just in time for Halloween

Jack O'LanternThis is one of those unfairly neglected posts that are clicked once and then forgotten. A moving work of art by the team responsible for Chad Vader, Night Shift Manager, this piece suffered earlier by being somewhat ahead of its time.

That time has now come.

Behold The Life and Death of a Pumpkin, by some Wisconsonian guys channelling Bergman.

pic o’ the day: bagel goatse

That's hot!

That’s hot!

This came from Flickr via BoingBoing via Gawker, upon which we are keeping a beady, but encouraged eye since Jessica left (speaking of which, must surf over to VF and see if she’s posted any kittens or bitchy stories about Graydon Carter. Or Kurt Anderson; that post might actually be allowed to live). We’ll leave it to them to set the context, geographical and otherwise:

If you don’t instantly recognize this image, then you’re obviously not familiar with the goatse phenomenon, for which you should be extremely grateful. If you’ve already been corrupted, however, you’ll be grimly pleased to note its appearance in Park Slope, land of gaping assholes.

101 most influential imaginary friends

my imaginary friend can beat up your imaginary friend. No, really he can.Having read this USA Today list (which I came to via Fark) I must say it’s pretty solid, even though they leave off, through an entirely understandable wish not to be firebombed, the names of a lot of imaginary religious characters. One correction, however, seems absolutely neccessary:

Big Brother is no longer imaginary.

1. The Marlboro ManBush doublespeak

2. Big Brother

3. King Arthur

4. Santa Claus (St. Nick)

5. Hamlet

6. Dr. Frankenstein’s Monster

7. Siegfried

8. Sherlock Holmes

9. Romeo and Juliet

10. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Read the rest of the list here. But know that they will be watching you…

Big Brother

Shebeen Club October Meeting: Creativity Tips for Writers

the bar of the ShebeenCross-posted on the Shebeen Club website too. 

What: The Shebeen Club : Creativity Tips for Writers
When: 7-9pm, Tuesday, October 17 (3rd Tuesday of each month)
Where: The Shebeen, behind the Irish Heather, 217 Carrall Street in Gastown
Why: Up your creativity with one of the world’s best creativity catalysts
Who: Contact lorraine.murphyatgmaildotcom for more information
How(much)? $15 includes dinner and a drink

Background: Each month The Shebeen Club gathers to catch up, gossip, eat, drink and learn about literature in all its many versions. We’ve featured Ann Vicente, maker of fine art books, actor and speech coach Jesse Jhames reading James Joyce, and many talented local authors including Robert Chaplin, James Sherrett, Sylvia Lim, comicbook empresario Sandford Tuey, and poet Lucan Charchuk, among many illustrious others.

Heir to the popular Stammtisch, created by Christoph Kapp of McGraw Hill, the Shebeen Club revives the warm camaraderie and vicious rivalry that has characterized all great literary meetings from the days of the Algonquin Round Table to last week at Gawker. The pen is mightier than the sword, so every third Tuesday of the month ditch the remote, stuff a messenger bag with manuscripts, adjust your berets, and head down to the Shebeen.

The Procedure: Sink into a warm velvet banquette and enjoy our programme: your basic meet-and-mingle from 7-7:30, followed by a riveting, yet brief presentation, followed by Q&A and then breaking up into casual groups for wandering, boozy reminiscences of the time you snubbed Jay McInerney in the airport. A fine dinner of bangers and mash or vegetarian pasta from the kitchen of the Irish Heather, plus one glass of wine, beer or pop are included in the $15.

This Month: Our next Shebeen Club meeting is this Tuesday, October 17th from 7-9pm, and our featured speaker is Linda Naiman, internationally-known creativity instructor.

Linda Naiman will present strategies for cultivating creativity used by writers, artists, entrepreneurs and scientists, to help you keep your own creativity fresh and alive. Topics include: The distinction between creativity and problem-solving, the right-brain myth, the genius myth, and principles that encourage creativity.

This is an exercise-based workshop, so be ready to participate! Pencils and notebooks out, ladies and gentlemen!

Bio: Linda Naiman is founder of Creativity at Work.com , a Vancouver-based coaching, consulting and training group at the forefront of transformational change in organizations. She is co-author of Orchestrating Collaboration at Work, and is known internationally for pioneering arts-based learning and development in organizations. Her work has been documented in several books: Art-based Approaches: A Practical Handbook to Creativity at Work (Chemi 2006), Wake Me Up When the Data Is Over: How Organizations Use Stories to Drive Results (Silverman 2006), and Artful Creation: Learning Tales of Arts-in-Business (Darsø 2004). Her work has also been featured in The Vancouver Sun, The Globe and Mail, and Canadian Business Magazine. Linda is an associate business coach at the University of British Columbia, and an adjunct faculty member of the Banff Centre Leadership Lab. She holds a BFA from California College of the Arts, and a diploma in Graphic design from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design.
For more information, contact: Lorraine Murphy, raincoaster media ltd www.shebeenclub.com or  lorraine.murphyatgmaildotcom 778-235-0592

post o’ the day: Samaha on Muslim veils

You find the most interesting things when you check out people who comment on your blog. Things like this:

I could choose to let this veil be my identity.  However, our Muslim brothers and sisters have turned our Islam into a religion of inequality, suppression and injustice, so I can not for any other reason than to please you Allah wear this veil.  They have taken the rights you have given me and told me that this is not what you meant.  They taken from me basic human needs and told me that this is not what Allah has intended for me.

Oh, Allah, if they could they would steal the heaven that you have layed beneath my feet…

Read the rest here.