Booklist

Too Many Curses by A. Lee Martinez
The wizard Margle the Horrendous takes special pride in never killing his enemies. Instead, he transforms them into various accursed forms and locks them away in his castle. His halls are filled with his collection of fallen heroes and defeated villains, along with a few ordinary folk who were just unfortunate enough to draw Margle’s attention.
It’s Nessy’s duty to tend this castle. It’s a lot of work, but she manages, taking pride in housekeeping talents that keep the castle from collapsing into chaos. But when Margle suddenly dies, everything begins to unravel. Nessy finds herself surrounded by monsters, curses, a door that should never be opened, and one very deadly dark wizardess.
Nessy doesn’t have might or magic on her side; she’s just a kobold: short, furry, and sensible. Her allies aren’t much better: a voice without a body, an angry fruit bat, a monster under her bed, a wizard in a jar (or some of him, anyway), and a one-eyed, one-horned, flying, purple, people eater. It would be smarter to walk away, but taking care of the castle is Nessy’s job, and that’s just what she intends to do.
If only she could find time to polish the silver while beating back the forces of darkness.
I have read all but one of Martinez's books. I have liked them all except for A Company of Ogres. I liked this one pretty well. It's not my favorite of the bunch but it was entertaining. I loved all the crazy characters that live in the castle and the fact that, even though they dwell under a curse, there's a family bond between some of them. The whole time I was reading this I could picture it in my head as an animated feature. So, nothing deep, a fun read.

What if Starbucks Marketed Like a Church?

Stinkin' brilliant!

A Mickey Scare

Last night around 10 we had to take our cat Mickey to the ER vet. We gave him his meds which he vomited up and then he couldn't walk straight. We called, they said come so we did. Turns out he had a vagal episode which is, basically, a fainting spell. It was rather scary though. Mickey's a trooper though. He's been on chemo for 1.5 years now for Inflammatory Bowel Disease. He's also anemic despite having a pretty good appetite. To see him you wouldn't know he was sick. But he is and we know we will lose him eventually but it's still hard.
The doc told us she thought his thyroid might be enlarged so we will make sure our vet checks that during his next blood test which is in a couple of weeks. Today, he's been sleeping a lot. When we got home last night he wouldn't come out of his carrier. When we got him out he hid in the closet. We let him be and this morning he got in bed with me. A little while ago he curled up on the couch next to me and went to sleep. He's still not eating great but his chemo ends today so we hope his appetite will pick up in the next day or so.
Sick cats are tough. I can't imagine having kids.

Is It Fine Art?

I had a short discussion with an artist friend at the opening the other night. We talked about the stigma certain groups or galleries have against a certain type of art. With me, it's collage. For him, it's that he's an illustrator. I've been turned down by galleries that tell me they don't show collage. He has been rejected from shows and other opportunities because his work was considered illustration and not art. He says he's even been lumped into the craft category which is usually reserved for baskets, jewelry and the like. I've run into thinking like that in the past with my cartoons. In college I was asked by a teacher if there was a way for me to use my combine cartooning and fine art. I understood where she was coming from but now I have to ask the question: Why isn't cartooning a fine art? Why aren't my friend's wonderful illustrations considered fine art? I do think the lines are more blurry than they were when I was a younger man. Urban, lowbrow, street art (whatever you want to call it) does a lot to encorporate any and everything into fine art. That's why I love it so much. They are pushing the edges out even further...breaking the rules.
For what it's worth I do understand why some people don't consider collage an art. I probably had some of those feelings myself before I actually started doing it. All I can say to all you naysayers is: Try it sometime.

What's the Rush?

I get tired of the pace that is set by our society. Everything is so rushed all the time. Living in a big city like Seattle only makes me doubly aware of it. People here rush everything...even friendships. No one has time to just sit for a while and chat or just spend time together cutting up and having fun. Call me old but I sometimes long for simpler times when we didn't have cell phones (I still don't have one) and Facebook and such. Facebook still baffles me. I love that I'm in touch with some old friends but I still get friend requests from people that are not friends nor do we have any business being friends. Are they trying to get their friend count up? I don't get it. I also enjoy my iPod and my computer but I sometimes just wish I could be sitting on the porch with a few friends doing nothing but being with one another. It's especially hard out here on the West Coast. People here don't do friendship like they do in the South. There's no time to cultivate deep relationships because everyone is in a rush to get to their next thing. We are still perplexed by the fact that no one goes out to lunch after church on Sunday. That used to be one of the best times I had to catch up and chat and laugh with friends. I know I'm not insane because our other friends from down South feel the same way we do.
I don't have enough brain power today to make this into anything profound. I guess I'm just mourning true, deep friendships. Sarah and I both miss that a lot.

Opening at JA

Tonight's opening at Johnston Architects was very nice. There wasn't a huge crowd but some great folks stopped by and I had some very nice conversations during the evening. This was the first reception I've had where people asked good questions and there was an opportunity for some dialogue about the art. I enjoyed that a lot. I wish more people would dialogue with me about it. It actually helps me make sense of things when I'm able to talk to others about these crazy little collages and what they represent and don't represent.
As you can see from the pictures, JA is a very unique and beautiful space. The walls are curved which throws a unique perspective on the show. I don't think my art has looked better in a space.
After the show, we stepped across the street for a quick shot of the Seattle skyline. Contrary to what the sign says, Seattle has not been a dead end but an opportunity for me to grow as an artist. There are some things I don't like about this city but it's a great place to be an artist.

Water Water Everywhere Redux

So, I was complaining about the water situation at work this week. We've had blocked sewer pipes, water seeping into the server room, broken pipes, etc. This morning I went in and found water dripping onto the IT desk. Fortunately we know what causes that so I went out and swept the water away from the front door...problem solved!
The great guys from Fox Plumbing came out and fixed the broken pipe under the Green Bean. They had to break thru the concrete to get to it. They were almost done when I left a while ago. Really friendly, dependable guys. I liked 'em.
Now, onto the server room. I showed that to the guys and they told me how to build a dam around a drain with asphalt patch to temporarily fix the problem. Once I swept all the water up and built the dam, the puddle along the wall in the server room dried up. I hope it's taken care of. I am going to check in on things over the weekend and see if it stays dry. We are going to have a metric buttload of rain over the weekend.
It doesn't rain in Seattle as much as they tell you it does but it's still a problem. Yuck!

Delete

I had to delete my last post because some idiot snuck a porn ad into my comments. I hate that crap! I'll redo the deleted post. It was something about water and flooding and...well...just water.

Band Name Meme

I got this from my friend Mark's blog. Sounded fun so I thought I'd participate. Here goes.

Here are the rules:
1. Band Name: Random Wikipeda Link
2. Album Title: Random quote generator (take the last four words from the first quote on the page)
3. Album Art: Flickr Interesting Photo (pick one)


Here's mine:

Band Name - Kobylinka
Album Title - How Little You Have
Album Art - (the pic in the post)

If you're reading this, it's your turn now.

Michael Crichton: 1942 - 2008

Not only was Crichton a good writer but he also directed a few films. I really loved this one back in the 80's.

Take On Me: Literal Video Version

I saw this a few weeks ago and just had to post it. Funny stuff.

More Trunk or Treat Pics

Trunk or Treat

Thanks to my wife and crew of volunteers, Trunk or Treat was a great success. It rained all day but tapered off as the afternoon progressed. Then, as the start time approached, we got another downpour with a sunbreak which produced a rainbow. A sign that ToT would be a success? Perhaps. More likely just typical Pacific NW weather.
As you can see in the pics, folks went all out. Sarah herself was the queen of ToT as Marie Antoinette. She kept her head but did eat some cake. (a cupcake anyway) No pics of me this year. I wimped out, put on a smock and beret and went as an artist. One person said, "You're not in costume. You ARE an artist." Oh well. Sarah and I went whole hog 2 years in a row with our trunks (winning 1st and 2nd prizes) This year, I took the day off and spent the day doing what she needed me to do to get ToT up and running. It was a rough day but, in the end, it all came together.

Booklist

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
This first book in the Southern Vampire Mysteries series finds our Louisiana waitress heroine Sookie falling in love with vampire Bill. Of course, lots of folks don't approve and there's been a series of murders that seem to have been perpetrated by a vampire. Or were they?
I've known about these books for quite a while now but I avoided them because I figured they were geared more toward a female audience. I was right but my curiosity got the better of me because HBO and Alan Ball has created a series (True Blood) based on the books. So, I figured if I was going to eventually see the series, I should see if the books are any good.
The book was good but, like I said, totally more appealing to women. Way too much sitting around making goo-goo eyes, drinking each other's blood during sex, and that kind of stuff for me. I can see why the series is popular but I won't be reading any more of them.

Thanksgiving Countdown

Just joking. I'm not doing that. The Halloween Countdown was difficult enough. Sometimes it was struggle to come up with stuff to talk about. This next week may find me blogging less. I have a show to get ready for on Friday night. I've got around 24 new pieces to frame. Hopefully I'll find time in the next day or so to share a few Trunk or Treat photos with you all. It was a big success. The day was difficult, frustrating and exhausting but my wife raised the bar a mile high and I hope the church got a vision for what an event like this can be if you don't wait 'til the last minute and half-ass it. I heard more than a few people say they were thrilled to see it be so successful because it had been so skimpy in years past.
Sarah, you done good.