Following footsteps...

After a long week, it's the Thursday night before a fabulous and well-deserved Friday off.  Get your weekend started by enjoying an oddFrogg haiku.  Lyrically inspired and just for you!

  Following footsteps

    --  And never once suspecting

        --  That they are your own

Pirates need love, too!

So I'm having lots of fun designing T-shirts for International Talk Like A Pirate Day.  You know about this one, right?  Two guys out having fun playing some racquetball created their own, nonsensical holiday where you spend the day talking like a pirate.  Last year my coworkers and I spent the day trading incredibly corny pirate jokes like this one:  "What be a pirate's favorite socks?   Arrrrrgyle!"  See what I mean?

Talk Like A Pirate Day is catching on.  If you're out  bar hopping on September 19th, we've got some great pirate inspired T-Shirts.   And, since pirates need love too, our Pirate Personal Ad T-shirts are great for the guys:

"STOUT HEARTED BUCCANEER SEEKS COMELY WENCH

Handsome Sea Dog, Fit And Active.  Has Peg Leg, Hook Hand, Eye Patch.  Likes Include:  Long, Drawn Out  "R's",  Me Timbers, Lads Named "Jim Boy",  Sailing, Muskets, Puppies, And Hanging Mutineers From The Highest Yardarrrm.

Dislikes:  Watered Down Rum, Phonies, And The Royal Navy.  Seeks Buxom, Raven-Tressed Wench For Debauching And Deviltry On The High Seas.  Non-Smoker Preferred.

Phone:  1-555-ARR-RRGH"

 (Click a shirt to Buy Now!)

Brilliant dancers from SYTYCD...

Quite simply, brilliant!  ...as in Janette and Brandon from Season 5 of So You Think You Can Dance!  Talking about the technique and the process.  Fabulous!

Time keeps on slippin...

With sadness, today we say goodbye to one of Wisconsin's gifts to the world:  Les Paul.  Les (who by the way was Steve Miller's Godfather) was not only a true master of the guitar, he also invented two of the most important innovations of modern recording:  overdubbing and multitrack recording.   Had it not been for Les, there would not have been a little, insignificant album in 1967 called "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and all that has proceeded from that astonishing 8-track recording process.  And, of course, there's the Les Paul Guitar, the preferred guitar of rock gods such as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards,  Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck.

The world of music was made different, and much better, thanks to Les.

Why are we so fascinated with vampires...

Photo by: Everett Collection(3); Newline / Wireimage; Summit Entertainment

Why exactly are we so fascinated with vampires?  Perhaps it is because they are human and yet they are monsters.  On the other hand, they are monsters who are also human.  So we can see ourselves in them.  They, for the most part, look like us, they walk and talk like us (although we may be disappointed if they do not speak with a thick Euro or Emo accent).  They dress like us (although we prefer them in elegant evening wear).  So part of their appeal is that right now, at this very moment, they could be among us; sitting beside us on a train or bus, next to us at a theatre, or even, famously, a vampire could be that pallid high school hunk sparkling in the sun light as he sits next to a dreary goth wannabe in science class. 

In most neighborhoods, the bug-eyed alien or drooling blood-soaked psychopath would be instantly recognized for the fearsome threat they are.  Not so the vampire.  Whether the suave, courtly European, the futuristic warrior, or the angst-ridden teen, they are among us.  Be afraid.  And be safe.

What would the '80's have been without John Hughes?

So I was home alone, having a club sandwich for breakfast.  I was tired, having just gotten off the plane from my European vacation (although I looked pretty in my pink dress).  Then I heard the news.   So I listened to some Beethoven, lit  16 candles and took the day off.  

Goodbye John.  R.I.P and thank you very, very much.

What's your favorite John Hughes movie?

On being stuck: Will it go round in circles?

This is my first attempt at building a web site and my perfectionistic ways have me spinning 'round in circles.  I can't seem to get the home page finished.  I'm stuck.   Everyone says, "Just put something up there, you can change it in time."  Of course they're right, yet I spin and while away the hours sussing out beautifully designed sites that strike just the right balance of uniqueness, functionality and beauty.  I see an amazing site in my future (next year's budget!).

In need of a 'whack on the side of the head', I pulled out my Creative Whack Pack for a bit of inspiration. Then I did a bit of yoga.  Then I took a nap.  Then I decided to step away from it.  Sometimes you have to just slowly back away from the project.  Nobody move, nobody gets hurt.  I'll enjoy the rest of my evening, sleep on it, and hope to wake up tomorrow with one or two really good ideas.  I mean, really.   It's time to get this done!

What are your methods for getting unstuck?