Esoterika

Here's a fun collection of images of late 19th century fancy dress for costume balls... It's interesting to see their take on earlier periods (Vikings!) and imagine how our efforts will look in 100 years...

http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/keys/webtours/tourID/VQ_P2_9_EN

Another beautiful, reflective comic by Lucy Knisley: “These moments seem to pivot around us, when in truth we are the ones pivoting on our own axises—alchemical and irrevocable transformations of self.”

http://lucylou.livejournal.com/578366.html?view=2810686#t2810686

Cats are not big on relativity. Fie on our irksome monkey ways, arbitrarily deciding that dinner shall be an hour later! Not that they complain about breakfast being an hour earlier...

In this case, I agree with them. Daylight savings always messes me up!

Oh baby. Love that book on book action. (Yes, it's safe for work.)

http://thenonist.com/index.php/thenonist/permalink/hot_library_smut/

This is so brilliant I can't even stand it. I would pay a LOT to see John Cusack in this role. To say nothing of David Bowie.

http://lucylou.livejournal.com/577791.html

Which reminds me I've been meaning to tell y'all about Lucy Knisley's comix. Which are awesome--clever, funny, poignant, cranky, and quite well drawn. As seen at the above LJ, and also at http://www.lucyknisley.com/

Well done, internet. Once again you have broken my brain with your apotheosis of inexplicable humanoid peculiarity.

What's particularly charming is his demented enthusiasm for this instrument. Clearly there could be nothing cooler than ba-roc-co-li o-ca-REEE-na. Except cucumber trumpet.

Last weekend I finished a new colored pencil drawing.

"At the Root" (Click to enlarge)

This is the first fully realized color pic I've finished in...way too long, so I'm pleased to have pursued and completed the initial impulse. Also (unusual for me) I'm very satisfied with how it came out.

Nautilus shells have been meaningful to me for a long time, but in the last few years I've been increasingly fascinated by them, and my interest has extended to their fossil ammonite relatives. To me they are emblematic of the mysterious elegance of pattern embedded in the natural world, an ancient spiral dance of measure and alignment and unfolding.

I bought a couple nice ammonite specimens at Barter Fair this year, and in reading more about them online, discovered variations I had not known about. In addition to the usual nacreous opalescence, some fossils have color flashes similar to fire opal or moonstone. Others have intricate suture lines that look like a tortoiseshell pattern of oak leaves. I am now eager to collect more such pieces...

( Some drawing process notes and pix, for those who are curious... )

Ink for knitters! I especially like the skull and crossneedles, and the Kali one.

http://freakknitter.typepad.com/photos/knitting_tattoos/index.html

This is pretty damned funny.

http://skippyslist.com/list/

I am in awe of this person's...creativity.

(hdlao wrote: "Barak's ashes are being scattered the weekend of June 28. drop a few flower petals into the nearest body of water on mid-day Sunday. Red roses were his fav..." So on this perfect summer day I went down to the rose garden by the Willamette River and scattered some. This being for Barak, of course things had to be ornery; the wind was blowing off the river, so half of them blew back onto the bank, but enough drifted down to float away. And so...)
***************

I scattered petals on the water and thought of you:
perfectly imperfect, roaring at your squires
laughing at your foolish black goat dancing on hot oven rocks.
A man remade, shy in your new Mongolian name and clothes,
then glowering when a certain song was sung
(“And you will know him, to be sure”--we did).
The gasp when your knighting was announced—then the cheer;
the brief pause as they realized, yes, he has changed and grown; yes,
this is right.
A forceful king, then sometimes cheerful as a child,
teaching your populace to do the “wave” at court,
brandishing the oosik as the crowd roared with delight.
Unmistakable, irrepressible, a furious force upon the field,
brash and full of humor, immense in spirit, strong,
annoying as all hell, sometimes, but thoughtful underneath it all.
A force for honor, and for honesty, painful though it be:
you would speak truth to power, name wrongs for what they are;
you would take up the gage if honor did demand.
Now there is a wide gap in the shield wall, a roaring silence left;
Now all the spoken and unspoken goes unsaid.
Perfectly imperfect, loud and echoing in my thoughts
and passing now, dissolving now, like petals on the stream.

Fifty movie titles embedded in a painting... how many can you name?

Click on an area to type a title; hit return after typing - if box turns green, you got it right.

Here is a list if you get stuck...

I really wish I had known about this before I bought my Epson NX400 printer. It prints beautifully (if slowly) when it prints, but running out of any one color of ink locks up the printer until you replace all colors of ink. (And the cartridges are miniscule!) Apparently I'm not the only one annoyed by this:

"Consumers fed up with the high cost of ink jet cartridges are taking Epson America to court, accusing it of manipulating equipment in order to sell more ink. A lawsuit filed Friday in District Court in Texas claims some models of Epson ink jet cartridges prematurely block Epson printers from functioning even though "substantial ink" remains in the cartridge...

"The problem is with Epson ink jet cartridges outfitted with an Intellidge microchip, say Harnes Keller attorneys. Because the Intellidge chip stops Epson printers from operating until the ink jet cartridge is replaced, the plaintiffs charge that Epson is in breach of contract with its customers, who are entitled to use all the ink in the cartridge. The cartridges actually contain up to 38 percent more usable ink after the Intellidge chip cuts them off, according to research cited in the suits."

Also, now I know why I couldn't get the printer to acknowledge my set of slightly used cartridges: the chip is on the cartridge itself, not the printer; it knows how much ink the cartridge has given out, and if that amount doesn't suit it, it shuts down. BOGUS.

Here is another thing for which I have no explanation. And yet I kind of love it. (But for some reason LJ won't let me embed it. So you'll just have to click on it...)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_ITHvAUJDY&

And further, the Sand Surfer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kbqQfRwHSg&

That second one is the most amazing of their collection, I'd say. On a second viewing it was even more impressive... (It took them 8 days to shoot!)

This painter is really really odd.

Noam Chomsky's van

 In the first several months of our new gas furnace and tankless water heater, we were averaging about 63-65% of our old gas usage, which was certainly good.  In the past month, we only used 53% of last year's, despite similar average temps!  Yay!

 Oh the fuzziness!

http://community.livejournal.com/baaaaabyanimals/3818454.html#cutid1

I swear this is one of the most beautiful species on the planet.

( Oscar winning movies I have seen )

*snerk* All cat owners slaves will relate to this.

http://monstro-draw.livejournal.com/6701.html

Lovely Listing is a blog of regrettable real estate photos... but actually, I totally want this house! I've loved this kind of thing since I was a kid. Click on "additional photo" and scroll down for the insane woodwork inside...

http://www.austinhomesearch.com/Search/Details.aspx?li=69701&or=1&cp=3#

Maybe it's just that I'm tired and stressed, but this is really amusing me right now. Yes, spelling can actually be a life or death situation...