Archive for the 'Books' Category



25
Mar

spring break. woo. hoo.

So.

Winter quarter is over.  No more art history at least, which is a relief.

My Sweethearts candies box designs went over very well and are getting showcased.  My photobook on the other hand…well, I’m not finished with it, but I got enough completed to turn in…however, my final assessment of what I have done so far is that it came out okay.  I saw a few of the other completed designs and they were lovely, really lovely.  I think that the combination of my lack of strong layout and typography skills and OH YEAH, having to rework my whole design last minute, might just have worked against me a bit.  On the positive side, as my new partner in the project is a graduate and therefore has no deadline looming, I can finish it at my leisure, and after getting the chance to look at some other people’s work, maybe I’ll have a few ideas of how to refine what I have into something better.

I’m a little depressed and annoyed by the fact that spring break is only a week long.  Not long enough to recharge and certainly not long enough to complete the giant list of Stuff To Get Done during this time off.  I’m also a little depressed by the realization I had last night that the usual end of the quarter freedom I enjoy so much isn’t available this time around — that sudden awareness that my work for the the quarter past is done, for better or for worse, that I’m free for a brief time to pursue my own desires with no one else’s artistic demands weighing upon me.  This break, instead, I still have a half-completed photobook to attend to, as well as promised illustrations for the children’s book a friend (not in art school) is writing for a class.  *sigh*  Both projects I’m happy to be a part of, of course…just spring break continuing to disappoint me with it’s brevity and I have a million things of my own I would like to work on as well.

On a more happy note, my tablet should be arriving in just about 2 weeks.  I’m massively excited.  Of course, I’ll be back in school by the time it gets here and won’t have my break to spend goofing around and getting used to it, but still…I’m getting my tablet.  Last night Briggs had me watch a video review on it, and now I’m more excited than before.

Other than that…

The weather is grey and drizzly, but definitely spring.  I’m hoping to find time to plant some of my perennial wildflower mix this week.

I’ve been rewatching the utter lack of any redeeming quality that is Smallville.  I’m mid-Season 1 and have decided that Lex is totally gay for Clark.  Also that some third-graders have a better grasp of writing and character development.  Oh, right.  I already knew that.

Briggs and I have been watching Caprica, and have been quite pleasantly surprised.  If you are a Battlestar fan and haven’t checked it out yet, I recommend doing so.  Honestly, even if you haven’t seen Battlestar – there ae plenty of easter-eggs for fans of the series, but I think it’s totally watchable without prior knowledge of the world.  Caprica also isn’t quite as heavy and inaccessible as Battlestar could be from time to time…a bit brighter and flashier, but still well-written with good acting and character development (take a hint, Smallville!)

I watched this week’s episode of Chuck last night, and I’m wondering if they might actually let the show and the character evolve, or if they’ll find a way to put everything right back how it was again next week.

I have been reading a bunch of random stuff, as usual, and enjoying some of my choices more than others.  If you are interested in actual literature, both Things Fall Apart and July’s People (books from my World Lit class) are excellent choices.  Oh, and I suppose that Heart of Darkness is pretty good too…  RE my recreational reading, Beauty Sleep, a YA retelling of Sleeping Beauty, really surprised me.  Very fast read, but very fun, well written and hard to put down.  Most recently, I finished Malice…not great, but interesting enough that I’m thinking of finding the second book in the series…I suspect that it would be quite enthralling to it’s intended age group.  Not a lot else that really grabbed me, except the weighty Tawny Man trilogy, the third trilogy of Robin Hobb’s series in the Six Duchies world–a story that excited and annoyed me by turns, largely because, yet again, the ever-irritating Fitz was the central character and narrator again.

As usual, not a lot else in my life is noteworthy.  School, blah blah blah, I love my cats.  As the first day of my break — official decompression day — I have spent the afternoon so far goofing off on the internet, drinking coffee, finishing my book and writing a blog.

Maybe tomorrow The Doctor will show up and take me away.  If he does, I’ll blog it.  ;)

’till my alien abduction or some other interesting update, later skaters.

31
Jan

defeats and triumphs

Yesterday brought the latest installment in the quest to move the title of our car into my name.  Yesterday was intended to bring the quest to its glorious conclusion…but the fates continued to bar my way, their foul breath filling my senses as they laughed in my face.

After previous experiences, I had finally acquired my PA license, Briggs had gotten paid so we could afford the transfer fee,  and we headed to the AAA so that we could finally make the bank happy by putting the title of our perky blue Subaru in my name.

We stood in line for half an hour, finally had our number called and excitedly approached the desk only to have the clerk coldly inform us that — contrary to what we had been lead to understand…contrary to the information given to me when I called the AAA to find out what documentation and information we would need for the process and I was told I just needed a PA license or ID and the title — the car ALSO needs to be both registered AND insured in my name.  Oh, sure, we could have switched the title over, but if we did that we were required by law to immediately remove the plates from the car and park it until the afore mentioned actions had been taken.

As Briggs is the only one who actually ever drives the car (I think I have driven it…I don’t know…twice?), we would, of course, also have to continue an insurance policy in his name.  Not only that, but when a vehicle is registered, it has to pass inspection.  The car just got its annual inspection about two months ago, and a switch in registration would mean we would have to pay the rather hefty inspection fee all over again, along with the registration fee, the cost of insurance and the cost of the actual title change.

I don’t know if this has ever come up, but we are pretty darn poor at this particular moment — we certainly can’t afford all those expenses this week.  Meanwhile, the bank gets more irritated at each delay.

…but it isn’t all bad.  The moon is very close to the earth right now, and last night when we came up the driveway, it was just rising over the hill behind our house.  The heavenly body glowing through the winter bare trees led us to momentarily believe that we had left the house with all the lights on inside, until we realized that the glow was too immense for that.  Then there was a brief flash of fear that the house was burning with that eerie golden glow before we realized that the source of the illumination did not came not from our dwelling, our yard, or even our home planet, but from the giant moon cresting a gentle rise.

Then, I imagined the moon swooping down and biting a chunk out of the earth.

I went outside later and the moon had risen further in the sky and no longer seemed quite so immense…but it shone with such intense silvery brightness that I almost could not gaze upon it with unshielded eyes.  I later turned off all the lights in the house and marveled at the inky shadows the illumination cast on the white snow in our yard.

Another mark in the ‘pros’ column — I repaired our kitten.  (No, not fixed…not yet.  Soon.)  On Monday, Robin G was very obviously ill…he kept vomiting, with nothing left in his stomach to eject, was lethargic and obviously miserable.  With no other options at the time, I made sure he got fluids and nutrients via syringe, and by Tuesday night he seemed back to his regular trouble-making self, as he walked around on the headboard of the bed and meowed at me to wake up and entertain him over and over again.  (He almost died right there, despite his recovery.)  After three days of apparently perfect health, yesterday he got sick again.  He had no energy and no appetite, was lethargic and throwing up…I figured he must be getting into something he shouldn’t.  I gave him broth every couple hours, checked on him concernedly, then finally went to bed and crossed my fingers for a recovery like he had experienced previously.

A short while later, I heard him hacking something up, yet again.  With a heavy heart, I went into the living room to check on him and clean up whatever there was to clean up.  And as I bent down to do so, I noticed that he was attempting to dislodge something dangling out of his mouth.  I quickly caught it an pulled it — all two or so feet of it — out of his throat.  It was a piece of plastic ribbon, like those used to wrap presents.  My eternal troublemaker had found a piece of ribbon and decided that ingestion was a fitting death for his shiny victim.  Then, of course, it got caught in his stomach and started causing him problems.  Almost as soon as I removed it, he started feeling better and perking up. By the time I fell fully asleep, he was energetic enough to come wake me up.  Repeatedly.

But it’s not all evil moons and cat vomit around here — oh no!  I made tuna melts for dinner last night, and they were delicious and a perfect comfort food after a stressful day.  I followed them with the comfort food of desserts — home-made chocolate chip cookies.  Which means I also got to have breakfast cookies today!

We watched the finale of Dollhouse on last night, and, though perhaps not the BEST finale ever (something about the format of that show made it a little hard to get really emotionally invested, I think.  Still a great show.  Just weird.) but still pretty darn sweet.

On the topic of finales, we did a back-to-back Doctor Who night with Anna and Aaron this week, because we were at the end of season two and it just didn’t seem right to break up ‘Army of Ghosts’ and ‘Doomsday’.  In accordance with my master plan, Anna cried.  Quite right too.

Other portions of my fictional life are less satisfying at the moment, however.  After finishing Robin Hobb’s ‘Liveship Traders’ trilogy, which became increasingly difficult to put down as I approached the conclusion, I decided that, as Briggs and I have been watching Legend of the Seeker for a while now, I should read the  series it’s based on — ‘The Sword of Truth’ by Terry Goodkind.

…I do apologize if anyone out there sincerely loves T.G.’s writing…but I don’t know when I last read such utter, awful crap.  Just…crap.  I’m barely halfway through and harbor no excitement at the thought of continuing.  I will, because I can’t not finish a book, but I will get no enjoyment from it.  The characters spend half the book hugging — hugging each other, random kindly strangers, magical chipmunks…any time one of them starts to get angry at another, they immediately change their mind after thinking about what their dear, dear friend must have gone through keeping the secret from them/choosing to do the right thing…the male protagonist stops his female companion (who he is deeply enamored of) in the middle of sexing him up, because he can’t be with her unless she can be fully honest about her past…the writing is dreadful, the characters are unconvincing, and at least one NPC is an almost direct rip-off or Tolkien’s creature, Gollum.

I’m also currently watching through the show ‘Bones’.  So far it is mostly diverting and entertaining, though there have been one or two deeply annoying points when the writers bent science to suit the plot, and many of the secondary characters are much more interesting than the two leads.  David Boreanaz’s ex-Army Ranger character perhaps a bit more gung-ho and slightly less brooding than the one he played on Angel and Buffy, but otherwise largely indistinguishable.

The weather right now is bloody cold and very clear…lip balm is hardly noticed by my chapping.

Tonight I plan to do my taxes.

29
Jan

This post made me happy

via Bookshelves of Doom, gorgeous cover art by Jason Chan — BoD theorized that with art this gorgeous, this author is likely to begin garnering the fans her writing deserves…and she’s right – I’d buy this, likely for the art alone.

I found this post particularly heartening in a very selfish way.  Illustrating book covers is pretty high up on my list of What I Really Want To Do, but lately, I have been seeing the trends go more and more in this direction:

A lot of photos, mostly cropped human bodies.  A lot of girls with historically inaccurate ‘period’ clothing.  Some of them are even very appropriate and nicely done…but I have ALWAYS loved illustrated work on book covers…especially if the story is set in a time or place that photography wasn’t really an option (a Victorian boarding school, for example) , a photo cover seems somehow wrong to me…but even for contemporary story lines, nine times out of ten I would rather see an illustration than a photo.

So, it does my heart good to see such a beautiful piece of cover art getting some decent recognition (and honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if the reason for the prevalence of photos for covers was due to some of the truly sub-par illustration that was out there as well…maybe this cover will remind the publishing world that an illustrated cover CAN be done well?)

17
Jan

so far so good

In keeping with my promise to try to update more regularly, here I am, updating.

My first week back to school is over and so far, my classes don’t seem as though they will be quite as unpleasant as I had steeled myself for them to be. On Mondays I start with Packaging Graphics, which is instructed by a teacher I have had before and liked fairly well.  We have two projects over the course of the quarter and both seem rather diverting.  My Monday evening consists of the dreaded Art History class, and it is likely to be at least nearly as abhorrent as I expected, but I have already conversed with the teacher regarding one issue, and he seemed willing to accommodate my needs.  We shall see how the matter progresses.

On Wednesday, my afternoon was spent in ‘Design Team Production’ — a class that I was predisposed to disdain, due to the dreaded ‘T’ word.  It was not, however, nearly as bad as I had feared.  We will be working on a quarter-long project with students from the Photography major, and though the work could go smoothly or less so, depending on who I am paired with, the undertaking seems an interesting one.  On odd weeks, we are to do in-class assignments in two-person teams, but at least two of my classmates are good students that I have had former interactions with, so even that aspect of the class is not quite as loathsome as it could otherwise be.

My final class of the week, on Wednesday night, is World Literature.  I began this class with trepidation, as it is a subject that could truly go either way, depending upon the instructor.  The first session, at least, gave me great hope.  The professor is weird and funny and dorky in the way of the best literature teachers, passionate about knowledge and much more interested in what we take away from the class than how many books we get through in the 11 weeks allotted.  The assigned readings are Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, and Gordimer’s July People.

Along with my formal studies, I am making a concerted effort this quarter to find time for my personal work as well, even if that time is only in snippets and wedges between larger projects.  I am sincerely tired of the feeling of my skills rusting and stagnating, and the fears that I am backsliding in my abilities that visit me each quarter, and of the inevitable fevered rush to work on as many personal projects as possible during my breaks.  Especially as I have no drawing courses this term, I feel that working to improve my skills in my own time if particularly important.  I am perfectly aware of the fact that my lack of time for extracurricular projects is due in large part to my bad time management skills, and endeavor to achieve better habits this quarter.

Outside of the academic world, my life marches on at the same exciting pace that draws readers back to my blog time and time again.  I finally received my birth certificate, and Briggs and I plan to wake at an inhuman hour on Wednesday, in order to finally acquire my Pennsylvania license.  Or so we hope.

Today, while picking up the first assigned novel for my World Lit class, I stumbled upon a bargain compilation of the work of Scottish-Italian artist, Jack Vettriano.  Though not greatly admired in the fine arts community, I am entranced by his work.  His work is in many ways reminiscent the voyeuristic style of Edward Hopper, but containing an aura of passion, glamor and noir grittiness that I adore.  His use of color is at the same time limited and decadent, and his technique almost impressionistic in broad strokes and simplification of detail, which enriches rather than depletes.  

So anyway, despite my limited means at this point the $8 seemed a justified expense.  And now I have a little book full of gorgeous paintings.

Due to a certain amount of peer pressure, the show that is currently serving as a background distraction is the geek-turned-spy saga, “Chuck”.  I admit that so far, I am enjoying it.  I have also been enjoying the series “Flash Forward”, and just last night watched the first episode of  “V”.

I continue to experiment, however slowly, with my new crock pot and have made some truly delicious food.  Slow-cooked meat is a truly glorious thing…even tough chunks of stew-beef come out of the pot full of flavor, moist and juicy, and so tender that a they can nearly be cut with a sharp glance.  (And I would like to thank Crissi, aka Wine County Mom, for her direction to the Year of Slow Cooking blog.  If you have crock pot and are looking for recipes, YoSC is a gold mine.)

The frigid cold has departed these last few days, melting snow into slippery slush as temperatures hover in the 30′s and 40′s.  Yesterday felt almost tropical, with temperatures approaching 50 degrees.  (Stop laughing, Californians.)

I have begun, and am enjoying, the Liveship Traders fantasy series, but have learned that author Robin Hobb never seems satisfied to let her characters have their happy ending — circumstances have a great tendency to intervene, just when characters stand on the brink of romantic fulfillment.  It’s a real dick move, IMHO.

And upon that elegant note, I have nothing else of the slightest interest to impart.  The saga continues anon.