A Design Is Born

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I admit to dropping out of sight for a week. But I’ve been designing! You can’t argue with inspiration - you have to just go with it. As you can see, my current obsession is with plants and animals and sheet metal. I’ve pulled out my jeweler’s saw, and I’m working away at designs in copper, which get transferred to sterling silver once I’m happy with them. This leaves me with lots of copper designs. No shortage of keychain dangles in my house these days!

The first new design to pass muster and make it to my shop is my hawk (or eagle if you wish). Bird silhouettes seem to be all the rage, but when I think of birds I think of hawks and eagles, not just tweety birds. Probably comes from when I lived in the mountains. I loved watching them circling above the trees. Mesmerizing.



I’ve sawed a gliding hawk out of sterling silver and tumble polished it. I added a Czech glass flower for a pop of color. You can find this necklace in my shop. Hope you like it! Look for the silver flowers to make it into a design soon.

Of Death and Spaniels

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Even before the Eddie Izzard show started, I was having a brilliant time. The guy next to me was from Chile, and had also studied art. We spent the half hour or so before the show trying to figure out the Rococo carvings all over the walls and ceiling of the theater. I was firmly convinced that the one row was stacks of frogs. We also found a stack of hamburgers, interspersed with Tikis. And a woman having way too much fun riding a turtle. The whole theater was just one huge Rorschach test. What the frogs and the hamburgers say about me, I hesitate to think.

Any show that begins with “I’ve come to talk to you about death and spaniels” is just bound to be brilliant. For some reason, I suddenly flashed to Terry Pratchett, and the Death of Rats, one of my favorite bit characters ever.

At any rate, Eddie was brilliant, as advertised. It’s hard to pick a favorite part, but I did nearly spit out a kidney when he did his routine about opera. Picture him playing the baritone, then the soprano, back and forth, shaking the microphone around to get the vibrato. He is firmly of the opinion that even the Germans and the Italians can’t understand what people are singing in operas. It’s hard to argue with him. And that the guy who sings “Figaro, Figaro, Figaro” ad nauseum needs to be slapped and told to get on with it.

This may have struck my funnybone particularly hard because the theater was so similar to the theater where I suffered through so many operas as a kid. Including Figaro. Or maybe Eddie’s just a genius. I’m voting for genius.

At any rate, at the end, he makes this fabulous defining statement:

“Opera is just very rich people watching very big people being shaken by very small people.”

Genius.

Eddie Izzard

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We have tickets to see Eddie Izzard tonight, possibly the funniest man alive. If you haven’t seen Eddie Izzard, you haven’t lived, or at least you haven’t laughed enough. He’s got a couple of HBO specials, so you should be able to find him on TV. He does a bit of acting too - you may have seen him in The Cat’s Meow, where he plays Charlie Chaplin, or in Mystery Men, or, more likely, Ocean’s Twelve or the TV show The Riches. He’s a brilliant actor, but his forte is standup.

They have this quote on his website, from when he hustled crayons as a kid. “You need crayons. What if you get stranded on a deserted island? How are you going to write a message?” Impeccable Eddie logic.

I love him on his HBO specials, and we have all of his DVDs. But in person he’s just inimitable. He’s quite free-form, so no two shows are alike. And he doesn’t Americanize his act. So one of the funniest things about seeing him in America is watching the crowd. You can actually pick out the Brits, because there are some things he says, where only the Brits (plus those of us who live with them) get the joke, so there’s just this smattering of laughter through the place. And then he’ll say something really inane, like, “so there was this bloke”, and all the Americans will start laughing, I assume because they think the word “bloke” means something, when really he just said “so there was this guy”.

Tonight is the first time he’s played near us, where we’ve managed to get tickets. I’m really looking forward to walking to the show and walking home, instead of driving for hours. The last time we drove 3 hours each way, and flew out of the country the next morning, and it was still worth it. This time we just have to walk! Excellent.

So tonight, when you’re doing whatever you’re doing, think of me at the Eddie Izzard show. I’ll be the one laughing up a kidney.

California Is Too Big

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My friend Mike, who I don’t see nearly often enough now that he’s moved back north. But he comes into town for Comic-Con once a year. Miss ya Mike! What’s a drunken barbecue without you?

Hmm, that was one crazy hair day. Ah, the joys of curly hair. Perhaps I should have worn a hat, too…

Skeleton Masquerade

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One last set of Comic-Con photos, and then I’m done. I’ve finally uploaded all of my Comic-Con photos to my Flickr page. And I decided these photos deserved a moment of glory on my blog. See ya next year, Comic-Con! Life seems so dull now that you’re gone.

Missed Another One

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So once again I managed to miss a major earthquake. I was driving down the freeway when this one happened and missed it completely. The first I knew was when I got home, and the elevators in our building didn’t work. Our elevators shut off automatically when there’s a earthquake.

Anyway, it was a real roller, according to Andy. 5.4 on the Richter scale and centered in Chino Hills east of Los Angeles. No damage down here, but the dogs were pretty agitated when I got home. I was just happy that nobody peed on the floor.

After more than 10 years in California, I can count on one hand the number of earthquakes I’ve really felt. When the last biggie happened I was walking down the street and didn’t feel it. Andy was in an elevator and had a hair-raising experience. Earthquakes are much easier to feel when you’re standing still, easier still when you’re in a high rise, and you get some real swing in an elevator. If you’re in motion, walking or driving, you really only notice if the buildings or roads start falling.

I suppose once I’m in a really big one earthquakes will stop being exciting and start being worrying. But for now, they’re still exciting. And it’s disappointing to miss one, because now I’m the only one without a story. *sigh*

Jo Meets the Hulk

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Finally, we made it to Comic-Con! It’s always an event - I like to just walk around and soak it in. Once again I attended under an alias because… um… I like my anonymity! Yeah, that’s it. It has absolutely nothing to do with friends with four day passes who flew home early.



I know I’ve been working on my pushups, but I don’t think I’m ever going to catch up to the Hulk. But hey, a girl can dream. On the other hand, if my biceps were that big, I wouldn’t fit into my clothes. So I suppose it’s all for the best.



On the plus side, I did get checked out by Batman - an event I would have missed entirely, being the oblivious sort, if my friend Russ hadn’t pointed it out, and if Andy hadn’t gotten a picture of it. I have to admit, he doesn’t seem to be looking at my face… If it had been the real Batman (you know, Bruce Wayne, the billionaire), it would have been the best checkout yet. So there you go, Bruce Wayne. If you’re reading this blog, you know where to find me!

More Comic-Con photos tomorrow, but for now, you can feed your Comic-Con addiction on my Flickr page.

Captain America Goes to Starbucks

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I’m going to have to learn to always carry my camera during Comic-Con. I went out for a short trip to Starbucks yesterday - just a few blocks, I swear! And on the way, I saw Captain America, Robin Hood, and Super Girl. It is an invasion of the superheroes. Luckily it’s mostly the good guys, so I think we’re safe here…

Terracotta Warriors!

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Imagine my excitement this morning when I discovered Terracotta Warriors just blocks from my house! Well, OK, maybe you can’t imagine my excitement. Let me set the scene.

My original training is as a sculptor, and I have a true passion for it. Even when I was a kid, my brother was always drawing. But I was creating little shadowbox worlds in shoe boxes with Play-doh. Very detailed worlds. I adore sculpture. I live for sculpture. Wherever I travel, I seek out sculpture. Just looking at it makes my fingers tingle, and I itch for some clay to play with.



We were in China last year for Chinese New Year, and I desperately wanted to see the Terracotta Warriors, because they are the ultimate sculpture immersion experience. But it was Chinese New Year, when everyone in China travels, and there was no way to get plane tickets. Now don’t get me wrong, we had a blast visiting my friend in Shanghai for two weeks. But I have to go back. Because I haven’t seen the Terracotta Warriors.

So, now you can imagine my excitement, yes? Walking the dogs this morning, looking at crazy people in and out of costumes, when suddenly, out of nowhere - Terracotta Warriors! Universal Studios brought them in as a promotion for the movie The Mummy. I’m assuming they’re film props. I also have a passion for film props, which I consider sculpture, so it’s a two-fer!



You can see more pictures of the Terracotta Warriors, including their close encounter with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, on my Flickr page.

Wabbit and Friends

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Just a few more Comic-Con photos, because it’s so crazy fun! And I know you wish you were here, living it, and not just looking at it :)