The original, vintage Love is... drawings were created by a woman to the man she loved. They later married, in May 2011.

The new Love is... has all the love, happiness and spark of mischief which the old Love is... is missing. This is likely because the original artist hasn't been drawing the cartoons for many years. It was taken over when her husband (the man she loved) died and she stopped drawing the cartoons.

If you loved the old Love is... cartoons in the 1970s take a look at HJ Story, the Love is... cartoons for the new century. He has a Deviant Art page which gives more of his story, their story.

The History to the Vintage Love Is... Couple and Illustrations

The Love Is... drawings were created by New Zealand artist, Kim Grove, as a series of love notes in the late 1960′s for Roberto Casali. They later married but Roberto became ill with terminal cancer and Kim stopped working on the cartoons in 1975. Roberto died in 1976.

Since 1975 the cartoons have been drawn by Bill Asprey.

My own photo of a Love Is... glass I found at the local thrift store.

Watching this movie now makes me very sad for the loss of Heath Ledger. His character brought so much to 10 Things I Hate About You. He was fun, really fun in the way that makes you smile in spite of knowing this is all just a movie and these actors are following the script written for them. Health Ledger and Julia Stiles made the characters in this movie breathe a life of their own.

Did you Know the Movie is Based on The Taming of the Shrew?

It does help that The Taming of the Shrew is my favourite Shakespeare story. I love the character of Kate! I loved the character of Petruchio too, the way he tolerated Kate with humour and did not give up in his determined pursuit of her. Yet, he did not become aggressive or a stalker type to feel threatening. Even in those days hundreds of years ago men could find that balance, in some cases. Kate, of course, was the star of the story. Her aggression so different from what was expected of women.

In 10 Things I Hate About You Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger brought The Taming of the Shrew into the modern world. I loved it, the story itself was dusted off and given fresh style and updated, enough that it can still stand without seeming dated more than 10 years later. I liked the story of Kat, when we find out why she is angry and has closed herself off from mostly everyone else. I especially like Kat being a soccer player too. Julia Stiles has always been so much like my own youngest sister who was a soccer player right up until she was 40+.

The Charming Heath Ledger

Most of all, I can’t resist the charm of Heath Ledger, his character, Patrick, in the movie. What woman does not want to be charmed and pursued in spite of herself? What woman does not have a soft spot for the guy who can really talk to her, and listen? What woman does not secretly like a guy who goes out of his way to pay court to her, without being less than masculine or overly mushy and romantic? I will never forget Patrick, the character in the movie, singing to Kat as she ignored him from the soccer field. Of course he got the girl!

Everyone Should Read Taming of the Shrew at Least Once

You can read it or watch it in a lot of different versions and remakes too. Everyone should read Taming of the Shrew at least once. I first read it in English class, in high school. That year the play was also on at the Stratford Festival. All the English classes who had read Taming of the Shrew went to see it, live on the stage. It was wonderfully awesome.

The movie gets it’s title from the poem Julia Stiles (Kat) reads near the end. I found a video post of it, below. If you have seen the movie can you listen to Kat read the poem and not have a tear? I’ve seen the movie at least five times and I get a tear each time. It’s a shame the video doesn’t go a bit longer to the scene out at the car afterwards. But, you can get the movie and see it all, from start to finish.

The first time I read about this doughnut baking pan was on a website I didn't keep track of. She was making such cute creations, pretty and yummy too. As I read I thought how clever or brave she was to make so many small doughnuts. Then... I read enough of her recipe to realize all her doughnuts were baked - not fried!

Have you ever tried making your own DIY doughnuts? I have made them with my sister. The part I don't like is the pan full of hot oil. It's dangerous. I do still have the doughnut cutters we used. They have sentimental value more than practical value because I've never tried making doughnuts again. But, I'd like to.

You can make doughnuts with a doughnut cutter, like a cookie cutter with an extra circle inside to cut out the doughnut hole in the middle. But, this requires frying them in oil. This method adds fat and more risk of danger with the large amount of bubbling hot oil on the stove. It's also less expensive (I think) to make baked doughnuts because you don't have to throw away all that oil (you can only reuse it a couple of times).

Doughnuts are more fun to make and decorate than cupcakes I think. Cupcakes are just a rounded bump but doughnuts are round circles with a hole in their middle. You can ignore the hole or decorate it - you can even make doughnuts from just the holes.If you miss the cupcake wrappers you can use them for doughnuts too. Just flatten them out or cut up circles of pretty paper from whatever you like. Left over gift wrapping paper is a great idea.

I also enjoy doughnuts because they can be a bit crispy compared to all cake-like.

Baking doughnuts in the oven is such a sensible idea. Grease the pan and let them cook into the doughnut shape while you wait. Nice and simple. Look for a recipe for baked doughnuts versus the traditional fried doughnuts. As you get the hang of it you can adapt recipes yourself.

Spelling Doughnut versus Donut

Doughnut is still the correct spelling. Donut began in the US. Eventually donut is likely to become the accepted spelling but for now it is more like a short form of the true word.

Do you remember the big eye art from the 1970′s?

I have a few prints. Still among the packed up stuff from my last move a few years ago. (Yes, we all seem to have stuff we carry around that way). Even though I don’t have my big eyed girls up on the wall I won’t be donating or selling them. They were a feature of my childhood bedroom, one of the few things I have been able to keep all these years.

The artist of the original big eye art was Margaret Keane. But, she wasn’t the only one producing the style. My favourites come from Maio, Eden, Goji and Ward. These seem harder to find.

Big Eye Art is Becoming “Collectible” Due to the Movie about the Life of Margaret Keane

As I began looking for fresh links for the big eye girl art I discovered a movie coming out about Margaret Keane and her husband Walter, who had long taken credit for the art. Likely due to the upcoming movie there has been some new interest in big eye art and the prices on eBay have gone to less than $10 for a single (or even a set of 2 or 3 prints) to over $30 for one print. Most of the prints for sale on eBay looked rough. Big eye art was not hugely collectible, until now it seems. So the prints were not given much tender, loving care.

The New Big Eye Art

New artists have taken up the style (genre) of big eye art. Most of these have taken the sad big eye look and spun it into fantasy or horror. For me this does stray from the original art because they lose the mystery and simple sadness of the original theme. If you can see what is making her sad the art doesn’t have that allure of mystery and wanting to see deeper, to know what is behind those sad eyes.

Of course, the new art is beautiful with a lot of fantasy and creativity. Now and then I do find an artist who captures the original qualities too. I think it is more fun or just easier to sell the art which includes things people know (old horror stories, science fiction and dragons, mermaids, etc). So although there is a renewed interest in big eye art it has lost something in the transformation.

I thought all my posts from that far ago were long lost. But, I looked up my old domain (it was hijacked and lost). On the WayBack Machine I can see my old site and the blog I had then with Movable Type 2. About half of 2002 is there. It's nice to find because it's about the divorce and moving back to Ontario.

I've saved it all but I think I will repost it here by the old dates. That way I can read it back post by post instead of all in one lump. I will link it here but it will be a project for the morning.