Take your clothes off! The circus is evil!

http://www.hollywoodlife.com/2010/04/27/olivia-munn-peta-circus-elephants/

Wow. As always, naked women are the way to go for convincing me of things. Especially if by things you mean earthquakes. However, taking your clothes off and telling people not to go to the circus seems dumb. How about keeping your clothes on, treating women like we have brains and not just breasts, and making a rational argument against mistreatment of animals rather than a wild attack on all circuses. Many circuses do not use animals at all, and some that do are very very clear about the fact that the animals are treated more than humanely. (Also, the humans at circuses often don't live much better than the animals from what I understand, but that's not a problem. I suppose it's their own fault for working in a circus.) As always seems to be the case, PETA is more concerned with making a statement than with accuracy, women's rights, or intelligence.
Also, today I saw a terrifying add for Folgers coffee. http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1320151605?bctid=60450628001 Warning: this commercial is creepy and sexist and makes my stomach turn.
Or that may just be the plague.

I can has not plague?

LolFelicia is dying. I have a temp of 102 (after tylenol) and I'm dizzy and kinda faint. Also, I just learned that attempts to walk up stars will be met with vomit. I hate my life. I am too headachy to read, and I slept all day, so while I'm exhausted, I'm not sleepy. I'm also freezing. I have finally admitted that I am in fact sick, and will now commence several days of lying in bed and drinking copious amounts of water and tea.
I can't even take any real drugs, and I have finished the tylenol. Also, the culprit has been located: apparently, the plague started with my grandma. So it's not even someone I can be annoyed with.
In other news, my new boss called while I was napping and woke me. I then carefully scheduled my first day at work while I am supposed to be in the city for a stroke deposition. Assuming I haven't expired in the next 6 days. Fml.

Riddler

My quest for Riddler drawings has had some interesting results....
I found this awesome post on Wolverine's fashion choices.
And this highly disturbing vid of an old WB ad... WARNING- this video will most likely scar you for life. And no, I won't tell you more than that. Just bear in mind that this was an actual thing and not some poor bastard dubbing over a scene...
And I've had a somewhat disturbing chat with George about how question marks should not be tattooed down your happy trail, because it's not an area where you should really need to be asking questions.... If you have no idea why that would even occur to us, this is the reason:

Creepy. But I maintain that disturbing as the idea of Riddler and sex is, it could worse. It could be Penguin. (Was I the only one who suffered severe emotional trauma as a result of the scene where he tries to hit on Catwoman?)
Ok. Less questing for Riddler images, more making birthday gift for my mom.

...And sometimes, you fly

Yesterday, I was going to do a "Spontaneity is humbleness in the face of the Awesomeness of the Universe" page, but I got distracted first by looking for pics of the Riddler that weren't too cartoony so I could start thinking about character sketches for the comic Steve wrote, which I offered to draw for him, because the sketches I started on the train into the city are terrible.
Riddle me this: Why does my Riddler look like anime Snape?

Because I have no feeling for the Riddler, and the realism skills of a 3rd grader.
and then that morphed into a plan for a page on the previously mentioned 3rd option. Given that my plan was to do a page about spontaneity, it seemed silly to not be spontaneous.
Based off this page from Fables & Reflections

I have created this version (Pitt Pens and gesso and watercolor)

Which I'm actually very pleased with. Rarely do I finish a page and think, "hmm, that's actually good. If this were a real painting and not a page in my journal, someone might buy this" but I have that feeling about this page. Dunno how much it really counts, since it's not all that original, being largely ripped from the actual Sandman illustration, but I like it. Perhaps one day, when I get my act together, I'll turn it into a real piece in a format I could actually sell.

Last week I was enjoying the glory of spring and did a mixed-media (pitt pens, watercolor pencils, stamps, ink, acrylic, collage paper, real flowers and gesso) piece based on that. Some parts I'm really happy with, others not so much.

In Other News: There was CAKE. It was glorious. Chocolate Strawberry Moouse Cake FTW

God, that looks like the whole top of the cake is on fire... George must be really old. But no, it's only a dozen candles. They're just really bright. 

(The cake is delicious, but it might have benefited from not needing to be transported from New Ro to Brooklyn, as it got slightly squished and melty in transit)

Recipe:
Cake (adopted from the internet):
1c coffee
1c milk
8oz pureed Strawberries
4 egg whites
2c flour
2t vanilla
2c sugar
3/4c baking cocoa
2t baking soda
1t baking powder
1/4t salt

Combine coffee, milk, strawberries, vanilla and egg whites. Mix well.
Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add to wet mix.
Beat 2 min until well blended.
Bake at 350 in two 9-in rounds (buttered and floured) for 30-35 min

Moouse (my family's chocolate moouse recipe):
4 eggs, separated
8oz bittersweet chocolate
vanilla, grand mariner, or coffee to perfume
2c heavy cream

Whip egg whites
Whip cream and perfume
Melt chocolate
Temper chocolate with egg yolks, then combine and mix well.
Fold chocolate mix into egg whites and cream. Fold, do not mix, or you'll lose the fluffyness.
Refrigerate at least 4 hours, preferably overnight to set. Can be frozen.

Chocolate Ganache (flat out stolen from the internet):
8oz semisweet chocolate
1c heavy cream
1t rum (I used grand mariner)

Chop chocolate into bits
Bring cream to a boil then immediately pour over chocolate.Whisk until chocolate is melted. Add rum.

Assembly:
Take 1 cooled cake round, spread a layer of moouse. Top with layer of sliced strawberries, then another of moouse. Place second cake round on top. Pour warm ganache over top of cake, dip aprox 6 strawberries (leafy bits removed) in ganache and use them to decorate the top. Return to fridge.
I had enough Strawberries (I bought a 2lb container) and ganache left to make about a dozen chocolate dipped strawberries. Also delicious.

I had a very good weekend. George and I wandered Prospect Park, watched Ponyo and Amelie, both of which were excellent, made meatballs for dinner and crepes for breakfast. Delicious and happy. Sunday, lots of people came over for his birthday and we played about 10+ hours of boardgames before pizza and cake.
I'm so happy, it's freaky. Really, it worries me a lot.

Third Option

A while back, I wrote a post on acrophobia. Fear of heights. About being half-way up a cliff, and not knowing how to keep climbing, and the paralyzing fear of falling.
And today, I was rereading Sandman. I opened Fables and Reflections and the very first bit is a guy who's afraid of heights having a dream about climbing a cliff. He's explaining his fear to Morpheus, who informs him, "It is sometimes a mistake to climb. It is always a mistake never even to make the attempt. If you do not climb, you will not fall. This is true. But is it that bad to fail, that hard to fall? Sometimes you wake, and sometimes, yes, you die. But there is a third alternative."
There's more going on than I've explained. But my point remains: I am tired of paralysis. I am over it. I am still afraid, but seriously, the fear is not helping. Neither is the stillness.
Movement, then, is the only option. And hopefully, the third alternative.
Off to the art journal and hopefully to the supermarket for cake-baking supplies. I've chosen George's b-day over the spring fire show, and I don't regret it or feel bad. Either I've gotten a life, or I've gotten more mature. You pick which seems less unlikely.

Real art! (ish)

So since last post, I have been bizarrely productive. I have about 5 spreads to show you and I've done huge amounts of cleaning, yard work, and other things. Also, tonight Mike came over and toweled so I got to do some fire, which was glorious. I haven't spun since September, and I missed it dreadfully. Basically, everything in my life is either rapidly moving towards complete awesomeness or settled comfortably enough. I am stupidly happy. It's kinda freaking me out.

Anyway, art time.

So last time I posted what was intended to be piece 1 of 3 (This is a Fire Door Never Leave Open).

(Our letters sound the same- full of all our changing that isn't change at all- All straight lines circle sometime)

Originally, I didn't realize or intend for them all to be Weakerthan's songs, or to be songs at all. But then the second one happened to be a Weakerthan's song too. So now I have finished all 3 and here they are.

Guy 2- Time's Arrow

(So you whisper your arrival walking backwards to the door wonder breifly what it is you're hesitating for)

And then, I wanted the third page to match up. So I needed to pick a Weakerthan's song for the remaining guy. My first inclination was The Reasons, but it's way too early to say I love you. Which is what that song means to me. So I ended up with My Favourite Chords, which I think is actually better.

(You are a radio. You are an open door. I am a faulty string of blue christmas lights. You swim through frequencies. You let that stranger in. As I'm blinking off and on and off again. We've got a lot of time- or maybe we don't. But I'd like to think so, so let me pretend.)

I've also bought Sheri Gaynor's book, Creative Awakenings and started working with that. So far I've decorated my cover- not according to the instructions. ;p

I've answered the starting questions

And done the first "EnVision Dreamtime" spread, which will continue to grow and change over the month. So I'll post it again at the end of the month.

And that's about all I'm up to.