See-though backgrounds are fun !
Mood:  lucky
Now Playing: oscillating fan - aaaaahhhhh.....
 

Another quiet day. I didn't play any movies on the new sound system ! In fact, I didn't do much at all today. Edited two of the remaining books for the pattern catalog, and refigured how much I have left to do. Six more books. If I keep at my current rate - or even slow down some ! - I'll be done before month's end. I'm sure it'll be a relief once I'm finished, since you won't have to read about it anymore !

 

Beloved Hubby, while tired, watched my image editing last night, and gave me a couple of much-appreciated tips and new tricks. He showed me how to use the ‘paste as transparent selection' tool, and while it was fun, the images weren't moveable once pasted. When I ‘paste as new layer', they can be moved around until I save it off. I commented that, while this new skill wasn't as good for my pattern book project, it was great, because I'd be able to use the same skills to paste doll images on unusual backgrounds.

 

So I tried that today. And learned a few things. First off, what I was doing wasn't removing the background. Since I had black/gray images on a white backdrop going on top of a white canvas, it looked like I was. Nope. I pulled up my directions for ‘How to Put Doll Image on Internet Backdrop' that I'd cut/pasted from a chat board. Hmm. Clearly, the author has a more recent version of PaintShopPro than I have. We have 5.03 (read : ancient) and there was no such thing as an ‘erase background' tool anywhere on ours. Looks like that happened in 2004 - and we've had this one for so long, I can't remember when Hubby and I *didn't* have it.

 

I looked up PSP's home page. They're up to PSPX, and I can have it for the low, low upgrade price of $60. ! Not happening. Not this month. I toyed with downloading the free trial, but why try something I can't have ? I'll get spoiled by the new features and end up resentful when the freebie expires. So, more on a lark than anything else, I pulled up Google and typed ‘erase background in Paint Shop Pro 5'.

 

And got a full walk-through on how to create transparent GIFs ! That's what I was trying to do. As it turned out, I had the capability to make the background transparent with just three directions ! Reduce the colors to 256k, choose ‘Set the Transparency Value to the Current Background color' from the ‘Colors' menu, then place the image on the canvas using ‘Paste as Transparent Selection' in the Edit menu. I could even edit the image and see how the transparency would look ! Who needs a 'background erase' tool ? I have something just as good, if not better, already !

 

Spent the next three hours playing with it. I snagged images and posted numerous edits of dolls on ‘em. I ended up with one that looked like a long parade of cheesed-off bridesmaids walking single-file down a beach and off the frame. I'm not very good at it yet - there's still some tell-tale marks that make it look like a cut/paste, and I'm not sure how to improve it without taking too much off the image - but soon, there'll be some wild images for you on the site !

 

I would have one for you now, but remember how I said I'd been playing for hours ? Well, PSP glitched on me and locked up. I'm still waiting for it to finish shutting down. I'm giving it five more minutes before I do a full computer shut-down. It's starting to worry me.

 

Update : Had to shut the computer off the hard way, but most of my 'work' was saved - so I added an image of Fiona, a transparent .jpg on top of a background of stars. Busy backgrounds hide the more obvious lines until I can get more practice. As it is, I tweaked the saved Fiona image for 20 minutes ! It's a cut/paste of the same photo used on the doll review page - the one of her out of box, in her gown.

 

This coming from a woman who's all flustered about learning the new sound system. Next thing ya know, I'll be too scared to program a VCR, and I've long been the only one in the family who could ! Man, I'm getting timid in my old age...

Not much of a Tuesday...
Mood:  cool
Now Playing: traffic and 7-11 suppliers offloading
 

Took the backup CD to the library today, to test the printing. First computer didn't recognize the disc. Second one did, but it's a central computer that doesn't print. Third one acknowledged the presence of a disk in the drive, but wouldn't read the directory. (sigh) Next time, I'll just load it to a flash drive. Maybe Thursday, I'll get a successful test print. At least I got to make two young ladies happy - I gave them my old Japanese Sailor Moon manga. So it wasn't a complete loss of a morning.

 

Not much in the GoodWill this time. There was a nice large wicker chair, but $3. was a bit much for it. It was Crissy or Timey Tell sized, but since both dolls sit with their legs out, it's probably best that I left it there. I did find a plastic Barbie chair that looks just like the mulberry-colored bed I saw at TRU the other day. Turns out, it's from the My Scene Party Pad. Plastic is a bit stressed at one side, so I'll probably cover it with fabric - or a doll ! For 25c, it's a score. Just hope that, if the spiral staircase comes up for grabs, I'm there to grab it !

 

I also went grocery shopping, and remembered to buy another set of hooks. When I ‘win' a white World of Barbie case, I'm gonna be ready to hang it ! Didn't even look at the dolls or fabric sections. I must be getting old...

 

Or I'm saving that $10. for the ReAnne doll !  I know I'm in trouble when I'm thinking of him/her three days after putting him/her down. But for now, the hunt for the white Barbie case continues, and I still haven't done anything with the posters I finally sprayed this weekend. Plus, the house is a wreck, with bits of packing and boxes from the sound system everywhere. I got plenty to do without worryin' about a doll and pattern printouts not working.

 

But I'm worrying about both anyway !

Meditations on the Art of Sound
Mood:  surprised
Now Playing: "The Incredibles" - that should rattle the pictures on the walls !
 

Quiet day...or, at least it was ! Beloved Hubby lucked into a flat-out amazing deal on surround-sound and a DVD recorder, so after a two-hour wrestle-fest with all the wires and components, we had speakers ringing the living room, wires tucked under the carpet, and effects vibrations rattling the floor and furniture. Wow. There's so much ya miss when the sound's not very good. It also plays music CDs, and that's incredible, too. I wanna rent something with lots of noise, like a Terminator movie, so I can hear and feel the explosions !

 

This place, much as I love it, is sort of a sound sponge. A radio played in one room can only be heard in another if the volume's up enough to be painful in the first room. I was thinking of getting a cheap boom box for the Studio, but you can hear it all with the new system, all over the house !

 

It's too bad that most of my Mystery Science Theater 3000 VHS tapes are too badly degraded to transfer to DVD. Guess we'll salvage what we can. Once we know what we're doing with the thing !

 

Not much time to work on the pattern images. I'll be so glad when that project's over !

 

Finished with the 200 file book. Whew. If I only do ten files a day, I'll still be done on schedule. I'll be so glad when it's all done and printed. Tomorrow's a big day !

Shipper Sunday...and hail to the House of Heterodyne !
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: "Shrek" - again, It's funny that we have the first on VHS and the second on DVD...

 

We had a very nice day today, even though I'm just now getting at the computer. Dearest Son has been earning tickets to redeem for toys, and today he had enough for that black truck Transformer he's had his eye on. So, off to Mal-Wart this afternoon. We nearly drove him crazy, though, as Beloved Hubby and I were so engrossed with reading Phil Foglio's Girl Genius online (http://www.girlgenius.com/) that it took us *forever* in his eyes to step back from it and get dressed ! We left with an entire volume still to read ! (sigh) I love PF's work. Been reading him since Buck Godot. Only reason I kept Robotech Art 2  was his SDF-1 gag sheet. (happy sigh) I really like Agatha. And Gil !  Together !! I'm such a ‘shipper' *

 

And, once we got there, of course, they had no black truck Transformers. Poor Son was nearly overwhelmed. That's all he's talked about for weeks. So we hopped back into Lightning Molly - she's my car - and went to TRU.

 

Wow. I hadn't been there in months. Probably since around Christmas. They had a Transformers display right at the door, with several black truck ones on a higher shelf. Of course, I reached for the least-bashed box, and my mere presence scattered two forlorn boys who didn't wanna be seen longing. Son was overjoyed. He was worried he'd have to get something else, but he doesn't know how determined Hubby and I get about toys ! My guys headed off to look around - after all, he's still earning tickets ! - for future daydreams. Speaking of daydreams, you know where I wandered off to.

 

They're moving gondolas and shelving around, and some of them haven't moved since the place opened. You could tell from the floor markings. And a sales associate told me. Upshot was, they had much more doll space, tons more doll happiness, and a separate markdown section ! I was tempted by the ‘American Idol' playset, marked down to $17., but I hate Idol, and the set really wasn't much when you really studied it. Ultimately got the ‘Raquelle' Fashion Fever doll in a package with 11 clothing articles and 5 pair of shoes. Purses are a total write-off. They look good, but are heavy and don't open. Wanna see ? Second doll on this page, the brunette one - http://www.fashionfeverbarbies.eu/2007/index.htm .

 

It's kind of funny, but her shoes all endeavor to make her feet look bigger. No kidding. Every last pair extends the sharp toe way past where hers end. It makes the shoes look more...umm, let's say ‘sophisticated' instead of ‘F-M'. But really, these are some wicked shoes, very worldly. Some of them you could probably use to prepare coleslaw.

 

The clothes look nice, but the blouse she was wearing had a hole right next to the Velcro ^TM strip. Not much I could do - it was an actual hole, not a tear, and I didn't notice it until I was removing the blouse from ‘Agatha'. Another quality control issue from your friends at Mattel...I patched it somewhat with Fray Check. Doesn't fix it, but at least it won't fray or spread further. Her hair is nice and silky, but it's the kind that frizzes at the bottom. So she'll probably get a haircut. In package, it was contained by one of those plastic sewn-on strips. Growlmutterwhine... I hate those things.

 

On the plus side, it was fairly easy to get her out of the package. Two plastic tags held her head up, and a clear plastic strip held her waist to the box liner. A cutout loop from the cardboard liner held her feet, and the heels of her kitchen-utensil-sharp boots were tucked back into the box. Not sure why. All the clothes are held down by even tinier plastic tags, clear elastic bands hold down shoes and handbags, and the liner is anchored to the box by a single strip of tape. Easiest de-boxing I've had in a while. Fiona had more holding her in than ‘Agatha' did. Bring scissors if you buy one.

 

She's currently wearing the burgundy with black lace overlay dress, with the black FM pumps. That big silver bow's gonna go bye-bye, but I'll probably use it as a headband or something. On the way to the check-out, we passed by a High School Musical doll display, and I showed CJ how the dolls had close to the same head mold, with paint changes, but mine was cheaper and had more clothes, because she didn't sing. Another customer perusing the section peered at the one I held - and headed off to the regular Barbie section. I'm so evil !

 

They had the Top Model dolls that I've only heard about. Eeeehh. Nothin' of interest to me. They look awfully thin. The Island Princess looks like a fun line for Holiday '07, but a bit too kid-friendly (read: blindingly bright colors) to hold my attention.  Ironically, they had none of the Birthstone dolls I'd wanted to see for so long. Not a one. Glad Mal-Wart had ‘em about two weeks ago, so I could decide.

 

I was mildly interested in the yellow ReAnne doll from the translated-anime series Magical DoReMi. She was so cute ! About 11 inches tall, about on the same scale as Elphie, not Barbie. But...I've already added three new dolls to Chez Insanity in the last two Saturdays ! Still...if I find $6.98 plus tax in the near future...

 

Sigh. Reason #4592 I need to stay the heck away from TRU !

 

*In fan parlance, a ‘shipper' is someone who's into the relationship part of the show/movie/anime/book/whatever. He/She will find or build relationships on the slightest of evidence, and gush on it endlessly. Often writes mushy fanfiction or draws lovey-dovey portraits of their chosen ‘ships' kissing. Strong tendency to marry other shippers. Very romantic people. Right, Beloved ?

Spray Saturday
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: "Digital Love" - Daft Punk
 

Not much doll stuff going on today. It's bright and sunny, so I figured I'd best re-spray the old posters and spray the new ones with Krylon Matte Finish. It keeps the shine down in photos. Only problem is that it was a bit windy at times. Usually right after I'd waited for the breeze to die down - it'd pick right back up again while I was in the middle of spraying ! That stuff smells too bad to do it in the house. Like last time. Phew !

 

Beloved Hubby sprayed one. His was much better than mine. Nice even coat. Wish I could have gotten him to do ‘em all.  But he was already working on some stuff due to be picked up Monday.

 

In any case, I got all the posters done, and they stayed flat this time. The twelve-inch string I tied to the can really helped me keep the right distance, so the weight didn't ripple the paper. Brought them inside to dry, although they dried very quickly outside. Just got tired of chasing them over the yard when the wind started its tricks again.

 

I'm thinking of duct-taping two foam-core pieces together, to store all the posters flat. Or just get another cardboard project display triptych. I was going to mount each one to its own foamcore, but now I'm not sure. Long as they stay flat and undamaged, I'm fine with it.

 

After a few errands, we hit Dollar Tree. Nothin' really new there. I found one of those sticker packets like what we bought Dearest Son - but these were for me. One hundred Barbie stickers, all glittery and pretty, with lots of brunettes ! Actually, there were four each of 25 designs, with pastel-tinted iridescent backing. They're about the same size as the Cars ones Son got, so I'm not sure how I'll use ‘em, but they're fun !

 

Still working on the pattern catalog images. Not much time to work on ‘em, when Beloved Hubby's home, he has his own projects on the terminal ! Got 101 of the ‘Aileen's Petite Fashions' images done. Only another 59 to go, since I'd done 40 Friday. They take next to no time at all. Still, it's really starting to get tiring. On Tuesday, I'll be at the library, so I'll do a test print of the images that are already ready. Hope their printer works better !

 

Not much else going on. Hope your Saturday is more exciting - in a good way !

Friday, and things become clearer...
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: "I Walk The Line" - a really good DVD rental.

 

Of course, now that I'm using Word to type the entries, Tripod hasn't misplaced so much as a semicolon. Oh, well. This way I can type throughout the day, and think a bit more about what I'm trying to say, possibly edit out the excess verbiage I'm known for. Plus, Word - even our ancient but legal 2003 version - has a spell checker I don't have to download and install separately.

 

Still pluggin' away at the pattern image catalog. Stripped 40 files today, but they were sooo easy. Next to nothing to do. While we were at the library yesterday, I verified that I could use their laser printers to print ‘em out for 15c a page. Still cheaper than the approximately 25c a page ya get out of most inkjet cartridges. Since I have an appointment there with two young ladies on Tuesday - they're inheriting my Japanese Sailor Moon manga - I'll take the back-up CD I've already burned and see if their printers do a better job on the images. I'm willing to bet that they will ! The Brother is doing a bang-up job, much better than the Lexmark would have done with the same source material, but shelling out $5.25 for the pages I have ready now is much cheaper than buying another $25. inkjet.

 

The shelf I had Elphie and Fiyero sitting on - along with the Witch of the West and Ogre Baby Girl toys from the ‘Madame Alexander Wizard of Oz'  and Shrek 3 Happy Meal promotions - fell, and dumped everyone to the floor, about four feet below. On top of My Size Barbies Casey and Gracie and Baby Chrissy. Yikes. Luckily no one was permanently damaged, but I'm not putting that shelf back up there. Instead, I'm going to finally buy that white 1968 Barbie case I've been wanting. Beloved Hubby told me to go ahead and order it when I came back from the focus group Monday, but I dawdled, mostly because I wasn't sure where I'd hang the case. Walls in the Studio are getting pretty full !

 

But it'd be perfect in that non-shelf space ! I had the pink version of that case - here's a link if you'd like to see one -> http://www.dolls4play.com/barbielistphotos/mc238.jpg - but I prefer the white version instead. That is one rather violent shade of pink ! Mine was open most of the time, sometimes because it was an apartment, but mostly because I hated that color. I didn't hate pink, just preferred more cotton-candy shades of it. I didn't hate what came to be called ‘Barbie pink' until I had to wear sunglasses to check out that section of Toys R Us back in the day. Odd, how I now think of those times as the glory days. I did think of getting the pink one, as a sort of ‘childhood repurchase', but even the child me would have wanted the white one if given a choice.

 

They're not any more or less expensive than the pink or blue ones, but I only see the white version once or twice a month. It's otherwise identical to the pink case, just the vinyl is white and the detail coloring is different, and in prettier shades. So I'm gonna hunt one down and cherish it. By hanging it up in the Studio ! Maybe part of it is a poem to my ‘new, improved' childhood !

 

I sure won't hang up clothes in it, or the Midge and Barbie ones. Could never get more than three or four hangers on that bar in there anyway. They never stayed up there for long, either. I was either a rough-and-tumble kid, or the little coat hangers were just eternal optimism meeting uncaring gravity head-on.

 

My Barbies' clothes (along with Ken's and the Skippers') all fit in there back in '75. I simply didn't use hangers. There they were, either neatly laid out or hurriedly tossed in, either way soon becoming a shifting wad in the closet section, easy to dump out when setting up apartments at Lisa or Angie's house. While we didn't yet understand irony, it was kind of funny to us that big props - houses, cars, etc - didn't start appearing until shortly before we were ready to move out of Barbie and into teenhood.

 

But everyone had a licensed vinyl case ! Closet section became a sofa, when the ‘Accessories' box got turned so the blank part faced out. Sometimes it was covered with a fabric scrap, for that ‘comfy home' look.  It'd be removed completely for seating until the cardboard slot for it started to sag. The doll section was the door, or a phone booth. Artwork clipped from magazines or included with bubblegum cards usually decorated the blank spaces. Since the case fastened at the top, when it was down, the lid became the floor, usually festooned with a carpet scrap or a crocheted doily for an area rug. I stupidly put an ugly sticker from a pack of  CB Radio trading cards on my ‘floor', and to my horror, it wouldn't peel off ! I picked at it until most of it came up, but that spot was sticky from that moment on.

 

Not a lot of Mattel furniture in the ‘hood, either. Spray-paint and hair spray can lids in various colors made available modular furniture. One of Lisa's more...unique dolls preferred a seat on a tomato-shaped pincushion. Since Lisa's mom hated having all the pins pushed in, Lisa's unfortunate doll was hopefully ‘into' that sort of thing. Angie had a double ‘sleep and keep' case that I sort of envied, I just hated that our dolls couldn't handle or touch the painted-on props. And those beds did not look comfy until we found some fabric scraps. I have a 90s version of the ‘Sleep and Keep', but I don't consider it a case. It's Molly's bedroom ! It actually does sort of resemble the one shown in a few episodes of Sailor Moon...

 

It's sort of funny how a fallen shelf put me into contact with so many memories...and clarified what I wanted. Hmm. Maybe Elphie and Fiyero pushed it ?

Cut/Pasting my way through Thursday...
Mood:  cool
Now Playing: "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" - DVD rental, one more time.

 

I finally learned my lesson - I'm doing this in Word from now on. Much as I love doing DDD, I don't want to spend hours retyping the same stuff ! This way, if Tripod hiccups again and loses my entry, I just cut/paste it again.

 

I'm darn good at cut/paste. Got the first pattern book's images cropped, cleaned, grey-scaled, background removed, sharpened, reduced, and posted twelve to a page. Whoo. I wondered how many more files I still had to go. So I went through all the books to get a count. Discovered that one book I have scans only of involved making full-length plaster ‘skirts' for the doll and decorating them. By pushing ribbons, silk flowers, old jeans, or fabric into the plaster, then gluing more of the same material to the doll for a bodice. It's in French, too. And another was for various dolls, none of which were Barbie or any other doll I own. So there's two I don't have to do !

 

Yet I still couldn't bring myself to delete them completely. I already had a folder of pattern exchange group Lord Perry designs, so I stuffed ‘em in there. This may seem odd on several counts. LP patterns are considered the ne plus ultra of doll patterns, backed up with reams of research and attention to detail that makes even Vogue Doll Collections authors shudder. So why did I stuff ‘em into a folder I'll rarely even see, much less use ? Well, I doubt that I'll need a 42 piece pattern that makes a court gown commemorating the life of one of King Henry's eight wives. One whose name I've never heard until I curiously opened the pattern. Too elaborate, too fussy, and I don't really favor big ballgowns anyway.

 

The other aspect troubles me more. If I know that Heaven and Earth will have to change places before I use these patterns, why am I keeping them ? I could easily delete them. But they're fine where they are, and don't take up much space, so... maybe I'm keeping them for the 1 in 10000000x50 chance I'll actually want something there. I guess it gets down to ‘ya never know' and since no one's complaining but me at me, why not ? Besides, some of those plaster-skirt dresses look great, so maybe I can incorporate some ideas of theirs into something I like better. And an opportunity is hard to dig out of an emptied Recycle Bin.

 

Anyway, while I was deep into the images, I listed the names of all the files I'll have to edit into what's becoming my Pattern Catalog Project Notebook. Won't have to do it later this way. Even with the two books dumped in with the also-uncataloged Lord Perry patterns, it's a huge amount of work. Also remember, this is just the Barbie patterns. Not the Elphie, Crissy, My Size Barbie, Timey Tell, or general ‘x-inch doll' patterns. Don't have enough of those to get too disorganized like I have been with the sixth-scale ones. One day, I'll have to find out exactly how many Barbie patterns I have - not how many McCall's patterns, how many different outfits I can make. I'm sure it's an amazingly obscene amount. So. Are you ready for the total number of files I still have to clean and print ?

 

328. Yup. Over three hundred individual files. And my goal to get it all done is in 16 days. Counting today. Although there's no set reason as to why I want to have it all done on that date, I've given myself a deadline. 21+ cleaned files a day sounds like a lot, but I've been doing that for days already, and plus some. It's just starting to get a little boring and tedious. I can guess it's even more so to read about it !

 

So today, I swept and vacuumed floors. Did four loads of laundry. Then took Dearest Son to the SplashPad, a city-run water activity area for kids, and the library. We're both sporting slight sunburns, which is amazing. It's the first time in so long that days weren't cloudy, and skies weren't full of rain, that anybody could get red-tinged this summer. Last year, we were at the SplashPad twice a week from the end of April until school started. Stopped off for a snack, and Beloved Hubby brought home McD's. Then DM&FIL brought over a new-to-us dishwasher. The one here is shot. And DG-GMIL just replaced hers, although this one is only three or four years old. So we'll see how this one works for us. I've been using the one here to hold dishes to dry after I hand-washed ‘em.

 

Beloved  Hubby'll install it later. He's exhausted. But it's been a good day for everyone, especially Son. While I've already done one book today, I think I'll go tweak some more images. At least it'll be done within two weeks ! I hope...

Tripod trouble and Mattel's latest madness...
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: "Garfield 2 : A Tale of Two Kitties" - DVD rental, looking forward to returning it.

 

Right now, I really am beyond angry at Tripod. Took me a half hour to write today's entry, and, like Monday's, it has vanished into the ether. The fourth try actually went through. So, from now on, I'll write in Word, and bring it over. That way, I won't have to try to remember what I've already written and forget things. Man, this ranks.

 

Anyway, the good news is that I finished the individual pattern cataloging today. I'm way ahead of schedule. Bad news is that there's 13 books waiting for similar treatment, not 11, and one has over 190 images for me to cut, clean, resize, bleach, and organize. Seriously. No more ^&*%ing patterns. My eyes are gonna end up square-shaped from the monitor at this rate.

 

To break up the monotony, I cleaned Dearest Son's room, with his occasional help. Took three and a half hours. The only people less prepared to spend that amount of time in one small space is the crew and passengers of the Minnow. Took out three Mal-Wart sacks of trash, and one 13-gal bag of papers, unidentifiable substances, and bits of broken toy. Man, and I thought I was overindulged with my dolls and sewing ! 

 

In a few minutes, it's time to clean the living room and put *those* toys away. Yup. Spent almost four hours, and not even all his toys were in there. If you don't hear from me for a few days, it's because I'm beneath a wave of Lunchables Transformer toys and Lego pieces, and I can't get up !

 

So, while there's not much doll news here, I can tell you the global doll news, at least from Mattel. Their overall sales health is good, with profits up 15% this quarter (Q2). They report global Barbie sales as up 6 percent, but 4 of those percentage points are from currency exchange fluctuations. Stateside, Barbie is still continuing her lackluster sales, this quarter, down 5%. They're hoping that 'Barbie Girls' will save the day.

 

I'm hoping they didn't bet the farm. Barbiegirls.com is a site, sort of like a Second Life avatar-based virtual reality. Girls can personalize an avatar, try on clothes, mall -virtual-trawl. With the addition of a $60. flash drive 'doll', more content and options are unlocked. But the site itself is free.

 

I don't know why they insist on calling the flash drive/MP3 player a doll. It has snap-on changeable hair, and looks like a Bratz figure painted on a $15. flash card by a guy who took a flyer on a description, never having seen one. Tiny body, huge head with an indiferent expression. And the snap-on hair. I don't dress up my Sansa SanDisk, it's not a doll. In any case, the big question is whether or not Mr. and Mrs. Public is gonna shell out $60. for a non-IPod MP3 player just so BrytianneAnnye's avatar can have puffed sleeves instead of the cap ones.

 

And I understand that they're just trying to stay alive in a fast-changing world, where 8-year-olds want IPods and avatars instead of baby dolls and sleepovers. But I really don't see how this is gonna generate much interest, much less income. There's already more, better, and cheaper, and a password and naughty words filter isn't much reassurance for parents who've seen too many 'to catch a creep' Dateline episodes.

 

It's not just Barbie who has sales to make Mattel weep. They own American Girls, and their sales are down 10%. A new historical doll is due out, the first one in years, probably just in time for the '07 holiday crush, but I can't help but think that Pleasant Company sold out just before the bubble burst. Quality is nice, especially in dolls, but if Caytlynne is outgrowing dolls before she's outgrown Happy Meals, few parents are gonna shell the kind of numbers AG dolls demand.

 

Boy toys, however, are doing quite well. Matchbox (Mattel owns 'em) and Hot Wheels are selling well, and Cars is the surprising sales powerhouse. While most licensing is down, Cars toys continue to sell well. I understand that one completely. The only place I could find the Luigi/Guido/Tractor die cast set last Christmas was eBay, and I refused to squander $48. (plus $12. for first-class - not even Priority ! - shipping) on a $7.88 toy. It wasn't out for Son's January birthday, either. Last month, it was. And yes, I bought it. I don't think I'm the only one, either. Poor Tractor's been tipped a few thousand times, I can tell ya.

 

Fisher-Price (yup, Mattel owned, too) is doing very well, with a 10% increase in sales globally. It's funny to think that the classic Popcorn Popper push toy is subsidizing a nearly-50 glamour queen, but there it is. Or that toy cars that usually retail for less than a buck are keeping a toy giant afloat. Strange world we live in.

 

Here's links, so you can read without my editorializing :

*Mattel 2Q profit rises 15 percent ->

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070716/ap_on_bi_ge/earns_mattel;_ylt=AsCWai8kubVcop4agyYjxzrMWM0F

*Mattel's Barbie Girls act like avatars, rock like MP3s ->

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2007-04-27-barbie-girls_N.htm

 

Even when there's not much going on at Chez Insanity, there's always something I can go on and on about ! :)

I am so po'd at Tripod. Fourth try to get something to show  up.

If you liked yesterday's 'low content' entry, you're sure to adore today's...
Mood:  lazy
Now Playing: "Comic Party" - anime DVD series Beloved Hubby ordered. Pretty good !

 

Two more pages of pattern cataloging done. I have 15 more patterns and 11 pattern books to go before I'm done. I'm into the R's now. And starting to get thoroughly sick of the entire enterprise. Geez, if I ever buy another Barbie pattern again, I deserve to be smacked in the mouth with a three-days-dead wet trout. I'm serious !

 

Got to go to Dollar Tree today. They were having RGIS over for inventory, so there were beeping sounds echoing throughout the store, like a herd of rabid crickets. I hated taking things off the shelves while they were working so hard, but if customers buying stuff mid-inventory it was that much of a problem, they'd do it at night or close the store. About all I got was more document protectors - DTree's the cheapest, at 5c each, not even the big boxes at Office Max are less expensive - and a packet of small Cars stickers for Dearest Son. They're about the size of your pinky finger, from the fingertip to the first joint.

 

I really like those stickers ! There were 100 of 'em in there, iridescent and pretty. Just about every character, too, even the ones not frequently seen.  Son loved 'em, and decorated his blue Beetle with about 95% of the pack. In addition to the regulars (McQueen, Mater, Sally, Luigi, Ramone, Filmore, Doc Hudson, the Beetle now sports Red (firetruck), Boost, Snot-Rod, DJ, and Wingo (the hot rods),  The King, Chick Hicks, Flo, and the Sherrif. There were also '95' logos in a circle, and a 'LowNSlow' license plate. Son handed me a Filmore sticker, and said I could put it on my green Barbie Beetle. Isn't he so sweet ? And it's there, on the back window. I may go get the 'Disney Princesses' pack and decorate the bumper ! :) Not sure what I'll do with the other 97 or so...

 

And I'm not sure where the rest of the day went. It vanished out from under me !