Update #22 - February 2021

HELLO!

Before I start, thank you to everyone who has continued to support me, and thank you especially to my newest patrons: Resorvor, BJ, Sophia, and Lally!

Thank you all so much; it really means a lot to me to have your support!!

WHAT HAVE I BEEN UP TO?

Oh, you know… Everything I’m usually up to, except less so. I dunno, I’ve been feeling pretty tired lately.

By the time this is posted, I will have left one of my two day jobs. I have pretty complicated feelings about this decision, but ultimately it’s not financially necessary to be there anymore, and I think it will free up a lot of time and energy for me to focus on art and art-related business.

WHAT HAVE I BEEN WORKING ON?

I spent a lot of this month trying to figure out how to design and sell stickers. The design part went well; they turned out great! It turns out, however, that the laws surrounding online sales tax are super complicated, so I’m still working on that part. Hopefully by next month, I will have developments on this front! 

I’ve continued typing up the first pass at the script for Skatepark Shakespeare. I’m more than halfway done with it. I’ve also, of course, continued with my diary comics and my weekly livestreams on my instagram.

WHAT HAVE I BEEN CONSUMING?

Jesus and John: A Novel by Adam McOmber

I noticed this book on the incoming materials shelf while cleaning in the back room of the library, and checked it out as soon as it appeared on the new arrivals shelf. I was excited to read it, and showed it off to my partner, Aidan, and my housemate, Zannah. They were also intrigued and we resolved that I would read it out loud to them, a bit at a time. This ended up being a good choice; the book has a slightly episodic, fairy-tail-ish atmosphere that this enhanced.

This book promised me gay undead Jesus Christ and gay John “The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved” The Disciple and religious-flavored weirdness and wow, it really delivered! This book was very gay and very strange and I loved it very much. I’ve read books before and thought, “Wow, what a bizarre inciting incident! How can the stakes possibly get any higher from here?!” and been let down. This was not one of those times. It started off weird and tense, and only got weirder and tenser as the story progressed.

I had to return it to the library because it was way overdue, but I badly want to check it out again and reread it soon. I might even try to track down my own copy; this is a book I’d love to have on my personal bookshelf so that I could reread it whenever the fancy took me.

Moms by Yeong-Shin Ma

I’d seen this graphic novel promoted on Drawn & Quarterly’s instagram page, and was excited when Aidan brought it home from the library. I immediately stole it from them to read myself.

The art style is distinctive, with fantastic facial expressions that accentuate the comedic timing of the writing. Although the titular moms have big personalities that result in lots of drama, they’re portrayed sympathetically, even tenderly. I greatly enjoyed it.

Queer As Punk - Jon Savage

This was an incredibly interesting audio flyover of queer influence on punk’s inception and development. Whatever music the narration and interview snippets were discussing was played in the background, which was both illustrative and fun.

The narrative was busy and fast moving; I felt a little lost in the beginning when I recognized names (e.g., David Bowie, Lou Reed) but didn’t know them well, but I found footing around when Vivienne Westwood and the Sex Pistols came in. I learned a lot! I’m glad I took the time to listen to this.

Tokimeki Memorial: Forever With You pub. Konami

After watching Action Button’s review of Tokimeki Memorial, I became interested in this game to the point that I asked my partner to set up an emulator on my laptop so that I could play through it with my limited Japanese.

I think it’s fun; the music is really good and the characters are charming. I greatly enjoy playing it, although I only understand half at most of what is going on. It’s encouraged me to pick up my Japanese studies again after many years. So far I’ve dated Saki Nijino (one of the three sports girlfriends), and am currently partway through dating Mio Katsuragi (the library girlfriend). There’s really very little I can say about how interesting this game is that hasn’t already been covered in the review I linked above; I highly encourage you to check it out if you have six hours to spare!

THIS MONTH’S MUSICAL JAMS

As mentioned above, I’ve become increasingly invested in Tokimeki Memorial: Forever With You, which has a pretty incredible soundtrack that I’ve been listening to non-stop. A couple of my favorite tracks are:

• Tokimeki ~Opening Demo~
• I Want To Gaze At You ~Nozomi Kiyokawa’s Theme~
• Don’t Carry Love Too Far ~Ayako’s Passionate Song~
• White Breath ~Winter~
• Aim for the Top! Pro Soccer ~Soccer Team National Match~
• Korobuchaka (Russian Folk Song) ~Folk Dance~

THAT'S ALL FOR NOW!

This was a pretty short update since I'm not quite yet able to talk about what I'd planned to, but please let me know if there's anything you'd like me to discuss or explain in a future update! I'm always open to suggestions, and would love to know what people want to hear about.

If you have any questions or stuff you've wanted to talk to me about, do leave a comment below!

Hope you're doing well!

<3,

Dave