I'm so stupid, I signed up and got the Zot.

[hk409]

THIS SITE IS ZOT!

GIMME A BRAKE ALREADY! YOU GUYS MUST BE THE BIGEST MORONS ON THE WORLD! THE BIGEST MORONS NEXT TO THAT SOFTWARE COMPANY I USED TO VISIT SIX YEARS AGO! OY YOY! YOY! YOY! YOY! YOY! YOY! YOY! YOY! EACH TIME I TRYED TO POST SOMETHING NO MATTER HOW SMART! NO MATTER HOW CONSERVATIVE! EVEN IF I BEND OVER BACK AND DO BACK FLIPS AND THEN BEND OVER FOR THAT DUMB LIBERAL WE UNFORTUNATELY ELECTED! EVEN IF SPELL CHECKER ARE WORKING I STILL GET THEN KICKED OFF!! THEN ZOTTED!! WHY? IS IT JUST BECAUSE I WRITE SO BRILLIANT? BOB RUNS THINGS HERE!? OKAY. OKAY. OKAY. OKAY. OKAY. MAEYBE PEEPLE LIKE JJFATE AND NOAH HORSEFLY IS ASKING FOR IT BUT WHAT ABOUT ME!

[Lady Jag]

Have you taken any Life Painting classes or do you just take your pad to nude beaches? LOL!!!

[Lady Jag]

Was that a pun? I just want to be sure.

[Lady Jag]

I wasn't thinking about grok. I was distracted.

[King Prout]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=nuclear+hydrogen+propulsion+florida+university+NERVA

[NicknamedBob]

"Was that a pun? I just want to be sure."

*NnB scratches head*

No pun intended, or even recognized.

[Darksheare]

I draw best from live models, but finding people who will sit still for a sketch is proving to be maddeningly difficult.

[Lady Jag]

No pun intended, or even recognized.

Good, I'm thankful.

[Lady Jag]

Why not take a class, then, if you can't get any volunteers from the general population.

[NicknamedBob]

More interesting reading. I liked this:

"...despite sporadic low levels of funding, NTR(Nuclear Thermal Rocket) is the only credible option that makes sense for what we want to do."

... and the section on Solid core elements in the form of Uranium and Zirconium Carbides was very useful, but I am convinced the fuel rods or elements will need more cladding to operate at the higher temperatures. Iridium, Osmium, and even Tantalum could perhaps be combined with more common substances like Molybdenum to yield a corrosion resistant high-temperature cladding material that would allow the heat to be transferred without exposing any Uranium to oxidation or loss.

[Darksheare]

No such classes in my area that don't require you to be doing other things like enrolled in a degree program or also taking classes that have absolutley zip to do with improving your art skills.

Any such courses are way out of the way for me.
Already looked into that.

[Lady Jag]

Even if you offer to pay them they are still suspicious. Even friends won't do it. People are too jumpy these days.

[Lady Jag]

Sometimes classes are hard to find, but they are out there. There are several in each surrounding town here.

[Lady Jag]

Google "town art association", substituting "town" for your town and for surrounding towns. You'll find classes. Those sorts of classes are for people like you and me who want to study what we want to study and curricula(um) be darned! They're more like salons with a mentor.

[Darksheare]

Anything like that is spread by word of mouth around here.
Trick is, finding the people to speak to.

[Lady Jag]

If you find the art associations, you'll find the classes. The art associations are the umbrella for artists in the area and all have at least judged art show a year where you can show your work. Contact an association and you will have your pick. Trust me.

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

Heh, heh.

I wonder how many people would have bothered to see that-by all accounts, absolutely atrocious-movie "The Fantastic Four," if Jessica Alba wasn't starring in it.

:0)

-good times, G.J.P. (Jr.)

[Darksheare]

I know of one person to speak to, but the issue is 'pricing'.
(As always!)

[Lady Jag]

Just do it. You don't know what you're missing. It's not expensive here, $85-150 for 10 weeks in high cost of living areas.

[tiamat]

For anyone who loved Roald Dahl's book, go and see the new "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", starring Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka.

This Tim Burton film by Warner Brothers manages to capture Dahl's dark humor, and is simply FUN. If the Gene Wilder movie bored you, (or made you mad like it did me when I saw it when I was 12) there IS therapy available in this new movie.

"Charlie" follows the plot of Dahl's book closely, (with a few minor exceptions) and Johnny Depp is amazingly weird as Willy Wonka. It's startling to realize that this guy (who comes off as even stranger than Michael Jackson) is the SAME guy who played Captain Jack Sparrow in Disney's "Pirates of the Carribean". . I guess that's why they call it acting. Oh, and Willy's wardrobe is to DIE for!

The sets are great. Charlie Bucket's home is Dickensian in nature, just as it should be. The Garden set around the Chocolate Waterfall is NOT Gene Wilder's sacharine-sweet setting where he sang his song and bit the edge off of a daffodil. THIS "eatible" Garden IS alluring, but it is also somewhat forboding, and ...well, it has tentacles. Honest.

The best change was the Oompa-Loompas. I never DID like the little orange guys with the green hair, who sang their smarmy songs about each of the Bad Children to the same tune.

THESE Oompa-Loompas seem to come from SE Asia, have a wicked sense of humor, and they use Dahl's orioginal lyrics, and each song has it's own style and tune. "Veruca Salt the little brute, has just gone down the garbage chute....etc".

BEST of all, the horrible plot complication of Charlie and Granpa Joe stealing an Everlasting Gobbstopper and then holding out on Mr. Wonka for the Industrial Spy's coin is GONE.

Didn't happen in the book, didn't happen here.

There's lots of "in-jokes". Just WAIT till you see what happens with the giant Wonka bar in the TV room, and hear the theme music. LOTS of "eye-candy" in this movie, and yes, the pun IS intended!

The ending IS a little different than in the book, but it all turns out right in the end. The Moral Lessons are more piquant, and EVERYONE gets what they deserve.

Movie sound-track is done by Danny Elfman, so it has that "Harry Potter" feel to it.

My companion for this matinee was a middle aged Army Vet who has never read the book and who HATED the Gene Wilder movie.

(Yes, this was a bit of a hard-sell to get him to go)

He loved "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and laughed so hard I thought he would aspirate his pop-corn.

"Charlie" is going to be on my Christmas Wish list when it comes out on DVD for sure.

[tiamat]

I have not seen that.

MIGHT catch it on DVD when Netflix has it.

Considering "Shark Boy and Lava Girl" and Howl's Moving Castle"

Look just above to find out a little bit about "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".