Touched by a Smiley Mechanical Bull

"touch and be touched" is the sensual tag line that accompanies The Character Ride, an art installation that is part of the Pictoplasma exhibit, in the Netherlands.

Okay, so it looks a little like those western mechanical bull-riding scenarios, only the bull is sporting an emoticon smile, and the rider's get-up strikes an alien chord as he resembles one of those round little white micro-men from a Sponge Pocket commercial.

Kung Fu... Who Knew?

The wonderful, whimsical work of Illustrator/Designer, Simon Oxley (of idokungfu.com) is depicted in simple, cartoon-like drawings that will make the edges of your mouth want to curl upwards, as you view them.

He has successfully marketed his designs on a series of products, as well as selling his artwork on ever-popular iStockphoto.com. Pour yourself a coffee, and check out his many mad (but glad) monsters, martians, and other creatures, in his iStock portfolio.

The cigarette graphic on the mouse pad ("Cubic coffin nail", above) is available at www.cafepress.com/idoshop.

Perception is Everything

Have you been feeling "blah", lately? Winter got you down? Do you need an image boost? Well, no fear: A series of entertaining cartoon graphics have been circulating around the internet, lately, and are credited to trendy Euro ad agency, LG&F in Brussels, for their client, Oogmerk, an optician in the Netherlands.

These illustrations demonstrate with clever cartoons, what glasses can do for one's image. Some artist has prepared a "before" and "after" -styled series of caricatures, that depict what some might label unsavoury characters... the only difference is that in the "after" photo, the character wears glasses. And voila... style and sophistication abound!

So, Four-Eyes it is, for the fashionably astute. It's nice to know that there is room at the top (of fashion), for when our precious eye sight fails us... let's hope the trend lasts!

Birthday Slippers

When does a boy become a man? Well, some tag the age of thirteen as such a milestone... and this year was my godson's thirteenth birthday. For the life of me, I have such trouble figuring out what to give him as a gift. He lives over 3,000 miles away, in sunny California, and we rarely, if ever speak... I don't have much connection with him beyond the daily exchange of joke emails between his mother and I.

So... I found a pair of brown, corduroy, "grandpa" slippers, at the local dollar store. How fitting (pardon the pun). My 70+ year old father duly package them for shipping, carefully cutting the styrofoam so that the slippers (lopsided to begin with) would not lose their form. They had styrofoam support on both the inside and the outside of the slippers, and were then placed in a suitably sized box, addressed, and mailed to California. Okay, I inserted a $20 bill, so that Cheapie Auntie Claire could not be accused of being *totally* off the mark. Happy birthday, Cullen!

Going Back in Cyber Time

Ever wonder what web sites looked like in the 1990's? Want to check out the various version of your own web site(s), throughout the years? Well, I wanted to. That's when I re-discovered a long-lost tool, the "Wayback Machine". Unbelievably, this archival site can reference almost every single iteration of every web site online, dating back to... well, at least '96.

I wanted to checked out StudioClaire.com (my serious site), to remind myself of the various changes I've made. Quite miraculously, this "machine" is able to summon up almost every change I have ever made to my web site. I say "almost every change", for it has broken links where there should be images, in some (many) cases. Cool though.

Dating's Not What it Used to Be

How would you like to go on a date with the boy next door? what if I told you that the boy next door had his head squeezed in an elevator door, and suffers from permanent head trauma. Or, as Daniel Murphy so aptly puts it, "... for some people you just get the feeling that given the opportunity they might squeeze love a little too tight and kill it."

Murphy comments on society's latest trend: self-marketing in the world of online dating, in his article, The Five Worst Online Dating Video Profiles. Take a read. Just be sure to go pee first.

Introducing Pixel

Welcome all, to the creature that is nearest my heart, my dear dog, Pixel. Pixel is a five and a half year old, non-shedding canine, with large brown eyes, and an even larger brown nose. He is a Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrier (read, Soft-Coated Wheaten "Terror"), and every bit as loveable as any teddy bear.

Like most good dog-owners, I feel a connection to my furry friend, like no other human-dog connection. Pixel, in my eyes, is special. So special, in fact, that I overlook his shortcomings such as the fights he initiates with other dogs.

Some people have suggested that it's because of me that he fights. Me? but I don't WANT him to fight. I couldn't bear the thought that I was the cause of such canine violence, so I tried all sorts of doggie-socializing practices, including driving for hours to see an animal behaviorist, and spending a not-so-small fortune on trying to rehabilitate him. All of this, in vain.

I've accepted his anti-social behavior, and I no longer try to force him to be around other canines. He's so much more relaxed now, as am I.

The moral of the story: if your dog fights other dogs, just avoid the other hounds. I know some would argue, but I think it's the most sensible approach to an unpleasant problem. It's worked for me, and now my best friend is pixeliciously good.

For the Handy Woodworker

What better way to release pent-up frustration, than to excercise in the great outdoors? Well, here's a twist: how about riding a new set of custom-built, man-powered wheels... made out of nature's own material? Lee Valley, in their quest for the ever-innovative yet functional, discovered the work of Marco Facciola, a Canadian high school student from Pointe-Claire, Quebec: the wooden bicycle.

Perhaps next on the agenda: wooden cars?

What's in a Link?

Well, it depends on whether it works or not. In the case of my (new) blog, many (most) of the links don't work, at this time. I am struggling to figure out the software that I was promised "any fool can make work".

Links, both electronic and human, are the underlying social and non-social connections we make every day. They infuse our lives with anecdotes, ranging in importance from the utmost greatness to "not important at all"... and yes, like so many that came before me, I have grandiose visions of sharing my thoughts with millions of fascinated readers around the globe... but this will not happen without functional links, I realize.

And so, I resolve to fix the broken links on my blog page, today.

... And Just Like That, I Was a Blogger

One day, I was was a graphic designer at a local software company. The next, I was self-employed, re-inventing myself once again. A daunting, yet exciting task, if ever there was one.

Then, I had a conversation with a blogger friend of mine, Harry. He convinced me that I, too, should blog. "But what am I to talk about?", I asked. He told me to just pick different things that interest me, and start talking about them. Making woolen hats. My dog, Pixel. Graphic design. Portfolios. Art, art, art and more art. Knitting (yes, knitting). Other peoples' dogs. Gardening...

"There are just so many things out there that I love to do!"
"Ah," said Harry, "that is why you should write about them."
And so it goes... Welcome to my first blog post.

Harry, here's to you! Let's hope I have the self-discipline to keep this up!