Just Say No!!!

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Sno-Dayz

Okay...yes. Another one. People have been posting their pictures like mad of "Snowmaggedon 2010" or "Snopocalypse Now." 25-30 inches of the white, powdery stuff. Winter wonderland, made slushy or icy pain in the hindquarters. Oh and that's a literal pain...in the back and everywhere else from having to push a few hundreds of thousands of pounds of Japanese steel and glass. This was after digging the car out Saturday afternoon and having nowhere to actually go...unless we were going by means of sled or skis.

It could've been worse I suppose. There's a firehouse right down the block and plows were coming through on the regular even as the thick, white flakes came pouring down. Still somehow one of the fire trucks got stuck for a good two hours before they managed to make it around the corner. Thankfully they were on their way back from whatever emergency had pulled them out into the cold.

*Pictured here was going to be one of the multitude of the pictures that I for some reason couldn't stop snapping the other day and today...as if I've never in my life seen the stuff before. Which of course I have. Native Baltimorean that I am, I'm accostumed to the nip and chill...the occassional flurry or Winter storm. Thundersnow, however, was something all together new.*

**Okay I didn't capture an image of this Thundersnow or even hear the loud booming crack myself. I only heard about it the next morning on facebook and then again when I talked to oen of my sisters.**

***I'll post the pics when I can. For now blogger doesn't seem interested in uploading anymore***

ETA:

Once more with feeling...






*bows*
thank you and good night ;)

You're Just A Butterfly, David..

I'll have to watch the movie again..can't remember if that's actually how it goes when David (Cary Grant) gets dumped by his fiancee after his wild romp in the countryside with heiress, Susan (Katherine Hepburn). This is definitely one of my favorite movies ever. I was looking at someone else's blog and they were talking about how implausible some of the characterizations and plotlines were...how these two people could never exist. Seriously? What would we write...what variety of movies would there be to see if the envelope wasn't pushed. Suppose everything was rational and made absolute sense. How fun would that be? Though, I'm not entirely sure about that first assessment anyway. I've know plenty of people in the real world who could've given Susan a run for her money. Wild and zany antics to the extreme...and that's all I'll say about that :P

Done?

I want to link to my blog or rather Jenny's http://creativeepublishing.blogspot.com .

I want to link to Jenny's blog

Outside the Box

"It takes a banana to notice a monkey" or so writes Harold on his amazing and crazy (see he totally is someone I could get along with) blog. Harold of Cardboard. His blog houses an amazing mix of images that verge on the strange and impossible and just crazed. Who doesn't want to read something like that. His words wandering into poetic ponderance (oops...did new word...I might do that alot, we'll see). Definitely an interesting personality and blog to check out.

Once Upon A Time...or something like it

Neither trite, nor cheesy. It's a classic line. The ultimate intro. The line that pulls you into a timeless place of far ago, readying you for a tale of woe that magically becomes "happily ever after." Stacy Barton has those words and the image of an old typewriter as a part of her homepage. It's the first thing that you see besides her name. Sprawling letters and old timey cars hanging off to the side. There's so much personality in the simplicity of it. The thoughts behind it, meant to draw the eye and hold your attention. The site of course is mostly there just to give information on the author herself and her previous works, but there is a link to her blog, which is where her personal voice truly shines through. A place for networking and putting herself out there. Touching base with writers like herself and just a place to give her work to the world. She posts a few of her poems within the blog or just everyday things that she wants to talk about. The idea of showcasing the website and linking the blog is a good one, because...most author websites are kinda commercial and just gives you the requisite bio...their body of works and odds and ends within that same vein. Linking the blog, takes things a step further by letting you in closer with the writer...reading what they're thinking while their writing. Talking about the struggles of getting the words on paper and the paper into the right pair of hands. "Cultivating the art of the story," Barton writes also on that homepage. Words painting a portrait, telling the whole story or just the barest view to tell the story of a moment. Writing as art. It really is.

Life & Sense in the Abstract

Illustrator and children's book author, Christopher Niemann, has satirical pieces that have appeared in many different venues. Chief among these are his covers for The New Yorker, as well as, "Abstract City" which appears on the New York Times website. He has this really amazing way of telling a story. Sometimes he does it with as few words as possible or none at all, letting the images speak. Truly showing rather than telling. His pieces that appear in the Times' blog are mostly funny cartoons an interesting narrative coming together as he explores the phenomena of sleepless nights and small children that steal into your bed at the dead of night, purloining all the blankets for themselves. Funny and interesting.

His website utilizes cartoons within the navigational tools, adding a touch of the writer's personality. It's different from the usual fare thanks in large part to his higly imaginative graphics. Still there's the requisite sections, i.e. news, books, contact, and buy...but it's the galleries under the portfolio section that grabs your attention and tells you so much about the writer himself. No...really. Niemann did a sort of comic bio or confessional rather that is both fun and...well different. A wonderful mix of words and imagery that say alot about the writer. His ability to think outside the box.

Link to Gallery

Further exploration of his website and the same galleries, turns up other great pieces from his previous work with The New Yorker, American Illustration, Atlantic Monthly, and numerous other publications. Political satire. Social commentary. Out and out monkeying around. All present and accounted for.