http://beckoningchasm.com/blog1 Some attempts to form thought Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:57:55 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en http://beckoningchasm.com/blog1/2008/07/02/inspirational-poster/ So, I'm writing this entry on my Fujitsu Lifebook while waiting for my car's oil to be changed.  I've always been fascinated by miniature PCs; the idea of using something both powerful and portable has been a goal of mine for a while now.  And by portable, I'm not talking ... http://beckoningchasm.com/blog1/2008/06/14/the-bigger-they-are/ Note that "B" in the title above--yes, it's yet another painting to unfinish over the space of a year or so!  This one came (or will come) about from two directions.  The first was a Cafe Terrace project, to do something in various shades of green.  The second was a ... http://beckoningchasm.com/blog1/2008/06/05/paintblog-2008-b-part-one/ Well, look at that calendar on the wall: almost the end of May, you say?  And I've been shutting up this whole time?  Wow, that's not like me at all! Well, it's not my fault.  Well, not entirely, anyway.  See, I don't use this blog for autobiography because that's pretty boring, ... http://beckoningchasm.com/blog1/2008/05/30/sluggish-response/ I did this painting in about an hour or so.  I guess that makes it somewhat akin to Impressionism, at least with the idea of working quickly.  Certainly not in the matters of subject or color palette, of course. It's nice now and then to do something quickly and completely, but ... http://beckoningchasm.com/blog1/2008/04/29/an-hour-of-work/ I bought all the volumes of Gilgamesh, but it was a long time before I watched them.  There were a couple of reasons, but the main one was the character design.  Those downturned frowns and deer-in-the-headlights eyes made all the faces look like masks.  Given the events of the series--all ... http://beckoningchasm.com/blog1/2008/03/24/a-play-for-masks/ It's been close to a year since we last looked at Paint Blog II. When we did, it looked like this. Now, it looks like this. What happened? Did it get painted over for some other fool scheme? Well...not exactly. The first image above was made when Paint Blog II was a ... http://beckoningchasm.com/blog1/2008/03/02/paint-blog-ii-fourth-and-down-graphics-overload/ A funny thing happened after the last update: I posted the image as a work-in-progress at another site, and someone said, "Wow, I'd buy that."  R-really? I thought.  I mean, the site is frequented by students and other types who typically (to judge by their complaints) have no money, but gosh--still, ... http://beckoningchasm.com/blog1/2008/02/26/paintblog-2008-a-chapter-five/ Yes, I watched Pretear again recently, for the seventh time. And like the sixth time before that, I worried before my fingers touched the DVD case: would this be the one? Will this be the time when all the flaws and what-not come to the fore, and I get impatient ... http://beckoningchasm.com/blog1/2008/02/16/and-seven-times-later/ For some time now I've been dreading the fact that Blue-Ray, or BluRay, or Blu-Ray, is the high definition format that seems to be heading into the winner's circle.  The reason I've not been too happy about that is, in all honesty, I thought the competing HD-DVD format looked much, ... http://beckoningchasm.com/blog1/2008/02/15/an-apology-to-blu-ray/