Overbury Ink

- I’ve already got one asshole in there, why would I want another?
Is the saucy retort of a young woman named Bride to a man who tells her how he wants to get in her dress. Such is a small sample of some of the juicy dialog and colourful rejoinders that ripple through Michael Crummy’s novel of a small fishing village in rural Newfoundland.

The story begins with the community overseeing the disposal of a dead whale, and a shocking mystery that slithers out of its belly. It tracks the generations of some 200 years of Paradise Deep. We follow its intermarried, endlessly feuding families, the Devines and the Sellers, their rivalries, secret romances and superstitions.

Remote and isolated, exposed to savage extremes of climate and fate, the people of Paradise Deep are entirely dependent on the mercy of the ocean. The villagers persist in a realm where the line between the everyday and the supernatural becomes hazy. There are elements taken from Newfoundland folklore and legends that Crummey discovered while researching his book, such as Baptism by passing a child through the branches of an ancient apple tree. We read of the ghosts of repentant murderers, world wars, dangerous seas, days of plenty and privation and bone chilling cold.

Although other provinces claim to be, Newfoundland really is its own nation. It’s far out in the Atlantic Ocean, almost halfway to England. It has its own time zone, and its own rich language of euphemisms that is a poetic gold mine and Crummey has glorified its uniqueness.

By the end the tale comes full circle – and it is a wild ride the whole way. Worth reading just for the regional folklore, superstitions, expressions and dialects.

This week shows some great inspiration in the design and packaging categories. I’m all for the re-invention of Barbie parts as jewelry. It flows with the enviro links on the trash island in the middle of the Pacific, and the 16 year old who isolated a microbe that breaks down plastics.

Send me some comments and let me know what you think.

Design, Illustration and Web
85 Free High Quality Silhouette Sets

Unusual fonts
This blog lists some good looking themes and shapes – too bad they are not typable fonts.

Enviro-friendly & Sustainable

I need pills

eew

Graffiti | Inspiration

40 beautiful and creative typography designs to inspire

26 Places to Find Free Multimedia for Your Blog - via Mashable

Product Packaging & Design
Duvets to the Bedroom Decor

Product design award 2009: Non-Braille books made accessible to the blind

Reader converts non-braille text

Designed by researchers at Handong Global University and Keimyung University, both in South Korea. When placed on a page, the reader scans typed letters and converts them to their Braille equivalent on the device’s upper surface. The text can also be converted to speech.

Using Barbie parts as jewelry – via www.thisblogrules.com

Earrings

Bracelet

Designer Margaux Lange has made a collection of accessories that contains pieces of the plastic princess, everything from breasts to hands. The designer says that she is “fascinated with who the Barbie is as a cultural icon, her distinguished celebrity status and the enormous impact she has had on our society”.
Environment
Nat’l Geographic: Pacific trash vortex draws crowd

The Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch, situated in remote waters between California and Hawaii, is created by ocean currents that pick up millions of tons of the world’s discarded plastic.

Documentary of Japanese Dolphin Hunting: The Cove

Boy discovers microbe that eats plastic

Battle for Europe’s last ancient forest

Food:
Recipe of the day: Cook your own Hairy Russian Sausage

Interest:
He Took a Polaroid Every Day, Until the Day He Died – by Chris Higgins of Mental Floss
a collection of Polaroids, one per day, from March 31, 1979 through October 25, 1997. In 1979 the photos start casually, with pictures of friends, picnics, dinners, and so on.

April 23, 1979

Boxes of Photos

Near the end as his health fails

Find the whole story here

USB keys come in every theme imaginable. There’s something from every pop culture icon, to steampunk to gizmos, to classic to kitsch. Right now I’m hung up on the foodie themes and there’s some funky stuff.

As a Montrealer, I can’t decide if it should be St Viateur or Fairmount bagels- but that would be a cool promo item.

Bagel

Cabbage

Cakes Slices

Layered Cakes

Fresh Clam

Only looks fresh Sushi

Hot Chili Pepper

It's not delivery

Chicken Wings and Bacon Wraps

I should really start a post that focus’s on bacon themed items…

You need a closer look at the bacon

A recent Twitter link I posted from UK blog Fed by Birds took a peek into little known daily routines by famous authors/writers like Churchill, Nabokov, Capote – It took snapshots of how these writers made their days by pursuing their favourite activities and schedules yet somehow managed to be productive. It compared how their lives were full of what they enjoyed vs more regimented writers disciplined lives. I agree with the author: “whose work would you rather read,  Colette – swimming, sex and regular blood transfusions from an attractive young donor – or film critic Roger Ebert – rise at 7, oatmeal, treadmill, cold shower etc.” I’m all for self discipline to get a few things done, but living life needs to be part of it.
See the whole post here