Okay, parents, listen up! If your kid says they want to cut their doll's hair, you know what you should tell them? "NO." Why? Well, take a look...
Mary "Stormer" Phillips: Secretary
Then again, it would probably help if she weren't wearing "Sophisticated Lady".
But of my limited Jem fashions it was the only one that nobody else was already wearing.
I bought this lady on eBay for cheap and knew she had some problems, including that hair. I just didn't know how bad it would be. Her wonderful curls are gone, replaced by straight, frizzy bristles that feel more like a Brillo pad than doll hair. But even that isn't too major; frizz and curl loss are fixable, after all. But check out that haircut -- hardly the look of a rockstar, and there's the added bonus of some oddness going on with the bangs. Cut doll hair is much less fixable than frizz and curl loss. That hair ain't gonna grow back. Well, unless you count a re-root as hair growing back, but I've never done one and am not sure I'm ready to start. Bottom line: cut hair ruins the beauty and value of these wonderful creations called dolls. I mentioned in a comment on the other blog that I consider dolls art, and I mean that. So the next time your kid wants to express their creativity, take the doll out of their hands and hand them some paper and crayons. If that doesn't work and they're still hankering to do some hair cuttin', let 'em cut their own hair. Sure, it may look stupid, but at least it'll grow back. It may even teach them a lesson. (It's probably a good thing I don't have kids, huh?)
Okay, with that off my chest, let's take a closer look at Stormer. Like I said, even without the haircut she would not be considered perfect, or anywhere near it. She has a bit of rub on her right eyebrow. She also has a couple very small spots on her upper forehead that look suspiciously like mold. And lastly, her right elbow won't hold positions. So yeah, she's a bit banged up you could say.
Now onto the good stuff. Her faceup, aside from the eyebrow rub, is perfect. High color, everything's there, she looks beautiful! Besides the elbow everything else on her body works. All her joints hold position and her waist isn't too loose. There aren't any stains or discolorations on her body.
I decided my first course of action would be a boil wash. Since the hair was already straight I didn't have to worry about her losing her curl. I mostly wanted to get rid of at least some of that frizz, but I also needed to kill that possible mold on her forehead. Oh, warning: doll nudity ahead. (I know some people are weird about that.)
Stormer shows off the pot that will contain the boiling water she'll be sticking her head in.
She looks pretty calm, all things considered.
High color face! Woo-hoo!
And no crazy body stains -- another woo-hoo!
Stormer's not looking so calm anymore.
There's definitely some concern on that face.
Then I did some constant combing while the hair was wet to help with the de-frizzing process, and to try to reset the hair. I actually kinda like the mullet thing she had going on while her hair was wet. It kind of gave her back her Misfits vibe, and certainly fits the era in which she was released.
She only looks mildly traumatized after what she's now calling "that crazy-ass boiling incident".
I love this face so much!
Rock that mullet, girl!
Seriously, she's totally pulling off the mullet look. It's kinda awesome, you gotta admit!
After it had dried I was disappointed to see it had only reset a little. But the texture is definitely better. It doesn't really show up well in the pics but it's noticeably softer and less frizzy. I'm confident I killed the mold, but I'm gonna need some Oxy to get rid of the stains. Stormer is still a "work in progress", but I'm confident I can get her back in great shape. Even with the dodgy haircut I like this girl a lot. How can you not like a gal loaded with as much personality as Stormer?
Here she is post boil wash, hair completely dry. Hmm, I'm feeling mixed.
The texture is definitely softer, though.
It's a bit less "Brillo Pad", as well.
Um, Sophisticated Lady?
The spiky bangs are in keeping with the other Misfits dolls, at least.
I'll have to find another fashion that's more fitting of her unique personality.
This and the next picture are my favorites of the "after" shots.
You may not be perfect but I love you anyway, Stormer!
While working on Stormer I listened to a few Stuff You Missed In History Class podcasts. I love their show; it's very professional and they always make even the most mundane-seeming of historic topics interesting. Check them out here.
In anticipation of, and excitement for, the soon to be released Integrity Roxy doll, I've taken to eBay (a dangerous place for me), and have started ordering some of the vintage Jem dolls. One of the first to arrive was Shana. She came nude, but in excellent condition. Check her out modelling (some of) Clash's outfit...
Work that pose, Shana!
Her faceup is in perfect condition -- you'd think this doll came out yesterday, as opposed to her actual release year of 1987! Her beautiful frosted lavender eyeshadow perfectly compliments her reddish-brown eyes. Her eyebrows are a light orange-brown shade while her lips are a glossy fuchsia. None of her face paint is missing or faded. In fact, her eyes still have a glistening look to them, that's how shiny the paint still is! And of course who doesn't love the "outrageous" little jags of eyeshadow under the eyes? Glamour and glitter, indeed!
Her hair is in very good, not excellent, condition. It's a little frizzy, but the actual curls are all still there and holding their shape quite well! They're really more like long tendrils. The color has held on after all these years; it's still that brassy lavender shade I remember from my childhood! And check out that widow's peak! Aside from a little de-frizzing, Shana's hair won't need much work at all.
Like I said earlier, she came nude so I'm going to have to do some hunting for her outfit. This is a second year Shana (she has the earring holes), and if I'm gonna be a purist about it the second year outfit is the one I should get. But I love the first year Shana outfit so much more! Purity be damned -- I'm getting the first year clothes! I won't go into detail on the Clash outfit she's modelling; I'll cover that when I discuss the actual Clash doll. Yep, Clash has made her way to me as well! Actually, I hope you like Jem because she's going to be getting a lot of coverage here at The Sequel over the next few months. Ah, fashion and fame...
Do I know you from somewhere? Why do you leave me wanting more? Why do all the things I say sound like the stupid things I've said before?
So begins Skin, track number five on Madonna's 1998 album Ray of Light, co-produced by the brilliant William Orbit. I called it a track instead of a song, because the word song implies a four minute ditty made of a verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus-fade structure and that's most definitely not what Skin is. Opus is a more fitting descriptor, I do believe. But let's back up a bit.
Some people wonder how Madonna has lasted so long, and why her fans are so ardent in their support of her to this day. Those people only know the Madonna of Like a Virgin, Vogue, Express Yourself. Iconic as those songs are, they're barely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Madonna and her music. See, somewhere around the late 80's Madonna went from being a singles artist (that is, an artist who throws together albums built around hit singles rather than a coherent musical statement), to an albums artist (an artist who builds albums around themes or concepts, hopefully with a few possible hit singles in there, as well). To recognize that Madonna's musical themes have steadily deepened and her talents as a lyricist and vocalist have grown ever stronger, you have to listen to her albums, not just her singles. Perhaps no album exemplifies this better than Ray of Light, an album that garnered critical praise and strong sales (not to mention a handful of Grammy's), but launched only two smash hits (Frozen and the title track).
With that understood, and with the acknowledgement that it is a subject I will almost certainly come back to in a future post, let's move on to Skin. It wasn't a single, and rightly so. Clocking in at well over six minutes, and approaching the subject of emotional and sexual connection from a dark, psychological point of view, it was never meant to be played on the radio. That's not to say the song is dirty or raunchy -- quite the opposite, actually. It takes a poetic, but as I said, very dark, look at the excitement and frustration of trying to connect with another person on an emotional level, with sex lingering in the background.
Amid a wash of slow, deep synths and subtle bleeps, Madonna opens with the lyrics I quoted at the start of this post, "Do I know you from somewhere..." Later we will learn this is actually the chorus of the song. Her vocal is calm, with a hint of confusion and frustration, perfectly matching the lyrics. As she finishes this intriguing vocal intro, the synths go quiet and the electronic bleeps steadily descend in key. Just as they start to bottom out, a deep, thudding beat starts to build and tinkling chimes come in. Heavily fuzzed vocals from Madonna, buried under the beat, whisper "Put your hands on my skin..." repeatedly, and you can hear her sighing heavily. The beat and chimes get faster and then - bam! - the beat kicks in proper. Into the first verse we go...
Kiss me, I'm dying Put your hand on my skin I close my eyes, I need to make a connection I'm walking on a thin line I close my eyes, I close my eyes
Clearly we're not dealing with your average hook-up song! Throughout the verse heavy Middle Eastern influences can be heard (and this was about three years before hip hop would pick up on these sounds and take them into the US mainstream). Her vocal is both delicate and demanding, her enunciation of each word sang as if the entirety of her existence depends on this one moment. On the last line of the verse the steadily thudding beat drops out and a new, much faster, skittering beat comes in. We go into the chorus...
Do I know you from somewhere? Why do you leave me wanting more? Why do all the things I say sound like the stupid things I've said before?
During the chorus we go back into the more sweeping synths of the song's opening, but this time they're paired with the skittering beat. Darting around Madonna's vocal and the synths are more frenzied bleeps, plus some teetering, squelching sounds (think a firefly on speed). You start to realize that the layers of music, of pure sound, are dense. This is great use of "wall of sound", with every angle of the aural field put to use. Sounds aren't just moving from left to right, but front to back, back to right, and up to front again. It's astonishing. The chorus ends and we have a brief pre-verse coda where a thundering percussive piece comes in and a fuzzed loop of Madonna saying "Kiss... kiss...kiss..." can be heard in the background. Then, into the next verse!
Touch me, I'm trying to see inside of your soul I've got this thing, I want to make a correction I'm not like this all the time You've got this thing, you've got this thing
You'll notice the lyrics are playing on the those of the first verse. A story is building. Roles are being established. Excuses are made but the flirtation continues. Madonna's vocal delivery is becoming more demanding, almost urgent. In the background the Middle Eastern sounds are built upon with a snake charmer wafting into the musical ether. We also start to hear heavily processed electric guitar licks stinging the end of some lines. Momentum is building. We go back into the chorus, the synths still carrying the same melody but now in staccato. More chimes have come in, these a little quieter than those we heard earlier, and surprisingly mellow compared to everything else going on in the song. Are we being subliminally told that there is a certain magic in the air when two people meet, even when everything else around them, and perhaps even themselves, are frenzied?
And to think, everything up to this point in the song has just been the warm up. After the chorus we have another coda of thundering percussive elements along with some processed electric guitar. Those bleeps from the beginning, the ones that had bottomed out, come raging back in, no rhyme or reason to their arrangement. The mellow chimes have disappeared. A tinge of desperation in her voice, the bleeps again starting to descend, the beat still skittering along, Madonna sings...
Kiss me, I'm dying Put your hands on my skin I close my eyes, I need to have your protection I close my eyes, I close your eyes
As the verse goes on Madonna's voice goes into heavy reverb, eventually echoing around back into itself. You can hear heavy breathing deep in the background. The moment has become confusing for our narrator, emotions are running high. On the last line the beat drops and a drone-like synth descends sharply while Madonna whispers, "Kiss.. kiss... kiss... kiss me", a reprise of her earlier whisper, but this time with some specificity: it's herself she wants to be kissed. The droning synth pitches upwards as she finishes her whisper and the beat comes raging back in. It's one of those dramatic, jaw dropping musical moments; the kind that give you chills, the kind that remind you why you love music so much in the first place. It's the work of experts at the top of their game. But we're not done yet! After that showstopping coda we again go into the chorus, this time repeated twice.
Do I know you from somewhere? Why do you leave me wanting more? Why do all the things I say sound like the stupid things I've said before?
One might expect the song to simply fade to end from here. Madonna and Orbit have other things in mind. After the previous chorus repeats (this time accompanied by a sort of forlorn siren wailing in the distance), those thunder claps come back in, in addition to the buzzing fireflies. A whirring synth not previously heard in the song comes in, descending, spinning. The beat is at a fever pitch now, the thunder claps louder than ever, the bass pounding. Madonna continues her plea...
Kiss me, I'm dying Touch me, I'm trying I'm not like this all the time I'm not like this all the time
She sweetens these words with Middle Eastern chants at the end of certain lines. Everything is now at its peak: beat, synths, thunder claps, drones, electric guitar, bleeps, any and everything really. It's layers upon layers upon layers of sound. All with Madonna sing-screaming and chanting over them. One last element we haven't heard yet comes in, and it's possibly the least expected of all: a soul rhythm straight out of 1975, processed into a piercing siren, rising and falling as the thunder crashes and the percussion darts frenetically around it. The various musical elements eventually begin to slowly fade, a few at a time. The beat now laid a bit more bare, that snake charmer making his presence again known, things now calming down, Madonna continues...
Put your hand on my skin Put your hand on my skin I'm not like this all the time I'm not like this all the time
The track comes to it's final fade with multiple Madonnas whispering first in tandem and then over each other, "Kiss me... touch me... kiss... kiss... put your hand on my skin...", while heavy breathing can still be heard in the background. The very last things we hear are the distant snake charmer and a faint multitrack of Madonna whispering "Put your hand on my skin..."
Fin.
What did we learn from all this? Meeting someone new can be exciting and exhilarating and nerve wracking! And when you get right down to it, what we all want is to be able to connect with a person in a meaningful way. But sometimes we go about it stupidly and say stupid things. But it can still be magic. And it can seem dramatic and lifechanging, and sometimes it is. Sometimes it seems like a matter of life or death. (It's not -- but how poetic!) And, of course, one more thing: Madonna is a supremely talented musician and lyricist. Oh, so why did I name this post Flirtation Dance? That was the working title of the song!
You know as well as I do you can't be here and not listen to the song. If you've heard it before you already know the treat you're in for. If it's your first time, well, I envy you -- you're in for a wild, chaotic, sublime journey! (Seriously though, 15 years and literally hundreds of listens later, I'm still picking up on previously unheard sounds in this song. Amazing.)
Although I haven't gotten to write my Picture Day Lagoona review yet, I have taken all the pics and gotten a few of them edited. But I'm too excited to wait for the review to share the pics, so here's a teaser of sorts for the upcoming review. One quick thought on PD Lagoona: she may be the first Lagoona doll I'd say isn't just pretty, but downright hawt! Take a look...
This being me, it didn't take long for clothes swaps to ensue. I kept PD Lagoona's mesh shrug and sparkling tights on her, but paired them with Scaris Lagoona's tank dress. (It's such a simple dress but I love it so much!) I threw in Catrine's sunglasses, Roadster Draculaura's shoes, DDG Ghoulia's purse, and a few small accessories, and Lagoona was good to go! I think the sunglasses and tousled hair give her a sort of "Hollywood starlet leaving the club at 4 AM" vibe.
Since the PD doll wasn't wearing her dress I put it on Scaris Lagoona -- I think she might look even better in it than the PD doll does! The ponytail matches the whimsical vibe of the dress really well, in my opinion.
How about some Operetta? Every time I get a new doll of her I always end up grouping her dolls together and swapping clothes. This time not everyone traded outfits but they all got together for a few group shots. I especially love Picture Day Operetta in the deluxe fashion pack dress!
Keep an eye out for the PD Lagoona review over at the main blog-- it's coming soon! Oh, and don't forget to vote in the Operetta poll!
