Who you callin' chicken?

Mustafa Ahmed, 12: spoken word artist

Get on Santa's "Good" list.

One of the best things I've discovered this week (thanks to Torontoist) is Santa in the City, where good cheer visitors scroll through letters to Santa from kids who just might not get a visit from Santa this year. In partnership with social centres around the GTA, you can read through the letters and "adopt" the letter you want, and to any degree you want, fulfill that child's wishlist. Above, one from Joshua, aged 9. For me, I gotta find some Dora goodies and a Barbie.

Be Sweet cushion

Love this merino wool cushion, with a social conscience, too. Question is: Do I sit on this? Who cares?!

The New York Times - "Special" Edition

Read all about it.

"It's been a long time comin'..."

For those of us who didn't stay up to watch this, or, er, don't have cable, here it is, Senator, oh, let's just throw it out there, President Obama's acceptance speech.

Palin as President.

This is way too much fun - I mean, so long as it never crosses into the real world. Er, just stay in the World Wide Web, President Palin.

{Thanks Rod for this.}

Tonight is the night, the end of...

This. Fucking. Election.

We have more in common with the Yukon and Nflnd than we thought...

Holy crap! That's a lot of blue! As we beach ourselves back onto the shores of Tory-manned Canada this morning, here's a quick and comprehensive look at how Canada voted (note: the GTA's propensity for Red - man, are we ever products of our environment), compliments of CBC.ca. Nice interactive zoomy map there! 

A final, depressing thought on this Friday.

NOKIA's Design Manifesto

A corporate manifesto that gives us cynical and internally embattled designers a bit of hope. And hey, though actions speak louder than words, it is commendable for Nokia to at least strive towards their goals here.

{via chroma}

Where ma' bees at?

HelptheHoneyBees.com

If you live in Toronto and need help...

help me help you - August (toronto)
Reply to: comm-797001111@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-08-14, 5:54PM EDT

i made a promise to someone i'd help 100 strangers with BIG things in their life. These things can be how to drive a car, learning a new skill, or figuring out a troublesome personal task in their life...etc.

A taste of things i've done:
i've delivered a lunch and dinner to someones grandmother while they were out of town for a week,
i've shoveled driveways of 2 elderly homes on my street in the middle of the night on the worst and 2nd worst snowfall this past winter
i've help find jobs for a single mother, 2 unemployeed/intelligent/educated forieners who had a hard time getting a job, i've tutored several people in leaning more fluent english. I've personally helped people move from their home, find a new home, install curtains in someones house,help someone with their detailed plans to propose to their girlfriend, proof read resumes and just offer a few kind words of encouragement to someone down on their luck..
So now i ask....how can i 'try' to help you today?...

Design won't save the world.

The Global Rich List.

Global Rich List from the folks at Poke to a) make you feel better about your financial status and b) guilt you into donating to charity. And it takes me back to that era when everyone loved playing "Oregon Trail" on their beige Apple computers.

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.

Yo Peace!

It started 5 years ago as a response to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, promoting peace through the visual arts. Today, the mission of Yo! What happened to Peace? continues with ongoing entries, an online store, and of course, submissions from artists around the world with the same common goal.
Check out a few of the submissions below:

Imagine Peace

Peace Billboards: A really neat display of the international community (based on members of the UN) coming together with art in a public space. For all those lucky San Franciscans, interpretations of 'peace' by 10 artists will be on display on billboards around the city starting May 26.

Book a spot on a free bus tour to check out all the work. What else is there to do in San Fran, anyway, eh?

Monday afternoon.

It's Victoria Day here in Toronto, and I'm sitting here in my pajamas, looking out my window at my two wooden patio chairs, Umbra lounger, people walking by Canadian Tire, a fellow biking by in a sleeveless shirt, the TTC bus rumbling on, lots of typically dark coloured vehicles, a pedestrian with a vibrant purple sweater, and with my dear napping in the other room despite the fact he just dissed my big cheeks, and I can't help but think about just how lucky I am to be here.

Please remember those who have lost so much in Burma and China.

If you can, please donate through UNICEF or The Canadian Red Cross.

Click to Give - for free.

{image courtesy of People. In LA supporting World Hunger Relief Week last year. Further proof that Heidi and Spencer are idiots. )

Okay, now you really don't have an excuse. Click to Give @ The Hunger Site, and why not save a few trees and animals while you're at it?