JanerBlog

Some Videos that Made Me Happy.

All work safe, though both of them made me cry.

I love the whole world, boomdeyada, boomdeyada.

Thirteen-year-old sings Pie Jesu and breaks your heart.

I have heard the shoggoths singing, each to each

The white noise in the background is the hamburger frying for tonight's chili, but if you listen closely, you can actually hear the finished shoggoths singing to each other.

Also, my mom emailed me this morning to inform me that my great-great uncle's name was actually "Ormel", not "Olmer". Yay, dxsleysia! But seriously, folks. The shoggoth is already named, so he'll still be Olmer.

Though maybe he should be Olmer Ormel.

For Sale:

One G4 tower, for parts. Motherboard probably fried. Chassis is in good shape. $100.

Comes with:
* Static bag full of old PC-133 RAM which may or may not work
* One functional 40-G hard drive (original factory) that works, and one 40-G hard drive that may or may not work (still working on resurrecting it but I'm also not the l337est hardware expert)
* Functional CD-ROM drive
* Functional Fan
* Functional Airport Card

One 15-inch Apple Flatscreen Monitor. $100.

Email me if anyone here's interested; otherwise it'll probably go on Craigslist next.

I'm So Proud of My Pottery Mama

Bad Goy! No Matzoh!

Um. I seem to have made myself a Judaic Faux Pas. See, I'd forgotten how long Pesach lasts, and Nora can't eat the shoggoth-bread I gave her, or technically even handle it. However, she assures me that there's a technicality that if she finds leavened bread (like the loaf I left in her mailbox) she can give it to someone who doesn't practice her faith. Luckily, her daughter is gentile, so it will get eaten. And technically it's already covered in the cloth that keeps her from actually coming in contact with it.

So, yeah. I try, but I stumble -- it's a good thing I have neighbors and kind and understanding as Nora.

Which means, of course, that I have to make sure there's another fresh loaf waiting for her on Monday night, when it won't get her into trouble.

The Shoggoth Family Tree

From Chaz Vilette's LiveJournal: --

The Shoggoth Family Tree.

Of Shoggoths and Spinaches and Daffodils

Today was a good day.

Last week I got a live shoggoth -- though some would call it a sourdough starter -- from my buddy Sol, who got it from Chaz Villette, who -- if I'm understanding this correctly -- is actually a fictional character created by Elizabeth Bear, Will Shetterly and Emma Bull. So Chaz' shoggoth was named "Elmer," Sol's is named "Homer," and mine is named "Olmer." I had a great-great uncle Olmer, no kidding. (or was it great-great-great? I also had a great-great uncle Adolph; they don't make many Adolphs any more.)

Anyway.

Today, Olmer's first offspring gave me two loaves of sourdough bread, and it was MIGHTY. One loaf went to Nora, wrapped in the same pristine white cloth she delivered her challah in, since everyone knows it's wrong to return an empty gift-cloth.

The other we fell upon like ravening wolves, spreading butter on its still-warm, crackling skin NOM NOM NOM. I baked it using the famous no-knead recipe, though I'm not sure I could articulate what I did. I just kinda glooped together Olmer and flour and water till the dough looked right, then let him ferment overnight. I shaped two loaves from the resultant sticky mess, and got this. It's a bit flat, and somewhat overmoist, so I think I'll aim for drier dough next time. Still, it was absolutely delicious, and you could hear the crust crackling and pinging as it cooled. Thanks, Sol!

Olmer lives on in the fridge, and I think I'll start another loaf this weekend. And if anyone wants some feral yeasts of their own, let me know.

**

Now, here's the current state of the garden:

So far: Spinaches, lettuce and radishes in this picture. The peas are against the fence on the other side of the driveway.

**

Next, here are some pix of my many daffodils, which are one of the main reasons for the dissipation of my annual winter gloomcloud.

And lastly, I had a really wonderful conversation this evening with my neighbor Rob, who never fails to inspire me with his artful zen carpentry skills: He's building his new workshop, and he'd just finished leveling his old concrete floor with specially-planed individually sloping woodshims mounted on two-by-fours, and had finally hung his handcrafted, impossibly beautiful salvaged-beadboard doors. Gorgeous. Awe-inspiring.

Life is good.

Great Days

Last night was one of those perfect spring evenings that just makes you glad to be alive. Paul and I walked the two miles or so down to Bell's, past nodding daffodils and early tulips. We sat in the biergarten and ate tasty sandwiches and drank powerful beer while watching the full moon rise. Then we got coffee and walked home -- and along the way we ran into a friend and walked most of the way home with her.

Saturday so far has been a representative catalogue of all my nerdy pastimes: I spent the morning building raised beds for my organic garden, then Paul and I drove up to Western where I [almost] bought some recycled-grease biodiesel and then got the chance to meet a guy who's been posting on this blog for about three years now (Hi, Atis! Paul totally remembers you and when I mentioned your name, he said "Oh! He's one smart dude.") and then I scanned a bunch of pages for the webcomic, moved the fish to the backyard, cleaned out their tank, and made yogurt.

Somewhere in there I also did the grocery shopping, finished the laundry and housecleaning, and because it's Pesach, Neighbor Nora brought us the leftover end of a challah loaf that is literally the most beautiful and the best-tasting bread I think I've ever eaten, holy cow. Baked with love by a hippie Jewish grandmother, no less.

So yeah. Fun! And probably a nap.

Caroll Spinney!

We saw Caroll Spinney speak tonight, and what an amazing guy he is! He told so many great stories, and brought Oscar out several times to speak and sing and interact with the many kids in attendance.

So many things about him we didn't know: he's an animator and cartoonist, and was offered a job by Disney in 1957; that was *him* riding his unicycle while wearing the full Big Bird outfit (though they hired a professional skater for the famous ice skating scene in Christmas Eve on Sesame Street); and he designed the amazing Bruno the Trashman outfit after seeing an episode of the Gong Show where a puppeteer came onstage in a baby carriage -- with her head as the baby's -- while also providing the legs for the clown pushing the pram.

We hung around after the show and got a copy of his book autographed, (yes, Sonia, we got yours, too!) and went next door for coffee. When we came out, Mr. and Ms. Spinney were getting into our friend Kevin's station wagon, and as they passed, Caroll rolled down the window, leaned out and yelled at us in his best Oscar voice: "Have a rotten night!"

100% pure awesome.

Click through the pictures for more nerdtastic Oscar Commentary. Sorry the quality's a little grainy, but I had my flash off because I was trying not to be a jerk.

Perhaps it worked after all.

My sinuses are finally, *finally* coming around. Yesterday and Sunday were pure misery, even before Teh Internets gave me the wise idea to put capsaicin up my nose. Really, it wasn't as bad as all that; the pepper itself didn't go up my nose-- it just made a very mild hot-pepper tea. It was more salty than hot, but I *did* definitely feel it burning, in a different way than the salt burns when I do an ordinary saline wash. And for the record, it worked markedly better than the saline wash alone, however temporarily.

I suppose it would work much better if I had allergies, where the flush would be, you know, flushing junk out. In my case, I just have really awful sinuses that slam shut whenever the barometer starts jumping around in spring and fall. Since I developed my love affair with fexofenadine, I haven't had to endure the semiannual, marathon, 6-week sinus infections of my college years. Consequently, and perhaps ironically, this makes me an even bigger whiny baby when I do come down with a head cold, and I'm far more prone to search out drastic measures.

And honestly? It was either the hot pepper or pull out my upper molars with pliers. That's how bad it was. Meds weren't working, hot showers weren't working, spicy foods weren't working, doctor made me swear off nasal spray after I got my sinuses addicted once.

So yeah. Enough about my friggin' sinuses already. New page on Thursday, go and enjoy.

Not worth it.

For all that pain, the relief lasted maybe an hour and a half.

Sinuses, I hate you.

Recipe for desperate measures:

One small garlic clove, crushed
Five seeds from a cayenne pepper, crushed
one teaspoon sea salt, ground to powder

Place ingredients in neti pot, cover with distilled water raised to body temperature, stir to combine.

Flush through nose.

Invent new swear words.

Blow a pound and a half of snot out each nostril.

Breathe for the first time in three days.

Squee for the Surgeon's Mate

So I've come to the seventh book in the Aubrey-Maturin series, in which Captain Jack finally returns from his adventures at sea after three long years. His long absence (and uncertain survival) leaves Killick (his steward) and Bonden (his coxswain) as his last remaining houseservants (the rest had to be let go due to finances) who, by default, have been saddled with the task of keeping an eye on the house -- and the children. Aubrey arrives to find his three kids swearing like lower-deck gunners, his twin daughters tearing up the countryside like fearless little explorers, and his home entirely shipshape.

This series is so damn adorable I just want to pinch its little cheeks.

Oh, hey, before I forget --

I seem to have confused my readers! The new webcomic currently has seven pages available, not just two. The "first page" available last Tuesday was actually Page 6, or Page 1 of Part 1. There's a whole five-page prologue that comes before it. If you haven't already found it, you can click here to read it from the beginning.

My bad for not being clearer when I sent out the big release. My brains were all muddled from sleep-deprivation and long hours at the desk.

Sunny Days, Sweepin' the Clouds Away

Guess who's coming to Kalamazoo?

Caroll Spinney, puppeteer of Big Bird, and Oscar the Grouch! He'll be doing a reading and a book signing for his new memoir, The Wisdom of Big Bird (and the Dark Genius of Oscar the Grouch): Lessons from a Life in Feathers at Kalamazoo Public Library Central Branch at 4:30pm, and then at 7pm, he'll be at Chenery Auditorium, speaking about his career on Sesame Street. Admission is free, but you need a ticket from KPL so they can keep track of attendance. If any out-of-towners want to go, drop me a line or a comment and I'll be happy to swing by and pick you up a ticket.

Yay!

No Foolin' -- Who wants a Seekrit?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

VÖGELEIN CREATOR JANE IRWIN LAUNCHES NEW WEBCOMIC

KALAMAZOO, MI – April 1st, 2008 – Self-publisher Jane Irwin, known for her black-and-white painted series Vögelein, has chosen April Fool's Day to begin her newest project, Clockwork Game. Based on the true history of a world-renowned 18th century hoax, commonly known as The Turk, the new story will be released in its entirety as a webcomic, updating each Thursday.

Originally designed to amuse the Empress Maria Theresa, The Turk was a machine that could play chess with the skill and originality of a grandmaster. It captivated audiences all over Europe and the United States, playing against many well-known rulers and dignitaries throughout its long and astonishing career. “I was inspired to retell the incredible story of The Turk because it seems far too fantastic to actually be true, and yet with each new book and article I uncovered, the facts became much more captivating than any fiction I could have created,” Irwin said. “Clockwork Game is a mostly-true dramatization of historical events, told with as little conjecture as possible.”

Drawn in a crosshatched pen-and-ink style, Clockwork Game marks a major shift in both medium and presentation from Irwin's earlier work, though the subject matter shares many similarities with her previous graphic novels, which told the story of an automaton brought to life. Vögelein: Clockwork Faerie and Vögelein: Old Ghosts were released to widespread critical acclaim, including Clockwork Faerie's inclusion on Booklist's 2003 Top Ten Graphic Novels for Youth.

In addition to her own projects, Irwin teaches several workshops each year at schools and libraries, showing creators of all ages how to tell their own stories through the medium of comics. She lives and works in Kalamazoo, Michigan with her husband, Paul Sizer, creator of the standalone graphic novels BPM and Moped Army and the series Little White Mouse, which currently runs on WebComicsNation.com.

Clockwork Game can be found at http://www.clockworkgame.com, or via the front page of Irwin's hub site, http://www.vogelein.com.

Sample art from the comic is available upon request.

###

For further information contact:

Jane Irwin
PO Box 51595
Kalamazoo, MI 49005
fierystudios@hotmail.com
www.clockworkgame.com
www.vogelein.com