Heart Strings XIV

Marina Diamandis (formerly billed as Marina And The Diamonds, now MARINA) in the clip for "Cupid's Girl".

"Diana Hunting" by Guillaume Seignac.

Frost Archer Ashe ("League Of Legends") statue.

Olympic archery champ Chang Hyejin for "Vogue" magazine. Love this image.

Her fellow South Korean Myboo_cosplay as an elf archer. An original creation, I believe.

Greyhound bus service advert from 1946.

I looked through the pics from the previous 13 H/S posts again - a damn fine collection. Shame I don't use tags. Youse will have to go digging. Or not.

Neckbeard's ghost

COMIC COVER OF THE WEEK 

By Jae Lee. Stylishly cute, yet totally effed up. Which is obviously appropriate to the subject matter...

SONG OF THE WEEK

"Gun Powder" by Arabian Alien. No newies grabbing me so far this week. Instead, a month-old track to which I keep returning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJEhb6xTTqw

We don't do Taco Tuesday

We do, however, do Sushi Monday most weeks. There's a beaut place at the end of our street, run by a couple of nice Korean families. It's actually a combination sushi bar/European cafe. One of the owners is a classically trained pastry chef. Yeah, we lucked out. I think my friend PB would approve of the lunch combo below. Note: The fork is only for the pickled ginger. (Nothing against tacos, either. We just don't eat 'em on the reg.)

"I'll be fine solo"

The conclusion of Season 2 of "Solo Leveling" [Crunchyroll] was magnificent. Some artistic shortcuts, but magnificent. If you're into real-world/fantasy crossovers* where the protagonist goes from less than zero to superhero, there are none better.

*It isn't technically an isekai.

Blumps of Doober!

Book 6 done'n'dusted, Book 7 under way. Failed to finish this series as a younger man. I reckon I will succeed this time. I own them all. The majority were purchased in the early '90s from Witchcraft Antiques in Nightcliff (Darwin). Google has never heard of said establishment. Gone the way of the dodo trainer now, surely. Filled in the gaps via AbeBooks.

Four books in the hand is worth three at the Bush gig (possibly)

The charity stores in my area are becoming increasingly picky about donated books. Sometimes they only take them in perfect (i.e. unread) condition. Sometimes they simply won't accept any. For a change, I lugged a pile of tomes I wanted to offload to a book nook inside a nearby shopping centre. I'm so glad I did! The spot was alive with users. One person was scouring the shelves and had four novels under their arm. Another was contentedly reading in a comfy chair. Two more patrons arrived, talking excitedly, while I was there. I'll definitely be returning to the nook with more choice titles.

Tomorrow, I'm going to a Kate Bush tribute show with JS and SS. Because I socialise so rarely post-Pandemic, it's fair to say I'm feeling trepidation. The outing will also involve a long drive - two long drives, actually - and finding a feed in an unfamiliar suburb. I KNOW it will be enjoyable and memorable and good for me. However, a small part of my brain is wishing I could stay home, eat fish'n'chips and watch the footy on TV instead. There was a time when I was out most nights...movies, gigs, launches, lectures, sporting events, pubbing, clubbing, restaurant-ing. Covid made me a shut-in.

Family secrets

Every clan's got 'em. One of my paternal grandfather's brothers was a real tearaway. He'd had run-ins with the constabulary in their native New Zealand and eventually fled an unhappy marriage. His last known whereabouts was at Pearl Harbour during WW2! If AncestryDOTcom starts telling me about Xth cousins in the US, I'm going to put two and two together.

Answer-based question solving

Felt like buying footy cards...for the first time in about 40 years :-)

They're more expensive now, with loads of fancy "chase cards" randomly inserted. They don't include a stick of pink gum. The backs of the cards don't form a giant picture of a scene from a famous game. They're not available at the corner store. Said shop is long gone!

If you wanna save money, you can purchase the basic common set (male and female players) from an eBay dealer for about $15. Which is what I did with the 2025 AFL/AFLW cards.

Or, if you're crazy -

Doubt I'll ever "invest" in another box. That said, I scored an above-average number of NRLW gals, plus a deluxe-o card of a key Knights fella. So not complaining. Was fun to open the packs. They smell good - although not as good as when there was gum inside.

I wonder how much those signed cards are going for...