Gallant Efforts

[JedMedGrey]

Good idea, bwt1213! Have you started on the business plan yet? Beef, chicken, pork, lamb or vegetarian with various regional seasonings. Sweet pasties? I guess those are already available to some extent, as fruit turnovers. Hmmm . . . .

[bwt1213]

Good idea, bwt1213! Have you started on the business plan yet? Beef, chicken, pork, lamb or vegetarian with various regional seasonings. Sweet pasties? I guess those are already available to some extent, as fruit turnovers. Hmmm . . . .

In Cornwall, there's even a "Sky Staring Pasty" that has fish heads poking through holes in the dough. I don't think that one will fly over here. But there are fish pasties. The idea is the same in pretty much every community all over the world -- hey, we've got leftovers so what can we do with them? The most common pasty over here is probably the one the inhabitants of Cornwall had maybe once or twice a year as a special dish. Their most usual pasty would have been a rough stew in a heavy crust, and a lot of the time the crust was only there to protect the stew and was itself not edible.

[JedMedGrey]

I have heard that the crimped edge was quite thick so that the miner could hold that, the stew-filled portion being supported by same. The miner could eat from the folded side. The crimped edge would get quite dirty from the miner's hands and would be discarded - unless the miner was really, really hungry.

[2cute]

@2cute " So you're saying that JK borrowed from these various languages to create her terms they use to create spells & passwords (like Fortuna Major, the password to pass through the portrait entrance)? "

"Fortuna" was a Roman Goddess associated with luck or chance; the Greek counterpart is Tyche. Both were associated with both good and bad events. "Major" came into Middle English from Latin "maior" (greater, more important) which is the comparative form of "magnus," likely influenced by the French "majeur." French is a "Romance" language, as are Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. One thing about fiction, you have the freedom to make up anything you want to from whatever resources available.

Ancient books of alchemy, incantations, spells, etc. that made their way to Europe were usually written in Eastern Mediterranean languages (e.g., Hebrew, Arabic, Egyptian and others), which have alphabets & scripts that are not familiar to most Europeans and Americans (South & North). Those texts were translated into Greek and then Latin. Due to the influence of Rome, the texts in Latin would have been more familiar to curious folks in Western Europe, and in order to keep information (right or wrong) from those who did not speak or read Latin, that language was retained by alchemists, practitioners of "magic," those practicing certain religions, early scientists, etc. The history of spellbooks or grimoires is fascinating and deeply entwined with history of religions. There are various practices that aim to understand how the world works, why things happen, cause and effect, how to change aspects of the world or your life. Today we tend to separate those into superstition or magic, and science. "Magical thinking" is the belief that one's ideas, thoughts, actions, words, or use of symbols can influence the course of events in the material world. If the words you use to try to influence the real/material world are not understood by most of the folks around you, so much the better. Because Latin uses an alphabet and script that became widespread, but today is not readily understood by many people, it is a good starting point for spells in today's fiction. JKR used not only Latin but other languages to create spells for the stories. Some are combinations of Latin and Greek, for example. Some are just slightly altered spellings of English words combined in unexpected combinations (fiendfyre). Check out Wizarding World and Oprah Daily.

Fascinating. Thanks!

[DrPlacebo]

I am disappointed that RAMENIZING isn't a word, especially with birria ramen being as trendy as it is lately.

[Naboka]

Sooooo close.

The fingers got excited

and clumsy

thought I had typed ags, ach, aahs, and cag

know I tried

all 6 pointers

any 3 of the 4...

but, alas...

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[dannyb]

Naboka, congratulations on over 600 points per game AND over six points per word.

[Naboka]

Naboka, congratulations on over 600 points per game AND over six points per word.

dannyb, thanks

it's the product of dumping faaaaaaaar more games than recorded.

the illusion of Wordtwist "averages."

How's the writing coming along?

[dannyb]

Naboka, it may be just an "illusion", but you have to admit that those are some pretty numbers to look at.

I Just started fleshing out the last four stories of my comic book. Going to buy some new pencils for the art. I dislike using pencils once they are more than half way down the shaft. Why? No idea. I can see not using "nubs" but I just stop using them at half-way. I put them in a can on my wife's desk. Just looked over at her desk. There are a lot of pencils in that can. I will be drawing the last half of the month. My goal is to finish the comic book by Halloween.

An aside: I drew a cartoon of Superman in his costume without his cape holding a rooster. The caption is, "Superman with his capon". A friend looked at it and said, "Hey, Superman isn't wearing his cape, and why is he holding a chicken?"

Just finished writing a short story based on a line I saw in the news paper: "A woman who loses a husband is a widow. A man who loses a wife is a widower. There is no descriptor powerful enough to attach to a parent who has lost a child."

[Naboka]

Naboka, it may be just an "illusion", but you have to admit that those are some pretty numbers to look at.

I Just started fleshing out the last four stories of my comic book. Going to buy some new pencils for the art. I dislike using pencils once they are more than half way down the shaft. Why? No idea. I can see not using "nubs" but I just stop using them at half-way. I put them in a can on my wife's desk. Just looked over at her desk. There are a lot of pencils in that can. I will be drawing the last half of the month. My goal is to finish the comic book by Halloween.

An aside: I drew a cartoon of Superman in his costume without his cape holding a rooster. The caption is, "Superman with his capon". A friend looked at it and said, "Hey, Superman isn't wearing his cape, and why is he holding a chicken?"

Just finished writing a short story based on a line I saw in the news paper: "A woman who loses a husband is a widow. A man who loses a wife is a widower. There is no descriptor powerful enough to attach to a parent who has lost a child."

When I first started playing this game, those numbers were so far beyond reality that it wasn't even an aspiration.

Hilarious about Superman and the capon. In high school, had no clue what capon meant. That was before words and meanings were interesting. Trying to memorize the seven stages of man speech was about as easy as memorizing Mandarin.--and as meaningful.

Can sympathize with your friend for not getting it.

Fascinating about widower, widow and having lost a child. Never thought of that before. Curious that we have no words for it. (At least that I know of.)

Love colored pencils. They can be a work of art in and of themselves.

Got the full set Caran D'ache Museum Aquarelles in a wooden box. They were so beautiful I couldn't bear to use them. had to buy another set of them for use.

Also have a couple of full sets of their Luminance. So friggin' pretty. And a joy to use.

Had to get the Derwent Lightfasts when they hit the market. Another beautiful pencil, with pigments designed for museum preservation of artwork.

Econimcally, when any of those pencils get halfway or less, you have to resort to pencil extenders. Insert the shortened pencil into the extender and you can use it down to an inch or two.

Used to be a fad among colored pencilists that when their pencils got to nibs, they'd accumulate them in a glass container. Something of a badge of labor.

Wonder if you've tried other media. One of my cartoonist friends has gone strictly to digital rendering. She says it's far far faster. And easier to correct mistakes or make changes.

For physical media, pigment is pigment, whether it's water color, acrylic, ink, pastel, etc. Just a matter of getting the pigment to the surface in a manner that 's pleasing.

One of the advantages I find using watercolor pencils is how quickly you can spread the pigment over larger areas. (Not large, just larger than lines.) But nowhere nearly as quickly as the Daniel Smith watercolor sticks and tubes for that. The Derwent Inktense pencils, being ink, lay down really deep, rich colors and behave like watercolor. The Caran D'ache Neocolor II's are bascially watercolor sticks that work nicely-but probably aren't precise enough for cartoon outlines. Just fill in.

Excuse the rambling. An artsupply hoarder be I.

[dannyb]

Wonder if you've tried other media. One of my cartoonist friends has gone strictly to digital rendering. She says it's far far faster. And easier to correct mistakes or make changes.

I work in black and white. Pencil, pen and ink, charcoal. I used to paint when I was younger (in color) I stopped painting in college. I started drifting to black and white.

I thought about getting "the pencil" for my iPad. I should at least try it. The screen size would be a perfect size (for me) for a single panel. But there is something I love in just sitting at my desk with my sharpened pencils drawing and shading, erasing and fixing.

There is a cartoon, "A Short History of America" by R Crumb that my give you an idea about how I view black and white. It was done in 1979. Mr. Crumb later expanded the cartoon and then colorized it in 2003. It is getting difficult to find the black and white version. I would add a link here but this message would get flagged. So Google Klauston's Blog An analysis of "A Short History of America" by Robert Crumb and scroll down to see larger images of the panels. For fun, on YouTube, there is the colorized version with Joni Mitchell's live version of "The Big Yellow Taxi" playing in the background. Makes a nice comparison.

[Naboka]

Pen and ink is tough. Have to respect anyone who masters that.

Crumb was a bit of the George Carlin of cartoons. His insight into our world made him special.

Something worth noting in Crumb's storyboard: the amount of change required to produce a dramatic difference. Initially, small changes make a big difference. Later, more change is hardly noticeable. Happens a lot in life. Even in lighting.

If you're doing black and white, have you watched the "Mind-Blowing Realistic Shading Tricks" by Dorian Iten on youtube? He talks about how much change occurs on the gray scale as you increase the angle of incidence of light falling on an object. A 30% change in inclination (the range is 0-90 degrees) only decreases the amount of light hitting the object by 3%--you're still seeing 97% of the light reflected.


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Though cartoon lighting often has little to do with realism. For dramatic effect.

Here's the story board. Jonie is an incredible artist. HBO has a documentary about the numerous artists that lived up on one of the canyon streets in LA. Forgot the name.

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[dannyb]

"Originally posted by Naboka"

Pen and ink is tough. Have to respect anyone who masters that.

Pretty far from a master. I do simple line drawings in pen and ink using a LOT of negative space.

I used to do some calligraphy also. My wife is better than me doing calligraphy (so I stopped). My wife also does quite well with sumi painting. I couldn't get very good with that. She hasn't done any art in a few years. She has been working long and hard writing a history of her mother's family. I think this book of hers is becoming a Sisyphean task.

[DrPlacebo]

BRATSCHE doesn't count. I didn't really expect it to, but it's still a disappointment because I see the word so often at the top of orchestral and chamber music parts. (I play the viola. Bratsche is the viola's German name.)

[crazykate]

BRATSCHE doesn't count. I didn't really expect it to, but it's still a disappointment because I see the word so often at the top of orchestral and chamber music parts. (I play the viola. Bratsche is the viola's German name.)

Hi there, fellow viola player!