Author: Matt Maldre

Think of an article of clothing. Chances are that word is one syllable. belt blouse boots bra briefs cap coat dress gloves hats jeans pants robe scarf shirt shorts skirt slip socks suit tights vest Can you think of any…

Here’s a message I sent to Einstein Bagel Brothers via their contact form: I like your Pretzel Bagel Poppers. However, I’m writing because they aren’t quite worth $2.99. They are definitely a $1.99 treat. Please consider making the price $1.99…

I get asked a bunch from people online to use one of my photos in a project. Most times I will charge the person. Sometimes I won’t. Here’s an example of a contract template I just drew up to handle…

This blog post is my rant for anyone who flings their car door open on the street side without looking. The Chicago Tribune wrote an excellent article, “Illinois to start tracking bicycle ‘dooring’ collisions. This part of the article drives…

What a wonderful idea for a public art project! Writing on water. Making a bunch of floatable letters, stringing them together with fishing line, and then letting them float in the water. Wooster Collective writes: From Guildor: From Writing on…

The head of the CTA should experience what all the riders experience. 1. Getting onto a crowded standing-room only train. 2. Having your monthly CTA pass break then while you wait for the CTA to process you a new pass,…

When I see something like this that’s so cool, it makes me want to do it too. But then since it’s already done, i’m happy that someone saved me the work of producing the video. (via wooster collective) I’ve thought…

I found a new blog that is full of fun happiness. While leaving my first comment on the delightful intergalactic croquet photo, my captcha said, “bingoo.” Who knew that “bingoo” is a word! Oh captcha how you can bring about…

Make custom wrapping paper based on the gift you are giving. I’m giving my one-year old nephew a plush Gonzo, so I made all the wrapper paper themed after him. I took a photo of Grover on top of a…

(above image is a blog post by chicagoartmagazine) Great idea to rent billboards. I wonder how effective the abstract subject matter is to the general public. Often we forget that the general public does not interpret art the same as…

I took every letter in the alphabet and overlapped them. It yielded an interesting result, as seen above with Helvetica Thin. Take a look at the entire blog post from 2006 where I also did versions with Helvetica Regular, Courier,…

IDW G1 Card – Astrotrain by *Guidoarts Chicago didn’t get a space shuttle. But are we complaining? Nope. But it’s fun to hear the other cities complain. From CNN: U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said the Johnson Space Center in…

Cheesy photos like this one are fun. This photo of Maliq & D’essentials shows a group of people all wearing a synchronized black, but each person shows a bit of their personality.

Someone on Yahoo answers asked, “Is working at an ice cream shop fun?” He also asks a bunch more questions in the details. I answer each one of them below: I worked at an ice cream shop in Chicago for…

Here’s a comprehensive a list of ballparks that have wifi. If you have any updates, please let me know in the comments below. MLB baseball stadiums with wifi: Atlanta Braves (Turner Field) — Free Arizona Diamondbacks (Chase Field) — Free…

Seth Putnam tweeted “And then what happened?” To which I replied, “… and then the helicopter zoomed by my window … and then what happened?” It’s a fun question. “And then what happened?”

There should be some country where they use ball bearings for their coin currency. Every country’s coins are flat. Why not have them be round? It would be fun to have a handful of ball bearing coins in your pocket.…

General link for: Beat the Streak on MLB Sign-up link to join: the Amazing League 2011 Let this blog post be the place where people talk about their 2011 streaks in MLB Beat the Streak. You know what? Since 2004,…

Everyone is talking about the Rebecca Black youtube video, “Friday.” 63 million views thus far by a 13-year-old. That’s cool. I admit I like sugary pop songs. But this one is just… too… well, it’s amusing. Let me say that.…

Remember Pieces of Flair on Facebook? The app were you could add a bunch of glossy buttons to a bulletin board. Here’s what my board looks like now: It’s got a lot more buttons on it than when I originally…

Today Mashable released a report, “Top 100 Socially Networked Cities in the U.S.” They took the the percentage of households that use social media to determine “which city has the bragging rights to calling itself The Capital of Social Networking.”…

Comic books that take place in the snow are so cool. I love arctic adventures. Two G.I. Joe comic books take place in Antarctica. One from 1989 (G.I. Joe Special Missions #20), the other from 2006 (G.I. Joe Special Missions…

Today was Chicago’s first sixty degree day in 2011. When I was at the beach during lunch, I had to touch the water to welcome in Spring. I have to admit, it was strange watching the water rolling onto the…

The aesthetic forms of the signature are very intriguing. When I paypal’ed $1.74 to the seller, I included the following note: Thanks for selling this card. It has to be one of the coolest signatures ever. It’s like a work…

If I buy 48 of these ninjas from the dollar store, what should I do with them? A few responses from the Spudart Facebook Fan Page: — I think you should place them around the city like your sticky notes.…

I want to make up crazy fictional titles for myself and put them on business cards and drop them into fish bowls in restaurants. Any good ideas for business card titles? I recently posted this on the spudart facebook fan…

In case you’re wondering how much baseball cards cost nowadays. If you buy a box of packs, here’s how much they’ll cost: 2011 Topps Baseball Cards Series 1 Blaster Box 10 packs per box, 8 cards per pack 80 cards…

Is there a service where you can get alerts when a new comic book is out featuring your favorite characters? For instance, I’m a huge Transformers fan. There are many many different Transformers series. There are at least 76 different…

Flickr is a-jumpin with photos of people jumping over puddles. Here’s 56 leap-tastic photos of puddle leapers. In honor of April Showers month in 2010, I found images of puddle jumpers on flickr and hung them up in the 1400…

My most listened-to song for February 2011 is Girl Talk’s “Steady Shock.” Really, the top song should be the entire Girl Talk album. As the cityforward blog says, “more specifically its style of hyper-mashup: it‚Äôs not so much music, a…

There is a National Peanut Butter Lovers Day (March 1), but where’s the love for Jelly? Foodie expert Tom Saaristo pointed out to me via txt that there is no National Jelly Day. Let’s declare a National Jelly Lovers Day.…