Blade Runner Final Cut and updated Chocolate

Will Write For Chocolate has been updated.

So I found out from Matt at blogTO that the Final Cut (as opposed to the Directors' Cut) of Blade Runner is coming to Toronto. Yay, I'm hyped to see this. I LOVE Blade Runner and never get tired of watching it, or listening to the soundtrack.

Link O' The Day

Eric Joisel Origami: This guy is AMAZING. Scroll about 2/3 way through his barbarian series pics to see some Lord Of The Rings figures he's made. (Thanks to Jeff for the link!)



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Comixtalk, My Life In A Nutshell, and Alberta trip report (part 4)

My Life In A Nutshell has been updated, as you can see above.

Comixtalk interviewed me about my comics and my writing. You can see the interview here in their November issue.



Also, I have a review of Agra Fine Indian Cuisine up on blogTO; it's the place where Allison, Jodi and I sometimes have dinner, as a change from our usual Frog & Firkin outings.

But back to my Albert report (past posts: part 1 | part 2 | part 3).

Debbie's Alberta Trip Report, Part 4:

One of the things I love about traveling is the chance to glimpse a bit of different culture. I'm not just talking about a different language or way of dressing, either, which is why I love visiting grocery stores in other cities; I've always found it interesting how local cuisine varies. Some people like to see how many things are the same as back home when they travel. Me? I get more out of finding out how many things are different.

Rooms full of saddles are much more rare in Toronto, for example:



This display was in one of many Western-theme stores in Calgary and in surrounding towns.



Someday I'd like to visit Alberta during the Calgary Stampede. You can see pics from the Stampede in my friend Parki's online trip photos (for those who missed my mention first time, Parki did a cross-Canada motorcycle trip this past summer). He has photos up with Google map links (VERY cool way to display trip pics!) as well as a written report with pics in the ADVrider forums.

Another trip highlight: Cathy took me to the Bernard Callbaut Chocolatier in Calgary, where we went on a self-guided tour and watched the chocolate-making process:



The place was filled with the heavenly scent of melted chocolate. Drool. I'm supposed to watch my sugar levels and had already allowed myself a treat during the trip, so I limited myself to one (1) chocolate truffle, but did buy some chocolate souvenirs for Jeff and my sister's family.

I also hugely enjoyed hiking through Johnston Canyon in Banff National Park. Some really GORGEOUS scenery here! Cathy and I only had time for the shorter hike, but I'd love to come back someday and do the 6k hike to the Ink Pots.













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Young writers, pottery and harps

Above: one of the cartoons I did for the NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program. If you're a young writer, I encourage you to check the site out! Even if you're not participating in NaNoWriMo, there's useful info and advice.

I enjoyed reading the comments some of you posted about the British tea tradition. Not only did I learn a ton but I got really, really hungry. :-)



My friend Luisa and I are starting to experiment with doing pottery together; she makes the pottery and I paint them. The tray above was a "scrap piece" that Luisa made for me to test out Amaco paint colours. The inside of the berry bowl is actually a deep blue. Luisa claims she isn't that good at pottery but I think she's amazing. As I'm painting, I'm SO paranoid that I'm going to screw up and wreck the piece.

Anyway, I wrote down the code numbers/names of all the colours I used around the edge of the tray (the pieces above were my first painting attempts) so I could compare how they looked before and after the pottery was fired. Here are the unfired versions:





I was happy with the experiment and learned a great deal in the process. Like the fact that I need to use three coats of paint for some of the colours to show up clearly, especially if I'm painting on another layer of colour.

This past week, I also finally replaced a missing string on my poor harp:







I'm in the midst of re-tuning. It takes me a while to tune my harp, especially one with some new strings.



Here's how my harp was made, in case you're curious. It was custom-made for me by a Winnipeg harpmaker named Larry Fisher; I got to choose the type of wood (maple and spruce) as well as painted design, and it was a comfort to me while I was living in Philadelphia, away from friends and family. I took some lessons from Kimberly Rowe, the editor of HarpColumn magazine (and ended up selling some articles to the publication as well).


Mich Sampson playing my harp! *swoon*

Like the guitar, the harp is somewhat a challenge for me to play for extended periods of time, so I've been leery about using it with Urban Tapestry; I tend to zone out a bit when I'm into music-making mode; time falls away. Result: I don't take breaks when I should, to avoid of tendinitis flare-ups.

However, I've found that keeping a kitchen timer nearby works pretty well, as long as I don't ignore it. If I get a piece practiced up well enough that I feel brave enough to put online for you to hear, I'll let you know.

Hope you all have a great weekend! I was invited to several parties today (all of which sound like fun) but am going to be good and work instead, to make up time I took off while in Alberta.



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Halloween Blather

Will Write For Chocolate has been updated.

I'll continue with my Alberta trip report later this week, but here are some Halloween-themed pics and cartoons:



Above: Our pumpkin was too small to carve, so I used a Sharpie to decorate it instead. I've been noticing some very cool pumpkin carvings in my Flickr friends' list. Here are just a few:

Cats In The Window and Tree of Life and Dragon (Beckett)

Peter's Hallowe'en effort -- Shub Pumpkinoth, the Thing with a Thousand Eyes. (Leslie)

Pumpkin scream (Thomas says his neighbour carved this)

Cool split-face and a pirate ship (Carrie)



If you have a pumpkin carving or craft to share, feel free to post the URL to your photo!

Link O' The Day

Fat squirrel trapped behind bars: A grey squirrel had to be rescued from a bird feeder as it had gorged on so many nuts it could not squeeze back out through the bars. HAHAHA! (Thanks to Martin GK for the link)





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Good Things

Happy birthday to my friend Judith!

Busy these days. I'm very much looking forward to visiting with my friend Cathy in Calgary next week, but want to get a bunch of work finished before I leave so I don't have to worry about it during my visit.

I've started a graphic novel project in addition to my new novel. I'm not going to talk much about the former for now (so please don't ask) except to say I'm pretty hyped. Not having scripted a graphic novel before, I've been throwing myself into mega-research mode, reading everything I can possibly get my hands on about comic scriptwriting. Many thanks to Rand for his recommendations. I've been reading comics and graphic novels for years, thanks to Rand and Reid (Reid sucked me into comicdom when we went out back in university).

I've also started writing some new songs. Most of my "work" is done during my walks / runs; I've gotten in the habit of not taking my iPod, and song ideas keep popping into my head. So now I'm thinking I need to start taking my iPod with its little microphone so I can record these snippets instead of panicking about whether I'll remember them by the time I get back home.

Also doing some song co-writing with a couple of friends (Jeff Bohnhoff and Scott Snyder) whose songwriting I greatly admire, and am pretty excited.

Life is exciting in general, and that's a good thing. I'd be even MORE excited if my kids' books start selling, of course, but meanwhile I'll appreciate what I have. :-)



Above: Cartoon commissioned by the British folk group, Playing Rapunzel. I am a HUGE Playing Rapunzel fan. In fact, they'd probably run screaming if they knew how huge a fan I really was. I've been waiting in anticipation (and financial dread) to see when their next North American gig is going to be, because I fear that I'm going to be compelled to go there, no matter where it is.



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