A nerdy selfcelebration

Not sure if I was what you would call “nerdy” during school time. Sure thing is, I had interests that were popular among a number of students but not among everyone. And I kept myself a bit out of the big lights, enjoying my freetime to do stuff I liked more.
I had average marks in all subjects, and a few top marks in subjects like Arts, English, Informatics and History. I even got top marks in Italian and Literature every now and then.
I really enjoyed learning how to analyse and compare with each other different works. Art pieces as well as literature pieces. And I started pretty young making my own websites and stuff like that.
My nerdy side was reading comics and playing boardgames, cardgames, videogames... Nothing too original, most teenagers do that don’t they?
Being so enthusiastic about that, I attended a comic art drawing school, applied for a study program in Japan and after high school enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts.
Here is where I got to learn a lot of different things, or don’t learn things you were supposed to (Thank you, professors, for not showing up for classes. Really, this changed the life of all your students. Really helped us a lot in our future careers. T_T). And when and where I started to have discussions about comics systematically.
To the point, I presented a comic’s analysis as my final work paper for my Bachelor.
I already was famous for picking comics as a theme for every exam I had to make papers or presentations, so nothing unexpected.
I applied what I learnt in high school during art class and literature class. You know. You can “read a picture” or “comment an artwork” and you can analyse a text or poetry. So I did all these things to comic books and related them to the historical time they have been published and even interviewed the authors if it was possible (for contemporary titles, of course).
It has been a real productive time, I got invitations for lots of local comics related events and asked to be a speaker or a moderator in conferences or discussions about comics. I wrote articles and updated a few blogs. And I was barely 20.
A few times I got people stop me on the streets to greet me because they saw me at a conference speaking or they followed my blogs. That was so cute!

I feel a bit nostalgic. And I feel I need to state this as a curriculum so that people know why am I so friendly and give opinions about things. It is not just because I can’t keep my mouth shut but.....it is because my opinions and point-outs can be really helpful for artists or for readers.

This is why I leave comments on webcomic platforms or make a few posts on this blog or facebook or instagram or twitter. I need to share that bit of knowledge I have and am able to combine and apply in different fields and new titles, I so want to share it and just can´t keep mouth shut.
So dear readers, happy readings! And please always try to see what is behind the “check out this story” or “look how beautyful the art is”. There are so many things playing together in a comic or in any other piece. You maybe just need to adjust your point of view or maybe need a few hints. And here I come with all my suggestions and relationships between titles that apparently have nothing in common!
I will be making a guide for my readers. Join me in this amazing trip!

First Patreon☆GiveAway is up!

No way!
I am promoting my Patreon page with a giveaway. You can win some original Hello Kitty chopsticks I bought in Japan just for this!

How do you enter the raffle?
Join my Patreon today !
More informations about the giveaway are in the specific post linked here. Please do not forget to navigate my Patreon a bit around. I post some original content on there. And I take requests from patrons, so feel free to make suggestions or requests and I´ll do my best to create something inspired by you ;)

Since I am currently listening to this right now and I find it so inspiring I wanna share it with you:

Lady Gaga - Poker Face

Few thoughts about new comic formats

It has been over a year that I am thinking about writing a long article about different comic formats, what I think about them and a general comparison of pros and contras that you can objectively see.
On one hand the time to do it throughly is missing and on another hand I probably need more readings of newer and current titles, and I am not the avid reader I used to be.
That said, my analysis might be missing something and I don`t like to write articles halfhearted unless it is something I really have an urge to yell out loud and now. And I have to communicate and share something about this topic right now.
My attention was caught on some social media, as the shared link was shared again and again till it reached my dashboard and I read it.
It is an article in Italian, originally published by the english version of a korean publisher, with the information that the article is Italian and talks about the said title.
What title? What publisher?
The article can be found here on wired.it and it is an interview done at Lucca Comics&Games 2017, few days ago.
The interviewed are Kooji, author of Killing Stalking (the title I was talking about), and an editor of Lezhin Comics (the webcomic publisher of the said title).

What really took my attention was that everyone was so fired up that “Italy is the first country ever to publish this title on paper in a book version”. So the author as well as the publishing company were skeptical about the results but once they saw the draft adaption of the book they accepted.
I do prefer paper over digital, still. But I have to tell I DO read webcomics on my mobile phone while going to work or coming back from work, the mobile phone fits in my hand and I have it with me anyway, no need to bring a book with me making my bag extra heavy. With the risk, I won’t even open the book and carry extra weight for nothing. So I see so many positive things on reading on mobile phone! Comic books keep piling up at home and I don’t get a chance to read them. I DO buy them, but I DO NOT read them.
What is it wrong with that!?
Answer is simple: I don`t carry them around and at home I have so much housework that needs to be done before I can gain those 15 minutes for myself to read something. Or I need to lighten up the book correctly if I want to read books in bed before sleeping. The mobile phone lighten ups itself and I don`t need anything else than just it for my readings.

Now, do comics on paper work as comics on mobile devices?
Of course you can find .pdf or scans version of paper comics and read them on your mobile device (there are both legal and illegal options for that) and a lot of artists publish their online comics following the set of mind and organize the work as you would when you work on a paper page-after-page version of your comic. This still works as everyone still knows how to read a comic book and it still is easy to adjust to this hybrid version. But. Webcomics, also called webtoons, have the component of dynamic as you let the images scroll down and you don`t turn any page. So the mindset that the author uses (or should use) is slightly different than working on a comic book.

Translating a webtoon into a comic book seems a legit action today, but will soon be pretty blasphemous in my opinion. Why? Well, would you ever try to “translate” a statue into a paint?
You can surely make a paint or a picture of that said statue, but you can`t translate it into a picture.

Today it propably still doesn`t feel like this new comic format is so different from the classic comics format. But I feel it already, it has its own grammar and words and we all gotta learn them to communicate using this form of media.
No worries: it was the same when comic grew from strips into comic books. Wasn`t it?

P.S.: Just to let you know: I did buy the comic version of the korean webtoon “NOBLESSE” in Japanese, when I was in Japan. I am a collector and I needed to have something I can hold onto. And I also have to say you can notice the change of grammar and words in this serie as it goes on. At the beginning the translation into comic book works great, the webtoon itself is still in the comic book mindset. But look up the newer chapters: would you be able to do a good job translating them into books? I probably have to make a trip to Japan again and check the new released books. LOL

That`s all, folks.

Keep sell your soul and time to those soul eaters

It´s been a while. Have you been following me on instagram? Nice stuff hu?
So today I am announcing that I sould my soul to another social media and created my account on snapchat. Of course you can find me there as siemgirl and add me to follow what I will be sharing on there. Don´t be shy, I know everyone had a snapchat account before me. I was trying to avoid it because my phone is not holding all apps (lack of memory device and I keep being lazy on looking for a memory card).
How to add me on your snapchat? Just click this link:
https://www.snapchat.com/add/siemgirl
And I guess you should be able to find and add me.
Thanks!

Are you having a nice time?

Hey, hello and welcome on Siemgirl´s blog. Again.
I have been wondering since a few days how come that I still have to read lots of chapters of webtoons that have been released during September!?
HOW COME!!??!!
It seems like I don´t have much time for reading. And I still haven´t had time to write reviews about the comics and webtoons I read recently. Shame on me!
August was such a nice month, dispite of how busy I was at work, I was able to read so many webtoon series and even a few paper comics.

If you check my instagram account you will notice that I really had lot to do at work, tried to take part into drawing meetings such as the Munich´s Drink and Draw and I also had a bit of social life meeting friends.

Having a nice time, somehow. Still busy but able to focus on different things than just work. Work is a lot of fun. Too.
What I have been missing is blabbering about things I read o saw and expressing my opinion about random stuff. So I will try to do my best to write at least some short articles soon. Or that`s the plan right now. Trying to stick to it.

It will be my birthday soon. I already know I won`t even have proper time to celebrate but.....I hope I will at least have a few drinks with friends and maybe eat a cake. Finger crossed! If you want to give me a birthday present check my instagram account. I will be posting suggestions about that starting today!

Fifty shades of laugh about the worst movie.

I really wanted to share this video with everyone. The movie 50 shades of Grey is not worth being watched at all. But this 18 minutes short video is totally worth watching and laughing along.

The movie is so absurd and I can´t get why people are still crazy about it. I keep hearing colleagues at work talking about it and a bunch of aquaitances can´t wait to watch the follow movies. I don´t think I will watch the other two movies, and I already feel ashamed I agreed with a friend to watch the first part that day I did. I expected it to be bad. But I didn´t expect it to be it to that extent.

Worst movie I ever watched? Guess so.



Now please enjoy this video:

Everything Wrong With Fifty Shades Of Grey In 18 Minutes Or Less






If you still feel like wanting to watch it, here is a link to grab it on amazon.

Tennis, Ballerinas, Dylan and more

I just came back from vacation as I have to work again tomorrow.
During my 10 days off we had many nice opportunities. So we gave it a try. I took my little Princess to the tennis school I once went to when I was little. I was way older than her, so the plan was only looking at other kids playing. Once we got there, she was like "I wanna join those kids", so I asked the teachers and they made her join the activities. She is still younger than the accepted age but they made an exception. It was fun to look at her play with that tiny tennis racket.

The Princess also had her first time at the cinema. We went to watch Ballerina.
It is a French-Canadian movie that came out in February that none of us had seen by the time. I briefly googled it before buying the tickets, just to be sure it really would tell us a story about some dancer and I found out a few more information. When I showed the trailer to the Princess, she was like "I wanna go to cinema!" and I took her.
The movie was very enjoyable. Good animations, nice scripts, great direction and a lot of fun especially for the guardians of the children. The story is easy enough for the kids to follow, and there are many scenes that result very funny for older public. I appreciated this a lot since the parents need to entertain themselves too while taking the kids to the cinema!
I remember my father sleeping when he took me and my siblings to watch Pokemon! I am glad I had no reasons to fall asleep during this one :D
Simple story: two orphans decide to leave their stay to find fortune and fullfill their dreams in Paris. The girl wants to become a ballett dancer and the boy wants to be an inventor. They both somehow make it. The movie goes about the ups and dows, plus envy of the rich girl who was born and raised by her mother only to be a ballerina, another boy who wants to win the heart of the girl and some friendships and parentig relationships evelopments.
A great movie for kids and, as said, very enjoyable for the parents too. Really, me and the mommy next to me were dying from laughter!
What I wasn´t completely satisfied with, is the Italian dubbing. Italy is famous for having the oldest school of dubbers, being the best dubbing country ever. So, what happened!?
Someone had an amazing idea: one of the main charachter being dubbed from a real Italian ballerina. So Eleonora Abbagnato, great dancer and director of the Theatre in Rome, dubbed Odette. Which was very real when she explained all the dancing steps and amazing when the charachter spoke while seen from the back or not seen at all...but unfortunately very poor while you saw the mouth moving. I think she really practiced a lot, but still the synchronizing part didn´t work out so smooth and the voice was too stiff. It sounded like those automated responders with a registered message. I felt sorry for that, since it was a very nice idea to have her in the casting.
And I wasn´t very satisfied with the choice of who dubs Rudolph and how. Rudy is a Russian ballet dancer who came to Paris because of his skills. Would have been fun to have him speak with a bit of accent. Not a clichee one but like slighlty noticing he might not come from around the corner.
Probably I am too demanding, but I spent a lot of time watching Duck Tales (the old serie) with the Princess and it has such a fine and amazing dubbing that I feel too spoiled for any other dubbing.

If you haven´t watched it, grab a copy on amazon:

 

An update about comics.
Planet Manga is publishing Lupin III from volume 1. It was in stores this month so I just bought it. I am not sure if I ever bought it before (I am pretty sure it was published before) but I don´t remember ever reading it so I decided I should at least read the volume one. I am curious to know how the story is taken care of in its comic version, as I have grown up watching the cartoon.
Bonelli Editore has done its first crossover ever. Dylan Dog and Dampyr are together in one story. The story begins on Dylan Dog 371 and ends in Dampyr 209. Both comics are on sale in August and have two different covers that, put next to each other, will give you the whole illustration. I bought them all four and will be posting the picture of them together later today on my instagram, so be sure to check it out.

When Life blows you away.

A million time I went through the words I wanted to put together in my texts and publish on the blog. There are no right or wrong words. Just words.
And you can´t put a life into words. No matter how many languages you use, feelings stay inside you and can´t be properly taken out. Still, we try to express ourselves and communicate.

I came to Germany in 2010. This is pretty clear to all.
At first my stay was planned for a semester, then one more year. Little by little I didn´t feel I still had a place to go back to. Probably I was just old enough not to want to go back to my parents´home, so this made me decide to keep on "living alone", but in Germany where I already was.
I really wanted to learn German. I developed this interest by the end of high school. No particular reason, but I wanted to. And I was so sure I would be doing a great move for a future employment by learning German on top of English and that little Japanese I knew.

Life goes on. No matter where you live. You meet people and make decisions. You take directions. You make steps. Small or big, steps are steps. And they take you in some direction.
I took a few steps. Hard ones.
I needed to go through it all. And at some point Life takes the lead and drives you somewhere you never ever expected to.

It probably sounds like I´m not telling anything new. I know. Ups and downs are for everyone. And I am sure there are stories even more shocking then mine. I have seen some of them myself at the hospital, too. But still, I think I have all the right to be shooked. Life hit me hard with a rock on the forehead.

Since I told you before that you can´t express all feelings with words, I´ll be short about that.
The reason why you haven´t seen me around at all the past 3 years is that I had big life issues to take care of.

First thing is, I had a baby. Taking care of a child is time and strenght consuming. So I didn´t put much effort in drawing, reading or doing anything else for myself. I dedicated my whole self to make my kid feel strong and loved.
Second thing is, the father of my little Princess spent the last bits of his life fighting against cancer.
And that tells you how much time and brain I could have had to follow up what was going on outside of our circle. I still need some time to heal my thoughts.

I have been longing for a comeback and take over what I left years ago. Since there is no real reason to get away from things I used to do, since I enjoy doing them. And honestly, I haven´t found another road that I enjoy more than this one.

Thank you for reading this blog post. Please keep following me, I promise to publish more comics related content soon. And spread the word among your friends: Siem is back!

About someone`s come back to track.

Welcome back everyone. Nice to meet you again.

This post either means I am done with my break or it will just be some once in a while try-to-get-back with no sequel. We will just try it out and see how long I`ll stay focused.

In my mind I haven`t taken any break, but actually I did not write or draw anything for a too long time.

I eventually came back and tried my best to stay on my original track, but things got complicated and messy again so I just kept away.

So, what happened to me?

I somehow denied myself and tried out some different ways. But didn`t find something that drew me away completely. Anyone knows who I am. I can`t change it much.

Oh, I see you. I see both of you. You, nodding and knowing exactly what I mean, and you, shaking your head asking what I am trying to say right now.

Who am I? Want me to speak it out? I`ll do it.

I am this young girl who gave her all for comics. Reading all the time. Anything. And who can`t just shut up. I am that one who needs to tell what she thinks about that story, about that artstyle, about that storytelling and even about the format, the paper used, the language in the ballons. And I made confrontations between comics. They never stood alone in my head, I needed comparison and to find similarities and differences. Like any other would do with a book or poetry or painting. Comics just happen to summarize more than one channel together, and all channels used need to be analysed properly.

Am I back to writing reviews and analyses about comics? Maybe.

I just switched the language to English, as I thought it makes more sense and might reach more readers. Italian would not reach my German friends and acquaintance, German would not reach my dear Italian friends and people I deeply respect.

I might translate some articles in Italian, but I don`t feel so confident with my German writing skills so I`ll just pass for now.

Stalk me!

Be sure to follow me on instagram. It seems like the popular platform at the moment and it is the place where I put random stuff and it is easy to interact with me, even if I am busy. Mobilephone apps are a real intruder in one´s life!
And patreon will be updated soon and more frequently. Please check it out. And register and pledge if you feel so inclined. Thank you!

2017.

I felt like leaving a short message on the blog before starting to post the articles that I am preparing.
And yes, I switched language to English. I will talk about this decision in detail very soon. Just thought I should make an announcement before starting the posting.

Credo dover lasciare un breve messaggio prima di cominciare a pubblicare gli articoli su cui sto lavorando.
Sí, era facile intuirlo dalle frasi sopra: cambieró la lingua in inglese. I motivi di questa decisione verranno spiegati in uno degli articoli che pubblicheró a breve. Ho ritenuto giusto fare un annuncio prima di inondare il blog di nuovi contenuti.
Forse ogni tanto torneró a scrivere in intaliano, ma la lingua principale di lavoro sará l´inglese. Grazie per la comprensione ed il sostegno!