Year 0 Taurus

No bull?

Today marks the day that the Sun passes out of Aries and into the constellation Taurus (or the long-hand version: the day in which the Sun would appear to pass before the arbitrarily determined astronomical boundaries of the constellation Taurus were we able to see it during the daytime). The Sun rides the bull for 39 days, making it the second-largest of the constellations of the zodiac.

The green lines mark the boundaries of the constellation, and the red line marks the apparent path of the Sun.

Year 0 Month 5

Reading List Year 0 Month 4

Reading List:

Batman Incorporated by Grant Morrison, Yanick Paquette, Chris Burnham, Michel Lacombe, Scott Clark,Cameron Stewart & Dave Beaty
Locke & Key vol. 5 Clockwords by Joe Hill & Gabriel Rodriguez
JLA vol 2: Earth 2 by Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely
20th Century Boys vol 6 Final Hope by Naoki Urasawa
20th Century Boys vol 7 the Truth by Naoki Urasawa
the Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
20th Century Boys vol 8 Kenji’s Song by Naoki Urasawa
Flight vol 1 ed. by Kazu Kibuishi
One Hundred Demons by Lynda Barry
20th Century Boys vol 9 Rabbit Nabokov by Naoki Urasawa
20th Century Boys vol 10 the Faceless Boy by Naoki Urasawa
Joe the Barbarian by Grant Morrison & Sean Murphy
the Purchase by Linda Spalding
Happy! by Grant Morrison & Darick Robertson
Dial H vol. 1 by China Mieville, Mateus Santolouco, Riccardo Burchielli & David Lapham
Flex Mentallo Man of Muscle Mystery by Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely
Aztek the Ultimate Man by Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, N. Steven Harris & Keith Champagne
Parker – the Hunter by Richard Stark & Darwyn Cooke
20th Century Boys vol 11 List of Ingredients by Naoki Urasawa
20th Century Boys vol 12 Friend’s Face by Naoki Urasawa
Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton
the End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe
Children of the Sea vol. 1 by Daisuke Igarashi
Bodyworld by Dash Shaw
20th Century Boys vol 13 Beginning of the End by Naoki Urasawa
20th Century Boys vol 14 A Boy and a Dream by Naoki Urasawa
Seaguy by Grant Morrison & Cameron Stewart
Kid Eternity by Grant Morrison & Duncan Fegredo
20th Century Boys vol 15 Expo Hurray by Naoki Urasawa
Seven Soldiers of Victory by Grant Morrison , JH Williams III, Simone Bianchi, Cameron Stewart, Ryan Sook, Frazer Irving & Mick Gray
Big Machine by Victor LaValle
Nancy in Hell on Earth by El Torres & Enrique Lorenzana
Happiness [tm] by Will Ferguson
Lucky Luke 1 la Mine d’Or de Dick Digger par Morris
20th Century Boys vol 16 Through the Looking Glass by Naoki Urasawa
20th Century Boys vol 17 Cross-Counter by Naoki Urasawa
20th Century Boys vol 18 Everybody’s Song by Naoki Urasawa
20th Century Boys vol 19 the Man who Came Back by Naoki Urasawa
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, Mike Carey & Glenn Fabry
20th Century Boys vol 20 Humanity in the Balance by Naoki Urasawa
20th Century Boys vol 21 Arrival of the Space Aliens by Naoki Urasawa
20th Century Boys vol 22 the Beginning of Justice by Naoki Urasawa
21st Century Boys vol 1 Death of the Friend by Naoki Urasawa
21st Century Boys vol 2 20th Century Boy by Naoki Urasawa
Get Jiro! by Anthony Bourdain, Joel Rose, Langdon Foss & Jose Villarrubia
Speedboat by Renata Adler
Morning Glories vol 4 Truants by Nick Spencer & Joe Eisma
Hellraiser Masterpieces vol. 1 by Clive Barker et al.

Year 0 Lunation 5

Mole experiment 2

Experimenting with Mexican chili-chocolate sauce (and taking great liberties)

Ingredients

oil for frying (I use grapeseed)
1 red onion
1 1/2 head garlic
7 ancho chillies
7 guajillo chillies
3 chipotle chillies
1 cup of almonds
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup raisins

1 big can tomatillos (about 1 Lb, 1/2 Kg)
1 big can tomatoes (same as above)

2 TB coriander seeds
1 TB cumin seeds
salt

3 bricks mexican chocolate (about 1/2 Lb, 1/4 Kg)

Assembly & Cooking
1. dry roast the almonds and pumpkin seeds. let them cool. grind them to a powder.
2. grind the coriander & cumin into a powder.
3. remove the seeds from the chillies. Soak in warm water with the raisins.
4. fry the onions and garlic until soft (assuming you’ve peeled and chopped them first)
5. add spices and stir everything together.
6. add tomatillos, tomatoes, nuts and water and stir. heat throughout.
7. add chocolate and let it melt.
8. blend until the whole thing is smooth and lovely.
9. serve it on things.

Year 0 Mid~Quarter 1

Year 0 Aries

Ramming into the New Year.

Today is the day that the Sun enters the constellation of Aries, which is traditionally the first sign of the Western zodiac. We may as well call this the beginning of the Sidereal Zodiac Year, since we’re already using the traditional Western constellation symbols. I mean, if you look at the stars in any given asterism, you could come up with anything. Aries could be a ram, or a paintbrush, or a Keebler Elf kicking up his heels and smoking a pipe filled with cookies.

The dotted blue lines are the boundaries, the dotted turquoise line is the apparent path of the Sun across the constellation (although, it might also be a teal line). It takes the Sun 25 days to pass through Aries. Who knew?

This is a common time for South and Southeast Asian cultures to celebrate New Year, precisely because the Sun passes into Aries. One more reason to celebrate is always welcome.