Anna looked around to see if anyone heard her. A snowy owl stared at her, but otherwise she seemed to be part of an empty world. The wind from the east tussled with the wind from the south, and sent dead leaves scattering down from her perch. The owl's feathers waved frantically in the wind, then resettled around the staring eyes. Anna winked and the owl winked back. Then the ghugguk rose over the treeline, riding some kind of thermal into the silty sky, and she could discern a sticklike figure clutching its hackles. Baba Yaga again? Not likely, as she had run into Baba dead drunk only that afternoon at Schort's inn. Her skin twitched. Who else would take the ghugguk out, especially at night, and with the east wind working against the yugo?

She was seen, of course, and the crazy bird began to crane closer. She had only a few breaths to drop from the treetop and find cover. The owl had disappeared.

She crashed through the branches and into the half-frozen mud, bounding back up and racking her brain to remember where she had seen the fox hole. Between the trail and the stone wall? The ghugguk cried and tore down upon her. What threw her to the ground, knocking the breath from her? Why was she bleeding from her mouth? She wiped the mud from her eyes and fought back the rising sick. The man writhing off the back of the ghugguk was Dmitri Shemyaka. She would be killed in this mudscape, and as usual he wouldn't even say why.

Fana stopped to scratch his elbow, and let his enormous mass rest against a birch tree. The spring sun was melting the snow from the branches overhead and warming his beard, in between drops of cold water. He still had his flowers in his great dumb fist.

He gasped when he saw them.

It must have been 3 weeks since she had gone missing, and he still had her flowers. He had walked nine hundred miles and climbed every tree, shouting until he was hoarse. He had traded Fana to a band of Kaitaks in exchange for a gourd, and beaten the stuffing out of his best friend in the world. Now he had to decide what to do with the flowers.

Inside his satchel was a hide that he had hidden away for a nap, back when he used to sleep. He spread it out on the muddy snow under the birch tree, arranged the flowers into a pillow, and began to snore. The ants explored his belly and arms. The sun set.

The sun rose.

1. http://www.doublefine.com/comics/scott_comic.php3?n=001
because comics should be appealing to you, yes?

2. http://www.director-file.com/gondry/B.html
the way video input should be. appealing you you, no?

3. http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/artist.aspx?ob=per&src=prd&aid=4948
audio input is perfected with RITMO CALIENTE the box set. Go now!

Hello hello 

Fana knelt down, plunged both arms in the snow, and closed one eye. He waited, chewing on his pipestem and humming quietly, until he spotted a birch twig across the courtyard that was batting to and fro. Like a panther fattened on legless poultry, he sprang across the courtyard, pounced on the twig and heartily embraced the snow beneath it. When he threw himself back on his feet, spraying droplets of melted Russian snow, he was holding his only employee Foma in his left hand and his missing sack of tobacco in his right hand.

"I'll get dinner started," mentioned Foma, as Fana efficiently drop-kicked him into the clear blue winter sky.

"That'd be great, thanks," replied Fana, as his employee descended through the dry tree branches in the distance.

Here's the best thing I've seen yet this year... and it's from 2003. Hrm.

http://www.studioaka.co.uk/jojo/

This is why we soldier on! Check out the whole AKA site too. Thanks to ronniedelcarmen.com for cluing me in to this gem!!

I have vowed to give this poor blog some attention.

It may be the only hope for a well-meaning visitor to As Far As The Eye Can See to get any sort of bearings, and I should be throwing out more than the occasional scrap. I mean, look, this thing is gonna be frabtapulous when I can get my act together and in the meanwhile you, dear reader, should be well fed and wanting to check back often, no?

So this is what is going on: there are dozens of characters already roaming around my glazed-over mental idea of 15th-century Russia, Persia, Ethiopia and India. Afanasy is about to embark on his storied journey away from his frosty motherland and write his marvelous journal, known to the ages as Voyage Beyond Three Seas.

Go ahead and check out the original! http://www.yorku.ca/inpar/nikitin_wielhorsky.pdf is one translation; there are a bunch of them. It is crazy stuff and you will not be any less surprised by the version that will be unfolding at this website, since it takes a number of creative departures from the real thing.

Please be patient while the thing comes together. You will first notice the seemingly random collection of colorful tchotchkes that make up the 2004 edition of the site. There are xeroxed comics that represent a couple of explorations into Brick Land, and the COMIX section will soon blossom forth with other meanderings thru this enchanted version of historical reality. If you are patient, you will eventually be able to enjoy the animated version of this tale, which is only beginning to unfold in our banal reality.

To recap:

INSTRUCTIONS FOR LONG-TERM CONTENTMENT:

(a) read the real story of Afanasy Nikitin...

(b) fool around with the 2004 edition of dasbrick.com...

(c) check back often, and keep an eye on the COMIX section for helpful clues to the (soon to be coherent!) storyline, which reading (a) will help with...

(d) tell all your friends, link liberally to dasbrick.com, and save up money for forthcoming merchandise which will provide attention from others who appeal to you.

Cheers

Erm, just more links today...


http://chrisharding.net/

I recommend watching first thing in the morning, in place of a bowl of cereal. It's animated for real, just like we all want to be in the AM.

http://www.jimflora.com/a.htm

I recommend watching right after lunch, instead of dessert. It goes great with everything!

http://www.bigblownbaby.com/comics.html

I recommend watching very late at night, instead of turning on the TV. Not for overconsumption, but a leetle bit won't kill you.

http://www.oceans.gov.au/norfanz/CreatureFeature.htm

I recommend watching right before going to bed, instead of feeding the axolotl. You will thank me in the morning.


more real content to follow presently I promise...

Cheers

Well

Here are two links to examine. They may inspire you or they may make you want to just pack it in:

http://www.eatpes.com/kaboom.html (also check out PRANK CALL)

http://www.flashplayer.com/animation/stevieandzoyapart1.html (and for crying out loud look at the episodes that follow!!!!)

What else can I say. The world is full of amazing things!

I am happy because my talking Edna Mode doll is buckled in to my Honda and keeps me company with savvy fashion non sequiturs. Incredibles merch is marked down, kids! Go get it!

Here are my Driving Shapes:

http://www.barris.com/gallery.html

Here are my Flying Shapes:

http://www.tnthobbies.co.uk/gaovervi.htm