It's hard, in all good conscience, to call the above picture 'the saddest picture ever,' considering all the  pictures out there of war, and genocide, and whatnot, but damn if it isn't one of the saddest pictures ever, for me at least. Been feeling the desire to watch Big Bird sing "It's Not Easy Being Green" again, but I don't know if I'm up for that kind of crying, yet.

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It occurs to me that I don't think I mentioned it on here, so hopefully you heard me blather about it elsewhere, but this weekend we had a table in a craft show for the first time ever. I've been screenprinting handkerchiefs, coasters and trivets in our basement for awhile now, and we're starting selling them under the name BRFC (BeaRFaCe). The sale this weekend I was viewing as sort of a test run, and it went really well. So I'm projecting an Etsy site launch of Oct 16, and am writing up my application (and then printing my arms off if I get in) for the winter Stitch n Kitsch show. I uploaded some pictures of the BRFC table to flickr, that you can see here. Super proud of it right now, and thankful for everyone who bought something this weekend and said nice things, and especially for Jenna, who is a BIG part of BRFC, and has pretty much all the best ideas related to it, which helps me get down to the business of printing.

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In other stuff I'm involved in news, my good friend Marc just took over the Princess Cafe from my boss at the Princess Cinemas. Though many things are staying the same, Marc's doing some redesigning this weekend, including new menus and other paper goods that I got to throw together for him. Really just an update on the old stuff, but I'm looking forward to seeing how it looks! Long story short, go to the Princess Cafe this week and support Marc!!

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Maybe things will slow down soon, and I'll get back to sharing links with you. I was excited last night to get my Google Reader below 300 unread items, so you can see I'm a little out of the loop right now...

I haven't linked to anything on Shorpy for awhile, but I had to link to this one. I do love me a street scene, and the look of the old awnings on buildings, so this here was perfect for me. Love it. Go in close and check out the signage, and particularly the guy in the lower right hand corner hanging out in that upstairs doorway.

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Did you know that Mike Rowe used to work for QVC? Marc sent this to me and it's pretty much the best thing I've seen in awhile.

Number 1 question Jenna and I had while watching this? "How long did he do this for?" It can't have been that long. There's no way the people trying to sell Noah's Ark could not have been entirely happy with his representation of it. Also, if this wasn't the 2 a.m. shift, I'd be shocked. There's even more videos on YouTube that I have to get around to watching.

Amazing.

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A couple great items came around through long-time friend Sean:

AMC Greenlight's The Walking Dead. Can't wait. This reminds me, I'm a few books behind. I really need to place that Amazon order that I keep putting off...

Culture that makes you feel old on The Onion. It's a little long, but there's some good stuff in there. That article excitedly led me to this annual list of the 'mindset' of student's entering college, until I realized that it's pretty bullshit. For example, check out 2002 graduates, who were born in 1980. It includes the entries: 14. They have never owned a record player; 15. They have likely never played pac-man, and have never heard of 'Pong'; 16. Star Wars looks very fake to them, and the special effects are pathetic.

I was born in '81, and though it may be odd to some that I currently own a record player(s), and an Atari, I did also own a record player and an Atari as a kid, and was seriously impressed by Star Wars. In fact, I still think the old models look better than the re-issue. I was excited to read through all the years of that list, but now that I've vented about it, I'll never go back.

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If I needed a small mirror, this would be the one, for sure. Construction bear. Cute.

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This is probably about the only way you'll ever see me sporting a G-Shock watch. And even then, I doubt it.

If Fonts Were Dogs. Been thinking about dogs a lot lately. Not ready for one yet, but maybe someday. Looking at adorable puppies on kijiji is both great and terrible.

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Hobbit houses in real life. How long have I wanted to live in a hobbit hole (just ignore how poorly I might fit in one for a second...)? Pretty much for ever. Neat stuff.

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Nintendo cartridge harmonica. So clever! Awesome!

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Fixing monuments with lego. Clever & awesome as well. Neat stuff.

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Hey Marc, speaking of things you might in a beautiful dream, check this out. OH MAN could not be more correct. I want to eat that. Of course, the chance of dying immediately would be high, but it might be worth it... Except I just realized that it looks like it's made with cheese slices. Missed opportunity on that one.

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While looking for something else today, I discovered these shoes, and instantly became obsessed with the idea of them. Neat stuff. I'd like to try on a pair. Buying them seems impractical obviously, but just to try them on could be pretty cool.

How awesome would it have been to receive a letter on that letterhead?

Where does letterheady find all of these great letterheads!?
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Things to watch!

The Sandpit - pretty great tilt-shift-esque film about "A day in the life of New York City, in miniature.

AFOL: A Blocumentary - Adult Fans of Lego! Great little doc.

Logorama - The video is at the bottom. I've really been itching to see this Oscar nominated animated short. It did not disappoint. LOVE it. (edit: I started this post days ago, and since then this short became not just Oscar nominated, but an Oscar Winner. I was so excited for it.)

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Since Leno's back on the tonight show, here's Plenty of Reasons to Just Say No to Jay Leno.

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Hey Marc, here's one of the things I wanted to tell you, and then forgot today: The Grilled Cheese Bacon Burger from Carl's Jr. How much do I want to eat that? A LOT.

Funniest part of that blog post: "It was apparently first invented by Carl’s Jr as a vegetarian option for their menu, but some executive said, “Why not add a beef patty and bacon”? Brilliant."

Have I mentioned how great of a blog baconbaconbacon/It's All About the Bacon is? I love it. But it makes me hungry (and jealous of people who can go to Carl's Jr.).

Damn, I just googled my Dad's name and found out he's been blowing up the news since September! I guess he's started a monthly service that people are encouraged to bring their dogs to. Sounds like cool stuff. Here's a couple articles if you want to check it out:

Filling the Pews ... with Paws from the Montreal Gazette (this one seemed to get circulated on the wire)
Pet Value: Quebec church launches 'paws and pray' from the Anglican Journal
Montreal hot for jet-set pets from Canoe.ca (not just about his church, but mostly, and some good quotes, one of which contradicts one in another article! shocking!)

Things like this, and quotes like “I always like to push boundaries a little bit,’’ definitely make me proud of the guy, so I just had to share.

(Image from here)
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Nancy Grows Up. Audio recordings of a girl growing up, reduced to just a little over 2 minutes. Heard this one on RadioLab, and had to find a version I could share. Very neat, and cute, and touching, and kind of sad in it's own way.
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More people I know in the media: Ben Ong on Jimmy Fallon. When I saw Ben mention this on Facebook, I totally thought it was a joke. Turns out it's true! And awesome! Yay Ben!
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Speaking of friends, Marc sent me this one, Bear Sleeping Bag. Crazy.

Apparently blogging fell apart on me last week as we found ourselves shopping for house stuff every evening.

This weekend, as the image above indicates (which was an awesome project to get to do, by the way), was Marc & Celene's wedding, which was a great time. Good people to hang out with all over the place. And now that it's over I can finally wear my groomsman shoes out and about. Got 'em on right now.

Hopefully I'll get back to posting more now, but we'll see, it's film guide time at the Princess right now...
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Jenna sent me this one and my only response was 'DAMN.' Nice stuff.
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Sometimes I just don't know what to make of Richard Linklater. I really want to love him. He made one of my favourite movies, employed some great sounding practices while doing so, and has also made a number of other interesting films. But then he's also made some crap.

I guess I didn't realize that Me and Orson Welles is one of his, but when I saw this poster for it, it just made me think that he's out to make some money, you know? I do think that the movie could be good, but the marketing is just so lacklustre and pandering feeling, you know? Citing School of Rock (mainstream, fun movie) and Before Sunset (romance!) is obviously toeing the mainstream line, versus the possible tag of 'From the Director of Dazed and Confused, Waking Life, and A Scanner Darkly,' which would definitely get ME to watch the movie. It's just hard to know what to make of such fluctuations.
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Speaking of artists fluctuating back and forth from mainstream to underground, Shepard Fairey designed the program for the Grammy's? Seriously? It's like, the worst award show.
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Somewhat entertaining, definitely tragic: Tacos exploding in slow motion

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!)

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...