Eastgate Arrival!

savior faire blue sketch book

Originally uploaded by Duc N. Ly.
previous post about Eastgate

flickr photo

2007/09/02/eastgate-sketch-book-1

Ah it’s been a long hiatus of reviewing paper, but at last! the book that I requested from Mark of Eastgate is here for a review! Just in time for the Hot Hot Hot weather too. I’ll be packing this slim book along on my sojourns. I love the indigo blue cover. It seems to be laced with fine fibers and wrapped in a soft paper over durable book making board. I did some drawings with Uniball Vision fine. This pen, let me tell ya, bleeds on most surfaces, especially index cards. On the Savior Faire paper however, it wrote well and draws a fine line. In fact it’s a perfect pen for such a rough acid-free hand made paper (50 pages). The paper is made in India. Imported by Savoir-Faire of Novato, CA 94949. Just by the look of it you can tell that it is an Artist Book. Measure 6″x8.5″ which is perfect for landscape sketching.

This book was my companion last night as I sat with my wife. I sketched while she watched television. I’ve got some good labyrinth and flower patterns from just that one session of drawing. I put pen to paper right away because if you wait, the book is going to sit around empty. I choose blue ink to match the beautiful cover. I’ve never work with rough grade paper before so I challenged myself to a new surface and medium. I treated my pen to a snow white field and let it guide my thoughts. I can’t wait to try water color and pastel.

• six signature hand sewn into the bind
• Acid-Free – Rough
• 50 Pages
• Cotton Rag Paper
• Deckle Edges
• Suitable for Watercolor, Acrylic, Drawing Ink or Pastels.
• $22

Mark thought it was interesting enough to include it in his personal blog: markbernstein.org/May0701/SketchbookReview.html I’m honored! Thanks Mark.

tags: Eastgate, paper, water color, Savoir Faire, ink, drawings

If you like this post please digg it here.

at a diner, in second life

at a diner, in second life

Originally uploaded by amywilson.
I thought this was an interesting concept. Amy Wilson painted a series of watercolor images of her Travels in Second Life. She put together a very nice book on
www.lulu.com/content/840930

I asked her a few questions and here is her answer.

Hi,

I’ll do my best to answer your questions… let me know if you want me to elaborate at all…

I’m an artist professionally. I have my body of work that I normally work on, which is different than the SL watercolors. I started playing around with the SL watercolors more or less as a lark – as a way to wind down the day after I’d spent hours working on my “real” work. I’d sit in my studio and paint all day, then go and spent an hour or so on SL, then – just before I’d fall asleep – I’d quickly make a watercolor of what I saw in SL and write some comments along with it. I also sometimes made a watercolor in the morning, just as I was waking up and warming up to get to work on my other projects.

I have been on SL for about a year. My in world name is Amy Freelunch.

The material is standard watercolor and pencil on paper. The originals are about the same size as they are in the book, so they are small (about 6 x 9 at the largest). While I’m flying around SL, I take multiple screenshots, trying to find a composition I really like. I might take 20 or 30 photos before I find the one I like (of course, this process is really easy in SL – just pushing a button). I go through them once I’ve logged off and then either print out the image (most of the time) or occasionally work from the screen. I prefer to print it out because it is usually late by that time and I’m working with water… don’t want to spill it on my computer!

Let me know if you need more info! Thanks so much for everything.

Come to the book signing in Second Life.

http://amywilson.wordpress.com

Check out her musing on Lulu and art

tags: Second Life, Amy Wilson, Water color, art, drawings

Before Pulau Bidong

Before Pulau Bidong, I was a happy child. My childhood spent in church yards flying kite, traveling in packs on bikes, or walking to a book store and be mercerized as the book racks spin, a kaleidoscope of color-full comic covers blur together. Sometimes, we loose ourselves in a game of Chinese Chess. We gather around a small square of the board game thinking, scheming, and smelling the herbs of the ancient medicine of our forebears, sitting on the selves, soaking up the sun. Sometimes, my days would be filled with sand; sand bags, pits and caves. Fortified with buckets of water, the loose granules become fortresses. We launch anything, including ourselves, on the see-saw.

Then there was the bamboo season. When, I swear to you, everything and anything can be made out of bamboo: lanterns, chicken cage, toy guns. We fashion together a series of bamboo rifles using bamboo, empty tin can, bottle cap and most importantly, rubber band. You first fatten out the bottle can and put two nail holes onto the bottle cap. Then you string the strands of rubber band through the holes and fasten them to the holders onto the can. Basically, it’s just two small stick strapped with rubber band against the sides of the circular tin can drum. You twist the rubber bands with the bottle cap, restoring it’s potential energy with each revolution, increasing the rubber band’s torque in an algorithmic laws of the elastic limits. So when the trigger is tripped, the bottle caps rattled against the drum surface of the empty tin can. The noise of the vibration would send your enemies falling to their knees. This was before I saw the legendary bamboo traps of the jungles and the instruments of torture, in the movies.

Before take off. There are certain imagines that still linger on my mind. We left in the early morning light. Mother called for the Cyclo. She insists that the Cyclo be shrouded. When ask, we were to say that we are going to Soc Trang to visit relatives. Between us, my sister and I had one small bag. The bag must have contained some dry provisions, clothes, and sea faring drugs. We sit in semi darkness. I hear the bicycle bells ringing and the chain of the sprockets pulling the inertia that would change our lives.

We had a few days in Soc Trang to prepare the boat for launch. The details of which escapes me. All I can remember is walking the thin wooden planks to the boat. This was before I heard of Noah Ark. Looking back there maybe some similarities.

There was always the ever presence of the thin horizon in which the reality of my mind and the thing that’s outside of it seems to have shifted. Days of nothing but water and sky and waiting to see land or another boat. Days of drifting my addled mind drugged up to prevent sea sick, claustrophobia, and paranoia. There were days of infinite hope and unfathomable uncertainty.

I Lived onPulau Bidong

la-toan-vinhs-sketches-of-bidong

tags: Pulau Bidong, Vietnam

Freedom Writers

Last weekend, my wife and I watched ‘Freedom Writer’.  Any movie about writer I’m interested right away.  It took some convincing to get my wife involved.  At first she thought it was going to be a boring movie.  For me a boring movie about writing isn’t all that bad.  We were both wrong.  This movie has a lot of stuff going on all the time.  Hilary Swank stars as a teacher in an inter-grated high-school of LA. This is a story based on a true story.  There was a little too much tear jerking involved.  But all in all, a good flick full of inspiration.

Hilary is also the Executive Producer!  Any film that features composition books, Border, and diary gets my vote.  Who is this film for?  People in the teaching profession, students, writers, and others.

“To Tame A Land”

“To Tame A Land”

major insturmental

first verse

He is the king of all the land,
in the kingdom of the sands,
of a time, tomorrow.

He rules the sandworm and the fremen
in a land amongst the star
of an age, tomorrow.

He is destined to be a king,
He rules over everything
on the land called Planet Dune.

Body water is your life,
and without it you will die
on the desert called Planet Dune.

second verse

Without a still suit you would fry on
the sands so hot and dry in a world
called Arrakiss.

It is a land thats rich in spice,
the sand riders and the mice’ that they
call Muad ‘Dib’

He is the Kwizatz Haderach,
He is born of Caladan, and will take
the Gom Jabbar.

He has the power to forsee or to
Look in to the past. He is the…..
Ruler of the stars.

Major instrumental break

epilog verse

The time will come for him to lay claim…
his crown and then the foe, yes they’ll be cut down.
You’ll see he’ll be….
the best that there’s been….
Messiah supreme
true leader of men.
And when the time for judgement’s at hand,
don’t fret, he’s strong He’ll make a stand
‘gainst evil, the fire that spreads thru the land.
he has the power to make it all end…..
From: klaatu@nando.net (Klaatu Barada Nickto)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.dune
Subject: To Tame A Land – Iron Maiden’s Dune song [pre-movie]
Date: Thu, 01 Feb 1996 02:01:14 GMT
Organization: The Alein Group

For more information on Iron Maiden, click here to see the information on them at the ‘Ultimate Band List‘.

TOW – Start a Lending Library

Earlier, I wanted to start a library at work. I stumble upon this little suggestion in RealSimple magazine.

Previous Tip of the Week (TOW):

Poems from Alex Lanz

These poems are by Alex Lanz.  He’s about to graduate from Eighth grade and onto High School.

JEALOUSY

We look at each other’s lives through a rose colored glass, or so they say.

That while we look on to a boy playing with his cell phone his parents bought,

or a friend of yours holding the arm of a girl you liked,

you look through the rosy window of a lonely gray car,

seemingly headed towards oblivion.

But we shouldn’t blame the glass.

(which arguably we have forged with our own minds)

For the persons you are watching could be to blame.

As they have forged a façade, perhaps from the same material,

which ends up reflecting yourself,

without you ever knowing it.

But you look on, intoxicated by another’s joy.

Until it becomes a seed, that takes root,

and leaves muddy footprints all over your heart.

From Principles of Monotony

   FRIDAY EVENING(S)

I.

The vivid stars

complement the street lights.

And even though they’re so far away,

I want to take a handful

And sprinkle them into my ramen.

II.

The
bright neon store lights

flash out from the darkness.

They then become the
brilliant

stone clocks

for the frivolities

of the nightlife.

III.

It’s like a large train

that takes away our concerns

to a vacation

for just a few hours,

and the train moves at a speed

that makes light seem slow and sticky.

IV.

Movie night:

A tradition as old as time.

I can picture the events of Creation

with a Sony HD screen,

the 1080p visuals sparking the cosmos,

the theater-quality sound

lapping at the Great Flood.

V.

It acts like

extra-strong rope

that reties and strengthen

our ties, our bonds

ensuring sturdiness

as deep as the ocean.

VI.

The beauty of it

is that it means something

different

to every single person

it could mean to someone

the pinnacle of bliss

and to another,

unfathomable horror.

VII.

The train

(the one with our concerns)

moves so fast,

it could be compared to the speed of thought.

For there is a poem,

one just like this,

cycling through the minds of humans.

Beautiful language,

here in an instant,

gone in an instant,

language that would put Tolstoy to shame.

Also from Principles of Monotony

For Alex Kohler

Opportunity for a humorous annotation

is never wasted here,

his last one told at the lunch table,

 bouncing amongst the trays.

His unfailing ability

to shift all things towards the universal language of sex.

It has the femininity that flusters us,

yet they are droll enough to make us stay longer.

How amusing these quick and witty strings of words are.

But the best joke would be in the evenings,

when my friends were all in one abode.

And the sun was either plowing through thick clouds,

or seeping through the windows.

As the safety net of the familiar

amplifies the comical genius.

And every “Ha Ha!”

Becomes another musical note

that
brightens with happiness

and becomes one of many lights of a cruise ship

on a tropical sea.

From Friends: a Collection of Odd Love Poems

An Interview with Fremen Council Member

[14:28] Ducce Lykin: hi
[14:28] Ducce Lykin: im new here
[14:28] Vynka Dean: hey
[14:28] Ducce Lykin: where you get the robe?
[14:28] Vynka Dean: ok and you would like to join the project?
[14:28] Ducce Lykin: yes
[14:28] Ducce Lykin: i think i joined
[14:29] Vynka Dean: yes you joined the citizens gorup,
[14:29] Vynka Dean: do you have a spcific role you want to play?
[14:29] Ducce Lykin: no…something easy
[14:29] Ducce Lykin: are you a bot?
[14:29] Vynka Dean: nope I a Fedaykin in the Fremen group
[14:30] Vynka Dean: senior member
[14:30] Ducce Lykin: i join you bro
[14:30] Vynka Dean: you want to be fremen?
[14:30] Ducce Lykin: sure…i want spice eyes
[14:31] Vynka Dean: well those you can get for free. htey are part of our freebie collection but a fremen is not just a sanddweller..
[14:31] Vynka Dean: they have history.
[14:31] Vynka Dean: so what is your history
[14:31] Ducce Lykin: i have no history
[14:31] Ducce Lykin: i read the book long time ago
[14:32] Ducce Lykin: it’s empty here…ur the first one i see
[14:32] Vynka Dean: well some are really busy and we have no active storyline at the moment.
[14:32] Vynka Dean: Have you read th sim rules?
[14:33] Ducce Lykin: no
[14:33] Vynka Dean: then I advise you to do so before you get yourself into something you may not like.
[14:34] Vynka Dean: the rules are here
[14:34] Ducce Lykin: do i have to pay alot?
[14:35] Vynka Dean: nope its free onlly clothes and equipment cost money
[14:35] Vynka Dean: but not even that much
[14:35] Ducce Lykin: great then i like
[14:35] Vynka Dean: where are you from?
[14:35] Ducce Lykin: usa you?
[14:36] Vynka Dean: Netherelands
[14:36] Ducce Lykin: wow
[14:36] Ducce Lykin: you got a cool outfit
[14:36] Vynka Dean: thanks you can get the stuff on our marketplace.
[14:36] Vynka Dean: do you know what rping is?
[14:36] Ducce Lykin: no
[14:36] Ducce Lykin: have you read snow crash>
[14:37] Ducce Lykin: role play?
[14:37] Vynka Dean: allright roleplaying is there in different forms.
[14:37] Vynka Dean: 1) the combat and RPG version
[14:37] Vynka Dean: 2) the enactment and roleplaying version in an actin gstyle.
[14:37] Vynka Dean: which do you like?
[14:38] Ducce Lykin: i can’t act
[14:38] Ducce Lykin: i don’t know the book well enough to act
[14:39] Ducce Lykin: man how come there are no chics in here
[14:40] Ducce Lykin: let’s fight
[14:40] Ducce Lykin: have a duel
[14:40] Vynka Dean: nope sorry im in no mood to fight and it is not how things are done here.
[14:41] Ducce Lykin: okay you can be my guide
[14:41] Vynka Dean: and there are women you just havent found them yet or they are nt here.
[14:41] Vynka Dean: Well I can but do I have the time? It is 23:41 here now and i am getting ready to go to bed.
[14:42] Ducce Lykin: aha okay my friend
[14:42] Ducce Lykin: next time then
[14:42] Ducce Lykin: i add you you to friend
[14:42] Vynka Dean: yes probably best.
[14:42] Vynka Dean: one tip:
[14:42] Ducce Lykin: k
[14:42] Vynka Dean: Got ot http://dune.simtopia.org and you will see what this sim is about
[14:42] Ducce Lykin: do you have anything to give me??
[14:43] Vynka Dean: it is very serious on the acting part so be aware that commiting to it means discipline and acting. 🙂
[14:43] Ducce Lykin: oh dear okay…so far so good i like enivorment here
[14:43] Ducce Lykin: good to chill out
[14:43] Ducce Lykin: can you get stone on the spice here?
[14:44] Vynka Dean: yes you can in a Tau within the Fremen group only
[14:44] Vynka Dean: but then you need to be accepted as a Fremen first
[14:45] Vynka Dean: that means writing a backstory and think Fremen life style.
[14:45] Ducce Lykin: wow they are serious…
[14:45] Ducce Lykin: where is tau
[14:45] Vynka Dean: do you know what tau is?
[14:46] Ducce Lykin: no
[14:46] Vynka Dean: allright that explains your light view on it.
[14:47] Vynka Dean: Tau is a fremen group union that brings them together as a group. Is is like a drugs orgy
[14:47] Ducce Lykin: it’s been a long time since i read the book…well read again
[14:47] Ducce Lykin: fantastic
[14:47] Vynka Dean: well we have explaining subjects in our forum
[14:47] Ducce Lykin: great
[14:48] Vynka Dean: have a look there first and see what you think of it.
[14:48] Ducce Lykin: why are you a fremen
[14:49] Vynka Dean: Iam a Fremen because that is my nature
[14:50] Ducce Lykin: how long have you been a fremen
[14:51] Vynka Dean: for a while now but I am also very active on the sim for the ggroup that is Why I was selected to join the council
[14:51] Ducce Lykin: aha i see….that’s why i have sellected you as my guide
[14:52] Ducce Lykin: muadib
[14:52] Vynka Dean: we are not hosting characters from the books or moevies.
[14:52] Ducce Lykin: oh
[14:53] Vynka Dean: For now an mabye also in th efuture there ill be no Paul
[14:53] Ducce Lykin: no paul
[14:53] Vynka Dean: nope and now Hawatt and no leto and no baron vladimir and no feyd etc etc etc
[14:54] Ducce Lykin: i see just fremen
[14:54] Ducce Lykin: so just lots of tau activities
[14:54] Ducce Lykin: what about the sand worms?
[14:54] Vynka Dean: what aoub them?
[14:54] Vynka Dean: we have a few in the desert.
[14:55] Ducce Lykin: you live peacefully among them?
[14:55] Vynka Dean: yes off course they are Shai- Hulud
[14:56] Ducce Lykin: our gods aha yes
[14:57] Ducce Lykin: do you have a clan here?
[14:57] Vynka Dean: we have a tribe in our sietch yes.
[14:58] Ducce Lykin: i would like to live in the sietch
[14:58] Ducce Lykin: would like to belong to a tribe
[14:58] Ducce Lykin: what’s your history and background etc.?
[14:58] Vynka Dean: its in the Backstory part of the forums..
[14:59] Ducce Lykin: aha i’ll have to read it dig it out.
[15:00] Ducce Lykin: so how big is your family in the stiech?
[15:00] Vynka Dean: we are forming famillies now we have 5 to be staged
[15:00] Ducce Lykin: are there opportunities for employment?
[15:00] Ducce Lykin: i would like to be apart of family
[15:01] Ducce Lykin: oh there is some one else here
[15:01] Vynka Dean: well there is no work that can make you linden
[15:01] Ducce Lykin: what shall my profession be…no linden is fine
[15:02] Ducce Lykin: is it possible to take a fremen bride?
[15:02] Vynka Dean: if you know the proper protocols yes. and your actitity is partly yours to decide on.
[15:03] Ducce Lykin: great to learn the protocol is in the forum?
[15:03] Ducce Lykin: do you have a fremen bride?
[15:04] Vynka Dean: nope it is in the encylopedia, but that can also be found through a link on th eforum
[15:05] Ducce Lykin: have you been in a tau?
[15:06] Vynka Dean: nope not yet since they have not ben started yet.
[15:06] Ducce Lykin: we can start one
[15:06] Ducce Lykin: what is role of concil?
[15:06] Ducce Lykin: do you fancy a fremen bride>
[15:07] Vynka Dean: the council decides on all major isuues including story lines and approval of members
[15:07] Vynka Dean: and no not at this time
[15:08] Ducce Lykin: aha so would you approval my membership?
[15:08] Vynka Dean: only after I have a little background on you and am certain that you have a good idea what you are getting yourself and us intl
[15:08] Vynka Dean: into
[15:09] Vynka Dean: and a little background means a little vbackground story on the fremen DucceLykin
[15:09] Ducce Lykin: aha i see very cool
[15:09] Vynka Dean: not the SL avatar but the character you will be playing
[15:10] Ducce Lykin: I see…well i will be a spice expert
[15:10] Ducce Lykin: i’m a scientist studying the spice…promote grow etc.
[15:10] Ducce Lykin: or maybe my eyes are impervious to spice and remain black
[15:10] Ducce Lykin: or maybe i’m maudib’s cousin
[15:11] Ducce Lykin: it could be that the spice doesn’t affect me the same way
[15:11] Vynka Dean: think about what you want and put it in a notecard.
[15:11] Ducce Lykin: i’m sober during a tau
[15:11] Vynka Dean: Then send it to me or Dracaena hnen
[15:11] Ducce Lykin: okay first i put it on paper
[15:12] Ducce Lykin: first and then on notecard
[15:12] Vynka Dean: Yeah make a notecard and send it to me also put in there you expect of the group
[15:12] Ducce Lykin: is the idea so far plausible?
[15:12] Vynka Dean: what you expect …
[15:13] Ducce Lykin: maybe i’ll be the one to betray the fremen
[15:13] Vynka Dean: a deep desert spice specialist would be workable, but you need to sto determin to thicht sietch you belong.
[15:13] Ducce Lykin: i expect lots of taus
[15:13] Ducce Lykin: what are my sietch choices
[15:14] Vynka Dean: ha well ill hafe to disappoint you on that. they wont happen very frequently if at all…
[15:14] Ducce Lykin: and i expect a fremen bride
[15:14] Vynka Dean: you have sietch Taber and the south sietch.
[15:14] Vynka Dean: again read through a few of the backstories befdore you begin.
[15:14] Vynka Dean: I have ot go.
[15:14] Ducce Lykin: i want to be near the deep desert stiech
[15:14] Ducce Lykin: thanks dean
[15:15] Ducce Lykin: holy wisdom of fremen
[15:15] Vynka Dean: sure. let me know when you need more info
[15:15] Ducce Lykin: okay
[15:15] Vynka Dean: gnight
[15:15] Ducce Lykin: gnight

ducly.wordpress.com/2007/10/10/ducce-in-sietch-tabr/ 

tags: Dune, Fremen, Second Life,

Dziekuje

Dziekuje

Originally uploaded by Duc N. Ly.

mini muse
ur my muse
incised transparent thing!

mynd one ring

mynd one ring

Originally uploaded by Duc N. Ly.
mini mynd
all glam
no clams ma’m

In an age where ipod Nanos and other electronic gadgets are shrinking, why not make smaller portable papers too! Slip one of these into your key chain. They are perfect for grocery list, phone numbers, and reminders.

davidseah.com/archives/2007/06/13/myndology-notebooks

tags: Myndology, Duffy & Partners, notebook, paper,