Denny Lyon Gifts: New Design: Too Happy Octopus

Too Happy Octopus Shower Curtain

Check out this happy octopus, a sci-fy thinker!

Denny Lyon Gifts: New Design: Too Happy Octopus:  From Denny:  It's summer and time to hit the beach!  Maybe if you are lucky enough to live in a place like Florida where the beach is year round, maybe not.  You can always bring the beach and the denizens of the ocean indoors with this fun design. 

This octopus is a real scify thinker and a happy guy sure to make you smile.  The design is on all manner of products at Cafe Press/DennyLyonGifts, from handbags and totes to t-shirts and bedding, posters too.  Take a look and enjoy browsing my Denny Lyon Gifts site.  All my profits go to two charities I really love:  St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital and the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank here in Louisiana (where they feed almost half of the state!)

Thanks for stopping by for a look and please be sure to pass the word on to your friends and relatives to help fund these charities!  Thank you!

Denny Lyon Gifts: New Design: Too Happy Octopus:  for more fun posts giving a shout out to newest designs!

Visit Denny Lyon Gifts  @ CafePress.com  -  see what's new!  

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Visit Denny Lyon Gifts  @ CafePress.com  -  see what's new!  

* Check out Dennys News Politics Comedy Science Arts & Food - a place where all my other many blogs link so you can choose from among the latest posts all in one place.  A free to read online newspaper from independent journalist blogger Denny Lyon. * 

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Dennys Art Sanctuary: Surrealist Exhibition, 43 National Artists: Baton Rouge Gallery

Dennys Art Sanctuary: Surrealist Exhibition, 43 National Artists: Baton Rouge Gallery:  From Denny:  Every month Baton Rouge Gallery (Louisiana) sponsors a stellar exhibition.  For January featured is the Surreal Salon 5 exhibition of Pop-Surrealist/Low Brow art.  This is a nationally juried art show of 43 artists from 18 states in the genre.  Yes, these are the kind of disturbing and unusual images that are favored over at StumbleUpon.




These wildly imaginative images also make you re-think your perspective.  Some will make you recoil in disgust, others will make you curious and others will make you laugh out loud at how outrageous they are both in thought theme and visually.  Check out the video clip of the catalog if you cannot attend in person and want some inspiration for your own artwork.  Prices included if you want any of these wild images hanging on your wall!

Create Your Niche Organic Women's Fit Tee

Owl Philosopher says: Create your niche, forget about what the other guy gets, be happy!

* * *  Please support Warriors Pearl Foundation - contributing to fund efforts to help homeless female military veterans come home.  Visit Denny Lyon Gifts  @ CafePress  -  see what's new!

Political Cartoon, Video: Obama And His Fellow Election Pundits

Image by jamesomalley via Flickr

From Denny:   As the 2012 election gears up to wear out the American public this month and for the next year nonstop, I thought I'd remind my fellow media guys - and now President Obama - just how bad they often look when giving their opinions, especially of their own accomplishments.  It really is the season of having to endure more delusional smug political propaganda from both sides of the aisle.

Tis the season of the cartoonish political pundit, spouting off silly opinions that rarely ever come true but sure makes for funny entertainment.  This pastel drawing is a classic of mine.  It was drawn when George Bush 43 began his campaign for president back in 1998.

The Repbulicans tout how they are gods we the voters are supposed to bow down and worship.  You see, they keep their message pretty simple:  Worship me; get nothing and like it.

Visual Insights: Dennys Photo Gallery: Awesome Quiet Landscapes by Adrians Art

Visual Insights: Dennys Photo Gallery: Awesome Quiet Landscapes by Adrians Art: From Denny: This week, while on one of my spectacular "visual vacations," I discovered this awesome photographer over at flickr. This photographer, Adrian Campfield, is based in the United Kingdom and has an incredible emotional connection to Nature's beauty. The early sunrise and sunset landscape photography is breathtaking, exuding a wonderful sense of peace and tranquility.

The commentary under the photos are all from the photographer. Be sure to visit this photographer's flickr pages by just clicking on the photograph!

Since he is a professional photographer you are in luck if you wish to purchase prints of any of these beauties, just click on over here: Adrian's Art. He is also a pastel, pencil and watercolor artist and includes examples of his work on the site. This is an awesome body of work taken from 2007 - 2011. (All Rights Reserved by this photographer with embed codes available for bloggers.)

Poems From A Spiritual Heart: Black Queen Guardian

Poems From A Spiritual Heart: Black Queen Guardian: A humorous poem about an unusual and fierce Hurricane Katrina rescue cat.

Visual Insights: 18 Funny Coffee Splash Photos

Visual Insights: 18 Funny Coffee Splash Photos: From Denny: Check out the best of the amusing coffee splash photos over at flickr. Many are a first time effort from the photographers.

Ever since flickr created galleries to stash your favorites by themes and in groups of a manageable 18, I've been having fun on a regular basis. Try it sometime and get your own Visual Vacation to rest your tired brain at the end of a work week. :) Enjoy!




Morning coffee by iBalki @ flickr.  All Rights Reserved with embed code.

Visual Insights: Dennys Photo Gallery: How We See Ourselves: 26 Self-Portraits

Self-portrait photo by Árni Torfason @ flickr, All Rights Reserved with embed code available

Visual Insights: Dennys Photo Gallery: How We See Ourselves: 26 Self-Portraits: "From Denny: We photographers have a lot of fun with technology. Check out the self-portrait challenges over at flickr I discovered while on one of my visual vacations. Some real beauties and clever composition to enjoy!"

Dennys Art Sanctuary: Art: Urban Museum Or Trash?

Dennys Art Sanctuary: Art: Urban Museum Or Trash?: "From Denny:  It's photos like this one that get us to question our personal definition of art. Is art about what is painted upon the canvas? Is art meant to be orderly and always in the proper situation?

Can we call it art if it's found in an alley of trash? You decide.

Hey, for me I thought the whole idea was fun and colorful. So, if you go by the age old definition that 'art must evoke an emotion' then it's art 'cause it sure gave me a grin and a happy start to my day! :)"

Dennys Art Sanctuary: Funny Coffee Art and Tutorials: Barista With Cat Humor

Dennys Art Sanctuary: Funny Coffee Art and Tutorials: Barista With Cat Humor: "From Denny: Check out coffee tutorials in the form of how to do latte with beautiful designs like the Rosetta. From World of Latte in The Netherlands come some amusingly good looking cups of coffee!  While this site is not in English you can check out World Coffee Events for it is an English language site.

This cat design sure gave me a smile today.  Imagine being greeted with that at a coffeehouse when you are unwinding from a tough day at work!"



Cat Coffee photo by Live Solutions @ flickr, All Rights Reserved with embed code available

Visual Insights: Dennys Photo Gallery: Beautiful Australia

Australian Canola Field photo by Dreamscope Photography @ flickr, All Rights Reserved with embed code available

Visual Insights: Dennys Photo Gallery: Beautiful Australia: "From Denny:  What a wonderful find is this photographer from Australia. She gives us a travelogue and history of the images she recorded of her country. The landscape exhibits a wild beauty, drenched in color.

Some excellent landscape photos and some penetrating character portraits are part of her collection over at flickr.  These photos of Australia go far beyond the usual tourism photos.  In fact, Australian travel and tourism should employ this photographer.  It sure makes me want to hop a plane and endure the excessively long ride from America just to see Australia!  There is a lot more to Australia than the Great Barrier Reef so often advertised.

But if you can't get time off to see Australia, this photographer sure makes you feel like you are there. Along the way, as you view her images, you get drawn into the culture and people of Australia. Enjoy the journey through her eyes!  I've included some of her observations, cultural information and comments.

All photos are from Dreamscope Photography @ flickr."

Dennys Art Sanctuary: Art: Check Out Process 4 Famous Cartoonist Jeff Stahler

Dennys Art Sanctuary: Art: Check Out Process 4 Famous Cartoonist Jeff Stahler: "From Denny: In an informal interview this famous syndicated cartoonist talks about his cartooning process and how it evolves during his day. His manner is downright droll and rambling but we get to see him ink his cartoons about Donald Trump. He's been doing editorial cartoons for 28 years now. Take a look at his wonderfully messy attic studio that only a fellow creative soul can appreciate. :)"

Visual Insights: Dennys Photo Gallery: Artists At Work

Artist at work photo by Jean-Francois Phillips @ flickr, from the United Kingdom, All Rights Reserved with embed code available

Visual Insights: Dennys Photo Gallery: Artists At Work: "From Denny: Check out what I found today while searching for interesting artists to feature over at my arts blog, Dennys Art Sanctuary. While looking through the many photos I was struck by how many depicted the artists at work. Sure enough that developed today's theme! Enjoy the 18 photos of artists painting graffiti, portraits, sidewalks, recycling egg cartons as fine art, doodling on department store windows, making music, you name it. All great fun and immense creativity."

Dennys Art Sanctuary: Video: Artist Creates Japan Tribute, Sunrise 2011 Project

Dennys Art Sanctuary: Video: Artist Creates Japan Tribute, Sunrise 2011 Project: "From Denny: A Los Angeles Japanese-born artist is raising funds for Japanese earthquake-tsunami relief through the sale of her artwork of a Japanese goddess superimposed upon hundreds of sunrise photos. If you wish to contribute a sunrise photo to this project just email her: sunrise2011art@gmail.com.

You can also go to her art website where you can purchase a Sunrise 2011 Project T-Shirt. The funds all go to the Red Cross of Japan. This is her site: Drue Kataoka Artist



CNN's Becky Anderson interviews Drue Kataoka about her Sunrise 2011 project in tribute to Japan."

Dennys Art Sanctuary: Funny Art Photo Of The Day: Museum Watching

Dennys Art Sanctuary: Funny Art Photo Of The Day: Museum Watching

Visual Insights: Photo Of The Day: Awesome London

Visual Insights: Photo Of The Day: Awesome London

Dennys Art Sanctuary: 38 Creative March Desktop Wallpapers

Dennys Art Sanctuary: 38 Creative March Desktop Wallpapers: "What do we think of when we reflect upon the month of March? We think of Winter ending, Spring coming in on the cool winds, soaking Spring rains, the trees leafing out and green weeds. There is the fun celebration of St. Patrick's Day. And there is the old adage, 'March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.' These designers took these all as their inspirations."

Cool Video: Prez Obama Honored for Nobel in Sand Sculpture

From Denny: This is an Oddball segment from Keith Olbermann's Countdown show. Since it's October we get to watch folks in Lincoln County, Maine smash huge pumpkins. They put the several hundred pound pumpkins on a crane high in the air and then drop them onto decommissioned old police cars. Sort of gives you some satisfaction for that speeding or parking ticket you felt you never deserved from whatever decade... :)

What's really cool is the incredible sand sculpture a world renowned sand artist in India did on a local beach in Puri, India recently. The artist is Sudarshan Patanaik and his sculpture is four feet high, depicting President Obama's head embedded in a Nobel Peace Prize medal with an accompanying dove and a message pro Peace. This man is quite the artist! So glad a film crew went out there and recorded it; maybe he will do a painting or print photo to sell as posters? Beautifully done as well as a political statement art.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

*** Post 1 of the day

Video: Artsy Fascinating Ad for the PEN Series Camera

From Denny: This is such a joyful little ad and downright entertaining too! Thanks to the folks over at bestontube.com. It's a fascinating look at how you can employ still photos into a video and gives you a different perspective. Very artsy!

Here's the promo text: "A beautiful stop-motion ad celebrating the 50th anniversary of the PEN camera series."




Stop motion, International PEN, art, Video, Stop-Motion, PEN, Animation, Music video

Libations Friday! 29 May 2009

An Expresso Cocktail and a Dragon Poem for today!

Photo by once and future @ flickr

Welcome to Libations Friday!

For the coffee recipe today we have a spiked tall hot coffee.



Photo of similar coffee drink from Food Network

Denny's Expresso Cocktail

Ingredients:

Freshly made Expresso (diluted by half with hot boiling water, like in Italy when they give you their version of American coffee they dilute it by half with hot water, still very strong)

½ shot Tia Maria coffee liqueur

½ shot orange vodka or Cointreau
(French brand: Grey Goose Orange Vodka, bottled in the Cognac region of France)

Heavy cream

Directions:

Make sure this is a heat proof glass coffee mug like for Irish coffee. First pour in the coffee liqueur and the vodka or Cointreau (I prefer the Cointreau; my husband likes the vodka). Top off with unsweetened hot expresso. Now float a little or a lot of whipped cream on top. Serve hot to satisfied friends! This recipe is for one serving.

And on to the poetry portion of Libations Friday!



(Photo by wili_hybrid @ flickr of a dragon in Slovenia)

From Denny: What is it with humanity's fascination with winged beings, be they angel or dragon? In an online writing group there was a challenge to write about dragons. What fun! Everyone wrote about dragons as evil vicious beasts as from the Western mythology.

Well, I spent high school in the Orient where the mythology is far different, Chinese mythology, that is. Come on; it seemed every time I turned around there was a street festival with the lion and dragon dances performed for good luck and prosperity!

There in Taiwan the dragons are revered and considered an archetype for primordial creation itself. Blue dragons in particular were the bringers of fertility to the land to help mankind’s harvest. So, the online writing group challenged me to write about the good dragons!

As I started writing, it was evident I could do more with this little vignette, like parlay this into a book later. This scene is not complete but will give you an idea of the Asian dragons. Enjoy the little fantasy prose. What will you write about your dragons?



(Photo by LadyAmada @ flickr)

Primordial Dragon

An Angel appeared at my door, cloaked in midnight dark dress
Summoning me into The Presence, who would say No?
As I walked outside an eclipse was slowly advancing into place
The eclipse was eerie; uncomfortable, I wished to hide
I balked at leaving my home while the eclipse was in the sky
Pleading the Angel to wait, maybe it’s wise to go after a while?
The Angel sternly, No, now is the auspicious Time to travel
For we are in the Realm of Knowledge who waits in secret dark
Here we travel within the hidden Library to our destiny long planned



As our long walk ended, revealed was a vast smooth speaking lake
At the water’s edge standing two blue water dragons easily tethered
They furiously pawed the ground, their large claws spreading dirt
They said they were busy seeding for humanity’s harvest year next
Apprentices they were to the feared primordial dragon clan
Half grown, young skin shining royal blue in the quiet land
The Angel untied them, climbed onto his, behind the large boney head
My dragon advanced toward me, in fear I stepped back, wanting none
He lowered his glowing eyes to the ground, knelt down on all fours
I mustered my courage, climbed on to the seat he provided, to ride



(Photo by tehusagent @ flickr)



The young joyful dragons arched up, pulling their wings to spread wide
Dust stirred up high in swirls all around us as the dragons gathered wind
Their huge arched scaly wings beat the air stronger, faster, some more
When they jumped off the land they were standing, into the air we flew
The force was so strong I gasped for breath, he caught me in time, he knew
Patted a front claw to the top of my head to hold me from falling, yes, gently
Poised carefully, hovering balanced that sharp claw while we gracefully flew
Soon I relaxed on his neck, enjoying the wind rushing by, more confidence grew



Denny Lyon
Copyright 8 July 2008
All Rights Reserved

Thanks for visiting! Have a good weekend, everyone!

New Link Pages: List for Fav Bloggers and Fav Links!

Links Image by cobalt123 via Flickr

From Denny: Hi, everyone! Been busy on the blog's housekeeping and you all know how much I don't like (OK, despise) housework...

The Social Poets has become a bit of the Wild Wild West. Read that as too much overwhelming info on one page. Too much on one page has really slowed down the final load time of this blog too. Surely you find it as annoying as I do! So, something had to be done and two more blog pages were born:

The Social Poets Fav Bloggers

The Social Poets Fav Links

OK, so I'm one of those people who enjoys a clean house, everything in its place, neat and orderly - I just don't like the effort it takes to do it! (Hmmm... TMI...)

Seriously though, if you are a blogger or are thinking about starting a blog, maybe try out the same idea for your convenience. For both content and link worthiness it's a great idea to have links to other blogs and sites. I just choose to do so by fitting it into my niche because I'm a total information junkie. Sigh... TMI yet again... :)

Actually, I've been wanting to expand on finding additional blogs to fit my categories and have been limited - until now. I really see the potential for how I could create additional interesting pages/related blogs!

Currently, on The Social Poets Fav Bloggers there are blogs on general musings, poetry blogs, writing blogs, political and social issues, creativity blogs, and more will be added. If you have some interesting blogs or sites you have run across (or your own) you think warrant as an addition, feel free to drop me an email with the link and I'll be glad to consider it! (Always looking for new talent as life is a team effort.)

On the links list page, The Social Poets Fav Links, there are links to my original poems (parked in various places so required a link page area), links to my friends who write poetry (let me know if you want to add your poetry page, be glad to do so to help promote fellow poets), writing sites (let me know your contribution to helping others develop their writing skills and be glad to include your site), poetry sites, music and more.

For your convenience the new links are located right before the day's post. The link pages also have a link to navigate you back to the home page of The Social Poets blog too.

Blogging is a lot of fun! Always learning how to solve "all the problems of the world." Now if world politics and world peace were just this easy...