Like Such As

I've found a wonderful little site that makes me want to drop everything and sketch for a week without stopping. It's called 'Skine Art, which is short for Moleskine Art. Most of the drawings are characatures or cartoons, but there is also a hefty amount of still art and architecture.

Two artists who post regularly on the site have caught my attention. Here are some samples of their recent work:



First is Mattias Adolfsson. His imagination and attention to detail are amazing. And I really like the humor he puts into his drawings.



Next is Wil Freeborn. I especially like the sketches done during meetings, where he starts off taking notes and gets distracted (like you do) and starts drawing the people around him.

And on a completely unrelated note, sometimes I get curious and I google my username. Just to see what is out there. Today's search brought back mostly Twitter and LastFM links. This one I found to be interesting:



Apparently, I am a current top listener of the Phil Collins song, "Only You Know and I Know." (That's me right there in the bottom right corner.) Now, I think I know what happened here. I ripped the CD onto my iTunes and it automatically started playing as I walked away to do something equally unimportant. And that song played. Once. I feel slightly unworthy to hold this title, but a small competitive part of me wants to play the song endlessly until I achieve number one listener status. But then I realize that's silly. Why would I make number one on that song when I could be number one for "Don't Lose My Number?" Makes me really want to know a person named Billy so that I could annoy them endlessly.

Manhattan Kansas, The Big Corn

So I found this while browsing a link in an I Love Typography post.



I'm kind of surprised I haven't seen it before, at least at the local Thread shop. Nevertheless, it's a funny take on "The Little Apple" motto.

And here's another great little gem. If you're at work and trying to read my blog (shame on you!), you can input the url and the whole browser turns into a Word document.

Here's the link to my 'document.'

Riding on Free Wifi from Big C

Hey kids! I'm in Chi-Town for the weekend with my Ma, brother and sister-in-law. We're gearing up for a wonderful Memorial Day weekend full of architecture, museums, and the obligatory IKEA visit. I took today off and slept to the amazing hour of 6:30AM. Then I packed, breakfasted, napped, and we headed out around noon-ish. After another strenuous nap in the back seat, we arrived safe and hungry in Chicago. And what's the first thing you eat in Chicago? Giordano's famous Chicago-style pizza! It was so good that we took the leftovers and hunted around downtown for a Walgreens for ice and a cooler so that we can stuff our faces again tomorrow.

The City Museum event on Wednesday was all I dreamed it to be and more. Other than the fact that I look like I've been kicked in the shins repeatedly by a 3-year-old, I am unhurt. The 500 pounds of free food turned into a bit of a fiasco, what with all the hot dogs being cooked by one man on a small grill. But there were plenty of Gus's pretzels, cookies, soda, and Ted Drew's to go around, so we were well-fed. I was not brave enough to take in a camera, but Ellen, a fellow PGAV intern did, so once I snag the pictures, I'll post them.

Oh, and I DON'T HAVE MY PHONE THIS WEEKEND. It didn't have as fun a time at the City Museum as I did, so it's taking a rest these next few days with my dad, who's trying to convince Sprint people that it spontaneously combusted. So any contact will have to be through archaic blogger comments or ancient e-mail.

Thursday Becomes Eclectic

So I went to the library tonight to find some books on Denmark so that I'm not a totally ignorant tourist. I found a Frommer's on Denmark that I'm sure will have me adequately prepared for all the learny stuff I'll want to do, and I also picked up Rick Steve's Scandinavia, which not only starts with Denmark, but has a pretty hefty section on Copenhagen. While reading the first page, Mr. Steves informed me that learning Danish will be nearly impossible. Awesome.

While I was at the library, I couldn't help but give in to my guilty pleasure of perusing the music CDs. And I don't think I have ever walked out of there with a more eclectic range of musical styles:

1. Bad Religion's "The Empire Strikes First" (Socio-Political Punk Rock)
2. Walt Disney's Bambi Motion Picture Soundtrack (Children's)
3. DJ Smash presents "Phonography" (Jazz Electric Remix... I never said I had great taste in music, but I'll try any sound once)
4. Folk Implosion's "One Part Lullaby" (Alternative)
5. Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of "The War of the Worlds" (Narrated 1978 Disco Fever) and
6. Phil Collin's "No Jacket Required" (General Pop Rock)

Personally, I can't wait to hear what a musical version of "The War of the Worlds" sounds like.

EDIT: Trippy. It sounds way trippy.

Fight for Your Right to Slide

The evenings this week are filling up quickly.

Tonight I accompanied my dad and half-brother, Max (both pictured in the box seats at the Cardinal game), to his baseball practice.

Thursday is possible tennis with people at work. We all conversed and found out Thursday was the only day to do this, and guess what we saw when checking the weather.



That would be the weather. Laughing at us. Evilly and without remorse.

And Wednesday is an event I am very excited about. Apparently a (false) rumor started a while ago that the St. Louis City Museum was going to be closing. One huge public outcry and several campaigns later, the founder of the City Museum, Bob Cassilly, decided to do something to thank everyone for their (unnecessary) support:

6 hours, 2 bands, 500 lbs of food, 0 cost. That’s right—this event is totally free after 6pm. We’re celebrating YOU. Be there. Ages 16 & up.

Everyone at work believes this whole situation is the brainchild of Kartono, who, like me, would do just about anything for free food. And 500 pounds ought to cover both of us and maybe a few others.

Anyway, for those of you in St. Louis on Wednesday May 21st, come on down and fight for your right to slide!

Stan Musial Day

Today the family and I went to the Cardinals game. And I am proud to announce that the curse has been lifted! I no longer cause the Cardinals to lose their home games. Although, I did plan a strategic bathroom break in the top of the ninth inning to keep the Rays from scoring. Here are some photos from our day:

Everything Must Go

I'm reporting from the front lines here on the driveway. We've hit a nice, little lull between the early birds and the scavengers. Most of the big ticket items have sold–my camcorder, old-old digital camera, stereo system, pc monitor. And a lot of things sold that I didn't think would, like my mini Eiffel Tower, my jump rope, and VHS tapes. I can't tell exactly what I made because I brought out my change jar, but I'm holding $113 dollars in cold, hard cash in my back pocket. And it feels good. Really, really good.

My first sale of the day was to a lady looking for DVDs. My mom obliged by going back inside and bringing out ALMOST EVERY MOVIE WE OWN. From that point on, it was like a last chance liquidation sale, where nothing was safe. We don't need this kitchen table, do we? Nah! We've got a cardboard box that'll work. Unless–do you think we could get a reasonable price on the box?

And the annual award of Most Crap Bought goes to a wonderfully polite woman who came yielding a list–yes, a list–of Martha Stewart Living magazines that she does not yet own. Now I hesitate to mention Martha again, bringing her total subject of blog entries to 2, but this is so worth it. Because you know what we were selling? EVERY MARTHA STEWART LIVING MAGAZINE EVER PRINTED. She was positively giddy with excitement as she walked up the drive and saw my sign declaring, "All the Magazines You Can Carry for $1." And she took that to heart. I think she had four years of back issues in her arms as she zigzagged back to her car. I'm just glad I could make someone happy by pawning off my trash.

Get Your Tchotchkes!

I happened upon the neat little blog of Rob Weychert today called Rob Across America. He's taking the month of May to travel cross-country in his 1994 Toyota Corolla, a feat I consider to be amazing because:

1. The price of gas has reached "Rollerblade to Work" levels and
2. He's attempting it in a go-kart (I have one; they make the same putter-putter sound.)

Everything about the site is great–the writing, the design–and he has a great personal site as well that portrays a classic, fancy newspaper kind of style, which contrasts well with his sense of humor.

Now I have to gather all my useless stuff and over-price it for the mob of 5am hagglers at the subdivision garage sale tomorrow. I actually really love to participate in the sale and have done so for a couple years. We'll get out early and grab some doughnuts to sell right along-side the knick-knacks. I'll kick back, listen to some music, refuse to sell an old laptop for less than $2, and then, if there's still a crowd by 11, we'll bring out the hot dogs and soda and sell them as well. Tomorrow I will post my winnings, losings, and will present the ever-coveted "Who Bought the Most of Kate's Crap" Award.

Peanut Butter Egg Dirt

Tonight was a giant mess o' awesome when it comes to television. One whole hour of My Name is Earl, The Office, and Lost, which was the first hour of a 3 HOUR FINALE YAY!

But now it's 10pm, and I promised I'd get into work super-duper early tomorrow. We have something called a Fire Drill Deadline. I don't know what that means exactly, but my project manager had her serious face on, so I'm guessing it's important. And deadliney.

The Martha Blog: Up Close & Personal

I would like to dedicate this post to my girl, Martha. I found out today that she has just started a blog. I'm pretty sure it's written by two people, neither of which being Martha: one to write normal posts and the other to insert phrases like "Alexis and I looked just a bit weary after horseback riding, lunch, scrabble, and tennis," and to add the correct quota of the words "lovely," "wonderful," and "delicious."

Needless to say, I don't think I'll be frequenting it, but I decided to make myself a little header just like hers, on display for this week(ish) only.

Here's the original:



And here's mine to be downloaded and distributed to inboxes far and wide:



And yes, that is a q-tip in my ear.

Murdock Young

My favorite colors in the whole wide world are black, gray, and white. In one of my third year projects I attempted to design a hotel using very muted natural stones, light woods, and only white walls. And then I was turned abruptly about-face, and patted gently back to my drafting table. These architects remind me that it is okay to use white exclusively.

Whatcha Gonna Do?

Welcome to the new blog! You may be wondering where all the old posts are. I have them. They are all safe and well, located on another blog until I decide what I'm going to do with them.

As some of you may know, I've been fighting a losing battle trying to find a Blogger layout that is both attractive AND easy to use. So last night, while fighting a wicked head cold and being unable to breathe out of both nostrils consecutively, I finally buckled down and made my own. And by made I mean took a normal Blogger template and tinkered with it.

And when I got done doing pretty things with the blog, I thought, "What the heck? I'll just start fresh and new." I would like the blog to stay basically the same, as a log of projects in progress, but I'd also like it to be a repository for design inspiration as well as a place for me to review television shows, movies, music, books, and anything else I deem review-worthy. And some things that are not review-worthy, such as the all-american show, COPS.

I have avoided this show like the plague, seeing it as the tawdry love child of FOX Network and recreational drugs. But recently, after falling asleep to the incredible Ninja Warrior (don't even try to debate me on that) on G4, I've awoken to the drunken shouts and screaming sirens enough times to get a few episodes watched. And what I've found is an endless store of quotes, such as:

Drunk guy giving reasons why he shouldn't be arrested for public drunkenness, "I think I'm sober right... now." "I tripped over a gopher!"
Man after trying to flee by car and on foot, "I give! I give! I gi-" And then being punched in the face.

I've found, though, that I've cultivated preferences for certain types of situations on the show. For example, I'd take Drunk & Disorderly over Domestic Disturbance anytime. Or Hit & Run over Drug Bust. But if that drug bust involves people on drugs doing things that would be difficult to do while on drugs, like climb trees or do handstands, that bumps it way up the list.

I've also come to realize that there are so many things that you can be arrested for. I feel like I could be minding my own business, getting ready for work at 6 in the morning and BAM! Door gets kicked in and I'm picked up for 647d Loitering in Restroom.

Me: I swear, officer, I was just waiting for the curling iron to get hot.
Officer Man: Is that weapon registered?
Me: Uh, no–Ahhh! (MACE TO FACE!)

And that is why I don't allow myself to watch too much violent television.