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May 18th, 2013
immlass
 | 04:22 pm - Dallas museum trip
We hit two museums today.
At the Dallas Museum of Art, we saw the big Chagall exhibition and the Britsh Museum's Greek sculpture exhibition. The Chagall show was great, with fantastic paintings and sculpture (I really enjoyed the Romanesque-influenced columnar-type sculptures) and some work he'd done for two ballets (Aleko and the Firebird), including the costumes that were the centerpiece of the exhibit. There were also a number of collages at the end that I couldn't get into, as well as some planning pieces for his ceiling at the Opera Garnier.
The Greek scuplture exhibit was interesting thematically but I was hoping for more classical works instead of Hellenistic and Roman reproductions. I liked the thematic organization, but the curation was just awful generally. The cards for each item told you in large bold letters what kind of thing it was and only then what the significance of the piece was. This was particularly annoying for rows of red-on-black pottery where the interest was in the mythological motifs in the imagery.
We also walked down to the Crow Collection to see some Asian art. The highlight of the several little exhibitions was the Japanese lacquers, since the downstairs area was in the middle of an installation and we'd seen the tantric art in the mezzanine.
Lunch was from the food trucks in the park next to the DMA. The park opened this spring and it was full of people and dogs on what we thought was a pleasant but hot day. The food was pretty good even by food snob Austin standards. It's definitely a perq to going downtown, even if it's not as cool as the museum cafe.
This entry was originally posted at http://immlass.dreamwidth.org/891216.html. Comment here or there.
Current Mood:  tired
Current Music: silence is golden
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May 17th, 2013
May 15th, 2013
immlass
 | 05:27 pm - 101 in 1001
I didn't strike off any items this fortnight. But we achieved the end of the spring semester of Michael's grad school. And I didn't kill anyone. Bonus!
( List under the cutCollapse )
Although we didn't do any one-off items, we did buy a lot of concert tickets, and I'm working hard on exercising, reading, and seeing movies/DVDs. We're also due for some fun museum-seeing and such this next fortnight.
We sold my mother's car after the insurance was cancelled, and are lining up for our own car purchase, so that item may get knocked out as well.
This entry was originally posted at http://immlass.dreamwidth.org/891024.html. Comment here or there.
Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Lager Rhythms: Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
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immlass
 | 09:35 am - Weekly media report
Books:
- The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of Women and Power in Renaissance Italy, by Leonie Frieda. I finished this, but I put it straight into the giveaway bag. Way too pop for my tastes, and I found the psychological interpretations made me question the author's take on the history.
- The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World Impressionism, by Ross King. Taking a while to get into this but it's good. I've liked all Ross King's previous books that I've read. I put up with his psychologizing (he is pop) a lot better because he sources and footnotes a lot harder than Frieda.
Movies/TV
- Iron Man 3. Better than any third film in a series has a right to be. My only question after seeing all the resolutions at the end of this is "now what?". Also Rhodey >>>> everybody.
- Doctor Who: Nightmare in Silver: The Gaiman Cybermen episode. Genuinely scary in places (first time I've gasped in Who in ages) with the upgraded/upgrading Cyberman, but a bit undercut by Matt Smith doing his best Robin Williams impression. Also love the shout-outs to the historical stuff, particularly Tomb of the Cybermen. Also, I loved the ending.
Music:
- Battlefield Band, Room Enough for All. First album of the post Alan Reid era. Without Reid, they've definitely lost some of their adventurousness, but the level of musicianship is still incredible. I'd definitely see them in concert, but I think they're a bit more high church than they used to be, and I miss their previous incarnation.
- Fielded, Ninety Thirty Thirty. Picked this up on the basis of seeing her at SXSW this year. She was one of the highlights of a sick (physically, not awesome) season. The album is a showcase for her voice and either you'll like it or you won't. Obviously, I do.
- Savages, Silence Yourself. I've read a lot of Siouxsie comparisons and I can hear why. I like this sort of music in limited doses and this album is about right for it.
This entry was originally posted at http://immlass.dreamwidth.org/890722.html. Comment here or there.
Current Music: cloeburner: Mister Blister by cloeburner
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May 14th, 2013
amberley
 | 04:03 am - RPG Kickstarter in which you can play a Helper Kitty
I back a lot of RPG Kickstarters, and a keep a list of the highest-funded and most-backed RPG Kickstarters on my RPG Kickstarter Tips page.
You may or may not be interested in these, but what sort of world-brain neuron would I be if I didn't bring them to your attention? My mentioning them is not a solictation or endorsement, although I quite adore Golden Sky Stories.
Golden Sky Stories continues to do well, with its gentle themes of magical creatures helping people in nonviolent ways: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nekoewen/golden-sky-stories-heartwarming-role-playing . GSS should be out by October and I definitely plan on running it at Big Bad Con where I'm running five games (not all GSS). I will resist the urge to mix it with Transhuman to tell the heartwarming tale of future Japan in which a decomissioned wardroid and an abandoned spooky house are helped by raccoon dog tricksters.
Eclipse Phase (available free via Creative Commons) is doing a kickstarter for Transhuman, their player guide, at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/507486226/transhuman-the-eclipse-phase-players-guide/ .
"Eclipse Phase characters in detail: AGIs, asyncs, infomorphs, uplifts, infugees, and indentures. .... insanity, death and memory loss, psychosurgery, nanofabrication, and reputation are explored. ... rules for creating your own morphs ... section on exotic and specialized morphs, such as flexbots, swarmanoids, aquatic morphs, and using bots, vehicles, habitats, and other non-traditional constructs as morphs."
Habitat PCs! Which reminds me, have you read Susan Palwick's novel Shelter? It has an AI House, and memory loss, and sadness.
OVA: The Anime Role-Playing Game doubled its goal on day one, and has a bonus if you back both it and Golden Sky Stories at $10. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1655572033/ova-the-anime-role-playing-game
And just in the interest of completeness I mention Torchbearer, which is Mouse Guard adapted to do old-school dungeon crawls (by humans, dwarves, elves, and bait), in which the presence or absence of a 10 foot pole can spell life or death. I'm not that fond of the Burning Wheel system that underlies it, but it appears many people are: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/burningwheel/torchbearer
And there's Exalted 3rd edition, which at least seems to be avoiding gratuitous crotch shots this time.
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May 13th, 2013
essentialsaltes
 | 08:43 am - Landsat timelapse imagery
Google & TIME paired up to process and display Landsat satellite imagery over a few decades.
Over the entire earth.
It's pretty awesome.
After they show a few canned timelapses, hit Explore the World and put in your hometown. Or watch the Aral Sea vanish.
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May 11th, 2013
immlass
 | 10:10 am - Car-related things
We've had Ted the blue beetle for seven and a half years and 85,000 miles. He's been a good car, but he's winding down. We're not to the point where repair bills are outpacing part of a car note. We can see that point coming. We've also had my mother's car (a boat of a 2001 Avalon with little-old-lady miles on it, as in well under 40K) since last October. Now Michael's classes are drawing to an end and it's time to make some vehicular decisions.
A few weeks ago, we test drove the new model Beetle, which is shorter than the current model. We were worried that Michael couldn't get into it physically but he absolutely can, and the back seat is easier to get in and out of for me when we have to go places with my mother. I think the decision is obvious. It's just a matter of getting around to it. Now that Michael is finishing classes, we're ready to make some decisions.
My mother is selling her car tonight (we're facilitating) and the money for that is going toward our new car purchase: a very generous gift on her part. We'll also be getting Ted assessed for a sale value. On top of that, we've got a USAA "buy through our service and we'll get you a cheap loan rate" email, so we may be making a decision pretty soon.
This entry was originally posted at http://immlass.dreamwidth.org/890412.html. Comment here or there.
Current Music: Norah Jones: Cry Cry Cry [Live]
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May 8th, 2013
immlass
 | 06:45 pm - Weekly media report
Books:
- The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of Women and Power in Renaissance Italy, by Leonie Frieda. Still working on this and still a bit meh about it due to the sketchy author bias/involvement.
- The 36-Hour Day: A Family Guide to Caring for People Who Have Alzheimer Disease, Related Dementias, and Memory Loss, by Nancy Mace, Peter V. Rabins. This book is depressing as hell, but I'm glad I read it. I'm probably going to need to buy myself a copy.
Movies/TV
- Doctor Who: The Crimson Horror. I loved that the Doctor was missing in the beginning and I loved the callbacks to Five. Also the hat. And clearing up the mystery of Clara (it's complicated). "Do you know what these are? The wrong hands." And "You haven't explained." "No, I haven't." And the fainting dude. And the ending.
Music:
- !!!, Thr!!!er. Occasionally funky electropop. I keep forgetting how much I like their last album, but this one reminded me.
This entry was originally posted at http://immlass.dreamwidth.org/890133.html. Comment here or there.
Current Music: Duran Duran: None of the Above
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jhkimrpg
