Rue de Orfevres

in Pen and Marker

I did this in about 4 hours. It is based on a photo by Gimpy-Dexter. This was done using pencil and then a ballpoint pen to draw the main lines. Used marker to shade in the areas. Then I went a bit crazy with the pens and the marker, but I think it turned out alright. The joys of experimentation...Also, the quality of the picture is crap because I only have crappy mobile camera and that's what I used to take the picture. Couldn't scan it, was drawn on an A0-sized paper, so it's quite big.

                                                   photograph by Gimpy-Dexter

The Eyes of the Dragon

by Stephen King

This is a dark fantasy book set in a sort of medieval age, of castles and wizards. It is a story of a young prince, Peter who is framed by Flagg, the magician/advisor of King Roland, Peter's father. He is then sent to live out the rest of his life in the top of a tower that overlooks the whole city, called the Needle. In the meantime, Peter's younger brother Thomas takes over the kingdom and being so young and not very bright, Thomas is simply a puppet to Flagg's will. In all this while, Peter sets about setting things right and starts to hatch a plan to escape and reclaim his throne and clear his name. All this Peter must do before Flagg causes the whole kingdom to riot in arms from the high taxation and injustice of the courts he has imposed.

I think this is not one of King's best works. It seems to simple and the world's coloring and texture is very thinly veiled. The concept are also not explored into much depth. I felt there was very little to make this story have any sort of fantasy feel, or is it not supposed to be fantasy but just set in medieval times. I wonder. Anyways, it is also not dark and scary enough.

With other King books I have read, I always felt sick to my gut about how mentally disturbing it is. For instance, when I read Rose Madder, even thought the overall plots was not very well put together, the depth and substance of the characters are enough to make you feel and sick with everything, which is where I set the bar for King's fiction.

Overall, the story is decent and the characters are likable but at the end of it I felt it could have been so much more and I did not feel particularly horrified by any of it.

Hay Fever

at the Garrick Theatre

This is the synopsis from their website.

Hay Fever, a luminous and entertaining comedy, introduces you to the Bliss family: a retired acrtess mother, a novelist father and two children for whom all the world, literally, is a stage. Their outrageous antics alternately infuriate and astound their hapless weekend guests, all of whom have been individually invited for a weekend tete-a-tete.
Rousing fights, surprise engagements and fevered declarations of love drive the poor guests from the house, leaving the family happily bickering and playing amongst themselves as this stylish comedy bounces to it's inevitable and intoxicating end.

It was quite funny and light hearted. They were absolutely the most melodramatic family I have seen and their acting was very good. I especially liked the mother and the 2 children, they played their roles well. Start to end, it was quirky and a really off-beat sort of comedy. It you do not get wit, you probably won't get this. Quite peculiar sort of humour.