I need to break my webcomic addiction

This comic, titled "Outreach" from xkcd is perhaps the only thing that gives me a tiny twinge of envy when people tell me they're studying science. Once I stop laughing at the comic though, I remember that my degree means I get to read children's books and have only nine contact hours of classes a week. Take that, flying shark-wielding scientists.

- Esther

Kinoko Fry. And coffee.

The latest update on the wonderful Hark! A Vagrant, was a guest comic by Rebecca Clements from Kinoko Fry. Kinoko Fry, it turns out, is all kinds of awesome. It's sort of like SuperMario, some anime and The Nightmare Before Christmas had an inky three-way (oh dear, where am I going with this??) which somehow resulted in a love-child. And that love-child was beautiful and humourous, knew that comics needed tight and strong narratives.

This is one of my favourites, mainly because it reflects exactly how I choose to work.


And now, given that I've run out of things to blog about here... I better go to another cafe...

- Esther

POLcrastination

I seem to be able to find all sorts of ways to procrastinate during the endless days spent studying for me thesis. Lately at my second home - the National Library of Australia - I have been 'researching' the photographs of an Australian entertainment photographer from the 1970s. As you can imagine, endless hours spent reading through the Australian entertainment magazine POL, which is a bit like the 70s eqquivalent of 'Frankie' with a bit of 'Rolling Stone' and 'Cosmopolitan' thrown in.

In an effort to procrastinate further, I thought I would share some lovely gems from the magazine.

So I'm pretty sure I need to get myself one of these pantsuits! So practical, yuet so stylish.

Did anyone say Orlando Bloom?

A girls gotta have some croched pants!

I'm really not sure what's goiung on in this pic, but that sparkly number is amazing!


I'm guessing this pic is trying to advertise the furniture? But that guy is hilarious!!

Gracie

A Softer World

After wandering around the internet, I stumbled upon A Softer World. I then proceeded to spend a solid hour clicking through their archives because they are awesome. (Also, I really wanted to say "browsing through", rather than "clicking through" but really, browsing is very associated with books, isn't it? I still feel like a loser for saying "clicking" though.)

Anyway, these were some of my favourites (click to enlarge... oh dear, "click," as a verb, is taking over my life...)







So yeah. A Softer World. Radness ensues.

x Esther

Naked. Famous. Florence. Win, right?

Last Thursday I flew to Auckland for Florence + The Machine. It was, to put it mildly, a bit of a whirl-wind trip. There was overpriced wine and smuggled bottles of smirnoff. There were lost mobile phones. There were free tiny chocolates. There was 2 hours of sleep in an airport before the flight back to Wellington.

Anyway. I have previously typed numerous words of gurgling admiration for Florence. Honestly, that chick is so cool. And remains cool. Fuck, better than cool really: her rich, expansive voice, twirling and skipping, laughing and talking with the crowd makes me love her. She just has so much good energy.


Photo nicked from here. My camera died months ago.

I realise I'm (again) gushing here, and will move on to actually talking about something new: The Naked and Famous. They supported Florence. And they were great.

I'd heard their single "Young Blood" a bit on Kiwi FM, and apparently it's getting a bit of airplay on TripleJ right now too which is awesome. Like Florence, they connected well with the crowd, and, unlike most support acts, the crowd didn't just suffer them, waiting for the main show.

Also, The Naked and Famous have got a wicked sense of humour, if the photos on their official facebook page are anything to go by:







Their album hasn't been released yet, but there's a bit of a taster to be had with the single The Sun also buzzing in the interweb, like a fly trapped by a spider (it's 11pm here. Excuse the awful simile).

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that The Naked and Famous are rad. They sound a bit like Passion Pit. And a bit like Phoenix. A bit like they're awesome. Check them out.

x Esther

Film Festival Fun

It's that time of year again.

Right now, Wellington can either be stunningly beautiful, channelling Tennyson's "all in the blue, unclouded weather," or unapologetically foul, as the Cook Strait is rained, blown and spewed upon the streets, houses and hills.

Basically it's this one day:

And something like this the next:

The state of the weather is a little bit off-topic, but my point is that each year, mid-to-late July heralds the New Zealand International Film Festival, and, for the the third year in a row, I plan to traipse around the city in inappropriate footwear, visiting the gorgeous cinemas, hunting down interesting new films. (The inappropriate footwear being little suede ballet flats. They don't hold up to the city's hills, and they certainly don't survive a full southerly thunderstorm.)

Anyway, this year, I've got a lot of films I want to see. Unfortunately, due to other people being a lot more organised than me (ie, they booked tickets), I've missed out on seeing the Czech "Kawasaki's Rose" - a film inspired that explores the communist state surviellence that Czech's live with daily. Not surprisingly, this film is said to be inspired by "The Lives of Others."

However, not all is lost.

There's still Polanski's "The Ghost Writer" (starring the very attractive Ewan McGregor). There's the kiwi film "The Hopes and Dreams of Gazza Snell." There's the intriguing (and beautiful looking) Brazilian film "I Travel Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You." And finally, with a nod to my Australian Gangster heritage, there's "Animal Kingdom."

Should be good times.

xx Esther

Fake Advertising Is Awesome

So I spent some time doing some non glamorous things like sitting exams. Fortunately, this was followed by a much more glamourous week spent skiing. Which has since been followed by a less glamorous week of work, and sandwiches for dinner. Life is cycle isn't it?

However, skiing and sandwiches aside, via a friend, I have come across something AWESOME. Or at least an awesome person. Or a person who can produce awesome art. Whatever.

Think Alex Varanese.

Think 1977. Think sweet wood panels. Think warm reds, yellows and browns. Then think groovy 70s print advertising. And then think again that the advertising was for ipods, laptops and mobiles. That's right. Imagine if the 70s had our technology. And some sweet graphic designers. Go nuts imagining that.

Have fun

xx Esther