halloween

it goes without saying that i have a huge problem with unnecessarily slutty halloween costumes. there's a pretty funny tumblr called "fuck no sexist halloween costumes" that has side by side comparisons of some costume ideas.

but i'm actually blogging about the video clip from abc's "what would you do?" if you're too busy/lazy to watch the 7+min clip, you can see the gif summary here.

rip and i talked about something similar, which i blogged about. i'm not going to go into detail about how i feel and why (since my opinions haven't changed), but i wouldn't have too big of a problem if my kids wanted to cross dress for halloween. i myself did it in high school for god's sake.

poop!

this is a conversation i had with r the other week. i bolded the best parts of the conversation, hahhahha. unfortunately the graphics don't show. so be sure to type them into your own gchat. :D

me:  the "letter" he says... 

ooooh!!!!!!

~@~

HHAHAHAHA!

 r:  what the heck...

 me:  I KNOW!!!

 r:  i want to make a poop

 me:  and it GETS BETTER!!

 r:  teach me
 me:  ~ @ ~

 r:  ~@~

 me:  but all together.

hahhahah!

 r:  amazing...

this is the best day ever
me:  wait wait wait...

V.v.V

V.v.V

 r:  omg

 me:  ISN'T THAT FUCKING AMAZING?!!!

 r:  V.v.V

crap

 me:  so if you change the smilely display it sometimes changes the ...animation of hte thing

but like, the poop is always the same

 r:  V.v.V

come on, stupid crab

 me:  crab is different only in the last one. but he's amazing cause he WALKS

 r:  V.v.V

excellent

this is great

 me:  wait!!

:(:)

PIG!

:(:)

:(:)

:(:)

and... monkey!!!

wait.. i forget that one

ooh!

:(|)

:(|)

 r:  haha

 me:  :(|)

hahah, but walking crab and the poop ARE THE BEST

 r:  poop is my fav

book swapping

i love books. i joined librarything a few years ago cause i thought it was a great place to catalogue my books. and if i were ever out and couldn't remember if i had already owned something, i could look it up. (btw, i joined back in feb 2006 and i don't even know if smart phones were around at the time but that was pretty forward thinking!)

unfortunately, the one feature librarything didn't have was a built-in book swapping system. so last year i joined goodreads, which isn't a site dedicated to book swapping, but it did have it and as an added bonus, a number of my friends were already members.

i took advantage of the book swap thing and i really happy with it until they canceled the thing! so annoying because the only reason i signed up for goodreads was for the bookswap. :(

anyway, i still wanted to swap books cause 1. it's a fun idea 2. it's good for the environment 3. it's cheaper than most other ways of getting books 4. it's good for the post office 5. i love getting stuff in the mail. (who am i kidding, it's all about #5!)

so i did some research and it's kind of weird but most of the sites charge the shipper to send books. in other words, it's free to receive them. ... tho most sites have a point system so you can't take advantage and get way more free books without sending any. but anyway, i finally signed up for booksfreeswap which has the receiver pay for shipping in advance. the shipper just has package the books, print out the shipping label, and put the package in their mailbox. so easy!

anyway, the real reason i'm telling you this story is because i'm sending out my first package today. and she only paid $3.42 to receive three books in great condition, which is an amazing deal!

(as i mentioned, booksfreeswap is one of the few sites that makes the receiver pay for the shipping, which i think only makes sense. also, this way there's no confusing point system to keep track of. but the "catch" is that the first time you want to request a book, you have "deposit" $10 into you account. and every month after that 25cents is deducted from your account to help run the site. it's not a lot of $ and i'm totally cool with it, but i didn't read anything about this system until after i signed up for the site. i haven't gone back to find if they do tell you about this stuff upfront, but i did re-read the faqs and it's not in there, which is pretty shady.)

(update: even shadier, i was talking to the person i shipped my books to and mentioned how amazing it was she only paid $3.42 for three books. i got the number from the postage that i printed out. she wrote back: "I paid $5.37. The rest goes to the site. The site charges as low as 50 cents for mass market paperbacks AFTER the first book. Hardbacks can cost over a dollar. Ordering only one book at a time can be expensive, just due to the way media mail works." ...what?! look, $5 something is still great for three books. but it's hella shady the site doesn't tell you about all these extra fees before you sign up!!)

(one more thing!! when i sent my books to someone, i guess i didn't wrap it well enough because the books came loose and were lost in the mail. all the receiver got was the wrapping and note in the mail. :( but she contacted booksfreeswap about it and got her money back from them. no hassle. pretty nice!)

colors

i've been interested in color theory for a while tho i know nothing about it. sometimes when i see a striking combination of colors i'll screen shot them and make a little chart thing.

i don't use it for anything. i guess i mostly keep it around hoping one day i'll do something with it. paint a room, wear those outfit, or have a website that features these colors.

anyway, i recently came across color collective. the creator, lauren willhite, features various artwork then pulls a color palette from each. suffice it to say, she does a much better job at collecting colors than i do.

love of design

i love beautiful things. seriously. anything that i find "pretty" or whatever, i love. posters, knick-knacks, ephemera, jewelry, art, photography, fashion, music, color, packaging, typography, architecture, infographics, prints, everything. that's probably why i have so much damn stuff.

anyway, i've recently re-found cargocollective. which is a " is a web publishing CMS and community-building platform" kind of like flavors, but expanded and catering to those who have lots of photos and such.

a few of my favorites using cargo (and yes, this is a bit heavy on graphic design):

alconic,  rob clark,  joe bauldoff,  always with honor,  mark weaver,  frank chimero,  milika favre,  jungeun kim,  elr*y

learn something

from friends i learned that there's also word of day toilet paper (tho i can't actually find it online). and there's  whatyoucando365 which has daily short videos encouraging you to do simple things to make the world a better place. and tho i just discovered it, there's also a learn something trivial daily site too: learnsomethingeveryday. in and of itself, that might not be worth mentioning, except that the delivery of said facts is too cute!

yes!

don't you hate it when you're listening to the best new song on the radio and the dj doesn't tell you wat song it is or who sang it? well yes.com lets you scroll the playlists of any radio station within the last 24 hours hours. pretty awesome no? now if only their site name made more sense...

makeup

sephora has the pretty cool thing that suggests what makeup to wear for your skin type and desired skin appearance. just answer the two questions and it'll give you a list of recommended products.

and in related sites. if you haven't yet. visit themintpages and review a product or two. :)

found

found: a pretty funny site posting pictures of things that were randomly found, duh. :) reminds me a bit of postsecret (which has new posts every sunday). i think found tho, has new posts every day.

get minting!

maybe you're like me and love cosmetics and such but don't always know if you should because you have no idea if they're actually any good? well then themintpages.com if for you. it's a product review site, so it's not just for cosmetics, but basically people write reviews and give ratings for things they've used. it's still a bit new, so they haven't a really extensive list of products yet, but that's where you come in. you can sign up and review things you've used. anything from lipstick to hair gel to perfume to nail polish to brushes to... well, you get the point.

how right you were, marie!

you may not just yet be dreaming of cake. but wait until you go to this website... oh you will be in heaven!

design*sponge

found this very cool site today: design*sponge  lots of very pretty things, mainly to do wit home decor. nothing boring tho. slight twist on everything traditional. great quirky finds. things i'd love to fill my house wit. (angie's name keeps popping into my head as i write this. this post along wit the loftcube post remind me of her).

falling

thanks to ting for this link to a weird yet very cool interactive waterfall display at a children's hospital. and speaking of ting, have you met her future husband yet? presenting will demps. :)

faces

this was sorta a weird thing ting sent over. feel free to read the faqs it's sorta funny. as are his other projects. weird guy, this guy. and strangely, this link is actually somewat related: personalized silhouette charms. very neat. now if i only had $1000+ to blow on something this would totally be on my list of things to buy.

perceptions

this is freakin so cool. seriously. go check it out. and man... that is such a great idea. can you imagine having a room like that? incredible...