Things I've liked this year!
In no particular order. And some things I'm indifferent to, but wanted to list anyway.
I’ve been getting quite a few year round-ups in my inbox and have loved them all! So I wanted in on that sweet list action! Please find a selection of ~things~, most likely heavily weighted towards the latter half of the year, given my memory seems to have mostly erased the former! Begone, 2023 pre-July, you mean nothing to me.
Boxing classes
My friend Hattie and I have been going to boxing now for a couple of months, and it’s a weekly highlight. Since I got my Springsteen tattoo on my arm that says “Tougher than the rest”, I feel sort of duty-bound to put some kind of a muscle underneath it.
Comic reading
Two of my favourite reads this year were comics. Ducks by Kate Beaton, thought-provoking and brilliant and sad, and Impossible People by Julia Wertz. The latter is a sort-of sobriety memoir, a genre I enjoy a lot, and it was funny, and clever, and made me envious in a good, inspired way. I really loved both these books.
Decals
2023 was looking like a hot tip to be the year of iron-on decals. I thought it was the beginning of a new passion for me, but it fizzled out after four t-shirts and a month or so. Weak! Maybe 2024 will be the ACTUAL year of iron-on decals.
(If anyone is interested in getting involved with decals and is UK-based, I thought the quality from Sublime Print was great, and very speedy!)
Spotify Unwrapped
For anyone not familiar with this annual frightfest, it’s when the music streaming service Spotify confronts you with the tunes you’ve listened to the most over the past year. So although you may think you’re an edgelord listening entirely to [insert happening band/genre’s name here], in the harsh light of Spotify’s round-up you are revealed to yourself as a musical loser and the stats don’t lie. In my case, I’m in the top 0.5% of Cher listeners this year. THE TOP 0.5%!!! Out of 100 people, I’m the torso (OR the groin-down) with the most love for The Shoop Shoop Song! I like Cher, of course, but I DON’T know how this happened!!
Christmas 2023
Speaking of music, if anyone wants to chime in (ho ho) with their top Christmas tunes, I’m all ears! I’m traditionally a real Christmas bummer, but I’m trying to improve myself. My top three (unoriginal, as one could have guessed by my Spotify Unwrapped) choices are:
I Believe in Father Christmas by Greg Lake
A Spaceman Came Travelling by Chris Rea
Fairytale of New York by Shane MacGowan and Kirsty MacColl (god Tor you are SO basic)
Any mention of Chris Rea has the bonus of making me think of an excellent cartoon by Graham Rawle about a Chris Rea-View Mirror - I can’t find it online so I’ll post this one instead, as Graham Rawle is a perennial and surely welcome in any list!
Watching
One of my favourite cartoonists, Graham Annable AKA Grickle, has been doing a weekly Sunday Live Drawing with his friend and fellow illustrator, Julián Nariño, for a few years now on Instagram. I can’t see it live as it’s about 3am UK time, but it’s always brilliant to watch afterwards. Check out Graham’s Instagram to see!
Cards
My chum Alice Lickens has started a stationery company, Mortlake Papers - and her range of cards is GREAT. All the ones I’ve bought so far have been pinched by my mum in what I can only see as a calculated and petty revenge for the years she had to be the Official Stationery Monger in our house. Stock up, and keep them away from card-corralling mothers everywhere!
The Temptation of Mr Rose
I’ve had a new print run from the super Rich at comicprintinguk and Mr Rose is being tempted in my shop once again, along with some more copies of my sketch zine, Hot and Bothered.
Ella’s debut book!
My best and oldest friend, Ella Beech, has just had her debut book published with The Folio Society! It’s an absolutely beautiful, deluxe edition of The Night Before Christmas by Clement C Moore with Ella’s characteristic delicate, tender and funny paintings illustrating. You can buy it from The Folio Society, and she has lovely Christmas cards with images from the book here.
One more comic
I thought I’d include this comic that I posted on Instagram in June, and which was inspired by my dog Rusty’s determined preference for laps over any other kind of seat. I never posted it here however, so I am rectifying that!
And if you’re wondering the relevance of this comic to this time of year - well, it’s because this character wants to go to… Lapland!! BOOM!!!¡¡¡ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Tor, I'm going to make you a Christmas Playlist because you've been very good this year. Xx
Love Lapland dear Tor❤️❤️❤️❤️