I really do take too long in updating these things. But then again, I feel guilty if I don't have anything relevant to say. I'm probably going to comb through my other journal entries and clean those up, I've already removed a few of my deviations. It's a little late for spring cleaning, but I try not to let the seasons dictate too much to me.

It has been quite some time since I have written anything other than the music based articles on my blog I linked in my last journal, which can still be found here.

[link]

Anyways, let us get to the meat and potatoes (or whatever alternative diet you subscribe to has as the 'main' dishes) of this entry. A few things that have stirred my inner artist, my outer appearance, and my Vodka Martini.

Yesterday I stumbled upon a book we had in the garage with my dad's electical manuals. It is a giant book that appears to have the outer cover made of some strange fabric. This book is considered to be the "one" book by many, and has a cult following so big it is obscene. That book I am talking about, is the Holy Bible. I am not religious, but the book caught my attention because of the size and texture of the book. I took it off of the shelf, brushed he dust off of the cover and opened to a random page. What I found inside was probably some of the best print work I have ever seen, on paper that was so high quality I could probably take a sword to this thing and not be able to cut through it. The inking was so well done, not a single word had faded even slightly over the years this book has been around (the early 60s, according to the dedication in the front) and the pages were tinted a vauge yellow but not enough so that you never knew the original color was white. There were a few photos in there but I didn't care so much about those.

What really struck me though was how, every so often there would be a page that was bordered in some of the most exquisite line art work I have seen. Details all around, runes and shading, and in a vast rainbow of colors! It is not often you see a page of a book printed so breathtakingly well that you stare at it without reading a single word. While I am not a religious person in the slightest, I found merit in taking this book up to my study for further examination. It is this beauty which makes me want to publish a book sooner, because if I did finally publish one I would want to embellish it with details like that, something that is not done enough in modern books.

While i'm on the topic of the "lost arts" of books I would like to draw attention to a particular deviantartist whos works caught my attention some time ago.

is an artist who works in photography, painting, sketching, sculpting, but most importantly of all, book binding. Her works are stunning, intricately detailed and unique. While her books tend to be on the smaller side (enough to scribble a few words per page) I would love to write a story good enough to be situated on the pages of one of these astounding works of art. Please visit her page and have a look.

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As you, my friends, family and loyal readers are well aware, I like music. I listen to all kinds and I think if I had to go without music I would simply go mad. Often I sit and listen to music and get some ideas for something to write, but I take it further than that. I used to sit down with a record, or a song in particular, and write to it. I would try my hardest to pick a song with no lyrics and one that is somewhat long so the looping doesn't get too bothersome. And from this song or album I would start getting a story down. I usually didn't save these as I found them to be more of an exercise than something to actually keep, a sort of writing hygenic exercise. But I think I am going to start writing them again and putting them on DeviantArt. I may have uploaded a writing of the sort here at one point but it appears to be gone now. I will try to get one done this afternoon, but don't take my word on it.

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To explain the title of this entry, a Numbers Station is a shortwave radio station that broadcasts a pattern of letters and/or numbers or some kind of code. They usually only do this during a certain part of the day, and sometimes you have to go to extreme lengths to find a signal for them. There is a project dedicated to recording some of the more well known numbers stations, called The Conet Project. You can download the entire 4 CD long collection for free here.

[link]

Some of them are downright creepy, the distortion from the weak radio signal makes some of them sound almost ghastly. It is believed that spies used numbers stations back in the day to get codes that would provide them with coded information regarding their mission. I highly recommend checking them out.

Well that's all for today.