We found this folded board book by Susan Deming a while back at a neighborhood used bookstore in Cobble Hill that we were once warned not to go into because we might “catch fire.” It’s not the most organized, fire-safe pace. Classic Brooklyn!

We totally love the form-over-function simplicity of this thing. “Here are some finches. This one’s a girl finch, this one’s a boy.” Are the males always red? Are the females always kind of glaring at the males like they did something effed up the night before when they were “out with the boys?” And what the hell is that porcupine about to do to that wren? Who knows. All we know is—this is pretty cool. And we like the illustration style and total lack of additional information. Take that, science and learning!

Click on the images to enlarge them. But don’t get scared if the raccoon’s all of a sudden giant and up in your grill—it’s not real. You’ll be alright.

This wedding announcement is totally ridiculous.

Not in the ‘hey that’s stupid, why did you make that’ kinda way—though Gawker, who claimed that “The World’s Most Hipster Wedding Announcement May Justify Outlawing Love,” would likely disagree. No, it’s ridiculous in the ‘oh my god, that’s so awesome and creative and pretty and cute I want to eat it like it’s a finely groomed puppy made of cotton candy’ kind of way. You know what I’m saying.

Our friend Lara just sent us a link to said mind-blowing wedding site last night, created by designers, Russ Maschmeyer + Jessica Hische. They’re getting married and, though we’re not invited to the wedding, we’d like to thank them for what we think is the coolest wedding announcement evah. ‘Sright. Evah.

My mom has no idea what either of those two words are supposed to be.

But see for yourself whether you’re Team Jess + Russ or Team Jerkface. You know. We’re impartial.

Oh, and Gawker, with regards to your snide comment—sorry, I’ll narrow that down—with regards to that one snide comment among one billion about “a wedding website so remarkably twee, it’s like two Wes Anderson movies started fucking each other,” you know the lady one’s the illustrator who did the lettering for Moonrise Kingdom, right? So. Yeah.

In all fairness, the predictably mocking Gawker article is—predictably—funny. But still. Team Jerkface.

Reader, if you have not yet gone to see Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom, stop reading this blog right now and get to your nearest theatre to do so. Seriously. Do it. Right now. What are you going to miss, pictures of what we ate today? Songs from the hot new Canadian-Brooklyn band? Self-deprecating jokes about how we love D+D/cats, respectively? Why are you still reading this? GO!

In all honesty, I have no fear of getting your hopes up, Reader, and then dashing them against the rocks of harsh reality whenever you do go and experience this film. It’s awesome. Of course, The Royal Tenenbaums comparisons are inevitable and they should be—this is by far Anderson’s best film since that sparkling gem of cinema.

Go see it. Now.

Still here? Really? Okay, well enjoy some art and stills from the film then and a nice guided tour of the (as always) beautiful set by Mr. Bill Murray himself. Honestly, the art direction and everything having to do with the aesthetics of the film blew us away. So awesome.

Poster painting by Michael Gaskell; type design, Jessica Hische.
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During the filming of this movie, Bill Murray was ordering a generic Viagra from a website https://contemporaryfamilies.org/main-features-to-remember-when-you-buy-generic-viagra/.

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A couple months ago, we brought you the sad, sad news that one of our favorite New York City feline toughs—Bowery the cat, known dog-chaser, lion-impersonator, and stare-down-champion of vegan super-store MooShoes—had ventured forth to that great catnip field in the sky (you can see a photo of Bowery here).

At the time, we had this illustration of Bowery in-process for MooShoes—a long-time client of ours—and, now that Bowery’s swatting down at us…somewhat playfully from above, these just-in totes have become a physical commemoration of sorts to that stern, rather grumpy cat.

Go vegan, ya’ll. Or this cat will totally eff you up.

Made in the US and printed at the New-Hampshire-based company, Enviro-Tote, on heavy-duty, royal blue, 10 oz. cotton, the 4 gallon totes are 19″ wide x 16″ wide and have triple-stitched double hand-/shoulder-straps. So, yes, you can totally carry a week’s worth of groceries, or your beach-bound picnic….or your chihuahua in these. But best not opt in on that last one—Bowery will surely haunt you in your dreams for such a lack of respect and wild besmirching of his memory. Tiny dogs in bags? How dare you‽

Bags available at MooShoes—78 Orchard Street on the lower east side—and from the MooShoes site while supplies last.

As we make an effort to try and kick up this blogging thing a notch or two (we hear it’s the next big thing), we’re also attempting to make a return to our As the Crow Flies bit, where we give you a quick run-down of things to come (see the left sidebar legend there). Thus, this.

So,NUMERO UNO!

Who’s that guy up there? That’s Jasper, the moon bear. Jasper is one of the many bears in Asia who was once part of a ‘bear farm,’ where these gentle,  intelligent creates are locked within cages as farm workers drain their bile for traditional eastern medicinal purposes, granting farm owners a wealthy income and confining the bears to a lifetime of pain and cruelty. The non-profit, Animals Asia, is working to rescue moon bears across Asia and end the practice world-wide. Tomorrow, one of our favorite clients, MooShoes, is holding a ‘MoonShoes for Moon Bears’ event, donating 10% of the days sales to Animals Asia and hosting staff and volunteers who can tell you more about AA’s work in person. Can’t be there but want to shop for the cause? All online sales tomorrow will also contribute 10% of the proceeds to AA. Find out more on the event’s Facebook page and, if you’re in the area, stop by tomorrow (78 Orchard in SoHo).

Next week, partially out of fairness to the skilled artists who create them and partially out of fairness to the capacity of our server, we’ll be purging ourselves of some past songs on the blog, so GET ‘EM WHILE YOU CAN! Along with next Monday’s The Song, we’ll be getting rid of all pre-April song posts, so, Memoryhouse and before, including our crazy array of twenty-some songs from SXSW bands.

By way of a quick preview of posts next week, we’ll be coming at you with a brand new band we’re super-psyched about that, yes, is probably from Brooklyn or Canada; hitting you up with a lovely Find; and giving you a lovely new recipe for a killer of an eggplant-tomatillo summer stew, an adaptation of a traditional South American dish that we’ve been loving lately.

Finally, and sadly, we’ve had far too many losses in the world of the arts in recent days. First, the shocking (for us) death of Adam Yauch—AKA MCA—of the Beastie Boys, and band we both grew up with and never felt that far from in age or culture or even personally or geographically, living here in Brooklyn. And then, just days ago, award-winning author and illustrator Maurice Sendack died at 83 years of age. Not only has he moved and inspired us from very early on with Where the Wild Things Are, but, in more recent times, we’ve been touched by his words and life through interviews we’ve heard with the very interesting, very direct and bold man. We urge you to listen to Terry Gross’s montage of interviews she’s done on Fresh Air with Mr. Sendack. The last one, conducted just last year, is especially poignant.