NYC Can't Stop the Serenity Recap

Can't Stop the Serenity in New York's East Village was definitely shiny! Bitsy and I had a fantastic time. There was dancing, there were prizes, there was of course, Serenity. From what I hear, the Browncoats of NYC raised somewhere around $6000 for Equality Now! This bunch really knows how to throw a party all while doing something amazing and important. We were very proud to sponsor and attend this sold-out event. Can't wait for next year!

Bitsy and I - Browncoat Style.

Buffyfest with part of the NYC Browncoat crew.

Fabulous door prizes and Silent auction items. There were so many prizes that many walked away with 2 or 3 gifts. And party favors to boot! Chinese food containers full of Firefly-esque charms and Serenity comics. Class.

Browncoats of NYC.

Buffyfest's twitter pal @_adair in a very Buffy-esque city setting.

Check out the slide show below with more great pics from this CSTS event. 

Oh yeah, and we got really, really drunk. Again.

Now THAT I'd like to see...

Hello there readers, I’m Jayunderscorezero (aka Michael, so feel free to call me that if you like) and thanks to the kind people here at Buffyfest, it looks like I’m going to be your guest blogger for the next week.

When discussing Buffy/Angel, I can get a bit heavy (due largely to the influence of Buffy-based academic works; thank you, Roz Kaveney et al!) or just a bit bitchy (blame the stereotypical geek in me, I suppose), but today I’m going to go for something a bit lighter and just ask you guys to look in on a fun little thought experiment I’ve been having. I recently got around to reading “Time of Your Life”, the “Buffy vs Fray” storyline (I moved away from my local comic store last year and so have had to follow things like “Season 8” in the trades for now at least, hence the slight delay before reading it). To be honest, I wasn’t a big fan of the storyline, but that’s neither here nor there. One thing it did get me thinking about, though, was what other Buffy crossovers I’d like to see Dark Horse put out in the future. Now, these range from the slightly-ever-so-possibly-feasible to the never-gonna-happen-but-wouldn’t-it-be-cool-if they did, but still, I invite you to join me on this little stream of consciousness and see what you think.

Crossover idea: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Aliens/Predator

Inspiration: These guys are Dark Horse’s classic crossover pair. Their original crossover seems to have been inspired by a simple “hey, these are both Fox/Dark Horse properties, so why not...?” and the same criteria is also true of Buffy now. Also, it’d be kind of nice to see Buffy return to her roots of taking on and subverting classic slasher/horror film clichés, and hey, Alien is one of the prototypical slasher films, you know, so it’d be a great place to start. Ooh, plus there’s that whole Whedon-connection to Alien Resurrection and the fact that Alien’s Ripley was part of the inspiration for Buffy.

Other than that though, it’d no doubt just be an excellent excuse to see these guys fighting, no?

Premise: Hmm, I don’t know, since the Buffy comics have already introduced time travel, it’s always possible that they could just jump further into the future and happen to encounter the aliens/Predators and perhaps even Ellen Ripley (unlikely perhaps, but with good potential for awesomeness). If one wanted to get truly silly, one could even have someone create some kind of Alien/vampire hybrid, just so we get to see Buffy take one of those things out with a crossbow. I mean come on, am I the first person to connect the vampire/H.R. Giger’s alien dots here? They’re both predators with alarming psychosexual undertones...Ok, I’m officially reading too much into this now. Still, think about it: Buffy, alien, crossbow...Cool, no?

Potential quality: Meh. There’s potentially a lot of good ideas here to be exploited, especially if Whedon himself got on board and brought some of his ideas from Alien Resurrection along with him. Otherwise though, this’d likely just be a silly fight comic.

Likelihood: There’ve been Alien/Predator crossovers with every comic property from Green Lantern to Magnus: Robot Fighter. Surely it’s only a matter of time...? Nah, I’m probably just being wildly optimistic there.

Crossover idea: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Star Trek

Inspiration: There have already been a couple of X-Men/Star Trek crossovers, you know, so there’s clearly a market for crossovers that feature two completely different but similarly popular franchises.

Premise: Ever see Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, where Kirk, Spock et al travel back in time to 1980s Earth...and hilarity ensues? Imagine if they’d gone back to 1990s/2000s Sunnydale instead. Plus, what with the recent Star Trek reboot, you could even have the younger, sexier versions of the Enterprise crew meet up with the Buffy cast. Although that’d no doubt lead the way for some fans coming up with the craziest ship, the ship to end all ships and no doubt the ultimate expression of bizarre online fan love: Buffy/Kirk ("Birk"?).

Potential quality: Probably not good. Still, if you got a good artist involved, I really would like to see Chris Pine’s likeness making typical Kirk-like advances on SMG’s likeness.

Likelihood: Almost nil, sorry.

Crossover idea: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Wizard of Oz

Inspiration: Likely inspired by me just being a massive fairytale/oz geek. This one doesn’t make a lick of sense, but just hear me out, ok? Plus, Wizard of Oz crossovers aren’t so crazy, didn’t Marvel do that thing a while back where they did Wizard of Oz but with the She-Hulk as Dorothy (who falls asleep and dreams the whole thing after being attacked by the villain Whirlwind, natch)?

Premise: Remember that one issue where Buffy falls asleep and dreams that she’s in an episode of the Buffy animated series? That’s not so far removed from the opening of the classic Judy Garland film, you know, and I’d be more than happy to read the further adventures of Buffy’s crazy psyche. So yeah, Buffy falls asleep (perhaps, in a little nod to continuity, after having just tried to watch Apocalypse Now again) and dreams that she’s in Oz (ok, maybe it’d make more sense if she were actually watching The Wizard of Oz). The good witch Willow instructs her to go and see the great wizard and on her travels she meets someone in need of a brain (Giles?), someone in need of a heart (Spike?) and someone in need of “the nerve” (Xander?). In the classic Wizard of Oz reveal, it’ll turn out that Giles always was the cleverest of the group, he just felt like an ineffectual “stuffed shirt” (get it? ‘Cause he’s a scarecrow, right?), Spike always had the biggest and most emotive heart (one could almost say “effulgent,” if one wanted to get really continuity-geeky about it) and Xander has always been the brave person he wished he could be.

Potential quality: This is too odd to really judge, honestly.

Likelihood: Almost nil. The more I write about it, the more I seem to convince myself that it’s an amazing idea and that it not seeing the light of day would be unfair to all of the fans who could potentially experience it, but then I just remember that I’m completely crazy and thatWicked warped my mind.

Crossover idea: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Firefly

Inspiration: This one just suggests itself, doesn’t it? I mean, picture the venn diagram of Buffy/Serenity fans; I can imagine a lot of people that’d buy this one. Plus, did you know that from the very moment Firefly started, I always pictured it taking place in the same universe asBtVS, just in the far, far future. Yeah, I know there are no vampires, but still, isn’t the whole point of them that most people are unaware of their existence anyway? It’s not so impossible, you know.

Premise: The crew of the Serenity encounter some vampires, they somehow find a way to bring some experienced vampire slayers from the past forward in time to help them out...This one just writes itself, really. Plus, imagine all of the cute little character moments that you could extract from this: Jayne being all dismissive of Buffy because she appears to be just a diminutive little girl, which promptly leads to a swift joint beat-down from Buffy & River; Willow and Kaylee having a massive geek-out together (shades of the Willow/Fred meet-up inAngel); Xander having lusty-wrong feelings for Inara...

Potential quality: Non-fans would find it inscrutable, fans would “squee” over the whole thing regardless.

Likelihood: I think they may have ruined this one by already making Firefly a property that exists within the Buffy universe. Didn’t Buffy wear a Serenity t-shirt in one issue? Still, I’m alsoconvinced that they had one of the slayers reading Fray at some point, and that little artistic Easter egg didn’t prevent that crossover, did it?

I could likely come out with dozens more, but I think I’ve had enough of my own strange thoughts on the matter for now. Still, as crazy as these may seem, do try to remember that we live in a world in which Archie/The Punisher exists.

Anyway, that’s all for now. Thoughts? Suggestions? What reality-shattering crossovers wouldyou like to see take place? I’ve only really covered the incredibly geeky side of things, but if you’re really desperate to see a Buffy/Gossip Girl crossover or something, let me know.

Signs

I took myself off for a while on Saturday, as I always try to do ~ spend time out in the field and let chats happen whilst I take photos. I really am trying to be more socialable and fight my anxieties tooth and nail. Sometimes it works and I come back to my plots feeling better and a little proud at my efforts; sometimes it doesn't go well and I come back a nervous wreck and end up going home. Depends on the day.

It went well on Saturday, I did have a terrible panic attack down there, but that happened later in the day. I am rigid with fear when I can't find someone and he's just dandered off for half an hour with out telling me ~ You know who you are!!!

Anyway my trip was inspired by our new nextdoor neighbours sign (A24B). It was so beautiful and unsual that I decided to take a walk and do a personal art tour of other peoples' plot number signs. I think it turned out to quite interesting and said a lot about the people who owned that plot (arty, practical, economical, kids on site...)

Here's our 2 - what it says about me? I like colour, smashing up tiles and have too much time on my hands, hahaha.

This is my first ever attempt at a meme with the aid of Mr. Linky, which friends like VP and May Dreams Gardens use. I would love it if you joined in, bascially and honestly, because I'm dead nosey! I would love to see your plot number/house number sign. Just a close up, no worries about me coming to steal your garden, honestly!!! ;)

Mr Linky has failed me, or maybe I failed it, I didn't want to pay for his services. Everything bar this particular bloggette went missing eeekkk! So if you would like to help me be as nosey as possible and share your number please just leave a link in the comments box. If not, well we live and learn....... (shy smile)

Welcome Guest Blogger JayUnderscoreZero

Michelle will be out of town for a spell, but we're happy to announce that blogger JayUnderscoreZero will be over to fill in. J_0 runs 2 fabulous blogs As, If and When (a potpourri of internet goodness) & Little Red Riding Blog (a selection of media relating to Little Red Riding Hood and other fairy tales.) We're very excited to see what he has in store for Buffyfest and would like to extend a warm welcome!

Black In Stock

I know it's been a minute but both our Mini Jack Decks and our RCA Jack Decks are back in stock in the black oxide finish! We also have the brass. Sorry for the delay.

Gooseberry Fools

Our gooseberries were ripe and ready for the picking on Saturday. I got the job, aow! darn thorny plant. It's the first time it has given us a berry and we did really rather well; I'm always surprised that these very cheap plants, bought in a discount shop (Poundstretcher) can do so well. Apart from my arms still looking all scratched and blotchy, the exercise was one of joy and pride. Though our other red gooseberry bush still resolutely refuses to bear fruit (cheeky), it gave us 1 last year which we shared, haha.

So this was our haul of berries, check out that bumper crop of Blackcurrants (I think there were 22 of them)!

Back home and as usual we can't hold our water. The gooseberries had to be used right there and then. Neither of us had ever really tasted green ones before, well Andrew did decide to eat one raw and his face was a picture I think his tongue shrink up whilst stuck to the roof of his mouth and his cheeks.

We decided to make Gooseberry Fool. Well, our own versions of it. There was a lovely recipe on Retro Food Recipes but Andrew's creative chef side came to fore and the magic began to happen.....

So here is our recipe for the gooseberry treatment:

• 440g gooseberries + some blackcurrants (washed, topped and tailed)


• plonk into a small saucepan with 2 tablespoons of castor sugar and 2 tablespoons of water
  
• put the lid on the saucepan and heat until squishy (approx 10 mins)


• sieve fruit, really squishing them hard through the mesh (good for anger management)


• add more castor sugar to taste (we added 100g)

Pretty colour, no? That's the blackcurrants for you

Basically this is a runny warm gooseberry jam. I suppose if you added a little more pectin you could easily store it in a jar but, well, again, we can't hold our waters! We poured some into a bowl each and put some (low fat, may-as-well-be-good-for-you) cream on top and added some much underrated sprinkles. Andrew also had some strawberries. Eh, viola, dish number one. Gorgeous!

I like low fat cream okay!

Then we had that look at each other, you know the one ~ the slightly guilty "I want more, do you; cause I will if you will" look. We did. And so to the kitchen again for dish number two. This time (against my better judgement) I let Andrew mix the cream and the rest of the jammy mixture together to make a proper 'fool' (it wasn't broke, so why fix it?!!). It wasn't as nice, though he added muesli to his and maybe more strawberries and thought it lovely. I had just settled for sprinkles again.

So there you go, what an exciting experience. May your gooseberries be plump and juicy and may you too enjoy them, whatever you decide to do with them! xx

The fool

Και τέλος μερικές σκιές....
To νέο tattoo του Τρελού του χωριού είναι γεγονός!!!
Τρελέεεε εισαι 2 σε 1 τώρα!!!
welcome to the club
Χα χα χα

Allotments are hell on earth?!

BBC Reporter Paul Reynolds takes an alternative view of Allotments. All I can say is everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
I do not share his....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8119428.stm

I have just written a reply in fact. Heavily, unrelentingly, biased reporting does nothing for me.

Kuro Sumi Sample Sets

New this week are 1/2 ounce sample sets from Kuro Sumi Colors. There are 4 different sets made up of 16 colors each. The exotic set has a great selection of secondary and tertiary colors. Give it the once over. http://www.pulsetattoo.com/home.php?cat=369

Yaaarrgh...Friday

Straight off the seven seas this grand old pirate was a gift from artist Julio Rodriguez. I believe the piece is all pastels so someone got their fingers right dirty to create this jolly sea fairer. I love the tattoo's just peaking out on his neck. Julio has been doing some fantastic horror pinup work, ya gotta subscribe to his blog -http://jrodsart.blogspot.com/Another great feature to this piece of art is that the frame has an actual piece of rope embedded in it, great detail.
We were also lucky enough to have been involved in the "Abrasions" skateboard project years ago with Sean Crofoot and Soba. We were able to purchase some of the boards from that show and they have turned into quite the conversation pieces for the visitors who drop in to Pulse. Above is the board from hyper-talented artist Gunnar. It has a biblical feel with his take on the serpent from Adam and Eve, yet with his trademark twists. Gunnar recently headed back to Ohio, so you can check him out there.http://www.myspace.com/artofgunnar

Aaaarrrgggghhhhh!!!!!

My bloody hay fever is terrible today; my face is puffy, my eyes are full of gunk and are so sore and red. I can't stop bloody sniffing and almost but never actually sneezing. The roof of my mouth is itchy darn it and I can't concentrate for a minute. I am finding it hard to see in general and can barely keep these peepers open for long. Why Mother Nature, why do this to me!!!!!!

It's taken ages to write this because I keep forgetting what I want to say and it's hard to type with your eyes all screwed up and blurry. Oh, I'm off to weep uncontrollably, inconsolably and quietly in a corner with my favourite blanket (blanky) :(

Hope you are all well and enjoying the sunshine!!! May you choke as you skip merrily in the long flowing grass chasing butterflies.....(only joking!)

"Dracula" Courtesy of Bob's Dad

We have the good fortune to have landed the new print from Bob Tyrrell's Dad. Robert Tyrrell Sr. is an amazing illustrator and now along with his Frankenstein's Monster print we add an all new Dracula joint. They do make a nice combo, you know that Dracula has that mind power over the other monsters. Both pieces are available now.

Tiger

...tattoo still in progress

So then, the AGM.... (plus Andrew is 30 today!)

First of...

HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY ANDREW!!!!

BIG HUGS AND KISSES XXX

Oh, it's such a beautiful day today, the sun is bursting and there is just the slightest comfortable breeze off the sea. Heavenly. I wish I was outside writing this in the back garden but my hay fever meds from the Dr take a week to kick in and I only got them on Monday - no fair! Plus there are people mowing their grass and making it even worse - how rude!!!

So I want to tell you about our AGM last night. Officially you could say it was the 1st one, as last year there were only a few of us and now our number has about trebled! Of course it was held on the most glorious of nights and we should all have been tending our plots but such is life.

I was both happy and as usual, disappointed at the turn out. A lot more people than usual gathered (but then again we are a bigger group) but it was still only a fraction of our number. We (after much confusion and changing of the constitution to fit our needs better) elected our new committee members. We have 16 this year as opposed the the 10 we had before. I think it's probably a good idea; little sub groups can be made to focus on certain tasks and more voices = more opinions, ideas and hopefully fair decision making.

We chose our 4 main guys:

• Chairperson ~ Ronnie
• Vice Chairperson ~ Mel
• Secretary~ Austin
• Treasurer ~ Ivan.

Then there are the other 12 (including the Hubby).

Personally I think we have a good bunch of people and I wish them all the luck in the world. Red tape is my mortal enemy and they are going to have to deal with yards of it! A spiders web.r

The meeting somewhat descended into chaos and a shouting match, reminiscent of a school playground. Many people started to get, umm, passionate and this came across as anger and almost a bullying undertone began against our allotment council official. I'm afraid to say it was all very embarrassing and quite childish. We were all there to work together and make this the best Allotments we can and sometimes passions run so high we lose sight of the joy that we have an allotment in the first place. Yes, most of the arguments and comments were valid but I believe a calm head is required at these meetings or progress will never happen. Plus, there is no excuse for bullying at any time what so ever, no matter how frustrated we may get.

Anyway, the tensions calmed down and now we have some very confusing and upsetting questions cleared up and I think everyone left the meeting feeling a bit better and maybe reassured. Mistakes have been made by the council but they excepted that and no one is being evicted as they had feared. Mistakes have been made on our part too and I think, I hope we have a clean slate now.

Next event we have to look forward to is the family fun day and I know we'll all work together for that. We all care about our plots, we all care, that's the important thing.

Gnomes ~ the Marmite of the gardening world

Love them or hate them, gnomes are everywhere and it looks like it's going to stay that way. The RHS high ranking officers and indeed all known members are likely to be feeling sick right now and many of those who have passed away will of course be spinning in their graves. I may even get hit by lightening for what I am about to say.......I like gnomes.

Yes, it is a painful truth. I find them funny, I have brought one in the past (for purely ironic reasons) and for Andrew's 30th birthday party bbq on Saturday he was given 4, yes 4 gnomes as presents. We can both see the humorous, ridiculous nature of these strange little men who guard our plants with their lives when we aren't looking, so we took the presents with the spirit they were intended - to be silly.

I do have to say though, I am rather taken with 'Gavin', he with the orange hat and leaf rake, he's staying in the back garden. By the way, we were forced by this tipsy gift giver to name the gnome before he went home; Andrew came up with a wick name, I came up with Gavin and it seemed to go down much better to the drunken mind of our friend!

Think what you will be they are there on the plot (and in the back garden), they're queer and they're proud.

The birthday bbq was scheduled to be held at the Lottie but the weather was so bad (especially the wind down there) we had to abandon ship and take the party home to the back garden. It actually turned out much better ~ we ended up with 3 bbqs going at the same time, a lot of other food stuffs and seemingly millions of bottles of wine, schloer, water, coke (in all sorts of guises - coke zero, diet coke, regular coke and a tin of Jack Daniels with coke!!) fanta and beer. I was able to have a proper moment where I got everyone together and we sang to Andrew, popped party poppers, he blew out his candles and champagne was opened. It was fun sitting in the garden under a gazebo, surrounded by tea lights in tiny terracotta pots, with balloons everywhere, wrapped in blankets and a fire going in a brazier. Especially with the Hubby sitting there wearing the big flashing badge I bought him, just to remind him he's old now, hahahaaha.

*****

Tonight is the AGM, I am not looking forward to it, I think some people may lose their cool, eeekk! Plus today is the nicest day we have had in a long time and we're going to be stuck in a meeting all night, why does that have to happen???

Part B

Υπάρχουν πολλές μορφές μετάδοσης της ηπατίτιδας C, όπως είναι η χρήση ενδοφλέβιων ναρκωτικών.Επίσης υπάρχουν πολλοί άνθρωποι που μολλύνθηκαν χωρίς να κάνουν χρήση ναρκωτικών. Οι αυστραλέζικες έρευνες έδειξαν, ότι περίπου το 25% των ανθρώπων που μολύνθηκαν από ηπατίτιδα C, δεν έδειξαν ότι ανήκουν σε ομάδες υψηλού κινδύνου.
Αυτή είναι μια τρομακτική τροπή της νόσου και είναι ακόμα ένα παράθυρο, το οποίο οι άνθρωποι χρησιμοποιούν για να κατατάξουν τους εαυτούς τους και το οποίο θα τους κάνει να σκεφτούν περισσότερες μεθόδους μετάδοσης.Επίσης ψάξτε για περισσότερες έρευνες, οι οποίες ρίχνουν το βάρος της μετάδοσης της νόσου σε εναλλακτικές συμπεριφορές.
Καταλαβαίνω, ότι έχω αφήσει έξω από αυτό το ρεπορτάζ, πολλές πληροφορίες και ειδικά τις επιδράσεις της Ηπατίτιδας C, οι οποίες είναι πραγματικά τρομερές. Η πρόθεση μου όμως, δεν είναι να παρουσιάσω τη ροή πληροφοριών. Η πρόθεσή μου είναι, να υπερασπιστώ τη μέθοδο αποστείρωσης στο tattoo από τις ανίδεες βάσεις κατηγορίας, τις οποίες του αποδίδουν στις μέρες μας, ψάχνοντας να βρουν τη μετάδοση της Ηπατίτιδας C.

Super duper happy

HAPPY NEWS!!

I've been published, sort of. The fabulous people at the charity Mind have added my essay on ecotherapy to their website under 'Ecominds' and the 'Mental health and the environment' section. (You can read it here too). I can barely believe it; I don't feel like a total failure right now ~ I have been able to turn my depression and anxiety into something positive. Who knows, someone might just read it and think 'I'll give gardening a go' and it may help them too. Wow, you can't begin to understand how good this feels AND my Hubby has said how super duper proud of me, he is, he even made up a song. Hahaha

Ιστός-S

Ενα φιλαράκι, αποφάσισε να κάνει το S πάνω από τον ιστό!
Ψυχεδελικό δεν είναι;;;

Fabulous Flower Fishy Fun

All I can say is...Fintastic!

This is on the road from Carrickfergus to Belfast in a place called Jordanstown. Way to go Newtownabbey Council. LOVE IT!!

Friday, Ya know.

This painting is the consummate craftsmanship of Kore Flatmo. I have owned this painting for years and I am always sorry that Kore is so busy creating great tattoo work that he is not able to produce as many paintings as there is demand for his work. Also when I say demand, I mean I would like to own about three more paintings from Kore. See for yourself http://www.plurabella.com/ This painting is from tattoo artist Tom Sinnamond. Unique portrait, unique frame. Last I knew Tom was working in Chicago at No Hope, No Fear. I always felt this piece had some sort of Diego Rivera feel. I dig it.

Tribal-flower

Half buried treasure, ahoy!

Living on the coast (well let's face it in Ireland the coast is never far away) we have the joy of going to the 'beaches' and watching the waves, looking in rock pools and getting our toes absolutely frozen by the Irish Sea whenever we feel like it. It also gives us seaweed after a storm and boy do we love that wonder stuff on the plot ~ rich fertiliser and the constant thoughts of chips when you walk around and smell the seaside in the fields.

Well of course another thing we have the benefit of is Jetsam - stuff washed ashore (as opposed to Flotsam which sinks) and boy did we strike it lucky on Tuesday night. We went to Brown's Bay, a little, popular cove not far from Carrickfergus which I am proud to say has just won a Keep Britain Tidy beach award. It was a lovely night and after a terrible day of depression, it was just the thing I needed to perk me up....seeing both my Hubby fall over on the sand and Maggie independently and very funnily tripping and getting a mouth full of sand had me in tears, this time due to laughter instead of being low. The sun as also beginning to set and it was quiet apart from the cows and sheep.

We, well I say we, it was Andrew, found this large barrel half buried in the sand. Was it half empty or half full of sand ~ you can decide. We saw and we wanted. It was bloomin' hard work but after scrapping some sand out and managing to get a little lever under the barnacled base we slowly got it out of its hole. Then Andrew had the fab idea of rolling it along the beach to loosen the sand inside and it just all poured out. Eh, Viola! We have a recycled carrot pot. Of course it smelt SO bad getting it home in the car but I reckon it will be worth it. It already has a place on 14b and the fun of getting it out will forever be associated with it. It was a good night.

Carrot fly can't fly very high so this will protect them and we may even get some of those ridiculously long specimens you see at village shows with the soil being so deep for them. Of course it can't stay in the state it's in for long. Yes I will keep the stenciled name on the side intact but it needs a few painted flowers and swirls on it and a darn good wash! But we are very happy with it - I love free things!!!!

P.S. Still working on that roar......