Winnipeg, Canada

For the past 24 days I have been growing untrimmed hair above my upper lip—an unusual experience for me in this millennium, to be sure… (I used to sport a full beard every winter, before Y2K). It’s somewhat alien, I’ll admit (and my girlfriend’s not all that keen on how it feels, truth be known).

Why? In a word: Movember.

During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces, in Canada and around the world. With their “Mo’s,” these men raise vital funds and awareness for mens’ health, specifically prostate cancer.

On Movember 1st, guys register at Movember.com with a clean-shaven face. For the rest of the month, these selfless and generous men, known as Mo Bros, groom, trim and wax their way into the annals of fine moustachery. Supported by the women in their lives, Mo Sistas, Movember Mo Bros raise funds by seeking out sponsorship for their Mo-growing efforts.

Mo Bros effectively become walking, talking billboards for the 30 days of November. Through their actions and words, they raise awareness by prompting private and public conversation around the often ignored issue of mens’ health.

Thanks to my Circle colleague Carisa for the supportive image shown above (Mo Bros love Mo Sistas, what can I say?). I’d be delighted if you felt drawn to make a donation to the cause on my behalf.  Another Circle colleague, Adrian, is also growing a wicked “Mo,” and you can express your tangible support for “the cause” by contributing to his pledge here.

(an idea that’s spreading rapidly among the 1-billion “haves”)

Dreading the holiday season? The frantic rush and stress? The to-do lists and sales hype? The spiritless hours trapped in malls? This year, why not gather together your loved ones and decide to do things differently? With the simplest of plans you can create a new rhythm, purpose, and meaning for the holidays. Why not take the spirit of Buy Nothing Day and morph it into Buy Nothing Christmas?

With catastrophic climate change looming, the time is overdue for the rich one billion people on the planet to consume less! And if that’s too extreme for grandma and the kids, try for a Buy Less Christmas, a Buy Less Hanukkah, or a Buy Less Kwanzaa… and maybe a buy local, buy fairer, buy indie event. Whatever you decide, ’tis the season to reclaim our year-end celebrations and make them our own again.

“A few people start breaking their old patterns, embracing what they love (and in the process, discovering what they hate), daydreaming, questioning, rebelling. What happens naturally then, according to the revolutionary past, is a groundswell of support for this new way of being, with more and more people empowered to perform new gestures unencumbered by history.”

“On this 20th anniversary of Buy Nothing Day, let’s take things to a new level… consumer minimalism is one of many strategic operations in a continued fight for real democracy… This year, let’s fast like never before. Let’s get monastic with our actions. Let’s take back our holidays. Let’s wean ourselves off mega-corporations, put our money back into the local independent economy, and live for a different kind of future.”

Visit websites for Buy Nothing Day (25 November in North America this year, 26 November elsewhere) or Buy Nothing Christmas for lots of ideas and resources on how to spend less and live more.

Winnipeg, Canada

I’m pleased to announce that the book we designed* for my girlfriend entitled “Evelin Richter [mostly well behaved]” is now in print (40 pages, cloth-bound hard-cover).

Ev’s purpose in issuing this book is to increase exposure for her figurative sculptural ceramic work (her goal is not really to sell books). As she puts it, “While I love living and working in Winnipeg Beach, the reality is that a rural resort community that dwindles down to some 500 or so souls in wintertime simply does not have enough collectors or art buyers to put soup on the table—I’m hoping that the body of work shown in this book will help me to find gallery representation in some major urban centers… I welcome suggestions from friends and patrons in this regard.”

For anyone wishing to purchase an archival-quality hard-cover book, please let Ev know (send her an email here)… a batch of books will be available in time for Christmas giving.

•Thanks to my colleague Adrian Shum for doing the heavy lifting on the design/production!

Not vague at all, actually…

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This one’s for TransCanada Corporation and transnational ConocoPhillips—in solidarity with the hundreds of thousands (maybe even millions) of concerned citizens on both sides of the Canada/U.S. border opposed to the Keystone XL pipeline extension.

Seriously—don’t say you haven’t been warned.

Winnipeg, Manitoba

My colleague Adrian and I just met this Giant Water Bug (Lethocerus americanus) on the sidewalk about a block from our downtown office. Frankly, I was shocked that I have never before encountered its ilk in the 38 years I have spent in Canada (including lots of time in swamps and on streams and ponds)… apparently they are also known as Toe Biters (for the painful bites they can inflict on swimmers). Their normal diet consists of insects, tadpoles, salamander, small fish, and snails—and they themselves are a popular food in Thailand.

Who knew?

Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba

On Saturday night, Ev and I enjoyed a long evening of fire-pit fellowship with her daughter Jennifer and son-in-law Derek… and in spite of a shockingly bright (almost full-moon) sky, watching shooting stars and dancing Aurora Borealis. Ev’s grandsons Sam and Jayden meanwhile spent hours playing moonlight soccer, and gleefully staged stealth-attacks on the fireside grown-ups (the hundreds of too-bitter-to-eat pears falling from her tree offered an unlimited supply of ammo).

Unbeknownst to me, my outstanding photographer friend Mike Grandmaison was at the same time capturing images of the Northern Lights at Matlock, just a few clicks south along the lake… shown above is one of the images he’s just shared with me.

Our First Nation peoples thought of Aurora Borealis as a manifestation of deceased ancestors; ancient Norsemen envisioned warlike virgins on horses armed with helmets, swords, and spears; and though I know the phenomena is caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere, I like to think of the Northern Lights as waves of experiential unction sent to us as a gift of metaphysical affirmation.

Ottawa, Canada

In response to popular demand (and catering to both music fans and philatelists), our latest commemorative stamps in the Canadian Recording Artists series for Canada Post are now available as individual panes, in limited quantity. The iconic Canadian artists featured in this series which launched on the last day of June are Bruce Cockburn, Robbie Robertson, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, and chanteuse Ginette Reno.

We have been designing stamps featuring Canadian Recording Artists since 2007; the first series featured Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Anne Murray, and Paul Anka; series two featured Édith Butler, Stompin’ Tom (Connors), Bryan Adams, and Robert Charlebois.

Stamp panes can be ordered by calling toll-free: 1-800-565-4362 (Canada and the United States), or 1-902-863-6550 (from other countries). Due to limited supply, these dedicated 16-stamp panes are not available at normal post offices or postal outlets. You can read more about this series release in the latest details / en détail magazine (2.5 MB PDF here); the magazine cover is shown below.

Some previous posts on this blog relating to similar stamp releases can be viewed here.

Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba

If you’re in Manitoba or NW Ontario this weekend, please feel free to drop by What? Clay Art & Curios (Evelin Richter’s studio) during the 10th Wave Artists’ Studio Tour… from 10:00 to 18:00 on Saturday and Sunday (3 and 4 September), several dozen Interlake artists and galleries will fling open their doors and welcome you in for an intimate view of how they work.

Ev’s been busy completing a number of figurative ceramic sculptures which will be on display in her studio (and her piece Not Jane Eyre, shown below, is now on exhibit at the Fishfly Gallery as well).

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Winnipeg, Manitoba

As I usually do, early yesterday morning I checked my email, and I was delighted to find a friendly message from the optometrist who recently checked my eyes in advance of my ordering some new reading glasses (let’s just call him “Gary” as I’m not sure he’s really supposed to provide me with these files); as per my request he sent me the retina photos that he took during my checkup (large, screen-filling, with incredible detail). As a visual designer, I’ve always been fascinated with the function of vision—which I mentioned to him as he was putting me through the optical steeplechase—but until now I’ve never been able to “peer into my own eyes,” as it were.

The pics he sent are shot through the pupil (the dark, size-changing hole in the center of the iris, which is the structure that gives the eye color and works like a shutter in a camera). After passing through the iris, the light rays strike the eye’s crystalline lens, a clear, flexible structure that works much like the lens in a camera, shortening and lengthening its width in order to focus light rays properly; the light rays then pass through the vitreous, a clear, jelly-like substance that fills the globe of the eyeball (the vitreous humor helps the eye hold its spherical shape), before landing and coming into sharp focus (if you’re lucky (-: on the retina. The bright/orange spot you see is the optic nerve (a bundle of over a million nerve fibers, to be more accurate) which acts as sort of an extension of and connection to the brain, where one actually interprets an “image.”

Pretty cool, eh? Thanks “Gary!”