The Monkey House

"Welcome to the Monkey House"  by Kurt Vonnegut; performed by a variety of people.
10/10.

It's rare to find a book that deserves a 10. It's even more uncommon to find an audio book that does. I suppose I am biased in this matter, since Vonnegut also wrote Slaughterhouse-Five, which should be a 10/10. This one's a set of short stories, and some are better than the others; yet all are compelling in some manner. Would love to find more of the guy's books on tape.

Masks, part 29011.1

Had a show recently. It went well. Sold stuff. Must make more stuff to sell. Mwaghahahaha!

No picture update.

None today. Why? Well.. frankly, the past three days had been a blur of Heroes of Might & Magic 3, an old strategy game that 've been hooked on since childhood. I'd go for years without even touching the bloody thing, then all of a sudden a switch flips in my head and tells me to play it for multiple hours straight. It's probably the brain's way of telling me that 've been thinking of artsing too much.

Mr. Beaky

There once was a bird named Beaky
He was super-sweet, but a tad squeaky.

Polymer clay, continued.

Progress shots of the little guys.

 Also, finished Cat.

Doing these appeals to my OCD side. At 3 inches across, it's not hard to see why.

One Richmond trip later...

Visited in-laws, and the botanical garden in Richmond, VA. T'was a rather nice, relaxing trip without too much to think about. Recently, time has been in short supply, but here's a run-through of the most recent reads. 

Book-wise--

Audio.

Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls.
9/10
  A biography of the author's grandmother growing up in the quasi-wild west; a captivating story with a decent narrator, to boot.

Animal Magnetism by Rita Mae Brown
1/10
 The second the narrator (who needed some voice lessons) mentioned psychic communication, I turned off the CD player, took out the CD and moaned inwardly about the time wasted listening to this junk.

Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution by T. J. English
7/10
 So-so narration, but a captivating subject. Real mobsters, intrigue, murders.. Who -wouldn't- want to listen to this?  


Telegraph Days by Larry McMurtry
5/10
 I'm a huge fan of McMurtry's Lonesome Dove series, yet this one-off grated on me. The guy suffers from Tolkien syndrome, meaning that he can't write three-dimensional female characters worth a crap. Basically, the main character had sex on her mind all day, every day. It was just a little sad. 


Physical.


Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil by Tom Mueller
8/10
  A good, solid read along the lines of "Salt, a World History". If this book doesn't get you started on using authentic olive oil, nothing will. (On that note, this book made me appreciate the local artisan olive oil place all the more. After reading this, you could actually tell a little about what real olive oil was supposed to taste like, and they definitely carried that.)


Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit by Barry Estabrook
  6/10
 For some strange reason, this book never managed to capture my interest. It does document tomato growth and politics in Florida, which -should-, in theory, be a pretty interesting subject.

Elrin Quote

N: "Seriously? You don't like the way I run this place?"
E: "Straw and marigolds are not a salad!"

(Regarding housewifery and the straw/marigold which inadvertently made its way into the dinner salad. The salad greens were fresh from the planter, though!)

The Gardener

 It's funny how you paint something sometimes, and notice issues with the painting only after uploading the picture online. This one was done during the two-week stint of solitary artsing in Indiana.

Masks

Kitty mask in progress. The turquoise's been lying around since undergrad.

Body of Number 2

Yesterday, a friend dropped in and chanced to look on the so-called doll collection. He had one thing to say: "The masks themselves are cool. Why don't you just do those?". Sadly, he had a point. As fun as the bodies are to do, masks themselves (Maybe in little shadow-box frames?) would likely sell better. Though I do wonder what to ask for one. I mean.. all the time aside, they're still only polymer clay and semi-precious stones...

A fresh new tomato!

 ... Plant, that is.