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hotbabelien.bsky.social
sirka
@hotbabelien.bsky.social
50 followers 95 following 160 posts
Cloistered caregiver. Lazy zinester. Lowkey lurker. Talking is hard.
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hotbabelien.bsky.social
a watercolor painting of a baby possum (2019)
November 7, 2025 at 9:25 PM
hotbabelien.bsky.social
One comic for isterik week done in the style of Jucika. Truly and honestly my finest work.
A three panel comic in the style of Jucika by Pál Pusztai (1957-1970) depicting Istvan Toth and Erik from Kingdom Come Deliverance. In the first panel, Istvan has his hands on his hips and is peering down at a puddle of blood with disgust. He is lifting one foot (notably, wearing heeled shoes to look like Jucika) away from the mess in front of him. Erik is off to the side, spattered with blood and carrying a corpse over one shoulder. He is looking over his shoulder with sympathy for Istvan's predicament. In the second panel, Erik is hefting the corpse from his shoulder onto the bloody puddle. Istvan looks on with a surprised expression. In the third panel, Erik helps Istvan cross the puddle using the corpse as a stepping stone. Istvan's pose is feminine and alluring, his expression pleased as a cat with a bowl of cream. Erik is smiling and bowing slightly, his entire face red with blush.
November 4, 2025 at 4:57 AM
hotbabelien.bsky.social
Happy Over the Garden Wall rewatch day.
A photo of a rag doll made of wool, yarn, and muslin, depicting Wirt from Over the Garden Wall.
October 31, 2025 at 9:21 PM
hotbabelien.bsky.social
i can’t turn down the opportunity to #makeaterriblecomicday2025
A terribly drawn comic. The first panel shows a video hung to dry like a sheet on a clothesline. A bald, pink person says “Wow! i love this video.” Panel 2 shows the person taking the video down from the clothespins and folding it like a bedsheet. “i think i’ll rewatch it.” Panel 3 shows the person from a dramatic angle, wringing the video out between clenched fists. “and wring out every last drop of joy.”
June 24, 2025 at 9:21 PM
hotbabelien.bsky.social
We lost Nadine last night and i wanted to make a quick impression if what she would look like whenever i approached her bedroom.
June 14, 2025 at 3:45 AM
hotbabelien.bsky.social
It’s so maddening that botnia paradise is such catnip for me specifically. i have watched it like six times.
June 8, 2025 at 4:02 AM
hotbabelien.bsky.social
Hot off the presses (library printer), my latest zine about an embarrassing moment from like 2004.
A printed mini zine titled “Rhapsody in Pink a high school story.” There is a drawing of an oboe with sloppy pink coloring and a sketch of a yearbook photo depicting a nervous looking teen with braces, a low ponytail (the hallmark hairstyle of those who Cannot Be Bothered), and very unstylish oval glasses. The first two pages of the mini zine. The first page text reads “When i was a freshman, i was in the school play. This was strange because i was not in the drama class. i was in marching band. The band director asked me to learn the oboe the month before rehearsals started.” There is a panel depicting an adult with a goatee seated in a teacher’s office. His speech bubble says “You’re quick. You can do it.” The nervous teen in the foreground says “ok……” The text on the bottom reads “i don't think i knew what i was getting myself into.” The second page reads “The play was an artsy version of Cinderella called the Ash Girl. Actors in black leotards and paper mache animal masks representing the al seven deadly sins would deliver spooky poetic lines throughout the story.” There are sloppy illustrations of three students in full body leotards. One with a bird head labeled “Angerbird” (posing confidently), one with a worm head labeled “Slothworm” (wiggling at the bottom of the page), and one with a toad head labeled “Gluttontoad” (crouching and saying “I could do with a mongoose mousse in couscous, followed by a Charlotte Russe and the woosh of a bonne bouche”). The text at the bottom is highlighted in pink and reads: “It ruled.” The third and fourth page of the mini zine. The third page reads “i played a musician in the ball scene alongside a fellow band member on flute and a drama kid on tambourine.” It shows a tall student with curly hair playing a tambourine and wearing a puffy sleeved shirt and vest, sash, loose pants, and sandals. There is another student, shorter, playing a flute and wearing a halloween costume version of a cheongsam. The fourth page reads “For some reason, my costume was a HOT PINK belly dancing outfit. Obviously, i did not have a positive enough body image at age 15 to be comfortable with this.” It shows a nervous teen with an exposed midriff and see-through pants, hunched over herself and blowing uselessly into an oboe. A big deflated sound effect emanates from the instrument “PP Pf pffffhhHONK” The bottom text reads “(on top of that, the oboe is really REALLY difficult to play)” The fifth and sixth page of the mini zine. The fifth page is labeled HIGHLIGHTS in pink text. The first image shows a relaxed teen sitting in a theater and eating nachos. The text reads “i had to attend every rehearsal even though i was only on stage for like 3 minutes. i mostly ate snacks.” The second image shows an older teen holding a book labeled “COMICS” with a speech bubble that says “If you like Invader Zim you’ll love these.” The nervous teen in the foreground says “wow.” The text reads “Backstage, i got to know the rest of the cast. The drama kids were a lot friendlier than the band geeks.” The third image shows a flinching teen with smudged eyeliner. A hand coming from out of the panel says “hold still!” The text reads “Also i experienced liquid eyeliner for the first time.” The sixth page reads “Overall, i'd say it was one of the most memorable and rewarding experiences of my time in high school.” The illustration shows the girl with the flute leaning in with a hand covering her mouth. She whispers “By the way, I didn't know how to tell you, but your underwear has been showing the whole time.” The nervous teen is folded in on herself, clutching her oboe and blushing furiously.
April 17, 2025 at 7:34 PM
hotbabelien.bsky.social
i was missing woollcott so i looked up a book of letters he wrote on the archive dot org and found this delightful excerpt
After all, each of us has a totally different relationship with every other person in the world. One does a few jobs well and a few more not so well and many badly. Once upon a time I discovered that through a complete misunderstanding one of my good jobs was angry with me. I couldn't wait to get to him. I straightened out his misunderstanding and then got madder and madder, banging on the table and yelling that if he didn't like me there was no reason why anyone on earth should. He had seen the best side I had. It was Harpo Marx, if you want to know.
March 25, 2025 at 4:49 PM
hotbabelien.bsky.social
An afternoon off? Once a month??
March 12, 2025 at 2:33 PM
hotbabelien.bsky.social
Timo is starting to get arthritis in his hips so i get to start drizzling a few drops of fish oil on his food like some kind of fancy chef.
A photo of a dark brown and black tabby laying in a sunbeam on top of three plushies (Stitch, snorlax and munchlax)
March 5, 2025 at 4:26 PM
hotbabelien.bsky.social
7am to 9am #hourlycomicday
An ink and watercolor 4 panel comic. The first panel is titled 7 a.m. Breakfast and depicts a bowl of cereal and coffee cup. The bowel is labeled “high fiber cereal” and there is an arrow pointing to it with the additional label of “made palatable with bananas and blueberries.” The coffee cup is labeled “herbal tea and honey” with an arrow pointing at it and the additional label “not doing caffeine anymore.” The second panel is titled “and Saturday Morning Cartoons.” It shows a laptop with the smiling face of Sprig Plantar from Amphibia. In the foreground is a face in profile, in the midst of chewing cereal, and a thought balloon that says “i would die for Sprig.” The third panel is titled “8 a.m. light restorative yoga.” There is a person with a shaved head and glasses in warrior pose with arms outstretched and right knee bent into a lunge. A caption at the bottom reads “taking it easy while i recover from stress/covid.” The last panel is titled 9 a.m. Additional snack and looking at hourlies on social media. The person is drawn chewing on a half-eaten protein bar and holding up their phone to look at it. Small hearts float around their head.
February 16, 2025 at 5:41 PM
hotbabelien.bsky.social
It isn’t great quality but please imagine me running home to grab the DSLR and then crouching in the mud on the side of the street, holding my breath, balancing an umbrella, trying to aim through a chain link fence.
A photograph of a brown hummingbird sitting on a nest of lichen and moss perilously swaying on branches over a blurry creek in the background.
February 5, 2025 at 2:59 PM
hotbabelien.bsky.social
#hourlycomicday at the usual snail pace. They’ll all get done eventually.
A pen and ink wash autobiographical comic titled Hourly Comic Day 2025 Feb. 1. The first panel depicts a close up of a face half-obscured by blankets, shaved head, blinking awake. It says “3 a.m. Inexplicably Awake.” The second panel depicts a tabby cat curled into a perfect circle with a serene expression and topped with a halo. It says “i’ve been working on training Pip to not wake me up at night.” The cat is circled “sound asleep” and “what an angel.” The third panel says “4 a.m. One Hour Later” and depicts the same cat now standing firm on top of his caretaker and caterwauling loudly with his head held high. The fourth panel depicts a door slamming shut with the silhouette of the devilish cat banished to the outside. The last panel says “6:30 a.m. Awake (for real)” It depicts a tired self in glasses and a loose shirt portioning out cat food into dishes. A cat clings to the shirt with claws and says “mroooooo”
February 2, 2025 at 4:30 PM
hotbabelien.bsky.social
The second of the two zines i made in 2024: Like a Life Raft - a fascinating friendship starring Oscar Levant and Harpo Marx.
The cover of a mini zine titled Like a Life Raft with the words written in rope. There are two lifesaver with photos of Harpo Marx and Oscar Levant within them. The first page of the mini zine has two brief biographies taken from Wikipedia about Oscar Levant and Harpo Marx. Oscar’s reads: “Oscar Levant was an American concert pianist, composer, conductor, author, radio game show panelist, television talk show host, comedian, and actor. He was equally famous for his mordant character and witticisms, on the radio and later in movies and television, as for his music.” There is an illustration of Oscar. He is a dark-haired man in a suit and tie with a grouchy expression. Harpo’s biograohy reads: “Arthur "Harpo" Marx was an American comedian, actor, mime artist, 2) and harpist, and the second-oldest of the Marx Brothers. I" Harpo's comic style was visual, being an example of vaudeville, clown and pantomime traditions.” There is an illustration of Harpo. He is wearing a top hat and curly blond wig and making a clownishly cheerful face. There are three smaller illustrations of his brothers, Chico, Groucho, and Zeppo. The second page of the mini zine says “One year, at a time when Harpo lived in Hollywood as a bachelor, Oscar was always at his house - smoking, drinking coffee, and playing the piano. According to Harpo: "I lost a house, but I gained a friend."” There is an illustration of Oscar at the piano, smoking and resting his cheek on one hand. Harpo, out of costume and in a plain shirt and slacks, approaches with paper money in his hand. A speech bubble reads “Hey Oscar! Here’s a buck. Play me some Chopin.” The center spread of the mini zine has three quotes, each accompanied by a photo of the speaker. The first is from Susan Fleming, Harpo’s wife, from her book Speaking of Harpo. “Harpo had an uncritical fondness for troubled nonconformists and since there wasn't a more troubled nonconformist in the world than Oscar, Harpo loved him.” The second is from Harpo from his book Harpo Speaks. “The rarest gift Oscar had to offer was not his virtuosity, but something very few people were fortunate enough to receive-his smile. He didn't give it often, but when he did, it was sunshine in Moscow. His mouth untwisted into a grin, his eyes squinched and twinkled, he ducked his head as sheepishly as a kid caught in some mischief, and in this startling flash of warmth you realized that Oscar, for all his sarcasm and sullen cracks, didn't really mean to hurt anybody except himself.” The third is from Oscar from his book Memoirs of an Amnesiac. “Harpo Marx was one of my closest friends. He was a dear, warm, sweet man.” An extra note to the side remarks that this compliment comes “after MANY PAGES of complaints and wise-cracks” about other people Oscar has known. The Last two pages of the mini zine depict “My favorite anecdote from Harpo’s autobio.” My tavorite anecdote from Harpo's autobio: The last thing I remember before drifting off was Oscar thrashing, groaning and rattling his bottle of sleeping tablets in the berth above me. An hour later I woke up. Oscar was hanging over my berth, his head poked upside-down through the curtains, screaming at me. I asked him what was the matter. There is a cartoon of Oscar leaning way out of a train berth to yell at a blissfully smiling Harpo. The speech bubble reads: “You son of a bitch! I don't mind your sleeping but do you have to SMILE in your sleep?” What the hell, I said. If that bothered him, why didn't he stop looking at me? "Doesn't make a damn bit of difference," said Oscar. "Even if I don't look at you I lie up here knowing you're down there smiling. I've taken five pills and I can't take any more and you're driving me out of my mind." I knew it was no gag. This kind of torture was as real and as painful to Oscar as if he'd been put on the rack. There is a cartoon of Harpo flipping to his stomach while Oscar retreats angrily behind his berth’s curtain. The speech bubble from Harpo reads: “Look, I'll sleep on my Stomach with my faceto the pillow. Would that help?” The speech bubble from Oscar reads: “Try it.” Oscar retreated into his berth and all was quiet. After a few minutes, he called down, "Much better!"
January 1, 2025 at 11:29 PM
hotbabelien.bsky.social
One of the two zines i made in 2024: Plankton Costumes from the Spongebob Musical.
The front cover of a mini zine titled Plankton Costumes in the Spongebob Musical. Plankton is depicted in the center of a burst of lines, frowning deeply. The first two pages of the mini zine. The first page text reads “The Spongebob Musical premiered in Chicago in 2016 and opened on Broadway in 2017. It was nominated for 12 Tonys in 2018. It didn’t win any awards for costumes and i’m still salty about it. Today it is performed at high schools, colleges, community theaters, and summer camps. The show, with its colorful undersea setting, leaves a lot of room for creativity - and what i find most interesting is how the costume designers render these iconic cartoon characters so they are recognizable in human form. Let's look at the simplest member of the cast: a tiny, unicellular organism with only a few defining features.” There is a drawing of plankton with arrows pointing to him with the descriptors: antennae, one eye, green, and evil. The second page is titled Original Flavor (Chicago, Broadway, U.S. Tour). There is an illustration of Plankton as portrayed by Wesley Taylor with costume designed by David Zinn. He has his hair pulled back into two braids at the top of his head to approximate antennae. He has an eyepatch. And he is wearing a green suit with a mandarin collar and black sneakers or perhaps skate shoes. The rating system on the side gives this 4 stars for Eye, 5 stars for Antennae, 5 stars for Green, 4 stars for Evil, and 5 stars for Silly. The third page of the mini zine is titled U.K. Tour. There is an illustration of plankton as portrayed by Davina De Campo with costume designed by Sarah Mercadé. The wig is styled into two huge spikes to depict the antennae. He has extravagant makeup including large eyelashes and green lipstick. The outfit looks very much like a robot, with big chunky sleeves and a green bodysuit and huge wrestle-style belt in the shape of an eye. He has huge black platform boots. The rating on the side gives 5 stars for Eye, 5 stars for Antennae, 5 stars for Green, 5 stars for Evil, and 5 stars for Outrageous. The fourth page of the mini zine is titled Broadway Sacramento. There is an illustration of plankton as portrayed by Josh Grisetti with costume designed by Mary Folino. He has a shaved head, large eyebrows drawn on to depict antennae, and one eye completely blacked out by a contact lens. He has a black bodysuit and chain necklace with a glittery plankton as the pendant. Over all this is a huge shimmering green jacket that looks like a big wearable pompom. The rating system on the side gives 4 stars for Eye, 3 stars for Antennae, 4 stars for Green, 4 stars for Evil, and 5 stars for Sexy?? The fifth page of the mini zine is titled Blank Canvas Theater. There is an illustration of plankton as portrayed by Jabri Johnson with costume designed by Jennifer Sparano. He has a headband with horns and an eye in the center, much like a crown. He is wearing a green jacket with matching harem pants and lace up boots. The rating on the side gives 4 stars for Eye, 5 stars for Antennae, 5 stars for Green, 5 stars for Evil, and 5 stars for Majestic. The sixth page of the mini zine is titled Grand Canyon University. There is an illustration of plankton as portrayed by David Loewen with costume designed by Nick Boisvert. He is wearing all black clothes like a stage hand but with a foam, bean-shaped puppet on his head. His face is painted green to match with the green bean puppet and he has an eyepatch. There are little sticks on the little noodle arms of the puppet for the actor to gesture with. The rating on the side gives 2 question marks for Eye, one question mark for Antennae, 2 question marks for Green, 3 question marks for Evil, and 5 stars for Hilarious.
December 31, 2024 at 7:52 PM
hotbabelien.bsky.social
i’ll be vulnerable for a moment and share the two (2) albums i listened to this year.
The album cover for Cosmo Sheldrake’s Eye to the Ear. It shows ears, noses, and eyes on stalks against a blue background. The album cover for the cast recording of Illinoise A New Musical. It shows a silhouette of a man with massive blue butterfly wings.
December 5, 2024 at 9:30 PM
hotbabelien.bsky.social
i rely heavily on Pocket Camp when i can’t sleep so i’m grateful it’s relaunched. Here’s my camper card.
December 2, 2024 at 3:39 PM
hotbabelien.bsky.social
i found out/realized/remembered that The Marvelous Land of Oz (1987) was the first anime i ever watched.
A sketch in blue pencil of Jack Pumpkinhead and Tip. Jack is charmingly dressed in baggy clothes with a loosely tied cape. Tip is a short boy in a flappy hat with an amusingly concerned expression.
November 22, 2024 at 4:53 PM
hotbabelien.bsky.social
Anyway here’s my pathfinder cleric, Louwi.
An anthropomorphic green frog wearing a blue hooded robe decorated with stars. A frog in a hooded robe drawn in the homestuck salamander style as a joke.
November 7, 2024 at 3:52 AM