So I was reading the election results from last night, and they were giving the breakdown of “blacks voted 83% for Obama” and stuff like that. I found that [typically] offensive, because it diverts from the truth and demeans the real reasoning behind the voting. I'd suggest that “blacks” vote the way they do primarily because of class issues (ie. their income bracket and so on) rather than race issues. When the media just calls it “the black vote” they ignore the reality that there are serious class issues in America, and they dwarf racial issues.
That said, on the “race card” issue, I did find it interesting that in the Clinton ads, they darken and actually widen Obama's face to make him look “more black”.
Whew! What a forgetful day I've had. I locked my keys in my truck, so after Nefarious and I were done at the park we had to call a towtruck to pop my lock. After we got to the park we took a break to eat a bunch of cinnamon bread that Caitlin baked so it broke my normal key-handling rhythm I guess… I debated searching the park for bits to pop the lock, but it was already getting late.
A while back I drew up a bloody “remix” for the Hanya shirt designed by Johann by request — this one I believe is hitting the presses in the next few days (watch Ryan's page).
I'll link to it when it does. Also, check out Ryan's page for a new monthly contest for
BMEshop gift certificates he's running if you haven't already seen. I'll insert the details onto the main pages shortly for those reading this that aren't IAM members.
Anyway, I'm stuffed from spaghetti, and watching the primaries (looking good for Obama) until this crazy season of Big Brother 9 starts up again. Our theory for the various reality shows on right now is that the current agreed-upon formula for casting is to choose the dumbest A-types one can find to make “good” TV. Definitely one of the stranger BB and Survivor seasons…
I feel like the writers coming back from strike… Very rusty! Blogging one's personal life is quite different from writing
ModBlog or doing interviews! I think tomorrow I will post my very, very short prison diaries.
As of now I'm resuming my role as the admin of IAM as well as having access to my regular blogging here again which I've missed a lot. I have a number of technical issues still to address before I am fully back, which of course I will post here in detail as they affect everyone.
Also, in terms of administrative issues I'd like to mention:
- To avoid confusion, all pending events have been cleared. Any events that are still being hosted should be re-added now.
- All IAM.Pro issues have been moderated.
- I consider TOS issues from the last four months clean-slate as of right now. That is, past issues are not going to be followed up, unless they continue, and I certainly have no grudges to act out. New and still-problematic TOS worries can be reported in the usual fashion.
- All of my incoming iam.alive messages have been deleted so if you have a pending message to me, please re-send it.
- Please do not hesitate to write me about both technical support issues and feature requests.
- Most importantly: I am currently bound by various “no talking about it” legal restrictions. So please don't ask me about the last four months, because I can't tell you. When it's appropriate and permitted I will be happy to do so at length, but for now it's legally counter productive, and to be honest, with BME, ModBlog, and now hopefully IAM getting back to normal, I'd really rather focus on the positive.
In terms of what I can talk about, I've been doing lots of painting, Caitlin and I have found many things that look like ducks (and made more money than you'd guess from GoogleAds on that site), and doing a ton of ice skating, building, reading, cooking, playing, and painting with Nefarious. Thank you to everyone has been supportive, and like I said, I look forward very much to things getting back to normal.
I'll be back fully in a few days if not sooner.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Among many other activities, we painted this today, in acrylic on a 16″x16″ wood panel. Nefarious drew it (right on the wood) and I painted over her drawing, titled “Princess Khan and The Golem”. The girl is based on one of her dolls and an East Indian friend, and the other figure is the Golem — we recently read the really wonderful (and intense) David Wisniewski telling of Judah Loew ben Bezalel’s Golem… I love painting with Nefarious so I’m sure I’m biased, but I think it turned out really nicely.
The hilarious expression is typical! I think my next project is actually going to be a self/group portrait based on this picture, taken after Nefarious made tiaras for all of us a few weeks ago.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
I think I’m happy with this painting and consider it “complete” now. A reminder for anyone seeing only this entry that the painting was very difficult to photograph accurately because it is painted with iridescent pearl pigment. With this completion I don’t have any major painting projects on the go, so now I have to decide what to tackle next.
Click to zoom in, and this painting is currently unsold if anyone want to make me a reasonable offer.
