katharine hearts the internet

things i’ve been saving for when i get free time (ha!)

custom card boxes (tempting me to create WHiRR playing cards or strip Uno)

vintage paperback covers (inspiration for the next book cover assignment i get)

shrinky dink rings (looks fun, but could be frustrating to get that perfect circle)

thanks to a school project offering lots of creative freedom, i was able to make the 2009 WHiRR calendar. it’s new! it’s improved! it’s a calendar and a set of postcards! now how much would you pay?

preview to whet your appetite. comment with interest. the demand will determine the supply.

i’ve mentioned in the past that i could go two weeks wearing argyle and not repeat myself. after taking photo documentation of all my argyle sweaters, knits, and t-shirts, i’ve found that i could go just over three weeks (reserving weekends for pajamas) without repeating an argyle.  so as not to overwhelm those who must see me everyday, i limit my argyling to once a week or so.

as a joke for a recent class, i mocked up a potential magazine cover:

i am a natural born pessimist and very little in life actually delights me. aside from my partner/boyfriend/housemate/fella, our cats, and argyle, food is my escape from disappointment and stress. anyone in my trapezoid of friends knows that i’m prone to designating certain foods as my best friends. this probably upsets those humans who believe they should hold that status. since the Big Move, i’ve lost touch with most of my food friends. peppermint ice cream eludes me in the winter holidays, there are no Sweet Tomatoes or Mimi’s Cafes in the vicinity to satisfy muffin/lava cake/bread pudding cravings. and i haven’t been able to find Ben & Jerry’s Oatmeal Cookie Chunk in almost two years. i have found reasonable substitutes but it’s just not the same. my mouth is lonely.

i am intrigued by this Krispy Kreme bread pudding, but it would surely send me straight into a diabetic coma. well, i could use the rest.

school and personal issues have slowed my blogging to a weakened, dehydrated crawl. here are some links of interest i’ve bookmarked over the past two months.

the artist’s survival kit by keri smith

bent objects

design police

the dashed line in use

weather report animations

mark live in IKEA

nick bianco - lunch box designer (also designed the Monkees logo)

pictobrowser

vectormagic

interactive art director ‘08

having visited Pleasure Island at least once a year since 1994, i’ve got a bit of a soft spot for the nightspot. it’s where i met my current boyfriend and most of my closest friends. and over 13 years, i’ve watched it disintegrate.

when the place opened in 1989, it was shiny and full of bright, happy late 80s colours. lots of aqua and hot pink, much like my wardrobe at that time. and for a long time the island remained bright and colourful and stuck in the era of parachute pants and crimped hair (not part of my wardrobe). the design was cheesy and dated, but remained mostly consistent throughout the nine acres. the miami sound machine had long disbanded, but you could go to PI and still feel like the rhythm was gonna get you.

in 2006, PI underwent some construction that resulted in the demolition of two stages, and effectively wiping out outdoor entertainment there. a recent visit revealed most of the shops to be empty, foot traffic to be almost non-existent, and no more bright colours. all pretenses of the island being a series of warehouses and mentions of Merriweather Pleasure have been eradicated, except for plaques remaining in the Adventurers Club. the colour scheme has been toned down. the beige bridges are not beckoning the young club-goer.

architecturally, not much has changed except the removal of outdoor stages and a wider bridge onto the island. the colour scheme for the railings and ticket trolleys is jewel-toned, but it doesn’t read well in the dark. the neon signs have not been updated and retain the hot pinks and aquas of yesteryear.

with the closing of nightclubs–the Rock N Roll Beach Club closed within the past month–and the addition of generic themed restaurants and shops, WDW is allowing their brand to be infiltrated and tarnished. the company is sacrificing personality and coherence for dollar signs. will it be worth it in the end?

while checking my email sunday night, i happened to notice the AP headline “Storm Impacts Alabama Town.” anytime Alabama is mentioned in a headline, i tend to click it to see what nonsense my native state has involved itself in. i was surprised to find that the small town mentioned in the story was my hometown, the town where my family still resides. it was just a couple of hours after the tornado had hit when the story broke, so i clicked over to the Montgomery Advertiser to get more details. photos and snippets of information had been posted and i found that the tornado had ripped a path through familiar roads and right into my family’s neighbourhood up to the Wal*Mart and points north in a matter of minutes.

in the past when tornadoes tore through nearby counties, there would be a minor bit of debris and power outages. which is what my family experienced, although i wouldn’t find out until the next morning (lesson: always have a fully charged mobile device). all that i could see from the photos were houses that were smashed apart and dozens of shots of the broken storefronts in and around Wal*Mart. my family lives just a few blocks from where the destruction took place. and they emerged without a scratch and without property damage.

as of yesterday, it was determined that 800+ homes sustained damage from the tornado and 150 homes were lost. fatalities = zero.

i’ve been looking at photos of the destruction since sunday.  they range from arty to genuinely heart-wrenching, with the inevitable schmaltz (American flags placed just so, dramatic shots of stuffed animals next to a framed portrait of a child). the cynic in me says some awards will be won for those photographs. and those awards aren’t going to rebuild the 150 lost houses or repair the others.

sometimes the wind can be a big German man, other times it’s a force that cannot be reckoned with.

in case you’ve been stuck in an elevator, you should know that moustaches are back. men need no longer limit their facial hair patterns to van dykes, goatees, five o’clock shadows, and hobo scruff.

if you’ve got the time and patience, you can grow a beard or moustache to rival those in the World Beard and Moustache Championship. if, like me, you are unable to grow a decent moustache, you might like some of the following items.

Tatty Devine boutique has an Artist’s Moustache necklace (temporarily out of stock) for when you want to invite a sexy co-ed back to your back to see your “etchings.”

my own creation, Herr Lip (you know, in German, Herr Lip means Mister Lip) works in a pinch if you’re attending a fancy party or want to make a big pizza pie. just dig out some black construction paper, popsicle sticks, and some glue.

if you’d rather keep your appreciation for fine facial hair away from your own face, Shawnimals has a couple of plush ’staches. or pick up a few pins from Moustache Factory. one might be quick to think that these robot pins would be my favourite, but it’s really the bunny.

speaking of robots with facial hair. i stumbled on this guy a few years ago and have been casually following him through livejournal. he used to draw and post robot illustrations each day, but has moved beyond robots (as we all do at some point, right?) to other fun illustration subjects.

it seems like everybody with a creative or DIY bone is coming up with new ways to reuse trash. for a few months, i’ve been stockpiling empty toilet paper rolls because i was sure there was something. i was uninspired until the last issue of ReadyMade with a piece about reusing cardboard tubes. with the intent of making a wreath, i cut up three rolls. after realizing that it was going to take more loops than i cared to cut (i can be quite lazy or impatient), i decided to trade that idea for a different, easier one—napkin rings. i had 12 loops and turned them into three sets of napkin rings. using acrylic craft paint, i painted them all gray on the outside and added a pop of colour to the inner ring. i opted for a minimal modern design for them. to protect the paint (and add a bit of sophistication), i coated the rings with a thin layer of resin.

i may add these to my etsy shop. if you want to make your own, one regular TP roll equals four napkin rings plus a little extra, depending on your cuts.

that was certainly the most eventful year in quite a while. it began with my return to school after almost 10 years (i’ve taken a bunch of courses online, but have avoided campuses since 1998). i survived two semesters and emerged as an honour student. i’ve also survived a full year living in another country. some people might say, “yeah, but it’s Canada. how different can it be?” well, my wallet got heavier from all the coinage for one thing.

during the spring and summer, i took WHiRR out to five craft shows in town and introduced Canadians to Boris. my inventory dwindled down to everything in my new Blissfully Bitter shop and a lot of boxed cards. people respond favorably to WHiRR but i don’t have a grand time manning tables and trying to deal with customers in noisy churches. so i’ve taken a hiatus from that for a while.

professionally, i wrote another profile for Orlando Arts magazine and completed projects for two clients—a brochure for a local community organization and t-shirts and postcards for a local pizzeria.

during my breaks from school, i took several trips stateside. in february, i visited my mom in Atlanta (she lives in my hometown in Alabama, but i’ve become unwilling to tolerate the growing delays via the ATL airport just to visit red mud and rebel flags). i dragged her to the design museum there to see the Cartoon Network display. i was enthralled, she was bored. we met up again in Atlanta in August for more food and shopping. she’s partly responsible for my ever-expanding argyle collection.

earlier in the year, boyfriend and i took a day trip over to the Toronto Islands, where i manned a vehicle without crashing or nearly crashing for the first time (my childhood is littered with instances involving wheeled modes of transportation and minor injuries. wheels are not my friends). we also went to the Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls, under the impression that we’d hear a voice-over he’d done for the company (we did not). we did play their mini-golf and my game showed marked improvement from years and courses past.

the boyfriend and i took a whirlwind trip ’round New England in October for leaf-peeping and visiting his family. most of my photos from the trip were just blurs of colours. i can certainly see the appeal of Vermont and the Adirondacks for visiting, but darling give me reliable internet access.

a few weeks ago, i took a trip down to Orlando to visit familiar faces and be silly. while i’m no longer in love with Orlando and tropical weather, i did need my partners in silliness and random shouting and giggle fits. i have yet to find Canadian dopplegangers of my giggle partners.

i also started learning sign language and stopped trying to hide my hearing loss. this is probably what some might think of as “emotional growth.”

that’s the basic overview of my life in 2007. what does 2008 hold? steady employment? selling out? licensing deals for WHiRR? clinical depression?