Shot some kodachrome

 I'd not thought about it much when he did it, but Richard gave me a roll of Kodachrome to use as a test roll on the Nikonos camera he lent me. It was fun to try to use. Loading and unloading was a challenge. I'd like to see the images. Kodachrome only develops as black and white. I could do it myself but I'm not really in the mood these days. I looked up what Film Rescue can do and it's impressive (when things work out) so I've packaged it up for them to develop and scan. Will take quite a while though. 

not a camera

 I ran out of cameras to paint but fortunately had this cool keychain shaped like a camera (you can see it leaned against the canvas in the bottom right corner) that Deb Potter gave me last week. 

New way of playing old Talisman

 

We took Allan's original modifications for Talisman for an online spin this evening. Four of us playing, all online, and able to store game to continue later. Still requires Allan to interpret things since not all the rules are available yet. 

Back to painting

One week away from painting but did this Polaroid One Step this evening. This is the last of the re-dos of my first 12 paintings that I did of cameras, all of which were on paper instead of panels. I'll likely start doing more of my cameras a second time now, perhaps taking more liberties with reality. 

Glitch text

 Everywhere I look I find new incarnations of glitch art. This is something on TCM coming in a few days. 

Telecine

 

Transferred some student experimental film to video with makeshift telecine. 

Talisman scanning

 Earlier this weekend we played a bit of the game Talisman using the tabletop simulator on Steam. Geremy had never played. The original version is quite disappointing compared to Allan's mod, but we had some fun. Out of that game and conversation came the suggestion that we add Allan's modifications that he created twenty years ago (when we were all young and had endless time for such side projects). I started to scan all his cards (looks like about 2000) and Geremy is going to do the computer conversion stuff. 

Film and Fish

 Ran around and picked up physical film from a few of my students today. Campus more dead than usual. On my way home I bought two fish. I've been missing them. 

Cat isn't helping

 Every time William tries to sit and read in the comfy recliner, Sylvie joins him. 

Students collaborative screening

 

Screening with theatre went well this evening. Q&A had a couple weird moments, but the work stood up nicely. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dg9kbN2T7sM&feature=youtu.be 

Warmed up

 

After my fourth meeting today I came downstairs and no one was home. Some yahoos were in my yard causing mayhem and when I went to shoo them away, I discovered it was my family. 

Virtual table top

 

I purchased Tabletop Simulator from Steam today. I got four versions (for the price of 3) so each of us has one in the house and Allan has one too. Geremy introduced it to us the other day. We ran it and had a couple of glitches getting going but eventually had it purring. Played some Lovecraft Letter and Snakeoil. Biggest problem now is that William and I can see each other's screens from where we sit so we have a hard time keeping secrets. 

Richard's cameras

Last month I borrowed a bunch of cameras from Richard. With the break last week, I painted them a bit quicker than I expected. Here they are: Nikonos II waterproof, Nikon AF 230, Sony Handycam TR5, Coronet Rex box, Voigtlander Bessa folding camera, Minolta Hi-Matic F, Olympus Trip 35, Mamiya RB67 Pro, Canon Rebel, Kodak Hawk-Eye Model C box camera

 

Heather Cline at Slate

 Yesterday Margaret and I had a short outing to get cat food. I drove but stayed in the car and converted the USB music to the Christmas drive (being that we are past Remembrance Day) while Margaret popped into the store. Driving back we noticed that the Slate Gallery was not only open with Heather Cline's new exhibition, but Heather was in front shooting a selfie. We pulled in and had a really nice visit. We even talked about the art! Anything is possible these days. 

Buddy! Joshua! A tale of two fish

Last night (Friday) I finally got around to cleaning the fish tank filter system. It had a think layer of crystalized salts all over it and I think this was causing occasional drips of moisture outside of the tank. Besides, it looked terrible. Before giving my big fish to Sandra a month ago, I had not wanted to do this because it required taking the lid off of the tank for 20 minutes and that big fish tended to jump. With him gone, I just had my two long-lived small catfish Buddy and Joshua. I removed the filter/pump, rinsed it with filtered water, scrapped salts off of it and the tank, and replaced everything. Looked good, everyone happy. 

This morning I wanted to see how happy everyone was with a cleaner tank overnight. 

Both fish were dead. 

This is the first time I have had no live fish in over 12 years. I don't know what killed them, but it could not be a coincidence that they both died at once and that I did that cleaning last night. Possibly I introduced something on my hands (a bit of hand sanitizer possibly) but I doubt that this would have been enough. Hand sanitizer was used earlier in the day but I'd washed my hands since then so it could only have been a bit of residue. The heater had been working all the time and the filter was only disconnected for 15 minutes and the fish have survived that long without it before (power outages, etc). Possibly it was the salt crystals. I tried not to have them drop into the tank, but as I removed things, some likely did. They were large and hard enough not to immediately dissolve, but some may have been small enough to eat and they are hard and jagged. Anyway, even though William is not a kid anymore and he is no longer upset but the death of a couple of two-inch long fish, I felt I couldn't just flush them. I wrapped them in a paper towel and buried them in the dirt under some shallow snow in the yard. 

Margaret points out  that we could get rid of the tank now. I'm undecided. . 

Sherwood Dunlop show

 William and I popped into the Sherwood branch Dunlop gallery to catch a really nice exhibition of drawings before it closed this weekend. I'd like to see William do something in this scale but he had doubts. 

Still catching up on work

 Day 6 of the fall break and I'm still trying to catch up. The Film 200 syllabus is proving to need far more re-working than ever before. It's basically a new course due to covid. I did take another painting break though. 

Betrayal at the House on the Hill

 

Geremy is hosting a game of Betrayal at the House on the Hill using zoom. Just started. It's a bit confusing to play face to face, so don't know how it work. I got a dog in the study. Hope I go insane. William is traveling by dumb waiter. Allan is here. Margaret is online but just watching. 

Still a bit dizzy from last night. 

Dizzy day

 

More meds. This time they are supposed to make a difference with no side effects. Six hours later I'm dizzy and it won't go away. So much for medical wonders. 

Voted for city

 Walked down street and voted. Change of mayor. Don't know if she'll be better but she's different. 

Got some new "crap collectors" from IKEA and painted one for my office. 

Baked biscotti on snow day

 Baked biscotti, started last night and finished today. Celebrated the snow. 

Biden wins

 For four years I've watched the US politics with amazement. What a drama - an event that certainly won't be repeated for a long time. However, for the past few days the air was filled with fear the the unbelievable event might repeat itself. Can a nation actually be that dumb? No, it can't. Trump is out, but will probably make a big fuss about it. Wore socks that are usually buried deep in the drawer - only come out for special events. Good job USA. 

George working late

 Margaret's brother works late most days.... down the street at Simon's.

Last yard cleaning

 We have just a couple of more days of warm weather and so I have taken down the gazebo screens, put chairs in the garage or tarped them under the gazebo, and tightened the handle of the bbq (Margaret went out and got propane), and I got the mats into the car. We are as ready as we ever are for winter, which is supposed to start in a few days. 

Painting after US election

 We didn't watch or pay attention to the US election last night, but the next morning the numbers online and in the newspaper looked positive for Biden. However, down at painting class, all the people who had watched the night before were frantic and/or depressed at how badly it had gone and how Trump was going to be in for four more years. Glad I didn't watch. Too much stress these days. Painting helps. 

Dentist

 

Went to see Kristy. Teeth are ok. Got x-rays. 

Painting under stress

 Don't know why I was feeling stressed today. Might be sympathetic stress because William is drowning in homework (all five courses have projects due before the break - was this always the way?). Anyway, needed to throw into a painting. Listened to Fad Gadget and painted this Coronet box camera. Didn't look at the make until it was done. The words were at a sharp angle on the front so I didn't add them. Picked up the camera to read it and discovered that I'd painted it upside down. Like it anyway.