C.E. Murphy's Blog

When last we left our party, it was with:

Alice dead Teddy devastated by Alice‘s death Saleem devastated by the death of his family Agatha Broadmoor, the psychic from the other group who we rescued from being sacrificed to Netocris, absolutely cheerful with survival Somerset WRACKED with survivor’s guilt – only he and Evelyn remain of the original party Ared the lone survivor of his own group & at a loss for direction Caliope struggling to maintain a hold on her sanity, and Evel...

In a fit of ambition I got on my bike this morning and went for an exploratory ride which, among other things, led me to discover that the sports centre where the swimming pool is is about a stone’s throw from the parking lot that had previously been my farthest-explored reach of the cycling/walking path. Granted, you would have to be exceptionally good at throwing stones, but still.

I also discovered that despite what it looks like on the map, there actually IS a cycling/walking path all the wa...

I’m beginning to think I might get through this, guys.

I’ve finished my last 2 point perspective exercise, and by “finished” we mean “I’m exhausted and grumpy and hate it so I’m done and besides the point was the PERSPECTIVE not shading and I did that so :p” and also it turns out that neither of the courses I’m following really expect you to do any 3 point perspective, so honestly, I’m just not gonna. Not now.

The next stage is learning how to draw everyday objects by breaking them down into ba...

Recent Reads: A Dark History of Sugar by Neil Buttery – informative, interesting, and often a difficult read, as it should be

I don’t know exactly how I came across this one, but I find food histories fascinating, particularly when they’re focused on one specific item and how its cultural importance affected…everything. This is a good example, following the history of sugar, particularly processed white sugar, through its development, its growing popularity, and the absolute horrors that were un...

aPpArEnTLy ExErCiSe iS GoOd FoR mE oR SoMeThIng :p

I did a ~3 mile bike ride yesterday morning. I’d have gone farther, except the path I took was flooded by the river and I wasn’t wearing the right gear to cycle through however far that went on. (more on this later)

It was EXTREMELY BIZARRE, though, because between the sunrise in front of me, the resulting tree shadows, and my polarized sunglasses, at first glance it genuinely looked as if the path simply plummeted off a cliff into darkness. It’...

Picoreview: G20 – a great Die Hard movie

In this particular Die Hard movie, which appears to be an Amazon Prime original, John McClane is Viola Davis, President of the United States, Nakatomi Plaza is the G20 summit being held in South Africa, and the hostages are the leaders of the G20 nations.

Look, all I can tell you is that it delivers on what it promises. Viola Davis is fabulous and has magnificent biceps, her family dynamic feels real, and an older Asian woman has an unexpectedly great rol...

Project Whup Dan: Dan is in no danger of being whupped.

I did get back on the bike yesterday and to my surprise/relief it seems that a week OFF from cycling hadn’t been enough time for my sit bones to forget that I’d BEEN cycling, so I did a little zoom around the neighborhood yesterday to see if that would cause me significant Bike Butt today, with the intention of going on a slightly longer ride today if not.

Again to my surprise, it was ‘if not’, so I went on what turned out to be a 2.5 mile...

unrelated to most of anything else I might say, I noticed after a while that my rough hours breakdown of this project…was missing hours 30-40. :)

Hours:
0-10: basic shapes
10-20: shading, perspective
20-30: perspective
30-40: IT’S A MYSTERY
40-60: objects, animals, beginning portraiture
60-100: portraiture

…know how I said that having hit hour 20, I was confident I’d at least get to hour 25? Yeah, well, as it turns out, the early hours of the 20s were the first thing I’ve REALLY HATED doing and ...

Recent Reads: SILENT SONGS by AC Crispin & Kathleen O’Malley – this is possibly my favorite, and my least favorite, Starbridge novel all wrapped up in one. (amazon affiliate link)

The world it’s set on, Trinity, is my favorite of the Starbridge worlds/cultures: peopled by intelligent avians who speak via sign language and make magnificent weavings, it’s just… I love it. It’s a beautiful world, and the human lead, Tesa, is a Deaf Souix heyoka (trickster, shamanistic person). She’s my favorite Sta...

Good news/bad news on the Project ‘Whup Dan’ front:

Good news is, the bike shop got the gear shifts on my bike working properly so it now goes through the entire range of gears without dropping the chain, and also actually shifts IN to third, which it had never previously done. It’s a cheap bike and it’s the 3rd time I’ve brought it in to try to get this fixed, so I guess 3rd time is the charm.

Bad news is, it took a week so I probably have to fight the Battle of Bike Butt all over again.

The o...