Something very bad happened to Cindy.

She started off as an innocent, perkily smiling Colonial Barbie head and turned into a shambling disaster! I was going to do a simple repaint on her, since I found her face cute in a somewhat manic way.

To reduce the appearance of derangement, I wanted to cut out her teeth and glue her mouth shut. I did not make a clean cut, however, and she seemed to have fangs or broken teeth worthy of some sort of undead creature.

The unhinged lower jaw, head wound, anxious look and bloody garments followed from there. What an improvement! ( Read more... )

True Blood, season 2, ep 1: still entertaining

So I just caught the first ep of season 2 of True Blood, thanks to the fastest download ever. Most of the plots are continuing from the first season in that people keep dying; Sookie continues to break up and make up with Bill, who keeps looking wounded and red-eyed most of the time; Sam keeps crushing on Sookie; Tara keeps love/hating her mom and getting closer to that creepy "social worker" Maryann; Sookie's dumb brother keeps pursuing the vamp-hating church; and Bill's vampire spawn Jessica keeps being petulant. The only one who's had a real change in status is Lafayette, who's being kept in a dungeon by Sheriff Highlights Eric for dealing vampire blood.

I find the multi-layered stories interesting and the characters fascinating, except for Sheriff Highlights. He can die and be replaced by someone who can convincingly play an law enforcer. I don't know where people get off thinking he's sexy because he's not.

Of course, after everything, I keep coming back for Stephen Moyer's portrayal of Bill Compton. I especially appreciate how he builds his acting on stillness and silence, but is able to generate expressive looks without devolving into sad puppy dog eyes. He lurks around looking bloodshot, haggard and cheese-colored most of the time, which is how I imagine your average vampire to look. I appreciate that the costumes and makeup people give him a scraggly, loose comb-over, a pale complexion and other traits that downplay his attractiveness. I approve.

Things are even worse for Cindy.

Now she has red and purple paint blood in her hair! Even better! ( Read more... )