Source: Juxtapoz Magazine – “I tried to warn you” says Peter Frederiksen
These are so cool.
All posts by keith
In ‘Body Politic,’ Antony Gormley Traverses the Human-Built Landscape — Colossal
In ‘Body Politic,’ Antony Gormley investigates our relationship with industrial environments and the tension between migratory impulses and the need for refuge.
Source: In ‘Body Politic,’ Antony Gormley Traverses the Human-Built Landscape — Colossal
Monday Musings — 18DEC23
My top ten books of the year:
You don’t have to buy these, and you don’t have to buy from Bookshop, but that gives me a little pocket change, and I prefer not to give Amazon the money if avoidable. These were my favorite books of the year, what were yours?
Monet’s Poplars
Source: Monet’s Poplars
Monet’s Poplars series
Apparently, Monet was at work on three different groups of the same trees (in the end, there were 23 paintings in all) each group with its own compositional format, when he learned the trees were going to be cut down. So, he did what any self-respecting art god would do – he bought them.
Monet made most of the Poplars paintings in the summer and fall of 1891. He saw them while rowing toward the “floating studio” he kept moored further up river. They stood single file along an “s-curve” in the river, and you just have to look at the paintings to see why he fell hard for them.
The trees, which belonged to the commune of Limetz, were indeed auctioned off for lumber. Monet therefore was forced into buying the trees to keep them standing long enough to finish painting them. Once he’d completed the series, he sold the trees back to the lumber merchant who wanted them.
Thus the world still has that graceful, elliptical geometry of light, leaf, breeze and branch, and we have one very focused and very successful never-say-die painter to thank for it.
Monday Musings — 11DEC23
As promised last week, the inks for that page.
And a fun video.
A Canadian study gave $7,500 to homeless people. Here’s how they spent it.
Because they were participating in a randomized controlled trial, their outcomes were compared to those of a control group: 65 homeless people who didn’t receive any cash. Both cash recipients and people in the control group got access to workshops and coaching focused on developing life skills and plans.
Separately, the research team conducted a survey, asking 1,100 people to predict how recipients of an unconditional $7,500 transfer would spend the cash. They predicted that recipients would spend 81 percent more on “temptation goods” like alcohol, drugs, or tobacco if they were homeless than if they were not.
The results proved that prediction wrong. The recipients of the cash transfers did not increase spending on drugs, tobacco, and alcohol, but did increase spending on food, clothes, and rent, according to self-reports. What’s more, they moved into stable housing faster and saved enough money to maintain financial security over the year of follow-up.
That’s it for this Monday. Remember to pull your pants up so you don’t trip over your legs.
Kaethe Butcher Art and Illustration
A peek inside the Oxfordshire warehouse finding homes for four million second-hand books | ITV News Meridian
Around 300,000 books arrive at the warehouse every day for processing, which is either excess charity shop stock or books chucked away at recycling centres. | ITV News Meridian
Monday Musings — 4DEC23
It’s Monday, what’s on my mind?
Here’s a blue line of a page I’m working on for my comic. It’s going really slow, but I am working on it. I’ll post inks for this page next week. I have them done, but not scanned.
Everything is going slow for me. Low energy because of the chemo, and etc. Some days I just have energy to watch videos and do some light housework, and that’s it. Even sitting at a drawing board seems like a lot, which it shouldn’t, but does. When I force myself to do art it feels good, so I try to do that, if I don’t fall asleep first. LOL But stuff gets done, really.
Now for some health/science news. Check out the video.
A video about why statins aren’t really doing what they say, and are not all that good for you.
Writing this Sunday night actually, and we are getting snow. Supposedly about 6 inches by morning. I’ll let you know.
Yep. Snow. Not quite 6 inches but pretty close, and still coming down at 7AM. Now to get ready for my appointment.
Stay warm, careful shoveling, and remember, that this ends like everything else.
Monday Musings — 27NOV23
I’ve been thinking (just thinking, mind you) about electric bikes, and maybe getting an electric trike. I don’t think I could do a 2 wheeler, because of my balance problems, but a 3 wheeler would work. I don’t go far most of the time, groceries, pharmacy, library. It would beat taking the truck out when I just want to go a short distance. Except in winter. No way, I can barely be outside in cold weather.
And they are better for the environment.
What advantages do electric mopeds and bikes have?
The electric transport revolution is a great chance to rethink how we move through our cities—and whether we even need a car at all.
Cars, after all, often have only one occupant. You’re expending a lot of energy to transport yourself.
By contrast, electric mopeds and bikes use a lot less energy to transport one or two people. They’re also a lot cheaper to buy and run than electric cars.
If you commute on an e-bike 20 km a day, five days a week, your charging cost would be about $20—annually.
In Australia, electric bikes are very rapidly going from a hobbyist pursuit to a serious mode of urban transport. Over 100,000 e-bikes were sold here last year.
Of course, you’re unlikely to use electric mopeds or bikes to drive from Sydney to Melbourne. Their real value is in short-hop trips—the school run, the milk and bread run, or even the commute—where they take roughly the same time or shorter than a car.
I finished The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin this week. Highly recommended.
“A gorgeous and inspiring work of art on creation, creativity, the work of the artist. It will gladden the hearts of writers and artists everywhere, and get them working again with a new sense of meaning and direction. A stunning accomplishment.” –Anne Lamott From the legendary music producer, a master at helping people connect with the wellsprings of their creativity, comes a beautifully crafted book many years in the making that offers that same deep wisdom to all of us. “I set out to write a book about what to do to make a great work of art. Instead, it revealed itself to be a book on how to be.” –Rick Rubin Many famed music producers are known for a particular sound that has its day. Rick Rubin is known for something else: creating a space where artists of all different genres and traditions can home in on who they really are and what they really offer. He has made a practice of helping people transcend their self-imposed expectations in order to reconnect with a state of innocence from which the surprising becomes inevitable. Over the years, as he has thought deeply about where creativity comes from and where it doesn’t, he has learned that being an artist isn’t about your specific output, it’s about your relationship to the world. Creativity has a place in everyone’s life, and everyone can make that place larger. In fact, there are few more important responsibilities. The Creative Act is a beautiful and generous course of study that illuminates the path of the artist as a road we all can follow. It distills the wisdom gleaned from a lifetime’s work into a luminous reading experience that puts the power to create moments–and lifetimes–of exhilaration and transcendence within closer reach for all of us.
Or https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-creative-act-rick-rubin/1141404747?ean=9780593653425 in case you’d like the ebook.
That’s it for this week. take care of yourselves, and stay warm.
Monday Musings — 20Nov23
Wow this crept up on me quick. I’ve had a cold this week, and got some meds for it on Friday, that seem to be killing it off. Trying to avoid pneumonia and a visit to the hospital.
It’s Thanksgiving week. Which, again, this year is going to be less stressful for me since all I need to do is make Anadama rolls. I use my Nana’s recipe, which I’ve had for years. Here it is:
Well used. I made a pdf to give to family members, but there’s no reason to not post it here. It’s fairly simple, but does take a while.
So what are you thankful for this week? This month? This year? It’s time to assess your life, and see what you love about it, and what you don’t. I’m thankful for the people trying to keep me out of the hospital. From my wife, to my cardiac team, to my PCP. Been in too many time this year. The heart and lungs have been the big problems, and fluid retention, caused by them, mostly. I’m thankful that I can be home and safe with help just a phone call away. I’m thankful for Nora. I’m thankful that Oliver is still a goober, even though he seems tired most of the time. I’m thankful for the staff at Cancer Care, who treat me like family, because I’ve been going there so damn long. I’m thankful to still be here.
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/ten_ways_to_become_more_grateful1/
1. Keep a Gratitude Journal. Establish a daily practice in which you remind yourself of the gifts, grace, benefits, and good things you enjoy. Setting aside time on a daily basis to recall moments of gratitude associated with ordinary events, your personal attributes, or valued people in your life gives you the potential to interweave a sustainable life theme of gratefulness.
2. Remember the Bad. To be grateful in your current state, it is helpful to remember the hard times that you once experienced. When you remember how difficult life used to be and how far you have come, you set up an explicit contrast in your mind, and this contrast is fertile ground for gratefulness.
3. Ask Yourself Three Questions. Utilize the meditation technique known as Naikan, which involves reflecting on three questions: “What have I received from __?”, “What have I given to __?”, and “What troubles and difficulty have I caused?”
That’s it for this week. Remember what you have. Maybe it isn’t much, but it’s yours. Hold on to it.
