Go Retro! : Eye Candy (that has nothing to do with Christmas)

Ahhh. Christmas is over. Now my favorite websites and blogs will go back to their regularly scheduled programs and stop posting bad music about snow and fictional characters. I prefer songs about rocking, substance abuse and women. Let's get to it, people!

While home alone for a few days over the past week, I had to get creative and discovered a few new sites that are worth mentioning. Working in the corporate world where everything is branded and follows a predetermined style that can only be deviated from by The Man, I've been looking for artistic inspiration outside of work. Trying to get back into music, art, writing, and I need to bombard myself with inspiration in order to erase the artistic monotony of corporate logos. Needless to say (I hate this phrase, if it is needless to say, then why say it?) ... so I need to clarify that I am lucky to work somewhere, however, that is very cutting edge and has an amazing design team, although much of their creative energy is squashed by the necessity to appeal to The Man and His People. It is inspiring to work with talented and creative people, but more inspiring to find things that appeal to my personal sense of style.

The Record Envelope is a little site that posts scans of vintage 45 record sleeve art. It has inspired some ideas that I plan to use to redesign The Furniture Lounge website eventually. Something a little less clunky and more fluid and simple.

Grain Edit is a little website that features design work from the 50s-70s and modern designs inspired by that period, children's books and ephemera from their private collection and a ton of archives to peruse.

Arts Not Dead (dot com) has some fantastic prints for sale, including an entire section on vintage pulp art, a great place to blow that dough that your distant relatives gave you because they really don't know you well enough to buy you the obligatory holiday gift. Of course, if you have extra cash burning a hole in your pocket, feel free to buy me something on my Amazon Wish List simply out of pure gift-giving want rather than of obligation. Smash the system!

p.s. I would be perfectly happy with just the poster of I Married A Monster From Outer Space

Last and certainly not least, Dark And Roasted (dot com) has a lovely gallery of Ladies and Robots. What more do you need? Vintage, modern, soft, hard, metal, fleshy, robots and ladies together = crowd-pleasing good times!