Punk Smurf pens a bilingual blog

Yesterday, I received a Click-N-Ship® notification by Robyn Moore (that’s Terry Moore’s wife) stating that my copy of the omnibus is going to be shipped off. Woo-hoo - I can’t wait to get my hands on it!

(Here’s another recently published interview with Terry.)

My friend Derek showed me the preview of a comic called Phonogram Comic:

I like the graphics.

Let me start off this post with two recent interviews with Terry Moore in which he talks about Strangers in Paradise and Echo. This one’s interesting for Francophones as it is in French, and in this interview Terry also discusses translating his works to the big screen.

Late last night I found this article on scholars (!) studying Bruce Springsteen - who celebrated his 60th birthday earlier this week - at a weekend event. As a fan I would have attended it if I could, but the idea of actual scholars studying the man… Wow.

Another article that caught my attention was one on US spoof shows. I’m all for that as it shows people’s obsession with celebrities on one hand, and it also shows how ridiculous celebrities’ lives are; just because Britney and Paris are famous doesn’t mean they’re flawless and their lives are automatically more interesting than our own. (Think about it: whenever they screw up, it’s in front of the entire world - and I don’t envy them for that!) I can’t wait to see an episode of “Popzilla”. The article reminded me of a long running BBC show called Spitting Image (I think it was aired in the 80s and 90s) where -British- politics got spoofed. I was a little too young to get all the jokes, but I can imagine it certainly gave the Brits food for thought. I just occurred to me: remember the Genesis video to “Land of confusion“? Those were all Spitting Image puppets!

Staying on British soil: actor Colin Firth has won an award for his portrayal of a gay professor in “A single man”, directed by fashion designer Tom Ford. (Colin got the cute guy in “Mamma Mia!”) I like Colin. He seems like a down to earth kinda guy to me.

In the meantime Iran - amidst all the controversy of another nuclear plant (I do NOT like their President, let’s get that straight) - may allow trans marriages, according to this. Let’s just wait and see, eh.

Also late last night, as I was surfing the web, I noticed just then my Flemish friend Michael Vincent gave me credits on his site. (Check it out; it certainly is worth it.) Wow; I only helped him translate some pages into English. Nothing major. Thanks, dude

Apparently, so. I’m not an avid comic reader, but that headline made me do a double take. Read more about it here.

What can people expect now? The Hulk suddenly bursting into song (”It’s a small world”) and dance?! Or Mickey suddenly gone rogue - I mean, Wolverine. Heh. (Did you get the pun?)

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about my radio interview on KINK FM. Well, I finally found the podcast. You can listen to it here. And EurOut published another one of my columns - this one’s about PDA.

Talking about EurOut, the editor-in-chief reminded everybody that today, August 8th, is - apparently - International Orgasm Day. Uh-huh… The first song that popped (no pun intended) into my mind was “I touch myself” by The Divinyls. Don’t ask.

Movmnt Magazine, issue 9, has a nice interview with Serena Ryder:

Hee!

In the meantime a K’s Choice fan recorded two new songs the band played at Dranouter Festival in Belgium. Both are uptempo and sound upbeat. I can’t wait for 2010 and the release of their new record! If this isn’t right / Echo Mountain.

Six inches of SiP goodness… And from Terry Moore it’s only a small step to Paige Braddock. I’ve been reading Jane’s World for the longest time (I’m now waiting to get my hands on volume 9). For those unfamiliar with JW: it’s about the life (and loves) of Jane, who lives with her room mate Ethan (a straight guy). I think it’s hilarious, and I have to say that I can relate to some of the antics… Now, this cracked me up:

Despite the fact I’m able to stay awake mmost of the day now, I still don’t feel well, and I’ve decided to go see the doctor first thing tomorrow.

Terry Moore fans on the Strangers in Paradise forum have been talking about this for a couple of days after Variety.com published news on Terry’s 6-figure-deal. Ain’t It Cool followed closely, as did AfterEllen.com (people not familiar with Echo can read up on the main story line there).

Whether or not fans will actually see Echo on the big screen, I think it’s great news! Go, Terry!

An article about a girl’s perfect (school) attendance grabbed my attention. Seriously; wow! And in the meantime a high school elects a gay student for prom queen.

And more on gender bending: HBO aired a documentary called “Kick like a girl“.

AfterEllen.com also ran an article on a comic book called “No girls allowed“, which is a kid’s book about women throughout history who dressed up as men to achieve their goals and dreams (and succeeded). I ordered my copy a few days ago. Do check out the trailer on the site.

TransLondon’s announced it’s boycotting London Pride, after trans women were denied access to female toilets at last year’s Pride and one was allegedly sexually assaulted. I’m not transgendered, but no stranger to what I’d call gender politics either. I suppose unisex toilets are out of the question?

Hillary Clinton seems to beat Obama to the punch when she notified the state department of forthcoming changes for gays and lesbians. It’s about time if you ask me.

Doesn’t that look awesome? Read *here* why it didn’t make the Guinness Book of Records. Seriously, people… How lame is that?

As read on Popnography:

In celebration of the release of gay fave Tori Amos’s new studio album, “Abnormally Attracted to Sin,” we here at the top secret comic book headquarters at Popnography have decided to investigate the decades long connection between Ms. Amos and comic author Neil Gaiman.

The first Tori-Neil reference is found on her debut solo album, Little Earthquakes released in 1991. In the song “Tear in Your Hand” she sings “If you need me, me and Neil’ll be hangin’ out with the Dream King, Neil says ‘Hi’ by the way.” The “Neil” she is referring to is comic god Neil Gaiman, who has been one of the biggest names in comics since he wrote “The Sandman” series for Vertigo comics (”The Dream King” from the lyrics is the name of the lead character from “The Sandman” series). Before her album was even released, Neil was given a cassette tape of some of the songs from what would eventually become Little Earthquakes from a fan (and pal of Tori’s) at a comic convention, and Neil and Tori soon became fast friends.

From that moment, Tori and Neil have continued to exchange winks with one another in their respective artistic formats. From Tori name dropping Neil and characters from his works in a song from almost every one of her albums through 2002’s “Scarlet’s Walk” (and he makes another appearance on the new album in a song called “Not Dying Today”) and Neil waving back with small inside jokes such as a Tori album advertisement drawn into one of the comic panels, or a character quietly singing a Tori song to himself as he walks down a street. In fact many readers believe that the character Delerium (pictured) from “The Sandman” is based on Tori since the character is an eccentric spirit with flaming red hair, but Neil constantly insists that he is more like Delerium than Tori.

Over the years Neil has written various things for Tori from introductions for her tour programs, to stories for all twelve of the characters from Tori’s covers album “Strange Little Girls.” He wrote the introduction to last year’s massive “Comic Book Tattoo” which was an anthology of comic book stories based on various Tori songs. Being Tori’s daughter’s godfather, the latest connection between Tori and Neil has been a little more personal. When Tori’s daughter, Tash was born eight years ago, he wrote her a poem, entitled “Blueberry Girl,” and the poem was finally shared with the public when it was released earlier this year as a children’s book illustrated by comic artist legend, Charles Vess. The poem warns Tash of things to be weary of in the future, such as boys and false friends, but what is in store for the future of Tori and Neil, only time, and some cryptic song lyrics, will tell.

Read Tori’s interview with Out magazine

China made headlines with their first sex theme park. BUT before it’s even finished it sounds as if it’s not going to open at all…

Jon Stewart nails it with his “moral combat”. He rocks!

Comic artist Terry Moore decided to go ahead with the omnibus after all. I tried to resist temptation, but finally caved in and pre-ordered. My wallet is now emptier than empty… So, I hope it’s going to be worth every penny. (It is according to my friend Michael.)

On a totally unrelated note: London-based tailor Sir Tom Baker has been trying to go “viral” with an ad for his tailoring services for weeks now. Unfortunately, the video hasn’t been spreading the way he had hoped as it seems to get a lot of attention from queer ladies. I wonder why that is. Can you figure out why?

Planning on visiting NYC? You might wanna check out Ace Hotel.

Artist Den has a nice photo series on Serena Ryder