help! a bear.

While looking through an old folder of drawings I found this bear. It's a typical post summer camp drawing where I'm trying to revive some sort of non-existent memory of how it was like at camp. Think I felt super guilty for not doing enough drawings that summer. I never saw a bear, only thought I heard one outside my cabin one night. I imagined being eaten alive by one a lot though. Horror stories about bears were very popular among staff members. Also, I had just seen the documentary Grizzly Man prior to my trip, which is a tragically funny story about Timothy Treadwell - a grizzly maniac who lived with the bears in Alaska for 13 summers until one of them had enough and ate him. That made me look at bears in that grown-up kind of way, you know when you no longer can see anything cute and cuddly and Teddybear-ish in their appearence. I remember walking 500 yards alone at night to the highway a couple of times, making as much noise as I could to scare off the bears. That was freaky.

if you ever feel stressed out.

This is a little film from my hometown in Sweden and this is exactly how it's like living there. The song is from the soundtrack of Where The Wild Things Are, called "Food Is Still Hot", which is exactly what I feel like whenever I go home.

vintage sketchbooks.

Before I left Sweden my mother gave me some fabrics she had got from an old lady who died and left some nice stuff behind. These were proper old fabrics from the 60's or something. Lovely. And since I believe in the notion of Reduce Reuse Recycle, I returned to Glasgow and took whatever paper I had laying around, bound some books and used the fabric as nice covers. Making handmade sketchbooks is like therapy for me, so relaxing, so satisfying. Above are some photos of the books I produced this weekend. I'm sure there are loads more to come. Think I've got myself a proper hobby.

garden state day.

It's been a miserable and rainy day today so I watched Garden State. It's a pretty decent movie about a man who have to come back to his small-town home after 9 years for his mother's funeral, and simultaneously suffers from some kind of numbness for all kinds of emotions (perfect movie for a shitty day, right!). Of course he falls in love with the crazy chick in town, played by the lovely Natalie Portman, who transforms his numbness into feelings and litterly catches his tears in a cup. Don't get me wrong, I think the script was actually rather witty and interesting. It's all written and directed by Zach Braff however, who also happens to play the main character. Big fucking misstake, dude! Garden State could have been a brilliant movie with actual smart things to say. But Braff is just such a dork and when he tries to be emotionally vulnerable it's just pathetic. This is the guy from Scrubs and to me he just doesn't have what it takes to be anything else than funny. It actually bothered me throughout the whole movie and I think that's a shame.

living with the wild things.

I will now do as so many other bloggers have done and praise Where The Wild Things Are. Yes, it's a big hype around it, since the movie is out and all. A lot of hipsters around the world has embraced it because of its non-kids-movie approach, and the look of it is fenomenal to say the least. I haven't even seen the movie yet but just by hearing the music from it makes me imagine a masterpiece (I've kept the song "All is love" on repeat ever since I got the soundtrack). I can't wait until the movie reaches Europe! But really, the reason why I wanna praise Where The Things Are is because it was the first book I ever read on my own. I was 7 years old and probably had a little problem reading (who doesn't when homework books are fucking lame and boring). But one day my class went to the school library and we could pick out any book of our own choice. I saw the name Max on the back of one book and picked it out. Back in those days I thought that everyone with the name Max were as awesome as my cartoon hero Mighty Max. This Max were a bit of an anti-hero though and I remember the book to be a little frightning with all its monsters. But then there were something about it that made me borrow the book several times. I loved the illustrations and the idea of traveling to an imaginary land. And the wild side of Max was something that wasn't discussed in other books for children. My classmates borrowed books about horses and pretty things for instance. It's rather funny that my choice was about a missbehaving kid who's unleaching his inner anger with imaginary beasts... Perhaps it's not so weird that my creative alter ego name is Stingosaurus. That's what I call long-lived inspiration. Rawr!

you are missed.

Just got back to the UK again. I never thought I'd see a trip home as a vacation. But that's what it was and it was awesome. Only wish I could have stayed longer. I'd been away for a really long time. Long enough to see newly opened stores go bankrupt before I even learnt their names, meet old friends with entirely new careers and see people loosing weight and not even remember them being fat. It was strange. But nice too. Even though it's been so long it's still home. Everything tasted sweet back home; the air, the water, the atmosphere. I even started liking Stockholm. I've always had something against the capitol city. Always thought people had attitude problems and were too anti-social. This time someone told me I had a cute hat and the ticket people had time for a chat. Maybe it was just such a releaf to be back it was hard to not love everything. I guess that's a good thing. By being somewhere completely different for a while helps me to appreciate where I come from. According to Michael Moore, everyone's jelous of how we've figured everything out in Sweden. We only complain because we're bored. This time it wasn't boring to be home, it was just like heaven. And I'm so sorry for talking behind your back, but I really love you, city of Marie.

sweden bitch bag.

I have been spending some time in my mother's sewing studio and made this super-sweet carrier bag. It's perfect for grocery shopping. The print is screen printed and designed from personal experiences.

things i've learned in my life...

Last night I skimmed through a few of Stefan Sagmeister's pieces of advice in his "Things I have learned in my life so far". (For those of you who don't know, it's a book based upon wisdoms from his own diary which has been visualised typographically in a number of different creative sullotions). It made me remember a little note I gave to myself during a trip to London: "Don't buy design books. They are fucking heavy and mostly stupid - you'll learn more from life". So why the hell do I need a design book of somebody else's insights in life? That's dubbled waste of money, right?

tiny owl vs. amelie.

One is from Skansen Zoo in Stockholm and one is from a quiet neighbourhood in Mariestad. I think they look rather similar. They both have the same look in their eyes. I wonder which one is wild and which one is tamed...

home sweet home.

Woohoo! I jumped on a plane and went all the way to Mariestad to give my family a heart attack by showing up unannounced. This city is good for a few things; ice cream (Kling's Glass), coffee places and taking long walks. Naturally I brought a camera or two with me. The photo is from Kalkstensbråttet aka "Grand Canyon", about 20 kilometers from my house.

creative, not a creationist continues.

A religious dinosaur praying deeply.

portfolio book cover.

Have been working on a flashy portfolio book lately. Can't decide on the cover though. Don't know which one of these I like better. Please help me out.

park day.

I feel a lot like a 65-year old for posting these photos, but I just wanted to share some of the highlights from my very unimportant day.

i wish i could rap.

This one is a classic. I like to watch it when I'm really really bored.