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the various and sundry creations of sylvus tarn
12may2012
Ever since I read that Lois Master Bujold doesn't review other writers’ works (at least publicly) because she feels too greatly the potential for hurt, I've felt a little guilty about writing critiques. It is a bummer to have someone take apart something you've worked really hard to make your best.
The critics, of course, have come back with, but what about the readers? They're parting with hard-earned money, that represents time they spent working really hard, too. —In this case, my friend Cindi B handed this book over—a first edition hardcover, mind you—and said, ‘I want it back, but I dunno. It wasn't one of her best. I can't explain it. Maybe she just got to the end and decided she was done, and just made a happy ending? Something, anyway...’
Well, see, the thing is, I'm the one who texted her from Barnes & Noble while I was meandering through the store, admiring lime green notebooks (the letter Y, of course—none of the common letters had anything that dramatic, they were all in ‘safer’ color schemes) decorated in patterns that once upon a time were called arabesques. —I don't know what the current term would be, but I just love it.
10may2012
At the urging of the wizard's sib, we all trooped off to the local theater last Sunday and saw Avengers. We all pretty much agreed the film would've been totally stupid without the sharp dialog setting off the explosions. I'm not enough of a Joss Whedon fan to recognize his work, but it didn't surprise me to learn he wrote it.
The biggest complaint amongst my cohort was that the villain, Loki, was unconvincing, and they needed more of his backstory. I didn't have this problem, but then I was the only one who had seen Thor, in which, of course, Loki and Thor's sibling rivalry developed. f2tY liked all the characters except Nick Fury (who basically reminded me of Morpheus from The Matrix—to the point that I confused the actors, sigh.) f2tE was most impressed with Captain America's haircut, which ze said was really beautifully done, and straight out of the 40s.
9may2012
I've been out of town the last couple of days, making sample beads from some of the many entertaining odd lot colors Frantz tempts its customer base with (which would include beadmakers who are not cheap like me;) and getting extremely muddy in gardens not my own. There eventually will be documents of these samples (some several years old) but in the meantime the giftwrapping has only aged about a week—pretty good for me!
4may2012
Continuing to work apace on the whole-studio tidying thing. Cleaning, reorganzing bunches of rods, especially the gifts, limited editions, and other difficult-to-categorize stuff sounds like a real pest, but sometimes, as with today's post, it yields real benefits.
Via drawn, an intriguing review of a super-cheap tablet. Seeing as I'm hoping to get back into digital drawing (say, once I get the studio & a few other projects cleaned up) I wonder if this is supported by Gimp/Linux...?
2may2012
Hey, it's really late. Today was kind of a frustrating day for me, because I made the mistake of attempting not only to clean the visible bits of my studio, but the glass storage as well, and that's probably a monster that should've just been left well enough alone. Plus, I've been making enough beads that I'm having some minor joint issues with my right hand—so frustrating!
Now I remember why writing and drawing was so appealing. It wasn't just the broken shoulder.
On a more positive note, my tree peonies started opening today. Yay:) Also, one of my very favorite writers, Sara Robinson, is back to posting. I loved her essays on Orcinus; she was busy for awhile (her degree, I think) but now she's back to writing again, for Alternet. —Just today, another of my favorites, slactivist, had a pointer to her most recent article. To sum up:
30apr2012
The wizard has been Doing Things to the image database, which currently is not only the pix on this site, but more-or-less everything I've taken with a camera in the last 5 years. And since we're both pack-rats, and terrible about throwing anything out—the wizard's answer to any digital storage problem is ‘buy another hard drive, they're cheap’—that's a lot of kerchunking.
So, in the interests of holding off creating any new images for the duration, here's a blast from the past. Perhaps 2012 really will be the year I get my life organized. Speaking of my to-do list, I finally checked out Hellboy, as my comic drawing teacher and inspiration recommended I do (last summer).
I got the two big black library volumes, which comprise Seed of Destruction (the origin story); Wake the Devil; The Chained Coffin, The Right Hand of Doom, along with other assorted bits and pieces, including creator sketches and musings.
