Wednesday, October 17, 2007

What a busy week I'm having. I drove to Sherman on Monday evening to do an encaustic painting demo for the Sherman Art League. It went well. I think everyone enjoyed it and they all seemed enthusiastic.

Yesterday evening I went to the Boys and Girls Club to talk to them about volunteering by teaching some art classes for the kids. I was a judge for their art competition last year and I really liked the woman who ran the place. She said that they were desperate for someone qualified to teach art, so I kind of put it in the back of my mind and finally contacted her when school started.

I think it's going to be fun. I met one little boy yesterday that I immediately fell in love with (but not in a creepy way). I think he's in 6th grade and he was telling me about his art classes at school. He looked just like Mike Sebasto, who I had a crush on in 6th grade.

I just got back from delivering some paintings to the amp gallery in Fort Worth. The opening is this Saturday. I'm excited that I'll get to see my friend Jennifer. My friend Kate is also in the show but she went and got herself a real live boyfriend and will be visiting his family instead.

Tomorrow I'm going to go to Dallas to work on the collaborative piece with Allison and Brett. We're doing an altar for a Day of the Dead show. I have no idea what we're doing. I'm just going to take a bunch of stuff and hopefully it won't be ugly. It'll be fun to work with them.

Holy moly, and then Friday I'm going to go to BFE/Cedar Hill to talk to some people there about possibly doing a workshop. On the way back I'm going to try to hook up with Julie for lunch.

I scheduled a workshop for Saturday but I don't have anyone signed up, so I guess I won't be doing that. Then I guess we'll be going to Fort Worth for the reception. Sunday I rest.

I'm also doing volunteer stuff for the PTA, my part time stuff for VAST (which I've been neglecting lately and need to work on tonight), and working on proposals for teaching and for getting more shows. Oh, yeah, and I started a new series of paintings.

I finally sat down and read The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznik, which apparently recently won a National Book Award. It was so good! Trish had recommended it. It's sort of a graphic novel but not really. I loved it. The illustrations are beautiful and the story is gripping and very sweet.

I also recently bought I Am America (and So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert. It's quite hilarious.


My favorite part so far - this part about mothers, in the chapter on The Family:
Females need to nurture constantly, so they hate any time alone where they are left to think, shower, or sleep. For a Mom to be happy, every moment away from her children must be filled with the soul-wrenching thought, "am I a bad mother?"

The answer to that question is a resounding "Yes." Scientists have proven, one assumes, that every flaw in a child can be traced back to a mistake made by the mother. As adults we're all imperfect, so that means all mothers are incompetent. But some mothers are worse than others. Take women who work. I don't care if it's CEO of a major corporation or three hours a week as a teacher's aide, if you work outside the home, you might as well bring coconut arsenic squares to the school bake sale.

A mother needs to be in the home even when the kids aren't A messy house sends a coded message to children: "I'm not loveable. Otherwise Mom would dust."

A good mother cooks, cleans, drives, organizes charity events so her children earn community service points for college, and expects nothing in return except love and breakfast in bed one day a year.

So, a word to all you Femin-Idi-Amins: Stop "liberating" moms by trying to make them join the workforce. They're already doing the job that God put them here to do: Everything.
He includes little notes on the side that work sort of like the bullets in his "The Word" segments. Funny footnotes, too. And stickers!

I haven't watched last night's show yet but apparently he announced that he's running for President. That's going to be awesome. I can't wait to see what kind of shenanigans he pulls.

You're right, Trish - "shenanigans" brings the funny!

That reminds me - Trish and I saw Across the Universe the other day. I thought it was good - not great. Parts of it were great. But it was about 30 minutes too long and as Trish pointed out, it seemed like they were just trying to fit in as many songs as they could. I do have an aversion to musicals, so that could have been the problem. The music was good, though...

I couldn't help comparing it to the Sgt. Pepper's movie from the 70's and how it's sort of a time capsule of the big stars of the day (Peter Frampton, The Bee Gees, Steve Martin, etc.). And I wonder if this one will seem like that in 30 years. That movie was definitely just a cheesy excuse to show as many big stars as they could singing as many Beatles songs as they could...

Check these out:
Unfortunately Placed Ads (I love the kitten/Jesus hug)

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Now playing: Lori McKenna - Confetti
via FoxyTunes

Monday, October 08, 2007

OK, based on John's comments:

"I think the gangsta name needs to be re-thunk a little. "Dreamsicle Snickerdoodle" doesn't sound very gangsta to me. I guess "Frisky F-150" doesn't sound very much like a rock and roll name, either."

And a quote from Trish's email:
"2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie): Coffee
Heath Bar Crunch Oreo
this was doomed from the start. Ice cream and cookies do not a gangsta
make."

I think we need to brainstorm on a better method for obtaining our gangsta name. Ideas?

Here's a funny generator:
http://gangstaname.com/

This is what it dubbed my ass, depending on how I typed in my name:
Broken Tang Chasa
Fly-ass Cop Killa
Dances with Canadian (that one doesn't make much sense, but I like it)

Oh, and I have to admit that I picked colors and animals that would sound good.

John also asks about the Magenta Mojito's superpowers.

I'm not sure of the specific powers of the Magenta Mojito, but it would be strong, refreshing, and minty fresh.

Saturday, October 06, 2007

I found this meme amusing:

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car): Callie PT Cruiser

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie): Emily's Campfire Marshmallow Tollhouse

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name): D-Woo

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal): Chartreuse Dolphin

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born): Ruth Houston

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first): Woo De

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2ND favorite color, favorite drink): The Magenta Mojito

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers): Cecil Cayrus

9. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names): Kay Eugene

10. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5Th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter): McCone Malibu

11. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower). Spring Tulip

12. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”): Banana Tanky

13. HIPPIE NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree): Chai Willow

14. YOUR ROCK STAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour” and the year): The Wax Tornado Tour 2007

Now, you...