Happy St. Valentine’s Day

>Magical Girl Concept for Dungeon Hunter Champions” by Xuexiang Zhang.

Happy St. Valentine’s Day. In case you don’t know, this holiday is in celebration of a Christian saint and martyr. The earliest hagiography has him martyred under Emperor Claudius II after he tried to convert the emperor to Christianity. A later hagiography asserts that he was executed specifically for marrying Christian couples, and another legend has him sending a love letter to his beloved, possibly a jailer’s daughter. Some of this may be fictional, but it’s possible that multiple Valentines were conflated, and it is also common for real, historal saints to accrete legendary material over time. His feast’s day is associated with romance in part because of a folk legend that birds mate on the fourteenth of February.

This Valentine’s Day has seen significant winter weather across much of the country. Here where I live, we were anticipating a bigger storm than we actually got. The predictions were so bad, my church encouraged parishioners to stay home this Sunday, which we dutifully did, though the actual “storm” turned out to be much milder than some considerably worse blizzards I’ve been out in when I lived farther north.

Staying home, however, gave me opportunity to cook brunch for my wife. She had recently used a bunch of egg whites in a recipe, so I decided to use the left-over yolks to make hollandaise sauce and serve eggs Benedict. It turned out reasonably well, though I don’t think this photo does it justice:

Eggs Benedict with potatoes O'Brien.

In any case, I am still working on preparations to produce volumes 1 and 2 of Jake and the Dynamo in the next few months. Being stuck at home does have its advantages. So stay tuned.

In Other News …

The magical girl and I are trying to cut corners as we prepare for impending nuptial, so we’re making the invites ourselves.

She says my proposed the “save the date” card is too plain, though.

My Little Girl Is All Grown Up

Roffles Lowell, the interior illustrator of the Jake and the Dynamo series, recently sent me this sketch. For the second book, Dead to Rites, he is planning to update the design of Magical Girl Pretty Dynamo to match the version that Lee Madison used on the cover of the first volume.

I have no strong opinions on Dynamo’s design myself. I’m just thrilled to see other people’s imaginings of her. That being said, I do rather like this updated version. I was quite impressed with Madison’s design to begin with, and I think Lowell’s version gives her a sort of spunky, whimsical character. In my head, I’ve always seen Dynamo (unlike her counterpart Dana) as a tomboy, the kind of girl who usually has a smudge of dirt on her face and who tries to make her voice sound lower than it really is. To me, this redesign conveys that impression.

The Briefest Update … ‘Magical Girl Site’

I’m three episodes into Magical Girl Site.

This show …

I swear …

Some basic Japanese idol dressed like a dog and tied to a doghouse
BLEAAARGGGHHHH!!!!

Easily the most painful part thus far is the live-action music video under the end credits featuring some Japanese idol tied up like a dog.

The cringe, it’s too strong. This is even worse than the final season of Shugo Chara. This is so. Much. Worse!

I’m not sure I’m going to survive this. The world-ending Magical Girl Apocalypse can’t come soon enough. Please, I need some mass-murdering magical zombie robots to blow up this world and create a  new one out of the ashes of the old. Pleeeeaaaase …

Still working to perfect my Bloody Mary recipe

Avian ballerinas rise up

Last one I swear

Friendzoned again.

Breakfast.

Damaged.