Apparently, I read The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters just in time for some sort of insane endgame in North Korea. I'd like to say that after reading this book I have a complete understanding of the motivations behind the recent sinking of a South Korean ship. I don't. To be honest, the internal mythology is just so weird I have a hard time fully wrapping my head around it when focused on an event as bold, and plainly dangerous, as this one is for the regime. If you have any interest at all in the politics of the Korean peninsula, or even just have a hankering to read about some bizarre/unique ideas/propaganda, you should check out this relatively short, incredibly well written and researched book.

Aimless is a good thing, in this case. I get to doodle as opposed to doing drawings with a purpose. Purposes are okay, don't get me wrong, I just like the option of doing nothing serious every once in a while.

The finished product:

The action shot

You love the shirt, yo.

The time-lapse video.

REACT + PROBLAK x City Year Serve-a-thon from rob larsen on Vimeo.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/05/20/world/europe/AP-EU-France-Museum-Theft.html

PARIS (AP) — A lone thief stole five paintings worth up to half a billion euros ($613 million) total, including major works by Picasso and Matisse, in a brazen overnight heist Thursday from a Paris modern art museum, police and prosecutors said.

The paintings were reported missing early Thursday from the Paris Museum of Modern Art, across the Seine River from the Eiffel Tower, according to Paris police. Investigators have cordoned off the museum, in one of the French capital's most tourist-frequented neighborhoods.

Here are the paintings in question.

"Le pigeon aux petits-pois" (The Pigeon with the Peas)- Pablo Picasso

(more…)