inspiration, craft, sprezzatura

Inspiration vs. craftsmanship. Five minutes. Go.

( cut for length )

Obviously, this is my opinion. If you disagree with me, I will not think less of you.

5 things

1. The Columbus Zoo has otter pups, and video of the mama otter teaching one of her babies to swim (via Zooborns, and it's heresluck's fault I was over there in the first place).

ETA: also, the Sacramento Zoo's video clips of their new Sumatran tiger cub and her gorgeous mother are marvelous.

2. via @catvalente, this unspeakably awesome cartoon about angler fish. No really. Go read it.

3. "White Charles" is in the table of contents for Paula Guran's Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror 2010. w00t!

4. Fountain pen geeks, do any of you have comments on Noodler's black inks? I like my black inks REALLY BLACK, and Noodler's Polar Black is disappointing me by being more of a grayish sort of black. Are any of their other blacks better?

5. On Monday, as I was heading to the State Historical Society's reading room (which has just been renovated and is absolutely freaking GORGEOUS), I was diverted from my trajectory by a bookstore, where I found Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem (Elaine G. Breslaw); A Quest for Security: The Life of Samuel Parris, 1653-1720 (Larry Gragg); and The Logic of Millennial Thought: Eighteenth-Century New England (James West Davidson). It is possible that I am still smug about these finds.