I recommend going through all the I Can Has Cheezburger site, if you have time. If you don’t have time, then I recommend at least checking out the bucketlorn walrus storyline. If it does not make you giggle, then there is something very wrong with you.
Also, if you are a Star Trek (the good one) fan, check out LOLTrek, wherein everyone’s favorite episode, The Trouble with Tribbles, is LOLCatzed.
That is all. As you were, comrades!
3 3/4 x 5 1/2 inches
watercolor, gel pen, sea shell, button, brass brads, and paper boat on 90lb cold press watercolor paper
3 3/4 x 5 1/2 inches
acrylic, gel pen, button, brass brads, and paper boat on watercolor paper
I think there is some rule that it must start raining every time I begin to photograph artwork. So, these images are not good, but they’ll have to do for now.
From Frank James, blogging via the Chicago Tribune, on the hate crimes bill that just passed the Congress and the companion bill introduced to the Senate:
If you’re the sort of person who decides to pummel or kill someone because he’s of a different race, or transgendered, or walks with a limp due to a physical disability, are you really likely to be stopped because Congress put a federal law on the books making it easier for federal law enforcement officials to help local counterparts prosecute you?
We don’t have laws in order to deter potential criminals. That may be a desirable side-effect of laws, but the reason laws exist is so that
A) We all know which behaviors are socially acceptable and which are not, and
B) People who do things that society as a group deems unacceptable can be punished for their actions.
To argue that a law is unnecessary because people will just go ahead and break it, is ludicrous. People break laws all the time. That is in no small part why we have laws. If we were to employ Mr. James’ logic, we should get rid of them all, because they are just going to be broken, anyway.
Conservatives vigorously oppose the legislation because of what they say is the unequal treatment it would in the eyes of the law that would be afforded to some victims of crime versus others. For instance, the law could come down harder on someone who assaulted a gay man than someone who committed the same act against someone straight.
I suspect that very few straight men are threatened, beaten, or killed just for daring to be straight. When someone is attacked simply for being a member of a particular group, the violence is done to him or her in effigy. It is meant for the whole group; it is a form of terrorism.
Also, religious conservatives feared the new legislation could be used to criminalize a clergyman whose fire-and-brimstone against homosexuality might, inadvertently, spur a misguided believer to commit a hate crime.
Boo-fucking-hoo.
Was that load of excreta an example of what passes for journalism, or what passes for op-ed? Or is it a far right political blog flying under the Chicago Trib’s colors? I can’t tell, and that’s a huge problem. The line is so hopelessly blurred between journalism and opinion, that it’s no wonder people think that asswagons like Bill O’Reilly are actually journalists. Journalists, for fuck’s sake! What the hell is wrong with people? And when you have on-line news agencies embedding blogs in their websites, it just gets hopelessly muddled.
They’re like the Energizer bunny. It’s Menu Foods again, only this time, it’s foods that do not contain gluten. The company is claiming that it’s a cross-contamination problem, but after ANI’s little stunt with adding gluten to products that were not supposed to contain it, I can’t help but be a bit cynical.
Anyway, if you have a pet, you really need to keep on top of this. Itchmo and the Pet Connection blog are both good sources of information. I’d recommend keeping an eye on the FDA’s website, too, but keep in mind that they are not updating in a timely fashion.
We had a visitor last night! A young adult raccoon ambled onto my patio while I was making supper. I think he must have smelled the cooking food, and was investigating his chances of getting in on the action. It was too dark to get a photo of him through the window, and there’s no way I was going to go outside with him there, so you’ll have to take my word for it.
Raccoons are crazy cute, but the possibility of them carrying diseases–like rabies–is too high to risk contact with them. Also, they can be very aggressive. This little guy was awfully brazen. He came right up to the patio window, where Harriet was doing her best Cujo impersonation. She was literally throwing herself at the glass. Not very smart of the raccoon to stick around, which makes me even more leery of him. Rabies is a neurological disease, and one symptom is the inability to properly gauge danger. Rabid animals do stupid things, like attack critters much bigger and meaner than themselves.
Supper, by the way, included fried tofu. It is most tasty. I’m not a big fan of tofu (the texture, it doth offend!), but I do like it sliced very thinly and either Shake-n-Baked or dipped in a mixture of about 2 parts soy sauce, one part water, and a few drops of worcestershire sauce, sprinkled with garlic and onion powder, then fried in olive oil. It gets crispy and leathery, which is much preferable to mushy and chalky.
I don’t think I shared this one. If I have, please to be excusing the redundancy!
I really, really needed a laugh this morning, and it did not disappoint.
Miss Brown with Mr. Fishy Fish, mere moments before his sudden and tragic demise. RIP, Mr. Fishy Fish.
I’m getting ready to sell off a bunch of my work. Mostly unframed pieces on paper. Larger pieces are approximately 11 x 15 inches, and I’m thinking $30-$50 for most of them. Smaller pieces would be less, obviously. I’ve got some little pieces that will be around $10, so there will be a broad range of prices.
Most of these are mixed media, with a combination of paint (oils or acrylics), oil pastels, collage, and found objects. All are one of a kind. Most are on really good paper, but some are on recycled paper. The recycled paper is good quality art paper, but I think it would be fair to reduce the price on those a bit.
I’m also thinking of letting go of some handmade books, mostly blanks, but there are a couple of finished books, too. Finished books are more labor intensive than paintings, though, so I’m not sure what to charge for them yet. I’ll have to think about that. Blank books will probably be in the $25-30 range, depending on what they’re made of. Smaller ones will be a little less–the materials are less costly, but making them is every bit as labor intensive as making larger books.
My plan is to put everything up on Etsy and get a PayPal account sorted out at the end of the week (Friday, if I can manage it). Until then, if anyone here would like to purchase anything by check, let me know by e-mail. I’ll pre-sell things here for a little less than I will through Etsy. Feel free to make me an offer! For pre-sales, I’m willing to mail things out as soon as I have a check in my hands.
Pretty much anything that is not a journal and is not super big or on canvas is for sale. If you live locally and there are pieces that are big or are on canvas that you are interested in, let me know, and we can definitely work something out. I just don’t want to try to ship large stuff, because of the packing and cost involved.
Balancing Equations Journal, front
9 1/2 x 6 inches
collage (altered Polaroid, fragments from algebra book and dictionary, anatomical illustration, old dress patterns)
The paper bag journal has a name, now. Also, a front cover. The covers were made from recycled backs from old spiral-bound notebooks. On one of them, I’d written a bunch of figures while balancing my checkbook. I glued dress patterns over most of the numbers, partially obscuring them, but I kept the “Balance.
I really like the way the hemp cord looks, woven through the holes in the covers. I’ve left the ends long and dangling for now, and will probably attach something to the ends. Little brass or copper cow bells, maybe, but that’ll have to wait until I’m finished filling the book, because the noise might drive me nuts.
Top and Spine Detail
9 1/4 x 6 inches
brown paper grocery bags Coptic bound with waxed linen thread, 10 signatures of 2 leaves (40 pages)
