Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. don’t touch it.”

This country desperately needs a functioning Fourth Estate.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

It’s a new day. Light all those Biden polls of young people on fire and throw away the ashes.

Let there be snark.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

White supremacy is terrorism.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

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Soap Recommendation

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As you know, I am at heart either a bougie bitch or a hippie, or some odd mix of the two, and I buy the majority of the soap I use at the farmer’s market from people who handcraft it. Well, I don’t know what the status of those will be this summer, and I was running low on soap, so I popped on over to our own Satby’s Etsy shop, and picked some out. It arrived today, and it smelled so good I am leaving one bar out in my office.

I also got this great argan oil cuticle stuff, which is nice because I spend so much time using my hands and mani/pedis are out for the near future, and the sleeper was the Lavender lotion. Now my hands smell so good I would date them if they were a woman.

I like soaps and lotions. They make you feel good, they smell good, you take time to slow down and relax and enjoy them while applying/using them, and they are an inexpensive way to treat yourself. Plus, when you know there are no harsh chemicals and crap in them from a manufacturer, you can use them without worry.

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Kannon Recreates a Famous Painting

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satby, aka Grandma Sharon, sent these this morning.
Too awesome not to share.


BARTOLOMEO PASSAROTTI, PORTRAIT OF A MAN WITH A DOG, 1585, MUSEI CAPITOLINI


KANNON (LAST NAME WITHHELD), PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG MAN WITH A DOG, 2020, BALLOON JUICE

*****

Kannon had one of those art projects for school where they recreate a famous painting.  This was his. Great job, Kannon!  Another Artist in Our Midst?

If we’re lucky, Kannon and Pat and Holly might join us and tell us how they made the costume and how they got the pup to sit still long enough to take the pictures.

Open Thread.

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Open Thread: If You Need ‘Inspiration’ to Stay in Your Bunker…

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There Are Bugs - Amber Share

I used some twitter pics of these ‘Subpar Parks’ posters in a respite thread on Saturday, and commentors were kind enough to find artist Amber Share and her website. Much of her stock, you will not be shocked to learn, is on back order. But I’m getting a Sequoia Park print as soon as one’s available, to remind me that sometimes Outdoors is overrated!

From Bored Panda. “I Illustrated National Parks In America Based On Their Worst Review And I Hope They Will Make You Laugh (16 Pics)”:

I’m an illustrator and I have always had a personal goal to draw all 62 US National Parks, but I wanted to find a unique twist for the project. When I found that there are one-star reviews for every single park, the idea for Subpar Parks was born. For each park, I hand-letter a line from the one-star reviews alongside my illustration of each park as my way of putting a fun and beautiful twist on the negativity.

I had been wanting to draw all of the national parks, but wanted to find a way to add a bit of a twist to make it different from the other park illustrations already out there. I stumbled upon the one star reviews online, and the idea just came to me! I came to illustration by way of hand lettering, so finding words I could incorporate into the park illustrations really helped the project come together…

When it comes to my favorite park to draw and it’s review so far I think it was Arches, which is why I did that one first! I don’t really know that I have a least favorite – they’ve all been so fun and different to draw so far and has really made me appreciate the diversity of geography in the US! Yellowstone’s Grand Prismatic Spring was definitely the most difficult, because it was so hard to capture (which makes that review even funnier!).

Sometimes I find the perfect review really quickly, and other times I have to dig through several different review sites before I find the right one. It all depends on the park. I try to avoid any reviews about the park management or upkeep, and stick solely to reviews that have to do with the actual nature, because I think the audacity of criticizing earth is what keeps the project light…

Looks Nothing Like the License Plate - Amber Share

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What We Preserve – Ourselves

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You guys need a break. It’s far too easy to keep obsessing about what’s going on. Frankly, there’s not much you can do besides educate yourself, get others to know what’s happening and text your Senators via ResistBot to remind them there’s a little thing called rule of law and it doesn’t give a damn about whether there’s a republican or a democrat breaking it. Here’s a nice, soothing open thread for you. Enjoy these pictures of random things I’ve photographed. Show off your talents with some nice calm photos.

Oh, before I go. Obligatory cat pic. Plus a verse. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all. As in, this is a long haul thing, don’t wear yourself out. So sayeth the Lord.

Himesama et Templeton
Sir, personal space, please.

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Congrats to Commenter R-Jud

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Long, long time commenter R-Jud is at the Austin Film Festival, and she won a big award:

She won the writing award for the Fiction Podcast Script and got to sit in a room with David Benioff and Dan Weiss of Game of Thrones, Ron Bass who wrote Rain Man among many other things, Craig Mazin, former roommate of Ted Cruz and writer of Chernobyl.

Huzzah! If you would like to read a sample, go HERE.

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Repost / Update: Helping Out Jacy

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This is just one example of jacy’s amazing artwork.

Re-upping an abbreviated version of TaMara’s original bleg, because we’re *so* close…

Friend and fellow jackal jacy, as many of you know, has battled cancer and other health issues. She’s run into a bit of a problem and has set out a plan to get herself back on her feet.

Once she has it organized, she’ll be doing an art sale, which John or Betty will front page under our Artists In Our Midst series. She can do custom pet pictures…I’ve seen some of her samples and they are beautiful -, plus she has some beautiful things ready to go.

Link to her Etsy page

And finally, she has set up a GoFundMe, to help her get caught up.

Since having chemotherapy for ovarian cancer, I’ve had cognitive difficulties. It’s been very hard, because I run my own business and care for my children and my elderly mother alone. Over the past year there was an increase in my problems with fatigue, memory, and organization. An undiagnosed thyroid condition made things worse. I’ve been working hard with doctors and therapists to adjust to the problems with my brain and have developed strategies to make up for those deficits and I have new medication regimens. But while I was getting increasingly sicker I couldn’t take care of everything — including medical expenses and fighting for custody of my youngest child — and I got behind on bills.

Most of all, I think she can use some kind words of support.

 

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Sunday Morning Open Thread: It’s A Gift

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Okay, it’s a box. But all boxes belong to cats, by divine right.

Betty had a wonderful thread earlier this week asking for gift ideas and highlighting the artists among us, but Sunday morning tends to be a quiet time for those of us who’re still contemplating our options.

There are a bunch of Balloon Juice jackals who have books to sell, among them Dorothy A. Winsor, who taught me something I didn’t know:

…If you read something and enjoy it, you give the author a big gift by reviewing the book on Amazon and/or Goodreads. The review can be very short (I enjoyed this book). It doesn’t have to 5 star. The issue is that Amazon uses the sheer number of reviews as part of its algorithm for which books to promote. Also some sites ( Book Bub, frex) require that a book have a certain number of reviews before you can promote on there.

So… Who’s got works to promote (yours or others?)

What other great gift ideas should we know about? (Out-of-the-ordinary good causes to support, for instance… )

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