John & Belle Have A Blog

No Tickee, etc.

I've been searching eBay recently, which I haven't done in a long time, in order to find things for our new house. I have a real weakness for "Oriental" stuff from the 40s and 50s. You know, barkcloth, table lamps, etc. I just discovered this bizarre category of things, the ironing sprinkler. Nowadays you have plastic water sprayers, but back in the day people apparently employed small, special watering can type items to dampen cloth being ironed. And what better for such a task than...a Chinese man, symbol of all that is laundry!

I told John, I kind of want to start collecting racist chalkware now. But if you combine that with the racist yam crate labels, people are going to start thinking I'm weird.

im in ur d00d, killin yer base

Watching the whole immigration bill thing unfold, Bush insulting conservatives who oppose the bill, it's rather fascinating. How low will he go in the polls? (But mostly, that post title just popped in my head.)

Healthy?

A White Bear has a really interesting post up on weight and body image. She relates how she underestimated the capability and strength of her own body for a long time. I'm not actually thin at the moment, just normal weight, but I have often had the opposite experience, being the unhealthy thin person. "You must work out a lot" people would say. Um, more of the lying in bed. When people ask how I'm feeling and I feel like being honest (which I often don't) they often come back with "but you look great." This is usually meant very well, and of course it's nice for people to say. Naturally it beats feeling and looking sick, and I'm hard to please I guess because I really don't like to hear "you do look ashen" either. When it comes from guys that are sort of hitting on me, though, I find it supremely irritating. It's like they're saying, "well, you may feel bad, but you look pretty f%#kable to me, and that's all that matters!" I know someone like this right now who has a skeevy crush on me and he's always saying this ("you look great, anyway") like it's a big favor and he's granting me the power of hottness. Grrr.

LOLMOONS

While I'm at it.

LOLVILLAINS

Man, am I tired. This is the best I can come up with.

Mental Organism Designed Only For Tasting!

 

Fodder via the ISB, as you might have suspected.

And Some People Say The Universe Isn't Made of Math

When I was little my dad constantly encouraged me and my brother to grow up and "invent Waring Drive to take mankind to the stars." I think some early focus on math rather than, say, hippie leathercraft and throwing rocks at fiddler crabs might have been prudent at that point. We may have to hope for the next generation to have genius skills (and onomastic deference to their maternal line), or how will we go around checking out cool stuff like this all around the galaxy?

Post title suggested by John. Link via The Apostropher, in what may be the first instance of my clicking on a link at his blog and not deeply, deply regretting it.

Look, Ma, No Posts!

Sorry for the whole not blogging thing. My mom is here visiting, which is great. Also, we found a house! It's not a colonial house like I wanted, and in fact the exterior is mildly hideous in a peculiarly Asian-urban way. I think it was built in the 70s. Its other defect is that it will be a longer commute for John and I'm worried we won't see him. That said, it's awesome. Bigger overall than our current place, and with that space divided up more optimally, so that the bedrooms are bigger (strangely long living dining room, though). The kitchen has a super-high ceiling and a big strip of open space at the top of the wall, where you can see trees. It's the last house on the block and is next to a playground and park bordered by some black-and-white houses, so it's very quiet and green. W00t! I have been visiting home furnishing type stores, and planning things. There are no built-in closets, so we need some wardrobes and the like. I'm putting up some molding (chair rails in the living and dining rooms) and having it painted one color on top and another on bottom. This is the first place I have ever lived where I could paint the walls, and it's something I've always had decided opinions about, so I'm very happy. I'll treat you all to a nauseatingly detailed before-and-after. Unfortunately I'm still weak and feeble with the pleurisy thing. They put me back on steroids, but...bleh. I think Gary Farber and I should start a Club For The Preservation of Victorian Ailments You Thought Didn't Exist But Are Actually Extremely Painful.

Jimmy Olsen, Timon of Athens' Pal

OK, over at the Valve I've been dutifully linking to various illustrations of famous Shakespeare plays. It's an interesting fact that lots of those plays started out as comics, early in Shakespeare's career, when he was working at DC in the late 60's. Scholars are only beginning to study the ways in which Shakespeare's genius adapted the sequential visual art medium to the so-called 'stage'. (At first, many famous plays - Hamlet and King Lear - were billed to the dull masses as 'graphic novels for the stage'.)

Example: here is a page from the (admittedly only semi-successful) title, "Jimmy Olsen, Timon of Athen's Pal". Click for larger image.

Mood: Beware!

Click for a larger image. (Caption suggestions would be welcome. Obviously I should start selling Zoë's art over the internet and socking the money away in a special account. Therapy isn't going to pay for itself. Sheesh.)

Saturday Random Legion Panel(s)

Because nothing grabs you by the tiara and screams 'normal' like ... well, honestly, I'm not sure what the hell he's wearing or what he did to his hair.