Punk Smurf pens a bilingual blog

So, last Friday my copy (#378) of Terry Moore’s “Strangers in Paradise” Omnibus FINALLY arrived. Robyn, Terry’s wife sent it off on October 1st, Dutch customs started processing it on October 7th.

Flemish friends of mine received theirs shortly after. Unfortunately it was damaged (they later found customs tape, so the packaging’s been tampered with). I didn’t have mine a week later. Nor two weeks later. I stopped joking about customs officers reading my copy; by then I was worried and frustrated what was taking them so frickin long?!

Well, finally on Friday the 23rd it arrived. In good condition:

And earlier today John Barrowman’s “I am what I am” also arrived in good condition

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.

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!

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

Photo: Getty Images

John Barrowman, a man of many talents - though most know him as time-travelling, omnisexual and cheeky Capt. Jack Harkness of Torchwood - has once again collaborated with his sister, Carol, to bring us “The Tale Of The Selkie.” It’s a serialized comic co-written by John and Carol, and its first installment will appear in Issue #14 of the Torchwood Magazine. io9 reports that we’ll learn more about Jack’s mysterious past and that he’s a dap hand with the harpoon gun (here’s hoping that’s a metaphor), but it’s the behind-the-scenes hijinks that have got us intrigued.

Last time the two siblings put their heads together for Barrowman’s tell-all biography, “Anything Goes,” we found out that, indeed, anything goes when you’re John Barrowman and flashing your bits to your cast mates while the cameras roll. And in a short interview, they reminisce about the early beginnings of the comic during the shooting of the second season episode, “Meat.”

John Barrowman: That was good luck . . . the shoot was taking forever. Lots of green screen shots. I think I started making up ways that Jack could end the scene and we could all get home. Now that I think about it, we came up with some funny stuff . . . I remember the endings we made up got more ridiculous the longer we all sat in that cold damp warehouse . . . you and I kept playing on the way home in the car.

CB: I’d forgotten about that… do you remember what we called the game?

JB: “What Would Jack Do?”

He must mean “Who Would Jack Do?” The answer would probably sound an awful lot like “everyone.”

BTW my brother texted me yesterday telling me he had an SiP reading marathon and finished the second paperback before we went to sleep. He claims he’s not a fan (yea, right) but was anxious to get his hands on the rest of the series

I’m good at writing. One of the things I do in my spare time, besides blogging and traveling, is writing for a European special interest site.

In December the editor asked the contributing writers to review books with “lesbian content” I jumped at the chance to review one of my all time favorite reads: “Strangers in Paradise” - even though it’s US made. SiP isn’t as well known in Europe as it is in North America, so I’m hoping the review will make a few people pick up the series, bring some new fans.

Read it here.

Last week my I received my first Christmas present. Heh. My friend Wendy sent me an Emily the Strange 2009 calendar:

And today I got to see what my Flemish friend Michael drew me - using part of an original picture I think is taken in San Francisco
Ain’t that the coolest? Aren’t those ktties the cutest?

You can probably tell Michael is crazy about cats. I’m not sure whether these four are his… Hm. Perhaps I should ask about that
Oh dear; kittie kisses - I don’t think I’ve never had that much lipstick on my face (had plenty of kittie kisses, and ladies kiss my face - just never had lipsticked kittie smooches). Heh. And I like the way the grey cat seems to be mimicking my silly facial expression.

For more on my friend Michael visit www.michaelvincent.be

Het is geen geheim dat ik een groot fan ben van Strangers in Paradise van Terry Moore. Nadat hij het verhaal tot een eind bracht is hij een andere serie begonnen: Echo. Mijn Vlaamse vrienden Kathy en Michael lieten mij weten dat Terry in oktober naar Gent zou komen, maar ik liet hen weten dat ik verstek moest laten gaan omdat ik aan de andere kant van de wereld zou zijn. Helaas…

Toen ik terug was uit Java liet Kathy mij weten dat ze een verrassing voor mij had. De eerste gedachte dat door mijn hoofd ging was… Nee… Of toch? Ik durfde het niet te hopen.

Gisteren ontving ik eindelijk het pakketje, met de inhoud. En die was beter dan ik had kunnen dromen Dank je wel, Kathy. Thank you, Terry, for the awesome sketch of Julie.