Sunday, August 27, 2017
1 Year of Stitches: Week 34
We spent the past week visiting my mom, and I forgot to pack my 1 Year embroidery. That doesn't mean no stitching got done, however.
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Welcome to Night Vale: a Novel by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor
Welcome to Night Vale is an on-going podcast about a mysterious desert town teeming with secret police, men in black, illegal angels, deadly librarians, and a glow cloud, all discussed by Cecil Baldwin in his daily radio show. In 2015 the creators came out with a stand-alone novel set in the same town. The story fits into the narrative of the podcast, but knowledge of one isn't necessary to enjoy the other.
Fink and Cranor have a distinctive narrative style that highlights the absurdity and horror of life in Night Vale, but while that style works well in a half-hour podcast, it's too much here, becoming somewhat of a distraction from the story itself. Which is a shame, because it's a very good story. Jackie and Diane, along with many other Night Vale residents, begin receiving a mysterious message that may or may not be intended for them about a city that no one can actually get to. And it's nice to see an expansion of some elements of Night Vale; a novel gives the opportunity for more in-depth storytelling.
As in other magical realism books, the oddities and supernatural occurrences are manifestations the struggles ordinary people have trying to figure out the big questions of life -- its meaning and purpose -- and what they want their own lives to be. Diane's teenage son is a literal shape-shifter, because teenagers have to figure out who they are. Jackie has been 19 years old for decades, because like a lot of young adults today she isn't quite ready to grow up. A charming but feckless character multiplies himself endlessly because he doesn't have an actual personality, and in the process almost destroys reality. In the end, the horrors of Night Vale remind us of just how little we understand the world and ourselves. What keeps me coming back to that desert town is the humanity that thrives despite those horrors.
Fink and Cranor have a distinctive narrative style that highlights the absurdity and horror of life in Night Vale, but while that style works well in a half-hour podcast, it's too much here, becoming somewhat of a distraction from the story itself. Which is a shame, because it's a very good story. Jackie and Diane, along with many other Night Vale residents, begin receiving a mysterious message that may or may not be intended for them about a city that no one can actually get to. And it's nice to see an expansion of some elements of Night Vale; a novel gives the opportunity for more in-depth storytelling.
As in other magical realism books, the oddities and supernatural occurrences are manifestations the struggles ordinary people have trying to figure out the big questions of life -- its meaning and purpose -- and what they want their own lives to be. Diane's teenage son is a literal shape-shifter, because teenagers have to figure out who they are. Jackie has been 19 years old for decades, because like a lot of young adults today she isn't quite ready to grow up. A charming but feckless character multiplies himself endlessly because he doesn't have an actual personality, and in the process almost destroys reality. In the end, the horrors of Night Vale remind us of just how little we understand the world and ourselves. What keeps me coming back to that desert town is the humanity that thrives despite those horrors.
Sunday, August 20, 2017
Friday, August 18, 2017
Jewelry Round-Up
Another beaded bangle, like the Christmas one, but with pale pink pearls and black seed beads:
Steampunk earrings, made from clockwork gears from Blueberry Cove's Steampunk Box (with faceted glass beads from the Renaissance Box):
A red and turquoise necklace:
The beads were two inexpensive strands from Michaels, but even together it wasn't long enough. I attached each end to a large jump ring, and then added chain with a strip of red sari silk woven through the links.
I don't remember what I was going to make with these Indian glass beads, so I made a necklace instead. Super fast and super pretty -- it's like a strand of hard candy around my neck:
Pretty, sparkly cup chain wired to two "gold" bangles. I got the idea from the March 2013 issue of Bead Style (Becky Nunn being the designer). It will look lovely with these bangles.
Steampunk earrings, made from clockwork gears from Blueberry Cove's Steampunk Box (with faceted glass beads from the Renaissance Box):
A red and turquoise necklace:
I don't remember what I was going to make with these Indian glass beads, so I made a necklace instead. Super fast and super pretty -- it's like a strand of hard candy around my neck:
Pretty, sparkly cup chain wired to two "gold" bangles. I got the idea from the March 2013 issue of Bead Style (Becky Nunn being the designer). It will look lovely with these bangles.
Monday, August 14, 2017
1 Year of Stitches: Week 32
A bad cold knocked me out for a whole week. When I was finally up to stitching again, a medical hazard sign seemed appropriate:
