Drawings w/ commentary

Lost: my glasses. Vision impairment is not fun.

Fasting from: Reading. Also not fun but presumably not beneficial. The two events are exclusive but I guess not finding your glasses is a little more bearable if you're not reading.

Drawing commentary: I like the checkered one and the semi-sun with head one. The third is I guess a bit cheesy and the balloons don't really look as I wanted them to. But I think the person looks alright.

Tomorrow: November 1st, the first day of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) which I mentioned before. I think I will start since I have so much time on my hands.

Also missing: Mony the dog. Does not bode well.

Sokhna images

More pictures, not much to say. The first is Y.A. at Sokhna. The other ink is Nems. The colored pencil one is just a feeling thing. And the fourth is quite self-explanatory I think. Hopefully set to become part of a larger series. Click to enlarge if you feel so inclined.

Dog Outta Control

Some new photos of Daboor, trained dog extraordinaire (can't you tell from the photos?). Check out that photo of him where he looks rabid. And the last shot is an art piece: nails hammered into wood with black thread.

Ok, links time:

• If you're looking for a new religion, why not become a pastafarian? It's all about the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. (Thanks for the link M.)
• Article on Radiohead and carbon dioxide. (Thanks Y.A.)
• Finally, if you need to know all about world hunger and obesity, quiz yourself. (Thanks S.) Click for quiz on obesity.

Well happy eid to all where applicable. Enjoy your food.

Dancing M&Ms

NaNoWriMo. Wanna write a novel? In a month? Next month? Sign up with NaNoWriMo, write 2000 words a day and you're golden. Oh and by the way it stands for National Novel Writing Month.

On My Desk. Pictures of the creative spaces of creative people. That is, if you believe in the myth of "creative people." Pretty cool actually.

Shari3 Faisal Bling

Check out the bling due to a store opening in my neighborhood... Not bad huh? Not only that but there are flashing colored lights going all the way down the street. But thankfully no loud bass-heavy music pumping out because it's Ramadan.

Some quotes

"Drawing is about reaching for pure being. Not making pretty pictures to put in
frames and on websites. The world doesn't need more pictures. It needs peace
and connection. It needs people who can accept reality and don't feel compelled
to control their environments."
- Danny Gregory
Nice site about creativity and art, with a big emphasis on drawing and sketching.

"I'm just a guy with a graphite pencil and a spiral notebook trying to maintain
some of the small chunks of cerebral tissue still floating in my head."
- Jim Bumgarner on his blog Sketches & Stuff. "A compilation of bad sketches, good sketches and bunch of who knows what."


"some people
do not feel compelled
to push their heart onto a stick
and roast it over someone's fire.
well those people suck, i said.
what kind of passionless monsters
live their lives like that?"

excerpt from the poem "Advice for the Lovelorn" by Michelle Tea, in her book The Beautiful. Link takes you to fan site which includes some of her writings and interviews with her. Her book 3amatan is great.

Middle Eastern Super Heros, Fighting the Man, & More

- "First Middle Eastern Super Heros" - apparently some of the creators are AUC alum. An interview with them if you follow the link.

- "Independent Bloggers" - You too can start your own blog. Plus you can type in Arabic. And rate people's posts.

- A great article! How to fight The Man - strategies to resist corporate control. "25 Simple Things You Can Do To Keep Your Money From The Corporations." By Jeffrey Yamaguchi, who also runs the 52 Projects website.

and... Zinebook.com. Lots of stuff about zines. Including what they are & how to make your own. Check out the interviews with zine editors (I love interviews).

I guess that's it for now. Take care everyone in blog world.

Origami Ouroboros Collection

Ok, those paper things you see are ouroboroses. An ouroborses is basically a mythical creature (usually a snake) which devours itself. It's supposed to represent the cylical nature of things... oh fine it's supposed to represent more or less everything, The Universe Itself, etc, death, life, rebirth & beyond. You know...

Oh, the ouroboroses are origami. I made 10, and my (self-assigned) task was to make them all from different sheets of paper. (Boring for you, a bit more exciting for me).

The other picture is the view from my bedroom, part of a variation of one of the projects from the 52 Projects book.

Finally, some links:

Just in case you thought I never read or follow news (you're right):

• An article on lesbians in Palestine.
  
• And an article on the best place to give birth (Sweden) and the worst (Niger), with details of what both are like.

This isn't news, but a blog: Strangers Among Us. "A living collection of photographs focused on people that inhabit our world or other worlds we visit." A group of people take pictures of people they don't know. And, Blogger's Blogs of Note has an archive, which I looked for, and found, today.

Cheers.