Just add cowbell.

Need a cheap, last-minute Halloween costume? Try this. (via Unshelved)

Emperor of Ice Cream Cakes

Tricia at Emperor of Ice Cream Cakes rocks my world. If I were a publisher, I'd beg for a book of her paintings based on lines from poems. Her other art is brilliant, too. So's her writing. I've been a fan ever since she proposed a party where everyone dresses as a line from Wallace Stevens.

Some examples:


a butcher, his cleaver hacked/into igneous lamb--Stuart Dybek, "The Volcano"



What about horses eaten by wind?--Wallace Stevens, "Parochial Theme"


The babes I beget upon you are to beget babes in their turn--Walt Whitman, "A Woman Waits For Me"

Reverse Graffiti

I love the concept of "reverse graffiti". Simply put: instead of using spraypaint, find a dirty city surface and use a rag and some water. Create art that instantly doubles as social commentary (Why is our city so filthy?), and befuddle the cops who want to arrest you, but aren't sure if selective cleaning is a crime. Above, Brazilian artist Alexandre Orion cleans up a Sao Paulo tunnel (in summer '06). See a video of the piece's creation, complete with befuddled cops, here.

Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever: 1963 and 1991

BoingBoing points to a Flickr set by "kokojiak" that compares scans of the 1963 and 1991 editions of Best Word Book Ever. Feather headdresses are out; yellow ribbons slapped on boys' heads add some instant girls to the scene. Then there are the weird ones: a boat named Gretel in 1963 was rechristened The White Swan in '91...anyway, neat to glance at. I loved that book when I was a kid. And I feel the keen loss of the word "promptly."