Media-crity

Sunday, as I mentioned, I went to the Sowa Open Market with a craft-minded friend. I don’t think we stopped laughing the entire day, which was nice. It started when I was on the orange line heading down to meet her. A little girl, maybe 4 or 5, sat next to an older man in his mid-late 50s. She looked up at him and, in that disarming way kids have, asked him his name. He said it was Kim and asked hers. She looked at him, broke into a big grin and shook her head. “No it isn’t!” she said, as though he had just told her it was Mickey Mouse. “Your name is Grampy!” He took it very well and confirmed that he was, indeed, someone’s Grampy. She happily sat next to him, with her parents in the seats across from her, for a few minutes before leaping up to look out the window. She was so absorbed in watching the scenery go by that she didn’t notice when he got off until the next stop.

Furrowing her brow, she looked around, concerned. “Where did Grampy go?” she asked, confused. Our section of the train once again burst out laughing.

At the market we saw all sorts of neat stuff like decoupage map bracelets, purses with all kinds of lovely fabrics, beach-glass-and-metal pendants, handmade stationary, paintings, antiques, illustrations …

We looked at every booth and I came away with two purchases, which I am going to plug here because the artists were both so awesome and they deserve to be plugged and to have lots of people buy stuff.

The first thing I bought was the book Goodbye, Penguins by Greg Stones, the plot of which is “fifteen penguins go for a walk and disappear one by one in humorously tragic ways.”

It’s the best book I’ve read in a long time. Check this out!

One penguin was abducted.

That’s just one of the pages from the book! He also has a bunch of hilariously random watercolors involving penguins, robots, zombies, mermaids, and sheep. This is one of my favorites.

Penguins, Man, Baseball

Seriously. My friend and I spent 20 minutes in his booth crying from laughing so hard. And we weren’t the only ones.

The other thing I bought was a print from Eric Sturtevant. He draws this adorably, hilariously cartoon-y animals. If you have kids, you should definitely check this guy out. In fact, if I know your kids, they might just be getting some art this Christmas!

Look at how cute this is:

“Early Reading Time”

And some of them, like the one I got, are just hilarious:

“Medieval Firefighter”

He ALSO just got a contract with Barnes & Noble for puzzles and kids card games, which is so awesome for him. Anyone for Old Maid?

Finally, this is a plug for someone who isn’t local but I so wish was. And if she was she would have had the most popular booth at the market.

To start, my friend Laurel and her husband Lorne are some of the awesomest people I know. You may remember Lorne and Laurel from when they visited this winter, or from the link to her blog over there on the side. Well now they’ve gotten their shop, PenguinBot open for business! Please go check it out, you won’t regret the click.

For instance, wouldn’t you be the most stylish lady on the block with this tote?

Or how about this knit clutch with HAND-WHITTLED handles? HAND-WHITTLED, PEOPLE.

Or she takes custom orders! I had one custom-made back in February and eagle-eyed readers can spot it in several pictures around the blog, such as running into and out of the Pacific Ocean this past July. I carry it pretty much every day and I love it. It has a little pocket that’s the perfect size for my iPod and Charlie Card, curing me of my habit of tossing the card in after I tapped it and then spending 5 minutes the next time I needed to get on the T cursing and dumping the contents of my bag onto benches and floors throughout the city. She has also done things like custom diaper bags and a bag with a special pocket for a hunting knife. The possibilities are endless!

And now I will close with a frightening encounter I had on my way home Sunday.

I was standing on the orange line platform at downtown crossing, waiting for the train that had just been announced, when this guy came stumbling up. A guy carrying a large duffel bag, waving an American flag, and wearing a freaking Jason mask! He stood on the yellow line and yelled at the oncoming train, waving his flag and thrusting his hips at the train, then turned and lurched at me and got right in my face and yelled something before I jumped aside and he continued. I ran down to get in the next car because I was NOT riding with that dude. I sat all the way to the side and could see him in the next car. He stood way down at the far end of the train, leaning against the door to the conductor’s compartment. I obviously couldn’t hear him but I could see him gesturing crazily and waving his flag in peoples faces STILL WEARING THE CREEPY JASON MASK. I felt like I was in a horror movie and he was about to storm the conductor’s compartment and take over the train.

Fortunately, he didn’t. He got off at North Station and sat down on the bench.

CREEPY. Also funny now that I no longer fear having a supporting role in Final Destination XXVIII.