Kamilah Reed (K. Gill)

Looks like me --> - Steve C, Team Marina

This one is planted in front of Franklin's courthouse (Johnson County). This species is originally from Asia, and it's invasive in some subtropical areas of North America, such as Florida and Hawaii. It has big brown seed pods (which I guess are poisonous) starting in August. There is a little more information here: http://faculty.evansville.edu/ck6... New Harmony in Posey County (SW Indiana, the toe of the "boot") has a lot more of these trees, so many that it is nicknamed "Raintree County" (which, during our trip down the internet trivia rabbit hole, we discovered is also the name of a huge 1948 novel with an author who had a tragic life). - Kamilah Reed (K. Gill)

Two small plastic toy animals, a zebra and a giraffe, stand in front of my drawing of a model wearing an animal print cape (possibly ocelot) during a recent Milan Fashion Week. The drawing is cut out and attached to my abstracted drawing of a still from one of several brief Vine videos I made of rusted objects along the Monon Trail in Indianapolis. I play a little randomizing game to choose the subject matter for my art. My three random elements for this painting were the color Milanese Blue (color #23 in Naomi Kuno's Colorscape book), the color rust, and zoos. - Kamilah Reed (K. Gill)

While I worked on this painting, I read The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco. I had already started painting the model in animal print when I reached the part of the book that explained who Queen Loana was. The model seemed to be an appropriate stand-in for the character. The book is partly set in Milan, and the author lives in Milan. - Kamilah Reed (K. Gill)

The soundtrack for this painting is the Rusted Guns of Milan radio station on Pandora. That's what I listened to both while reading the book and making the painting. The song is by the band Art Brut. If you haven't heard it, you should check it out. The subject of it is unique. - Kamilah Reed (K. Gill)

This was almost as cool as the time I spotted two praying mantises near each other. I knew that the encounter could only end in violence, and sure enough, the two grabbed each other within moments. The victor started chewing on the loser's head. Sadly, this was in the pre-phone-camera dark ages, sometime in the very early 2000s. - Kamilah Reed (K. Gill)

As the old Mortal Kombat proverb says, "All Too Easy". But still pretty darned entertaining, the interview and, as almost always with A.V. Club, the comments. A little explanation: "A huge proponent of transcendental meditation (or TM), the cerebral Lynch has a very personal relationship with music, so much so that The A.V. Club was requested to refrain from actually saying the title “It’s A Small World” throughout the entire interview. A code word for the song, “Flappy,” was predetermined before the interview." - Kamilah Reed (K. Gill)

I loved this interview, but the comments are amazing. - Stephen Mack

These butterflies migrate in large numbers, like monarchs. Large groups are found in Texas and Mexico. - Kamilah Reed (K. Gill)

At first I thought it was a kid in a hooded parks, squatting on snow bank. - Mary B: #TeamMonique