Avoidance Behavior

One of my coworkers from the near-distant past coined a term for one of my traits. Right now I am practicing it. Avoidance Behavior.

Point A: I need to do my taxes.
Point B: I want to create something.



The Result: Fuck it. I'll just take naps, surf the Internetz, and blog.

P.S. My life needs more cowbell.

All - In - One

Sooooooooo, I have been merrily going about my business doing stuff, not keeping up with everything...who can? Anyway, I ordered ink for my printer on Amazon because you cannot find it in the store now...the printer is from 2000 or 2001. I have not used the thing for months...maybe years. Since I graduated from Franklin in 2004 probably. Ran out of ink and did not care. Anyway, the damned thing does not work now anyway...it may be that I got ripped on the ink. Either way, I need to sink a couple hundred into a new printer.

While I was not giving a shit about printers, turns out they sell mostly all-in-one machines now. They scan (my HP scanner is ok...also circa 2001), they fax, the copy, they print.

I've decided to buy an Epson AIO machine. Probably something hi-def. I dunno...it is like $50 more. The bitch of it is they have like 7 ink cartridges. That'll set me back a months salary when I need ink.

Anyway...time to shop.

Artists and the Art World

This is sad.

Honestly, before this article, I had never heard of Jeremy Blake, or Theresa Duncan. I have viewed a couple of his artworks on YouTube and NPR. They have a hypnotic quality about them. I would need to see a lot of his work to have a really strong opinion. But his work aside, I wonder if the pressure of being a "rising star in the art world" took it's toll on both of their psyches. That is the part about Jeremy Blake and Theresa Duncan, his partner, that intrigues me at the moment. I think that being creative, even when your audience is limited may cause a maelstrom of emotions at times, much less to have the attention of the world. Everyone is a critic. Art is so subjective, too. And then you add in what seems to be the evil necessity of creating a persona to go along with your creations in order to market to what is becoming an increasingly glam and political industry, well, one could just lose themselves in a heap of self-loathing.

So, I begin my research into this late fascinating couple. I am sure I will add more to this blog in the future. Until then, here is the Blake video made for Beck, and some interesting links to check out...a Beck video by Blake.

Here is an excerpt from the article...

A Soulful Connection
"Blake was also known in art circles in New York and Los Angeles as the longtime partner of Theresa Duncan, a video game designer and artist. Binstock says they were an unforgettable couple.

'Theresa and Jeremy were beautiful, glamorous, alarmingly brilliant people who resonated intellectually with each other in the most magnetic ways," he says. "I always felt like I was swimming in deep waters when I was having a conversation with them. And I loved that feeling.'

On July 10, Duncan committed suicide using a combination of alcohol and pills. One week later, Blake walked into the Atlantic Ocean off Rockaway Beach in Queens. His body was recovered five days later off the coast of New Jersey."

Other Links about :

Jeremy Blake's Wikipedia
Theresa's Blog, The Wit of the Staircase
Theresa's Conspiracy Theories article
NPR article
Blake's last exhibit

The ABCs of My Obessions

Created this ABC list based on my "obsessions" back in January and posted it on my dA account. And when I say obsession, I mean random things that have piqued my interests over the years and now.

A
Art
Astrophysics
Anti-corporate Acronyms
Astrology
Angelina Jolie

B
Bongo Drums
:thumb75001667:
Blogging
Belly Dance (Oriental/Caberet Style)
Books (Love buying books...mostly non-fiction and collectibles)

C
Coffee
Cinnamon (mostly Altoids Gum)
Cultures (global and popular)
Chipotle
Cowbell...can you ever have enough?

D
Digital Art
Donnie Darko
Dentistry

Factoid: It is hard to believe now, but my first career was as a dental assistant. I was good at it in one way (the technical aspect), but a completely horrid bitch to the patients (what is this "bedside manner" you speak of???). I worked for no less than five different dentists in the first year...fired by every one of them. Some of them were kind enough to call it a "transition". One of my patients gave me the nickname of The Grim Reaper...that's when I decided that maybe it was not the career for me. But I still know lots about teeth.

E
Elegant Gore

F
Family Guy
Flash (Design and development)
Female Form in Art
Framing Art

G
GarageBand
Games (all kinds, all platforms)
opening my own Gallery...some day.

H
History Channel
Human nature

I
iPods
iPhone

J
Jeremy Blake
Jewelry (not fine...)

K
Kaleidescopes
Kelly

L
Language (mainly swearing like a sailor in inappropriate venues [it's fucking rad], what's left unsaid, and its proper and improper use)

M
Milla Jovovich
Music (right now I have almost 5000 songs on my iPod...15 days worth of music)
Magnetic resonance imaging and its use in art

N
Necrotizing Fasceitis (a concern for the living, as well as the dead and undead)
Neurological disorders (mostly mine)

O
Obsessions (sort of comes full circle here...)
Osho

P
Poetry
Playing the piano
Photoshop (with my Wacom Pad)

Q
Questions
Quitting

R
Relationships
It's weird...can't really think of anything for R.

S
Shoes (specifically Steve Madden boots)
Sundays (recharging my brain)

T
Tarot Cards (favorite deck)
Tea
Time (and my lack of it when it comes to my "obsessions")

U
Urban Legends

V
Vices (I miss cigarettes...I have been meaning to drink more whiskey, too)
Vanity (I am not so much vain, as I am aware of myself)

W
Watercolor
Wikipedia (rocks)
Writing
The Walking Dead

X
Xaviera Hollander

Y
You? More than likely not...as you can see, my list is pretty full. Who has the time??? ;)

Z
Zombies

Damn...you still reading?

March Madness? It's On!!!!

So, this is what I do. I set up one of the laptops to view the AOL sports site for the scores. I keep track of all of the scores and news. So far so good on my brackets. It always looks good at the beginning though.

These ROCK harder.

OK...I must buy these boots.



Sky Captain - 23 by *mjranum-stock on deviantART

OK...here I go again.

I will bitch about this periodically, so here goes. My mother goes to this Methodist church. It is older and is more conservative than most of Methodist churches, I am sure.

You may have heard me complain about the Get Well cards they send to me for my MS. Yes, it may seem ungrateful, and maybe it is, but the irony should not be lost. It is not lost on me. As a matter of fact, if you are struggling to define irony, this is a great example. They send me a card to tell me to get well soon from a disease that has no cure at present. And to add more, their conservative views help contribute to holding science back from making the discoveries that may help cure me.

I get so bent out of shape each time I get a card that Joe intercepts them now and throws them away.

FYI: Do not send a get well soon card to someone with an incurable chronic disease. A "We are thinking of you" card may be more appropriate.

Back to my mother. She also has a neurological disorder. She was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease about 4 years ago. Since then she has struggled to accept her disease. The church has helped her expansively by telling her that "she does not act like a person with Parkinson's". So over time she dismissed her doctor's diagnosis. She quit taking her medication, which, by the way, was helping her so much. Now her disease has advanced. She is very slow moving, along with other worsening symptoms. To the point where she had a car accident late last fall and totaled her car. Her reaction time is that of an intoxicated person. We encouraged her to see my neurologist to get a diagnosis. She did and of course he diagnosed her immediately because she exhibits all 4 symptoms they look for in a person.

He are the things that do not mix well:
Religion and politics
Religion and medicine

I hate to add Politics and medicine...that is a double-edge sword in a lot of ways.

OK, I'm going to throw this out to you guys. If you want to, fine, if not, that is ok. An acquaintance of mine is doing a bike event in Savannah to raise money for MS. I donated some money to his individual goal of $250 to get him there to participate in the event. If you want to donate to MS research and his ride, click here. Even $5 or $10 would help get him closer. By the way, he will be thinkin' of me as he rides. :D

PS...Stop calling me lame for raising money for my diseases...

Her Shoes ROCK!!!!!!

I am so wanting those shoes right now.


Lil White Goth Grl - 13 by *mjranum-stock on deviantART

Chaos Theory + Art

Next weekend will be fucking rad. One of my dA friends, gentleman of leisure IDeviant, recommended a book on Chaos Theory. I absolutely cannot wait to delve into it. So, I went to Amazon (side note: I love Amazon now...it is fucking awesome) and ordered two books on Chaos Theory. One is by James Gleick and is the one my friend recommended as a good place to start with the subject.

James Gleick's Site

IDeviant began doing fractal art as a result of his book. My new method for making art involves a sort of chaos by leaving some things to chance. Actually the third step to my paintings is completely by chance. I choose the colors and squirt them onto the canvas and then...cover it all in plastic. I sort of move the paint around, or I let it dry. I let the paint do what it wants. And then I use various tools and/or more paint to manipulate what I left to chance. Or sometimes I do the plastic part again. My methods are not environmentally safe. My tools are petroleum derivatives and I produce a massive amount of trash as a result.

"Things That Chicks Dig"

I'm thinking about creating a blog called "Things That Chicks Dig". I have not completely sketched out the details, but it'll be a social commentary on how chicks are viewed by and view culture in the US. No one will be safe from the sarcasm.

On second thought, I am not sure if I have the energy to do it.

But, if I do, I think that the first entry will be about Cougarism. Yes, I just made up that word to talk about a chick's phase in life as a Cougar. Not all chicks are truly Cougars, but all chicks fancy themselves as Cougars, or they have a goal to be a Cougar, at some point in their life. I am not sure what the true age or qualifications of Cougarism are. I would have to guess that Cougars are over 35. I think the max age depends on the Cougar. Cougars need to be extremely self aware. There is nothing more unattractive as an active Cougar past her prime. You may be remembered as a Cougar once you have been classified as one, though. You know, "Wow, she use to be quite a Cougar!"

The men they date, or "hunt", are definitely younger...probably over 5 years younger. Again, I am not sure. I know the local Cougar hang out is Smith and Wolensky at Easton. I have heard it is classified as a Cougar bar, at least by one professional hockey player who frequents it to be hunted by cougars. Cougars can be mothers, or not. They can be married or single. They can be active or inactive. You know, I am just making up the rules according to how I see them at this point. I'll make up more rules as I see necessary for the moment.

Go Cougars.

UPDATE: Yeah, I created it... Things That Chicks Dig

Totally Diggin' The Universe

And by that I mean the show, The Universe on History. I DVR it and The Family Guy.

The Universe always has my favorite astrophysicist/authors on it, including Michio Kaku. He is so very awesome. They also have Neil deGrasse Tyson. But, they never have Stephen Hawking, another fav of mine. OH well. I love his illustrated books the best. They always have the best visuals.

Links to check out:

The Universe
The Hubble Site
Michio Kaku
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Stephen Hawking

The Corporation...and other fav documentaries

Number One: The Corporation
The documentary The Corporation sets out to prove their theory that if you profile the personality of a corporate entity as you would an individual, most corporations can be classified as psychotic. I believe that this is true.

You can find more information on The Corporation here.

Number Two: Walmart - The High Cost of Low Prices
The documentary will make you hate Walmart. I have shopped there once since I watched it and felt dirty for doing it. Very closely linked to The Corporation in its concept, but explores Walmart only.

For more information on this documentary, click here.

Number Three: An Inconvenient Truth
I really wish that Al Gore could have won the 2000 election...OH YEAH, he did. Anyway, I'm not bitter. His documentary on global warming is well worth watching. Although, his carbon footprint is fucking shameful, may his message not allude the rest of us.

You can read more about it here, and find out about your carbon footprint.

Number Four: Fahrenheit 9-11
This movie should scare you. As a matter of fact it is more scary than any zombie movie I have seen. Or maybe it is about how to make zombies. I found a glittery US flag pin in my drawer the other day and was reminded of how massively patriotic we all became after that, with our pins and our little flags sticking all over our cars. We were all so energized and ready to attack. Anyone who dared to speak out against a war was anti-American, and may as well pack up their shit and leave if they did not like it. We all thought it was a great and wonderful thing to enact the Patriot Act and felt more comfortable with giving up our rights than we have in the history of our country, which up until that point had been about protecting our rights. This is why I joined the ACLU. This documentary talks about that day, and if you can get past the annoying Moore, it may make you think of that beautiful, sunny morning as far more sinister the what we already know.

Read about it here.

Note: If you read the blog Stuff White People Like, this blog entry makes me uber white!!! I had no idea that I could be so white. Just call me Lilly.

Garfield...minus Garfield

This is just funnnay...

Garfield Minus Garfield

How White Are You??

Okay, my dA friend Joey added this site to her journal today.

It cracks me up. I haven't even read it, but I will. The whole concept is hilarious just from a glance.

Stuff White People Like

Check it out and see how white you are.

Sad...Will Miss Sugar Free Cookies

Well, I went to my doctor today. I'm eating carrots and vegetarian baked beans for lunch...normally I would just have tea and toast...or a ton of Chipotle, but the doctor told me he would prefer to diagnose me as diabetic. Full on, 100%. So, I need to watch it from now on. No more cookies, no more white bread. Only wheat options for me. And I need to actually eat healthy....grrrrr. I have one of those little prickly machines to test my sugar now. Anyway, my goal is to not have to take another pill or not have to have more shots. Gah, hate injecting now.

OH yeah, and he told me that sugar free cookies are not sugar free. They have sugar alcohols that metabolize into sugar, but at a different rate than regular sugar. I had NO idea.

Yum...carrots. Chomp chomp chomp.

I am soooooo sleepy.....

What an evening. The birthday party was a lot of fun. I prefer a good house party though. I want an air hockey table now.

Cool presents. I think someone put a little bug in everyone's ear to buy me gift cards from art stores.

Senecal is bringing me a print. I'm excited about that...I wonder which one. I like most of his work...secretly I am hoping it is The Poison Articles...I dig the colors in it, but I don't think he is printing it. It may be one of the Shang's Ghosts..maybe v4 because I told him I loved it a dozen times. I think he fubared his PC trying to install a the Adobe Suite. That dude has the worst luck.

So, I just finished a very religious work today. One of my watchers told me that she thought she saw voodoo in it. Now, I must tell you, there was not magic spells in that one, although I have sent messages in other works...not necessarily spells or voodoo. If any of my works are full of hoodoovoodoo spells, it'd be Oblivious. I was completely angry with someone when I painted that one. That accounts for the sickening greens and harsh black.

Next week is the CNote event. I dropped off this art for the show today: Here they are ready to hang: