Tales From The Gallery (and hi!! :) )

[Marlowe]

If you ever get to New York City, check out Strand's on Broadway. I've said for years that Strand's and Powell's were the two greatest bookstores I've ever been to.

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Question: have you tackled 9/11? If not, do you intend to? Or is that one you avoid because of how strongly emotions run with it? Just curious.

1. I LOVE the Strand. I could quite happily live there for ever.


2. I haven't done 9/11, mostly because it is so well known. All my others are famous, but not 9/11 famous... and more to the point, everyone holds a strong opinion on it. I present a big set with a 9/11 one, everything else will be immediately forgotten.

Right now I'm still presenting sets, but maybe when I start presenting singles/presenting groups all about one incident, I might do 9/11.

[Jester]

1. I LOVE the Strand. I could quite happily live there for ever.

True story:

My only time there, my fiancée at the time and I were in the area for Lil Sis's wedding. Since both The Brit and I were avid book whores, we had both been advised to go to Strand's. Which we did. And spent HOURS there.

Finally, we went up to the front desk with FIVE STACKS of books between us. Now, since neither one of us had the ability to pack light, we had already come to NY with overstuffed luggage, and could not possible fit all this literature in it. So, putting the stacks down on the desk, we meekly asked, "Do you ship?"

They did. With better rates than the Post Office for that size an order. The Brit took one small book of poetry with her to read on the plane, and we had the rest shipped. A week later, we got a bundle of joy on our doorstep. Woo hoo!

2. I haven't done 9/11, mostly because it is so well known. All my others are famous, but not 9/11 famous... and more to the point, everyone holds a strong opinion on it. I present a big set with a 9/11 one, everything else will be immediately forgotten.

Understood.

I know it's still fresh, and might be too soon, but with yesterday's events, do you have any plans on doing the crash at SFO?

[Marlowe]

I know it's still fresh, and might be too soon, but with yesterday's events, do you have any plans on doing the crash at SFO?

I may do but I would probably wait until the NTSB issues its report in that I use the data in it to make the collages as accurate as I can, and from what I've seen there are two immediate possible causes that jump out at me - one, fuel freezing and contamination like at Heathrow, or two, pilot error caused by an inoperative ILS and need for non-precision landing. My contact at the NTSB retired, so... I'll have to wait for the report to be issued

[sms001]

This article is pretty relevant to the OP. Don't quite agree with every point made, but it's probably a good starting place for many.

[C. Cecil Ivanish]

Now that I saw this with some pictures of your art... no chance the averagely talented individual would have been able to do the same. They look amazing.
Of course now everyone will have "Did you do X?" questions

[Marlowe]

Now that I saw this with some pictures of your art... no chance the averagely talented individual would have been able to do the same. They look amazing.
Of course now everyone will have "Did you do X?" questions

YAY! You saw that? Did you like it? It sounds like you did And thanks, that means a lot!


I really hope the judges like it too... they're publishing the longlist sometime soon and I'm going nuts checking back... Plus, you know, it'd give me one more thing to send to my old 9th grade art teacher who made me give art up as an elective after that year because "I just didn't have the talent to maintain the standard needed."

Douchebag.

[C. Cecil Ivanish]

YAY! You saw that? Did you like it? It sounds like you did And thanks, that means a lot!

Saw it, liked it!
And I have to confess that I usually tend to dislike most "modern art". But your stuff, at least from what that page displays is so... different, and interesting, and cool.

Just a curiosity, by the way, if it is something you want to share: how much research does it take before you create the art itself? You mention that all your works are as close to what actually happened as possible, so I imagine you check several sources and such things...

it'd give me one more thing to send to my old 9th grade art teacher who made me give art up as an elective after that year because "I just didn't have the talent to maintain the standard needed."
Douchebag.

To his/her justification, though, your art is not exactly what a regular school teacher would expect and teach. It is so really "different" that I would imagine him/her not even *conceiving* that kind of output for a student.

This saying, my middle school modern languages teacher advised me to find a high school in which modern languages were considered only marginally as I'd never be able to speak any English, ever.

[Marlowe]

And I have to confess that I usually tend to dislike most "modern art". But your stuff, at least from what that page displays is so... different, and interesting, and cool.

Thanks I've noticed that there is no one else out there doing anything quite like this, so that's probably a good sign for my future... I hope. Right now though I'm also studying my ass off for the GRE because I want to do the PhD course at Duke... so actually making stuff has taken a temporary back seat. I am also reading up a whole bunch on Palestine etc at the moment, which will get things going in a new direction and develop more, so watch this space.

Just a curiosity, by the way, if it is something you want to share: how much research does it take before you create the art itself? You mention that all your works are as close to what actually happened as possible, so I imagine you check several sources and such things...

A LOT. I have a huge folder of NTSB/AAIB/BEA reports, and I spend a ton of time calculating correct angles and so on, plotting trajectories, checking terrain, etc etc. I'm pretty well versed in the history of SOME airline liveries, but not all, so I'll check up on those too. I had a contact at the NTSB until recently (who will for obvious reasons remain nameless) who would help me out sometimes with the super old reports that are impossible to find online, as well as small details, but sadly they've now retired.

It really helps that I was going to be a pilot and have fantastic knowledge of aircraft as well. If I didn't have that, it would take a lot longer. I also have a longtime interest in aviation disasters thanks to growing up with a grandfather who was an aeronautical engineer (helped design/build Concorde) and who watched stuff like that like a hawk to try and gain some insight into what had been done wrong. It's an odd interest I guess, but each to their own.

[C. Cecil Ivanish]

(huh? I thought I had already replied)

I've noticed that there is no one else out there doing anything quite like this, so that's probably a good sign for my future... I hope.

Fingers crossed here!
It is, indeed, so original and... well, just plain good...

I'm also studying my ass off for the GRE because I want to do the PhD course at Duke...

So, MORE fingers crossed!
You talking about the Duke in North Carolina or is there another one I never heard of?

I am also reading up a whole bunch on Palestine etc at the moment, which will get things going in a new direction

Still art-related? I struggle to imagine how you'd apply your style to Paliestine-related subjects... which makes even more curious, as obviously you have an idea. Keep us posted!

I have a huge folder of NTSB/AAIB/BEA reports, and I spend a ton of time calculating correct angles and so on, plotting trajectories, checking terrain, etc etc.

Hard work! Really interesting, though. Really, really interesting.

It's an odd interest I guess, but each to their own.

Hey, you are talking to a paranormal investigator who writes action/crime stories, watches pro wrestling and works with videogames. What's odd?
And anyway, everybody is "odd", for certain definitions of "odd".

[Marlowe]

You talking about the Duke in North Carolina or is there another one I never heard of?

Yup, the Duke in NC. I need to do super well on the GRE though because I need funding to do it... I don't have a spare $70,000 knocking around every year...

Hey, you are talking to a paranormal investigator who writes action/crime stories, watches pro wrestling and works with videogames. What's odd?

Pro-wrestling? AWESOME! My ex invited me to go watch WWE wrestling for our first date. It was really funny actually, he told his friends at the cafe where they worked (which is actually where he first saw me, when I came in to buy ice cream) and they flipped out on him and said "YOU CAN'T TAKE A GIRL TO WATCH WRESTLING FOR A FIRST DATE!!!!!" So we ended up going to a poetry night the day before.

Also, I too write crime stories. Read a lot of 'em too. One of my cats is actually named Bundy

[C. Cecil Ivanish]

Yup, the Duke in NC. I need to do super well on the GRE though because I need funding to do it...

Well, good luck!

I don't have a spare $70,000 knocking around every year...

Ouch! Looks pretty steep to me - is it a normal rate?

Pro-wrestling? AWESOME! My ex invited me to go watch WWE wrestling for our first date. It was really funny actually, he told his friends at the cafe where they worked (which is actually where he first saw me, when I came in to buy ice cream) and they flipped out on him and said "YOU CAN'T TAKE A GIRL TO WATCH WRESTLING FOR A FIRST DATE!!!!!" So we ended up going to a poetry night the day before.

That's... unique.

I know a guy who did something similar (it was TNA in that case), although the fact that the girl in question is training to become a wrestler may have helped

I brought my wife (then early-times-girlfriend) to a poetry night some years ago. Little I knew that the poet's work is packed of pretty explicit homosexual sex references and raging, scathing political commentary.
She enjoyed it, though (and the poet became a friend).

[Jay 2K Winger]

Pro-wrestling? AWESOME! My ex invited me to go watch WWE wrestling for our first date. It was really funny actually, he told his friends at the cafe where they worked (which is actually where he first saw me, when I came in to buy ice cream) and they flipped out on him and said "YOU CAN'T TAKE A GIRL TO WATCH WRESTLING FOR A FIRST DATE!!!!!" So we ended up going to a poetry night the day before.

Hahaha, that's hilarious. My ex-GF only got into wrestling because I'm a huge fan of it, and even then her interest wasn't that strong. I knew she was a likely "keeper" when, back in 2003 or 04, she was going to visiting me in Northern Virginia, the same weekend that Otakon was held in Baltimore (an hour away). I found out that WWE Summerslam was scheduled the Sunday she was supposed to leave (her flight was that evening). I admitted my conflict to her-- I wanted to spend time with her, but how often does a WWE PPV come to my area?-- and she said, "I can stay an extra night and go with you." I immediately went: "...........I love you."

We had a great time. It still sucks that things didn't work out between me and her.