Mood:  not sure

Again, not much going on. Roads are driveable, even by a scaredy-cat like me. Got out for a few groceries, got back safely. Man, you'd think places like groceries would scrape their parking lots, since that seems to be the worst for remaining ice. You'd think they'd do that to encourage business, but maybe not.

I'm in a 'blah' place, not really interested in much. About the only excitement for the day was an envelope from Bella! Productions. Yeah, I finally got to the mailbox today ! Anyway, I was nervous for a second - I'd said some not-too-kind but very true things about their Room With A View here. Had they found my words and wished to take issue with them ?

Nope. I keep overestimating my importance, don't I ? No, they just wanted to sell me more stuff to go with RWaV, or the 'new improved' version. They also sent me two doll trading cards I have no idea what to do with. They're nice, but not exactly something Elphie would have hanging up in her bedroom.

Speaking of bedroom, I read a review for Butterick 4538 on http://sewing.patternreview.com/  today. This is an American Girl clone pattern set for bedding. Since the AGs are 18" tall, and Elphie's 16", sometimes the furniture patterns interest me. A reader to the pattern review site made it, and it looked quite nice. I was thinking of waiting for Hancock Fabrics to put it on sale, but then I looked at it again. I don't really need the pattern. The bed is a foamcore box with a head and footboard. Not that difficult. So I may take some time this weekend to experiment with the foamcore I bought last Halloween. 

I made Elphie a bed last year, but never really liked it. So I may just re-make it for fun. Heck, it's not like it'll be that difficult ! And it'd be nice to have something I like, not something I got tired of futzing with.  

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CST

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Mood:  incredulous

...it's less of a frustration now ! A few years ago, I was seriously in love with my first 'made for adult collectors' doll. It bothered me because I was in the midst of being a serious Barbie and sixth-scale collector, and this love object was much bigger. I wished like anything that this doll was Barbie sized, even said so on doll groups. Was informed that various people had written Mattel for years, wanting them to continue this line of dolls that would have included this oversized adoration, in sixth scale.

The doll was, of course, Elphie - Tonner's sixteen-inch 2005 Wicked Witch. A quick glimpse of the home page and the largest individual page will show you how that internal struggle went...and most of it's documented right here on the blog entries. I have never, for one nanosecond, regretted going out of scale and getting the doll of my dreams. Heck, even now, my thoughts are haunted by the 2007 brunette one. I have loved this doll for every moment. And I broke free of the 'I have to collect *only* Barbie size dolls, so that all my props and things will work and I won't have to buy numerous scales and store 'em.' line of thought. I must have eight or nine different scales of dolls, and I love 'em all. I owe a lot to our Elphie. 

So I was actually upset when, two years after Tonner's amazing success with their fantasy Wizard of Oz line, Mattel announces that they're gonna make essentially the same things they already have - and they're finally gonna make their own Wicked Witch, about a decade after they 'finished' their versions. In my book, they're trading on Tonner's success, but only after ignoring their customers for years. 

Apologies for the watermarked photos. They're the best I can find. Evidently, if the eBay sellers can be believed, despite the fact that this is a 'pink box' release (unlimited numbers, it's not designed to be adult-level collectable at all, and can be found at Wal-Mart and other retailers), it's difficult to find. Some have even labelled it as 'shortpacked', which I find difficult to believe, as these kinds of dolls are normally 'x to the shipping carton', all the same, not in a variety assortment like action figures.

Still, you can kind of see what Mattel's doing here. Considering their last Witch was a Margaret Hamilton porcelain, with the expected nose and chin you could cut cheese with, they're clearly not going that route with this prototype photo. Their Witch looks almost as soft and pensive as Tonner's, pretty but not stunningly beautiful...I was kind of surprised.

Well, I shouldn'ta been. If there's one thing that drove me away from Mattel and Barbie more than Elphie and other dolls, it's Mattel's own business practices. Back when I haunted barbiecollectables.com, before it became the Barbie Secret Circle club, we'd get 'sneak previews' of beautifully lit and photographed dolls that would soon be available. These would be greeted with gasps of delight and quick checks of available credit for pre-orders.

Then the actual doll would hit the shelves. (crickets chirp as mutterings from the villagers gradually grow louder) The stunning doll was not in evidence, but a not-at-all special doll would be deboxed to the growing anger and frustration of the multitudes. Mattel reps would always say 'Well, now, the prototypes are just that, kind of like a serving suggestion ! ' and folks stuck with it would try to make Blah doll into Amazing one, and the rest would flood the doll shops with returns. Meanwhile, the eBay sellers would continue to show the proto photos. Posts of 'never again will I buy a doll sight unseen' would sprinkle the message boards, and a few weeks later, more stunningly photographed dolls would surface...

Why am I getting into all this history now ?

Does this ranting make a bit more sense now ? Arrrgh. I confess, I was still interested in the 'Barbie Elphie', so when photos started to surface on eBay, I eagerly clicked. Yikes. In fairness, it could just be that the prototype photo has the hat pulled down too far to see these sharp-angled eyebrows, but still, there's a big d@mn difference between proto and production again.  

Even holding your finger over the production doll's brows doesn't improve her much, or get her any closer to the prototype photo. Her eyes are bugging, the makeup is blending in instead of enhancing her, and frankly, with the curled hair, she looks more like a Rhea Perlman (Cheers, Carla) doll than an Elphaba one. Is it just me, am I the only one who'd get upset if I ordered the doll on the left, but got the doll on the right ? If they'd just kept the soft expression...I can't tell if the doll's color is changed or not. It's kind of harsh in the auction photo I boosted. But that can be any number of exterior influences.

Anyway, at least I won't waste time looking for it. If it makes you happy, I'm glad, but honestly, I'm amazed all over again at Mattel. Wish it could have been in a good way. And I'm darn glad I'm not their customer anymore. They can blame Bratz and videogames all they want, but they're killing themselves a lot faster than any other toymaker possibly could.  

Posted by dorriebelle at 9:38 PM CST

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 9:53 AM CDT

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Mood:  not sure

Beloved Hubby took some time this morning and repaired six broken VHS tapes. Some got nibbled on by a repaired-last-month player, others had their cases broken, one simply snapped from age. He fixed them all - the really old one was so ancient, it required specialty tools. Ended up taking out the tape reels and trading them into a new case. Anyone here remember when one new VHS and Beta tape was $80.+, so you owned darn few of 'em ? And joining a video rental club cost $25. a month, plus rental fees...but you got three rentals a month, so it wasn't so bad. This one's a first-release of Electric Dreams, found in a Blockbuster Video bin for $5. The oversize box was so old, it was sun-bleached. As he put it, it's not a rare or especially fantastic film - but it makes us happy, so it deserves preservation. I'm glad. I've always liked it.

While it didn't require a cash outlay for the repairs, it did cost us a couple of  home-recorded tapes we already had, that were culled from the 'keep' pile earlier. Various pieces of boxes hit the trash can afterward, but we got our tapes back. Watched several of 'em today. Dearest Son was especially happy to get Aristocats back ! I was just happy. We got some old faves back, and it didn't cost anything but old blanks and some time. Elegant. 

I was thinking about his repair efforts as I read an article in an old Doll Reader. In addition to a photo essay of the special collector 35th Anniversary Barbie dolls (told you it was old) coming out, there was the story of how this couple founded their doll company. They couldn't afford the nice dolls they wanted for their kids (let's represent this with "$"), so they decided to open a doll shop ("$$"). Once they had their doll shop, they didn't get the discounts they expected, so they decided to get a kiln and produce their own dolls ("$$$"),  but didn't like the eyes available. So they started a company to produce the eyes they designed ("$$$$"). They didn't like the porcelain dolls so much, so they started making them in vinyl, again, doing it themselves ("$$$$$"). 

I found myself shaking my head. While it was nice they had their own doll factories and everything, it seemed bizarre to me. I mean, the reason they started was because they didn't have the money to just buy what they wanted. Where did they get the cash for the shop, the kiln, the teachers, the production companies ?  They turned a profit, selling the dolls and eyes to other doll companies, but WTH ? I still don't get where 'We don't have $100. for American Girls for the kids' becomes 'But we'll be able to afford them once we open a store and pay the porcelain slip bills and get our own vinyl extruders !'. 

Maybe things are just simpler, more basic with us. If we don't have the funds to buy Lightning McQueen, we sure as h#ll don't have it to start our own Hot Wheels company. Ran into the same thing in the paper a few weeks back. After giving us this sad story of a family that had everyone working 24-7, sleeping on the floors in a mud hut, never enough to eat, wearing rags, they then gave somebody $10,000. cash to get the two oldest boys into the States.  This attempt failed, so they gave another human smuggler an additional $6K, again in cash, for a second attempt the following week.

While I understand sacrificing for a goal, it doesn't seem to make much sense for a whole family to starve if they had access to $16k. In most places, that much can definitely get you beds and food. I can certainly understand wanting something better for your family, but I don't see how suffering to pay for something illegal accomplishes that. Especially when the cash vanishes, they get sent back, and they just do it again. I guess I'm simple, and would just do what I could where I am. If that cash'd get a child to a university, where he or she could have a future, well, that seems like a better goal to me. How good a life can someone have when they're constantly in fear of being found ? 

I'm sure there's a lot I don't see and don't know about. But I read these things, and look for the rest of the story...and there is none. I know I'm supposed to have sympathy for one and marvel at the other, but I can't help but think there's more here. Maybe if I had more initiative - and was reporting on someone else's dime - I could find it out. Too bad the 'official' reporters didn't bother to do so. Both stories had a 'writing it from the news release' flavor. I hated doing those - my job was done for me, and I couldn't ask questions. Which made the resulting story shallow and one-sided. Useless. When I have advertising agencies trying to evoke awe and empathy from me over soda and cell phones, I'd like to not waste time and emontional value when there's no depth to the story. It's probably why lots of us walk around with guards on our feelings. We're tired of being played like Rubik's Cubes, and don't trust our own instincts about when to feel anything. Get sucked in enough times by ads and editorials masquerading as human-interest stories and news, and you start distancing yourself from everything, just to protect yerself. 

Which is probably why we repair things. We just do the best we can with what we have where we are. What we have is what we worked for, and if that makes us 'the simple folk', I'm glad to be so. At least my story's not intentionally shallow ! It's probably very shallow, but it's not hiding much !

Posted by dorriebelle at 6:29 PM CST

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Mood:  incredulous

...wanted to show Beloved Hubby the red-haired version of Elphie, at first called 'Poison Ivy', but later renamed 'Haunted Stroll'. I often wondered who has the rights to 'Poison Ivy', but that's not important right now. Anyway. Saw the 2007 dolls, because I could never get to the 2006 ones. Every time I clicked an '06 link, it took me to the newest ones. Ended up finding 'Haunted Stroll' photos on eBay.

Didn't find much interesting, it's been a long time since I went there. Last time I didn't see anything I liked for Elphie, thought the New York City Ballet dolls looked waif-thin and imperious, the flagship Tyler Wentworth stuff had a few interesting but too pricey for me pieces, and while the Cinderella dolls were nice and the plus-sized 'evil stepsister' intrigued, it kind of bugged me that she was somehow the more evil of the two. Of course, the nicer one was thin and sweet looking...I guess I wasn't s'pposed to notice she's still an evil stepsister.

So I wasn't expecting much out of the '07 collection. Haven't been back to Prego since the last blowout, I'm proud to say, so I have no idea when the newest 'buy it, get it, brag about it, put it in the closet, repeat' acquisitions' photos were released. But, long as I was there, I had a look around...

(sigh) And there's a brunette Elphie this year. She's available as a Basic, and her outfit is better than last year's, even if she does have the crap plastic shoes. I know I don't want her. I know I don't need her. But I've thought about her ever since. AAARRrrggghhhh !  

We're still mosty iced in, it's just begun to melt a bit. Now the East Coast is getting what we got, and I don't envy 'em. Dearest Son's school is closed tomorrow, so we'll get another day of runnin' round the house.  Earlier tonight, we watched my ancient first-release VHS of ET:The Extra-Terrestrial. Son was intrigued, but by the end of the movie, he had some advice for the wandering star - "Stay HOME ! Don't wander off from your friends ! Then nobody's gotta come after ya.". Our ever-practical boy...

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CST

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Mood:  chillin'

...because I can't tell you. Maybe it should be filed under 'Fools Never Learn'.

Sewed the pants that were on the same page as the dress I sewed yesterday, from Sewing for 20th Century Dolls, Vol. 1.  Didn't add a seam allowance. And, of course, the pants are much too tight, and even adding 1/4" all around wouldn't help much. Even with that, she still couldn't sit, or even move her legs.

Just to compare, I went to open Doll Shop Deluxe. And that wasn't working either. Only opened into one corner of the screen. Printed out all my measurements, then went to download Dress Shop again. Found out that updating Internet Explorer does that to DSD, and LivingSoft already had a patch, ready to go. *&^% automatic updates. We don't even use IE. But I decided to go ahead and download the whole Dress Shop set again. I only  had v. 5.19, what I got today was 5.33. There's a few new collar options, but I swear, it seems like there's fewer patterns. That could just be my imagination, though, when I see all the 'gray out' choices I can't use.

Anyway, comparing DSD to 20th Century was like comparing today's weather to last week's. You can hardly form words adequate enough to meet the challenge. So, fark it, I'm about done with 20th Century. 

And what else did I do today ? Spent three hours fitting yesterday's too-big 20th Century Dress A : Attempt #1 to Isabella (Interactive Belle). It didn't take me that long to make the dress to start with ! But you know how I am, I hate to toss anything, and I'm definitely gonna have to bin the pants I sewed today. (sigh) Not quite done with Isa's new dress yet - heck, I didn't finish Crissy's, once I knew it fit - but I'll get photos up as soon as I can.

Right now, though, we're on Day 3 of 'Crappy Weather : Stranded Indoors' , and I'm getting a bit of a headache again. One of the good things about it all is that I've definitely caught up on my sleep ! Roads have been too treacherous to go get Dearest Son from his dearest grandparents, so it's been awful quiet around here. Yesterday, the elastic broke in the cute little slippers they gave me two Christmasses ago - and I fixed it within ten minutes. I'm a little bored on occasion... 

Posted by dorriebelle at 5:05 PM CST

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Mood:  irritated

Grrrr. After slamming Sewing for 20th Century Dolls, vols. 1 & 2 to the Crissy group, I kind of felt bad. I mean, it might not be Johana Gast Anderton's fault that the two projects I tried from her book were both failures. At the time, I was still fairly new to sewing, there's a very good chance it was completely my fault. Although the directions were sparse, I may have misread or overcomplicated things - I do that a lot. 

So, when Day 2 of our ice storm dawned, I pulled out a scan of the patterns from Vol. 1. I don't actually own that one - shelling out $20. plus shipping for the semi-useless Vol. 2 did not encourage me to spend more on what was probably more of the same. So a friend sent me copies of the Crissy stuff from hers in a trade. I've always wanted to make Crissy's orange lace issue dress in other colors.  What better time than the present ?

I got the pattern all printed out and even cut from the copy paper when I noticed the dreaded "Add 1/4" seam allowance". Aww, s#it. I hate doing that. I always obsess and worry that I'll lose some of the item or it won't match up correctly if I don't reproduce that curve precisely so. As it was, I stupidly added 1/4" to the center front, like an idiot. Center front isn't a seam on this dress. Baka, baka. Took me over half an hour and gave me a headache, so I napped before cutting fabric and digging in. 

The pattern itself, though, was amazing. It went together very well, matched up beautifully. Even the sleeves went in on the first try. I thought, 'Now this is gonna be an amazing dress !', and reached for my Crissy. 

And the dress hung on her like a bag. Shoulder seam was halfway down her shoulder, the dress front was, of course, too wide, but that was partially my fault. What in the world ? Only thing I could think of was that the 'add 1/4" allowance' was wrong, it was already in. The pattern itself had been reproduced and printed correctly, I verified that before I cut the fabric.

So I redid all the seams I could, taking it in 1/4" inch everywhere. Now it fit, but thanks to my blunder, the dress still didn't fit right. I have no idea why I added the seam allowance to the front center, it's not a seam. But I could tell, if I'd just skipped the 'add' part that took a half hour and gave me a headache, I'd have had a great dress from Attempt #1.

There wasn't much I could do with the first one, so I attempted a second, after carefully cutting off the unnecessary seam allowance. It worked up great. Sleeves went in like a dream, everything matched and looked great.  It's just frustrating that I followed the directions and screwed it up. 

But, hey, that's my experience with Sewing for 20th Century Dolls. I'm glad I gave it a second chance, but it's still screwed up. Such a simple blunder on the author's part, I just don't understand. Why am I finding so many screw-ups that are so easily solved ? Just doesn't make sense. 

Anyway, here's Attempt #2. I really like this one. Fit is fantastic, and about all I'll do differently on the next one is hem the sleeves a bit more. This one still needs a hem and back closure, but I'll get to that later.

First the Velvet dress and panties, and now this one. I still just don't get it. If I was selling a pattern book for anything, I'd spend half my life making d@mn sure everything fit and worked. That the seam allowances were there already, and that anyone could pick this up and work it successfully.

Ironically, I asked the Crissy group members if anyone else had soooo much trouble with Ms. Anderton's patterns. Several members mentioned they had one book or another. So far, no answers. I'm starting to think that most of the folks who have this book / these books have never sewn anything from it / them. But they do look darn good on a bookshelf, and they are fun to leaf through.  

That's not enough for me. If it's a pattern book, those patterns had darn well better be usable, functional, and maybe even fun. I don't understand how anyone could put his or her name on a book that's so full of errors and problems. Growlmutterwhinesnipe...

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CST

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Mood:  a-ok

Yup, I finally got off my rear and made the felt Velvet dress. It's not very good. I think that's why it took me so long, I kinda knew that the thick fabric wouldn't work well on that doll and for that pattern and design. But you know me, it's finished, so there's a good chance I'll keep it, at least for a while.

And it got me off my sewing stupor. Now that I'm done with bras and books, I had to do something. We're iced in. Yup. Even picked up Dearest Son early, roads were getting bad. Hit a patch of ice and White Jade Dragon (my van, also known as 'S%itty S%itty Crap Van' when it won't start in rainy weather) slid into a curb. Scratch one tire and add a bent rim. At least we got home safely. I just can't drive for a few days.

Not that I'd want to. I'm one of those who's useless when it's icy or snowy. Frankly, the sooner I'm off the roads, the safer everyone else is ! Stopped at a store on the way home, and it was a madhouse. The wood bundles that have been stacked up, ignored since before Christmas, were completely gone, there was an employee gathering the plastic and debris left behind.  That poor store - they had specials this week on classic 'snowed in' supplies like milk and eggs. Still, I'm sure they made it up in impulse sales. 

I also bought Dearest Son's Valentine's Day cards. Yeah, it's early, but I still remember the year I was driving around at 6am, trying to find v-day cards for him, on the 14th. Won't happen again. We got Cars, of course, with tiny little water tattoos. I saw Herbie (The Love Bug) ones, but they were actually Lindsay Lohan cards, not Herbie ones. Ick. Once you've seen this pantyless starlet emerger from her car, flashing the world what looks like a plate of pale roast beef, you can't help but see her a little differently - but I prefer to not look at her at all. 

So, I'm thinking I might sew something else, probably tomorrow. For some reason, I really hibernate in bad weather. All I wanna do is sleep ! But since I have the time, I need to use it wisely. I'm thinking of doing something from Sewing for 20th Century Dolls. I have Vol. 2, and someone sent me a copy of the Crissy patterns from Vol. 1. I was unkind to the book in the Crissy group this week - I've only sewn two things from it and both were seriously wonked up - so maybe I should give it another chance. 

If it wonks up again, I can burn it without feeling bad over it !  

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CST

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Mood:  happy

Our next winter crap weather is rolling in, I can just about taste it. One enterprising grocer has signs everywhere, with a brief description of the anticipated bad storm front, along with ideas for items we might want to stock up on, while we're there. How thoughtful of them !

I did go back to Hobby Lobby. Scored some more black glitter felt - 8 sheets - a green maribou feather 'boa' and tiny 's' hooks that are perfect for small doll jewelry. Since the felt had a 'Christmas' sticker, and the small boa and hooks were designed as mini tree decorations, everything was 80% off. So I skipped out of there after only spending some change. Whee !

Thing is, I've stared at the felt, and I know I'm going to make that Velvet dress one more time from it. But I just can't get myself started. I don't know what the problem is. I'd rather sit around and look at doll books and pattern books instead of sew. Found two sewing books at a thrift store I rarely visit - and now I know why both were only a quarter each. Maybe the next charity that gets them can use 'em. They're not stayin' around here ! 

Got all three bras taken down to usable elements, though. And I got snaps sewn on the clothes I've already finished. Had to toss the black skirt Mia was wearing for the Halloween photo. For some reason, it developed small holes on the front. Unless I somehow didn't notice when I was making it - and yeah, it was recycled fabric, so it's possible - I have no idea where those holes came from. Oh, well. It's just a skirt, and those are easy to make. I just hate to throw anything out !  

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CST

Updated: Sunday, 14 January 2007 7:13 AM CST

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Mood:  a-ok

Yup. Dearest Son's ill. Not sure what with, he slept for sixteen hours yesterday/last night, woke up for breakfast and shower, then went right back to sleep. Said he was a little dizzy and his tummy was hurting, but not much. So we kept him home. He's quietly sitting up in bed, playin' with his Lego and watching Robin Hood, and says he feels a bit better now. Whew !

So it's a good thing I didn't have grand plans for today. Yesterday, though, I was runnin' everywhere. Picked up a few things for Son's upcoming birthday, did a few returns and exchanges and errands. Bought drink mix Saturday, went to open it...and it was already open. Beloved Hubby and Son say they never went near it, and it squicked me out too much to use it. So I exchanged it. Petty of me, but I've learned after 40 years to trust when my mental alarms go off.

Hit a thrift store I never go to. Found two more sewing books for 25c each (yaaay !) and scored three bras for a buck. Already picked the navy blue one apart for elastic, buckles, and hook/eyes. There's a black one with the tiniest buckles I've ever seen on a bra, and a lavender one that's average-sized, but I don't have lavender anything in stock. It gives me something to do when the hand-sewing's caught up, no book interests, and there's a long wait for school to let out.

Also hit Hobby Lobby yesterday. Got two more packs of size 4.0 snaps - doll sized ! - from their half-off notions sale, and used a newspaper 40% off coupon to get 'Dress It Up 'Micro Minis round' buttons. These really are Barbie sized ! I got the 'Romance' color set - earthy tones. There's also a bright color set - 'Flirty'- and a pale pastel one. But Flirty and Pale Pastel will have to wait for more coupons. $1.99 isn't much for 50 tiny buttons, but you know me, I'd rather pay $1.19 !

Also got a sheet of black felt with iridescent sparkles, and remarked to the cashier that it was the one thing I wasn't buying on sale. I hadn't noticed the 'Christmas Crafts 2006' label, but she did - 80% off ! So even my 25c piece of felt was on markdown, for only 5c ! I'll be going back soon, I really like it. Possibly on Thursday.

Not much time to use any of it today. While Son napped and shook off what troubled his system, I wrote my Yahoo Crissy group - I've been off e-mail for so long, I forgot I was still a member. Wanted to thank Beth for making those patterns available. I got such a warm welcome back that I'm wondering why I left. Oh, and the Crissy group's not the one I've been whining about lately. That's a more 'tony' doll group, and I'll be surrendering my membership in it later today. Crissy group's not fulla snobs, IMhO. 

Wish I could restart my attitudes sometimes. OK, most times.  

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CST

Updated: Thursday, 11 January 2007 11:28 AM CST

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Mood:  cheeky

Thought you could use a laugh. Back soon.

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CST

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 9:51 AM CDT

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