Book Flashlight Tree

Stella Sofia Moody

2011-02-23T17:29:00.000-08:00

Wow I won a giveaway from With Two Cats! I can't believe it;this is so exciting! The giveaway is for a beautiful tile made by Sadie Ryan Keepsake Tiles. This is also a good chance to explain why we haven't posted in so long: we made a baby! Stella Sofia is five months old now, and it seems like she changes every day. Thanks again, Lauren, for the giveaway! I'll post a picture of the birth announcement tile soon!

Wedding Dress Leaves

2010-05-19T10:49:00.000-07:00

We've been very busy which is why this blog has been so quiet. In fact Christian is too busy with exam reading, novel writing, short story revising, and Cincinnati Review work to post here at all, so I'll be doing my best (probably until after he takes his exams) to cobble together some words to accompany the new things I have to show you!

First up the aforementioned dress made out of leaves project. This project had two origins:

1) I wanted to create a series of illustrations around the theme of weddings; this idea turned into weddings which took place in "exotic" locals. Some of my ideas/drawings included locations like the top of a traveling train, "parachuting" through the sky, on the ocean, and in a tree. The wedding in a tree was my favorite location, and for some reason included camouflage wedding attire, which ultimately lead to the idea of a dress made of leaves.

2) Last fall Christian and I were lamenting how quickly all of the colorful Autumn leaves fell to the ground. We hypothesized about who might be cruelly plucking the leaves from the trees and how wasteful it was to leave them all on the ground. This of course led me back to the dress made of leaves and eventually to how three resourceful and creative young girls might find a use for these pretty leaves. Unfortunately, these young and inexperienced adolescents don't realize that they need to patiently press the leaves before sewing them into that dress...it surely will wither too quickly for repetitive wear!

Fake Bee Exam

2009-12-02T19:05:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a lazy, lazy blogger I am. Randi finished this sketch a while ago, and I know all of our two readers (Hi, Sam! Hi, Elizabeth!) have been foaming at the mouth to see it. I’m supposed to do the words on this here blog, and I’ve been remiss. What can I say? I’m a schmuck. But our loyal readers are well aware of that.

About the sketch: If you remember, or if you read the last post, we were restricted to the words bear, aviator, hat. Randi’s been working on building a portfolio of children’s book illustrations of late, and you can definitely tell that this sketch is geared toward that end. My sole contribution is the vehicle—well, I muttered something about a foot and a spring. Then Randi turned it into this much cooler vehicle you see above, which flies much higher than I imagined (what I came up with was something like a huge pogo stick). I think I also suggested something to do with the bear’s teeth and level of scariness. Bravo to me, then, for pretty much nothing!

So, if this were a children’s book, what would the story be? I think you should write it, or at least tell me your idea. Where would a bear and a kid be going in this spring-footed bird thing-a-bob? What would you call such a contraption? (I’m trying to get at least one stranger to post on my blog before I die. A pathetic goal, but it would make me happy. For a moment. Then I would feel weird and go hide).

Fun factoid: the sketch above was supposed to be a quick drawing of a bowler hat. Just a simple hat to tide our two readers over until the real sketch was done. But Randi never stopped working on the temporary sketch. Then she erased the bowler hat (it was on the bear). The real sketch had to do with a weird kid in a bee costume (long story), but the fake sketch took over and became the real one. It happens. Someday maybe we’ll get back to the weird bee-kid drawing.

Next up, we think we’re going to do a short comic book. We aim to post at least a few panels up before the end of the holidays, and we’ll use our usual three-word restriction to come up with the idea. We’ve been reading a bunch of comics of late. Highlights include: Rabbit Head, Optic Nerve, The Umbrella Academy, Kim Deitch’s Midgetville, Anders Nilsen’s Big Questions—and many more. We’re still dilettantes, but we’re going to give it a shot anyway.

In other news, Randi is drawing something to do with a dress made out of leaves, among other projects. And the reason I’ve been remiss in my duties here is that I’m reading for PhD exams. 180 books by the end of May (waa hoo!). A few recent highlights: Crowley’s Little, Big; Coover’s Pricksongs and Descants; Diaz’s Oscar Wao; Faulkner. And a bunch of critical stuff from which I’m supposed to postulate notions about realism, naturalism, modernism, postmodernism, and so on. So, two loyal readers, you won't hear from me again until June, when I’m done postulating. (Kidding).

Seriously, though: The idea behind this blogxperiment—even if we can’t remember why we came up with the idea—is to generate our three words in the weirdest way possible. We’ll use those three words to make our comic. Ideas?

Peacock Spirit Society

2009-11-01T18:00:00.000-08:00

Sticking to our macabre theme, we clipped words from the Sunday newspaper obituary pages. We also listed all of the Halloween costumes and accessories that we spotted over the weekend. We placed them in two bowls and picked one word out of each. We already had "bear" from our traipse through the cemetery. The result:

aviator bear hat

bear hat aviator

hat aviator bear

Uh-oh. Are we in trouble, or are we okay? What sentences can we generate from these words? What images? What stories? We'll work on it, but give us a little while. In the meantime, if you have ideas let us know: We might need to steal them.

"Aviator" came from the obituaries.

"Hat" was originally "bowler hat," but I shortened it for the simplicity of three words. It might still end up as a bowler, which is a fine type of hat indeed. Our good friend Sarah Leah dressed up as Charlie Chaplin for Halloween. She was awesome.

Costume words in the bowl that we missed out on: elf, angel wings, bats, stethoscope, balloons, surgeon, suit, eye patch, paper bag, feathers, suspenders, Pocahontas, glasses, bubbles, faun, dinosaur, tiger, wig, fur pants, peacock, bunny, pirate, cheerleader, pom pom.

Obituary words we missed out on: star, grateful, spring, hero, station, sympathy, work, hatched, society, chapel, short, sons, death, illness, friends, road, spirit, agencies, teacher, deeply, home, died, grandchildren, flowers, garden, leaf, gate, poor, football, attack, fireman, fallen, visitation, camp, club. Some of these might have been a nightmare to draw.

So "bear, hat, aviator" it is. Help?!

Some ridiculous photos of us looking like dorks in Halloween costumes after the jump. Plus Charlie Chaplin and a bunny.

Colts Universe 49

2009-11-01T12:45:00.000-08:00

Professional football is far off topic for this blog, but this is an emergency: The universe is broken and only I can fix it.

Right now, I am watching the Colts play the 49ers. The Colts are supposed to be winning because I am rooting for them, which involves sort of tensing my entire body and channeling all my energy at the TV screen. However, something is going wrong because Peyton Manning just got sacked for the third time. What is wrong with the universe? When I root this hard, it always works, obviously, since the Colts are undefeated this season.

There is a simple explanation for why the Colts aren't winning. You see, when I was a kid I was a 49ers fan (we moved from northern CA to Indiana when I was eleven). So even though I'm channeling all of my energy at the Colts on the TV, the universe is a little bit confused by the fact that a long time ago I used to channel my energy at the 49ers.

It is easy to see where this confusion comes from. You see, the 49ers of my youth were the Colts of now. Think of the Joe Montana/Jerry Rice combo. Now, think of the Peyton Manning/Marvin Harrison combo. That Marvin Harrison is no longer a Colt is part of the universe's confusion. However, the core of the problem is that as a child I rooted for a team with a charismatic, dynamic quarterback and graceful receivers, and now I root for a team with those same qualities. When these two teams play each other, the universe sometimes goes bananas and crosses energy streams.

Dear universe, I see why you are confused, but please consider this blog post an explanation and directive. Set yourself back on course: I am rooting for the Colts. Please stop channeling my energy to the wrong team.

Update: Universe, that play in which Manning handed it to Addai who threw it (!) to Wayne for a touchdown? That's what I'm talking about! Excellent use of the energy I'm channeling at the TV with my body tension! Thank you for reading and understanding. Also, I'm happy to see you following my blog.

Appleseed Coffee Obelisk

2009-10-27T18:37:00.000-07:00

We find ourselves deep in an old cemetery with an egg timer, the D&D dice, and a very sharp pencil that we plan to throw at a map (we have yet to purchase a real dart). The starting point was easy: Our sense of humor is essentially juvenile and the Butz obelisk made us giggle (apologies to the Butzs of the world. Have you seen our last name? We should really not make fun).

(Factoid: Spring Grove is the 2nd largest cemetery in the United States. The first time we ventured inside we walked in circles until rescued at dusk by the security guard).

We fumble our implements. Is this really the intermediate level? It feels like maybe we have not been allowed to pass GO, that we have landed at the advanced level. We debate the most interesting way to use the egg timer. We get frustrated. We get into an argument about when the right moment will be to throw our extra-sharp pencil at the map.

A deer walks by. It feels random. We will take it. It is true, we still belong on the intermediate level. Our new plan is to follow the deer to the funeral monument that will determine the first word for our next round. We follow the deer past a Breitner, past a Kroger, past many names that we can't pronounce or draw. We get nervous.

We arrive at the mild-mannered, unassuming stone of a person surnamed Bear. It isn't as exciting as we expected--it's even bland. But it will do.

Later, we come across other promising possibilities: Seal, Wolf, Fairyring, Sandman, Coffee, Coghill, Appleseed. We are tempted to cheat, but Bear was first.

We still have two words to go. Fitting with the season, we are planning a funereal theme. Any ideas?

Below the break are what amount to a superfluous number of photos of us and Spring Grove Cemetery. Plus, Randi doodled a bear on a scrap of paper.

Egg Radar Dart

2009-10-18T12:08:00.000-07:00

Here it is. Obviously it's a gaslight field chair, which is where a Central Registry clerk is stationed for the purpose of distributing the key that, once inserted into the lamppost, makes the…well, I won't belabor the obvious.

What is this gaslight chair contraption doing in a field and who is this clerk waiting for? What is his job? What happens when you turn the key in the lamppost keyhole? What is the Central Registry?

This was supposed to be a sketch, but it looks like a finished drawing to me. WTF, Randi? I vote that we not hold Randi to this standard every time. She has things to do, like drink coffee and watch movies with me.

However, I do think it's time to venture up from beginner level to intermediate, which means that a stranger, more difficult set of rules is required. I have been eyeballing various implements of randomness around the house. Some things on my radar:

Egg timer

Dart (I need to buy one--seems safer than knife or ninja star)

Test of physical endurance

Phonebook

Field Trip (maybe to aquarium?)

???

If you have some ideas for rules, fire them our way. The more preposterous the idea, the more persuasive we will find it (I say that with the knowledge that I might have to take it back).

Saramago Atmosphere Creep

2009-10-03T14:28:00.000-07:00

Here is a very messy, very preliminary sketch based on "gaslight, field, chair." Randi let me blabber and behave as if I actually knew how to offer useful visual ideas, which was fun for me. If there's anything interesting to note, maybe it's this: of all three rules, it's the one involving Saramago's All the Names that is having the most influence. Some extra elements of that novel are creeping into the atmosphere.

I feel bad for Randi now. She has the hard job. We don't want these sketches to take a year each, or even a month, so another factor--an additional limitation in the game--is that the composition should be something that can be sketched in a week or two. It's just a game, after all, not a full-time gig. No pressure, Randi, no pressure.

Rooster Street Math

2009-09-30T20:00:00.000-07:00

We are new to this game. We are nervous. So we're going to play at the beginner's level for now. The goal is to discover three words in a semi-random, fairly ridiculous way, and here are the novice-level rules with which we will find them (and for some reason I imagine them in 2nd person, like a card picked up in a board game):

Rule #1: On your way to breakfast at The Proud Rooster, a place your friends think is gross but where you are a regular, you will come across an object in your neighborhood that is your favorite. What is it? This will be word number one.

Rule #2: After you eat breakfast, you will see street signs in your neighborhood, and one of these street names will conjure the mental image of a landscape. What is it? This will be word number two.

Rule #3: On one of your bookshelves is a book that contains the last word for this round of the game, but you don't know which book it is. If you close your eyes and spin around, you are sure to grab it. However, there will be many words in this book and you must narrow them down to one word. We would like you to do this by using the D&D dice that your mom sent you in a box with your pinewood derby car, high school yearbooks, and other items she no longer wanted to keep in the basement closet under the stairs. Even though you are mildly embarrassed about these dice, you're also a little proud of them. Use your basic math skills to roll an assortment of D&D dice that can equal a number at least as big as the last page of the book.

Here are the results first, in case you are lazy and don't care to read about how we arrived at them:

Chair Gaslight Field

Gaslight Field Chair

Field Chair Gaslight

Is there a field of gaslights and beneath each a different chair?

What are the sentences? What are the possibilities? What are the images? What are the stories? Tell us, if you want to; it's okay.

Bonus Section

That is really all you need to know, but like a DVD this blog entry has extras. Below you can read about the making of the words that we listed above.

Gaslight: Our district of our city is named for these things, which line all the streets and burn day and night. If you ask me, we pretty much knew we were going to end up with a gaslight (cheaters?). We gave it an honest try, but the fire hydrants and manhole covers just didn't have a chance.

Field: Whitfield Street was only one block from breakfast. We gave ourselves permission to drop the "whit," but the image the street name conjured was of a white field. So far, the game seemed easy. We thought we were ready to graduate to intermediate level. The problem came when, one block later, we came across Cornell Place: A field of corn dotted with gas lamps might be cool. But would that be cheating? We kind of wanted corn, but we don't want to feel bad about ourselves. We decided that first should be first for now; them's the rules.

Chair: I closed my eyes and Randi gave me a spin before pushing me in the general direction of a bookshelf. My hand landed on All the Names by Jose Saramago. I am glad that it is this book because if it had been a historical bodice ripper or Vibrational Medicine by Richard Gerber, M.D., I would've been tempted to put it back and pick up Borges, just to look cool. Luckily, Saramago is already cool.

Figuring out how to roll an assortment of D&D dice that could actually cover all 238 pages without going over was ridiculously difficult for an idiot like me, maybe more difficult than anything I've done in PhD school. The full description would be incredibly boring (Rand has assured me), so let it suffice to say that it involved a twenty-sided die, a four-sided die, and an eight-sided die. Here is the solitary highlight: I rolled the eight-sided die and--whoa! whoa!--I rolled page 238, the last page of the book. (For people good at math, that's probably not exciting; for the rest of: The last page! Whoa!).

The last page felt like a lucky roll; I imagine Saramago (and translator) spending extra time and attention on the novel's closing, choosing each word with extra care. Our inexpert method of selection involved a finger that swirled a downward spiral to the page, and then sort of slid over to the first word that wasn't a "the" an "and" or "but." Our eyes couldn't help but flit over the all the other promising words on the page: "key" and "door" and "card" and "thread" and even--what are the chances?--"flashlight." But none of these words was to be ours.

Flashlight Tree Book

2009-09-23T10:00:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time there was a book in my hand. We were trying to make a game, so we wrote down “book.” In my other hand was a flashlight. We wrote that down too because that’s how we decided the game should go. Everyone knows that you must have a third: There are longstanding rules about this. We thought about it a long time by looking out our window. There was really only one thing to see out there.

Flashlight Book Tree

Tree Flashlight Book

Book Tree Flashlight

What does this mean? What do we do now? “A tree with flashlights tied to the branches, each one shining on a different book.”

We wrote the sentence at the bottom of a list of three sentences, and this was the one Randi wanted to draw. She didn’t tell me there would be drawing in the game, and I didn’t know she was secretly playing the game all by herself—not until she handed me her piece of paper. It surprised me. Her tree was leafless and different than mine, which was why I liked it so much.

Bookflashlighttree is how it might look as a feeling in German. A feeling for what? Who is this tree waiting for? Who is going to read the books? Who climbed the tree, tied the flashlights to the branches, and turned the flashlights on? What are the books titles and who wrote them? What are the other questions and the answers to them? What were the other sentences we didn’t write down, what were the other trees? If you want to, it’s okay.

It’s fun. We’re still trying to make a game. We think there will be different rules each time.