Klimt takes Tress-Up by storm...

So it appears that Klimt's eccentricly colorful artwork hasn't just graced the floors of Museum Mile, but the mannequins at Tress-Up, as well. A random search of the Starplaza revealed the haute couture wigs that are now available for purchase.

 

At first glance, they have the look of those items that look good on the mannequin, but not so great on your dollie. After trying on a few, I was fully convinced that they should just stay on the mannequin. Some of them look like they could double as clown wigs or something of a more humorous nature, while others were just strange. Although I did find some ways that they would work in more haute couture ensembles. They're more catwalk-esque, rather than everyday wear.

 

Leaving it to that, one of the most famous pieces of Klimt's creation is "Judith", whom many may recognize as a doll that you can dress up on the Dress-Ups page. His use of strange proportions and colorful eccentricities make him the perfect candidate for a new Starplaza collection.

Article on My Favorite Season (Trial Article for TTT)

When you think of winter, you normally associate it with some cheery, seasonal memories; cozy nights by the fire, hot chocolate, and that week-before-Christmas where everyone scrambles to the mall to get their last-minute shopping done.

 

And then there's me, hiding in a closet with my laptop and a blanket, checking the latest updates on vogue.com, because I am a self-proclaimed fashion addict, and holiday cheer always brings with it the annoying commercial ads on television, coupled with some stroke-inducing meals and deliciously fattening desserts. 

 

Winter also brings the comforting promise of the ceremonial "changing of the wardrobe", where my summer clothes end up shoved to the back of my dresser drawers and closet, making room for the long-sleeved V-necks, puffy vests, and knit-berets. I also look forward to Alexander McQueen's models on the catwalk during this season, engulfed in the most creative kind of winter outerwear. Their winter catwalks are always enjoyable for the fashion addicted. 

 

Winter is a pleasant month for standing beside your window and gazing out at the perfectly undisturbed snow settling gently on your front steps. After the snow plow comes through, all bets are off. Seasonal cheer, Christmas tree-shopping, and those obnoxiously cheesy, yet nostalgic holiday songs tend to somehow "magically" lift my spirits and keep me from cursing the beautifully cold, wintry bite of the great outdoors.

 



Having a chat.

A lot of us may remember a time when the Stardoll "Chats" was originally just called Stardoll "parties" or just plain chatrooms. It wasn't that long ago, dollies. Now that this is a decided appendage to the actual Stardoll chat system, and named rightly so, I've felt the need to bring it up with the personal complaints about it.

 

Being on my laptop and getting access to Chats is virtually (no pun intended) quite difficult, as if the program didn't load slow enough. Secondly, there is a much higher limit to how many people can be in a chatroom at once. This not only slows your computer down significantly more than normal, but heaven forbid one party-goer has an animated item on their person, all bets are off, compadre.

 

I know this really isn't something to complain about for one particular feature such as Chats, but the users that frequent these chatrooms tend to frighten me a little. It seems like most of the older, more mature generation of Stardoll tend to stay away from Chats, due to the fact that it is practically overrun by trolls and 9-12 year old girls, half of them pretending to be males on Stardoll. Many of the aforementioned parties are looking for "boyfriends/girlfriends" for their virtual dollies. Charming.

 

In any case, despite the cons of Chats, there are some decent features that accompany it, such as the ability to create your own chatroom without having to name it. I personally thought making rooms was such a hassle, because you had to pick from a list of pre-chosen words, and there was always that one person trying to spell out the word "single" with the only letter choices available. Thankfully that is no more.

 

Aside from that, nothing is particularly awful about the Chats system. It's a good way for younger users to interact with users on Stardoll their own age (and get some first-hand experience with trolling while they're doing that.) 

September 2012 Hotbuys Review

*Cracks knuckles* Let's get to work, shall we? I think we all know the drill by now. Oh, and look at this season's oh-so-original pieces! Just some random accessories and clothing thrown together last minute with halfway-decent graphics and no solidifying theme! Well, color me surprised.

 

 

Forget what I said just now; I think I've finally found out the theme for this month: seizure-inducement!

 

First, just to kick-start everything on an average note, the HotBuys Runners (sneakers) is what we'll be starting with. I really don't understand it, but they kind of resemble the Skecher's Shape-Ups, you know, the ones that old people wear? Except these lovely sneakers were duct-taped into a dizzyingly-colorful...pattern...if you even want to call it that.

 

Moving on to the HotBuys Chevron Pants (grey pants with pink hearts on them); these honestly aren't too bad. I expected worse, to put it simply.

 

Next is the HotBuys Romper, which seriously resembles the aftermath of an artists' smock after a long day of painting. You know, how they just get random smears and splotches of paint all over their clothing? It's not intentional, Stardoll, please don't even try to attempt the splatter-paint look. Like I've said before, their experiences with rompers hasn't been significantly good enough for me to comment nicely on them.

 

Now we are left with another piece; the varicolored skirt with the black bow belt. I honestly could say worse about it, but my creativity is draining out of me just by looking at it. Not awful, but certainly not good enough to be considered a "Hot Buy" either. It looks like a first season DKNY reject.

 

 I really don't understand the geometric elements of that neon-blue gradient dress. The dress would actually look pretty nice, minus the peach and teal lines zig-zagging across the front.

 

The denim bustier "top" if you can even call it that, looks like something I could see a street hooker wearing. Seriously, it has the appearance of a DIY gone horribly wrong. Someone was trying to combine a bra and the ripped pieces of what used to be denim jeans and obviously didn't do such a good job.

 

Don't even get me started on that next "watermelon" dress. Did someone call a circus ringleader?

 

The Bizou purse really was the trainwreck on top of the car-crash. I don't even know where that came from; did someone just put it in there as a joke? I'm very confused about its classification as a "Hotbuy". Try "Notbuy".

 

Well, I can honestly say that was a huge failure of a masquerade mask, Stardoll. My grandmother probably could have thought of something more original while taking a nap in her lounge chair. Word of advice: never try to mix sunglasses lenses with the outside appearance of a masquerade mask.

 

That neon-pink hanging finger-bone necklace is kind of skeeving me out a little. I'm not a savage who chops off people's hands and bleaches their bones in a pink solution, thank you very much. 

 

 

Well, that just about concludes my rant on this month's Notbuys, or Don'tbuys. Whichever you prefer to call them, because let's face it: the only reason they're selling is due to the decent graphics that aren't on regular items of clothing. What ever happened to the really nice Hotbuys from a few years ago? Boy, do I miss those.



Diamonds aren't all they're cracked up to be.

The somewhat-elusive Royalty club, the Dollmails about upcoming Stardoll events/activities weeks to a month before the official release date, the accessibility of certain features on Stardoll, etc. All these are the benefits of being a Royalty member. Sure, the little diamond border on your dollie's icon sure looks all nice and sparkly, but does it mean anything anymore? Did it ever?

 

Such are the questions of the users of Stardoll that think Royalty is overrated, and in my opinion, they're pretty damn right. You can practically buy a Royalty membership now, being that the requirement is to be a member of Stardoll for at least a year. It is possible to purchase a 12-month membership, and there you go: instant Royalty status. Convenient.

 

Lots of Royalty members themselves think it is overrated, due the comments I've seen all over the blogosphere as well as Stardoll forums in general. Personally, I think it's ridiculous--the "so-called benefits" that are received through becoming an elusive Royalty member aren't too shabby, although I've been on Stardoll without them for about four years now. I think I'm OK.

 

More often than not, I've been noticing members of Stardoll that have practically no in-game experience as members in general, and to be quite honest with you, I don't think they deserve the Royalty status (not that it really meant anything anyway, due to this fact.)

 

If Royalty were to work the way many other users see it, it would be based solely on dedication. Members from last year really don't deserve the benefits they're receiving from paying $59.40 for a 12-month Royalty status, which gets stripped from you the second your money runs out and you can no longer afford to pay for a membership. I think it's petty and obnoxious, just because they want your money. But they have every right; Stardoll does need to make money, just the same as we need to eat. So as much as my opinion is my own, so they should be able to bribe us with a not-so-special virtual diamond in order to rake in about a $60 profit from each and every Royalty member, which according to the amount of users in the club as of right now, is estimated at about $3,731,580 for all the current members for one year of payment. (If those statistics are wrong, please feel free to correct me. I'm not very good at mathematics.)

 

So in order to wrap this up, (mainly because I'm hungry and I should probably finish my schoolwork that's been piling up on my table next to me) Stardoll's Royalty membership status is overrated and a waste of money. If you're going to pay that much, then go ahead, and I have no qualms about it, but what I can't stand is the fact that Stardoll practically lords it over all their non-Royalty members that the Royalties are an "elite squad" according to their club presentation. So elite that pretty much anyone with $60 to spare can get in. Joy.

 



Museum Mile: Yay or Nay?

Even though I agree with the majority of Stardoll in saying that the Starplaza needs a serious makeover, one store in particular caught my attention, and that was Museum Mile (thought I'm not exactly sure you could call it a "store", so to speak).

 

For those of you who've never visited, it's basically a museum, with a few limited edition art pieces that can be found in the outside world, as well. Paintings by Van Gogh, sculptures by Greek and Roman artists, and even ancient artifacts are displayed proudly with maxed-out price tags at semi-affordable prices. (Don't even bother counting the zeroes for some of them.)

 

**Another helpful hint, if you didn't already know, by clicking on a spot in some of the paintings, like a Renoir, for example, the red hat worn by the boy in the picture will appear in your dressing room, and such is the same for another painting in the gallery.**

 

While I was making my general parousal through the StarBlog, I came across a video link advertising the new Museum Mile collection, a series of clothing pieces by Gustav Klimt. The collection will be coming out on September 19th, and will feature over 150 years of shapes, patterns, textures, and all manner of eccentricities developed into clothing patterns.

 

If you want my honest opinion, however, I don't think it's going to be all that great. The designs that were displayed on the video looked like someone went on a finger-painting frenzy on several pieces of hacked off fabric sheets, roped them around a mannequin, and voila; clothing and art. Nowadays, we live in a world where you can dump a pile of garbage onto a table, photograph it, and call it "modern art" which apparently has a message to send about the human obesity rate or something. I'm more of a classical old-timey art-appreciator, and I'll actually be making a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the city very soon, so hopefully I'll be able to see some of these collections.

 

But in any case: Museum Mile's upcoming collection...yay or nay?

Disney is not buying Stardoll, calm down, folks.

Time to discuss yet another fake rumor circulating around the MSW club of late.

 

But before I grace you with a winded rant, I'd just like to inform you that, although this was just recently brought to my attention, it is an old rumor from last year. According to the rumors, Disney had allegedly released a statement saying that they were considering (and very likely) buying Stardoll and re-naming it (examples in the alleged statement include "Disdoll" "Princessdoll"), introducing their own take on it, as well as "Disney-fying" it. (What that means, I have no idea, but I know it can't be good.) Stardoll also would be "...transformed overnight!" according to the ecstatic statement.

 

This statement was in fact a huge sham; a rumor spread around by a younger user who wanted to rile up Stardoll into a state of confusion and anxiety.

 

Think about it: Disney wouldn't be so unprofessional as to release a very poorly-written statement about their business deals. Pompous windbags they may be, but they certainly aren't idiots. It even looks like a 10-year old with moderate spelling and halfway decent Photoshop skills could have done it, according to lel1996's blog. Secondly, Stardoll would have also released a statement earlier, since I can acredit them for at least being honest with their release of information.

 

After this story was confirmed a fake, another rumor branched out, stating that there was "proof" that the Disney-buying-Stardoll rumors were true. Here is an exerpt from a paragraph of an article that was released...

 

"And so to the future of the story. Stardoll.com is clearly being grown and groomed into the sort of shape where it will be sold on to the next stage. Possible buyers are rumored and speculated about in the business and trade papers, with the Disney corporation currently heading the ante-post betting. If a sale does take place down the road, Liisa Wrang will get her cut as a shareholder, and she will become a wealthy woman once again..."

This is all a rumor, and neither Stardoll or Disney would be so careless with the way they release their business dealings.



3-D Facial Elements

A recent Stardoll fad has been the introduction of 3-D facial elements. Many users have caught onto these trends, especially our more creative users, who utilize their StarDesign potential to the max.

 

While I was parousing Stardoll, I stumbled upon a user who I believe has an extremely creative doll which represents this new trend to the tee.

 

(Click to enlarge)

As you can see, the facial aspects have been created so that it gives off the appearance of the face turned to the side. In order to achieve this look, lots of the use of transparency in the StarDesign Hair parlor were used, as well as the introduction of some techniques that are currently being experimented with and tested by other users.

 



Autumn Skater Girl Ensemble

(Click to enlarge)

Today's ensemble is a very quick and versatile look that has been quite popular recently. The darker color combination, paired with the neutral beige jacket is perfect for the autumn fashion season.

 

Main Pieces

Cropped Beige Jacket (Archive--9 Stardollars)

Black Leotard (Voile--87 Starcoins)

White Rider Belt (It Girls--34 Starcoins)

Purple Bows Skirt (It Girls--101 Starcoins)

Quilted Purse (It Girls--72 Starcoins)

High Heeled Boots w/ Scrunched Down Socks (Archive--10 Stardollars)

 

Total: 19 Stardollars, 294 Starcoins

 

Although the pricing is rather steep, many of these pieces you might already own, and the options are endless with this very versatile look. For example, a wider belt would also substitute the thin white/gold belt already used, or you could change the boots to another pair (with scrunched socks, of course). The opportunities to play around and experiment with this ensemble are virtually endless.

 



Question of Controversy: StarDesign Freedom

In my recent bout of Stardoll-searching, it seems to me that a lot of older-crowd dollies now have gravitated over to the more designing-aspect of Stardoll, rather than actually playing games, etc. So while I was browsing through a few hot designs at the moment, I was reminded of a familiar post I read a few months ago, posing the question of the great "why?"

 

So today I have a question for you. Do you think Stardoll should allow users to have free jurisdiction over the content material of their StarDesign items? (And I'm not referring to StarDesign Hair or anything specific, just in general.)

There's quite a lot of controversy surrounding this question lately, so if you don't know what I'm talking about, here comes the explanation...

 

I personally have seen quite a few "iffy" designs...for example, I've seen the rare nip-slip, and lots of designs with poorly proportioned cleavage, racy clothing designs, innapropriate wording on clothing, etc. and the like, and the 3-D features (ahem...) in the StarDesign Hair boutique were also of the same nature.

Here's my personal opinion on the subject matter.

 

StarDesign is an open option where Stardoll users can design their own furniture, clothing, jewelry, hairpieces, and much more with their own creative talent. To put bans on users creativity would be like telling Picasso to stop painting, not to mention the amount of time, effort, and money would be needed to put into Stardoll to monitor the StarDesign process; it would be literally an impossible feat. There's no point in banning users that have the occasional reference to these designs; it is obviously just the way one chooses to express oneself. StarDesign is not mentioned ever in the Stardoll One-Stop Rules, so therefore anyone should have free jurisdiction over what they display. If people don't like it, then they don't have to use that feature; simple as that. As for the younger users, the Stardoll administration are doing their best to cater to all their users, but they can't please everyone; simple as that. 

Makeup Tutorial: Coming Soon!

My apologies for not uploading the next makeup tutorial that I have set up already. I'm using my laptop right now, so it's a little difficult to get the alignment and movements right for the Beauty Parlor, which would explain why the makeover I was planning on putting out today didn't turn out too well. Yeah, I decided to scrap it, but I have a few other ones that I did a while ago but never posted, so you'll be seeing a few of those, well...once I find them, of course.

 

So be on the lookout for some more tutorials in the next few days. I also might start putting up some "Picks of the Month" or another addition to the blog; all of this is coming soon!