Well, soon I'll be saying good-bye to Dani Dickens, she's been sold to another ventriloquist.  I will miss her, but....

I bought Dani from Kem Poyner at the 2005 Vent Haven convention, I'd had my eye on her for a long time ("Tina" in Kem's "catalog"), and I finally got her, I was SO happy.

Dani is a truly excellent figure, very well made, and a joy to handle, a super nice figure with tons of personality before she even speaks.  Unfortunately, it just proved too difficult for me to produce a female voice I found suitable and convincing for her, so I put her up for sale. It was NOT an easy decision, I hesitated a great deal, I wanted to keep her anyway, but not only did it not make sense, it seemed such a waste for such a great figure to go to waste sitting in a case.

I feel like a traitor selling her, I just don't know to whom I feel that way more, Kem or Dani!

But I know it's for the better, now hopefully, she will be used as she was intended and should be used, to entertain. And even though I know it's the right thing to do - I know I will still miss this figure a great deal.

To her new owner - enjoy (as I know you will), let her make lots of people happy.

Bye Dani.

Hahaaaa, I love it!

Posted here before that the safest, least aggravating way to survive an email list is to "lurk" only.  Well, folks, I apologize, apparently, not posting still doesn't make you safe.

Someone posted about being a lurker because of the types of "discussions" (bickering actually) that goes on. Someone else responds with, "as lurkers you contribute nothing to the board".

Okay, and there you have it, there's why the lurkers lurk. It is just not safe. Email lists become a place for a select few to post, others are free to post if they agree with the "regulars". Lurkers may not post, but many I know, read all the messages, well, to a point.....they see, possibly better than the "regulars" what is going on. Foolish be the one that says something, because someone will come up with a comment that puts them back in their "lurker's place" AND criticizes them for being there.

Kind of "damned if you do, damned if you don't".  If I sound down on lists, guess it's because I've seen waaaay too much. Yes, I am a "lurker", but then I have to be because of my personal list watchdog - so what's your excuse - oh yeah, I already covered that. Mind your place, safe or not.

Don Knotts passed away this weekend, Friday night actually.

Those not interested in ventriloquism don't know that he started out as a ventriloquist. Most know him as the deputy, Barney Fife, in the old Andy Griffith show - a role that will never be forgotten by those who have enjoyed the show across generations.

So I just wanted to say: "Bye Barney. You will be missed, as much as we miss the role, and as much as I miss the times it was created in."

Dave

Well, I'm really using this web journal/blogger thing........  I knew I wouldn't use it as a daily journal. If I were inclined to keep a journal, I still prefer paper and pen.  But I thought it would be worthwhile for posting a note here and there.

Anyway, the figure registry.  Someone had posted a question on the Newsy Vents blogger about a figure registry.  Yes, "Scotty's Vent Figure Registry" is still up and running.  It was basically down for a period when the host went down, and the most recent backup I could get was two years old.  So I lost a lot of updates, but I never expected it to be totally accurate anyway.  Many people have no interest in participating and those who do, usually don't worry about updating their listing.

But, it is just for fun anyway, strictly a curiosity. It can have a practical purpose though.  If someone is thinking about buying a particular figure, they can look in the registry, see who else owns one and email them for feedback on the figure.

You can find the link to the registry on my webpage.

Dave

I posted this on my ventfigures list and thought it was worth saving here;

Okay here's another topic about figures that came to mind during a private discussion with someone, I think this might provoke some interesting discussion;
What do you think is the future of quality figuremaking? Is it in jeopardy?

In another forum, someone posted this
"I think that some of the old line figure makers are starting to see that there are folks that are selling figures that do quite well for somewhat let money and the Brose Kits seem to be a nice way to go also with some nice creations at a nominal charge. I do see a plateau in the future on the amount of new figures out there. I did get a note back from a figure maker after I sent him a nice note about his figures that the "Kit Type" projects will eliminate the carved wood figure makers at some point. He may be right."

And I replied with this;
"that the "Kit Type" projects will eliminate the carved wood figure makers at some point"

This is indeed a very sad statement for the art, and I hope whoever said that is wrong.
But I'm afraid I wrote nearly the same thing today. I have been having a private discussion with someone about this very topic, and just earlier today, wrote this to him in email;

"I think quality figuremaking is going to be a rare thing at some point. Why should anyone bother if there's so many people cranking out poor to moderate quality figures cheaply and that's what people are buying.Actually, I think that has been the downside of Brose's book and readily available info on figuremaking, now everyone and their brother is doing it and cranking them out. Maybe the old masters who weren't so free with volunteering info were the smart ones - not only for their own benefit, but the benefit of the art."

And that's not only what we are headed for, I think we are already pretty much there. The market has been flooded with assembly line figures, most all obviously lacking in some way or another in comparison to the masters. New people in the art are buying them up with no clue what a quality figure is like, and eventually the assembly line figures will become the standard.
And when the standard of anything becomes less than it could be, that's not a good thing."

Later

I recently added another figure to the "family", a carved figure by Bob Scott.  The figure was made in 1975, but apparently got little use and was stored carefully as the figure is like new.

I watched this figure listed on ebay three times with the price being reduced three times, finally down to 175.oo with no takers. I don't know what people are looking for in a figure, I've watched them pay as much or more for obviously lower quality, almost mass-produced figures, but this one.......... I'm glad though as I ended up with a quality figure at an incredible bargain price.

Anyway, as I said, it is a carved figure with the standard slotjaw,  side-to-side moving eyes, and a handshaker that works easily for additional animation.

The body is well made with a carved shoulder and overall, very solid. The arms and legs have sufficient stuffing which I often see lacking in many figures.

You can see pics in my photo album; http://tinyurl.com/d8nht

I've named him "Paul M. Dickens" and he is destined to be the never ever heard of sixth Beatle.

Later.