WTF?

When did NewEgg start selling Hair Dryers?!?!?!?!?!

Ever have those painful mornings where you wake up, open your eyes, and implore, "But I only had ___ drinks!"

Ayup.

How fun is that? I saw these little bundt pans at the store...and being a soaper, I couldn't help but make soap to go in them. ;)


Guess what else? My how-to on making Bath Bombs has been featured on Instructables and nominated for the Instructables book. Whee. :)

Friend of a friend (employee) with dry wall skillz

A productive if some what unsettling and occasionally frustrating day. [hic]

I would like very much for my friends who read comics (surely there must be a few on this friends list?) would post a list of some of their all-time favorite comics. Here are some of mine!

The Sandman - Neil Gaiman's archetypal, wonderful wandering through the world of strange gods and timeless characters, Sandman is a bizarre gothic fairytale. In it we watch a strange polymorphous being, the god of dreams, and his siblings, gods of death, despair, desire, et al. as they travel through a tapestry of myth and magic. To be honest, I never thought much of the art in these comics, although some excellent artists have done their part in making the magic. My favorite is easily my friend Mike Dringenberg, and I wish to God he had fully painted every issue. His paintings are gorgeous and brilliant, and the ink just doesn't cut it. The covers by Dave McKean are amazing and fantastic and frame the work perfectly. If I had my druthers, I'd go through and Photoshop paint the whole series. The icky flat comic book coloring, even in the big, fat, hardcover edition, is just gross. The Sandman himself was best as Peter Murphy with Robert Smith's hair drawn by Mike in the early issues, but I'm biased as hell, and I would love to see photorealism. Attempts to bring this series to the silver screen have been consistently shot down as producers and writers have missed the mark over and over, and I'm glad their disgusting offal hasn't made it to the screen. If anything, perhaps a fanfilm could do it justice someday. ;)

Shade the Changing Man - As my friend Chip once said, Shade is to psychedelic as Sandman is to gothic. Another of DC's Vertigo line, Shade the Changing Man is a trip through the kind of territory we might expect from David Lynch or David Cronenberg, and it took quite long enough for DC to reprint these stories in trade paperbacks! I waited longer for these than Doom Patrol!

X-Men - Yes, it seems a bit obvious, being that it's been consistently a top-ranking comic in sales figures for years, Sometimes it's been just awful, a collection of fashion model pinups littered with verbose dialog, and other times it has been the perfect example of what a superhero comic book can be. The issues drawn by John Byrne and Terry Austin in the late 70s-early 80s cemented X-Men as the hit it became, and standout issues by Paul Smith, Arthur Adams, and Jim Lee refueled the waning fire for brief periods. When I was a child there was nothing more amazing to me than every new issue of X-Men I picked up at the local newsstands, and I stand by those issues of action and soap opera nonsense today. Great Stuff. More recently, comics' psychedelic pioneer Grant Morrisson, wrote a respectable run, and then television's Joss Whedon launched Astonishing X-Men.

Fantastic Four - Back in 1961, the Fantastic Four launched Marvel into a new era of superheroic fiction. The steadily more and more bizarre pop art style of Jack Kirby made this book a wonderful, strange, psychedelic thing to behold. The movies don't come anywhere near capturing what I loved about these comics. Barf on Hollywood.

These are just a few... I could list more, but I don't want to spend too much time on it.

Yes, I do occasionally blog.

Last week I went on a vacation with my parents that shaped up, unexpectedly, to be a great adventure and a grand road trip. We were planning only to get away for their anniversary (thirty-two years!) and visit our cousins in Knoxville, and drive up into Greeneville, Tennessee to visit the home of President Andrew Johnson (my dad shares some of my historical interests, and has actually read more presidential biographies than I have). Mom's interest in it was visiting little East Tennessee towns and spending time in their antique stores. And she did spend a lot of time. Especially in Greeneville and Jonesborough, Tennessee (the oldest town in the state). I spent the time wandering around the towns, honing my photography skills with and experimenting with my newest equipment (a telephoto zoom lens and flash).

Through the graciousness of my parents, our jaunt into East Tennessee turned into a full-blown road trip, by a route cooked up by me. From East Tennessee, we turned southward into North Carolina, driving through Asheville and Hendersonville, and spending the night in Greenville, South Carolina. The next day we got up and continued south. We visited our ancestral village of Hodges, South Carolina, and witnessed the heartbreaking ruin of the family cemetery (ten years ago, it could have been saved). Further down that road, we reached Abbeville, South Carolina, from whence came my great-grandmother and her side of the family, and we spent several hours there. Mom loved it so much she spoke seriously of moving there.

From there we turned west, and before too long reached Athens, Georgia, where I performed reconnaissance on the University of Georgia, a brief walk about the campus before letting them know I was interested. I loved it. I can definitely see myself there.

We spent that night in Marietta, Georgia (a slight compromise to me for having to drive through Atlanta). I got up the next morning and talked them into letting me visit the grave of Mary Phagan, about whom I wrote a paper last year. From there, we headed home.

I took nearly 600 pictures! In a frantic effort yesterday, I whittled that number down to an even 144 and got them all edited, uploaded, titled, grouped, and tagged yesterday. I'm still working on descriptions. But I'm nearly halfway done now. By the time you look, I'll probably be further along.

Here is our grand route:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lonelypilgrim/collections/72157606339264207/

I love my new equipment. I had been wanting it since I got my camera, but was compelled (given the excuse, more like it) to rush the order by being asked to photograph the wedding of my dear friend Heather. I read a book on wedding photography while I was gone, and have been practicing, and now I'm psyched! The wedding is August 9th, in about two weeks.

In other news, I visited an older relative, Estelle Hunter Smith, in Hartselle, Alabama earlier this month and discovered an astounding haul of old photographs. I've been gradually releasing them to my genealogy cousins by twos and threes, teasing them and stirring excitement. There were photographs of people for whom no photographs were known to exist. The latest: a mysterious early photograph of an early cousin apparently proving that he fought in the Civil War, which is news to even his granddaughter. I can't even share the crown jewel — it's still top secret, until I announce it — but it promises to thrill. If you'd like to read the excited happenings, here's the archive.

Also earlier this month, in celebration for completing respective papers we were working on, my friend Leslie and I took a day-trip to Atlanta to visit the High Museum of Art. The mission was to see an exhibit of ancient artifacts on loan from the Louvre that Napoleon had captured, but I have seen ancient stuff before, and Leslie said the best items had already been sent back. (She had been there earlier this year with her husband.) Of the Louvre items, I was much more impressed by the Enlightenment-era sculptures by Jean-Antoine Houdon, including busts of Georgie Washington and Benjamin Franklin (as seen on HBO's John Adams). But by far the highlight was the permanent collections of American art. I am an Americanist at heart, and though there were few big names to dazzle me (there were a few recently-acquired Mary Cassatts), I fell in love with what was there, mostly, I think, because I was able to stimulate my own artistic impulse while I enjoyed it: very uncharacteristically, the High Museum allowed me to photograph their permanent collections, as long as I didn't use flash and didn't attempt to profit from it.

We drove by to see the landmark Fox Theatre (and photograph it), and then, all-too-ready to escape Atlanta (for it was trying my nerves), we headed east. All our hard-fought battles had led to a delicious reward: we paid a visit to the very table of Valhalla: the Blue Willow Inn in Social Circle, Georgia, an all-you-can-eat buffet of Southern food to die for. Cheese grits, fried chicken, twice-baked potatoes, the best fried green tomatoes I'd ever tasted, and much more. And a dessert buffet to boot: coconut pie, chocolate pie, lemon meringue pie, and peach cobbler to name a few. I was granted a divine dispensation to enjoy five helpings and not be sick (a salad, two of the dinner buffet, and two of dessert). And I bought the cookbook. I am not a great judge of cookbooks, but both my Cousin Dana in Knoxville and my mom copied a lot of recipes out of it. My mom still has it, in fact, and wants to order herself one!

There is more going on, but I guess that's all for one helping.

( meme )

Tagging...
1. kimoi
2. blackenedevn
3. marbenais

I did something very mean to my mom.

I made her go see Hellboy 2 with me because after having seen the first one a few times recently, I decided I really liked it. A lot. Enough that I wanted to see the sequel. Never mind the fact that my mom never saw the first one.

My poor mother was bored to tears. Twice, I caught her looking over at me as if to say, "Why are you watching this? Are you really enjoying this? How can you be my child? How can you be watching this?"

And then, to add insult to injury, she couldn't get out of her pants.

I don't know how a zipper breaks so that it will zip up but not down, but this is what happened. So in addition to having to sit through a two-hour movie that was as torturous to her as a sappy chick flick would be to me, she had to wait until we got home to pee because she was stuck in her pants.

To make it up to her, I have agreed to go to tea at a nearby teahouse. Scones, watercress sandwiches, the works. I'm even wearing a skirt. I felt really bad about the pants thing.

Two line review: I hated the first movie the first time I saw it but fell in love with it upon subsequent viewings, so maybe this will happen with this sequel. But probably not.

( For a slightly more extensive review, clicky clicky. )

My Twitter posts from throughout the day.

• 09:51 I've got a lot to do this weekend. Thinking of sneaking out early today. #
• 09:53 Had to run out for more coffee. Hell hath no fury, like an under caffeined workforce! #
• 12:37 Heading home for the day. #

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still feeling like shit, BUT
I had the cat scan today: the results were all negative

but lest you believe i'm completely histrionic, my white cell count was unusually high, so something is going on and the doc is still puzzled, just less concerned.

I still have the symptoms I've been having.

About the cat scan:
given the choice of berry or banana barium sulfate, go with berry. Banana is gross. Like, awfully gross.
the contrast dye does strange things - likes makes you feel hot and gives you this bizarrely awful taste in your mouth.


Anyway, still hurting, so still going to lie down. Today I ate an apple and I still hurt. =(

Originally posted on agreencat.vox.com

So, I'm making an "How To" small batch of soap. (In bundt cake molds, I think they'll be really adorable if they work.) Now, working with small batches is really tricky, especially batches that have known seizing oils...and it is not any easier when one is trying to keep a curious 5 year old out of the way.

I just splashed raw soap on to my face when he startled me while I was trying to stir and take a picture at the same time. OMG, that hurts. Ow.

And now for my Emo moment: Oh, my art, how I suffer for thee!


Heh.

Continuing our interview series, I’d like to introduce everyone to Janine Predmore. Janine is the owner/operator of Lemming Central and Things That Make Scents. Things That Make Scents offers an array of products to make your reality smell good (try the tarts…they are amazing), and Lemming Central is a “sample box” company that distributes samples of products from artisans across the bath and body spectrum.

Thanks to Janine for taking the time out to talk to Soapy Hollow!

thanks for the kind notes - either via text or posting on the last LJ
this week is proving to be a bad one for me historically
between my jr and sr year of college, this is when i got an AWFUL case of mono (July 29)
last year I tore out my pec and the surgery to repair it (July 26)
this year I have this to deal with... (July 16-ongoing)

the good:
my symptoms are lessening in their duration, but I still have them, and they're still awful on the whole
my cultures all came back negative

the bad:
i still hurt
my bloodwork shows i have an infection
i still hurt

so: today or tomorrow I'm getting a CT scan. I think they want to rule out some weird presentation of appendicitis -- chronic appendicitis -- as well as assess if i have diverticulitis or something else.

I'm also done with food for a few days :-/

I'll guess we'll live and we'll see how this plays out.

• 04:12 Posted: Tweets for Today tinyurl.com/5ko6qp #

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I recently got an iPod alarm clock.  (It's about £20 from Argos, for those of you who immediately went "I must own this wonder of science!")  I'm not the world's best up-waker, to put it mildly, so this alarm clock may be a life-transforming development for me.  Anyway, as of yore, Jethro Tull seems to be good music to wake up to, though in the good old days I had to still the annoying bleeping, reach up and push play on a tape deck, so this is Progress with a capital P, which incidentally looks a bit like a minim, which is appropriate because of what I am about to relate.

Yesterday morning I woke up to A Passion Play, a lovely piece of seventies prog I do not apologize in any way for enjoying.  However, before I woke fully I had a short, but remarkable and very clear dream.  I dreamt I was onstage with Jethro Tull, singing in unison with Ian Anderson.  Martin Barre came up to me and was wondering why, when I was getting the words right, you could barely hear my singing over Ian's; I concluded that something like the following was happening.  Because it was a dream, it was somewhat as though Ian's "oscillator" was hard-synced to my own (because he was entirely a product of my imagination), so our pitches were identical and in phase—in short. very hard to tell apart.

(I now realize, of course, that it was the other way round—my "oscillator" was hard-synced to the recording—but I still think that's pretty clear thinking for a man who's actually asleep.)

Just before I woke up, everyone said goodbye very nicely, and then someone gave me two pieces of sellotape, which he left stuck to my finger.  I looked at them and, beneath the tape, saw pieces of paper with the words:  "More dreams will come."

If more dreams do, indeed, come, I'll be sure to let you know.

Knol.

http://knol.google.com/k#

"This battery update should be run on all MacBook and MacBook Pro computers and extra batteries that were purchased between February 2006 and April 2007.

If, after you have installed the battery update, your battery has any of the symptoms listed below, please make a reservation to bring your computer with its battery to your local Apple Retail Store, or contact an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP), or call your local Apple Support Contact Center. If Apple or an AASP determines that your battery is eligible for replacement, you will receive a new battery, free of charge, even if your MacBook or MacBook Pro is out of warranty.

For MacBook and MacBook Pro systems with Intel Core Duo processors, this program extends repair coverage on the battery for up to two years from the date of purchase of the computer."
-http://www.apple.com/support/macbook_macbookpro/batteryupdate/

Sweet, 1 extra year extension for my battery~

Wait, no, I'm running a Core 2 Duo. Dangit.

So as some of you know but most of you don't, I had a whirlwind trip and spent the last four days in Hilo, Hawaii for a job interview. Mandatory pics:


Tired, sweaty, and gross from four hours of sleep and 17 hours in airports and on planes, I arrive in Honolulu, only to spend two more hours getting even tireder, grosser, and sweatier while waiting for my flight to Hilo.

( +71 )

In other news, this is how else I'm keeping busy:
わたしは　にほんごが　すこし　わかります。