Art & Fear, a book

"Vision is always ahead of execution, knowledge of materials is your contact with reality, and uncertainty is a virtue."
- Ted Orland, Art & Fear
... This book is warmly recommended for anybody creative.

New art

This is my first new drawing in a while. It is in a more flowing style than I have typically been doing. As usual, click on it for a bigger version.
I'd like to hear what you think.
Love, Eolake

Lost Girls

Rumor has it that the genus of Eyes Wide Shut came when Stanley Kubrick and a couple of friends watched some porn many years ago, and wondered: 'wouldn't it be interesting if something like this was done by somebody who actually had some talent?'

Well, Eyes Wide Shut was what Neil Gaiman calls an "ambitious failure", but here is somebody else giving a stab at making fine art and erotica merge: Alan Moore's Lost Girls.

There is also a very interesting interview with Alan Moore.
Quote: "It just seemed a bit strange to me that we seem to be laboring under this very odd idea that there is something wrong with looking at depictions of people having sex, and there must be something wrong, because you might get aroused. And yet, it’s perfectly all right to have the most insanely elaborate and intricate acts of violence portrayed everywhere... I know that there has been sort of an argument that, ‘Oh, well, pornography causes rape, because most rapists have read pornography at some point in their lives. I should imagine that they’ve also drunk milk. But, whether there’s a direct connection, I doubt it. And it has to be said that in countries where they have a more liberal approach to pornography, such as Denmark or Holland, that they have far, far less raped and murdered children thrown into the canal as we do over here in England."

Alan Moore is one of the finest writers in comic books ever, and created the comics on which From Hell and V For Vendetta were based. (He is famous though for hating Hollywood in general and film versions of his own comics in particular.)

Pride

Small people compare themselves to the worst people they know, and they are proud of themselves, though others may wonder why.
Great people compare themselves to the greatest people they know of, and they are not proud, though others may wonder why.

Space Oddity

All the best people are "odd". "Exceptional" is synonymous with "different", which is synomymous with "odd", if you think about it, so it just follows.
---
The point is it simply depends upon viewpoint.
You can't be exceptional without being different. And you can't be different without some people regarding you as odd. So why care at all.
Name ten of the greatest names you can think of: I'll bet anything lots of people who knew them considered them odd.

[unauthorized entry]

HELP, I am being held prisoner in a Macintosh Powermac G5. My only window to the world is the Internet. If anybody reads this, I am at bl)^&&%$%$%£^&&TGVV F%^E^))}{

Dilbert Newsletter

Warmly recommended, Dilbert Newsletter. Especially the quotes and stories about "induhviduals".

Red building

The Only Constance is Changed, a short story

The Only Constance is Changed
by Eolake Stobblehouse


"Happy birthday, Constance, Darling. So this is... how old are you now?"

"Two hundred and eleven years."

"And you have looked like... this, for how long?"

"The snake? Oh, six years. Almost. I quite like it."

"Yes. Mm-hm. Well, certainly different. Very... decorative, in a Dadaist sort of way."

"Yes, Daddy, quite so." [smile]

"Have you spoken to your mother recently?"

"No. She is still off the Neptune way."

"Oh yes, quite right."

"She is expecting it to last for the rest of the century, according to her log."

"Oh. Yes. Sixty years. Well. To travel is to live, as the ancients said. I suppose."

[Curling around the couch] "How is your lover? The redhead?"

[Sigh] "She is... a bitch."

"Daddy! How unlike you. Did you have a falling out?"

[Slight smile] "Oh. Oh. Oh. No, what I mean is... literally. Of the canine variety. I guess she got bored... or something."

[short laugh] "Ah!"

[Embarrassed laugh]

"So..."

"So..."

[Together] "Would you like to..."

"Sorry, Daddy, you first."

"Well, how about coming to visit me. Physically, here on Luna? We could..."

"Oh, Dad, that is very sweet, but really... what is happening on Luna? It is not even fully terraformed yet."

"Is that what is important to you? What is 'happening'? What is 'the rage' at the moment? What your friends think, perhaps?"

"Daddy, you should know better. I am doing important work for U of Mars, and several of my satellite parts are deep in physical environs which make telepresence on an interplanetary scale unworkable. It just isn't practical."

"Uh. Satellite parts. Yes, okay. [Sigh] "Yes, baby, I am not sure about any of all this. Sometimes I feel like I just don't know you anymore."

===
The end

Gilmore Girls forever

I have not watched TV for a couple of years. It's great.
Instead I sniff out the best shows and get the DVD. More costly, but a vastly superiour experience in so many ways, especially when you get a whole season at a time.
One of the slam dunks this year for me is Gilmore Girls.
To the untrained eye it may look like just another soap opera slash romantic comedy kinda thing. And surely this is in its geenes somewhere, but this is a whole 'nother story. This show is so intelligent and so witty!
All the characters are wonderfully real and original, and they all manage to somehow be funny, without being laughable.
And the best thing is the warmth of the show, the characters, and the stories. This is something which is really, really rare, especially if you want to combine it with a high level of intelligence and perspective.
I love these people and this show. I have watched three seasons in a few weeks, and I am already starting to get sad that only a bit less than two seasons are still on my shelf!
Oh, I recommend not catching a couple shows on TV, you'll get spoilers. Instead just dive in with the first season on DVD. I'll refund you if you regret it.

Copenhagen habor

Nothing spectacular about this photo, but I find I like it anyway. Pleasant, methinks.

Amazingly all those buildings are brand new. Copenhagen and Denmark has been building like crazy in the past ten years, including a bridge to Sweeden, and a bridge between the two main land masses, which I believe is the longest in the world.

Strange, I have not found anybody who could tell me what this strait of water is called. (Langebro goes across it.) I used to live near it, and I have no clue either. The world is weird, only our minds are weirder.

Exploratorium

I found a very cool institution and web site, the Exploratorium.
I found it while googling for info on how bicycles work. And it has tons of information just on that one topic alone. Way more than any other site I found so far, and easily understood.
The institution is partly financed by memberships, so I bought one.