BookLust

I Got Articled!

Check out this great article by Andrea Curtis about lit blogs, on the CBC.ca Arts web site. It ain't just great 'cuz it's well-written, it's great 'cuz it mentions me!. Ok, I'm kidding. But it is well-written, and I can certainly relate to Andrea's addiction to lit blogs.

The article mentions me and my blog because of that Lethem & Chabon comic strip I created a few weeks ago. I gotta say in all honesty, I knew it was a pretty good strip, but I had no idea that it would generate so much interest. That is why I love blogs and the internet. You can reach so many people, so quickly, sharing ideas and humour without any art director or editor wanting to change your vision to satisfy their own motives and egos. If I didn't have my beloved computer, that cartoon would still be sitting on my drawing table collecting dust. Not too long ago, I read a blog entry written by an artist who was bemoaning the negativity and competition that exists on the internet and blogs. She feels that it is cliquey and inclusive just like high school, and so she's backing off a bit from the net, in order to cherish more 'direct' experiences of life. Well I say phooey. Life is just like high school, honey. You can't be friends with everybody, and you can't like everybody, and in turn, have everybody like you. The internet is just another extension of life, and just like in life, you gotta take the bad with the good, and work with what you've got. Yes, there are negative aspects of the internet and blogs, but I sure wouldn't want to go back to being a struggling cartoonist before the world wide web, thank you very much.

Pop Goes The Book Review! 2

My second book review is up at PopMatters, this time for the novel A Changed Man by Francine Prose.

Someone else at PopMatters also reviewed A Changed Man; I think it's worthwhile to read many reviews of the same book.

BiblioQueria 3

It's true. I have a sordid past. But I have tried to repent for my sins. What evils have I done?

I (gulp) dated men who had no interest in books or reading. But never again, I swear. I have given my heart and soul to a man who will keep me on the straight and narrow and well-read. And so my question to you is ....

Is it essential that your partner/loved one/paramour/soul mate/main squeeze reads?

Don't Despair

I've added new cartoons to my Cartoon page.

For some bizarre reason it was hell on wheels trying to update this page, so please let me know if you have any problems with broken links or wonky images.

The Black Spot

I don't know why, but it's called The Black Spot, and it's been passed to me by The Happy Booker. She chose me "because I am hoping she’ll illustrate the answers." Well, how could I say no? Ok, so it took a few days (I do have work to do, ya know!), but better late than never, honey.

You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451 .
Which book do you want to be?
I'm kinda with The Happy Booker on this one. I'd prefer a book that's short and sweet. But I'm also a self-promotional slut, so I'd grab any opportunity to market myself. That's why I'd be Fifty Little Penguins, the first children's book I illustrated. So what if people couldn't see the pictures? I'd just describe them in great penguin detail.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
Sigh. Yes. I was just mad for Gilbert Blythe from Anne of Green Gables. He could have pulled my pigtails anytime.

The last book you bought was...?
Good Faith by Jane Smiley.

The last book you read was...?
A Changed Man by Francine Prose

What are you currently reading?
Check the 'Currently Reading' on the sidebar. I really should be reading more, but my brain is full of crazy stuff at the moment.

Five books you would take to a desert island...
These kind of questions really bother me. I would choose more than five if I could, ya know! But anyway, I would probably be kinda crabby being trapped on a desert island, so I would want some comfort food type of reading material. These books always make me feel good when I read them:

Rebel Angels by Robertson Davies
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
Barney's Version by Mordecai Richler
Collected Short Stories of Roald Dahl
Where The Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

Who are you passing this stick on to and why?
To Robot Johnny, Blankbaby and Daily Blague, because they are very intelligent, well-read gentlemen, and well, I'm such a sucker for those kinda guys.

Tummy Trouble

A cartoon sequence I did a while back. Felt like sharing. The cats usually have dibs on the hubby's belly.

Funny Bunny

Take the Book Quiz!

Ok, I admit it, I love rabbits, and even had three of them as pets as a teenager. And yes, I read and thoroughly enjoyed Watership Down, and yes, I sympathized with the bunnies. But that's the book that describes me? Sheesh.

Come to think of it, I think I was born in the Year of the Rabbit.

Book Quiz was courtesy of The Happy Booker.

Pleased To Greet Ya!

I finally have some new greeting card samples on my web site.

Cover Me With Love 5

This beauty really caught my eye. And the story sounds pretty interesting, too.

Poetry, Schmoetry

Ahhh... young love. Do we ever really get over it? For over 20 years I have tried to convince myself that I have, but all it takes is a certain smell (it's almost always a smell for some reason; spring or fall mornings, old Adidas shoes, or else the music of Gilbert and Sullivan), and I am right back there, at the age of seventeen, ecstatic and miserable, and basically, a complete mess. Don't get me wrong; I would not want to go back to that time for anything in the world; the here and now is wonderful. But every now and then, going back there doesn't bother me that much any more. I can see the good in between all the very, very bad.

One good thing that came out of that experience: He got me writing. Sure, I wrote short stories and cartoons before I met him, but he challenged me to write clever, witty, out-of-the-ordinary poetry. He got me thinking in a different way. We weren't gushy and mushy about our affections; that would have been beneath us. We strived to show our affection through the guise of humour and play. Not unlike  Shakespeare, which was where I got to know him, really, in my grade 13 Elizabethan Drama and Poetry class. We learned all about the sonnet, and ended up practicing what we learned in class on each other. I'm not saying that our iambic pentameter was perfect, but we did make an effort to try to stay within the rules as our poetic skills and our romance blossomed. Sound cheezy? Maybe.

Not too long ago, Scott over at Blankbaby wrote a wonderful love poem about a ham sandwich, which got me thinking about the first poem that he ever wrote for me. It was actually the first love poem ever written for me. Back then, I loved bran muffins. Ate them all the time. So he, in his great wisdom, wrote a love sonnet for me, about my love of bran muffins. I'm not saying it's amazing, but I still can't forget it. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I posted this; no doubt he doesn't think about this stuff at all anymore. Or me, for that matter.

Oh, and I don't eat bran muffins anymore. Way too fattening.