Original post at: http://www.emilystrange.com/beware/radio/IggyPop/basement.cfm

Art by Buzz Parker, Interview by BP & BB

Beneath the gound floor level, behind closed doors, and all the way to the bottom of the building, Emily was in the back corner of the basement. She is with her kitty Mystery looking through the abandoned record collection of House of Fun Records that closed back in 1995.

” I can’t believe this is still unopened,” she flips the record over and reads the release date, “January one, nineteen seventy. Cool.” Box after box, stack after stack, of all the records she rifled through tonight, she finally had one of her dear favorites in her hand. Suddenly a sliver of light caught Emily’s eye from the wall to the right of her. She drops to one knee and freezes into an action pose to peer ahead into the line of light coming from the wall.

Mystery scratches her way to the top of a box from behind Emily and snaps to attention once she sees Emily’s posture. They both creep up to the hole in the wall and look in. Mystery zig zags just behind each of Emily’s steps. Peeking in the hole she says to herself, “Some kind of recording room that looks…” in mid thought, a large eyeball fills the hole and startles Emily backwards! Mystery jumps in front of Emily and shows her left paw claws.

” What are you doing?” leaks out a low gruff voice from the hole in the wall.

” …Shopping. What are you doing?” Emily creeps closer with even more interest than before.

” I’m trying to finish my last track.”

” …If it’s rock n roll, can I hear it?” Their eyes meet eye to eye.

” …OK. C’mon in.” The eye slides away to the side.

Starting with one finger in the hole, Emily begins pulling apart the wall, chunk by chunk, until she and Mystery can squeeze though the new door. As if making doors like this is no big deal, Emily casually follows ‘Mr. Eye’ towards the main control deck. The hidden room was full of recording equipment and smelled like gasoline and electrical shortages.

” You’re Iggy Pop, huh?” Emily easily recognizes him. “Can I ask you
a few questions?”

SURE

I know in the past you wanted to be a dog, do you ever want to be a cat?

NO, NEVER! DOG IS MAN’S BEST FRIEND.

As Chairman of the Bored, what mundane activities do you enjoy?

RELAXING IN THE SUN AND SIPPING MY WINE.

Does your phone ring a lot?

YES…IN FACT, IT’S RINGING NOW.

Do you have nightmares?

I ACTUALLY SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT AND DON’T REMEMBER MY DREAMS AT ALL.

How often do you write music or lyrics?

WHENEVER I GET A CHANCE.  LYRICS ARE IN MY HEAD ALL THE TIME.

When was the last time you had absolutely No Fun?

I ENJOY LIFE, LIFE IS NEVER A DULL MOMENT FOR ME.

What do you grow in your garden?

ORANGES

What inspires you to have a Lust for Life?

LIFE ITSELF, PLUS MY GIRL AND MY DOG.

What is your favorite album that you have recorded?

HONESTLY, I ENJOYED ALL OF THEM.   I WAS IN A GREAT PLACE EVERYTIME.

What is the last album you listened to?

SKULL RING…YOU SHOULD GIVE IT A LISTEN.

Where did you get that skull ring on your new album?

I’VE HAD IT FOREVER….

How’s it feel to record with the bro’s again?

IT WAS AN AMAZING EXPERENCE, LIKE WE WERE NEVER APART.

What are some of your favorite bands that you are embarrassed to admit?

I’LL GET BACK TO YOU.

What do you like about getting older?

WHO’S GETTING OLDER?!  I’M A KID AT HEART.  LOOK AT ME!

What is the strangest thing you’ve done in the past year?

THIS INTERVIEW….

How often do you get lost?

RIGHT NOW, THANKS.

Original post at: http://www.emilystrange.com/beware/radio/Siouxsie/interview.cfm

(Mostly Ghostly written by BB)

At nightfall, Emily woke up with a scream. It was her favorite way to wake up. She’d dreamed hyenas were eating her alive, howling devilish nocturnes all the while. Enough to make the blood run cold in rapture! She woke her cats, and they all left the dreamhouse together. Emily made sure to grab her slingshot, tinderbox and hexing machine before heading out on her dark travels. Tonight’s goal: slip through the looking-glass and see the world downside up.Once (or twice) upon a time, you see, Emily had managed to fall into looking-glass-land, and ever after, she’d been trying to get back there. But it seemed her juju wasn’t right for that adventure, or the planets weren’t aligned correctly; whatever the reason, Emily had a sneaking superstition that today was a good day to try again. So she crept silently up the winding stair, followed by Mystery, Sabbath, NeeChee and Miles. When they reached the top, the large mirror at one end of the landing was lit up with moonlight streaming in through a hole in the roof. It made a crazy peepshow of the looking-glass, breaking it up into a wild kaleidoscope of dark and light. Emily knew this was her chance, finally, to enter the mysterious world beyond.

“Join hands—er, paws,” Emily yelled to her cats. Just in time! There was a WHOOSH, and suddenly they stood in a most extraordinary land, where the flowers had curious faces and the wind told spooky riddles. Before them stood a most extraordinary creature, with eyes like cats’ eyes, skin like the moon, and hair like nothing else on earth. Emily curtseyed before such a grand lady, and the cats bowed. They knew they were in the presence of none other than the legendary SIOUXSIE SIOUX.
Emily: Where do you live?

Siouxsie: I live in an 18th century stone house in a cathedral town in south west France near Toulouse.

Any where you hope to live later?

Since living here in France, I’ve also fallen in love with the north east coast of Spain. Girona’s’ ‘Dali Land’ and Barcelona’s ‘Gaudi Land’. The call of the ocean is very strong. Either way, I know I haven’t settled down yet and wonder when or if I ever will, but I want to try living in many more places.

Do you have any cats?

Do I have any cats? I should say so. I have three 12 year old orphans:
Spooky – she’s orange in colour and waspish by nature.
Spider – a transformed sleek black prince of Siam.
& Dandy – the white and tabby murderer come cutie pie.
Cats rule O.K.

Do you like the ocean or the forest better?

I love both, but unimpeded views of horizon with the sense of freedom and nature’s power does it for me at this moment in time.

What are some of your favourite songs of all time?

Some being the operative word, these are just the tip of the iceberg: Johnny Remember Me – John Leyton, Riders on the Storm – The Doors, Wild Thing – The Troggs, Paint it Black – The Rolling Stones, Manic Depression – Jimmy Hendrix, Walking on Thin Ice – Yoko Ono, Is that all there is? – Christina, Chain of Fools – Aretha Franklin, School’s Out – Alice Cooper, Hey Ya! – Outkast.

What are some of your favourite albums of all time?

Castles in Spain – Miles Davis, The Idiot – Iggy Pop, Low – David Bowie, Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus – Charles Mingus, Requiem – Gorecki, Koyaanisqatsi – Philip Glass, Berlin – Lou Reed, Electric Warrior – T.Rex, Can Opener – Can.

What album of your own are you most impressed by?

I’m proud of all our albums but I’m most impressed with the Creature’s last album ‘Hái!’, mainly because it was so unexpected and quick. Even though it was only for a day, finally working with ex-Kodo drummer Leonard Eto in Tokyo was a dream come true, planning couldn’t have made it more magical or perfect. It also marks the first album to be entirely finished and mixed by ourselves here in France. I’m still surprised it happened at all, but both our confidence levels have been boosted by the experience.

Who is behind all of the art on your album covers?

Over the years many different artists have been used for our record covers but it’s nearly always in conjunction with an idea for the feel of an album I have, whether found or instigated. The idea of handing it over to someone without any input is very alien to me.

What drives you to be prolific and creative?

What drives me on is to always do better. Plus the thrill and excitement you feel when working on a new project is very addictive. I’m well and truly hooked.

Would you rather have a pad of paper and a pen or a radio if you were stuck
on an island for a year?

If it’s only for a year then I’d opt for a pen and pad and treat it as an experiment. Although a bit scary to most people, I think it could be good for anyone to try to live without external distractions for a while and see if they discover something about themselves and/or life in general. Of course it could be a recipe for abject misery and insanity, like we know modern life can be, but at least you could end up with some entertaining reading, or just put it all down to experience.

Do you have any reoccurring nightmares/dreams?

I haven’t had recurring nightmares since I was about 16. One was about being pulled out to sea by a huge wave and finding myself disorientated in the middle of an ocean with no visible landmarks. Feeling my panic rise I start swimming in circles trying to decide which direction would bring me back to the shore, whilst my arms and legs feel more tired by the second. My most common recurring dreams are of various forms of flight; one of which includes self levitation with balloons tied to my ankles.

What outstanding goals do you still have? if any!

I’ve got tons of outstanding goals. Fasten your seat belts ‘cos here’s another tip of an iceberg: Work on a film soundtrack. Make that elusive perfect album. Visit and play in Russia, India and Africa. Go on Safari. Learn to scuba dive on an unspoilt reef. Learn to ski and water ski. See the ring tail lemurs in Madagascar. See the Northern lights from a Husky drawn sleigh. Shoot the rapids in a kayak. Lay alongside a sleeping tiger and feel its breath on my face and hold its paw. Sit and socialize with some gorillas for an afternoon. I could go on……

What inspires you to continue…?

Apart from the things in my answer to your 9th question. Seeing other people’s achievements against all odds is always inspiring.

Do ants make you happy or sad?

Depending on my mood, probably both. Size is relative and when I look at ants they make me wonder who’s looking at us in the same way and so on, like an infinity mirror that just gets bigger and bigger, or is that smaller and smaller?

What is the strangest thing you’ve done lately?

Eight months ago I gave up smoking and became very ill as a result. It must have been a massive shock to the system which I’ve only recently started to recover from. I was exasperated and furious, but strangely for me, I continued to torture myself and not give in. Life still feels strange sometimes without my Mr Nicotine, but I’m looking forward to being completely free of him.

Finally, what is this invention I made last night?

This is of course the ” School of Voodoo Pencil Hexing Machine (MkV) “, I myself have one of the original “Witch Queen of New Orleans’” models. Nothing sharpens your spells better than this baby!
- XSiouxsieX

Pen Drawing and Illustrator on Computer.  Drawn for Emily the Strange Comic #1 “Chairman of the Board” Darkhorse Comics 2005

Korean Version

]]> http://pillowgoat.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/emily-the-rejected-pen-drawings/ Thu, 17 Dec 2009 07:38:18 +0000 Brian Brooks http://pillowgoat.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/emily-the-rejected-pen-drawings/

Emily Strange® Big Head 11″ x 14″, Emily Fan 8.5″ x 11″

Rejected pen drawing by Brian Brooks from for the Emily the Strange® Strange Beast art show at 111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco, CA. September 2007. Although these were my two of my favorite I did they just weren’t fitting in with the other groupings.

Friend of the Devil, Running With The Devil

24″ x 18″ Giclée prints of pen drawings by Brian Brooks created for the Emily the Strange® Strange Beast art show at 111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco, CA. September 2007.

MisAdventure™ 1-4

24″ x 18″ Giclée prints of pen drawings by Brian Brooks created for the Emily the Strange® Strange Beast art show at 111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco, CA. September 2007

Kitty Playing Pinball, Strange Residents, Beast of Burden’s Severed Foot, The Message

12″ x 16″ Giclée prints of pen drawings by Brian Brooks created for the Emily the Strange® Strange Beast art show at 111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco, CA. September 2007

Hello folks

Today I thought I’d share some of my lovely loot from the swaps I have been taking part in on swap-bot.  I’ve been swapping postcards; Christmas cards; stickers; buttons and ribbons; pen pal letters, scrapbooking items and lots more.  I am really enjoying this and I’ve (virtually) met some really genuine and generous people through swapping.

There’s a fantastic group of Aussie Swapper on swap-bot who hold a monthly wish list where you get to post what you wish for and you can grant wishes in turn.  It just makes my day to come home to a lil’ surprise in the letter box.  I also love posting things out for people too, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!  I’m also in an international wish list group too.

So here is a photo of some of the cool stuff I’ve received so far…

This is what one international wish list member sent me…isn’t this generous?  I was so excited when I saw all these goodies!  Have you picked up that I love Emily the Strange?

And here is something I sent out for a swap called try something new.  It’s a little birdie stuffie which I hand sewed as I was too scared of the sewing machine ha ha. It’s not perfect but I still think he’s cute.  My swap partner named him “Cluck”.

Well I’d best be off as I have a few more pen pal letters to write.

Ciao

Kris

Per scaricare la skin di Emily the strange clicca Qui

Great collection of my Emily Paintings, illustrations and rare artworks & sketches. Very nice quality, good job Dark Horse Books! Available Dec 23rd at emilystrange.com

I’m a bit torn about posting this here, but I really want to win, so… I’m disregarding my ‘book-stuff only’ rule.

I’ve an entry in the Emily the Strange ‘Be All You Can’t Be’ costume contest. It’s a cute song. All I ask is that you have a listen, and if you like it, rate it, and/or leave a comment.  Come on, it’s got a singing cute brunette in a cloak. What’s not to like?

View vid here.

Thanks!

Things are only a big deal if you make them into one. This applies to certain days, too. They’re only a big deal if you make them one. Kind of like today. Happy Halloween. Big whoop.

It was fun when we were little. My mom made our costumes (I don’t think she EVER bought one) and we went out to gather up pillowcase-loads of candy. We came back, turned our bags upside down to empty them of their contents and then sorted into piles based on the kind of candy. Trading ensued, but we never ever traded a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. That was part of our Unwritten Constitution (<-APUSH reference).

Seventh grade was the last time I went trick-or-treating. That was five years ago. Last year we ran around as our XC team, but that was in celebration of the team’s victory that day and we  only stopped at a few places along the way because we were on our way to our coach’s house to get candy out of him.

My brother, Trevor, went trick-or-treating up until his senior year in high school. At the time, it seemed like he was too old for it and I figured he must have been the only kid his age who went around with his friends. Now I’ve realized that a lot more do it than I thought. Everyone’s facebook statuses said something about going trick-or-treating, and that definitely surprised me. Trick-or-treating strikes me as something for kids in elementary or middle school; not high school. I’m not trying to be a stick in the mud or anything, I just feel that I’m too old to go parading around in a stupid costume just to get some candy off of people.

It sure is sad, though. That I feel too old to go trick-or-treating, I mean. I probably would have gone in ninth grade if I had not have had musical rehearsal that night (damn you, stupid musical). I opted not to go in eighth grade because I wasn’t allowed to go with friends and it seemed lame for me to go around with my dad.

I never wanted to grow up. I did, though.

Tonight I stayed in. My boyfriend came over and we carved pumpkins, passed out candy when my parents weren’t home (to our grand total of 9 trick-or-treaters) and then watched Sleepy Hollow with the ‘rents. We ate candy, listened to music, baked cookies and admired our pumpkins after the movie. It was fun. The only thing that made me feel festive was the Emily shirt I chose to wear that has a mummy cat on it. Other than that, it was just another day in the life. It was just another movie night with my boyfriend. It was just another fun time.

Holidays are only a big deal if you make them into one. Happy Halloween. Big whoop.

Ich hatte nie sonderlich viel mit diesem schwarzhaarigen Mädchen mit den großen Boots zu tun und kannte Emily und ihre Katzen in erster Linie als Avatar oder von Patches auf diversen Kleidungsstücken und Taschen.

Dieses Buch hier habe ich bei der Buchlandung, eine Restposten Buchkette, zu einem Billigstpreis gekauft und ich dachte, dass es mich vielleicht etwas über das Phänomen Emily the Strange aufklären würde.

Mitnichten. Eigentlich bekommt man hier nur mit trickreichen Bildern und einigen wenigen Sätzen vermittelt wie lässig Emily angeblich sein soll.

Aus den schwarz/weiß/roten Zeichnungen holt man mit Zu Hilfenahmen von gut eingesetzter Glanzbeschichtung des Papiers und einigen Tricks mit Löchern in den Seiten, noch Einiges heraus. Man bekommt hin und wieder den Eindruck ein Kinder Falt-Buch zu lesen, wobei ich aber nicht sagen will, dass ich dieses Buch für „kindisch“ halte.

Auch wenn mir bewusst ist, dass Emily Strange nur ne alternative Version von Hello Kitty oder der unerträglichen Diddl Maus ist, muss ich schon zugeben, dass sie und ihre Katzen in diesem Buch wirklich sehr cool und krativ dargestellt werden.

Trotzdem würde ich jedem NICHT-Emily Fan vom Kauf abraten. Das ist eher was was sich gut als kleines Geschenk eignet, aber nix was man jetzt unbedingt zu Hause braucht.

Emily shows you how to be gloomy

This post is a bit self-pitying so if you aren’t feeling symapthetic, please take your cracks elsewhere!

I’ve been feeling rather dull lately… I worked all summer, didn’t really get to go anywhere.  I did have a fantastic time camping, and I went to Chicago to see my family.  But, now its October, and I find myself in a malaise. I feel dark and gloomy.  I don’t have any real plans to get excited about.  I am not quite sure how to break myself out of this gloom I’m feeling.

It’s not looking good for me to be going home for the winter holidays, nor to be able to strap the planks on as much as I would like to.  I can think of one positive of all this; I’ll save some money.

But what am I saving for?  I can’t go and do anything!!!

I wish I could be one of those people who can just charge it on their credit cards and say “Eh, it’s only money! I only live once!”. But, I’m not.  I went that route in college and got myself into a big mess. Plus, there’s the whole employment thing.  Which I am not going to discuss here. Which means… well I don’t know what that means.  Thing is, I know many people are just like me; in their 30’s, not really sure of where their life is heading, what to do for the next 50 years (if we’re lucky), what goal to work toward.  Should I look for a new career, maybe make more money? Settle down, have kids?  It’s strange, because we know there are others out there like us, but yet we feel so alone.

I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.  Since I don’t FEEL grown-up, I suppose I have some time. I suppose I could look at it the other way, that I can be ANYTHING… I’m a sort of blank slate at the moment.  I have a few ideas, tell me what you think :

What should I be when I grow up?

Sorry to sound like a loser but… where the hell did September go? How is it already September 25? Pez was saying last week about October always disappears for him and he has suspicions that it’s not in fact a real month, but I’m feeling a little that way about September. I always had a soft spot for Septembers in the past, but this one seems to have disappeared with little to no evidence of ever having occurred.

I have a new one for you  – Lovely Listings. I post this with Emily the Strange in mind, and her fascination with looking inside other people’s homes. My favourite is the spaceship. Or perhaps the creepy Egyptian themed one.

I finished my last assignments for the term on Thursday. Woot! Three weeks of no uni… kinda. More accurately, there are three major assignments due in six weeks time, so it’s not really three weeks of no uni. At least there are no two hour periods of dry mumbling from a David Attenborough doppelganger about punctums, studiums, and colonial ethnography. I celebrated end of term a little earlier by going out and having an evening of wine, ear-drum destroying, and questionable logic. After I handed in the two big assignments last week, it was only two class summary presentations for the final week of term, so I went and wrote myself off unexpectedly. Started at Kremlin, where I met up with a uni friend, and then we wandered around Civic until eventually settling on Tongue and Groove, where David Bowie came on to the screen and… well, David Bowie came on. That’s really all there is, isn’t it?

It was an evening where one moment you look at the clock and it’s nine thirty, you’re on beer no 2 and it’s all cruisy. Then suddenly it’s four thirty in the morning and you’re barefoot halfway between town and your house without the most certain of ideas as to how you got there – though certain it involved at least three pieces of pizza. It was definitely like that. I got to see the sun from O’Connor Ridge, all though I never really intended on that…I kinda just wanted to go home and possibly make a toastie and then sleep for the next eighteen hours.

The weekend was a strange and glorious one. Saturday, one housemate and I were both hungover, so we decided to vaguely tackle Mario Kart 64. What began as a half-hearted attempted to not feel so hungover ended as a screamingly determined effort to beat the final track. In the end we didn’t quite make it that day – it took Sunday for us to finally get there, but it was glorious when we did. 

It has sparked something of a N64 revival in the house, and I spent this morning tackling Super Mario 64, a game that I have never quite been able to get into. I always kind of fell apart at the Cool, Cool Mountain, after the slippery slide. That’s a 3 star kind of thing, and this morning alone I have managed to find 12 stars! I’ll be honest, I’ve had some help in the form of a Russian Coach Father and StrategyWiki, and I’m not ashamed of that.

Sunday resulted in the spectacular gnomes of which there are facebook photographs. The floozy and I climbed Parliament House again, this time to paint Floriade gnomes. You’re supposed to buy these gnomes to paint them and take them into Floriade for their gnome-painting competition, the theme of which is this year ‘Mind, Body, Spirit’ (I think). We decided to shirk this, and took our gnomes for painting on Parliament House, with our own themes. Which turned out to be David Bowie and B-grade superheroes. I’ll post some gnome pictures soon – since the initial painting our gnome collection has grown to four – Ziggy Star-Gnome, Mr Incredi-Gnome, Captain Gnome-Beard, and Gnomey Smurf. It’s not far to go to have a gnome army… the idea is that we will spray them with fixative and then position them around my backyard in a decidedly creepy fashion.

I got sunburned on Parliament House. It’s now rather itchy.

The summaries that I had to do this week went spectacularly badly, especially the Anth one. Since I spent the weekend drunk, hungover, gnome-painting or in front of Mario Kart, I’d done next to nothing on the Anth one, and ended up writing most of it in an hour and a half between work and uni. Needless to say, it went badly, which much ad-libbing, but I got there in the end. The Art in the Asia-Pacific went much better, probably not least because the article made sense. The celebration for the end of my term was in fact more gnome painting: in my opinion a fitting way to end any term.

The NAA had an opening last night that I had to work at… The Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize exhibition has just opened, so I got to do fun things like cloaking and handing out slushy cocktails. Not bad for four hours of overtime pay.

Feel I should perhaps comment on the dust storms…but really what is there to say apart from the fact that my formerly silver car was turned brown? And it was slightly eerie. The storms were cooler – we had a lot of mega lightning and thunder over our place on Tuesday and Wednesday night. Windows shaking and all that kind of stuff.

I love that Mumford and Sons track. Little Lion Man. Also very fond of the new British India track, Vanilla. I can’t wait to see them at Trackside. They were a lot of fun when I saw them in London, despite their crazy groupies. Hoping those groupies stayed in London.

studs combined with frills - perfect goth boho

Another new discovery was Neurotica at Top Shop – the logo says it all to me, a bat with a cool name on it:

It is the wardrobe of the grown-up version of Emily the Strange, who by they way has some lovely new prints for those like me who find it hard to grow up at times and matches the mood of this season … boo hoo!

Emily on the moon!

Si necessita – al fine di non perdere completamente la faccia nei confronti di Voi lettori – di partire da un dato semplice quanto fondamentale. I My Chemical Romance, a me, fanno cagare. A dire il vero non che io abbia tutti mezzi per dirlo – non ho mai ascoltato un loro album per intero – ma mi sento piuttosto sicuro nel dire che sono un gruppo inutile quanto fastidioso. Lo faccio utilizzando uno dei metodi critici più diffusi in Italia, che solitamente mi urta ma che qui scopro dare grande soddisfazione: il giudizio preventivo. Senza sporcarmi le mani, posso quindi affermare non solo che la loro musica è brutta brutta in modo assurdo, ma che anche il loro immaginario è loffio e stantio come delle patatine Dixie lasciate all’aperto per una settimana. Sembra fatto apposto per abbindolare quei ragazzini che hanno sul loro zaino una toppa di Emily The Strange, i capelli tinti e/o con ciuffo a schiaffo e un incondizionato amore adolescenziale nei confronti del Tim Burton più gotico. Insomma un’estetica invecchiata malissimo e – per chi ha più di 14 anni – poco sostenibile. E allora la domanda è: com’è possibile che The Umbrella Academy: la Suite dell’Apocalisse, il fumetto scritto da Gerard Way – dei My Chemical Romance voce e mente – mi sia piaciuto e non poco

Neanche se mi date voi personalmente dei soldi.

E dire che sono partito con tutti i pregiudizi del genere… Poi però… leggi l’introduzione estremamente positiva di Grant Morrison (oh, Grant Morrison!) e pensi “Beh, oh, se lo dice lui proprio bruttissimo non sarà”. E poi ti butti nelle prime 5 pagine. In cui compaiono fra le altre cose: un calamaro wrestler gigante, un alieno spaziale con monocolo medaglia d’oro alle olimpiadi e inventore di cose intrigantissime come i Cerebrocereali Croccanti, una navicella spaziale alimentata dai resti di un antico Re egizio, 43 neonati dotati di superpoteri nati contemporaneamente, una gomitata atomica volante, un giornalista milanese e la Tour Eiffel impazzita. Non male, no? E da lì, il gioco è fatto. Per le seguenti centotrentadue pagine ci si può lasciare affascinare da una storia avventurosa quanto divertente, con dei buoni personaggi sia principali che secondari, particolarmente fantasiosa e che soprattutto riesce a mescolare (bene) diverse influenze cinematografiche: oltre a qualche piccola citazione weirda (come per esempio il cult The Calamari Wrestler) il primo nome che vi verrà in mente sarà quello di Wes Anderson. E non so voi, ma a me pensare a supereroi volanti e megacattivi che vogliono distruggere il mondo e allo stesso tempo a personaggi tipo Royal Tenenbaum, mi gasa e non poco. Per cui si può anche soprassedere su qualche scivolone che ha molto a che vedere con quell’immaginario che si dileggiava poche righe più in su.

Certo, non si può fare a meno di notare quanto l’influenza di Mignola e del suo Hellboy (sia cartaceo che di celluloide) abbia influito sulla scrittura di Way e – soprattutto – sui disegni di Gabriel Bà. Ma se si riesce a passare sopra a questo non piccolo aspetto, ci si trova tra le mani un volume decisamente interessante. Quasi quasi vado ad ascoltare un pezzo dei My Chemical Romance.

C’ho pensato bene. Anche no.

P.S.: l’I.MD.b. mi informa che nel 2012 dovrebbe uscire il film. Se lo dirige Guillermo del Toro non vale

I had two choices.

Either I lose my sanity and do the musical this year, or I keep my sanity in check and just focus on school and running instead.

Guess which option I chose?

If you’re thinking the first one, you’re an idiot. I may be crazy enough as it is, but I still have my sanity. I think.

Anyway, they changed the musical to “The Wiz” and I was like, “see ya!” And, that’s that. I’m done. I chose my road, remember? It doesn’t involve the yellow brick one that probably appears in “The Wiz.” I chose the lovely red brick one.

So, instead of spending my nights at the school, I’ve gotten stuff done. Good stuff.

I did a project on the novel Jane Eyre. It definitely had the “wow” factor to it. I made a powerpoint, and modeled the sentences after the Dick & Jane books. (Ex: See Jane. See Jane run. Jane runs fast. Run, Jane run!) The best part? Because I was trying to get the point across that Jane Eyre is, in fact, gothic literature, I used Emily The Strange as Jane. Yeah, that’s right. 13-year-old Emily starred in my little movie as Jane Eyre. I was so proud of myself, and I could tell that my AP English teacher was impressed. The icing on the cake? The cherry on top? “Aha!” by Imogen Heap accompanied Jane (Emily) on all of her little adventures. I will never tire of that song. Ever.

Ever since I decided not to be involved in the musical, my life has gotten better. I have no unnecessary stress. Right now I’d be down at the school, but instead I’m here. I’m writing for two newspapers, a website, my blog, doing homework and running cross-country…I don’t have time to participate in silly musicals. There’s no point. It’s hard to walk away, but what’s done is done. My presentation wouldn’t have turned out as well as it did if I had had to be at the school rehearsing last night. And, that’s that.

I hate anthropology.

Not just the anthrology course that I’m studying (though I am not particularly fond of that either) but just the general idea of anthropology. It’s the study of humans and cultures and society and all of that, but all that I’ve read of it makes it feel like such a Euro-centric colonialist pursuit that does little more than uphold the ideals that whites are better than everyone else. Perhaps I’m way off the mark, it may only be the stuff that I’ve been thrown in the course I’m doing. Apologies to anyone who studies anth and feel that they are doing amazing, life-changing work, but I just don’t get it. Anthropology and ethnology make me feel a little bit nauseous. Feel free to have the field all to yourself. I have no intention of ever positioning myself near it again.

Not sure that words can express how jealous I am that Grasshopper and everyone else has gone to the coast for the weekend and I have had to stay and work. The dashing redhead’s family has a house down there and I’m stuck up in Canberra, on a stunningly beautiful day, inside, at work, and then later at the NLA to do study. I am spewing.

Final part of last week’s Harriet saga was played out yesterday afternoon. (Added spewingness – I was stuck in Queanbeyan while the others went to the coast.) After driving her around for the last couple of days, refilling the water every time she was cool enough to do it, I got her into the garage out in Queanbeyan that sold me the radiator to have it installed yesterday afternoon. Dropped her out there, they said it would take a while, and suggested I go and find some lunch or something like that. Unfortunately, this was in the middle of Queanbeyan’s industrial area, about three or four ks out of town, and my car was now out of action. I wandered around for a while, got hopelessly lost, no food was to be found, and then eventually just found a tree to sit under, do some reading, and update facebook from my phone.

Eventually found my way back to the garage, where they told me that they had in fact sold me the wrong radiator, and the mechanic had gone out to find one that would actually fit. It was around two thirty by this time (and I was hungry), so I thought I would see if anyone could come and pick me up and I would buy them lunch for their troubles. First time round, no one picked up their phones. After a bit, Emily the Strange got back to me, and came out to pick me up – not without getting lost in Queanbeyan, and requiring several callbacks as we tried to work it out using the GPS on my phone. Fortunately for her, she got a lovely tour of Queanbeyan’s town centre, though it was spectacular timing of when she appeared to pick me up, the mechanic came back with a new radiator.

We went to grab some food anyway, as they looked like they were going to take a while, and when we came back around four thirty, (after I scared a girl in Coles when I told her we had the same name, then tried to justify why I’d said it before giving up and realising that she and I would never be friends) it was like there had been a nuclear holocaust and all that was left was the burnt out husks of cars. Harriet remained with her hood up in the garage, with her radio on, but there was no sound or sight of either of the mechanics, the strange little daughter or the golden retriever that had all been there when we left.

It was about 20 minutes before the little girl and the dog wandered out, walked past us, and then stood there and stared for a bit, and then disappeared back into a strange shed just sitting on the driveway. Eventually Emily the Strange wandered down into the car graveyard, the little girl followed her, and apparently there was an odd moment of stare-off before the mechanic realised that we wanted to pick up my shit heap and leave. (I have a theory that people in Queanbeyan don’t need to speak to communicate. It’s some kind of bogan telepathy that the rest of the population missed out on for one reason or another.)

So, lucky for me, Harriet is back on the road, steam-free. There is no question that this time I dealt with it a lot better, though the amount of money I’ve saved thanks to a knight in a shiny blue vehicle has just gone over a thousand. It helped that she was actually driveable this time, as opposed to the whole dying in the middle of an intersection trick she pulled last time.

By the way, no, I’m not going to buy a new car. She only has to last until the middle of next year before I dump her in a paddock and set fire to her. (You’re all invited. Bring marshmallows.)

I was flipping through my diary (of pain) the other day, and realised that the next date I can go drinking is the 25th of September. By then it will have been around six weeks since I last got drunk. (This time I’ll eat, and keep my thoughts to myself, however.) This semester has been shit. I can’t wait for it to end.

That reminds me – anyone want to come see Sarah Blasko with me in Melbourne on October 5?

Se você gosta da Emily The Strange não pode perder de jeito nenhum essa bolsa linda e espaçosa! Ainda  vem com uma alça removível e regulável. A alça menor é fixa!

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