lostarts's Xanga

Are You Still Checking This Blog?

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:59:13 GMT

If you're still checking this blog, you're really missing out. Because I'm not really writing this blog anymore.

Check out my new blog at Lost Arts to see what's happening!

Hello, Out There!

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:47:56 GMT

I'm still here on Xanga, sort of, but I'm really doing my blogging over at my new blog.

There have been several entries since the last time I told you to go over and look, so, when you do, check for earlier entries!

Have fun, and check out my other blog!

Read about the Solar Eclipse!

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:43:12 GMT

If you check out my other blog, you'll find that I just put up a post about the total solar eclipse tomorrow.

There's also more science fiction into, and even a little about knitting.

Have a great day!

I'm on the Internet!

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 01:56:22 GMT

I just put up a post on my other blog about an internet article about me.

That's the third post I've put up today.

If you're not reading my other blog, you're missing out!

We Have a New Element!

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 18:20:12 GMT

You can read all about it at my new blog here.

There's a lot more information about science fiction and even a bit about knitting!

The Netbook Jones

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:46:11 GMT

Within the space of this week so far, several things have changed for me.

These things have only changed in my head so far, but that's the most important place to start.

The first of those things is that I was reading the Drex Files, which is a science fiction blog (see my post from earlier in the week). Anyway, he did a blog post about the Steve Canyon DVDs I've been working on. I made a comment on a later post about something in a Steve Canyon strip, and he asked me to write about myself for his blog: my experiences in the Air Force, and also my experiences with science fiction fandom and friend of John Ellis. What that means is that there's a lot to write about.

I told him that he wouldn't get it all at once.

Anyway, earlier this week I sent him some photos: two newspaper articles about me, two sketches that I did, and a photo of John and Holly and I. Then, I sent the text for the "Adventures of Jo in the Air Force" article. It was rather long, and I told him he could cut whatever he wanted.

It was still long, even though I left out the time I was back late from leave during basic training and wound up climbing over the fence and getting back on base illegally so that I wouldn't be late, and a lot of other amusing stories, such as stopping the stock car races at the airport at Walterborough Airport so we could land and watch the races.

I still have to write the story of my misadventures with John.

And all this got me thinking about the next article and writing in general. About a year and a half ago, I decided to write a book. Actually, I decided to write several books. I even started writing them. But somewhere along the way, I stopped.

I think it's time to get back to writing.

In the meantime, earlier this week, my poor old original iMac (you remember the big old original ones?) started telling me it can't contact some internet sites. It still works well for editing photos, page layout, drawing, doing Steve Canyon DVD covers, etc. I don't have to upgrade it to have it be a very useful tool.

But I can see that it's the beginning of the end for it on the internet.

Yes, I upgraded my browser. I can't upgrade my operating system, because a newer OS just won't work with the processor in the Mac. And the newer browser is the newest that will work with my OS.

So, it's about to become obsolete for anything on the internet. Not now, not tomorrow, but real soon now.

I had been thinking I'd like to have a small notebook computer for writing and accessing the internet.

Then yesterday I read Crazy Aunt Purl's blog.

Crazy Aunt Purl is Laurie Perry, who has a wildly popular and usually very funny blog. She also wrote Drunk, Divorced and Covered in Cat Hair. And one of her favorite things to do is travel. She most recently went to Ireland. She also sometimes posts about really neat products that she's found.

Anyway, yesterday, she put up this post. If you scroll partway down, you'll see the cutest little computer ever. There's a link to Amazon in her post. You can also see it here, and there's an upgraded version with more features for not much more money here. And if you plan to travel anytime soon, she has a batch of tips in this post.

When I first looked at it, I didn't think it was real. I thought "Wow! That's a really BIG glass of whatever she's drinking!" Then I looked at the passport in the photo, and decided that it is really that tiny. And when I checked on Amazon, I found out that I could actually get one for about $250, including shipping! The upgraded version is better, and is available for more like $300.

I'm in love!

I wrote to Laurie, and she was nice enough to write back with a long, detailed letter about netbook computers, which is a whole different thing from laptops. She recommended a Mac Book. Well, I'd like one, too, but the netbooks are about a third the price. The difference in price is the difference in getting one in the foreseeable future, and getting one someday, maybe.

She pointed out the keyboard is really small and that she wouldn't like to do a lot of typing on it, and maybe I'd like one of the newer, slightly larger netbooks better, and sent me a link to this Acer netbook. I have to say (from the standpoint of an artist) that the fact that it's blue is a big emotional factor in it's favor. Scroll down in the description and see how pretty it is.

The theory that the keyboard is larger may not be completely true, though. It's about an inch wider, but the Eee has a keyboard that goes as close to the edge as possible. The Acer has at least a half inch on either side of the keyboard, so I don't think the keyboard is really noticeably bigger. And I'm really biased toward the Eee because the buttons next to the touchpad wrap around the front and are intended to be hit with your thumbs, which is how I always try to use a touchpad. But a review of the Acer says that you can tap the touchpad instead of using the buttons which is probably how I would wind up using it. Decisions, decisions.

I'll keep you up to date on further developments.

I'll quit boring you with this now, and we can get back to our regularly scheduled post.

************************

I'm so sorry about saying that Eureka was on the other day. It was actually Warehouse 13, which is good enough that John said he hoped it would remain on the air. I was in the middle of writing my Air Force article, and wrote "Warehouse 13" and then turned on the digital TV guide, and it said Eureka (they were rerunning the last two week's episodes right before the new Warehouse 13), and thought "Eureka is on Tuesdays. What's wrong with me?" Well, it was on Tuesdays, but it just changed to Friday the week before, and my subconscious hadn't caught up. Anyway mea culpa.

Anyway, and all-new Leverage was on last night on TNT, and it was wonderful! I hope you caught it, but if you didn't, it'll be on again sometime before next week.

Tonight, we have The Listener, and The Mentalist, a new Burn Notice, and later, Doctor Who on SyFy, this week, The Stolen Earth, the second part of the three-part finale from last season. Check it out, its so good!

I have a lot to do, so I'll see you tomorrow! Have fun!

Happy Bastille Day!

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:04:29 GMT

There a great new post on my other blog with lots of knitting content.

Shore Leave Sunday

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 16:33:31 GMT

If you've been following my Twitter posts over in the sidebar of my other blog at Lost Arts, you've had a small taste of the Shore Leave experience, and I have to say, I enjoyed it. There were rumors of who was drunk, who attracted more than half the female population of the con, the second most popular person at the con being a 'droid, who called who what, who missed out because they were at the filk sing, which guests sang karaoke, and reviews of local Chinese restaurants (traditional at cons).

It wasn't the same as being there, but if you missed it, you can catch up here. There are links to photos of Klingons and 'droids as well as people just having fun.

I'm hoping to do the same thing for Pennsic later this month.

This will be short because I want to get back to watching Harry Potter movies on ABC Family. If you're a fan, you should check it out because they're showing a large assortment of trailers for Half Blood Prince during the commercials.

While watching BBC in America last night, I found that we're going to have one really amazing week later this month, starting on the 20th! The first thing up will be Children of Earth (Torchwood), shown over 5 consecutive nights from Monday through Friday, the premier of Being Human on Saturday, and the Premier of the Doctor Who episode, Planet of the Dead.

My DVR is having a hernia this weekend, but it'll be bleeding internally after that week!

Speaking of watching BBC in America last night, they reran the episode of Primeval that was inevitable, and that I had been waiting for: the one where a dinosaur goes to the Middle Ages and is chased by a Knight through another anomaly into the present.

I really have to go watch Harry now!

I hope you've had a great weekend!

Hi! I'm Not Here

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 16:32:52 GMT

There's an entry on my new blog at Lost Arts, but I'm not putting up an entry here today.

This blog will be discontinued soon, and if you want to keep reading it, you need to go to the other blog.

Have a great weekend!

Steve Canyon Review!

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:52:55 GMT

I've been waiting for this new review of the Steve Canyon DVDs to come out, and it's finally here! And it was worth the wait! What a great review!

I'd love to take some of the credit, and I guess I helped, having done the covers (I did the colorization of the photo above), but the real hero here is John Ellis, who wanted to do this project, and is managing to do it against great odds in the form of a failing economy. He's my hero! He let me know about all of this in a hit-and-run instant message today.

Please notice the name dropping in the form of Rick Sternbach, who designed a lot of the art for the more recent Star Trek TV series, and was co-author of Star trek, the next generation : technical manual / written and designed by Rick Sternbach and Michael Okuda ; with a special introduction by Gene Roddenberry. And please notice that he's the first person to comment on the blog article.

I was lucky enough to meet Rick years ago, when John and I were at MonCon doing advance publicity for the first Star Wars movie. John and I were on our way to see Forbidden Planet, and Rick said he envied me because I was going to see it for the first time. And well he might. It's an impressive movie.

The photos in this post are phenomenal, too, for any fans of Air Force hardware in the form of planes! Planes are one of my favorite things! The photos in this blog post are great!

I have to take a short break and calm down before I continue writing.

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I don't know if you have noticed, but I now have Twitter posts in the sidebar of my other blog, www.jam2day.blogspot.com, so you can get instant updates throughout the day, and during times (like yesterday) when I get distracted with other things and don't post, and days when I go to the Sheep and Wool Festival or the RenFair. The box with posts has a time-traveling slider on the right, so if you miss something, you can go back and see it. If you only check it once a day, you may miss some stuff, because I'm finding I update frequently during the day. So, now there's a reason to check this blog several times a day (or follow me on Twitter--click the link at the bottom of the Twitter box).

I should mention that I intend to discontinue this blog and have only the other one. If you check them both, you'll see that I post to the other one, then copy and paste to this blog. BUT I frequently put up other things on the other blog that don't appear here, so if you just read this blog, you're missing a LOT. Especially now that I have the Twitter box up in the sidebar. There are links in there about guerilla urban knitting, too. And the sidebar has book recommendations and lots of other neat stuff.

If you're on Twitter, it's Follow Friday, so there will be links to neat Twitterers, today, too. If you're a knitter, there are some recent links to spinning/knitting contests with some great prizes, and links to some more science fiction info, too.

One of the contests is the Berrocco Sock Competition. This sounds like fun! Click the link and check it out!

There's another contest going on for the ABC series, Castle. I know it's not SF, but it stars Nathan Fillion, who is always worth watching, even if he's not playing the captain of Serenity anymore. Check it out here and below.

As you can see, the entry deadline is soon, so you'll need to get busy!

I think there was another contest or something important that I've forgotten to tell you about, but put it up on Twitter. Check the sidebar!

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I'm sure I had ten other things I wanted to say, but Eureka is on SyFy all day and the new second half of season three will premier tonight, so I want to get back to watching it.

Have a great weekend!