wappendorf

What is "cooperation"? According to Wikipedia, "it is the process of working or acting together, which can be accomplished by both intentional and non-intentional agents" or whatever that means... As an institution, it consists of a group of people in which each individual (supposedly) helps each other by giving to the other (or the group itself) Items, services or coin... voluntarily.

The thing is...

If a certain number of people within the group (especially those that "lead" the cooperation) starts demanding that each individual should give away a certain measure of "donation", then, what are we really in the presence of?

Hi, folks.

On September 8th, I will have my final exam before I finish college. My last exam is a project I'm making as an urban intervention in western Lisbon, and I've been working on it since the beginning of the year. Being a part of my college's students association (until January, that is) has delayed most of my progress on the project, and eventually, one thing leading to another, with the help of some wrong choices along the way, my final exam will comprise both semesters at once. I've stopped my comics production for the time, but I'm hoping to resume after this final exam.

Also

I want to apologize to all the people to whom I've had previous commitments before, it's just I can't find the time to do everything I want to do. I have to get over this before I step onto the next phase of my life, so that why it is very important to me.

And finally...

Moving out of my current house. YAY!!. The owner just can't get enough money, so, either I pay more money, or I'll have to move out...

Hoping you guys are all OK.

Cya soon.

On the vast plains of wheat and barley, lies an unfinished palace, almost crumbling in ruin, due to the many centuries it has been abandoned. Hanging on wooden stakes as tall as one of the palace's floors, it hovers the ground, right above a small house, made from the foundations of a church. Poised under the everlasting shadow of the palace, that is my house.

We park the car on the nearest hill, and we go down into the house, for another journey of labor, me and my parents. We hear some howls near us and my parents start to run, when i find a hatchet made of wood. I swing it at some thick branches, it cuts through them like butter. I swing it at some rocks, it cuts through  them as well. The dogs are approaching fast, howling like crazy, and I put my newly found hatchet to use. The dogs are cut to pieces and we are safe, for now.

Arriving at the house, my mother starts making some dinner, as my father walks out to the field. Night is almost here. By the light of a petroleum lamp, I call the cats and they come, a dozen of them, ready to be taken through the house. As I walk through the house, hatchet in hand, in each room a cat catches a mouse and leaves us to feast upon his trophy. Some rooms are made of bricks, and some are made of stone. Some rooms are still decorated with baroque wood carvings, and after I find the altars, I don't know where I am anymore. A few cats are still with me, but not many.

When have I decided to enter the palace? I'm not sure. Now I'm remembering... I've crossed the forest of stakes, and climbed a thin ladder into the building. Don't know how, but the cats are with me. Realizing my mistake, I try to smooth my steps, so the palace doesn't crumble because of me. I cross the palace's halls in search for the route I have taken thus far, for some clue that could take me out the same way I came in... Suddenly, a huge dog comes out of the darkness, much bigger than the other ones I faced and much angrier, too. A couple of cats stand in place to fight the dog, while the rest of them flee. As I'm swinging my wooden hatchet, the building starts shaking and falling apart.

I've caused the fall of the palace, Ive killed my faithful cats, I've killed my family... And I'll have killed myself too, if the dog doesn't kill me first.

Damn dreams...

"I, Ishmael, was one of that crew; my shouts had gone up with the rest; my oath had been welded with theirs; and stronger I shouted, and more did I hammer and clinch my oath, because of the dread in my soul. A wild, mystical, sympathetical feeling was in me; Ahab's quenchless feud seemed mine. With greedy ears I learned the history of that murderous monster against whom I and all the others had taken our oaths of violence and revenge."
From Herman Melville's "Moby Dick"

"Moby Dick" is a highly symbolic tale of an obsessive quest to dominate elements in our life that are out of our control. I think it is an amazing piece of literature. And it is also amazing how, for some reason, there are real people in this world equally obsessed with an intangible ideal. These people can't reason even with themselves, and appear to live in their own world, from which they are its "Masters". If, for some reason, these people are gifted with speech abilities and a magnetic personality, they can drag other people along into the maelstrom.

It has been a long time since the last time i've browsed the "art" galleries in DA. If i recall it, it was before DA got today's looks. For what it looks to me, there isn't much difference between then and now, in what concerns to "art" galleries, which are constantly making me sure that DA is a huge dump, and some pearl you may find, is hidden behind walls of garbage and a barrier that says you have to pay to enter.

The "newest" gallery is horrible. The amount of pre-manga, manga, manga, manga, pre-erotic and erotic "art" present here are just amazing. And also the amount of movie-related "artwork" that explodes just after (many times even before) each premiére of huge blockbusters like Transformers or Harry Potter, or like...

The "popular" gallery is exactly the same thing, but with eye-candy.

As to the "Daily Deviation"... WTF??? Who choses this stuff?

Everything here rolls around people with social skills, rather than art skills. You can draw like a mangonel and have 55 thousand pageviews, and everything you put here is sure to be seen by another 55 thousand more. If you're a good artist, but you're new, it doesn't do any good to you, because the work you post here leaves the main page in seconds, and the probability for it to be seen and appreciated is tremendously low.

Every time I come here I feel this is not my place. Something I would like in DA wold be the possibility to discuss technique-related issues, but I don't see that anywhere. The people I admire, here, stopped posting their works a long time ago, and maybe I should do the same...

There are other communities in the web, and I'm sure they'll apreciate a lot more your work than they do here.