Smile

From what some might think to be an unlikely place, I have found what may be my favourite photo of the Mona Lisa... well, not exactly:

Dianna Agron, who most will know as Quinn on Glee, is not only an up-and-coming actress with more TV or film credits than I was aware of (including guest spots on Veronica Mars?!) but also a photographer who has a lot of talent (and a very nice collection of cameras too!).  She took this photo for the same reason(s) that I would have: "I’ve never seen so many people (hundreds) taking pictures of a painting. ... I had to take a picture (don’t worry, sans flash, to counter the damage hundreds all around me might be creating) of all the people taking pictures. If that makes sense!"

Her blog is usually filled with excellent, random photos from wherever she is, music videos or track lists that she's enjoying at the moment and/or the detalis of a charitable effort that she's leading. Lots of positive focus here which is so nice to see.

» Found at: But You Can Call Me Charlie blog

Alignment

I haven't played D&D in a long time, but I do remember the whole alignment piece as part of the role play aspect of the game. Characters would be either good, neutral or evil and, crossed with that, either lawful, neutral or chaotic.  On the surface, these definitions can seem quite confusing, so rather than try to explain them here, I'll just link to wikipedia instead.

However, even without fully understanding the finite complexities of all this, you'll probably still find the above chart funny if you're a fan of The Big Bang Theory (like me).  The images selected and the quotes highlighted are all very appropriate.

If you get a kick out of this thing, the author of this chart has done up a number of other charts for shows like Mad Men, The Wire, Deep Space Nine.  There are also, as I learned, a large number of these things floating around the web from previous memes and such.

» Found at: MightyGodKing.com via Kottke.org

Quotes

Society6 is an organization that helps artists by producing, packaging and shipping their art out to buyers so they, the artists, can "focus on creating more art"  Something of a 'full service' eCommerce site for the arts community I guess.

Unfortunately, I don't remember where I found out about 37 Posters by Jerod Gibson, but he has a really great series of movie posters going which features an iconic silhouette of something (or someone) from the film, inside of which are a collection of memorable quotes.  Much like a word cloud, the more well-known the quote, the larger and more prominently placed it is on the poster.

Other than the one shown above, my favourites are probably: the Goonies and Ghostbusters.

» Found at: 37 Posters @ Society6

Who

These are brilliant! And really, not just this piece, but the artist has a whole collection of incredible, simplistic takes on popular movies as either Penguin Book cover art or character representation.

On top of all that, I love his Flickr name: "Under the Name". I don't quite know why, but it's awesome. I think it maybe reminds me of a Bingo hall caller? ("Under the Name, "Eric" - an "E").

Any how, Doctor Who is fantastic – both the new and old series; yes, including the 11th doctor even who has quite grown on me – so I just had to select this piece as the one to share here. Enjoy!

» Flickr: “The First Six Doctors” – uploaded by Under The Name

Wood

I like to think that I'm a pretty handy guy around the house. I have a respectable workbench in the basement (and garage) filled with tools. I've built a few projects in my time, including one or two semi-major projects (fences, large shelving, etc.)... but I've got nothing on Marc Spagnuolo, The Wood Whisperer himself.

I have no idea if I'd ever get around to building some of these projects, but like most shows on HGTV, I could sit here in front of my computer and watch his videos all day long. His video about making the hallowe'en bowls (see above) was what I watched first and, if it wasn't for my lunch hour only being so long, I'd have just kept watching everything else on the site.

There is a lot on the site that I still haven't looked at -- a 'guild membership' to help fund the site, a number of reviews and articles, etc. -- but it's all well put together. The video's have a great tone about them, with just the right amount of humour, safety advice and project guidance. I felt like there was enough information in the clip that I could have done the project myself, from raw pieces of wood to the final finish, which I don't always think is the case on other sites.

So, even if you don't plan on dusting off the ol' drill and rushing off to Rona or Home Depot for materials, check out these videos.

» Found at: The Wood Whisperer

Hybrid

A really quick post for a Friday afternoon...

I've always wanted a Gibson Firebird V guitar... something about them just looks so bad-ass. I've seen Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters) playing them before, which adds to their bad-ass credibility, IMO.

I've also recently thought that getting a mandolin to play would be pretty cool. Fun for hanging out in the backyard and/or noodling about on around the house and such. But that's probably the influence of Old Man Luedecke and the Elliott BROOD rubbing off on me... which is awesome, 'cause these guys are making some great music.

So, since I'll never likely be able to afford a real Firebird V axe, why not combine these to 'wants' into one awesome hybrid? Enter the Epiphone Mandobird VIII!  (No idea if I'd really want this, or if I'd rather have a mandolin that looks more like 'it should', but when I found this today I just had to post about it!)

» Found at: Epiphone's website

Tiles

This can get filed under the 'awesome' category. Have you ever wanted a texture to place under (or over) another layer in Photoshop to add depth or realism?  Ever wanted a background for a webpage that you could tile easily? Ever wanted a solution like this for the low-low price of FREE? Now you have it: tileabl.es

I stumbled on this site via Cameron Moll's quick link-list he'd posted last week, prior to his leaving for a conference, so many thanks to him for this. To be honest, I haven't even opened up these .zip files yet for a closer look, but according to the site:

This pack consists of 20 [type of texture or pattern featured] textures at various detail levels. Included in the download is your .PAT patterns file which can be imported into Photoshop. You also get the layered .PSD file so you can edit each pattern to your liking. Grab your copy today!

That's pretty cool in my books. Not only do you get the textures, but also the source files? Very nice touch. There are currently five 'sets' available: lines, paper, rust, fabric and wood ... and, to be honest, I can't think of what they'll release next! But, in the meantime, if you need some great looking, seemless textures for a project, maybe this is the site for you.

» Found at: Tileabl.es