Reading Update
Spindle’s End by Robin McKinley. Very good variant of Rumpelstiltskin, in which a fairy accidentally absconds with the princess after she’s cursed. The princess is raised with no idea who she really is. I stayed up too late reading this one. 🙂
The Illustrated History of Hockey: The NHL Years by Jason Kay & Craig Campbell. Interesting book that spends a page or two on each year of the NHL’s history. I was most interested in the more recent years, so I read this back to front.

“Ewwww, Mayhem’s touching me, Mom!” -Chaos

“What?” -Mayhem

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Lean linkity times ahead!

September 22, 2017 Chris 6 Comments

I am taking a couple of Thursday evening classes from now until November 16 at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, so expect Linkity to be spotty or nonexistent…

Bookity

Make, Learn, Do, Think

Cookity

Gluten Free

Chocolate cupcakes.

Artsy Crafty

Cool

Cool or Wha…?

Wha…?

D’oh.
Driveable hot tub.
Presidential flip-flops. (Actually, maybe it’s more humor, but hey, it’s here now.)

LOL

So true. (Hover cursor/long-press for caption.)
“When you try to fight omens with technology“.
Autocorrect and hats.
Bad kitty.

Teh Cute

Baby tigers! Snow leopard and babies!

Reading Update
NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity by Steve Silberman. Excellent (and epic) book that spans the history of autism and autism research up through the present. Highly recommended if you’re autistic, know someone with autism (you do, even if you don’t know you do), or wonder how the hell that antivaccine nonsense got started. That said, at times this book felt a bit unfocused as the author got caught up in backstories – a couple of times I wished I’d jotted down a list of names as I read so I could keep everyone sorted out. Perhaps that was just me and my notoriously bad memory. The book still gets five stars because of being both groundbreaking and sensible. 🙂

*long slow blinking* -Mayhem

Linkity linkity link, Personal history, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity has had better weeks.

September 8, 2017 Chris 8 Comments

Still waiting to hear whether it’s totaled or not (the rear axle is bent and the frame is not longer in its original shape). I am fine! Which is great! (I was stopped at a red light and was hit at speed by someone who apparently didn’t notice all the stopped cars, only swerving into the ditch at the last moment.) But dammit, I really like(d) this car.

Bookity

New releases: Tor.com (genre benders, fantasy, scifi) and Smart Bitches (romance)
Read Ursula K. LeGuin’s short story “The Day Before the Revolution” for free online.
Linkity from Smart Bitches.
Animal Farm the video game.

Do, Make, Think, Learn

“I hate when people in movies/tv are reading ancient languages and they translate everything smoothly and poetically…” I hadn’t really thought about that before.
Cursive is coming back in vogue.
NASA explains how hurricanes form.
“How to talk about hurricanes with climate change deniers“.
Voyager and the Golden Record.
How elements were created.
“Bras in space“. (via gilajames)
Eclipse linkity from BookwyrmKnits.
“Why America still hasn’t switched from Fahrenheit to Celsius“.
Bat locator app.
There’s a new color of chocolate.
How to use white privilege for good, effectively.
On toxic masculinity.
Equifax got hacked – 143 million US residents are affected. ARGH.
Fall foliage prediction map.
The western US is on fire.

Cookity

Gluten Free

Soft pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

Artsy Crafty

Gorgeous knitted scarf.

Cool

Hummingbird pool party! (Thanks, Cheryl!)
Two-year old meets the space shuttle Endeavor. (via maderr)
Star Wars short about BB-8 and his evil twin.
Meet the new ruler of Great Britain! 😉
Synchronized swimming filmed upside down.
Awww.
From postcards to ruins.
Linkity from kmkat.

Cool or Wha…?

Crop art and more crop art and butterheads and more crop art (including a link to a short film about crop art) at the Minnesota State Fair.

Wha…?

Um. Banana cannibalism is what I’m getting from it.

LOL

Where is the lie?
Understanding US currency.
What is drawing?
Eye-catching cat adoption signs.
New Simon’s Cat film “Scratch Post”.
“The Far Side of the cake“. And more Cake Wrecks.
“Disappointing moments in evolution“.
Adventures in not-catching a bat. (Thanks, Emma!)

Teh Cute

Kitten attack! Kitten! Baby tawny frogmouth! Zebra and baby! Baby meerkats!

Reading Update
The Delirium Brief (Laundry Files #8) by Charles Stross. Holy crap. O.O This one was a rollercoaster ride. Very intense. And now I have to go see when book #9 is going to come out…

“…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…” -Mayhem

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity really needs this long [US] holiday weekend

September 1, 2017 Chris 7 Comments

Bookity

Do, Think, Learn, Make

Cookity

Gluten Free

Custard pie with apples.

Artsy Crafty

Cool

Famous art as action figurs. (I guess the Vitruvian Man probably makes this NSFW.)
Famous art recreated in extreme miniature.
Time lapse of the High Plains during the eclipse (ok, fine, it’s over Carhenge).
Minneapolis egret.
Kmkat is on vacation, so no linkity from her this week. But she is posting about her travels!

Cool or Wha…?

Waffle House with eclipse.

Wha…?

LOL

On why Prince Philip is the most badass Disney prince.
Checklist for the Minnesota State Fair.
Programmers and time zones. (Hover cursor/long-press for caption.)
Alpacalypse. (Altho those look more like llamas, but still.)
How house cats hunt.
Point.
Autocorrect and gum.

Teh Cute

Baby okapi! Baby snow leopard! Dwarf mongoose and babies! Baby toucans! Koala and baby!

Reading Update
Handmade Hellos: Fresh Greeting Card Projects from First-Rate Crafters by Eunice Moyle & Sabrina Moyle. Ok book with 27 greeting card projects in it. Included templates. I’ll definitely use some of the templates and the directions for creating a library checkout card in Word.
Mail Me Art: Going Postal with the World’s Best Illustrators and Designers by Darren Di Lieto. Ok if you just want to look at pictures of mail art.

*very disappointed in my everything* -Chaos

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Linkity is wondering what happened to the rest of summer

August 25, 2017 Chris 9 Comments

Bookity

Think, Make, Do, Learn

Highlights from the transcript of jury selection for the Martin Shkreli trial – over 200 potential jurors were excused. (via itstartledme) (Will help restore your faith in humanity at least a little bit.)
NASA shared some images from the eclipse. So did Gizmodo. (Here’s my eclipse experience.)
A infographic look at megafauna and their modern counterparts.
Learn a bit about draft horses.
I have bad news for you, guy from 1979…
Good one, former State Department science envoy. And likewise, President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities.
Please wash your hands really well if you’re raising chickens in your backyard.

Cookity

Gluten Free

Artsy Crafty

Cool

Cool or Wha…?

Is this going to be a NASA reality show?!

Wha…?

LOL

Midwestern t-shirts from Badly Drawn States.
Roses are red, violets are not blue…
Basically.
Reenacting the eclipse with a cat.
The Ominous Statement Generator. “The trees are gone when you look away. Prepare: they’ll lie in wait – they’ll whisper you your fate.” (I have strawberry blonde hair, so…)
Flowchart to help you understand “Total Eclipse of the Heart”.
“Strong Enter”.
Autocorrect and pie. Celestial autocorrects.
Cake Wrecks on man cakes…

Teh Cute

Baby penguins! Baby serval! Black kittens –> cats! Chameleon on a quest!

Reading Update

The Rubber Stamp Album: The Complete Guide to Making Everything Prettier, Weirder, and Funnier by Joni K Miller & Lowry Thompson. This a really good look at the history of rubber stamp making and using up through 1978, when the book was published. And I enjoyed the glimpse of life in 1978 that it provided – it was a reminder of a time when phone calls were expensive, personal computers were unknown, and the internet was ARPANet. You can pick it up for <$10 used – I recommend going through Better World Books (free worldwide shipping and proceeds benefit literacy).

*staring at random empty spot on wall* -Mayhem

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

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

August 18, 2017 Chris 9 Comments

Bookity

Learn, Think, Do, Make

North American Eclipse Watch: Make a pinhole camera (that’s my plan), “6 ways to view the eclipse without losing your eyes or breaking the bank“, “Eclipse 2017: A unique chance for science“, link to NASA’s livestream of the eclipse, more on pinhole cameras, “The procrastinator’s guide to safe eclipse viewing“.
I hope you all had a good Black Cat Appreciation Day yesterday. 🙂
Pantone is honoring Prince with his own shade of purple.
You can listen to “free online streams of 25,000 historic 78 RPM records from the early 20th century”.
Colbert, Fallon, and others on tRUMP’s statement a few days after Charlottesville. Seriously. When TIKI Brand Products does a better job that the sitting POTUS… Thank you, President Obama. Twitter responds to tRUMP’s statement with some pointed humor. Godwin of Godwin’s Law speaks.
A reminder about freedom of speech.
Chris Evans: “Seriously. EVERYONE needs to watch that press conference in its entirety. He does everything flawlessly wrong. It’s a stunning disaster.”
How close are you to a Confederate monument? (290 miles.) Good for Baltimore on removing theirs. “The difference between Confederate monuments and actual American heroes“.
“Ancient carnivorous dread-possum“.
“How to deal with your apocalyptic anxiety“.
iPhone users: You might want to check your AirDrop settings…

Cookity

Gluten Free

Fudgy flourless black bean cookies.

Artsy Crafty

Yes, This

On living through history being made.
It me. D’oh.

Cool

Cool or Wha…?

Wha…?

Ever wondered what a Tickle-Me Elmo looks like without its skin? Please note that you cannot unsee this…
“Truck with 20 tons of Nutella and chocolate vanishes“. (via jmcbooks)
Tacos with fried egg shells.

LOL

“We left Richard in North Dakota“.
“The UK wants you to know they can see the eclipse, too“.
Autocorrect and cleaning.
Some especially wrecky cakes.
Computers vs humans. (Hover cursor/long-press for caption.)
Eclipse searches. (Hover cursor/long-press for caption.)

Teh Cute

Baby horned puffin! Panda and baby! Baby banded palm civets! Rock hyrax and babies!

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

Stumbling Over Chaos

Tag Archives: reviewettes

In which linkity returns!*

Lean linkity times ahead!

Linkity has had better weeks.

Linkity really needs this long [US] holiday weekend

Linkity is wondering what happened to the rest of summer

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)

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