Author: Matt Maldre

I love keeping the envelopes from mailed Christmas cards. Handwriting What did so-and-so’s handwriting look like? Nowadays the only time we see someone’s handwriting is on the envelope of a Christmas card. Is it messy? Neat? While spring cleaning in…

I was just sitting on a bench in part of Millennium Park that is normally occupied by a giant family tent. Over the winter, the tent is removed, leaving a huge empty plaza. The tiles on this plaza match the…

Get a new painting every day as your browser’s homescreen. I love the Chrome add-on, Google Arts & Culture. They display quite a range of artwork from famous artists to lesser-known artists. And if you don’t like the particular artwork…

Drip lines are drawn down the base of the Picasso sculpture. As the snow melts, remnant salt lines are left behind. These vertical lines look like a drawing. Whose drawing? Perhaps Paul Klee? Is Paul Klee drawing on a Picasso?…

Happy little snowflakes softly land on the cold hard metal of the Picasso sculpture. Such a beautiful scene: the contrast of the white snowflake against the dark, aged corten steel. I find this two-minute, 46-second video very calming. Nothing “happens”…

You know what I like to do when I’m on the Metra? I like to sew. I repair gloves. I’ve had these gloves since college, making them at least twenty years old. My Aunt Grace and Uncle Jerry gave them…

Every morning I walk by the Chicago Picasso. Not just by it, but I walk right up next to it, so I can run my hand along the base. With all the snow we’ve been getting, it’s been fun seeing…

Ever see something cool along your commute, but you don’t stop to take the photo? I bet it happens to thousands of people every day. It almost happened to me today. Along my commute, I pass by the giant Picasso…

If you type your last name into Google, what auto-complete suggestions do you get? Here’s mine: maldred lord of allerdale is an interesting one. No relation. Also curious is the bottom of the list, mal dress. What is a mal…

Just for kicks, I typed in twitter.com/twitttttttter to see if anyone has the account. Someone does. Of course. But only three followers. Three! What about all the various letter lengths with the repeated? Is any of them really popular? Here…

Does anyone get a weird numb feeling on the backside of your dominant hand? For the past couple weeks mine has this unusual feeling. Not so much numbness. Not really a pain. Just a feeling like something is inside my…

This year both NFL conference championship games ended with controversies. The New Orleans Saints lost to the Los Angeles Rams in overtime. Some say the Saints should have won due to some officiating mistake. The Kansas City Chiefs lost to…

Those goofy cardboard sleeves around takeout coffee cups. What are they called? Today I learned they are called a Zarf. What an wonderful word. Zarf. How in the world is it such a cool word? Is that for real? Yes,…

Ever want to have the unrelentless energy of a hyper Ewok? Those little creatures on the Moon of Endor constantly hop around chitter-chattering a million words per minute. Now you can wield the power of the Ewok! Drink the rare…

I nearly made the post office worker cry (tears of joy) Do you have a favorite Post Office? I bet many people can list their least favorite post offices. We’ve all waited in long lines at understaffed post offices. Let…

  “Jewelry for Gentlemen” is a book recently published by Thames & Hudson. “A dazzling overview of the overlooked art of male jewelry, an increasingly popular requisite of the well-dressed man.” This book features some bad-ass jewelry. A skull with…

How to fit 100 columnists, 15 comic strips, and 50 employees into one holiday invite. This year I was asked to design the invite to our company holiday party this year. Normally, this would be finding some nice holiday stock…

I have a penchant for creating really complicated Christmas cards. This year I decided to print fifty photos onto strips of paper. Then slide those strips into a clear plastic ornament. Kinda crazy. But also kinda fun. Here’s a preview…

Your local grocery store is a discovery-land, full of many hidden treasures. Today I found such a gold mine. My wife Sarah has a Secret Santa at work that likes yoga. She asked me to go to Jewel to see…

At first glance, this thumbnail of a Moon rock looks like chocolate chip cookie batter. Oh yumm! Can you imagine? The moon is made entirely of chocolate chip cookie batter Can the Moon really be made of chocolate chip cookie…

Do you know those projection Christmas lights? I can’t decide if they are incredibly awesome, or incredibly lazy. I suppose it depends on how you implement the projection lights alongside other decorations. Pair it up nicely with other decorations, and…

Anytime you see something wrapped in public, it’s like the artist Christo has attacked. In fact, that should be the official hashtag for photos of wrapped things in public: #ChristoAttacks! Take this statue of Thomas Jefferson (photographed by Steve Tanner).…

The fact that I like this guy’s plastic bag collection must mean I have hoarding inclinations. I’ve always wanted to start a paper napkin collection. The various embossed patterns, the range of thickness of the paper, the designs of the…

I have two baseball players that are my Epoch Evil Twin. Cameron Drew and Joe Bitker. What is an Epoch Evil Twin? And how do you find yours? Let me explain. What is Epoch? Programmers needed to assign a unique…

Today I turn 43 years old. Then I find out that a retirement home chain tweeted my quote six times! A little ironic. Since it’s my birthday, I’m feeling older. And now retirement homes are plastering my name all over…

The candy pile is the first artwork the Art Institute acquired in 1999. It has the reference number of 1.1999. I googled all the other years from 1879 to 2018. Yup, that’s 139 Google searches. Google totally DID NOT like…

I regularly follow the #candypile hashtag on Instagram. Mostly to see people’s photos of Félix González-Torres’ candy pile installations at various museums. photo by oriane_trnat Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris photo by sfknycat The Met Breuer in New York photo by…

The Chicago Cultural Center is home to the world’s largest Tiffany glass dome. It’s beautiful. I love the Cultural Center. Now that I work across the street from this wonderful landmark, I’ve been eating my lunches in the room on…

Yesterday for work, I made a fun ping pong bracket with Dick Tracy holding a ping pong paddle. One of my friends suggested that all the participants sign up as Dick Tracy rogues. What a great idea! To determine our…

First snow! Hooray! Snow normally arrives in Chicago on November 17th. Mother Nature Chicago tweeted a great graphic by the Chicago Tribune: This year, on November 11th, the snow as a tad early. I woke up a bit surprised to…

The Word of the Day by dictionary.com is wonderful. Every day features a different, interesting word. Recent words include: dissemble, dopester, bewhiskered, fillip, grumphie, and univocal. The graphics are nice and brief. A very simple digestable explanation is featured on the graphic.…