddly enough, were done on the trampoline.)

Mr. Neil,

I DVR'd yesterday's installment of Sunday Morning and after zipping through it back and forth multiple times cannot seem to find you, though the description indicated the correct episode. Was it bumped to next week? Have you been sucked into an alternate Neil-less universe?

A concerned reader,
Mary

I'm afraid it was bumped by the Fort Hood Massacre.

I checked: The profile CBS did of me is apparently still going out, probably some time in December, although no-one seems certain when. I was told that we could help ensure that it is broadcast (and possibly make it come out sooner than December) if CBS think people would actually like to see it. Which means that if you do want to see it, you can help the process along if you write or email CBS and (politely) tell them so:

ADDRESS:
CBS News Sunday Morning
Box O (for Osgood)
524 West 57th St.
New York, NY 10019

E-MAIL: sundays@cbsnews.com

...
Dear Neil Gaiman, I ask for half-a-moment of your time (I would not presume to ask for more). This Spring 2010 I am teaching a Topics in Literature class on YOU at Winona State University (Eng 225: Neil Gaiman). Easy enough to select representative novel (American Gods), short stories (Fragile Things), children and YA (Graveyard Book), but here's the rub: I will likely only assign one Sandman graphic novel to students. I have been debating which is most representative, most worthy of inclusion, most amenable to class discussion and student scholarship. Then I thought I'd ask you. I know you suggest above that, for questions of this sort, we consider you a dead author, but I know you're not. When I came to a similar impasse about which of Ursula Le Guin's works to include in another class, she actually replied and offered her input. I extend the same offer to you: which of the Sandman volumes would you like to see on the syllabus?
Thank you for your time,
Nicholas Ozment, English Instructor
WSU

It's a hard one. I think if I were teaching I'd either go for Season of Mists or Fables and Reflections, because both of them have stuff to teach -- those nice chewy bits that people can like or dislike, argue with or discuss. I know a lot of teachers like to teach Dream Country because a) Midsummer Night's Dream won awards, and b) it's short and c) it has a script in the back. Your call. And good luck.

...

I mentioned recently that there were some beautiful new Polish and Russian book covers for my books that I'd seen at signings, which got me thinking. The International Cover gallery on this website is incredibly out of date.

It's at http://www.neilgaiman.com/p/Works/Books/International_Covers.

And though I get a lot of foreign editions in, and will at some point head down to the basement and rummage around and scan some (this week's mail brought the two-volume Japanese edition of Anansi Boys, on the cover of which Fat Charlie is not only Very White, but also Very Thin, and the complex Chinese - ie. Taiwan and Hong Kong - edition of The Graveyard Book) I thought that blog readers, being, as you are, all over the world, might be a better resource for knowing where to look for foreign covers.

Was your basement finished when you purchased your home or did you have it finished for your basement library? If you finished it yourself, how difficult was it? Also, I thought I saw a dehumidifier in one of the Photosynth pictures. Do you need one because of the books?

I'm asking because we have a full unfinished basement that we would like to have finished. We are running out of room for our books also. I don't think we don't have as many as you do though. :)

Any other suggestions for such a project would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
C.

No, when we got here the basement had a clay floor that puddled when it rained. We hired some nice builders and spent a lot of money finishing it, putting in drainage tiles, underfloor heating and all. There's a dehumidifier there in the summer and a humidifier in the winter, because after the first few years I noticed that binding glue and leather book covers were both cracking and flaking. There's now the equivalent of a large house in basement rooms beneath this house, filled with books and CDs and suchlike stuff.

And finally, a few photos from the China trip, taken by Ian Ford (or in one case, on his camera). Ian's a travel guide who now lives in China who helped organise my travels, and came along with me for part of the journey.

Amanda and I in the silk clothes that my publisher had given us as a thank you for coming, and because they are terrific.

I'm holding the Galaxy Award for this year, given to the foreign author most popular with Chinese reader-voters. This was my second year of winning it, so I have retired from the competition and said that they have to find a new favourite foreign author now.

Lego http://ping.fm/HqMV0

Recently the sales community has faced a rash of scammers and irresponsible sellers. Some of these sellers are new to the community, some of them are veterans with respectable reputations. Unfortunately, in business, your reputation is only as good as your first screw-up and even the most solid sellers have shown poor judgment. As an ex-moderator and someone who lived through MabetGate I've dealt with plenty of situations in which people with great reputations have proven themselves less than trustworthy or responsible. [Yes that isn't the best link, but alas, all relevant LJ posts in that matter have been purged or suspended.]

So with that in mind here are a few disclaimers for this post:
( Just To Be Clear... Disclaimers! )

On September 24, 2009, I placed an order to HMHM through a group order that mariko_senpai was running on egl_group_order. I paid the day of the order, and later increased my order to include some Rocking Horse shoes after mariko_senpai PMed me with an offer. I ordered from her service based on reputation, clarity of presentation, and the promptness of her responses. I expected the orders to take at least a month since I ordered a custom-sized item and I have had experience with large group orders before. But the length of time was not a concern for me.

On October 22, 2009 I received an email from mariko_senpai with others from the group order. The full text is below, but in her email she informed us that her business associate in China was withholding goods from her because of a payment dispute. I found the email to be a bit personal for my tastes, but I decided that it was probably made in good faith because she had a good reputation as a seller. I was also aware that she was having a problem previous to her email because on October 20, 2009 she emailed the moderation team with her concerns. The team banned him based on her emails and I agreed privately with the decision.

( First Email From One Day In Paradise )

On October 29, 2009, clobbao sent the moderation team some emails concerning his ban. In these emails he included some public posts that mariko_senpai made on a forum, flaming him.

( Mariko_senpai Starts A Flame War )

The gist of their dispute appears to be money. clobbao feels that mariko_senpai is not paying him enough for his work. mariko_senpai clearly started the fight and in a very unprofessional manner. I read the forum posts and after deliberating over the matter, I sent mariko_senpai a private email as follows on October 30, 2009:

( My email to mariko_senpai about her behavior as a seller #1 )

mariko_senpai responded to this email asking if I wanted a personal call from her. At this time she also sent her business associate my contact info asking him to update me personally. I didn't have the time to respond to her before she sent out the second email as well as a private response to my email on October 31, 2009:

( Second Email From One Day In Paradise and Private Response )

I will admit that I found this email a little passive-aggressive and I was also displeased with the fact that she'd clearly antagonized clobbao in public and now it appeared that she was covering her tracks. As the only one of her customers who had a complete picture, I sent her another email clarifying my position:

( My email to mariko_senpai about her behavior as a seller #2 and her response )

On November 4, 2009 she sent out the following email to the group:

( Third Email From One Day In Paradise--also Why Bother Posting All This? )

Are they any lolitas in upstate SC,  aka Greenville /Spartanburg  that want to start riding down to the Atlanta meet ups with us?

 I know it’s a long shot because I don’t think they are any lolitas left in Greenville  but,  I just thought I would ask.  Me and Leah may start going to some of them I figured they may be another loli in need of a meetup.


 

Hello everyone n.n

I would like to share with you some works of the last month :3
A lot of images ahead...!
( sewing ... )
Thanks for looking! :)

I'm in dire need of a new pair of winter boots, and I've got my eye on these babies. I can't seem to find any reviews on them, though! I'd appreciate any and all reviews on them, however lengthy or short.
( Cut for the disinterested. )