The big news this month for romance fans is the announced ending of the venerable Brenda Starr newspaper comic strip on January 2. Who is Brenda Starr? Only the most glamorous, the most daring, the most romantic newspaper reporter ever (yes, even more so than Lois Lane). Brenda Starr had beautiful red hair, clothes to … Read more
People often make the mistake of thinking that modern women, women who have their own money and access to all possible consumer goods, do not want to receive the classic romantic tokens of affection. These people are wrong. We want you to send us flowers, and bring us little presents (and big ones, too), and … Read more
There is a reason why we say self-published books look amateurish. I can recognize one of them at forty paces, and I always cringe when I see that the authors are terribly proud of their covers. They do not understand book cover design at all. Recently, I met someone who has a firm grasp of … Read more
Chilean born artist, Italo Alberto Ahumada is an architect by profession and has studied both drawing and painting. In 2004, he began to collaborate on independent comic strip publications and gradually moved into graphic and plastic arts. Currently, Italo has many diverse projects in publishing, advertising illustration, painting and sculpture. Arrow: Italo, thank you so … Read more
We see here the totally hot Old Spice Man, Isaiah Mustafa, the actor in those clever commercials that have now reached in the double-digit millions on YouTube. You know them: “Look at your man, now back to me. Now back at your man. Now back to me.” Aside from being hilarious, these commercials also are … Read more
Have you ever worn a tiara? A generation of women today have, after several generations who thought them excessively formal and over the top. True to the Disney princess manner in which young girls are being raised in the U.S. today, many if not all of the recent crops of little girls have at one … Read more
Are you? Addicted to love, wanting to live in the world of romance every day? In the world of romance, problems may be huge, but there is always a strong, competent hero to solve them. Maybe he’ll cut through all opposition with a Scottish claymore. Maybe he’ll pierce his opponent with the brilliantly executed thrust … Read more
Have you ever read the “Missed Connections” ads in a newspaper or online zine—or even on Craigslist? In these ads, lonesome singles (well, we hope they’re single, anyway) describe seeing someone in a public place and not having the nerve to approach the attractive stranger. Or having approached and said a few impersonal words, not … Read more
This publicity photo of singer Gogi Grant catches the lady in an unfamiliar pose, looking like a major beauty. In real life, she didn’t lead with her beauty; she had a wonderful singing voice, and the high point of her career was her hit recording of the song, “The Wayward Wind.” She then did the … Read more
I read a blog recently—one of many that discuss this idea—that compared Mr. Darcy (of Pride and Prejudice) and Heathcliff (of Wuthering Heights). Of course Darcy won, but most of the comments on the blog suggest that we are strongly influenced by the movie representations of these characters, to the point of ignoring what the … Read more
