Dice in the Mirror

I was recently told that the opening credits to Boardwalk Empire were the best credits ever.

I respected that opinion, but I didn't agree. They're beautiful and intriguing, but in the course of my viewing history, I've been more enthralled. Most recently the title sequence that has fascinated my most is United States of Tara. I just think they are well crafted visuals. And they set the complex dynamic of the show up beautifully.

This conversation got me thinking about various TV themes. As you may know, I'm slightly.... involved with my TV watching habits. And I thought there was something to be said here—because while Boardwalk Empire doesn't really do it for me, there are some intros that I simply can't flip past.

Opening credits have the opportunity to say and do a lot. Whether it's the morbid curiosity of TrueBlood and Dexter. The haunting melody of the X-Files. Or the ability to set the scene with two simple notes on Law & Order.

That said, here's some of my favorite themes/credits*:
M*A*S*H. The somber melancholy of Suicide is Painless is impossible to ignore. I think it is the perfect opening cue for this series.

Cheers. Come on, we all want to go where everybody knows our name. Back in the early '90s when the show was syndicated, my dad and I used to watch this show every night after dinner. There's something wildly comforting about Gary Portnoy's theme song.

Weeds (season 1). Very often this song crawls inside my head and makes itself comfortable for days. I know Little Boxes isn't an original creation for Weeds, it's just such an appropriate set-up to this less than appropriate show.

Fresh Prince. I love a theme that re-sets the show premise up week after week. There's just no way to not dance and sing along to this. It's a perfect 1990 time capsule. I mean, seriously— Will Smith? Dig it. 

Mad Men. This show is praisable for some many reasons. But what I love about the opening credits is how they reincarnate the visual identity of an era. The song is eerie and the man's downward spiral has you nervous and enraptured all at once.

Dawson's Creek. It's not a particularly great opening. But the second we all here "I don't want to waaiit....!" we know we can settle down for an excellent 46 minutes of television. When they replaced the theme song in seasons 3 through 6 for the dvd release, they pretty much ruined the whole series.

Step by Step. Hello TGIF! It's just so nostalgic. The clarity with which I remember this opening is somewhat frightening.

The Nanny. Not going to lie. Still know all the words to this song too. Another great show-setter-upper. It used to crack me up when they would pan the camera over to Gracie and she'd be too short to be seen. Oh man, the '90s were so clever. 

Big Bang Theory. Bringing us back to today.... Here's a theme that might actually teach us something. But first I must learn all the words. I'm still working on it. 

Dudes, I could do this all night. But please, let me know what your favorite title sequence memories are! I know I'm not the only TV junkie (/lunatic).


*Keep in mind, I'm not saying these are the best ever, just ones that over the years I have formed a connection to.

Christmas is Ruined.

Does anyone remember Tillie the Talking Christmas Tree?

She was an animatronic tree that used to be on display at Breton Village Mall during the holiday season. (I found a couple mentions via google that say she was at Eastbrook Mall, and one that says North Kent Mall, but I swear it was Breton Village along with the amazing Polar Express display they used to have-- but I could be wrong!).

Anyhow, as far as I'm concerned, she was the epitome of kitschy Christmas and I had this overwhelming need to see her. I made the trek out to Breton Village, but I'm afraid Tillie (and the Express) is no longer.

I can't express how crushingly devastated this discovery was. I like to imagine her leading a songs on the Island of Misfit Toys.

Merry Christmas Tillie.

MSU Grads take on Etsy

My college roommate asked me a couple months ago if I'd ever heard of Etsy. I laughed at her.

Since then, Leighabee has joined Etsy as not only a shopper and a seller, but as a member of several teams including Treasuries by Color and Top Treasury.

Now I'm not much of a joiner, I'm more a stand on the sideline and make running commentary sort of gal, but I fully admire people who are.

Leighabee has gotten into full swing, making some of the most beautiful treasury listings I've seen! As a monochromatic girl, I love her style! Check out her stunning and vibrant selections here.

I've tried to make a few treasury lists of my own, but I've found that after placing three or four items, I'm ready to ditch. The results aren't nearly as curated and beautiful as Leighabee's creations. You can see my drab and lazy efforts here.

Anyhow, kudos to you, Leighabee! Way to conquer Etsy—and make me look bad!

My Pumped Up Kicks

Much like LEGO's Design byMe, other companies are presenting consumers with similar Design Your Own options. It's gone beyond monogramming, and you can now pick your own material, style, color or patterns.

Product customization options seem particularly popular in the footwear industry. Reebok, Nike, Vans and even Wolverine's own Chaco are now providing consumers with an opportunity to adapt their shoes to show their own individual taste.

Converse shoes, whose Chuck Taylors have been popular in subcultures for generations, is blowin' this trend up. On their website you can customize several of their shoe styles. Here's my shoe creation— my how my monochromatic tendencies really shine.

While I found the user interface of Vans less finicky than Converse's, I'm more partial to the All-Stars as a shoe. Who knows, maybe my fab plaid creation here will catch on.

Just remember, you saw it here first.

Punctuation Lust

I just love the graphic element of punctuation. But why?

I personally believe the internet can be credited with the rise in the popularity of punctuation. It all started with the @ in our email addresses. Suddenly the at (@) symbol became the most important key on the keyboard. But not to be left behind was the dot (.) and the hashtag (#).

When symbols begin to play such an important role in our daily communication, it isn't surprising that they'd begin to work themselves into our design and decor as well. Here's some great unique, handmade, products honoring those nimble little marks.

Top Left: Punctuation Drink Coasters

Top Right: Letterpress Necklace

Middle Left: Quote/Unquote Magnets

Middle Right: Ampersand Art

Bottom Left: Quotable Pillow

Bottome Right: Obscenity Goofy Wall Art

Isn't it fun celebrating good grammar?

L'eggo my Legos

It's catalog season. And being a catalog designer, compulsive shopper and all around print design lover (and avid recycler!), I don't mind finding my mailbox crammed full of the endangered beasts.

As a child there was one catalog I revered over all others. Lego.

Legos have to be the perfect toy: colorful, versatile and creatively stimulating. I've watched the blocks transform over the years, from basic cubes to elaborate panels— creating licensed theme parks rather than generic cities. The transition saddens me a bit, but I will forever remain an enthusiast of the plastic bricks.

And now, we have Lego Design by Me, which allows the builder to dream up their own creation. You dream it, design it, and they send you the pieces to build it. It even comes in your own custom box. What a fabulously unique customization service!

I just found out that this service ENDS January 16th, 2012. So take advantage of this limited opportunity! Sit your kids down, sit yourself down and design something completely unique and completely yours.

Order by November 24th to get them by Christmas!

Have fun!

Delicious Creativity

There is a delightful Alexander Maksik essay in this month's Martha Stewart Living, which brilliantly mirrored a conversation I was having last week with a coworker. The essay begins:

"My mother taught me to cook by making her kitchen a place of experimentation, where nothing was forbidden, where nothing was frightening. While I'm certain she warned me of the dangers of knives and fire, I don't remember those warnings. What I remember is the possibility. Here are the tools, and here are the ingredients: Make something."

This is what I've grown to love about cooking. The kitchen has become a new studio for me—a place where experimentation leads to delicious possibilities. As someone who sits in front of the computer all day (and night), I love coming home from work and doing a little hands on creating in the kitchen.

It's 30 minutes, away from the glow of the screen, mixing colors and textures and flavors. It's straying from the instructions and discovering something original. It's the taste of joy... and I made it.

My What Colorful Tooths You Have

While touring 19windows yesterday, my friends and I wandered into the boutique Lamb where something immediately caught my eye causing me to squeal out,

"Pantone Toothbrushes?!!!"

I drooled over these for a moment then moved on to the Pantone Postcards, Pantone Notebooks, and Pantone Mugs. And as I stepped aside the next wave of shoppers came in and exclaimed,

"oooooo Pantone!"

When did everyone become a color aficionado? When did the word 'Pantone' become a mainstream term? When did PMS* become anything other than cringeworthy?

Do we blame HGTV for turning everyone into a DIY designer? Or do we thank Target for making design friendly products available and affordable?

I'm not sure, all I know is, back away from the toothbrushes lady, they're mine.

*Pantone Matching System

Real Fresh Corn

"Well, I like fresh corn. I mean real fresh corn. So I think maybe I'll just take a hot plate out to the garden, make a pot of boiling water, then I won't even pick that corn - I'll bend that stalk till the ear dips into the water, and I'll eat it right there standing up."

–Col. Potter, M*A*S*H, Goodbye, Farewell and Amen

If I'm going to consider cooking a form of creating, than I think I need to also include growing.

Gardening is not something I imagine myself enjoying, in fact, yardwork was in the "con" category when I was considering buying a house. But now there is nothing better than coming home from work and spending an hour in the yard getting dirt under my nails while the sun casts a brilliant glow across the river.

And is there any purer way to eat than taking ten steps outside your door, picking fresh produce and then preparing dinner?

Today I enjoyed the first taste of my 2011 gardening labors. And as I ate my fresh green onions roasted with farmer's market asparagus, and watched the soft raindrops start to fall on the river, I thought, my grandpa might be right — life may, in fact, be good.

365 Reasons to be Creative

Creator of Skull-A-Day* and inspiration behind the Weekminds project, Noah Scalin, has released a new book— 365: Make Something Every Day and Change Your Life. The book is an inspirational guide for starting your own 365-day project. The idea being that your creativity will be fueled by actually making something every day.

Weekminds may not have been as daily disciplined as 365, but I do know that during the year of facilitating the exercise, I got to work with mediums that I hadn't tried in years, and some that were brand new to me. It was a great opportunity to experiment, and to step away from the computer and make something that, while perhaps silly, was fun and different. You can see my collection of year 1 monkeys here and the resulting Blurb book (and its cover) here!

If you're feeling stuck in a creative rut or bound by your daily barrage, I encourage to try your own creative exercise. It's very liberating to look at things and think about their possibilities differently.

I'd also like to note a similarity, which actually first drew my attention Scalin's new book. Feels slightly reminiscent of.... But I digress, we thieved first!

*Not familiar with Skull-A-Day? You can see it all in just over a minute right here.

What happened to Grand Rapids?

Dare I say, we've gotten cool? Oh wait, no, the moment we say it, we'll no longer be cool. Besides, I'm not sure "cool" is the right word anymore—hip? innovative? liberal??

No, my conservative little friends, I wouldn't go that far, but Grand Rapids is certainly heading in a direction I want to go. You've probably heard me say it before, but, "If Grand Rapids was the way it was 10 years ago, I couldn't live here."

Take tonight for example—it was the annual Art.Downtown. event, where over 200 artists filled the streets + 25 venues to promote discussions around art. The highpoint this year—SiTE:LAB at the old Junior Achievement building. Installations and performance artists took over the 25,000-square-foot abandoned building. It seemed like creativity was contagious and and the crowd was happy to catch it.

This is not the Grand Rapids I remember.

I'm by no means saying that we're perfect or 'done'. Continuing efforts need to be made (Starting with litter patrol and public transportation!) But I applaud Grand Rapids every day for promoting conversation, crawling forward and proving we are not a dying city, but rather a thriving one.

So, hurry—SiTE:LAB closes in 40 minutes!

Still Judging Books by Their Covers

There's a not-so-new Barnes & Noble at Woodland Mall, that I had yet to peruse so I stopped by tonight to give it a once-over. I was shocked to discover an entire section, including 6 quite large shelves titled "Teen Paranormal Romance" and "*New* Teen Paranormal Romance".

To give you some perspective, there was also 6 shelves for Art/Design/Architecture/Photography. Apparently these two categories are comparable.

It wasn't the presence of these novels that surprised me—I've read Twilight (multiple times) and Hunger Games—I'm not immune. It was the vast quantity as well as the title... "Paranormal Romance". Is that a thing???

Anyhow, I blogged before about how how they were redesigning the Classics covers, such as Wuthering Heights, to mimic the styling of the Twilight franchise. I had mixed feelings on this. But I decided tonight, that it's a fantastic ploy. Because suddenly, I desperately wanted to reread Pride & Prejudice. A simple cover redesign made these books seem current and relevant.

So is it time to trade in vampires for petticoats?

Vegetarian Swayed by Meat on Wheels

I spent the weekend with an 8-, 10- and 12-year-old. And it turns there's a form of indefinite entertainment that we didn't have when i was a Tween. YouTube.

I understand YouTube has a certain awesomeness, but I'm baffled by videos like "Smell Your Own Breath" that has 13.7 million views in just over a year.

I thought we were experiencing a inexplicably popular dud when they started watching a 2 and a half minute video titled "Weird Cars" that had over a million hits of its own. But 46 seconds in, I was able to justify it's popularity.

Burger-Tric anyone?!!

Remember Modge Podge?

Well no you probably don't. Since I just learned today, that it's actually Mod Podge. (and so many childhood memories were just wiped away with this realization.)

Now since I'm feeling annoyingly literate, and I'm quite familiar with the concept of mod, it leads me to wonder... what's Podge?

The most common definition Google gave me is a short, chubby person.

Which leads to whole new set of questions. What the hell is Mod Podge? Ground of bits of very hip and trendy, short podgy people? And what then, makes it so sticky?

...and what for that matter is hodge?

A Teapot by Any Other Name...

Sometimes the best part of a product is it's name. And sometimes a good name is like really delicious frosting on top of an already delicious cake.

Here, have some frosting and eat the cake up too.

Spots-of-Tea Pot

Anthropolgie Find

No. Computer. Can't. Breathe.

The last seven days, I've been without a computer. Well, without a properly functioning computer. I'm still not completely sure if I'm back up and running, but I'm trying to be patient as I wait on new software and RAM. But as Blogger works, I'll reflect on some of my recent trauma.

The first couple days it was almost liberating to come home and pick up a book rather than positioning myself back in front of the glow. I still had my cell phone so I could check email, and important things like FaceBook. By day three however, the feeling had lost its sense of liberation and began to turn towards the pit of despair. It was as though someone had removed my arms. I started having severe chest pains–my mental anguish was causing actual physical pain.

Computer hiatus did give me chance channel my inner Martha, and I sat down in front of a different machine—the sewing machine. Now, what I made is a gift, so I can't share it with you (yet), but it felt good to create something using scissors rather than a mouse.

When did the computer become the basis for creating? For 2011, lets step away from the white noise and get back to the essence of craft. I hope by 2012 I'm saying "Facewhat?"

A Hate-Hate Relationship

Over the past several years, I have taught many how to recognize and detest Papyrus.


Papyrus was created in 1982, but it wasn't until over a decade later, when it was released on the Mac OSX standard platform in 2003, that it became a noticeable problem. The first year of it's Mac release Papyrus didn't ruffle my feathers, I may have even used it once or twice. But by 2005, I had grown to passionately despise the typeface.

My objection is simply overuse. It's everywhere: organic products, non-organic products, alternative healing methods, teas, snack foods, menus, cosmetic products, storefronts, Nathan Fillion movies (!), animated shows and multi-million dollar movies (including the subtitles???). It can also be seen all over basically any resort or beach town—I've been known to twitch when walking through the towns in the Outer Banks of North Carolina because I couldn't point out violations fast enough.

I'm not the only one startled (and annoyed) by the universal infatuation with a typeface that should really be used in moderation and in niche markets. And I'm not alone in the fight to educate civilians.

Here's some great Papyrus-centric Blogs:
Papyrus Watch: (Incidentally I've eaten at this deli in Camden, Maine, that they are posting about here and it's amazing! Also, Camden makes my list of top 5 US cities I wouldn't mind living in)
Attack of Papyrus
Say it With Papyrus

People were pretty irritated with Papyrus' Appearance in Avatar:
Fonts.com writes:
One would think that, in the $300,000,000+ budget for Avatar, there would have been some room for hir­ing a let­ter­ing artist or cal­li­grapher. If there was only $30 allot­ted to the sub­title typeface (which appears to be the case), designs like ITC Noovo™, ITC Tem­pus™ Sans, Briem™ Script or Car­o­lina™ would have car­ried off the alien and beau­ti­fully exotic demeanor of the Na’vi quite well – and would not have reminded the audi­ence of a res­taur­ant menu.

Papyrus has become a common punchline. Here's one of my favorite comics: (click to enlarge)


So familiarize yourselves with the type specs and be on the lookout. It won't be long before Papyrus slaps you in the face. And over the next few weeks, watch out for the holiday season's version of Papyrus: Almonte Snow.

Saved by PB+C

Glass arranged in a gradient of color at the Peddler's Market in Greenville.

Trufant is a small rural town, about 20 miles north of downtown Grand Rapids. Every Thursday throughout the summer they have a giant flea market/swap meet. I went up there yesterday in hopes of scoring some treasures. It was a big fat fail.

In effort to redeem the trip, we stopped at two antique stores in Greenville on the way back to town: Peddler's Market and Back Alley Antiques and Gifts. They were ok, but don't warrant addition to my antique store recommendations list.


It was my turkey-less Turkey Reuben and heavenly peanut butter chocolate malt from Rosie's Diner in Rockford that did however save the day!