This t-shirt WILL be mine.
In August 2000 I spent an entire day in Te Awamutu - I even have a picture of myself posing with a sign saying Te Awamutu - and it's a small, small North island town in New Zealand. It only has two things going for it: its rose gardens and some people who left.
I'm sitting here quietly listening to the gentle drips of water flowing into .. a bucket I have to empty every two hours or else.
Yesterday's sore throat/headache-tranquillity was broken by our downstairs neighbour pounding on the door. Water was dripping into the kitchen. Seeing as we've had some sort of leak around our sink and had been waiting for a plumber since last Monday (long story and a boring one too), I wasn't too surprised. A few phone calls later and I was still waiting for a plumber, but now I had been promised one and on the same day! Same day meant next day, of course, and so far he has put a bucket under the sink, ripped part of the window frame out, dismantled a tap .. and left.
Oh, if you are in Edinburgh on Saturday, my friend Lilith is doing a trunk show of her fabulous hand-dyed yarns (she runs Old Maiden Aunt). There'll also be handspun yarn and tiny trickets. The whole she-bang takes place at K1 Yarns just off Grassmarket.
I woke up this morning with a very sore throat and a pounding headache, so I will make this brief.
Startling Things I Have Seen Recently On the Net:
+ The Han Solo Stitch Sampler
+ Dark Side Stained Glass
+ The 'Scariest' Garden Ornament Ever
+ Bad Baby Names (Legend Haakon? Calaya Delphine? Aemezolina Mercedes? Gennavieve Luaraleigh?!)
+ 10 Comics Creators That Should Make Movies Instead Of Frank Miller
Have at it. I'll try to find some LemSip and my bed in the meantime.
Addendum: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
I bring you The Victorian-Era Superhero Archives. A comic strip entirely spiffing and splendid, albeit too brief.
The comments are worth a look as well.
(Thank you, Alex)
Some time ago my partner, David, bought us tickets for the one-year anniversary of Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School - a burlesque-meets-art school monthly event. David and a pirate had attended a previous Dr. Sketchy's and loved it.
What happened? A lot, I tell you. I sang along to Cole Porter songs and my partner produced this:
Some of you might know that in my former life as a quasi-academic, I worked and published on Alasdair Gray, the writer and the writer-artist. Who would have thought I'd end up sitting next to him at a burlesque-meets-art school event? Or that David would think it funny to draw Ally Gray and have him sign the drawing? It beats my signed first edition hands down, damn him.
Another boon was that the founder of Dr. Sketchy, the very lovely Molly Crabapple (NSWF, possibly) was present as well. I've long nourished a minor internet crush on her and her illustrations. Sigh. And we absolutely loved Kitten on the Keys (quite NSFW) and David drew yet another fabulous portrait. I'd post it but it'd completely ruin his ego.
Mmm.. I'll be humming Cole Porter songs in my sleep, methinks.
I've been unable to get this song out of my head since I saw this performance on BBC4. Usually I prefer Cave's more recent work, but..