Tag: entertainment

Lights, camera, ACTION!

It’s very strange that a new season of “Project Runway” has begun and I’m not doing the challenges for Mattel’s Summer and Company at 1:6 scale. I miss my dolls, and the only thing I’ve sewn lately involved mending quilts with dog damage, but work is keeping me very busy. Somewhere in the midst of job and remodeling madness at Houndstooth Hall, I realized that Tim gave me a book for Christmas that I’d never read, and I posted this photo to Instagram.

Edward doesn’t approve my reading material maybe, but busting him out of his crypt made me wonder why there are no Lestat action figures. Actually, there are Lestat action figures, but I don’t think any were ever commercially manufactured, so if you find them online, they’re custom-made, and even if they’re for sale, they are some hideous amount of money that is way beyond anything I’m shelling out.

Then I wondered… Why not find an action figure I could alter to create my own Lestat? After looking at ebay for possible candidates, I ordered this pirate chick. With action figures, unlike with people, gender transitioning is simply a matter of fashion.

Although speaking of busting out… Unfortunately, once she was here, I realized she wasn’t created to the same scale as Edward. I might be able to disguise her endowments, but I couldn’t make her taller or bigger, and no way could Lestat be significantly shorter than Edward (Tom Cruise’s version notwithstanding).

Back to the drawing board; both Marika and Tom had the same suggestion. Order another Twilight action figure, who would be the same scale as Edward, and alter that one. After scrutinizing photos of every character available, I decided Victoria was the best candidate. Here’s how she looked when she arrived.

I wanted her coat to stay as it was and painted her other clothes to change their period to something more appropriate to the Brat Prince. With a haircut and some paint, Lestat began to emerge.

Then I made a discovery. When painting an action figure’s face, one needs a steady hand, a tiny brush, and the ability to magnify the crap out of one’s work. Because what I thought looked good, when photographed and embiggened, was a hot someone-left-the-cake-out-in-the-rain mess. I read a few online tutorials that led me to purchasing one of these (and now I don’t know how I’ve done anything crafty without it–I can see!).

And some of these, sharpened to a super fine point.

And though I still wouldn’t let any of you see my action figure’s face magnified, it’s better than it was. Finally, with paint, lace, and patience, WOOHOO! I present Prince Lestat (using the Elizabeth Taylor filter).

With or without a filter, not everyone is impressed.

Button Sunday

I’m really late posting this because I wanted to be able to write a little in my blog about how incredible it was to see Fleetwood Mac last week. It’s been a long, long time. I first saw them with my favorite lineup on the Tusk tour in 1980. In subsequent years, I saw Stevie Nicks a couple of times solo. I saw Fleetwood Mac again when Lindsey Buckingham wasn’t with them. And though Tom and I enjoyed that concert, and Rick Vito and Billy Burnette were really good with them–plus I liked the album they were on with the band–it just didn’t have the same magic without my favorite five band members. So on subsequent tours, with either Lindsey, Stevie Nicks, or Christine McVie missing, I never went to a concert. And I reproached myself a million times for not seeing them when a reunion was brought about after they played together for Bill Clinton’s inauguration after the 1992 election.

Last year when it was announced that Christine was joining the band on tour again, I wanted to see them so much, but money for tickets wasn’t in the budget when they came to Houston. And when they added another Houston date, I went online and struggled to figure out how to buy tickets for decent seats. Finally I was all, “If I can’t figure out how to buy a concert ticket, I’m probably too old for concerts.”

That brings me to last week, when our friend (and my boss) Cindy was unable to use her Fleetwood Mac tickets and GAVE them to Tim and me. I was ecstatic. The band’s music is woven through decades of my personal history–my friend Kathy and I listened to them non stop in college. Lynne was with me at the Tusk concert. Riley (whose birthday is today–I miss him so much) was willing to listen to Fleetwood Mac with me the way I’d always listened to the Beatles with him and put up with all my Stevie Nicks worship. The first song Tom and I ever danced to was by Fleetwood Mac. Tim and I bonded immediately in our friendship over Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks. “The Chain” became not only the band’s promise to stay together no matter what, but it was the song that Tim, Jim, Timmy, and I used as our commitment to never let writing together get in the way of our friendships.

The concert exceeded all my expectations. We had terrific seats. Lindsey Buckingham had just as much energy and passion as the first time I saw him so many years ago and remains one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Mick Fleetwood is every bit the showman he’s always been. John McVie is still the quiet backbone of the band with his bass. Stevie, Lindsey, and Christine sounded amazing together. I really just want to go buy every piece of music by them I don’t already own. I don’t know how they can still be going so strong, but if I get another opportunity to see them all together, I’m taking it.

What a wonderful night to be
The stars must be my friends
To shine for me…


We will never forget tonight…

Thank you, Cindy and Johnny!

Happy New Year!

I hope you all have a safe and happy new year. I need to get busy preparing the usual fare on this day: ham, black-eyed peas, greens, and of course, Tom will make biscuits.

Something I learned last night: No matter to what degree we respect The Force in whatever form it manifests–light saber, Yoda, Darth Vader–the Illuminati scares the crap out of us all. Might I recommend as a fun game the one that Rhonda and Lindsey gave Tom for his birthday: Superfight! Finally, some organization to those arguments over who would win in a fight: Six Inch Tall Justin Bieber with an army of tweens or a Hangry Vegan who has to pee really bad.

Special thinks to Geri and David for providing the typewriter ornament that inspired the new 2015 banner and to Lynne for the backdrop.

ONWARD to new adventures!