September 3, 2008
Important Dates (Not to be Late!)
Important Dates, Not to be Late!
Here's a list of upcoming important show dates (I will be adding more as I confirm my fall and x-mas show schedule):
October 4th, 2008 - Manitoulin Island Visual Heritage Project Film Premiere at the M'Chigeeng Community Complex - This is the premiere of the project that I was involved with last summer, playing the part of William Gibbard, fisheries minister and the principal protagonist of "The Manitoulin Incident". This was my first time acting on film, so I'm excited to finally see the results!
November 8th, 2008 - I will be attending the first ever Northern Ontario Conference of Kink (NOCK) as a vendor. You can visit the NOCK website for more information regarding this unique adult oriented show.
November 8th, 2008 - My dad will be running my regular market table for the annual Manitoulin Farmers' Market Association Christmas show in Gore Bay from 10am to 3pm at the Community Hall. He will be displaying my full range of original chainmail earrings and pendants, as well as Manitoulin Illustrated Volume I and his new Manitoulin Island Sketch Book!
Things I would like to Figure Out - Part 1
Back in the mid-90's I used to work summer evenings at Manitoulin Island's only health and international food store: The Island Pantry. I have fond memories of slinging frozen yoghurt on those hot summer evenings, which could actually be fairly quiet, given that, in those days, The Pantry was the only store that was open past 6pm. So, to entertain myself, I used an old tape deck to dub a pile of mixed music tapes from various sources, which mostly consisted of other dub tapes that I borrowed from other people.
My pile of mix tapes is lost somewhere in the sands of time, having been long since replaced by mixed CDs, however, there's one song form the old days that I would love to locate, but have never been able to find, due mostly to not knowing the title of the song or even the band that sings it.
It was a very strange song, very slow and dreamy, filled with a distorted male voice and long twangs of steel guitar. The only lyrics that I can recall are: "Sammy was a boxer, took a beating in the ring, hands raised in victory, something, something, something".
I have, of course, tried variants of these lyrics in Google, but to no avail, so I would be eternally grateful to anyone who might be able to point me in the direction of what this mystery tune could be!
June 19, 2008
The Gore Bay Summer Theatre
I thought I would just take a moment to post information about our upcoming summer theatre season here in Gore Bay, which starts (GULP!) next week!
Norm Foster fans will be happy to know that we're putting on one of his funniest plays: "The Love List" this summer. Kevin, Tara and Dave are back with a top-notch show that will have you literally rolling in the aisles!
Myself and Vincent are performing Mitch Albom's poignant "Tuesdays with Morrie" , based on his best-selling book. This play is both very touching and very funny and is filled with great wisdom about figuring out just what's important in life!
Walter has also been working with a group of outstanding youngsters from the local public school to produce an excellent production of "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe".
"The Love List" plays June 26th, 27th and July 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th, 17th, 18th and 24th at the Gore Bay Community Hall. Curtain is at 7:30 pm sharp, tickets are available at the town office or at the box office from 6:30pm on show dates.
"Tuesdays with Morrie" plays June 28th, July 5th, 8th, 12th, 15th, 19th and 22nd at the Gore Bay Community Hall. Curtain is at 7:30 pm sharp, tickets are available at the town office or at the box office from 6:30pm on show dates.
"The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" plays June 28th, July 6th and 13th at the Gore Bay Community Hall. Curtain is a 2:00 pm Saturday matinee, tickets are available at the town office or at the box office from 6:30pm on show dates.
For more ticket information, you can call 282 0538 or 1 800 529 5518
We're also very performing both of our main productions at the Burns Wharf Theatre in Manitowaning this summer! "Tuesdays with Morrie" plays on July 2nd, 9th, 16th and 23rd. 'The Love List" plays on July 25th and 26th. For times & tickets please call (705) 859 3808.
We hope to see you at our shows this summer!
September 6, 2007
Strange Days
I had a very surreal feeling today driving in to Gore Bay, turning from Agnes Street to Water Street and looking down into the large field by the board walk. I noted that the field was jammed with about a thousand Canadian Geese. While this scene wasn't particularly surreal in and of itself (it ~is~ migration season after all). When I mentally compared it with the exact same scene from yesterday, making precisely the same turn and looking down on the exact same field, only to see that it was filled with about a thousand Gulls, the surreal contrast was abrupt and suddenly my brain flashed playing Katamari Damacy with the instant urge to roll up as many migratory birds as possible!
I was very disappointed to note today that it has been well over a month since I ordered a CD from an Ottawa area band called "Nothing Sacred". I had decided to purchase the CD after hearing their impressive performance during Gore Bay's Summer Festival on the waterfront from my apartment. So I decided to drop the band a note, only to discover that their website: http://www.nothingsacredrocks.com/ is missing, along with the contact email address found on Paypal. Looks like it's time to open a dispute! (Bleh!)
I had an even more surreal feeling when I realized that the following picture was on the cover of this week's Manitoulin Expositor! (Lord love a duck! There I am in living colour and in a top hat no less!)
June 5, 2007
Imagini
March 10, 2007
Just Too Darn Predictable
My guess is that the only thing that kept my score from being 100% was the fact that I was using IE and Windblows! (LOL)
February 21, 2007
Crazy!
February 5, 2007
Life in Three Dimensions
It may be surprising (or it may not be surprising, depending on your point of view) to note that all of the illustrations for my first two books were created with a completely evil 3D rendering program called Amapi 3D that I received free with a 3D design magazine from the UK.
In all fairness, I can't label Amapi completely evil, as I was only using version 4. I believe that the program eventually made it to version 6 or 7 before the company was purchased and Amapi was discontinued. So it's quite possible that later versions may have actually sported a sensible interface or may not have been as sluggish as molasses on a cold February night or may not ever even been so prone to constantly crashing in a manner that completely corrupted working data files, version 4 however, suffered from all of these problems and more.
To a certain extent, the problems with Amapi 4 make me wonder how I ever managed to complete so many illustrations without going completely BFG on the developers of such a sorry excuse for buggy software.
But somehow my sanity remained intact (well, it's actually pretty hard to damage something that one never had in the first place); however, with several upcoming projects that are going to put my 3D illustration talents to the test once again, I decided that it was finally time to try out a some new 3D design software. Below is the result of 2 days of fiddling with some trial software. I'm pretty happy with the result, looks like it's time to bite the bullet and invest in some serious software!
February 1, 2007
Pirate Survey
I normally wouldn't fill out a survey from MySpace, but I just couldn't resist this Pirate themed survey from Pirate Queen, Ryskie the Red.
1. Why are you a Pirate? A. Since when does a free spirit need a reason to be a Pirate? B. Because I'm against Ninjas in any form. C. Booty! Plunder! Pillaging!
2. What type of ship do you have? The fastest Sloop this side of Andromeda, with crack four pound gauss cannons and an interstellar hyperdrive.
3. What is the name of your ship? The Black Ship Lollipop.
4. What is your rank? Captain! What other rank is there?
5. Do you have a crew? Who else would man the gauss cannons?
6. Pistols, Swords, Whips, Daggers...all of the above? Blaster Pistols, Laser Swords, Electro-Whips and Vibrodaggers, all standard equipment.
7. What is your favorite Piratical Punishment? Walking the plank out the airlock or 10 lashes of the Plasma-o-nine-tails.
8. Who is your favorite Historical Pirate? Captain Morgan, the Dread Pirate Roberts, Barrett. (The first person to say anything about fiction will lose an eye and not in the fashionable sense!)
9. What type of Pirate are you? SPACE! (and computer... ...in my spare time)
10. What part of the world do you or would you like to sail? Make that Worlds with a capital S! and all of 'em! 'aaaarrrrrrrr!
11. What is your favorite treasure? Fire Crystals of Betelgeuse, mercurial gold of the twin spiral galaxies, pocket-sized black hole spheres from the long handle of the little dipper and the Crown Jewels of Belxar the Flocculent, last emperor of the Cerulean Jelly Seas.
12. Do you have hidden/buried treasure(s)? What kind of pirate would give away that kind of information?
13. What is your preferred pirate garb? RegulusCorp Bionic hook and peg leg assembly, poofy pirate shirt, broad spectrum scan analyzer eye patch with optional radioactive glow upgrade, nanomorphic tattoo, leather boots with latnium buckles.
14. Do you have your own jolly roger? If so, please describe. Classic skull with crossed sword and pistol, alternatively: "Copy A:\*.*"
15. Do you have advice for MySpace Pirates? If so, what? Love Many! Trust Few! And always paddle your own Canoe!
January 6, 2007
Ok, So I Went to the City Yesterday for a Pretty Silly Reason
A friend let me know that there was a review of “Chain Mail Jewelry” on page 18 of the February 2007 issue of “Bead & Button” magazine. The weather was so nice that I just couldn’t resist slipping over to the city for the day to pick up a copy, since Bead & Button isn’t available locally.
In part, the review reads: “Clear color-coded illustrations and large detailed photos demystify the ancient art of chain mail. With these inventive projects, chain mail is now modern, versatile, at times open and airy, and made completely accessible to the beginner through careful step-by-step instructions alongside computerized graphics. There are plenty of designs for intermediate and advanced readers too, with a gallery full of artists’ work to inspire you even beyond this book.”
Which I think is pretty darn positive, thank you Bead and Button!
P.S. I actually went to Sudbury a couple of weeks ago for the almost identical purpose of picking up the Winter 2007 edition of "Step-by-Step Wire Jewelry", which contains very positive reviews not only of Chain Mail Jewelry, but also my first book, “The Art of Chainmail: Volume I”.
So, I suppose I should say “Thank you Step-by-Step Wire Jewelry!”, as well!
December 24, 2006
Majoring in Cartography
I've always had quite the fancy for maps and all things map related. I think it comes from all the days I spent in my youth drawing out maps for the various Computer and Paper Role-Playing Games that I played.
Back before the days of auto-mapping (I still remember when CRPGs like the original Might and Magic came with their own special pad of graph paper) every square inch of every single dungeon had to be drawn out by hand. I would spent countless hours adventuring, mapping and then remapping, sometimes creating giant maps for all the regions of a certain game, like the aforementioned Might and Magic and also notably in my mind the winding cities of Secret of the Silver Blades.
Today, my fascination with cartography has led me to create all kinds of crazy projects, like the full Manitoulin Island Map I drew by hand in Photoshop for one of my website clients.
My latest mapping project has been to create an interactive photo map that pinpoints worldwide locations where I have sold and continue to sell various chainmail pieces over the years with pictures, as well as the locations of the markets, shows and classes that I plan on attending in 2007. I am also considering adding loose details of locations where I plan on taking road trips and locations where I'd like to hunt for various interesting rocks for my lapidary work.
The map is created and maintained through a service called Zeemap (formally known as "Flappr"), it was pretty easy to set up and my only complaint so far is that I can't choose which points take layer priority, they just assume that the further north a point is, the further back in the point hierarchy it should be. It's also a service which is obviously gaining in popularity, as the service seems a little lagged at times.
December 22, 2006
Turing Tests Have Been Implemented
One of my jobs as a web designer is to market the websites I create, obviously the ultimate success or failure of a website can sometimes depend on how many people visit said website.
When I created this web journal I decided to use it as an experimental platform for several different techniques related to web design, one of which being website marketing.
I am happy to say that in the 6 weeks (or so) since starting out I have increased traffic to this site by about 2.5 times, which is a pretty good start for a journal that is basically about esoteric digital nonsense.
Looking through statistics for how people find this site is very interesting; some of my more esoteric posts are actually my greatest traffic generators as far as Google searches. Whether or not people are actually happy with the results of their searches leading to one of my rambling posts is another question entirely.
One note of interest is how many people looking for my books or myself misspell my name. Having a name with an usual spelling as sort of numbed me to this problem, especially when living in a small town where the bank will cash a cheque with just about any version of my name on it.
However, I would once and for all like to put a rest to the subject. My name is Dylon Whyte, that's with an "o" in Dylon and a "y" in Whyte. It's not Dylan (like a certain famous Mr. Zimmerman a.k.a. Bob Dylan), who was named after a famous poet (Dylan Thomas), who was named after a Welsh Sea God (Dylan Eil Ton). It's not Dillon, like a certain movie star (Matt Dillon) or a famous fictional gunslinger (Marshall Dillon). It's not Dhillon (popular family name from the other side of the world). And it is most certainly not Zoltan (as a certain mail marketing firm has spelled it for years).
And with regards to Whyte, it's Whyte in the classic Scottish sense (Yay Robert Roy MacGregor!), not white, which is a colour representing the full colour spectrum. It's also not wight, as in the undead, magical treasure hording, inhabitants of certain Middle-earthian barrows.
Continue reading "Turing Tests Have Been Implemented"
December 19, 2006
3-in-1 Update
One
I have posted some pictures (one, two, three pictures, actually) of the project that I’ve been working on for the past few days on flickr.
It’s a lariat style necklace made from 21ga spring hard sterling silver rings and “blackstone” beads in the classic Byzantine pattern, was commissioned by a friend and is a bit of an x-mas present to myself, as I’m trading it to her for a brand new Nintendo Wii that her boyfriend won in a raffle.
This is only the second or third time that I’ve done wire-wrapped loops for a project, which I usually try to avoid due mostly inexperience. The loops are perhaps a tad unusual in that they are double wrapped to match the chain.
Two
Regular visitors will also notice that I’ve removed the links I had to the 43 Things website, as I’m kind of miffed at them right for completely deleting all of my content without any sort of notification and explanation. I lost a lot of writing, so I guess I’ll just save that sort of thing for this site, where I have proper control over things!
I will miss a couple of the friends I made on 43 things, such as “b” and “rouenpucelle”, who both had excellent senses of truly wrapped humour!
Three
Also, I have also been invited by one of the local community collages to teach a 3 week course on blogging, but am unsure of whether or not I should accept the offer. The class would start in January and be once a week in Little Current, which is a pretty long drive if the weather decides to act up. Still pondering this one…
December 16, 2006
Elfed!
I'm not responsible for this!
December 12, 2006
Prehistoric Jaws
I came across this tooth stashed away in a dark corner of a hip little jewelry show in Tobermory. It was more expensive than my normal limit for pendant stones, but when I saw it, I knew that it had to be mine.
The choker is constructed from two mirrored (no easy feet) lengths of my original “Silver Serpent” chain pattern, made from hand-busting 16 gauge stainless steel. At the center of the chain sits a möbius knot that the tooth, itself wrapped in combination of finer European and Persian stainless steel chainmail patterns, is suspended from.
You can click this picture for a closer view on flickr.
Sikhote-Alin
For the longest time I had been searching for a good sized meteorite fragment to make a chain-wrapped pendant for myself from. I finally found this specimen at a rock show in Sudbury, Ontario in the summer of 2006, it is the most expensive “rock” I have ever purchased.
The meteorite, at a hefty 51g, has been wrapped with sterling silver double-cable chains and is suspended from my personal sterling silver Byzantine chain; constructed a number years ago as one of my first experiments with precious metal chains.
The Sikhote-Alin Meteorite fell over the Sikhote-Alin mountain range in Siberia in 1947, it is actually an usual meteorite in that it was composed almost entirely of nickel and iron (nature’s original stainless steel!).
You can click on the photo above for more detailed pictures on flickr.
December 8, 2006
Missing the Little Things
Last weekend while I was attending the Snowflake Fair in Mindemoya I happened to have a table right beside the fine folks from the Manitoulin Soap Factory. So, as happens at these sorts of things, I was able to overhear some of conversations that the Soap Factory folks were having with customers.
Talk of luffa sponges embedded with soap caught my attention, so during "vendor wander hour" (the last hour or aso of the market, when things are super quiet and vendors tend to wander around and talk to other vendors) I snuck over to check out the luffas and ended up having the most interesting conversation.
Now, normally in life I'm more curious about this sort of thing, but never before had I thought to question the origin of luffa sponges. However, when I was told that the Soap Factory folks had been thinking "growing their own", I was a bit taken back. I mean, where would they manage to put a large saltwater sea on their small chunk of Manitoulin? And how would they keep the sponges from freezing solid during winter?
Of course I was completely misguided by the term "luffa sponge", which I had related to natural ocean sponges, when, in fact, luffa sponges are the cleaned and dried vascular component (xylem) of at least 2 species of fruit-bearing tropical vine!
Well colour me green and call me string bean! Luffa's aren't animal at all, they're 100% vegetable! And all these years I had felt so guilty about luffa scrubs in the shower and had always taken special care not to wear out my luffas too fast, lest the oceanic supply become too scare! (Of course, we'll have to keep this a secret from Audrey, I don't know if she would approve of me scrubbing with the leftover bits of a deceased cousin!)
The thing that actually bugs me is that when I looked closely at the cross sections of soap embedded luffas on their table I realized that that I had seen that structure before growing on the island, albeit in a much smaller form; our own native wild cumbers!
And, just to double confirm, here are luffas and here are wild cucumbers, please note that they are from the exact same plant family!
I should have figured out the relation years and years ago! Shame on me, time to go back to my botany lessons!
December 5, 2006
New Winter Tip
Just a little note that I’ve posted a handy winter tip on the Discover Manitoulin Forum.
December 3, 2006
Manitoulin Winters
To help “celebrate” our first real snowfall of the year, I have decided to start a new topic thread about surviving winter on the island on the “Discover Manitoulin Forum”, click here to read more!
And please share your own suggestions and experiences!
November 22, 2006
Let's Get Ready to Grrrrrrrrrrrruuuuumble!
One of my favorite shared running gags with my good buddy Draxenn involves a very mighty, boisterous and forgetful warrior-type character that we dubbed “the Grumbleduke”, after an obscure reference from the “Witchsmeller” episode of the original Black Adder series.
Among other things, the Grumbleduke is rather fond of biscuits, mistaking anyone with a lute for a Minstrel he once knew named “Sam” (an even older running gag) and making many grand pronouncements that end with “so mote it be” or “and that is the way of things”. (Basically, the goofy sort of thing that you get up to when you stay up all night talking on IM to your friend that works graveyards at a call centre).
Well, at one time we had a grand idea that we’d do a sort of collaboration comic strip, with Draxenn supplying the characters, myself supplying backgrounds and a storyline that we’d both work on. Unfortunately the project never got going, however, Draxenn has just resurrected the dormant Grumbleduke as a new recurring character in his “A Jagged Mind” comic strip! Yay!
And, just for fun, here is an ancient test panel that we created for the Grumbleduke ages ago, character by Draxenn, background by Dylon and dialog stolen from an episode of Father Ted entitled “Tentacles of Doom”.
November 16, 2006
Classic IQ
The Classic IQ Test
Congratulations, Dylon!
Your IQ score is (Censored)
This number is based on a scientific formula that compares how many questions you answered correctly on the Classic IQ Test relative to others.
Your Intellectual Type is Visionary Philosopher. This means you are highly intelligent and have a powerful mix of skills and insight that can be applied in a variety of different ways. Like Plato, your exceptional math and verbal skills make you very adept at explaining things to others — and at anticipating and predicting patterns. And that's just some of what we know about you from your IQ results.
Rorschach Test
Tickle's Original Inkblot Test
Dylon, your subconscious mind is driven most by Curiosity.
You are full of questions about life, people, and your own potential. You spend more time than others imagining the possibilities for your life — and you're open to things others are too afraid to consider.
You have an almost physical need to know and do more. It's only through new experiences that you feel a greater understanding of yourself and the world. You also have a rebellious streak that shows up when you feel unable to truly influence the world or circumstances around you. Your appetite for novel experiences also shows an openness others don't have, but wish they did.
Your psyche is very rich; the more you learn about it, the more you will understand who you really are.
November 12, 2006
The Scarebear as Art
The final piece of old data:
My father, Jack Whyte, created this piece of collage art after my costume called "The Scarebear". The piece of art is physically 5" x 7". It was given to me as an X-mas present in 1995.
Real Me
Even more old data:
This is a Collage of me, that my Father did. He's a purdy good artist (in my ever so humble opinion) and has managed to capture as much of the "real me" as one can in a piece of art.
The title is "What's Love Got to do With It?"
November 11, 2006
My "Old" Sword
Some more old data:
As you can see, my sword follows the rest of my theory of the SCA. Where most SCAdians prefer to look like they've been pulled out of their persona's time period and placed into ours. I like to look like I've had to fight my way through Two Thousand Year's worth of History.
My sword reflects this, hand forged by me to a nicked and dented edge, with a special rust patina applied to the surface. The Cross Hilt is made from a Bovine Vertebrae and the grip is wound with Equine Tail Hair.
Even though it's a rather Short Sword, it has caused more fear in people than I would have expected, with the most common exclamation upon seeing it being, "BLOOD POISONING!". The blade is quite dull however, and poses little threat. If I wanted to kill someone, I'd use a High Powered Sniper Rifle from about 2000 yards away, not a length of sharp steel at less than a foot apart. There's a lot less chance of getting killed that way.
 
The Lair...
Whilst cleaning up my old website, I came across the following description of myself, it's still pretty accurate (Note: that my website was formally called Kusari Kahn's Lair):
Welcome brave ones! Here is everything you've probably been wondering about your host and maybe more...
Hmmm, I don't think that this is truly "my" lair. It is more the lair of my passions and my imagination. Besides, being a flesh and blood Homo Sapiens Cyborg makes it rather hard to physically inhabit cyberspace...
Just what are my passions? Well, let's see, there's chainmail, history, surreal art, strange music, passing on knowledge and much, much more.
It seems that for every one of my passions I have a different name. The Lair is designed to introduce you to a few of them...
My main name here in Cyberspace is Kusari Kahn...
My Meatspace Name is Dylon Whyte...
Kusari is the Japanese word for Chain. I have been told that I am "Kusari no Yoroi Tsukarijin" or Literally Maker of Chain Armour, but as you can see I make a lot more than just Mail... I earned the "Kahn" from my days as an Orcish General, in the lands of Azeroth, as depicted in WarCraft 2...
I make more than Mail of course... I like to combine my knowledge of Black-Smithing, Armouring and Surreal Art with my Imagination...
My imagination is inspired by many Things : Computer and Paper RPGs (Role-Playing Games), Far more British Sitcoms than is normally considered Mentally Healthy (I was once told that I was to stop watching Monty Python immediately as it would ruin my sense of humour), Movies and Theatre, Music, History, Myths, Legends and too much Robert E. Howard pulp fiction...
November 4, 2006
Of Course, Some Functions...
...can only be tested with two or more entries.
The Ubiquitous Entry Number One
Well, every new blog needs an entry number one so that the webmaster can check and make sure that everything is working correctly.
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June 2010
