Neon’s A Doll A Day… Again (2020)

[neon_jellyfish]

... I'm too taken in by their cute. They can do nothing wrong, clearly.

Also I like their cauldron.

The cauldron came with Ghouls Rule Frankie.

That punch has a lot of body to it.

Or bodies.

More like... Jello. With... things sticking out of it. Lizard things?

(Do you have Jello in Czech Republic?)

I think the sticking out parts are supposed to depict how the... contents of the cauldron bubble and gurgle.

We call it gelatine or jelly (well, Czech equivalents of those, derived from French), and most people buy leaves or powder without flavor and make their own. It is mostly used as topping for tarts or cakes and there aren't any brands famous specifically for their jelly. There are shops importing foreign noms, sou you can get Jell-O Jello in those, but it's not really popular.

These 2 are so adorable. We have Jello here, but we call it jelly. Which for some reason is what Americans call jam.

What we call jam has bits of fruit pulp (and seeds or zest) in it, and when it's just the juice, we call it marmelade, which can have texture simmilar to jelly, which is why I assume US English calls it that.

My mom's peach-lavender jam, Lavender Cult's equivalent of Ambrosia, is indeed a jam (she also makes her own orange-and-whiskey jam, and it's also the best).

they look like they're having fun with their lizard punch

I think these two have fun with everything they do.


Day 282

Precious book again! This one is Kytice (=bouquet or posy, I think posy is more apt in this particular case as it's supposed to be wild flowers, not a sophisticated bouquet), a poem colletcion by Karel Jaromír Erben - the same guy who collected and edited Czech fairytales in the Zlatovláska book I showed you previously. These poems are inspired by Czech folk legends, and they're dreamy, and fairytale-like, and dark and macabre.

Erben was born with some sort of (then undiagnosable) issue that impaired is speech, but not his intellect, and he bacame the master of the written word to make up for his limited ability to ex'press himself vocally. I love the way he uses language, and his poems were a major molding force when I was growing up and forming my own idea of what 'beautiful' is.

You can always get some edition of Kytice, as it is one of the most important works in Czech history, but I especially cherish this one, as it has illustrations by Jan Zrzavý, one of my favorite Czech artists (Erben was a mid-19th century author, Zrzavý lived and created in the first half of 20th century, so the illustrations aren't 'historically accurate', but they're my favorite, and are generally considered the best ones). History of Kytice's illustrations, or rather, woeful underillustration, is an intriguing topic in itself. Given how important it is, and was perceived as such from the very beginning, it took a long time before it got decent illustrations, despite the poems practically painting themselves in vivid colors in your mind as you read them.

English translation of Kytice exists, but half of the magic is in specific use of language, and I don't know well it can be translated, and I'm also afraid that being able to enjoy this collection fully requires you to be familiar with Czech folklore, as in, not only know the facts, but know how it feels, if that makes any sense.

...And I better stop ranting now.



Zombie princess seemed like the perfect choice to illustrate both the ethereal beauty and the blood-curdling terror of these magic spells disguised as poems.