The Ungalled Hart

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn. In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.   For those who haven’t delved into the eerie pages of H.P. Lovecraft's writings, allow me to introduce you to the cosmic horror known as Cthulhu. Depicted as an ancient monstrosity, Cthulhu possesses a humanoid body with an octopus-like head and formidable dragon wings. He slumbers in the submerged city of R’lyeh, waiting until the stars align and his devoted cult followers awaken him. However, it appears that the stars have aligned, for Cthulhu's death-like slumber is no more! Behold, this endearing plush rendition of Cthulhu has stirred from his oceanic depths, emerging to devour humanity and bring madness to the dreams of men. Or, at the very least, it aims to bestow a touch of madness upon the friend I am giving this charmingly eerie creation. I came across the free pattern for this eldritch horror on Ravelry. The pattern's author, who goes ...

A confession. I, an artist, have tried my hand at making AI art on Midjourney. If your done clutching your pearls and gnashing your teeth, I'll tell you about it. I never thought I would be interested in using artificial intelligence to create art. But when I stumbled on Midjourney, an AI art generator, my curiosity got the best of me. I wanted to see what AI could create, and I have to say, the results were both fascinating and frustrating. The AI can create pretty cool images with very simple prompts (think "tabby cat wearing a crown" or “beautiful woman”) but trying to get it to do anything specific is unimaginably difficult. Hours of reading online guides and meticulously constructing prompts would meet with only limited success (and bizarre looking hands if not multiple arms). Even the most current and advanced AI pictures tend to have that noticeable AI look to them. Personally, I never see what the AI makes as a finished product, only as a starting point. I always ...

Some time ago, a dear friend travelled to see the breathtaking landscapes of Scotland, where she had the opportunity to visit the legendary Loch Ness. Although the famous sea serpent, Nessie, remained out of sight during her visit, she thoroughly enjoyed exploring the beautiful area. Loch Ness, home to the ever-elusive Nessie, has emerged as a popular tourist attraction over the years. Yet, few may realize that the legend of a massive water creature dates back as far as the 6th Century. It is said that during his travels, the renowned Saint Columba (Colmcille) encountered the ferocious water beast and employed the sign of the cross to keep it at bay. With a commanding voice akin to the iconic Gandalf, the saint boldly proclaimed, "You will go no further!" to the stunned creature. This actually isn’t too surprising as hagiographies (biographies of saints) tell us that saints couldn’t walk a mile or throw a stone without having to battle all kinds of demons and fantastic creatu...