Hey everybody! Unfortunately, I’m going to have to subject you to yet another bit of dayjob disruption to the comic 🙁 I’ll be in Canada over the next week for work, so there won’t be a Mei Wu page for Monday and Friday. Instead, I thought I’d share some designs I’ve been working on for the Hot Vinyl – Ethical Cheesecake Series 1 vinyl stickers. Do please provide some feedback, as it’s more than welcome!
Anyway, hope you enjoy this page! Normal service will resume a week on Monday!
I was reflecting the other day upon the Patriarchy, the feminist concept of the inherent societal forces that work against gender equality. I’ve never really much liked the word – I suppose in my mind, it sounds rather too much like ‘paternal hierarchy’, and imparts visions of some grand and complex structure where orders are given and suppression occurs in a planned and calculated manner. It is a phrase that can smack of the conspiracy at times.
Much of the misogyny one encounters on a day-to-day basis isn’t well-ordered, or planned, or controlled. It’s simply a messy soup of blind tribe-minded bigotry and ridiculous assumptions, instances (often repeated in self-reinforcing patterns) of exchanging dignity for power and control. It’s a kind of frothing, ranting madness that infects like-minded individuals and draws them to attack anything they see as attempting to escape the clutches of their lop-sided control.
Hooray, it’s almost Halloween! I hope you’ll all be doing something fun for it – I’m planning on some Halloween-themed RPG fun this Saturday myself. My players will be treated to a classic Gothic Horror adventure – Answering a mysterious invitation from a friend near forgotten, our intrepid party approaches his imposing castle high upon the cliffsides. There is nobody present to greet them, and the coachman cannot be bribed to stay a little longer, making good his retreat back to the town nestled snugly in the valley below. The entrance hall, grandiose and finely carved from granite, echoes with their footsteps and the faint sounds of organ music from elsewhere. None of the heavy oaken doors will open – the cogs of the castle’s unique waterwheel system are not turning. Dare they venture down into the basement to set the wheel turning once more, and kick off an adventure filled with madness, obsession, and fear?
Hullo everyone, just a brief post today as I’m still feeling a touch ill from the virus that finally got me earlier on in the week. I will leave you with this to muse, however: Why on earth doesn’t sleeping for 20 hours straight feel nearly as awesome as it sounds?
Sometimes, reality just… Isn’t realistic enough! Really!
Anyways, I’d best wander off now – just another day to survive then weekend, hooray! I’m aiming to finish a piece of ink drawing/wash collage on Saturday, hopefully I’ll be able to share it with you next week.
Now, I suspect only a few of you know about this, but I suffer both from severe eczema of the hands and a rather annoying dander allergy, both of which combine to seal off the possibility of me ever owning a cat. Which, given my legendary love for the little critters, is just the petty joke of some laughing deity.
This means that even if I come across a friendly cat in the neighbourhood, unless I’m sure that I can get inside and wash my hands immediately afterwards, I can’t pet the kitties. However, an alternative jumped into my head the other day.
Welp, it’s been a busy weekend for me, but totally worth it from a cookery perspective! On Saturday, I entertained my gran and my aunt for lunch, and decided I would lay on a full proper lunch for them – and I think I outdid myself on the menu this time! Here’s what I made:
Canapes:
Main:
Dessert:
Everything was well-received, I thought, which totally made the hours of cleaning and prep worth it. The risotto, I was particularly pleased with – it was my first time, and I think I managed to get the hang of it. Unfortunately, I prepared it an hour or so in advance rather than serving it immediately, so it lost a lot of its essential creaminess. I was quite pleased with the chicken, however – the aioli wasn’t too strong, and really helped keep the chicken lovely and moist, while the parma ham gave it a wonderful crispy outer shell and provided all the salt it needed. The asparagus was a nice surprise, simple but very effective and quite popular! And to crown it off, my madeira cake was delicious – again, nothing fancy, just well-made cake. There was only one slice left afterwards, my gran and my aunt having taken some home for themselves!
What a fantastic wedding that was – I’ve never seen my old boss so genuinely, purely happy! It was a wonderful occasion, in a lovely location, meeting up with friends and colleagues past. I’m so glad I was invited down, both for the happy couple and for a lovely little reunion between the old team.
I’d also like to offer congratulations to my good friend and ex-colleague Tom, who became a dad on the very morning of the wedding! I think it’s safe to say that his beautiful little girl is going to be one of the best-loved children on the face of the planet, and I know she’s going to grow up to be an awesome person because she has two of the nicest, most intelligent and awesome people I know as parents.
Hullo everyone, I’m at a wedding just now, which meant that today’s comic was finished earlier on in the week under an even tighter timescale than normal – I do apologise for the recent drop in quality in the comic, I find myself having less and less time due to the dayjob spilling over rather too often into my art time. I do try to keep up, but at some point the late nights build up and build up.
Anyway, I’m hoping that soon I’ll be back down to a normal, manageable workload, so that I can once again resume my pursuit of artistic excellence. ‘Til then, though, I hope you’ll forgive me and tough it through these rough patches!
Hullo all, I’ve managed to fall asleep on my tablet and it’s now late as I type this up so I’ll keep it short!
One year ago today, the idea of Scottish Independence went to the polls. And, by the somewhat-slim-yet-somewhat-notable margin of 10%, the NO campaign prevailed. Now, as a Pro-Yesser, the pain of that day has still not faded – it’s pale consolation when we see so many issues that we foresaw in remaining part of the UK present themselves anew, or continue to be a thorn in the country’s side.
Fourteen years ago today, what can only be described as the defining political and cultural event of the western and middle worlds, possibly of the whole globe, for this generation. From one tragic day of wickedness, over a decade of conflict and suffering continues to grow and consume the world in flames of hatred and intolerance.
Without dwelling on the issue, or angsting too much, I leave you with this: Why do we continue to be so terrible to each other?
M.
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