(no subject)

Today has been much quieter.

I was in some training today, but it was one-on-one stuff and much more relevant to my existence than yesterday's whatever-that-was. I've spent most of the day quietly assembling information (for my eventual invasion, shhh).

Actually this afternoon I spent quite a bit of time taking the ice machine apart. It wasn't properly dispensing ice, and I can't abide a thing that doesn't do the sole job it was designed to do. The problem turned out to be chunks of frost behind the bin, which kept the bin from sliding in all the way. That blocked the door from fully sealing itself when people closed it, which let in just enough warm air to meld the existing ice cubes into a solid block.

One of the Supreme Overbosses walked in on me while I was crouched in front of it, swearing about physics, which is not the best first impression but not a bad one either. And I fixed it, so it's not like anyone can really complain.

I'm planning to go to the Art Institute this evening, but it all depends on the weather. Anything over seventy degrees and fuck art, I'm going home.

(no subject)

I suspect it was over seventy degrees, but I went to the Art Institute anyway.

I specifically scheduled myself without many Adventures this week, because I knew I'd be settling in, but I've been trying to get to the museum to see the Golden Spider Silk Textile forever, and it's only here through November. The Art Institute is open late on Thursdays, so that's generally when I go.

The textile is the only one of its kind in the world, woven entirely with thread spun from the silk of the female Golden Orb spider, a Madagascar arachnid about the size of an adult human's palm. What you see in that image is a very narrow swatch from it. What you also are seeing there is undyed thread -- the silk from the Golden Orb spider is naturally a brilliant, almost iridescent yellow colour and in person it's quite stunning.

It's magnificent by any standard; I spent a while studying it up close and the weaving itself, without any other context, is flawless. But then you look at the tassle-work on the ends and you can see how delicate and soft the silk itself is. Spider silk-weaving has only been done once before, in the 19th century, and the textile is the result of five years of work and about half a million dollars (you can read more about the process here).

I also got to see a print show called Belligerent Encounters. It's a small sister show to Windows On The War, the major exhibit at the Art Institute right now, which is a display of Soviet anti-German propaganda posters created in the wake of the German invasion during World War II. There are some very beautiful prints in Belligerent Encounters, but the west hall of the gallery focuses on artists depicting the brutality of war (warning, that's a pretty graphic etching), and it's extremely sobering. The combination of beauty, clever design, and disturbing subject matter creates a real sense of cognitive dissonance.

One of the most striking images, for me, was a lithograph entitled 1915, done by Albin Egger-Lienz, an Austrian artist, in the early part of the 20th century.

Anyway, that was this week's Adventure. They'll be fewer until November, because anything I do until November basically can't cost me any money, but my calendar for November is excitingly full...