Hop In


Here is the second illustration of a vehicle from the fantastic sitcom Arrested Development.

Hop Off


This is an illustration I've just done of the car from the amazing sitcom Arrested Development. I will be posting the second half to this post soon.

Canary and Pet Owners Guidebook




This pin striped guidebook for people who own Canary's and other pets is wonderfully illustrated with a mix of bright yellows and blacks. All the packaging for the pet supplies advertised throughout the book have the yellow and black pin striped background. I would love to see some of the packaging on shelves in a pet store as it would easily jump out in front of all other products on display.

You Completed Me


The design I showed in an earlier post has finally been printed. It will be available from Whigby fairly shortly and can also be found in a few stores in and around Toronto.

CN Tower


I have now joined Flickr, to check it out go here.

Torontoshop



Just playing around in PhoTOshop.

Zanzibar



Just North of Dundas Square on Yonge St is Toronto's little bit of Vegas. The strip club is a famous landmark in Toronto and has this amazing facade to it with the neon blonde lady kicking her heels with her top hat.

Toronto Dominion Towers




The Toronto Dominion towers were completed in 1969 and were designed by German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe who's North American period style is clearly seen here. The upper floors are fantastic with the majority of the rooms covered in wooden panelling. I went up there during doors open Toronto back in May.

Hotel AM




The Los Angeles Hotel AM produced this leaflet for holiday makers back in the 60's. The colours are great but the circular icons depicting the airport and activities are so simplistic and sleek. I would love to have a huge print of just the blue air-plane icon.

Magic Highway


This is a still taken from the 1958 Disney TV show Magic Highway USA that describes how highways will work in the future. The animation is so elegant and striking, I wish our highways looked like the ones depicted in the film, especially the white hanging highway slicing through the Grand Canyon. I love that quite a few of the ideas help you expend minimal amounts of energy, like the parking your car next to your office window, a conveyor belt taking you from a car park to all the various stores in the shopping mall, and the fact you can just punch a destination into the car and it will take you there without having to drive the car. There is also a future car clip from the same show which is a little bit more eccentric.

Grey's Miscellany




Just before Christmas I found these items in a Value Village store. I've been looking for one of these One Step camera's for ages as they look great with the big red shutter button and the multi-coloured 'go fast stripe' sitting on the monotone grey. The prices are getting ridiculous for Polaroid film since Polaroid shut down the production of Polaroid film in early 2008. There is a great web site called 'The Impossible Project' where a group of people from the Netherlands have brought old Polaroid machinery and are planning to have them up and running early this year for black and white instant film and colour coming later on in the year. The site has some excellent photographs on it so I suggest you check it out!

I also found the Sekonic 21b light meter with a sweet Ivory plastic finish and custom fit leather case. It is a Selenium light meter so it does not require batteries as the light it reads provides the power. The little plastic dish next to the light meter is a Nortel Toronto Communications give away which says 'Tops Toronto' on it and shows the scene of a futuristic office space.

Mountain Lion Taxidermy Studio


I saw this Taxidermy studio over on the Danforth and I would love to go in there and take many many photos. The place was closed but looking inside the studio was just a fantastic disarray of stuffed animals. Looking into the shop reminded me of the album cover for Interpol's Our Love to Admire.

Broken Bells


James Mercer the lead singer for the Shins has teamed up with Brian Burton aka Danger Mouse to create this new side project called Broken Bells. They are due to have a self-titled album out in early 2010. The first single from the album is called 'The High Road' which you can listen to on their website.

I've listened to some of their album and I really like it. 'The High Road' and 'October' are my favourite so far with October starting off with an Oriental string sound but then kicking into a great keyboard riff and Mercer's instantly recognisable vocals. I'm looking forward to their tour which they should be doing at some point in 2010.

JTTCOTE


Like many Penguin books out there, this edition of Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne has a great cover with the Victorian figures absailing down the slab serif type. The black and white figurines look great on the neutral palette of the book cover. I am definitely going to keep my eye out for some more cool Penguin covers.

La Valencia




The La Valencia Hotel in La Jolla, California has been around since the late 20's, this leaflet was produced in the late 50's. The rooms look fantastic with the aqua "Convertible Room" being my favorite. The rectangular sofa beds look great with the dark wood finish to the coffee table and chairs. The "Conventional Bedroom" has an oval shaped TV that sits wonderfully on the angular furniture.

The photographs in this leaflet are great and work so well with the painting of the hotel on the front, sadly the hotel rooms do not look like this anymore.

Pizza Pizza




Way back in September in the last decade i took these on Toronto Island when my brother was visiting. The Pizza Pizza umbrellas look like they've been subjected to many cold winters and hot summers maybe since Centreville amusement park opened. The tattered, bleached yellows, oranges, and creams (presumably the creams were white) look very seventies and Pizza Pizza hopefully will not change them as they look great. I took the Children's Life Jacket photograph on the ferry over to the island.

Happy 2010!




I thought I would post some photos I took in the Queens Park area on Tuesday when it snowed. It was great as all the students were away so there were hardly any footprints.

Muskokan Christmas