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Hello! I know it’s late on Christmas Eve but I’ve been wanting to post this and I thought I might as well do it before it is TOO late. Perhaps this list will help those of you who are struggling to feel Christmassy, or if you can’t sleep and you want to watch a new festive fave. These are all under an hour!

~ My Four Favourite, Most Underrated Christmas Films/TV Specials ~

1. Olive, The Other Reindeer (1999)

I have watched this movie every Christmas for my whole life and I can’t believe it is so underseen, at least in the UK. Check this out if you like The Simpsons (it was produced by Matt Groening), weird animation styles (J Otto Seibold rules!), and the music of REM (Michael Stipe voices a reindeer).

2. Pee Wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special (1988)

A weird and wonderful special which is available on Netflix UK. It is full of celeb guests - Just check out the opening - and my favourite, Pee Wee! (Then, watch Pee Wee’s Big Adventure to see my favourite film for any time of year)

3. Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas (1977)

I only checked out this short film by Jim Henson because I love the other Muppet movies and I love otters. It turned out to be one of the most beautiful, funny,and sad, films I have ever seen! A really sweet MUSICAL about a poor family of otters in the American south. I know, right? You won’t be disappointed.

4. A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

Ok, so this is hardly underrated but always worth revisiting for #relatable sad Charlie Brown and an anti-commercial, underdog message.

Merry Christmas/happy holidays friends xxx

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Since leaving uni (and during uni, tbh) I’ve found reading for fun incredibly difficult. My attention span is terrible and I fall asleep after a couple of pages. However, I have recently found a solution and that is in the form of graphic novels and manga. So I thought I would write up a list of a few of my favourites; I would love recommendations too (tweet me @isobeljournal)

1. Azumanga Diaoh and Yotsuba&! by Kiyohiko Azuma

It was getting the Azumanga omnibus last Christmas that really got me started down this road. I had never really read a manga before (except the first Yotsuba book which I will come back to) and I guess I had always dismissed them as I’m not really interested in magical stuff or anything like that, which I had imagined all manga was full of. However, Azumanga is the total opposite of anything like that. It’s a “slice of life” manga that follows a group of high school girls, and apart from a few surreal (and funny) dream sequences, there is none of the “weird manga stuff” I had imagined. Just a group of characters who you just learn to love and lugh at a lot, and in the end when the girls graduate from high school, it brought a tear to my eye because I had grown so fond of them, I felt like I was there.

Kiyohiko Azuma is the king of slice of life, not just for creating Azumanga, but because he also created the wonderfully sweet and hilarious Yotsuba&!. Whilst this series has a younger lead character and a younger target audience, it honestly warms the cockles of my heart so much, and each panel is so full of expression (he’s brilliant at showing emotion on Yotsuba’s little face) that even the simplest thing can make me laugh out loud reading it. Yotsuba is a little girl who seems to know nothing about the world, and through these comics we watch her experiencing the world through fresh eyes, led by her dad and neighbours.

2. Isabella Bird in Wonderland (Fushigi no Kuni no Bird) by Taiga Sassa

I found out about this manga just the other week after a holiday to Scotland and in particular, a visit to Tobermory (Balamory) on the Isle of Mull. At a museum there I learned a bit about Isabella Bird, an explorer who had lived there and traveled the world in the 19th century.  When I went on Wikipedia to find out more about her, I discovered that her journey to Japan had been translated into a manga, and I was even more excited when I found an English version available to read online.

I didn’t think that a historical manga would appeal to me this much but I devoured the whole thing in a couple of afternoons. Much like the first two, this book is very grounded in reality with none of the outlandish  “manga” conventions those unfamiliar with the genre imagine it would contain. It is also really lovingly done with real attention to detail (especially in the translation notes) and even tackles the issues of Westerners travelling and colonising the East, whilst still being funny and warm and enjoyable to read. 

Here is a link to the online version, as it isn’t available to buy in English unfortunately.

3. Fluffy by Simone Lia

I was given this graphic novel by a literary agent a few years ago and I really really enjoyed it and it’s one of those books I’ve even lent out to friends because it’s such a short, sweet, funny, and sad book. It looks at first glance like a children’s book but it’s actually an adult graphic novel with quite a lot of substance about anxiety and family and just life, really. Yet it is still light hearted; Fluffy is a bunny (who believes he is a child) with a Yotsuba-like outlook on the world. His exhausted dad/owner Michael tries to balance his bunny looking after responsibilities with an unsuccessful love life and family that is falling apart. A lot of unconventional narrative techniques such as looking into the inside of Michael’s brain or the narration being conducted by a dust particle make it stand out from other similar books (if similar books exist!)

4. Never Goodnight by Coco Moodysson

If you have seen the movie We Are The Best you will know this story anyway, as this graphic novel is written by Lukas Moodysson’s (the film’s director) wife, Coco, and it was the inspiration for the story. I recommend both the film and the book - I like her unique drawing style and the sweet and the funny tale of growing up punk in 1982 Sweden is brilliant on page and screen.

5. Ripples by Wai Wai Pang

I’ve followed Wai Wai Pang on the internet for years and always loved her work, and when this comic came out I was so eager that I ended up being the first person to order it from her shop. The artwork in this Milton Keynes-set detective story is really ingenious and uses techniques taken from detective stories such as maps, collections of evidence, and character info cards to tell the story in a really interesting and visually beautiful way. I also like how the characters are a mix of a humans and animals.

6. Solanin and Goodnight Punpun by Inio Asano

These two critically acclaimed manga’s are a bit darker and weirder than my other choices, and most suitable for adult audiences, however they’re both well worth a read, Solanin in particular if you are in a similar life situation to myself and want to read a depressing story about post-uni life. The art work is beautiful in both, particularly in the backgrounds, which are contrasted in Goodnight Pun Pun in his simply designed main character, who is a bird I think? Or maybe a ghost under a sheet. Either way, it looks great. 

Solanin is a stand alone book, whcih makes it a good place to start and see how you feel about Asano’s work, whereas Pun Pun has more installments which I am yet to read, but I am looking forward to finding out what happens next in Pun Pun’s dysfunctional world.

(7. I guess I should be Annoying and remind y’all that I wrote a sort of graphic novel called The Isobel Journal which you can still buy!! Ok thanks bye!!)

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Trambompoline! 2017

Expired film on Olympus Trip 35

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Herne Bay, January 2017

Expired film on Olympus Trip 35

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Leigh, Bradford, and Manchester, 2017

Expired film on Olympus Trip 35

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Film photos from around Warrington, 2017.

Using expired film and an Olympus Trip 35

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Life Update: Shortflix

Hello everyone, I’m sorry it’s been a while since I have updated this blog (or any blog for that matter, I am useless at keeping these things up!)

I am just here to update you on a cool thing I am currently doing. Some of you may already know about this, but if you didn’t; I am working on a short film idea as part of the Shortflix programme being run by Creative England! I had to submit an idea for my application in the form of a video pitch, and I was lucky enough to be selected as one of the final 26 out of 300+ applications. You can see the video pitch and get an idea of my short film here:

Last week I attended two days of workshops in Birmingham that helped me to develop my story idea, and now I will be spending a lot of my free time writing the script which I will have to present in July, with the hopes that I might be one of the lucky 5 who get funding to make their short film a reality. You can read a little bit more about the scheme here.

As for the rest of my life, I have graduated from university and now proudly hold a 2:1 in English Literature and Philosophy. I moved back home, and I am working part time scooping popcorn at a cinema to earn some money. I bleached my hair and got glasses. Oh and I turned 22. 

Fans of The Isobel Journal: I haven’t given up on drawing and writing. Things are still ticking away, I just had to take a break for a while. Whilst my Shortflix film is a totally different medium to The Isobel Journal, I am still just as passionate about telling stories about ordinary girls and women and I will continue to try and do that however I can whether it is through films, books, or whatever else I may try my hand at. I just want to make things and I am so grateful to everyone who has appreciated the things I have done so far and helped me with the opportunities I have been so lucky to receive.

I am going to start trying to post a little more on here (though I know I always say that). I am going to start a series of posts about things I enjoy. I will probably call it something boring like “Isobel Likes...” but I am not sure yet. I will just post my top recommendations for films, music, books, tv shows, places to visit, snacks to eat, etc. I will try to keep it regular even if it’s just once a month or something. I will also try to post some more drawings and photographs.

So that’s all really! Thanks for reading, do follow this blog if you are a Tumblr person as I will try to come back here and post more soon, but you can also follow me on Twitter @IsobelJournal and Instagram @IsobelHarrop, and I will make sure to post there too when I have updated the blog.

Love u all

Isobel

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If I was at home today, this is what I would be doing #saveourcolleges #savepenkethsixthform

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Poster and flyer are here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RSVP here.

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(Check out this party I'm putting on! Also I'm practicing using my tablet some more, look at this badly made gif!)

A gif I made to celebrate the launch party of Memory Card zine on the 7th April at Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar here in Brighton. RSVP here.

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Blogger/Booktuber Call

Today (Thursday January 7th) we will be adding new names to our blogger and YouTuber database. It’s this list we contact when we have review copies available – and only this list! So if you review Young Adult or Middle Grade books, this is your chance.

We have a limited number of spaces, so to be in with a chance, email the below details to keynotes@hotkeybooks.com (lines are open now until midnight UK time January 7th) and make sure to put BLOGGER CALL in the subject line.

Name: Blog/ YouTube title: Blog/ YouTube channel URL: Twitter: Goodreads: Tumblr: Preferred genres: Any other social media links or info: Review copy postal address:

The boring bits: We only send books to the UK, Ireland and Europe, so if you live outside these territories, send us a separate email and we will pass your details on to our distributors nearest to you. Any emails sent outside the specified date and time above won’t be counted. New additions to our list are made at our discretion. We won’t be able to get back to everyone, but if you’ve been chosen this time around you’ll automatically receive our next blogger update email.

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a shy girl

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‪#‎IntroducingWomanstanley‬

Isobel Harrop, illustrator and author of The Isobel Journal, will be joining us this year at ‪#‎Womanstanley2‬!

For the exhibition, Isobel will be creating a portrait of Jo from Shelagh Delaney’s 1958 play ‘A Taste of Honey’. The play is set in Salford and follows the story of Jo, a teen who struggles to find love in her bleak day-to-day life.

See more of Isobel’s work here: http://isobelharrop.tumblr.com/ http://www.wastingspacetime.blogspot.co.uk/ https://www.hotkeybooks.com/books/detail/the-isobel-journal

See Isobel’s portrait of Jo and many more fantastic works at Womanstanley2, Saturday 22nd August, Warrington Sports Club. Email womanstanley@gmail.com with your name for the door. £3 entry.

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I had a fun time at the Woman Stanley exhibition this afternoon!

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My piece (a portrait of Jo from A Taste of Honey) at Woman Stanley's Women of The North West exhibition at Warrington Sports Club. It's on all night if you want to go down and see some art and bands.

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If you're in Warrington tomorrow, come along to this!! I have done a portrait of Jo from A Taste of Honey. It's going to be a fun day!

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Selfie