I finally started collecting the Complete Peanuts series, with the 1950-54 set pictured above. I'm pretty sure this is my favourite era of Peanuts, so I can't wait to re-read them. The books and box are beautiful, not surprisingly, since they're designed by Seth. His lettering is perfect for it, and the vignettes he used in the opening and closing pages really emphasize the seriousness that underlines Peanuts, as well as give the series a distinctly Seth touch. 
(edit: I was just reading the above linked info about the series in which Seth is quoted: "I want to emphasize the sophistication of Schulz’s work by creating a package that is both austere and direct. I would like to try to reflect the quiet and melancholy of the strip in a package that hopefully, shows the proper amount of respect for Mr. Schulz." Obviously, I think he nailed it.)
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You may or may not know this already, but I rarely ever wash my jeans, and I wear the same pair almost every day. Turns out I should have done this as a 'study' rather than my regular practice, 'cause I could have ended up in the news. I know people wash their jeans more than I do, and wear them less than I do, but the idea of washing them every day, or even every week is ridiculous to me. Jeans are rugged and durable, so why not treat them that way? Good enough for miners to wear every day, good enough for me to wear every day.
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Almost every designer I follow shared this video in one way or another, so I thought I should pass it on too: The House Industries trailer. So much awesomeness.
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From Julia N. on facebook: Generic Dr. Pepper gallery. I love store brand/generic sodas. Dr. Pepper versions are, of course, the best since Dr. Pepper is awesome, and the names they come up with to evoke the original are usually pretty entertaining. Dr. Thunder, Dr. A+, Dr. Pop, etc. The names are amazing! Personal favourite, by name and experience: Dr. Smooth.
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Anson tweeted about a blog that discusses user interface design that seems pretty interesting: Little Big Details. I LOVE this kind of stuff, because these really are the little touches that make the user experience so much better if they're done right, and ruin it if they're not. When Google Labs announced this new favicon tweak I got really excited. It also helped me clean up my inbox, as apparently it doesn't could when you have more than 20 unread emails. I feverishly went through everything and got down from 30+ to 18 , so now I can see what I've got unread in a very small spot, and I have less unread. Look how that little UI tweak helped me! Now if I could manage to have less tabs open...
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Herman Melville has 25 words for Beard. Personal favorite? "Long, trailing moss hanging from the bough of some aged oak." At least I think that's it. There are some real good ones in there.
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Camper Kart and Camper Bike. Neat, cool and clever.

Getting a bit more work done. Some yoga posters, some ads, and that poster up above. Tomorrow I finally get down to work on wedding invitations for some friends. Looking forward to that, at the same time that it's a little scary to do work for friends. Not as scary as doing my own invitations will be, but still scary.
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The National Post shows some of the cover design process of Seth. Pretty cool to see. I can never say enough how much I love Seth's lettering and style. So nice. (from Drawn)
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Just in Time, Or A Short History of Production. Amazing looking art installation. I'd love to see footage of it running.
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Blerg. I was supposed to get more done today, but so far I have not. Fridays off always disappear way too quickly.

Still finding it hard to get creative lately, but I'm working on it. When I was originally thinking about doing a Plants and Animals poster, I went to the obvious place and thought about doing something with plants, and animals. In the end I started thinking about Montreal, where both bands on the bill are from. I always forget that Montreal has a subway system (maybe because I've never been there...), but it seems like something distinctive about the city. Since I love trains and subways, and maps, I thought that might be a good place to go for their poster. I hope they like it!

Actual Montreal subway (metro) map for reference.
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If you haven't heard anything about Vivian Maier yet, you should check her out. You should start by watching the video here. Really cool story that's making the rounds. Thanks so much to Sheila for sharing it with my in a comment the other day. Beautiful images.
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That's it. Time to get on to my to do list. Tonight is birthday dinner with some good friends, and viewing of Back to the Future, one of my all-time favourites, on 35mm at the Original Princess tonight. Looking forward to it!

I have had 7 rolls of film kicking around in a shoebox for the past 9 or so years. I think at the time I took the pictures I was probably low on cash and figured I didn't need to spend it on developing the film. Over the years I'd look at them from time to time and think I should do something with them, but I never did, for reasons ranging from money to 'just where do you take film now anyway?' to laziness.

 

I finally took them in, and sadly only got about 3 rolls worth of stuff. I guess maybe if I hadn't let them sit so long, they would have been better off... Oh well, at least I got something. They're not the most exciting pictures in the world, but it's kind of neat to see them, lost for all this time.

That's me up above, taken sometime in the past, with an action sampler. I'd put it at about 2000-2001-ish, considering the hat, and the fact that I'm wearing contacts. Yes, I am playing hacky sack.

I'm sure you'll see more of these soon.

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New add to my google reader: Someone Else Will Put it Back. Love it. I never understand why people can't just put things back where they go. Especially things that will spoil if left out of a cooler. I do enjoy when the places things end up are especially weird though.

Related to this, I think my biggest shopping pet peeve may be people who leave empty coffee cups on store shelves. I saw this so much during the shopping season and I can't stand it. How hard is it to hold on to your cup, or put it in your cart, for just a few minutes longer? Ridiculous.

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Want. House Industries x Herman Miller Japan blocks. Damn, nice work. The details! "Took us a while to sniff out the tiny brown kraft packing tape, but solving specky details like “tape scale” allows me to sleep at night." Seriously. You have to love that attention to detail. 

If you happen to be in Japan at all, please pick one of these up for me. Thanks!

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Homeless guy with golden radio voice. Seriously, that title does not lie.

edit: started this post yesterday and Jenna just informed me that job offers are already coming in for that guy. Nice.

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Love this ConverseXAce Hotel shoe. Good look.

Finally updated the header on here. I've been meaning to for a while, but just finally got around to it. Sounds like most things with me.

Up there is one of my trivets spotted in action on New Year's Eve. Looks good peeking out there from under the dish, if I do say so myself. Anyway, happy new year and merry christmas and all that. The holidays were nice, but not relaxing enough, and I'm having some serious trouble getting down to work and being creative. I'm sure things will get back on track soon, but until then, links!
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More than 1000 dead birds fall from the sky. What?? What makes this extra sad to me is that the red-winged blackbird is my favourite bird. Sad.
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Speaking of birds, you may know we kind of favour bird images around our house. Jenna recently found these two different antique packaging items that I really need to keep an eye out for now (on top of this Hush-shak can I'm itching to own):

Ronson Oily Bird lubricant. Clever, clever use of the spout as beak. Love it.

Snow Bird Dust Mop Polish. So pretty.
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If I were a snowboarder, I'd probably want this HBCxBurton snowboard. It's like a Bay blanket on a board!
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I know this is a little late, but Black Thought throws down some beautiful vocals in this video of The Roots doing The Christmas Song. Multi-talented vocalist! Love it.
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Also a little late, is this article about the novelty industry struggling with creating glasses for NYE 2011. Some pretty ridiculous solutions there.