creativespotlite’s Neighborhood

I'd like to try this. 

This big spoon came from the set of the movie,The Shipping News  that starred Kevin Spacey. At the end of a production sometimes there is an auction of props and things. A  friend of mine who worked as the food stylist on that show picked  up some spoons. I had helped her create a "squid" burger for one of the scenes. lol. We tried to make it look great with bits of dulse hanging out and deep fried breaded fried tentacles but Kevin refused to even try it. The rest of the crew and director did and pronounced them delicious! His was eventually made with chicken. All this for a ten second shot:)

I uploaded this shot to Shutterstock on the weekend. It was was accepted and already has a download:) I have not been very consistent at all with my microstock stuff and plan to try to get a few uploaded each week. It is another way to make some extra dollars and fun too. With a bit of work, you could do quite well! I wrote about  microstock a while ago. There was some controversy recently about microstock taking  money from professional photographers but the shot in question that triggered the discussion was just a jar of coins used by Time magazine for their cover. Personally, I think why spend "big" money on a shot of a jar,  a classic "stock" picture.  Spend the"big"money on shots that require imagination and presence.

If you take a look around some of the microstock companies, there are AMAZING images to be found now. The advent of digital cameras has made photography accessible to so many more people and they are really pushing the boundaries of what can be done.

Thanks friends and neighbors.  Please send me posts you'd like me to see, since I won't be checking in all that often.  I forgot to post the link to my new blog.  Here it is:  One Thousand Days and Nights of Chinese Cooking  

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This is the "before" picture. Practically ALL my shelves look like this! Ah, January...the month that triggers resolutions, good intentions and lots of great plans. Can you guess what I am starting? That is if I can get off this computer and not get distracted by something else. I find that when I tidy up anything with words, I start reading.... :) oh yeah, where was I? Takes forever!

Our storm is over! What an event that was.  I don't think I've ever seen such change in so short  time. Raining, then snowing hard, then ice pellets and back to snow, now it is mild and everything is melting. Wonder what is in store for next week? Crazy weather everywhere!

Gretchen Rubin is someone we can all learn something from. She just published a book called The Happiness Project.  I 'd like to read it. Last year she test drove lots of theories about happiness and this book outlines what she discovered. One of the things I thought was interesting is that "random acts of kindness" don't work. People invariably end up suspicious and nervous. Better to help out a friend in need or help out as opportunities present themselves. Random scares people. Hmmm. Good stuff to ponder.

I wish you all a very good 2010!  May it be brighter than 2009, which was a year of hard lessons for many in this nation.  A few years ago, I tentatively entered online life through Vox.  I discovered quickly that I was able to post poems and receive instantaneous  non-academic feedback, which is of great value to me.  I also reacquainted myself with the arts of photography and sculpture.  That said, I have decided to spend the majority of my creative energies on a new endeavor in the next year.  The book of fairytale poems is still being tortured in layout stage.  When it is available, whether it is published or self-published, I will let you all know.  The next year.....

I have been busy home-schooling my children and struggling to keep up with creating and keeping my domicile clean.  What has been forgotten this past year, is good nutrition.  "What about integrating art into cooking and eating?"  I thought during a long winter's nap.  This makes perfect sense. 

I also had the pleasure of seeing Julie and Julia, which not only made me salivate over the gastronomy, but also provided a spark.  My Julia Child is definitely Gloria Bley Miller, who did for Chinese cooking, what the former did for French cooking.  She brought it, in its authenticity, into American households.  As a teenager, I created sumptuous meals for my family.  Her book is weathered and loved.  Miller was also an artist and an educator.  Her husband, Richard Miller, was a famous sculptor.  I used to imagine their Greenwhich Village house as a refuge from my suburbia, from the pains of ticky-tacky houses.  I laugh at this now, but it was very real to a fourteen-year-old misunderstood artist. 

This year, the year I turn forty, I return to the art of Chinese Cooking.  I am publishing my blog through Salon, so I won't be as much of a presence on Vox.  Please come over to see me!  If you want me to read anything, please send Vox mail to me.  Thanks for a year of warmth and kindness.  I wish you all health and prosperity in 2010!

New Year's Greens

New Year's Greens

Night of Roses

Night of Roses

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