Chaos Station, a bit of MM space opera

Mentioned in a post last week was the Chaos Station series by Jenn Burke and Kelly Jensen.  If you enjoy a classic science fiction space opera sort of tale, then you will likely enjoy this, as long as you have no issues with the primary couple being male-male.  The books feature space battles, first contact with an alien race, and much more.  While couples outside of Flick and Zed are mentioned, the only couple you really get to know and observe (as a couple) are Flick and Zed, as the authors do a good job focusing on that, while not pretending that other couples don't exist.  The do exist, but aren't the focus of the series, so aside from interactions displaying those reactions, there is little focus on them as couples, though the characters may be fairly well developed outside of that situation. This series seems to have been designed to conclude in five parts, with an implied HEA, since after book four, it isn't something I would take for granted.  The short honeymoon tale they wrote afterwards is a nice light-hearted read, which is needed after what the authors put Flick and Zed through.  Each book here seems to focus on a specific issue, and that issue is mostly resolved within that book in relation to the major story arc, making the books easier to read.  I will need to reread to recall if the books end in a cliffhanger like the serials of old, but with all the books released, even if they do cliff hang, at least you can get the next if you liked the one you just finished.

I am not sure if I actually wrote a decent blog entry here, having worked all night, and I probably need to sleep, but I will post it anyway, because this was one series I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered.  I am going to hope for some future shorts with Flick and Zed, but if the authors plan another full length book or an additional series with these two, I really hope they plan it as well as they did this one, because then I know several people who will enjoy reading it.

More Neruda, but there is so much and it is so good.

Pablo Neruda isn't the only poet I read, but I guess with so much of his stuff around, I find that I read it frequently, so find all sorts of things to mention.

“That time was like never, and like always.
So we go there, where nothing is waiting;
we find everything waiting there.”

Excerpt From: Pablo Neruda. “The Poetry of Pablo Neruda.”

While I know romance novels are generally not well written, there are many that are, or if they are not, at least they contain something that will send you somewhere else looking for what they mentioned.  R. Cooper's "A Boy and His Dragon" mentions Neruda's love poetry, and while it isn't the reason I discovered Neruda, I rather like that "low" genre fiction can with reference poetry and if done well, it doesn't seem to be striving.  Oddly, though I don't think this poem was referenced in the book, it does fill in a good deal of the book.  When you go looking for nothing, you get everything, which is one way to look at love.  I think every blind date is gone into with low expectations, so if something is found, and if that something is everything, then there you have it.  I like this little fragment from Morning. Sonnet IV, 100 Love Sonnets, as it says something about more than love.

THIRDS

Earlier I posted about various series, and while I don't think I want every entry here to be about books, I do think I will use that earlier post as a launch point for some comments on the series, because if I can get the author another reader, that is a good thing.

Anyway, Charlie Cochet's THIRDS series is an alternate universe with shape shifters explained via science and germ warfare.  (Yes, I know I linked it earlier, but it only seems right to link it again, since this entry is focused on that series.)  So far the series is 7 books, with a few more in the pipeline, and a spin off focusing on the main couple in this series, Dex and Sloane.  Overall, what I like is that Ms Cochet has a full cast of recurring characters, the members of Destructive Delta, and that while most of the books focus on the Dex and Sloane relationship, there are others that focus on the other members, and most importantly, there is a healthy amount of showing the effects the primary relationship has on the rest of the team.  So many books focus on the couple without paying attention to how the coupling really impacts friends and family, and these books try to explore those relationships as well.  THIRDS is a paramilitary police organization, so the device that allows these character explorations is generally that of solving crimes, but as long as every crime is not the same, it gives the books plenty of situations to explore.  With the way things are going, Dex and Sloane will end up as a two man James Bond, and considering how many of those books are there, we readers should have plenty of time to watch their relationship, and the relationships of others on their team, blossom.  I really tried to give a general overview, and I hope that I didn't make it too general or broad, but I also didn't want to review each book or give the dreaded play by play review.  There are a lot of characters and multiple couples, but Dex and Sloane are at the heart of it all, which is why I only mentioned them, though I do like the others.

In addition to the books, Ms Cochet also has an active Goodreads community for this book, and does a good job of keeping readers engaged, perhaps most obviously by the THIRDS Thursdays flash fiction posts, where she responds to various reader prompts, and those prompts are frequently based on some event mentioned in the books, but not explored there, so the world she has created becomes that much richer.  Charlie Cochet's website, with links to the flash fiction posts and other news, can be found here.

MM Romance and series

I was chatting with a friend tonight on the phone and something came to my attention when we were discussing books.  It seems that most of the books I have suggested she read were part of a series of MM Romance.  These weren't the typical series with a different couple each book, but rather a series that focused on a couple for several books, some of the series mentioned were Kate Sherwood's Dark Horse, Lyn Gala's Aliens and Assimilation, the Chaos Station series by Jenn Burke and Kelly Jensen, JC Owens' Gaven series, and Charlie Cochet's THIRDS.  The common denominator for all of these seemed to be that the authors gave the characters more than a single book to grow and develop.  Much of MM Romance gives a single short (80,000 words or so) book time to develop the relationship and wrap it into a happily ever after, that these series, with multiple books devoted to the characters actually give the reader more.  Everyone loves HEA books, but everyone also knows that the happily ever after is a work in progress.  After a few too many shifter books with knotting and an automatic HEA, I think readers deserve in depth view of relationships and the trials that form and strengthen them.  Not every series I mentioned is paranormal, but each works to detail the trials of the couple and how they overcome those obstacles.  Yes, all of them include sex, but that is not a reason to automatically remove them from consideration as good books.  I don't think Dex, from THIRDS, resembles Flick from Chaos Station any more than Liam resemble Gaven, and none of them resemble Dan or anyone from the Dark Horse series.  There isn't a resemblance here that says these folks are filling out a form and fitting in the characters.  All of them have proper motivations and all of these are explored during the course of the series, and I think what appears to be a common length restriction on MM Romance novels may actually do these authors a discredit, because the stories they write deserve to be longer, and I am pleased they take the effort to explore.

For the most part, links will be to the publisher site, but I think all are available on Amazon.

More on Pintado

Firstly, I found some of the poems from the collection I am reading online, here.  So if you like the one I transcribed earlier, there are others for you.

Of course I should have known that any recent book of poetry mentioning Alexandria would probably also reference others fascinated by the city, and low and behold, there is a poem about Lawrence Durrell, whose collection of novels making up The Alexandria Quartet I really enjoyed.  I must have given them away at some point, as I no longer have my paperbacks.

Between Cavafy and Durrell there is a poem for Musil, but he is not one of my authors, but I know someone who has read him.  Most German authors don't do much for me, which I am sure has something to do with the Tolstoy/Dostoyevski paradigm, that you will like one or the other, but not likely both.  I fall into the Tolstoy camp, but I have read enough Dostoyevski (given, some was Constance Garnett, but she didn't totally change the underlying story and mood) to know that he isn't my favorite.  Truth be told, while I like Tolstoy better, I am still not likely to pick up more books by either author.  Before my diversion into Russian authors, there was something about German authors, yes Musil is Austrian, but he writes in German, and how you are likely to like German literature or not, and I figured I tried enough German authors to just not bother with more, Musil came to my attention after my decision.  I still pick up the Thomas Mann I have in the house and make efforts to read a bit further this time, but haven't made much progress.

Carlos Pintado's "A Street in Alexandria"

I went looking to see if there was a translation of this poem online so I could link it, but there isn't, so hopefully this still counts as fair use.  It is from the collection "Nine Coins/Nueve monedas":

A Street in Alexandria

How could I miss, in this moment,

a youth walking beside me in Alexandria,

how he sees his shoulder knock against

my shoulder like ships driven by the tide,

and how that moment, barely noticed,

is eternal, beyond time as it passes

through golden desert sands.

How could I miss, just now,

that we could have been the ones, ages ago, 

who went to Constantine Cavafy's house

--lewd, lit with desire--

while the poet was out,

and remained there sadly, looking at the objects,

leafing through a book until we found

that poem, the one that speaks of two young men

walking in Alexandria, shoulders grazing,

glancing, just slightly, recognizing each other,

like ships driven by the tide.

(Translated by Hilary Vaughn Dobel.)  I did try to just choose part of the poem, but all the lines are too interconnected, and the poem too short, and the feeling was brought about by the whole, not just a line, so my attempts at a selection of the poem failed miserably, and it did the poet and the translator no favors, so I just transcribed all of it.

What I liked about the poem was the sense of continuity between poems, poets, places, and readers.  As a reader, I do enjoy books that take place in places I have visited or lived, and I also enjoy visiting places I have read about, so this poem, taking the circumstances and relating it to past events told by earlier writers, with of course the implication that it has been going on since time immemorial, and it will repeat itself as well, even if no one recalls these poems describing the event.

I hope that is not a hopelessly vague description of how and why I like the poem, but poetry was never my strong suit, though I do like it, and I do enjoy trying to share what I like (to all three of my readers).

Lionel Shriver's comments on "cultural appropriation"

Lionel Shriver gave an interesting keynote speech (text here) about writing.  I find it interesting because Kate Sherwood, a romance author I enjoy, has also recently commented that she doesn't feel comfortable writing a trans character because the trans community wouldn't appreciate it (my paraphrase).  I think it is important that authors are able to use anything without worrying about cultural appropriation, because as Ms Shriver pointed out, fiction will be little more than memoir if every writer can only draw from the well of personal experience, since outside of that would be "appropriation."  It seems she caused quite the stir, but overall, I would tend to agree with her.

Edit:  I have been reading more on this speech and the stir it caused, and while I will still support Shriver's assertion that fiction writers should be able to write what they wish, I will also say that if a writer is including a minority (sexual, ethnic, whatever) for no other reason than to check a tick box, then it probably better to not include said minority.  If there is a reason other than that to include said minority, for plotting or character development, then go right ahead and include them, but if, as a writer, you do a poor job with your character, then expect the criticism that comes with poor writing.  Everyone has different tastes and respecting those, while not necessarily agreeing with them, is one of the hallmarks of civilized society, the ability to agree to disagree.  Writers do care about their writing, and not every writer is going to accept critical reviews gracefully, but the chance of those reviews is an intricate part of publishing, so lash out, keep it civil, and make sure that your overall argument is not lost in the hoopla if your reaction goes viral.  I do think she made some valid points, but I think her argument is getting lost.  Fiction authors should be able to write the book they want to write, and if it is good, people will read it, and if it isn't, they won't.  Good or bad, it will likely get both sorts of reviews, and a writer needs to accept those, particularly if there is something in the book that borders (or is) controversial.

Obviously changed times

Tonight I was watching "That's Entertainment," which is a fairly interesting overview of MGM in its heyday.  Considering Disney's view of "Song of the South," one thing that I was surprised hadn't been edited out since the movie's premiere was a clip of Andy Rooney and Judy Garland in blackface.  While I wouldn't condone making a modern film with blackface, I do think it is important to remember and discuss why it may have been popular at one point in time.  I don't think that it is possible to deal with racism by ignoring and erasing these older representations, though they tend to be uncomfortable, so most would prefer they just not exist, which is very easy in this day and age.

Enough with the Harry Potter comparisons

I finished Aimee Carter's "Simon Thorn and the Wolf's Den" last night, and one of the reviewers at Amazon made some comment about Harry Potter.  It seems that every book about adolescents, magic, and school gets that comparison.  Considering how little this book resembled Harry Potter in every other respect, it doesn't even seem like a good idea to make the comparison.  I did enjoy Simon Thorn and his determination to do what he felt was right, as well the fact he also tried to accept the consequences of his actions.  Just because an author starts with the above three mentioned components does not make it a Harry Potter knock-off, it is how the author progresses with those components, and how the author handles the plot.  The more components of Rowling's book that make it into the new author's work is really what makes a knock-off.  I enjoyed the fact that this author really only took two of those components to create this fast paced novel, since school was a totally negligible aspect.  Was there a special school? Yes. Did Simon attend this school? No, at least not as a regular student.  After all the action, it does seem that he will be attending in the future books, but the school will likely be fundamentally changed after the events of this book.  Anyway, I guess I have seen the Harry Potter comparison far too many times for it to actually mean anything, which is a bad thing.  Points of reference are nice, but this one has been so over-used in describing YA fantasy novels that it no longer means anything except that there will be adolescents, magic, and a school.

Interesting Month

It has been an interesting month.  Early in the month I ventured to my hometown to visit family, as it turned out, I had not been there in five years, since shortly before my father started chemo.  Anyway, I managed to visit my parents and grandparents, and due to other circumstances I spent a bit more time at home than originally planned, which worked well, since I saw my aunt, uncle, and cousins in that extended time.  Later in the month, on the 31st actually, I learned that one of my grandmothers had passed.  I don't think I have ever been so grateful to have made a trip home.  Since I normally tried to maximize my time with her, and this was no exception, I have good memories from that final trip.  The last meal we shared was at my favorite pizza place, and when I saw her last she was making  crispy bacon for my 2nd cousin one morning.  I managed to get a some more memories with her which was great, and for what it is worth, I think the family get-together after her funeral would have made her happy, with all of her grand-children and most of her great-grandchildren spending most of an afternoon sitting, chatting, taking pictures, and being a family brought together by grief, but one in which grief did not overwhelm.  Most of the great-grandchildren did not know those from the other side of the family, but several were willing to be adopted into the other's family by the end of the day.  While she wasn't there, her abiding belief in family permeated the day, and if there is any sort of tribute appropriate to her, that would be it, no one took greater pleasure in taking care of her family.

Still not here, regularly

As I doubt it is a surprise that I haven't posted since January, after last years record-breaking single blog post, I decided to toss something here, on a night that I am otherwise occupied with laundry.  I actually have a letter to write, but haven't gotten around to it just yet.  Aside from work, nothing really has been going on in my life, though the world is falling into a rather nasty state.  I guess the big thing holding me back there is it was a letter that had none of the humor and wry observations I normally expect from the correspondent, and I really don't relish replying with the boring tedium that makes up my day, since I haven't learned to play the Ukulele I bought in Hawai'i.

Ahh, the new year and more resolutions not to keep.  While not specifically spoken, I decided that this year I would read a bit more poetry.  To read more poetry means that you also reflect on and want to share that poetry, and I will attempt, though I doubt my efforts will last long, to update this blog a bit more regularly.

This evening I was reading Pablo Neruda's "The Book of Questions," translated by William O'Daly, and in poem VIII, I discovered the following lines:

Do tears not yet spilled
wait in small lakes?

Or are they invisible rivers
that run toward sadness?

I am still working out what I think of these lines, but I found them evocative, and wanted to post.

One thing that came to mind is the finite-ness of the small lake versus the perceived infinity of rivers, or the release of limited tears, like a dam overflowing due to a specific event, over the constant crying of someone who can not get over an event, whether loss of a loved one or some other traumatic event.

Perhaps not the most joyous thoughts for the new year, but when reading poetry randomly, rather than choosing a certain theme, you don't always get happy.

New Month, New Year, probably not many updates

But flowers distill'd though they with winter meet,

 Leese but their show; their substance still lives sweet.

From Sonnet V, by Shakespeare.

Another of something stumbled by that I enjoyed.  I love how characters in books can so often rattle off quotes, which is something I doubt I can ever do,mostly because as a society we have lost the habit, more accurately lost the reason for the habit, since speaking of tv shows has replaced conversations on poetry, literature, and theatre.

We will see how much more we get through, though I doubt the will be much hunting good quotes with forks and hopes, just the copy-paste of an iPad.

Pablo Neruda, part 2

I don't really know about other people, but when I am reading something, whether fiction or non-fiction, and they mention an author that intrigues me, but which I don't know much about, I frequently go about trying to read something by that author.  I have heard Neruda's name frequently, associated with politics as well as poetry, but I had not picked him up yet.  Too many other books currently sitting around half-read is the most likely excuse, or that I wasn't currently in a poetry mood.  Whatever the excuse, I did finally get around to reading a bit, and I liked it, though I did not pick up his love poems, and mention of his love poems is what prompted me to grab a collection as well as one of his long poems.  (A Boy and His Dragon by R. Cooper is the book that referenced Neruda this time.)

Thinking back, when I read Anais Nin's diaries ages ago, and there were so many writers mentioned, so many that I did pick up and read, Henry Miller and Lawrence Durrell chief among them.  In the case of Nin, she opened up a collection of literature that I hadn't previously known about, since American writers in Paris during the twenties get so much more press than those that followed.

At least I am still exploring and following my curiosity, though I sometimes feel I am not doing a good job there, getting lost in whatever other activities that I have going on.

Pablo Neruda, part 1

Aum, VI

Pardon me, if when I want
to tell the story of my life
it's the land I talk about.
This is the land.
It grows in your blood
and you grow.
If it dies in your blood
you die out.

                             -Pablo Neruda (translation by William O'Daly)

This poem caught me off guard, but I liked it, though I know I have not the relationship with my land, country and people that Neruda had with his.  Then again, perhaps I am not viewing it with the proper lens.  Old glasses may be familiar, but they don't always improve your vision appreciatively.

Fiction

I have been reading a lot of M/M fiction lately, some of it mainstream (Nightrunner series), and some of it not so much (The Last Pure Human).  While those are just two examples, I have read several more, and maybe with time I am not so critical, or maybe I have just been lucky with what I have picked up, but this seems to be better written than what passed as "gay" lit when I was coming out.  That isn't to say that I like all that is out there.  For whatever reason, I started The Last Herald-Mage series, but was so put off by the main character that I could not continue, though the series ranks high on some Goodreads lists.  While the Pure Human tale is seems more of a stranger in strange land sort of comedy (set in the future on another planet), Alec and Seregil in the Nightrunner series have a relationship that actually develops over the course of the books, and, in truth, I don't really think you could change the sex of either of them without some major rewriting of the books, so it doesn't really seem like the author wrote a M/F love story and changed it to M/M just for the sake of it standing out.

I probably did have something else I wanted to say, but my ancient lap top is acting up, so I needed to use my desktop, as I have no intention of trying to type blog entries on the virtual keyboard of a tablet.

Post-Christmas

Hmm... 4 months. Not surprising, but probably indicative of the future. Definitely indicative if I honestly think I will make any more post typing on an iPad mini.

On the Nature of Intelligence Leaks

It is amazing that our crack intelligence service doesn't seem to really have any brains.  A few years back they leaked the knowledge that those opposed to terrorism had a mole in a Yemen terrorist organization, and I don't know if the found the person who leaked that or not, but it did put someone in danger, if the mole did not get out prior to leak.  Just this week, it was revealed that the recent embassy closings occurred because the spy agencies managed to tap a conference call.  I am sorry, but both of these leaks seem to be much more disastrous to our intelligence gathering than Snowden's leak confirming the government scans all internet traffic for this or that keyword, if you are to believe them.  Snowden confirmed something that has been rumored for 15+ years, but was so general as to be ho hum, so what.  The other two leaks dealt with specific threats and most likely will make gathering new information using the earlier techniques more difficult.  I realize the NSA is in need of an attaboy or two, but this is really a stupid way to convince the public you are doing your job.  If you had followed the Constitution, you wouldn't be in need of an attaboy to gain back public support.

Thursday Morning

Summer in Seattle has it advantages, but this morning the sky looks nothing like it does in the picture, and the beverage in front of me is the other Seattle standby, coffee.  There are other things I want to write, but with this being a spur of the moment post, I don't have them organized in my head, so I will skip them.  The news cycle is so filled with garbage, it is hard not to have something to write about, but the problem is not sounding like an idiot doing so.  If I do sound like an idiot, then I am guessing it can't be helped, but that is one reason I am leaving my ramblings to how I write rather than how much I currently despise whatever currently stupid thing is going on in the world.  On that note, I think it is time to wrap up today's excursion to my blog.

Just a bit of something...

It has definitely been an interesting year so far, more on the general news front rather than anything in specific.  I really hope the US stops chasing Snowden quite so rabidly, as it is making the US look really pathetic, after he made the US look really stupid.  Honestly, at this point, at least domestically, he brought about a bit of discussion on the government spying on US citizens, which regardless of what sort of greater protection doublespeak they wish to wrap it in, is still absolutely something that should be scrutinized in the press and in congress, much more than it has been, and much more than it likely will be.  Internationally, Snowden said we were spying on China, as if that is an earth shattering revelation.  I am not sure when common sense national security issues became top secret, but obviously with no brains in the security apparatus, such things have happened.  Also internationally, and a bit embarrassing to boot, was the revelation that we are spying on our allies.  That is the black eye on the world stage, and that is something that will likely require more than just a few platitudes to clear up.  Hero or not, and I won't go there, I do believe some of the issues he brought up, like the possible abuse of powers granted by the Patriot Act, needed to be brought up, and needed to be discussed.  I also think before the US uses any political capital, like that issues with the Ecuadorian presidential jet, it should really review what has been in the press, and decide if what was revealed was really top secret, or if it was honestly just something everyone knew, but disclosure of it in the press just made it an issue that could not be brushed aside.  I have heard for years about some government agency or another culling email and such, but had never much thought about it, or even if it was more than just the proverbial internet myth, so now we know it isn't a myth, but a rumor confirmed-- hardly top secret stuff there, but then the US government has a tendency to over-react, just look at the TSA.

The is enough for this morning.  Waiting for Skyrim to update while drinking my coffee is sort of what led me here today, so I won't promise another update anytime soon, though such things do cross my mind periodically.

Just another Sunday

It seems I am finally getting over whatever pseudo-cold/flu thing that hit me. Most of this past week I haven't felt like much, and perhaps even gave the awfulness to my trainer at the gym, as he cancelled Friday's session, sounding on the phone as bad as I did Wednesday, so it is nice to be done with that. Since I have a trip coming up, it is even better that I feel good, but now I have to get more done this week than I had originally planned.

Ecosystems

I am beginning to wonder if the Internet is going to continue to get bigger or rather if it will become fragmented again, much like the beginning with various walled gardens.  What made me consider this is the new Chrome-book, as well as Surface, and whatever new product (small tablet?) that Apple is planning to announce soon.

While I know that there isn't really any pressure for me to use any one platform over another (I have a PC, and I am writing this on my Macbook), it isn't that difficult to notice that Google and Apple are both doing what they can keep you in their respective spheres, and with Surface, will Microsoft be far behind.  This blog is here, rather than somewhere else, because I chose not to move it when Google bought Blogger, and I am on Blogger because the friend who talked me into this was on here.

I think I need to be a bit more specific about what I mean, as even if Apple does have the equivalent of Blogger, I have no clue as to what it is, and don't really care.  The thing with Apple is the thing with apps, which, if you have Flipboard, or something similar, means you don't really need to go outside into the real Internet, on your phone or iPad, if you load the feeds on an app with sites you regularly go to for news or whatever.  It is really little more than a customized favorites bar with previews, but it does narrow what you see, though on my phone, that is plenty fine with me, but on my computer, I rather like the exploration aspect that is still there in the "you might be interested in" links.

I wonder if I should have chosen Google for my first example, though considering how sloppy my thought processes today, I likely will mess this up by adding extraneous information.  The reason I think Google may support this hypothesis a bit more than Apple is that while it doesn't feature a walled garden quite as strictly defined as Apple's, it does gather enough information on users that links and such will be those your habits have lead Google to believe you want to see.  Let's face it, whenever your insurance is up for renewal, if you use Chrome and flow your quote requests through a Gmail account, you will be seeing insurance commercials for the next six months, or perhaps longer.  While not strictly delineated, this would be Google curating your ads and perhaps links as well, based on some activity recorded by its data cruncher algorithms.

What part of the pie this leaves Microsoft is a good question, and one which I guess only time will reveal.  Whether the future of Internet is some Flipboard style app, or something based on your viewing history data being crunched, and then you fed those results as to where you should go, or perhaps Microsoft has something in mind beyond just getting into the game, some view of how they see people, computing devices, and the Internet , and how all three fit together to form someplace that people will continue visiting via the Microsoft way, rather than the Apple or Google way.  It will be interesting, and while Surface looks really neat, if there isn't much beyond a tablet with a fancy keyboard, I think Microsoft will have another Zune.

I wonder if the reason Google's Chrome-books haven't been extremely successful is that people don't really view them as much more than another way to view the web, and not the best for so many other things people use laptops for, since wifi is pretty much a prerequisite, and you can't count on it free everywhere.  To be honest, I haven't used any apps for my Macbook, as I am not even sure mine would support them, as it is an older model, so I am not sure what the app even offers, but Apple has effectively made their hardware work well together, so even though this is old, it still works for my Apple TV, and I like my laptop better for blog posts because I can sit in the living room and compose, rather than at a desk, looking at a wall.  I have done blog posts from my phone, and they aren't that fun, and I can't imagine the experience would improve from my iPad.  While I think Surface, with its keyboard, would be a great Internet thing, for me it would be less so, since I can't quite use the keyboard from my lap, and for the screen to stay up, there needs to be something for the stand to use as a base.

Now this is just how I use the tech that I own, and I can not say if others use their tech in the same fashion.  Considering the number of hardware and software companies out there, I am sure that not everyone uses their tech toys in the same fashion I do, so there should be plenty who will explore what Surface has to offer, though whether it will replace tech from other companies or co-exist with them, each performing a slightly different function, is impossible to predict.

Fluidity of Time

I guess I will find out the hard way just how this looks, as it seems that Blogger has altered the controls some since I last posted a picture.  Since I am not a daily poster, I guess I will continually log in and think it would be good to add something, only to discover it has been several weeks since I posted.  I think I have a harder time of keeping track of time than I do of keeping track of my keys.  Of course, since inception, I have never had a firm purpose in mind for this blog, so the good thing about large breaks between entries is that is means I don't have even larger amounts of drivel to post.  On the flip side, there are probably too many posts much like this one bemoaning the lack of purpose, and just filling up space because it is a Saturday morning, I am drinking coffee, and I feel the urge to do something that might be vaguely termed productive, that doesn't include running the vacuum.  Aside from it being Autumn, it is also the presidential election season, and I will refrain from much more comment on that, since nothing has much changed since my last comments.

Why not support?

I was reading coverage of Paul Ryan on CNN, and they quote Ryan as saying, "I think it kind of goes without saying that there's definitely a media bias." A follow-up asked him to cite specific examples, which he seemed unwilling to do, as he didn't want to "litigate this thing." Perhaps I am mistaken, but if the bias is out there and obviously in plain sight, then an example should have been easy to provide, even off the cuff. It isn't really a big deal, and it fit right into their play book, since they won't specify tax loopholes they intend to close, why would they bother to specify media bias.

Since I am not quite app-smart enough to figure out how to copy from Twitter to Blogger in my phone, a link to the appropriate political ticker post will have to wait.

Art 21, Serra

Last night I watched an old episode of Art 21, which was originally presented by PBS during the early part of the new century.  Richard Serra was one of the artists mentioned, and it showed him sketching some of his work in his journal.  At least for the drawings made during the filming of this documentary, Serra's line-work is as subtle as his building material.  That seems appropriate, but thinking of either of those doesn't really give you a  feeling of actually encountering his work, which has a great deal of subtlety in how it affects one's senses.

Interesting Conversations from Work

Last week one of my colleagues, upon discovering that I was disinclined to vote Republican, told me that I really needed to see these Allen West videos. (I am on my phone, so I am not going to link them.)

Anyway, I watched them, and managed to get through the first one, though I had to work to maintain interest after the democrats are communists initial comments. After not very many minutes, I had to do a double take, as the inestimable speaker was clarifying how exactly the Democratic Progressive Caucus was related to Communism. It seems in West's mind progressive is code for communist. With this just being correlated, he goes on to imply President Wilson was a communist. Now this didn't seem accurate, and low and behold, Wilson was a fervent anti-communist, at least according to several biographers and Wikipedia. With this in mind, I listened to the rest of West's comments, though I had to chuckle when he advised the reporters there to do their homework and research stories.

Corporate Culture

Not that anyone really wants to hear anything on politics, but there is something about Romney that is bothering me, so I figure it may be worth my while to spell it out. He has been claiming that he hasn't had any direct input into activities at Bain Capital since 1999 -- the precise month, I don't recall, but it isn't relevant to my purposes in this post. Whether he was directly responsible for any activity there or not, since he founded the organization, he also established the culture of that corporation, and by that I mean a set of acceptable business practices and a standard operating procedure. Claiming that he didn't sign off directly on any off-shoring of jobs formerly done in the United States after 1999, doesn't relieve him of the responsibility that he established a corporate culture at Bain Capital where such activities are considered perfectly acceptable, and perhaps even encouraged if they can be proven to be profitable. Currently there is a big hubbub in Illinois over closing down a profitable business, moving it to China, and then making even more money on it. So the culture at Bain isn't just to move failing businesses to China, but ones that are succeeding as well. Amid a poor economy, moving jobs that are already yielding profits in order to make even more money is pretty heartless, and perhaps it is why I really don't care for Ayn Rand's philosophy, and why I don't mind a bit of regulation, since I won't trust business to do what is best for anyone but the current CEO. This sort of decision isn't one you can regulate, but I think it reflects poorly on the corporate culture established by Mitt Romney, and maybe even gives a clue as to what sort of culture he would plan to install in the executive branch during his administration.

If the man created a company that doesn't look at the human costs of its business decisions, then how can anyone expect him to be a successful president when it doesn't appear that he cares about the human costs of decisions placed before him, whether the people who form the ranks of the military, those who have retired, or those on welfare.

Just Playing

I can see how Twitter would be a better medium for posting if one is typing on a virtual phone keyboard. I have Twitter, but have used it less than my blog, though I do enjoy the news and pictures of those that I am listed as following. Following is not the best word, since in most instances it just fills up into my Flipbook, and I check that as I go along during the week, but that is seldom more than twice a week, so less a follow and more of a feed. At some point I may try a bit of streamlining, so I don't have a dozen things going at once, but that isn't a priority, because I don't connect with all the services often enough to be overwhelmed.

Blogging from the Phone

I just discovered that there is an app that allows me to update this on the go. Since I don't take the time to update it when I am at home, there is no telling just what sort of update rate will actually follow. If nothing else, it gives me something to do while waiting in a restaurant.

Benign Neglect

I look at the date on the previous blog post and realize it was done about the same time as I had my automobile accident. No one was hurt in the accident, but it seems that one effect was this blog being dropped almost totally from my awareness. Writing must not be one of those things I just have to do, though I do enjoy it as a release now and again. Six to eight weeks after the accident I also changed positions at work, and have been working nights. Before that shift change though, I did need to purchase another vehicle due to the aforementioned accident. The picture is of my new vehicle, and I am enjoying it -- 2012 Mocha Latte Pop.

Sitting and Pondering

I have been debating on whether or not to replace my aged PC in the living room that serves as the access point to anything other than DVDs for the television, and also the sync station for my iPod. It doesn't run as well as it could, has a tendency to drop the wireless connection, and takes a fair amount of time to boot up iTunes. All of which seem to be good reasons to replace it, but I just can't figure out what would serve me best as its replacement. If I buy a replacement, I have been thinking about a mac mini, as I think it would do what I needed it to do, work well with my laptop (macbook) and also have minimal issues when it came to syncing either my phone or my iPod, and of course it would take up less space. The current PC just sort of sits on the floor next to the television. While I do use the drives to transfer music from Cd's to iTunes, I don't really use them for much else, so I don't see great issue with not having them. It is really just a minor decision, but one that I will eventually sort out.

A bit baffled

At one point this evening I may have had a topic that fit the heading, but not really so much anymore. I have been reading online news, and whatever insight I may have had from dinner that I wanted to carry into my blog have vanished. I do recall really enjoying some lines from the 1st Elegy in Rilke's 10 Elegies, but don't feel like transcribing them here. If memory serves, they were the last 3-4 lines, and I am sure they can be found somewhere-- and, any other day, I would probably be willing to locate and link to them, or even transcribe them, but not tonight. Tonight is staying awake another 30 minutes or so, and doing what I need to do that, and while it should probably be exercise, at least part of it is going to be spent typing. I rather wish I actually had something to write, but lamenting work and politics seems just a bit too typical, and it doesn't necessarily make me feel better. That being said, perhaps I will do a bit of yoga, as that normally does make me feel better.

Slow picture weekend

While I went to a birthday party at a friend's last night, I took no pictures. I haven't taken many pictures at all this last week, perhaps the fact that continuing Summer hasn't seemed to change the local landscape enough for me to see something new and striking worth the pixels. Who knows, as it could also be that my phone has been left at home often, since I get tired of carrying it about, and enjoy being non-connected every now and again. The weekend has been pretty quiet, and aside from the birthday party, I haven't done much aside from speak with Mom a bit earlier-- always nice that, but it doesn't exactly make for a noteworthy day.

Thursday...

Really, there isn't much to say, except that it is Thursday, and I felt compelled to drop a message of some sort on here. The week has been pretty unexceptional, and there isn't really enough to write to fill more than a paragraph, but the urge was there, so I am fulfilling it. Truthfully, aside from filling a few more minutes prior to bed, I can't think of a single reason for this entry, but, also, for some reason it feels really nice to just type a bit of nonsense and call it a day. The end of one, with only one more until the weekend, and all the promise it supposedly holds.

Beautiful day, didn't get much done

Well, it was a beautiful day, and I didn't get much done-- the bike ride didn't happen because I am not accustomed to the hard saddle on my bike, and my backside was telling me not to repeat that just yet, and other stuff didn't happen because I was reading on the balcony, napping, or finding some other distraction for my time. I still have laundry, but enough clean clothes for the first part of the week, if not the entire week. Since I finally bought some new sandals this past week, I don't use socks on the weekend, which gives me a few extra days with regard to those, but that isn't the real reason for sandals, just a bonus.

The other day I did hit Sonic Boom Records and did some old fashioned music shopping, and ended up with a Klezmer compilation, MGMT, Florence and the Machine, and Hey Marseilles, and today got around to uploading them to my iPod. I don't really know percentages and what not, but since I enjoy the record shop (CD shop) experience, I will continue to buy the old fashioned way, and hope the shop stays in business, as too many shops have closed due to Internet purchases. One of my pet peeves is people who love to go browse in bookstores, find something they want, then buy it at Amazon, or some online channel, other than the store they found it in. When the store vanishes, most likely complaints will ensue, and hopefully they will review their actions and see how they contributed to the store's demise, though I doubt it. I am becoming a bit cynical in my view of many people, who seem to want the convenience and benefits, but are unwilling to pay for them. (If I were to transfer that thought into the political realm, then this entry would devolve into a rant.)

Still Summer

Perhaps it will be more than a tease this year, as the gorgeous weather is continuing once the morning clouds get burned from the sky. I took my bike out yesterday to Gas Works Park and got this photo of Seattle from there. I also managed not to get a sunburn, though my arms definitely got a bit of color. Since I was doing that, I didn't really work on any sort of art, or actually think much about it. The day was pretty and I was enjoying the moment, taking care to enjoy myself, and not worry too much about else. Unfortunately, that makes for a dull blog post, but I wanted to add something, before the time between posts appeared to be more benign neglect on my side.

I did learn something interesting, as I haven't really ridden my bike much, but in one of the stops I made, the bike riding owner of Hub and Bespoke advised me to get lights if I planned on riding much past dusk, as the police do ticket riders for that. That is nice to know information, and since I haven't ridden much, something I should definitely consider if I am still riding regularly come fall and winter. I have always been a fair weather rider, so I don't really know if I will need them, as if I am riding this fall and winter, I will probably want fenders too, to keep splash to a minimum, since I can't imagine there not being water on the roads.

Gorgeous Saturday

It is a nice day outside today. I was out and enjoying it for a bit. I strolled down to the Ballard Locks, but didn't take pictures of anything but flowers, though people were out in force as well. (There is a black and blue bird sunning itself on my balcony right now, but I can't tell what type and since he just flew away can't take a picture of his backside for folks to guess.) As the afternoon progressed and I was reading CNN or BBCNews, I stumbled across some article on Facebook, and there came a mention of Instagram and all the hipster over-processed photos there as a result, and all I can say, is that I don't recall ever seeing any of my friends post something that looked as if it were processed using Instagram. My guess is either none of my friends use that photo app on their iPhone, or else since my friends aren't the twenty-somethings mentioned by the author, they are all too old to be taken in by such trendiness. Oh well, shallow or not, the app is fun, and that is really all that matters to me.

iPhone App stuff

I have been enjoying some new photo apps on my iPhone lately, Instagram is one of them and the other is Nofinder. Instagram is what I have been using for the square photos in all the posts this week. Kind of a neat program that gives a choice of filters for immediate gratification in the processed style of your choice, though there is a no filter option. Nofinder is a different beast, as it really makes your camera a point and shoot and you don't really know what that shot will be since you viewfinder is blacked out.

What really struck me today was how cropping and processing can really change the way things look. These two pictures were taken twenty feet or so apart, but with the same two people walking in the same direction both times. One really looks suburban desolate, in my opinion, while the other isn't quite so bleak. The Nofinder picture with the greenery in the foreground took me by surprise. But I think it makes a nice contrast.

With the phone cameras I can see that I am taking more pictures, and they tend to be of more mundane things, but so many great pictures aren't great because the subject (physical) is great, but because mood, light, and subject all fit together with a degree of serendipity that qualifies the whole as extraordinary. (None of my experiments so far qualify.) Even without qualifying as art photographer, I am having fun with the camera on the phone, and will continue to putter about with it, as long as I am enjoying the results.

Another day, another entry

Perhaps not interesting in and of itself, but I find that when I am making a conscious effort to avoid the time sink that is MMO gaming, I tend to create more blog entries. Gaming is fun, but it is very easy to lose way too much time doing it. After so many levels and whatnot, there doesn't seem to be much to do, unless you have friends online and can chat with them. The games themselves are very similar to each other, and the rewards are as virtual as you can imagine, perhaps if you are lucky, and upgrade to your armor that allows you better use of the skills the game has gifted your character with. There is nothing inherently wrong with spending time like this, but when most of one's time is spent there, there is nothing really gained either. Aside from the social aspect, reading gives better rewards, and forcing oneself to actually do something, even something like typing up a blog entry, I think may be even better, as it is engaging your brain in forcing it to create, rather than just blithely gorging on content.

It seems summer is going to be an "on again, off again" sort of affair this year, as the evenings seem very summer-like, and the mornings do not. Considering I work days, this state of affairs is somewhat satisfactory, though I want my weekend to be all beautiful, all the time-- but that is just me being greedy.

One last thing, I did get stopped by that bridge this morning on the way to work, but rather than the usual single sailboat going by, a larger ship did, so I had a pleasant surprise early in the day.

No more blue sky

The lovely weekend we had has retreated into a gloomy Monday, with weather more stereo-typically Seattle, than what summer should actually be. This is supposed to be the dry season, but it sure hasn't seemed that way.

I wasn't sure when I started writing tonight if I wanted to discuss the politics currently going on in DC, and I think I may pass on saying much of anything, except I hope something is worked out that doesn't just benefit a small percentage of the country. Our republic doesn't feel like it is running they way it was intended to, as the parties in Congress are supposed to compromise and not just hold their breath until they get everything they want. I guess those without children finally get to experience the exasperation of a parent with siblings that refuse to work together.

Overall, I would have to say that today was another generic Monday at work, like so many before, and like so many probably to follow. There is nothing wrong with a lack of crises and fires to deal with, but there is also something extremely deadening about the lack of variety. In addition to the overcast skies, I am sure this is contributing to my less than stellar mood.

Summer and Neglect

Well, this is the second go at this. My earlier post didn't post, nor did a draft save correctly, so I guess I will write something else. I know I had said something about how my hopes and efforts at the beginning of the year gave me some belief that I would actually manage to write on a regular basis, and keep things moving to such a degree that momentum was formed, and the blog kept moving, rather than petering out to the occasional I am still here sort of thing. This weekend has been gorgeous here in Seattle, with temps in the low-mid 80's, which was high enough to cause someone at the neighboring table tonight to complain about the heat, while I was finishing my beer. Oddly enough, we was sitting on a patio at a restaurant that did have indoor seating, and he chose not to go someplace with air conditioning. Since it was very comfortable in the shade, I don't know why he was complaining, but folks seem to do it out here, below 40 is too cold, above 80, too hot.

Rather than bemoan what I thought was a really nice weekend, I have been thinking about glass casting, and what to do in my next class, which is in August. I picked up some beach toys, so I can make glass castles, rather than sand castles, though either way I am still playing in the sand. I have been thinking of what to do that would make my glass pieces even more fun, but since I have three weeks to figure that out, I hope to have some decent ideas.

End of May

The end of the month arrived and I didn't manage to write anything. I guess that is not a big surprise, as writing seems to happen sporadically. Anyway, I finished up one glass class and start another, this one also using hot glass, but with a bit more about mold making and such, I think. It is called explorations in cast glass or something of the sort. I signed up because it started at the right time, and would keep me in glass. Other stuff was interesting, but didn't work for whatever reason. There is another block printing workshop this summer, and I may do it, so I am guaranteed some new images for a quick 4 classes in 2 weeks Casting class I am signed up for in August. Oh well, there is an entire summer between then and now, and at least one trip to home to visit the family.

Hope everyone had a good holiday weekend.

Happy May Day

Well, May 1st is here, and while I have been lousy at updating this the last couple of months, and I don't expect to resume regular posts any time soon, it would be nice if I can keep this going, however irregularly, for some time further, as I do enjoy writing about works in progress and such. Todays pictures are of two pieces of cast glass that I had pressed a block print into the sand as my casting mold. The image, while technically the same, has taken a different aspect, more desiccated from the imagined abuses the gent has piled on himself, or as I like to think, this is what happens when too much absinthe, or abuse of any substance, has been taken for too long. I chose absinthe because the original image was from Modigliani. (See post from 20 February for the block printed image.) What I do know with these glass "blanks" is up to me, as I have been told by the instructor that much of cast glass work ends up as part of something, rather that itself as a unit. Not knowing this beforehand, I have made a lot of stuff that may or may not work well solo, and these will probably end up a series, painted and finished differently from each other, each exploring some aspect, whether it be color, surface finish, or something else that I find interesting at the time I do that work. I did get some transparent glass paints that crafting sorts use to do imitation stained glass, so I am sure a few of these will fall prey to that.

Keeping Busy (with allergies)

While I have no real excuse for the lack of posts these last two months, these past two weeks I have been busy in the hot glass studio at Pratt (with a weekend in the cold shop for good measure). My latest class involves sand casting, which is basically pouring molten glass into a mold created in sand. It is rather fun, and some interesting items can be made. One thing that is a bit different here seems to be how you "finish" the piece, and while cold-working is an option, it still just leaves you with a piece of glass, with very little of the high polish people expect from glass. Some of the other options are painting with glass paint or burnishing with leaf. I am going to explore some of those, I think, and next week may include a few inclusions in the background areas, with the hope that they bring the man in the print more into focus. Only time will tell, since I can also play with colored glass at this point too, so who really knows what is up.

Oops...

It seems that without new pictures from my pattern bar class, I have been neglecting my blog, which is not intentional at all. I have started processing my first pattern bars into something else, but I didn't take any pictures last night of the first piece before fusing, and I haven't taken any pictures of kilns loaded with stuff ready for firing into pattern bars. If I am lucky, I will post a picture of the first piece, prior to slumping, next week, as it should be out of the kiln and ready for slumping. Other than that, next week is really all about cutting up the several remaining pattern bars I have and assembling those into something ready to fuse, and whether I will get the assemblage done next week is probably an open question since I quite a bit to slice and dice. One good thing is I know the blade is about 1/8 of an inch, which is something I didn't know before, but means I need to adjust some of the marks on my bars that I put on them last night if I want to create thicker pieces. The piece I am fusing now will be about the same thickness as some of my previous work, as I managed to do a decent job keeping my individual slices down to between 1/8 - 1/4 of an inch thick. Of course, all this has nothing to do with flowers, but flowers are nice, especially with Spring and daylight savings time fast approaching.

Just a Friday

Here is the finished version of my circle project. I am not sure if I can get a better picture, but I may try tomorrow. I had thought about going out tonight, but walking home from dinner I decided it was too cold for me to bother, though that does mean I need to make a bit of an effort tomorrow night to get out. Yesterday I discovered that my upcoming 2 day glass workshop is cancelled, so I won't get to set up little vertical strips of glass and make things that way. I am sure it will show up again, and the biggest disappointment is that it means I will have less stuff to use as fusing fodder in my current class as well as my fusing 2 class. I was sort of hoping to get some fun bits and pieces from the strip class, but such is life.

While it is not late, I am yawning a bit, so I may just call it early and sleep, which is much more fun than venturing out in the cold and hoping someone will say "Hi" in a bar.

Seattle Snow

We don't have quite any of the snow they are predicting just yet, but today shortly after lunch we had a brief snow shower that had people leaving work in droves, and the news was reporting that the local authorities had urged everyone to get home early. I left at my regular time, on perfectly clean roads, with no scraping of the windows as the snow had already melted, and managed to get home quicker than normal, so the advisory must have worked, since traffic seemed light.

This is one of the final pieces I did in my glass fusing class, mixing glass painting, copper inclusions, and good old fashioned slumping. It is sort of a companion piece to the other square dish, but with brighter colors. I think it turned out well, and I was much happier with the glass painting after the project was done than with the initial view of what I had painted. Crudely painted flowers in my normal sketch/doodle style seem to look much better under glass, as the painting is now fused between two layers. I may play with glass paint a bit more, but don't think it will be in any curriculum until Fusing 2, which is a Spring class, but one I am already signed up for. I have also been forewarned that there will be more circles too.

The class I started last night is a pattern bar class, and there will be a lull in new work to post pictures of since it is a bit more process intensive than this class. Last night we applied kiln wash to kiln furniture, a process that should keep the bars from sticking to the furniture, and built our initial pattern bars. The piece I am envisioning will combine my two pattern bars with two of the coasters I made to build a larger piece where each quadrant will be different, though two will be very similar in their pattern. I can't say whether it will work and be pretty or not, but it gives me a direction right now, and gives me a good excuse to play with green and orange glass.

Monday's never seem to change

Monday's don't ever seem to change that much. Today was a holiday if you are lucky enough to work for the government or a business that recognizes it as such, but I don't, so all it meant for me was that traffic was a bit lighter. I did manage to get a decent picture of this glass piece finally. We had some sunny days over the weekend so I propped it in the window and there was finally enough light to illuminate the whole thing, rather than the bright spot with shadows that my other attempts drew, which were better than the ones were is is just green. Tomorrow starts a new glass class, and a new focus, which will be pattern bars, which from what I can tell can make pieces that are a bit more complex. I do have more fusing lined up, but that doesn't start until April, and by then I should have many more photos and many more projects and a fair amount more experience. Here is to also having a lot more blog entries, and hopefully I have enough commentary about what I am doing and what I learn and what I am attempting that it will be interesting reading.

Weary Sunday

I am not sure what exactly seemed to hit me last night or this morning, but I have been dragging along all day, for no obvious reason. Today's pictures is actually the third image I made in my block printing workshop a few weeks back. I currently have these three hanging as if to dry on a short section of wall, though truth be told I think I will leave them like that, with clothespins rather than mats and frames. In addition to dragging, it seems my brain has decided Jell-o is a better thing to emulate rather than its traditional structure. I was planning on bed in a bit anyway, though maybe it will end up earlier than anticipated.

Coffee and Saturday

A few things, I think this post marks the this as the most productive year in the last three for the blog. Too bad that wasn't such a hard thing for me to accomplish, considering the meager postings for the previous couple of years. Anyway, last night for the first time in several years I headed over to Capital Hill in Seattle to check out visit The Cuff and check in on a friend who I haven't seen in a bit. I am happy to say the friend is doing fine, and to my surprise, and this may be because I left around midnight, I didn't feel that I was the oldest guy in the room surrounded by twenty-somethings. Like earlier visits, most of the guys seemed happy to talk with only those they knew and while I did meet one local, the only other person I spent any amount of time chatting with was visiting from out of town. It was fun to get out, and I am actually going to make a go of getting out a bit more, and maybe, in time, I will have my own little clique to hang out with, though I don't have any high hopes there, as I may get tired of the game first.

Thursday's Stuff

For anyone interested in checking out Davo's writings, his blog has some links to places where he has just published. My congrats to him for the hard work and persistence required to get there.

I was going to go to a glass shop and buy some glass for an open studio tomorrow, but I chose not to since I had nothing designed, so my glass buying would be rather haphazard, and no doubt expensive as a result. I believe the open studios are monthly, so I should be able to design some stuff in time to prep properly for the next one.

I have been posting pictures on my Facebook page that show all the work from my class so far, though my own comments are not quite what they are here. This is the circle image I posted last week, but it has been fused. The bright orange where the other piece had been clear is due to that glass being "striker," meaning it changes into its true color after you have added the appropriate amount of heat. While not obvious in this photo, my nice clean lines between the colors aren't quite abutting each other in many places. I was told this is due to the fact that the upper layer of pieces, while in the kiln heating up begins to float a bit on the lower layer, which is why you can see some bends in the formerly straight stringers that I had placed on top of the piece. Of course, after I asked, I also learned that if I had built my party-colored circle under the piece of clear glass, then there would have been less float and my joins would have been more precise. Of course, my instructor decided to mention that doing that was impractical in a class since it is impossible to move pieces around that aren't glued together if changes in the kiln arrangement had been required to fit other student's work. So I learned a little something, and I still think my circle bowl will be fun. I am thinking it might be cool to make one with white opaque glass on top and a multi-colored layer below, though I would make the lower level fairly simple.

Decisions, decisions...

Pleasantly Surprised

This dish was a lot of fun, and went through many stages before finishing. I think I did some sort of process on it five of the six classes I had to work on it. It started out as a piece of glass we were given to teach us cutting and then tack fusing. Later, I added the color and gave it a full fuse, which melted all the tack fused glass perfectly smooth. The color spots were holes in the original piece. The I flip fused it so the little pieces of frit that looked like stones would be more obvious-- a case of the bottom looking better than the top. After that, I decided it needed to be a dish, so I slumped it. In the last class we learned how to use a sandblaster, so, at the instructor's suggestion, I gave the back a good blasting. The end result is something I like quite a bit and keep finding myself looking at. As a learning piece, I think it worked very well. As something decorative, it is a bit more personal, and will probably live someplace in the house, as it is much more organic than all the line oriented work that I did, which I like, but which has a certain formality to it. Pictures of some of those other pieces will certainly follow, but I thought it would be fun to share all the work that went into this one.

Nice Sunday of games

For those curious how my first real glass slumping project turned out, here is an image I took in the studio-- before is above, and after below. I love the way the light plays off the glass adding the highlights. Barely perceptible in the after picture is the fact the green and purple are transparent, which I think is due to their hue more than anything else. I am very pleased with the way it looks. I won't have before and after photos for most of my projects, as I don't seem to remember to take photos in the middle of class, just at the beginning or end. (One piece I slumped this week would not have made much of a before photo anyway, as it looked just like a sheet of green glass, since the pattern fused into the bottom would not have been noticeable.)

Today was fun, as I went over to a friend's house who was having a game day, so I spent some hours playing "Munchkin" with some total strangers, but met some new people and saw some folks I hadn't seen in a long time. The bridge table has gotten a bit more complex as they have the little boxes now that allow you to bid without having to vocalize, which of course makes a social game that much less social. I was trying not to bother the players too much, but I did ask questions about the bidding box thingy, which just seemed to make things way too formal. I seem to forget that some people take their bridge seriously.

Nothing wrong with straight lines

This is what my typical workspace looks like during glass fusing, with a notebook open to the wrong sketch on the left, though that was because this circle piece was done on the fly and I had not worked out what I wanted to do with it after I cut the circle, which was the days lesson--cutting circles. This is before fusing, but it shows the pattern I developed using the colors at hand, starting with the big square of purple I found in the scrap bin. So much of my work in this class has been geometric, the classmates in my immediate vicinity took to poking a bit of fun at me for all the straight lines, though so far, all those lines have paid off handsomely in nice looking pieces of glass.

Long week

Having taken that workshop over the weekend, this will be a long week, since I didn't get quite so much relax and do nothing time the last few days as I normally would. That isn't a bad thing, but I am sure I will be feeling it as the week progresses. Today's photo from the workshop results is basically different ink and papers with the self-portrait image. It was a lot of fun for me to see how the image would show with a few variables thrown in. Black and white is always nice, but sometimes color, or off-white paper really sets everything off.

I just compared this to the image from yesterday, which is actually the fourth image from the left, and in yesterdays, the color of the paper is totally missing, and I didn't do any processing of the photo besides cropping it, which is something I find interesting. I wonder if it is the contrast with the other images that gives the paper its proper color, or if some auto-adjust happened.

Finished, but not ready for work tomorrow.

Well, I am finished with my two day workshop, and today I did manage to finish the self-portrait shown here. I have it in black, which will eventually link, as I don't think the red on sage colored paper really shows the color of the paper. I printed up my other two images as well, also in a variety of colors, but did not get a start on a fourth image, other than a preliminary sketch. I was worn out around four, with two more hours to go, so I printed a few more images, but spent the rest of the time socializing and helping to clean up and whatnot. I can say I am pleased with the images, and may very well continue playing with this technique, though I am a bit concerned as to where I will do the carving, at least until it gets warm, since my living room is carpeted, and I doubt I want to try and remove linoleum chips from the carpet. It was definitely a fun class, and if you are interested in a relatively low tech printmaking technique, then I would suggest such a class, as you don't really need much in the way of special equipment. Oh well, time to wrap up and hit the sack.

Exhausted at the end of day 1

It has been so long since I spent an entire day focused on something like art making, I forgot just how exhausting it can be. The flamingo and lava lamp motif frequently showed up in my college printmaking and I could not resist the urge to bring them back. This is the first three stages, and the third may be the final, of this particular image. It is fun, and my birds can't help but appear sinister, though I don't recall ever being traumatized by Hitchcock's film. I took a photo of all three as I think it gives a nice overview of how things change during the carving of the block. I am hesitant of taking too much out in the beginning, so I always know the first is not likely to be my last, but with each additional removal I tend to focus on one area, then print to see how it works as a whole, before moving to the next. Of course this is probably slower, and I use a lot more paper and ink, but I like the variations, and changes. Someone mentioned in class that by doing this, I always have at least one image I may like, before I remove too much surface and ruin the piece. I guess tomorrow I find out if I end up doing that, though this process seems to be easy enough that I could do it at home, if I were careful, so theoretically if I don't do it in class, I have plenty of time to mess things up on my own.

Almost forgot a title for little more than an update.

Well, another week has passed and another class of fusing. I am having quite a bit of fun cutting and making glass pieces. Working with color here is very different from working with paint. The image above are some small pieces destined for an exchange at the end of class with the other students. This is prior to the fusing process, and I hope to remember to take post fusing photos of them for comparison, as it should be interesting. Other than the class and work, I haven't done much this week, so there isn't really much to post. I dislike posts like this, but I didn't want to forsake the blog for too long, as having done that in the past, once put to the side, it can remain there for far too long.