Follow the yellow brick road! (Taken with Instagram at David Pecaut Square)

In my experience, you will truly serve only what you love, because service is love made visible. If you love friends, you will serve your friends. If you love community, you will serve your community. If you love money, you will serve your money. If you love only yourself, you will serve only yourself and you will have only yourself…Try to love others and serve others, and hopefully find those who will love and serve you in return….

- Stephen Colbert

(Source: openculture.com)

Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty. Think big.

— Daniel Burnham, Chicago architect. (1846-1912)

(Source: ontko.com)

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time →

I finally got to watch this - on a plane, over the Mediterranean, no less - and it was, as expected, wonderful.

If you like animation and a good story and time travel, this one’s for you.  It’s also for you, I think, if you’re not particularly keen on any of those except the good story part.

Chantal Kreviazuk. ”Leaving on a Jetplane”. Armageddon OST. Sony, 1998.

So, apparently, this is what runs through everyone’s mind when they leave on a trip.  Oh well.  I think I actually like Ms. Kreviazuk’s version better than Mr. Denver’s.

And so long.  I’ll be back in a bit.  ; )

Work Hard. Be Nice. →

I just finished this up on the way home today, and I highly recommend it.

From the jacket:

Many people in the United States believe that low-income children can no more be expected to do well in school than ballerinas can be counted on to excel in football, begins Washington Post education reporter Mathews (Escalante: The Best Teacher in America).

He delves into the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) and follows the enterprise’s founders, Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin, from their days as young educators in the Teach for America program to heading one of the country’s most controversial education programs running today. Luckily for many low-income children, Feinberg and Levin believed that with proper mentors, student incentives and unrestrained enthusiasm on the part of the teachers, some of the country’s poorest children could surpass the expectations of most inner-city public schools.

Mathews emphasizes Feinberg and Levin’s personal stakes in the KIPP program, as they often found themselves becoming personally involved with the families of their students (in one case Feinberg took the TV away from a student’s apartment because the student’s mother insisted that she could not stop her child from watching it). Mathews innate ability to be at once observer and commentator makes this an insightful and enlightening book.

Bon Iver.  ”Calgary”.  Bon Iver. Jagjaguwar, 2011.

These guys just deliver.  Consistently.  And yes, this is from the future.

The Righteous Brothers.  ”Unchained Melody”.  Unchained Melody / Hung On You. Philles, 1965.

I had a dream about this song last night. I wanted to listen to it and kept on looking for it on my phone, but it was nowhere to be found.

So, naturally, I listened to it about six times over the course of today.

Listen to this song while you think about that.

: )

(Source: loveyourquotes)

LEGO Store: Toronto →

Oh yes.

I do not care what car you drive,

Where you live.

If you know someone who knows someone

Who knows someone.

If your clothes are this year’s cutting edge.

If your trust fund is unlimited.

If you are A-list, B-list

Or never heard of you list.

I only care about the words that flutter from your mind.

They are the only thing you truly own.

They are the only thing I will remember you by.

I will not fall in love with your bones and skin.

I will not fall in love with the places you have been.

I  will not fall in love with anything

But the words that flutter from your extraordinary mind.

(Source: loveyourquotes)

LEGO Leica: two of my favourite things in, somehow, one thing.

(via mostexerent)

Born like an artist, Bloom like an artist →

Beautiful.

(via currycloud)

Happy Birthday, Mr. Hargreaves.

Google just informed me that today, the 9th of May, is the birthday of Roger Hargreaves.¹  And although I didn’t actually know who Roger Hargreaves was until just now, the picture of Mr. Tickle was enough to get me to click through.

Mr. Tickle was one of the first books I read on my own, when I was around three or four, so it has a special place in my heart. From what I can remember, I picked it up on a sunny afternoon, in the waiting room of some very-boring office.² It made the wait bearable, enjoyable even. And, of course, the fact that it was about an orange man with extra long arms - and a nice chapeau - only made it all the more amazing to my young mind.

Fun fact: these books also make good cards as you can usually find one that matches the personality of the person you’re gifting. If we’re acquainted, you can expect to receive one from me at some point.

Notes:

¹ They’ve got several customised versions of their logo up today, so refresh to cycle through. For posterity’s sake, though, here’s a link to the Google Logo Archive. 

² I imagine it was dentist’s office - they’re generally the most boring. Oh, and government offices.