9 posts tagged “vox hunt”
In honor of Canada Day, show us your favorite Canadian.
Although I love many Canadian writers, artists and musicians, I just wasn't in the mood to feature one person today. So I'm thrilled to honor a group who saved my life this past spring, when I was trying to write my chimney swift proposal and plan my pilot study.
COSWEIC is the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. While some scientific articles take a blase and cynical attitude towards chimney swift's decline, COSWEIC took a stand in this document.
In it they had the balls to discuss how people complain about the noise made by nestlings, and how some chimney sweep companies blatantly remove the nest, babies and all, in order to placate their clients. This violates the International Migratory Bird Act, by the way, is a federal offense in the States, and is a crime in any country!
To my delight, they also disucss how the chimney swift hardly has any protection, and how their decline is largely being ignored by the international community. There are many other great things in this document, and COSEWIC is not afraid to speak the truth that others refuse to mention. Thank you, guys!
Now, show us your dream job.
Why, tracking wolverines, of course!
That's my winter dream job, anyway.
How are you spending New Year's Eve?
* Curled up inside our warm house with our cats, new fluffy maroon blanket and raspberry tea. Thankful that we are so blessed and have such good fortune.
* Thinking of resolutions. I usually avoid making them, but this year it's necessary. A few things became very clear to me after my first semester of grad school.
* Reconsidering my thesis. There is so much to think about! I should do this kind of thinking over hot chocolate, don't you think? ;)
* Playing my violin. Yes, I play. I might also do some artsy stuff with my watercolor set. And I may call my grad school friend E, who plays viola. We found some Russian folk music that we can play as a team.
* Thinking of my Vox friends, who mean the world to me. Happy New Year, all. I love you guys.
Show us your favorite thing about this time of year.
Two words: SEASONS and REINDEER.
Okay, so my reindeer obsession is a bit out of control this year. But you HAVE to check this out. Instead of the Gregorian calendar, this is a collection of long sheets that represent each season. The year of this calendar runs from Winter Solstice 2007 to Winter Solstice 2008.
It's supremely cool. It has the proportional amount of daylight to darkness each day, moon cycles, which constellations are visible each week, Earth processes, and tides. On top of that, it's gorgeous. Wait until you see the Winter section. So sweet.
If you like mammals, Northern places, mystical forests, astonomy, lunar happenings, or anything else romantic, Earthy or cozy, this is for you! Geez I should be paid for this endorsement. Seriously, the best gift I got this Solstice.
I don't know why I love reindeer so much - maybe because I grew up around horses, snow, mystical folks, who knows. But I love anything that talks about winter or the seasons in general. And as Pax said, hot chocolate!
Show us an owl.
Oy! Good one, Matie!
This is a brown fish owl. They are native to tropical areas of Asia, from China to Pakistan. They live in forested areas and near plantations.
Fish owls feed on frogs, amphibians, small mammals and, of course, fish. Although they live in a variety of habitats, they always live near water. They are very strictly nocturnal.
The main threat to this species is deforestation, water contamination and destructive agricultural practices. Sadly these guys are also very vulnerable to the illegal wildlife trade in places like China.
Show us a butterfly.
I'd be happy to.
This rather nicely-patterned little fella is from Creative Commons. I have no idea what species he is, but it's dark, cold and rainy today and he's doing a great job of cheering me up.
Book: Show us a great comic book.
Okay, I'm going to pretend that I'm honoring the Sandman because it's almost Summer Solstice (June 21st).
It's not because I'm in financial hell. It's not because I accidentally slammed my hand in the metal filing cabinet last night trying to find old tax forms.
It's not because financial aid from my old school sent me a letter saying that I am denied financial aid because my grade point average which is 3.424 is not up to academic standards. It's not because when I told them I graduated with honors, they said it was a government technicality. (Things are okay with my new school, luckily. I don't even know why my old school is contacting me!)
And it's certainly not because my head is drifting back to my college days when I was a wine-drinking cigarette smoker and I had to read Sandman just to get me through the day.
So seriously, in honor of Neil Gaiman, The Sandman and the absolutely heart wrenching, brilliant and stunningly gorgeous art which made college life so much easier, here are the reasons why I love Sandman.
* The stories were brilliant and the characters were chillingly real. Once you began reading the series, you would swear they were right there with you during your normal day.
The characters never looked the same. That's because there were over 35 different artists who worked on the magazine. It's pure genius.
The facial expressions and body language were so real it was scary. And the art was 100 percent of the time, stunning.
* The Creatures.
I don't have pictures of them, but the animals that guarded Dream's castle were priceless.
Gryphon, Hippogriff and Wyvern were the really cool security guards of the castle that will make you want mythological beasts in your home.
* GAIMAN.
Known in art circles as "The Shakespeare of comic books".
An understatement, for sure.
Happy Midsummer, Neil. You're amazing.
Video: Show us your TV crush.
Submitted by quornflour.
That one is easy.
SENDHIL RAMAMURTHY.
No words.....can't......speak...
Sorry it's not a video. You can see him on Heroes.
Mohinder.
Read my interview with the Heroes star!
Me: So, Sendhil, in addition to stunning looks, why do you also have to have such a gorgeous name? You're KILLING ME!
Sendhil: Oh, I didn't tell you? I play an objective doctor on Heroes, with no powers. But in real life, I stun people with my brilliant self and make them play poker with me at my seaside resort.
