the four point oh continues?

that's right folks. I PWN all with all the A's that appeared on my grade report.

Including the incredible A+ that was marked beside the class "Career Preparation" which I was certain I was going to have to repeat. But I guess not.

But I know that marks mean nothing in the "real working world". But whatever. It still pleases me.

On another note: Pat and Chelsea got me the most AMAZING gift EVER. Pictured below.

Happy holidays!

because i'm actually bored enough to do this...

Found this on both John Green and Charlie's blogs.

1. What's your name?
Laura Nicole. Pronounced "Lor-ah Neh-Coal"

2. What is your favorite thing to wear?
Knee socks of the argyle variety.

3. Last thing you ate?
A left over pasta dish that I made two nights ago for dinner. It was DELISH.

4. One place you will NEVER eat at?
Some kind of restaurant that only serves meat. I'm not sure if those exist but I would starve if I had to go to one of those places.

5. I say Shotgun, you say:
DAMMIT!

6. Last person you hugged?
Um. Possibly Alan. Or maybe Mike. I'm not sure. I think it was Alan. I hugged a lot of people at the staff Christmas party yesterday. More than I usually do since I have a fairly strict No-Hugging-Or-Touching Policy*.

7. Does anyone you know wanna date you?
I've heard of a couple people that I know who like-like me but the question really is "do I want to date any of THEM?"

8. Would you date anyone you met online?
Yeah, maybe. I mean it really depends on the person.

9. Name something you like physically about yourself:
My eye color. It's pretty jokes.

10. The last place you went out to dinner to?
I had dinner at the theater last night. Does that count?

11. Who is your best friend?
Jenny and Joe. That's right. I've got TWO best friends!

12. What time of the day is it?
Late afternoon.

13. Who/What made you angry today?
Anyone whom I encountered before I had coffee this morning.

14. Baseball or Football?
Football. I prefer the ENGLISH version of the word football, but if we're talking the North American meaning, it's still the same answer.

15. Ever gone skinny dipping?
I have not. Because I am neither cool or exciting.

16. Favorite type of Food?
The homemade kind.

17. Favorite holiday:
Summer. Because there's no snow. And I hate snow.

18. Do you download music:
Yes. I mostly download stuff legally, though. But if I'm not sure about a band, and I can't tell from the 30 second sample I hear on iTunes, then I'll get it illegally. But if I like it, then FO SHIZZLE I will buy it.

19. Do you care if your socks are dirty?
Yes. I can't stand to wear sweaty, probably smelly, dirty socks.

20. Opinion of Chinese symbol tattoos?
Cliché.

21. Would you date the person who posted this?
Well, I grabbed this off of Charlie's blog, and since he has a lovely accent, seems to be a pretty nice guy, and is quite good looking, I might, yeah. However, there is an age gap. And a country gap. So...

22. Has anyone ever sang or played for you personally?
Yes. And I usually do that for other people as well.

23. Do you love anyone?
I love lots of people, but I'm not IN love with anyone, if that's what you're getting at.

24. Are colored contact lenses sexy?
I think they look weird. My friend Joe got blue ones a while ago - he's stopped wearing them now so I can say this - and they looked strange. I mean, Joe has olive skin, REALLY dark hair and naturally REALLY dark brown eyes so the blue looked super unnatural on him. I mean seriously, what Lebanese guy has BLUE eyes?
So no. I prefer real colored eyes.

25. Have you ever bungee jumped?
Nope. Though it looks like fun but I would probably only do it if I were dying of some terminal disease as part of my Bucket List.

26. Have you ever gone white-water rafting?
No I have not and I do not intend to.

27. Has anyone ten years older than you ever hit on you?
*Shudder* Yes. Also, "Has anyone twenty years older than you ever hit on you?" *Shudder*. Yes.

28. How many pets do you have?
I used to have a turtle but he died last year. But I have a fish named Triton and he's amazing.

29. Have you met a real redneck?
Yes, while driving down to Florida, we stopped in Kentucky.

30. How is the weather right now?
Pretty crappy. All snowy and cloudy and gross.

31. What are you listening to right now?
My parents talking in the background and I always enjoy the click that the keyboard makes when I type. I was listening to Wade Johnston earlier from his MySpace page.

32. What is your current favorite song?
Uh...it's a several-way-tie between "Gimme Some Sugar" by Wade Johnston, "Into the Sunshine" by Julia Nunes, "Supermassive Black Hole" by Muse, "Spotlight (Twilight Mix)" by Mutemath and "That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed)" by Panic at the Disco. I'm sure when I go back and re-read this, this list will have changed drastically.

33. What was the last movie you watched?
Twilight last night for the fourth time though I didn't watch all of it because it was 5 am and I wanted to go to sleep.

34. Do you wear contacts?
No. However, I've been told that I should invest in some because I have nice eyes. Thanks, Erik.

35. Where was the last place you went besides your house?
The theater where I work.

36. What are you afraid of?
Needles.

37. How many piercings have you had?
Two. One in each ear. They've both filled in now, though.

38. What piercings do you want?
None.

39. What's one thing you've learned this year?
That I probably should have gone into library studies instead of Digital Media but I like Digital Media too much to give it up.

40. What do you usually order from Starbucks?
Something with cinnamon. Like a Cinnamon Dolce Latte. Grande, please. Merci.

41. What Magazines are you reading?
Entertainment Weekly. It's an addiction.

42. Have you ever fired a gun:
A cap gun. But not a real one.

43. Are you missing someone?
I miss my friends when I don't see them during the school semester because I'm so busy.

44. Favorite TV show?
I like a lot of shows, but right now the only one I've kept up with this semester is How I Met Your Mother.

45. Do you have an obession with WoW?
NO. I HATE VIDEO GAMES.

46. Has anyone ever said you looked like a celeb?
Yes. I was told that I look like Leelee Solbieski (sp?).

47. What celeb do you look like?
See question 46.

48. Who would you like to see right now?
I would like to see the darkness and the side of my pillow. Because I am tired. And only want to sleep more.

49. Favorite movie of all time?
All-Time? Don't have one. At the moment? Wall-E.

50. Do you find yourself loved?
Yes :o)

51. Have you ever been caught doing something you weren't suppose to?
Ohhh probably.

52. Favorite smell?
I have the world's worst sense of smell. Which means that I don't smell much of anything. Which means I don't have a favorite smell.

53. Butter, plain, or salted popcorn?
Butter AND salted. With paprika.

54. What's something that really bugs you?
Generally speaking, people. But I like John Green's answer for this one: "The general inability we all have to understand that what bugs us about other people is very often what bugs other people about us."

55. Do you like Michael Jackson?
I was never a fan.

56. Taco Bell or Burger King?
Burger King. They have sweet onion rings.

57. What's your favorite perfume?
Hilary Duff "With Love..."

58. Favorite baseball team?
The Blue Jays. SHOW SOME HOMETOWN PRIDE, Y'ALL!

59. Ever call a 1-900 phone number?
What?

60. What's the longest time you've gone without sleep?
However long today has been.

61. Last time you went bowling?
Oh man, AGES ago. Probably in high school.

62. Where is the weirdest place you have slept?
In a movie theater. On the floor. In a sleeping bag. Yesterday.

63. Who was your last phone call?
I texted Erik. Does that count? Because otherwise I can't remember.

64. Last time you were at work?
9 hours ago.

65. What's the closest orange object to you?
An orange pencil crayon.

*The No-Hugging-Or-Touching Policy states that I will not hug a person unless a) they are family; b) they hug me first and I feel bad not reciprocating; c) they are sad and need one; d) they are SUPER HAPPY about something and need one; e) I have not seen the person in a long time. Otherwise I am a completely prickly cactus-person. This is just an unfortunate fact about me. I am half-cactus and half-person.

project for awesome 2008

Here's what the official website has to say about the Project for Awesome:

Every year, YouTube's Community takes over YouTube for a day...and instead of being stupid or funny or informative...we promote charities. Just one day a year...we'll get back to being silly tomorrow.

The Project for Awesome really is like a youtube-wide party. People are all over the place, commenting on videos, uploading, watching, hanging out, helping out and generally being mischievous. I honestly can’t wait, and I hope you’ll be a part of it with us.

But seriously. It's such a fun YouTube event that everyone can get behind since it's all about supporting your favorite charity.

I didn't get to participate last year because I wasn't a NerdFighter back then, but I get to participate this year. I made a video in support of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and made a donation of $55 dollars to my province's chapter.

You can watch my video where I've embedded it below.

Also check out the following link to a playlist of videos that we're trying to support first so that they get onto the Most Viewed and Most Discussed lists:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=2EA839A2D727F335

So if you see any videos with the following screen shot today:
Make sure that you RATE, FAVORITE and COMMENT the HECK out of it so you can help take over YouTube for today and tomorrow.

DFTBA, NerdFighters! And have a happy P4A day!!!!

enjoy, my fellow twihards

I totally stole the saying on this wallpaper from this shirt my friend Karen has. But I love it so much. But enjoy this wallpaper, my fellow Twihards. Happy Christmas!

again

"again" is a love song about how you make me feel stupid. but not on purpose. and it's just me - it's not your fault that you do.




Again by Laura Nicole is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

family portrait

Family Portrait Drawing by Laura Nicole is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

household reminder cards

my mum asked me to make these for her as little reminder cards so she wouldn't have to use sticky notes anymore. Even though I get greatly annoyed by those reminder notes, I guess these are better since they won't waste paper as thoroughly anymore.

They're made to be the size of a business card, and the first two (the ones about the dirty and clean dishes) are meant to be printed on opposing sides of the same page to make it reversible. I did the little drawings in Photoshop on my tablet.





Household Reminder Cards by Laura Nicole is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.5 Canada License.

i mean bid-ness

My current (and mostly final) business card design. Minus the fact that the information is all fake on this version ;)

Front:


Back:

sometimes I show some level of artistic talent...

Doodles :)


Listening to:
Time is Running Out - Muse

business card

Obviously, the one that I'll be handing out will have real information on it, but you get the gist of it.

One of my favorite XKCD Comics.

paper towns in my pants collab album

This song I wrote called "Up Here, Looking Down" was picked for the Paper Towns collab music album which is really super cool. Except that when you listen to my song, it's the ONLY ONE THAT FUGS UP. Like, there's this one part that goes SUPER off key. I don't go that off key in real life or the recording that I originally did.
I'm hoping it's just the download that I have, and that everyone's isn't like that. Because that would SUPER DUPER SUCK.
Anyway, here's a link to my MySpace so you can listen to it:
http://www.myspace.com/lanicolemusic
Hope you enjoy it!
<3 Laura

3D in-class exercise

this is what i do at school, in case you were wondering. i know a lot of people often wonder what it is that i do exactly (i wonder this myself) and this is just a little example of the stuff that we do in class.

absolutely LEGENDARY

i am constantly under the impression that more people should be watching CBS's How I Met Your Mother, which quite simply is the best sitcom on television that has a laugh track.

Not only does Bob effing Saget provide the voice over for the main character Ted, but Neil Patrick Harris is one of the principal characters on the show. Also, this show has great potential to provide popular culture with sweet catch phrases that trumps the likes of "YOU'RE FIRED!" and "That's hot!"

I was upset by the fact that not many people I know have been watching it, so I recruited my sister into watching it, who in turn recruited her boyfriend into watching it. And recently, some of my friends have started watching it too. So at least I don't feel so lonely anymore when I say things like "LEGENDARY" or "Haaaave you met Ted?"

My favorite episode, by far, has been the Slap Bet episode in which Barney and Marshall make a bet and the wager is that the winner gets to slap the loser as hard as they possibly can.

As I said, this show has great potential to have an effect on popular culture.

I wouldn't go as far to call this show a "cult hit", but I don't know many people who watch this show despite the fact that it's currently in it's fourth season of being on the air.

Another really cool thing that show does is it draws you into the world of the show by making things that they mention actually exist. Such as the following websites that are mentioned in a couple of the episodes:

http://tedmosbyisajerk.com/
http://guyforceshiswifetodressinagarbagebagforthenextthreeyears.com/
http://marshallandlilyselltheirstuff.com/

If you haven't watched it, you probably should. That is, if you're a fan of good television and good comedy. It's awesome, legendary and you don't even have to suit up to go and watch it.


Also see the fan-blog:
http://have-you-met-ted.com/

EDIT:
My friend Amanda reminded me of another thing that makes the show so incredible. They brought back the HIGH FIVE. And not just your general high five. The specialty high fives - my favorite among them being the Freeze Frame Five. How can you go wrong with a show where the characters are giving each other high fives all the time? Answer: You can't.

three reasons why you should watch NBC's The Office (if you aren't already)

If you're not watching the new season of NBC's The Office, why the heck not? And don't say it's because it's on at the same time as Grey's Anatomy on ABC. I mean, sure, they may have McDreamy but do they have John Krasinski -- the best looking and funniest normal guy on television? I don't think so.

So if you're wishy washy about wanting to watch The Office, here's three reasons why you should run to your local video store and rent the first three seasons of the most awesome show on television.

1. Michael Scott
I honestly can't think of a more awkward, funny character on television. Sometimes he's just so awkward that it's painful to watch. But Michael Scott is just so genuinely a goofball even though he screws up and tries to hard that it's just hard to dislike this character. You can tell that he really likes his staff and he just wants to be friends with these people, even if they don't want to be friends with him.
Steve Carell is such a talented actor and comedian that he very successfully pulls off this goofy character. You have to give him massive props for staying in character so well and not cracking up from half the lines that Michael has (though if you watch the blooper reel on the DVD for season 4, you'll see that he does crack up a lot. But you can't really help it sometimes). Steve just has this irresistable charm that he brings to the screen and to his character that it would honestly be a shame if you missed his performance.

2. Pam and Jim
The most talked about aspect of the show is the "will-they-won't-they" storyline between Pam and Jim. And honestly, it was this storyline about how they like each other but can't do anything about it that got me hooked on the show.
Add that to the fact that both actors are very good looking and John Krasinski and Jenna Fisher just make such an adorable pair on screen that it's very hard to look away.
John does a fabulous job playing the supposed slacker who constantly plays pranks on his office-mate, Dwight (stapler suspended in jell-o, anyone?) and finds the things his boss does to be both humous and exasperating.
Jenna is fantastic playing the office receptionist who is constantly looked down upon by her boss Michael, who doesn't really believe that she's a member of the office team so much as a good looking personal assistant at times.
The chemistry that John and Jenna have on the screen is explosive and if the characters were real people, I would love to be friends with them. Hell, I'd love to be friends with the real people who portray them anyway because both the characters and the actors just seem to be such smart, cool people.

3. Dwight and Angela
Rainn Wilson is amazing. I can't even begin to tell you how amazing Dwight is because ... words can't even describe.
(*** And this is where I got tired and just wanted to finish writing this so that I could go have a nap. I'll edit this part later ***)
Actually, yes, they can. And there's four of them: Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.
And his relationship with Angela is the weirdest thing ever. Talk about strange couples.

NOW GO WATCH THE OFFICE! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR??!!!!>!

The Scientist - Coldplay - Covered by Zach and Megan

Truly awesome and amazing cover of The Scientist by Coldplay. And I know one of these people!
More people should watch this.

shh...you'll scare it away

I'm doing a quick post while my internet is still working. Because it's been a betch lately and does this connect-for-ten-minutes-then-disconnect-like-an-annoying-bugger-for-several-hours-on-end thing.

So I'm sorry for the shortness of this entry.

Or, you're welcome for the shortness, maybe, if you've been annoyed by my recent long ones.

I just wanted to show you the gorgey picture of Brad Pitt Tina and I took at TIFF when we were there this weekend.

Yeah. We saw him IRL.

OMG WE SAW HIM IRL OMG!

part 1: the sisterhood of awesome; part 2: tina and laura do TIFF

First things first:

The first week of Sisterhood of Awesome is almost complete with Grace doing her video tomorrow. I can't wait to watch it, but I just hope that she gets it up early-ish because I'm going downtown tomorrow (more on that later).

It's been an awesome week meeting the girls and it's so exciting that I'm going to get to know these awesome people and have friends in different parts of the continent and on a different continent.

I've posted a link to the channel as well as all the videos that have been uploaded so far.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO SISTERHOOD OF AWESOME CHANNEL!

Monday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo1SFDkQpr8
Tuesday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6Ivxs6XM2E
Wednesday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp8hsQxPn3s
Thursday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaeDTknonrM
Friday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE0uMy7TC3I

Next topic.

Tina and Laura do TIFF.

For those of you who don't know, TIFF is the Toronto International Film Festival and it's pretty much the most exciting celebrity event to happen in Toronto all year.

Actually, I'm pretty sure it's just The Most Exciting Event To Happen In Toronto All Year.

We're going to watch Burn After Reading, that new film with George Clooney and (OMG!) Brad Pitt.

We're staying in a hotel over night tomorrow so that we can celebrity hunt at night and be downtown for our festival screening on Saturday.

We've come up with an itinerary that goes something like this:

1. Check into hotel
2. Go to Eaton Center for shopping, go to dinner
3. Go back to hotel to freshen up (tentative)
4. Go celeb hunt at Secret Life of Bees screening (tentative)
5. Celeb hunt at Burn After Reading Gala Screening (MUST)
6. Possible resuscitation of Tina
7. Free game - STALK IT UP!

It goes on from there, but I think you get the picture that we're crazy people.

We've also mapped it all out on Google Maps:

View Larger Map
(if you click the link that says "View Larger Map", above, you can see all the destination pins we've set down)

I'll post pictures of TIFF later. But right now, I need for you to go watch Sisterhood of Awesome immediately.

DFTBA,

Laura

good news for you and some bad news for me

First, the bad news for me: my town just got a little bit crappier than it already was.

"How is that even possible?!" I hear you ask in astonishment.

Very simple. A vast majority of the awesome is leaving to live at university this year. This includes my friend Jenny and her BF Pat, Brandy, Jason and Nick (though, granted, they're not that far and I'll still see them since my school is on the same campus) as well as some of my friends from work including Evelyn, Chloe, Peter, Jen, Andreas, Jared and Gonzalo. And some others that I will probably remember when I'm done typing this and will have to mention in an edit.

The fact that they're all away from home, living on their own makes me very sad and lonely (especially because Joe - my only friend to still be living in my town this school year - is still out of the country and won't be back until next month) and also insanely jealous.

I'm ready to move out of this house, I just can't really afford to right now. I'd need to have a roommate and all the potentials are currently living in residence (BLAST YOU ALL).

Eff. I can feel the crushing weight of this crap hole bearing down on me as I type this.

So on to the GOOD NEWS (for you. And me, actually. HURRAY!)

The good news, is that your week just got a LITTLE more awesome.

"How so, Laura?" I hear you ask in wonder.

Simple: I'm taking part in a YouTube vlog project with 4 other people I met on nerdfighters.com.

And YOU GET TO WATCH! HURRAY!!!

I just gave you something to do this year while you're supposed to be doing homework. You're welcome.

It's kind of like FiveAwesomeGirls and FiveAwesomeGuys - only not because we're called SisterhoodOfAwesome. Though, the concept is the same - 5 people communicating via video blog, and getting to know each other that way.

That's the great thing about this project - I didn't know these girls at all until Kris asked around for people interested in doing a vlog project with her in the forum on the ning.

It's going to be EPIC!

I've posted the teaser trailer video I made below so you have more info, as well as today's vlog that I made.

YOUR WEEK JUST GOT SO MUCH MORE AWESOME!

You're welcome,

- Laura

caffeinated creativism

Someone asked me a while ago (like A WHILE AGO. As in, like a couple months ago) why I chose to have my web address as caffeinatedcreativism.com.
At the time, I chose it because I was drinking coffee and thinking to myself, "what would be a good word to describe me? CREATIVE! Now, let's add the main chemical to coffee to that..." and VOILA! Caffeinated Creativism.

Now, as websites go, it's a pretty hard one to spell as I later came to the conclusion that NO ONE knows how to spell the word "caffeine" correctly.

Even me. I remember having to look it up when I registered my domain name.

But it was just today that I came up with a thingee that basically explains what the term "caffeinated creativism" means.

Caffeinated creativism means:
1) That you work best when you are awake
2) That you are most creative when you have caffeine in your system
3) The resulting hyper-ness from caffeine gives you AWESOME ideas to work with when you're trying to be creative in whatever it is you're doing

So yeah, I am in a fairly consistent state of being creatively caffeinated.

Anyway...

NEW VLOG POSTED BELOW FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVEN'T WATCHED IT YET!!!

DFTBA,
Laura

Aug 19/08 - Five Part Discussion While Eating a Burrito

In which I discuss
1) The awesomeness of the burrito
2) Songs wot I posted last week
3) Being honored on YouTube for 6 hours
4) HBP and Twilight (the movies)
5) Some of my art
all while eating a vegetarian burrito of goodness.

Bonus Videos from Last Week:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfW7uA1Gxts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHZLJPn0aE0

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is scheduled to be released JULY 17, 2009

Twilight is scheduled to be released NOVEMBER 21, 2008 - about 3 weeks earlier than anticipated.

i was honored on youtube for about 6 hours

and then they took it away from me. Which then proceeded to make me very sad.

I woke up on Saturday morning and went through my usual routine:

1. Roll myself out of bed (sometimes literally)
2. Shuffle to kitchen to make coffee
3. Wait for coffee
4. Pour coffee
5. Go back to room
6. Check email
7. Check Facebook
8. Check YouTube

I did something along the lines of this (see screen capture below) when I was doing number 8:
Then I proceeded to have a mini panic attack and then went to my channel page and was all, HOLY CRAP I'M #70 Most Viewed (Today) - Directors - Canada (!!!!!!)

Then I checked later, and I was #55. See:
And now it says nothing. Because I stopped being number 55 most viewed of Directors channels in Canada.

But whatever. Thank god I got screen captures of it as proof. And even though it doesn't have the little medal thing on my channel anymore, you and I know the truth - that I WAS at some point honored by YouTube. And I was very happy about it.

Need to get ready for work now.

DFTBA,
Laura

i haven't posted art in a while...

...or you know - TEXT. I've just been posting Vlogs that I've done. That's got to be SUPER boring for the people who might have found this site via my YouTube channel (sorry about that. Hope the old stuff entertained you).

The reason I haven't posted art in a while, is because I haven't done much. Well, that's a bit of a lie. I've done stuff, I just haven't SCANNED it or done it digitally. I've been doing everything on paper lately.

And I've also found that my talent has taken a turn for the worse. Case and point, this drawing, which is horrible:It's kind of a picture of me. Kind of not. Actually I think the file name of the drawing is actually "Me - ISH.jpg".

But I have been up to other stuff. Like designing something for a t-shirt like these:

(front)

(back)

As you can tell from other posts, I've started a Vlog. I really enjoy it. I constantly get ideas for stuff I want to Vlog about but I've settled on 1-2 videos per week and I if I made a video every time I got an idea, it would be more like 1-2 per day.

Maybe I should take the ideas I decide not to do a video about and make it into a blog post instead so that a) the idea doesn't get wasted; b) if gives me something to talk about on here and; c) gives anyone who actually reads this something to, you know, READ. And maybe I won't feel bad for wasting good ideas/putting good ideas off all the time.

There's not much else for me to talk about here. This post is more out of guilt for lack attention than anything else.

Ummm...
That's all.

Kthxbai.

christmas in august...sorta

i, like, say the word "like", like way too often. like.

what's goin' on?

I realized that I haven't REALLY updated this in a while other than that picture I posted of The Dark Knight opening weekend (it finally calmed down last weekend, but Mama Mia continues to sell-out like every weekend for the dinner-time rush).

So, the reason I haven't updated in a while is due to several reasons which essentially boil down to the fact that not much has been going on. In fact, I'm kind of bored. And by "kind of" I mean very.

I WANT SCHOOL TO START AGAIN!!!

Though today (yesterday, actually, since it's 1 A.M.) was an exception because I went for sushi with Jen and Laura (!!!!) and then played Scrabble at Jen's house before going to the pub for drinks (the photo in this post was taken at the pub. I was illustrating the philosophy of putting stuff on your head. I wasn't really that drunk). I had so much fun.

The rest of the day prior to the sushi I was drawing. I had kind of fallen out of the habit of drawing every day and thus when I went to draw a picture the other day, any talent and/or skill I may have had left me completely. I realized that if I actually intend to be good I need to draw every day and make it part of my morning routine. Much the same way that making coffee and checking my email, Facebook messages and YouTube account have become routine for me.

Speaking of YouTube, I am so addicted to it. I've been watching Vlogbrothers a lot and I am such a fan of them. They're just so super-nerdy and awesome that it hurts a little bit. They're very interesting, humorous, creative people and as we all know, that's my favorite kind of people.

DFTBA, NERD FIGHTERS!!!!!

(please watch Vlogbrothers if you want to understand that outburst)

Anyway, latesssss!

dark knight madness

This was the crowd for the 10:15pm show of "Dark Knight" tonight. It was pretty insane. I can't believe that we encountered this many people to sell them tickets. The mind just boggles. And what's worse, it that the line went OUT the door, out the camera's view. Crazy stuff. Hope it was worth it for these people. I haven't seen it yet, but I heard it was phenomenal. Of course this was said for the "Batman Begins" and I couldn't stand that one. Then AGAIN, I also hate Christian Bale and Katie Holmes (neither of whom can act his or her way out of a paper bag). The only attraction for "Dark Knight" is Heath Ledger and Gary Oldman (the latter of whom was the only attraction to the "Batman Begins" and he wasn't in it NEARLY enough).

Anyway.

memory sketch

Leaving the city to go to Centre Island, I saw this girl on the boat and decided that she would be my mark for a memory sketch. I've included the blue sketch layer in this drawing so you can see how I rough stuff out.

more singing

so why'd you add me?

A song in which I sing about why YouTube is better than Facebook. Because I'm a huge nerd. And that's just how I roll. You can find the lyrics in the Yammers below because I didn't feel like making it part of the actual post because it's long and that was the only way I could think of.

what a skeeze

Oh yeah, I haven't posted my review about WALL•E yet. I should get on that. But basically my feelings on it are along the lines of "HOLY CRAP IT'S AWESOME WHY ARE YOU STILL READING THIS GO WATCH WALL•E RIGHT NOW GO!"

WALL•E is TONIGHT!

M-O (short for "Microbe-Obliterator", seen on the left) is my favorite little robot (after WALL•E, of course) because he's so OCD with cleanliness that it's awesome.

You know what's sad? The fact that I couldn't fall asleep last night because I'm just that excited to watch WALL•E at midnight tonight. It's like I'm 5 years old again and it's Christmas eve. For me, the day that PIXAR movies premiere is pretty much like a religious holiday. Only it's not like I worship PIXAR daily or have a shrine in my room dedicated to the company (I don't. Really. The shrine in my room is for Harry Potter. Please THIS POST for more details). It's just that I look forward to their movies with as much enthusiasm as a 7 year-old looks forward to Santa coming on December 25th.

However, unlike Christmas where the presents are all surprises, I've been spoiled for my PIXAR holiday present for the last few months because I've read and watched anything and everything about WALL•E that I could get my grubby little hands on. Not that I really care or actually FEEL spoiled at all. If anything, everything I've read and watched has just served to make me more excited for this movie.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank all my friends for being so understanding of my WALL•E obsession and still loving me despite all my annoying PIXAR talk. You'll only have to bear it for a little while longer - at least until WALL•E leaves theaters and then again when it comes time for it to be released on DVD.

PS: Go buy your copy of the WALL•E soundtrack from iTunes right now. It's so awesome! I'm listening to it right now. I love the themes for WALL•E and M-O the best.

Jonas Brothers!

Nerdy Ninja: Celebrating 100 Posts! Congrats to ME!!!

Here's a drawing of the Jonas Brothers to celebrate this special occasion.

On my iTunes as of late:

Burnin' Up - Jonas Brothers (I bought the music video just so I could listen to the song since the single hasn't been released yet)
Just Dance - Lady GaGa
Nine in the Afternoon - Panic! At the Disco
Black & Gold (Marcussen Album Version) - Sam Sparro
Shake It - Metro Station
Play My Music - Jonas Brothers (from the "Camp Rock" soundtrack)
Burn it All Down - VHS or Beta
Like Whoa - Aly & AJ

I'm so lucky to live near T.O.

Today, as I look through my window at yet another grey, crappy, boring day, I come to realize how lucky I am to live near Toronto. Because I'm so bored, I decided to check out toronto.com to see what was happening in my province's capital city that would be pretty darn cool to attend. Here are few that I thought were pretty neat:

The Toronto Jazz Festival (www.tojazz.com)
Lots of artists from Canada and around the world are coming out to play at this event. There's outdoor stages, but some are also playing in lounges and bar and the like. Plus you can catch free shows at Dundas Square (I think. I need to double check that) too.

Mondo Muziko A-Go-Go! (http://toronto.com/summerfestivals/event/608948)
Free musical performances at Dundas Square. AlexCuba is coming in September! I can't wait! I love his song "Amore Infinito"!

Casa Loma Renaissance Festival (http://toronto.com/summerfestivals/event/514314)
How about a little history in the city, eh? Casa Loma is transforming the gardens into a 16th century village with street performers and vendors and such. Fun times!

Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition (http://toronto.com/summerfestivals/event/517749)
Various artists are coming out to showcase and sell their works and it should be pretty darn cool!

Wakestock (http://toronto.com/summerfestivals/event/375621)
One of the biggest wakeboarding competitions and music festivals ever - right here at Toronto's Center Island - lasting for 4 days.

Buskerfest (http://toronto.com/summerfestivals/event/609096)
At the St. Lawrence Markets, Toronto's street performers come out in full force to entertain and show off their stuff with music, theater, and all sorts of tricks. Plus at night, the streets are still alive with shows and comedy theater.

such a nerd am i (part 2)

yeah. that should say pretty much everything.
it's a video response to this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axrbPNYNxjI so go there if you want to know why on earth I did this. Also check out Andrew's original video about his StarWars nerdiness here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-JgvuFBo6M&feature=user

The Great Office War

Just a little something from runawaybox.com (I've been watching their YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/runawaybox - for the last three days and it's great) that also happens to be legendary, epic and frakking awesome.

The Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging Widget

i am so fabulous

my favorites from a recent photo shoot

adventure in baking

Today, I decided that I was bored enough to bake something and so I pulled up my favorite food blog, SmittenKitchen.com, and found the recipe for "World Peace" cookies, which I've been meaning to try out ever since I had fabulous results with the last cookie I made from a recipe from that site called the Margarita Cookie. YUM! About half-way through making the dough, I realized that this was bound to be an epic baking failure, and decided to document it, just in case it actually DID work out and then I could say that I'm an awesome baker-type person. However, the only thing I'm apparently talented at baking is my semi-famous tea biscuits and I've come to realize that the name of the cookies - "World Peace" Cookies - is a complete lie because I felt anything BUT peaceful while I was baking them today.
So, the dough, as seen in the photo above, doesn't look exactly like it should. For example, the dough shouldn't have looked like a clump of dirt in my hand.

Above, a slightly blurry photo of the dirt clods when I put them in the fridge to cool for three hours.
I used the timer function on my iPod to count down the three hours that I had to leave it in the fridge. At around this time, I opened the fridge to feel how packed the dirt logs were, and they felt like they may actually work and stick together like they should. However, when three hours passed and I opened up rolled packs to start slicing the logs into cookies, this is what happened:
Not fun. More dirt-like than before. However I managed to squeeze 11 into a semi-cookie shape much like the way coal gets pressured into becoming a diamond. I sat at the oven door for 12 minutes, watching them bake, making sure that nothing started smoking.
They turned out OK. Very chocolately and crumbly. As I was holding my cookie, trying to eat it, it kept falling apart in my hands. As seen below, I was trying to take a picture of it, and just managed to before it dropped onto the table.

Knowing what an epic failure these cookies were going to be, I also made garlic tea biscuits to make up for it, and to make myself feel better about my cooking skills. I ate 4 while they were cooling after coming out of the oven.



To attempt the World Peace Cookies on your own, swing by smittenkitchen.com for more details and awesome recipes, including the Margarita Cookie recipe.

the other family photos

Here's two drawings I did of me and my friends - drawings that I call "the other family photos". The bottom one is one I did a while ago - circa last summer - and the top one I did just yesterday. I've improved quite A LOT, if I do say so myself. I'm not sure what happened to the color version of the old drawing, but you can still see the difference in quality from then to now.

Even my signature changed! Wowwie wow!

The Ace Gang, 2008:

The Ace Gang, Circa Summer 2007

water color

This probably only looks good on my computer monitor. Stuff like this never looks decent unless you're on my MacBook.