neurotically eccentric

I am the cat beard queen.

Thu, 23 May 2013 22:12:52 -0400

I am the cat beard queen.

Has anyone in this family ever even seen a chicken? Simply the...

Thu, 23 May 2013 20:00:19 -0400

Has anyone in this family ever even seen a chicken?

Simply the best.

torontocomics: TCAF 2013 Animated gif and photos by Joanna...

Thu, 23 May 2013 15:27:23 -0400

torontocomics:

TCAF 2013 Animated gif and photos by Joanna Wong!

Check her photography out online at http://www.joannawong.ca/

This GIF is amazing!

Shit I'm Reading (This Week)

Thu, 23 May 2013 13:20:00 -0400

It’s gotten kind of late in the week for this, but since Monday or so, these are the comics I’ve checked out:

Raven Girl - I wrote up a full review of this over on my Goodreads (goodreads.com/hellocookie) so go check it out!
Batgirl #20 - I didn’t love this issue. It’s Babs dealing with the grief over what happened in Issue #19, but I just didn’t feel anything for what transpired. Oh well.
Last of Us: American Dreams #2 - This is a prequel series to the upcoming Naughty Dog game, which looks pretty rad. The comic also looks pretty rad with art (and story) by Faith Erin Hicks. I don’t really understand what’s going on fully yet, but this mini-series is worth reading.
Axe Cop #1 - This is quite possibly one of my new favourite comics. Written by an 8-year old? Heck yeah it is!
X-Factor #256 - I felt like this issue was approximately three pages long. I WANT MORE NOW PLZ.
Daytripper - Have you read this yet? Because if you haven’t, prepare yourself for feelings. The feelings will pour out of your eyes.
Amala’s Blade #2 - I’m REALLY digging this series and I can’t wait for more. I love the crap out of the art and the story is serious and yet a whole lot of fun.
Sandman #1-8 - This is the FIRST TIME I’ve ever read Sandman. Seriously. I know. Don’t judge me!)
Akaneiro #1 - Reimagined Red Riding Hood tale… like the art, don’t know how I feel about the story though…
Amazing Spider-Man #692-693 - I’m working out an article to write about ASM… it’s a great comic but I don’t know if I would be keen to follow it if I wasn’t so eager to know what the fuss is all about. WORDS TO FOLLOW.

beckycloonan: Hi guys! I’ve moved this shop over to a new...

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:21:12 -0400

beckycloonan:

Hi guys! I’ve moved this shop over to a new domain, and combined it with a few friends- check it out! www.werehouse.ca :)

Not to fear- all orders that were made through this Bigcartel site will be shipped this week- and if you haven’t received an order for some reason please email me- beckyattack@gmail.com, and I’ll sort out the problem asap!

I want to thank everybody for championing my self-published work, and sticking with me even though towards the last few months it got a little crazy— especially now that con season (and allergies) have kicked in!

The main reason for the new store is because I just can’t keep up with this stuff on my own. It’s grown way bigger than I ever thought possible! I am overwhelmed by the support you’ve shown me over the last few years, and I’m pleased to say that I’ve mailed out over 4,000 books in that time!!! This whole thing has been a huge learning experience, since I basically jumped into this without any idea of what to expect, and now I feel like I might kind of know what I’m doing! (More or less.) Now with the Lounak guys behind Werehouse, it’ll free up more of my time at the studio to getting comics drawn!

So check out the Werehouse. It’s got work by Andy Belanger, Karl Kerschl and a whole bunch of other stuff too. Some products have bene taken off to make way for new ones, and DEMETER has been added up as a preorder! (Exciting!)

I want to point out one big change that comes with the new store- I’m phasing out my silk screened covers, which will be replaced with a new, completely offset edition. This new printing will still be wicked nice- I’ve even updated the cover design of both Wolves and The Mire! The interiors won’t change- really this just makes the silk screened editions a little more “collectable,” whatever that means. :) Rest assured that you will still be getting a good quality book; I took a page from John Hammond’s playbook and spared no expense.

As for DEMETER pre-orders, there are two options- $10.00 for the screen printed cover, and $5.00 for the offset. (There is also a third $50.00 sketch edition available, that is limited to 100.) The extra color on the cover raised the price point- but it looks great and I have no regrets!

Any questions you guys have please feel free to ask- I’ll try to answer them as best I can! :D

Photo

Sun, 19 May 2013 01:13:24 -0400

theartofanimation: Riikka Auvinen

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:49:54 -0400

theartofanimation:

Riikka Auvinen

This, That and Bandette Cat « Misfortune Cookie

Fri, 17 May 2013 20:58:48 -0400

This, That and Bandette Cat « Misfortune Cookie:

This week has been a weird week for me in terms. Not really WEIRD, but I’ve had a lot of trouble remembering what day it is. Like today… recently in the last half hour or so, I realized that it was Friday. I’m sure earlier in the day I had this revelation too, but apparently I pushed it out of my mind. Maybe that’s because I’ve spent my Friday wandering around the GTA suburbs on my own, visiting stores that I can’t purchase anything at and running errands for family members.

Either way, my “full day” has come to an end and as you may have noticed from my last post, I’m watching Continuum on Netflix. I’m just starting the fourth episode and trying to decide whether I like the show or love it. I think right now I’m just in like with it… a lot of stuff is happening and yet NOTHING IS HAPPENING. You know?

It’s Victoria Day weekend and tomorrow Oma’s twin sister (and husband) are coming to stay for a couple days. This means that Oma will be at the casino gambling away her retirement funds and Kaylee and I will have a very peaceful apartment to lounge in.

In theory.

Of course, nothing is ever as simple as that and as such, I think I’ll be headed downtown to partake in the various things happening here and there on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. A BBQ here… a birthday dinner there… you know, STUFF.

I really should just hermit here for the weekend and try to not leave the apartment since I’m poor, poor, POOR, but I just have this feeling that life will not let me off that easy.

OH WELL.

To make up for the fact that I’ve mostly just rambled in this post, I’ve decided to start sharing some of the sketches from my cat-themed sketchbook that I’ve started taking to conventions with me (since Portland’s Stumptown Comics Fest). I wasn’t entirely sure how to go about posting what pictures, so I think I’ll just work my way from the front to back (which sounds vaguely filthy).

The first sketch that I got was from Bandette artist, Colleen Coover. She was the first person to draw in my book and I was so nervous trying to explain my theme. I thought I was going to come across as a crazy person being all “CAN U DRAW IN MAAAAH CAT BOOK PLZ?” with derpy face and all. Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t. Colleen looked a little weirded out by me, but if she thought I was weird, she didn’t say so, so BLESS HER HEART. I wanted people who had established characters to draw their characters as cats, so Colleen was the first (and only artist) to draw just that. I present to you… BANDETTE CAT!

I suspect I’ll just post these when I remember… so bear with me.

This is the wonderful cosplayer, Ridd1e!

Fri, 17 May 2013 19:27:53 -0400

This is the wonderful cosplayer, Ridd1e!

Initial Thoughts On Continuum (S01, E01) « Misfortune Cookie

Fri, 17 May 2013 17:21:10 -0400

Initial Thoughts On Continuum (S01, E01) « Misfortune Cookie:

Just finished up with the very first episode of SyFy’s TV series Continuum. The show, now in its second season, follows the story of “protector” Kiera Cameron from the year 2077. After putting a stop to an elaborate and devastating terrorist attack, Keira is set to be a part of the law enforcement present at the executions of the guilty parties involved with the attack. Things do not goes as planned and the terrorists escape to the year 2012, dragging Keira with them.

Now stuck 65 years in the past with tech that doesn’t exist yet and knowledge that it’s not possible for anyone in our time to know, Keira must find a way to stop the terrorists from starting a war that will change the course of history.

WELL THEN… Now that that’s out of the way, let me start by talking about my impressions of the first episode. Good sci-fi is hard to find. I can’t really remember the last movie or TV show in the genre that I absolutely loved. Things like Battlestar Galactica, Firefly and Fringe come to mind, but there are probably a few more than I’m just spacing on at the moment. Either way, my point still stands. Sci-fi is a very tricky thing to get onto TV, I think. The audience can be very specific and the quality of the show really determines whether or not the audience that you have captured, will stay on.

Continuum stars Rachel Nichols (who I personally remember from the remake of Conan the Barbarian with Khal Drogo!) and Victor Webster, who I’m sure has been in stuff but I don’t feel like looking up at the moment. Thus far in the first episode, both put up pretty solid performances. Nichols kind of suffers from this glassy-eyed look that makes her seem like she’s about to cry for approximately 80% of the episode. Webster looks perma-confused/angry, which I guess works for the role of the cop looking for justice. Those things aside though, again, solid performances and they fit the bill needed for the show.

I dig the premise a LOT and I find myself trying to work out in my head how this could possibly all play out, which is a good thing. It’s when you don’t care about the characters and such that you have to worry about the future of a show. Without spoiling anything too much, Nichols’ character Keira has a husband and son in the future. This is one aspect that I wish that they hadn’t bothered with. It’s nice that they’re showing how Keira is tethered to her life in the future, but I can’t help but feel like they’re building up her relationship with her buddy cop, Carlos. The whole future family thing definitely gives her some awkward baggage, but I guess we’ll have to see how that affects things over the course of the show.

I realize that a lot of people have already begun watching Continuum and are probably on the second season and this review seems a bit moot, but I’m making an attempt to blog my thoughts on things that inspire me throughout my day and I felt compelled to talk about this. SO SHUSH.

What are your thoughts on the series thus far?

Impulsive Stephanie Is On The Loose « Misfortune Cookie

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:16:33 -0400

Impulsive Stephanie Is On The Loose « Misfortune Cookie:

Yesterday I headed into Toronto for my usual Wednesday hangouts in the city. I’ve been spotty about being in town, so I made lots of plans to compensate. However, on my GO Train downtown, I had the random idea to do something drastic with my hair.

I love my natural hair colour. A lot. And I loved the length of my hair. Also a lot. Over the weekend at TCAF Though, I had attempted to straighten my hair and it looked nice until it didn’t. I have super thick hair and while that’s mostly a blessing, sometimes it’s a giant pain in the butt. Thankfully I have some seriously magical hair that almost NEVER needs to be brushed, but either way, taking care of it is a burden since it can take ages to shampoo and condition this businaaaasss.

ANYWAYS, I was on the train and suddenly I was like “I want to cut my hair, dye it blonde and do a purple wash (or tone it as people under the age of 80 say…).” I tweeted this and got a pretty good response to it and started to build myself up to it. I then tweeted my friend, stylist extraordinaire Vanessa, and booked a consultation to tell her what I wanted to do. Most hair stylists don’t believe me when I try to warn them about my hair, but thankfully Vanessa has witnessed this mane of mine and booked a shitload of time to do maaa doooo. I’m getting a bit ahead of myself but yaaaaa know… (this is the blog of lots of “aaaaaaaaaaaa”s).

Vanessa talked me through a bunch of things and made sure that I picked things that wouldn’t make me look “sickly,” something that I’m sure not all stylists would do. I made my appointment and went to hang out with my gal, Dani and her bunny (Vesper BUNNYpenny). I saw The Warriors for the first time ever, in which Dani told me to “Shut up and take the movie seriously!” So that happened. In all fairness, I totally wanted to watch Zoolander, I was in THAT kind of mindframe. She had been WARNED.

We mostly just hysterically laughed our way through the evening. I was legging licked by the bunny. Literally. And we ate lots of Greek food which may or may not have been a bad/good idea.

SO MUCH GARLIC.

We got up in the morning for our respective meetings and such and on our way to breakfast, a man with a tiny dog stopped us and asked if we could watch it while he went pee. So that’s how Dani and I came into owning Victor/Victoria for approximately 2-3 minutes.

Leaving him/her was heart wrenching.

Breakfast involved pancakes, bacon, eggs and the best damn orange juice EVER. From there, I headed to drastically change my look with Vanessa at The Manor Salon & Spa in Toronto’s faaaaabulous village (really, it’s great).

We begin the 3+ hour process of doing my hair. Vanessa does not ease me into things… She is all “Well, we shouldn’t dye the hair that you’re just going to cut,” so I’m all “Just cut it off then!”

And she does. She just lops off a good 4-5 inches of my hair like she’s sheering a goddamn sheep. I don’t really have time to absorb what’s just happened before the lightener begins to be applied into my hair. I had so much hair even after it had been cut off that it STILL took an hour to just apply the colour to my hair. Then we had to let it set for 20-30 minutes. Then wash it out. My hair was the most ridiculous yellow/blonde that you wind up with if you try to dye your hair blonde with crummy box colour. I knew Vanessa wouldn’t leave it like that, but at that moment, I was like “OH MY GOD, WHAT HAVE I DONE TO MY HAIR?! IMPULSIVE STEPH NEEDS TO DIE!”

Thankfully that didn’t last too long before she started applying an original mix of colours to use to tone my hair. The colour change, even all gunky from the dye immediately changed my mood from “OH MY GOD PANIC!” to “OH MY GOD HURRY THE EFF UP BECAUSE I WANT TO SEE!”

This process didn’t take nearly as long to do and after about a total of 45 minutes for the application, the setting and rinse, my hair was an AMAZING shade of blonde/purple that had envisioned the day before.

Then my gaaal starts working away on the cut and I say “I think this would look great with curls!” so she says “Then let’s curl it!” AND WE DO. Well, she does.

And VOILA, I went into the salon around noon and came out sometime after 3 with an entirely different look that hadn’t even crossed my mind until less than 24 hours prior.

Afterwards, I met up with Liz, one of my lady loves and we wandered around the Eaton Center for a smidge and hung out at Yonge and Dundas Square until a dramatic protest put us off being there. We made our way to the west end of the city to meet Amy for drinks I’m Bloor-West Village (SANGRIA!!!), in which Stephanie is reminded of what happens when she leaves the house: WEIRD SHIT HAPPENS.

Seriously.

We leave Amy’s apartment to walk to our destination and when I’m with Amy and Liz, I am ridiculous. So I’m dancing and laughing and talking to them. I spot a black lady in a wheelchair behind us and tell everyone to move over so she can get by. Only, she doesn’t go past us. She slows down to be at pace with us and starts singing to me “Girl, I’m sexy and I know!” and starts doing little DJish dance moves at me and I am like “WHAT IS HAPPENING?!”

The lady laughs and carries on and I start dancing and being all “YEAAAH!” for reasons.

Like not even two minutes pass before the woman somehow shows up again and starts talking to us. This time, she rolls up behind me and comes back alongside and turns to me and says “Do you have any black in your family?” and I’m like “WUUUUUT?!” because basically I’m as white as they come. I don’t mean that in any weird way, I just mean that I am PASTY as hell, I’m practically SEE THROUGH.

My blatantly shocked face phases her not and she carries on and says “‘Cause that booty, giiiiiiirl!” and then she cackles and drives away.

Sometimes I would really question whether or not I imagine things if not for my friends to be around to witness these things.

I’m pretty sure this woman would’ve just kept on finding us if we hadnt run into our friend Bron at that point. We stop to briefly wheeze out what just happened before carrying on.

Then… Deep fried dill pickles, sangria, boozy fruit, sangria, straw chopsticks and butter chicken pot pie.

On the way back to Amy’s though, as we’re merrily frolicking, a man just kind of pops up into my face and maniacally smiles at me and says “HIIIIIIIIIIII!”

My only reaction to this completely spontaneous moment is to just grin back at him and then laugh at the whole thing. This is my life and sometimes when weird things don’t happen to me, I start to think “Maybe I’m no longer a weird magnet!” and then my life compensates for the loss of crazy.

I made it home in one piece and was kind of dreading what Oma would say knowing that she would either love it or hate it. She wound up loving it, almost freakishly quickly. I recorded her reaction and for the most part it was pretty tame, but she did say one line that cracked me up, so here you go and YOU’RE WELCOME:

I call this voice clip “Blonde’s Have More Fun” in which Oma says just that.

Oh, and for the record, here’s what my hair looked like after Vanessa (the wonderful goddess) was finished with me:

I got my hair done today and this is the result.

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:59:25 -0400

I got my hair done today and this is the result.

emmyc: danieltflynn: Nice to see you too, dog. o m g

Thu, 16 May 2013 14:33:23 -0400

emmyc:

danieltflynn:

Nice to see you too, dog.

o m g

This morning on our way to breakfast, @AProperMess and I...

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:26:46 -0400

This morning on our way to breakfast, @AProperMess and I acquired a puppy.

theartofanimation: Jemma Salume

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:07:39 -0400

theartofanimation:

Jemma Salume

fuckyeah1990s: Does this qualify as animal abuse?

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:07:17 -0400

fuckyeah1990s:

Does this qualify as animal abuse?

Vesper Moneypenny as Ash in the upcoming Pokemon movie with...

Wed, 15 May 2013 19:53:05 -0400

Vesper Moneypenny as Ash in the upcoming Pokemon movie with bunnies. @AProperMess

fashiontipsfromcomicstrips: Agent Coulson Lives tee, by We Love...

Wed, 15 May 2013 11:34:09 -0400

fashiontipsfromcomicstrips:

Agent Coulson Lives tee, by We Love Fine, $25
[available in men’s and women’s sizes]

In spirit of the trailer for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (and out of pure love for Phil Coulson). Personally, I dig the impact of the simplicity of this tee, but if this isn’t your cup of tea, check out We Love Fine’s huge catalog of Agent Coulson/S.H.I.E.L.D. designs HERE!

Bonus: The first trailer for Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. can be seen below (click on the tiny grey rectangle!)

mattjustmatt: Some photos from this weekend’s Toronto Comic...

Wed, 15 May 2013 11:34:07 -0400

mattjustmatt:

Some photos from this weekend’s Toronto Comic Arts Festival at the lovely Toronto Reference Library. I love this building. I love this festival.

More pictures on my Flickr. Blog post on my site to follow.

You can also follow me on Facebook, Twitter or G+.

TCAF 2013 Recap | Dork Shelf

Tue, 14 May 2013 21:31:55 -0400

TCAF 2013 Recap | Dork Shelf:

This weekend marked the 10th anniversary of TCAF, the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. Every year, an exclusive number of comic creators and exhibitors gather to showcase their wares to enthusiastic crowds eager to check out what’s available. The show is put on at the Toronto Reference Library, which is easily one of the coolest venues in the city. Multiple floors filled with conference rooms and books at Yonge and Bloor creates the perfect atmosphere to check out new things.

The free admission aspect of the show draws in a massive number of people who are either big fans of the show, the guests, or just want to check out what’s happening. Accessibility is easily one of TCAF’s biggest draws as an attendee. It gives people wanting to try comics the opportunity to explore the sometimes insular world without having to pay a steep fee like at bigger convention. Plus the lack of cosplayers and such (even though it can be a very cool and large part of “bigger” shows), gives an air of normalcy, so attendees won’t feel like they’re not a part of what’s going on. The line-ups were pretty minimal and even when there was a line, it was always a worthwhile wait.

TCAF can still be an overwhelming show though, despite wonderful volunteers and efforts to keep certain areas down to a certain number of people at any given time. The “free” part of the show is great but does tend to draw in a large number of people. That’s definitely not a bad thing, but aisles can get crowded and congested leaving some with a feeling of anxiety. But the free admission allows for veteran and new comic fans alike to spend their hard-earned monies on the creators, which again, is fantastic.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard one bad thing said about TCAF, but love it or hate it, it’s the show that other comic creators and industry professionals attend for fun. Captain Marvel-er Jamie McKelvie was stealthily at the show visiting with friends, attending panels, and enjoying the city. Vertigo assistant editor, Greg Lockard was wandering around and taking in everything that was going on. And lots of other creators showed their support for TCAF by being there.

I heard lots of wonderful news from creators and exhibitors that TCAF set all-new sales records for many of them. Some of the popular items included:

Kate Leth’s “Girls Don’t Read Comics” totes and buttons were a big favourite among the guests.
Becky Cloonan‘s new mini comic “Demeter.”
Pretty well everything from Scott C‘s booth; there was rarely a time when I saw less than 5-6 people present.
Caricatures from the redheaded cartoonist (and Vine phenomenon), Marlo Meekins.

And more… SO MUCH MORE. I know I’m forgetting a million and one things that I saw this weekend, but there was so much to take in and enjoy that it’s hard to spit it all back up on paper for retelling. Additional things of note that I PERSONALLY enjoyed the crap out of were:

Meeting Lisa Hanawalt, whose illustrated review of War Horse has made it so that I never have to or want to see the film or play. Her review is all the War Horse I’ll ever need (and is included in her awesome book)!
Getting to chat with the awesome dudes (Josh O’Neill, Andrew Carl and David Tahn) behind the Dark Horse published anthology, Once Upon A Time Machine - a classic fairytale with a sci-fi twist.
Picking up V2 of Karl Kerschl‘s incredible web comic The Abominable Charles Christopher. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s all available online to read and V1 & V2 are for sale if you prefer physical copies.
Discovering a cool comic from Archaia called Spera, which features some of the most beautiful art I have EVER seen in a comic.

It’s a bummer that TCAF is all done for the year, but if you haven’t been to the show before or are on the fence about it, you absolutely have to attend in 2014. It’s such a treat to be at and the guests in attendance are some of the nicest people in the industry.