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Tiny site updates

/ Updates

Small changes I don’t even know if other people will notice, but I like documenting stuff like this.

So it goes.

Zines in the menu

I pulled the zines overview page out of the About menu and gave it its own spot in the navigation menu. Sub-navigation is My zines for now (the tag for posts about zines I make). I’m working on a zine resources page that will also fall under Zines in the top navigation.

Search in the sidebar

I change my mind often about where I like the search bar to go. In the top navigation, in the sidebar, in the footer…In more than one location? So okay now there’s a search bar in the sidebar in addition to the one in the footer. Probably I use the search bar the most, so I want easy access to it. 😂

No more email subscription for new posts

For a while, I was using Mail Poet to generate an automatic email every Tuesday with my new blog posts. I think it’s handy to have but no one has signed up for it in years, so I removed it. If you want email updates from me, you can sign up for my free monthly newsletter.

No more social sharing icons

I don’t even know how much these were being used. I don’t even use them on other people’s sites. Sometimes sharing widgets have funky formatting and it’s easier to share a link manually anyway. I just copy and paste the link in to a social post.

Zine: Useless Venn Diagrams

/ Zines /

“Useless Venn Diagrams” is a mini zine with random observations, put into Venn diagram format. Topics include puzzles, note-taking, and movies.

A hand holds the mini zine "Useless Venn Diagrams"
Purchase on Etsy

Printed in black on teal paper. I drew this zine by hand and then adjusted spacing and layout in Canva.

Pages 1 and 2 of the zine "Useless Venn Diagrams"
Pages 3 and 4 of the zine "Useless Venn Diagrams"
Pages 5 and 6 of the zine "Useless Venn Diagrams"

Additions to my Follow list

/ Updates

My Follow page includes links to where I post online and a list of websites, creators, and YouTube channels I follow. If you like my work, you may like theirs, too.

I added a few links to the list.

Bre – Zinester and artist. Bre does a great job of sharing tips and resources for making zines. Check out her YouTube channel for in-depth videos about making zines and working as a full-time artist.

Hot Ones (part of First We Feast) – Celebrity interviews while eating hot wings. Sean Evans, the Hot Ones host, asks such insightful questions that guests often compliment his research and curiosity. Also, it’s entertaining to watch celebrities struggle with spicy wings because I could never. I can’t handle any spicy food. 😂

Park Notes – Philosopher and theologian. YouTube channel about how to think, study, and learn with notebooks.

Company Man – Videos about business and marketing strategies of various companies. Lots of interesting info on this channel. (And it’s helped me at bar trivia more than once! An unexpected bonus.)

Maurice Moves – Videos about everyday carry, habits, and growth. Clear, concise talks about how to be more intentional about everyday life.

Drewscape – Illustrator. Process videos with interesting ways to mix hand-drawn and digital methods.

Lucas Keener – Illustrator. Hand-drawn comics and art.

Karla Sabrina – Illustrator. Stickers and key chains with fun, spooky themes.

James Chapman – Artist. Illustrations with Posca pens. Lots of movie scenes. So many pretty color palettes.

Movies I watched in 2023

/ Movies /

Here’s the list of movies I watched this year. Titles with an asterisk (*) are ones I recommend.

My top 5, in no particular order

Bullet Train *
John Wick: Chapter Four *
Barbie *
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent *
Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind (documentary) *

Superheroes

DC League of Super-Pets
Shazam! Fury of the Gods
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (re-watch) *
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse *
The Flash (2023)
Batman (1989)
Guardians of the Galaxy, vol. 3
Blue Beetle *
Spider-Man: Far From Home (re-watch) *

Sequels and re-makes

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (re-watch) *
The Little Mermaid (live action) *
Jumanji: The Next Level *
Top Gun: Maverick *
Spy Kids: Armageddon
Halloweentown High
Night at the Musuem: Battle of the Smithsonian *

Grab bag

The Super Marios Bros. Movie (2023)
Hidden Figures *
Being Mary Tyler Moore (documentary) *
The French Dispatch
Pitch Perfect (re-watch) *
Wham! (documentary) *
Taxi
Don’t Look Up
Puss in Boots
Hit and Run
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
3 Ninjas
Brink! (re-watch) *
Asteroid City
Elemental *
Top Gun
A Scanner Darkly *
Pleasantville (re-watch) *
Forgetting Sarah Marshall *
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (re-watch) *
Love and Monsters

What movies did you watch in 2023? I’d love to hear about your favorites.

Books I read in 2023

/ Books /

Here are the books I read this year with brief notes about each one.

Create Dangerously by Albert Camus

This is a short book about artists’ responsibility to create work, despite whatever is going on in the world. My favorite quote from the book:

We must know that we cannot hide away from communal misery, and that our sole justification, if one exists, is to speak out, as best we can, for those who cannot. And we must do this for everyone who is suffering at this very moment, despite the past or future greatness of the states or political parties that are oppressing them.

Albert Camus, Create Dangerously

Brand Vision by Jim Everhart

Detailed thought processes and models/templates about aligning business strategy with marketing strategy.

Reinventing Comics by Scott McCloud

Written in graphic novel format with dense information, so this was a slow read for me. The book was published in 2000 and tried to predict the future of comics in a digital space. Some things it got right (digital formats, sharing comics online) and some things it got wrong (no one is sending CDs through the mail anymore).

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

Urban fantasy novel. I really liked the premise about New York City being alive and having human avatars for each borough. But I don’t like the storytelling style. A lot of the book felt like too much dialogue for me.

The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi

Tips for managing tasks. A lot of this is geared towards motherhood, which is not a bad thing, but totally not what I expected.

This Book Will Teach You How to Write Better by Neville Medhora

Super slim book on writing concisely and clearly. Honestly if you’ve read other books on writing, you can skip this one.

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

Fantasy mystery novel. I like when stories treat magic as a dangerous thing. If you like that too, you’ll probably like this. But note the story is written in first-person perspective, and the main character isn’t very likable.

Let me know which books you enjoyed this year.

Children of immigrants

Submissions are closed. Notification emails are going out soon!

Note: Submissions are collected through Jotform. If you cannot use the form for some reason, please contact me.

Overview

“Children of immigrants” is a compilation zine about immigrant experiences. Submissions are open to anyone who grew up in an immigrant household. (That is, you grew up in a different country from where your parents or grandparents are from.)

This is a half-page zine (5.5 inches wide by 8.5 inches tall), printed in full-color.

You do not have to have any experience making zines to submit content! All experience levels are welcome. 

Submission guidelines

Submissions will be accepted through Saturday February 10, 2024.

You may submit any kind of writing or imagery, as long as it’s your original work. You may submit up to two pages of content (writing, imagery, or a mix).

Examples of what can be submitted:

  • Prose
  • Poetry
  • Essays
  • Drawings
  • Comics
  • Collages
  • Photos

Submissions should be primarily in English. It’s okay to include words or phrases in languages other than English.

In case this needs to be stated—Submissions that promote hate speech, discrimination, racism, or violence will not be accepted.

Writing should be submitted in one of the following file formats:

  • Word document (.doc or .docx)
  • Google doc (Ensure to update permissions so that anyone with a link can see it.)
  • Rich text 
  • Plain text

As a guideline, one zine page can fit about 450 words at size 10 font. 

Image submissions should be high-resolution (suitable to print at 300 dpi) in .png or .jpg format. Please consider the zine size (5.5 inches wide by 8.5 inches high) while making your art and allow for a ¼” blank space or “quiet area” (area with no important text or imagery) around the edges.

If you have any questions about submitting to this zine, please contact me.

What to expect after submitting work

Contributors whose work is selected for the zine will be notified via email. 

After the zine is printed, contributors will each receive one complimentary copy of the zine via postal mail. A limited run of copies will be available for purchase in the Mythical Type Etsy shop.

Submit your work

Zine: Cat’s Cradle

/ Zines /

“Cat’s Cradle” is a tiny story about mimicking someone. It’s not quite sci-fi, but it feels like it…maybe because it was inspired by a scene near the end of Annihilation. (I won’t spoil the movie and neither does the zine.)

A hand holding the zine "Cat's Cradle: A tiny story." The cover includes the title of the zine. Behind the text, there are multicolored curved lines drawn with colored pencils.
Purchase on Etsy
Pages 1 and 2 of the zine "Cat's Cradle: A tiny story." Behind the text, there are multicolored curved lines drawn with colored pencils.
Pages 3 and 4 of the zine "Cat's Cradle: A tiny story." Behind the text, there are multicolored curved lines drawn with colored pencils.
Pages 5 and 6 of the zine "Cat's Cradle: A tiny story." Behind the text, there are multicolored curved lines drawn with colored pencils.

Here’s the full text of the story:

It’s like playing cat’s cradle,
but we aren’t using string.

I do one thing.
She does something else that feels like…
an extension. A continuation.

And then we swap.

She does one thing—
says a phrase, draws some lines, moves her arm
just so.

I extend—
a line of poetry, a floral doodle, a yoga pose.

And then we swap.

The training protocol doesn’t specify how to teach.
Just that I’m supposed to.

I report progress back to the team.

And then we swap.

Five copies of the zine "Cat's Cradle: A tiny story," fanned out on a green background.

Zine: Hipster Doctor Who

/ TV shows, Zines / ,

Doctor Who celebrates its 60th anniversary next month. I collected some quotes from the Doctor in a zine…with random hipster photos. 🤭 Saturated colors, vintage objects, and a soft tone—this style of photo was all over the internet in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

A hand holding the zine "Hipster Doctor Who." The zine cover has a purple, blue, and red galaxy image in the background. Text on top of the image says "Hipster Doctor Who" in all uppercase letters.
Purchase on Etsy

Here are photos of some of the pages.

The inside cover of the zine "Hipster Doctor Who." The page includes a series of quotes by the Doctor over a semi-transparent galaxy image.
A hand holds "Hipster Doctor Who" with pages 1 and 2 open. Page 1 on the left is a vintage photo of a hot air balloon floating over Paris. Page 2 on the right is a photo of broken glass.
A hand holds the zine "Hipster Doctor Who," with pages 7 and 8 open. Page 7 on the left has a photo of a wave washing across sand. Page 8 on the right has a photo of a sunflower with rain droplets across the photo.

Zine: Work in Progress

/ Process, Zines /

“Work in Progress” includes process photos and notes about how I made some of my zines. Not tutorials. More like DVD commentary, but for zines.

A hand holding the zine "Work in Progress." The cover of the zine has a light blue background. A photo on the cover shows an index card with notes, some illustrations of a man pushing a boulder up a hill, a notebook, and a purple zine titled "Modern-day Sisyphus." Below the photo, text says "behind the scenes on making zines."
Purchase on Etsy

I designed this in Canva and printed it through Mixam. (Not an ad, haha. I like sharing how I make stuff. Hence, this zine.)

Here are photos of some of the pages.

A close-up view of page 1 from the zine "Work in Progress."
Pages 2 and 3 of the zine "Work in Progress." The left page shows 2 sketches and the finished page for a zine titled "How to teleport safely." The right page shows a sketch and finished page from the zine "How to teleport safely."
Pages 4 and 5 of the zine "Work in Progress." The left page shows the sketch and finished cover page of a zine titled "Vignettes from Camelot." The right page shows 2 sets of sketches and finished pages from "Vignettes from Camelot."
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