Giddy Me! Got a New Camera - Kodak EasyShare C813

Okay, I couldn't hold out for reviews. I wanted my old EasyShare CX7300 camera, but it wasn't going to revive without some outside help so I hied me to Walmart where I found another Kodak EasyShare digital camera. This one is model C813. I couldn't get the teal one; they only had the pink, but I love, love, love it already. Here are my first findings.

It's like a grown up's camera or a real photographer's camera. I mean, it has a lens that extends and makes that eeerrrrkkk sound when it is turned on. (I like to hear machines make operating noises. Seems like they are animated. Shrug.) The buttons resemble the ones on my CX7300 only there are more settings. It's slimmer and lighter than my CX7300 too.

The Walmart clerk at the Roosevelt Boulevard store (the one closer to town, not the one out in the Far Northeast) was nice AND knowledgeable. I'd asked about a black Kodak camera with a fat lense that was reduced to $100 from $177 - don't recall the model number - only to find that they were "out" of that one as well as some of the others I sought that were under $100. I told her that I wanted a camera with a 3x zoom feature and that cost under $100. She indicated the C813 that they had in teal and in pink on display. And there was another Kodak EasyShare that was $130, but it had been returned by someone. I don't like used stuff; I saw how the box had been opened so I didn't want that one. They had no more teal C813s so I settled for the pink C813. (Didn't want pink because that seemed too girly, sissy. No teal though. Price was right. Features seemed to match my old one. So pink it is.)

I'm going to take new photos now. Yay, yay, yay.

WTB Replacement Digital Camera - New & Cheap

Last night, I dropped my Kodak CX7300 digital camera. Today, it won't power on. (No light.) Kodak online.com gives me $75 as a start for the repair cost. They can't guarantee that my camera can be fixed and there would be repair turnaround time. Groan.

So, I need a new, cheap digital camera that I can use to photograph my dolls and action figures. Can anyone recommend a digital camera that would cost less than $100? I use the zoom feature 3x and want something I can pick up from a brick-and-mortar store.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Surprise! Nabbed a Graduation Ryan at Target!

"I wasn't looking ... but somehow I found him."

That's how things were this afternoon. I was in a Target where I was doing my scan for any new fashion dolls or action figures. I checked the High School Musical dolls there, not expecting that I would find him. The elusive kilted Ryan from the HSM 3 Graduation line? Not a chance. He wasn't high on my list of must haves anyway.

But just like those Rebelde boy-girl sets, Ryan appeared. I found him at the Target off Bustleton Avenue, a block below Cottman Avenue.



So for those still seeking the High School Musical 3 Graduation class figures, take a deep breath. The figures are out there. Good luck!

New (to Me) Power Team Photos on Webshots

I was checking for sources for M&C Toys' figures, Power Team and StarRunner, when I came across three Webshots photo albums that took my breath. (Well, I kinda did a gasp thing and then held my breath a few times. I was that engrossed. Whoa, this is turning into an "en" night!)

Here is the link:

PowerTeam Photos

Repeat to self: I cannot afford new figures at this time. I cannot afford new figures at this time ....

Sigh.

Vinnie, Taboo, Kana, and Kat of East Philly

Left: Vinnie and Taboo standing; Kana and Kat kneeling.
Right: Vinnie, Kana, and Taboo standing while Kat sits.

Welcome from some citizens of East Philly.

Vinnie and Taboo decided to share an apartment when they arrived in East Philly. Some Kens and some Joes said that the new guys were gay; Vinnie and Taboo denied being more than rooom mates. Vinnie works in construction, cooks Italian classics, and knits (shhh ... only when he feels stressed). Taboo is a car mechanic who used to work with Michael Chan. Taboo does not discuss what he did when working with Mr. Chan.

Chestnut-haired Kana and brunette Kat are sisters. Kana petitioned Vinnie and Taboo to act as their parents so that the girls would not have to live in the local orphanage. Vinnie and Taboo agreed; the guys wanted witnesses to them being "straight." The four moved to a house next door to Baptist minister, Reverend Isaiah Ezekiel Hadley and his family.

DAF Characters and Storylines, Part 1

Okay this post has nothing to do with buying dolls or action figures in Philadelphia or elsewhere. This post is about creating DAF characters. "Playing with" our collection. I had back stories for my dolls and action figures when I was a child, as a teenager, and throughout my adult "collecting" years. Usually, I talk about what I collect and where I can find them or how this one differs from that one. Left unsaid is my guilty pleasure in telling stories of the dolls. Because telling stories about dolls and action figures smacks of "playing" and everyone knows, adults aren't supposed to play.

Eh but times are hard. Financially. So I can't buy the way I could last year. And even if I could, story ideas pop up. I re-dress a Barbie Musician-Prince in a brown tee shirt and Ken jeans and zap. His name is Jay, and he plays football. Gee, I wish I could find a new Hot Toys body for him ... like the one that Darren, one of my Hot Toys figures, has. And that Power Team guy there, the one I think of as "Roger Hawthorne," well, he's Jay's proud father. And maybe that Integrity Heat Wave Alysa could be Jay's mom and Roger's wife? Does she look mature enough though? And so on. Sigh.

Then I have been reading other collectors' doll and action figure stories. Roville, of course, and Cheridoll's Crossroads series, and Dolla's Harley Works, and Nick's Toyville and more recently, Michael's Paramus Chronicles and Modern Wizard's Love has Fangs.

And Modern Wizard's blog post, in which she identifies her DAF characters, here, impressed me. I mean she has her characters lined up, photographed, and identified. Wow, I thought. I want to do that.

Or at least get some of my figures photographed together. Like the Dirty Laundry News Team, the Syphons, the Janay clan, the Tan Van staff, the Science Corridor East, and the other denizens of East Philly.

Sigh. Wow.

Integrity Candi and Janay and Storied Photos

I'm thinking about the best background for my next Janay and Candi photos. Rather than just photograph the dolls, I want to pull in the stories that I have for them. Note: some dolls, I have have no story background other than what the manufacturer provides. Other dolls and action figures have what I think of as East Philly characters and storylines. Most of my Janays and two Alysas, one Jade, one Jordan, one Alejandro, one Tariq, and one Giselle have stories. My Candis - exception is the More is More Candi - have story backgrounds, too. I'd like to work their stories into the photographs.

(Aside, I have just found the perfect figure for the oldest brother, Pierre. He's a Power Team Gunner, and he resembles the Janays and Tariq.)

Having stories for the dolls and action figures provides more fun for this collector anyway. Guess that means that I do still "play with" my dolls and action figures. Well, I confess - I like to have fun.