A praise to whimsy

His rival it seems had broken his dreams
By stealing the girl of his fancy.
Her name was Magil and she called herself Lil
But everyone knew her as Nancy.
Now she and her man (who called himself Dan)
Were in the next room at the hoe down
-- Rocky Racoon by The Beatles

I'd like to call a toast to whimsy in art.
Great messages are, uh, great. But we must not forget that a prime function of art is whimsy, inventiveness, and just fun.
Strangely, some of the best people for that, in music, is the Japanese. Perhaps it is a reaction to the extremely hard and serious culture they live in.
The Beatles was impressive in that their most whimsical work was at the end of their run, a time when most others have lost it. Just look at the fantastic artists Kate Bush and Sinead O'Connor. Both of those did wonderful fancyful and carefree work for a few years and then got bogged down in expectations or whatever, and everything got so serious and frankly rather boring.

I am a cat but got no tin tin tail
Put on a pinkly lip cream on funny face
But I'm a cat live in a candy canvas
And I am happy happy staying in here....

Fantastic Cat
I play my mini mini moog
Fantastic Cat
I play a piece of strange music
hoo hoo...
I'm a fantastic cat
Are you OK? Here I go!
-- Fantastic Cat by Takako Minekawa

Howl's Moving Castle

As magical as My Neighbor Totoro, and with an occasionally more gripping story, and certainly more spectacular visuals: Howl's Moving Castle. Awesome.

"Yellow"

Out there in the desert, rats and mice dance together, on their delirious quest for food and friendship, longing for lost memories of christmases past.

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