Design With Intent Toolkit: 101 Patterns for Influencing Behaviour Through Design. The title of the link is pretty self-explanatory, but let me just say this has changed my life to hopefully change other people’s. Or not.

The Huffington Post named Toronto the “new capital of cool”. Now, being a Vancouverite, I’ve never really had the desire to go to Toronto, but now I’m intrigued. I always just assumed Toronto was a ghetto Vancouver?

New study finds comic books help improve literacy among boys. I grew up reading comic books and it was always a mystery to me how any parent would find fault in their child reading a comic book. I mean, clearly none of the comic book critics had read any of Chris Claremont’s gazillion issues of X-Men. Who knew people in spandex would be using fancy four syllable words so regularly?!

Avatar: The Last Airbender sequel coming soon – and no, I don’t mean the disaster that was the live-action movie. Nickelodeon has released details on the follow-up to its Avatar: The Last Airbender animated series and it looks pretty sweet. Elemental bending and steampunk in one show can only mean good things.

Thinner and lighter Kindle priced at $139 is coming soon, direct to my grubby little hands. I’ve always wanted a Kindle but couldn’t justify paying $260 for a black and white reader. Well, Amazon’s just remedied that by making its latest iteration of the Kindle not only lighter but also cheaper. At this price point, there’s no longer an excuse not to buy one.

The New York Times recently wrote a travel article on the Philippines’ once best kept secret, Boracay, which is apparently on its way (or already there) to becoming the next Phuket.

I’m happy for the Philippines if this turns out to be true. For years now, I’ve been wondering what it is about Thailand that has made it become such a world-renowned tourism spot , while the Philippines – close enough to Thailand geographically and culturally – is all but forgotten in the hearts and minds of tourists. Granted, having been to Thailand just a couple of years ago, Bangkok appeared to be a lot cleaner and more developed than Manila — but still. Philippines has just as many gorgeous beaches and islands as Thailand, if not more. It puzzled me why people weren’t flocking to Boracay, Palawan, and Cebu like they were to Thailand’s famous beach spots?

Well, apparently, now tourists are going to Boracay and I kind of wish they weren’t. The first time I visited Boracay was ten years ago, around this time of year. It was pretty empty, White Beach seemed huge and never-ending, and there was something to do at all times of the day, thanks to the bars that could be found right on White Beach itself. Since then, I’ve gone back to Boracay twice, and with each subsequent visit, the ugly head of commercial development becoming more and more visible. White Beach got smaller and smaller, with hotels and resorts creeping ever so quickly upon the shoreline; roads have been built, with scooters and cars passing by where just a few years prior, very few could be seen. White Beach, which once appeared to me like an expansive paradise, started to look more and more like Manila – except on a beach.

I’m torn about how to feel about Boracay’s increasing popularity amongst tourists and its development. I’m glad tourism is picking up, and I’m glad the locals in Boracay now have more jobs available to them. But at the same time, Boracay seems like it has lost its care-free, untouched image. It makes me sad to think of how small White Beach has gotten because of all the hotels that have sprung up in a matter of years. I can’t even begin to imagine what environmental impact all this rapid development has had in this little island. Feels a little like paradise lost.

I suppose that’s the price to pay for development, right? And as long as Filipinos can at least keep Palawan a secret, we’ll still have a relatively untouched and unknown beach paradise to go to. Better enjoy it while it lasts!

Tshirts are a tricky business. It’s such a ubiquitous article of clothing. We all wear them every day — some are loud, some are plain, some are oversized, and some are fitted. Because the tshirt is an every day item worn and accepted universally, comfort and individually are a must for any good tshirt.

Enter Graniph. The Japanese tshirt retailer (dubbed Design Tshirts Store graniph) started with just a tiny store in Tokyo’s Shimo-Kitazawa district, popular with college students and artsy people. Their goal was to make and sell nice-looking tshirts that they could actually afford. With this goal in mind, Graniph was successful — it now has stores all across Japan, and in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Australia. This just goes to show that good taste knows no boundaries.

What I like most about Graniph is that despite the fact that they constantly have different artist collaborations working on their tshirts – and always encouraging all artists to submit new tshirt designs – aesthetically, they always stay true to the brand Graniph. When I see a Graniph tshirt, I can recognize that it’s a Graniph tshirt, no matter which designer actually came out with the print. Graniph tshirts can be loud, subdued, quirky, colourful, or plain — but the love for art and design is always apparent in every shirt sold by Graniph.

It’s a shame Vancouver lacks a store like this. I guess, as with all things, Vancouver’s always a little slow to pick up on a good thing. It’s really too bad because I think this city needs a cool, affordable tshirt retailer. Sure, there are some great stores that sell some pretty awesome t’s these days (I’m thinking Sharks + Hammers in Gastown and El Kartel on Robson — any others?), but I do wish there was a store that would mix the affordability of H&M, the creativity of Threadless and Graniph, and the ties to local street culture of El Kartel and Livestock.

Read more about Graniph in this interview with Graniph’s David Smyth. Let’s all learn from him and be super awesome.

ION Magazine’s interview with artist/pornographer Bruce LaBruce, whose latest work is zombie gay porn. Believe it or not, it’s actually a lot more interesting than the already-interesting – if not sensational – headline I just gave it.

Amazon.com reports that Kindle’s e-book sales have overtaken hardcover print book sales. From one sensational headline to another… Now that Apple’s in the game, e-books are finally getting buzz. While I’m certain digital books are undoubtedly set to become more popular than their print counterparts (think digital music vs. records and CD’s), it’s still a few years too early to be calling it a victory for digital books. If anything, all the people who bought into the hypemachine that is the iPad are probably just justifying their $600 purchases by spending more than usual on e-books.

Facebook hits 500 million users. A big congratulations goes out to the site which used to be about connecting friends but which has since turned into a site about how to sell its users to businesses. As for me, I think I’ll stick with Twitter for now.

The Globe & Mail reviews Dragon Quest IX and kinda doesn’t like it… or it does? North America finally saw the release of Dragon Quest IX for the Nintendo DS a couple of days ago. Despite the shortcomings that the Globe & Mail points out in its review, I’m still 101% sure I’m going to be addicted. Now if only Canada Post would hurry up with my Amazon order.

Beatles vs the Rest of the World. Kleptones’ mashup including Boston, Cypress Hill, Daft Punk, Beasties, Criminal Element Orchestra, Freeez and more. This is epic. People need to recognize the genius of this video.

First posts on blogs are always a little awkward. From Xanga and Livejournal to WordPress and Tumblr (and everything in between), I’ve always been confused about the proper protocol for first posts on a new blog. Do I jump in right away or is a self-indulgent introductory post explaining the complexities of my inner-being first required?

Perhaps I am over-thinking, over-analyzing, as usual. But this is a big, monumental step. The first post sets the tone for future blog posts. For fear of setting the tone to arrogant self-absorption, maybe it is better that I skip the forced get-to-know-me-but-not-really post.

Instead, I present you with a top ten list of things I like, in no particular order:

• comic books
• well planned urban spaces
• stories with characters having existential crises
• Quentin Tarantino films
• Robert Rodriguez films
• Takashi Miike films
• Japanese street fashion
• print magazines
• old school Motown R&B
• pop art

Lists. You’ll be seeing a lot of lists in future blog posts in which I am forced to talk about myself but would rather divert the topic into something more factual. I like lists.