Video Link Dump
by Kimliatach

More sawing, more painting. Only one day till the local school holidays begin.

Decided I’ll share a some of the content I’ve been enjoying lately.

For some reason I find this guy quite annoying but he tries some very cool things.

Speaking of annoying, this man is a professional

I’m a long time subscriber to the curious and wonderful Tim’s collection

Speaking of toys. I Do Want this.

 

Casey Neistat has been producing an interesting and at times very popular daily vlog for -I think- over a year now.

A number of woodworkers have risen to the top of my subscription feed over the last few months Mathias Wandel is one of the most inventive.

 

‘Dinotopia‘ artist James Gurney has begun producing excellent drawing tutorials

Hang on

Antidote: James may being lovely

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-IyvihJ5L4

Lots of costuming tutorials lately too

Long time fan of this man and his one day builds are easily my favourite thing of all

The next President of the United states. Or we are all screwed.

 

Wed 6th
by Kimliatach

Daily

Straight into ‘Career of Evil‘ and hooked. Disappointed that the supporting female Robin is being put in jeopardy but it was bound to happen again eventually.

Also tried two episodes of season one of ‘Agents of Shield‘ as N was feeling out of the loop on L’s present obsession. Now I had heard that season one was a bit dodgy prior to the big Hydra reveal in ‘Captain America 2‘ but oh my goodness that was bad. I felt embarrassed for everyone involved in its production watching that poorly scripted, terribly choreographed, cliched mess unfold. We being suckers for punishment are going to try jumping ahead and giving it another chance before giving up on the idea completely.

Creative

Another leg for the sawhorses cut this evening and another sketch card close to completed last night. I realise I haven’t been sharing progress her very much, I just not happy enough with sketch level work to put it on public display without finished work accompanying.

Link

This set of photos from Thatcherite Glasgow slums has shown up all over my feed and has a couple of striking pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

Galbraith
by Kimliatach

Robert Galbraith

N and I were discussing the Galbraith pseudonym over dinner yesterday. I have just devoured the second in the fictional authors Cormoran Strike series ‘The Silkworm‘ in 17 hour audio book form in a matter of days. I think it is a bit of a shame that the game was up on the real authorship a little to early on, I suspect Rowling may have intended to keep the character at work for quite a bit longer had the secret have been kept.

Would I so gladly have dived into the first if I hadn’t known it was Rowling? Certainly not.

Would I have enjoyed it in ignorance? Absolutely yes.

I am not going to speculate on the significance or lack thereof of a male pseudonym but I do take at face value the idea that Rowling would like to have received genuine criticism of her work and would no doubt have enjoyed watching the work develop an audience all of its own. So sod whichever cad gave the game away too early.

They are very enjoyable whodunits. Each of which has kept me guessing until the end, particularly so in the second book. I have always detested authors tricks in mystery novels where by some fleeting brilliance the protagonist is able to divine the true killer using a clue or piece of evidence that was never or not clearly provided to the reader. There is none of that here Fair Play Whodunits both. Keep your wits about you though, there are a few MacGuffins and more than a few red herrings in each.

Daily

I intend to dive into the third book this evening while painting, to which I am about to devote my energies having failed altogether to create anything yesterday.

Tuesday is a bugger of a day in my current schedule. Good earnings but at a cost; Two clients in the afternoon and early evening on top of a full day in the classroom leaves not much left for loved ones and home work.

 

Sense 8
by Kimliatach

Sense 8 is clearly a more divisive series outside my own social network. Within which the reception was overwhelmingly positive.

I suppose that is hardly surprising given the very challenging nature of some characters, relationships and sex scenes to heteronormative audiences and the occasional brutal violence. Having now finally gotten around to watching the complete first season. As I only joined N in watching it about half way thorough last year and just this past week went back to catch what I had missed. I can confidently state that it was by far the best TV I watched last year.

There are some simply extraordinary moments in this series, most memorably the two episodes involving births and the two involving shared musical experiences. Episode ten ‘What is Human’ being at the centre of a venn diagram of those two repeated plot points. The Wachowskis filmed actual births for use in the series though it was glaringly obvious in which few cases they did not or were unable to.

vlcsnap-error064

 

There are some moments in this series that far from being easier to watch than on the first viewing, were much much harder the second time around.

 

vlcsnap-error312

The series is not without its flaws, there are some rather contrived circumstances, the motivation of the big baddy is far from clear and the compatibily of the sensate group hasn’t really been pushed. All of these aside I cannot wait for season two and I heartily recommend this to all who haven’t yet watched it.

I was tempted to bring the criminally underrated ‘Cloud Atlas‘ and the very disappointing ‘Jupiter Ascending‘ into this but I’ve left it too late.

I really hope the Wachowskis can maintain momentum and deliver a second season to the same standard. As they have only recently begun filming it will be some time before we can see for ourselves.

Daily

We tried tiring the boys our with ‘The Good Dinosaur‘ before bed tonight. No luck the little one still fought until well after nine thirty. It is now nearly eleven and other than making two cuts with a saw I have created naught today. Glad that I got a draft card done last night.

Big news from Wikileaks today, I wonder if our PM is sweating.

 

 

 

Laundry and Sawdust
by Kimliatach

With this mountain of folding I will contend, also ironing and putting away. 

Little else accomplished today but playing with children and commencing work on my saw horses. Speaking of, I have concluded that I do not have the requisite carpentry skills and tools to produce a pair of quite this level of functional beauty.

Though I have taken some inspiration from their design to include in my own more traditional pair.

Set up both phones tethering to take advantage of Telstra’s free data day. Noticed two hours and one tenth of the monthly quota too late that one computer, despite showing connection to the its phone was still using the home internet. Curses!

Creative

Managed another sketch card last night, now more than half way through that set. Aiming to have the rest of those and the castle card done within the next three weeks. More to do tonight.

 

Dead green #housefly on the living room windowsill. #fly #diptera 12mm

A photo posted by @liatach on

 

 

 

Computer problems and sudden fevers
by Kimliatach

Devouring ‘The Silkworm‘ which is easily as good as the first Galbraith thus far.

F took a nasty turn and spiked a fever up to 39°C with Panadol and water it has mellowed and he is now sleeping relatively smoothly. Anticipating a rough night.

N’s computer has taken a turn for the worse lately, despite the new brand new power supply. Going to try a network card based on a recommendation but it seems unlikely given the nature of some of the glitches and crashes we are experiencing. 

n-comp-crash

A devastated L had his daily time limit on Lego super heroes cut short.

Short of a new CPU or motherboard there is not much else I can try save for rebuilding the machine. The graphics card is less than 2 years old, the primary HDD is brand new, the RAM shows no errors, brand new and bigger powersupply, extra fans, an upgraded CPU fan nothing has worked. Very frustrating.

Painting and listening further this evening.

Link

The deft and sublime works of Conrad Jon Godly

Crafp
by Kimliatach

The school Easter hat parade was this morning. Some lovely homemade entries but ‘crafp’ was as ever with these things a dominant feature. store bought disposable plastic hats with glitter covered Styrofoam eggs, plastic paper shreddings and synthetic and plastic puff ball chickens abounded.

The ‘crafp’ life cycle:

CRAFP lifecycle

It has crept into art curriculums nation wide. Insidious easily assembleable craft with no skill development, no creativity, no artistic merit, just disposable shiny busywork. It is particularly prevalent in activities which require parental involvement because it is often sold directly to parents as an easy way of meeting the expectation of involvement.

Going to have to face the music and make some art tomorrow. Heading to bed early tonight.

Link

The only April 1st post that caused me to do a double take this year. 

Sleep and chicken politics
by Kimliatach

A week of very bad bedtimes. Weening from the bottle compounded by sleep training and long and busy days have left both of the parents in this house worn down.

Depressing political maneuvers abound today. Federal regulation of free range eggs at categorical failure in all but one respect. Egg cartons must now display stocking density on the pack. 10000 hens in 1ha shed with a tiny caged patio they can choose to visit will continue to be called ‘free range’ in many states and will override the better requirements some states had maintained. I even went so far as to call the relevant ministers office yesterday,  for all that it accomplished. Despite now having hens it will be some time before they adjust and even at peak laying we will still need to supplement with purchased eggs. It is disheartening when the big supermarkets can essentially write their own regulations. 

That is hardly the worst thing proposed today but I don’t have the energy to really let rip on the monumental idiocy of this proposal.

I accomplished nothing last night and am not long for bed this evening looking forward to painting just as I am able. N has been making progress in the garden and restoring an antique table from degraded enamel whitewash. My birdbath is a failure until the interior of the dish is enameled the metal oxidises so quickly the water turns to a nasty orange soup in the course of the day. Going to start the sawhorse project this weekend.

NBN RAGE
by Kimliatach

I’ve said it before and I will say it again, the destruction of Australia’s National Broadband Network is corruption and incompetence on an unbelievable scale. One hundred Billion dollars over the next fifty years to pay for a degraded copper network twenty years overdue for retirement is a travesty. Combined with the bill for building the substandard and already obsolete MTM network. The whole project has been a monumental failure for all but the few who were lucky enough to get fiber from a skilled contractor while the roll out continued. If the next non coalition government don’t commission an inquiry to bring the people responsible to face the consequences of their decisions I’ll be very disappointed. Not that this should in any way be confused for me having genuine hope for this outcome being met. Why, just today I was linked evidence of our government’s interminable maleficence on climate action and even the concrete expectation of charges of criminal negligence for pollies who willfully obstructed climate action over the next few decades won’t make that feel any better.

Bandwidth is going to be like the weather within a few years and Australia’s virtual weather is going to be dismal, glitchy and shit. Today I found a perfect example of exactly why I make this comparison. Also an excellent demo of why I believe AR is going to out compete if not completely absorb VR as it becomes consumer viable. Test phase demonstrations of consumer grade virtual telepresence:

Going to have to move to NZ or South Korea if you actually want to use it. The Australian network even in metropolitan areas can simply not cope. In rural areas even with the better than average speeds I’m getting it is still like going back in time.

Creative

Managed another sketch draft last night trying for more this evening.

 

 

 

Tue 29th
by Kimliatach

One of those days where every thing is stretched thin. Fighting infection in the cut on my left pointer knuckle. Kindergarten takes such enormous focus of attention. One client canceled due to illness at the last minute. Nine thirty at night and only just now beginning a post after which I can either go to bed, play or create.

I have managed to get a sketch card done most evening lately and so I am plodding away at the 44 evolutions deck. The Castle terrain card is taking enormous effort to make even small progress on but by little steps it progresses still. Haven’t touched my story book in more than a fortnight. Planning another path and some sawhorses outside, next big build will be a cubby to attatch our slide to. Likely also build on a quad bike crate. That project will take a while to come together though.

New tutoring clients lined up for later in the week which is good news. Two weeks of holidays approaching most understandably want a break, which combined with the lack of school work is will putting pressure on the finances. More costs cropping up at every turn too. We have to transfer registration of our car to NSW prior to departure an expensive and tiresome process including fresh blue and green slips as well as fresh and more expensive insurance.

Started listening to ‘The Art of Travel‘ which is quite lovely but not, at about the half way point, as entertaining as ‘Consolations‘. Caught up to episodes of Sense8 I’ve seen before and have slowed down on them, as extraordinary as remembered and a pleasure to see what I had missed. Looking forward to finding time to read the ‘Fight Club 2’ comics.

Keeping up on my professional readings on data which WESS crew will know I just love. This report is involved in a bit of the fuss in Australian education at the moment.

Adding a couple more photos to yesterdays epic, showing design details.