I made this toad-a-hole with Japanese taro bread I got from my local Asian supermarket, so if the bread looks purple, it’s because it was! Naturally purple bread!

Toad-in-a-hole is pretty much my favourite breakfast. It’s even more delicious with taro bread.

Rhett Miller – Come Around (via paradisedub)

This is actually one of my all time favourite songs.

I think it (and this sweet and simple little video) has an appropriate feel for the weather we’ve been having. So hot that the heat is heavy and palpable, something you can kick around. Long faded from the sun.

Micmacs: trailer HD 1080 (via jaumem9)

I have been waiting to see this movie for what seems like forever, and last night I finally got to watch it. When we were in Paris, it had just opened, and we really wanted to go see it, but were worried we wouldn’t understand enough of it. That was 7 long months ago!

It was directed and written by Jean-Pierre Jeunet – who is the guy that also made Amelie – and who is the guy that also happens to be my favourite director of all time.

I’ve had people brush me off when I tell them that, because all they know of Amelie, is that it is some twee foreign movie that is every lonely, sixteen-year-old girl, and lonely twenty-something-year-old guys favourite movie – mostly because they think Audrey Tautou is sooooooo pretty/hot.

I do love Amelie, and when we were in Paris we hunted down all the spots in the movie… but Jeunet is so much more than Amelie!

He is dark, and twisty, in the best possible way. That unexpected way that juxtaposes the beautiful, the adorable and the unassuming; right next to the black, the creepy, and the weird, which makes his movies all the more intense an experience. That creepy/cute way that I’ve mentioned I love before.

A great example of this is the fact that Jeunet’s first movie was set in a post-apocalyptic world where everyone struggles to survive, to the extent that people start eating each other. Yeah, it was about cannibalism. French cannibals! How can that not be awesome!

Jeunet also has that great French cinematic ability to take Hollywood films, and filter them through his own sensibilities, and come up with something totally fresh and new. It’s the same thing that made the French New Wave so great – the ability to both comment on, and be approachable to audiences of, Hollywood movies.

So, Micmacs in some ways was a return to form for him. It’s definitely a black comedy. At it’s heart, it’s a classic Hollywood band-of-misfits caper/grift film, and in my experience those are pretty universally entertaining. In other ways though, it inhabits a much more real world than he’s ever dealt with before. A world with collateral damage, in the most bloody, depressing, ripped-from-the-headlines sense.

However, within that world where innocent bystanders get shot for no-reason, Jeunet tells us we can band together, create our own family, and fight against it in our own way. That’s actually the message at the core of all of his movies – that being unique isn’t just a-ok, it’s a weapon we can use against things like mediocrity, boredom and even evil. Which is yet another reason why I love him so much, because he doesn’t just believe that, he lives it through his movies.

So, if any of that intrigues you (and it really should), you should go check out Micmacs. I don’t think I loved it quite as much Amelie (but there is little in this world I love more than Amelie) and it was still a lot of fun. It would be a great introduction to Jeunet for the Jeunet-neophyte.

red and white polka dot wellies

(via Cath Kidston)

These wellies are the archetypes of rubber boot perfection, in my mind.

I had a pair just like them when I was about four. My Australian cousins, visiting from afar, brought them to traverse the wet and cold wilds of Canada. They left them behind for me.

I have been searching for the perfect adult sized pair ever since, but every time I find them, they are far too expensive :(

veggie bowls

(via Craft)

I was surprised by how pretty these clever little bowls are. I especially love their vibrant, yet natural, colours.

what I wore today #1

I only just recently discovered the What I wore Today drawings group on flickr. Fun.

I took these on the weekend. I went to IKEA to stock up on summer entertaining stuff (hopefully I get to use it lots this year). Anyway, It made me realise I have more than plenty pretty-pretty matchy-matchy housewares. I am a lucky girl.

typography of indecisivness

(via Friends of Type)

Always lots of good font-spiration over at Friends of Type. 

custom tea dress

(via Sohomode@Etsy)

Tea dresses are the kinda thing you wear to a garden or tea parties. A girl doesn’t get nearly enough invitations to go to either of those these days.

We had a lovely tea party for our wedding shower last year, but because our funds were low I decided to wear a dress I already owned. I got complements, and looked cute (despite the humidity not complying with my hair!). But I would have loved to have worn one of these custom creations instead!

Paper Moon Trailer (by Infinite Ammo)

This little indie game is actually free to play right now on blurst.com.

The game makes it look like it was made up of little paper puppets in a monochromatic paper puppet theater. Just like the song says – there is literally a paper moon hanging over a cardboard sea. It’s gorgeously inventive.

I’ve attempted it a couple of times, but I always run out of time. Not as easy as it looks.

The public D3 bike

(via PUBLIC)

There’s a new bike company called Public. It’s run by the guy who started DWR. Admittedly, starting a bike company after starting a mid-century-design-reproduction company should be it’s very own derisive entry on Stuff White People Like…

But man are these new bikes ever pretty! Look at that powder blue finish! Gorgeous. There’s a ton of other good stuff on the site too, and some of it’s even:

Reasonably.

Priced.

Crazy right?

If I ever actually get around to purchasing and riding a bike, I may even order a thing or two from them.

Supernatural guys sketch

I drew this a few weeks back while watching Supernatural, and forgot to upload it. I think my Sammy is particularly good.

BTW:

Supernatural is not just a thing on the teevee box with two pretty boys in it. It’s a show that proves you can build an all-encompassing, mystical mythology, as well as compelling characters – and still give your audience emotionally satisfying story arcs that effectively deal with BOTH (character and mythology).

YOU HEAR THAT LOST?

You failed at that. 

The season finale of Supernatural was way better than the grand finale of Lost. Truth.

Oh, and did I mention that, on Supernatural,  Jacob played the Devil, and the Man in Black plays War? Weird, huh?

Vampire Weekend – “Cousins” (via XLRecordings)

It is hot. Very. It’s pretty strange weather for May in Toronto.

I feel like it’s Vampire Weekend weather.

I liked their previous album better than their new one, but I still like it, particularly this single. 

I know a lot of people hate their inherent preppiness, but I think it’s mostly just an affectation they find funny – I mean would you rather these Ivy League grads (like many bands before them – the Strokes certainly come to mind) pretended they were scrappy working class gents?

I’d rather they do things their own way, with a wink and a nod.

Poem Cup

(via Huset)

I love the idea of this (and that dreamy, deep, jade colour), even if the reality of it is maybe not so practical, it’s so perfectly poetic.

Tiger Lily Moccasin in concrete

(via darlingtonia@etsy)

Aren’t these the most darling little shoesies?

I think the moment I realised you could buy handmade shoes, SHOES! on Etsy, was the moment Etsy really rocked/changed my world.

hot pink girly-girl dreams

(via Design*Sponge)

As much as I believe in gender neutral decorating for children, Sometimes I dream of having a little girl so I can coat her room in the palest pastels, and tulle, and sparkles, and splashes of the hottest pink, like a Marie Antoinette acid-trip. Just like this room from a recent sneak peak on Design Sponge.

I am so compelled by that neon pink, against my will. I have a hard time pulling myself a way from it. So far, in my own home, I’ve managed to quarantine it to my little dressing table.

Machinarium Trailer (via jdamanita)

Now that Valve’s Steam has officially launched for Mac, we bought the (massively on sale!) indie game pack, specifically to own a copy of this heart-wrenchingly beautiful game. It is another really good example of that creepy/cute combination I am so drawn to.

So now that’s it’s on both PC and Mac, you’ve got no excuse not to own it either.

I’ve taken a stab at it over the last couple days, and if you remember ye olde point-and-click Adventure games with any fondness, this is the game for you. It is also – despite it’s unassuming cuteness – not at all easy, but there is a ingenious, built-in, hint system that has the potential to makes things a little less difficult, if you choose to use it.

paper curlicues

(via Yulia Brodskaya)

Isn’t this illustrators work just breathtaking? I love any kind of cut-paper work, but this is so much more than that. The obsessive amount of time and effort that must go into creating these is awe inspiring.

The Bird And The Bee – Again & Again (Video) (via emimusic)

I do love things that are twee, and cutesy, yes that is true, but I like those things to have an edge to them.

To me, it’s like a twisty ribbon of dark chocolate running through your favourite vanilla ice cream. It makes things more complex which makes them more interesting (and delicious).

This pretty little song by the Bird and the Bee is undeniably creepy, just below the surface.

The Trotsky (via alliancefilmsinc)

We went to go see this last night, and I quite enjoyed it. I think you probably have to have a high threshold for communism jokes, Canadiana, Canadian Indie films, and Jay Baruchel (I just happen to love all of those things). The Ben Mulroney snub (to his face, I might add) is worth the price of admission.

At its core though, it’s a movie about teenagers in high school. It actually reminded me of my own experiences in high school a lot more than your average Hollywood movie. There was definitely a vein of social consciousness running through my youth. I can’t help but think if the Trotsky had shown up at my high school, I might just have associated closely with the fellow  – especially if he was as endearing as Jay Baruchel. Between his performance as Trotsky, and Geoffrey Rush’s in Frida, I think I might be starting to have a bit of a romantic fascination with the Trotsky.