Below are the most recent 10 friends' journal entries.

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
mai_ling	10:39a	Happy Veteran's Day :: "Portrait of American Veterans, A Visaul Dialouge" project Happy Armistace Day! Dad with the artist and his portrait Its been a while since I've last written. Yes, I twitter a lot, but its so much more easier and accesible. I can tweet about the shows I am doing and where I am at I've been busy with this and that, that I haven't had time to sit and write. OH how I miss that. Much of my October, which was a slow month of 3 shows for me, was devoted to helping my artist friend Jeanine Hill-Soldner's new painting project called "Portrait of American Veterans, A Visual Dialouge" We hit a few bumps in the road but "it came together like a plan" My mom's favorite saying from the "A-Team" I re-vitalized my graphic designing skills with working on layouts for four of the completed veterans and the programs for the un-veling. My father is one of the four veterans to pose for Jeanine. Jeanine took her previous project about her family and father's experiences of being a veteran to another level. She is collaboratng with veterans from different generations with unique stories to tell with a portriat she painting, a Visual Dialouge. As she has penned it. Back in March, I received an email from Jeanine about a project she working on for a grant, and she asked if my father would be interested in having his portrait painted. I told mom right away and she thought it was fantastic and would be great for dad. He agreed right away. A couple of months past, and I forgot about it due to mom not being well. Then I thought about it a couple of months ago and asked Jeanine about it. She was going ahead with the project and get it ready for a show in November to coincide with Veteran's Day. She asked again if dad would be interested in sitting for a portrait. He said yes. The result is an intimate portrait of the veteran with their own story with the painting that shares a dialouge visually. The reception was held on Friday evening with 150 people attending. It was fantastic. I performed and did a presentation. It was an emotional journey for both Jeanine and I. I have some photos to share with you and video I will put up soon. (Actually a lot of video) but I will put up photos from Friday evening and a photo from my concert on Sunday in Barlett. Which I will write about later. Check out the article and Video about Jeanine in the Northwest Herald and the Daily Herald also: Daily Herald LINK: http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=333699 Northwest Herald VIDEO LINK: http://ssm.nwherald.com/northwest-herald/video/20091108VetArtProject/vet-art-project/ LINK: http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2009/11/06/60882692/ Today Article LINK: http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2009/11/07/r_gzg_lh_nrayhyepk0fx_rg/index.xml MORE PHOTOS: With dad and Eric Dad with our Magician/Historian Tom Holbrook with our friend H. Rick who is Lead Photographer of the Herald and an old magic family friend. His step-mom is Uncle Jay (Marshall's) sister. Taken at the Victory Centere Concert in Barlett. I have a photo taken of me performing at the Raue from last night, but I can't find the card adapter to take it off my cell-phone.. NEXT TIME! WITH VIDEOS TOO I PROMISE. Enjoy! PHOTOS TAGS: http://pics.livejournal.com/mai_ling/tags/veteran+art+project/ (2 Comments |Comment on this)
uvaspina	5:07p	Mel From a shooting with the amazing Mel ( more ) (23 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
livingvodou	7:31a	Driving north on the gray-white interstate we knew we'd have to stop for a planned nuclear diffusion, it was accepted as inevitable that in our wold run on nuclear power the radiation would have to be released sometimes, a certain quantity in order to keep the machines running and we bore the brunt with our bodies. What was disturbing was that it was quiet, that it was known. No one ran and no one flinched. But it was frightening still. And then we heard the siren start to sound, and we braced ourselves for the waves that washed over us on that snow-white snowless ground. A threat like that, invisible, impalpable, was as if an attack of our terror against ourselves. That night I laid on a hill with the rest of my sick neighbors and watched my vision blur. Every time, we wondered how much worse it would get before it would get better, and if we'd ever return to ourselves. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
evitalerue	4:11a	animal breeding debate I'm awake because my fibromyalgia makes it hard for me to sleep consistently because of the pain. So I saw on TV these miniture pigs that have been bred really small and cute and are in the intelligence group of dolphins and primates. Yea they're super cute, but it just seems wrong to breed something for ten years until it's 'perfect' just out of pure cuteness. Then people buy them for a lot of money just like sought after breeds of dogs. Puppy mills and all that shit just seems so wrong to me, but it seems most people don't agree when trying to research it. Plus the inbreeding and messing with the genetics gives a lot the animals health conditions. My parents had a bad experience with a pure bred dog that went nuts which is rare for that breed of dog. It's head was bred too small so it was fine as a puppy, but as it grew up it's brain literally got too big for it's head and went crazy. Finally after it attacked me once. It had to be put down. (miniture pigs pets of the future) It all freaks me out really. Next humans?! I know there are already places that advertise they can pick your baby's eye color and different shit in the womb. That just seems wrong on so many levels. I finally found one opinion on the internet I agree with: As most animals are selectively bred to encourage certain traits - or 'inbred' as we would say about people - there are invariably some undesirable characteristics brought along as well. Certain dogs for example, bred to be miniscule and 'cute', are damned to a life of hypoglycemia, probable blindness by the age of ten, musculoskeletal disorders and tendencies and susceptibilities to certain diseases. Ask any vet. So the question is, does the use of living creatures, bred for the amusement of humans, justify the suffering which is imposed upon them directly by the effects of that breeding? My own thought is that manipulation of the gene pool is not natural and exhibits a lack of compassion for the natural life and order of animals. I heard Paris Hilton has one. Ewww. AND WHAT ABOUT THE OVERFLOWING ANIMAL SHELTERS? Those animals need homes! Mutts are usually healthier, heartier, and just live longer. I have a medium large dog and she is 15. That's old for a dog her size, but she's in great shape. I just found her on the street when I was 9. Maybe I'll start using the livejournal to vent my opinions because I need to do it somewhere I think. Current Mood: awake (1 Comment |Comment on this)
uvaspina	10:59a	Federica Federica is my intern for 3 months. And torturing cute interns for pictures is one of the great things about my job... (BTW, check her work . She's so going to kick my ass in less than a year, and I'm going to make sure she does) ( more, more ) Current Mood: cheerful (17 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, November 7th, 2009
livingvodou	5:39a	witchcraft "The best of heathens - kill him; the best of snakes - smash its skull; the best of women - is filled with witchcraft" -R. Simeon bar Yohai ( Read more... ) (10 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, November 5th, 2009
livingvodou	4:04a	owner of these hills (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009
livingvodou	12:45a	1, 2.... (2 Comments |Comment on this)
uvaspina	1:05a	10 minutes shooting to see the effect of a new mask under the light Many thanks to the husband (12 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, October 30th, 2009
uvaspina	7:50p	Mr Tippletoe work in progress. (13 Comments |Comment on this)