The Glee Problem

There's a sour note on television's airwaves today, & choir nerd TBelle is determined to get to the bottom of it.

Top 10 Spooky Dances

Some belated Halloween fun for ya'll. Here's my review of the Top 10 Spooky Dances, that are not Thriller. Let's not do Thriller.

Blast from the Past: Productive Boredom Commentary

Jess & I got together a while back and looked at our high school film project. We barely made it through. Here's the commentary we recorded for your enjoyment/schadenfreude.



The original show can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZU7-pHD6P4

Fangirl Double Feature

Because I haven't been frequenting the blog enough, here's a double feature of The Philosofan. First, a look at fangirls:


& now fanservicing those fangirls (preferably with glitter)

Enjoy & feedback, kids!

Philosofan: Alan Moore Adaptations

Join me as I try to tackle one of the greatest mysteries of our time. Comic fans don't kill me.

As Levar Burton says, don't take my work for it. http://www.thehillywoodshow.com/ http://www.youtube.com/user/JckSparrow
*No sharks were harmed in the making of this review.

Lessons from Labyrinth

A short review, more in the vein of where the show is going.


& Here's a bit extra, because we could.

http://blip.tv/tbelle/top-11-gateway-anime-5438168

Finally, my first review. Enjoy & critique my dears.

Little Teaser

Bit of a teaser for what's to come. Blame Channel Awesome, & keep watching.

Breaking the Salt Shaker

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.” Matthew 5:13

So many times I think the salt idea is interpreted the wrong way. So many times American Christians treat their faith like table salt. It sits in a happy, prominent place on our spice rack. We take it out at the proper times and sprinkle it atop our movies, our fiction literature, the art on our walls, and we think we’re doing the right thing. How many times are we ruining our food? How many times are we insulting what’s already been prepared for us? There are some high-end restaurants that don’t put salt on the patron’s tables, & asking for it would be an insult. Was our faith meant to be a cheap condiment that hides the natural taste? I should hope never.

The chemical formula for salt is sodium chloride, NaCl. NaCl is found in every living thing. It is an essential compound for the growth and function of individual cells. Salt helps cells move. Salt is in our sweat and tears. Sodium chloride doesn’t have to be injected into a natural food product, and a good chef knows how to bring that out naturally. So, is this the salt we were meant to be? Not obnoxious and blatant but gently enhancing the whispers of God naturally inherent in this world. Our true calling is not to surround ourselves in an imperious cocoon of the trappings involved in contemporary Christian culture but doing all in service to our Maker and Savior. This includes that which makes no sense to the comfortable Christian ensconced in their pew. Being a NaCl Christian also changes the way we view creative output and popular culture. Could we search for the glimpses of God in secular literature and give Him glory as opposed to shunning it part and parcel? Could we challenge Christian art to be more honest and daring rather than pandering to sentimentality disguised as holiness. How much would the Body change and grow if we took our response to God off the spice rack and recognized it as an integral part of our molecular structure?

Music to Teach By

Yes blog, Mommy still loves you. Just don't have much to say that's not 'must do art', 'must work', or 'must stay alive'.

Other things I have been doing include teaching kids. I work as a teacher/assistant at these art camps over the summer, & I've been having a fantabulous time. The other ladies are rather nice & very sweet. Our latest camp consisted of a great group of kids who -LeGasp!- did there work quietly. This sort of silence can be unnerving to those used to the rowdier crowds. So, I was charged with the task of finding mellow, instrumental music to help the kids work & cut the silence.

I think I did a bang-up job, as one of my fellow teachers asked me to recommend some bands. All thanks to the Internet, of course, for providing the perfect hunting grounds for awesome music. So here's my top 10 compilation of instrumental awesomeness for teaching, studying, or just chilling out.

10:The XX- some good mellow, tech-flavored tracks with these hints of grandeur. Best use:

9: Mum- Lovely, slightly creepy, music to inspire creativity without inspiring rowdiness.

8: Rachel's- Experimental band mainly using pianos and strings. Beautiful and calm.

7: Aaron Copland- Had to slip in a classical composer somewhere. Copland really captured the American voice in music beautifully, exemplifying the wonder and valour in the mythos of our country. Perfect for the weekend.

6: Cirque Du Soleil- Apart from mind-boggling visual spectacle, the Cirque's music is to die for. The words aren't in a recognizable language most of the time, it spans musical styles, and it's fun and upbeat to keep energy levels high. Great creative brain-food.

5: Thomas Newman- Excellent soundtrack/instrumental composer. It's so chilled and contemplative. Great for all-afternoon drawing projects.

4: Vitamin String Quartet- The kings of cover artists making original, rich versions of every kind of popular artist from Switchfoot to Kanye West

3: Mogwai- Another great instrumental band. Mellow and cerebral as a guitar gets.

2: Explosions in the Sky- I heard this band of Indie-cuties first on Austin City Limits. Blows my mind.

1: The Assassination of Jesse James Soundtrack- Nick Cave and Warren Ellis made a gorgeous music-baby for this film. I've never seen it, but I'm in love with the sound. May be the most contemplative music for a western ever composed.

Hoop Skirts and Clockwork

So, around March of last year, I decided to buck up and be an Artist in the Jackson Southern Fried Comic-Con. Just one problem: I didn't know what to do. My roomie & anime convention veteran had an awesome gimmick- different characters as cats. Original, impressive, & adorable. I, however, do not have the drawing mastery of cute & cuddly animals she has. So we brainstormed & thought about it, & I finally got it.

I like movies/TVshows/anime. I like steampunk. I'm from the South. Let's throw it all together!

Introducing Steampunk Magnolias, a series of different characters put in the steampunk version of the Antebellum South.

I started with Batman's rogue's gallery

based on a costume I own for the most part. Need the red tights & shoes.

Someone called him the David Bowie Joker. I totally don't mind.

Moved to Final Fantasy VIIJust call him Confederoth

Some anime

WatchmenYes, that is a pickled squid. :3

& some fun movies.

See the rest of the series here. All Characters (c) their respective owners. Any ideas for the next batch?

The Gift of the Golden Rectangle

So I'm actually gonna get all bloggy with my bad self. Sue me.

I'm a Mississippi girl & proud of it. Sundresses, preference of going barefoot, fried food, the works. The South is part of who I am & a fraction of that tends to show through my artwork.
Then I pop out art like this:


Here's my secret- I'm also a National Geographic girl.

Growing up in my house, fashion magazines were not that prevalent. No Vogue. No Elle. No Marie Claire. My mom had Southern Living & Better Homes & Gardens, which was boring because all the pictures were of food and houses. There were a couple issues of McCalls & Redbook her friend had given her that I hoarded and poured over (cause mommy fashion mags are swank, yo), but those were unique cases.

The other magazine n the house was the National Geographic.
How I lived to be told to check the mail and find that beautiful brown paper wrapping in the mailbox. I made a goal to rip open that sucker & read it before my dad. Even though I didn't always read it; my focus was on the pictures. Gorgeous, candid, world expanding pictures that blew a little kid's mind might've started her reading the dictionary for entertainment. (Odd, I know. I was that kind of kid.)

What really stuck with me was how Nat Geo presented people, and women in particular. In this model-infested, beauty-obsessed society, these chicks were Real. They had problems and fears and insecurities, and it showed in their faces. The women were not often thin. Dirt was on their feet and lines on their faces. But they were (& are) gorgeous. Ladies in saris, burkhas, babushkas, and tattered dresses have been the most beautiful women I've ever seen. They were beautiful because they were real and imperfect. (Take THAT Lady Gaga!) Here's just a taste of what I'm talking about:
There are a few issues I've read over & over, staying with me through the years. I brought them to college with me.

'African Marriage Rituals' November 2000: I nearly wore the cover off this issue. Whether they wear Berber veils, Ndebe beads, or Himba skins, every girl shares the universal experience of being a bride. The same emotions in western weddings are here too: joy, nostalgia, anxiety, even fear. As different and strange as each wedding is, I am reminded we are all the same as humans.

'Rana Tharu' September 2000: The article describes them as women of grace & it couldn't be more true. They wear homemade dresses, live in conditions we couldn't dream of, & yet they are fiercely proud, independent and strong. There is such strength in their gazes, I couldn't help but admire them.

'Untouchables' June 2003; Very much resonated with me & my loathing for unfair discrimination. It was the first time I felt a calling to the mission field. It would not be the last.

So, all those feral, tribal, powerful women I tend to draw, the come from here.These strong, imperfect, Real women were my supermodels and glamour girls growing up. And I'm proud of that. Just today I bought an old issue of Nat Geo at our Goodwill store. It's from 1978 & has an article about the marriage of a Swazi princess to a Zulu king. I can't wait to read it.

Oddford 25: Scheming Sneezes

Sorry Sarah, but you're a bit of a voice of reason at Oddford High, and some chaos needs to happen.

I thought how cute it would be if Sarah's friends take care of her when she's sick. It fit in perfectly with the current arc, so here it is. And oh yes, on some level, Karen *knows*.

Sarah, Labyrinth boys (c) Henson, Jones, Froud
Oddford (c) me

Oddford 24 New Kid in Town

Perfectly Valid Excuse #34: DA (where I ref all my descriptions for Oddford pages) was down for the first few weeks of school. Honest.


Rodion sure looks like one of those brooding charmers. Girls always seem to love that. Except for Sarah. it rare anything with a Y chromosome impresses her these days.

Obviously, I've been having fun with my visual coding. Spot the symbolism and win the internet. Hopefully I put in enough clues as to exactly where their biology teacher has been .

Sarah (c) Henson, Jones, Froud
Helena (c) Henson, Gaiman, McKean
Rodion (c) Dostoevsky
Turner (c) Disney, Rossio, and Elliot
Landon (c) legacy of Gaiman
Dr. Grant (c) Speilburg, Chricton
Calria, Oddford (c) ME

& I just figured out my sis-in-law & I have the same taste in blog layouts. Check her out: http://girlmeetsmat.blogspot.com/

Oddford 23: No Good Deed

...Goes without a left-handed blessing. Calria is getting used to her terms of the Sarah/Jareth diplomacy contract, only to fear or her life on the way to school.

After 23 pages, I figured ya'll deserve some fanservice for your dedication. There's also a shout out to Ergo Proxy if you can find it. & kids, let this be a lesson to you, never ride a motorcycle without a helmet. Even if your mohawk does look that cool.

Sarah (c) Henson, Froud, Jones
Calria & Caleb (c) me

Oddford 22:

This is not an excuse, but I am babysitting, kay. I'm exhausted by the time I get home. Yet in some way, Oddford marches on.
If you thought Oddford was just going to be cute gags and obscure movie references, I am sorry for misleading you. Calria is the firstborn child of a High King. Complications will happen. Her cousin/guardian is a vassal king with a past.

Said past is about to catch up with him, and they are not happy he's put family before hedonism. Watch for further complications.

I suppose you're wondering as well, why is the protagonist of Crime and Punishment now an incubus? Well, summer before junior year of high school, I was assigned to read that book and do an annotation by a certain due date.

I wasn't reading enough to reach that due date, so my mother grounded me from the Internet until I finished the book. I read at least six hours of Crazy Russian a day for two weeks. It was an experience bordering on mental transcendence. I understood afterwards that there is a seduction in madness. It is as much a temptation and desire as for vice. That is what Rodya represents here. The temptation to turn your back on all your hopes and friends.

Jareth (c) Froud, Henson, Jones
Raskolnikov (c) Dostoyevsky
Dorian Grey (c) Wilde

Oddford 21: Doctor and Doctor

Sorry for the missing two posts. I was busy prepping and recovering from going to my first convention. Recap post to come.

Hooray! Oddford gets herself a real plot. *tear* I'm so proud. & we get to see the kind of buddies Jareth gets to have. You probably can't tell, but Giacomo is my best attempt at David Tennant's excellent portrayal of Casanova in the titular Masterpiece program. Hopefully, I shall improve with time.

& yes, Oddford's doctor is THAT Dr. Pierce.

Jareth (c) Henson, Jones, Froud
Jack & Johnny of Penelope (c) Witherspoon (I think)
Casanova (c) BBC, Tennant
Hawkeye (c) Alda

Oddford 20: Glitter Abuse

Biggest cure for boredom in Oddford: tease Sarah Williams.

About where Wes is working. I was once employed part-time at a suspiciously similar retail chain that carries little girls' clothes and will host birthday parties for the clientele. Part of our jobs at a party was to give all the girls glitter-heavy makeovers. Cannot tell you how many times I've wanted to do this to one of the girls.

Wes- psuedo Goldman
Sarah- Froud and Henson
Matilda- Dahl
Oddford- me

Oddford 19: Ladies Doth Protest

You get a group of girls in one room watching a movie with an ensemble of guys, this will happen. I guarantee it. At least with me & my girlfriends.

Yay for tag-team denial. Keeps the fan-comic industry in business. If we could make money off this. Which we don't. Or I wouldn't have to work retail.

The inspiration for this page was actually when I found out that Jennifer Connelly is married to Paul Bettany (who plays Chaucer) in real life. Go Google Image a picture of him & tell me there's not a slight resemblance to you-know-who-in-the-tight-pants.

Sarah (c) Henson
Helena (c) Henson
Wes (c) psuedo-Goldman
A Knight's Tale (c) not me
Calria, Oddford (c) me