a place for things.

UNTITLED SIX, again.

2012-01-27T15:16:00.005-05:00

Some more (and better) photos of newest zine/chapbook project.

Remember! For sale HERE.

narrowed torso

2012-01-25T09:48:00.003-05:00

2007.

Field Trip: The Russian Avant-Garde

2012-01-11T09:50:00.023-05:00

Finally got around to seeing the Chagall & The Russian Avant-Garde exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario. It wasn't spectacular, but there were a few highlights in the show, making it a (mostly) worthwhile visit...

One of my most favourite artists is El Lissitzky, so I was quite excited to see this piece, up close and in real life!

I must confess, seeing it resulted in a lot of smiling (inside and out) and wide-eyed gawking!

And Rodchenko, love love love his work as well:

There was also a separate and smaller exhibit being shown entitled Constructing Utopia: Books and Posters from Revolutionary Russia (1910-1940). This collection definitely contained more of the kind of work I was interested in seeing:

Very Small Selection from U.K. Notebook... + Tom

2012-01-08T23:10:00.014-05:00

While I was in Scotland. I fell upon Analogue Books...

where I surprisingly discovered a book made by my friend Tom Cops!...

Of course I bought it, and finally met the guy several days later, for real, in person for the first time ever, after being zine penpals for over a decade!

THE WAY WINTER SHOULD BE.

2012-01-06T09:43:00.003-05:00

UNTITLED SIX

2012-01-03T10:28:00.011-05:00

COMPLETE & FOR SALE ON ETSY.

DRAWN IN

2012-01-02T14:34:00.014-05:00

Recently completed reading/perusing Drawn In: A Peek into the Inspiring Sketchbooks of 44 Fine Artists, Illustrators, Graphic Designers, and Cartoonists. A project by Julia Rothman.

Below are a couple of the artists who really stood out for me:

Isaac Tobin:

Leif Parsons:

Hadn't done this in a while...

2012-01-01T14:38:00.018-05:00

Thanks Sarah, for being my table buddy at the Toronto Small Press Book Fair!

Death of the Liberal Class.

2011-12-20T13:39:00.006-05:00

An excerpt from Chris Hedges book, which I just completed:

The belief that we can make things happen through positive thoughts, by visualizing, by wanting them, by tapping into our inner strength, or by understanding that we are truly exceptional, is peddled to us by all aspects of the culture, from Oprah to the Christian Right. It is magical thinking. We can always make more money, meet new quotas, consume more products, and advance our careers. This magical thinking, this idea that human and personal progress is somehow inevitable, leads to political passivity. It permits societies to transfer their emotional allegiance to the absurd--whether embodied in professional sports or in celebrity culture--and ignore real problems. It exacerbates despair. It keeps us in a state of mass self-delusion. Once we are drawn into this form of magical thinking, the purpose, structure and goals of the corporate state are not questioned. To question, to engage in criticism of the corporate collective, is to be seen as obstructive and negative. And these cultural illusions have grossly perverted the way we view ourselves, our nation, and the natural world. This magical thinking, coupled with its bizarre ideology of limitless progress holds out the promise of an impossible, unachievable happiness. It has turned whole nations, such as the United States, into self-consuming machines of death.

(page 200)

Library Nerd.

2011-12-04T10:31:00.003-05:00

When library nerds travel, they take photos of library things. Look at this awesome book truck! @LeedsUniversity

Tree eats sign.

2011-12-04T10:22:00.003-05:00

untitled six, assembling.

2011-10-24T22:02:00.003-04:00

all wonder & wonderful

2011-10-23T14:07:00.003-04:00

drawing, man.

2011-10-21T16:29:00.002-04:00

meticulousness.

2011-10-07T10:27:00.002-04:00

<<<>>>

2011-10-02T15:13:00.002-04:00

CHILDREN OF LAPLAND

2011-10-01T13:02:00.011-04:00

HAPPY COMRADES!

a.w.t. economy font 2104

2011-09-30T11:50:00.003-04:00

Library Methods of Yesteryear (or: Things I Steal From Old Library Books) - Part Five

2011-09-25T18:41:00.008-04:00

book list 94

2011-09-23T17:49:00.006-04:00

criticism, vasily rozanov

2011-09-19T12:09:00.003-04:00

for clearer reading, click to enlarge.

fun tour 2003.

2011-09-18T19:39:00.001-04:00

sourcebook 2007

2011-09-08T17:24:00.002-04:00

etsy.

2011-08-30T09:40:00.006-04:00

several months back, i finally put together an etsy shop! along with my newest chapbook, i'm selling a bunch of older stuff that i made during my days at trip print press. they've just been sitting around in storage for the last couple of years, which is no good! also, i'm working on a bunch of smaller collage pieces that i intend to put up in the shop in the next little while :)

www.etsy.com/shop/APlaceForThings

cottage buddy.

2011-08-25T10:53:00.001-04:00

2011-08-21T20:38:00.005-04:00

summer.

2011-08-16T12:18:00.000-04:00

be in love with your life.

2011-08-15T21:29:00.006-04:00

finnish things (mostly edible)

2011-07-25T23:02:00.005-04:00

drove all the way to newmarket to the milbree viking bakery for all these treats :)

More Library Methods of Yesteryear (or: Things I Steal From Old Library Books)

2011-06-26T11:16:00.003-04:00

from tom, select pages.

2011-06-19T21:40:00.011-04:00

1996 or thereabouts.

2011-06-17T09:52:00.004-04:00

price list from the first zine fair i went to in toronto. probably canzine.

a gem.

2011-06-14T09:50:00.003-04:00

chekhov.

2011-06-13T21:53:00.002-04:00

miina.

2011-06-12T19:43:00.001-04:00

nice birthday card. 31 now.

2011-06-12T19:40:00.003-04:00

puijo pin.

2011-06-07T22:58:00.004-04:00

the puijo tower is located in kuopio, finland and is symbolically very dear to my heart. was happy to find the little gem on ebay several months ago. to add to the collection :)

more info on the puijo tower here.

stylish finns with student caps.

2011-05-29T21:33:00.003-04:00

complete! first chapbook in four years. sheesh.

2011-05-23T16:06:00.015-04:00

UNTITLED FIVE (go - hiding, go)

ja die kinder

2011-05-10T13:40:00.002-04:00

Don't Say A Word

2011-05-06T09:36:00.002-04:00

so beautiful :)

2011-05-04T11:06:00.003-04:00

smith-corona sterling c. 1950s

2011-05-01T11:38:00.001-04:00

cottage collection.

2011-04-24T20:02:00.004-04:00

some pretty great book covers found amongst our cottage book collection, all of which came with the cottage when we got it. and me, i'm a sucker for good old book cover design, so here they are:

unknown children in finland.

2011-04-22T13:33:00.003-04:00

frozen fletcher bay.

2011-04-10T19:31:00.006-04:00

frozen water line resorts to hauling buckets of ice water from the lake.
you do what you gotta do.

2011-04-06T10:14:00.002-04:00

ways to be:

2011-03-25T11:38:00.004-04:00

2011-03-23T09:21:00.001-04:00

finnish school girls.

2011-03-20T21:54:00.006-04:00

i suppose she was quite disliked by the previous owner of the photograph, my great aunt (unless she inherited it as such, as have i)... youthful friendship gone wrong?

2011-03-19T10:30:00.001-04:00

stern, stoic.

2011-03-16T10:53:00.002-04:00

distant finnish relatives - year unknown.

2011-03-13T19:01:00.002-04:00

these are from 2005:

untitled five.

2011-03-09T09:56:00.004-05:00

trying to complete a little zine (the first in several years) during the time i have in between the time that i am doing other things.

and i tend to develop projects that are meticulous and terribly time consuming.

2011-03-07T23:05:00.001-05:00

more sourcebook.

2011-03-06T16:52:00.002-05:00

blayne from ohio.

2011-03-01T22:05:00.003-05:00

Vulgar! Inappropriate!

2011-02-21T18:16:00.014-05:00

I took it upon myself to create a display at work for this year's Freedom to Read week (Feb. 20-26) and with the assistance of two helpful and talented co-workers, came up with this:

More images here.

And for some further reading on the subject, but in no way a complete list:

Challenged books and magazine from the Freedom to Read website.

Read the Ontario Library Association's Statement on the Intellectual Rights of the Individual here.

Judy Blume discusses censorship and challenges to her own work here and here.

A Small Sampling of Publications Seized or Detained by Canada Customs (updated in 1997)

Article from the Toronto Star: "Vampire series tops list of ‘challenged’ books in Canada"

earliest zine days.

2011-02-20T20:43:00.004-05:00

first zines i ever made, with two friends back in 1995. content ranged from indie show reviews, stories advocating boys in dresses, comics of aliens blowing up nazis, and general disdain of suburban high school jerks.

i scanned and posted some more old zine covers over at g-ram.

finally, books read in 2007:

2011-02-13T14:32:00.009-05:00

1. Lucky by Gabrielle Bell
2. Mome Fall 2005 (Vol. 2)
3. Confession by Leo Tolstoy
4. 32 Stories: The Complete Optic-Nerve Mini-comics by Adrian Tomine
5. Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
6. A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews
7. I Never Liked You by Chester Brown
8. Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
9. Mome Spring/Summer 2006
10. jrnls80s by Lee Ranaldo
11. Books by Gerald Donaldson
12. Strangers in Paradise, Pocket Book 1 by Terry Moore
13. Chicken with Plums by Marjane Satrapi
14. Home from the Vinyl Cafe by Stuart McLean
15. Prisoner of Tehran: A Memoir by Marina Nemat
16. Modern Artists on Art edited by Robert L. Herbert
17. My Sister, Guard Your Veil; My Brother, Guard Your Eyes edited by Lila Azam Zanganeh
18. Dadaism by Dietmar Elger
19. American Splendor: Our Movie Year by Harvey Pekar
20. Blankets by Craig Thompson
21. An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore
22. The Prodigy by Hermann Hesse
23. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
24. Blue by Kiriko Nananan
25. Mome Fall 2006 (Vol. 5)

4x5's

2011-02-03T21:59:00.000-05:00

books read, 2006:

2011-01-23T12:15:00.005-05:00

1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
2. Ticknor by Sheila Heti
3. Best of American Splendor by Harvey Pekar
4. American Splendor by Harvey Pekar
5. Censored 2005 by Peter Phillips and Project Censored
6. Our Cancer Year by Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner
7. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
8. It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken by Seth
9. Wimbledon Green by Seth
10. Bannock, Beans and Black Tea by John Gallant and Seth
11. Black Hole by Charles Burns
12. A Cavalier History of Surrealism by Raoul Vaneigem
13. Ice Haven by Daniel Clowes
14. Yesterday Morning by Diana Athill
15. On Photography by Susan Sontag
16. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
17. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
18. The Struggle for Utopia: Rodchenko, Lissitzky, Mololy-Nagy 1917-1946 by Victor Margolin
19. Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi
20. Wobblies! A Graphic History of the Industrial Workers of the World edited by Paul Buhle and Nicole Schulman
21. Confessions of an English Opium Eater by Thomas De Quincey
22. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris
23. Ego & Hubris: The Michael Malice Story by Harvey Pekar
24. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
25. Clyde Fans - Book 1 by Seth
26. Housekeeping Vs. the Dirt by Nick Hornby
27. Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China by Guy Delisle
28. The Summer of Love by Debbie Drechsler

Tintypes from Bellefonte.

2011-01-16T14:31:00.005-05:00

Bellefonte, Pennsylvania has one of the best antique centres I've ever seen. On a trip to PA in November, we went to the Plaza Centre Antique Gallery two days in a row. We spent several hours there each visit, and it still wasn't enough time to thoroughly look through everything. A collector's dream and worst nightmare all at the same time.

These are great:

2011-01-10T22:22:00.001-05:00

2011-01-09T18:58:00.001-05:00

While we're at it... 2009 & 2008:

2011-01-04T09:46:00.006-05:00

Books read in 2009:

1. The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2007, edited by Dave Eggers
2. Things I've Been Silent About by Azar Nafisi
3. American Journals by Albert Camus
4. The Outsider by Albert Camus
5. Maus I by Art Spiegelman
6. The McSweeney's Book of Poets Picking Poets, edited by Dominic Luxford
7. The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler
8. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
9. Notebooks 1935-1942 by Albert Camus
10. American Splendor: Another Dollar by Harvey Pekar
11. The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel
12. Cecil and Jordan in New York by Gabrielle Bell
13. A Calendar of Consolation selected by Leonard Woolf
14. The Pelee Project by Jane Christmas
15. A Drifting Life by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
16. Earth Democracy by Vandana Shiva
17. 1969 by Eileen Myles
18. Everything That Rises: A Book of Convergences by Lawrence Weschler

---------------------------

Books read in 2008:

1. An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons & True Stories, edited by Ivan Brunetti
2. The Pure and the Impure by Colette
3. Everything is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder by David Weinberger
4. Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
5. Writers Under Siege: Voices of Freedom From Around the World, edited by Lucy Popescu and Carole Seymour-Jones
6. Blue Pills by Frederik Peeters
7. Exit Wounds by Rutu Modan
8. Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine
9. Jane Austen: A Life by Claire Tomalin
10. Chance in Hell by Gilbert Hernandez
11. Skim by Mariko Tamaki
12. Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood by Bell Hooks
13. Art Objects by Jeanette Winterson
14. Moomin, Volume One by Tove Jansson
15. American Splendor: Another Day by Harvey Pekar
16. Artists in Times of War by Howard Zinn
17. Gut Symmetries by Jeanette Winterson

... 2007 & 2006 to come...

2010: The Year of The Walking Dead (and some other books too)

2011-01-01T23:10:00.009-05:00

Books read in 2010: In order of reading from left to right, top to bottom (see list below):

1. Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne
2. Pedro & Me by Judd Winick
3. Sylvia Plath Selected Poems chosen by Ted Hughes
4. From Wonderland With Love: Danish Comics in the Third Millennium edited by Steffen P. Maarup
5. The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein
6. Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth by Apostolos Doxiadis & Christos H. Papadimitriou
7. The Walking Dead Volume 1: Days Gone By by Robert Kirkman
8. The Walking Dead Volume 2: Miles Behind Us by Robert Kirkman
9. Market Day by James Sturm
10. The Walking Dead Volume 3: Safety Behind Bars by Robert Kirkman
11. The Walking Dead Volume 4: The Heart's Desire by Robert Kirkman
12. The Walking Dead Volume 5: The Best Defense by Robert Kirkman
13. The Walking Dead Volume 6: This Sorrowful Life by Robert Kirkman
14. The Walking Dead Volume 7: The Calm Before by Robert Kirkman
15. The Walking Dead Volume 8: Made to Suffer by Robert Kirkman
16. The Twentieth Century by Howard Zinn
17. The Walking Dead Volume 9: Here We Remain by Robert Kirkman
18. The Walking Dead Volume 10: What We Become by Robert Kirkman
19. Locavore by Sarah Elton
20. Kicking at Clouds: A Winter in Palestine 2003/04 by Sonya McRae (zine)
21. The Walking Dead Volume 11: Fear the Hunters by Robert Kirkman
22. The Incident Report by Martha Baillie
23. The Walking Dead Volume 12: Life Among Them by Robert Kirkman
24. The Case for Books: Past, Present & Future by Robert Darnton
25. Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

More Finnish Things

2010-12-30T11:19:00.007-05:00

Making korvapuusti with mom...

joulutortut!

2010-12-16T18:10:00.006-05:00

and a cute commercial from finland:

christmas craft nerd.

2010-12-16T17:55:00.006-05:00

& &

2010-11-25T12:58:00.005-05:00

picked up this tote from canzine in toronto, not long ago. made by the fine folks at ampersand ampersand:

september, nyc.

2010-11-07T11:04:00.011-05:00

strand bookstore artist series tote bag: david hockney. complete with (my addition) "library lover" pin by jesse harris.

lunchskins reusable food bag from the moma design store. good for things such as banana loaf or carrots :)

sourcebook misc. four.

2010-11-02T22:35:00.005-04:00

Notebooks 1935-42, Albert Camus

2010-10-31T18:21:00.004-04:00

"The first thing to do is to keep silent - to abolish audiences and learn to be your own judge. To keep a balance between an active concern for the body and an attentive awareness of being alive. To give up all feeling that the world owes you a living and devote yourself to achieving two kinds of freedom: freedom from money, and freedom from your own vanity and cowardice. To have results and stick to them. Two years is not too long a time to spend thinking about one single point. You must wipe out all earlier stages, and concentrate all your strength first of all on forgetting nothing and then on waiting patiently."

pg. 85

bedroom.

2010-10-21T18:21:00.003-04:00

instamatics, olympus xa, old finnish passports, metal type, old photos from 126 film.

nuit blaaaaaaaahhhh...nche.

2010-10-06T21:49:00.012-04:00

a lot of mixed feelings about this event...

but below: my top three goings-on at nuit blanche this year.

quite wonderful, lee ranaldo in the courtyard of old city hall.

Endgame (Coulrophobia) - Max Streicher

really enjoyed this, felt like i was in a batman movie :)

Up Up and Around: Toronto City Hall

Christian Giroux, Daniel Young

sourcebook misc 3.

2010-10-01T22:42:00.002-04:00

while bored at work...

2010-09-29T22:50:00.003-04:00

sourcebook misc. #2

2010-09-27T07:30:00.001-04:00

sourcebook misc.

2010-09-15T20:33:00.004-04:00

2010-06-02T23:26:00.000-04:00

2010-05-17T14:46:00.000-04:00

2010-05-11T23:56:00.002-04:00

2010-04-02T21:15:00.001-04:00

2010-04-01T10:07:00.002-04:00

2010-03-29T15:28:00.001-04:00

2010-03-21T19:31:00.001-04:00

salted paper print fr. 2002

2010-03-19T20:34:00.003-04:00

something i made while in university.

collecting dust.

2010-03-13T10:35:00.001-05:00

2010-03-01T17:09:00.002-05:00

PIETRO AND THE MULE.

2010-02-27T14:45:00.004-05:00

whenever i find these in old library books, i take them. i put them away and keep them safe. this is an especially nice long due date card. it's the only one like this i have.

2010-02-26T13:49:00.000-05:00

2010-02-12T17:24:00.000-05:00

school speller.

2010-02-07T15:20:00.002-05:00

diptych, hangs near my bed.

2010-01-23T19:42:00.002-05:00

great aunt, finland. year unknown: sometime in the past.

B.M.H.S. ALLISTON, ONT.

2010-01-14T12:50:00.002-05:00

2010-01-06T10:54:00.000-05:00

old work, published.

2010-01-02T14:31:00.006-05:00

a poster i worked on several years ago has been published in a book entitled Dirty Fingernails. when i first saw the book, standing alone in the bookstore, a silly little grin formed on my face, possibly accompanied by a slight giggle. pretty exciting to see one's name and work in print, it's true.

2009-12-29T19:20:00.003-05:00

trying out embroidery for the first time.

2009-12-27T14:23:00.000-05:00