Uneasy Descent

I've been meaning to do this for a while now, but it keeps slipping my mind or getting pushed aside in favor of other things. I cam across the first site today, though, and decided I should write this up and share. Thus, without further ado:

This is a list of artists whose work I've been enjoying with links to their sites and small descriptions. This post will likely have sequels.

http://johnkenn.blogspot.com/ Don Kenn: I found this guy today. He works on kids' TV shows, but in his spare time does these cool little drawings of monsters on Post-It notes.

http://alxclub.com/ Alex Mcleod: Amazing digital paintings constructed in 3-D modeling programs.

http://juliancallos.blogspot.com/ and http://juliancallos.com/ Julian Callos: Quite possibly my favorite artist of late, an illustrator from Los Angeles.

http://preposthumous.com/prepost_archive.html Holt Haley-Walker: An odd little webcomic that hasn't been updated in a few years, but is certainly a fun read.

http://gsilverfish.deviantart.com/ Michael Stearns: A cartoonist/illustrator whose work I came upon due to the mutual (and perhaps unusual) interests in Sonic the Hedgehog and dinosaurs.

http://www.scottmusgrove.com/ Scott Musgrove: A telented painter with an unusual subject matter and aesthetic of presentation.

I think that's all I've got for now, but as I said, I'm sure there will be more later.

[rant] A classmate of mine from high school has been posting on Facebook recently his not-quite-articulate opinions on health care reform, social welfare and other government programs. Most recently he has posted a status that decries the fact that, through taxation, the government takes money from people to give to "fat people on welfare to have enough money to buy tweenkies and beer and get fatter" as he puts it, and then have to have more money taken to pay these people's medical bills. Now welfare and health care reform are not issues I want to get into on here. They're large, complicated issues that are better served with rational thought and healthy debate and discussion. Rather what gets me about his status post is the is the explicit statement that taxation=theft.

Here's the quoted post:

"so i have to be taxed (theft) for fat people on welfare to have enough money to buy tweenkies and beer and get fatter..fine... now i am going to have to be taxed more so that i can cover their health expense because they became unhealthy as a direct result of the money that was taken from me in the first place...is anyone else sick of paying people to become professional losers?"

I can understand the idea of not liking taxes; most people don't like them. They do, however, serve a necessary and vital purpose. If someone believes that taxation really is theft, then I have to wonder, are they going to go out and build and take care of their own infrastructure, i.e. roads, sidewalks, bridges? How about law enforcement? Will they police the streets themselves, arrest, try, convict and punish criminals on their own dime? Granted most people with the view of taxes=theft would probably rather dole out vigilante-style justice than have anything like the criminal justice system that currently exists. Then there's education. Will you home-school your child, or can you afford private schooling. Without taxation, there is no public education. That's just the basics, of course. There's a whole other world of things out there financed by taxpayer money including public transportation, public works like libraries and cultural centers and programs that further our understanding of ourselves and the world.

So, go ahead, complain about taxes, there are certainly many things that need to be fixed, but don't make irrational statements implying that the money is stolen and put to no good use at all. [/rant]

Hark! I have returned. From where, I do not know... Anyway, just been kind of living life. Not much has changed since the last post except the fact that the heat has moved on for the most part. Which is to be expected now that it is the last day of summer.

Angie and I attempted to make taffy recently with the knowledge that making taffy was like making hard candy, only you don't let it cook as long. All seemed to be going fine at first, but time rolled on and we realized: this is taking too long! A short perusal of Google revealed that you need to stir the mixture regularly until it reaches a boil, then stop stirring. Without this information, we had continued stirring post-boiling point. A short time after we quit that, our test samples passed through our DIY candy thermometer (a cold glass of water in which the sample was supposed to fall in and stay standing, indicating that it was hot enough). As we let the candy cool and set, we discovered that somehow, we had inadvertently created hard candy rather than taffy. Either we let it go on too long after we stopped stirring, or with how much time we obliviously stirred when we weren't supposed to, the candy reached a high enough temperature to fully crystalize regardless of what the water glass test results were showing. Regardless, it tastes good (we added a little less than a dram of strawberry flavoring) and it looks like glass. It's also good to know that we can successfully make hard candy, something I thought was fairly difficult before trying it.

Also, we've completed another anime series on JustDubs: Death Note. Surprisingly, it was nothing like I expected (a cheesy story aimed at emo/goth kids), and was actually a fairly interesting work that was quite gripping, contained a number of well placed surprises and succeeded in building from what normally would have constituted an ending into another full story arc before reaching a great climax and very satisfying ending. I recommend it.

Hehehe. Honestly, I've actually thought about this before. I would obviously have a radio station, since I've little need for TV. I don't know what I would call the show, although right off the top of my head, borrowing from Evangelista and calling it "Hello, Voyager!" sounds appealing. I would make it a point to play a wild variety of music: rock, electronic, jazz, folk, noise, drone, ambient, pop, experimental, etc. I also think it would be neat to have an event that occurs once a week or something in which I would play something I had never listened to before, just as a nice exercise for broadening one's horizons and appreciation.

As I'm sure everybody that may read this already knows, I spent the weekend in Elmira along with Angie and Chris at Sam's new apartment, helping her to prepare the place for the housewarming party, as well as making Sam unpack and maintain the appearance of actually living in the place. It seems good times were had by all involved. Over the three days or so we were down there, we got to meet several of Sam's "local" friends: Shilo, Joe, Mike, Angel, Tiffany, Sue and somewhat briefly, if not elusively, Jordan (Am I forgetting anyone? Probably...). Also got to see people that I haven't seen in a while: Emily, Joel, Jen and Bevan.

Outside of that, I've been mostly just working, doing artwork for people, trying to survive the god-awful heat and humidity and watching the days slip by towards autumn and the ever-inevitable winter. Which brings to mind the fact that our apartment was turned over to us one year ago this past Monday, and, if I remember correctly, we moved in exactly one year ago tonight. That is a fairly jarring thought.

Oh, and when not doing any of the above things, Angie and I have taken to watching various anime online. We've now watched Great Teacher Onizuka, Paranoia Agent (my third time doing so), Cowboy Bebop and Trigun. GTO was decent with a good story mostly, but absolutely awful voice-acting for the majority of the characters. Having seen Paranoia Agent twice before, I was able to focus on more of the small details and make more sense of its convoluted plot, but I also realize that it's not quite as interesting as I once found it. Cowboy Bebop and Trigun were both good, with very few negative aspects outside of bad the wrap-up of the former and the over-the-top goofiness that started the latter. It's nice having something else to do in the evenings when we don't want to do anything else. It's also good for tiding us over until Heroes and Lost return.

According to LJ, I have not written anything here in six weeks. I think I've had a longer dry spell earlier, but still, that's pretty bad.

My luck with technology this year just keeps getting worse. Late last month while trying to purchase a new smoke detector, my debit card information was stolen by the so-called "Macedonia Elite Hackers." The bastards tried buying over $200 worth of cell phones and have them shipped to Stephen in New Jersey. Fortunately, Overstock.com thought it weird and cancelled the order and I got my card cancelled and replaced. Regardless, in the time I was without a debit card, life was a pain, at least when I needed to buy things. So, fuck you "Macedonia Elite Hackers" and Stephen of New Jersey!

Sam and Chris came up to visit the first of week of July and the four of us got to spend Independence Day together and watch several different fireworks displays all at once. Apparently explosive holidays are a big deal in Buffalo, since people were shooting things off for at least a week before the 4th and about a week after. The only downside about the visit was having to work too much and not having enough time to spend with friends.

This past weekend, Angie's little sister had her high school graduation party, thereby completing her last high-school-era rite of passage. It's kind of odd looking back and seeing how few of those I actually had. No big deal about getting a license or car, no prom, no graduation party. I was a weird child. Fortunately, I'm not like some people who try to have that high school experience after the fact. Maybe it's because I was mostly complicit in the lack of "mile-markers." And speaking of cars and whatnot, I also gave driving an automatic a shot this past weekend, borrowing Angie's grandmother's car. It was easier than the standard, though there was still quite a bit of anxiety involved. It's a step in the right direction, though.

Still working all the time, but I've had people requesting drawings and stuff from me, so I'm still able to have a bit of fun here and there. Look for stuff to start appearing online soon.

Alright, throwing up a few new images here. These are political cartoons that I spent entirely too much time working on. Hopefully new stuff will churn out faster. Not much in the way of editing on these, I still need to add in the text, but comments and critiques welcome.

I used to have a recurring nightmare about being stuck in a moving car with no way to get out and no knowledge of how to control it.  The dream has come many times, ever since I was young, but I think it's been a while since I've had it.  The vehicle was never in danger of crashing into anything, just moving along in an isolated area in the middle of nowhere.  I don't know if it symbolizes a discomfort with being unable to control certain situations or what.

Once again, I haven't written in a while.  Life's been all over the place.  My hard drive crashed last month, with no affordable way of recovering the data.  Fortunately it cost less than $100 to get a new, larger HD, but it still sucks a bit to have all that data lost.  Angie and I were using her six-year-old HP laptop in the interim and it took a bit of getting used to.

Work's been busy—with the weather getting warmer, more people are deciding to eat out, which in turn makes the restaurant more of a mess and more work for me.  On the days I don't work, Im usually just relaxing from work, getting things done around the house and working on artwork.  Speaking of artwork, I've been thinking of posting up new things when they appear on here, to sort of flesh the blog out a bit.  We'll see how that goes.

Last Sunday, I met Angie's father for the first time.  It was a bit on the surreal side, since his behavior clashed with everything I've ever heard about him.  It would appear he has mellowed somewhat with age and the Florida lifestyle.  The next day, I finally got my permit and sucked at my first attempt at driving a standard car.  Sometimes I feel like I should have taken my dad up on his offers to teach me how to drive years ago.  *Sigh*  Fortunately, that weekend started on a high note when I randomly enter the Kentucky Derby pool at work.  It was five dollars to go in, 19 horses, winner take all.  I won, getting my $5 and another $90 to boot.  That helps with the extra money I've spent lately on my permit, new shoes, and some stuff from the thrift store.

Looking forward, I'm going to see Tortoise on May 29 and my brother, Rick, may be stopping by at some point around then because he and a friend are going to see Coldplay at Darien Lake on the 1st.  Then there's Tina's, Angie's sister, graduation party on July 11.  On top of that, I want to see if I can make it out to my mom's at some point to visit the family and also find time to visit Sam.  That's a bit of a whirlwind.  Well, at least things won't be too boring for a while.

I came upon this through watching a video about on I Am Bored.  Rather interesting and another reason I'm questioning if voting for Obama was the right decision.  I'll probably post more later after I've read through more about it.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement