Ever Notice This?

 It seems that, whenever I get engrossed in a thing - an idea or a project - the world suddenly joins me by going along with the theme...

I'm sure that it's a matter of becoming sensitized to a subject and therefore noticing what you'd otherwise overlook.  (Like the expectant parent suddenly noticing children everywhere!) Surely the world doesn't start stalking you?  But, however it works, I'm being stalked by the subjects of Space and AI.

Well, AI is the subject everywhere right now... As regular, non-tech-first people begin to see and to understand AI's presence everywhere.  And its growing threat to jobs, certainly, but more than that. (Threatening jobs is bad enough: no jobs means no money and no health insurance here in the US. And where will young career people get their experience, if AI does all the"easy" work? It's worth worrying about.)  

And Space?  I'm on quite a reading binge, having just discovered the Liaden Universe series, by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. (Only 30 years late!)  An excellent, page-turning, many-volumed space opera which I'm really enjoying... in that great "Oh. Is it 2:00 am?" way.  Loving it! (I'd suggest starting with Agent of Change HERE.)

On a whim yesterday, one in my household (possibly tired of watching me read?) suggested we go to the matinee of the latest play at Kitchen Dog Theater: Absentee, by Julia Doolittle.

Really, really good!  I'll put the blurb at the bottom of the page, if you're curious, but, basically, it's set in space and features AI.  Chiming perfectly with my personal theme-of-the-moment.  Life is funny that way.  This is an excellent production: the script, the acting, and the production values!  (I had to turn down designing this show and now I'm so sad.  The set, by Brian Woffard, is wonderful!  Now I'm having those envious doubts... would I have thought of a set this cool?!)  The lighting too and... well, see for yourself.  Grab a ticket!

Far out in the Milky Way, “Beacons” serve as lighthouses for warping spaceships around the galaxy. When a U.S. Space Forces ship explodes near Beacon 44.AR.90, its Operator finds herself alone in deep space with only her ship’s A.I. for companionship. That is, until a persistent canvasser calls, desperate to convince her to vote absentee in the 2088 election. As the Operator finds herself waiting over days and weeks and months for the clean up to be over, she finds she has to come to terms with her isolation, grief, and her political voice. Winner of the 2019-2020 Woodward/Newman Drama Award

Chocolates

 

Public Domain image: Ladrone Islands by Samuel Davis

Right now I'm reading two different books.

Both are newly published novels by authors I have never read before.  Both books I heard about online.

Lately, at one place and time in my days, I'm reading - slowly - Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer.  I'm reading it as a first edition, in hardback, and signed by the author, a luxury I hardly ever splurge on.  But the author has a Pulitzer (impressive); the review I read (I forget where) was so enthusiastic; the cover design is so charming (I'm actually babying a dust cover, which I rarely bother with); and the characters, settings, and language are so delicious; that I visit the novel daily in the same way that I ration out a box of fine chocolate bonbons.  I savor wonderful flavor and try to make the delight last.

Its Italy is beautiful.  Not all that much is happening at Villa Coco, but I've met fascinating characters and I've learned about olive harvesting.  Autumn is advancing in lovely description - as the main character says, "I am not the first to comment on the poignant beauty of autumn, or the gold-edged pages of its days."

Highly reccomend.

The second book is different in every way I can think of off hand; I'm enjoying it just as much, but differently.  Phantom Signals is, I understand, the first fantasy novel in a series called Code and Stone by M. P. Moorland, an IT engineer who (classic motivation!) wrote the book he wanted to read.  I heard about it online.  If I'm honest, this may be the only time I have ever had my curiousity roused to the point of actually buying the book by an author's pitch and a book website with a sample chapter.  Out of amazement, as much as anything, I bought the ebook to tryout.  I'm enjoying it!

A mix of IT and magic? aliens? mysterious weirdness?  This modern London seems to be suffering from bugs in its oldest operating program.  So far the story is, for me, a compulsive read that kept me up until 2:00 am last night.

In feeling it reminds me very much of Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series, although the more I poke at that comparison, the more differences I see.  I'm only about halfway through my read.  I can't allow myself to start again today until I finish a few other things, because I know now I won't be able to stop until I finish the book.  (High praise!  I love a page-turner.)  So this book, for me, is another sort of chocolate experience... something compulsive, like M&Ms maybe?  Something to binge on.

Recommend!  I hope this first novel is just the first in a loooong successful series. 

I also recommend this kind of book juggling.  

If you have the mental bandwidth - life can be too hectic for this - it's really satisfying to have a book at hand to suit your mood of the moment.  Not just stories either.  A thick non-fiction tome or an art book sitting by your armchair to wander through in an idle moment is wonderful too.  Over time those moments add up: you may find that you absorbed more of a serious topic than you would have predicted.

My non-fiction go-to at the moment is An Atlas of Imagined Islands, edited by Huw Lewis-Jones.  This gorgeously illustrated survey of places that don't exist starts with an illustration of a sky-island by Chris Riddell and a quote from Shakespeare:

I think he will carry this island home in his pocket

and give it to his son for an apple.

And sowing the kernels of it in the sea,

bring forth more islands.

It's been a very rich reading year for me so far...

Are You Registered to Vote?

 REALLY?

More than a million Texans have been dropped from the voters' rolls.  Please make sure you're not one of them!

And how about all y'all in other states?  Be sure.  Be very sure.  

CHECK NOW

Architectural Historical Research

 My next show will be a treat!  

The playwright specifically calls for the set to be a school children's library... as it might be designed by legendary architect Julia Morgan.  The first woman to to be admitted to the architecture program at l'École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris and the first female architect licensed in California. Most famous for designing Hurst Castle.  (Go check her out at Wikipedia!)  

More than that, her buildings are beautiful - designed in a unique blend of 19th century Beaux Arts style mixed with a California sensibility and material palette.

Photo by King of Hearts - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21785132

Designer Fashion

 Just found this funny photo... my paint pants and shoes.

As you can see, I'm a messy painter!  With a bad habit of wiping my hands on my pants too. 

Other fashionista scenic designer trends?  One painter I know recomends wearing Hawaiian print shirts because the odd paint drip hardly shows.  And I knew one who wore old fashioned golf shoes - the kind with rubber spikes - so he could walk on wet floors without leaving footprints!

There Is Just Joy In It

 An interview with artist Yoshiko Yamamoto, whose woodblock prints amaze me!

She discusses why, in an age of AI, humans still need to make things ourselves.

I'll include just one of her prints here to give you the idea of her Craftsman / Japanese style:

 

Copyright Yoshiko Yamamoto

(I happen to own a copy of this print, so feel okay about showing it here.)  

There is something so wonderfully observed about her nature printsand a technical command that awes me... 

And here is an example of William Morris' work - his ideals of craft are referenced in the video.

Design by William Morris

Book Illustration

 

Map Art

I've been designing and drawing maps for a series of fantasy books that a friend and I have been writing.  Maps are fascinating, and making them is fun.

 

But a different friend just brought my attention to this amazing art map!

Watch the video.  Really.  It's long, and it's worth the time.  From People Make Games: 

"He Won't Stop Building a Map to an Imaginary Place

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is8N7B9b0GQ

The enormous, wonderful, ever-changing, gameified, art map of Jerry Gretzinger!