I have to say that I am really enjoying getting to create stuff for Stitch n' Kitsch. Cute and crafty is basically what I think of when I think of SnK, and that works really well for the way my head works. Up top there is a post card I created for them to promote their spring sale at their upcoming winter sale (which is December 13, by the way).
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I just can't believe this one. Who decided that creating that was a good idea? Really? Or, once they created it, how did they not realize it looked like it was burning and decide that selling it might not be the best idea?
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When I first spotted this poster the other day, I thought it was pretty great. Then I flipped over to the comments and read how it was created: "Each poster background was masked and spraypainted by hand using 2 metallic colors. The trees were drawn and the rest of the layers were created using spray paint and masking techniques that were scanned into the computer to print the vellums. The only thing that wasn't made by hand was the type."

That's pretty impressive if you ask me. I mean, I create digital files that get printed digitally. I'm already impressed by people who screen print all of their posters. But then this? Seriously Impressive.
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Apparently United Visual Artists created a video for Battles' Tonto. I actually own the single for this song, and the cover art is taken from this video, but it never occurred to me that this was where the art came from. "The video consists of our documentation of the band’s marathon 11 hour performance". Impressive. (Apparently I'm impressed this morning...)
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Loving this cutting board, but, like many things I've liked from House, expensive. Makes me want a woodshop so's I could create my own.
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A great little explosion of colour. Don't know if this is staged, or for real, but it's pretty great regardless.
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Finally got some of my newer posters up on gigposters, with two more waiting to be approved. Feeling pretty good about some of this stuff lately, so I keep wanting to share.

Charley Harper at Old Navy? A shopping trip this weekend yielded that surprise. You can bet I was excited to see him out in public more, even if it is at Old Navy. The printing on the t-shirts isn't very good, and all of the books and whatnot are cheaper on Amazon (what isn't?), but you have to assume that a lot more kids could end up learning their abc's from Charley's beautiful art now. We actually didn't buy any of it, due to the aforementioned better prices on Amazon, but still... What I did buy was this pretty great pair of pj pants.
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Google is hosting the Life magazine photo archives, which is a pretty crazily large collection of some amazing photography (article about it). I haven't gotten a chance to look too much into it, but photos keep showing up in other places, like this great picture of the first enclosed shopping mall on Shorpy.
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Did you know that the distinctive Coke bottle shape was designed by a Canadian? Neither did I. Okay, so technically he was an American living in Toronto, but you know, close. Anyway, box vox posted the original patent application for the bottle shape, which is kind of neat to see.
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Some movies I'm looking forward to/hoping to get to see at some point:
The Brothers Bloom (Brick director Rian Johnson's new one)
Dear Zachary (I feel like I would likely cry through a good chunk of)
Beautiful Losers (I've mentioned this before, but I really want to see it!
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I've got more stuff sitting in tabs I've been meaning to mention, but it's time for work!

Keepin' on.

The above picture comes from Vintagraph, a site (created by the same people as the seriously awesome Shorpy) that compiles old WPA posters. I love this one because the image at first struck me as incongruous to the message, yet at the same time, it does evoke the local through the image of the home, and the state through the image of the factory and tall buildings. Where syphilis comes in exactly I do not know, but the local and state, they're definitely there.
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I am loving this modular storage system. The colours not necessarily so much, it would be nice if they were more in line with those typical to the shipping containers they are based on, but still, they are pretty awesome. I don't know how much they cost, but you can be pretty sure that I would not be able to afford them.
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This here is a beautiful set of transistor radios on Flickr. This guy's collection must be amazing. I've only looked at a small fraction and am in awe. (from the DDC)

On a similar note, I just remembered that a friend told me this weekend that he picked up a part that should complete his repair of my vintage tube amplified suitcase record player. Looking forward to seeing that one again. He's been real awesome in fixing it for me.
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Some pretty great buildings pictured in here. I particularly like numbers 5, 6, 21 (which is actually a part of a complex that I've seen some pretty amazing pictures of), 22, 29 (shipping containers again! I love shipping container housing solutions), 30, 35 (yes, I fell in love like many others did I'm sure at the Olympics), 43, and 50 (Robot building!). That's a lot that I like, I know... There's a second page too, but I won't put you through a list of what I like of that one...
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Jenna tipped me off to this one out of an old issue of Jane yesterday. A couple of years ago, this would have been my ideal website, and I would have loved to be a writer for it. Now I'm trying to cut back on the snacks. I do have some pretty strong opinions about chips though. They even mention many of the same things that I evaluate my snacks for. Another one I've barely touched but would like to get deeper into.
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I'm loving the signs in this small flickr set. The impressive detail on the hot dog, the overload of flash and colour on the cleaners, the impressiveness of the city sign. Good stuff all of it. You really can't go wrong with anthropomorphic cannabalism in your signage, you know? (I think this is via the DDC as well...)
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A nice little vintage find on etsy. A beaufiful example of branding and sports if I've ever seen one. The style is just beautiful too.
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I've been seeing a lot of images created out of typography lately (there's a term for it, but I can't for the life of me think of it right now, maybe because I'm distracted by my need to pee...). Some are good, some not so much, but this book looks pretty great. Both the snail and the girl just look so cute, you know?

Speaking of books, we gotta get on ordering some Christmas stuff from amazon so's it gets here on time! It's almost December!
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Oh, and by the way, Seth and Chris Ware were pretty great. Chris was pretty hilarious, in his demure, self-depricating way. Seth was funny too, but a little more pretentious feeling to Chris' constant fear of sounding pretentious. I feel like the ways they said they thought about certain things are quite similar to the ways I do, which is nice to know. Chris had a presentation of a video he creatted with Ira Glass, so you know I was loving that.

EXCITED.

Jenna sent me this article from the Record today, and I only got as far as "Cambridge Galleries complements the Seth exhibitions at Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery" when I got really excited. It turned out to be even more exciting than I thought.

So yes, the amazing comic artist/illustrator/designer/letterer Seth does have work on exhibit at the KWAG (which I really should have known from their ad in the film guide). But then I found he also has work on exhibit at Render at UW (love the tagline "In the dull grey building on the other side of the tracks." Perfect for a gallery in that setting), and it sounds even better than what's at the KWAG. Awesome, right?

BUT THEN, things got even better when I saw this: Seth in Conversation with Chris Ware, in Cambridge! Chris Ware is pretty much the shit, and since, as far as I know, they're actually friends, it should be pretty great to see.

Jenna's timing on sending me that article was pretty much perfect, since it turns out that conversation is this Saturday. This is totally the kind of thing I only hear about afterward, but this time I'm actually going to get to see it (as long as I get there in time to get a seat!)!

Combine that with visiting the exhibit at the Cambridge gallery that the Record article was actually about which sounds pretty awesome, hopefully visiting the new Hespeler library in Cambridge that I'm itching to check out, catching Woodhands at the Starlight later, and then Marc & Kyle's music video DJ night at the bond after that, and Saturday is fixin' to be a pretty amazing day.

TIMBER!

Our mail has been particularly boring lately, but now I've got something to look forward to! I just noticed the above design by my favourite t-shirt maker, and I absolutely had to have it! Of course, I grabbed one of his other shirts in the process as well, you know, just for good measure.

During an etsy conversation, I also sent him this little pic from our trip to Funspot, where I happened to wearing one of his shirts and spot a pretty special arcade machine:
(not the best picture of me, but you know...)
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Some beautiful work on here. (via Draplin, I think...)
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I am in love with this Philly post office via 1900. Amazing. I've said it before, but this is definitely one of those pictures that makes me wish I could travel through time. (thanks Shorpy!)
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This is a really cool little application that lets you search through millions of flickr images by colour, and combinations of colour. Select up to 10 colours on the side, and it will return images that use those colours. Pretty great to play around with. (via Jeff)
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Awesome early Star Wars storyboards. Pretty cool flickr set to flick through, if you ask me.
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"Wasted" a good chunk of time flipping through the images on Letter Cult last night. All hand drawn lettering. Great stuff to check out. Here're two favourites:


Time to get up and go to work! And then tacos!

That there's a poster I just did for my newest "client." It's for their winter sale, but as far as I know it hasn't been printed yet, so consider this a sneak peek. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and I hope they ask me to do more in the future.
Overall I've been pretty happy with some of the stuff I've completed recently. I'll have to up it sometime so you all can see it.
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In the category of things I would like to own:
Something little. Every bathroom could use a robot! Actually, every room could use a robot...
Something big. Just beautiful. I can't decide which I like the most... Either the Twin, with its vintage british styling, or the MP, 'cause I've always loved vintage military gear (gotta be the green variation though, badass).
So, if you need a gift for me, big or small, there you go.
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The Neon Boneyard is a place I'd love to visit one day. It's pretty much the only thing I've heard of in Vegas that I would really like to go to. I mean, I'd like to see Vegas in some ways, but I think in the end I'd hate it. Except this place.
This place gets blogged about it alot (death by kerning, h&fj, for two, recently) but I've found myself talking about recently and realized that the people I know don't seem to have heard of it, and need to see its beauty.
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A great concept. I always find 2 litre bottles of soda taste flat like the day after you open them. If this bottle can fix that, I'd be awful happy!
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I guess you can file all of this section under 'Obama'. I wasn't planning on talking about him, but there's some pretty great stuff to share right now (not that there wasn't during the campaign, in fact, there was some amazing stuff, but you know...)
Loving this shirt. And, of course, the truth that it will soon come to represent. The 'new' lettering is pretty great if you ask me.
Newspaper front pages from the day after, from all over. Loving this contribution from Ottawa. The Toronto Sun ran the same tag line, but not as good of a picture.
So glad somebody did this! I was loving every piece of design that I saw come out of that campaign, and this compilation just proves that I was right in doing so. SO GOOD. Clean, concise, bold, confident, pretty as heck. Awesome.
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Another thing that's been making the blog rounds: Photoshop in real life. Pretty great.
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And now, for a touch of cute. Probably played out on the blogs by now too, but you know, I could use a nice peaceful touch of cute right now.

Engaged, but not underage

So the above ad ran in the Princess film guide earlier this week, with positive results. I will hereafter refer to it as "the most important ad I will (likely) ever make". You may remember awhile back I mentioned making a big purchase, and well, the ring pictured up there is it. Pretty darn happy. Now there's just a ton of planning to do...
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Here's a bit more about that Pepsi redesign. I guess they mailed out examples (old, current, and new), and a video posted, on that site there to "digital and social media influencers," which I can only assume is a fancy-pants term for bloggers and the like. Makes sense to me, since certain sites were already abuzz with the news...
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An interesting project from NBC. They've gotten different recording artists to record "covers" of the NBC chime "jingle". There's a video on there of the Flaming Lips recording theirs. Of particular note is Mr. Coyne's double neck guitar that repurposes a guitar hero guitar neck into an actual way to make real noise. (via Draplin)
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Here's a neat little desk that I am currently smitten with. I just love the way it keeps itself up.
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Finally, I am madly in love with these bus passes from the 40's. They're just perfect. I really can't stop looking at them. Maybe a style to influence some wedding related paper ephemera? We'll see just what I'll get to get away with for that stuff. I particularly like 10, 1, 8, & 7. Wish there were some close ups...

Hungry like the wolf.

Still finding it hard to stay on top of things, but I think it'll ease up after this weekend, then maybe you'll hear more from me... Work is still film guide. Home is avoiding work, which doesn't really work when you do some of your work from home. This past weekend was the Zine Fair, plus DJ'ing, which equalled being at the Starlight from 10:30am to 3:30am, minus one hour for eating. that was a long day.

Speaking of this weeked, Friday night, Zombie Disco at the Jane Bond, you'd should be there. Oddly enough I've DJ'd Global Warming twice since returning from our trip, but it's been awhile since it was just Shane and I. Should be an awesome night. Prepare for some 80's & 90's hip hop, which is pretty much my bread and butter when it comes to trying to make people dance.
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Here's something crazy. Apparently it was done for a Honda Civic ad that hasn't been released yet, likely because of some negative buzz that came from residents around the street in question. I can see the annoyance if you had to drive that stretch of road each day, but it's still an awesome idea.
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On the design front, the Pepsi re-design is pretty big buzz in some places. I kind of like it, but in a lot of ways I really don't. Maybe we can chat about it sometime, if you follow these links and see what seems to be coming down the pipes from Pepsi's designers soon.
From the patent offices
Bottle Design?
Bad review! - the Sierra Mist logo you can see here is kind of weird, but kind of awesome, if you ask me. While I'm sure a lot of people won't like this about it, but I kind of like how it messes with my eyes. It sure looks misty though, you know?
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Finally, this made my week. Gotta love a show that will take up over a minute of air time at the end of an episode to run a gag. Seriously, Jensen was supposed to get cued to sit up, and this is what happened when the cue didn't come. Pretty much my favourite show right now. Spooky and funny. So tongue-in-cheek. SO GOOD.

So it's been awhile, but I still feel like I'm recovering from being away. In my real life there's been lots of work to do at work, plus ads to do for Starlight, and a few posters, and I'm doing some ad work for my sister. And, I became an "uncle" as Marc and Celene's kid got born (it's a girl! and her name is Clover! and she's adorable!) And then there was thanksgiving too! Oh, and I did the above to our car. First accident. Not fun. Still waiting on an estimate and whatnot. I didn't pay for the rental car coverage on my insurance, so now we're shelling out a bit of cash for a car during the week too.

In my internet life, visiting my google reader feels like a chore, somehow, even though I'm caught up to where I was. There also hasn't really been a lot that I've seen that I've been really excited about. Actually, the whole internet has felt kind of chore-y. I hate it when that happens.

So that's why I haven't posted in awhile. I just grabbed all of the pics off of the camera, and will start uploading a bunch to Flickr soon, so's y'all can see 'em. Hopefully things will mellow out soon and I'll feel like I actually have time to do that stuff.
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Two things I have liked around the internet:
The new identity and products for 826 Valencia
The new macbook. (well, mostly the screen. I want that screen on my black macbook!)

Still going... No time to post, really, just wanted to quickly say that all is good. Since last time there's been a boat ride, taco's on tuesday (a neccessity, of course, though just not the same as ethels...), an awesome trolley museum (tons of pictures coming from that, some outlet stores, and a nighttime walk through of Salem (which has an awesomely huge comic book store that was one of the few things that were open). Would love some pics of the two Kappy liquor stores we're near, but I don't think there'll be time.

Today it's off to Sandwich, MA, and Providence, RI.

Once we get home, and I slog through all of our photos, you'll see and hear a lot more about this trip, I promise...

Jeanne if you're ever in...

Just a quick one from the parking lot of the Motel 6 in Portland. I actually paid to use the internet today, then the network for the hotel never showed up in my list. Thank you VIP Auto. The really annoying thing about all of this was that last night was the first night I really needed the internet, because I had ads to make and send in that I said I would do.
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Great day yesterday. The disc golf course was beautiful. The diner was also beautiful. The drive was not too long, and we ended the day with Target and Chili's.
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Today = downtown Portland, and a fall coastal cruise. Oh, and my first Denny's breakfast! Exciting.

More Days

So i knew this trying to blog every day thing wasn't going to work out so well. Part of the problem is my planning: too much going, not enough resting. Today was another 357km, making our 4 day total 1655.
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More bad weather. Yesterday and today. Rain mostly held off for the corn maze (which was super cornfusing, and took us 2.5 hours) and Ben & Jerry's (kind of a lame tour, overall), but our back roads drive from dinner at Alburritos in Littleton, to our hotel in Twin Mountains was rain soaked and had me feeling like a dead body, crazy hitch hiker, or scary ghost guy was going to pop out and the next thing you knew we'd be in the episode of Supernatural we were headed home to watch. Out Motel was suitably Bates-ey, which didn't entirely calm the nerves when the ride was over either.
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More bad weather today meant what would have been a beautiful ride in the world's first cog railway, was mostly a view of clouds, and track-side debris. I still loved riding in a steam train though, so there was definitely that. Still a cool thing, just not as nice as it could have been.

After that it was lunch in our first diner of the trip, The Littleton Diner (with our second, the A-1, as seen on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, to come tomorrow), and a visit to the world's longest candy counter, and we were on our way away from Mt. Washington.
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Rather than do the smart thing, and just drive the three hours here to Augusta, we drove one hour to Funspot (awesome), spent two hours there (super awesome), and then drove 4 hours to here.
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We took a ton more pictures today, but now, thanks to that diversion, I am too tired, and we need to catch up on some tv too. Oh, and sleep too! Right! How is it 1am again already!? Tomorrow shoud be Disc Golf, A-1, Gardiner ME, and then Portland. Should be a little less crazy, but with my shins and calves still feeling the maze from yesterday, we'll see how things go.
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We're up to 231 pictures now. I just have to find some time to organize and upload. Some real gems from Funspot, and some nice stuff from elsewhere too. One from the Cog up above. I'll let you know when (if) I get them up on Flickr.

Day 1

I have to say, the eastern part of New York state is a lot nicer to drive through than the part I'm used to (Buffalo, are you surprised it's nicer?). The weather today was shit, so that picture up above isn't mine, but we did pass that place just before we hit Vermont. I stole the pic from someone on flickr, and you can see other pics of it (the whole buidling is totally awesome) if you go here. Oh, did I mention that's a dry cleaners?
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So yeah, the weather today was, as I mentioned, shit. Which meant that as we were going up and down what I believe were the Appalachian mountains, where we should have gotten some awesome views, all we got were clouds. But actually, they were awesome in their own way, clinging to the trees, and hanging real low.
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The day started in Syracuse at the Motel 6, moved on to the Bearatorium, a gift/candy shop in East Arlington Vermont where I bought a Maple Syrup Soda, and saw a Giant chocolate teddy bear.

From East Arlington, which is in the south east part of Vermont, we checked out some outlets, and then booked it north east to Woodstock, VT where everything was closed. It was a real nice down town, but I guess everything closed at 5 and we got there at 5:20.We did find an adorable place called Woodstock Coffee and Tea where I got a real tasty "Café Mexico" which kept me going.

The day is ending now, at a Best Western in South Burlington VT, nearly 600kms of driving after the day started.

It seems my trip odometer only goes to 1000kms, 'cause now it's just at 8.4... I guess I'll have to re-set it everyday and then add it all up later, because of course I want to know how far we go.
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Tomorrow is Ben and Jerry's, and then, hopefully, the Great Vermont Corn Maze, weather permitting. Should be a lot less time driving, which will be nice, 'cause right now I'm spent.
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Oh, and I need to find a full set of all of the icons they have on the signage for tourism info here in Vermont. They're super nice! The road signs themselves are black, with nice, clear (okay, not all of the time, a few of them confuse me) iconography that lets you know what which category the location your being directed to fits into. I'll try to show you soon.
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Hopefully there'll be pictures to come. We should take more once it's nice out. I think right now we have maybe 5... Not sure if we have internet tomorrow or not. I hope we do! My google reader is at 68, and I don't think I can get through any of it right now!

Just a Quickie

We leave after work today on our way to visit New England. Exciting. And, yes, that is fictional Connecticut up there (Stars Hollow from The Gilmore Girls), but you know, whatever. I question how much the two of us would actually want to visit that area if it wasn't for that show. Stay posted for updates from the road.
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And, in case you've never seen it, this is my favourite commercial right now. So uplifting. And Stephen Hawking? Yes. I love that you know it's actually his computer saying it. He would actually show up at Simpsons table reads when he was appearing on that show. It would be so easy to fake it, but no, he just goes in and does it. awesome.

The pic above is for my mom, if she stops by. Yet another grab from the Canadian Design Resource. Are you seeing now why it should be one of your daily reads too? Apparently I've already gotten at least one person hooked, a good feeling for sure.

I love this postcard for the fact that it would have been sent out blank, in order for the sellers to add their own place name to the card. A ridiculous idea, but efficient, and one of those older practices that I have a real spot in my heart for.
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The Pelican Collection. Tonnes of materials, real nice to see. Makes me wonder if there's something similar for Penguin paperbacks. Gotta love 'em. (via Draplin)
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If I was going to buy another laptop anytime soon, and for some reason it wasn't going to be a Mac, it'd be this one right here. It's a thing of beauty for sure, and trying to make the world better at the same time.
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Pretty much every year at Christmas I make a joke about buying someone inappropriate a flask. This is really because I have always wanted a flask. I am pretty sure that I would rarely, if ever, use one, which is why I never buy myself one, but the comment is always rooted in the fact that if someone ever bought me one for Christmas, that would be pretty great. This one here is pretty ideal. Not the traditional flask shape I love, but at the same time, I love this one for it's shape, you know (and finish, of course).
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This may be my longest awaited Criterion Collection dvd. I remember renting this as a new release when I was hunting through the Rogers video store near my house, and saw only one copy of it on the shelf. Pretty standard practice for me at the time. Renting all of my movies at a big movie store, I always looked for things they only bought one copy of, always more up my alley than the big blockbusters. Not that I haven't watched it again since then, but I've never bought it because I knew they eventually had to put this one out, so that at least the first 4 Anderson movies could be a matched set, even if his current contract means following ones won't be (from what I hear at least...
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Recently, Meet Your Printmaker featured a local artist, which was quite surprising! Seems like a real nice guy, who, thankfully, seems to do real nice work. Looking forward to maybe seeing him at the zine fair.
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Just a couple more days until we leave...

This here book reminds me of a nice little timewaster we once made up called the "nipple/phallus game." Basically, stuck with some friends with some time to waste, the goal is to look around your surroundings and point out things that either look like a nipple or a phallus. When it comes right down to it, you can argue that many many things in this world can look like one or the other. This book seems to embody that idea pretty well.
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Definitely keeping an eye on this little gem on ebay. The shape reminds me a lot of my favourite stapler, the Swingline Cub. Definitely looks like just a knock off, but as I love that shape, I'm not arguing! Oh, and I LOVE that packaging! Definite selling point there. Hope it doesn't go for too much!

I wish this hadn't gone for so much, woulda been nice to pick up for sure. Combining my love of staplers (the Swingline Tot, so cute! With a mention of the Cub too!) with my love of letterpress (and halftones...). Awesome! But too much for my blood right now...
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I've been pretty into illustrated alphabet sets lately, and this here is a beautiful set of vintage matchbooks that come together as a set. It's a little weird if you think about, since illustrated alphabets are typically kid-related, and matchbooks are typically very not kid-related, but you know, whatever. You can't argue with nice design. I especially love the fact that they're in Spanish, so instead of 'T for Turtle' you get 'G for Galapago.' Would love to see more shots, closeups of each would be nice, but just getting to see them is pretty great. Not surprisingly, I love the Owl (or Buho, if I'm reading correctly.) Thanks GrainEdit!
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On a personal note: I finally made a header for this blog! I hope you like it!
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On a much too personal note: frustrated with my seemingly endless sinus issues, I've decided to try out "nasal lavage." It's weird, but I'm pretty happy with it so far, and excited to see if it makes things better in the long run.

No, I am not in Montreal, but you have to admit that that's a pretty amazing postcard. I really don't know what to say about it first. Okay, how about the question of who exactly wants to send or receive a post card that highlights an airport? 'Look, I'm here! But this is as far as I've gotten...' It's not like the building's are even interesting, like at LAX or something; looks like just a big sprawling building and a parking lot.

At the same time, from my personal vantage point, look at that sprawling building and parking lot! And the cars! Just the idea of making a postcard of that image is pretty awesome to me, you know? And the layout? Well! 'How should we arrange this text?' 'Let's just slap a white box over the sky and put the text in that!' 'That's a great idea!' It sure was, but if you ask me, I can only see that being the case in retrospect, looking back from now. At the time, really? (from the Canadian Design Resource)
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This is a great idea. Now if anyone says 'I'll just have anything,' they can really have it! Or whatever too!
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Here's something that's been making the blog rounds like wildfire: Font or Typeface? Good little read, and a good addition to the personal knowledge base too. I'm always happy to have newer and clearer definitions of things. I was never really too sure of what the difference was before, and now I know.
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Seems like every couple of weeks or so it's someone's turn to mention the FedEx logo and it's 'hidden' secrets. Now it's my turn. Seriously, have you ever noticed it before, the beauty of the FedEx logo. I didn't until someone pointed it out to me, as I feel the need to do every time I see it. Check it out, and read an interview with the designer here.
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Trips getting real close. 9 days. Super excited. Can't wait to take a break and see a thing or two. I'm a little nervous about a thing or two, but we'll deal with those when we get to them. Get ready for this thing to turn into a trip blog. I'll be hoping to post most nights from the road, hotel web access, time, and tiredness permitting.

Go out the window, we all go out the window

So it looks like my hopes of keeping this thing as nearly daily as possible have been shot through with some kind of large bullet. Or maybe it's with eating tacos and drinking on Tuesday AND Monday this week, lots of work, and my allergies laying into me hard core.

Highlights of this week include the aforementioned tacos and the aforementioned work, but only 'cause some of the work was on Monday where I spent the day working for the Starlight from home, and got a small taste of what it would be like to get to do that everyday, as I would like to. Lowlight: Allergies. Mad frustrating.
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The image above is, of course, another beauty from Shorpy. The glow surrounding the building just takes me aback. So ethereal for lack of a better term. If you're not checking out Shorpy on a regular basis, what are you doing? Always makes me wish I could time travel (not like it's the only thing that does though...)
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On another Shorpy note, I notified the fine folks over at the Ampersand blog about a Shorpy image with some fine ampersands on some old signs, and it got up on their site. Go check it out.
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Draplin linked to this one referencing his hatred of graffiti. I'm linking to it referencing my love of graffiti. I think it's applicable to both. It's also just straight up awesome. Clever. Conscious. Crafty. Clean!
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This here is a great little video (c/o House Industries) about the stupidity of english spelling. I'd never heard of Ed Rondthaler before this, and I'm glad I have now. According to wikipedia he's now 103 years young and still going. He was a paltry 102 when they filmed that video. Definitely someone I need to learn some more about.
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And finally: a movie about Facebook? Whaaaa? (via Jeffrey Rowland, who is a comic (writing) genius)

Here's an awesome series of pictures about crate digging, and the reasons not to do it, fittingly called Crate Digging, Don't Do It. There's a nice intro to it, that explains what crate digging is in case you don't know. The lettering is particularly nice in each one, and I'm really just digging the overall style too.

My form of crate digging is more digging through stacks of last season's shoes, looking for great deals, but you know, I think I understand.
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Jenna sent me a link to a great looking little book for kids written by Ann Rand, and illustrated by her husband, designer Paul Rand, called Sparkle and Spin: a Book About Words. It shouldn't surprise you to hear that I want it. Examples of great design being used in products for kids keep popping onto my radar recently. Specifically, I LOVE the Charley Harper ABC's board book, 123 board book, and blocks. I bet you can guess what friends of mine will be getting when they have kids! While buying copies of everything for myself too, of course (actually, maybe two for when I actually have kids...)
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Looking at Paul Rand stuff got me thinking about Saul Bass, who, of course, is another design god. Being a former film student, I obviously knew a thing or two about his movie title work (you know, aside from his movie poster work) but it never occurred to me that he pioneered the idea of making interesting opening titles. Crazy. Check out this video to see the man himself talk about some of his big title sequences. Of course, you'll get to see some sequences too if you don't know what I'm talking about.
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All Known Metal Bands. Interesting, funny, and maybe informative? (I've never actually flipped through the book, just stumbled upon the title...) Beautiful cover though. Not surprisingly for McSweeney's though, of course.
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Great Flickr set here: anthropomorphic cannibalism. Definitely something I love seeing in a sign, all brought together in one nice little set.

The tabs I have open...

6 of 11 nights' stays are now booked. This trip is actually going to happen! Just nabbed a reservation at Sleepytown today, which Jenna found in tourism guide and we figured we had to go to based on name alone. Tomorrow I have to call Seven Dwarfs Motel & Lodge, and see about locking that down. Those are the two most ridiculous seeming planned hotels on the list. The rest are all mostly Super8's or Motel 6's. I kind of wanted to try to track down all kinds of independent/quirky places, but the chains just seem like they'd probably be a little more consistent. Not that I expect them all to be good, but just that I expect them to not be as bad as some of the others could be, you know?
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Chocolate covered bacon. Seems like genius to me.
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Cruise ship shopping center.
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Wood cars.
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1960 Heathkit Catalog. Beautiful (via Draplin.)
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Sorry for the terseness, that was just a little overview of some tabs I had open to show you, but it's getting late, and my back's been hurting all day, so I just took some muscle relaxants and am ready to relax.

Getting Back to Normal

Jenna sent me a link to an US Weekly slide show of pictures of celebrities on Sesame Street (if you didn't know, I love Jim Henson). She originally sent me to this Jonah Hill one, which is awesome, but I just love Bert's expression in the picture above. He looks so shocked and honoured to have Brian Williams interviewing him about his bottle cap collection.

I wish there was a way to just see the celebrity appearances on Sesame Street. There's just something about when you surround a celebrity with puppets. It's always interesting to see how their interaction works, and it can be so cute! Like when Feist was on!
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Been a busy week, with lots of work at work, as we printed the film guide this week, and then some poster and ad making at home when I was not at work. But I'm starting to feel back to normal, so I should be back to regular posting. I've barely kept up with my blog reading, let alone my posting! By the way, if you ever feel like seeing what I do at work, just pick up a Princess Cinemas film guide, or check out posters I've made here.
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This here's a pretty great shopping bag. It's a great idea to create one with an attached pouch, for sure. And the grenade styling, well, I do enjoy that!
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There's been a lot of stuff going around lately about sweet business cards, and I'm sure I'll post one later, but this one for a divorce lawyer is so clever! Of course, the pertinent details are on both sides too, so each soon to be ex can have their own copy.
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The Canadian Design Resource is an excellent blog to check out for fine examples of Canadian design smarts, like that card above. It can really make a fella proud to be a Canadian.
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Been meaning to post this one for a bit: A robot that is controlled by living brain tissue! Crazy!
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Plans for this year's DIY Not? zine fair are well under way. I need to get a poster done by the end of the weekend, and the event itself is on October 25 & 26. Should be a good time. My goal for it (aside from showing people how to do cheap and easy "screenprinting") is to set up a screening of Beautiful Losers at the Twin on the Sunday evening. That would make me real happy.

I totally forgot about this marketing campaign until about a week ago, but I love it. I've even kept the two newspaper ads I've found (one from over a year ago), and wish there was a way to see everything they've put out. Seems that guy's always up to something new. And the advertising works! On me at least, the next time I go to Halifax I might have to fly Porter to see if that adorable Raccoon pops up anywhere else.
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Always cool to see the apartment/studios of people you find interesting. Grain Edit's studio just got covered by More Ways to Waste Your Time (with a name like that, there's a blog I've gotta be checking out...). Inspiring, and a little disheartening. I'll never have a place as beautiful as this, or Something's Hiding in Here's studio.
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But then, at the same time, it is a little heartening that Sweathog Living has popped up. And nice to know that one of the House Industries folks is writing for them too. So not all design related people live in bright, clean, modern homes. Me, I'd like to sit right in the middle between Sweathog, and Mid-Century Modern. Maybe it's more that I'd love to live the Mid-Century Modern life, but my tendencies will never allow that beautiful clean and sparseness.

While on the This American Life website at work today (have I mentioned I'm currently in the middle of 12 straight days at work? That's film guide time for you), I decided to check out the "On The Road" heading. I am so glad I did! Turns out David Sedaris is going to be in New Haven CT on October 3rd, exactly around when I figured we'd be in CT. Not a half hour later, after some mad confusion over the phone with Jenna about the theatre's seating chart, tickets were bought. Another part of the trip planned! Now all we have to do is book some hotels...
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All things considered, a good weekend, and something else to look forward to, but not enough time spent online to have anything else to share with you, just my excitement. Sorry!

"His memory's admissible as evidence"

Apparently they've printed a new 35mm copy of RoboCop. I tried to convince John that it would be a good idea to run it, but I'm pretty sure I'll get back to work down there and see that it is not on the calendar. I had no idea that there was a new one in the works, to be directed by Darren Aronofsky... Interesting
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We do have Wall•E on calendar at the Orig for a few days though, which is a great idea. I haven't really talked about it, but I think Wall•E, and it's subsequent, not beating you over the head, but being being very artistic and clever marketing and aftermarket campaigns is awesome. This review of it is pretty much bang on to how I feel about the film itself, and I used a pared down version of it in the quide, to try to attract the crowd I think we should try to attract. As to the marketing/aftermarket campaigns, check out these promo post cards, and this book. Oh, and this Little Golden Book, done, more or less, in Little Golden Book style too!
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Society in Decline - Awesome roadside signage on flickr (via Draplin)
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Katamari baby! (via Northern Nests)
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EA Sports responds to YouTube video about glitch in Tiger Woods game with: YouTube video with Tiger Woods? Awesome. (Via Mike Reed [whose Mailer came today, which I have to say, is awesome])
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Turntable watch.
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I should probably get down to work now...

What a fine set of wheels! That right there is circa 1920, via Shorpy, which , if you've never been heard of it, is "The 100 Year-Old Photo Blog." It's chock full of amazing pictures from days gone by. Some are user submitted, and some are from national archives. My favourite photographer on the site? Jack Delano. Hands down.
(Not sure where I first heard about Shorpy. I'm betting Draplin.)
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I can't ever find Readymade at the Zehrs near my house anymore, and I always forget to go elsewhere to pick it up, but I was pleased when I grabbed it this week and saw there was a feature about Somthing's Hiding in Here's super cute apartment.
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Some real nice things from Grain Edit today:
M is for Modern: Alphabet Flashcards - really nice stuff. Yes, yet another thing I wouldn't mind owning.
So Much Pileup - A new blog by one of the guys behind Burlesque of North America. Definitely immediately subscribed to that one and am eagerly awaiting future posts.
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Something I kind of forgot about until a conversation with Josh last night: In car turntables. And, a slot loading one. Genius, those.

Another Day...

Nardwuar and former PM Jean Chretien by the awesome Mitch Clem. Mitch rose to fame with "the world's first online punk comic," but also illustrates album covers, show posters, magazine articles, probably some other things, and My Stupid Life, which is his current (awesome) webcomic about his life. Been a fan for awhile. Highly recommended. Definitely going to have to buy this one when it comes out.
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Something you may know about me, or will come to know about me if you continue to read this, is that there are MANY things out there that I would like to own, and I will not hesitate to tell everyone and anyone who will listen that I would like to own it.
Like this shirt, that is apparently going to stop being made. Been wanting it for awhile. Might need to buy it.
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No need to buy this one, but it is awesome. So is the whole blog that posted it. Focusing on faux bois = creating pretty much one of the best blogs ever. So much good stuff.
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This here is a pretty sweet flickr set of old ephemera. It comes via Draplin, who I'm sure I'll mention a lot around here, as I've been a big fan of his work and blog for a long time now. I go so far as to buy magazines about a sport I've never participated in, just because he does the layout. Gross, no?
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Made a BIG purchase today, but you'll find out more about that later...

Today was Marc & Celene's "baby fiesta." That's the poster I made for it up above. Definitely an enjoyable time. Celene's mom got me to dump a big pail of ice water on Marc. I ended up bonking him on the head too though, resulting in a playful scolding from Marc's mom.
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Managed to squeeze in the viewing of a couple of doc's this weekend.
The Tri-City Roller Girls are hosting a special screening of Hell on Wheels at the Twin this Thursday, but the dvd came in on Friday, so I borrowed it to run a "test screening." Good movie. Interesting stuff about the rebirth of the roller derby. Gotta love the Texans for that (amongst other things). The derby seems to be a great thing for a lot of the girls who play it, and you can't go wrong with that.
Yesterday and today I watched Punk's Not Dead, which was pretty good too. It never really judges about just what punk is or is not these days. Some people in it do, but the film seems to give respect to what the newer bands are doing.
2 films in one weekend! a far better showing than the 3 weeks or so it took me to get through Crumb. Which was not because it wasn't good, but moreso that I just didn't seem to have the time to really sit down with it, or when I tried to, I was too tired. The movie is really interesting in that it almost becomes more so about the mental states of his two brothers than about Robert Crumb himself.
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Might have to buy this one. Jenna found it. I already own basically the same model in black, but it doesn't have the clip, or the staple remover. Looks real nice in green too. I think I paid $.50 for the one I currently have 'cause it was jammed when I found it at ValueVillage and I convinced them it was broken. Love the fact that it locks shut for travelling. Clever.
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Finally did some planning for our New England trip. Gotta make sure I can get the days off. Oh, and finish planning. And book some rooms.
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Seems to be some pretty great ingenuity behind this bike is pretty sweet. Solar panel wheels, genius. (via The Canadian Design Resource)
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Well, I was hoping for daily on this, but I missed two. Still better than my livejournal has been for a long time...

Another one from Jenna. My number one source of neat internet things outside of blogs. She always hunts for things on her own, while I spend all my time looking at things other people tell me to.

By the way, she's getting wayyy too good at Circus Atari. I can't even come near her scores.
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Here's one that's been making the blog rounds that I thought I'd kick in in case you missed it: Hotel Door Hangers
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A little late on this one, but I keep meaning to mention it: for once "America" got something right and voted Iliza Shlesinger the winner of Last Comic Standing. Funny and hot.
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If you've got nothing to do tomorrow night, I'll be dj'ing by myself again tomorrow night at the Jane Bond, 'cause Shane's been "called up to the majors" to fill in for DJ Charless.

So lately I've gotten into This American Life (late, I know). The weird thing is that I actually got into it through the tv show (well, not so weird considering how much I love tv). Not that I hadn't heard of the radio show before, in fact, I'd been meaning to listen to it forever. But then one day Jenna downloaded one episode of the tv show, and I was like "oh yeah!" And then a little while later I started downloading some more, and then we were hooked. The bad part about it is, there's only so many episodes of the tv show (12, actually). But the good part is, there's about a million episodes of the radio show to listen to.

This came in handy the last two days at work. The boss is at his cottage, and I was all pumped to listen to music while working yesterday. I remembered my ipod, but forgot the cord, and just as I was cursing myself, I remembered that you can stream T.A.L. on their website. And so work has been good this week, if a little stressful for other reasons.

I have listened to and recommend:
Notes on Camp - I love stories about camp. I always wish I had gone, but I totally would have hated it if I had.
Prom - Gee, is it obvious that I love portrayals of the experiences of youth?
Superpowers - Chris Ware talks about his own superhero obsession in this one!
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Jenna found the website of the designer behind our favourite Keds shoes: Eleanor Grosch. At times she seems pretty obviously inspired by Charley Harper, and there ain't nothin' wrong with that. She also designed a raccoon pillow that I've thought about buying before at Urban Outfitters without knowing it was hers. I can't remember why I never did buy it. She also has some pretty great stuff available here.
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And, while I'm to things to decorate your home with, and even though I'm often not the biggest fan of wall stickers, there's something about this set that I quite like.
Of course there's all kinds of things from veer that I quite like, but I'll probably never own any of it. Especially since, as much as I love that mug, it's $18!
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And finally: this one's for the Qatalyst folks, if they take my invitation and stop by.

Oh, taco tuesday. Both renowned and reviled as "my favourite day of the week." Looks like a great day out for patio sitting and beer sipping though. And what day isn't a good day for tacos?

<< This, of course, is a costume that I think I need, or at least to make my own variation on. Marc and I discussed a whole set: Taco, ramekin of sour cream, ramekin of salsa, bottle of hot sauce. That would be awesome.
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Here's a movie I've got to tell John to try and get. That's if/when it gets Canadian theatrical distribution. Great collection of artists in that one. The trailer's on the main page, so be sure to check it out. (via Wooster Collective)
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Jenna had a good point last night, I totally have to stop looking at t-shirts on the internet that I could totally make myself, and get back into totally making t-shirts myself. It's not even that I don't have the ideas, it's just the straight laziness and not wanting to do more work when I'm done work. That's something I need to work on...
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This is a pretty great shirt from Threadless that I could not make myself, and wouldn't mind owning though.
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And finally, a big thanks to AceJet170 for talking about Mike Reed yesterday. A quick glance through Mr. Reed's site, and particularly his miscellany resulted in seeing a ton of cool stuff. Like this, which describes how a Large Hadron Collider works via hip hop. And he's super nice too! Apparently there will soon be one of these in the mail for me. Looking forward to getting that one, and you can believe you'll hear about it when I do.