Reading Update
Artful Adventures in Mixed Media: Techniques Inspired by Observation and Experience by Nathalie Kalbach. Very good look at different places to find inspiration and how to turn that inspiration into mixed media pieces or art journal entries. There were definitely a couple of new-to-me techniques I’m going to have to try.

“I can’t believe you didn’t feed me all the treats to celebrate Black Cat Appreciation Day, Mom!!” -Chaos

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity from the land of rain-not rain-rain-not rain-oh look it’s raining again

August 11, 2017 Chris 8 Comments

Contest(s)

Win enough Euroflax yarn to knit a tank top from Drop Dead Easy Knits, plus a Kollage needle. Closes midnight (not sure of timezone) August 13. (via Yarnerinas)

Bookity

Learn, Do, Make, Think

Cookity

Gluten Free

Artsy Crafty

Cool

Cool or Wha…?

Wha…?

LOL

xkcd on geologic faults. (Hover cursor/long-press for caption.)
Truly scientist hell.
“AirBnb reviews for Castle Dracula“.
“Some alternative voting systems“.
Target from the perspective of a Canadian.
When you ask the NASA tumblr about space…
On Cthulhu and wedding etiquette.
Autocorrect and moving.

Teh Cute

Tiger and baby! Baby tiger!

Reading Update
The Confident Creative: Drawing to Free the Hand and Mind by Cat Bennett. Ok look at using drawing as a sort of mindfulness meditation. Definitely a book and reader mismatch on this one – I read the whole thing, but I was annoyed at it/about it most of the time. YMMV.
Black Mould (The Rivers of London Graphic Novel #3) by Ben Aaronovitch. Very good continuation of the series in which Peter and Sahra are on the trail of some particularly lively black mould… According to the timeline in the back, this takes place after The Hanging Tree and before The Furthest Station.
Sidney Crosby: One of the NHL’s Top Scorers by Jeanne Nagle. Maybe I can’t rate this fairly, being pretty far out of the target audience (grades 5-8). It seemed kind of disjointed to me. But I did learn some bits of Sidney Crosby trivia I hadn’t known before, which was cool.
The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill. Excellent young adult fantasy novel about (wait for it) a girl who drank the moon. 😀 Recommended. (And from a Minnesota author!) I’m already on the list at the library for more of her books.

*purring* -Chaos

Reading, Reviewettes

Squished in linkity making before annual condo residents’ meeting. Woo-hoo!

August 4, 2017 Chris 5 Comments

Bookity

New releases: Tor.com (sf, fantasy, genre-benders) and Smart Bitches (romance)
“The function of tropes in the Laundry Files” (that excellent series by Charles Stross).
Linkity from Smart Bitches.
Cover snark from Smart Bitches.
“Which Jane Austen character are you, based on your zodiac sign?“

Think, Do, Make, Learn

Cookity

Gluten Free

Cornmeal pancakes.

Artsy Crafty

Cool

Cool or Wha…?

Wha…?

Super Mario koala statue.

LOL

The Four Horsewomen of the tRUMPacolypse.
The Twin Cities.
“Fiddlesticks“.
NSFW Cake Wrecks. (Although the truly NSFW bit has a separate link at the bottom.)

Teh Cute

Baby clouded leopards! Baby painted dogs! Cheetah and babies!

Reading Update
Doodle Art and Lettering with Joanne Sharpe: Inspiration and Techniques for Personal Expression by Joanne Sharpe. What it says in the title. 🙂 I really like Joanne Sharpe’s art journaling style and enjoyed her tips, tricks, and suggestions.

“But why 42?” -Mayhem

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity is so very happy the humidity finally broke (for a day or two)

July 28, 2017 Chris 6 Comments

Bookity

Learn, Think, Do, Make

Cookity

Gluten Free

Artsy Crafty

Cool

Cool or Wha…?

Eight hours of sheep in slow motion.

Wha…?

Clown motel for sale.
Or maybe you’d like this… doll house… instead.
Have they no shame?! Don’t answer that, please. We already know the answer.
Ummmmmmmm.

LOL

“Nine ways to find the perfect bra“.
Plotlines from Scottish ballads. And a completely different thread about Scottish, Irish, Mongolian, etc, ballad/folk music themes.
It starts with that tragic xkcd about the Spirit rover, marooned on Mars – but CERN scientists couldn’t handle the sad ending and fixed it.
The eclipse and airplanes. (Hover cursor/long-press to see the caption.)
Confession of a physicist. (Hover cursor/long-press to see the caption.)
The Harry Potter cast shared some of their favorite things about the movies.
“A heavily Russian video on gun discourse“.
This is exactly what nutrition labels should do.
That is not even close to lace at all. Yikes.
Caketastrophe.
Oh oh, someone is in trouble…

Teh Cute

Baby snow leopard! Baby lynxes! Baby sea otter!

Reading Update
Good Mail Day: A Primer for Making Eye-Popping Postal Art by Jennie Hinchcliff & Carolee Gilligan Wheeler. Enjoyable look at the history of mail art, with plenty of tips and ideas for creating and sending your own mail art.

“What now?!” -Mayhem

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

In which there is an abundance of linkity (for a change)

July 21, 2017 Chris 7 Comments

Contest(s)

Blodeuedd’s giving away a copy of The Untouchable Earl by Amy Sandas. Comment by July 22 to enter. US only.

Bookity

New releases: AAR (romance) and Tor.com (genre-benders, fantasy, scifi)
Linkity from Smart Bitches. And more.
Linkity from Inkophile. And more.
Cover snark from Smart Bitches.
No-effort character sheet for writers.
Why we read romance.
NYC Subway Library.

Think, Learn, Make, Do

The ISS is in Google Street View.
“A third of dementia cases may be preventable“.
Interactive periodic table.
“tRUMP’s behavior is more than just a symptom of bad politics“.
How hummingbirds fly.
What racial profiling?
“What was 2017 like?” (Really needs to include the whole Hobby Lobby smuggling thing, too.)
Date format by country. (Definitely embiggen to see the comment on Canada.)
That is a very good question.
Best plants if you have depression or executive dysfunction.
In which people from around the world recoil in horror at the state of the US primary passenger rail system.

Cookity

Gluten Free

Artsy Crafty

Cool

Wha…?

KFC-branded smartphone.
“I can’t believe we have to tell you not to snort chocolate“.
“10 games that simulate boring jobs“.
…I have questions.
I would be Rather Startled to come home and find a mule deer in my kitchen.
Twitter has definitely changed over the past eight years.
I can’t believe they picked Kiester over Climax, Minnesota. I guess they used Climax, North Carolina, and didn’t want to duplicate?

LOL

It me!
Summer in the office…
The Basilica and the… rubber duck.
When you know the wildfires are really, really bad.
Wifi vs cellular. (Hover cursor/long-press for caption.)
Communicating… or not. (Hover cursor/long-press for caption.)
Potentially NSFW Cake Wrecks. Same.
Autocorrects about bugs. And vacation.
Gollum reads tRUMP’s tweets.
For shame, kitty!
Oh, cats.

Teh Cute

Pallas Cat and baby! Baby penguin! Baby red pandas! Baby puma! Pudu and baby! Wolf and babies! Cheetah and babies! Wee door!

Reading Update
Art Journal Kickstarter: Pages and Prompts to Energize Your Art Journals by Kristy Conlin. As long as you don’t expect any prompts (beyond, perhaps, some of the quotes scattered throughout), this is a very good look at the styles of over 100 mixed media art journalers. (Journalists?) Sometimes these types of survey books don’t really work for me, but this one did.

“You better not be taking a picture and you DEFINITELY better not be planning to put the picture you’re not taking on the internet, Mom.” -Chaos

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity zooms by

July 7, 2017 Chris 8 Comments

Once again, on-call stuff ate into my linkity making time. So! Here’s what I got.

“The Shapes of Stories” by Kurt Vonnegut.
What if famous writers wrote fic on AO3? Start here. Then read the replies, with many more authors.
Lovely shot of the Lowry Avenue Bridge (Minneapolis).
Bald eagle flying through a rainbow.
Last week, Minneapolis passed the $15/hour minimum wage. My US Representative was pretty happy about it. 🙂
Who’s a smart corvid? Is it you?
Go, STEM girls!
“I believe that it is difficult to kill an idea because ideas are invisible and contagious, and they move fast.“
A novel-writing masterlist.
That was… not what I expected from the cover.
Recipes around the world.
Help pick a name for Crayola’s new shade of blue crayon.
Roasted cauliflower salad with chickpeas, feta, and herbs.
Chicken and veggie pesto salad.
20 dinner recipes using zucchini.
50 cheerfully colored summer recipes.
10 no-cook meals.
Pop Rocks s’mores. (via The Kitchn)
Gluten-free peach crisp.
Gluten-free quinoa salad with pineapple, broccoli, and mint.
Why do we sing do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do anyway?!
Linkity from Smart Bitches.
Linkity from Inkophile.
Pedal-powered elevator.
Cake Wrecks on the 4th of July.
That is a lot to ask of your coffee.
A picture I took of one of the new sculptures in the Walker Sculpture Garden over the weekend.
Knitting linkity from kmkat. And linkity linkity from kmkat.
Awkward Buzz Lightyear moment with tRUMP.
Covers of songs about social justice.
xkcd on the emoji movie. (Hover cursor/long-press for caption.)
“tRUMP supporters cry bias after NPR tweets the Declaration of Independence.“

Reading Update
Freehand: Sketching Tips and Tricks Drawn from Art by Helen Birch. Good overview of a wide array of artistic tidbits, such as “Suggesting Time”, “Negative Space”, “Damp Ground”, “Aerial Gaze”, “Complementary Colors”, etc. Feels more scattershot than I was expecting for some reason.

“I’m hiding! You can’t see me, Mom! So stop pretending you can.” -Mayhem

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity before a long [US] holiday weekend

June 30, 2017 Chris 6 Comments

Bookity

Think, Do, Make, Learn

“The Dumbo octopus is eight cute legs of stone cold murder“.
McMansion Hell and fair use.
“Volvo’s driverless cars can’t figure out kangaroos“.
John Oliver on science and vaccines.
“When men are too emotional to have a rational argument“. (via emmaseasall)
“Why is there a Kmart in Minneapolis that blocks an entire street?” I ask myself this every time I’m unable to drive up Nicollet Avenue from Lake Street.
“6 things the US government is doing that supervillains have also done“.
New photos of the Mount St Helens eruption.

Cookity

Artsy Crafty

Knitting linkity from kmkat.

Cool

Wha…?

“UPS deliveries by golf cart now legal in Kentucky“… alrighty then.
“Strapping dressers, bookshelves, lamps, cleaning supplies, a tv, and a bike to your minivan will probably get you pulled over“.
Orangina, what. (Possibly NSFW. It’s hard to tell, really.)

LOL

Dinosaur roleplaying.
Comparing seasons between the northern and southern US. (I think the northern summer should have a weird bulgey arm to highlight the summer extremes.)
Autocorrect goes camping.
NSFW Cake Wrecks and superheroes.
Definitely not a street.
Telephoto, xkcd style. (Hover cursor/long-press for caption.)
Math class. (Hover cursor/long-press for caption.)
Refresh types. (Hover cursor/long-press for caption.)
Whoops.
Darth Chat Noir, I presume?

Teh Cute

Baby sea otter! Andean bear and baby! Southern pudu and baby! Baby Mexican grey wolves!

Reading Update
Sid vs Ovi: Natural Born Rivals by Andrew Podnieks. So-so comparison of Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin from their rookie seasons in 2005-2006 through June 2011, focusing on their games against each other. The book was definitely biased toward Crosby and painted a pretty unflattering picture of Ovechkin. I mean, I prefer Sid to Ovi myself, but… Pretty sure I told the book, “You aren’t even trying” more than once.

*kick-hug-kick-hug-kick-rub on face-kick* -Mayhem

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity enjoys the breeze from the briefly open windows

June 16, 2017 Chris 7 Comments

Contest(s)

Blodeuedd’s giving away a copy of Wolf Unleashed by Paige Tyler. (Read the details on what your comment needs to contain to enter.) Closes June 18. US only.

Bookity

Linkity from Smart Bitches.
Linkity from Inkophile.
The maps behind the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books.
“This is what a librarian looks like“.
Seanan McGuire being awesome. (This is completely for Nicole.)
Library card phone case. (via Book Riot)

Think, Learn, Do, Make

“How tall would the Stanley Cup be if the NHL never removed anyone’s name?“
Don’t anger the ravens, people. (Or crows.)
Neil deGrasse Tyson has won the Stephen Hawking Medal.
Scientists weighed a star.
Another perspective on the EWG’s yearly good/bad sunscreen lists.
A very good point by xkcd. (Definitely hover/long-press for the caption on this one.)
“How to find free and safe public wi-fi“.

Cookity

Gluten Free

Vanilla cupcakes.

Artsy Crafty

Crochet some water balloons. (Thanks, PD!)
Knitting linkity from kmkat.

Cool

Wha…?

I have questions.

LOL

The former President of Mexico has a message for tRUMP.
Minnesota: “We have the biggest puddle”.
“Because fuck glaciers!” (Hover/long-press for caption.)
The secret behind state maps. (Hover/long-press for caption.)
Rather NSFW Cake Wrecks.
Autocorrects about horses.

Teh Cute

Baby tiger! Baby clouded leopards!

Reading Update
The Creative License: Giving Yourself Permission to Be the Artist You Truly Are by Danny Gregory. While I didn’t always agree with the author, it was a good, thought-provoking book on using drawing to bring more creativity to all aspects of your life. It definitely got me thinking and writing about some deeper things.
Creative Pilgrimage: An Exploration of Artful Gatherings and Discovery of Innovative Art Techniques by Jenny Doh. Ok but very repetitive overview of various instructors from mixed media art retreats. Not something I’ll bother rereading or referring to again.

I recently bought a magnet for my refrigerator and it perfectly sums up how Chaos greets visitors…

“I am Chaos and I approve of this message!!!” -Chaos

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

In which linkity returns!

June 9, 2017 Chris 7 Comments

Contest(s)

Blodeuedd’s giving away a copy of A Match Made in Texas by Margaret Brownley. Closes June 10. US only.

Bookity

New releases: Tor.com (scifi, fantasy. genre-benders) and Smart Bitches (romance)
Wonder Woman linkity from Smart Bitches.
Linkity from Inkophile.
Pros and cons of paper books and ebooks.
“Why writing takes forever“.
Uhhhh… (NSFW-ish, but will amuse fantasy readers)

Think, Learn, Do, Make

Cookity

Gluten Free

Artsy Crafty

Knit or crochet a temperature blanket. (Thanks, Em!)
Knitting linkity from kmkat.

Cool

Wha…?

LOL

Teh Cute

Penguins and babies! Baby pandas! Darwin’s rhea and babies!

Reading Update
The Best of Down Goes Brown: Greatest Hits and Brand New Classics-to-Be from Hockey’s Most Hilarious Blog by Sean McIndoe. Good collection of humorous hockey writing – unfortunately, it really doesn’t stand the test of time (six years) that well.
The Jargoon Pard by Andre Norton. I loved this book as a preteen and it stood up pretty well to the reread. I did get annoyed with the sort of formal, tangly language at times – obviously preteen me was a more forgiving reader. 🙂 (Confession: I was too lazy to go dig this out of my under-bed storage, so I just checked the ebook out of the library from the comfort of my purple chaise instead…)

*thlurrrrp* -Chaos

*purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr* -Mayhem

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

From the mixed-up linkity files of me

May 26, 2017 Chris 7 Comments

One more week of my bookbinding class! Linkity should be back to normal(ish) on June 9. 🙂

Mixed-Up Links

“‘Your fave is problematic’: Callout culture, cyberbullying, and toxic activism in fandom“.
(Fan) Writing meta: “The next story after this”.
Fascinating writing app.
“Death offers a game for your life…“
Expanded version of “Todd” the devil.
“One of the lesser known laws of thermodynamics“.
Bullet journaling.
Monument to peer review.
…Those are moose, not kangaroos…
Baby leopards! Dog and baby lion! Penguins and babies! Tiger and baby!
“How the myth that bears are a danger to menstruating women spread“.
Gillian Anderson as David Bowie.
“Texas wants you to hunt feral hogs from hot air balloons“.
The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is supposed to reopen on June 3. It will be interesting to see how they get everything pulled together by then… A look at one of the new sculptures.
Cool map of building ages in Minneapolis.
The Hennepin Avenue bridge.
Minneapolis gothic.
In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre throws an amazing May Day celebration.
Duluth, what.
This is basically Minnesota weather, too, except it would be in Fahrenheit.
A lovely story about Mr Rogers.
The Emoluments Clause projected on tRUMP’s DC hotel.
Is the US splitting into both a developing nation and a nation of hyper privilege?
I didn’t believe this was real at first.
Cards Against Humanity’s post-tRUMP pack.
tRUMP “leaks” from the Onion.
Great peace poster.
Aww.
Point.
Yoga with baby goats.
Me, either, Calvin!
Autocorrect and ice cream. Awkward autocorrects.
Avocado latte.
“20 years on, The Fifth Element is still one of the best/worst sci-fi films ever“.
I’m usually not afraid of clowns, but this has me reconsidering.
Linkity from kmkat. Knitting linkity from kmkat.
Bookity linkity from Smart Bitches.
Triple coconut poke cake.
20 stovetop vegetarian dinners.
20 simple spring salads.
15 quick breakfast smoothies.
Sweet potato fajitas.
Gluten-free edible (egg-free) cookie dough.
Five tips for traveling gluten free.

Reading Update
The Art of Expressive Collage: Techniques for Creating with Paper and Glue by Crystal Neubauer. While I found the author’s collages mystifying and somewhat repetitive, I really liked the information she provided on supplies and mark making and have already procured a tub of her recommended adhesive (Yes! Paste).
Printer’s Error: Irreverent Stories from Book History by Rebecca Romney & JP Romney. Very good look at some critical moments in the history of print and printing. The authors get a bit too cute at points, and this is a book that probably won’t age well due to the humor, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. FYI, the book text ends at page 284. The endnotes run from pages 287-338 and the index from 339-353. A favorite and timely snippet from the book: “The consequences of the Age of Discovery had much in common with those of the invention of print: both provided unprecedented access to knowledge, and therefore both were subject to political and religious freakouts. It was science versus authority. What happens when power and evidence collide?”

“Soon….” -Mayhem

“Why do I suddenly feel sort of uneasy?” -Chaos, sleepily

Stumbling Over Chaos

Category Archives: Reviewettes

Linkity didn’t think it was possible to be more appalled, and yet…

Linkity from the land of rain-not rain-rain-not rain-oh look it’s raining again

Squished in linkity making before annual condo residents’ meeting. Woo-hoo!

Linkity is so very happy the humidity finally broke (for a day or two)

In which there is an abundance of linkity (for a change)

Linkity zooms by

Linkity before a long [US] holiday weekend

Linkity enjoys the breeze from the briefly open windows

In which linkity returns!

From the mixed-up linkity files of me

Art journaling, reading, knitting, and cat parenting. It's a wild life.