The Wrestler

Nobody likes a fuck-up.

We tolerate liars, cheats, drunks, wife-beaters, and many murderers much better. Those idiots get picked up, dusted off, and sent back out for a second chance like a little kid who scraped his knee horsing around on the playground. But guys whose hearts are in the right place but whose instincts are all wrong? Who make a mess of everything not because they're mean but because they're just losers? Who can't catch a break and who are almost too ground-down to even try to make their own? Those knobs? Fuck those guys in their stupid fucking faces. AMIRITE?!

New Work: Nebraska Summer Writers' Conference Logo/T-Shirt

If you grew up in a certain time, in a certain part of the country, and of a certain economic status, few objects are as definitively summer as the classic nylon webbed lawn chair.

I don't know how rich kids spent their summer vacations, but I'll wager it wasn't at some public campground-cum-salvage-yard swatting mosquitos and waiting for one of these flimsy aluminum deathtraps to collapse and dump them into the firepit. Or getting large swaths of leg hair ripped out every time they say down or stood up or moved or sat still or... Seriously, the backs of my thighs are perfectly hairless thanks to a childhood of summers sitting on the pinch-tastic web seats of chairs like this. None of my female cousins will even go near one while wearing a bathing suit.

A Page From My Notebook

My drawing skills went AWOL some years ago, but my preferred method of brainstorming design projects remains the good ol' thumbnail sketch; just a quick something to either help focus a thought or test out a few different angles. I usually mark up my design plans with a lot more shorthand notes than shown in the Pilcrow swag sketch below, and while most of my pen-and-ink planning goes on regular-ass printer paper or the back of junk mail I keep stacked near my desk, I've been meaning to go back to carrying a notebook with me at all times, with a nod to this post on Design Observer.

New Work: Pilcrow Lit Fest Poster

First, there was the Pilcrow Lit Fest website. Now, the poster. And soon, a program/schedule of events, name tags, postcards, and other event collateral. Beyond that, who knows... Tee shirts, video games, blimp signage, rub-on tattoos, and Pilcrow-inspired baby names? Stay tuned.

New Work: ipffsb.org Website Design

I think it's lovely, in this age of empty self-promotion, when good work speaks for itself and clients are earned simply by reputation and word of mouth.

Earlier this spring, I did some work for the ladies of Sleepover 2.0—a logo, a website that's been shuttered for some reason, etc.—and during the Sleepover telecast, the director of the Israeli Palestinian Film Festival tracked me down, professed his love of the SO site, and asked me to redesign the IPFF site. Seeing as how I've already done work for similar events Pilcrow Lit Fest and the (downtown) omaha lit fest, I was happy to take on the project. And I'm quite taken with how the brand new ipffsb.org turned out.

The 2009 Israeli Palestinian Film Festival runs May 4-14 on the UC Santa Barbara campus.

New Work: Viva Nash Vegas Logo

The best road trips usually involve lots of bathtub speed, reckless driving, half-witted county sheriffs, fistfights, buxom hitchhikers, Hell's Angels, CB radios, and jumping either a dry creek bed or moving freight train in a souped-up muscle car.

That said, road trips that skew a little tamer can be fun, too. There's plenty of time for PG-rated mayhem between scheduled bathroom pitstops, home-cooked meals waiting for you at various points in the trip, and a comped luxury hotel room waiting at your destination. This is the kind of road trip that needs it's own fancypants logo, which is where MBD comes in.

Read more about Viva Nash Vegas over on Bigmouth and say hi to the girls either via Twitter (@amyguth, @leahjones) or their show on Blog Talk Radio.

Peas and Carrots in the House, Y'all!

Spotted at the Abbey Pub before a Kosha Dillz/Yak Ballz show: