Some Pics

Μουσείο κουκλών του Δρ Ε στα Ελληνικά : Doll Museum

Μουσείο κουκλών του Δρ Ε στα Ελληνικά : Doll Museum

My Friend Cayla, Hologram Barbie, and other Doll Bytes

Imagine my surprise this evening when I turned on Handel on the Law on my car radio, and heard the host talking about a doll called My Friend Cayla.  The doll is an interactive talking doll that actually gathers information from its owner, sometimes personal information, that can be passed on, well, anywhere.


Here is her description retrieved  from Amazon.com:




18" tall

Says several sentences

Bluetooth enabled

Comes with brush and comb.

Works with ipad or tablet.

New (7) from $74.31 & FREE shipping.

Here, also is a customer review about this totally interactive doll by Genesis Toys:

 She kind of reminds me of Siri for Apple devices but in the form of a doll that can really interact with someone rather than just answer a question here and there. She is not always 100% perfect but I think that is more of a communication mis-understanding of what my daughter is asking. I haven't had a problem with anything I have asked yet.

To set up My Friend Cayla you do need to pair her with your Android or Apple device (tablet or a smartphone) just like you'd pair a bluetooth headset or speaker. Most of Cayla's conversational features can be used while she is offline but other features like asking specific questions and such do require a WiFi connection. (Amazon- Kuchelmass, 2017).

The doll's website shows she is available internationally with the appropriate App.  According to Handle, the doll is being banned in Germany because of a law there that forbids information gathering devices, which this doll apparently is.    The lawyer and host of the radio show seems to be advocating that the doll be banned in the US because it could violate a child's privacy. 


According to Matthew Humphries of PC Reviews, "As the BBC reports, under German telecoms law the Cayla doll is classified as a "concealed transmitting device." Coupled with the very strict privacy laws in the country, the doll is basically illegal, hence the push to destroy them." (Humphries).


Apparently, the doll is the subject of an FTC complaint based on the fact that an insecure Bluetooth connection makes her easy to be hacked. Actually, all internet based toys have this issue.  I know that Barbie dolls and others are being developed to work with Bluetooth as well.


Exploding Evo has called her an "espionage device."


Now, I'm intrigued, and I want to buy it!! Not sure if I'll talk to her, though!

My Friend Kayla, public domain image

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Hologram Barbie:


This fall, for about $149, Barbie makes her appearance as a Hologram. According to Ad Week,
"The latest innovation in Barbie might please geeky parents just as much as kids. Last weekend at the New York Toy Fair, Mattel unveiled Hello Barbie Hologram, a more lively—if less tactile—version of 2015’s Hello Barbie doll."


Here is a video link, debuted at Toyfair 2017:  http://eventnewz.com/mattel-revealed-an-interactive-hologram-barbie-at-toy-fair-2017/


SuperNaturals Tonka 80s Public domain


I remember an acquaintance in California telling me about a convention he attended where a hologram of an antique doll was on display.  Of course, there was "Jem and the Holograms", and I have a 80s action figure with a hologram face; they were called "Supernaturals." . I can't wait to see this device, a box which features Barbie talking, dancing, and interacting as a hologram.

Jem, Public Domain

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Did you know there was a newspaper called Le Petit Parisien--think The doll with the same name, a French Bisque, by Jules Nicholas Steiner, c. 1893.  For a great article, go to DollReference.com or to my old site on About.com Doll Collecting.

The Newspaper, Public Domain

Steiner's Le Petit Parisien, c. Victoria and Albert Museum

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The Star Trek rerun tonight featured Louise Sorel, very young, as an android called Rayna Kapec.  Her creator, was called Mr. Flint from Mesopotamia 3084 B.C., who takes on all sorts of famous people, including Leonardo and Brahms.   He created androids that were perfect to keep them company.  He was constantly trying to create an immortal, perfect Android woman. The episode from the third season of the show is "Requiem for Methuselah."  Without giving away the ending, there are shades of   N. Hawthorne's "Rappaccini's Garden" in this episode. 


Louise Sorel as Rayna, Public Domain

All the Presidents’ Dolls | Ruby Lane Blog

All the Presidents’ Dolls | Ruby Lane Blog

Dolls Being Blonde; In Loving Memory of my Friend, Rosemary

For Rosemary, who had the most beautiful, natural reddish gold, blonde hair, is a gallery of dolls with blonde hair.  Rest in Peace, our sleeping beauty:

Courtesy, Theriault's

Courtesy, Theriault's

Courtesy, Theriault's

R. John Wright



This Just in: There is now an American Boy!

American Girls announced today that their will be an American Boy, too.  Maybe this announcement means that boys will be encouraged to play with dolls.  It's about time!!


According to CNN.com money, :His name is Logan Everett, and he's part of a "new series of contemporary" characters that will be up for sale starting Thursday. Logan's character plays drums for Tenney Grant, a girl trying to make it big in Nashville's music scene. "

Logan and Tenney

For those who love boy dolls,  the late John Axe, who was also my friend, wrote a great book on

boy dolls.  Janet Pagter Johl wrote in her books about boy dolls, and boys who collected dolls.  Action figures and toy soldiers have been popular for centuries.  In my own lifetime, the trend began again all over with G. I. Joe.  Even Ken has attracted many followers. 

Logan follows in the footsteps of rare boys for Brat, Monster High, Fisher Price, Effanbee's Mickey, and other companies. Any of them could live in the pages of William's Doll.

Sasha's friend Gregor appeared to great acclaim, and Kathe Kruse has made wonderful boy dolls. Rare old bisque, wax, metal, and papier mache gentlemen have also populated doll houses and cabinets.  18th Century examples populate museum cases, too.

In the doll world, "boys will be boys" is a phrase with many meanings. I just know Logan will find a home in many happy collections.



For Valentine's Day

May you enjoy a peaceful, Happy Valentine's Day, filled with glad memories of The Valentine's Box, conversation hearts, and loving moments with friends and family, in the true spirit of St. Valentine.

Rosemary, that’s for Remembrance; In Memory of my Friend, Rosemary Rovick

Rosemary, that’s for Remembrance; In Memory of my Friend, Rosemary Rovick

                                                                               

 

 

Smile a little smile for me,

Rosemary, Rosemary . . .

 

Adapted from the song by The Flying Machine

 

                                                                               

 

                                                                               

Two weeks ago, I lost one of the closest friends I ever had, my beautiful Rosemary.  Rosemary Rovick was born in Northern California and lived their most of her life, though she graduated from Cornell Law School and traveled widely.  If angels walk the earth, then she was one of them.  We met when we were both externs at Santa Clara County Superior Court.  For nearly 30 years, we have kept in touch, traded confidences, comforted each other’s sorrows, teased each other, and supported each other.  

 

Rosemary was one of the purest, kindest people I’d ever met.  She was compassionate yet witty, and she could laugh at herself.  We teased each other, even while we suffered through incompetent supervisors, arrogant judges, snotty court personnel, earthquakes, and heart aches.  She would leave me notes on my desk that read something like, “Go and get me a truffle and a cup coffee from next door.  There’s a dear!”  And I would leave her notes calling her “Miss Toolbelt,” which was a reference to her love of travelling the world to build playgrounds with a construction company.  I also teased her about being so good all the time, and  she would say, “What is it you call me that I like so much, you know . . “  I would answer, “Sanctimonious and self-righteous?”  “Yes,” she would exclaim, laughing gleefully, “That’s it!”

 

But, she was tough and Uber-fair in her own way.  “Come on, Ellen; be a man,” she would say, when things became intolerable at The Court and I would rage. When I was being bullied by one of the judges and a supervisor, she alone of everyone interceded for me.  When I was ready to give up, I could drive to her house, sometimes driving at 1 am through the Santa Cruz hills on Highways 17 and 101, and she would be up making sour dough toast and coffee.

 

She called me when I came home to “Central America” as she called it, and often, because she said I made her laugh.  Rosemary loved hiking in Yosemite, and I used to say she and I were going to The Home together, and that she should look for a nice one in the national park. She was selfless to a fault, and I think that may be what caused her untimely death.  She opened her home to Polish refugees, roommates with no where else to go, her relatives, her friends, anyone in need.  I stayed there sometimes, and had sleepovers with her friends Shauna and Edie.  Edie worked for The Catholic Charities in Thailand and Cambodia, in a camp owned by the Khmer Rouge at one point.  The three of them wanted me to go with Edie to teach there, and I was game, until I overheard that night, as I lay innocently in my sleeping bag, who owned the camp.

 

“Rosemary!” I shrieked the next morning, “Where are you sending me?  Do you want me get me killed?”  But, I was laughing as hard as she was.  We joked about applying for a job for research attorneys in Micronesia.  We even had our work outfits planned, grass skirts, brief cases, oxford shirts and tweed jackets.  We walked on the beach near her house, and I was honored that she liked the ceramics I painted.  At one point, I did a black cat of her own kitty, Lucy, who was a wild child through and through.  I was honored and flattered that Rosemary wanted me to make it for her.   We used to walk everyday in San Jose, too, sometimes stopping for lunch at Sizzler, or our favorite Japanese/Ethiopian restaurant.   We walked through Japan Town, too, and she was scandalized one day that I took my jacket off to reveal a strapless dress.  “Put that back on!  You’re naked under that!”  “Rosemary,” I said, we’re all naked under our clothes!

 

Yet, she wasn’t a prude.  She had a quick wit and a wicked sense of humor, too.  The walls of one of our offices were paper thin, and the partner of a neighboring law firm talked fast and loud all day.  We could hardly think, let alone write bench memos.  “Watch this,” she said.  “I’ll make him shut-up.”  She then loudly asked me, “What’s your favorite fantasy?”  It got very, very quiet on the other side of the wall.

 

We saw Angry Housewives together, and laughed all night.  She liked giving presents and “shopping local”, and going to the farmers market and the flea market.  We both loved mysteries.

 

Rosemary was a Renaissance woman, who ran a marathon, played tennis at almost a pro level, scuba dived, gardened, travelled, read widely, and loved to eat out.  We both had a thing for Carlos Fuentes and the film with Gregory Peck, The Old Gringo. We also talked about trips we wanted to take, including a Sizzler tour of the world.  She collected Christmas ornaments, little bears, and tiny pieces of pottery.  She also liked to restore good furniture, and had a Morris chair that she was very proud of.  She and I sent each other man things, including Flamingoes.   My last Christmas present to her was a purse with a flamingo on it.  She was fond of saying the vintage flamingo in her yard had a skin disease because its paint was flaking.  In the late 80s, she negotiated to buy a light blue Honda Civic, using the blue book and getting an amazing price all on her own.  No man, in fact, no one, had to help her. Now, she is with her parents, her beloved dog that was half coyote, and her cat Lucy.

 

She lived a full, but short life.  Much too short.  Sometimes I want to call her number, just to see if her voice is on the answering machine, still.  She took care of a friend who suffered a stroke on one of their bicycling trips, her parents, Edie when she was dying, and Edie’s parents.   Even when she was so sick, she worried about me.  When she learned that I, too, was dealing with family elder care issues and catastrophes at work and everywhere else, she fretted that she wasn’t able to come to me.  “I should be there taking care of you” was in one of the last emails she ever sent me.  I don’t think she lasted two years after she first got sick, but she never let on how bad it was.  She fought and fought, and she never gave up.  It was as if she didn’t believe bad things could happen.  

 

She died on a Sunday; early on that Sunday morning, before I know, I had a terrible nightmare that she had died.  My husband woke me up, and said I was crying out and whimpering.  Well, at least on the inside, I still am.  Rest in peace, my beautiful, tall, blonde Rosemary.  The hard part is trying to go on with out you.