C.E. Murphy's Blog, page 2

cycling: stupid bike

Yesterday the chain fell off my bike again (it does this all the time) and today it’s clonking and chonking and clicking as I cycle. I know it’s a cheap bike, for Christ’s sake, but how hard is it for a cheap bike to do its damn job. I guess I’m bringing it back to the shop to see if they can figure it out, but this is really frustrating

What’s even more frustrating is that most of the time the place behind a gate and under a roof isn’t easily available at work when I arrive, so I don’t even WAN...

Release Day: RAVEN CALLS!

It’s re-release day for RAVEN CALLS! (amazon affiliate link)

I’m beginning to feel the enthusiasm of the downward slide here: there are only four Walker Papers left to release after this, and I’m so excited to have the series out in the world again. I’ve just sent in the cover specs for NO DOMINION, and it’s just so cool to see the series come together with the same cover model and everything across the whole thing. ::starry eyes::

After a year of adjusting to having shamanic powers, Joanne Wa...

Call of Cthulhu: Shanghai ho!

When last we left our party, it was with:

Alice dead Teddy devastated by Alice‘s death Saleem devastated by the death of his family Agatha Broadmoor, the psychic from the other group who we rescued from being sacrificed to Netocris, absolutely cheerful with survival Somerset WRACKED with survivor’s guilt – only he and Evelyn remain of the original party Ared the lone survivor of his own group & at a loss for direction Caliope struggling to maintain a hold on her sanity, and Evel...

exercise: exploring the territory

In a fit of ambition I got on my bike this morning and went for an exploratory ride which, among other things, led me to discover that the sports centre where the swimming pool is is about a stone’s throw from the parking lot that had previously been my farthest-explored reach of the cycling/walking path. Granted, you would have to be exceptionally good at throwing stones, but still.

I also discovered that despite what it looks like on the map, there actually IS a cycling/walking path all the wa...

art project: hour 40

I’m beginning to think I might get through this, guys.

I’ve finished my last 2 point perspective exercise, and by “finished” we mean “I’m exhausted and grumpy and hate it so I’m done and besides the point was the PERSPECTIVE not shading and I did that so :p” and also it turns out that neither of the courses I’m following really expect you to do any 3 point perspective, so honestly, I’m just not gonna. Not now.

The next stage is learning how to draw everyday objects by breaking them down into ba...

Recent Reads: A DARK HISTORY OF SUGAR

Recent Reads: A Dark History of Sugar by Neil Buttery – informative, interesting, and often a difficult read, as it should be

I don’t know exactly how I came across this one, but I find food histories fascinating, particularly when they’re focused on one specific item and how its cultural importance affected…everything. This is a good example, following the history of sugar, particularly processed white sugar, through its development, its growing popularity, and the absolute horrors that were un...

exercise: i GuEsS tHiS iS GoOd FoR mE

aPpArEnTLy ExErCiSe iS GoOd FoR mE oR SoMeThIng :p

I did a ~3 mile bike ride yesterday morning. I’d have gone farther, except the path I took was flooded by the river and I wasn’t wearing the right gear to cycle through however far that went on. (more on this later)

It was EXTREMELY BIZARRE, though, because between the sunrise in front of me, the resulting tree shadows, and my polarized sunglasses, at first glance it genuinely looked as if the path simply plummeted off a cliff into darkness. It’...

Picoreviews: G20 & Heads of State

Picoreview: G20 – a great Die Hard movie

In this particular Die Hard movie, which appears to be an Amazon Prime original, John McClane is Viola Davis, President of the United States, Nakatomi Plaza is the G20 summit being held in South Africa, and the hostages are the leaders of the G20 nations.

Look, all I can tell you is that it delivers on what it promises. Viola Davis is fabulous and has magnificent biceps, her family dynamic feels real, and an older Asian woman has an unexpectedly great rol...

exercise: omg ded

Project Whup Dan: Dan is in no danger of being whupped.

I did get back on the bike yesterday and to my surprise/relief it seems that a week OFF from cycling hadn’t been enough time for my sit bones to forget that I’d BEEN cycling, so I did a little zoom around the neighborhood yesterday to see if that would cause me significant Bike Butt today, with the intention of going on a slightly longer ride today if not.

Again to my surprise, it was ‘if not’, so I went on what turned out to be a 2.5 mile...

art project: Hour 25 And Beyond

unrelated to most of anything else I might say, I noticed after a while that my rough hours breakdown of this project…was missing hours 30-40. :)

Hours:
0-10: basic shapes
10-20: shading, perspective
20-30: perspective
30-40: IT’S A MYSTERY
40-60: objects, animals, beginning portraiture
60-100: portraiture

…know how I said that having hit hour 20, I was confident I’d at least get to hour 25? Yeah, well, as it turns out, the early hours of the 20s were the first thing I’ve REALLY HATED doing and ...