Yay!

I went to my old library yesterday, and I knit and watched Project Runway S2 (hate Santino SO MUCH), and it was excellent and I had nothing due!

This morning, I went back to my old farmers' market for the first time in what feels like forever! I now have entirely too many peas, strawberries, blueberries, Garnet cherries, and a fruit tart. I tried some of the Bing cherries but wasn't overly impressed and don't particularly have an impression of the Raniers. There were also raspberries, although I passed those up, as well as very early peaches, which I also passed up.

I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of white corn, which is currently in Safeway.

The heat wave makes it not so fun to walk around, but I don't care! It's summer! I HAVE FRESH FRUIT!

I also got to see rilina and thistleingrey today, and we had a tasty brunch, cupcakes, and watched the first episode of Painter in the Wind. I don't think any of us have any idea what is going on, as I have failed as distinguishing nearly all the male characters and have no idea as to what rank everyone is and how they all interact with each other. Still, there has been cross-dressing, the requisite bathroom scene, jumping off cliffs, a tiger nature scene, shounen painting commentary, an animated brush painting of a half-naked guy, a painting competition in which people drag paint brushes nearly as tall as they are around a room, a woman scandalously going across the veil separating her from the guy, and a possibly cross-dressing ninja-type (is there a Korean equivalent of "ninja"?) person who has bangs emo-ly flopping over her (his? her dressed as him?) eye who seems like she belongs in a drama not about painting.

It was extremely fun, and I am looking forward to more!

Naifeh, Ted - Courtney Crumrin, vol. 01-03

(Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things, Courtney Crumrin and the Coven of Mystics, and Courtney Crumrin in the Twilight Kingdom)

Courtney Crumrin is a young girl (I'm guessing late elementary or middle school) who's forced to move to a new town when her parents decide they can't afford their place and take up her great-uncle Aloysius on his offer to let them stay at his house. Unfortunately, the town is full of plastic rich people (which Courtney's parents like), the house is full of strange creaky things, and the woods are full of goblins.

I've always loved things like The Nightmare Before Christmas—creepy and goth but not so much that it scares the living daylights out of me (in contrast, I do very poorly with horror that isn't for YA). The Courtney Crumrin series is right up this alley, and I think people who enjoy Tim Burton and Nightmare and Corpse Bride and Coraline (book and movie) will love this. The visual style in particular reminds me of those movies, and I love Naifeh's stark black and whites. Sometimes they can be a little overwhelming because there's so much contrast jammed into the multiple tiny panels—Naifeh in particular doesn't use white space quite as well as CLAMP does in xxxHolic—but the claustrophobic effect is very fitting for the series.

Courtney herself is very much not a spunky heroine. She's mean and antisocial and really doesn't like people, and quite often, her morals are rather disturbing. I found this rather refreshing in a YA book. The first book consists of unrelated shorts, and while it's fun and cements the relationship between Courtney and her uncle, I wanted a little more. You get that in the second book, which has a storyline that was very affecting and Courtney growing up, and not always in a good way. The ending in particular was great. The third book tries to integrate Courtney a little more with other kids her own age, and while I don't fully buy it, I still like it enough to read more.

Also, Uncle Aloysius kicks ass. I love him.

The series suffers a little from the Lone Girl syndrome, but at least a female mentor comes in during volume 2, even if she's not as influential as Aloysius. Race-wise, I am not sure; the stark black-and-whites make it very hard to do gradations in skin tone. Still, I think Courtney's friend in the beginning of volume 3 is black, and while I liked having POC, I thought the way Naifeh dealt with it was very stereotypical and annoying. Thankfully, it is only in one chapter, but still.

I also thought I was sick of Faerie, but I like Naifeh's version. And one of my favorite things about the books are that they really deal with the fact that the heroine doesn't like people much and is antisocial. I don't think it's something she will get over, and I very much like watching how she is not necessarily learning to love people, but how she is learning responsibility toward them, even if she doesn't like them. I feel like I haven't seen that many YA books go that way, which made this particularly enjoyable.

Fun and spooky and rather twisted. I want more now! Thanks to yeloson for the rec!


P.S. Have just read Naifeh's Polly and the Pirates (like) and read the first volume of Gloomcookie years and years ago. I remember Gloomcookie as having awesome art and a completely incoherent plot. I also see Naifeh has illustrated some other stories he hasn't written. Are any of those recommended, or should I just stick to the ones he writes?