Angela Shetler | Writer, editor, self-professed nerd.

Save the words

Angela — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 03:47:32 +0000

savethewords.org from Oxford Dictionaries

Each year hundreds of words are dropped from the English language.

Old words, wise words, hard-working words. Words that once led meaningful lives but now lie unused, unloved, and unwanted.

If you love words as much as we do, find room for them again in conversation and written communication. Each time you use one of these words, you are keeping it alive in the English language.”

I like traboccant, murklins, and kalotypography so much I just adopted them. What words will you save today?

Coming up rainbows

Angela — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 02:45:53 +0000

Today is Friday the 13th, a date that has come to be lucky for me. It’s the perfect day to shrug off superstitions and embrace a whole lot of color.

1. Santa Marta via Oh Joy!; 2. Rainbow umbrella via Victoria Pater
3. Daily drop cap by Jessica Hische; 4. Super epic cake by Hula Seventy
5. Impromptu rainbow via Swiss Miss; 6. Pantone calendar via Materialiste

Books as art

Angela — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 01:43:47 +0000

I love bookshelves in all forms, even if the “shelves” are really just stacks of books next to my couch because there’s no actual shelf space left. I would much rather have a collection of books as the centerpiece of a room than a television. But given that the majority of my books are in boxes 3,000 miles away, I know just how much space plays a part in whether or not books are on display. When I stumbled across stacked paperback wallpaper earlier this week, I couldn’t help but daydream about how neat it would look in a small space. But the wallpaper lacks that handpicked quality that bookshelves have, and that is why I fell head over heels when I saw the Ideal Bookshelf paintings by artist Jane Mount.

I paint ‘ideal bookshelves’: people’s favorites of all time, within a genre or from a particular period in their lives.

As someone who does a lot of design work, I enjoy the process of turning graphics into ‘art’. And I love that a book is something created very personally and then mass-produced in order to affect many other people very personally. I group and paint them to turn them back into something very personal and intimate.”

Mount creates the paintings out of the reader’s choice of 10-20 books. It would be difficult to narrow down, but I know The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Bird by Bird, Interpreter of Maladies, and The Giving Tree would be a few of the ones on my list. What books would you choose?

Jane Austen’s Fight Club

Angela — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 12:30:05 +0000

“No corsets, no hatpins, and no crying.” Love it.

Jane Austen’s Fight Club via @sarahcjackson

Dream on

Angela — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:32:23 +0000

I am an avid dreamer. Think multiple dreams, usually with intricate details and loads of weirdness, and often remembered. Sometimes I’m an active character, other times I’m watching the dream unfold like a movie where I’m either the director and the audience.

I’ve had repeat dreams where I can control what the outcome will be based on previous knowledge, sort of like a Choose Your Own Adventure novel. I’ve had dreams that were confusing, where I didn’t know how to do something…until I later remembered the dream when it happened in real life and realized I simply hadn’t learned what I needed to know yet.

What this all means is that I’ve wanted to start a dream journal for a long time, but it’s always seemed like too big of an undertaking. I knew it had to be on the list, a written reminder with accountability. When I saw this notebook, I laughed, bought it immediately, and started my first dream journal.

#16 on the Twenty-five To-dos (Year 28) list: Start a dream journal.

My husband likes to say that my dreams revolve around three themes: water, my hometown, and school. I’ve definitely seen those come up in the first few weeks of recording, but I’m curious to see what other themes surface as time goes on. If my dream-related tweets are any indication, nerdiness also runs rampant.

I dreamt I was Terminator Batman. Yes, it’s as awesome as it sounds.

Sleepy. Dreamt about time travel. In desperate need of coffee. So really, a fairly typical morning.

I’m pretty sure last night was the first time I dreamt of an infographic #nerd

A surprise nap with Silent Hunter 4 in the background results in an inappropriately epic dream soundtrack. http://bit.ly/dyVRDM

Dreamt I was recruited to Hogwarts and had to pose with a broomstick for character trading cards. #notanerd

@petitemolly I’m surprised I never had Buffy induced nightmares. Just a lot of dreams of trying to fight vampires with a pencil.

Dreamt I was at an elite design & writing workshop designing typefaces with @typeis4lovers. Needless to say, it was awesome.

Best 5-minute snooze button dream in a while: a box of genetically engineered kittens with lamé fur.

Last night I dreamt I figured out Lost. It was epic.