Fobots for Haiti

No, we’re not planning on sending any bots to Haiti.  As much as I’m sure the people of Haiti could use a smile about now, I think cash would be easier to send.  And probably more useful.  Here’s the scoop:

Like many of you, I’ve been thinking about what I could do to help the vicitms of the earthquake rebuild.  The obvious answer; build a robot, auction it off to you, my loyal Fobot fans, and give the money to Haitian relief.   I’ve chosen Stop Hunger Now*, a Raleigh based international organization that distributes food and life-saving aid around the world.   But what to build? 

It all started with that head–a battery tester–that just reminded me of a duck.  Add the curl of a car lock spring on its head, and there was a baby duck.  Then add our predisposition for bad puns, and voila!   Baby Duck Duvalier, named in honor–better make that dishonor–of the deposed Haitian dictator Baby Doc Duvalier.  He stands 12.5″ tall, and is cute as a button. 

So let’s start the bidding at $200.  If you’d like to provide food, medical supplies, and hope to the people of Haiti, AND take home a very special Fobot, email me at artgirl@nc.rr.com with your bid, or comment on this post.  I’ll update this post whenever there’s a new bid, and we’ll keep this bidding open until midnight EST on Tuesday, March 23, the evening we return from the Winter Park Art Festival.   So please don’t let me down, fans.   I’m having nightmares already that no one will bid, and it will be high school dance time all over again.  A nightmare that pales in comparison to the situation in Port-au-Prince.

*Go to www.stophungernow.org  for more info.

Update: January 29–we have a bid for $300!  I am unbelievably relieved that this will not be every high school dance I was ever forced to attend, revisited.  Suzanne Byrd, you are a goddess.  Do I hear $325?

The Ugly Botty Experience

The "Tube"--Future Fobot Runway

The Miss Robotica Pageant

Wednesday, March 10, at 10pm. That is the tentative date for the episode of Ugly Betty starring the Fobots. I know that’s what you really wanted to find out, so I’m putting it right out front for you. Now, if you want to hear the details…

Rich Devine, head set decorator, and Ilana Gordon, set decoration coordinator, met me in the parking lot of Silvercup Studios East and helped carry in three trunks full of bots. And then…FOBOT BEAUTY PAGEANT!  They needed 14 bots and I’d brought up 26, so after a grueling swimsuit competition and a surprisingly competitive talent show, the winners were announced and the losers sent packing. 

Afterwards, Rich took me on an amazing behind the scenes tour of the “Ugly Betty” set.  If I’d stopped to think about it, I probably wouldn’t have been so surprised at the jaw-dropping immensity of the set. I mean, the “Mode” offices are huge, and all of the main characters have their own homes as well, and there they all were, under one ginormous roof. I don’t want to give too much away, but on one part of the set, some guys were doing a very convincing and painstaking job of making some furniture–I won’t say whose–look like it had been destroyed by fire. I commented that it would probably be easier to just torch it for real, but was assured that this was quicker than getting the appropriate permits to light up in New York. Some actual filming was going on in the office set, but I couldn’t see who or what it was about–just lots of bright lights and about 20 people standing around and waiting. And waiting. Probably not a coincidence that most actors start out as waiters. I tried to take a lot of pictures with my phone, like the small-town geek girl that I am, but the lights were pretty dim except for the shooting area, so they mostly came out blurry.

And then, before I knew it, the tour was over, I was in the art department signing some papers, and on the way home to my puppies. But Rich, Ilana, Pamela, and all the people I met just couldn’t have been any nicer, and I think I can safely say now that it’s not a scam. Because, to build such an elaborate set and then hire dozens of people to impersonate cast and crew just to con me out of 14 robots—well, that would just be silly.  Even if they are REALLY good robots.

“Quite the Time-Suck”*

Meet the reason productivity here at Fobot World Headquarters has dropped to near nothing since Monday night.  His name is Mongo.

The lovely and talented Phil and I have been talking for a while about getting a companion for our sweet Welsh Terrier boy, Ozzie, who’s 12.  We’re looking at more travel in the coming year (new addition to the Fobot art fair calendar: Des Moines, Iowa, June 25-27), and don’t want the old boy to be lonely.  Plus, as much as it pains me to say it, Ozzie’s getting old, and we need an emergency back-up dog.   And it would be nice if Ozzie could train his replacement.

But Welsh terrier puppies are not the easiest dogs to find.  We’ve been looking for several weeks, hoping to have one by Christmas, so we could get him settled and have the house-training done by the time we left for the Coconut Grove Art Festival (February 13-15) and the Winter Park Art Festival (March 19-21).  Hell, we would have driven hundreds of miles to bring home the right pup.  And to all of you out there saying “Why don’t you rescue a dog from the pound?” I say “Don’t you judge me!”  I know what I like, and Ozzie is the most perfect dog that ever lived, and we want another just like him!  So there!  Sorry.

Back to our story.  Monday afternoon I was taking a little break, and went to one of the websites I’d been haunting, looking for puppies.  And there he was.  In @##$*&! Roxboro, NC, only 50 miles away!   From a litter of three, he was the sweetest, mellowest, happiest guy in the bunch.  We took him home Monday night, even though we swore we were going to wait until after I got home from the “Ugly Betty” trip this weekend to pick him up.  I mean, c’mon, could you leave that little face behind?  I think not.

In a perfect world, Mongo and Ozzie would be best buddies by now, sleeping in the same bed and sharing squeaky toys and dating tips.  Alas, Ozzie is acting more like a spoiled only child who’s Mom has just brought home a pesky little brother who wants to play ALL THE TIME.  But he’s getting better, and a few well-deserved growls have flipped the puppy over on his back in a submissive posture faster than the crack-heads at our local IHOP can flip a pancake.

So, my life is now an endless cycle of trying to wear Mongo out so he’ll sleep, and then standing outside in the freezing cold, hoping to witness the miracle of puppy poo.  A miracle that occurs, far too often, indoors. 

As far as the name goes, just watch “Blazing Saddles” and look for a big guy.  Who farts.  ‘Nuff said.

* From the movie “Juno”, in reference to babies.

Have You Seen These Robots?

Have you seen these robots?  Did you get one of them for Christmas?  If so, your friend/relative/Secret Santa may be a thief.  Here’s the scoop:

Our first errant Fobot is “Damn Yankee”.  He stands 11.5″ tall, and was last seen at Accipiter Gallery in Raleigh’s Cameron Village.  He disappeared a few weeks ago, without first stopping by the cash register to say goodbye.  Not cool, people.

“Georgy Porgy’s” story is a little different.  He’s the one with the opera glasses head, and was supposed to have been delivered via FedEx Home Delivery on December 17 to an address in Houston Texas.  FedEx sent an email notifying that he had been delivered.  Which he may have been, but not to the address he was supposed to arrive at.  So either (a) the driver kept him, (b) he was delivered to the wrong address and THEY decided to keep him, or (c) someone stole him from the recipient’s porch–unlikely, as she was there all day, and no deliveries were made.

So, if you see these robots in someone’s home, let me know.  I may not be able to get them back, but at least, if the current “owners” know that they’re in possession of stolen bots, they won’t be able to display them openly and introduce them to their friends.  And really, if you can’t do that, what’s the point of having them?

Ugly Botty Update

It’s been a busy few weeks here at FOBOT World Headquarters, filling Christmas orders, avoiding holiday decorating, and breathing HUGE sighs of relief that the “Ugly Betty” set decoration team has postponed my trip to New York.  Turns out, had I delivered the bots this week, they’d fulfill their destiny as background extras for a day or two, then be left alone on the set for three weeks worth of Christmas hiatus.  And the crew was no doubt worried that the bots would trash the place in their absence.  We’ll  now be driving them up the weekend of January 10,  so yes, it’s definitely a “GO”, or at least, a “GO Later”. 

Of course, there was another moment of panic last week when a staff member requested that I not bring any bots that had brand names on them.  Good grief, have they seen these things?  They ALL have brand names on them!  Fortunately, after sending them photos of the bots in question, which were then forwarded to their legal department, it was determined that defunct brand names 50-100 years old were not an imminent threat to Disney’s advertising revenue.  Crisis averted.

So to celebrate, I’m including a picture of a Fobot created especially for the “Ugly Betty” shoot.  Her name is, of course,  ”Ugly Botty”, and she is composed of a Riley’s toffee tin, opera glasses, clock gears, wrenches, and valve springs.  And like her TV namesake, she has a heart of gold, an optimistic, angelic appearance, and geeky glasses.  Sorry, couldn’t work in the braces.

I’ll Take One in a Size Four

Just wanted to share this photo from the November Anthropologie catalog, featuring some of my robots and THE CUTEST KID EVER.   I swear, if they didn’t grow into teenagers, I’d order one from the catalog myself.  In a robot-dinosaur-shaped packing box.

Are You Sitting Down?

No, seriously–are you sitting down?  Find a chair.  I’ll wait.

OK, you are not going to freaking believe this.  I know I didn’t believe it when I first got the email from the assistant set decorator of “Ugly Betty”, asking if they could use some of the Fobots for set decoration.  Yes, that’s right, the Fobots are gonna be on the TV!   Here’s what happened…

As many of you may know, several of my robots were featured in the November “Anthropologie” catalog.  Apparently, they caught the eye of the set decoration team for “Ugly Betty”, who emailed to ask if they could rent some for one episode, to line the shelves of “The Tube” (see picture).  But shortly after the initial excitement, the doubts took over.  No way, I thought–someone is messing with me.  My friends, knowing how much I like this show, are pulling my leg, or worse–someone is trying to get me to send them a bunch of Fobots for free by claiming to be connected to Ugly Betty.  But if this is a scam, it’s INCREDIBLY well-organized, with phone numbers, tax forms, releases and everything. 

So, some time in December, I’ll be driving up to the studios in New York where Ugly Betty is filmed, and delivering the bots in person.  They’re going to be stars–or at least background extras.  Soon they’ll be demanding their own trailer, final script approval, and bowls of mixed nuts and bolts with all the 1/4-20 nuts picked out…

Calendar Giveaway

OK, if you haven’t seen the magazine “Where Women Create” because you don’t live close enough to a Barnes & Noble or a Borders (and where would that be ?  #%&**@ Point Barrow Alaska?), you have options.  For example, there’s the easily accessible “Where Women Create” blog at  www.wherewomencreate.typepad.com.  I bring this up because they’re giving away a free, signed Fobot calendar to a random reader who posts a comment on the blog before Wednesday, November 18 at midnight MST.  You can do this.  I know you have a computer.

2010 Calendars Are Here!

Ever wanted to have twelve Fobots, but didn’t have the shelf space?  Or the trust fund?  Now’s your chance!  New for 2010–the Desktop Fobot Calendar!  A dozen of my favorite bots, their vital statistics, a  funny glimpse into their private lives, and……oh yeah.   Months and dates and stuff.   All attractively packaged in a 5 x 5.5″ jewel case.  Discover what Queen Elizabot keeps in her purse!  Read about the dark secret Uncle Sambot keeps buried deep inside him!  And do we really need to tell you what great stocking stuffers these would make?  All this for $13.95 plus $2.50 shipping.  Just go to the website– www.ifobot.com  (it’s right there on the home page) and press the little shopping cart button it took me so long to figure out how to create.  You’ll be happy you did.

News Flash(es)

Wooohoo!  For those of you who have grown frustrated scanning the ironically labeled “Available Fobots” gallery on www.ifobot.com and seeing nothing but evil (well, evil for you but GREAT for me) red “SOLD” signs next to all the pictures, your wait is over!  I have FINALLY uploaded 48–count’em–48 new pages to the site!  That’s 44 bots and 11 necklaces.  And most of them are still actually available!  I say mostly, because four have sold already.  Maybe more by the time you read this, but hey!  The point is, I finally did it.  And now I can return to the Fobotorium with a clean conscience.

And speaking of the Fobotorium–you may recall that several months ago, the magazine “Where Women Create” stopped by to take a few pictures.   If you’ve ever been curious to see the place where Fobots are born, as you’ve never seen it before (i.e., clean) now’s your chance.  The Winter edition features 8 smokin’ pages of bots, bots, and more bots.  And my studio.  And my dog.  Oh, and some other artists.  And their awesome workspaces.  If you’d like to get a copy, I believe Barnes & Noble and Borders have them.  Unless you’re a close friend or relative  of mine, in which case don’t look, you’re getting one for Christmas.