April 26, 2005
AN ALPHABET FOR MY BLOGDAY
Tomorrow is my blogday, two years old, and Natalie has given me a rather nice present. She says she was inspired by the abecedariums (?) posted by Abdul-Walid on April 12 and by Dave on April 13 (both brilliant on the gloomy side of the street) which she wanted to try and outshine. But her poetic skill was insufficient so she went for an abstract-expressionistic-gesture-type thing which could be considered quite Zen, if you are Zennish. It's an ABC for me, intended to cheer us all up in this vale of tears and dry bones.
Please leave loads of comments because we are always hungry for intelligent praise(silly will do as well) and want to find it all here when we return to blog on May Day night.
April 24, 2005
GOD IS BACK AND NEEDS THIS SPACE
You can see it here but don't blame me if it takes ages to load. If God wants more space, I can't say no. I had to move most of the recent posts (mainly about shopkeeping) to the archive. Does God care whether I sell t-shirts? I didn't ask because we were busy with the following.
April 19, 2005
NO, IT'S NOT ALL ABOUT SHOPPING
I've been interviewing God again and the result is coming up next. If you want something to look at while you're waiting, here are two images I've just uploaded to Salon Nathalie. "Conversation" also went to the Augustine Shop at CafePress and you could even carry your shopping in it (click on tote bag).
Conversation © copyright N.d'Arbeloff
Brainstorm © copyright N.d'Arbeloff. Click on pic.
April 14, 2005
PRAISE WHERE PRAISE IS DUE
These
days when the rule is: "The
Customer Is Usually Wrong And In Any Case Is To Be Taken
For A Ride And In All Cases
Must Be Kept Waiting" it's essential to highlight
and celebrate the exceptions. So I'm drinking a toast to photobox in
the lovely cup which arrived this morning together with the
t-shirt I ordered only a few days ago. The shirt is beautifully
soft and cuddly but, as you can see, much too big for me.
I rang photobox to
ask if I could change it for a smaller size and to my open-mouthed
astonishment, a polite, friendly and live person answered
that another tee in my size would be dispatched at once at
no extra charge. And I could keep the big one. Pretty damned
impressive, no? They may cost a bit more than some of their
rivals but you can't beat such human-centered service. Plus
the quality of the products is high. Plus they answer emails
promptly. And are helpful if you need instructions. What
more can I say? Go and order something from Salon
Nathalie which is hosted by photobox .
Speaking
of praise, a standing ovation goes to Vitriolica/Madge whose
blogday is today. To celebrate, she invited some of her regulars
(incl. moi) to send their interpretation of what she, in
her various alter egos, looks like. The result is a delightful
visual smorgasbord. Her own brilliantly executed sweet and
sour illustrations have become indispensable viewing to so
many net surfers that I would be envious if I wasn't so fond
of her. Grrrrrrr.
And praise to Melanie of chandra sutra who is conducting a series of online interviews under the heading: "The Bloggers Bloggers". They are replies to 6 questions she asked of various bloggers (incl. moi) by email: Why do you blog? Where do you find your inspiration? What blogs do you read and why do you like those blogs? Many Big Media journalists have attempted to discredit bloggers by calling us "diarists" and questioning our credibility etc. What do you have to say to them? Beyond blogging vs journalism, bloggers need to get rid of Big Media frames and frame blogs in our own terms. To that end, what are the frames we can use to define blogging/participatory media according to our own terms? What are your "Desert Island" 3 favourite posts of all time? (I answered that last one very egocentrically. Heh heh).
April 12, 2005
NO NEW FOREST NEWS
I was going to regale you with the photos I took in the New Forest where I spent a wonderful weekend but I've lost them. Kaputt. All of them. I inadvertently (obviously I wouldn't have done it advertently) wiped them off the digital memory card where they were stored. Don't ask. It would be too tedious to go into the details of my unpardonable stupidity.
Anyway,
the New
Forest was terrific - all those wild ponies wandering
around unsupervised, chewing their way right up to the door
of our cottage. And trees of course, acres and acres of them
in every possible permutation of leaf, branch, trunk and
chiaroscuro. And ducks and geese and swans and those little
beach birds with
long curved pointy beaks (don't know names but love all winged
creatures). And memorably patterned stones on pebble beach
and thatched
cottages redolent of Old Englishness and superb food and
fruity local wines and the excellent company of family and
friends. Missed the Royal
Performance but did not miss it at all.
LATEST UPDATE ON THE ZOO: DUMP THEM NOW
That's it. I've had it with the useless bunch calling themselves T-Shirt Zoo. I have deleted all references and links to them. Suffice to say that their claims to reliability and efficiency were nothing but blasts of hot air and as far as I can tell, they are not even in business anymore.
Come
visit my store on CafePress! The Augustine
Shop
I have now registered with this reputable site which
will turn me into t-shirts etc. without hassle and at reasonable cost.
But, outside the USA, their shipping charges are quite high so those of
you who are in the UK may prefer to order from Salon
Nathalie where the excellent and fast photobox service
will produce not only beautiful prints or cards from our images, but also
mugs and t-shirts, sent at normal UK postage rates.
- -
April 7, 2005
ENTHUSIASM
(this image has now been added to Salon
Nathalie and is also at the Augustine
Shop)
From
the Greek: "entheos", en=in + theos=god. Inspiration,
exaltation, admiration.
It's my preferred
state. It's like love but better because enthusiasm has all
it wants and doesn't need reciprocity.
Enthusiasm doesn't necessarily last forever but it might. Some enthusiasms
last longer than many loves.
Cynics and realists generally do not trust enthusiasts. They suspect them of being obsessed, brainwashed or plain silly. When I am being cynical, I'm suspicious too. But when I am enthusiastic I am myself. Tell me your enthusiasms and I'll tell you who you are said the oracle; tell me your troubles and we'll be here for the next 50 minutes for the next ten years said the shrink.
Recently I was grazing in a bookshop, head down grazing munching chomping chewing titles, spines, shiny multi-messaged covers, words, paragraphs, when suddenly my overstuffed eyes landed on a small, plain white booklet with a handwritten title and a childlike drawing on the cover. Entheos swept me up and away from the crowded shelves and groaning tables as I held on to my small treasure, a four-leaf clover in a vast field of threeleafs. It was The Pig of Happiness by Edward Monkton ("Poet, Artist, Philosopher, Interesting Fellow") I thought it was my own private discovery which I was meant to reveal to others but then I realised that I live like a hermit because I was unaware that there are many Monkton books and greeting cards and mugs and wrapping paper and a website and that, for once, my enthusiasm is shared by millions all over the world. So he doesn't need my promotion but I need to be publicly enthusiastic about this Wonderful Man (the title of another book of his). With utmost simplicity of means, with playful inventiveness and without syrupy sentimentality, he aims for the heart and hits the target every time. Edward Monkton is an alter ego of Purple Ronnie (I didn't know that either) who is an alter ego of Giles Andreae. Enthusiasm awaits you.
( image and text below is© Edward Monkton)
April 5, 2005
T-SHIRTS and MUGS etc.
These two images are from my Inertia comic strip but they could stand (or sit) on their own.
April 3, 2005
MORE SHOP TALK
I
must sort out this shop-window business. The luscious Fine
Art prints by Natalie (including Tango) are on sale at Salon
Nathalie.
T-shirts, mugs etc. will be available elsewhere as soon as I find the right website providing this service.(Update:see Augustine Shop above)
Am visualising Augustine-t-shirted armies marching all over the planet for peace, love, and all other good causes.
I'm not going to say anything about the Pope's passing. The blogosphere has been buzzing about it busily enough as it is. RIP Karol Wojtyla.
April 1, 2005
APRIL TANGO MOOD
This
has nothing to do with April Fool apart from the year-round
fool you've come to visit. I've chosen the tango as my April
mood and invite you to join Mood of the Month club. You decide
what music fits the mood you're in, or intend to be, for
the current month and then you dance to it, sing to it, cook
to it, blog to it for at least, oh, an hour a day? Half an
hour? Ten minutes? The music you choose determines the way
you're going to feel and behave for the whole month, no matter
what. Those are the rules. Okay, let's dance.
Thanks to Pica for her comment to my post of March 21 in which she wondered what I'd do with tango in La Boca (rough and colourful neighbourhood of Buenos Aires). This image is my answer to that inspiration and I'm adding it to my shop-gallery. There are some other new pictures there. Take a look.