Comics Contest / LobstahClamstaFeastah Remindah

SANEsters,

The Harvard Book Store near Harvard (the university, not the town), where they sell quaint paper-and-ink "books" is offering a comics contest for all those illustrators out there who fancy themselves serial (the sequential, not the grain or breakfast staple) storytellers. Anybody can enter twice, 1-4 pages apiece (electronically, in a very specific format), and winners are printed (again, paper-and-ink) in an on-demand booket. More info here.

But that's just art/publishing. The real substance of this email is on the topic of Lobstahs and Clamstahs, and a Feastus thereof, in nearby Glosstah. Betsey & Mike are the hardworking hostess and hostler (hostage?), and the date is Saturday, 30 July 2011. Betsey counted noses at the last meeting, although since not everybody was in attendance, your nose may still be considered uncounted.

Consider what you'll be bringing as a food item. If you want to carve out new territory, cuisine-wise, do it fast and stake your claim to that new dessert or salad or appetizer you've been dying to try out. Or bring the same old boring (yet tasty) option as before. Just lemme know. Again, this is the info we're looking for:

1) How many in your party will be coming?

2) How many lobsters will your party be eating?

3) How many adult-sized servings of clamsters will your party want to eat?

4) What other food item would you like to bring?

5) Describe in fewer than three sentences a) the role of state government in mineral rights reassignment, b) your favorite Smurf, or c) something odd you've seen lately.

Richahd

Avian Residences

Birds of a feather may flock together, but when they crash for the night, their tastes are as different as night and oranges. Witness these three Avian Residences recently put on the market by SANEsters - Leslie escaped with her property before we could get it captured digitally, but here are the ones Betsey caught in her iPhone net:

The next SANE event is the famed LobsterClamsterFeaster (LCF), on Saturday 30 July 2011. More info to come. August is a free month, feel free to roam the country without fear of SANE reprisals for missing a meeting. The next actual meeting will be September - golly, that seems a long ways away. Busy Leslie has proposed two different projects to do: Inkblots (perhaps she will bring the book she had to the LCF), and also laser image transfer onto foil tape (http://inkstainswithroni.blogspot.com/2011/06/inkssentials-foil-tape-image-transfer.html). Ponder these things in your heart of hearts (if you actually have one - mine was run over by a truck in '77), or with whatever equipment you still have functioning that can ponder. I may still have a Ponderosa hanging around the south forty, if it is not too ponderous to ponder with, I'll try to ponder upon(der) it.

But you knew all that. Soon we will count heads/stomachs for the LCF, and perhaps people will volunteer to bring not-the-same things, or not. 'Twill be a mystery, i' faith. Corduroy, prince of wales, is hardly mysterious, but makes funny sounds as you walk. But you knew all that, too.

I am typing and I will now shut up.

SANE Meeting locale

Tuesday's meeting place will be (drum roll), Pam's Place!

In the continued absence of Pam P, there has been some discussion of whether Pam A can drop the A and be Just Pam. Which leaves an assortment of appellations for the Other Pam: Unjust Pam, Fall River Pam, the Pam Who Shall Not Be Named, and Violet. Okay, I kid. With luck, we'll see both Pams, with all the concomitant confusion that engenders, at the LobsterClamsterFeast on Pamsterday, July 30. Mark your calendars!

SANE Meeting 21 June 2011

Another great meeting was had and largely unreported on, due to the unforgivably lax correspondence by ours truly. We (well, most of we) dabbled in the dark inky arts of marbledy paper, and left with mixed results. The ink for this process on normal ol' H2O comes out less vibrant than the previous marbledy paper, but we got some pretty interesting results.

The meeting ended with a new meeting date (Tuesday 21 June 2011), but without a project selected. We considered Flip's suggestion to turn do whatever he came up with (rumored to involve some type of human sacrifice), but the rest of us were understandably nervous at the offer (somebody, who shall remain faceless, actually fainted), and another project was ultimately selected. Sorry Flip, keep those scimitars polished and someday maybe we'll take you up on it!

Inspired by the online magazine Cloth, Paper and Scissors, "Soul Houses" has been proposed (can't post this on the blog, as it's copyrighted, and probably can't legally sent it via email either, so please don't report me):

[copyrighted image deleted!]

If this is too high-brow for you, think of it as decorating a birdhouse, either ultimately for bird use or for your own nefarious porpoises. Betsey has ventured out to A.C. Moore's and collected a clutch of birdhouses (note water bottle for scale... oh, and a ruler), for a very reasonable price ($1.50 plus tax apiece):

The ruler would be a separate purchase. Note the chimneys -- apparently, these are year-round birdhouses, with a fireplace or furnace. Any way, we won't have to construct our houses as if from a kit, since they're all assembled: we can spend our time collaging, decoupaging, attaching steampunk metalwork and/or religious artifacts, pieces of the true A-bomb shelter, daguerrotypes, old jewelry, etc. And the first people at the meeting will have their pick from Betsey's stash. I dunno, should I opt for a one-holer, or two-? Is that a perch on your face, or are you happy to see me? Decisions, decisions.

What to bring? Well, shiny objects, fast-drying paint/glue/varnish, metal, decorative papers, teeny little shingles, small-bore automatic weapons (no, wait, that's for next month's "fast-moving targets practice" project), scissors/knives, hockey pucks (go Bruins!), pipe cleaners (to make chimney smoke), corrugated sheet metal and brads, rusty nails, screwdrivers, harvey wallbangers, etc. The theme needn't be dark and soully, make it your own, have fun with it, keep it simple (maybe a tribute to the Stanley Cup), stop tracking mud on my kitchen floor, neither a borrower nor a lender be, wah de doo dah!

P.S. Stay tuned for a place to have this meeting, I'll keep you posted as I find out more!