Shop Girl: Usagi 'Sailor Moon'

Sailor Moon was one of those formative stories for me. I still remember my sister and I wrangling VHS tapes and learning how to record on it at the tender ages of seven and nine respectfully to ensure we didn't miss out on an episode while we were in after school care. Even now, Maddy and I marathon the whole series pretty much every year. It's the best.

I love all the sailor scouts too, but Usagi has a special place in my heart. It's rare to find a female character with an arc as defined, as honest and courageous as hers. Her journey from self-declared cry baby, spoiled and sweet and with little work ethic turns into a bona fide hero. Her loyalty to all of her friends, her kindness and her desire to find the best in people are things that elevate her as a hero, not undermine her, and the show isn't afraid to keep her flawed even when she's saving the world - over and over and over.

Usagi Tsukino, Sailor Moon.
1. Short Sleeve Cotton Shirt, Target. $20.
2. Sailorette the Sea Shorts. Modcloth. $50.
3. Red Hair Bow, Lorettajos. $8.
4. Sailor Moon Necklace, Charming Sushi. $13.
5. Luna Bag, Sailor Moon x Samantha Vega Line. 
6. Bow My Way Cardigan. Modcloth. $40.
7. Cherry Red Docs, Dr. Martens. $125.

Friday Finds

The last couple of weeks have been monster ones and it's left me scrambling a bit to catch up with things that aren't the day job. I got off to a good start on Wednesday, finishing off two new short stories which always gives me the best feels. My time doesn't seem to be getting any less busy though - I'm going to a masterclass on Saturday with science fiction writer, Glenn Morgan and the start of the IRL Festival next week too.

How about you though? What are you up to at the moment?

Your week in trailers: The Gallows trailer gave me a huge fright at the end! I am tentatively excited for the new Fantastic Four. I am insanely excited about When Marnie was There which looks stunning (as Studio Ghibli films usually are), and also already casually getting crushed by The Little Prince trailer. Nightingale looks powerful too. Also Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell has me making all the heart eyes.

- Even the implication of a Ms. Marvel miniseries makes me SO HAPPY.

- Brisbane's getting a new film festival in the form of the Queensland Film Festival!

- I am completely in love with this editorial done in the style of Picnic at Hanging Rock.

- Lady bachelor paper dolls!

- The Hot Topic Avengers collection is everything I want. I'm lusting after the Stark Industries bomber jacket.

- This animated history of hairstyles is very cool.

- Anime and manga for beginners.

- These 25 famous women talking about female friendships are pretty wonderful..

- Amy Schummer, Tina Fey, Patricia Arquette and Julia Louis Dreyfuss talking about their last fuckable days is pretty magical.

- The Stella Prize winner has been announced! Congrats to Emily Bitto!

- How to tell if you're in a Shirley Jackson story.

- This (kind of) long read on asshole's in prestige drama is pretty great too.

- Kelly Sue DeConnick continues to be my straight up fave while talking woman rage and body autonomy in context with her new comic book series Bitch Planet.

Sunday Short: 'Enigma of Amigara Fault' by Junji Ito

You've got to give it to Japan. They know how to construct some pretty devastating horror stories. I actually came to 'Enigma of Amigara Fault' in a sort of round about way. I've been watching (and loving!) Steven Universe, and a recent episode blatantly references this short manga by Junji Ito. A friend linked me to this, and, well, here we are.

It's a wonderfully original concept, exploring compelling characters in few words and exploding open something from our natural world into something shiver-inducing. It's awesome.

You can read 'Enigma of Amigara Fault' by Junji Ito over at Open Awesome.

Books I Read in June

There's something about this year that just seems to be whipping passed, more so than usual. It's great in some ways - I can feel myself racing towards the end, to exciting trips and deadlines and events, but it's also leaving me nostalgic. Needing to ground myself in the month that's gone passed. So hey! Welcome to a new series! Books I Read This Month.

June was kind of light-on reading-wise, and certainly manga heavy (I'm inhaling Fullmetal Alchemist for the second time and just. You know. Relatively obsessed again), but I read some things I'd never touched before. Jane Eyre was a big one (cue gasps). It's a bit of a monster of a book too, and I really maintain you could cut the whole of the first section and not be robbed of any emotional sucker punching, but that might just be my inner editor talking. The romantic in me didn't love Jane Eyre (mostly because Mr. Rochester strikes me as pretty high on the cray cray scale), but I appreciated Jane a lot as a character - strong and stubborn and kind of brilliant.

Lost at Sea by Bryan Lee O'Malley was almost the opposite. A graphic novel detailing the coming-of-age of a girl who believes her soul's been stolen by a cat is both wonderful and slight (particularly compared to Jane Eyre). I read the Scott Pilgrim series a few years ago and this very much feels a precursor to it in terms of O'Malley's writing style and character types. Which isn't a bad thing! Just a thing.

I also ended up with Kate Lilley's collection of poetry, Ladylike, after partaking in an experiment with a writer at Emerging Writers Festival. The experiment involved doing an interview with her and then picking one of her pre-loved books to take home. I ended up with Lilley's collection and, while I find it mostly unremarkable, the process was something I really enjoyed and engaged with. It was pretty great.

And Fullmetal Alchemist! Well. I'll get to that when I finish the series again.

Friday Finds

Check out some of the amazing book art work by Thomas Allen. It's gorgeous and inspirational and breathes so much life into the books. There's more over at Super Punch.

- On that note, also take a look at Sarah Marino's new book covers for some classic lit, from Pride & Prejudice through to Lolita over at Comics Alliance.

- The Mary Sue has a pretty great post on entry-points for new manga readers with feminist-friendly content. Nausicaa and Sailor Moon are two of my favourite manga/anime narratives, so I was excited to see them make the cut, I'm also about to start Angelic Layer, which I am excited to read.  I hadn't heard of a few of the others either, which means my to-read list got that much longer after dissecting the list (Princess Knight sounds pretty great).

- These wonderful photographs of famous people taken by their famous friends. I adore the last one of Kerouac. 

- I am also vaguely obsessed with these sunglasses.

- Lastly, the trailer for Downton Abbey season three! Maggie Smith! Heartbreak! The money is gone! I'm bulk purchasing tissues in preparation.