Post-Resolution Pains

Verbal commitment to making new resolves is easy. Following them through is inevitably harder, particularly if accompanied by physical pains. Not having danced in more than a year, I am incredibly sore and tired after a weekend of mostly dance. It is also approaching winter. I can feel it in the dark morning skies and the chilly winds.

Link of the day: jayisgames.com
What is it: a site for flash and casual game play. For the occasional gamer who enjoys good 3D graphics but who doesn't expect to spend days playing the same game, this site offers reviews, links, and walk-throughs for many beautifully rendered games. I was particularly addicted to the room escape genre for a while. It allows me to play puzzles of the detective sort without having to waste time making my character travel many steps.

Artist of the day: Pan Yuliang
Who is she: A Chinese painter active around the early part of the 20th century. She was a pioneer in many ways. For my senior essay, I focused on analyzing one of her paintings through cultural and aesthetic angles. Who knew, a recent novel about her just came out in English. Pan's life is fascinating and in many ways, it dwarfs her artistic accomplishments. As hinted by the title of the novel, From Prostitute to Post-Impressionist: China’s Modern Art Ambassador, Pan had a less-than-stellar background. Even so, to use the word "prostitute" is going too far even as a marketing ploy playing on sensationalism. For one, Pan was not a prostitute in the sense that she sold her body. She merely worked in a brothel, most likely in the capacity of a maid servant. If Pan was not a "prostitute," she would be no less interesting as a pioneering female painter in turn-of-the-century China as Western avant garde ideas finally started to take root in the East. Enough ranting for now. I will probably come back to her at a later date with a more comprehensive entry.