incipit vita nova

Art Talent: Robert Castillo & Ray Renooy, Amazing Artists

I sometimes forget to update people on what I'm doing - I am working a LOT lately and very busy. Yesterday, I had cause to think about ultra-talented Robert Castillo, who drew a fantastic picture in memory (and by memory) of K.D. Wentworth (who will be so-missed). Robert took time out from his busy schedule drawing storyboards for film and TV to show Kathy as he (and I) remember her and always will. (K.D. or Kathy Wentworth, who helped so many aspiring writers and served as the coordinator of the Writers of the Future Contest, was called home Wednesday after a battle with cancer and pneumonia).

Robert's work reminded me of Ray Renooy, Manitoba's top professional art designer and builder of custom displays, signage, and basically magic-maker. 

How do I know Ray?

Well, I have realized that the joy in my life comes from learning about and appreciating other people and their gifts and talents. I feel enriched every time I am privileged to learn about someone's work, and help them achieve greater success. If I wasn't the peculiarly curious individual I am, I could not do as I do, and would never have known about Ray or his work. In fact, I would not have known much about the big country to our north - the great nation of Canada.

So here is a shoutout to the numerous creative individuals in my sphere. You'll note that Ray is known as "Cosmic Ray" and will note the adorable spaceship logo on his website. This is just one small taste of what Ray can do. He and his partner Rene can make pretty much ANYTHING.

And it won't fall apart, either.

 

This night club is located in Canada.

 

I just put it because . . . if you know me, you know why.

 

 

 

Week's News: Tupac Hologram, Tawkify, Literary Orange

As seen in Imago, now in real life: Tupac Shakur performs at Coachella via hologram. It's not quite perfect, but he is "back from the other side."

From Jezebel: a dating service that sounds simultaneously appalling and charming - Tawkify, which matches eager singles based on their Klout score (50+ - 3 free calls, 60+ David Brin level, SIX free calls!). Please do retweet me up or repost on Facebook so I can get 6 calls free!! I could be matched with America's most popular spackle expert!

Amazing day Saturday at Literary Orange, able to share panel with the lovely and talented Michael Cassutt. I would especially like to thank Beki Reese, who coordinated and moderated the panel. She was so gracious and did such a fantastic job!

 

 

"I'm Not Just the Fat Girl"

For some reason this a.m., looking into the false information that "Marilyn Monroe was a size 16," I came across Chrissy, the author of All My Jiggly Bits, and wanted to share her mini-documentary and some of her great thoughts on being a person.

In the film, Chrissy shows footage from a trip to Ecuador and says that while there, she realized that our concerns in America today are pretty unimportant compared to what people confront in Ecuador. She realized while there that she was "not just the fat girl" and that her change began when she returned home and realized she was with people, her family and friends, who loved her just the way she is. When she was younger, Chrissy said

. . . I hated who I was, I hated how I looked, I hated how I felt . . .

She no longer feels that way, and feels great about herself, which is how she should!

It's a pretty easy way to put someone down -- just call them fat. Most famously, the false information that Marilyn Monroe was a "size 16" or "fat" was put about by Elizabeth Hurley, who very clearly was trying to make herself feel better at a dead woman's expense by saying that she thought Marilyn "looked fabulous," but that she would kill herself if she was that fat.

I just found the great retort to these ill-advised comments: "Most of us would kill ourselves if we were as talent-free as Elizabeth Hurley."

Marilyn's official measurements - 35-22-35, are most certainly not "fat" and Liz Hurley might have 3/4 inches smaller hips, but did not ever have a 22 inch waist. As costumes collected by Debbie Reynolds (also a tiny lady) were auctioned off last year proved, few, if any of the old Hollywood costumes were anything approaching a "size 16" or "fat," and waist measurements ranged from a mind-boggling 18 inches to 23 inches at the largest.

Here is Debbie with the famous Marilyn Monroe Seven Year Itch dress - yep, there's the waist of a total fatty right there, all right. That is all justification for all the massive amount of mis- and dis-information about Marilyn's size, from Liz Hurley idiocy to Roseanne Barr justifying being the size of two Marilyns put together. This dress sold at auction for $4.7 million, by the way.

What is true about Marilyn and the older generation of starlets isn't that they were "bigger" than today; far from it. They were much more petite, as people were in general just as recently as 50 years ago. By the way, there's a controversy as to whether this dress is "the dress" or not.  Hm!

As to the "What size was Marilyn?" controversy, the last word is probably "Marilyn was comfortable with who she was, and we should be, too."

No one is ever "just the fat girl" or "the skinny girl." We are greater than the sum of, or the appearance of, our parts! We should all be so fortunate as to have more than 12 inches of difference between our chest, waist and hip measurements, as Marilyn did. Take that, Liz Hurley, and I wouldn't say anything negative about you in any way, if you hadn't tried to tell lies about Marilyn (a 22 inch waist categorically cannot be "fat" - nor are Marilyn's hips "huge").