Little Fireworks

New Address!

cocteaujoanna — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 09:29:22 +0000

Oops, have moved a little!

My blog is now at: www.littlefireworks.com

It’s still pretty much the same so if it seems like I haven’t been updating, I’m sorry, please go to the address above!

Cute Snacks!

cocteaujoanna — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 13:27:01 +0000

Special Tanabata/Hanabi (Star Festival/Fireworks!) chocolate Koala snacks! Cute cute! Also Care Bear sweets. I don’t even really like the Care Bears but I like Grumpy Bear’s expression on this packet! So sad, so yearning. I see myself in him… I see myself in a cartoon bear, oh dear.

Can you tell I like grumpy things..? :)

Frisk Fresh

cocteaujoanna — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 11:25:56 +0000

Hello! Here are some mints! I know, this should be a Cutest Characters update and it’s coming! Honest! But in the meantime, here is something else that’s cute, a teeny mini Frisk phone strap! Do you know what the shop assistant said when I got this in 7/11? She said “Kawaii!!” Of course she did! ‘Cause it is! It’s so small. I sure do love tiny miniature versions of things :)

Cute!

Cute Snacks!

cocteaujoanna — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 15:57:57 +0000

Some more cute snacks and by chance, it’s Moomin snacks again! A great new food shop has opened up nearby and I couldn’t resist these! So yummy and nostalgia inducing! Cocoa and milk, I’ve never had the cocoa ones before, exciting! Moomintroll is excited too, look!

Cutest Characters: One I made up!

cocteaujoanna — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 12:17:02 +0000

Hello! Yes I am cheating! This feature is meant to be about characters that actually exist but it’s hot and I’m tired and confused and I can’t seem to pick one! And so…here’s a picture I drew earlier. It’s me, dreaming of things I’d rather be doing than sitting at a desk, feeling hot. It’s still cute so…it counts, right??!

Summer Dreams

Cute Snacks!

cocteaujoanna — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 15:06:22 +0000

Apologies for the poor quality photos! These Moomin snacks were available in Lawson a little while ago and I bought a lot of them because they remind me of the Moomin biscuits I used to eat when I was little. Each box contains a packet of biscuits and a little Moomin figure. On a thimble. I don’t know why.

I LOVE the Moomins :)

Cutest Characters: Mameshiba

cocteaujoanna — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 12:38:59 +0000

Mameshiba is a bean. A little dog bean thing. Or sometimes, a nut. There are lots of different ones: edamame, peanut, pistachio, azuki bean, jelly bean etc. It’s hard to explain, take a look:

Grumpy rabbit Mameshiba and a Babyshiba

Hm?

You can buy quite a lot of Mameshiba goods, keyrings, plushes, stationery etc. I really rather like the seasonal ones you can get in UFO catchers. At Christmas they had Mameshiba reindeer and in January, Mameshiba rabbits (year of the rabbit). He also appears in one of my favourite magazines,’ ねーねー: Cutest Character Magazine’.

Cute character magazine!

Mameshiba cartoon

Free gift!

And as if all this wasn’t cute enough, he’s also the star of some really rather adorable little short clips where he pops up and recites a little piece of trivia. Here’s one (with English text):

Cute!

Here’s another!

So you see, Mameshiba is awfully cute :)

(I wish magical little beans would pop up and talk to me when I’ve had to much to drink!)

Cute Snacks!

cocteaujoanna — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 15:02:51 +0000

Yes, yes this should have been posted yesterday BUT I fell asleep! I’m sorry! It was hot and it made me sleepy. Like a cat. Sooo, here are some cute snacks!

The bottle cap was on a bottle of mugi cha (barley tea), haven’t tried the Kit Kat yet. Why the ‘bitter’ trend? Bitter chocolate/caramel frappucinos at Starbucks, non-sweet Pepsi..? OK, the bitter chocolate frappucino is yummy. Can’t comment on the Pepsi, I don’t like Pepsi much! You know what is yummy? Easter Party ice cream! I haven’t been to Baskin Robbins since April and they still have this ice cream. So I bought some, yay! I think I like it ’cause it looks like the product of some deranged, sugar-crazed child’s imagination ;P

Fade into you…

cocteaujoanna — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 10:52:59 +0000

…I think it’s strange you never knew.

Cutest Characters: Bagpuss

cocteaujoanna — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 16:19:49 +0000

Time for the second edition of Cutest Characters. I’ll be doing these updates on Wednesdays instead of Fridays. (Yes, I know it says posted June 9th but I started writing before midnight! Aaaah!)

I’m writing about another cat character! Bagpuss, oh Bagpuss.

Bagpuss in Akiba

Bagpuss is a character from an old childrens TV show first shown in 1974 and created by Peter Firmin and the very wonderful and sadly deceased Oliver Postgate. So this was a show that was quite old by the time I was born but it must have still been shown on TV I think as I do remember watching it (along with other Smallfilms shows like the Clangers, Noggin the Nog and Ivor the Engine).

The premise is that Bagpuss belongs to a little girl called Emily, who owns a strange shop full of lost, broken things waiting to be reclaimed by their owners. Why am I telling you this when I can show you!

“Bagpuss, dear Bagpuss

Old fat furry Catpuss

Wake up and look at this thing that I bring

Wake up, be bright, be golden and light

Bagpuss, oh hear what I sing.”

The episodes always begin with a new object being brought to the shop and the regular inhabitants trying to figure out what it is. The mice usually try to fix it, Professor Yaffle figures out what it is and then one of the characters gets inspired and tells a story which is told through a little animation. It’s all quite dreamy and very nice to watch when you’re trying to get to sleep.

Bagpuss in Shibuya

Although Bagpuss is definitely a part of my childhood my current obsession with him really began two Christmases ago when I received a little Bagpuss toy from my Mum. There are a lot of Bagpuss toys out there and some of them are, well, hideous. This one is different. He’s small and fluffy but not soft and has the most mournful expression on his face. I was more excited about this present than, well, just about anything else! I was so taken that I started taking lots of photos of him. The more fun the location the better it is because he always looks sad no matter what angle the picture is taken from. I’ve taken pictures of him looking sad in cherry blossom trees, next to sweets and drinks, at Summer Sonic, next to the Glico man etc. etc. Bagpuss remains unimpressed and this is why I love him. I have a tumblr ‘The Exciting Life of Bagpuss’ which I’ve only recently started updating again where I post pictures of Bagpuss looking mournful next to things. I have quite a large backlog of photos to post.

Have a look! And follow me!

http://bagpuss.tumblr.com/

What's happening?

So to conclude, here’s the little verse from the end of the programme:

“And of course, when Bagpuss goes to sleep,

All his friends go to sleep too.

The mice were ornaments on the mouse organ.

Gabriel and Madeleine were just dolls.

Professor Yaffle was a carved, wooden bookend in the shape of a woodpecker.

Even Bagpuss himself, once he was asleep, was just an old, saggy cloth cat,

Baggy, and a bit loose at the seams,

But Emily loved him.”

And I love him too.

I heart Bagpuss

Bagpuss Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagpuss

Bagpuss Shop: http://www.bagpussshop.co.uk/