Five good things for this fine Sunday:

• Over the weekend I’ve become completely enamored of Axe Cop. It’s my new favorite comic written by a 5-year-old and drawn by his 29-year-old brother. I’ve consumed all of the episodes, listened to a few interviews with the brothers, spread the good word about Axe Cop far and wide, and am considering getting Parker and I some of the merch.
• Vanity Fair article on the women who helped make Disney animation magic: Coloring the Kingdom
• Pink Tentacle has goodies galore, as usual. Star Wars disco sea chicken! And Monster illustrations from ‘Yokai Jiten’
• What Katie Wore: A lot of the color and pattern combinations are so garish they make my eyes bleed but still, it’s quite fun.
• The Wolfman opens this Friday, the 12th. I look forward to seeing it on the big screen. Until then I am giggling at Kate Beaton’s take on it. And attempting to spur myself into action, forging ahead with my werewolf cop novel rather than getting sucked further into Julie Kenner’s demon-hunting soccer mom series. But it’s tough.

The weather has been wonderfully mild. Conditions were pretty much perfect for sledding with a friend yesterday. Afterward, though, the sun came out and my son practically hissed while saying “nooooooooo, it burns!” then went on to insist that he is a creature of the night. One that falls asleep by 9pm, but whatever. We have more outdoors-y plans for late afternoon today but am put off by these murmurings of another impending snowmageddon. It’s too tempting to just stay in and work on perfecting new (to me) bread recipes while listening to new (to me) music.

• A few must-watch videos for Friday: Ray Bradbury for prunes, Tab, be a mindsticker? What? And an amazing Aliens movie synopsis/song.
• Just last night I learned about the Flatwoods Monster. And that led me down the rabbit hole for a good chunk of my evening. I am a sucker for alleged unidentified extraterrestrial or cryptid sightings.
• A burglar in Palm Harbor, Florida was unable to escape from police, even though he cleverly hijacked a swan pedal boat.
• Fashion Comes Full Circle at the Minnesota History Center. It’s just about that time again, for RetroRama!
• Photography tidbits: Marines use Polaroid photos as an opportunity for positive interaction with local people in Afghanistan and The Hidden Art of Camouflage Photography.

In cooking news, I plan to move beyond the No-Knead Bread recipe I’ve been using, though it has served me well, and move on into multi-grains. I want to start making something with more texture. Also? Swell vegan has had me distracted by thoughts of frosting this week. Avocado lime in particular. So very intriguing. But for now I’m off to the kitchen to bake some sort of apple pecan muffin concoction.

In news of the weird and/or happy, five fun things for this Thursday:

• A Hello Kitty chainsaw? OH HELL YES! With that baby by my side I could make my own version of The Evil Dead. I’d just make a much shorter vaguely girl-y Ash.
• A rather unsettling experience: “Werner Herzog Reads Mike Mulligan And His Steam Shovel“
• Build a walking work station in 20 minutes! I’ve been wanting one of these for some time now. And this video was made by the sister-in-law of my boss. So perhaps we will be getting one or two of these before long? Pretty please?
• My love for flickr is unabated after all these years. Lately I’ve been revisiting the Mr. Bento photo pool on flickr, for lunch ideas and whatnot (my submissions). Speaking of flickr and food, my global contacts get me salivating over international vegan cuisine, from restaurants like London’s inSpiral. I want to go to there. Also in the flickr + elsewhere category,lomokev pointed out Phoot Camp which sounds like a lot of fun.
• Well, I’m about six years late to this party. Yesterday I was all freaked out by the doppelganger banger. Turns out it was from a series of Save-ur-life™ wall posters.

Sunday we may be stopping by the 3rd Annual Ice Sculpture Party, hosted by Studio Bricolage in St. Paul, on our way to Tiny Shanty’s Tiny Fire Art Festival. Mmm, the great outdoors in Minnesota in February. But the following Sunday will be spent indoors. On Valentine’s Day the Minneapolis Institute of Arts is hosting an I ♥ Art family day. There is free fun to be had in Minnesota during the winter, if you know where to look.

Five fun things for February (though I will still think of this month and last as a combined LAMEuary):

• These are the androids you are looking for (via justnd). Blind boxed android mini collectibles from Dyzplastic and Andrew Bell, with “pricing to be determined” = a recipe for disaster. But they are so danged cute!
• Alas, this weekend will be the last for the 2010 Art Shanty Projects. But the Tiny Shanty is closing it out with a bang! Well, hopefully not an actual bang, as there will already be fire involved. It’s Tiny Shanty’s Tiny Fire Art Festival.
• We’re excited for the 10th annual Women’s Prison Book Project Pancake Breakfast. Saturday, February 13th at the Walker Community Church, 3104 16th Ave S in Minneapolis. Pancakes (some vegan), fruit, grits, juice and coffee. All for $6-10 (sliding scale). $3 for the kiddos, with bonus booksale -$2 paperbacks and $3 hardcovers.
• Also Saturday, February 13th there will be another flickr photowalk, in St. Paul. In my own backyard! So I have no excuse not to attend, except that it will be cold out and I will already be in Minneapolis that morning at the pancake breakfast. So we’ll see.
• Just discovered Budget bytes yesterday. I can get behind this. Quality food made on the cheap. May start with this recipe for Indian spiced oats with coconut milk tomorrow morning.

Really getting sick of this recent trend…of me waking up in panic attack mode. Perhaps I will have to take a pal’s advice and return frequently to Selleck Waterfall Sandwich when feeling stressed. There, I am feeling more relaxed now. And a smattering of Sade doesn’t hurt either.

Thankfully some things do help lift my spirits. Like:

• Saturday’s Art Sled Rally 2010 in Powderhorn Park. My son and I are determined to build our own sled for next year’s event. Complete with coordinating costumes.
• “Play, Then Eat” - an encouraging trend and a schedule that my son’s school shifted to just this school year. I think it does make a big difference. Parker also goes through an OT circuit, essentially a sensory obstacle course, before joining his class every morning. And it helps him to focus in the classroom.
• In the last week I’ve been listening to some newer music. From chillwave-style Toro y Moi and their/his latest release Causers of This, to Dessa’s recent A Badly Broken Code and the new Magnetic Fields, Realism. Also on the list? New to me Giorgio Moroder (he worked with the Human League) and his 1977 release From Here to Eternity.
• Somehow I’d lost track of an old internet fave, Jessamyn of librarian.net, but was reminded this morning…when someone re-tweeted her odd request for an x-ray of a llama. Funny.
• It’s long been known that I have a soft spot for random photo projects. So how about Running From Camera? “The rules are simple: I put the self-timer on 2 seconds, push the button and try to get as far from the camera as I can.”

Much is happening tomorrow. It’s Intergalactic Tutu Day! Alas, we are lacking tutus and our local event is being held late-ish at a Gameworks, on a school night. Oh, and it’s caucus day. And also Groundhog Day. It’s also the big Lost season premiere, but our teevee doesn’t play well with broadcast signals (think pixelated and janky) so I will likely continue to forge ahead on the novel, since I’ve been on a roll and all. The rest of the week ought to be equally “meh” but I’ll take quiet over crazy. Knocking on wood now.

First, a lovely Happy New Year postcard from Dan Black of Landland, featuring a swimming pool, which was funny as we’d just gone swimming.

Secondly, a care package from my friend Cathy Camper containing her Sugar Needle zine and some truly amazing handcrafted vegan truffles from Missionary Chocolates in Portland (where Cathy lives now). Holy crap the vanilla salted caramel was heavenly! And the almond roll thingie! I only took little nibbles out of a couple of them but I could easily have devoured them all whole. Trying my best to savor them but the self-control thing can be hard. And yeah, I’m secretly pleased there are flavors that Parker wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole. Like meyer lemon and mint and coffee. Those are mine, all mine!

Also happy happy? There are new Haikus of Regret from our faves, Squid and Frog! #11, #12 and #13.

And I started poking around tumblr again, tweaking mine a little but mostly to follow others. Got sucked into that swirling vortex late last night and was worried I wouldn’t get out again. Especially when I wound up in Modern Cat land. Crazy-cat-lady-dom, here I come!

And another thing! I was just reminded of the Art Sled Rally this Saturday at Powderhorn Park. It’s the same day/time as the Saint Paul Saints game but I think it can be said that Art Sleds > outdoor winter baseball. Oh the things we do to survive the long winters, and to convince ourselves that Minnesota is worth living in, despite the cold.

More guilty pleasures:

• Very Mary Kate is very funny. Well-written/acted shorts.
• I’ll watch the upcoming biopic, The Runaways, but Twilight’s Kirsten Stewart as Joan Jett…I dunno about that.
• A rather elaborate joke? The International Jurassic Park Erotic Fan-Fiction Writer’s Association.
• I’ve lived with my own clumsiness since childhood. Broke an arm, sustained two concussions, dropped my birthday cake, frosting side down, into the street (while getting out of a car). Most recently twisted up my knee. But usually I’m only hurting myself. I feel badly for the art student who managed to trip, fall into and rip Picasso’s painting, The Actor. Oof. But I’m also glad it wasn’t me.
• Fascinated with Moscow’s subway-taking stray dogs.

Sports in general are not my thing but I’ll happily benefit from yesterday’s Vikings loss. Punch is offering conciliatory free pizza tonight. Hopefully the lines won’t be *too* crazy, full of sadsack football fans, after our usual Monday afternoon swimming.

• My new favorite iPhone app, Talking Carl! “Carl Repeats everything you say with the funniest Voice.” When my voice is repeated back to me I sound like Gir from Invader Zim. Sadly the Sleeping Carl app is not available in the U.S. But Carl does have a friend named Gugl. Adorable.
• Hooray for new Kids in the Hall! Apparently Death Comes to Town will be an eight-episode comedic murder mystery. I already adore Scott Thompson’s Heather Weather.
• A flickr friend consistently manages to find the most amazing things when dumpster diving. Like gorgeous mid-century modern style furniture that only needs a little bit of TLC. A little more intensive TLC? Over at Young House Love - “two young people falling in love with their first house” - the transformation is amazing. I wish they’d come give my house a makeover. (Note: there really isn’t anything strange about this bullet point - I just wanted to post about it before it slipped my mind.)
• Holy crap it’s katie cook! And katie really can draw.
• Finally, the freaky - a scantily clad man dressed as a unicorn, dancing around with a sword. Or in costume as a tiger and creeping around some stairs. Maybe it is art, but it’s most definitely creepy.

And now my Saturday morning procrastination is venturing dangerously close to Saturday afternoon procrastination. I’ve got a house in dire need of deep cleaning and no Rosie the Robot Maid to assist me. I’d better have at it.

• Vegan Bake Sales for Haiti are being held all over the country. We’re having ours, Twin Cities style, on Saturday January 30th.
• That same Saturday is a Saint Paul Saints special event - the World’s Coldest Game of Baseball. “Entrance is FREE and patrons are encouraged to support Second Harvest Heartland by donating cash, food and warm clothing. Because sometimes giving back is a worthy adventure in itself.” We’ll see just how cold it is that day. It’s been relatively mild lately, for Minnesota in January, but that could change.
• Next month Jennifer Jajeh’s tragicomic solo show, “I Heart Hamas: And Other Things I’m Afraid to Tell You” will be on at the Bedlam Theatre, February 18th-28th. Definitely checking that out.

And now some random items of note:

• As a Sleep Talkin’ Woman with a Sleep Talkin’ Son, I can totally relate to this Sleep Talkin’ Man (even if his tales may seem a tad bit, well, tall).
• Today I’ve been listening to a lot of Ultravox. Listening to the song Blue Light, in particular, while looking at this animated booth babe = total convergence.
• This is incredibly moving. “Photography by blind people: How can you use a camera if you can’t see? Over 30 blind and visually impaired adults from the UK, Mexico and China have been trained in sensory photography techniques to create and experience photos.” If you’re going to be in London from January 19th - 23rd, Sights Unseen will be at The Association of Photographers Gallery in central London.
• More reasons why Clockwork is a most awesome place to work With many photos taken by me! But all those babies are so much bigger now! Thankfully a fresh batch of Clockworklings will be hatching soon.
• The world is my hat! I’m in love with this Domokun style animated short, Git Gob. “Two creatures wonder, ‘What is a hole?’ They have different points of view. Their debate leads to an idea, an idea that changes the world. This is a story of practical magic.”

This morning a co-worker noticed the new red highlights in my hair and asked if I’d sustained a head injury. A zippy comeback didn’t come to me until much later. Next time I’m setting my phasers to stun.