the ghost who walks.

Just discovered awesome Karen Elson and her beautiful song "The Ghost Who Walks". Download her song for free here.

creepy australian wild things, part 4.

I guess Indiana Jones and I are in this together. I really fucking hate snakes. I can't even stand looking at a picture of one, so here's a picture of places to stay away from while travelling in Australia.

The Inland Taipan (Oxyuranus microlepidotus), also known as the Small Scaled Snake or Fierce Snake, is native to Australia and is the most venomous land snake on Earth. Its venom is 200-400 times more toxic than most rattlesnakes and 50 times as toxic as a cobra. The Inland Taipan has neurotoxic venom that could potentially kill an adult human in 45 minutes. There have been no documented human fatalities; bites were treated using antivenom. The Inland Taipan is dark tan, ranging from a rich, dark hue to a brownish olive-green, depending on season. It lives in holes and feed on small rodents such as mice and rats.

If there was ever a such a thing as a snake concentration camp, I'd be more than happy to vote yes for a political party that made it happen. Something tells me that the Green Party wouldn't do it... Damn!

creepy australian wild things, part 3.

Irukandji jellyfish are tiny and extremely venomous jellyfish which cause symptoms collectively known as Irukandji syndrome. These jellyfish are very small, with a bell about one centimeter wide and four tentacles, which range in length from just a few centimeters to up to 35 cm in length. Irukandji syndrome is produced by a very small amount of venom and includes severe pains at various parts of the body; typically excruciating muscle cramps in the arms and legs, severe pain in the back and kidneys, a burning sensation of the skin and face; headaches, nausea, restlessness, sweating, vomiting, high heart rate and blood pressure, and psychological phenomena (such as the feeling of impending death). The symptoms may last from hours to several days. Irukandji are usually found near the coast, attracted by the warmer water, but blooms have been seen as far as five kilometres offshore. When properly treated, a single sting is normally not fatal, but two people in Australia are believed to have died from Irukandji stings in 2002. Each year, varying numbers of people are stung - from only a few to more than 200 people.

creepy australian wild things, part 2.

Sydney funnel-web spider, Atrax robustus, is usually found within a 100 km radius of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The spider can be very aggressive when provoked. They are attracted to water and hence are often found in swimming pools where they have fallen while wandering. These spiders typically deliver a full envenomation when they bite, often striking repeatedly, due to their aggressiveness and large chitinous cheliceral fangs. Chances of being bitten are high if encountered. There is at least one recorded case of a small child dying within 15 minutes of a bite from a Sydney funnel-web spider; that event occurred before the development of an antivenom. Since the antivenom was developed in 1981, there have been no recorded fatalities due to this species. It is also known that because of their large fangs, the victim has to pull the spider from the area of insertion. They will not detach if you shake that area.

creepy australian wild things, part 1.

The great white shark, Carcharodon carcharias, can be found in coastal surface waters in all major oceans. It can get bigger than 6 meters and weigh over 2000 kilos. The lifespan is 30 to over 100 years and it eats everything from fish, sea lions, dolphins and naive little tourists.

new.

As you can see on this blog, I've decided to go through some changes of looks online. So has my web portfolio. It took me a while, but now it's finally finished and I'm very happy with the outcome. Have a look!

the next ice age is here.

And I'm not talking lame kid's movies of flying squerells and boring mamoths, we're talking full on real ice age here. Just have a look at these photos from outside my window and in our backyard - it's crazy! I've never seen anything like it! And the wheather people on the news tells us more snow is coming. Definitely another ice age. For sure.

the rare days.

I still dream about Glasgow and in those dreams I meet old friends, who I warn about the city. I beg them to get out of there, because the dampness, the cold, the rain and the horrible horrible smell is not something temporary. That is Glasgow. And it sucks. See for yourself...

naive observations.

Lately all I feel is naive. But I find comfort in the fact that I've been much worse. Just have a look at this amazing little book that I used to collect awesome thoughts in, such as "why does the ticket have to remind me I'm Adult and Single?", "can you get high from taking a shower?" or "my feet smell like a wet dog". Awesome.

freaky kids program?

Most people who grew up in Sweden during the 90's has probably seen this show called Ika i Rutan. Most people who saw it as a kid also says that this intro scared the crap out of them, along with pretty much the entire content of the show. And yeah, I have to admit that it's pretty fucked up and creepy. The dancing kangeroo-thing with the hat especially. But then there's something slightly appealing about this program, maybe the music, it's pretty funky. It sounds a little like The Knife.

i'm going to where the wild things are...

I've been getting used to saying goodbye a lot during the last 6 months. And soon I'm about to do it again. This time I'm going as far away as I've ever been. I'm off to where the wild things are. Which basically is Australia for 2 reasons; 1. The movie Where The Wild Things Are were actually shot there. 2. The most dangerous and exceptional animals in the world lives there, making Australia quite literally where the wild things are. Well, these are not the reasons to why I'm going there, I could definitely live without venomous snakes. The reason why I'm going to Australia is basically because I need some new adventures and this is the last unconquered continent I haven't been to. I will continue doing creative stuff, even more than I am right now, while getting work experience with other design folks. Be sure that the posts here will be filled with inspiration and action. At the moment I still have a few weeks left in Sweden, so if you know somebody in Australia or have links to talented people down under, please feel free to drop me a few lines: stina@stingosaurus.com

sketchi-sketchi...

More updates on the sketchbook front. These ones are 1. Flowers Ribbon 2. Nineteen Twentythree 3. Pop Culture 4. Home Improvement. All are of course available at the Etsy webshop, where you also can read more about them.

a bit of nostalgia #2.

Let's move forward in time and discover the next lesson in my musical developement. These guys are probably seriously hated by tons of people. Let me just tell you that I'm not one of them. I was 11 and heard this song on the Swedish pop chart program Voxpop. It was just before the summer holidays between 4th and 5th grade, the summer of exceptional heat and warming sun, and it was just like something clicked. I never had a crush on Taylor (I probably agreed with eveyone that they all did look like girls) but I did have a massive crush on this song. On our family's roadtrip to France that summer I listened patiently for the song to appear on the radio. And each time it did it was like every cell in my body wanted to smile. I think I fell in love with music from here on. I abandoned my anti-CD attitude (what the hell was so wrong with tapes?) and bought a CD player so that I could buy "Middle of Nowhere". The album smelled sweet and wonderful (not even today have I owned an album smelling so significant). I spent ours reading the lyrics, dreaming away in every song. I wished I was part of Hanson. Every day after school I came home to listen to the album over and over, pretending to play piano while I was doing my homework. It was too bad I was given the wrong musical instrument to play back then, I would probably have rocked my socks off if I had played guitar, keyboard or drums.

a bit of nostalgia.

Being home often hits me with funny, familiar, embarrassing and sometimes really cheesy memories. I guess you call that nostalgia. Today I've had this song on my mind, it's like an anthem of Stina, 6 years old. Me and my friend used to dance to this song and we knew all the awesome moves. I was the girl to the right, the one with the stairy oh-i'm-so-sexy eyes, basically because her name was Susie and my name started with the same letter. My friend was Lili, because her name started with the same letter. So convinient and perfect. Such awesome song too, even though I don't really know what it's about. I was told as a child that it was about a mother who was blind and deaf and that was why they had to "ring the bell". I was so missled... if anyone could tell me what the lyrics really mean, like in a good context that makes sense, please enlighten me!

re by stingo - now on etsy.

This is one of my latest sketchbooks, which has a cover made from wallpaper. As usual, much much more is still to come. But the big news today is that Re by Stingo can now be found on Etsy! Just click here and see all the sketchbooks I have available for sale and buy them all now, before someone else does!

hooray for work space.

The snow outside is 2 feet deep, so both me an my cats stays indoors a lot. Yeah, I know, I talk about those cats all the time, but what can you do when they're so darn cute! For one thing they don't give me much work space, because they need to be close for cuddles. That is just so fucking adorable I really don't mind having them laying across my keyboard making my typing look LIKE THIS !""##€#.