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| Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 | | 9:26 pm |
Tomorrow's Dinner
Beef and lamb Turkish, Greek, and Lebanese kabobs are marinating. Three brands of dolmas. Chicken and lamb kefta ready to go. Some dips, pickles, and lots of olives. I was expecting three or four and instead there's like twelve people (bring more stuff) coming over for mediterranean dinner tomorrow. I'm also interested in tryout out the making of some whiskey saganaki (this is a Burning Man thing so it has to be whiskey). | | Thursday, November 5th, 2009 | | 9:56 am |
| | Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 | | 10:56 am |
| | Monday, November 2nd, 2009 | | 10:00 am |
C16 - SLC
Convergence is in Salt Lake City next year. I know there are a lot of people from SLC that I'm friends with. Others that always go to Convergence. I liked SLC when I went there for their Dark Arts Festival and it seems to have been run well in other years. So, is anybody going to C16? Any thoughts on SLC? The event? Etc? | | Sunday, November 1st, 2009 | | 2:17 pm |
Upcoming Food Events
Yesterday ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) domestinatrix took me to Big John PFI which is a hidden bulk and import food store in the ID. I picked up some new Mediterranean foods. This means that in order to see if they would be any good for taking to the playa next year, I need to try them out, and since my tastes are typical off of center, I need to have other people try them too. This means a Mediterranean dinner at my place in about two weeks (with another trip to Neda Persian Grocery and Paldo World before that). I'm thinking some night between November 11-13. RSVP if you want to come and date if you have a preference. Casual event with sampling new foods and recipes. After that, I'm looking at having a wine and cheese party sometime. I loved the wine and cheese party I went to at Burning Man (minus all the guys in the lime green mankinis). Now I want to have one. Some time a week or two after the Mediterranean dinner. Wine, cheese, and probably absinthe. That would make a good pre-funk for something. | | Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 | | 11:31 am |
Severed Heads*
I need a bunch of severed heads for a photo shoot that needs to come up soon. Specifically, I need a bag of zombie heads. Skulls would probably work and even hair style manikin heads as most will be in the bag and I'll just need nice looking ones on top really. It can wait till after Halloween, so does anybody out there have any suitable heads I can borrow? I also need some armor. This is for Unhallowed Metropolis shoots. Leather or chain would work. Plates perhaps if added to a larger coat, gloves, or such. Even heavy duty looking rubber might work depending on the item. *Anybody else still listen to them? I have Rotund for Success and get the urge to listen to it fairly often. | | 9:14 am |
The Red King
At Convergence in Portland, I remember waiting outside the pre-opening venue, trying to get back in when the line suddenly stopped. They had reached capacity and only were letting people in when others came out. People stopped coming out and the line stood still for a couple of hours in which we were able to run around, get drunk or stupid cheap drink specials at the nearby gay bar, and still get back in our same place in line that hadn't moved. Turns out The Red King was playing and I only heard how great their stage show was and how it was an awesome show. Since then, I've missed the Red King a few times but have been wanting to see them. I finally did two weekends ago at the Columbia City Theater with Nathaniel Johnstone, the Blackbird Orchestra, and Finn Von Claret. I was not disappointed. It was a great show and I shall take pains not to miss them again. If you like apocalyptic music like Coil or Death in June, you'll probably like The Red King. Somber yet powerful music followed up by a collection of people on stage performing a ritual consisting of passing out absinthe to the audience, burning poppies, some blood, and lots and lots of fire.  ( Read more... ) | | Monday, October 19th, 2009 | | 9:35 am |
Gothic Tea Party Photo Shoot
It all started because some people on Model Mayhem organized a Gothic Dinner photo shoot down in Southern California. They had something like both a dozen models and photographers plus MUAs. Sounded like fun but a bit too far for me to make it so I thought about arranging one here to which my studio mates seemed favorable to. Rather than just jump into something like that to begin with, I decided to start smaller with a Gothic Tea Party. We did the Gothic Tea Party photo shoot last weekend and here are the photos. Despite having two female and two male models, I ended up shooting some more than others and the dolls probably more than the people. I did learn some things which is what this photo shoot was meant to do. A real dining room is too small for a photo shoot and moving lights and tripod around. Four models plus other shots with inanimate objects if probably too much for a short shoot. Backgrounds need to be made. A bright white tablecloth probably isn't the best thing for lots of people wearing dark clothing.  The Table Spread ( Read more... ) | | Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 | | 10:40 am |
| | Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 | | 10:41 am |
People I Need
I need the following: One person to help me move a queen sized bed into my apartment. Can probably move it on my car but a truck would help. An EGA girl for a gothic tea party photo shoot this sunday afternoon. Preferably with a ball jointed doll with suitable outfit. Somebody willing to do hair and make up for above photo shoot. | | Thursday, October 1st, 2009 | | 11:04 am |
Artwalk
Today is First Thursday and Artwalk. Come on by Starfish Studios in the 619 Western building, 4th floor south, and visit. Everybody has new pictures up. Mine are from Burning Man. Orkestra Zirconium is out and about someplace in Artwalk tonight, probably marching from studio to studio. Also, on Capitol Hill, Gamma Ray Games on Pine is displaying Unhallowed Metropolis artwork and should be having gaming sessions and previews through the month at times and dates I do not currently have, but they should be open for Artwalk early on.  | | Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 | | 8:42 am |
Weekend in Portland
I took off last weekend with Libby and Nathan to stay with a friend of theirs in Portland for the Portland Dark Arts Festival, Conflux. It seems that the promoters over promised and under delivered and several acts such as Faith and Muse had dropped out due to a lack of plane tickets arriving. There was still stuff going on although Friday night was spent getting food and running around with gothic belly dancers, Deshret, from SF. Thus, I missed the Tuvan throat singer, Soriah. The next day was spent running around Portland with our host, Petra, eating good food and thrifting until we made it to the venue. It was something of a long night, with performance art, three bands, a fashion show and belly dancers. Good shows by Among the Weeds, Legion Within, and Abney Park. It was also a whiskey night and were were served by a new bartender in the almost empty other half of the venue (not that the main half was all that full). Then when we went to cash out our bill, the machine didn't work at it took the (new) bartender twenty minutes to find the analog credit machine and figure out how it worked. Good thing she was pretty. Pictures under cut. ( Read more... ) | | Thursday, September 17th, 2009 | | 9:44 pm |
9 Years of Burning Man
All my photos from Burning Mans past are now up on Flickr. 200920082007 - Camped with both BRC Hardware and Spike's Vampire Bar. 2006 - No BRC Hardware this year and I was in Luke and LeeNy's camp as a weekender. 2005 - The year of the Machine and that my truck broke down on the way back and left me in Alturas for three days. 20042003 - Didn't go. 2002 - Nautical theme year. We had art cars. 2001 - Apop played at Thunder Dome and a fairly small camp. 2000 - Didn't take a camera. Film SLR was broke, didn't yet own a digital, and forgot to get disposables on the way down there. Thus I have no idea what happened that year. 1999 - Our fist year there and I only had two disposable cameras. There was so much I missed taking pictures of. | | Friday, September 11th, 2009 | | 8:29 am |
Burningman Photos
Here are some of the Burning Man photos. I didn't get as many or as good of ones as I would have wished. Sometimes there were dust storms going on so I didn't get any of the burn of the man, dust had already claimed my point and shoot halfway through so it was impossible to carry a camera around all the time, and because I simply had better things to do than take photos. Anyway, here's what I got.  Lamplighters early in the week during a dust storm at sunset. The dust storms were fairly light all week up until the Burn night. As you can see, there was some dust in the air but it wasn't the continuous white or brown out conditions of past years. ( Read more... ) | | Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 | | 10:50 am |
Back in Seattle and I Crave Raw Fish
I will be heading out to Hana at 7 tonight for dinner in case anybody would wish to join me. I need some cold, raw protein. The craving isn't as bad as past years as my current camping mates have tons of coolers and iced meat for the camping trip, but I still miss sushi. Also, shooting trip this Saturday is still a go. Details should be coming later today. It will be happening on private land between Bainbridge and Port Townsend. People are welcome to show up and camp if they want. If you don't have guns, you can shoot mine if you want to throw in for ammo. | | Monday, August 24th, 2009 | | 12:05 pm |
For Jilli
Posting stuff about Wave-Gothic-Treffen for Jilli (or anybody else I can convince to go). It's 30,000 people in black descending on the town of Leipzig for 150+ bands and a huge vendor hall (Does anybody have a picture of that?) over a four day German weekend holiday. The Moritz Bastei is an old 16th century fort that used to be part of the old city walls. It was filled in with rubble after WW2 but students from the University of Leipzig dug it out and made it their student union (this was back when it was East Germany). For the festival, they rent it out and make it into at least five bars and three rooms for dancing and live music when the real festival activities aren't going on. This video is over 8 minutes long and I doubt the author ever showed the same place twice. ( Read more... ) | | Saturday, August 15th, 2009 | | 9:33 am |
Somehow I Missed This One
 I don't know why I didn't pick this one out of the Innosera pics to clean up. Here it is with white balance, level adjustments, and some cropping. | | Monday, August 10th, 2009 | | 8:25 pm |
Photos from Innocente Seraphim
Last weekend I got all dressed up in gothy Victorian wear and went to Innocente Seraphim the gothic-lolita and BJD convention. Went to panels on cupcake_goth's new book, steampunk, and lolita fashion. I also went to some tea parties, lolita bowling, two fashion shows, a concert, and went to the "Masquerade Ball" which actually turned out to be cha-cha and rumba lessons. I also wandered around the lobby and got pictures of people or their dolls. Here are some of my favorites and then a link to the rest on Flickr.  ( Read more... ) | | Sunday, August 9th, 2009 | | 10:16 pm |
I Have a New Icon
My first Icon with my new glasses (whch I got a year ago). I was at the Innocente Seraphim golthic-lolita conventions and it was lots of fun. Dress up, tea parties, interesting panels, and cute girls in cute outfits. There was also a table in the vendors room of a couple of teenage artists doing some amazing stuff. Little anime statues I swore were mass produced injected plastic at first but were actually hand made with sculpy of some such. Another doing sketches that were amazing quality. I (and Jilli, and Mila) had to get new LJ icons. We got chibi pictures of ourselves for the price of a trip to a coffee shop. Pics on the way. | | Friday, August 7th, 2009 | | 2:21 pm |
Burning Man: The Environment
The main thing that will send you packing home if you are not prepared for it is the environment. The combination of playa, altitude, and weather that you'll encounter. One year, a freezing dust storm hit on Friday night and overnight, despite people still coming into the city, the population actually fell by a thousand people because it was too much for them. Then only place to go is Reno, three hours away, so think about how bad it must have been for those people to leave the day before the burn and big event, probably not to come back. Last year, a dust storm hit which closed the gate and thus stalled the 20 mile line of cars waiting to get in simply because visibility was less than 10 feet and it was too dangerous to have people trying to drive. Meanwhile, in both cases, some people and camps went about their business without much issue. The playa is ancient lake bed and the flattest place on earth. It is slightly basic and will foam if you pour vinegar on it. Nothing grows there and nothing lives out there (for long). Depending on how much it rained the previous year and how much it has been driven over, it can range from concrete hardness to talcum-fine powder as well as everything in between. How much it affect a person ranges widely. For every person who has a adverse reaction walking in it, there's another that has been barefoot the entire week. The worst part is that it will get over everything you take there. Accept that it is going to get on everything you take to Burning Man and none of it will ever be completely clean again, but how long you keep your stuff clean can make a big difference. The one time you leave the container with your clean clothes open, will be the time a dust storm hits and for the rest of the week, you'll have no more clean clothes. Forget to cover up your bedding, and going to bed can feel like climbing between two sheets of fine grit sand paper every night. Zip lock bags work well for keeping stuff clean. you can pack your clothes in them till they're ready to use. You can keep your small electronics in them even while using many times. Keeping things clean inside your tent is a bit harder. I usually leave the rain fly off my tent (and use it inside to cover everything up. Then when I come back to the tent after a day there was a dust storm, the thick layer of playa that is covering everything is on the rain fly instead of my stuff and can be carefully dumped to the side. Keep in mind that you are not at the beach, but the high desert. The event is at 4000' and the atmosphere is thin and it can get cold quickly at night. Luckily, it is the flattest place on earth so walking around is not really an issue but exerting yourself can be. It also take longer to cook things over a fire. Although the average day is in the 100's, soon after sundown it is comfortable t-shirt weather going to jacket weather by midnight. By dawn, it will be in the 30's only to be back in the 90's to too hot to stay in your tent by 9am. You'll need plenty of hot weather clothing and some cold weather clothing or at least plenty of blankets. After all, if it gets really cold, nobody does much of anything but head back to their camp and go to sleep anyway. Combine the above with the winds (sometimes 40-60 mph, sustained) that are found on the playa and you end up with dust storms. These storms can break tent poles, blow away large items (like couches), level entire camps, and make people wish they were home. The difference between packing up and going home and deciding to go for a bike ride in the middle of such a storm is often a matter of preparation. The goggles and dust mask you are supposed to carry around with you at all times is for such an occasion. Even standing around without being able to see or breath is a really bad experience. Walking a a mile or two back to you camp to get them when needed can be almost impossible. When setting up your camp, be aware the the closer towards the center tends to mean less wind (due to everybody else acting as a wind block) and more dust, and that the wind typically comes from the South West or the North East directions. Usually from the South West (back towards Gerlach) so park your vehicles at that side of your camp to act as a wind break for your tents and stuff. Use large (12") stakes to put your tent into the ground not those six inch things they usually give you. It doesn't hurt to add extra guy-lines to your tent and any structure that might catch the wind such as your shade structure. Even large and heavy objects such as the car ports that some people use can catch the wind and be blown away. A few extra lines tied to good stakes can keep this from happening. A few lines of rope thrown over a flapping shade structure can prevent it from being torn apart. Make sure everything in your camp is good a secure before you leave. A dust storm can come up with little warning and its no fun to hike all the way back to camp to find you camp torn apart or missing. |
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