Blog

Archive for July 2010

I'm moved in to the new flat! We haven't got internet yet & I don't feel
like writing a big long post on my phone, but I'm gonna attach some photos
so you can see how wonderful this place is. :D

I changed my location to "London" on Twitter and Facebook this morning. So
far I love it here.
2010-07-28-19.56.32.jpg

2010-07-27-20.11.09.jpg

2010-07-27-20.12.07.jpg


[Dreamwidth mirror]
Sometimes you just have to let the capslock flow, though, you know? It's good for the soul. Also, if anything's going to put me in a capslocking mood it's some good Holmes action.

So, I was on the Isle of Wight this weekend, and it was very nice and I'll post pictures later, but first:

I saw Sherlock on BBC1 tonight.

FFFFFFFF.

It was SO GOOD. EVEN CAPSLOCK IS INSUFFICIENT TO EXPRESS MY GLEE. SO WELL ADAPTED TO THE PRESENT DAY SETTING. (They use first names all the time, lol.) AND THE WRITING WAS SO GOOD. AND THE ACTING OMG. AND WITH THE TEXT ON THE SCREEN AND STUFF AH I LOVE IT. LOVE IT. I HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL NEXT SUNDAY FOR THE NEXT ONE? T__________T I'm gonna go find my Complete Sherlock Holmes and re-read the first case later.

I did kind of figure out who the killer was before anyone in the show, which was LAME. Maybe it's just because [SPOILER] those "Don't Take Unlicensed Minicabs" ads creep me the fuck out so I'm distrustful of cab drivers. Sorry cab drivers. >_> [/SPOILER] But really, it was kind of obvious, right? "Who do we trust even though we don't know them?" What else was it going to be.*

BUT I DON'T CARE because the characterisation was THE BEST. AND OMG MARTIN FREEMAN. AND OMG BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH (WHAT KIND OF AMAZING NAME IS THAT ANYWAY) EVEN THOUGH I'D NEVER HEARD OF YOU BEFORE.

And now I should go to bed. Probably hopefully signing the contract for the flat tomorrow! If the estate agent calls me.


*Or maybe I am just really clever. Let's go for that. *nod*
[Dreamwidth mirror]
On Tuesday we went to see the first Gundam Zeta film at the Barbican. It takes some kind of skill to condense an entire episode into a two minute scene. It might not be the best way to convey plot or character development but, you know. It's a skill.

Actually, the film wasn't bad. The bits with new art were really pretty, especially. I've been spoiled now. Going back to watch oldschool stuff is going to be disappointing. XD

Before the film we went to a teppanyaki place where we had a pretty badass chef who made us an onion volcano!

Adam (Tim's brother) got a video of it:



It tasted delicious, as well.
[Dreamwidth mirror]
22. 7. 2010 9:26 pm | Personal, Syndicated | Tags: , , , | Comment

New art and stuff!

There’s actually more than this, but if I linked it all I think I would endanger the new layout’s integrity. Or, you know, stretch this box. We can’t have scrolling now, can we. So check it out yourselves.

20. 7. 2010 12:27 am | Website News | Comment
Wow, I am on Tim's laptop and he has the screen on an insane resolution that makes all these pictures look tiny.

My Pokemans, let me show you etc.



Haunter and Piloswine are my favourites from my current party in HeartGold. :3





I was listening to this episode of PodCastle when I drew this. That has nothing to do with the drawing, but it's a pretty good episode.





Spaaaaace.




I'm feeling pretty good about my art lately. I've been improving quite a bit, and I also know hat I can get a lot better still.

----

I forgot to bring a book to Tim's house, but luckily he has a manga collection to raid.

I read All My Darling Daughters by Fumi Yoshinaga yesterday, and it made me feel feelings. I liked some of the stories better than others — I spent the entire second chapter going "What. What the fuck. What." but even so, I can sort of see where it's coming from. Sort of. I'm not sure. I really enjoyed the rest of them, anyway, and I'll think I'm going to read it another few times soon.

I also went through the first five volumes of Ikigami by Motoro Mase, pretty much in one go. They're good, but kind of a downer when consumed all at once. It's set in what I think is a near-alternative-future, in which a more totalitarian Japanese government randomly selects one young person a day to die, allegedly to make the rest of the citizens appreciate life and be more productive members of society.

The protagonist is one of the officials charged with delivering death papers to those chosen 24 hours before their scheduled time of death. But, at least at first, he only appears at the beginning and end of each chapter, which tells the story of what one particular person does with their last day. So, while it's showing you the different ways in which people react to their own inevitable death, and being tragic or heart-warming or depressing, it also slowly gives you a feel for the kind of society these people are living in and how it's shaped by the law. The atmosphere — the bureaucracy and constant fear of being overheard by secret police — reminds me a lot of stories set in the DDR. I think the next few volumes are going to be particularly interesting, as the main character's doubts about his job and his society look like they're about to reach a tipping point.
[Dreamwidth mirror]
17. 7. 2010 10:31 pm | Personal, Syndicated | Tags: , | Comment


It was actually a relatively cool 25°C yesterday, but for the past week I've been pouring water down my throat like it was going out of style.

Stuff from my sketchbook from France:




This pigeon thought it was hot shit, pushing all the pother pigeons around. It was very fluffy, though.









I really love the Centre Pompidou and the square in front of it. I didn't go inside because it was €7 or something. I had some money left over when I got home, so in retrospect I kind of wish I'd relaxed a bit about it and gone into more galleries and fancy cafés. Oh well, next time!





These toilet hut things saved my life a couple of times, because in Paris other public toilets close for lunch








On Thursday I went to the Musée Rodin, which is a beautiful villa-and-garden kind of deal full of statues.




Fair enough, little English girl, fair enough.


The Gates of Hell is also an epic piece of statuary, and I would like it for the doors of my house.

From there I walked via the Eiffel Tower (first time I'd seen it up close. Really impressive — as you may or may not know I totally get off on over-dimensional architecture — though standing still to take it all in meant being set upon by a pack of souvenir sellers. I'd like to go up sometime, but I didn't then because it's expensiiiiive, and I figured it'd be more fun together with someone else, anyway.) to the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Particularly enjoyed the 1930s furniture, weird-shit painitngs by Victor Brauner and pretty painitngs by Suzanne Valadon. I also wrote down Raymond Hains, I think because his giant matches (thank you, Google) made me laugh.

The next two days I spent with Tim, so I didn't sit around drawing anything. We went to a comic shop (where I failed to find any comics I'd heard of, but bought some nice looking ones anyway), and the Musée des Arts et Métiers, and the Grande Galerie de l'évolution at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle. Why is this one a 'muséum' and not a 'musée'? Arts et Métiers was quite cool — creaky old building full of technological stuff — but I think it might have been better if they arranged it all chronologically instead of dividing it into topics and then arranging the objects within each topic. Or at least pick broader topics; maybe one per floor? The constant jumping back in time was a little jarring.

We also walked around a bit, but it was really hot and Tim wasn't feeling very well all week, so we went home pretty early every day. What we should obviously have done is go home at noon and then go out later and enjoy Paris in the evening, but that never occurred to me. -__-



Lastly, here's a woman with an octopus:


[Dreamwidth mirror]