Insomnia kicked in the other night, and I found myself beaming RIPLEY. Beautifully shot series! Entirely black and white with some of the most unusual angles I've seen on screen. In this iteration, Mr. Ripley is actually not all that talented, and in fact kind of a fuckup.
It's all played far more believably than the Matt Damon portrayal. Though, it's been a very long time since I looked at that one.
Mythomatic orders fulfilled and paintings hauled to the vault, and that's my exercise for the day. Read Dominic Boyer's NO MORE FOSSILS, which distills extensive research into an immensely insightful handy 96-page sort-of-pocketbook.
Remainder of the day will have to constitute feeding myself and tidying up after spending weekend with the child, get the space in good operational order for the work week ahead.
“Marijuana smoking by white youth represented a symbolic threat to normative suburban values and capitalist ideologies” — Mathew D. Lassiter on America's war on drugs.
The U.S. military's Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) expresses concern over China's expanding presence in Antigua and in the Caribbean region.
House passes contentious Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan aid package — “China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are working together in a new axis of evil to harm our alliances and undermine our national security,” House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said on the floor ahead of the vote.
Some light reading after failing to put the little one down for nap time. Thought for sure soccer practice would zonk him out. Could use a little shuteye myself tbh.
Steven Heller isn't wrong in calling me an “Artist Who Designs (and Vice Versa)” in this short interview over at his blog The Daily Heller (hosted by Print Mag).
Quite an honor to be featured on Steven's blog. I remember first encountering his book, Design Literacy, at the tender age of 19 some decades ago. Very formative reading for me and one that I still recommend to young designers just starting out.
Accounting today, which I am behind on and will certainly suck my soul dry by day's end.
Also on the docket: – Fulfilling Mythomatic orders. – Meal prep (because not enough time over the weekend). – Excercise
And that's probably already one thing too many to fit into a single workday.
Love me a good drag show.
The thing about drag shows is that they could either be a sign of a closed society (where women performing in public is considered taboo) or an open one (where men needn't abide by heteronormative restrictions). I get the sense that in Houston, it's actually a little bit of both.
Apparently, there are websites you can't access from Texas anymore.
I remember how the use of VPNs became quite wise in Egypt towards the tail end of the half-revolution, certainly becoming a thing amongst more tech-saavy folk. Never would I have expected it to become a necessity after settling in America, but here we are.
The downfall of western civilization aside, work on TSG coming along today. Detailed fucker of a page though.
Awoke last night to the sound of thunder and discovered a mad storm brewing, lightning from every direction blasted bursts of light into the apartment. Most of the morning was gray, the city enveloped in thick clouds. Then suddenly by day's end, the blue behind the clouds revealed itself and the sun shone bright. It would've been sweltering hot had it not been for the windy tail end of the storm playfully lingering about.
Not much of an art-making day, but a good day nonetheless. Newsletter drafted and scheduled for late Friday night central time. Mythomatic orders dropped off at post office, and groceries picked up. Many emails responded to, but still going through the rest. 51 between inboxes, but many are notifications, and a few are bills.
Tomorrow should be a good TSG day, and Friday can be blocked off for Project Oldbook.
Drew and designed this cover back in 2019, but it wasn't published until late 2022, and I only got my comp copy this year because Walter (Chaw) was so adamant about getting it signed by Walter Hill for me. I'm glad he did, it's a delightful and humbling inscription which I'm keeping private. A fluke at the publishing house seems to have resulted in the absence of my credit though. Oh well. More pix of the book here.
Still recovering from toddler germs, may need another full day to recover. Can't write or draw for shit, so I figured working on [very belatedly] populating the website with projects from the past couple years is a mindless enough task for me to muster. Also getting the new newsletter platform in order. Getting all systems up to speed for optimum operation. There will be quite a bit of that over the next month or so after which I'm hoping for smooth, seamless sailing.
Counting myself lucky to have this ramen spot around the corner from my place for when my little angle brings home some of the sinister daycare illnesses he harbors.
Today will be a day for recovery and tidying up and very little else. Reserving my energy for a proper full grind in the days to come.