Lissiel's Journal

So, Cal made a post a few days ago about gender-expression and naturalization in the context of role-play. I didn't comment there, because it didn't seem appropriate to a post that was mostly talking about one person's individual feelings on the subject? But I've been thinking a lot about what xie said, and I think I'd like to tl;dr about it as well, a little bit.

( Femininity, Performance, Pleasure, and the Teal Deer )

And now, to make up for the tl;dr, have a pic of Finn begging at the picnic I had with my family this morning. <3

1: A short film on John McCain. Just in case any of you aren't registered to vote yet. Pretty damning.



2. We got a new puppy! His name is Finnen; he's an American Eskimo Dog, about eight years old. Our friend Jenny found him wandering about two weeks ago, no collar, no chip, really dirty and with sores from not being taken care of, and no one had mentioned him to any of the local shelters, so we ended up taking him in. And he is the biggest sweetheart EVER. He follows me around the house as I work, and slept on the floor next to my side of the bed until we gave up and moved his pillow. ( Click to see pictures of his adorableness.<3 )

Back over on LJ, some cool folks are running an auction to raise money to support the fight on Measure 8 (that would be the initiative to write discrimination into our state constitution that would ban same-sex partners from marrying and having the same rights as opposite-sexed partners again, for those of you who hadn't heard). Bidding opened last night at midnight, and will continue through the 15th; just today though, we've already raised over $2000.00. Everyone involved's being really amazing. <3

People are selling some really cool things; I've bought an original short story and a set of cute vegan sugar cookies personally, but there's also a lot of fannish stuff, quite a bit of sewing-skills-for-hire, some other crafts like hand-decorated notebooks or dolls or original paintings, and the like. Browse around; you might find fun stuffs, and it's a really good cause. My own post is here, if you want to commission something from me. There's already a bid up, but I've said I'd take the top two bids, so. :D

Apparently, this is what I do when I'm emo and tired. Take lovely things and ruin them. Surprisingly? I feel much better now.

Started with this lovely victorian cottage with it's rosy path:


And then ended up with this ghost-ridden heap.


Awesome.

Been working on a new art style/coloring style. Be interested to hear what people think.

Chocolate-chip pancakes are the best dinner ever. I like being an adult. <3

Also! I am doing a quick!sketch meme over here(http://mitsuhachi.insanejournal.com/20712.html)
in case anyone wanted to leave me prompts.

Y'know, like ( Punky Elf-girls Riding the Train! )

I really like this genre: an otherwise completely realistic (if frequently somewhat dystopian) setting that also includes elements of traditional fantasy/fairytales! It's frequently featured in the novels and short stories of Neil Gaiman, as well as the World of Darkness role-playing games. It's related to but not the same as cyberpunk! I really wish I knew where to find more novels/graphic novels/games/etc. that featured it. :(

Um?

Excerpt from "On Beauty and Being Wrong," by Elaine Scarry, from a section detailing an episode in the Odyssey:

"The moment of coming upon something or someone beautiful might sound--if lifted away from Odysseus's own voice and arriving from a voice outside him--like this: 'You are about to be in the presence of something life-giving, lifesaving, something that deserves from you a posture of reverence or petition. It's not clear whether you should throw yourself on your knees before it or keep your distance from it, but you had better figure out the right answer because this isn't an occasion for carelessness, or for leaving your own postures wholly to chance. It's not that beauty is life-threatening (though this attribute has sometimes been assigned to it) but instead that it is life-affirming, life giving; and therefore if, through your careless approach, you become cut off from it, you will feel its removal as a retraction of life. You will fall back into the sea, which even now, as you stand there gazing, is only a few feet behind you."

"The beautiful, almost without any effort of our own, acquaints us with the mental event of conviction, and so pleasurable a mental state is this that ever afterwards one is willing to labor, struggle, wrestle with the world to locate enduring sources of conviction--to locate what is true."

We may suck a lot, as a species, and we'll probably kill ourselves entirely within the next hundred years; but our perception of, awareness of, and response to beauty is a pretty good reason for humanity to have existed.

So, I'm still too sick to, y'know, sit up for long periods of time, but I managed to eat half an english muffin earlier, which means I have the energy to do something other than stare at the ceiling and want to die! A+

Obviously, this means I should spam you all in LJ-land.

1. If anyone is looking for new music, Mediaeval Baebes are awesome. They're medieval pop. In everything from latin to old french to cornish. And the main singer has a super-sexy voice. Mmm. *loves*

2. I've seen/heard a couple of people say that people get on them for being enthusiastic about stuff, like its some sort of obsession or something and I haven't really said anything for one reason or another... And I just want to put it out there that, generally speaking? If there's something that makes you happy, that's awesome. Being happy is HARD WORK. It doesn't just happen. So whatever does it is a good thing, in my book. Because, really, if you're not happy, being cool or mature or whatever is pretty meaningless, isn't it? So whether its girly soaps or technopop or jesus or whatever, I hope that all of my friends can find something that makes them feel good, and I hope they know that I 100% support that as long as it doesn't hurt them or anyone else. /sappy

3.Remember that art post I made a while ago? Danny has the whole triptych up on his website, now that it's finished, in case people are interested. www.luckylewis.com. I'm pretty pleased with them, and suprisingly, the crone one, which I was most worried about, ended up being my favorite. ♥

What are y'all-kids up to? Spam me, I'm bored. *pitiful face*

So, my mom and a couple of other people have been asking sort of ...what in general terms it is I do, when I make my art, and since I was working on a new piece this weekend, I thought this would be a good time to break it down and explain it, since I could take .jpgs of the process.
This new piece is a companion piece to an earlier thing I did called "Halloween Witch"; both works can be found over on mitsuhachi. Um. Also, I should say right up front that this is pretty basic, because some of the people who were asking aren't much for computers, so.

( Cut for those of you who already know all this and/or could just care less. )

So, so today? Total hearts. Here's why:

1. I got my third-to-last prompt-pic done over on mitsuhachi. It's not great, but it's done. Also, I will maybe be able to combine my last two prompts and have time to do something that doesn't suck! <3 Plz to keep your fingers crossed.

2. My refrigerator is all cleaned out and ready to be left alone for a month while I go home. Likewise most of the deep-cleaning. Now there's only last-minute stuff like dishes and laundery and packing. OMGYOUGUYZI'MSOEXCITEDCANYOUTELL????

3. We went to see 1408 today. Overall, it was really good. The story-arc was really tight, and it gets MAD PROPS for using psychological tension rather than gore as it's main thrill. Also, that moment where everything has been normal and then suddenly stuff starts to get weird and no one knows what's going on will never not be awesome and worth sitting through a whole movie for.

My only reservations were that( Cut for minor spoilers ) But even acknowledging those things, it was one of the best horror movies to come out in years and I'd highly recommend it. :>

4. We checked out a new chinese place here in town. It was a little over-priced, but it had REALLY REALLY GOOD vegetarian lettuce wraps, and crab wontons, and we brought some chow mein home (cause we ordered too much; the appetizers were really large portions) which also looks good.

5. We walked all the way home from ward center- Michael thinks maybe four or five miles? I have no idea, I can't measure distance, but it's a pretty decent walk all told, maybe twenty, twenty-five minutes by bus. It was pretty out, and it sprinkled for a little ways and it was not too ridiculously hot, and it felt really good after the movie and our early dinner/late lunch/whatever it was.

6. Then when we got home, I posted the new pic, and Daniel had updated www.Luckylewis.com with my newer work, and his page is totally awesome and you should all check it out.

7. And then I made pancakes. Mecha umai!!!
<--dork.