Five good things:

• Die Antwoord is SO divisive. I fall squarely into the “love ‘em” camp. I’ve been enjoying them for a while and that continues with their latest release. I’m a little bit in love with Yolandi and can’t get “I Fink U Freeky” out of my head.
• I’m flying solo for Valentine’s Day this year. Well, not really…my son will be with me that night. And I may just drag him to a vegan gourmet dinner.
• Mojo Monkey Donuts is serving Valentine’s Day specials until V-Day. And they’re also working on making vegan donuts.
• I wanted to scoff at this but instead I LOLd - My Drunk Kitchen, S2E02: Raw Vegan Cheesecake
• “Seeing things that don’t generally get to be seen” - Crack The Surface, A Documentary Series On Urban Exploration

The last week or so has been a blur of junior high open houses and winter activities. This weekend promises more of the same, with bonus birthday parties, brunches and shows. No complaints.

• Today I learned a documentary will be made about Joybubbles. Not long before I was born Esquire published an article revealing the world of phone phreaking to the public at large. At the center of that world was Joe Engressia (who later legally changed his name to Joybubbles). From his NPR obituary - “Engressia had an unusual relationship with the telephone: He was born blind and used his unusual auditory gifts to pioneer the practice of phone phreaking, which involved manipulating public telephone networks.”
• So strange to hear Jim Henson’s voice coming out of this robot, explaining “Data Communications” in 1963. A little sad but mostly neat.
• My close friend and fellow photographer Adam Bubolz put together a Kickstarter project today - “A Decade Of Music Photos Book” - the idea is to make a hardcover book capturing some of his best live music shots, and there are a lot of them, of the last decade.
• Speaking of photography, “Famous Photogs Pose With Their Most Iconic Images” - a book I’d love to have (wish there were more women photographers represented).
• And lastly, somewhat of a bummer, but with a posi community-minded twist. I bring you Brewing Safety with my friend Andy H and Midwest Brewing: “one of our resident brewers had an unfortunate accident. While rinsing out a glass carboy, he bumped the counter with it and the glass shattered, cutting up Andy’s hand pretty badly. Unfortunately, he needed to have surgery done to repair his hand. We at Midwest thought this would be a great opportunity to promote brewing safety, and to help Andy out at the same time. The proceeds from all of the products featured on this page will go to help defray the costs of Andy’s recovery through February 1st. So order a Brew Hauler or some brewing gloves and help Andy out today!”

Tonight I am torn. Which would make me feel less stabby - early to bed with a book, or attending a free black metal show with the awesome FALSE? The jury is still out.

Moving right along. I was SO excited about the fifth annual Diorama-Rama in Duluth. I gathered some materials to create my own diorama and had planned to drive up with a friend or two. And then. I realized my company’s big 10th anniversary celebration / cocktail party is the very same night. Clockwork will always win.

Five hot, bothered or otherwise interesting things:

• “The Actors Inside Big Bird, Chewbacca, Barney, and More“
• I feel like I’m not that easily surprised. But still. When I started reading about a short film called The Meaning of Robots I wasn’t expecting it to be about robot sex. “The benevolent Mike Sullivan, age 65, has been shooting an epic stop-motion robot sex film in his apartment for the last 10 years.” Huh. I sort of want to see it but I also know I wouldn’t be able to un-see it. The documentary premieres at Sundance tomorrow night.
• Also weird but oddly intriguing, a co-worker was talking about humorist A. J. Jacobs, and one of his books, The Year of Living Biblically, about his quest to “live the ultimate biblical life. To follow every single rule in the Bible – as literally as possible.” The audio book version read by the author himself comes highly recommended.
• My son is still on a huge Sculpey clay kick. And a friend just pointed out this great idea, for DIY snow globes, with Sculpey clay. GENIUS!
• A brand spanking new MacBook Air arrived at work today JUST FOR ME. I see much data transfer and rejoicing in my immediate future.

So far 2012 has involved an awful lot of reading. In the last week alone I’ve devoured Dan O’Malley’s The Rook, that in one sitting, before doing nearly the same with Alice in Deadland. And then I got sucked into Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim series - I’m on book two - with a main character who is a cross between Shadow from American Gods and Harry Dresden from The Dresden Files. But raunchier and more fun, and in Los Angeles. And yes, this is all the intellectual equivalent of junk food. But I require satisfaction! Especially considering I’ve been eating super healthily as of late. Also satisfying? Not staying in to read (tempting though it may be) but going out with friends tonight and pretty much all weekend ahead of me to some happy-making events and gatherings. I do need my people.

• Just yesterday I found out I’m a huge fan of Julianna Barwick. I’d seen her name around and knew she’s on Asthmatic Kitty. But I hadn’t actually heard her. And that changed everything. And in other music news, get mystical with Peaking Lights.
• Burt Reynolds plays himself on Archer. Ahhhhmazing!
• Local institution / longtime music venue First Avenue is undergoing some interesting renovations. Curious to see it when it’s all set.
• I have absolutely no desire to see War Horse but this illustrated review of it is AMAZING! So perfect.
• “Want to feel more powerful? Do a Barry White impression.“

The weekend ahead promises to get weird. Particularly with Red Bull’s “Crashed Ice” event. We’re going to have to take shuttle buses into the area but once there a friend has invited us to her apartment that has a room with a view.

Five more good things:

• The return of the BBC’s Sherlock was brilliant! And the actor who plays Sherlock, Benedict Cumberbatch, will be playing a Star Trek II villain.
• The unseasonably warm weather has been absolutely GORGEOUS but I’ve been worried the Art Shanties may not have enough ice on Medicine Lake. It’s supposed to kick off next weekend but I don’t want it to be like THIS.
• The fabulous Helen Mirren wants to be the first female Doctor Who. I do so hope this happens.
• It’s a Björkstravaganza! Ten nights in NYC. That would be dreamy.
• Also dreamy, but more in a fever dream sort of way, Jean-Francois Fourtou’s Photographs Depict A Topsy Turvy Wonderland

Somewhere along the way I got sucked into a Glee vortex. And it may have influenced my playlists during this past work week. Aretha Franklin, Erasure, Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark. But after catching up with the bright and bubbly Glee I plunged into season two of The Walking Dead (which some complain isn’t dark enough). I’ve officially consumed more than enough media for a while. Time to get back to creating. And, as with any new year, I have an ambitious list of projects I’d like to tackle. Many with my wonderfully creative son (but I know better than to post about them before they’re in progress). This afternoon we’re heading over to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts for inspiration as The Edo Pop exhibit ends tomorrow already. Seems like it just opened. I don’t want “blink and it’s over” to be a running theme of 2012.

Five more good things:

• The Huffington Post’s Autism: A Year in Review - “the science and humanity of autism are inextricably linked, and we cannot know one without knowing the other” - thank you, yes. Speaking of, I’d seen the recent issue of National Geographic with photographer Timothy Archibald’s expose “Echolilia” (of his child’s autism) and the recent New York Times article about young adults navigating love and autism. My son has an interesting future ahead of him.
• Yesterday I took the lad to see The Adventures of Tintin - enjoyable despite the creepy uncanny valley animation and Spielberg’s obvious longing for his Raiders of the Lost Ark glory days. Loved the screenplay from some of my favorite writers, and the voice acting. Perfect casting.
• Other entertaining distractions have included the Doctor Who Christmas special, finishing Mark Zusak’s The Messenger (I plan to read The Book Thief next), and soon the blessed return of Sherlock.
• The Rusty Quarters Retro Arcade & Museum is finally having its grand opening tonight. We may just pop by.
• 14 Punctuation Marks That You Never Knew Existed - “Where have you been all my life, the Interrobang‽ Less so, the Asterism, despite the awesome name. How many of these did you know already? Be honest.”

I tried to do nothing on Monday/Boxing Day. Honestly. But I wound up washing three loads of laundry, taking the kid for a long walk (it was gloriously Spring-like out), taking out the trash and recycling, editing photos and organizing the garage and basement storage unit. But it was lucky that I was downstairs that day as I noticed the hot water heater leaking. I called and then emailed the landlord’s property management company. I was worried they’d taken the whole week off for the holidays but a couple of dudes showed up yesterday. They replaced the hot water heater with a brand new one and I didn’t have to pay for any of it. I LOVE RENTING. I’m still wrapping my head around this wonderful new reality but I’m sure I’ll adjust soon enough.

How about five wonderful things?

• This made my morning. “Now THIS is a pop-up. Thanks to the collaborative team — ‘a razor, a shiny knife‘ — a group of unassuming, and lucky, diners enjoyed a six-course haute cuisine luncheon served aboard New York’s L train. Words do not do the concept justice. So have a watch.”
• The Art Shanty Projects 2012 are coming. Next month! I’ve been enjoying The Shantyquarian’s tweets.
• One of our sysadmins just pointed out something fabulous: HTTP Status Cats Make Internet Errors Cute
• I love Isaac Cordal’s sculptures - little people sculpted from concrete in ‘real’ situations. Amazingly powerful stuff.
• Lyle Owerko’s Photographs of Giant, Old-School Boomboxes - pretty neat project.

On Friday I had a really fun and satisfying experience at work. In under 24 hours my co-workers, along with a little help from some of our friends, managed to raise something like $1600 for Toys for Tots and I was one of the shopping spree volunteers. We had a pre-planning meeting where we created a spreadsheet of what to buy for which age groups. At Target we split off into pairs with our smart phones, entering dollar amounts into the spreadsheet as we chucked each item into our carts. And we deliberated very carefully over each and every purchase, trying only to get things that were both fun and useful (like Thinsulate texting gloves for teens). At the end of checkout our group of six managed to come in about $20 under budget. The extra cash was donated directly. I had to take off to meet my son after school but part of our group was able to deliver our haul to the drop off site right away. Very rewarding.

Five non-stressful more interesting things:

• ‘Witch’s cottage’ unearthed near Pendle Hill, Lancashire - Engineers have said they were “stunned” to unearth a 17th Century cottage, complete with a cat skeleton, during a construction project in Lancashire.
• Grinderman are over? Announcement in Australia. But maybe it’s only because there’s a new Dirty Three release coming out.
• Entertainments collide. I still haven’t seen Tucker and Dale vs Evil (soon) but over the weekend I started watching the CW series Reaper, featuring the actor who played Dale. And of course the actor who played Tucker was Wash in Joss Whedon’s Firefly. And I recently watched the trailer for Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard’s “Cabin in the Woods” - it’s all connected!
• Fantastically creepy photos from Miwa Yanagi.
• Also spooky but somewhat closer to home, the Dixie Ghostbusters - “Twisted Dixie, a team of paranormal investigators — or, to use their less preferred term, ghostbusters.”

There have been some good times in the last week. Saw Wilco with Nick Lowe. Attended the Social Science Masquerade at the Science Museum. Friday night we had another Clockwork game night where my son played ping pong and entertained himself with a lego game set (alas he didn’t have the concentration required for Kids Dungeon Adventure, a kid-style D&D game whose tagline is: “You bring the dungeon, we’ll bring the monsters.“) Yesterday the boy and I saw Aardman’s Arthur Christmas which wasn’t half bad. And we walked there from our new place. It’s wonderful to live within walking distance of a movie theater again.

Five other great things:

• One of the best things I’ve read all day? “Sean Penn as a Robert Smith-like Nazi Hunter.” Then I watched the trailer. And it was superb.
• Saw this short film yesterday and it’s still making me smile: “How Not to Shoot School Portraits“
• “Viggo Talks and Talks” (and looks good while doing it). Interviews with him invariably make me appreciate him even more.
• While lazing I nearly got sucked into the world of Top Gear UK. I started with a clip of Nick Frost and Simon Pegg on the show and quickly realized there are many many seasons of the show on Netflix Instant but I managed to pull away. Just in the nick of time.
• Would love to have a look at this photography book Tavern League: Portraits of Wisconsin Bars by Carl Corey.

I am no longer day drunk. This is good. The lad and I have had dinner. And now I may finally hop in the shower, and contemplate catching Irregular Readings #5 at the Triple Rock. Unless I get sucked back into the Top Gear vortex. Not nearly as addictive as something like Boardwalk Empire or worse, Game of Thrones, which I still haven’t given into.

Five good things:

• Edward Gorey’s Never-Before-Seen Letters and Illustrated Envelopes
• Interesting things found in the walls of The Soap Factory
• “Late night shopping in the 80s was always a trip. Theater de la June Lune created a secret garden and cultivated something wonderfully theatrical and whimsical for Channel 2 back when PBS stood for Petroleum Broadcasting System.”
• People Are Awesome: This Teenager Fought and Beat a Governor Over First Amendment Rights
• Speaking of teenagers…I heard Tavi Gevinson on Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me and suddenly she’s EVERYWHERE. Ok, seems like she was already everywhere but now I can’t not see her.

This weekend the No Coast Craft-O-Rama will be held, once again, at the Midtown Global Market. But I don’t do well in crowds and I’m broke anyhow. Instead I may unofficially begin to celebrate the Krampus tradition. If you’re in Chicago you should get to The Krampus Show. Some mighty fine Krampus art will be on display.