petri dish

philly is a big petri dish where germs cultivate. ok, actually being in court. shaking hands. people coughing. germs just stay in the air and here i am breathing in the germies.

just when i think i kicked the philly phlu, i am once again attacked with the flu. :( my slanty eyes are glassy and i have the voice of some old lady smoker. not cool.

so here i am sick and not using any sick days because my schedule is so insane.

yes, i am having a pity party. everyone rsvp now.

so a few weeks ago, i got the new google phone. i was one of the few people who does not give into the iphone hype. anyhow, the tmobile rep did not correctly save my contacts on my sim chip from my sidekick so i lost all 150 contacts. granted, i prolly only kept in touch with about 15 of those people, but it is the principle people! so for the past few weeks, i will get texts from people since my digits haven't changed and i have no clue who they are! then i have to write back heya, do i know you? i had 2 lunch invites and i actually text back, hey i love lunch, but do i know you? more importantly, do i like you? one person replied with witty cantor, the other left me to the crickets. oh well.

the interesting thing about texting is it is even more impersonal than emailing, but above beeper mode. the funny thing about texting is it allows people to carry on a monologue. for instance, i get texts from someone who i never reply to. i mean nada. i have series of texts from him carrying a conversation with basically himself! it is amusing because it will start off, hey, what is going on, let's hang. from there it goes to odd tangents to finally, hey pearl, i'm mad at you, we are in a fight. plateauing to oh i can't stand mad at you, let's hang. a vicious circle led by one. it is like i am reading a script. i am in the wings.

btw, i tried to put felt antlers on my cat. he scratched the hell out of me. can't say i blame him.

ok, i need to go make some tea and eat some scones and find my slippers.

send soup people. magazines. ds games. and lots of sympathy to dear little pearly. weep weep.

xo

FYI pearly update

ok ok ok. so i fell of the blogasphere, but i am back. ask anyone here in philthy, i am clumsy. so no big. here is a list of what i am reading, listening to, and what movies i will be at:

i picked up echo by terry moore. i picked up the trade. anyhow, if you are a fan of strangers in paradise, then you will enjoy echo. it is about julie martin, a photographer out in the desert at the wrong place at the wrong time. moore captures the science of the atom power and human nature in a flowing, riveting storyline. i'm a fan and i think picking up the trade is worth it.

i watched clive barker's midnight meat train. barker is the OG of horror. come on, pinhead. pinhead. lead cenobite. anyhow, i digress. the title, midnight meat train is great. campy, but to the point. the movie itself. eh. granted, i spent most of it not wanting to eat any of my sausage pizza and hiding behind a pillow. also, note to self, watching a lovescene with my pa is the most uncomfortable thing in the world! this is a horror movie, why do we need a love scene?! anyhow, the movie is shot in ny. the premise is amusing. SPOILER ALERT do not read on if you plan on watching on this flick. go! go get a soda pop. go eat some chips. water that fern you have been neglecting. ok, are they gone? there is a monster in ny that needs to eat meat. so the last people on this midnight train have the pleasure of being the monster's meal. simple no? makes one not want to take or trust public transportation. i am looking forward to max payne. the game was awesum. but question, was i the only retard who didn't get as far into the game before all the gothy dark magic stuff happened? max payne has the potential to be a fun ride or flop. wahlberg is not someone i would cast as max payne, but perhaps i will be pleasantly surprised. i am awaiting for this movie to open up. quarantine. i am all about a zombie-esque flick. i did not make it out to see this one yet. for some reason, i think the movie would have been more of a success if they made the film interactive. for instance, if we all had guns we could reload to the side and watch the movie and shot the zombies, think house of the dead. just a thought.

right now, i am sipping hot apple cider and listening to the carter family music. i adore mountain music and pure country music. i don't even mind the religious themes because the story and the feeling behind the music surpasses it all for me. my perfect day? right now drinking my cider with the carter family playing on the turntable and a pile of unopened comic books.

i love the smell of new books.

autumn

autumn makes me want to daydream more. autumn is my favorite season. it makes me happy and sad at the same time. i start to miss boston and the new england foliage (and yes, even hearing people say "wicked retarded"). this is when people can sport wool scarves, burberry plaids, corduroy blazers, cute boots and everyone looks adorable in fall attire.

this past weekend i went apple picking. walking through the groves of apples trees, red delicious, winsap, golden delicious, the aroma of fallen apples, the smell of chestnuts roasting, cider being pressed, and pies being made. as i looked to see groves of trees for miles and miles, i decided to lay down on the grass underneath an apple tree and count clouds. it was this moment when i knew i was smiling, inside and out. sometimes, you get that one moment where everything just seems perfect because it is. i had it under this apple tree.

so folks, pearly's brunches are back on. i have mastered baking pears. mmmmm. baked pears with cinnamon. what can i say, i look good in an apron.

long lost pearly

sorry bloggers and my apologies to the bloggerverse. work has been insane. i mean mind spinning like a top insane.

anyhow, i'm back. cuter than ever.

ok, so why haven't i blogged about the dark knight yet? ok, no spoilers here since i do want peeps to see this flick. if you are up to speed then you know that i am a batman girl. read my blog post about superman v. batman. anyhow, i saw dark knight on imax. one must! i mean the film was shot for imax.

before going to see any major movie, i never read reviews, i never watch previews, etc. i go in to just see it. i hate going in tainted.

let's just say heath ledger's performance as the joker was superb. he made nicholson's performance look like a joke. if you are in the know, then you know that the joker is not a funny comical character in fact, quite the opposite. the joker is one the darkest characters in the world of dc comics. before going to see dark knight, i reread killing joke, by alan moore. here, you see how the joker started, a sad, tormented husband, and what happens to people who are put in bad choices and situations. so, back to the joker in the dark knight. i went in and did not know what to expect. heath ledger? i mean did we all see a knight's tale? come on. boy, was i surprised. his performance was brilliant. his story on how he got that "grin" and his timing. for this to be his last performance speaks bounds on his acting ability.

ok, christian bale. the batman voice of his is seriously getting on my nerves. like his alter ego is some messed up sex operator talk.

so for me, i suggest seeing the dark knight. go see it on imax. so will the next flick be the dark knight returns by frank miller???? omg. how much would that rule? i totally need to see old batman kick superman's ass.

i also saw wanted, another comic book turned into a hollywood flick. that review is for another day. :)

so i am back. send me some love people!

xo

funny side note, today some dude in the elevator wearing a fanny pack tried to pick me up. acid wash jean shorts. fanny pack filled with napkins. he was chugging a dr. pepper and managed in between burps to say to me, " you're pretty. real pretty." memo to you boys, fanny packs with a mullet. ironic. fanny packs with dr. pepper and used napkins. gross.

norman rockwell does not live here

i used to date this guy, for y'all following, it's BLAINE from the post -it comic i did a few blogs back. anyhow, i was young and retarded in love. this guy wore khakis and docksiders and if he wanted to go crazy, he would wear black keds. i know. i know.

we had several art history classes together. he was a big norman rockwell fan. i know. he would tell me this line all the time," the only thing i love that is abstract is you." i thought it was lovely. now that i think about it, it wasn't.

i know "blaine" has grown up to probably be some successful businessman or investment banker or lawyer or doctor.

when i go to work, the drawing above is how i feel. sorry for the sloppy ink job. i will touch it up later.

in a sea of brooks brothers suits and cufflinks, lies me.

in this sea of professionals who are all "linked in," there's me "chinked in."

the birdie left behind

i have a little flower garden outside of my city stoop. besides my flower boxes, i have this garden. before the heat wave, i had pretty flowers in this yellow fenced garden. now, it is dried up flowers. sigh.

living in the city, i am used to seeing dead little baby birds on sidewalks. it always freaks me out to see dead birds. like a sign of doom or something.

this sunday, i heard a little chirping. a baby bird. he was in my garden, but my pa noticed the bird was not flying. my pa said, "he hurt." i go and look at the baby bird closely. it is not a newborn since it does have its feathers, but it is a baby. its bug eyes wide with fright. he couldn't fly. he would hop a bit, but no flying. no parent birds in sight.

we tried to pick up the birdie, but he was so scared and he tried to bite with his little beak. his googly eyes were all wide and dark with fright.

i have this birdhouse in my rose garden. so we ushered the fledgling into the birdhouse. figuring that the birdie could take shelter in the house, safe from squirrels and dogs. doesn't he look all cozy in the birdhouse? wow. just had they might be giants moment. birdhouse in your soul just chimed through my head.

upon further internet research, we had to put the birdie near the place we found him. decided that placing the birdie in the flower boxes over the bushes and flowers was a good idea. in case, the birdie attempted to fly and missed, he would not fall far and on soil.

as the little birdie chirped, his parents, the cardinals were chirping back.

upon checking on the baby birdie, he was gone. he finally flew.

now my birdhouse is empty. sigh.

summer nights

summer in the city is something i love. no, i don't enjoy the humid mugginess, the smell of hot piss in the subway, the fact the homeless people now strip down to the skeeveys, the hordes of teenagers who roam the street, yelling slurs at me or spitting at me. these are all bad negative things about the city, but every once in awhile, i get glimpses, moments of prettiness that remind me why i love summers in the city.

1) getting dinner with my best friends and just talking about everything and nothing and then winding down the night with cold bubble tea

2) the sound of the ice cream truck and the site of mr. softie on the side of the truck as i chase it down to get a wolverine popsicle

3) people flying kites in the park

4) the smell of honeysuckles as i walk to work in the morning

5) the smell of dew on grass as it gets cut after an overnight rainstorm

6) how the nights stay lighter and you lose track of time

7) water ice is ok to eat for dinner

8) seersucker suits on old men

9) picnics are back in style

10) fireflies. fireflies. fireflies.

summer of 2008 has begun. bring on the bubble tea and let's catch some fireflies.

the pick up line for the summer of 2008

last weekend i was walking home from yoga. my pink mat over my back. my hair in pigtails. gym gear on. wife beater on. bottled water. i was walking alone and it wasn't dark out yet. twilight. right at the point where one sits outside reading by the sun and the next moment it is dark. as i walked by the store, a herd of inline skaters nearly mowed me down. i know i know. too many jokes come to mind about inline skaters, but i won't go there. i was on my cellphone and a dude on a track bike nearly hit me. bikes ride on street, not on the sidewalk dude! grrr. anyhow, i said excuse me to get around him and he moved and smiled politely. i kept walking and then hung up my phone. i was walking for ten minutes or so when out of nowhere, the biker guy rides up. creepy. he tells me that the inline skaters do that run every few months in case i wanted to know. uh, i didn't, but thanks? i say oh and keep walking. he walks his bike and walks with me. i keep my pink yoga mat in between us as a buffer. he tells me that he didn't know i was on the phone when i said excuse me to him. he tells me he spent the time after i walked by thinking of something clever about inline skating and yoga. some line worthy of me. he says this all with a straight face mind you. he says he was thinking of clever things, but got distracted by my attractiveness. i guess he didn't have enough time to make it clever. i keep walking. he talks about track bikes and yoga. he asks where i take yoga. he says a studio and i just nodded in agreement. i don't go there. then he says it. the line:

"i may have the face of a 57 year old, but i have the body of a 27 year old." i look up at him and notice he has two teeth. "and the teeth of a 2 year old" i am thinking. wow.

summer is here. now the crazies come out. and so does the pepper spray.

my elk belt buckle...this is my jawn

gonna blog more this weekend, but wanted to let you all check out my elk belt buckle i got at the flea market. it is sooo hideous that it is beautiful. it also has the elk physical attributes on the back of it. elks can grow up to 6 feet and weigh up to 1100 pounds.

anyhow, that is the belt buckle that won my heart. also, that is not a white tee shirt. that is my stomach. yes, i am that pale. deal with it. this belt is sooo george jones, merle haggard, johnny paycheck....swoon

ok, must sleep, will blog more later.

wednesday mixtape

yesterday i walked home and i past a happy hour with colleagues from work. i was en route to the comic book store and i didn't want to stop, but the asian politeness gene made me stop and chat. i got made fun of for wanting to go to the comic book store, hello?! it's wednesday, new issues! anyhow, as i walked past lame bar after lame bar and jocks with white caps on, khakis and people listening to dave matthews, i realized that i didn't want to go to a happy hour, but rather i just wanted gelato. is it possible to just have a gelato hour?

i got the comic i wanted and went and got gelato by myself and i was thinking of songs that i missed. i got home and made the mix, hopefully it plays. the songs make me smile and remind me that sometimes wednesdays aren't bad. even if i wasn't digging happy hour, i made my own gelato hour and in my head, i rule.

lonely zombie: all soft, cuddly and my bff

note: refer to my february blog entry lonely zombie: valentine to all

for those in the know, i made a comic strip called "lonely zombie" and i also (see above) hand made lonely zombie dolls, complete with stitches, stitched heart, empty souless eyes, chubby cheeks and when you lead him by the hand, he walks with a gimp.

anyhow, he sits in my office. quiet. patiently awaiting for his next issue. i mean i have people email me about the anticipation of more lonely zombie and i totally love that, but i come home and see him, THE lonely zombie, sitting and waiting. it is more than a girl can bear!

i was going to make lonely zombie dolls and give them out to my friends for valentines day, but decided that i like having just one zombie doll. he is special like that.

i used to tell people that everyone is a lonely zombie. we all walk around life sometimes aimlessly and just feeding. anyhow, today i got to thinking. sitting here in this heat wave, i sat on my sofa cuddled with lonely zombie and i began to think. i know, what a horrible thing! :)

i began to think about if i ever fed on someone. not in the cannibal sense, but in the sense, did i ever just drain someone mentally? emotionally?

my friends here will tell you that i am too nice. to the point where i will feel bad just so the other person doesn't. it is some weird complex. i'm no super hero, but i would rather be sad than see the ones i care and love be sad. anyhow, i came across some of my past journals and letters at my parents house. my mom doesn't throw anything away. she keeps all my letters and birthday cards people send me. i on the other hand, throw everything away. complete opposite.

i think i don't like keeping the memories. although some are good, most remind me things that fell apart, mistakes, bad choices in people.

when i was living in boston, there were times when i felt really alone. i know everyone feels that way at some point. i was in boston. far from my family. i had good friends. a close knit group. i was best friends with the queen scenster. i knew all the emo mod kids. from the outside, it was great. but, in the inside, i was all doubts. i remember balancing school, work, and having a social life. my love life in boston was up and down. when it was up it was really up, but it was the downs that made me super sad and made me retreat to inking my comics. i guess i felt i never need to keep any cards or letters, i document my life on bristol board.

i am rambling i know. i apologize. there is a wicked thunder storm occurring right now. it is freaking me out. i am sitting in my bed in the dark and thunder is echoing so close. my heart is pounding and i am just waiting for the storm to pass.

i used to be really good friends with a person who i will call jake. anyhow, he was one of those theater freaks who believed in cathulu (he had a stuffed cathulu, and i picked it up and by accident ripped off one of cathulu's tenticles. oops. despite that mishap, jake still thought i was the tops). jake was odd. i mean not odd like old man who collects stuffed antlers and pipes, i mean odd. even the oddballs would stray away from him. he would climb walls, meditate and sneak ninja walk up on people. anyhow, he saw me in some freak common ground connection. jake was one of those nice guys. but, i was the girl who never dated anyone in high school and just didn't, couldn't be tied down in a relationship. i was working on paintings. i was meeting new people and new guys. guys who i thought were "cooler" than jake. i distanted myself from jake. i was cold. our laughfests and long talks evaporated into cold hellos and annoyance. jake hadn't changed, but i did. what happened? why was i being so mean?

fast forward. boston. jake is in maryland. we would email and chat on the phone. he is not one for phone calls. but then again, most guys are not phone talkers. i remember i emailed him and i was all tears, i told him i felt like a mistake. i made mistakes. i was just a mistake. jake wrote me and told me that whoever thought of me would want to take credit and that i was not a mistake. he was so supportive and nice. too bad i just didn't love him. i was not in love with him, but he loved me and one day, years later, he realized that he couldn't be with me and it was never going to be. i was selfish. i fed on him. i liked having a close confidente who knew the right things to say and who thought i could do no wrong. what i failed to realize was that jake wanted that too....from me. i hope jake found that. he deserves it.

so this blog is dedicated to jake and to my lonely zombie. i hope that all the "jakes" out there realize that you all need to find girls who will love you back. in the meantime, just cuddle up with a zombie until the storm passes over.

the hulk

ok ok ok. so people are hyped about the new hulk movie. i am NO FAN of the hulk. honestly, he is one of my LEAST favorite superheroes. ever since i was little, i remember that hulk series with lou ferrigno and he scared me. those creepy contact lenses. shudder. i remember trying to get into the comic book and i couldn't. no one can force feed the hulk to me. i will purge him.

why do i have such hatred for the hulk? i don't. i just don't like him. my two reasons for not liking the hulk have been the same since i was a kid and remain steadfast true today:

1) i do not like any superhero whose super power is the lack of self control; and
2) the hulk wears purple tattered calypso pants.

game point.

now that you all are up to speed about my sentiments about the hulk/dr.banner, the fact that i am intrigued and excited to see the new hulk movie is saying a lot! i did like ang lee's interpretation of the hulk in the first movie. i mean, the hulk is super super big. his strength cannot be recorded since it goes off the chart all depending on his anger. i am glad hollywood is keeping the hulk huge in physical size, which is true to the comic. edward norton is no doubt going to be amazing in the movie.

so all in all, this little blog shout out means i will be seeing the hulk, prolly with my dad and hopefully without any ignorant racists in the theater (refer to earlier blog, rambo and the racist).

i don't think i will be going out buying hulk comics, but i do hope there is a lot of smash smash. :)

Wizard World-Comic Con 2008

check out my photos on flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23146691@N06/sets/72157605399777780

comic con is a big thing for artists, collectors, gamers, dorks, geeks and people who still think goth is cool. philly's comic con is small peanuts compared to san diego's and ny's, but philly can hold her own. no doubt.

my girls didn't go with me this year. i was a bit disappointed, but my good friend dave came down from ny to geek out with me. most people go to comic for the full 3 days, i prefer to go one day, but totally make the most of it. meaning, getting a good breakfast that morning, usually the down home diner, one needs bacon and eggs, protein! need energy to browse thru bins of comic books looking for that back issue, the issue of thor, the what if professor x became juggernaut, finding first generation transformers, etc. also, the diner is literally a 3 minute walk to the comic con. word.

having consumed a hearty breakfast, camera charged, smiles on, we enter the kingdom called comic con, or as i say, heaven!

the place was crawling with people and kids. this time, however, there was no pikachu and we did not pretend to kick pikachu. so no angry mob of sugar high kids chased us...this time!

the first thing when entering comic con, always do a full walk thru. i always go to each table, stand, vendor, etc. and do a scan/browse. there is so much to take in. once you do that, you make a mental list of where you wanna come back to. this way, you don't miss any deals.

i talked and met michael oeming. my friend dave actually met him in ny. they have mutual friends. ah the bookpress bizness! and they chatted it up and then dave introduced me as a big fan. i am! hello! oeming and bendis=RADNESS. powers is so good. retro girl. anyhow, i spurted out something retarded like, " i like to read." wow. charming pearl. charming.

picked a cute cartoon portrait of pinhead for my dad. happy father's day. it is a cool gift since he is a big horror movie fan and a fan of hellraiser. who the hell isn't?!

i picked up 4 books on the walking dead series....oh here is my pet peeve. i think the people, the crowd that goes to these convention understand that we all are collectors. we all are looking for something. i would like to think we would help each other or at the least be considerate. for example, my boys were helping me look for issues of walking dead. then some dude would say, hey if you iron man #1, can you pull it for me? we all agree and say, if you see walking dead #2, pull it aside. all these alliances. spoken codes. comic commederie. fingers dry from flipping thru comics. throat parched from the unventilated stale air. i was kneeling on the floor. flipping thru issues. then some dude kneels down next to me on my left. he started to browse on the box i was about to look thru. i had only this one box left. i didn't realize that he saw the issues of walking dead in my hands. the volume numbers in clear view and #2 was missing in this equation. he flips thru the bin and the pulls a walking dead #2. i look and i gasp! i was about to say something, but he smirked. he looked at me and smirked and paid for the one issue i needed. wha?! i guess egg on me for not saying something to him when he was next to me. i should have asked him to look for issue 2 for me, but it all was a blur. it happened in one hot minute. word to the boys, if a girl has several issues of one comic and you notice she is missing one issue, DO NOT TAKE that issue!

there was the usual costume contest. wheeljack should have won. ooh, some dude was chamber. yup, that is not an orange beard he sports, his lower jaw was exploded off. xmen. gotta love them. read my yelp review on comic con. i was dying of laughter when black manta booed dave. hey, dave thought it was wonder woman. he is a comic guru, but i think his blood sugar was falling. mine was. we needed to eat lunch. anyhow, it was donna troy. wonder woman's sister. she told him and black manta stated, "you are at a comic con and you don't know comics!" whoa. harsh words from a villain who killed aqua man's baby! comic con is a great mix of the geeks. the goths. the lonely. the smelly. the creepy. the slutty. and the common thread? the love of comics.

i like that my world is filled with good friends who love comics and can appreciate the need to find all the new avengers issues, a place where it is ok to play magic with D&D 20 sided dice, where babies can be dressed up as final fantasy characters, where you're only as good as the writer and artist who made you and even rewrites can make you better than ever, ie. green arrow.

friends? foes? frenemies?

why do people say when they break up, "let's stay friends" or "i do love you...as a friend." i laugh at these statements. statements people say to alleviate their own guilt. these words are to make the person doing the dumping or breaking up feel justified. of course, i didn't know all this back then. back then, i was a wide eyed, well, as wide-eyed as my slanty eyes can get girl.

college is when i was allowed to date. if you have kept up with my blog, you can refer back to the blog entry about how my mom broke a brick in half in front of my prom date, and hence, ended my first and last date in high school. nice huh? college is where i got to meet people who were different and the same as me. for me, college was the first place where i actually met my first love. here, i got my BFA and my first BF. having a boy pay any attention to me was freaky. no one talked to me in high school. i was the quiet girl who sat under a tree sketching comics or reading. no boy pursued me or wooed me. that was reserved for girls who flirted and dressed the part. not girls who played the violin and listened to dead milkmen. being in college, i got to paint, have an art show and also got told for the first time that i was pretty. i don't need to hear compliments. i am not a fisherman of compliments, but it was touching to hear. it is an asian cultural thing not to call your kids pretty. superstitious. if you call your daughters pretty, the devil would come snatch them away. it's an asian thing to just value education/intelligence over physical beauty. i excelled in school. i failed at dating.

i hung out with the artsy punk crowd. the poets. the writers. the thinkers. nothing mainstream. everything edgy. my friends were witty, funny, extraordinary. we would hang out, party, listen to records, watch movies. i was the disheveled one. hands usually black from charcoal drawing, overalls and vans covered in paint or clay from the potter's wheel. no makeup. hair in pigtails or just down. nothing fancy. nothing glamorous.

i figured if or when i did get a boyfriend he would be an artist, a writer, something like that. instead, the dating gods played a cruel trick on me. my first love turned out to the polar opposite of me. a frat boy.

handsome chiseled face. tall. dark hair. a nice rich tan in the summer from sailing on the cape. strong jawline. a deep voice. he was an art history and history buff. his trousers always pressed. he knew how to tie a tie.....well. he sported blazers with the greatest of ease. he wore vans when sailing. he wore dock siders every day. glasses. his one vice. he smoked. but that was given up quickly.

this is who would be my first love?! he approached me in the courtyard. i knew some of his brothers. he walked me back. we talked. he asked if he could call on me again. manners. diction. complete sentences. he built furniture. other girls wanted to date him. why the hell is he after me? i made him laugh and i was so different from him.

i dont wanna rehash details. it didn't work out. i never felt comfortable with him. meaning, when we first started dating, he would bring up the fact that i wasn't white. i felt at times that who i was was not who he wanted me to be or wasn't enough. the feeling of inadequacy is the most horrible feeling.

the comic "post it note" documents my heart/breakup. i read it now and i laugh. this was all before the sex in the city post it. i never knew such a little yellow note could shatter my heart. who knew the girl above would have her heart ripped out by a product of 3M. (i had to scan it in 2 parts).

and to the victor goes the spoils

sometimes i have my emo moments, but really, i think i just do a lot of thinking. also, i am a crier. if i see someone cry, my slanty eyes start to well up with tears. sympathetic. empathetic. whatevs. i was chatting with other artists on twitter about comics and how i had documented my heartbreaks. it got me thinking about another idea. i put down my sock monster (yes, i think there is a monster that lives in my dryer and he eats my socks. of course, he eats only one of the pair, but his appetite is insatiable. he loves argyles. if you stop the dryer, you sometimes can catch his tail as he escapes into the lint worm hole of time). i begin to sketch out my story board.

my favorite subject to paint is people. i have series of portraits of friends, strangers, musicians, boxers, people i have seen, people i would like to see. so, it is no surprise that when i do comics, despite my penchant for monsters, i always continue to ink down human interaction, my memories of people, what ifs, what shouldn't have happen, my memories of crushing heartbreak, soaring victories, the mundane that makes me smile. this could explain my endless love for chris ware. mundane made beautiful.

my storyline, i don't wanna write it down since soon i will scan it once i finish it, but it focuses on what i think everyone deep down believes. when people break up, you don't really want the other person to be happy. you may think that because we should all feel that. but, really, you want to win. you want to be the one who whether the dumper or dumpee, you want to walk away being the better one, the winner.

harsh right? but is it? the truth hurts i know, but i just think, relationships fail or succeed. if they fail, someone points their finger to someone or something. i am sure there are some readers who think, no, i hurt him/her, i want them to be happy. ok, maybe you do, but we all have that run in with the ex and they are arm in arm with some supermodel or some dude who makes you feel like igor. it just is. at that moment, do you feel happy? no, you don't.

back to my storyboard. one can't expect people to pine. too victorian. one can't expect to always win, but we all have this in us. no one wants to be the one who loses. to lose a relationship is one thing. to be the loser as a result of the relationship is whole different matter.

so if i haven't ticked you all off, then just wait for my comic. maybe i can win some love back. i haven't gotten a title for it. that is the hard part for me. i leave that last.

ipods are the new roadblock, not roadblock from GI joe! :)

living in a city, one must comply to certain lifestyle necessities. for me, i believe that is owning some music device, ipod, mp3 player, Walkman, something that you can connect headphones and strut around this city listening to one's soundtrack as you dodge crazy cab drivers, angry septa bus drivers, bikers, and other pedestrians who believe they can stop in the middle of the sidewalk and just chat with people, not caring that they are taking up the whole sidewalk. obstacles. obstacles.

philly has a lot of homeless people. ok, not a lot. but, walking around you see them try to make eye contact with you, ask for money. for me, i used to give money to homeless, but realized they just bought drugs or cigs and weren't really using the money to buy a hoagie. i just send money to charities instead. wearing an ipod allows me to avoid people shoving fliers into my hands or bums asking me for money.

more importantly, wearing an ipod allows me to also avoid dudes trying to talk to me. this is great since if i want to talk to someone, i can take off my ipod earplugs, but it comes in handy. then i realized, girls wearing ipods just make it more difficult for guys to scam on a girl. it makes even more work for a guy to approach a gal. not only does the dude have to come up with some witty banter, but he has to tap the girl on the shoulder or get her to turn down the ipod or take off the earplugs. this seems to be like asking some guy to move mountains!

maybe this is why dudes just hand out business cards? business cards are the new classnotes. remember getting a note passed in class? business cards are essentially the same thing except without the wide ruled line paper and usually on heavier weight paper ( i like bone. in homage to american pyscho), embossed font (i like courier) and perhaps a watermark if the dude is fancy. these little cards are fancy class notes. contact info. email. sometimes even a photo of the dude.

i remember sitting with a girlfriend eating lunch outside. people hustling by. she took a phone call and i put on my ipod since she had signaled me that it was going to be a few moments. i didn't have my ipod on loud, but some guy in a sharp suit walks up to me and puts his card on the table. i am all confused. i look up and he states confidently, "my card. we should go out sometime." walks away. wow, i think. wow, not in a good way. i guess ipods are roadblocks. roadblocks to people starting up conversations.

unfortunately, i am addicted to my ipod, but i do love walking around philly and just listening to the city sounds, the cabs, the laughter of people walking, by, just the whole pulse of the city. i just wish while i was doing this, i wouldn't have some skeevy guy come up to me and tell me his yellow fever fetish. ew. by the time this line comes out of his mouth, it is too late for me to put on my ipod, so i resort to my favorite roadblock. i smile and i kind of squint my eyes as if i am confused and concentrating and i say, " no speaky....engrish."

it works like a charm.

iron man-the movie, the comic, the two suits of tony stark

i saw iron man with my parents this past weekend. and for those keeping up with the mushroom, this viewing went better than when we went to see rambo (refer to older blog rambo and the racist).

for those who don't speak marvel and geekspeak, iron man is the alter ego/persona of tony stark, genius and CEO of Stark Industries, manufacturer of weapons of destruction. anyhow, similar to batman/bruce wayne, stark's parents are killed. here, a car accident, failed brakes. he doesn't witness his parents' demise, like bruce wayne did though. both are rich men with dark secrets and failed relationships and in the end, they are alone. money can't buy happiness. trite, but true. anyhow, stark is a flamboyant international playboy. stan lee based stark on hugh, the original playboy himself. if this is obvious, which i thought this was common knowledge, but i figured i would just say it just to say it.

iron man has always been an interesting superhero to me since he is an ordinary man, so to speak, aside from the genius level doogie howser MIT level, stark is a rich party boy. his power is extreme intelligence. no utility belt. no xray vision. an invincible metal suit that gone through an array of colour changes, all grey, all gold, black, red and gold. stark's heart condition is his weakness, which later in comics get fixed through a transplant.

iron man is a cool superhero because it is a man inside an iron suit blowing things up. he destroys his weapons. then puts on his business suit and destroys other weapon companies through buyouts and mergers.

tony stark wears two suits, both strong. the powerful CEO corporate leader and the iron metal suit that soars him through the air and shoots at stuff.

knowing all of this, i went to see iron man with my parents. a quick scan of the audience made me feel relief since i didn't sense any racists in the audience. the movie was fun. it did not disappoint. RDJ was perfect as tony stark. stark in the comics is a smart ass guy who does some horrible things, but you still find yourself liking him. this is pure RDJ. paltrow was good in her role and i am no fan. her lines were minimal and funny. i do admire her moxie in herpower pin stripe suits and stiletto heels. women in heels. power. terrence howard was good. i like how he looked at the iron man mold and says, "next time," which foreshadows later on in iron man comics how rhodes later takes over the role of iron man for awhile. nice work hollywood. i did enjoy the obligatory stan lee cameo.

i like how the movie was action and action. the story line was kept simple. good guys v. bad guys. but, iron man later becomes more complicated. i heard this is a 3 movie deal. i hope so since iron man deserves to be explained and the character of stark needs to be explored. stark is not just a playboy, but one who suffers from losing his wealth, to unreturned love, to losing his life and losing his trust in friends. iron man is one of the comics i put aside for awhile and now as i write this, i remember why i loved it.

i better brush off the dust off my issues and fall back in love with stark.

food poisoning

yesterday some people i work with and i went out for lunch in chinatown. normally, this is a fun occasion and i am all about grabbing a bite on a brisk spring day. it is always good to get out of the office for a bit.

lunch was good. fun conversation. venting. jokes. no dessert. no coffee. but a 2 hour lunch. :)

coming back to the office it was already mid day. i am already sporting a cold (thanks seattle) so i was feeling a bit languid. i shrugged this off as normal. eating a big meal makes one sleepy. no bigs. i felt a bit off and left the office after 5. upon my return to my house, i got into my pjs. i hopped into bed to catch up on top chef episodes. i must have dozed off for about 20 minutes or so. i awoke all disorientaled, groggy and then i felt it.

that feeling of sickness as it crept up my throat. slowly at first and then at warp speed. i jumped out of bed, ran down my spiral staircase, into my bathroom, kneeling at the toilet and then BARF. ugh. i spent the next hour just puking another 3 times. the whole time i was cursing the lunch establishment!

food poisoning. it sucks. as i sat there with my hair out of my face, i felt like some lame drunk soriority girl.

i spent the rest of the night sipping water and whining. i felt drained.

of course, i didn't today off. nope, work doesn't stop even if my stomach can't handle solid foods.

today at work i was the walking dead. i ate pretzels and drank water. i am home now. resting. watching bad tv. ate some chicken broth. i can't waste anyway. i am already tiny!

i am scared to eat out now. it is one of my vices. i love love love to eat out. why live in an awesum city if you can't dine out?

well, i need to get better. i believe the only treatment for food poisoning according to webmd is just drink water and eat bland foods and let it run its course. after puking 3 times last nite, i felt strangely better. it is amazing how the human body works. whatever i ate. bad lettuce. ecoli noodles, who knows?! but, my body knew, this stuff is bad and we're gonna make you barf it up.

first i had the flu a few weeks back. now food poisoning. gees. it can only get better no?

missing philly while in seattle

seattle is a pretty city. see pics below. i like that it is grey. i don't like how often it is grey. everyone in this city is into organic foods, going green, very friendly, laid back and educated. there are some hippy people, ie. drum circles and what not, but i did like how everyone was into a healthy lifestyle, biking, hiking, sailing. quite different from my cheesesteak home town.

while in seattle, i decided to try as many coffee shops as bodily possible. i went to one in the queen anne district and the dude made a fern leave/frond on my coffee froth. cute huh? i thought so.

here is my list of pros for seattle
1) my new nephew max (cutest baby in the world)
2) chowder. it is good.
3) fresh fish and hence awesum sushi
4) easy street records
5) space needle ( i don't care if that is touristy and tacky. it is cool. spacey.)
6) coffee places are everywhere and i don't mean starbucks and most use free trade and organic beans
7) it is a clean city. no litter. no homeless people really. no graffiti
8) food here is more expensive. just going out to eat is more expensive
9) drivers yield to pedestrians and are pleasant about it and don't honk or curse at you
10) it is grey for 7 months out of the year

cons for seattle
1) lots of hippies, old hippies, new hippies
2) drum circles (yup, even if it is cold out, here they are drumming away)
3) the birthplace of starbucks
4) it rains. a lot. the only city perhaps where everyone carries an umbrella with them 24-7
5) not a walkable city. they didn't have ben franklin design it like philly!
6) crazy big seagulls. they could eat me
7) no graffiti or any type of urban decay
8) there is no bustle of people, out on a saturday night and there was still no people out! wha?!
9) grunge
10) it ain't philly.

being such polite people made me on edge. sometimes, i think it is refreshing to hear someone curse out a cab driver. ah, home.

leave a message

i can't get to my blog right now, but if you leave a message, i'll get back to you as soon as possible. thanks!



i'm in seattle. dudes, yup. i left 80 degree weather for 45 degree weather. doh.

leave a message after the dot.

check it out. space needle. science musuem fountain. it looks like space beetle.

comic books, dice, rpg + girls= does not compute?

to all those in blog world and any lil' mushroom readers, i have a newsflash for you, girls read comic books. not many, but we do. personally, i frequent my local comic book stores prolly as much as girls around go to freakin HM.

my favorite jawn to drop mad cash is fat jack's comic crypt here in our city of brotherly love.

i reviewed it for yelp and this other fellow yelper on the west coast sent me this video, which made snort with laughter. like the dudes at fat jack's, you dont want to deter girls from coming into the store, (recall my encounter at brave new worlds comic book store. ahem). anyhow, the song holds truth in it.

yes, i have my own DD dice. yes, if you read superman, i will taunt you FOREVER. yes, i know where everything is in a comic shop. i do take great pleasure in buying my comic books and find it hilarious that they use brown paper bags so it looks like i purchased a bunch of pornos. funny.

watch the clip.

naked homeless dude

one of my favorite thing to do on my lunch break is to go to the comic book store, buy an issue and sit and read it in the park. often i will buy my lunch and just sit on a bench and read and people watch. mostly, i am reading. rittenhouse park is nice, a bir crowded, but i am little. i can squeeze onto a bench.

this past week as i sat eating my lunch reading swamp thing. yes, i am obsessed with alan moore. honestly, i would elope with him. but, only if he kept his beard. i think if you cut his beard, similar to samsom, you would be control the horror comic book world. i know, i know. with great power comes great responsibility. blea blea blea. anyhow, where was i? oh reading in the park. the day was a bit windy, but i was reading and eating my sandwich, happy to be out of the office. you ever realize how cliquey offices are? i mean i love all the people i work with, but most of them live near each other and go to ball games together, hang out on the weekends together, so they are all tight. i am kind of this dorky cog that doesn't fit into the machine. i need friends at work. my friends are avitars are pixelated. damn me being a gamer. poo,

hence, this is why i eat by myself in the park. lonely cog.

this particular day i was reading and i looked up to see a bum sit down on the bench across from me. he is sitting there. mumbling. but i pay him no mind. he has every right to enjoy this pretty day. i read about 2 more pages, when i glance up to find this bum shirtless. okkk. it isn't that hot out dude. how does a dude just decide to take his shirt off in the park? i roll my eyes and continue reading. now i look up again. i know. i am sooo asking for it right? now, the bum has his pants off. sitting in his boxers. i think to myself, well, at least he is wearing boxers, not a speedo or briefs. i continue to read. then i feel a shudder. the wind? i look up. no, it was like my innate creepy alert going off. yes boys, us girls have them built into our bodies. genetic code. double helix and crap. i look up and the bum has a wide grin and he is pulling his boxers off. i jump up from my bench and walk away. an unwanted peep show!

i walk a few feet and debated if i should give him money to keep his clothes on!

for some reason, i encounter odd bums.

last year, as i was walking to city hall, i saw two crazy things:

1) a homeless man almost stark naked who wrapped himself in seran wrap/plastic wrap, like a mummy. i have no idea why, but there he was in some mummy suit on market street. no one bats an eye. hello?! naked dude in plastic wrap!? come on, are we so jaded in philly?

2) walking back from city hall another day, i saw some dude pull his trousers down and drop a deuce in love park. yeah, lovely. it was like 2pm in the afternoon and he decides to release the chocolate hostages in broad delight in the park. it is one thing to avoid doggie poo when you are walking in this city, but now beware of human poo.

i totally need to summer somewhere. other than philly.

the mouse who died a most horrible death

after so much rain, us urbanites were grateful for a sunny, lovely saturday to walk around our beloved parks, people watch, make fun of the suburbanites who take up the entire sidewalks with their families and SUV strollers, the bikers are out, whether they are couriers are not, doesn't matter. if you look it, people will believe you are it. the old men gather in the park to smoke their expensive cuban cigars. cigarettes are for the poor. the wealthy smoke cigars. nannies are out in droves, pushing the SUV strollers. asian babies are out in full force. some with asian parents. some with white parents. kids are running after pigeons. dogs are on parade. some in silly ribbons or clothes. others with their mouths muzzled. the young professionals with their briefcases, drink in hand, sitting outside at the cafe complaining how they had to work on a saturday. all in all, i paint a picture of a typical saturday in philly. it is mundane. it is trite. it can be overwhelming and annoying with the congestion and traffic. all of this makes it perfect. a perfect saturday morning.

i awoke on saturday. early. about 7:30. i am an early riser on the weekends. i think because i am so excited it is the weekend, that i awake with excitement. i wake up early to try to make my weekend last longer. in my head, this all makes sense. perfect sense. anyways, i awoke on saturday. i saw how lovely it was outside. i took a shower. made some coffee. sat out on my deck and drank in the sun and read my comics that i have neglected. it was bliss. as i soaked in this moment, my tummy growled. power pellets down. need food. need to feed myself. i never ignore the call of my tummy. it is like the bat signal. no, it is like the red phone the commissioner would answer. total emergency. i need eggs. i need more coffee. i need BACON. none of this turkey bacon. i need real bacon.

i call up my bff, jonathan. he is awake and he sounds like he is ok, not hungover. yes! let's walk around the city and find food. he's game. who says no to food?! no one i am friends with. upon feeding my tummy and restoring my health back to all hearts, we walk. browsing stores. complaining how all our friends are hungover. (you all know who you are! :) the day was just a nice calm day. it was a day of catching up on what has happened to us all week. contemplating what next hair style we should try. what music we used to listen to. what bands we miss. and who we wish we saw. it was a day to do nothing and everything all at once. again, a nice saturday.

as we walked back, our flow of conversation goes from off tangent back to the topic. it's how we roll. jonathan tells me a story. a story i can't get out of my head. even today, i am thinking about it. writing about it. it haunts me.

living in the city, even if you alone, you never really are. urbanites have unwanted roommates if you will. squatters so to speak. mice. not rats like our ny friends. but mice. little farmer field mice. i almost picture these mice wearing a bandana and a corn pipe. unfortunately, the mice in philly do not sport gingham. jonathan tells me he has a mouse. i said oh no. before i can continue to speak, he tells me there is more to his tale. he came home one night and saw a mouse sitting on his kitchen countertop. yes, urban mice are quite brazen. they sit and look you straight in the eye. you're the trespasser they seem to say, not them. i know this look. i've seen it! anyhow, he tells me he sees the mouse in his kitchen. he is still and the mouse runs
away from his grasp. but no, it runs into the sink and down into his GARBAGE DISPOSAL. wha?! i am speechless. what did you do? jonathan replies he couldn't fit his hand into the disposal to get the mouse out. he used chopsticks and left them hoping the mouse would use it as a ladder to escape later. no such luck. for 3 days, this mouse stayed in the dark dank disposal. jonathan was distraught. why wouldn't the mouse leave?! in my head as he is telling me the story, i am thinking, this poor mouse. he hid in a death trap. food goes down. it doesn't come back up. this mouse was doomed. what happened after 3 days? i am almost afraid to hear his answer. he turned on the water and the switch. it was over in an instant.

the mouse among orange peels, milano crumbs, coffee grinds, this was the mouse's burial ground. the sharp blades cutting him to bits.

other suggestions, he could have turned on the hot water and the mouse could have drowned or he would have escaped to avoid the water. smoke him out. he could have dropped poison. he could have called me. or next time, call me, i have small hands.

this poor mouse. he should have used the chopsticks. he should have known not to go into another man's kitchen. he should have gone down another hole. not the sink hole. a hole in the wall. he made a wrong turn. of mice and men. no, of mice and man. mouse vs. man. man always wins.

city mouse. RIP 2008.

this mixtape works. i promise.

while brainstorming for my next comic, yes, i know i didn't scan in my other comic as i promised. i will. i got distracted by how nice it was out today and my white fiddle inspired me to make the mixtape of great old country singers. great WOMEN singers. i love twang and the rawness of classic twangy country. it has such honesty.

so i made the tape and i now i feel inspired to pick up my fiddle and try to work on some music. shaolin wolf will howl.

btw, that is the name of my band. shaolin wolf.

listen to the tape. drink a cold beer. no, better yet, whiskey as you listen to these women croon about love lost, love made, cowboys going away and cheating love. cry a single tear into that cold beer my dear.

another comic

gonna scan in another one.

the comic con is coming to philly in may. i am a regular at this event. ennis is gonna be there on sunday. i usually go saturday. now, i am torn. should i go both days? decisions. decisions.

ok. brb. gotta plug in my scanner.

i have spent all day walking around the city in search of eggs and bacon. bacon makes everything right.

how i feel today

things in my head

lately, i have been obsessing.

here are some of my thoughts as i drift off to sleeps.

1) alan moore is one of my personal gods. rereading swamp thing. amazing. truly epic. the struggle of man v. earth, human nature v. mother nature, the lines of good and evil. my favorite: "the sound of steak sobbing." amazing.

2) my lack of sleep this week. been watching my clock digitally change and each time it changes, i do the math to see how much sleep i could get if i went to sleep the very second it changed.

3) my new pink yoga mat. it doesnt smell like the gym. hence it doesnt have that BO funk or smell like feet. thank goodness!

4) MARIOKART for the wii

5) stuck on song 2. no, not the song 2 by blur. the second song that i am suppose to be working on. i have hit a wall. no, i am sitting there staring at the wall....no inspiration, no muse, just crickets. crickets.

6) strike like a cobra. my mantra right now. give credit to karate kid.

7) searching for music on lastfm...most of the artists i love don't have music on this thing we call the internet

8) planning a vacation. missing the mountains in vermont. the smell of the sea hitting the rocks in maine. the martinis in LA...

9) the smell of honey and jasmine

10) the search for cowboy boots for my little feet

11) the concept of time. why do i always know the time and why does it bother me when people run late? why can't i find a wrinkle in time? seem so easy when i read it.

12) eating an apple a day. i have been doing this for the past 2 weeks. perhaps i am scared to catch that flu again? well, i do like a crisp apple. i prefer macintoshes. tart. crispy. or a nice braeburn

13) i still remember my old locker combination in high school, including my gym locker. i told this info and was called rainman.

14) organic jelly beans. vegan, but good. mmmm.

15) making lists and crossing them off.

yoga girls are the new cheerleaders

i never wanted to be part of the yoga trend. i take care of myself. i go to the gym. i walked or bike everywhere. i do my free weights. i've got some guns! :) everyone who does yoga always says, you have to try it. it is amazing! i wanted to seriously punch all this new age, i believe in crystals, fit, soccer moms, college girls with expensive stella mccartney yoga gear in the face. i did not want to join this yoga cult. no! no! no!

but then it happened. i did one class. i loved it. my body was all limber and i felt refreshed. then i went to my second class. then my third. it was like crack. you get hooked and you come back for more.

i had common sense to do a beginners class. you cannot have an ego in yoga. yet, somehow in this so-called beginners class, you do get some intermediate gymnast type i hail from the iron curtain girls who i think have no bones, all cartilage for what positions they can do. gees.

anyhow, i have been taking yoga for about 3 months about 2 times a week depending on my schedule. i have been progressing at my own pace. my last class, our usual calm instructor was replaced by a super yoga guru girl who barked out positions, downward dog, plank, upward dog, child's pose, back to triangle, back to warrior one. gone was my relaxed breathing and my confidence. i was sitting next to some yoga prodigy. i know yoga is not a competitive sport. it is not in the olympics. good god, who the heck would be watching yoga on tv?! ok, perhaps some dirty old men! but besides them, who?! i know yoga isn't a competitive sport, but i think the whole asian in me to always succeed, be perfect, be the best comes out and i think, oh der, why can't i do that?! i need to try harder.

this class was filled with yoga girls. the ones who have the perfect mat, the yoga get up, their water bottle and they chat before class about wheatgerm or flaxseed and how they all do yoga twice a day. blea blea blea. i realized that these girls are the new cheerleaders. instead of pompoms, they have yoga mats.

these yoga girls in their perfect, no body fat bodies walk around and while i sit there playing my nintendo ds waiting for class to start, they are talking while doing splits, poses, hand stands. i feel so lame. should i be practicing my poses instead of playing ninja gaiden!?

this last yoga class, i felt a bit off. i felt like i was in high school and the cheerleaders would secretly smile at me and say stuff like, wow, nice shirt and then turn around and ridicule me since it was quite obvious it was a goodwill purchase.

here, in class, i felt like i didn't belong. i hate that feeling.

i am not one of those yoga girls. and i am not going to tell you how awesum yoga is and how everyone should do it. i will say this. boys if you do yoga, no unitards. girls, if you do yoga, prepare to have your self confidence shot to hell.

everyone's equal on the bus

when i visited LA, i remember my friends who i was staying with told me i could use their car to get around. i told them i wasn't really comfortable driving in LA and i would take the bus. both gave me a look. "no one in LA takes the bus. pearl, that is for like the immigrant workers." i remember thinking, omg, what?! i replied. everyone uses the bus in philly.

it's funny. philly is a city with the haves and the have nots. i mean it is like that in any metropolitan city, but in philly, the lines are pretty distinct. you have the rich neighborhoods two streets over from the poor neighborhoods.

sometimes i get lazy in the morning and don't feel like walking to work, so i wait with the bus crew. all of us holding our 2 bucks, a token or a senior citizen pass. today as i sat on the bus, i often just sit and enjoy morning daze listening to music or reading. today, i looked around. the bus is an interesting biosphere of people. you have men in smart business suits who carry business cards with watermarks and wear cufflinks. you have blue collar workers with dirt underneath their nails going home from the night shift. you have old rich ladies dressed in their minks and holding their chanel bags. you have teen mothers with their babies crying and their siblings drinking soda and eating cheetos at 8 in the morning. you have students. college. high school. grad school. you have punks. you have yuppies. preps. thugs. here, we all are. sitting on the bus. giving up our seats to the elderly. we're all equal on the bus. you don't get a better seat if you are in a higher tax bracket. there is no snobbiness or attitude. taking the bus isn't reserved for the broke and middle class. it's for all classes.

i like how sitting on the bus you can have the business man sitting next to a thug and both are listening to their shiny iphones.

we all pay the 2 dollars to ride the bus and mr. investment banker has to sit in the seat that smells like pee in his brook brothers suit since he got to the bus late, while the homeless guy is sitting in a clean seat.

in philly, the bus always wins.

robots rock. robots rule installment 3

recap. i used to have a robot. a giant robot. a robot i found and raised on a farm. the earth used to have robots walking around. just like people. one day all the robots were gone. scientists were puzzled. perplexed. where did they go? only my one robot survived.

our story continues. my robot is all growns up.

robots rock. robots rule. 1 & 2

mix tape

robots rock. robots rule.

installment 1 of robots rock

while i have been recovering from the flu from hell, i realized that something that i was missing was a robot. yes, it is nice to have a loved one dote on you. yes, it was nice to spend the whole day in my pajamas. granted, i have some cute pajamas! but a robot. and not some lame waiter teddu ruxpin crap robot. i mean a RO-BOT. a gigantor type deal.

this robot would have made me soup. kim chi soup! like a butler, but not really. i mean my robot would be cooler than mr. belvedere. my robot would protect me, yet also be gracious enough to reach the top shelf items for me. my robot would act out my favorite books, my favorite scenes from movies, sing my favorite songs, make my favorite cookies (snickerdoodles) and just keep me company.

i realized while fighting the flu, yes the flu K.O.ed my butt. it gets lonely sitting at home. i was at home and no one was around. everyone was working. i did have a few friends call me and ask if i was ok or needed anything, which i totally appreciated, but all in all, it is not fun to be home sick.

it would have been more fun to have a robot sitting next to me and diagramming my hijinx or making pie charts on all my pearlisms.

a robot would have made me forget that my throat was on fire and that take away the cute pajamas, you're left with a sick pearly.

BTW this is the layout of fallen star

i scanned fallen star in installments, but it loses some of the layout i created since i used the entire bristol board. this is the entire comic in its glory.

the moral of fallen star?

wear an eyepatch. ice cream makes the universe happy and balanced. ice cream solves everything. everything.

the flu and 8 bit music

i had been looking forward all week to see the 8 bit music show featuring, animal style, bit shifter,bubbly fish, cheap dinosaurs, nullsleep, etc.

unfortunately, i came down with the flu on wednesday nite and thursday, it kicked my yellow ass.

i had friday off and spent it on theraflu after a day of running errands. i know. i should have stayed in bed. my head was throbbing, my voice shot from coughing, throat raw, my body ached. i could not breathe, much less walk and function like a human being, but i went to the show. with my ds lite in hand and hot tea in my other i went. my ears popped and although it was awesum to see these musicians live, to see art featuring games i love, the flu won.

it was lovely to sit at the rotunda and drink my hot tea and listen to bits of karnov and see contra playing. i loved how the art showed how the nintendo games looked when you put it into the NES wrong, all deformed pics. then of course, we would eject it and blow on the game. i dont know why we did that, but we all did. admit it.

i wanted to see nullsleep, but in the state i was in, i didn't make it.

i was home by 10 asleep due to theraflu and i dreamt of metroid. contra. link. zelda. warping.

scoreboard:

flu 1
pearly 0

game over

fallen star installment #4

despite being bed ridden with the flu, yes folks, i got infected by this nasty flu bug. if i could see this flu bug, i would smush it!

anyhow, i know i am behind in blogging, so here i am in my pjs in my bed surrounded by the swamp thing comic book collection (yes!), headphones to listen to records (merle haggard is on my turntable right now), a box of aloe tissues (owie. my poor flat nose!), and a cuppa of tea. my recipe for the flu, honey vanilla chamomile tea (no caffeine), honey, a lozenge (have it melt in the cup), and fresh kumquats. mmmmm. i am no doctor, but this works!

ok ok ok, back to fallen star.

we left fallen star selling ice cream to green space men. even pirate stars have to function in a society where money rules. aka. c.r.e.a.m (come on folks, "cash rules everything around me"). the green space men did not get their flavor of choice. pirate star does not follow the rule that the customer is always right. instead, his thought bubble is one that is similiar to michael douglas's "fallen down" masterpiece, "i want a whammy burger!" pirate star imagines his rage at this green alien dude. but this was all in his head...or was it?

see installment #4 above.

fallen star installment #3

the saga continues. when we last left our fallen star, he was thrown out of the universe by the galaxy gods. the galaxy gods rule with an iron fist. they have no mercy. our fallen star was cast aside.

the universe is vast. big. if you a star, what do you watch at night? do you watch yourself? if no one is around, does a star still twinkle? do they twinkle if they are alone?

do fallen stars twinkle? or do they wear eye patches and turn their one good eye away from the world?

fallen star comic: installment 1 & 2

finished fallen star. it is all coloured on nice bristol board. i scanned it in installments. dorky huh?

fallen stars are angry stars. renegades. nowhere to go.

fallen stars are lonely.

they wear eye patches.

they cheat other alien spacemen.

we all know a fallen star, if not seen one.

read on and stay tuned for more...installment 3 & 4 tomorrow.

superman vs. batman

i have bins of comic books in my closet. i am a collector. i have them in snugs. for the layperson, snugs are the plastic covers that encase comics. beep beep beep. i know. geek alert. target marked. me.

anyhow, my friends and i have discussed superheroes. it is a running theme.

there are many superheroes. you have spider man. the hulk. green lantern. green arrow. batman. superman. the list goes on.

i often tell people that there are two types of people in the world. those who prefer superman and those who prefer batman.

i prefer batman.

who do you prefer?

who you prefer says a lot about you.

i remember i had this same conversation with my friend big dave. he prefers superman. i don't. i recall him stating that superman is a good guy. i said, superman is messed up. his entire planet BLEW UP. his retort. batman saw his parents gunned down. both wear tights. superman is just that a SUPER man. batman is a wealthy man, a human. no super powers here dude, just the smell of vengence and cold hard cash.

big dave laughed. true.

so both have identity problems.

big dave sums it up. if superman didnt have any of his super powers, he would still help people. he would still help you get your cat out of the tree. bruce wayne/batman would keep walking. he doesn't care about your cat.

big dave smirks. i tell him how i asked this question to some dude at a party. a party where some guy who read one comic book his entire life tells me he loves superman.

me: who do you like, superman or batman?

dude: ooh. ok. why do you care?

me: just answer the question.

dude: superman. no doubt. (all smiles)

me: please go away now.

end scene.

pink martini

last wednesday, i saw pink martini at the kimmel center. i was quite giddy to see them since i missed them awhile back when they were here at the world cafe i believe. this band is beautiful, loungey, french brazilian japanese influence. this 13 band orchestra hail from portland, oregon and they are all very talented musicians. they have this old soul feel to them. playing french classics and original songs and putting their spin on bolero.

the sound at the kimmel center is amazing. this place itself is another world. acoustics here would make any band sound good it seems. but since i was there to hear a good band, it was even better.

the band is lively, but their music reminds me of sitting in a backyard on a warm summer's nite, with a few close friends, drinking some white wine and looking for falling stars and counting lightning bugs. their music makes me happy and nostalgic, calm and contemplative.

i was in awe of the violin player and the trumpet player. the violinist was on point. precision. the bowing, the technique. being a violinist myself, i felt i had a deeper appreciation for the violinist. i could almost feel the rosin dust floating off his bow. i adore the violin because you can make any string instrument sound so melancholy, sad, like someone crying. it's this morose quality which i enjoy. kind of ironic, since if you know or met me, i am not a melancholy person.

the trumpet player was just insane. i mean it was sick how fast he was playing. the notes were just perfect. he inspired me to want to play the trumpet. i even researched purchasing a trumpet, and even a pocket trumpet. anything "pocket" like is a-ok by me.

the vocalist china forbes sings in italian, french, japanese, english, etc. it was such a cool concert since music transcends all languages. you can listen to a japanese song and not know it is about a geisha getting lost in the fog, but listen to it, and just know it is a sad song about loss. at least that is how it is for me.

pink martini has loyal fans from all generations. it is kind of cool to attend show where i wasnt just mingling with kids in tight jeans with flatironed hair. i didnt even have to break out earplugs for this show! rads.

pink martini appeals to all generations. they pay hommage to the past and present with their music. timeless stuff.

they did play one of my favorite songs, "hang on tomato," based on an ad they saw in LIFE magazine for heinz ketchup. hang on tomato, hang on to the vine....

sometimes i feel like a little tomato, as opposed to a little mushroom. some days you just can't hang on to stuff. this week has totally proven to one of those weeks.

off tangent, i recall walking home from work this past monday. stressed. sad. i told a co-worker that i actually stopped walking and sat on a bench and cried. so retarded of me. i remember thinking, what are you doing pearl?! crying in public? crying while sitting on a park bench no less!

i continued home and made some tea, listened to some pink martini and wished myself to the island of kyoto, foggy mists, godzilla and perhaps godzilla fighting a pokemon or something.

this blog post got a little confusing. my mind wanders around and my fingers just type.

time to go to sleeps. zzzzzz

NYLON march issue, new TRKFLD AD (me!)

so my buddy bryan poerner showed me the new ad of TRKFLD (me in a white hoodie) that will be in the next Giant Robot issue. dude, second time in giant robot! word. gonna pick up the march issue of NYLON with the trkfld ad. so peeps, be on the lookout for my face or 1/2 of it, or lack thereof! (correction it isnt the march issue. i went and checked. perhaps april? gotta talk to trkstar).

also, gamers, send me friend codes for your wii. i am itching to brawl some peeps! challengers? step up.

SMASH BROTHERS BRAWL

it's finally here! smash brothers brawl for the wii. this is one of the funnest games ever. kids, if you played this game on the nintendo game cube, you will definitely not be disappointed. smash brothers brawl for the wii is amazing. the graphics, the precision, the music, the characters (new and old), and the interface. the wii version incorporates battle grounds from the old brawl. you can play other people over the wifi with the wii. you can also choose an adventure mode, where you go thru different levels while battling crazy monsters, ie. ghosty pixels.

game crazy was selling this game (yours truly already had preordered it, so i could avoid the lines) this past saturday starting at midnight. who knew they were open until 2 am? who knew there were already a bunch of 10 year old kids in line at 9 pm waiting for the clock to turn midnight, so they could use their allowance to buy smash brothers brawl? certainly not i. indeed not i.

back to the game. if you are familiar with smash brothers brawl, you know the rules. banghok rules. you beat your opponent in different arenas. each character has different strengths, skills, and weaknesses. there is also a customization mode where you can increase the size of your character, have your character be made of chrome, have a flower on your head, etc. anyhow, as you beat opponents, and depending how many you conquer, you are then given the opportunity to challenge an unknown player! if you beat this unknown opponent, you "unlock" the character and that character can join your army of choices. sweet. so far, the players i have unlocked have been "ness," "marth," and "luigi." this game is so addictive and keeps your thumbs in constant battle mode.

the different battle arenas are interactive. they move, they are scenes from other nintendo games, nintendo consoles and ds games. soo freaking wicked cool. fighting in one world and a GIANT nintendog pops up on the screen and blocks your entire view! the nintendog is licking the screen, jumping around, totally clueless of the heated battle going on behind it.

i've got 4 wii controllers and plenty of time to try to unlock all these characters.

smash brothers brawl is like tekken/soul calibre for the cute.

i am a button master.

my players of choice right now:

1) kirby: he can eat you, he can float and fly, his talents are super kicks and he turns into heavy objects as added shield.

2) zelda: she turns into the sheik too. like 2 players for 1. she can float and more importantly, TELEPORT. magic!

3) ice climbers: 2 players for the price of 1 again. cute eskimos!! anyhow, you can attack with one going on the high ground and one on the low. they are fast too! did i mention they are soo cute!?

4) ??? haven't decided. it may be between link (always a crowd favorite) or pit (hello! icarus! wings!)

another thing about this game, as you play objects are dropped, bombs go off, monsters attack. you can pick up objects as the battle ensues and use these objects to your advantage. if your battle ends in a standstill with time running out, you go to the SUDDEN DEATH round. pressure's on!

ok, i cannot praise this game enough. worth the wait. even worth the wait when nintendo pushed back the date.

i am so thinking smash brothers brawl 2008 fest coming up soon! everyone should bring their own wii-mote and it will be an all out, no holds barred, smash brothers brawl.

excellent.

just remember, i may be pocket cute, but i can kick your ass in pretty much any battle game. including smash brothers brawl.

sudden death anyone?

bring it. straight hood.