rocky top

Category: dribblings

just got back from good ol’ floppy top. it was a great time, but oy, the drive was long.

on our first night there we were sitting outside and i looked around the deck and thought, “aw, that’s a sweet raccoon statue. it looks so real.”

yeah. it was real. and it was closer to the door than we were, and all i could think about was that episode of the Family Guy where they have to go live in the south for a while? and that raccoon keeps popping out of places and attacking Peter’s head? you know the one.

i think it was used to being around people, because we were definitely more afraid of it that it was of us.

if we weren’t outside it would come right up to the door to be all, “i can haz teh snax?”

and of course we didn’t feed it because you’re not supposed to. except you know that’s a total lie. look at that mug and tell me how i’m not supposed to give that sweet creature an apple.

you would’ve done the same thing.

also we saw two bears! they came right up to the chalet, but they stayed off the deck. we didn’t get as close to the bears as we did the raccoons. also we did not feed the bears. they were smallish bears but really cool to see.

the bears were far more skittish than the raccoons. the raccoons were more like cats.

i had a 20 second video of the raccoon, but i can’t figure out how to get it on here.

the view from the deck was awesome.


that tree was pink like my hair!

i was trying to get the moon and the mountains.

there are more pics but that’s all i’ll post today.

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Project: Big Time

Category: dribblings

it was time for a project.

ideas were thought. materials were bought. an image was chosen.
lots of music was played. there was even a bit of dancing.

first was the prep:

then came the grueling color mixing and jars of solvents and lindseed oil and medium or whathaveyou.
oh, i didn’t take a picture of my palate. damn. well, um, just picture a board with flesh tones all over it and also jars and shot glasses filled with various poisons. i only used one brush. because i’m cheap.

yes. it’s squares. again. but don’t say it like, “again?” okay? don’t give me that, “didn’t you do that the last time?” bit because i’m not listening. i like the squares. i’m not doing a “portrait” portrait. so don’t think i don’t know what i’m doing. i am deconstructing an image into smaller bits of information.

the smaller bits just happen to be squares of color. lots of squares of lots of colors. and when these squares of color (information) are reconstructed it creates another image.


oops. looks like i messed it up with that blue/purple blob on the right.
that can’t possibly be correct can it?

it always looks like it’s not going to work.
jaimie, wait, where’s the nose? did you forget the nose?
and what about the purple blob? you’re going to fix that, right?

even here i felt it was screwed. too much purple? AND WHERE IS THE NOSE?

wait, you mean it worked? really?
cos i would have sworn it wasn’t going to work. and the nose was there the whole time.


BOOSH. of course, it worked.

because i am a pro! look on my work, ye mighty, and despair!

remember: our eyes lie to us. they are LIARS. their pants? on fire!

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cleaning off the camera II: Road Trip!

Category: dribblings

several weeks ago Kelly and I took a road trip to the Unclaimed Baggage store in Scottsboro, AL. i don’t know if you’ve ever been to Scottsboro, AL before, but it’s small and quaint and you need a time machine to get there. here’s what we saw on our adventure.


ROAD TRIP!



Ruby Falls? Rock City? We’re obviously heading north. if we were heading south we’d be seeing signs for Disney and Sheffield’s Family Dining.


This was in Rainsville, i think.


This reminded us of Eric.

so of course i had to take the obligatory eric-style self-portrait:


which turned out just lovely.

the Unclaimed Baggage store was kind of a letdown. it wasn’t quite as awesome as it used to be.

but we did get to cross the beautiful Tennessee river.


the water was gorgeous. and surprisingly there was nobody on it. maybe it was too cold to take the boat out? i dunno. i can’t remember. but for all the beauty it wasn’t long until we were reminded that we were still in Alabama.

yes. he lives in a shack 10 feet from the highway, but he’s got money to spend on flags and decorative window shit for his truck.

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cleaning off the camera pt. I: King Choco-Nut

Category: dribblings

i keep taking pictures of things and then i totally forget to share my adventures with you.

so here’s an adventure i had way back in August. one day dad and i went to the international food store right down the road from us. they had loads of things most of which we had no idea what they were. the only thing that was recognizable was the candy. not recognizable as in, “oh hey! it’s my favorite candy!” but recognizable in, “this is probably candy.”

i picked out the most harmless looking one (the one i could read the ingredients clearly) and bought it and took it home and here it is:

mostly harmless?

mostly harmless?

King Choc-Nut! this looked anf felt like a big bar of chocolate. the ingredients were in english and said it was chocolate, peanut butter, and sugar. i love all three of these things. the package also said it was a product of the Philippines. at the moment i can’t think of anything good that’s ever come out of the Philippines. at the same time, i can’t think of anything bad that’s come from the Philippines either. as a stupid, spoiled, fat american i’m going to confess right here that i never think about the Philippines. it just never comes up.

so anyway, i opened the package and…

God, help us.

God, help us.

srsly? it’s individually wrapped pieces of chocolate? i was not prepared for this. well, it IS kind of cute

well, it IS kind of cute. i don’t know why, but the packaging reminded me of old cigarette packaging. maybe it’s the gold and the pinstripes and the pimp crown? okay, enough analyzing the design lets eat some King Choc-Nut!

never underestimate the power of artificial coloring

never underestimate the power of artificial coloring

it was very pale and crumbly. when you put it in your mouth it didn’t melt exactly. it dissolved into a gritty paste. the taste? i couldn’t taste any chocolate. nor could i taste any peanut butter.  it was the sweetest sugary sweet nonflavored sweetness i’ve ever encountered. in a word: horrible.
it was somehow sweeter than pixie stix.
sorry Philippines, but King Choco-Nut is not fit to eat.
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35. Most Evil: The Further Serial Murders of Dr. George Hodel by Steve Hodel

Category: 50 Books

35. Most Evil: The Further Serial Murders of Dr. George Hodel by Steve Hodel

It helps if you’ve read Mr. Hodel’s first true crime book where he blames his dad for the Black Dahlia murder (and several others) The Black Dahlia Avenger. Which I have.

Now, how much of an evil douchebag asshole must his father have been for him to NOT ONLY accuse his pops of killing the Black Dahlia (and others) but to then, years later, also accuse him of the Zodiac murders (which took place 20 years after the BD)?

This book, like the last one, is filled with circumstantial evidence, but really, it’s less than circumstantial. It’s just speculation. And, the most important thing to remember is that Mr. Hodel can’t even prove that his evil father (the dad, whether he murdered anyone or not, is still evil) was even in the different cities when these murders went down. Not only that, but he can’t prove that his dad was even IN THE COUNTRY because at that time the father lived in the Philipines.

Another thing that makes no sense is that the first bunch of murders (Dahlia, Lipstick killer)  were murders of women,  strangulation, mutilation of the bodies, that kind of thing. Then 20 years later with the Zodiac murders… it’s the killing of teens (men and women) at lovers’ lanes with a gun. THE AUTHOR NEVER POINTS OUT THE DRASTIC CHANGE IN M.O.

That’s a huge deal to me. If you’ve a killer who likes to strangle/stab women/girls and cut them up and then 20 years later you’ve one who like to shoot men and women? I think that would need to be explained first. Why the change? And is that drastic a change in M.O. even possible? It would seem that maybe a killer that changed like that would have to kill more people with shooting because it couldn’t be as satisfying/personal as the strangling and mutilation. So you’d think there would have been more Zodiac shootings. I don’t know, I’m just thinking out loud here. 

While Mr. Hodel’s theories of his dad being a serial killer are interesting, especially with him being the BDA (which seem more possible), trying to make him the Zodiac killer as well really falls flat. If he could explain the change in M.O. and then prove that his dad was in California at the time, then yes, it would be far more compelling.

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34. Cain and Beowulf: A Study in Secular Allegory by David Williams

Category: 50 Books

34. Cain and Beowulf: A Study in Secular Allegory by David Williams

I love Beowulf. And not only do I love reading the poem, I love reading stuff about the poem. This lit. crit. was so interesting to read. It was filled with examples of how Cain and Grendel and Grendel’s mother and the dragon (and even Unferth!) are all “related”. It was a bit redundant in parts, but that is forgivable because the author is trying to give as many examples as possible.

I will say that he used the word exegesis (and its variations i.e. exegetical) approximately three times on every page. So THAT got a bit tedious. But I found the book really interesting, especially the way the author describes how the poet used historical and fantastical events to relate to his 8th century audience.

And I’ve always been confused when teachers/authors/whoever say that Beowulf was Christianized (or turned it into Christian propaganda) because it’s never felt like that to me (mainly because there’s not a Christ-figure nor is there anyone trying to save souls by proclaiming the Word so, I never understood what the hell anyone was talking about when they bitched and moaned about the poem being bastardized by monks or whatnot.). The author kind of explains it better than I’ve ever heard it explained before.

It’s a great study on Beowulf. It will make you want to dust off your copy of the poem and read it again.

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33. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Category: 50 Books

33. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Shut up. I know.

I liked this book better than The Da Vinci Code but that doesn’t mean much. I wanted to read this one for the same reason I wanted to see National Treasure, because the mysteries and treasures are here in the U.S. and not in some ancient Egyptian tomb, or in some Italian cathedral, or Parisean whorehouse whatever.

I won’t go into the book so no one can call me a spoiler. It was typical Dan Brown: 2 or 3 paged chapters and a constant barage of cliffhanger chapter endings. And I did think that one part jumped shark. It wasn’t necessary and it didn’t add anything to the book other than to perpetuate ANOTHER chapter-ending cliffhanger.  In fact, I think that part ruined the rest of the book. I don’t care if it’s real science or not, it’s a cheap shot. It’s just as bad (no, it’s worse) than the Evil Twin cliche. Hack piece of shit plot device.

Oh, and for those who read The Da Vinci Code, the word in this one is circumpunct. (remember how you could have made a drinking game out of pentacle?)

He leaves the Catholics alone in this one, but I’m sure that idiot Catholic League guy will find SOMEthing to bitch about it.

It gets 10 Cansecos for that stupid, pointless, shark jumping plot device.

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32. Official Book Club Selection by Kathy Griffin

Category: 50 Books

32. Official Book Club Selection by Kathy Griffin

I love her. I think she’s smart, funny, and one of the most hard-working people out there.

I thought the book was going to be a lot of rehashing of her stand-up routines, but I was pleasantly surprised that she actually talks about her life, growing up, working in Hollywood, having a TV show, blah blah blah. She doesn’t drink alcohol or do drugs, so don’t expect some kind of Mackenzie Phillips tell-all here, but it’s still an honest and genuine story, and I appreciate her telling it.

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secret shame

Category: dribblings

i know it should be shameful they way i love the Squidbillies. but i don’t care. i get some of the BEST phrases from that show.

 

“how about that yogurt lovin’ chalky hole you call an ass?” is now one of my favorite things to say. sadly, it’s not a phrase i can actually use very often. but it IS one of the things in my head when someone at work asks me where they can put something.

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31. Fermat’s Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World’s Greatest Mathematical Problem by Simon Singh

Category: 50 Books

31. Fermat’s Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World’s Greatest Mathematical Problem by Simon Singh

This all started with The Girl Who Played With Fire. In that book one of the main characters, Lisbeth Salander, is intrigued with this math problem. It adds nothing to the plot of that book (which, DON’T get me started). But while I was at the library seeing if they had something written by James Burke (that i don’t already own), this book, Fermat’s Enigma, jumped out at me.

This book is about Andrew Wiles and how he proved Fermat’s Last Theorum by using all kinds of crossover higher maths. The book’s jacket says that you don’t have to be a mathematician to enjoy the book, and that’s true. While some math is discussed, and lots of it you’ll recognize from high school, it’s not essential that you get the math to enjoy the history of the problem and even the history of mathematics.

As far as understanding proving the Theorum? The author doesn’t really go into it. I know that sounds like cheating, but do you think the casual reader is going to understand maths in modular and eliptical forms? No, of course not, so don’t expect any real a-ha! moments. It’s written for the common reader of nonfiction and not for math students/mathematicians to learn from. So you must think of this as an overview of the history of the problem and not an instruction manual for the proof itself.

It was surprisingly entertaining. I’d recommend it to people who like history.

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