there are all kinds of wagons

( Mostly for myself )

Breathes In Slowly asked if I would sit for a painting. "You'll need to be still for about an hour for the sketches" she told me. "Most people watch TV."

I don't watch TV. I was almost defiant. "Well, you could read a book." Well, okay...yes, I have several books I've been meaning to study. "No! I don't want you studying. I wanted to draw you relaxed, in repose."

So, what you're saying is, you need me to sit still for an hour? "Yes." Can I diagram photos? It'd just be my arm moving. "No. You can't do anything but relax. Can you do that?"

Okay, admittedly, a lot of that conversation just happened in my head after I agreed, but....I have returned to the subject repeatedly ever since. Maybe I could work on.....well, I could just finish the.....

I don't know why, but just now I was pretty powerfully reminded of the one time I accidentally hurt my dad's feelings. I was nineteen, I think, and we were looking through old photos. It was weird seeing him that young. A bunch of photos fell out and got mixed together, and as I was picking them up I found two photos of my dad, spaced about twenty years apart. Hey, dad, look at this. What happened to your smile?

You could see it, in the later photo his smile was really forced. About a month later, he called me to tell me he'd been sorting the rest of the photos, and he couldn't stop looking at his smile, watching it grow more forced over the years. "What happened?" he asked me. "I thought I enjoyed my life, but look at my face."

"Look at my face," he said. "And tell me this is what happy looks like."

Marvel to Publish Next Stephen King Piece

ganked from salma, whose LJ username I've forgotten. She got it from Publisher's Weekly.

Thursday, October 27, 2005
Marvel to Pub Next King

In a move that can only continue to elevate the literary and commercial cachet of the graphic novel format, sources say that bestselling novelist Stephen King has agreed to write a new installment of his Dark Tower series as a graphic novel to be published in 2006.

A spokesperson for Marvel Comics, which will announce the deal on Friday, confirmed that they will publish a King work, although they didn't disclose details. Marvel was dropping hints about a possible King book at this year's Comic-con in July. Sources say that the new Dark Tower installment will be published first as a comic book periodical beginning in April and later released as a Marvel hardcover in the fall of 2006. The artist on the book will be veteran comics illustrator Jae Lee and the colorist is Richard Isanove, who won a recent Quill Award for his work on Marvel's 1602.
--Calvin Reid

Polyphonic Quest!

http://www.questfortherest.com/

I love Polyphonic Spree. I just want to hug them and pet them and call them George.

(ganked from red_haired_girl)

(psst - grrremlinski, it's better with the sound on, like so many things in life)

not so much of a sighting, per se

I got a thing in the mail from (f)AD. Not really a Letter, with all it's implications of, you know, words and thoughts. Really, it was just a sealed envelope full of "I was thinking about you!"-s. Okay, it didn't even come in an envelope, either. The envelope was another Thinking Of You.

I think, since I'm not calling HER Ziggy anymore, that I'll start referring to these things she sends me through the postal system "ziggies."

Here, let's try it right now. I'll start over.

---

I got a ziggy from (formerly) Achingly Defiant today. A cartoon about toast and a disturbingly appropriate horoscope, wrapped up inside some kind of flyer. Only, I guess she was very worried about it breaking or opening, from the weight of both pieces of paper inside, because she put about half a pound of tape on the thing. So it ended up being less like an envelope and more like a bizarre logic puzzle. I know she probably wants me to read the thing inside all this tape....should I try to pry it open? No, it's ripping....perhaps scissors? No, not enough of an edge....

Anyway, here's the funnier ziggy she sent me: ( Read more... )