comics | Bad Menagerie

The 20-Week Scan

Aug 23 2015

Getting a scan done is always an exciting thing. It’s awesome getting to see how the bebe has grown. Are her legs still little nubs that resemble green beans? Will we finally be able to see her wee face?

The 20-week scan is probably the most exciting one, because it’s also known as the anomaly scan, where the doctor will check for, well, anomalies. Is your baby’s heart developing well? Her brains? Her liver? Her spine? It’s also the first scan where you might catch a glimpse of her actual face.

False expectations? Never. All I expect is the cutest little baby in the whole entire universe who comes out clutching a TI-84 calculator (because obviously she’s been doing calculus in my uterus like a good little Asian baby).

Like Christmas morning.

As it turns out, the picture we got wasn’t quite what I’d expected.

Doctor, I think there’s a mistake. You’ve given me a poster of the latest Hellraiser movie.

At least Mr. Cow didn’t seem that bothered by it.

Oh well. Onwards and upwards until the next scan!

How Big is Your Baby?

Jul 10 2015

When you get pregnant for the first time, you’ll find that many pregnancy websites and apps attempt to give you a weekly update to help you visualize the size of your fetus. Most of the time, they do this using fruit. Which isn’t as helpful as one might think, because of this:

Let’s face it, it’s not the most accurate system out there. They also tend to give you the exact measurements in inches and/or cm, but that doesn’t quite cut it in terms of imagining the size of your bebe. And it’s suddenly an imperative to know just exactly how big is this thing growing in your uterus, so you come up with your own ways of visualizing its size. Except sometimes, your partner doesn’t quite appreciate your creativity.

And when your partner takes the initiative, you might not appreciate his creativity.

The Problem with The 100 (SPOILER ALERT)

Feb 18 2015

WARNING: This contains SPOILERS for Season One of The 100.

What it’s like watching Season One.

This is one of the main reasons why I can’t get into The 100. The frikkin’ false tension means that whenever a major character supposedly dies, I assume they’re still alive somehow. So far, I’ve been proven right, although that does mean the show delivers zero tension for me. Maybe Season Two gets better?

3 Little Details That Made the Movie VICE so, so Bad

Feb 04 2015

This is not a movie review. I thought of doing a review of Vice, but in the end, I realized I didn’t care about it enough to do a proper review. And here’s why.

1. Every other guy ever is a murderous, raping scumbag. Those who aren’t rapists or murderers seem to need a reason to not rape or murder anyone (one is still in love with his dead wife and the other’s a cop).

I mean, seriously, given a place where you can do anything you want, why does the go-to have to be violence towards women? What happened to healthy fun stuff like parasailing naked or doing gymnastics atop elephants or trying to eat fifty cronuts? Portraying men as scum and women as victims is SO 2014, you guys.

2. Armed, trained guards can’t shoot to save their lives. Not even a graze to the heroes throughout the entire movie.

Where are they finding these guards?? They are useless. FIRE THEM.

3. THIS happened.

This was where I proceeded to turn my brain off. From that point on, there were no more shits given to any of the mains. Because anyone who is stupid enough to turn down a full mind-and-body upgrade while there is an army after them does not deserve to live. In fact, I wanted to kill them myself.

Aaand that’s why I couldn’t take anything about Vice seriously. What was the last movie you couldn’t take seriously?

5 Things That Would Make Me Throw a Book Against the Wall

Jan 26 2015

* Note: All these things are inspired by books I recently read, but I’m not going to specifically name any of the books because karma is a scary, scary beast. Yes, yes, I’m a cow…ard. Hur hur. Geddit, geddit? Uh, moving on…

1. Unhealthy relationships which are hailed as awesome ones.

Look, I get it. I get that no relationship is perfect. Mr. Cow and I fight quite a bit (mostly his fault, of course), but at the end of the day, we love and support each other and we make sacrifices which we don’t rub into each other’s faces, at least not unless we feel like it. But recently, this happened in a book:

I thought this was a good conflict, because you know, sometimes people behave like dicks. What is NOT good is the fact that the MC totally fell apart because of her assholey husband, dropped everything including the Once in a Lifetime chance, and flew across the country to make up with this man-baby, and that was the happy ending. Just, no.

2. Major subplots which are never resolved.

I don’t usually mind questions that are left with vague answers, but in this case, it happened with a major subplot — I could even argue that this is the main plot because it was mentioned in the blurb — and there was no answer, not even a vague one. I still have no clue what the heck happened, which might be okay for small subplots, but not ones which are a selling point to the book. (I mean, I picked up the book because this very plotline sounded so interesting. BWARGH.)

3. Books without meaningful female characters.

By “meaningful”, I don’t mean female characters need to be the main characters, but they do need to exist for reasons which are completely independent of their male counterparts. I’m not interested in books which delegate one-dimensional roles to the female characters, like “the wife/girlfriend/LI”. Also, can we please have more than just the ONE token female character? We do make up half the world’s population, after all.

4. Books that are obviously wish fulfillment for the author.

These kinds of books become embarrassing to read, because I feel like I’m taking a peek into some hormonal teen’s diary. I blame the beta readers, the agent, and the various editors at the publishing house for this. I mean, really, at some point, did no one think to point out that 100 pages of sex with a wood nymph goddess thingy is kind of gratuitous?

5. Good guys are good, bad guys are bad.

I hate black and white morality. Mostly because I feel that such simplicity insults my intelligence as a reader. Most people aren’t all good or all bad. I like complex characters, flawed MCs who do shitty stuff and antagonists who give you pause and make you think, “S/he has a point…” Give me your despicable good guys and compassionate baddies anytime.

What are your pet peeves when it comes to books?

Stretches for NaNoWriMo

Nov 06 2014

This month is NaNoWriMo and I have been killing it! I’ve been pounding out an average of 5,000 words a day. I am on a roll! I am on fiyah! I am . . . paying the price with my back. And neck, and shoulders, and wrists. Apparently, sitting at the same exact position for hours on end isn’t that great for my body. I was chatting with a fellow Nano-er, who mentioned her shoulders have been killing her, and it hit me that many Nano-ers are probably going through the same thing. So, without further ado, I present to yew:

All Teens Do . . .

Nov 01 2014

I’ve come across many posts debating why authors should be allowed to have teen characters in YA books who swear, drink, smoke, do drugs, and are sexually active. I am totally in favor of having teenaged characters who do those stuff, because, well, that’s just plain realistic. However, I do have a problem when it stops being “Some teens do these stuff” and starts becoming “All teens do this stuff!”

Maybe it is true that most teens rebel. I would say that was true for my friends and I. We were growing up and testing the boundaries set by the authority figures in our lives, as well as our own boundaries and limitations. But I think every teen rebels differently. I know there are vast cultural differences between me and the average American teen, especially since I went to an all-girl Catholic school in Singapore, but let’s take a peek at the teenaged cow . . .

How I Met Mr. Cow

Oct 27 2014

After graduating from college, I decided to pursue a Masters degree. I applied to eleven schools, and was accepted to one. The school that accepted me was celebrated throughout the world for being all that and a bag of chips, so, full of wide-eyed excitement, I packed up my bags and left. I’d lived in three different countries prior to moving there, so I foolishly thought I’d settle in just fine.

Post4a Read More

Fiercely Awesome Women: Triệu Thị Trinh

Oct 22 2014

Inspired by Rejected Princesses, I’ve decided to draw a few strips about lesser known women who owned it in their time. (In case you guys have never heard of Rejected Princesses, it is amazing. Do check it out.) For the first post in this new series, I present to you . . . Triệu Thị Trinh.

Sometime around the year 220 AD, when the Chinese army occupied Vietnam, they had the bad luck of encountering Triệu Thị Trinh, aka Lady Triệu. She was said to be 9-ft tall, with breasts 3-ft long (I have no idea why the breasts were mentioned, but the texts I found seem to think that’s important, so there you go, that’s how long her breasts supposedly were). Anyway, the Chinese were trying to “civilize” the native people, and she was having none of it.

Famous Authors and Their Legacies

Oct 17 2014

Last but not least . . .

Tag - comics

The 20-Week Scan

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How Big is Your Baby?

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The Problem with The 100 (SPOILER ALERT)

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3 Little Details That Made the Movie VICE so, so Bad

Like this:

5 Things That Would Make Me Throw a Book Against the Wall

Like this:

Stretches for NaNoWriMo

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All Teens Do . . .

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How I Met Mr. Cow

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Fiercely Awesome Women: Triệu Thị Trinh

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Famous Authors and Their Legacies

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Tag - comics

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