February 20, 2008

7:35 p.m.

Crow

This is the little crow I won on eBay last week:

I've begun my practice drawings for miniatures. Had to go to Jerry's Artarama in West Hartford to get proper paper -- my sketch paper is too thin to hold up to acrylic paint or wash. Whilst there I was persuaded (by myself) to get a larger cutting mat and a beginner's oil paint set ($10!). Also got fixative for the drawings and varnish for the paintings.

I am just finishing a somewhat unsatisfactory dinner, which should have been scrumptious. Buffalo burgers... don't know what I did differently (except that I didn't have any onion), but they were slightly blah. The stirfried veggies were also nondescript. Forgot to pre-cook the sweet potato so it would be done at the same time as the rest, with the result that I overcooked the whole thing a bit. I threw a dash of peanut ginger sauce on it and then left it alone, but it's pretty unexciting.

At least the WINE is good!

And, flushed from last week's success, I bid on another of the same artist's paintings and won it tonight. I promise I won't make a habit of this -- for original art, they're very inexpensive, but I have to remember my goal is to SELL some, not buy everything that looks cute.

A friend sent me an email tonight that had photos of families in numerous countries, each surrounded by all the food they eat in one week. Each photo was labeled with the amount of money a week's groceries cost them. It was a stunning comparison; the families came from all over the world and all different circumstances. It reminded me of how spoiled we are -- not that we're not thankful, but we have no idea how other people live.

If anyone's curious about this, email me at talkingriver at sbcgobal dot net and I'll forward it to you.

I watched a delightful movie last night -- The Gods Must Be Crazy II. I'd seen the original several times over the years, but never the sequel. It was every bit as funny and silly as the first one. If you've never seen it, hie thee to Netflix or Blockbuster or wherever you get your movies, and ask for it. The first one tells the story of N!kau (pronounced "keeko," because his name is in the click language and you'll never be able to really say it), a bushman in Africa. He and his family and tribe live happily unaware of the outside world, including the war raging on the borders. Any contact they've had with "civilized" people has left them very puzzled. One day a glass coke bottle gets thrown out of a passing airplane and lands near his family. They've never seen anything like it before. They use it as a tool, mashing tubers, digging, etc. until one child gets peeved and hits another child over the head with it, causing great pain. N!kau decides it's an evil thing and he must give it back to the gods. The gods, though, live at the end of the earth, and N!kau has never been there, nor has anyone he knows. So he sets off to find the end of the earth and throw the bottle over, not knowing when he'll be back.

Second scenario: Male character, can't remember his name, I'll call him James. He's a scatologist, to put it bluntly. He studies animal poop. He's way out in the jungle doing research. It's a good place for him; he's a bit of a social misfit, especially with women. Just terrible - a bungler deluxe. However, one day he's commissioned (as he's the only person with a vehicle within many miles) to go pick up a new (and incidentally beautiful) schoolteacher who has arrived from the U.S., who will be teaching the children of a small village nearby. He's obliged to go and get her and transport her safely to the village.

Did I mention there's war on the borders, with soldiers trying to take everybody hostage?

Did I mention there's a little bushman with a coke bottle on the loose who doesn't speak any English?

Everybody gets all tangled up in the most marvellous way.

Go rent it.

As for me, my ink pencils are calling.