By the way…

So, obviously, I usually use this blog to post book reviews because it is something that I enjoy doing. Another activity that I enjoy is editing/proofreading and I have recently joined a website called fiverr.com, which is a website where people can post what they are willing to do for $5. The one gig that I will post (for now) is that I will edit up to 2500 words for $5. This can include essays, personal writing, articles, etc, as long as the piece is in English. I will go over the work line by line and make corrections, although the original author is welcome to ignore anything they want.

Anyway, my profile is at http://fiverr.com/kjoydevine. So, please, check is out and keep me in mind!

Comic Books

So a while ago, my favorite comic book publisher (Zenescope) announced that it would be continuing Charmed in comic book form.

I think that it is interesting how shows are coming back in comic book form. Buffy: Season Eight has almost finished it’s run after several years and Season Nine is already lined up for publication by Dark Horse. Angel: After the Fall is put out by IDW Publishing and now Charmed.

I just think it is interesting. Comic books can take the bad guys and demons from these shows and reproduce them, at a much lower cost than it would have taken to create on television. I have most of Season Eight for Buffy and eagerly wait for the next tradeback back to be collected and released. Although I’m not sure that I’m going to follow Charmed, it’s still interesting to see where the writers/artists are going to take the series now that there isn’t a budget limit on effects.

Disappointed

So the 2010 Madame Alexander Doll Collection is officially on the web at the various sellers, such as Matilda Dolls and Two Day Dreamers. However I was not impressed with last year’s collection and I am disappointed with this year’s collection as well. Many of the dolls are now the cloth dolls and many of the collections are being re-done. Like the new Mad Hatter, which looks like Johnny Depp’s Hatter from the new movie.

And there’s only a few new international dolls. Storyland is mostly Fancy Nancy, Ramona and Eloise cloth dolls… Maybe I’m just growing out of it, but the new dolls do not impress or interest me. I guess I’ll wait until the Fall collection comes out to see if there’s anything I want this year.

Season of Giving

So, I don’t know what it is about me, but I love to give to others. Last year, I’m not sure how much I spent, but at least $100 went to charities and various giving organizations. I have a few that I do, and I was going to cut back this year, but I didn’t.

One of the first ones is Operation Christmas Child, which is through Samaritan’s Purse. For this, you pack a shoebox full of little toys, toiletries, school supplies like pencils and crayons, and a $7 shipping fee. And Samaritan’s Purse ships the shoeboxes to underdeveloped countries to give to children who will not recieve gifts. Generally, the cut-off date is mid-November, but a few of the drop-off locations are open right through most of December, so you can still fill a shoebox or just make a donation to ship the shoeboxes.

Toys for Tots is the next one that I do. The place where my mom works is a drop off location, so I usually go to Wal-mart or somewhere local and pick one of the Disney Princess toys (I’m a real fan of Belle) and drop that off. I’m kind of disappointed that I can’t wrap it, but I figure that someone will and some little girl is going to get a present on Christmas Morning.

And my church does a giving tree with mittens on it. Each mitten has a gender, an age, and the size of a person (whole families go on this tree, not just children). And the younger children also have likes and dislikes. Last year I did two mittens, a father and a little boy and the little boy liked Ben 10, so I got him a cool shirt and a toy and sweat pants. I spent $40 on six gifts for two people. That’s around $6 a gift, and I spent around $20-$30 for my family, so I don’t… I like to give and give generously.

And I like the giving tree in particular, because they are local families. Not my area directly (apparently the Elks are really good about covering our township. Yeah, Elks!), but the two surrounding townships and our church community. I like giving locally. It’s why I collect for our local food bank, rather than the county or state food bank.

So, I think everyone should try to find a giving event. I know that the Burlington area in Vermont used to do something called Christmas is for Kids, which collected toys for children from infant to 18. And those families were the ones who missed the deadlines for all the other collections. Sometimes these children don’t get anything if they aren’t part of the collections.

And, go ahead and make fun of me, but I like that feeling that I get when I buy for others. I have a home, food, entertainment, so I gladly give what I can. It’s good to do for others. And the fact that I do, shows that somewhere along the line, my parents did something right.

Patience (And When I Have It)

Generally, I have little patience between comic issues. I have issues about publishers not keeping their promises about dates. Not that I’ll stop reading the comics because I’m unhappy, but I get frustrated and it makes me a little weirder than usual. However, for a while (I have exhausted this resource now) I was reading several webcomics.

The first comic I started (even before I started reading actual comics) is When Curiosity met Insanity. It’s about an older Alice and a re-vamped Mad Hatter and there’s a lot of other Disney characters in it as well. It’s a world where all the Disney characters co-exist, which I think is a really cool idea. It’s The Mad Hatter’s courtship of Alice and it’s hysterical at moments. At the moment, the comic is stalled for various reasons, mostly the artist doesn’t have a lot of free time and is trying to find a job and income.

And, trailing my posts on Phantom of the Opera and The Labyrinth, the other two comics I read are on Deviantart.com. The first is AsheRyder‘s Roommates, which is about Erik and Jareth being roommates in a very strange apartment complex. Add in James Norrington (Pirates of the Caribbean) and Javert (Les Miserables), the leading ladies, Sarah, Christine, and occasionally Elizabeth, Nathan and Shilo from Repo. And just the idea of Erik and Jareth in the same room was enough to make my mind boggle. It’s up to 100 episodes and I think the author could end it here.

And spinning off Roommates is Girls Next Door, which focuses on Christine and Sarah, both objects of obsession from other characters. Pika-la-Cynique had a lot of other work (I particularly like her shirt series and Labyrinth Envy, which is hysterical if you’ve seen the movie). GND is kind of parallel to Roommates, showing the girls’ side of things and also the different events that they experience.

And I have a lot more patience with these than I do the publishers because these are real people with lives who don’t always have time to write/draw. I mean, I have days when I barely have time to write. I often write during class (if any of my professors are reading this, I’m not really sorry. They’re writing classes for heaven’s sake).

Plus, they still update a lot quicker.

Down in the Underground

So, I have another blog (www.comicgirl.wordpress.com) for a school assignment about comics because I am a tad obsessed about comics. But I was thinking about it today and I could have done it on The Labyrinth. I mean, I could have researched Jennifer Connelly, David Bowie, Jim Henson, the movie and the manga sequel (patiently waiting for the fourth volume to be released. And frequently checking Jake Forbes blog) and The Dark Crystal and Mirrormask, which were done by the same people. Plus, all the possible mythology (mainly aquired from fanfic. I mean, what is Jareth exactly? I think he’s a member of the Fae, Sidhe, and probably Unseelie).

Sigh. It could have been so cool.

Oh well, I do like the blog on comics and I think that it’s pretty informative. I’ll probably import the posts to this blog once the semester is over.

But it could have been fun. I’m pretty obsessed with the movie, soundtrack and manga. As noted in “Not What I Meant To Do,” I’m writing a fanfiction for the movie; although it’s pretty losely based off the movie. And the fanfic is part of the reason I’m exploring the idea of what is Jareth. (Please, comment if you have any ideas. But I rather like mine). And my Jareth looks a touch different from the movie (he doesn’t tease his hair up so much. Like, not at all).

Actually, a great deal in my life has spun off The Labyrinth; I started really getting into fantasy after seeing the movie; I dressed as Jareth for a costume party (theme of villians), and I read Kate Mosse’s Labyrinth because of the movie (Like Sepulchre much better).

To sum it up: I love The Labyrinth.

Phantom Sequel? SPOILERS

A Sequel to Phantom of the Opera?

Skills Not Yet Acquired

A few days ago, I heard the song “Battlefield“  by Jordin Sparks while I was driving down Rt. 295 (construction is a pain in a butt) and I could see a Chloe/Christopher video playing out completely. The song is perfect for the two of them.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the ability to draw/create them in a physical form and making a music video is a little beyond me right now.

And it’s killing me.

I could so perfectly see the fight between Chloe and Christopher; Christopher bearing down on her with his broadsword, Chloe blocking him with all her strength. And clips of Chloe and Christopher (in his saner moments) standing on their respective battlements, wishing and hoping for something other than the bitter war between them. I could see the wind whipping her dress and hair around, right down to the tears on her face.

And I don’t have the capabilities to make it true!

I have got to learn to draw. Something to do next summer.

Comics

Currently I read 2 1/2 comic series. Two because there are two that I follow religiously: Zenescope and Buffy: Season Eight. The half is Witchblade, because I haven’t started reading it yet, but I’ve ordered Witchhunt and I”m going to start soon.

Actually, I’ve researched Witchblade within an inch of the series, trying to figure out where to break in, what I needed to know and a bunch of other details. I do the same with the other two, but it’s more as I read them than before I started. Zenescope’s various series I just jumped into with very little thought.

And comics are a strange thing for me to get into. I have little patience and Zenescope is horrible about releasing things on time, with the exception of its flagship, Grimm Fairy Tales, which come out monthly. Buffy is consistent, but I only read the TPB, so it takes a while to get the next issue as they are collected in their arcs. But waiting for the Wonderland series to come out is unpredictable. Mostly I try to visit Diamond Comics on Wendsday or Thursday to find out what is being released for the week and pray that one of the comics that I’m waiting for is on the list. Then I visit my comic book store about two weeks later, when the comic has hopefully come in.

But I enjoy the comics. All the ones that I read feature female leads. Grimm Fairy Tales has a female heroine in Dr. Sela Mathers and a villianess in Belinda. Wonderland focuses on Alice’s daughter, Calie (Carroll Ann) and her adventures. The last one from Zenescope that I read is Salem’s Daughter; Anna Williams is descended from one of the accused from the Salem Witch Trials and has inherited powers that she uses to fight against demons with a Gunslinger in the West. See all these comics (and more) at Zenescope’s website.

 

Now if I could just learn a little patience.

My Dolls

I know that all the posts up to this point are about writing, but today I am introducing a different topic. My Doll collection.

Since about high school, I have been an avid Madame Alexander collector. I’m not entirely sure if avid is the right word, but I mean avid in the sense that I buy several every year. But I do not always collect the most expensive and keep them in pristine condition. I take them out of the box, file away their cards and eventually throw the book away because I have no more room to store it. I fully believe that the dolls should be dressed up and displayed.

And currently, I am running out of room to display them, but I’m working on solving that.

Some people believe that I am insane for not saving their boxes, but I don’t intend to sell any of them. The reasons that I bought them were because I liked them- not because of their value or rarity, although I do have several dolls that are limited editions. And some that are nine years old and still in perfect condition (out of the box).

I actually have some very nice dolls. From the History of Fashion collection I have Lady Godiva, Veronica Franco, Grace O’Malley and Helen of Troy. I’m going to buy Marie Antonniette soon. I have the Sleeping Beauty collection from 1999, Alice and the Mad Hatter (I’m getting the March Hare for Christmas) the Wicked Witches of the West and East, Christopher Robin from Winne-the-Pooh and the Blustery Day, Cinderella and a bunch from her International Collection (3 Italys, 2 Irelands, Germany with her stein, a French Can-Can dancers, Poland, Scotland with bagpipes, and I think they’re adorable.)

And they’re all out of the box for everyone to admire.