Chale Ashley is A.OK

Thanks to everyone who helped out, Chale is safe and sound and in touch with her family. :)

Please help find CHALE ASHLEY

Chale Ashley is a friend of a friend of mine and she's gone missing in the southern U.S. (see the article from the Citrus Daily.) Chale was last heard from on Sunday, 18 April 2010 in Citrus County, Florida. 

What's most important right now is that everybody knows somebody; between the local police, media, communities and all of the people online, someone should be able to tap a contact in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Tennessee and Texas who either has or can help find the information needed to bring Chale home.

Please, if you can help in any way, get in touch asap - timing is everything!

This isn't much fun without a question-asking person.

No, it really isn't. Your serve.

(Is that all there is?)

Introducing...Amanda Crawford, Illustrator and Entrepreneuse Extraordinaire!

Who doesn't love storybook illustrations, right?  It just so happens that this is Amanda's area of expertise, so I thought I'd share her fantastically brilliant work with all of you!

Quick rundown: Originally from Windsor, Ontario (although Montreal is her current base of operations), Amanda entered the world of illustration art via her self-published zine, Horror Vacui, which one used to be able to find in bookshops around town here in Windsor (in fact, I discovered a copy in the graphic arts section of the university bookstore as recently as last year!) Now she's working freelance and putting together her very own children's book. You can see some of those images to be included at her blog (http://amandacrawfordart.com). 

Of course, thanks to the wonders of technology and the persistence of time, you can now find her artwork with much greater ease (and significantly less legwork than I had to resort to) online.  See her blog as well: "The Wondrous Wonder, The Marvelous Marvel" (http://wondrouswonder.blogspot.com/), which is rapidly becoming an incredible archive of historical children's book illustrations, hand-picked by Miss Crawford and definitely worth a peek in my humble opinion, 4 STARS!!!

Oh, and don't be shy - like any former zinester, she loves reader comments and email!

Amusement at 4 a.m.

I wish the new "3D-security feature" for the U.S. $100 bill could be this much fun. Why the hell do heads of state always get stamped on money, anyway? I would have loved a commemorative 20th anniversary E.T. $20 bill, for instance.

If your house was on fire and you could only grab three things, what would they be?

Fire extinguisher, flour, phone: only way all my stuff's gonna burn is over my barbecued body.

(Why the hell am I still awake?)

Do you believe in God?

If there's proof of a g*d who believes in *me*, I'll consider it.

(Why the hell am I still awake?)