A Boy Doll Diary - The photo story about a man living with his boy doll

Dear Diary, Our home has sold and we will leave New Zealand for our new home country next week. I have loved living here and I’m going to miss my home and friends. Not everyone gets to live in little village in the country in an old church and hall. The church was built in 1906 and closed in 2012 when we bought it. The hall was built in 1953. We built the addition which joins the church and hall. Our property boarders on three streets and goes to the upper left corner. The paddock enclosed by the high hedge is part of it. The goats can be see in the back paddock. Now, it’s off to our new adventure! The question is: where are we going? Hans

Dear Diary, Today's video is from the ABC series "What Would You Do?". From the YouTube programme description: What Would You Do? (WWYD) is a hidden camera show, hosted by ABC News correspondent John Quinones, in which unknowing bystanders are placed in uncomfortable, and often compromising real world scenarios in public. WWYD’s hidden cameras focus on the average person’s responses and reactions to these issues of social responsibility. The individuals on this hidden camera show are forced to make tough calls when directly faced with situations of racism, violence, hate crimes, and other hot button cultural issues. The programme tries to be balanced by presenting both a boy and a girl but cards are stacked in the girl's favour and against the boy. Society finds it acceptable for a girl to act like a boy and to show interest in traditionally boy things. Such a girl is called a 'tomboy' and slides by, pretty much unscathed. However, a boy who shows

Dear Diary, Something's up. I'm suspicious. Very suspicious. Oi! Where are all my clothes? Where's all the furniture? I feel so little in this empty room. What's with all these boxes? I need to climb up to get a better view. Good grief! I certainly hope you don't think I’m  going to travel in this ! Something's not right here. I wonder what's going on here. Vati,where are you? Vati? Vaaati! Hans

Dear Diary, This film is titled "Living Dolls (Dolls Obsession Documentary), a part of the Real Stories series on YouTube. It chronicles the life stories of 4 doll collectors. It is fascinating because each person is totally different from the other and yet there are common threads connecting each of them. From the YouTube description: An intimate look at the weird and wonderful subculture of doll collecting – featuring a young mother who spends more money than the family earns to feed her habit; a Barbie-loving man who never left home; an animator who transforms dolls for an epic robot-porn film; and a married man who believes love dolls give him the best of both sex and art. Living Dolls is a surprising, humorous and engaging documentary that opens the door to a fascinating array of collectors and their collections. It taps into why these colourful characters’ lives are ultimately shaped by their obsession. Some are loveable, others you may love to hate… Debbie - marrie

Dear Diary, It's Halloween and time to dress up and go trick-or-treating! Well, I won't be going this year because we don't really celebrate this particular holiday here in New Zealand. But, for all you spooks, ghosts and goblins in other parts of the world, - boo! Here's a guy who collects dolls and who is getting into the Halloween spirit.  This doll collector's name is Joey and he's obviously a doll enthusiast. Here is a video of his doll room which is interesting. You go, Joey! Hans

Dear Diary, It's so exciting to live in this time when our consciousness is expanding beyond what those in charge tell us is what is good, right and normal. For too long in the doll world, the norm has been girls playing with perfect dolls, whether baby dolls, girl dolls or fashion dolls. Even the boy dolls, like Ken and GI Joe, came with the same societal expectations, demonstrated in the perfect skin colour, body type, age and style. Could any child live up to what was demanded? And, of course, the demands put into everyone's head had once goal: to subconsciously encourage massive consumerism (fashion, diets, gyms, etc).  Thankfully, now we are moving beyond this brainwashing and one of the signs of the progressive times are the dolls which have prosthetics. Mattel has issued Barbies with wheelchairs and also artificial legs. Reality, folks! Why shouldn't people with physical challenges play with dolls which mirror their own reality? The YouTuber, Jason Howle