Friday, December 31, 2010

Random Word Generated Fridays: Clearing

This Week's Word: Clearing

What an oddly appropriate word for today. I have been meaning to tackle the ever-growing-mess that I call a domicile for about a month now. I never fully unpacked after moving in, so the mess is lined with boxes, packages and suitcases filled with things I was convinced I could not live without two months ago. This provides a sort of lining, the second layer in is made of mostly important papers that I mean to file because they might be important.Or, you know, fliers and coupons that expired three years ago. In the gooey center is bedding and art supplies, because instead of cleaning or unpacking or doing anything I prefer to sit in the middle of everything I own (which is all on the floor) and make art while huddled under a blanket. Why? Because I'm awesome like that.

I have decided that one of my problems is I just have way too much stuff. This is because I am in a transition period between child and adulthood. I know you're thinking this is supposed to happen in our teenage years, but I don't think we ever quite get there in college, it is not until we enter the work force full time that we begin to realize that we are never actually are going to pick up the guitar at this point in our lives or learn German or knit our own wardrobes out of yarn we spun ourselves (that's just me? okay then.) I still have all the things for those crafts though (well, I don't have a guitar). I've realized that as an adult, I need to really stream line my hobbies because now it's a trade off game, if I want to make art I can't sew my own wardrobe, if I want to maintain a blog then I can't learn another language, if I want to play video games I'm probably not going to be making my own furniture. My first thing I need to do is say a mournful good-bye to all the might-have-beens I have dreamed up and started on over the years and get rid of them. I need to prioritize my time and space for the things I really want to dedicate myself to and pursue.

Another one of my problems is I don't make use of storage space. I tend not to put things in cupboards or boxes because if I can't see it, I will forget about it. This is how I end up with six sticks of deodorant and three tubes of toothpaste. I am apparently a very visual person and I have to be able to see and touch everything. My few forays into the use of cabinets and boxes has never ended well. Either the cupboard ends up open all the time with stuff spilling out of it or I end up with canned tuna of questionable origin and age. This is also why I love shelves, they make my messes legitimate because they are vertical instead of horizontal and I can still see it.

Unpacking has been taking so long because I now have this thing called "space." In my last apartment, the places things went was largely determined by where they fit, most things larger than a shoe box only fit in one place, so that is where they belonged. Now I have enough room and enough rooms that I can put anything anywhere I want to and apparently that much freedom is too much for me to handle. My parents got me a drawing desk for my graduation present, which had been sitting in the trunk of my car and now on my porch for about two months now because I couldn't decide where to put it.

But these things are the troubles of the past! For New Years I am clearing out my "dining" room and converting it into a studio. It will be marvelous, if only because I'm hoping by the time the sun dawns on 2011 I'll be able be able to walk through that room and not bounce about like a frantic deer trying to land on all the clear patches of floor space. I'll try to post an "after" picture Saturday or Sunday (depending on how long this project takes me). I'd post a "before" one, but honestly, I think my parents have lost enough faith in me for one holiday. There are cleaner rooms in the rubble of a demolished building.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Random Word Generated Friday: Arm

Random Word: Arm

Where does a General keep his armies? Up his sleevies!

I think my upbringing has conditioned me to automatically think of the worst pun possible for any given situation. It's like a genetic disease of the cognitive process because my father and brother do it too, despite my mother's desperate attempts to teach us otherwise.

What do you call an orangutan police officer? The long arms of the law!

See what I mean? It's almost involuntary.

Why did the man make a jacket out of baby-doll limbs? He wanted a coat of arms!

Oh my gosh. That was terrible. I am so sorry. I am calling this post short on account of puns. Please go about your business.

Arm-a-gettin'-outta here.

Ah! I can't stop it! Save yourselves! Click away! Click away!

Monday, December 13, 2010

New Artist Crush Monday: Tom Siddell

Art by Tom Siddell

Tom Siddell is a artist who writes and draws a webcomic titled "Gunnerkrigg Court" following the adventures of a young girl through her years at a fantastic boarding school. His unique drawing style and treatment of female characters keeps me coming back thrice a week.

Other than that, there isn't much I have to say about him because he has managed to keep it about the art. A trait I admire and wish I could emulate, but I have too much to say I guess.

Link!
http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/index2.php

*Edit 1/4/11*
I recently was directed to Mr. Siddell's DA site: http://tea-san.deviantart.com/

Friday, December 10, 2010

Random Word Generated Friday: Bubble

Random Word: Bubble


Bubbles: Proof nature is as lazy as I am.

Bubbles will always find the smallest surface area between points and ledges. Science says this is because they are interesting and excellent  tools for discovering things like mean curvatures of zero or minimal surface. I know that it is because bubbles are lazy, possibly to the point of being anti-lazy (a state in which your efforts at being lazy are actually greater than just doing a task).

This laziness is why bubbles are spheres, because as anyone who managed to pass their middle school geometry class knows, a sphere is the smallest possible surface area for a given volume. Bubbles can't be bothered to do more than the bare minimum, which is why you will never see a dodecahedron or square, because, like doing the dishes, that would take effort.

Bubbles will only stick around if it's easy too. Soap causes bubbles to stabilize because it lowers the surface tension of water. This is explained by the Maragoni effect, in which liquid flows away from areas with low surface tension. Soap selectively re-enforces the weaker bits allowing the bubble to exist. Much like t.v. dinners re-enforce my cooking skills allowing me to exist.

When a bunch of bubbles get together, they like to sort themselves out so that only 3 bubble walls will meet along a line, so that the angles are 120 degrees, as this the most efficient method, which is why a little landscape of bubbles in the tub after a bath will look like a rainbow-y beehive. This is like me folding my socks so more fit in the drawer, so I have to do laundry less often.

In conclusion: Things that are efficient are usually just being lazy.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

#30

Post # 30 in a row! YEEEEAH. This is officially the thing I have stuck with longest when the only motivating factor is my self-discipline.

What I've learned:
This is also probably the last journal-style post I'll be making for awhile. I'm going to go out and do something interesting first and come back to tell you about it. Maybe with pictures. Likely at least once a month.

I will be continuing with the New Artist Crush Mondays and Random Word Generated Friday posts. One gives me a chance to blather on about art, which I like doing, and the other is a very good writing exercise I'd like to keep up since I'm doing a lot of writing for work.

Added to that, if I can get the equipment together, I might throw in a personal art day with a post relating to whatever art project I'm working on. Probably Wednesdays. I'm hoping this will give me a reason to make time for continuing my art and building my artist career.

I'm also considering a video game related post and "Tales from the Nursery" since 4 year olds do something interesting every week, but I think we will wait to see how the personal art days work out first.

Art, creative writing, fashion, video games and children with the occasional baking obsession. I don't know if I lack focus or just need to create a new niche for myself. I don't know of a moniker that covers all of those interests. Guess I'll just have to stick with nerd.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

This is all your fault.

This is your Fault.
I have been e-mailing with a fellow nerd and the discussion eventually wrapped around to programming on SyFy and its surplus of "Paranormal-Activity Finders" programming and how much reality television is ruining everything we like and that "SyFy" is a stupid name.

I think the largest dis-credit to the insert-paranormal-belief-is-real-here shows is that they are airing on a channel called "Science Fiction" But I can't blame the channel for their programming really because they have discovered a way to make maximum amount of money with minimum amount of effort.

You're the reason this is is off-air

Gone are the days of Saturday Japanime and MST3K, cheesy b-movies from decades ago and Twilight Zone marathons. I think it's a sign of the times and the changing role of television though, it used to be that watching the Sci-Fi channel used to be the only way you could do those things, but now you can watch all the over-the-top anime you want thanks to fan-subs and rent entire seasons of every t.v. show ever made. People don't need a dedicated channel to do these things for them anymore and often prefer not to.

Since most of their business model was built on non-original content, when that content became available through other means it's left them scrambling to find a new way to make money and reality television is the easiest and cost-effective way to fill the gap. It's easy to critique, but my choices as a consumer is what helped make the SyFy (may the marketing department that came up with that name dye yn a fyre) channel what it is today.

What surprises me is that people don't realize that. Television as it is now, is dying off slowly but surely. People are loving being able to watch what they want when they want, without commercials. Most of my friends "don't watch t.v." but can discuss the latest gag on Family Guy because they have the internet. The way we consume our media is in transition. Television programs as we know them seem to be at a great risk to phase out of existence, like radio programming before it. In my opinion, what is on t.v. now are the last gasps of a dying medium, which are never pretty.

Internet killed the T.V. Star

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

I am my own worst Influence

Something I have noticed over the years as I go through periods of isolation and being surrounded by people is that I am my own worst influence. When I spend too much time alone is when I start swearing and plotting global domination.

I also apparently start thinking I have super powers, and thanks to what is probably a large dose of mind-over-matter, start developing them.

For instance, today in the gallery I set myself to the task of finishing the winter re-arrangement. One artist has been a particular problem in work placement because they gave me two 4' x 4' paintings, which isn't normally a big deal, but they have a 6" frame (making them 5' x 5', only 5" shorter than me) and really really heavy since the paintings are on board instead of canvas. Really heavy and awkward to move since they require their own special wiring system to support all the weight.

Vertin Gallery has a system of free floating walls to maximize the use of the space for paintings, which are 4' wide (already I'm sure you're noticing the problem) and they are our sturdiest walls because the walls of the building are over 100 years old and made of plaster with studs that are where ever they feel like being at the moment and never anywhere convenient (and only gets weirder as you go up since the 3rd and 4th floors were added 20 years later). They don't fit on the sturdy walls though, they can only go on the plaster walls with some crazy screwiness. Of the plaster wall space, there is still very little room since the 1st floor has been remolded/re purposed a few times.

Now, I could call our handy man to come over and help me move this monstrosity of a painting all over the gallery until we find a place that works, but no. Because I have been living alone I am to stupid/convinced of my own super human strength to do this and lug this giant painting that is just ever-so-slightly wider than my arm span until I find a spot for it.

Then I decided it needed what is probably the 2nd largest and heaviest painting to go next to it, which due to the fact it had previously been positioned on the stairwell I ended up carrying by the lower corner and over my head. I imagine I looked not unlike an ant carrying a leaf larger than it and was glad no one came in the gallery until 4:30 because I would have looked really silly.

Like this, but instead of a car, art and instead of Superman, a 5'5" girl in a skirt and heels.
The lesson I took away from this is that tomorrow I will be calling the handy man to help actually hang the paintings.

The lesson you should take away from this if you're an artist is that people are much more likely to buy your work if they can fit it in their car and/or shipping it won't cost more than the painting itself.

Monday, December 6, 2010

New Artist Crush Monday: George Desort

The DVD cover to the film by George Desort

George Desort is a film maker in Illinois who's most widespread work is "Fortunate Wilderness: The Wolf and Moose Study of Isle Royale" which airs on PBS now and again. Currently he has a video instillation at Vertin Gallery called "Faces" for the "Weathering The Storm" group show going on this December.

Usually my artist crushes are related to the mediums I work in, this one however, shares subject matter. In this case, art about where I live. I thought it might also be nice to pick an artist for this week that some of you *cough*dad*cough* might relate too a little more.

Links!
http://www.youtube.com/user/gmdesort
http://vimeo.com/user1556409
http://www.fortunatewilderness.com/index.html

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Baths: Magic

Is there anything a bath can't fix or at least make better?

I came home from church today, tired, stressed, worn out and covered in half-masticated cooky and salami (woo! childcare. Better to be a serviette than a diaper I  guess) One hot bath later and I'm ready to re-attack my to-do list like I'd slept for a week.

I seriously almost broke down and cried because my video game avatar wasn't pretty enough, because obviously that matters so much in a single-player game. It was a low point. 

It's been a long week of working hard and having almost nothing to show for it. A much depleted bank account for paying the bills and student loan, only slightly more carpet space while re-arranging  the duplex and getting rid of things, slightly less hair and an immaculate digital inventory list from corralling, cajoling and otherwise herding artists. But nothing I can take a picture of and be like "look here! See what I did. I am a productive member of society." Which is really the hardest part of last week.

But a hot bath and a 20 minute power-nap goes a long way to making it worthwhile.

Needless to say, I'm looking forward to this week, and a blissfully-holiday free January.

Hears to you're accomplishments, large or small, significant and only noticeable by you. May you do everything you wanted to and be invigorated after. Or greeted by steamy bubbles.

(And to any character design artists out there: While I appreciate your dedication to realism and realistic representations of the female form in media, I do not want to be reminded of the extra 15 pounds I've been trying to loose since I became aware of what the "accepted" look for a girl's body should be somewhere in my fragile teen years. I know on an intellectual level that the examples established by magazines and Hollywood are outliers on a scale of female body shapes, but you try telling your uterus anything certain weeks of the year. Really. I'm trying to escape reality, give the avatar the super power of eating all the chocolate-chip cooky dough she wants without having to run for a league afterward. Best super power ever.)

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Random Word Generated Fridays

Special Saturday Edition!

Random Word: Bottle

This represents an epiphany for me.

I do a disproportionate amount of thinking about bottles compared to the average person. My obsession with them is this: People don't buy bottles. Yes, we get bottles when we make a purchase, but the reason for our purchase is usually the contents of the bottle. Not the bottle itself.

The bottle portion of a purchase is probably the least desirable bit, but so much effort goes into it. Say you invent the most delicious spaghetti sauce ever and go into business selling it. You are now in the market for bottles. You'd probably start with a designer who would give you a look for you bottle and label to help make your spaghetti sauce appealing  to the consumer.

Then you would take your design to an engineer who would work out a way to make the bottle, and incorporate any design changes to make the bottle feasible.

You would then find a purchaser to buy all of the ingredients for your bottle (glass, dyes, metal for lids, etc)

Next is the factory workers, foreman and overseers who produce the bottle.

And then the shippers, truck drivers and processors who make sure your bottle(s) would get to the plant where you make your spaghetti sauce.

After all that effort, someone then buys your bottle and throws it away (or recycles it). That's not even counting janitorial staff, chemists and secretaries who may or may not be involved in the bottle making process.

All this effort and money being put into something that is ultimately unappreciated and gotten rid of. An entire section of our economy devoted to making trash. I find it almost unfathomable.

So I end up thinking about bottles a lot.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Breaking Update

I am postponing Random Word Generated Friday until Saturday.

The reason being, I just paid off my first student loan and if I didn't tell someone I'd burst.

Woo! Financial freedom is getting closer every paycheck.

I promise an awesome random word generated post tomorrow.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

I was once a Potterhead

So, once upon a time during a period of my life that I was in waaaaaaaay too much Harry Potter. As part of this deep path into the dork forest I was, of course, part of a community. We had rules about sorting into houses, what character we were most like, what our Patronus was and what animal we would turn into if we were animagi.

To get into a community you have to write an essay about who you are, what house you think you belong it, what house you don't belong in...etc...etc...etc. I wrote a 17 page epic (perhaps because I have never had to write a college entrance essay, despite attending 4 universities) and sat on pins and needles waiting for the results, which were determined by people already in the community voting for you and saying what house you should be in. I am, of course, a Hufflepuff. It was a very close race, even the Ravenclaws still wanted me after I said I didn't want to be one, and the Slytherins were mad because the were supposed to get all the Sarahs.

Once admitted, I went about submitting my essays for what character I was most like, Patronus, but the reason I am telling you this is because of what my animagus form is.

T-shirt design by bok for Threadless. I wear a size small, you know, in case you want to get your favorite blogger a Holiday Gift.
Somehow, amongst what were probably the most die-hard Potterheads on the internet I managed to write such a smashing essay about why my animagus form was a wampa that they agreed with me. The comments on that essay were the most hilarious anything I have ever written for the internet have ever received with various other Potterheads arguing among themselves as to if it was possible for the animagus form to be a fictional creature, alien and from Star Wars. I wish I had the forethought to have saved them, but alas, I did not.


Really, when you look at these posters, don't you think Harry Potter invites the cross-fan sharing?

The lesson here is there is enough room in a crazy  fan's heart for Harry Potter and Star Wars. And that when you think outside the box, when you get in a fight with a Ravenclaw and you go into your animagus forms, wampas pretty much crush everything. Also, to double check what you're saying because what I REALLY meant for that essay to be about was ton tons.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

RIP Screwdriver

My trusted friend
Tonight my screwdriver bit the big one when I took apart the camera lens I'd been fiddling with for a year.

You should see the other guy

Despite the catastrophic failure of my screwdriver, I did manage to get most of the parts out of the lens I wanted. I'm still fiddling around with some glass bits, but my meticulous destructive urges have been satisfied for the night.

Macro photos on the internet that aren't flowers or bugs?! Blasphemy!
The kicker is I have a couple of cabinets I need to but the hinges and doors back on. Oh well. Nothing a trip to the hardware store won't fix.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Post 21

We're on day 21 of my post-a-thon. I'm mildly proud of myself for being able to keep up a daily habit for this long. Hopefully I'll be able to apply this self-discipline to other areas of my life. Maybe. Kinda. Sorta...

*ahem*

MOVING ON.


 I was waiting to get my mom's reaction first by going home with a new hair color unannounced. I am now..well...not brunette anymore. In some people's minds I might actually qualify as a strawberry blonde. In my mind it is orange. Bright, blazing, I-should-know-better-than-to-dye-my-hair-when-I'm-tired orange.

Let that be a lesson to us all.

Monday, November 29, 2010

New Artist Crush Mondays: Mr. Pip

Laser Kitty by Mr. Pip

I found Mr. Pip when I was working on a project for digital imagery having to do with physics. Since then I have been following him on his DA site (http://mrpip.deviantart.com/). His work is sometimes dark, sometimes humorous and often nerdy. Because of the nature of DA some times we even talk (gleep!) and he often gives me his opinion on my work (when I'm updating my profile like a normal person). My favorite are his girls, who always look so wonderfully normal that you could see yourself meeting them on the street rather than in the pages of a magazine.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Road Trips

Things I have learned not to do in the car:

Not bring Coffee/caffine

Drink too much coffee/caffine

Forget CDs

Pretend to be Austrailian

Listen to the theme from Luke's trench run while driving alone on the Seney Stretch

Pretend the horn fires the lasers

Tell the person in the toll booth to "Live long and Prosper"

Also things not to say to toll booth personnel:

"Let the Force be with you." (Even if the opening credits theme is clearly playing on the radio)

"These are not the Droids you are looking for."

Also, the people in toll booths don't like it when you pay with a $2 bill, a dollar coin and a 50 cent piece

Never, under any circumstances, sing along with the "Spider-Man: Rock Reflections of a Hero" Cd. Never.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Caturday!

Hai guys! It's Caturday!








This post brought to you by icanhascheezburger.com and the bowels of the internet.

Quiet you.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Random Word Generated Friday

This Friday's Random Word: Liquid

I'm sitting here with my brother as I write this and he asked what today's word was.

"Liquid," I told him, "Somewhat ironic seeing as the last one was "Solid""

"Too bad it wasn't gas and doesn't have anything to do with gas." He replied.

"It does now." I said with a laugh.

"Hoo boy."

The reason he even brought it up was we went out earlier today to bust down the doors for Black Friday shopping at the crack of evening. We stopped for tacos at this Mexican place and got back in the car when I noticed something was off.

Being the neurotic person I can be at random intervals of total lack of sanity I started worrying I had forgotten something in the car and it was beginning to rot. Or maybe it was my breath. Or maybe that demon stench was just me, had I remembered to put on deodorant? What was my brother thinking about the smell? Did he notice it? Was he thinking I stank like the butt hole of Hell but too polite to mention anything? I realized I had to say something about the smell eventually. I was never very good at ignoring the elephant in the room, or in this case, the elephant sized gas cloud that seemed to envelope the inside of the car. How was he not noticing? Why wasn't he asking about that stink?

"The car smells weird." I said tentatively, this did not begin to cover the smell but I just wanted to begin discussion on the air quality of the car interior. Maybe some how this was not my fault.

"That's because I farted." My brother said casually. He could not understand why this statement was followed by 15 minutes of laughter.

I have the mentality of a neurotic gopher and the humor of a 3rd grade boy.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Pie Crust with Cheese

Delicious.
So we cut into the Pear and Smoked Gruyere pie today, and it was good enough I thought it warranted a recipe for the crust:

You'll need:
1 cup liquid measuring cup
1 teaspoon
1 Tablespoon
9" Pie dish
Rolling Pin
Fork or Pastry cutter
Large Mixing Bowl

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
3/4 Cup Cheese of your choice, grated
1/3 Cup Milk
1 Cup Butter flavored vegetable shortening (I prefer Crisco)

Combine the Vinegar and Milk, set aside (the longer this sits, the better)

Mix Flour and salt in mixing bowl, cut in vegetable shortening with fork or pastry cutter until mixture starts forming crumbs, keep going until there is no powder in the bowl

Add the liquid, mix with your hands or a fork (not the pastry cutter) until you get a marbled look in the dough

Divide the dough in half, set half aside.

Flour counter and roll out dough until the area of the dough is larger than the pie pan, you can either fold it in quarters or fold it over the rolling pin and place it in the pie pan, press dough into corners of the dish

Fill the pie dish with your selection of pie filling

Fold the cheese into the crust you set aside, roll out until it will cover the pie.

Getting the crust over the pie will be tricky as the cheese will hinder the dough's ability to hold together, but the beauty of this pie crust is that it's really hard to mess up, so don't hesitate to re-roll it out if your crust falls apart completely. (Never ever do this with any other pie crust recipe, even the vodka one, it is a serious no-no)

Pierce the crust with a knife and bake according to your recipe's instructions.

The possibilities are endless! Pear with Gruyere, Apple and Cheddar, Strawberry and Parmesan. It's a whole new world of pies to explore.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

So we make more pie...

In my family, the pie is the most important part of Thanksgiving. We love our pie, often substituting it for birthday cake and giving it a gifts to each other. Of course 3 pies weren't enough, mom, my brother and I made 3 more pies today. There are now 7 pies for tomorrow and 9 of us.

My mother, my brother, my grandma and I all use the same recipe for pie crust. I learned today that we do not make it the same way. I do not mix it as much as my counterparts because for a good deal of my life, I have been making pies in a muffin tin because it was the only thing I had to bake in. I didn't roll out my dough, I just pressed it into the cups. It makes it light and crispy because the flour fries in the fat when you bake it.

However, when you make a big, normal sized pie this way with thick crust around the edges to keep the mincemeat from boiling out like my mom did, the way I make pie dough causes it to melt off the edge. Slightly different then how my mom makes it.

I could tell she was disappointed about her pie so I grabbed my brother and we got whipping cream. Which, when you come from a pie loving family, makes everything better.

Pie Update: So Far So Good

Pumpkin, Strawberry and what I will call "The Creation" until further notice
Sorry for the late update, I was driving for 9 hours strait.

I finished baking the pies without too many more recipe alterations, at least nothing as the pears-for-grapes. Nothing set on fire, and I have a new idea for pear and raisin pie with brown sugar. I'll try to make Thursday's update reactions from my victims taste testers.

Ranger Brooke brandishes her dinosaur and guards
the pies as they get ready for the trip to my 'rents house.

Monday, November 22, 2010

New Artist Crush Mondays: Chic Steals

Quartz Point Crystal Cluster Ring
This week's Artist Crush is Carly J. Cais a Fashionable DIYer who writes her own blog Chic Steals studied film in college and has certificates in Animation and Animation Direction from a two year program in Japan. Currently she is challenging herself to wear 30 outfits in 30 days without repeating any clothing and always including something she made or DIY'd.

I first came across Chic Steals because I am addicted to DIY tutorials. I draw a lot of inspiration from Cais in my own wardrobe as I try to phase out my tweenage gear for something more adult, but still fashionable. Left to my own devices I would look like a gumball machine or a cartoon character. Possibly both.

Growing up in Japan, and making frequent trips back there I see a lot of Tokyo fashion influence in her style, while still having a foundation in Western fashion which, I think, gives her looks a unique fusion that to me is very cutting edge. Her tutorials are always clear and well written with helpful photos, so I get my DIY fix as well as my fashion fix.

I spend a lot of time window shopping in her etsy store: Carly j Cais

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Pie: To Fail or not to Fail?

Apparently not easy as.

Thanksgiving is this week and my mom had asked me what I could bring. Not being the most stellar of cooks (see the "set microwave on fire" incident), I offered to bring the one dish I feel I excel at: Pie. She said she already had enough pies.

In a conversation with my brother, he insisted that I should in fact, bring pie because there is never enough. Then he asked if I would make grape pie. I told him I could give it a shot.

After some internet research, I learned there are two kinds of grape pie: Concord grape and green grape. Since the only way to get your hands on Concord grapes is to know someone who grows them, I aimed for the green grape version, and failing that, raisin pie.

Except there will be no grape or raisin pie. Not that I've made anyway. Because I screwed up at the most basic level of recipe following: the grocery shopping level.

It's not that I didn't have them on the list, or that I forgot them. Instead, I walked by a display of pears and was like "Hey, how about pears instead? Yeah. That sounds like a good idea." Now, I've gone of course with recipes before, but usually not this early on in the game.

Not pictured: Grapes


This set off a sort of cascade failure in my shopping trip. Never having made pear pie before, or heard of it I started formulating a recipe in my head of how you might make a pear pie. That recipe includes apple cider vinegar and smoked gruyere cheese.

Fortunately, after returning home and doing some more internet  research, what I have in mind is not impossible and I was able to find some foundation recipes to build my monstrosity off of.

This may be why mom told me I didn't need to bring pie.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Half Life

Recently I purchased "Half-Life" from Steam, for the second time breaking what used to be my very firm "no first person shooter" rule on video games. 007 Golden Eye on the N64 was THE party game of my youth, my buddies and I would get together to shoot at each other on screen for hours. I quickly found though, that without peripheral vision, the way my eyes perceive are first person shooter is apparently code for motion sickness and instant migraines. And while puking on an opponents shoes is an effective diversion tactic, it is generally viewed as more of a multi-player faux pas than spawn camping or getting the golden gun.

Unacceptable party behavior.
What I have discovered since becoming more of a PC gamer than a console gamer is that being able to control the camera with a mouse rather than a joystick is like the difference between driving a car and driving an ox cart.

Or an Ox Car.
Instead of getting a view that is best likened to sticking the family's video camera in a hamster ball and then letting it go on Lombard Street, with a mouse I have the ability to control my camera view with something much less nauseating. (Although in reflection, my poor ability to use a joystick may explain my strategy in games. Not chess club though)

Since I did not pick up on the first person shooter wagon early there are some things I run into that really break the suspension of disbelief for me. For instance, Gordon Freeman (the protagonist) has no feet. I have been told that this is an accepted practice in FPS's, but I find myself contemplating it every time I have to jump.

And if he has no feet, why does he have to jump? Isn't he already hovering?
But the most disbelief-breaking thing for me is the way Gordon Freeman opens doors. Which is by running into them. Here I am, playing someone who is supposedly a theoretical physicist who has not yet mastered the art of the doorknob.

Effective for making an out, but not usually and accepted means of using doors.
I would be more forgiving of this aspect if it weren't for the elevators. Many games load you on to an elevator as a means to avoid load screens, which is an elegant method of not breaking the storytelling. Even if you're a top assassin in a building sent after a corrupt corporate man you still have to wait for the elevator.  Most games have you get on the elevator, and then off again. Sometimes you choose a floor. Valve took the extra step of including a button you have to push to make the lift move, while I question the position of some of these switches (on an open sided elevator, the switch is on the wall outside of it for instance), I appreciate the detail.

But why can't the doors have buttons? It's not impossible, you have the technology. Apply it.

I believe a perfect rebuttle for this rant is "You're a grown woman. Don't you have anything better to do on a Saturday night than complain about a game released 12 years ago?"

No. No I don't.

Solid

*Double post Saturday since my internet was being a poop head*

Friday's Random Word: Solid

First thing I thought of. I am a dork.
A friend of mine introduced me to the Metal Gear series via Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Which, while most people would say it was the worst game in the series, was totally awesome to someone who's previous game experience included killing Link in interesting and increasingly implausible ways and kamikaze missions on Rogue Squadron. (That would be me by the way)

I do not have an ounce of strategy in my body, as I have previously stated, my usual tactic is to be stronger and bludgeon my enemy to death with the nearest stick. (sadly, this is also my strategy in chess, making my stint in the chess club a short and bittersweet one). Metal Gear showed me that I do have one other talent however, I am a sneaky little ninja. I played through 3 times I was so fascinated by this new approach to game play. (I still can't make any sense of the storyline in that game though).

Which brings me to one of my favorite proverbs: Don't try harder, try smarter.

Metal Gear taught me that not every game had to be beaten by sheer force of will. This applies to a lot of problems actually. It's like a fly banging against a window until it dies of exhaustion or brain damage (do flies have brains or bundles of nerves?) when there's a door open two feet away. Sure, hard work and perseverance do pay off, but sometimes the solution is to be lazy. Think about it, a lazy man invented the washing machine and the dishwasher. He tried smarter, if he tried harder, well, I wouldn't be looking forward to Thanksgiving as much as I am right now. That's a lot of dishes.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Relationship Advice

If there is one thing I would recommend to everyone it is to write thank you notes. I started writing them with some regularity after I quite facebook. It was probably a combination of factors, the quitting facebook, graduating from college and receiving presents for it, and searching for a way to connect with other people since I didn't have the glue of classes holding my social life together anymore.

Since then I have found there is a certain enjoyment in writing a really good thank you note. It's almost like an addiction for me now, as soon as I get something or someone goes out of their way to do something nice for me I start thinking about writing them a thank you note. In my head I start composing the ways I'm going to tell them how much their thoughtfulness meant to me, writing and re-writing sentences until I finally have pen meet note.

I have found that this practice of meditatively thinking of others and what they have done for me makes me more aware of what someone else might feel like in a situation. I have developed a lot of empathy that I did not have before. I feel like I've become less selfish in the way I interact with people since I started the practice of writing thank you notes.

A thank you in person doesn't do it either. I think a really good thank you comes after the fact, it lets the person know that what they did went beyond the moment and that you think of them even when they're not there.

I now understand why my mother always made sure I received, amongst all my other gifts, a package of thank you notes. Even though the thank yous I wrote as a child may not have been as genuine as the ones I write now, they taught me to have that empathy I needed to initially start becoming aware of others feelings. We learn everything in our early development by first aping it and then understanding it, being forced to apologize to our siblings even when we don't mean it, or write our relatives thanking them for those truly horrible sweaters is what taught us to consider the feelings of others in our actions. I firmly believe that we have  to learn to be compassionate because we start out self-centered.

Of course, it could be argued that since saying thank you makes me feel so good it is selfish of me to continue to do so. Ah well. I still recommend taking the time, sitting down and writing a really good thank you note.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Text only about Images. Yesh.

Today marks the 7th day of continuous posting! Yay! Only 23 more to go. I think when I finish this I'll take it down to just 5 days a week. I don't think I'll have something interesting to say and/or do every day for the rest of my life (or the life of this blog). I needs me my boring time!

Tonight I'm going to be putting the finishing touches on some pictures I've been working on for a commission, one of which is the dog picture I posted the pencils of earlier.I've had since forever. I don't think I'm going to do anymore commissions after this, I really stink at getting them done in any kind of timely manner. People are just going to have to buy the art I make. I'll try and post some images of the completed work tomorrow*.

Once I finish the commission, I'm going to challenge myself to finish painting my bookshelf, followed by setting up my studio and starting a new painting series. Wooo. Responsibility. I'm developing it.

*Edit : Images! Yay! No one wants to read a book without pictures.

"Why yes, I would like a treat. How did you know?"

Yay! Colors!

Monday, November 15, 2010

New Artist Crush Mondays

I thought in my effort to post everyday for 30 days I'd start a feature I've been thinking about for awhile where I rave on about an artist I've found who inspires me. Mondays seemed as good a day as any to do this.

Today I thought I'd talk about Eric Fortune who works out of Columbus Ohio. He's an illustrator.

A Want to Believe by Eric Fortune


I think Stumble Upon was responsible for first introducing me to his work. I really liked it because it was something new. I had recently been flooded with images of "hauntingly beautiful" girls that were about as intellectually exciting to me as a wet paper towel. Fortune's images though, moved past creating an image of the perfect woman over and over again and explored different depths of emotion.

I think his work largely appeals to me because his characters seem like introverts. They are alone on his canvases and convey an expression of both loneliness and contentment. To me what makes his painting interesting is not the creation in interesting things to look at but a careful crafting of an emotional landscape communicated through the medium of visual art.

Check out more of his work for yourself: http://www.ericfortune.com/

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Potty Training

I have worked with a lot of children through out the entirety of my life. This is because I like kids and they seem to like me too. This also means that I have moved so far beyond what a normal human would call disgusting that there are only some very specific professional avenues of persons who's "gross" threshold is higher than mine.

For instance, I was peed on today. It was actually the second time I was peed on by the same child. First time wasn't their fault though, their diaper wasn't properly fitted. This time, they are potty training and mom didn't think to mention it.

So there I am, reading a book to the kid in my lap when suddenly they're staring wide-eyed up at me with a horrified look on their face. I am confused for a brief moment as to how Dr. Suess's "10 Apples on Top" could spark such fear when I feel the dampness seep into my pants.

The stuff of nightmares.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Dinner: Continued

Wyoming is a big state without a lot of people in it. Seriously, their license plates only have 5 letters & numbers on them. A cowboy riding a bronco takes up the remaining space, because when you’re a state that big with a population that small, coming up with personalized punctuation is what your State Congress does.


I see what you did there Wyoming.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Random Word Generated Fridays

Randomly Generated Word that inspired today's post: Dinner

I've decided to try to do something for 30 days in a row. Unfortunately for mom, I was talking to my brother about it first so it will not be making my bed. Instead, I'm going to try posting in my blog for 30 days in a row. Since I don't do anything really interesting every day, I thought I'd introduce some theme posts for certain days of the week. Friday posts I thought I would use a random work generator to inspire a post.

"Dinner" luckily gave me an idea for a post that will span today and tomorrow.

It all started one summer when I got it into my head that I was going to go live in California with my aunt & uncle for a few months. To this day I am not entirely sure what brought this on, but it was simple something I was going to do. Period. No matter how many horrible things happened in my life surrounding the trip that even someone who doesn’t believe in “signs” would start questioning the intelligence of their decision.


I'm like a character in a horror movie that way.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Things I Watch.

Yep. That's Nic Cage.

 So last night I threw on a few movies to keep me company while I worked. I don't know if it's more embarrassing that I watched Valley Girl or that I knew all the words to the soundtrack. Nicolas Cage must have sealed his acting style in carbonate because it is exactly the same in this movie as it is now.

On the bright side, it meant I got a lot of work done.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

How to Get (& Keep) Your Work in a Gallery

I'm working at my 3rd gallery, and since getting involved with running/helping to run galleries I have developed some preferences about how artists present themselves and their work. Some of them can make or break a deal with new artists or with ones who get pulled because we need the wall space. So, in no particular order, here are some tips on how to get & keep your work in a gallery:

Monday, November 8, 2010

Pokemon

So last Christmas I learned from my brother that updated color versions of the first pokemon games had been released under the guise of "leaf green" and "fire red". I thought to myself how awesome, I had, at one time a copy of red, blue and gold. I never made it very far in gold because there were too many stats to deal with. Yes, I realize that it's a children's game and that I was (at the time) somewhere in high school and that I should have been able to figure it out, but my general approach to strategy games is to get really high level and bludgeon my way through battles that were obviously set up to employ artful simulated combat within the rules of the game. Pokemon gold over loaded my brain and I stopped playing after that.

Years later I would give away my games because I never played them anymore. Since Christmas though, I've been thinking about playing pokemon on and off because I've got a couple of friends now who play it and talk about it. So when I found a copy of leaf green for what amounted to pocket change, I picked it up.

I named him Tesla. Because I have the need to be considered the nerd of dorks apparently.


And now we get to the point of this incredibly long, boring and nerdy story. Within the game there are trainers you can battle, and they have names and an adjective related to their pokemon preferences. The trainers with the water type pokemon are swimmers. I happened to notice one of these characters was "Swimmer Doug", and I casually thought to myself, "ha ha. I knew a guy named Doug on the swim team." and was prepared to think nothing more of it. Then Swimmer David showed up, there was also a David on the swim team, then swimmer Darrin, who, as you might have guessed, was on the swim team.

I don't know if it's weirder that there are 3 coincidences or that I didn't notice it when I was playing the game when I was still on the swim team.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

I am a bad cook.

Today I put half an acorn squash in the microwave to cook it. Instead, it decided to turn in to a fireball and explode.

Oddly enough, the microwave still works.

This turn of events meant I had to go grocery shopping since the only other thing to eat in the house was a couple of cans of butter beans and rice. For some reason, I decided that I did not need to make any kind of menu or list or guide lines for my shopping trip.

So there I am at the grocery store hungry (bad), tired (bad) and somewhat shaken by the explodability of acorn squash (very bad) with no real plan of what to buy other than "food" (also bad). This lead to forty minutes of wandering up and down aisles trying to come up with meal plans while telling my inner child that "all the food" is not a good idea and neither is "all the candy". My inner child is not helpful, but very loud. I am dreading the day she realizes that we could have bacon all the time.

What this week's meal plan finally boiled down to was nachos and chili cheese fries. I am the healthiest person ever.

Oh, and I got another acorn squash, because what are the chances of it exploding again?

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Sometimes, I'm really boring.

Today I ordered a cake. If you want some cake, you should probably be at the Vertin on Friday from 7~9. Also, Joyce Koskenmaki's exhibit of work inspired by the Kalevala will be opening. You could get some edutainment and cake. Mmm. Cake.

"Poor vampire had to DIE rich. Couldn't manage to make $10 in the last 100 years."
In other news, my subconscious in charge of the dreams has decided that it needed to jump on the vampire band wagon. However, instead of smut and/or horror, my oh-so-special subconscious told me a story about a vampire who was ostracized from vampire society because even though he was really old, he had not managed to capitalize on whatever it is that vampires seem to do so that they have stacks of cash for mansions and designer jeans. All of his money was left from his estate before he died and the other vampires were picking on him about it. The rest of the dream was me giving him investment advice. Original? Yes. Boring? Oh yes.

Because of this, I've been wondering exactly what the undead investment strategy is since all of the children of the night from Dracula to Angel seem to have, even in the midst of rampaging across Europe, had the foresight to put some cash away to use a couple hundred years in the future. I've pretty much come to the conclusion that good money management must be the unsung vampire power. Super strength & speed get all the glory, but no Nosferatu would be caught living without a diversified investment portfolio.

Monday, November 1, 2010

DULUTH.

Duluth. Only 4 hours and 24 minutes away. Awesome.
 My last few trips have begun with disasters and then turned out pretty well. When I went to Duluth all my ducks did not row themselves until the Thursday before I left. Ducks are not good at geometry. This is why I did not let them do my math homework.

Anyways, as I was leaving Friday, the gal I was visiting called me back. Which was good because I could tell her I was coming. Yes. Ducks are very bad at geometry.

Onward to Pictures!


Sunday, October 31, 2010

I was Going to be upset with Big Box Mart but...


So this image right here was going to start of a rant about art history. It was going to be a good rant  too about how the watering down of our collective culture was eroding away at the foundations of civilization and how critical thinking for visual images should be taught in high school and blah blah blah. Whatever.

That all went out the window when I went mucking about the internet for a copy of Roy Lichtenstein's original work for you to compare it to and found out that the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation is about as uptight as the recording industry (citation!)

The short of it is that Lichtenstein did big ol' oils and acrylic paintings of panels from comic strips that he didn't originally draw and sold them as his own. It was a whole movement in the art world with critical thinkin' and making statements and everything. Go read an art history book if you really want  to understand why this is a completely acceptable idea, it was the point of my original article anyways. (Here. Here's a freebie.)

Now what I'm having problems wrapping my brain around is that the people managing his estate get all upset when someone else makes a derivative work from the same original image. Of course they look alike, it's the same source material. If I paint a Campbell Soup can it's going to look an awful lot like what Warhol did because it's the same freakin' can.

I just don't see where they think they have a leg to stand on when, if you take away all the philosophy from Lichtenstein's work you end up with someone who pretty blatantly ripped off another artist. 

Grawrargraphrear. I have to go before my sputtering shorts out my keyboard.

Oh, and here is one more link so you can compare what Big Box Mart has in their mass produced home decor vs what they are obviously imitating: Bah! Internets.

Tomorrow I promise pictures from my trip to Duluth. No more crazy artist talk (for awhile at least).

Monday, October 25, 2010

At 12

Tonight I realized something that would make my 12-year old self stick her fingers in her ears and scream "LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR" loud enough to be heard the next state over. My mother doesn't even know what I'm about to say and I can already hear the smugness of her thoughts from 500 miles away.

I didn't have enough chores when I was little.

The thing is, you see, I am still trying to figure out how to effectively run a household by myself. While even at a young age I was aware that vacuuming didn't magically happen, building the habit of doing it regularly myself has been challenging. That along with doing the dishes, sweeping, mopping, cleaning the bathroom, timing a meal so that all the elements finish cooking a)when I get hungry and b) at the same time, keeping a grocery list, grocery shopping and heck, even remembering to take the trash out weekly.

I've been living on my own for roughly 3 years now and I still don't have the hang of it. Dishes still pile up in the sink for an unacceptable amount of time. It's not that I don't know how to do these things, its more that I never really learned time management like I probably should have when I was in high school. I still don't have the self discipline to go to bed at a reasonable hour, and I wonder if I ever will.

One thing is for sure, life will be heck for my children should I ever have any.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Friday Night

I find stuff. I find a lot of stuff. Sometimes people ask me how I find such interesting things. Sometimes it's a shiny yellow action figure, sometimes it's a television show featuring a strong black female central character, sometimes it's the movies I pick to watch, or a random bit of information I happen to know. Inevitable, everyone I know asks how I do that.

I usually answer I don't know.

Tonight I bothered to figure it out. It's not that I'm good at finding stuff, or even better than average at it, it's because I am thoughtful and precise about what I share with other people. If it's not that interesting to me, I don't think it will be that interesting to someone else. If the person I'm talking to is a cat person I don't share tips on how to train a dog.

It turns out being good at something is not always in the doing, but sometimes in the editing.

That being said, I thought I'd share this video. I'll warn you though, it's no double rainbow!

This is a link. Click on it. But not if you have dial-up.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Wagons *slightly* West!

I'm leaving tomorrow for a weekend in Duluth, MN with my favorite midget goldfish. I'm sensing many roadside attractions in my future.

It's a shorter trip than to Grand Rapids, even though it's two states over. In realizing this, it makes future trips more likely. It also puts in my head ideas for kidnapping both my Duluth and Grand Rapids connections for a reunion of epic proportions.

I was thinking tonight that if my life had a start-over button, I would make it my goal to be a female professional wrestler. Not the Olympic competitor kind mind you, but the cheesy WWF kind. When I was a kid, it never occurred to me that women could be "pro" wrestlers. I remember we all used to get together at a friends house and watch Hulk Hogan on the WWF and then play kickball when I was growing up. I was totally attracted to the glitz, glam and stunts.

Too late for those gymnastic lessons now. Guess I'll just have to focus on being a successful artist, and enjoy one of the most unique and well-written comics about female wrestling on the web. I regret nothing!


I am a total fan of Sun. In case you wondered. Which you probably didn't, but now you know anyways!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Ow.

I didn't really trip so much as roll my ankle when I was bounding down the stairs earlier this evening. It hasn't started hurting from that yet, but from the crunching sound, I'm sure it will by morning.

In other news:



Who wants a postcard with artwork by yours truly? Hit my e-mail with your mailing address and you too could be the owner of a shiny new postcard with a location to send delicious cookies (aka my mailing address).

mintyandee[at]gmail[dot]com

Saturday, October 9, 2010

On My Way Home from the Market

I don't know what this structure is/was, and now it's in the middle of nowhere advertising things that don't exist.

I am so very tired right now. All the fraking time. It doesn't matter how much sleep I get, there seem to be just some periods of my existence where I can't escape this fatigued state. It was practically impossible getting up this morning to make my Noon appointment with the eye doctor. Seriously ridiculous. Everything has to start with a mini-argument in my head between the part of myself who wants to accomplish things and be a productive member of society and the other that just wants to go back to sleep. It's a lot less that I have a good conscience and a bad conscience and much more like Goofus and Gallent are living in my head.

Anyways, after the appointment, I did my grocery shopping and was headed home when another argument started:

Gallent: The light today is great, the fall colors are peaking and the sky is clear. We should stop and take some reference pictures for that painting series we want to do.
Goofus: I want to go to bed. And eat cake. Possibly at the same time.
Gallent: But we don't have any pictures of old buildings in the fall! Everything we have is late summer. If we wait much longer we will have to wait for next year!
Goofus: Cake. Sleep. Not necessarily in that order.

As you can probably tell, Gallent won. Poor Goofus doesn't have much of a track record unless I'm already at home. Which is why not a lot of chores get done. Ech.

Anyways, on with the photos!