The Old Man Makes Marmalade

Yes indeed. His first ever marmalade.

Very good it is too. Good flavour. Good colour...

But I says to him:

"Howcome your strips of peel are about half inch wide and two inch long?"

He say:

"It said to cut the peel as thick as you like."

I say...fishing around in the jar what is like a bowl of pasta.... "Huh?"

The Old Man climbs onto his high horse....

"It's what one prefers to call Orange Preserve." Say he. Sniff.

Graphic Passions: "Robot"- Lem Inspired

Just bought myself another "graphic novel".

Which is "Robot" by Danuta Schejbal and Andrzej Klimowski. Based on two of Stanislaw Lem's short stories. Published by SelfMade Hero in 2011.

For those of you who say they don't like sci-fi... well not sure you can really call Lem just sci-fi. Lord knows The Old Man was sniffy when I used to rave about Tarkovsky's 1972 film "Solaris" based on Lem's novel, but when persuaded by another friend that Lem was philosophy... he got very keen on a Lem story or two, and wanted me to read them. Mea Culpa I have not read any yet.

Yous may well know the film "Solaris". No, sorry... I don't mean the George Clooney one. Much as I like to watch George Clooney. (See my Post on "Good Night and Good Luck") No, I mean the Tarkovsky film.

Anyways I digress... the graphic novel is very short and maybe not sweet. Personally I loved the first story "Uranium Ears" but found the second, "The Sanatorium of Dr Vliperdius" a bridge further! I shall look and read again.

Mrs D Capers With Pleasure

Oh yes she does...

What causes this celebration? A glass of red slopping about all over the place as she dances? She flings herself on her chaise longue and crunches another rice cracker.

Mmmn... it would appear that a publisher has placed a quote from one of her reviews for Eurocrime on their website. Being a simple soul, it doesn't take much to please her.

Particularly if her ego be involved.

Still and all. Let's be generous and raise our glasses to the capering Mrs D.

Small Theatres

Scene: A dental practice's waiting room. Several people are seated on chairs.

A small child goes to each seated person in turn and proffers a small furry hat with bunny ears.

Solemnly each person places bunny hat on head.


OK. OK. I was first in the queue. You have to take theatre where you can get it.

Listening to Liz Green....

or more precisely....Liz Green's latest album "O Devotion"
A dark and musical lady.... mmn... folk blues they all say? Don't know.
We's do love it.

Cassie Hester's Thaumatrope Necklace

Still not sure how a thaumatrope works?

© 2011 Cassie Hester

Thauma-Thauma-Thaumatropes

Qu'est-ce que le thaumatrope?

Mmmn.... "Thauma" = Greek for "Magic"; "Trope" = "something that turns". Therefore it be a "magic turn" innit.

Or rather tis a Victorian toy made from a disc with an image on either side of it and a thread at each side. When you rub the thread between your fingers it turns the disc and the images combine to form the illusion of one combined image... owing to the "persistence of vision". And I been playin around making some. Cos I like wasting time like that. Mrs D would also tell you that they share this persistence of vision thing with the animation malarky.

And when I was a youthy girl at art college way back then in the late 1960s... I did rather like the "optical" approach to paintings. This made me be considered a bit of a freak by the self-expressionful tutors. And so I was shut into a small studio with the only other student in the college who made optical paintings or Op-Art as they used to call it.

My days at art college were largely ruined by the tutors.

But then, they did not share my persistence of vision.

Mrs D Makes Her Creations Jump

So Mrs D has been playing with us "actors". Look at these poor fellas. Jumping for joy. Yeah. Right.

Mrs D is saying that she is still in search of a low tech "tie-down"...

And before this conjures up unsavoury images of Mrs D in black rubber...

...let me explain that this is a method of fixing an animation puppet to the "Set" base so that it stays put whilst it is animated.... and methods can range from wingnuts on threaded rods... to magnets...
Anyway Mrs D is always searching for some lazy way of doing it.

So this little display is a tester to see which of us can stay upright on one foot, paw, etc. Which is more than I can say for Mrs D after several glasses of red.

See she's finally added a Dog to the crew? It's very hairy.