Monday, March 24, 2008

Steampunk

Here's a little treat for you guys....first I should start off with a definition from Wikipedia:

Steampunk is a subgenre of fantasy and speculative fiction which came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century, and often set in Victorian era England—but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at an earlier date.

Okay now you're up to speed....check out the Steampunk computer goodies. These are from a couple of different sites first:

you can see more of this here http://steampunkworkshop.com/daveveloz.shtml


Another guy does some nice work as well....his link is here.

http://www.datamancer.net/keyboards/industrial/industrial.htm

Someone need a new laptop...this is what I should have picked up after the robbery

How bout a scanner?


some of you may need something a little more substantial

Pretty cool huh?

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Northwest.here we come

Howdy,
been back in Missoula getting the house ready for Ms. Judy's stay. I'll be meeting up with her on the West Coast and off to ArtFest we go. It will be great to see the gang and overwhelm Judy with introductions.

WorkShop Alert
But hang on....that's not all!!!!!!!!
A last minute workshop has plopped into my lap as we head up to Vancouver B.C. I'll be teaching the "I Can See Clearly Now...Transparency Collage-ssemblage" class at Ruby Dogs Art House
on Wed. April 9th. So all you Canadians or Washingtonites who couldn't get into this class at ArtFest have a shot.


Thats fine and dandy for all the people on the Pacific Coast what about yoooz guys in the east.
Another Workshop Alert!
Well another place I'm teaching at that doesn't get much press is the Society for Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh. If you're hanging out up there this June 3rd through 5th drop in and see me. Contact Laura Rundell for more info thestudio@contemporarycraft.org

well that's it for now.... See everyone somewhere.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Listen to them - children of the night. What music they make.

Just a brief post to those who have responded to the "Issues of Shadows" entry. Thanks for your comments, I'm glad I could draw a few of you out of your caves. As Varney the Vampire sang: "It's not easy being grim".I had a few people ask...privately and in comment form about the "mortal coil" reference.

It's from Shakespeare's Hamlet...the soliloquy in fact...you know, "to be or not to be" To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil...

Now some have argued that the term was used to mean the troubles of daily life, it used to be used to mean ado or disturbance. I'm not convinced that this alone was what Shakespeare had in mind. I actually think that he was metaphorically referring to the snake shedding its skin. The snake is often of symbol of the life cycle...i.e. Urobouros. It makes perfect sense given that Hamlet is at the moment of pondering life vs. death, and what may come beyond.

Just a footnote.