† Name: Gwendylyn Thompson
† Age: 31
† Location: California, USA
† How were you introduced to Gothic Lolita fashion?
You and your gorgeous blog! GL style and culture has always been part of my style but it developed through your blog.
† What do you find appealing about GL style and culture?
I love the thrill of the frills. I adore the Victorian and Baroque aspects of this style.
† What are your favorite Gothic Lolita clothing brands?
Lady Heather’s Fashions, Gloomth, Baby the Stars Shine Bright, Angelic Pretty, Innocent World, and many more… Gloomth is my new favorite shopping destination.

Film of the Week #45: Tadpole (directed by Gary Winick, starring Aaron Stanford, Sigourney Weaver, Bebe Neuwirth.) Aaron Stanford’s best role remains his big-screen debut in Tadpole. Oscar Grubman is a precocious, Voltaire-quoting 15-year-old who’s in love with his stepmother, Eve. Over Thanksgiving, things get complicated when he winds up in an affair with Eve’s sultry friend — also in her 40s! The protagonist of Tadpole and Patrick Fugit in Almost Famous are two of my favorite movie males — ever. The next time you’re on Netflix or in the video store, look for both films; they’ll charm your pants off.

CNNGo.com is the most epic Asia pop culture site on the net — and I’m not just saying that because I write for them! We’ve got articles about the most creative Bangkok cocktails, Japanese convenience store taste tests, photos of Shanghai at 3am, Singapore vintage shopping guides… if you haven’t seen the CNN project yet, please check it out (all my articles are posted here).

Time for a long overdue round of “Kawaii or Ai-yah,” featuring content from CNNGo. First up, Durian Boy. That’s right: Singapore’s World Expo 2010 mascot is a “hyper cheery, super thorny and modeled after a stinky fruit.” The little boy wears red overalls emblazoned with a picture of the Merlion and wears a durian-shaped cap. Pewwww… what do you say, kawaii or ai-yah?

Let’s move on to sweets made from insects. “Komatsuya Honten, a bakery and confectionery shop located in Akita Prefecture, debuted a series of cakes and candies modeled on the larval and adult forms of the rhinoceros beetle.” Would you squeal kawaii and take a bite? Or run away screaming ai-yah?

Finally, CNNGo wrote about Kirsten Dunst’s Akihabara Majokko Princess PV shoot. “Piling cliché upon cliché, director McG, artist Takashi Murakami and the actress team up for a music video of the Vapors’ classic Turning Japanese.” Kirsten Dunst dancing around in a skimpy Sailor Moon-type dress and blue wig: kawaii or ai-yah?

If you would like to be the next Gothloli of the Week, please read the submission instructions here. For all your Lolita shopping needs, check out the links to clothing brands on the right column of my blog.

If you ever buy from Amazon.com, may I ask you to please consider supporting this blog by shopping via my site? Just click here and search for whatever you want from Amazon (there are no extra costs to you).

Thanks so much and please keep in touch (I love hearing from you and try to reply to/add back everyone): RSS feed, posts in your inbox, MySpace, Facebook Group, Facebook Fan page, Twitter, YouTube, Bloglovin and Google Friend Connect.

† Name: Carolyn
† Age: 24
† Location: New England
† How were you introduced to Gothic Lolita fashion?
I discovered Lolita sometime in 2003 when I saw some art featuring Lolitas. I thought it was adorable so I Googled the name and found out that it was something real people wore and I fell in love.
† What do you find appealing about GL style and culture?
The decadent aesthetic is definitely what I love about it. I love how over the top the ruffles and poof are, and how you can never be too overdressed.
† What are your favorite Gothic Lolita clothing brands?
Definitely Baby, The Stars Shine Bright — most of my Lolita clothes are Baby. I also am a fan of h.NAOTO, Black Peace Now, Atlier Boz, and Juliette et Justine.
† Any other comments (inspiration, tips, favorites)?
Share your love of Lolita with everyone! Let friends borrow your clothes, be active in the online community, start a blog (shameless plug for my blog, F*ck Yeah Lolita), go to meetups, or just do something silly like go to a fancy restaurant by yourself in your frilly finery. The fashion is so much more rewarding when you are sharing it with other people, even if it’s just online.

Film of the Week #44: Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl. Movie review by Le Comte de Sang (who you may remember from our various absinthe, Gackt and Moi dix Mois adventures). He begins with a quote:

“The human body contains over 12 gallons of blood, sometimes more, under high pressure.” -The Laws of Anime

While it may not be anime, this maxim certainly holds true for Naoyuki Tomomatsu and Yoshihiro Nishimura’s no-holds-barred, ultraviolent gore-fest. Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl is guaranteed to have viewers alternating between winces and belly laughs for the whole, twisted ride. This should come as no surprise, considering the kings of Japanese splattercamp who assembled to bring us this all-out sensory assault. Nishimura is already notorious among international film festival circles for his directorial work on Tokyo Gore Police and special effects on Machine Girl. TGP’s Taku Sakaguchi provided fight choreography. Throw in Machine Girl’s Tsuyoshi Kazuno on visual effects and an appearance by Ju-On director Takashi Shimizu, and let the fake blood pour down like rain.

And pour it does in this tale of a high school love triangle, which leaves all sanity and reason at the door. Transfer student Monami (Yukie Kawamura) gives her classmate Mizushima (Takumi Saito) a (literally) bloody Valentine’s Day chocolate, which initiates his transformation into one of the living dead! As it turns out, Monami is a vampire with her sights set on Mizushima, but unfortunately our high school stud is already reluctantly involved with Keiko (Eri Otoguro), a hotheaded Lolita who is used to getting her way. Enter Keiko’s Kabuki-clad mad scientist father with Frankensteinian ambitions and a host of outrageous characters, including the Wrist Cutting Club and a gang of blackface Ganguro, and you have the sanguinary formula for a head-splattering, gut-wrenching, bone-crunching battle for love and the lust for blood.

In the midst of this low-budget bloodbath, there is some decent narrative and respectable acting. Yukie Kawamura plays the part of the somewhat coquettish vampire effectively, but is overshadowed by Eri Otoguro’s intense performance as the schoolgirl equivalent of old Victor’s Monster. Eihi Shiina (Tokyo Gore Police, Audition) makes a cameo as Monami’s mother to do battle with a historical personage whose identity is too good to spoil here. Mizushima’s narrations seem intrusive and out of place at first, but their presence serves to add just the right turn of the screw at the film’s bloody conclusion.

On the other hand, the visuals are good for laughs but often little else, and while they serve to drive the film forward stylistically, they don’t seem to bring anything new to the table or manage to match the bizarre and grotesque vagaries of Tokyo Gore Police. In the end, however, the film accomplishes what it sets out to do. Blatant continuity issues? Complete and utter lack of regard for even the most basic laws of physics? These are just par for the course for Nishimura and his crew. If you find yourself wondering how a severed forearm screwed to a person’s head can serve as a propeller to fly up to the observation deck of Tokyo Tower, take the advice of MST3K, and “think to yourself, ‘it’s just a show’…you should really just relax.” VG vs. FG is terrible in the best ways possible… see it with friends, you won’t regret it!

Last but not least… announcing the winner of the Akina art book giveaway! We asked you to solve a riddle: Pressed to sweetness / Dark as night / Seeks a handful / Catches light / Your entry to / Such great delights. (Photo source)

Your wonderful guesses included: “Is it a candy jar/ cookie jar?” “The gate to Charlie’s chocolate factory?” “Chocolate?” “Red wine?” “Greed?” “Akina’s spooky new book?”

The answer… which several of you got… is “The Golden Ticket”! And the winner (by random selection) is Re Al-Emleh. Thank you to everyone who participated!

If you would like to be the next Gothloli of the Week, please read the submission instructions here. For all your Lolita shopping needs, check out the links to clothing brands on the right column of my blog.

If you are purchasing from Amazon.com, may I ask you to please consider supporting this blog by buying via my site? Just click here and search for whatever you want from Amazon (there are no extra costs to you).

Thanks so much and please keep in touch (I do my best to respond to messages): RSS feed, posts in your inbox, MySpace, Facebook Group, Facebook Fan page, Twitter, YouTube, Bloglovin and Google Friend Connect.