If your model ends up looking like a RealDoll or the setup for Chobits, you’re doing it wrong.

Also, go easy on smoothing out her skin with filters and photoshop until she looks like plastic. The Uncanny Valley is a two-way street.

(NSFW)

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After the events of New Years Eve, future “slutwalks” in Europe are going to look like NRA conventions.

(via)

Thanks to Christmas and my Amazon wishlist, I finally got to see the Agent Carter series. My DVR had skipped the first episode, and I never got around to watching it any other way, so the Bluray went onto my list. Well worth it, and now I can watch season two in two weeks.

…unless my DVR flakes out, of course.

You really shouldn’t carry your knife that way.

The Rock’s proposed remake is apparently still in the concept stage, and I hope it stays that way.

(for some reason, I now hear Edith Bunker’s voice singing “Mister, we could use a man like Ol’ Jack Burton again…”)

My first reaction to this picture of 19-year-old Seira Jōnishi (上西星来) was to search on Amazon Japan for photobooks and DVDs.

My second reaction was to Google for more pictures, because she doesn’t have any photobooks or DVDs yet, and her idol group Tokyo Performance Doll has blocked international viewing of their (forgettable-but-decorative) music videos. Her 20-year-old cousin Kei (上西恵) only has one photobook, despite being an NMB48 member for five years. Clearly there’s an opportunity for a double feature here.

As I mentioned earlier, it was nice having parents and sister for the holidays. The three weeks of cleaning and maintenance before they arrived were a bit frantic, though. And my fridge, freezer, and pantry are pretty darn stocked for a while; I kept telling them that if they didn’t eat a lot, I wouldn’t have to shop until Valentine’s Day.

Still, even with the place stocked up, we made some outings, in which we discovered such things as Envy apples (tasty, long shelf life, doesn’t brown when left out), Robata Grill Japanese restaurant in Carmel (terrific karaage, and how can you go wrong at a place that sells baconmaki appetizers?), and something I can’t link to, the Stonemill Kitchens Pretzel Bread Ring, which appears to be a Safeway-only item so exclusive that Stonemill’s web site doesn’t acknowledge it yet. And every time I buy one, the clerk is shocked that the store has such an item.

Also, not a new discovery, but we recommend Jamie Oliver’s Beef and Guinness Stew with Dumplings, although you probably want to increase the quantity on the stew; the dumplings absorb a lot of liquid. Also Vicolo Corn Meal Pizza Crusts, which I stocked up on for quick dinners.