Shop review - Grandma!

One of the endearing things about the Japanese, of course, is the way they adopt English vocabulary and use it in their own quixotic way. There are websites devoted to the 'Engrish' that results. Often it's not quite clear why they choose the words they do, or whether they realise what they evoke to a native speaker of English. I would not expect to find cute clothes for young women and girls in a shop called Grandma!, but there you go. (In fact, at first I misread the name as 'Grand mal,' as in epileptic fit!) On consideration, I think the name is meant to indicate that the clothing is vintage-styled, but don't worry, it will not make you look like a nanna, unless you mean your nanna when she was young and foxy and turning heads at the Saturday night social.

The Grandma! main store is in Broadmead, a Japanese-built sim based on London. As you walk around, it really does look and feel like a relatively affluent part of London - maybe Knightsbridge? I need to spend more time in London to be certain.
The concept of the shop is what's so adorable: according to the Picks in creator Hanae Nishi's profile, 'This shop imitates a vintage bookstore. You are a cute girl, who lives in the bookstore...' Well, I LOVE vintage bookstores, and I LOVE to be told I'm a cute girl, so this was clearly right up my alley.
So I dressed myself, cutely enough I hope, in a blouse and capris from GiGi Couture, and went! Click on the pictures to see the full versions.

You can see an authentic London Underground sign in the background - there is an entrance to a Tube station near Grandma!, but it's currently blocked off with warning tape, and a cautious peep suggests that it's under construction. In any case, what need have I of public transport? I live in the shop. I'm like Bernard Black, but a cute girl.

Unlike Bernard, though, I keep a clean shop. When you enter Grandma!, you'll find a cash desk to your right. If you click on the till, you'll get an LM for the shop, and if you click on the little pink bag speckled with butterflies, you'll receive a free pack containing the floral apron (on jacket and skirt layers), armful of books and duster shown here. You'll have to turn off any AO you wear to carry these correctly. And you'll be all set!

You can sit yourself down behind the desk (the stool has an embedded pose) and await customers.
'Are they real leather?'
'Dey're real Dickens.'

Grandma, whoever she may be, likes to leave little notes. That refers to the SL goods - I can't imagine a second-hand bookstore lasting long without occasionally buying books back, or at least allowing trade-ins.

After sitting at the desk for a while, you may begin to wonder, is there a staff loo?

Of course there is. Notice the cute pink bow on the back of the staff apron! I can see now that I should have waited a little bit longer before snapping this, because the peeling paint texture on the wall hadn't quite loaded.

Don't worry, I have my pants on, I'm just demonstrating the dunny pose. Grandma's left another of her little notes.
This, likewise, didn't seem to want to load completely, but if you squint you can read 'Don't bring the stuff in. Please.'
Grandma evidently knows me well; if I am not expressly forbidden to vanish into the loo with a slightly foxed novel, it will be hard to get me out of there.
One flaw in the otherwise delightful attention to detail is that there's nowhere to wash your hands, so it's a good thing I didn't really pee.
Incidentally, while I write this up I'm watching the BBC's new Robin Hood, and while I love the continuing tribute to Tim Curry that is the Sheriff, the anachronistic costumes are constantly bugging me. Why does Sir Guy of Gisbourne constantly wear an Old West duster coat? Such coat technology simply did not exist in mediaeval Europe! Let alone the obviously machine-sewn seams on Robin's shirts. Oh well.

The bookshop's heater doubles as a little stove, so I can make a hot drink or cook a pot of something bubbling. Num! Hanging on the rail over the heater you can see the first samples of the vintage clothes on offer - some very sweet little coats. I like the blue one at far right! Now, where does that ladder go? There are no more shelves up there.

That's where the shop-girl's little bed is! All right, it's a bit minimal, a mattress with an afghan and two cushions, but I look comfortable enough, don't I? I absolutely love this, I've always ALWAYS loved bunks and high platforms and tree-houses and anything that lets me climb up and peep down at people. Perhaps in a previous life I was one of those cats that like to get up on the top edge of doors and pounce on people's heads as they enter a room.

I've been seeing this method of displaying clothes for sale more and more recently, but only in Japanese or Japanese-influenced shops. Why don't more people do it? It's so cute! What, you may wonder, is beyond that curtained doorway? Why is the floor tiled?

Why, it's the shopgirl's little bathroom! I had to put up the CLOSED sign before undressing and hopping into the water, though. Don't want customers popping in while I'm in the altogether.

Washed and refreshed, I'm back on the job and on the lookout for customers. Come on, ladies and gents, who wants a 1958 Bunty annual in fair condition?

Sim review: JAPAN DREAM KENJIN

I've thought of something else I'd like to do with this blog - review sims that I've found interesting, fun, impressive or odd. I'm beginning with JAPAN DREAM KENJIN, which I found by chance by clicking on a brightly coloured poster in a store in Broadmead.
On beaming in, you find yourself standing by the sea wall of a colourful, cheerfully tatty Japanese small town. There's a bus shelter, some junk like broken down bicycles and wooden crates, a small shop selling stuff like inflatable swim rings... and four unlabelled magenta poseballs.
If you sit on any of these poseballs, your avatar will promptly squat behind the sea wall and pee.
A short distance away is a yellow ball actually marked 'pee' (which causes you to pee in the upright, masculine manner) but those magenta balls really took me by surprise, and made me wonder what sort of place I had wandered into. I noticed that I had a little heart-shaped health monitor in my menu bar - do people fight here? Do they pee fight here?
There's an unusual atmosphere of bright and cheerful grunginess, as if this sim was designed with a lot of nostalgia for somebody's crappy hometown. It's like being in a somewhat run-down Miyazaki movie. You can wander past backyards nodding with sunflowers and into houses filled with shabby, lived-in furniture. Nothing appears to be for sale, even the stock in the liquor store/tobacconist's. Old advertising posters, cracked concrete and rusty corrugated iron are everywhere, yet all the colours are super-saturated and cheerful. The purpose of all the structures wasn't immediately obvious to me, but then, I'm not Japanese.
It's a strangely immersive environment. The only sounds are of the wind and the lapping sea. I was able to figure out that the place was made by someone called clubkenjin Loon, who unfortunately speaks only Japanese. Who knows what's going on there? It's quite fun to poke about. Various shops and stalls offer poseballs allowing you to mind the counter. In one place is a dustbin labelled 'DON'T touch me' - if you click it it will explode, noisily, and take about 10% off your health (though this will come back within seconds). And that's about it!
No pee fighting.

Untone Quilt

Phew - it's been a little while since I posted. Since my last blog, I've had my misedashi, or maiko debut! Yaaaay! (Imagine me flailing my arms like Kermit the Frog introducing a guest star.) It was a successful evening and I'm very grateful to everyone who attended, especially my onee-san (mentor/big sister) Theodote Carthage, who goes by 'Waka' in the geisha world. I do invite you to have a look at her shop, Cartunno Couture. I was also honoured by the attendance of Xuemei Yiyuan and Gee Nakamura, the oka-sans (manager/mother) of Little Yoshiwara and Satoharu geisha houses. It was so encouraging to see them there! Rock on. \m/ (^v^) \m/
Continuing my love of Japanese sims and fashions, here are some adorable items from Untone Quilt. No, I don't know what inspired the name. Untone Quilt. Awesome.
(My hair, skin and shape are still the same as in my first post. Only real difference there is that my eyes are 'Charmy Gray' from Annerose, because I got tired of the slightly bloodshot look of the BP* freebies.)

First up! The 'madrigale green dress.' This is a soft, flowy, swishy sundress, with a gorgeous layered skirt that flutters sweetly as you walk. It has a very springlike vibe, and I'm wearing the hell out of it. I've teamed it up with Orchid Dreams' 'SaSa Wedge' shoes in Spring Dots pattern, and a peacock feather necklace (on a Jacket layer) that I acquired in a freebies package somewhere, some time. On investigation (I love how the new-style Search feature enables this), I think it can be found in a place called Tableau. Look for a box marked 'Yay freebies (girls).' The little green ribbons in my hair (they're tintable, so I changed their colour to match) came with a 'Pigtail Braids' prim hairstyle bought many moons ago, whose provenance is difficult to establish (the seller didn't enclose an LM), but it MIGHT be from Empyrean Emporium.


Next, the cutest little denim overalls. These come with plain legs, or legs with a schweet embroidered pattern.

Only hitch is, they don't come with any shirt, and the bib of the overall won't cover your nips unless your breasts are very low-slung. Accordingly, I've wriggled into a freebie 'cutsew' top from Bis-Daisy==casual wear. I think the lace edge on the collar is very pretty.

You can also get an overall 'capri' prim set, to roll up the legs! Ideal for paddling.

If you want to be more girly, try the overall dress version, which comes with tights with little Bambis on them. Again, no top included, so you will need to put on an undershirt or shirt for modesty. (The overall bibs come on shirt and jacket layers, to make this easier.)

These are the 'puchidenim' (puchi is a Japanese transliteration of 'petit') shorts, which have cute prim puffs around your legs. I have the flower style - there's also a striped denim style with a blue waistband.

And finally for this post, the 'puchidabopan' trackpants, which can be worn layered with the puchi shorts or on their own!

You could also leave off the ankle puff prims to wear them as leggings. Sporty and versatile. (Although they don't look quite right with these shoes!)
That's just a sample of the Untone Quilt range, so if you like the look of these pieces I warmly recommend that you pop along to the main shop and see what else is in stock.