Eldest.

For my Back 2 School Back 2 Blogging Assignment this week, we were instructed to contribute 10 or more ideas to the Idea Bank and then choose one of the ideas to write about on your blog. Quite a few relate to parenting and marriage, which I have no experience in at all, but this one caught my eye:

Idea Bank #382

Where do you fall in the birth order of your family? First, middle, baby? Do you think that affected who you are today?

I am the eldest of two children. I have only one sibling, my brother. I am 16 months apart from him. I was 7 month old when my parents found out they were expected baby #2. My mom was 5 months pregnant with my brother on my first birthday.

I think both myself being the first born and our closeness in age has affected who I am today. First, my parents didn't exactly raise me on my own. I was only alone for for a year and a half of my life, which I do not remember. I do not remember a time without my brother. I do not remember a time when I was not the oldest. All my jealousy that I had towards my brother wasn't because I remember how things used to be without him, but came from how my parents treated us as they raised us at the same time, since I was never aware of being alone and being treated like the first child.

My mom in particular (and even to this day) is all about fairness. If she bought something for me, she would buy something for my brother, and vice versa. There were times when we got the exact same thing but in a different colour. Despite how my mom tried to be fair, it wasn't 100%. My brother was always the baby. To this day, my brother is still the baby despite being 24 years old. In the divorce, my mom and dad split custody. My mom didn't see my brother for the longest time during the procedures, and if she did, it was only briefly. During this time my brother had a serious accident; he was rollerblading across a parking lot when he was hit by a truck that was trying to avoid the stoplight. He was sent to a hospital an hour away from his home with a fractured skull. My parents were told that he would either die or have serious mental problems. He was in surgery for a long time while they carefully put his shattered skull back in place. My brother not only survived, but also never lost his ability to function. He sometimes has trouble remembering things from his childhood but his accident when he was 14 never stopped him from doing well in school and graduating from a technical college. His recovery was miraculous.

My brother was also the first and only boy on my dad's side of the family in that generation, and he was the first boy born on my mom's side. My first boy cousin wasn't even born for another 5 or so years. My brother was special because of this. He was spoiled on both sides, but especially my dad's side because he was the gleaming hope that our surname would live on, while me and my two female cousins were dubbed not as special. We also lived closer to my paternal grandparents than my cousins.

I do feel a little jealous of my brother, and this has always made me strive to be as best as I can so that my parents acknowledge my worth as well. This isn't to say that they don't think I'm worthy, or special, but part of me has always felt I have had to compete against him, for attention and praise. This is why I spent my time focusing on school. I was a lot better at school than my brother. I was terrible at math, but everything else I pulled high marks. I went to university while my brother did not. I came out with a bachelor of science.

But, even my own graduation was over shadowed. I was sickened by the fact that my brother, who stayed in high school for an extra year, was going to graduating the same year as me from his college. I had worked 4 years for my degree and he was in his program for 2. My graduation got rained out because the university I went to prided itself on being environmental, green and close to nature. Our convocation was supposed to be held outside. It started to hail as soon as we got to our chairs outside the library. The grads were ushered into the biggest auditorium the school had. It only sat 300 people. The parents were told to go wait at the reception hall. Nobody saw us cross the stage to get our diplomas. We were congratulated by the dean and principal amongst each other and not our families. We had to walk back to them as the rain poured down. All the food had been eaten by the bored parents. When we decided to leave, the sun came out.

The next month, I went to my brother's graduation. The college rented out a hockey arena in the town. There was plenty of seats. The graduation would go on rain or shine. I was jealous.

Even in the things I excel at, my mom sometimes chooses him over me. I will show the ponies all year but when it comes to the big end of the year show in Toronto at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, my mom will pass over all my hard work and have my brother show the ponies instead of me, earning him the glory when they win the ribbons.

To this day, I'm not as jealous as I used to be as a kid. Sometimes I get frustrated that he appears to be better treated than myself. I realize he is special, just like I am special to them as well. But being the eldest who always did what she was told and did well, I sometimes resent that I have to strive hard to make myself feel justified.


A Back To School, Back To Blogging Post

Topless Robot T-Shirt, Oh yeah!

I don't usually win things. I mean, I have won ribbons and awards for showing horses and some elementary school activities but I don't usually win contests. I have occasionally won raffles prizes, but when it comes to selecting something I submitted, not so much.

However, I finally have won something, and it was an momentous occasion for me. I didn't even think I was going to win anything, but maybe get an honourable mention.

I try to enter most of the Topless Robot contests on Fridays. I've probably entered every contest since I started reading the website. Sometimes I don't because I can't really relate to the contest but I do try and put an effort in. The prize is a shrit with the Topless Robot logo on it. I know it doesn't mean much to the general population, but to readers of the site, and lovers of all nerd things, it is a coveted piece.

One particular Friday, TR had a contest on 80s cartoon haikus. You could enter as many times as you wanted. There was a challenge though; TR had never broke 1000 comments before. If we made it to 1000 comments, extra shirts would be awarded. At this time I had started contributing to the comments at SOHB. I had already been a reader there, but now the blog was booming with activity. It was decided by those who frequented both SOHB and TR that we would try and help the goal of 1000 comments. The contest lasts Friday night until Monday at 12 AM. All weekend we submitted our own haikus, and any comments we had about submitted haikus were done in haiku style. By Saturday we had rolled the comments over to 1000. It was then decided we could probably double it by the deadline. One commenter said he had about 300 haikus to add, so if we got up to 1700 we'd be set. By Sunday night, approximately an hour or two from midnight, we had made 2100 post.

I spent a good deal of my time contributing real haikus and haikus about the contest. Here's the original post and its comments. It took almost a week to get the results in. This is what TR editor Rob Bricken had to say:

Let's start with who the winners aren't: Not me. Not me.

Yes, I asked for you Topless Roboteers to see if you could manage to get to 1,000 comments (not entries, necessarily, but comments). And yes, you all were cool enough to do that. But then... then you kept going. And going, and going, and going, and holy shit there were 2100 comments in last weekend's TR contest.

And many entries contained more than one haiku (one entry in particular had 250, but we'll get to that), of course. Sure, not every comment contained a haiku or limerick about '80s cartoons, almost all of them were written in haiku anyways. People were having whole conversations -- about the contest, about Smurf sex, about the power of breasts, about anything -- in haiku. It was truly amazing... and totally awful, since I had to read them all.

After trying to ignore the contest all day Tuesday with booze, I finally finished judging the results at about 1:30 am last night. As promised, there will be extra shirts awarded, but be warned -- with so many entries, I had to be insanely picky, or else it would have taken even longer to judge. There's a lot of awesome shit that couldn't make the cut. Also, there's probably some awesome stuff I missed, again, because 2100 entries, dammit. With that caveat, let's start the Honorable Mentioning.

As I read through the Honorable Mentions, I didn't see my posting handle "ThePirateStar". Just as well, I thought. I had hoped to at least get a mention because I did try most of the weekend to bump up the comment count along with the rest of the TR Superfriends (as we are now called) from SOHB. There were probably about 1500 haikus to go through that had to do with 80s themselves, so picking winners was not an easy task. How could you choose 6 winners? What would you look for in a haiku that makes it stand out above the rest? With 2000 comments, there was likely to be repeats in themes. I went ahead and clicked onto the next page for more mentions and the winners. And that is when I saw it.

Before I get to the winners, I need to make some Special Mentions. There's absolutely no way that this contest would have gotten to 1,000 comments, let alone 2,000, without a group who have dubbed themselves the Topless Robot Superfriends. Again, these are people who had whole conversations entirely in haiku, padding out the comment count, but also exhorting other Topless Roboteers to reach this lofty, insane goal. These include DoctorSmashy, Scooter Atreides, Abraxas, Mostly Different, Jedisilk, Ttoplessnerd and ThePirateStar.

All of these guys already have shirts, with the exception of the lady trio of Jedisilk, Ttoplessnerd and ThePirateStar, who I'm now dubbing Rob's Angels (yes, I will have them performing bizarre missions for me in ludicrous outfits beginning next Monday). Additionally, Jedisilk and ThePirateStar did manage gems like these:

ThePirateStar said:

Powerglide my love
Taught me everything I know
Robosexual

Jedisilk said:

Look up! A Rainbow
Care Bear stomachs shot great light.
Such drugs were taken.

Care bears love children.
Care Bear Cousins love them too.
"Love" ran down their legs

...along with conversations like these.

ThePirateStar said:
We really are one
weird generation, wonder
how we'll run the world

Jedisilk replied to ThePirateStar:
We will run the world
like we run everything else:
from our computers.

ThePirateStar replied to Jedisilk:
There is so much truth
In that one haiku reply
I am enlightened

For their cleverness and shockingly hard work, I'm awarding them shirts. Unfortunately, Ttoplessnerd didn't manage to write any haiku about the subject matter, although she did post several hundred haiku in conversation. You guys can tell me whether you think that deserves a shirt or not.

Of course, I'm not just awarding shirts for effort or being sexxxy ladies. Besides those two, I'm awarding three more shirts (and if you think that I'm not playing fair, again, without Jedisilk and ThePirateStar, we probably wouldn't have gotten to 1,000 in the first place).

I had won a t-shirt! Not just for my 80 haiku attempts, but for helping out in the challenge! I was estatic. It was thrilling to know that our haiku conversations were recognized for the work and time we put into getting to the goal.

I requested a ladies cut in medium, because I wasn't sure how the sizes would run and I happen to be top heavy. An email came to notify it had been sent last week. And it finally came in!





The colour is much better than it shows in pictures. The logo is fantastic. The fit is well, very form fitting! When Jedisilk received her shirt, she mentioned that it was actually a Youth/Junior cut tshirt and not a ladies cut. My t-shirt is a little tight across the chest, but it is a great length. It is not a baby doll tee and therefore goes down to the hips. I can't wait to wear it out to my next geek social, s I will proudly wear my TR shirt. Maybe no one will understand what it means, but it might interest them in checking the website out.

Not a flattering picture, I know.

For the winners and Honourable Mentions of the '80s Cartoon Haikus, go here. Some are a little perverted, just to warn you!

Batman

I've posted about being a nerd a couple of times on this blog, but I just wanted to reinforce the image onto you all.

One of my favourite nerd loves is Batman. I am currently subsceibing to "The Return of Bruce Wayne" and picking up Batman Trades. I have a list of them I wrote down that I am still aiming to get like the Knightfall Trilogy, Haunted Knight, Hush, Batman RIP. Also I'm going to be subscribing to the new Batwoman when it comes out in November, and picking up the one shots of Batman's return from RoBW and Final Crisis.




To here is what I have to date:
Batman pillow plus, Batman: The Animated Series plush
Baman logo t-shirt
Batman logo belt buckle
Seasons 1-4 of Batman:The Animated Series
Final Crisis
Return of Bruce Wayne Issues 1-4
Batman: Year One
The Dark Knight Returns
Red Rain: Batman VS Dracula
The Long Halloween
Dark Victory
Batman Vs Mr. Freeze: Subzero
Batman and the Mask of the Phantasm
Batman and the Mystery of Batwoman
The Batman Anthology (Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever and Batman and Robin)
Batman Begins
The Dark Knight

No shown:
World's Greatest Detective (Bob Kane collection)
A red Batman pillow
The Batman Collection (which is all the movies in the Anthology but the Anthology DVDs came with an extra disc each with special features. Batman Anthology came out a few months after I bought the Batman Collection, sigh)
Batman Keychain
Batman Christmas Ornament
Batman Logo Hoodie
Old School Batman Logo shirt
Batgirl symbol shirt

Additional Cartoons

So in my list yesterday, I neglected some cartoons. I guess I watched a lot of television as a child. I guess that's what happens when you live in the country. Wait, what? Did I just say it's living in the country's fault? How can this be? Country life is hard working.

Yes and No.

During the light hours, we were expected to do stuff outside. My brother and I did the chores, we went for bike rides, we had out own playground with swings and a basketball court our dad built us, and I rode the horses, and he had his dirt bikes.

However.

You can only do these thingd actively outside... when it's daylight. This was especially hard in the winter when it was dark by 6 PM. Winter, early dark mornings and the evening was when we watched television. We didn't have any friends close by. My mom was a shift worker and my dad worked until 4:00 and neither of them wanted to drive us anywhere to our friends' homes that lived in the small town where we went to school. We only got to watch cartoons after school when waiting for my dad to pick us up or when my mom was home off her shift. My dad would harass us for watching tv in the afternoon. This was the same reason we weren't allowed video games often, which I'll probably write about later.

Anyways, despite living in the country, we did watch a lot of tv. We had active lives, friends, and we each had extraciricular activities but tv still was a part of our childhood.

Also - some cartoons just didn't last long. Some of these only had one season, haha. No wonder we went through so many shows!

Some tv shows I missed yesterday:

Animaniacs

We'd watch this when we got home from school. I used to laugh so hard I cried at "Bologna in our slacks"



Muppet Babies
I used to have a plastic necklace of Miss Piggy and Kermit as Muppet Babies that I wore a lot when I was 4-5. This was a fun show, and as a child with an active imagination, it was up my alley.


Inspector Gadget
Another 6 am show (We also would watch Top Cat) my dad would throw on while he was getting ready for work.


Countless Hanna Barbara cartoons - From Top Cat, to the Snorks, to Flinstones, to the Jetsons, we watched them all.

Alvin and The Chipmunks
I liked the movie where they go around the world collectinf dolls, but the tv show was something we watched and enjoyed as well.


Freakazoid
Sort of like the Mask, and that's what made it good.


The Cowboys of Moo Mesa
I liked this show. It was like TMNT but with COW cowboys. I thought it was weird they rode horses and had cattle drives, being cows themselves, but oh well, that's cartoons for you. Quick Draw McGraw did the same thing.


The Smoggies
This show was around preaching against pollution before Captain Planet, and I watched it for the bad guys, who were hilarious. It was a Canadian cartoon, so not many Americans know of it's existance. It was about two groups of characters, The Smoggies and The Suntots. The Smoggies liked to be messy and pollute the world while the Suntots lived green by using solar power, and being environmental conscious. My favourite Suntot was Sailor,the one with the blue 'stache.


The Wuzzles
An island of crazy genetic mutants. I had the Hippo Bunny cross.


Captain Planet
Preaching against pollution, everybody wanted to be a Planeteer because of the cool rings. I wanted the wind ring!


The Gummi Bears
Can't believe I missed this show yesterday in my initial list. This was a great show, with a catchy theme song and it took place in a medieval world. How could you go wrong?


Zoobille Zoo
Ok, I'm cheating since this isn't a cartoon but this was my favourite little kid show. I still watch the intro on youtube. I'm sure this is where a lot of current kid got grabbed inspiration from.

Cartoons That Shaped My Childhood

I haven't done a list for awhile and as I'm sitting here watching Rugrats on Nickelodeon Canada, I started thinking about the cartoons that defined my childhood for me. I still watch a lot of cartoons now, so I'll limit it to the age of 12. In no particular order!

1. My Little Pony
As if you couldn't tell from the name of this blog, My Little Pony (both the show and the toys) shaped my childhood. I already lived in a world of horses, and having a tv show and toys dedicated to cute little ponies was just fab. I still have my box of MLP toys in a closet somewhere, which I want to dig out sometime soon. I want to track down the movies which I was also a huge fan of. I can sing the songs from The My Little Pony Movie where they fight the Smooze.




2. Beetlejuice
I loved this show. I loved it so much I wanted a Beetlejuice action figure that spun his head, but I had a little kid crush on him, so I felt weird about it when I was given it from Christmas. My mom took it back. She did this with my Jack Skellington figure too, that I wanted but I also felt weird about having a figure of a character I had a crush on. She took this back too, and I wish she hadn't. Beetlejuice was just a crazy show that helped the blooming goth within. Ghosts, skeletons, monsters. It freaked me out at times since I was quite young, but I watched it every time it was on. It comes on Teletoon Retro and I couldn't be happier unless it came out on DVD.



3. Care Bears
The Care Bears cartoon was a staple for Canadian children. It was on every morning. Although the show itself was a little bland, the characters were lovable. The movie Care bears in Wonderland was a favourite. My favourite? Noble Heart and Brave Heart.



4. Ghostbusters
Just like Beetlejuice, Ghostbusters nutured the innter goth that I would later become. I still think I'm a bit gothic, although I don't dress in the extreme. I had a huge crush on Egon, which later determined I was a latent nerd. PI also liked Venkman. Didn't care too much for Slimer. Like Beetlejuice, the show scared me at times.



5. Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles
My brother was more into this than me, and because he had to endear MLP, I watched TMNT. I did like it, so I can't really complain. I remember the show coming on, and me and my brother would start bouncing all over the couches. I had a crush on Donatello. Yup.



6. She-Ra Princess of Power
She had an awesome outfit, a flying horse and she kicked ass in a mini skirt. She was one of the first strong female role models I had. I have her action figure still.


7. Rugrats
My dad stole satelite when I was growing up, and we were the only kids in school that got to watch Nickelodeon shows, as the US hadn't permitted Canada to Nick until November 1st, 2009. Rugrats was one of the first few Nick shows and we watched it. My favourite episode is Reptar On Ice.


8. Ren and Stimpy
This show was insane. Absolutely insane. I watched this show when I was 7-8. My parents were pretty lenient when it came to parent discretion. We watched a lot of mature stuff, but we turned out ok. I think.


9. Rocko's Modern Life
There was just something about this show I really liked. Probably because it was off the wall, and had so many adult orientated jokes in it that I would later get. It's also on Nick Canada. Camera Shy is my favourite episode from this cartoon.



10. Tales of the Crypt
Another show about monsters and ghouls. My favourite was the fairy tale one where Sleeping Beauty was a vampire.



11. Batman: The Animated Series
My first real introduction to Batman. I think we watched Tim Burton's Batman on VHS when I was younger, since it came out before I was born but the Batman of my lifetime will always be Kevin Conroy's Batman. I watched this show every day when I got home from school. I was never huge into action but the plots were always so captivating, and mature. I remember how sad I felt when Clayface died (I couldn't find his real death on yuotube, so his first 'death' will have to do). I have seasons 1-4 on DVD. Always a great watch.



12. The Mask
I watched this every morning before school when it came out. I had a thing for Stanley Ipkiss. When my best friend found out, she told everyone and I got made fun of for liking a cartoon character. I was 12 years old and mortified.



13. Super Mario Brothers Super Show and Legend of Zelda
A show based on video games, how could you go wrong. I have LOZ on DVD. It's pretty repeatetive but I still liked it. Missing Link is my favourite episode.


14. Captain N: Game Master
Another video game based show. I liked the concept of this cartoon, and who wouldn't want to live in Video Game Land? Simon Belmont hands down my favourite character from this series.



15. Chip'N' Dale
This was a great show from Disney. Not much to say about it except for "CHUH CHUH CHEEEEEESE!"


16. Winne The Pooh
When you're alone and there's nobody home, it's nice to be able to count on a friend like Pooh Bear.


17. Dark Wing Duck
A Batman like goofball. How could you go wrong? A hilarious rogue gallery too. I liked Megavolt.


18. Duck Tales
If anybody from the 1990s didn't like this show, they don't have a soul.

My Life With Horses : Part 1 - The Early Years

I've decided to write a little series about my 25 years living with horses, since they shape so much of my life.

Usually when the weekend rolls around, my friends asks me to come visit, go out for the night, spend the night and go drinking or to go away for a few days.

About 50% of the time, I have to sigh and reply "I can't. I have to make sure the horses are fed tonight, and someone will have to feed them in the morning" or "No one will be able to take care of the horses while I am gone".

If it's the summer, particularly in August, I grimace as I say "Can't. I have a horse show". Horse shows typically are on the Sunday and take all day Saturday to prepare. It also means an early night, so staying out isn't much of an option.

As I was preparing to get ready for a horse show today, I started to think about how I feel about horses, and the horse shows in general. But none of that would make any sense to anybody unless they knew the full story.

As far back as I can remember, we lived on a farm, and we had horses. My mom owned horses before she was married to my dad, and before she had us. When my brother and I were born, she had one horse, an elderly chestnut Morgan mare named Kelly. When my mom went out to do the chores, she would throw my brother and I on Kelly's back and the old mare would just stand there. We would bounce around, making animal noises to scare her into moving but she never moved. Sometimes she'd walk for a short distance but that was it. Later in life I would try to ride her with a saddle, and ended up having the saddle slip underneather her as she took off towards the barn, and I ended up falling in the mud.

When I entered kindergarten, my mom had made a new horsey friend who raised Arabians. My mom bought a grey Arab named Nytelyte off of her, in hopes of breeding. At first she bred to an Arabian, then to a Conemmera, and then to a welsh pony (which becomes important down the line). The horses sat in the yard and did nothing for the longest part. Our horses were Kelly, Nytelyte, Highlyte, Starlyte, and Budlyte (weren't we clever?).

Eventually my parents decided their house and property were too small. We moved to a nicer, bigger horse and a fabulous farm. It had a horse barn with 9 stalls, with cross ropes in the cemented hallway. It was attached to an ugly cowbarn that we stored our hay and straw in. We had two hayfields, and three paddocks and a riding ring that could also be used as a paddock. The only downfall of this place was its lack of an indoor ring.

Before we moved, my mom enrolled me into riding lessons. Instead of letting me hop up on a horse and wander where ever I wanted, I needed discipline and to learn the real techniques of riding. My mom started taking me to riding lessons at a dressage barn by a very well known dressage rider in the area.

I had two instructors. For one part of the lessons I was with one, then the other took over for the last half. I rode an old chestnut riding pony that went by the name of Babe.

I hated riding lessons. I was put up on the horses, and lead around for the most part. I was told to keep my hands in a 'box' while I rode, and to not move them. To me, this meant they couldn't jiggle at all, which I thought was impossible. I was always riding on the lounge line, with someone holding on. Everytime we troted, I was told to do a sitting trot, which is the hardest thing to do. Most people do rising trots, as it's easier on your ass and the horses' back insteas of you bouncing around like an idiot. It's hard and uncomfortable, but to be able to do it is a sign of a good rider. Or a horse with a very comfortable trotting gait.

Eventually, I was tired of lessons and my mom decided it would just be better to just buy me a pony and let me muck around by myself. She bought Babe and we brought her home. My brother and I would have our friends over and we'd ride her around the yard.

When my parents bought their new farm, the previous owners left behind two old ponies for us. Sugar and Tony were two shetland ponies of undetermined age. My brother and I would put lead chains on their halters and ride them bareback. Sugar was a nasty little pony who used to try and buck me off but she helped me learn the basics of riding.

Me riding Sugar, without a saddle, a bridle and a helmet haha.

I can't really remember what happened to Babe, but Tony and Sugar were sold, despite my brother and I's protest. My mom was moving into another stage of her horsey life. She found another riding school for me, one that I loved and went to for 7 years. My mom signed me up for Pony Club when I was seven, around the same time.

It was also around this time that my mom started getting interested in welsh ponies... which is the next chapter in my horse saga.

Comic Book Review: The Last Unicorn Issue #1 and #2

This is going to be a long post, so bare with me. I've decided to review The Last Unicorn Comic Book Series Issue #1 and #2 since I received them around the same time. I actually received #2 on Thursday before #1 so I didn't want to review the second issue before the first. I am also going to take the time to explain a bit about the story and why I like it, and also review the two companies I bought the comics from. I have already pre-ordered #3 and #4 from one of the companies, and will likely pre-order #5 and #6 depending. The next issue is not due out until August 25th, and I do plan on review each of the issues. I also apologize for my camera's flash that can be seen on all my pictures. Curses!

For those who have been following this blog, I've been trying to get this series for over a month. I first heard that The Last Unicorn was getting a comic book treatment in June... Two months after the first issue had been released! After much internet seeking, and hand wringing, the issues are finally in my hands.

So what is so great about this series you ask?

For those who don't know, and I imagine if any of you grew up in the 80s you're probably already familiar with it, The Last Unicorn started off as a novel. Written by Peter S Beagle, it was first published in 1968. In 1982 Rankin - Bass produced an animated movie of the same name, with the screenplay written by Beagle. This was my first introduction to the story. My mom had taped it off some television channel when I was young, and I would watch it with my brother. When I turned 10 or 11, she found it on VHS and gave it to me for Christmas. I did not know it was a book until a friend in high school told me about it when we were talking about some favourite movies we both loved. She lent me her copy and I purchased my own. In 1988 there was a stage adaptation, also written by Beagle. In 2005, despite his claims to never make a sequel to the beloved novel, Beagle wrote a coda to the story called "Two Hearts". It was featured in Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine and was published in his book "The Line Between".

I won't get into the story too much, because I think everyone should either read the novel or watch the animated movie. It is a wonderful story. It is a third person narrative about a unicorn who discovers by chance that she may be the last. She decides to find out if this is true and leaves her forest. On the way, she meets an array of different characters that help bring her closer to discovering where the unicorns had disappeared to.

There's a couple of reasons I really love this book and all its adaptations. For one, any adaptation has been overseen by Beagle himself, and this keeps every version close to the true story. The books contains a lot more than the animated feature, as most books do, but what the movie omits takes nothing from the original story. Growing up with horses, I already had a love for unicorns. I had unicorn bedsheets, plush toys and figures, both plastic and glass.

But the funny thing is, a lot of women love The Last Unicorn. It isn't to say men don't like it as well, for quite a few of them do. I'm no expert on the subject, as I'm just an Anthropology major, but as a woman, I like to think I have an idea why.

Since I grew up watching the movie and know it off by heart, I'll use it to illustrate the example. In one revealing scene, the Unicorn, now Lady Amalthea, sings about how everything has changed now that she has become a woman. Unicorns have always represented innocence and purity, captured only by virginal maidens. Young girls are often associated with the words innocence and purity. Once a girl is sexually mature, she is no longer described as such. Once a girl becomes a woman, she is indeed changed, not just biologically but also her out look on life. She must become responsible, and no longer spend her days frolicking about, but instead is encouraged to conform into the role of wife and mother. Instead of dreaming about unicorns and fairy tales, she must come back to the 'real world' and all it's ugliness. This has change a lot in modern times, but I'm going to go by the mind set of the era the book was published. Either way, going from girl to woman is a massive change for any female. The Unicorn's accidental change into a woman and how she describes being a woman is very relatable for most women.

A key character in the novel is Molly Grue, a dishevelled woman who wished all her life to see a unicorn. By chance, the Unicorn and her companion Schmendrick the Magician run into Molly and her lover Captain Cully while travelling. When Molly sees the Unicorn, she is angry because unicorns are supposed to come to pure and innocent maidens, and not to women, who have lost the innocence and spark of wonder. Unicorns serve as a reminder of the innocence of being a young girl, where life was much more carefree and simple. Now that she has been roughened by age and experience, Molly yearns for the past, as a majority of women do once they've been handed the responsibilities of an adult.

Anyways, that is my own personal take on it. I could be wrong. I always felt that Molly Grue and Lady Amalthea reflected a lot of what I felt when I became an adult, and even to this day some of my feelings of my lost childhood as I go further and further into adulthood.

Before I get into the comics themselves, I want to review the companies I bought from. I wanted to buy Issue #1 and #2 straight from IDW, the published of the comic. But it turned out that #2 was out of stock. I decided to go ahead and order #1 and I found #2 on a website called mycomicshop.com based out of Texas. If I cared to look farther, I would have found a website based out of Quebec to order from, but oh well. That is what happens when you buy comics late at night I suppose!

I placed my order with IDW and MyComicShop (MCS from hereafter) on the same day, Monday July 19th. I was surprised to get confirmation from both the next day, AND an email detailing that the products had been shipped on Tuesday, July 20th. The emails come within 30 minutes of each other and around 7 p.m. Eastern which meant they probably wouldn't be in the mail system until the 21st. I believed I used USPS International Mail for both orders. MCS's package came on July 29th. With the civic holiday, IDW's package came today on Tuesday August 3rd. I think it would have come on the 2nd if it wasn't for the holiday.

Paranoid that the same thing may happen next time, I pre-ordered #3 and #4 with MCS. I want to pre-order #5 but they automatically charge you $25 for shipping in case your orders are larger than expected. They say that they give you shipping credit if it is under the $25. I want to wait until #3 has been shipped and find out how much shipping credit I have before ordering #5 instead of pay $30 off the bat. Since #5 comes out in October, I have some time to pre-order.

MCS's package was a huge white box. The comic was tightly wrapped in plastic, with a cardboard piece behind it. There was also a loose cardboard piece in the box overtop of the plastic wrapped book for extra protection. This is what the box and board looked like. I should had taken pictures but I was too excited.





The one thing I was disappointed with was that even though MCS did wrap the comic in plastic, it wasn't a plastic cover that could be later used to protect the comic. I ended up using one from my other comics. I plan on getting a few from my comic book store when I go next week.

Today, IDW's package came in a little brown box. Inside, the comic was wrapped up with bubble wrap and came with a plastic cover. It was sealed with a little blue sticker with the IDW logo embossed with gold. Here's what the package looked.





I was much more impressed with IDW's packaging than MCS only because of the plastic cover that it came with. Also, MCS made opening the comic a little more difficult because I had to cut off the plastic wrapped around it. The only real issue I have with IDW is that the comic they sent me has a minor flaw in the cover. It is very faint, and does not ruin the cover's image but it looks like it has been lightly scrapped with an exacto knife. Maybe the comic was on the top of a box and when it was cut open, this issue got a little line through it. It's hardly noticeable and I'm not that big of a comic collector to be freaking out by it. I do plan on buying the trade once it comes out anyways.

Now for the comics!

The Last Unicorn Issue #1 Cover A

The Last Unicorn Issue #2 Cover B

Both issues are beautifully drawn. The art work is breath taking. The characters so far look a bit like how they did in the animated movie, which I'm not sure if was done on purpose. In the 20th anniversary version of the book there are a few illustrations of the characters are very different from the movie portrayal. Schmendrick's blue hat from the movie is used, and the unicorn looks a lot like the movie version. Mommy Fortuna looks more originally but carries some of the same aspects from the movie. Rhuk is also more originally drawn than most characters. That being said, it is not a bad thing, just something I noticed.

Despite taking it's visual cues from the movie, the story is more faithful to the novel version. For example, in the movie the hunter does not speak of his grandmother's encounter with a unicorn, but in Issue #1, there is a beautiful panel of the tale. I was very pleased to see the comic being an adaptation of the novel, instead of a reconstruction of the movie.

Another thing I noticed was that each of the issue's is rather short. The book itself spans 200 pages, and the movie was an hour and a half. The comic series is to be 6 issues, but from the descriptions from the Previews, the characters do not reach Haggard's Castle until #5. Even though the movie skips over the parts about the town of Hagsgate, quite a bit happens in the story once they've reached the Castle. I wonder if issues #5 and #6 will be a bit larger than the first two. Since #3 indicates that it will cover the Unicorn and Schmendrick meeting Molly Grue, and her transformation does not happen until #4, I am going to guess that most of #3 will be about Captain Cully, and #4 will probably include the story line about Hagsgate (or so I hope). Since the comic seems to be following the book more so than the movie, this likely will happen but I won't know until I get those issues. I do believe that the story can be contained in 6 issues, I am just curious how they will do it, and what they will and will not include.

Along with the story, there is a two page interview with Peter Beagle which is a three part series within the comic. I rather like this feature, but I was a little disappointed that there were about 3-4 pages of ads in the comic. Granted, the ads are for Beagle's work, and lord knows the poor guy needs the advertising with all the problems he has had getting the royalties due to him from the sale of the DVD. But chances are, if you're reading The Last Unicorn, you already have the book or the movie. And even if you aren't, you won't pick up Issue #2 without getting Issue #1. I think it's a bit silly to have the same ads for the same products in the same comic book series. At least in Issue #2 there was one page of unicorn art. There's is one last segment in the Beagle interview, which will finish in #3 so it'll be interesting to see what they use as filler for the rest of the series.

The Last Unicorn #2 Cover A

Since I'm not too crazy of a collector, I didn't bother trying to track down the cover variants of The Last Unicorn. For Issue #1 there were 4 of them, one being a Comic Con Exclusive, and for Issue #2 there were 3. I was given the option for which one I wanted, and since I love purple, I went for Cover B. Cover C was more expensive for whatever reason, maybe because it is rare. But Issue #1 gave you a glimpse of Cover A for Issue #2 anyways. I am hoping that IDW really does make this series into a trade. I hope that it will include all variant covers and the Beagle interviews, and all the art they've included. It would be a damned shame if they didn't.

Something I noticed and absolutely loved about comparing Issue #1 and #2 was how they contrasted each other. In Issue #1 we are learning about the Unicorn and her forest. The entire issue except for some night scenes are bright - stunningly bright, with accents of gold. Other than the night scenes, the only other dark scene is the very last panel which introduces us to the next issue, which is a significantly darker part of the story.

Example of Issue #2's brightness

Issue #2 is completely dark. The backgrounds are black. The entire story is at night (as it should be! Creatures of the Night, brought to light!). One of the reasons I opted for the darker variant cover of this issue is because it just suits this issue so much better than Cover A. Cover A is beautifully drawn and the detail is amazing, but just doesn't fit the mood. The only thing bright about this issue are our two main protagonists, the Unicorn and Schmendrick, as it should be. The unicorn's golden hue stands out like a beacon amongst the drab, and even Schmendrick's blue cloak and hat add life to a dreary existence that is Mommy Fortuna's Midnight Carnival.

Example of Issue #2's Dark Contract to #1

I am absolutely delighted in the direction that this comic series has gone. If you are a lover of unicorns, or The Last Unicorn, or Fantasy in general, this comic is worth picking up. If you haven't read the book, or watched the movie I strongly encourage you to. This is a beloved fantasy classic and the comic book treatment is well deserving. You can still order Issue #1 from IDW and Issue #2 can be found on most comic webstores. I have found success at My Comic Shop, Expert Comics, Heavy Ink and Things From Another World. Conlan Press also has issues available and they can be signed for extra by Peter S Beagle himself. You can try Ebay if you're all out of luck, but I urge you to try these places first!

Food

Food is such an important thing for us, both biologically and culturally. If it's one thing we can all agree on, it's that we like food and we have to eat. Culturally, food stands for many things and is often the reason for or part of the ritual of gathering. From Thanksgiving dinner, to going out for coffee, food plays an important part in our social lives. Growing, processing, and serving food also plays a huge part in our economy. Food can express many emotions - we cook or bake special meals for the ones we love, we often picture 'romantic dinners' in special occassions like anniversaries, and we turn to 'comfort foods' when we are upset. The type of food you choose to eat reflects one's wealth and status.

We can all agree, that we love food.

I was once a very picky Western child. My parents would often lament that there were people starving around the world who would kill for the food I refused to eat. I realize that the whole notion of being picky is a Western concept, as it is a luxury for us to be able to refuse food. We also live in such a cultural mix that we are able to sample different types of food any time we want.

As I grew older, I became more accepting of the foods I didn't want to eat. As a child, mushrooms and raw tomatoes turned me off. It took me a long time to enjoy these foods. I just recently started liking tomatoes. I also have had the opportunity to expand my palate, dining on sushi and thai food.

I once worked as a waitress at a chinese restaurant, and I would be appalled by some of the things I heard while taking orders. I had a family call and tell me that there couldn't be any sauces on the food, and absolutely no vegetables as their kids would not eat them. Being a past picky child myself, I do realize that some food can be unappealing. But my parents always made sure I would eat vegetables, and there were all vegetables that I did like like carrots, peas, broccoli, cauliflower corn, potatoes, lettuce, beans, cabbage and squash which I thought justified that I would not eat onions, radishes, raw tomatoes and spicy vegetables. I would get ragged on all the time for not eating onions. I just didn't like them. I didn't like their texture, whether they were raw or fried. I didn't like their taste. I just didn't like them. Why couldn't they accept it? I wasn't turning my nose up on vegetables - I loved most vegetables. I just didn't want onions. But for parents to allow theit children to eat anything but vegetables? No wonder our health is the way it is.

To this day, my elderly neighbor criticizes my parents for not making me eat onions. She said they should have forced me to stay at the table until I had eaten them. If that was the case, we would have been there all night. My mom tried to sneak onions into my meals but I always found them, and picked them out. If I ate dinner elsewhere, I would do the same. She once tried to tell me that boiled onions were cabbages and I refused to believe her.

I fully believe that picky children shouldn't be allowed to eat hot dogs and pizza for the rest of their lives, but I do think that everybody should be allowed a few leeway foods that they just don't like. If you avoid going to a majority of restaurants because you won't eat any of the food there, you are way too picky. If you just have an avoidable vegetable, I think that's fair. I think most people have at least one food they don't like. For me it's onions. It used to be more, but I've eaten a lot of foods I once didn't like and love them now... but I still can't eat onions.

Visual Proof of Nerd Status

This weekend I was bored and decided to take a couple of pictures that demonstrate how proud I am to be a nerd. I wish I had my own house where I could dedicate a room to my collection. A lot of my action figures, tiys and books are packed away in a small closet, and this is only the tip of the iceburg. It also only showcases books that I dug out recently because I think that they'll be needed in the up coming future, or I feel that they are closest to my heart. I do have boxes and boxes of books and wish they could be showcased.

I also have a couple of pictures of my DVD collection. A lot of movies I own are actually still on VHS, including my all night favourite "The Flight of Dragons" that hasn't gotten DVD release yet. I'm also missing a couple since they're on loan, or they're my CSI collection which got packed away.



Top of my book shelf, from Left to Right: Pictorial History of Horror Films, Star Watch, Evolution text book, Primate Behavior text book, Introduction to Anthropology, Standards for measuring bones, William Bass's Field Guide to Osteology, The Growth of Humanity, The Archaeology of Disease, Forensic Anthropology, Concepts in Anthropological Thinking, Here There Be Dragons, The Princess Bride, Whale Music, The Three Musketeers, Articles for Medieval Military Technology, Medieval Warfare, The Royal Book of Horsemanship, Jousting and Knightly Combat, Under The Black Flag, How the Horse Shaped Civilization, An Anthropologist on Mars, Horse Treats and The Ultimate Guide to Pampering Your Horse.


Second row on the bookshelf, from Left to Right: The Archaeologist's Laboratory, The Archaological Workbook, Pottery in Archaeology, The Archaeology of Aninal Bones, Understanding Stone Tools and Archaeological Sites, A Brief History of Archaeology, Archaeology and Anthropology, Archaeology, The Peopling of Bandelier, North American Archaeology, Archaeology of South America, Death by Theory, World Politics in a New Era, Microbiology, Clear, Correct and Creative, Echoes of the Past, The Art of Ancient Egypt, General Chemistry, Embalming, Human Anatomy, The Cell, and the Flight of Dragons. Also, my sad collection of McDonald's Happy Meal Toys of The Last Airbender.



Top Shelf - various horse figurines and a Captain Morgan glass, books from Left and Right: Le Morte D'Arthur, yearbooks, Dungeons and Dragons books in Second, Third and Fourth edition, Encylopedia of Mythology, Body Worlds, Mutter Museum, The Beatles Anthology, The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics, A Hard Day's Write, Last Mysteries of the World, Mysteries of the Unexplained.

Another top shelf with Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles (I was young and vampire were kinda cool unlike today), Celtic Mythology, Lord Byron, A vampire book, Dune
Second shelf: Le Morte D'Arthur, Mists of Avalon, Canterbury Tales, The Myst Series, Body of Evidence, Uther, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, Sleepy Hollow, Macbeth, The Dragon and the George, Frankenstein, Peter Pan and A Streetcare called Desire.




My Dune books, not in order at all. I know someone reading this will appreciate this photo haha.

My comic shelf with the entire Sandman series, Endless Nights, The Watchman, Batman: Red Rain, The Dark Knight Returns, The Long Halloween and the first three issues of The Return of Bruce Wayne.

Bottom shelf: Tarot books, The Penalty Killing, American Gods, The Tick: The Complete Edlund, July previews, Fragile Things, Domiknitrix, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Big Book of Canadian Ghost Stories, The Very Best of Fantasy and Science Fiction 60, The Last Unicorn, St John's First Aid (Haha) and The Life of Pi... oh and some previews.


My DVDs, with some interesting titles.


A close up so you can see my hidden Batman collection!

Indiana Jones is hiding in there too.

Jurassic Park, Dune, Star Wars, Willow, Van Helsing, Young Frankenstien, Krull, Stargate... jsut to name a few....

Musicals!

Tonight I am going to see Miss Saigon at the Four Season Centre for the Performing Arts. In honour of this occassion, I am going to recall my love for musicals.

I grew up in the Disney Renaissance. My first theatre experience was seeing The Little Mermaid. Up until 1998, Disney released an animated feature with beautiful scores and lyrics. By the time I was in high school, this trend stopped, as Disney released Tarzan, a movie with a soundtrack complete written and sung by Phil Collins. Now, the music was pretty good, and I love Phil Collins but this was a drastic change from Disney's earlier creations like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King for example.

Either way, I grew up with musicals... sorta. I was presented entertainment in musical form. The only difference was it wasn't a live performance. Because I knew and loved this formula, I was also a huge fan of any television show, animated or live action, that produced a musical episode. Musical episodes were always my favourite episodes.

So it is to no surprise that I love musicals. I love their soundtracks. I love their songs. I love their formulas. I love seeing them.

I was first introduced to a musical in the traditional sense when my parents went to see The Phantom of the Opera at Pantages Theatre in Toronto for my dad's birthday in 1994. We all went to my cousins' in Mississauga and stayed home with them while my parents and my aunt and uncle went downtown. My mom returned smittened, and purchased the soundtrack.

Once we got home, she thew it in our cd player in the sitting room, and that distinctive overture began to play. She played it over and over again, recalling the story to my brother and I. My brother didn't care much for it, but I was enthralled. I begged her to take me to see it. She told me at some point, she would. In the meantime, I bought the tape version (this was the early 90s after all, CD players were still expensive) and asked my mom for a cd/tape player for my birthday so I could listen to it over and over again. I found a beautiful black hardcover copy of the original Phantom of the Opera story. It had the most mesmerizing paintings throughout the pages. I read this tome in grade four, at the age of 10. I was hooked.

I didn't see Phantom of the Opera until 1997. But it was not the first musical I saw.

1. Grease was the first musical I actually saw. I didn't even plan it. When I was 12 I was spending the week with my friend from Toronto at a 'horsey camp' which was just the two of us staying at a friend of our parents' for a week in the summer. One night she was going to Grease, and her older sister didn't want to go, so they invited me. I actually thought they were going to Greece, and wondered how they wer eonly going for a day. She explained it was a musical. A musical about Greece? I inquired. No, she replied, high school. I was baffled. But I went and saw it, and I quite liked it. It's not my favourite but it's a good story none the less.

2. The Phantom of the Opera was the only musical I wanted to see. I didn't get my chance until 1997, when Pantage Theatre announced that the Phantom was going to be leaving that year, after a ten year run. I panicked. I told my mom she had to take me this year because we would not know if I would ever get the chance to see it. She agreed, and we went February 17th, 1997. I was so excited. I finally got to see the only musical I wanted to see. Of course, this did not become my last musical. It is still one of my favourites, and I'd see it again.

3. The Lion King was a school trip when I was in grade 11. I went with my best friend Sharyl, and it would not be the last musical we saw together. We are actually seeing Miss Saigon together. This musical was put together so well. The costumes were amazing. The opening scene with Circle of Life was mesmerizing. Just absolutely brilliant. I had already owned the soundtrack to the original Lion King so I didn't bother getting it from this production.

4. I saw Spamalot with my friend Kathleen for her boyfriend at the time's birthday. She wasn't really into Monty Python but he was. I thought it was alright. Some of the songs were hilarious, so I bought the soundtrack. The problem I had with it was it was a total rehashing of the original lines, and people were laughing at them like they were new. I mean, it was a good story, it was cute, there were some original funny moments, but when you've seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail over ten times, the swallow joke just isn't laugh out loud funny anymore.

5. Kathleen and I went and saw the Toronto University version of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. My mom introduced me to the movie version and I had always wanted to see it live. I had gone to some theatre showings of it at my own University. Seeing it live was great. They changed some of the costumes and themes around but it was the same story. I was a little put off that Rocky spoke a few lines, as I was more accustomed to him just grunting and staring. The funniest part was when a woman with a 8-11 year old boy was beside us. This version made a lot of references to S&M and other sexual fetishes. The woman and her child left at intermission.

6. I had the opportunity to see Evil Dead: The Musical when I was at Humber College. This was a fun, fun musical and a great soundtrack. I bought it immediately after the show. The lyrics are hilarious, the music was great, the story fantastic and the performers were just brilliant. What made this musical super fun was that the second act was interactive... if you sat in the splatter zone. In the first 5 rows you were likely to get splattered with stage blood. They do offer you ponchos if you don't want to get your clothes sprayed. I wore a white t-shirt just for the occassion. Sadly, my mom washed that shirt two years after it had been splattered and all the fake cornstarch blood came out. I do have a souvenir t-shirt from the show, and pictures of me covered in blood. If this ever comes to a town near you, see it immediately.

7. Another friend of mine and myself went to Ottawa for the sole reason to see Wicked at the Centre for Performing Arts. We did some other stuff in the three days we were there, such as check out the Marketplace, Parliment and ther Museum of Civilization but the musical was our main reason for going. I had read the book of the same title but I found it really, well, dull. It wasn't a bad story but just not what I was expecting. The musical was completely different. There were some of the same elements, but it wasn't exactly the same story. It was a beautiful musical - one I also bought the soundtrack too but I bought it at a store because I didn't feel like spending $30.00 at the theatre. I did buy a t-shirt though.

8. I took a boyfriend to see We Will Rock You in Toronto. I had high hopes for this because we both loved Queen music. It was abit of a let down. Weak story, weird use of the songs, and some of the lyrics were changed to suit the story, which wouldn't have been so bad if the story didn't flop. I don't think I spent much on these tickets and I'm glad I didn't. My other choice was to see Jersey Boys, but for some stupid reason I went with this.

9. Taking a cue from my mistake, I then decided to go see Jersey Boys with my mom, our neighbor and Sharyl. It was supposed to be wrapping up, but it's still going on. Apparently it's going to be leaving this year but who knows! It lived up to the hype. I love the Four Seasons, and the music was great. The story was interesting and kept you entertained, and they had perfect timing with the songs. I love the music but I didn't see a point in buying the soundtrack of some performers singing Four Season songs when I could just get the original songs somewhere else.

10. For my 25th birthday, I wanted to see Young Frankenstein: The Musical. I went with the same people I saw Jersey Boys with. I have to say, I found it enjoyable but the music was rather dull. Usually a musical makes you want to listen to the song again, and recall the scene. This music was just.... forgettable. There were a couple of scenes I found hilarious, and three musicals acts I did enjoy. I liked the scene when Frederick falls asleep and there's a musical number "Join the Family Business" where all his ancestors sing and dance, encouraging him to make a monster. The "Putting on the Ritz" number was astounding. The final number was hilarious because Dracula makes an appearance. It was a silly musical.

There are other musicals I have seen in movie form, but I think I'll leave that for another day. So in 13 years, I will have seen 11 musicals. I hope to see more, if they come to Toronto or even Ottawa. Some musicals I would love to see or hope come to Toronto, or even come back to Toronto are: South Pacific,Rock of Ages, Les Miserables, Shrek, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, and Xanadu. I am sure there will be others that come out that I'll also want to see.