Hello, I am known as K-8 (aka "conscious_object"). Here I keep a fetish blog with a (skewed) sense of humor. Contained herein you will find my various random thoughts on my unique fetishes, and interesting finds culled from all over the intarweb, including art by my friends, and sometimes my own art.

Note: You do not need to have a Livejournal account in order to reply to an entry, as I have "anonymous posting" enabled. Just make sure to sign your name at the bottom, or I'll have no idea which comments are yours.

Remember that "Instant Babe" illusion by Jonathan David Bass I posted awhile back? Here's a slightly newer performance, that now has a third section to the sequence.

HybridZ (landmark) is where to go if you enjoy your transformations mixed with the aesthetic of shiny latex. Latex petplay, latex human balloon, latex ponygirl, even a latex Giger alien. But my current favorite is probably the latex mermaid.

(Fish tank sold separately.)



While I'm just modeling the basic tail here, you actually get all sorts of extras and things for your L$800. A long mermaid hair is included in three different colors, starfish and shells to use as "pasties," some decorative ribbons for your arms, a giant display shell to lay in, and even a full latex hood if that's the sort of mermaid you want to be. It also includes a shell necklace that acts as an RLV collar, with features such as "freeze," "gag," "isolate," "block TP," and some sort of breath-related function that I don't entirely understand.

I also discovered accidentally that wearing certain skins while in the mermaid shape can create interesting alternate looks.

There are so many interesting items that have been created in SL. In order to help me personally keep track of who made what and where a particular item came from, I've been thinking about blogging them here. And of course, there's the additional bonus of pointing you to where you can find these things.

Since this robot skin seems to be what I default to lately, I figure I owe the merchant a plug. Thankfully, SL resident Rei Gynoid had the answer to my question of "where is this from?" The answer: Eddie Escher's Gadgets & Skins (landmark).



The base skin comes from here. But the variations I'm usually wearing with the flesh areas added are personalized custom versions created by an SL acquaintance (and I feel guilty that I can't remember which one -- if it was you, feel free to remind me). As such, these ones are not for sale.

However, if you have a favorite flesh skin you'd like to combine with a metal one like this, there is a trick for the more advanced users. You could rip the texture (which I think is okay as long as you're not reselling them), and turn the skin into different bits of clothing. The clothing could then be layered over the robot skin in whatever combination you like. Maybe even an entire suit, if you want to be a robot disguised as a human. (And if you end up in an RLV machine that does the "removes your clothes" thing, you can surprise people when you're suddenly metallic instead.)

Although you don't have to be a metallic robot, either. The shop offers several variations, including white plastic and clear plastic.



I'm not going to lie to you, these three skins are pricey. At least by today's standards...maybe prices used to run higher several years ago, I don't know. But nowadays you can find many equally-fantastic skins out there for less than half the price (see TC Chrome Goddess).



For half the cost, there are also simplified, colored-chrome versions. Those of you who like shiny pink things may even prefer this one.

All I can figure is that maybe because you get two skins in the pack, the price on everything is doubled. Which is a little silly because most people are likely just going to use one and never use the other. And you can't buy them separately. But what can you do? Admittedly, they are very well done skins.

For those who haven't been keeping up with season two of Dollhouse, I should tell you last night's episode involved a subplot where women were kidnapped and turned into forced living mannequins. Naturally, it was played up for extra creepiness in such a way that it didn't really light up the fetish fuel portion of my brain like it might've if, say, it didn't take place in some dark dungeon, and if ( Spoiler ).

But then, if I were playing with some of these concepts in a mainstream story, I'd probably ramp up the creepiness as well just so no one would suspect I might, say, have a fetish that could involve seeing actresses on set standing very still, looking like mannequins, and pretending they're stuck like that. Ya know.

A few lines this episode that amused me:

"He'll be an empty-headed robot walking around Hollywood. He'll be fine."

"We have names, remember that. We're human, we're not his toys."

Doesn't that last line sound like something right out of a story on LTBSA or something?

Anyways, on a totally not at all related note, it appears from the preview shown after the credits that next week we'll be getting a flashback story detailing the whole story of the evil mind control enthusiast who had Sierra turned into a doll. Have we surprised Totally Spies yet, or no?

If you've got $4,000-6,000 to burn, you can now own the Galatea-style Stewardess robot suit built for Bicentennial Man, currently up for auction.

But if you're wanting to wearing it, be aware that it's built for someone around 5'6 or shorter. A bit small for me, sadly, even if I could afford it.

So my friend asks me if I want to see this "evil tube." It looks to me more like the sort of plastic display tube you might store a collectable doll in, only larger. Once inside, I discover that the Restrained Life Viewer (RLV) makes things much more interesting. Not only am I not able to budge (I can only move my camera), but I also don't have access to my inventory and many other functions, including IM. If someone tries to IM me, instead I get a message telling me it was blocked. If I try to IM them back, they get the same. I can read and speak in local chat, but cannot see who is saying what.

I couldn't spend very long in there this morning, as I had to get to work. My friend set it for an hour, but I didn't see what the point was, I'd only be around for 20 minutes.

Much later in the evening I log back in. My friend isn't online, but lo and behold I discover...the timer picks up from right where it left off. Here I thought it continued to run while I was logged off.

This would've been pretty boring, and I would've just surfed the net while the timer ran down, but then another friend IMed me. I have to admit, it was pretty exciting having this friend trying really really hard to communicate with me, and having no idea where or how I might be stuck. If she could teleport to me, then we could chat...but my ability to send teleports is also inaccessible, and she had no way to find me. It turns out that sending notecards to a person works as a cheat, so she was able to communicate with me, but I couldn't send notecards in return (not being able to access inventory). This resulted in a hilarious conversation of yes or no questions, with my being told to send one blocked message for "yes," and two blocked messages for "no."

BTW, do any of you fellow SecondLifers recognize the robot skin in the image above? I'm trying to remember who made it, and where others might be able to get it.

Enough people have been bringing up this to me, I suppose I should probably get around to posting about it. ;-)

Surrogates is an upcoming film starring Bruce Willis, based on a graphic novel that I haven't read. The basic premise is that there's this technology that allows people to insert their consciousness into a perfect android body while their real body is asleep (sort of like this RP). Making it kind of like a middle step between SecondLife and Virtual Reality.

From the sounds of it, I guess it's discovered that if a person's surrogate is destroyed, the human also dies. Making their system, I guess, The Matrix 1.0?

They've recently released an interesting-looking series of posters:









I know there are a few of you reading this right now who are thinking "wait, those look kind of familiar. Isn't this ripping off that Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles poster?"



I think it's understandable why you might think this, especially because of the similar-looking blocky font. But, no. In actuality, the poster is ripping of an entirely different photo-manip done by someone online:

( Click To Continue Reading... )

Ever wanted to see what you'd look like as a Bjork-style iRobot? Svedka has launched a new meme related to their bot-themed ad campaign that let you do just that. There's even a choice between male and female, so you boy bots can join in too.

It's an amusing idea, but not quite as fun as I think it could be. For one thing, something about the face mapping process leads to the appearance that robotization adds 10 pounds to your face. This is counter to the body, which is fairly anorexic. I question the thought process that led to designing a robot where the torso is just a small fraction larger than the head. Seriously, they're almost the same exact size. And that's including the breasts, which end up amounting to an odd uni-boob.

Also, if you're someone with long hair and don't have it tied back, the face-mapper for some reason will frequently pick up a bit of the hair on the sides, giving the appearance of sideburns (or just one sideburn).

There are some amusing pieces you can mix and match in creating a bot. They all have the same skewed proportions, but I was very amused by the fishbowl stomach, and the rocket feet. Unfortunately, once you've designed your robot, there's not much you can do with it. You get to choose from a half dozen 10-second animations that end in striking some sort of pose. Unfortunately, none of those animations is "surprised to suddenly be a robot." ;-)

I'd show you my result, but I have this thing about not wanting my face to appear in this blog. (Also, I don't think the bald look flatters me.) So here's Liv Tyler instead.

For those having trouble getting the link to work:

No, that's the name of the film: I Love Maria. Also known to some by the alternate title Roboforce. Though I do think it's hard to not love Maria after seeing it. ;-)

(It's been a long while since I've done a longer entry, hope you don't mind.)

It's a strange movie. It's essentially Hong Kong's answer to Robocop, Terminator, and...Short Circuit? There's some definite love of the Three Stooges in there (one of the main characters is even called "Curly"). At first I was kind of unsure whether I liked this odd tone, but they won me over by the end.

The mob boss of a group calling themselves "Hero" has commissioned the creation of two robots. Maria is the second one, modeled after the mob boss' partner in crime and girlfriend, Maria. Robot Maria is sent to kill Whiskey, who is friends with Hero, when the boss comes to believe he's been talking to the police. Curly gets pulled into this after having recently befriended Whiskey. Somehow they manage to outrun, and then deactivate her.

The title comes from the fact that, when Curly reprograms her, he makes her trigger phrase "I Love Curly." If someone says "I Love Curly," and then a command, she will do it. Whiskey dislikes this idea, suggesting they should say "I Love Maria." Which Curly ignores.

The one really frustrating thing about the movie is the translation. It's not only filled with "Engrish," but even occasional spelling errors. It leaves me wondering what odd quirk led to the two robots being called "Van I" and "Van II," especially when scooters are called "cars." If you've seen the movie before and this sounds a little odd to you, it may be because you watched it on VHS, which had a different translation. From what I've heard, chatting with a few people who've seen it, there were no spelling errors in that one, and the robots were instead called "Pioneer I" and "Pioneer II." However, at the same time this translation isn't as faithful to the actual dialogue, for example, changing it so that Curly does program the trigger word to be "I Love Maria," which loses some of the gags.

A few times while watching, I got this feeling of "did I just miss something," but wasn't sure if it was due to the actual story, or just poor translation. Though this could have also been due to editing; half the footage in the trailer for the movie isn't even in the film. It makes me wonder if there's some extended cut somewhere.

But maybe it is the fault of the story itself simply not making a lot of sense. For example, when we first see the Maria robot, it's before her face has been added...she's completely silver metal, with a Jason-style goalie mask.



When she's sent out to kill Whiskey, she has a fully human looking head, but her body is now some sort of black material.



Then later, her armor is updated to a silver body that is identical to the first version, only with a Sorayama-style head.



Wouldn't it make more sense for the black suit to be the prototype? How does it make any sense to start silver, change to black, then go back to the silver one? Does not compute.

But I was able to overlook all that fairly easily, because the suits just rock. I mean, look at them. I love both styles (not the Jason-mask one). One reader who's a fan of the film asked me which was my favorite, black or silver, but y'know? I love them both equally for different reasons. Do you have a favorite?

However, what totally makes this movie, even more than the great suits, is the actress herself. She's just awesome. She plays two different characters, and manages to completely convince me that they are two entirely different people (well, person and robot). And her robot moves are fantastic. The movie would not be the same without her.

Here's a highlights reel of a handful of my favorite moments:

I think I mentioned here once before that before Amanda Palmer became known for her band Dresden Dolls (and now her recent solo album), she did street performance as a living statue, even mentioning it in a few of her songs ("I can paint my face / And stand very, very still / It's not very practical / But it still pays the bills").

Turns out her old living statue website is still online, and contains a handful of photos of her, as dolls, statues, and even robots.

I hesitate to assume that she's also into the fetish side of this, since I get the feeling that most of the performers who do this aren't...but you never know. ;-)

Amazing Giger-inspired (and Lang-inspired?) make-up by Tim Engle, entitled "Metropolis."



There's a video showing the process, though unfortunately it's been put through a "crap" filter, obscuring some of the nice details.

Metropolis from Tim Engle on Vimeo.

How does he keep those details on her eyelids from smearing?

For more images in a similar style, see his MySpace gallery and Flickr gallery.

(Found by Utsumi.)

I've been digging through an archive of old issues of Heavy Metal, to see if there might be something interesting to post in the blog. While looking, I came across this cover:



At first glance, I thought it was just some random model painted up in Giger-esque style, though I thought it weird that HM did a photo cover. Then I read the blurb at the top, and was very surprised: the model is Debbie Harry of Blondie, made nearly unrecognizable by H.R. Giger himself.

It seems when Debbie Harry recorded her first solo album, she asked H.R. Giger to do the artwork. I'd seen the album cover in record shops before, but for some reason never made the connection that it was Giger.

Most interesting of all, Giger was also asked to direct two music videos for the album, which is where this cover image comes from.

"Did Giger actually paint your face?" I ask, wanting to know about Debbie's experience being a live piece of Giger art.

"Yes," she says. "For some things he painted on photographs, but for the video he used different stencils and an airbrush and he painted my face. I wore a painted body suit. So, yes, I was airbrushed by Giger!"
(Romy Ashby via HRGiger.com)

(If you enlarge the cover image above, you can see the zipper on the suit.)

The unfortunate part is that the music of the album really does not remotely fit the tone of the artwork at all. "Dark" is the last word I think anyone would use to describe the songs, which results in the music videos being a fascinating trainwreck in the style of the Star Wars Holiday Special. To top it off, the first single released was called "Backfired," almost supplying critics with with a ready-made snarky comment.

( Under The Cut...More Photos, And The Music Videos )

"Giger's work has a subconscious effect: it engenders the fear of being turned into metal." -- Debbie Harry & Chris Stein

Maybe that's why I'm so drawn to it...? ;-)

Well, I dream in High Def, so there.

The video is "Fiction (Dreams In Digital)" by Orgy. The makeup is fairly bare bones, but the arm sleeves she wears look interesting.





I've taken the liberty of uploading a video with all those boring shots of the band taken out.



(Found by Utsumi.)

I finally managed to find a larger version of the sleeping robot I used for the banner at the top of this blog, thanks to an interesting search engine called TinEye. Turns out the reason I'd had so much trouble is that the website where it originated is in Russian.

The website has the image listed as CGI ("3D"), however, grain in the higher-sized versions seems to indicate that the image may've been scanned from a magazine or some other print source by the person who uploaded it?

Details: notice on the far left, just above her head, appears to be maybe part of the bedpost, but is cut off? There's probably more to the original image. Also, if you look at her forehead, you can see the other side of the (apparently very empty) room. An amazing image.

I was browsing through the Yahoo Avatars for the first time in awhile, checking to see if there was anything new and interesting since I last looked. It looks like there are now plenty of possibilities of things to be turned into. (Sadly, no mannequin, statue, or puppet yet.)

She keeps saying it, but I'm not sure I believe her.

I was bouncing some ideas off Sebastian for a floor fan TF that had popped into my head. The idea of someone being stuck on a pivot, swiveling left and right...or pull up the knob and they're stuck in place. Reminds me of an old Mitch Hedberg routine.

One day I'll eventually get around to drawing the image in my head, but Sebastian just sent me his own take on a K-8 fan, which I share with you here:

(From "rotwang.")

Completely random unrelated thing, but kind of silly and fun. Fight my Brute bot.

Virtual K-8 made the front/back cover of Medusariffic #35. You can find it here.