Like Ringo and Karen, minus the drum skills and the heat vision…
Category: Finds
Quotes, images, videos, essays, etc. produced by someone else. All other content on this blog is my own original work unless otherwise indicated. Also includes other things I have found online somewhere.
When my life isn’t too eventful, the Internet steps in to be exciting for me. When my life does get busy, well the Internet doesn’t sleep. Here’s a few things I wanted to share!
Giggling a bit that the new AP Stylebook changes include that BLT is acceptable on first reference
I’m going to be changing up how these little posts look, but do you like them? Do you want to see more/less of a certain kind of thing I share? Please let me know and happy Saturday!
I just realized I missed a day in my Tuesday/Friday update schedule for the first time since I started, without being on hiatus, and without even noticing? Sometimes time just slips away from you.
So I thought I’d just check in, share some of my finds from the Internet with you all, since I am definitely plugged in way too much.
Congratulating my friend and NoVa Yelp community manager Gretchen on her engagement!!!!!
Congratulations!!
Just a super quick little update to let you all know what I’ve been up to these days. A March favorites round-up will be coming, and I have planned things out for this little space of mine. I hope you all like it (and that it pans out!).
On my 12th birthday, I received a graphic novel from a friend. This was at the height of my manga-loving days. (Heck, it was not the only graphic novel I received that year.) But this one was different because it was the a hard copy of a web comic.
That was my introduction to the world of web comics. I’ve read several over the years, and maybe I’ll spotlight a few more, but today, I want to talk about my favorite. A few years ago, I definitely would not have been table to tell you what my favorite was. I have several web comics on my RSS reader that I read daily.
JL8 is my favorite by far.
JL8 is written and drawn by Yale Stewart. The title means (I believe) “Justice League 8”, as in it is a comic about the Justice League characters as 8-year-old children. The description of the comic as found on the official comic Tumblr is:
“JL8” is a side project of “Gifted” creator Yale Stewart. A weekly webcomic, it follows the adventures of popular DC comic characters as children in elementary school. Mostly funny, with a dash of pathos, it should be an enjoyable read for any fans of DC Comics characters as well as people who enjoy the traditional syndicated comic strip.
Confession: I have both laughed out loud and cried while reading this comic. And while re-reading it. That’s how good it is.
One of Yale’s commissioned pieces, featuring the JL8 gang, their teacher Mr. Schwartz (likely for Julius Schwartz, editor at DC) and gym instructor Mr. Darkseid
If you never read the comics, like myself, you’ll like this. Yale does a great job of writing the comic in a way that the important characters and their personalities are introduced to you. It doesn’t matter if you didn’t know anything about Superman or Batman prior to reading this comic; a few strips in, you get that Clark (Superman) is friendly and optimistic while Bruce (Batman) is broody and a bit of a darker character.
If you are a big fan of DC comics, you are going to love this web comic. Although Yale writes the comics in a way that a complete stranger to the DC comic universe can still enjoy them, the comics are his source material. From reading the comments on the strips as he uploads them to the Facebook page, fans love how characteristic of each person the actions in the story are. There are little nods to events and characters in the comics. If you’re familiar with the comics, you’ll be able to spot foreshadowing and Easter eggs. While I’m not able to enjoy these, the DC comics fans on the Facebook page seem to really love them, and even I’m able to see how much thought and forethought goes into incorporating the source material on Yale’s part.
#15, showing our Justice League cuties during reading hour and already letting us know a lot about each character very early on in the comic
I love how much of each character’s personality comes through, especially in their interactions with each other. This is easily one of the most well-written web comics I’ve ever read, and the art is great as well. Yale has even worked for Marvel, drawing for Nova #100!
I cannot recommend this comic enough. It is updated the least frequently, at once a week when Yale isn’t doing conventions, but it’s really worth it. I like to go back and just reread it from the start, that’s how good it is. (Also, if you didn’t know who Karen Starr is when I mentioned her in my sidebar, she’s in this comic!)
Happy first day of spring! It snowed here (because of course it did) but I hope you are enjoying free Rita’s and warmer weather without suffering from allergies.
Lately, I’ve just been really feeling French music. Not necessarily French by nationality but French as in the language that is being sung. I think I can trace this kick back to seeing a Stromae music video for the first time. It was this one:
Tumblr was a big fan and I was, too. I had first heard of Stromae through Pentatonix, actually, when they did a cover of his hit song “Papaoutai”. Their cover was really good, but I love Stromae’s video.
First of all, freaky fresh dance moves. Second of all, I really love how weird but not too-weird his music videos are? I get pretty easily waaaaay weirded out by music videos. Call me provincial, but the “artistic message” behind really “avant garde” music videos is very frequently completely lost on me. With Stromae’s videos, I am really engaged by the interesting video but I am also listening pretty closely to the music.
Even though I know French, I don’t really listen to the lyrics too closely when I listen to French songs. It’s like when I had my kpop phase; I listen to the songs because they sound good, and very rarely do I pay attention to what the words themselves mean. In fact, I rarely listen for the lyrics in English songs the first few listens. I have never spent much time on lyrics when it comes to listening to songs.
Anyway, French music keeps following me about so I thought I’d share a couple of music videos with you all. I made a Paris playlist ages ago, intending to release it with my Paris blog. That won’t be out for a while, since I spent a long time in Paris and… I am putting it off knowing how much I need to put into it. Also, these are mostly contemporary songs. Before this current music phase, I liked listening to a lot of older French music and was not at all familiar with anything from the last decade or two. (Or really any decade, let’s be real.)
Besides Stromae (who I am seeing in September!), I have also been listening to these artists on-and-off for the past few years:
Coeur de pirate
(love her)
Vanessa Paradis
(who is on my Paris playlist)
Yelle
(the first contemporary francophone artist I ever listed to was Yelle)
As promised last week, I compiled a little list of Christmas/holiday music albums. Because sometimes, Christmas radio isn’t quite what you want, ya know? Especially if you want to listen to one voice. Although you know what:
But right, one artist.
For Christmas 2012, my brother told me he got me a Christmas album of my favorite Christmas singer. I exclaimed “Bing Crosby?!” Nope.
Oops. I do love Frank Sinatra, and his Christmas albums are great. This is the one that I have. Or had, until my mom snatched it and kept it for herself. (I no longer have the physical copy but I was able to put the songs on my computer first.) Mmmm, Frank Sinatra’s buttery jazzy voice is pretty great for the holidays, and really any of his Christmas albums will be great. (All of his music is pretty great, let’s be real.)
Last year, my brother remembered my little faux pas and got me this Bing Crosby album!
I’ll admit, this album cover is a little big scary to see when I’m not 100% awake. Of course, his classic “White Christmas” is always good to have as well. Bing Crosby is kind of THE voice of Christmas, isn’t he? It’s not quite Christmas without his voice cradling you in a warm holiday mood. (Thanks again to my little brother for getting me these two albums!)
You see, when I curate my holiday music, I look for specific artists who I know have great Christmas albums. INCLUDING but not limited to:
And….. I think that’s about right. Most orchestras have a great Nutcracker album that I would definitely recommend having on hand for the holiday season. Again, this is not an exhaustive list, but these are the albums and artists that I’m most familiar with. I am not quite at that pro level just yet, but I’m getting to the point where I can mostly identify the artists without looking when I’m listening to my Pandora Christmas station or when I’m driving in the car. (Despite my tendency to hop around stations when I drive, during the holiday season, I don’t even THINK about touching the dial on the radio because it is permanently set to my local holiday music station.) (Let me know if you listen to Delilah during the holiday season!)
Did I get your favorite albums? What are your favorite Christmas/holiday albums?
And which newer ones should I be listening to? I am very biased, obviously, against the more current artists’ holiday albums.
![A Charlie Brown Christmas [2012 Remastered & Expanded Edition]](https://i0.wp.com/ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51R%2BBCr51JL._SX425_.jpg)
Sip of Starrshine 