Warning Signs: The Economy

(This is my from my dA journal for today, but it's very important and applies you too.)

Now normally I pretty much stick to talking about me here--what I'm doing, my art, what I think of politics--because, well, it's my journal. But today I want to talk a bit more about something I'm worried about that's not going to affect me, but rather you.

This morning the dollar fell to 1.51 against the Euro, 1.02 Canadian, and .94 Australian. Gold is almost to $1000, Silver to $20, and Oil is at $100 a barrel. Food prices are also skyrocketing. The Fed, meanwhile, wants to cut rates even further. The dollar is collapsing, and there is nothing to stop it.

I don't have to tell you that this is very bad news for all US citizens, so I'll skip to my point: if you have any savings at all, please get it out of dollars! Buy gold, silver, stockpile food, even buy foreign currency. I don't care what you do, get it out of the bank and into something safe!

The dollar crash is mostly only a problem for us Americans, but the real estate crash effects everybody. If you have a house, sell it! You've probably lost tons of money on it already, but if you wait, you'll lose even more. Get out of debt! Store some food!

You are all good friends of mine, so I hope you'll perhaps listen to me on this. A lot of people are going to be made desperate and miserable by all this, and I don't want it to be any of you. There's still time.

These are going to be hard times for everybody, but you can avoid the worst of it. The thought that any of you might have your lives ruined by this is very upsetting to me, and I hope that you will take a moment to think about it and do something. Please.

Comparing Sketchbooks

Now, as I might have mentioned, I like to use sketchbooks a lot. Lately, I've been looking for the Ultimate Sketchbook. Haven't found it, but in case you were wondering what sketchbooks are closest, here are my thoughts on five of the nicer brands.

A. Moleskine Sketch Book

The fancy name brand. Rather overpriced for what you get: a stylish book, but not really better than the others. The paper is a very smooth off-white card, which doesn't look like it'd be very good for pencils. However, I haven't actually drawn in mine yet, so I could be wrong. Looks great for nib pens, though, because it's so smooth. The cover is a very tough imitation moleskin that's okay. The spine looks sort of cheap, as do the ribbon and elastic band. (Though I alway cut out the ribbon anyway. Who needs a ribbon in a sketchbook, for heaven's sake?) On the other hand, the binding is great. It always lies perfectly flat. No binding is perfect, of course, and this one can break as well as any, but it's pretty good anyhow. Typically costs 15-17 dollars US. Black only (boo!) Two sizes available: 5.5x8.5 in. and 3.5x5.5 in.

B. Watson-Guptill Sketchbook

Your basic sketchbook. No frills, plain white paper with medium tooth (not real thick, but not thin, either), no ribbon, elastic, rounded corners, or any of that silly stuff. These books have been around for a while, so you can find them at all sorts of prices, and in all sorts of colors (I saw a hot pink one on Amazon the other day.) The binding is tough, though it doesn't always want to lie flat. Good general-use sketchbook. 5.75x8.75 in.

C. Hand*Book Journal

A nice off-white thick sketching paper that's good with pencil, though it doesn't work real good with ink. Doesn't wrinkle very badly with watercolor, either. I still don't really like the paper as much as I could, though...it just seems dry, if that makes any sense. Nice cloth cover, very nice elastic closure, not-so-nice pocket in back. The pocket in the Moleskines are spiffy, but this is just a plastic envelope glued to the back cover. The binding is okay, but I've already broken it in one place. The spine looks great. Overall, it's a quality-looking book, though perhaps its quality isn't as high as first appears. Mostly, it's just not my kind of sketchbook. Costs about the same as a Moleskine, but available in several nice colors. Same two sizes as the Moleskine.

D. A la Modeskin by Pentalic

The cheaper alternative to the others. Which kind of shows, though it's very good for the price. The cover is a sort of wierd spongy vinyl with a fine leather texturing. Unlike all the others, the cover is not hard, merely stiff (it bends without wrinkling, though, so that's okay.) The paper is ivory, smooth, and not real thick, with square edges like the Watson-Guptill. It's good-quality paper, though. The binding is sewn and tough, but too springy to really lay flat. Nice ribbon, elastic, and pocket. Available in three sizes: 6x9, 4x6, and 3x4. Lots of colors, though they are mostly sort of wierd-looking 70's colors. I hate retro. The red and black are okay. Cheap--always under $7 at Amazon.

E. Pen & Ink Sketch

This might be the best of the bunch. The paper is an inviting smooth ivory stock that's pretty thick. The cover is well-made, though I admit I don't really care for the faux leather thing. But it's soft and attractive, so that's okay. The binding is as good as you might expect, at least as good as the Hand*Book. They both lie flat good most of the time, but there are weak spots where signatures were glued together where it's easy to break the binding. The Moleskine has this problem too, of course, just not as bad. Decent ribbon and elastic, nice pocket (same as the Moleskine.) The whole thing just exudes an air of high quality, unlike the others, all of which have cheap-looking or -feeling bits. The problem is, it only comes in one size: 3.5x5.5 in. Small, in other words. Bummer there. Black only, costs about ten bucks.

Ron Paul Paster

Have you ever seen that one paster* of Barack Obama with him looking all visionary and with the word PROGRESS printed underneath? I thought it was pretty cool, so I tracked it down. Turns out it was created by Obey Giant Art (the imprint of a young guy who likes to create propaganda as art.) I printed it off and stuck it on my wall, but I'm not really an Obama guy, so... this!

It's basically a reply to the Obama poster. Not only is it in a similar style and for the same thing, but its caption, LIBERTY, is a rebuttal of Obama's supposed "progress." I like Obama well enough (and won't rule out voting for him in the general election if RP isn't available), but I don't think that you can achieve "progress" by government intervention. All it does is whittle away at personal freedom and the health of the economy.

I've got a printable PDF you can download here. Then you can print it off, copy it...and put it all over the place. If you like.

*A paster is a cheap little poster for sticking all over the place.

Journal: Excelsior!

Since I'm now disappointed in politics (and thinking that maybe I should join the Libertarian Party or something), all the more reason to jump into art things with more energy. I've got commissions to do, and lots of interesting drawings I want to do for myself because they're interesting.

I also have a couple of paintings I want to do, but I'm all out of Bristol board. And since I WILL NOT buy any more of that cheap stuff, so determined am I to upgrade to decent illustration board, we'll just have to see if I can persuade myself to part with the necessary cash. Illustration board is nearly five bucks a sheet, see.

I recently dragged my violin out of storage and fiddled around with it a bit (pun not intended.) Yes, I do play violin--badly, at least. I only took lessons for a year before my teacher moved away and I quit. It's too bad, sort of, because I was picking it up amazingly fast (considering that I never practiced, that is.) I am a natural on the instrument, but I'm also lazy. Anyway, it was not looking real good after being unplayed for about two years. One of the strings had actually come loose altogether. I tightened everything up and got it into some sort of tune (tuning instruments has never been my forte--I'm okay with the violin, but I can't tune a guitar to save my life), and then promptly broke the D string. Then I broke the only spare I had (which was probably an A string anyway.) Bah. Those suckers cost at least $12. But I guess I should probably replace all of them, since they've been sitting for so long (the G is even sort of blackened--must be silver wound.) I don't even know why I want to get it in working order again, besides that it's a pretty good violin and it's a shame for it to not be playable. I did like to improvise on it, I guess. That, and the piano bores me nowadays.

Now onto a different subject: DMFA. [link] You know, the comic strip. Those of you who read it will know that Amber is doing a donations drive for necessary travel money. I'm offering to draw Abel for you guys if she reaches her goal, since she's already maxed out and can't really do much in the way of incentives. So if you want to see that (and I know lots of you do), go donate. More info on the forum. [link]

We're expecting even more snow up here. We also have an icicle that's like five feet long. Winter is getting a bit out of control, I think.

But mostly I'm raring to work on art! There are SO MANY possibilities out there I want to explore... and you bet I'll poke my head into all of them. In the four years I've been doing artistic things, I've done hundreds of paintings and drawings, written five symphonies and numerous other compositions, written several dozen poems, designed books and CDs and websites, made comics, and experimented with all sorts of new ways of doing things. You can bet this trend will continue! This month marks the first anniversary of when I started learning to draw characters (before I just did landscapes and abstracts), and look how far I've gotten. I'm excited about the future, and I'm excited about what I can learn to do! (How's that for a rebound from yesterday, huh?)

Stupid Country.

JOHN MCCAIN. OH HOW I HATE HIM.

THIS COUNTRY IS GOING TO HELL.

Wah...

As the enormity of the political consequences and the completeness of the dashing of my hopes becomes more evident, I almost feel like I could cry...

But I can deal with it. I'll just become MORE CYNICAL.

My problem was that I was letting my idealism get out of control. I was beginning to let myself think that the country might actually do the right thing. Stupid me.

Hillary is still looking strong too...gah.

Journal: Bad Luck with Cars

My family has been having bad luck with cars lately. In December, my dad was driving home from Portland with a trailer when someone decided to stop on the freeway while it was snowing. That smashed in the front of his truck. Not so much that it couldn't be driven (thanks to the deerguard on front), but enough to require extensive repairs. On Thursday my mom got her car stuck in the ditch in our driveway. After spending much of that day trying to get it out, we had to have our logger come and haul it out with his skidder. Then, that very evening, mom and dad hit a deer in the Jeep, smashing in it's front end. So it's just one thing after another.

I've been keeping busy. Finished another commission yesterday (it'll be posted sometime soonish), and installed a new kitchen faucet for my mom.

And it's kept snowing. I swear we must have THREE FEET by now--but I don't want to go out and measure it. :)

I've been hearing hopeful things about Ron Paul winning in the Maine primaries today. Hopefully that will come to pass. And for you Super Tuesday people, remember: McCain is a sleazeball with an annoying smirk. Vote accordingly. Same goes for Hillary, Democrats. The way we're heading, we're going to nominate the two candidates people will least want to vote for in November, which, I think we can agree, stinks.

I've still got 8 sketchbooks left to sell. I've only sold 7 so far, so that's not so good. If you want one (they're a bargain--everyone assures me I'm cheating myself), then drop me a note.