Exactly

Month seven of the winter of 2010/11, and the third month of a raging case of Seasonal Affective Disorder. I’m experiencing all the usual symptoms: shivering thumbs, poker face, chapped brain, random acts of obesity, Criminal Minds marathon-induced paranoia, and of course, mange.

Normally I feel rather jolly about winter, but here in the frozen north it’s been exceptionally snowy and monumentally cold. I’m exhausted. Still, it’s not all about weather reports and opening veins. Here are a few moments of hope and warmth from the interwebs~

And the Oscar goes to...

A great big CONGRATULATIONS to illustrator Shaun Tan, who picked up an Oscar for his short animated film, The Lost Thing on Sunday night. Other than seeing Colin Firth’s face on a 55 inch TV screen, this was the highlight of the evening. The film is absolutely charming, and the stupidly gifted Tan is well-deserving of this honour. Rather conveniently, The Lost Thing is also downloadable from iTunes. For additional Tanian diversions, may I suggest these two posts: The Rabbits and Tales From Outer Suburbia.

One of my favourite sites~A Journey Round My Skull has changed it’s moniker to 50 Watts. If you’ve never visited this site, now is the time to take a journey round this visually stunning, and extremely well-researched blog. Lots of crazy vintage stuff, and the writing is FAB.

32 Pages had it’s one year anniversary on February 4th, 2011. Boy, I’m getting old because that year just flew by. In fact, I don’t even remember leaving the chair.

Good F******Design Advice~is the best F****** design website EVER. Full of up to date tips (in fact, every time you check the site you get a cheerful new bit of advice), this blog is one of the funniest f****** things I’ve seen on the ‘net for a long time. Other than the tweets about Charlie Sheen, that is…

From Booklust, ‘Only a brain injury could make me draw Martin Amis.’ Snark at it’s absolute best. Blogger and artist Patricia Storms takes on Kingsley’s son after he makes an inane comment about children’s literature . Have to say, it broke my heart just a little. Martin Amis is one of my favourite authors. But man, what a snot!

Another in a fabulous series of armchair travel book-posts, Reading Round Europe, from the infinitely resourceful Zoe Toft, at her blog Playing by the Book. This time: Iceland. Turns out, the country has much more to offer than a persnickety little volcano named Bjork, I mean..Eyjafjallajokull.

From the non-book world:  15 Most Popular Autocorrects from January, 2011. Makes me wish I had a cell phone (yeah, I know. I’m pathetic.)

Next post: Whuh?