I Used To Be a Blogger…

Until I Took An Arrow In the Knee

There’s no sugar coating it, this place is fading fast and won’t continue much longer. I’ve simply lost interest in doing the blogging thing anymore. But, I do have some few things to put up before turning out the lights. Let’s get to it.

Peter Lik

Last weekend The Parental Units & I went to our favorite Japanese restaurant (Hamada of Japan) but first we dropped by one* of the Peter Lik galleries at the Forum Shops.  The Parental Units loved the small Elements set I bought them for Christmas and wanted to see more of this guy’s work. As always his stuff never fails to impress and they were interested in perhaps buying something. Oddly the sales staff were not very engaging though and I actually had to initiate things. Long story short they went back the next day and sealed the deal on a larger piece. Click to embiggen and impressivify:

***EDIT***

Apparently there’s an issue for some people with the Lik pic above though it looks fine to me. Try this link out instead: Peter Lik -Endless Flow

The size they bought is one meter on the long size and whatever’s the appropriate ratio is on the other. So, it’s big. And also unframed. The image is adhered like it’s under glass to a clear 1/8 inch thick plastic  top. The piece will actually float about an inch or so away from the wall sitting just above the Elements. It’s going to be stunning. And also surprisingly affordable (relatively speaking). They were given a lot of credits to their first purchase so that dropped the price down a fair chunk too. I guess they figure that once you start buying his stuff it will be hard to stop. I suspect they’re right.

*Yes, he has TWO galleries dedicated only to his photography in this VERY expensive mall. As someone who used to work in a gorgeous, yet failed gallery at the Forum Shops, and who used to buy from another gorgeous, and also failed gallery at the Forum Shops this is quite simply amazing. Not only that, he has at least TWO OTHER galleries at other casino shopping districts on The Strip. This guy is moving some serious product.

Magnets

I’ve always been fascinated with magnets. These Buckyball things have consumed all my time and imagination lately. As I indicated previously I was frustrated with the small set I got for Christmas. I now have another three full sets of 216 and one additional 125 set in different colors (gold, black, nickel and blue respectively). All told that’s nearly 900 balls and I’ve enjoyed the expanded capacity to make stuff only hinted with the very small set. Here’s a few builds:

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Neat but painfully small. I’m already chafing even with the greatly expanded capabilities. Browse through youtube to see what people do with thousands of these balls. Amazing. One of the things I noticed about these big builds is the fact that almost nobody is using the Buckyballs brand balls. I looked into it and ordered a set from Zen Magnets who claim that they have the better product. I have to agree. Ball size consistency is a problem for BBs. With the basic set I have if you lay it out in a hexagonal sheet it will not lay flat like it’s supposed to. Zen Magnets lay flat. They’re somewhat more expensive since I have to pay shipping (as opposed to ordering from Amazon Prime) but they are a better quality, better packaged (with useful extras) product. I’m hoping to score one of their big Mandala sets when they next come available. It seems they sell out very fast though. Now I have a problem, I don’t want to mix my Zen Magnets with the inferior corresponding uncolored Buckyballs. I’ll probably just give that set away so it isn’t an issue. But…now I’m down a set of balls! Obviously I’ll have to order some more.

The Big Chair

Many years ago when I was still poor I bought a low-end yet very comfortable La-Z-boy recliner chair. I loved that chair and probably slept in in more often than the Murphy bed I had to pull out of the wall in my tiny studio apartment. Time and the cat took their toll on the chair & it’s looking a bit ratty. A couple weeks ago I dropped by a La-Z-boy showroom nearby. I thought perhaps they might be having a year-end or new year sale. Sure enough they were so I picked out a new, bigger and better chair in a nice burgundy fabric. The Crandell model in fact. It just got delivered this morning and is sitting in my library area, waiting for me go over there and start crocheting again.

That’s it for now. I’ll have a few more parting words before I close up shop though.