The Seven Deadly Sins . . .

The Seven Deadly sins may bring to mind one of two things.

For Catholics (and several other religious denominations), the phrase refers those faults that may or may not send one directly to Hell without passing Purgatory or collecting $200. Although thirty pieces of silver may be an option, I hear the gift shop is terrible.

For the more musically-minded, the phrase might plant an earworm:

Sail away where no ball or chain
Can keep us from the roarin' waves
Together undivided but forever we'll be free
So sail away aboard our rig
The moon is full and so are we
We're seven drunken pirates
We're the seven deadly sins

Of course, the two are not mutually exclusive. Anyway, Heather over at bitsnbooks recently posted her Seven Deadly Sins of Reading; being tagged by proxy, here is my own list:

LUST: a strong sexual desire

What attributes do you find most attractive in male (or female) characters?

Intelligence and strength of will. This means I often find myself sympathizing with the antagonists of a story rather than the intended protagonist.

Dore_Gustave_Francesca_and_Paolo_da_Rimini_Canto_5_73-75 — Gustave Doré *Francesca and Paolo*

GLUTTONY: intense over indulgence

What book have you devoured over and over with no shame?

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

The Discworld novels by Sir Terry Pratchett

Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis

640px-Stradano_Inferno_Canto_06 — Third Circle illustrated by Stradanus

GREED: an intense and selfish desire for something

What is your most expensive book?

I’m not sure; there are several contenders:

A large coffee table book on Raphael

A leather and gold edition of 100 Decisive Battles from Ancient Times to Present

Several turn-of-the-last-century encyclopedias and almanacs (valuable for their prints)

Gustave_Doré_-_Dante_Alighieri_-_Inferno_-_Plate_22_(Canto_VII_-_Hoarders_and_Wasters) — Gustave Doré *The Hoarders and Wasters*

SLOTH: a reluctance to work or make an effort

What book have you neglected to read due to laziness?

Until recently that distinction would go to To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. It was the only book I’d ever lied about reading, too.

Now, I’m probably neglecting Atonement by Ian McEwan; it’s been on my Currently Reading list since January and I haven’t even cracked the cover.

Gustave Dore The Slothful — Gustave Doré The Slothful

WRATH: extreme anger

What author do you have a love/hate relationship with?

Nicholas Sparks in that I love to hate him. Lacking originality, his books are highly predictable; never mind the fact that he’s literally sold the exact same story many times over.

466px-Stradano_Inferno_Canto_08 — Fifth Circle illustrated by Stradanus

ENVY: a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else’s possessions, qualities or luck

What book would you most like to receive as a gift?

Anything signed by Tolkien, Lewis, Pratchett, or Dante (good luck with that last one!)

Gustave Dore The Envious — Gustave Doré *The Envious*

PRIDE: satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements or from qualities or possessions that are most widely admired

What books do you talk about most in order to sound like an intellectual reader?

Everything I’ve ever read.

Gustave Dore Titans and Giants — Gustave Doré *Titans and Giants*

What about you?

What, if any, are your reading sins?

Do you have any bad reading habits?

Monday, 23 March, 2015

Black and White at Gold

To say I’m behind would be an understatement.

As the Red Queen would say,

My dear, here we must run as fast as we can, just to 
stay in place. And if you wish to go anywhere you 
must run twice as fast as that.

The week began innocently enough with a decent Monday, as far as Mondays are concerned, but it had all gone downhill by Tuesday afternoon. I was behind in Photography 101, behind in my online college class, behind in grading and lesson planning, and students’ science and history projects were due.

Today I played catch-up, rising before the sun on a Saturday – my one day to sleep in – to take advantage of the Golden Hour at sunrise. OK, that isn’t entirely honest. The Wife headed out of town to a business conference and needed to meet her carpool. I simply stayed up instead of going back to bed. Hey, whatever works, right?

I wandered downtown for three hours, taking pictures and killing time until the library opened so I could use the free wifi – and make another dent in my TBR.

My online class completed, I tackled the morning’s photographs.

Check them out in the galleries below!

Monochrome Architecture

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Movement

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Landscape

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I hope you enjoyed vicariously reliving my morning; for me it was time well-spent!

Saturday, 21 March, 2015

Gnome Chomsky

Some time ago I painted a gnome. I named him Gnome Chomsky because how can you resist that pun!? It is literally impossible to do so.

Tasked with taking scale photos, he ventured off the bookshelf and into the wide world
. . . sort of.

Why are you taking pictures of me this early in the morning?

I haven’t had my coffee yet!

Is this the bus stop or the subway station?

Perhaps it’s only a Scrabble letter . . .

Can they make advertising any more in-your-face?

Not to mention the fact it’s totally working!

“Modern Architecture” . . . Bah!

I think I took a wrong turn at Albuquerque . . .

. . . and I’ve never even been there!

That Pixar fellow is certainly taller in real life.

Finally made it to the office!

Friday, 20 March, 2015

Teaser Tuesday: Art of Asking

Once again the wheel of time has turned to

Even though it will be Wednesday when this finally posts. You know how things keep piling up . . .

Just in case you don’t know, Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! All you have to do is grab the book you’re currently reading, open to a random page and share two sentences from that page. But make sure you don’t share any spoilers!*

*I wish I could take credit for this introduction, but I shamelessly stole it from Heather over at bitsnbooks. To help me make amends, you should go check out her blog.

Last night I started Amanda Palmer’s Art of Asking. I was just going to grab two sentences and ended up reading the first 64 pages; I only stopped because I had to sleep sometime and I really did need to make it to work on time this morning. That’s how good it is. Now I’m going to break my own rules and share not two but three sentences:

Here's the thing: all of us come from some place 
of wanting to be seen, understood, accepted, 
connected.
 
Every single one of us wants to be believed.

Artists are often just . . . louder about it.

If that doesn’t spark your interest, bear in mind that Amanda Palmer herself retweeted my library run to get her book:

How many authors would do that?

In Retrospect

I awarded last week’s book Republic of Pirates 3 out of 5 stars. I’m still working on writing a review; stay tuned to Goodreads!

Wednesday, 18 March, 2015

Stand Apart

Photography 101 has its challenges. Monday’s pop of color was no different.

I took another sunrise photo and thought that’d be it:

And then inspiration struck as I was cleaning out my supply cabinet and found a hoard of forgotten pencils – and just in time for standardized testing, too!

                      Stand Apart
                        by J.E.

People always say to be yourself until you do, then 
you find that everybody lied to you: "Your hair is 
too short, too long, too bright, too dark; your 
music's too loud, too goth, too punk, too rock; your 
art is too something; why can't you just be 
normal like us? You're so fake, focused on the 
external; fit back in the box in our monochrome 
world where no one stands out, no sensitivities 
curdled."

So we hide ourselves away behind a facade of what
passes for normal; believing we're flawed we put on 
a show for the world to behold while the things that 
make us us grow withered and cold. In a world that 
sees in charcoal grey and midnight black we see in 
bright neon hues and refuse to go back to the way 
things were before. Choosing rather to wrestle our
innermost demons, we risk and dare all to be the 
yellow pencil.