September? Yeah, September. Thanks, summer. Yer days are waning. Looking forward to the cooler temps. Still in Michigan chained to the desk, wrapping up the final couple bits and pieces of the Union and Coal websites. Cage matches. Couple more days of sun-up to sundown wildness, and we have to push off for the West. Feels sad to write that. Thankful as hell I got to spend as much time at the parental compound as I did this August. Lots of looking at a monitor, that's for sure.

You strike when the iron is hot. No excuses.

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DOWN THE HATCH: Beer cans used to be something special. Not anymore though, but we all knew that. Here's a nice reminder from Sinuhe Xavier that "beer cans used to be pretty damn incredible." I mean, imagine a sixer of these bad bad boys. Shit used to look like this. Now, we've got this. Shameful at best.

I don't really like beer. The occasional ice-cold Pacifico or Corona, maybe. And so much of that comes down to holding some shit-ass Bud LIght can in yer hand. Just makes me that much more disgusted to be swillin' brew out of a swill can. Anyway, I'll stop.

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HERE'S ANOTHER FROM THE SAME BUILDING VIN IS IN: JD Hooge was in Wisconsin and documented a visit to Unionville. Incredible stuff. Good eye, JD! I want a pole barn someday. Mark those words. And another thing, I'll be doing a little of my own "documenting of Wisconsin" soon enough. We're pushing off for that big West soon enough...

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A REALLY, REALLY NICE PIECE OF ART HERE: Portland's very own Mark Warren-Jacques' print titled, "In the summer, I'm dreaming of you." This one comes with a lifetime of "good vibes." Added value. Pick one up before they are gone!

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THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU: This one goes out to the Wiffle Ball! Packaging like it oughta be. It's a Wiffle Ball, you know? Just leave it like it was. Done. Thank you.

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HIP TO BE SQUARE Those new Busy Beaver square buttons look pretty darn good. Can't wait to see the Field Notes County Fair ones up close. Love this stuff. Thank you, Busy Beaver!

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ON THE PLAYER:

01. Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan - Hawk
02. Hard-Ons - Love is a Battlefield of Wounded Hearts
03. The Sword - Warp Riders
04. Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark

Buried here. No time for linkage. Wait, we got one. A little something that Vin sent us last week that really blew our mind: War-Era Food Posters.

There is much to learn from Lester Beall. One of my favorites!

Thanks, buddy. You are golden. Miss you.

Yesterday, foraging through the gift shop at a Lake Huron lighthouse we toured, I came across this little polar bear, buried in a "Freighter Flags of the Lake Huron" poster. Best thing I saw all day, over there in Eastern Michigan.

Spent the day chasing my tail on projects. Many, many things are coming to a head!

We woke up in Bay City and headed up along the coast all the way up to Alpena. Then we headed due west to Gaylord, and over to Traverse City. Up, then over.

Sunset over Saginaw Bay, from the thumb side.

Dad warmed up the crowd with six jokes. He had 'em rolling. You know, that was a good pile of Detroit out there in that audience and I had to loosen them up a bit. I called in my secret weapon and he slayed 'em. So fun.

I did my talk, rambling at times, getting choked up regarding that little G-Unit at times, spinning yarns about "what I do" and "how I do it." Showed a ton of work. Told some tall tales. Got through my fully-stocked PDF, barely. It's just kinda weird being up there in front of everyone. Lots of heads eyeballin' you! Had some good laughs and even a couple moment of painfully solicited, and unsolicited applause. Thank you, Detroit!

And of course, thank you to: Reilly Brennan for rolling the dice on me, AIGA Detroit and Team Detroit for bringing me all that way, 1515 Broadway for the use of their facilities, Nick Parish for coming in from New York City and to all the folks who to came to my pre-game chat at Team Detroit in Dearborn.

Thank you, Motown! Had a blast down there.

Getting off the elevator at Team Detroit and walking out to this. Wow.

I made a bunch of friends at Team Detroit. We had a chat.

Dad and 1515 Broadway AV Tech Theo, sharing some laughs.

A packed house! 100 seats: 15 family-n-friends + 85 attendees = Awesome!

Worlds colliding: Campbell, Bry, Maniotes, Dad, Hoss and AJD.

The Brennans.

Alright, Detroit, today's the day. That goes for you too, Ypsilanti. And Ann Arbor. Even Flint.

Get downtown tonight, to 1515 Broadway and watch me fumble through a presentation on my so-called "career."

The deal is called, "Tale Tales From A Large Man" and it's brought to you by the good people of AIGA Detroit and Team Detroit.

One night only. Meet people. Drink some wine. Sit down. Look at things. Have a laugh. Small ideas. Vectors. Tall tales. Moving pictures. Truth. Fiction. Disorienting PDF. All in full color views.

Oh yeah: Bring some loot. We've got a van full of much-needed DDC Merch we'll be offering at cut-rate prices. Priced to move. You need this.

Okay, that's all I got. We're driving over to Dearborn now to hang out at Team Detroit. I like the sound of this place. If I can swing it, I want to go drive past my Gramma Josie's house on Joy Road and Artesian. I spent many a week in August there, doing things like: Skateboarding on the sidewalk, waiting for dad to get home from work and sweating. Shit got hot in the summer in Detroit. I remember dad basting us with cold wash clothes in her front room, all splayed out and suffering. Detroit memories. Detroit blood.

See you tonight, Motor City!!!

DAYWRECKER WARNING: Okay, people. This one is dangerous. This link involves some very serious math, numbers and calculations. All hand-held, too. Be careful digging into this one: Vintage Technology's absolutely mindblowing "Calculator Gallery."

I think I've been here before, but can't remember. My mind's a little frazzled these last couple days.

And goddammit if Derek Schille didn't dig this one up. Okay, we need to bestow some kind of stripes to this guy. I can't take it anymore. How about this: "DDC Link Contributor No. 001: Derek Schille of St. Paul, Minnesota." There you go. Thanks, man. You are golden.

Cryptic notes to friends out west: Bedortha, take note. Hega, this here is the feel.

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LET THIS LINK PUNCH YOU RIGHT SQUARE IN THE FUCKING FACE: I don't even know why I said that, but I clicked this one, saw the "340 items" line at the bottom of the page, and felt like I got slugged. Wham. 340 clicks to take away from 340 clicks "on the clock" doing things I should be doing. Okay, here it is: "The Vintage Education Pool!" (A hat tip to Reilly Brennan for this one. We'll discuss this, and other pertinent things tomorrow!)

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LOS ANGELES, WHY YOU GOTTA MESS WITH US?: Awesome old stuff at giant prices. Get in, take a look, then get out. Try not to get shooed out of the place by some snarky employee. This is a bittersweet link for me. It's hard not to get excited looking at all that cool shit, but, just knowing how far out of the reach for regular fucks like "the rest of us" riles me up something fierce. This smells like the kind of place celebrity assistants shop for their forgettable employers. You know, to spice up some grillion dollar Hollywood Hills McMansion. Or not. Sorry. I get loose-lipped when I'm up against $3000 items that you can find at an estate sale for $42.50. Etc. Sorry, Venice. Fun store. (Northern California's Bill Zindel sends this link in, far, far away from the City of Angels.)

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BOUGHT THIS ONE YESTERDAY AFTERNOON, SIMPLY FOR THE COVER ART: The Sword's newest long player, Warp Riders. Incredible cover, seductively reminiscent of those hazy, bong-ripped '70s Sci-Fi Heavy Metal magazine Frazetta mags and posters. So good. Check it out nice and big here.

The designer is a fella named Dan McPharlin. Some pretty boss work in there, so check him out. Yeah, uh, this guy. Wow.

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TOMORROW, DETROIT: Another chapter from our reality-defying "Tall Tales From A Large Man speaking gig series! Yeah, "reality-defying." These things still don't quite make sense to me. You want me to get up on a stage and tell you about what I do? Seriously? Yeah, seriously.

And the good people of AIGA Detroit and Team Detroit are behind us, and we thank them for it. As these words go to print, know this: The van is packed and Leigh and I are like, a couple mouse clicks away from "heading down to the town we were born in." We're coming home, in a sense. Take us in, Detroit!

ONE MORE TIME: 1515 Broadway, Detroit, Mich. at 7 in the P.M. tomorrow night. Like, official and stuff.

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TRAVERSE CITY HAS A RIPPIN' RECORD STORE: Sound It Out Records on Union Street. Get in there and buy a monster pile of vinyl. Now. Do it. Thank you, Sound It Out!

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ON THE HEADPHONES:

01. The Sword - Warp Riders
02. Poison 13 - First You Dream
03. Hard Ons - Dickcheese Tracks
04. Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak

WE MAKE LOGOS, FOR ALL KINDS OF THINGS: And we updated our "Work" section with another Identity page. You know, proof that at some point, the rubber meets the road. Or, the vector meets the paper. Or something like that. You get my drift. Here it is again, in case you missed it a couple sentences ago: Identity Page No. 01 of the Draplin Design Co. Work section.

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BOUGHT TWO SETS: One for me. One for Dad. Cool shit. Spotted over on the very dangerous Svpply.com. My wallet starts to throb when I'm on that site. Just lethal.

And what the fuck, Hillerns? You trying to bankrupt us? Everything you post on there falls into the category of "you need this, now." Warn us, or something.

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SOME HUMOR FOR YOU: Funny food packages. Loads of laughs. Some levity, after you spend whatever you had saved for rent on Svpply shit.

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ROCK ADS USED TO BE PRETTY BOSS: A trip through old Billboard magazines. Pretty awesome. Dig around in there. (Sent in by Aaron Hilst. Thanks!)

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LET THIS INSPIRE YOU, DETROIT: At least I know Nick Parish is coming to my talk. All the goddamned way from New York City! (An up-an-coming hamlet on the Eastern Seaboard.)

Other Michigan-based luminaries who've signed on: P.J. Chmiel, Andy Maniotes, Unca Mike, Unca Kevin, Unca Terry, Aunt Mary, Auntie Barbara, Uncle Tom Who Squeezes Feet and Reilly Brennan's Beautiful Bride.

You too could be on that list. Get it together. If you are reading these words, and are within a 1,750 mile radius of Detroit, well, frankly, there's just no excuse. We'll see you there.

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REQUIRED READING, FIELD NOTES USERS: The Art of Manliness tackles "The Manly Tradition of the Pocket Notebook" and we have to say, rather well. Read this, then, buy some Field Notes. Some good history here.

OLD BYTES: Here's a cool set called, "30 Old PC Ads That Will Blow Your Processor." Consider our processor "blown."

Our family didn't have a computer growing up. Dad made stuff out of wood. Mom made baskets. I had Legos and Stars Wars guys and stuff like that. Friends had video games and computers. It was always a treat to spend the night somewhere and have techy stuff to play with. So this collection, all these years later, feels futuristic and like, odd. Just sayin'.

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BE CAREFUL IN THERE: An impressive "Commodore Computer Advertising" gallery. A dangerous link. One that could send you off into the dark depths of the "Not Getting A Fucking Thing Done" universe. Remember to "Save."

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BEEN WATCHING LOTS OF THIS: Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman. I love this shit. It's a big universe and I like to freak myself out exploring the cosmos.

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HERE'S ONE YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS: Karen Horton's incredible collection of stamps.

Here's our favorites:

01. Colombia postage stamp: OEA
02. Uruguay Postage Stamp: ONU tree
03. Israel postage stamp: Volcani research Just incredible.

(This link was sent in by Derek Schille of St. Paul, Minnesota, who's got a hell of an eye. Thanks, buddy.)

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THIS THURSDAY, DETROIT: I'll be down there, telling my little story. The event is called "Tall Tales From A Large Man" and is brought to you by AIGA Detroit and Team Detroit. Wow. Kind of official, you know?

I'll be showing work, sharing some harrowing accounts, hocking DDC merch and making friends. If you are withing a 1,000 mile radius, well, I expect you to be there. I am backtracing all readership and will be making a list. Free door gifts, too. Possible usage of large words/delivery of small ideas. Wine. Downtown Detroit as the setting. Draplin blood. Steele blood. Be there.

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FIELD NOTES FOR OUR YOUNGER CITIZENS: "Field Notes Neon Ice Pops Pack." "Back to school" action. My dad used to laugh at us when we'd talk about going back to school. A mean, cackling laugh just rubbing salt into our wounds. Real nice. These colors should soften the blow, young rascals.

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ON THE PLAYER:

01. Little Wings - Light Green Leaves
02. Paul Westerberg - Come Feel Me Tremble
03. Paul Westerberg - Mono

You think you got it hard? Try dealing with that thing above. There you go.

Where there is darkness, there is light. Here's my mom getting ready for a night out, just to get us back on the right track.

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UPDATE: Dad just pulled me aside, gave me some pain, then said:

Dad: "You hear about the Polish kamikaze pilot?"
Me: "Wha..."
Dad: "He flew 47 missions."
Me: "Dick."

I'm still pretty bummed I missed this year's World's Longest Yard Sale. A low point of the summer. But a number of friends did hit it up, and here's another one: "Masato Nakada slays the World's Longest."

That's what yer seeing up above. One of Masato's scores, cleaned up a smidge. Dig those lines!

Good work, man. Hope you had a good time out there!

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UPDATE: It's Saturday here in Northern Michigan and I am working all day. Just the facts.

Last weekend, after a long, hard day of judging Minnesota design and advertising (debatable) I headed back to my room to freshen up a bit. Turned on the tube and there was some kind of Dew Tour skate jam thing going on. Paul Rodriguez was wrapping up his winning runs, and on his shirt, I recognized a little something on his chest that we had something to do with.

See that "PR" interlocking deal there? That's a logo we made for Nike SB last summer under the direction of Damion Triplet and Michael Leon. Just incredible to see it out there, finally. Very proud of this one.

The Nike development cycle is something to marvel at. It's a pretty lengthy window, and you make the stuff and then it takes awhile to get out into the world. It's a pretty intense process, seeing how they curate, execute and unfold the whole program. Impressive. Check out the P-Rod site, and check the range of how they unleash this stuff. Videos, apparel and kicks. Just lethal.

We always down to contribute to skateboarding. Spent 1986-1997 doing my little part. I miss it.

Here's another one we did under the direction of Damion and Michael a couple summers back also, that we keep seeing all over the states: The tongue type for the Stefan Janoski's signature kicks. Awesome. For daily use!

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THIS GUY GETS IS RIGHT: There's a currency redesign project going on out there, and Dowling Duncan gets it right! Imagine loot being boiled to something that clear and sensible? Every time I've been lucky enough to go to Europe, I get that pile of loot from wherever and don't want to spend it. But then again, with the Euro, it's all pretty standardized. Still nice, though. Good work on this one. Learn something. I'd love to see President Obama on our currency. Still thankful as hell he's on top, doing so much good. For a change. I believe.

(Thank you Sam Rigby and Chris Hanis. Appreciated.)

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DAYWRECKER WARNING: This one has that odd "I want to live to be 237 years old" appeal. You know, just so you can learn how to do stuff like this. We'd reckon it'd take that long. Holy shit. Okay, enough talk. Get a load of this one: "Dalton Ghetti creates amazing art on the tips of used pencils."

The screw? You gotta be kidding me. Best thing these tired eyes have seen in a long, long time. (Thanks, Eli, you beast. Great stuff.)

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ON THE PLAYER:

01. Paul Westerberg - Grandpaboy EP
02. King Khan & The Shrines - The Supreme Genius...
03. Monahans - 2010 Recordings

Having a hard time shaking off Minneapolis. Keep coming across links from up there.

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WE WANT WE WANT WE WANT: Goddammit if their latest long player isn't just painful as anything we've heard in a long time, with all those keyboards and pitch-perfect production shit, but the good pullers of Aesthetic Apparatus go and make a rock poster for those Black Keys, and it makes me want to listen to those first couple albums a couple times over. But not that new one, or the one before it, or before that? Damn. I tried so hard with 'em. Sorry. I'm a bad person. I know. But hell, that poster rules. Buy it.

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THE GREATEST BAND OF THOSE 80s: An interview with a little band from Minneapolis called The Replacements.

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ONE OF THE BEST NAME IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE: Hamburger Help Me. Incredible. Ryno recommends this one. Hmmm.

I can think of precisely one addition to this one.

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UP IN BRAINERD: Babe got a makeover.

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WE'RE NOT WORTHY: I met a couple of wide-eyed nice kids from Minnesota's The House Boardshop, and they went home and wrote about it. I mean, shit, pretty much the "most-glowing" assortment of words on us, ever. Kinda blown away. We're not that nice, but hell, run with it for the moment. Thanks, guys! Great to meet you. Move West!

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ONE WEEK OUT: This one is in Detroit, which is roughly 600 miles from Minnesota. Next Thursday I'll be at 1515 Broadway downtown, telling my little story.

A tale about graphic design, making a living, going for broke, thinking things up, rolling the dice, survival, independence, loving where you live, having respect for the guys who came before you, looking at things and other juicy subjects. Basically, I'm going to cover EVERYTHING. All the warts and moles. This one is called "Tall Tales From A Large Man" and we're lucky enough to have Detroit AIGA and Team Detroit behind us making it happen. And it looks like Contagious North America is on board too. That's awesome. Let's pack 'em in, and then see how fast I can drive 'em out. Reilly, you Boblo beast, this one is coming up fast!

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ON THE PLAYER:

01. Seawhores - Opus Magnanimous
02. Hammerhead - Duh, The Big City
03. Replacements - Let It Be
04. Gay Witch Abortion - Maverick
05. Hüsker Dü - Land Speed Record

Keep thinking about this arrow I saw at Bonnie's on University, just before Ryno dropped me off at the airport.