Fun with Good Deeds

My reward of the week: I scored this Chutes and Ladders game at the Salvation Army for $1.50. Did you know that it's based on the ancient Indian game Snakes and Ladders? You can play the Jain version here. I prefer this version, since there are no snakes, and you can play it as Cowboy Joe.

tka tka tka

I've spent a decent portion of my week building this guy with Roy Neary-style obsessiveness. And for those of you who aren't Losties, no, he's not an enormous pile of excrement. Whatever you want to call him (Locke monster, Locke-ness Monster, Smocke, Flocke), my version is an enormous chocolate Rice Krispie treat covered in black icing. The visible white marshmallows are supposed to be the light flashes he has when "scanning." Yup, I'm a dork. We'll see if Jack succeeds in destroying him on Sunday. We'll definitely be destroying this one.

Coco in Concert

Last night my friend Jackie and I joined a crowd of much younger, largely white comedy nerds for the Chicago leg of Conan's "Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour." My squees rivaled that of a schoolgirl at a Justin Bieber concert. Coco donned a replica of Eddie Murphy's leather paisley "Raw" suit. Andy mulled over life's lessons while riding a stuffed horse. Triumph compared the evening to 69ing a St. Bernard. And before he pulled the "Walker, Texas Ranger" lever (renamed the "Chuck Norris Rural Policeman Handle" for legal reasons), John C. Reilly had these sage words for the crowd: "Don't ever watch The Tonight Show again. I'm not legally prohibited from shit. We tell it like it is in Chicago."


My special flair for the occasion.


A fan sells her wares outside the show.


The lull before...


...and mid-squee.

See It & Listen

Maybe it's because I was, and am, an art school nerd, but I've always spent as much time creating the packaging of my mixtapes as choosing the tunes. I never took to Muxtape during its first iteration because the streamlined interface made all the mixes look the same. So it's no surprise that I'm digging The Designers Mixtape, a Brazilian-born site that asks designers from around the world to share a short mix and an image. Above is illustrator Randy Mora's vision of his mix. Check them all out here.

Finale Favors

Charlie's hands and Ben's sed-eight-ed rabbits! Buy them, and more, here.

Good as Gold

Our gal really rocked it this weekend. I had trouble staying up that late, and she's got 51 years on me! This sweet block-printed Betty is available at Money City.

Happy Birthday to Me

Made this mix instead of baking myself a cake.

Sugar :: Leon Redbone
Cookie :: Jean Leloup
Baby Cakes :: Dee Dee Sharp
Chocolate Drop :: Howlin' Wolf
I'll Bake Me A Man :: Barbara Acklin
I Wanna Eat Chocobars :: Shonen Knife
Sugar Never Tasted So Good :: The White Stripes
Sugar On My Tongue :: Talking Heads
Sugar Town :: Nancy Sinatra
Birthday Cake :: Cibo Matto
It Could Be Sweet :: Portishead
Nobody In Town Can Bake A Sweet Jelly Roll Like Mine :: Bessie Smith
Ice Cream Man :: John Brim
Sugar Mountain (Live) :: Neil Young
Mama You Sweet :: Lucinda Williams
Sugar :: Billie Holiday

Game For Anything

Goodbye, Georgy Girl.