Trip-chock

I must warn the public before it's too late: the Sainsbury's Taste The Difference 4 Triple Chocolate Cookies may be the most addictive substance I have come across. Approach with extreme care.

The beach at sunset (updated)

TCGirl took a series of photos on the beachs at sunset, that I rather liked. Ooodles of atmosphere.
Here's a couple. If you want more, yell up, maybe she can be convinced.

My own fave may be the top one, it has such dramatic space and light. 

They are great for wallpaper. They are not too noisy, and still have plenty of texture and interest, and a lot of space. 

Nice quality too, you should see them on my 30-inch screen, pin-sharp. 

Funny enough, my favorites seem to be those which are dominated by a large expanse of sand in the frame.  Not sure why, maybe it's just that it shows a deliberate composition. Most people tend to pretty much fill the frame with objects. (Unless they are not at all aware of the frame, in which case it often has a big, empty, flat sky or such.) 

Also, the expanse of sand creates space. 

... ah yes, in that vein, this one is also kewl: 

Office Pod

OfficePod.
Having a dedicated workspace in your backyard will allow you to create a very important mental and physical boundary between home and work.

I don't know, it seems a little cramped. Even a bit... silly? I think I'd be self-conscious if it's be public spaces.

Probably not exactly cheap either. But then if you're really strapped for a little privacy when working, it may be the thing. And doing a bit of research, it's clear that quite many people are really keen on getting such a thing.

A work in progress - 'Solitude'

A work in progress - 'Solitude', photo essay of a drawing.

"A Single Man"

By mistake I rented A Single Man. Sent it back immediately. Listen to this:
Set during the height of the Cuban missle crisis, it depicts a day in the life of gay college professor George Falconer (Colin Firth). Falconer is still coming to terms with the untimely death of lover Jim (Matthew Goode).

This just makes me run away screaming.
One of my favorite authors, Tim Powers, said it well when he talked about why he writes fantasy, stories on a bigger canvas: "I don't want to write about 'the human heart in conflict with itself'."

To me, stories where all the conflict is emotional and never resolved, are self-indulgent and myopic. One has to have a bigger perspective on life.

... I apologize to fans of such movies, this was just how I feel/felt. If somebody gets a lot out of it, who am I to naysay that. Now I'm waffling, sure, but we can all learn and change.       :-)

---
* It was William Faulkner who said that the human heart in conflict with itself is the only thing worth writing about.

World's Oldest Cameramaker Calls It Quits

World's Oldest Cameramaker Calls It Quits, tOP article.

I love quality hand-made things.


Mike also has an article about the ethics of street photography.
It's remarkable how powerful a motivator an unexpected five-dollar note is for most people.

Little pricks

Baby Hedgehog. 

Fable of the porcupine

It was the coldest winter ever. - Many animals died because of the cold. The porcupines, realizing the situation, decided to group together to keep warm. This way they covered and protected themselves; but the quills of each one wounded their closest companions.

After awhile, they decided to distance themselves one from the other and they began to die, alone and frozen. So they had to make a choice: either accept the quills of their companions or disappear from the Earth. Wisely, they decided to go back to being together. They learned to live with the little wounds caused by the close relationship with their companions in order to receive the heat that came from the others. This way they were able to survive.

The best relationship is not the one that brings together perfect people, but when each individual learns to live with the imperfections of others and can admire the other person's good qualities.

The moral of the story is: Just learn to live with the Pricks in your life!

Paper Computers: The Next New Thing?

Paper Computers: The Next New Thing?, article/video.

I'm not convinced. A foldable display would be great, but this seems not to be that. And bending the display as interface... ? I don't think so, except for specialized uses.
(By the way, didn't we see bendable display prototypes a couple of times before in recent years?)

Adobe Eazel, paint app

[Dang, Blogger is really having fits today. I posted this earlier, but it's just gone, it wasn't even there as a Draft, so this is a quick re-write.]

Adobe Eazel seems promising. It might have a bit of a learning curve, but the videos, the lower one especially, shows that it can do some rather amazing effects I have not seen before, certainly not on a tablet. I have paid for the top-dog app Painter at least twice in the past, but I was never very impressed with it.

Clockwork beige

[Thanks to Michael]

Wooden mechanical clockwork art.
It gets kewler in the middle of the video, when the frame starts moving too.

Ugress - Decepticons

Cartoon art

Below is a simple frame from a Peanuts cartoon. I think it's a nice little drawing.

I think that's why I enjoy comics and cartoons so much: each frame is a little work of art. There are few things I find as beautiful as a good drawing. You can just feel that every little line is in there, put just so by the artist, and if it's good, every line is balanced against the whole.

By the way, it seems to me that many comic artists are better draughtsmen than many fine arts painters, and they work very hard: to earn a living, they have to output several quality drawings every day, which together have to tell a story too.