Make enemies not war.

Thanks, Giv!

I also love Swedish interviews.

I may be idiotic for this, but the Swedes have proven to me that all celebrity interviews should be less like a circus and more like a really awkward job interview.

I Love Colour.

For all who love colour. COLOURlovers is a fun community of similar colour-freaks where you can create and name your own colour, palettes, and patterns. Best part? You can "collaborate" by using colours created by others and share your creations with the rest of the community or download it in pretty much any format you can think of.



Color by COLOURlovers

R is for...

Robyn.

Yes, that Swede pop tart from a decade ago is back and she is better than ever. I'm afraid that I am going through a Robyn obsession - obsession as in listening to "Be Mine" in all the various versions for 2 hours on Friday night while I cleaned my bathroom, thanks to The Hype Machine. And so, here's some Robyn for y'all: from nineties pop princess to dance anthem queen, and still rockin' that unmistakable asymmetrical haircut.


Be Mine. Dir. Max Vitali.

Robyn's version: With Every Heartbeat (w/ Kleerup). Dir. ?

Kleerup's version: With Every Heartbeat (w/ Robyn), Dir. Fredrik Skogkvist

Ai-ya!

So, despite a warning from my seasoned cyclist friend, Ben, I still managed to crash Josette (my bike) a la streetcar tracks. Not too far from Chinatown, home to many a dreaded intersection. And for some added irony, on my way to fetch a helmet.

And so, nifty helmets to get excited about, or at least remark upon:


And now, la Pièce de résistance:
{from NoginSox}

DUMPED!

Fun stuff from Meg Wachter.

The Generator.

While looking for name inspiration for my new bike, came across this French Male Name Generator... which connected to a French Female Name Generator... and Place Name Generators and Character Description Generators and Ethnicity Generators?! Oh my!

Presenting Serendipity.

A randomly generated snippet from some of my fave categories:
Fantasy Plotter: A wizard raised by merfolk goes in search of a devious sorceress.
Chinese Restaurant Generator: Happy Flower
French Female Name Generator: Gisèle-Joséphine Girardin
Villainess Name Generator: Hecate the Fiendess, The Manic Viper
Japanese Male Name Generator: Kono Noriyuki

So now that the hard bit's done for you, get writing. That Giller Prize ain't gonna win itself.

Screengrabs of my work...

To whom it may concern:

Some bits 'n bobs from my work over the past few months: scribbles, typing, design, and my blood/sweat/tears. Enjoy, folks.

Nagi Noda

Okay, so you know how we all say that the Japanese culture is all loopy and pretty much like an impenetrable/inimitable alien farmland? Here, Nagi Noda is further proof to affirm such a statement. She's a multi-disciplinary artist with an expertise in creating mend-bending Alice in Wonderland type scenarios for commercials, music videos, and even fashion shows.
Firstly, Hair Hats.


Secondly, the LaForet runway show. Beatrice, this is a whole new level of "shadow fashions" (which is trademarked by us, by the way).

{thanks to Michelle in Ohio for this one}

Blank is like Blank.

Copywriter Justin Feinstein's blog of things that are like other things.
Some of my favourites:

{via swissmiss}

The best Wednesday morning, ever.

Unknown man and even more unknown doggish pet from this past weekend's Woofstock festival in downtown Toronto.

I need that pooch and I need it now.

{image courtesy of BlogTO}

The Perfect Summer Blockbuster

An almost complete script for the greatest date movie to ever not be made.
{via McSweeney's}

Dan Witz

Talented painter, street artist, and prankster. Check out Dan Witz's portfolio of mundane things turned marvelous.

Big Mosh Pit 2007. oil and mixed media on canvas 46x70

Long Island City, Brooklyn 2007. Mixed media on plastic, affixed to metal sign.

East London. 2007 Mixed media on plastic, affixed to metal sign.

Q is for...

It's been a long time coming, but...

quarterly.

There's just something about Quarterlys (Quarterlies?). When I read them or fake read them (like it really matters) I feel like some debonair dandy getting ready to graduate to The New York Times but not quite ready yet and I am maybe referencing GQ. One such publication worth getting the ol' hat tip: Drawn & Quarterly.

The publication.

The site.

The store.
Managed to get my hands on an old issue at the closing of This Ain't The Rosedale Library, look for them in Kensington now.

Faro Architecten

A renovated and expanded 150 year old farmhouse. The pavilion represents modern rural architecture: it’s simple, practical and eloquent. 52° 06' N, 06° 08' O

Student housing/office in Amsterdam. 52° 22' N, 04° 55' O

FARO Architecten is a quaint little spot in Amsterdam where they bring in the best of the old and the modernistic lines of new to create beautiful urban spaces. Love it. The site offers a little more than other firms' sites, including preliminary drawings and media bytes of each of their projects.

{via materialicious}

I Diss You!

The Surrealist Compliment Generator.
No description needed, really.

Another Saturday morning...

It's a scorcher in sunny, humid Toronto today. Just summer gracing us with her sweaty presence... smells like a day for procrastination!
Some thoughts on things I could do today but likely will not do:
1. Go to the gym. I've been told my shoulders are too small.
2. Find a table and outdoor rug for my balcony.
3. Go out and buy some music, like my conscience-friendly friend, Angela.
4. Go grocery shopping.
5. Or at least buy some juice, dammit!
6. Look for a bike.

Instead, I think I'll just finish this posting, go the washroom, continue thinking about how nuts it is that there exist uncontacted tribes in Brazil, and do something useful like pay my energy bill. Till Monday, when I'm back with faster Internet connection! Thanks, work!

It's like the China tent at Epcot.

Click your mouse and drag around to get the full wah-BOOM effect funness of this interactive demo reel from Immersive Media. How is this possible? Why, with an 11-lens camera, a realtime blending box, video streaming equipment, idiot. Now why didn't you think of this?

Fact: Some people don't get sarcasm.

' “A lot of the social cognition we take for granted and learn through childhood, the ability to appreciate that someone else is being ironic or sarcastic or angry — the so-called theory of mind that allows us to get inside someone else’s head — is characteristically lost very early in the course of frontotemporal dementia,” said Dr. Bradley F. Boeve, a behavioral neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.' - The New York Times

Relatively interesting article about sarcasm and the fact that there exist some, other than those who just simply have a bad sense of humour, who just don't get sarcasm. I mean, actually. Like it's a biological thing. Watch the video and see whether YOU get sarcasm. It's soooo haaard, I mean it's like you might need to be Albert friggin Eiiiinsteiiinn to get it.

Vampire Energy

Video By Lindsay Utz, Morgan Currie, Rowland Holmes
Illustrations By Nigel Holmes
Music By E*Rock
Other Danielle Flug

Yep. Standby power = evil. A great little video that is not only informative, but with great animation and music to boot. Mmm... and there's nothing quite like a rumbly, manly, narrative voice.

{via GOOD}

Reason for Blogging Slackage...

So rather than blogging during my 'breaks' at work, I have been scrambling to put together a little piece for a fundraiser/auction for HIV going down 'cross the Pond called 'Confessions & Perceptions'. It's an impressive collaborative project by peeps both in Canada and in the UK. Any folks out in Birmingham who are able to attend, check out the Facebook invite here.

Below is my rather last minute submission, in 2 versions. I've always been a fan of McSweeney-esque, clean, white, typographic design, so here it is. First, the alternate version...

And the final.