Fun with Pictures

There was a Facebook challenge going around earlier this month--take one picture a day in black and white and post it without comment. The idea was ... no people and no explanation. It was a lot of fun. and I stumbled across the insanely useful and free website LunaPic, a place that enabled me to convert my color snaps to black and white.  LunaPic is a free online photo editor and it allows you to do all kinds of snazzy things with your photos. They have a filter called "space" that I'm especially fond of. It enabled me to change my fairly boring head shot into this.

Playing around on the site is a most excellent distraction from any unpleasantness that might be going on in your life. I highly recommend it.

The Net Neutrality Vote is Thursday

The chairman of the FCC wants to repeal "net neutrality."

Here's a really good explanation of what that means, put together by ABC news. If you're not sure where your Senator stands on the issue, here's a handy site with that information (and more). At this point, petitions and postcards are not particularly helpful but calling your representatives is. Daily KOS has put together a list of phone numbers. Here it is. (And keep it handy because there's going to be a new vote on the evil tax plan pretty soon as well.)

My favorite dinosaur-themed gift

I have never really had bookends because I usually have so many books stuffed in my bookcases there's no need for them. But if I did need some bookends, I'd buy these.

They're not cheap--$65 from Etsy, but they are unique and playful and they are perfect for the dino-lover/book lover in your life.

Say NO on repealing Net Neutrality

Here's a video that explains what you have to lose if Net Neutrality is repealed.

And here's John Oliver explaining it way better than I could.  There's going to be a vote on Net Neutrality on Wednesday. I'll be posting some tips on how to protest this. But in the meantime...here's what I'm talking about.

A picture is worth a thousand words

My mother was a commercial artist with a degree in fine art, and so our home was filled with art--paintings she'd done, paintings and prints she picked up  on her travels, pieces of sculpture, objects she prized for their intrinsic beauty (shells and rocks and pretty pieces of crockery). When I first started fournishing my own apartment, I did what every 20-something did and bought posters. (One of which, a stunning 1978 poster for AIDA is now out of print.  YOu can buy it for $1200 on Instadibs.  I sooo wish I still had that poster, which went missing during one of my moves.)

But one day I stumbled across an arts fair in a park near my apartment and discovered I could buy ORIGINAL ART for the same price (or even less) than a copy of the Picasso Don Quixote print (you know the one) or the reproduction of Ansel Adams "Moonrise over Hernandez, New Mexico (you also know that one, and did you know the bidding started at more than half a million when a print was auctioned by Sotheby's in 2006).
Then eBay came along and suddenly you could buy art from all over the world. It wasn't necessarily cheap--I paid $500 for a painting by a Vermont artist who signed her paintings VERTE--but the works were original and I wasn't going to see them in every corporate waiting room and low-end motel in the city.
Then I discovered Red Bubble. And Etsy. And well, let's just say that I now choose my living quarters by how much available wall space there is.

Art is a great gift to give people but it's so very, very personal that unless you know someone REALLY well, the best thing to do is buy a greeting card that's an art piece you like and then enclose a gift card for a site your friend might enjoy browsing.

On Redbubble, posters begin in the $12 range and go up, depending on size. You can get something like one of Tanyashatseva's dreamy, spacetime inspired glitter-infused acrylic paintings called "Nahdezhda Nebula") as everything from a sticker to a phone case to a t-shirt to a greeting card if you don't have room for a poster.)  You can even get the image on leggings!

Other sites with original art for sale are:

Artfinder
Artshow
Etsy
Minted
UGallery

Root Division (a gallery in San Francisco) also has terrific art in the $200-$500 range, but it's only available for local pickup. That's a shame because there's a piece by Eva Enriquez that calls to me.

Life needs to be beautiful. Do your part. (And remember, no matter how awesome Georgia O'Keefe is, friends don't let friends hang posters of her bones and flowers.

A Zombie Apocalypse Christmas

first you have the cards. There are so, so many possibilities, from the Game of Thrones-themed cards to a bazillion variants of Walking Dead cards. And really, what says Christmas better than zombies?  (I have a lot of bah humbug types on my Christmas list.)
Here's a minimalist version.  Attach it to a package of classic zombie books for a theme present:

1.  Seanan McGuire's Feed (the first book in her newwflesh series).  She wrote it under the name Mira Grant. If you haven't heard of it, check it out here.

2.  Jennifer Adele's The Bone Gatherer. I know, I haven't read it either, but the point is to give your friends books they haven't already read. (And am I the only one thinks that World War Z was a tad overrated?)

3.  The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell. Almost 250 reviews on Amazon with a rating of 4.5 out of five stars. This is another book (the first in a trilogy, that wasn't on my radar.

When it comes to fantasy zombies, the master is probably George R. r. Martin and you'll be happy to know that you can give all your Game of Thrones fans a suitable card. There are a bunch out there, but this one is my favorite. 

Gifts for the slightly skewed...

You can start off with this *tweaked* Christmas card from Etsy. If you order it now, you still have time to mail it or to tuck it into a gift box.

Maybe you know someone who missed out on the velvet skulls Target was selling for Halloween (they were awesome and by the time I heard about them they were completely sold out.

But that same friend might adore a pair of velvet skull leggings, also on Etsy. (Seriously, Etsy is everything and to prove it,  you can get this really cool skull soap that can be customized for color and fragrance).