Pause Designs

NEW YOUTUBULAR: SICK SKATE FOOTAGE!

2012-01-26T13:38:00.001-08:00

NEW YOUTUBULAR: FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS!

2012-01-19T14:11:00.000-08:00

NEW YOUTUBULAR: CROW ROOF TUBING?!

2012-01-12T14:24:00.001-08:00

NEW YOUTUBULAR: HAMSTER POWERED SUBMARINE!

2012-01-05T14:31:00.001-08:00

PAUSE MINI ART PRINTS AVAILABLE TODAY!

2011-12-27T09:37:00.000-08:00

We've got a limited edition mini art print dropping today for only $12, with all the proceeds going to charity! Here's the specs:

"Designed by PAUSE and printed by Tim Munz, this exclusive print was created for the "all CATS" (like all caps, get it?) Charity Custom Dunny Series! Although the extremely limited edition series itself will not be available for sale till January, you can have an extra shot at scoring a blindbox by picking up one of these awesome prints. With each purchase you'll receive a raffle ticket that will give you the opportunity to win a free blindbox! But wait, there's more! The runner up (although I hardly see this as a "runner up" prize) will get an extremely limited laser engraved wood print! I believe there are only 2 of these in existence and look absolutely AMAZING! Now that I have your attention, keep on reading for all the details. . .

Inspired by Audry Hepburn in the cult classic, "Breakfast at Tiffany's", this gorgeous print will look good in the collection of any art lover, cat lover, or cat who loves art! With all the proceeds going to help pay for an emergency surgery a (once) stray cat Tim and his girlfriend rescued. They chose to help give a defenseless animal a second chance at life, and now you can help them by picking up one of these prints. Only half of them will be sold today at 12 noon PST, and the other half will be sold the following week. Because of how these were made by hand, each print will be unique with slight variations. Just consider these as close to an original piece as you can get without the price tag of an original ;) Checkout the fine print below for everything you need to know. . .

-These are printed on folded postcard sized semi thick paper

-The sale date is today, the 27th of December at 12 noon Pacific Standard Time

-The inner flap of each print will be stamped with a few details of the print including the exact number of that particular one

-These are an edition of 120, of which only 100 will be sold and thus eligible for the raffle

-The number of each print will correspond with the number of the raffle ticket included with your purchase

-The first 40 to pick up a print will receive a free mini 2 sided calender [a very simple, yet handy little calender printed on a single piece of paper] to help you keep track of the upcoming year

**The first prize winner will receive a free blindbox from the "all CATS" Dunny Series, and the second prize winner will get an amazing laser engraved wood (yes folks, it's real honest to goodness wood) version of the print by PAUSE**

-The more prints you buy, the more chances you will have at scoring that free blind box or wood print! Plus all those extra prints will make great gifts for your friends, family, and even that creepy neighbor who's always watching you anytime you step out of the house

-Worldwide shipping via first class is included [please note that these will be shipping from Germany so they can take anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks to arrive]
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-We are not responsible for lost or damaged prints [that is unless we decided to eat them or use them as coasters. . .just kidding, we wouldn't do that to you guys ;) ]

-Once we have sold out [or enough time has passed], we will draw the winners out of a hat! Each winner will be contacted via their paypal payment email address

-You can find out more info on the series and print by checking out the original thread located HERE over on the Kidrobot Boards!

Thanks again for all your support and please feel free to drop us a line if you have any questions, comments, or just want to chat it up!"

Get yours HERE!

-Eric Pause

NEW YOUTUBULAR: CAT IN THE SANTA HAT!

2011-12-22T12:01:00.000-08:00

CHAINSAW PANDA 8" DUNNY CUSTOM!

2011-12-18T18:07:00.000-08:00

I just finished up a Chainsaw Panda custom using a 8" Dunny for a lovely collector in London, England. And I must say, it was a blast to make! I had been wanting to make our Chainsaw Panda character into a Dunny for years now, but had always been busy with other art projects. So I was pret-ty excited to finally be doing it. Here are the results:

To make the chainsaws I started with a wood base (Which was easy because of my pal Aaron and his woodshop. Aww yeah!) so they wouldn't be so brittle, and to ensure that everything stayed straight:

Then I slapped some clay onto the wood and Dunny:

Add some painter's tape and Stay Puft's body...

BAM!

Success! A huge thank-you to Liam for commissioning this. I had a party working on it!

I hope you like it!

-Eric Pause

NEW YOUTUBULAR! GOOSE PARADE!

2011-12-15T14:37:00.000-08:00

NEW YOUTUBULAR: OCTOPUS WALKS ON LAND? WHAT?

2011-12-08T10:12:00.001-08:00

A PAUSE INTERVIEW THAT DOESN'T SUCK!

2011-12-06T14:16:00.000-08:00

We just finished up a lengthy interview with Opportunity LOL, and I can honestly say it's the best/funniest/most insightful/sexiest/most revealing interview we've ever done. Robert at Opportunity LOL took the time to ask us questions that were well researched, which resulted in answers we were excited to give. So if you're at work right now, start slackin' and go give it a read!

HERE!

-Eric Pause

CUSTOM YETI 8" DUNNY

2011-10-25T17:08:00.000-07:00

We just finished up a custom 8" (upside-down) Dunny for collector JayJayFool, and we are very excited to be able to say that Kidrobot has decided to do a feature on it! We're HUGE Kidrobot fans, and are honoured to be featured on their website. Follow the link HERE to read the article, complete with process pics! Yeah!

Bam!:

-Eric Pause

TOP TEN HALLOWEEN 'STUMES FOR 2011

2011-10-17T17:10:00.000-07:00

READY? LET'S GO.

10. House Fly - black turtleneck, black pants, black bra on your face. Bra must be of the under-wire variety. I haven't tested this out, but it FEELS successful as an idea. You need wings for this one too because otherwise you'll just end up looking like an underwear-sniffer.

9. Underwear Sniffer

8. a Quilt - there's two ways to go about this one. Step one: drape quilt over shoulders. Step two: find bed at party and use quilt to sleep under. People are gonna be jealous, you've got my blog-antee. That's a blog guarantee. It's worth almost nothing.

7. Occupy Wall Street - Carry a sign that reads 'we are the 99%', and when people ask you "the 99% of what?" you can say whatever you want! "The 99% of the AWESOME AT THIS PAAAAARTTYYYY!!!! WOOOOOO!" It might be insensitive, but so am I.

6. Drunken Mess - nobody ever thinks to go as this, and yet everybody always ends up as this. Can we cut out the middle man, por favor?

5. Shooting Star(s) - roman candles. Done.

4. Lord Voldemort - black cloak, white face make-up, roman candles. Done.

3. Amy Winehouse dressed as Steve Jobs dressed as Randy Savage.

2. Whatever your friend told you they were going as in secret because they didn't want anybody else to steal their idea. Unless there's is something dumb. Don't go as anything dumb.

and the TOP 'STUME OF TWO THOUSAND AND ELEVENTYHUNDRED?

Bachelorette Party - Picture this: twelve to fourteen women carrying around penis straws, plastic leis and unbelievably ugly homemade t-shirts covered in each other's signatures. Pretend like you have NO IDEA what night it is. The commitment? One of you will barf twice in the washroom, one of you will get in a fight, and one of you will end the night in tears. WOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

HAPPY HALLOWIZZLE,

LOVE,

Chomps

We Don't Give an F, S my D, How Many Licks and other insightful track titles.

2011-09-23T16:14:00.001-07:00

HAAAAAAAAI,

I'm gonna be straight up with youse. I, Chelsea 'Chomps' Maria 'Chip on my Shoulder' Freeman have been struggling with things of mid-sized importance to internet-write about.

Here's a list though:

Things and People That Should've Given Up Already:

1. This fuckin' thing. Did you barf in your mouth? I have been for years, just remembering that it exists. It's a geoduck. For starters it's pronounced ridiculously unlike how it's spelled. That makes me angry almost immediately. For seconders LOOK AT IT. It's my nightmare. It's what will rule the world eventually and it's probably what will take power FROM the robots.

2. Nicolas Cage (this one's for you, Bean): SERIOUSLY? The guy has one facial expression, and it's "My puppy just died because I fed it a steady diet of the movies I star in." David Schwimmer slides in pretty close but he had the good sense to typecast himself early on in his career with a crew of others who still somehow manage to warm my heart regardless of their syndication. Wanna fight me about Friends? Shit's good, so shut up. Actually, Nicolas was ssshmmaaaalright in Kick Ass. But remember how little you had to see his face? Exactly.

3. Lil Kim.

4. Bloggers. Right? I know.

5. Videos of baby animals. I've had enough. I've had enough of the bunnies, and the kittens, and the weird stories about hippopotamuses and tortoises forming life-long friendships. I've had enough of human babies too! What with their squishy faces when they eat pickles and the way they giggle because they don't have the good sense to hide their happiness on the inside.

aaaaaaaah GOTCHA! I love that stuff. You guys are turd-hearted esses of b's if you were like "FINALLY! Someone else says it!"

I'm not sayin' it. I'm not sayin' it at all.

lulz,

Chomps

NEW YOUTUBULAR!

2011-09-22T13:09:00.000-07:00

Don't ask and you're probably still going to receive...cuz it's my day off.

2011-09-05T10:23:00.000-07:00

HAAAAAAAAY!

I haven't verbed the noun 'blog' in liiike four weeks. Here are some reasons why:

1. Inspiration to yammer on about almost nothing in particular is fleeting.

2. Most of the inspired yammering I've been doing this summer is through my mouth on to unsuspecting friends and family. It occurs to me now that an online reader is less likely to walk away or slap me in the pie-hole so maybe it's better this way.

3. I'm busy! Okay? Enough with the texts and the phone calls and the other stuff that would happen if people were bothering me to write something. I've got sandwiches to eat and jokes to laugh at!

So there's all of those. Then there's the illicit stuff I can't tell you about because it would incriminate the company in its entirety and we'd have to offer up Ken's beard for bail money (because his chin follicles are genetically modified to produce a small portion of diamond dust in every burly facial strand) and probably sell Eric for a couple packs of cigarettes that we could hide the miniature pick-axes required to peck our way out of the dimly lit cell that we'd line with pin-ups of...of...Smurfette.

Smurfy, smurfy Smurfette. The first two adjectives were 'sexy' and 'easy'.

The above reason is slightly improbable, knowing that they'd never put a female in a prison cell with three other males. Or the same prison. Other than that it'd probably go down that way. Especially the Smurfette part.

I will tell you what's comin' up though. Our friend, my co-blogger and hetero life partner/confidante Mel Smith is getting married this month. I'll be standing up there with her while she makes some really amazing promises to her wonderful husband-to-be and then all of us are going to drink and eat until bail from Ken's chin becomes a very real ass-saving device once again. Keep in mind Andrew's coming as my date so please expect to see some photos of me trying to force feed him all of the foods he's allergic to. WHEN I *WEDDING-PARTY, I **WEDDING-PARTY HARD.

Other than that, have a ridiculously awesome Labour Dabour. Or Labor Dabor if you can't spell.

Chomps

*I've never been in a wedding party before so this statement is just anticipatory.

** Anticipatory WITH A CHANCE OF HARDNESS.

NEW YOUTUBULAR: HUMAN SLINGSHOT!

2011-09-01T09:51:00.001-07:00

THANK-YOU, JACK

2011-08-22T18:10:00.001-07:00

"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.

All my very best,

Jack Layton"

A sincere gentleman, a great Canadian, and a great man. RIP Jack Layton.

NEW YOUTUBULAR: 3D DODGEBALL!

2011-08-18T11:47:00.000-07:00

Check out the rest HERE!

THAT SOCIAL MEDIA

2011-07-28T13:52:00.000-07:00

We're all over Google+ AND Tumblr now. Make sure to put us in your circles and follow us. Hanging out in real life is for suckers!

P.S. GIVE YOUTUBULAR SOME LOVE DANGNABBIT

ACCURATE BIOGRAPHIES THAT DON'T REQUIRE ANY FACT-CHECKING

2011-07-20T20:21:00.000-07:00

D'you guys know Eric, Ken and Andrew intimately?

Do you wish you did?

Take it back. That's gross.

I've got a few things to share. Some are naked photos, some are delightful anecdotes and choose-your-own-adventurey tales wherein you the reader will probably feel a wide range of emotions (greatest of which being love) as you soak in what I knowz about these guys.

Let's start with Eric. I met Eric some twenty-seven years ago working at the anvil factory in Western Hill, St. Catharines. It was probably about 3:53pm and my workmates and I were just about to take the faulty anvils over to the aforementioned Hill for a good roll-about when a lanky yet somehow still incredibly muscular man approached me with what looked uncannily like a tire iron and a dead ferret. Though the objects were 'unrelated' to one another I had a pretty good feeling about this guy's jib and the cut it originated from. That summer we didn't tire iron at least sixty ferrets to death. We didn't learn taxidermy either so I'm hard-pressed to explain where my lifeless weasel army came from.

Ken. Keeeeen, Keeeen, Keeen, Keen, Ken. Kn. I don't know if anyone's familiar with the actual terrain between Sneaky Dee's at College and Bathurst and the intersection of Queen and Coxwell, but this year there was a night of nachos and other demi-cooked Mexican-ish foods that started with a loud proclamation like "THIS IS THE BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE!" and ended with our beloved hero walking the approximate 8 km back to the hotel, terrifying locals with his surly gait and threatening facial hair. We lost Ken for a solid couple of hours but were mostly not worried because his ape-like skull usually bounces right off of hard surfaces, and the Don Valley Bridge is pretty sturdy from what I hear.

Lastly but never leastly there's Andrew. The man who made me guess what his middle name was for nearly eight solid days and nights because he made up a "ten guesses at a time" rule. The man whose caveman diet has basically transformed any of his refined habits into grunting and striking small animals (and women who talk back) with wooden/stone composite modernized (possibly also galvanized?) cave-people clubs. It took me at least five minutes to remember that cave-people used clubs. I kept wanting to say bats, which is coincidental because Andrew's also the guy who Babe Ruth was pointing to on October 1st, 1932 when he called his own home run. Up til' now y'all probably thought he was pointing at a seagull or a futuristic (to the folks at the time) blimp. NOPE. ANDREW.

World Series trivia aside, anybody would be lucky to have these dudes in their life. Send them e-mails! Tell them you feel the same way! Wear protective headgear around ALL of them. You think I'm joking but I've never been more morbidly serious.

Be careful.

Chomps

NO TIME FOR LOSERS

2011-07-04T16:18:00.000-07:00

The votes are in for Crywolf's Bümbastic People’s Choice Contest, and I'm happy to say that Pause took 1st place! Thank you so much to everyone that voted for our design, as well as to Crywolf for hosting such a rad event. There were loads of talented artists who participated in the show, and we're pret-ty excited to have gotten so many votes.

You guys are way too awesome.

If you too want to customize your own Bü , get one HERE

-Eric Pause

PAUSE AT S.C.E.N.E. MUSIC FESTIVAL THIS WEEKEND!

2011-06-23T18:29:00.000-07:00

In keeping with both long-standing tradition and radness, Pause will be setting up a booth at the 2011 S.C.E.N.E. Music Festival this weekend. We'll be selling tees and hanging out with you guys all the live long day!

For those of you that aren't familiar with S.C.E.N.E., here's the specs:

160+ Bands*
On 17 different stages
At 13 different venues
all in downtown St. Catharines
= 1 ridiculously fun day.

(*Including Cancer Bats, USS, These Kids Wear Crowns, Silverstein, Abandon All Ships, The Wooden Sky, Dinosaur Bones, Die Mannequin, KO, Structures, The Black Lungs, San Sebastian, Counterparts, The Artist Life, and a billion more.)

Don't be a chump! This Sunday, let's par-tay.

Visit www.scenemusicfestival.com for all the details.

-Eric Pause

TITULAR TITLE TO TITILLATE YOUR...SENSES.

2011-06-16T11:00:00.001-07:00

firstthingsfirst,

I’ve got an Americano in my system and I’m about as grounded as a ring-tailed lemur, so don’t interrupt or I’ll lose my train of thought and the marsupial shit will hit the fan.

Don’t know if all y’all have seen the new stuff available on the site. Go see it.

The crywolf show at the Gladdy was fantastic. Gallery was beautiful yet understated, the prizes were awesome, the büs designed by various artists (including our boys) were all so vastly different from each other; it was a true testament to creativity. Waytogo crywolf women. A personal favourite was Biggie Bü (you can find him in the photos).

S.C.E.N.E next week. I have previously instructed you to go see the new stuff. If you have chosen to not heed my advice and would prefer to feel the holy cloth beneath your fingertips, come see us next Sunday. I’ll make out with OR high five you , choose your side.

I forget what else. Go getche-self a table on a patio somewhere tonight. Toast the deities of summer and remember to ask for moist towelettes with your saucy wings.

YEE YEE,
Chomps

NOW AVAILABLE IN OUR ONLINE STORE!

2011-06-14T19:33:00.000-07:00

Every design in available in both men's and women's sizes. Printed on American Apparel using a special blend of water based inks, so each piece is as smooth as a baby's bottom. And as always, they're cheap as hell with t-shirts $20, and v-neck $25.

Can I get an amen?

-Eric Pause

WHAT IS Bü? ART SHOW TONIGHT!

2011-06-11T06:57:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gents! Tonight is the big night for Crywolf's release of their new DIY vinyl toy. And to kick it off they're throwing YOU a sweet party on THEIR dime! Awesome right?

Admission is free. They're giving away a truckload of cool stuff donated by many makers of cool stuff. (Yep, including Pause Designs) You get the first look at all the Büs created by artists that don't suck. (Except, Pause Designs.) You get first dibs on getting a Bü for yourself. And you get to hang around with all these artists, plus a plethora of well dressed art school kids. (Again, excluding Pause Designs, they are the opposite of cool.)

So there you go! Now you have the option of having a really great time tonight.

All the specs can be found HERE.

See you there!

-Eric Pause

SMILE AND WINK

2011-06-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

Lauren from the Cosmopolitan blog Smile and Wink made this video at The Clothing Show last week. If you ever wanted to see a video of me petting a fake cat made out of a real rabbit filmed by a Toronto girl who dresses better than you or I, well sir, today is you lucky day.

-Eric Pause

RADIO DIAL: LIVE! CRYSTAL STILTS

2011-06-05T05:09:00.000-07:00

You put a bowl of soup in the microwave and press start. It comes out cold. You put it back in for twice as long; you take the bowl out and it’s still cold! No matter how many times you microwave it, the motherfucker just won’t HEAT. Frustrated, you throw the bowl of soup in for 10 minutes at maximum power and wait. The end result: it’s now scalding hot, and you still can’t eat it. This describes the Crystal Stilts show at the Biltmore Cabaret in Vancouver this past Thursday.

But first I want to talk about the second opening band. I wish I could remember their name (it was either Case Studies or Student Teacher), because God were they awful. Not just bad musically, but they managed to implode with a Spinal Tap-like grandeur.

Things started out well enough. Everyone was in sync with the female band member who was bashing the hell out the tambourine, totally absorbed in the moment. This lasted for about two songs. Then at some point the drummer just said “fuck it” and walked off stage and spent the rest of the night chatting up two chicks at the bar.

Now down to three band members.

Tambourine Girl has to sub in for the drummer, and she is clearly pissed about it. Her limited drumming skills results in the band playing the same instrumental on a loop for 10 minutes. Finally Tambourine Girl says “fuck it” and walks off stage without a word.

Now down to two band members.

The two bewildered guitars players face each other playing the same instrumental over and over again. They stop playing whenever the first guitar player has to pick up a piece of paper to read the lyrics. Or the set list. Or the cords. I not sure what was on that paper, but this Stop and Go lasted (I kid you not) for at least 20 minutes. Sensing a growing hostility from the audience, the exasperated guitarist takes off his guitar, mumbles “the Crystal Stilts are on next”, unscrews a mikey and sulks off stage. End of the opening acts.

Crystal Stilts take the stage. Since the two open acts were trying hard emulate the sound of the Crystal Stilts (lo-fi atmospheric 60s surfer proto-punk?) there was only a few degrees of separation between the poor opening acts and the headliners, and as a result the Crystal Stilts became tainted. Even with the lead singer doing his best Lizard King impersonation, the Stilts seemed unremarkable. And after waiting four hours on cold soup, the Crystal Stilts were boiling hot and you were past caring. -L.M Harrison

CATS, THEN MOVIES

2011-06-04T05:13:00.000-07:00

While the men of Pause are bonding in the fortress of doom, my 8x10 juicebox in Parkdale is bumpin' to the tune of Entourage, Season 4. Jeremy Piven may be a little man with a huge douchey Napolean complex, but sweet baby Jeebus it's a ComplexILF. That acronym translates into something you'd think I'd be embarrassed for my Mom to read, but she totally gets me so it's ok.

I've been pretty listy lately, and I see no particular reason to ruin an organized thing. The trouble lies in the subject matter. Lo and behold...

Things to Write a List-Blog About:

1. Ways That Kristen Wiig Has Made My Life Better - TARGET LADY? PENELOPE? SUZE ORMAN? That blog would friggen rule and also include so many amazing clips wherein her voice would do things that mine only aspires to do and falls short of.

2. Great First Dates - this one would start with romance, good, cheap food around the city, and end with a really great story about how I got a Boner City tattoo. Don't believe me? Good.

3. Early-Late 90's Television and How It Shaped My Opinion of Healthy Relationships - This one would include Neve Campbell's abusive situation with Jeremy London on Po5. They also both had the exact same haircut; that alone seems painful enough. Julia and Griffin's beat-down drama aside, this blog would also include heavy hitters like Pacey Witter and Joey Potter, Steve and DJ from Full House, and lest we forget Doug and Patty Mayonnaise. Yeah, I said it.

4. Ways That Cats are Better Than Dogs - I don't need a list for this one. Shit's just true.

5. Favourite List Blogs: I only know of one sweet SWEET one. http://www.tenthingsivelearned.com . You're gonna love it or you don't even know anything about anything anyway.

Night guys.

Chomps

CLOTHING SHOW RECAP

2011-05-31T20:11:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, we set up shop at Toronto's Exhibition Place for The Toronto Clothing Show, where we got to hang out with old friends like Steph and Rose of Crywolf here. Crywolf is awesome for a number of reasons, but one of the reasons we get along so well with their brand is because of their attitude towards independent artists and streetwear culture. Unfortunately, a lot of brands out there are very secretive about the way they do business and have products manufactured. But with Crywolf, they're more than happy to help out with anything. It feels like we're on the same team, rather than in competition with each other.

Another reason we like them is because they take us out for sushi and buy us saké.

Dawn owns and operates Love Poetry all on her own. We like her and her friends because they keep us full of delicious homemade cookies, and keep our chubby bodies looking slim with quality made corsets.

These are our newest pals Becky and Hutton. Though I've only known them a couple days, I'll be asking them to be the God parents of my future children. They operate the greatest denim company in the world (No foolin'.) called Peter Says Denim. They make the highest quality jeans you can possibly buy, but for a fraction of the cost of other high end denim brands. (Think Nudie or Cheap Monday.) I haven't changed the pair I bought since I got it, and can't see it happening anytime soon. Bury me in them. (Not now, you turkey. When I'm dead.)

If you ever run into Hutton in real life, be sure to ask him about stabbing kids, lemonade gang sings, and the sketchiest bathroom in Ontario.

We also want to thank Chomps and Katrina for helping us out all weekend. As well as Si, Jamie, Ms. Mazzota, Regina, Serena, and Kristina for stopping by and hanging out with us.

As for the four new designs we debuted (and nearly sold out of) at The Clothing Show. Sit tight! We'll have them online next week for all of you that couldn't make it to the show.

See you all next time!

(Bring food.)

-Eric Pause

4 NEW LIMITED EDITION DESIGNS!

2011-05-26T12:07:00.001-07:00

Come party!

CHOMPS: "YOU AIN'T NO WEEBLE WOBBLE!"

2011-05-12T12:11:00.000-07:00

Guys, I dunno.

Does anyone else find 'not knowing' enTIREly frustrating? Did anyone else grow up constantly asking questions throughout scary movies while your best friends groaned and wondered why they even invited you to the 7:30pm showing of 'Bless the Child'? That movie was terrifying, by the way. And not just because of Kim Basinger's face. And not just because of Kim Basinger's face PLUS the fact that she would follow up with Eight Mile and somehow actually get good press for it.

(I saw Eight Mile in a theater in Midland, Ontario. I was the obnoxious seventeen-year-old laughing at the more dramatic parts, especially when Rabbit's mom -played by our aforementioned heroine- gets mad AND sad at the same time. Shit's hilarious.)

So wait, nobody else ever worried about being in the pool alone because of fresh-slash-chlorine-tolerant sharks? Is it weird that I've been talking about sharks a lot lately? Is it weird if a person THINKS a lot about squirrels but TALKS a lot about sharks?

Cuz if you think of how cute squirrels are, it makes perfect sense to ALWAYS think about them. In Toronto you can get just about any squirrel to come up to you if you make the right noise and ACT like you're holding a peanut. I feel like I'm pandering. Last thought on squirrels: how are they EVER fat?

Initially I had something insightful to say but sometimes it's just best to be honest when there's nothing but decade old glitter-glue and the theme song from Step by Step on repeat in your squirrel-food-sized brain.

Did that feel like five minutes you'll never get back? I'm counting it as a victory.

xo Chomps

DON'T THINK TWICE, IT'S ALRIGHT

2011-05-04T05:32:00.000-07:00

At the time of writing, today marks the two month anniversary of the passing of artist Suze Rotolo (the girl clutching Bob Dylan on the cover of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and in the outtake photo above) the girlfriend and muse to Dylan in the early sixties. Let’s use this moment as an opportunity to put the spotlight on one of the Greatest Albums Ever Made, which was added the US Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry (recordings that are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States”) in 2002.

The thing about Dylan is that there are so many facets, phases and to his work that countless trees have died with people writing books and articles trying to figure out this man’s psyche. Allen Ginsberg stated that went he heard the sixth track “A Hard Rains a-Gonna Fall” he broke down and wept –because with that song, a new generation was taking up and surpassing the mantle established by Ginsberg and his beatnik peers a decade earlier.

Nothing significant can be said or written about this album that hasn’t already been done before, so I’ll just state that in this “iPod shuffle” generation it’s easy to ignore albums. However it’s worth the investment to listen to the album its entirely. Instead of listening to The Tallest Man on Earth, do yourself a favour and listen to the person Kristian Matsson is trying so hard to impersonate.

Bob Dylan vs. TIME Magazine (1965):

I BESEECH THEE...

2011-05-03T20:49:00.001-07:00

Some of us watched our nightmares come true last night as a contemptuous shark-eyed Prime Minister found his way back into the safe loving arms of a nation who - based on pretty straightforward statistics - actually the-opposite-of-love him.

Some of us didn't watch it.

Some of us don't know what a shark is.

Please Canada. Before you vote, learn about sharks. It'll help in the future.

I'm going to send this off to Eric and hope he doesn't add a picture of a shark to it, because I really see no reason in making things easy for any of you. Type it in google images or go swim in the ocean, CAPISCE?

Chomps

CHOMPS: I WISH TOPANGA WOULD JUST GET OVER HERSELF...

2011-04-23T14:58:00.000-07:00

Deep thoughts (throughout the years), not listed chronologically:

1. "...the washing machine's really loud right now. What if it's because the cat fell in? Oh god, I'M WASHING THE CAT. Should I get up and check? Wait, there she is."

2. "Ok so, if a vampire came in here and my neck was exposed he'd go straight for it. I have to find a way to cover my neck if he does get in, but sometimes the covers are so heavy if I'm under them and my face gets hot. But if I have to come up I might accidentally show my neck. I'm just going to sleep with the light on."

3. "That was in Mandarin or Japanese or maybe Cantonese but it sounded like English, so I must also know THAT language and maybe my brain is translating it directly into English because of some weird evolutionary talent that has skipped a bunch of generations or that maybe nobody else in my family will tell me about. Why would they be talking about asphalt?"

4. "If Nick Carter ever met me, I bet we could fall in love."

5. "If Justin Timberlake ever met me, and I was looking reaaaally good with one of my best outfits, I bet we could fall in love."

6. "If John Krasinski ever met me, and I made him laugh and my skin looked really healthy, I bet we could fall in love."

Chomps

STRAIGHT SHOOTIN': A QUESTION I SOMETIMES ASK MYSELF

2011-04-20T05:36:00.000-07:00

"Is it normal that I treat my cat like I would my own child (if I had one that is)? Or am I just that pathetic?

photo #1
she was on kitty crack, aka, cat nip.

photo #2
she was dancing in the moonlight.

photo #3
my gf was teaching her how to put make up on. . .she failed.

-[mANNEe]
LA, California"

First things first [mANNEe], thanks for making your signature so annoying to retype.

Second things second. No, it's not normal. Yes, you are pathetic.

But so am I. So's everybody who takes pet lovin' to the next level. This is the level that usually occurs four major mental illnesses away from bestiality, so watch out for that. You wanna know what I do when I get home from work every day?

The following is a conversation between Chomps and Aggie and/or Winnie (both domestic short-haired felines).

Chomps: Hellooooo! Helloo my babes!

[Chomps picks up one of the cats in an embrace]

cat: ...

Chomps: Helllooo! did you have a good day my babes?

cat: ...

Chomps: What did you learn today? Did you learn anything good?

[cat squirming uncomfortably]

Chomps: Did you be's a good a girl today?

[cat tries to get down in order to mind its own business and be left alone]

Chomps: Who's my best girl? is it you?

[cat jumps down, poops inside box full of gravel]

You take pictures, I talk to them like they're infants. Actually scratch that, I don't even think I'd talk to an infant that way. I've got serious issues. Can you help me?

Hope you can help(s),
BAI and has a good nyte,
Chomps

RADIO DIAL: REWIND: The Stooges FUNHOUSE (1970)

2011-04-07T10:44:00.000-07:00

If pure, wild anarchic chaos was unleashed from the bowels of hell, this is what it would sound like. From the animalistic grunts on the opener Down on the Street to the wailing of TV Eye to swirling oblivion of LA Blues it’s obvious that all conventional sensitivities were thrown out the window when the Detroit-based band The Stooges recorded their 1970 release Funhouse. The Stooges were never ones to colour within the lines and with Funhouse The Stooges decided to push it just a little bit further. Produced by Dan Gallucci of The Kingsmen (Gallucci played the organ riff on the radio hit ‘Louie Louie’) Gallucci wisely hung back and recorded the album live in the studio with few overdubs or fancy studio enhancements. As this minimalist creation comes at you through the speakers you realize just how raw the record sounds. Ron Asheton’s simple but reckless guitar playing, Scott Asheton’s relentless drumming and the steady playing of bassist Dave Alexander somehow transforms this traditional three-piece band into a bull in a china shop. And then there’s James Osterberg (aka Iggy Pop) who bolstered confidence and frenzied vocals marks a new level of mayhem. Their previous debut album, simply titled The Stooges, sold few copies, and after failing to achieve any notable success with their first album it appears the band played as though they had nothing to lose --and in reality they didn’t. That desperation can be heard throughout the album and in turn The Stooges began mapping uncharted waters in music. Many music historians now point to The Stooges’ career and this recording in particular as a sentimental development in what would later become punk music. Although praised and celebrated by critics and music fans in recent years, Funhouse, like their previous album, sold few copies when it was originally released. The Stooges would break up less than two years later after releasing the iconic David Bowie-produced Raw Power album.

*Authors Note: I dare you to listen to the opening track “Down on the Street” and not feel the urge to strut. I dare you.

CHOMPS: THIS ONE'S FOR THE LOVERS...OF BREAD

2011-03-31T12:53:00.000-07:00

I ain't got shit to talk about.

That's never stopped me before though.

So it's Friday night, but I have to be up tomorrow morning for stupid o'clock which has determined this evening's line up:

1. two, count 'em TWO loads of laundry.
2. this episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
3. two Heinekens.

Before you get all Josie Grossie Loser stampy on my forehead, hear me out.

1) Every bra I own is going to be ZESTfully clean. If you don't think this is awesome, I don't even care. Because it beats all of your dirty bras by like a zillion.

2) THAT EPISODE OF FRESH PRINCE IS F*CKING AMAZING. Tatyana Ali is literally dressed like Peaches Geldof (who I hate, and so should you) but it's so much better because she's Ashley Banks and it's the 90's and seriously, imagine if you got to work on that show back then? How did anyone get any acting done? I'd have craft services provided beverages spraying out of my nose reg-u-lare-ly.

3) These are to accentuate the warm fuzzy happiness of both clean bras and remarking fondly on my childhood in front of the basement rec room tv that used to be encased in an immovable wooden dresser (remember those? my friend Nick had one up until last year, it was brilliant) with fake drawer handles. They are doing their job. The beers, I mean. Beers? Beer? I hate plural rules. Plurals?

Kloveyouguysbye

Chomps

STRAIGHT SHOOTIN': WHAT'S WITH BIEBER FEVER?

2011-03-29T18:54:00.000-07:00

"1. my question....what's the deal with bieber fever?"

-Turdhole

Beaumont, California

Hey Turdhole,

Let’s get serious for a second: we’re all a little curious about the Bieb, but each of us exerts our Bieb-energy in our own unique way. Par example: I currently have a mushroom cut. Sometimes Chomps wears cranberry-hued skinny jeans. I’m sure Eric must own a pair of flashy hightops. Heck, even Andrew at times discusses small-town Ontariolife in a hip, Hot-lanta accent. We’re all technically guilty of catching the bug. The question is, why all of a sudden are our all-time favourite activities being attributed to the fact that this luscious lad at some point also did these things?

Look, in truth, Bieber Fever has always been in our lives. I suppose we just never had a name for it until now. What I mean to say is, he is nothing but a regurgitation of everything we have already seen, yet he personifies our culture so well. As did the Beatles back in the 60s. But remember, before the Beatles and their fancy haircuts, there was Moe. Before Lady Gaga? Madonna. Before Bieber? Lesbians.

Just keep in mind, there is no remedy for the Bieber pandemic. We all have something in common with J-Biebs, thus creating this inexplicable connection to him that we all feel, and we need to learn to live with it. Your own STBieb is going to be annoying, and at times, deeply itchy and uncomfortable, but you’ll warn your current and future partners about it and you will cope together.

So, in short, asking Straight Shootin’ what the deal is with Bieber fever will get you about as far as I got when I googled “Why do I fart when I exercise?”...FYI, that’s nowhere. You must look inside yourself. And if that doesn’t help, try googling “lesbians that look like Justin Bieber.” For serious. You’ll figure it out.

Happy to help!

-Mel

Have a question? Email it to straightshootin@pausedesigns.com!

IT IS WHAT IT IS

2011-03-28T17:20:00.000-07:00

teishar89 says:

IT IS WHAT IT IS

Andrew says:
rofl

teisha89 says:
Hello there.. My name is Kat..

Andrew says:
WHAT IT IS KAT

teisha89 says:
I love chatting with new people.. Would you like to chat today? Where are you from?

Andrew says:
GUAM YO

teisha89 says:
Nice Im 21 .. Can i ask you a question?

Andrew says:
NO
NO QUESTIONS
NO FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY
regular photography is ok though

teisha89 says:
Do you like big booty girls with big tits? lol seriously cuz thats what ppl tell me i have..Is that too much for you to handle?

teisha89 says:
so yea i'm lonely would you like to have some kinky fun? Would you like to see me?

Andrew says:
OMG
TMI

teisha89 says:
ok but i have no pictures on my laptop.. but i have a video camera that came with it

Andrew says:
do you have any pets?

teisha89 says:
lol ok goto www. [expletive deleted] .com we can go 1 on 1 chat. Just accept the invite on the page baby

Andrew says:
pets, do you haz them?

teisha89 says:
Don't worry baby its free to join this site, read the page, they just need to verify ur age

Andrew says:
TELL ME ABOUT YOUR FUCKING PETS

teisha89 says:
I'll do anything you want me to do.. Do you see me? I can't chat with you on the site till you register

Andrew says:
why do you hate me?

teisha89 says:
i'll be waiting for you! Goto www. [expletive deleted] .com and accept the invite, its free!

- Andrew Pause

32-BIT

2011-03-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

Over the years my good friend Mike D (Not the one from the Beastie Boys) has repeatedly told me that he is so incredibly good at playing video games, that he can take on, and defeat, anyone in the world at any video game.

I told Mike that talk is cheap. (...or wait, maybe it is the same Mike D as the Beastie Boys...Hmmm...ah I can't remember. Doesn't matter. Moving on.) And that if this statement, as bold as it is, were true, then he ought to put the act in action and prove it.

So, ladies and gentlemen, Mike has challenged the world to a video game battle. He claims he will fly down to the city of your choice, on his dime, and beat you in any video game ever made.* There will be a certified referee on site to make sure there is no cheating. He doesn't care what your previous high scores are, or even if you happen to be the designer of the game you're battling on.

If you think you're up to the challenge, you can contact Mike at 32bit@pausedesigns.com.

OH! And before I forget, Mike is also the author of our newest column on pausedesigns.com: 32-Bit! It covers just about everything there is about video games, and it's absolutely hilarious at the same time! I highly recommend checking it out.

(*Also. He may of not said any of that stuff. Again, I can't remember.)

-Eric Pause

RADIO DIAL

2011-03-11T17:23:00.000-08:00

I like to think I know my fair share about music. I've spent countless days scouring the internet for new and unheard musicans and genres. I've spent thousands of dollars on tickets for shows at hole-in-the-wall venues, to massive music festivals. Shit, I listen to bands that don't even exist yet.

Usually, with most people, I can hold my ground in conversations regarding music, and at least look as though I know what I'm talking about. (I put that useless information to work!)

Except when it comes up with my good friend Leigh Harrsion.

For you see, Leigh is the personification of musical Wikipedia. He knows everything about every band ever. Ever. For years I've trained to get to the level he is at. But within the first sixty seconds of our conversations I just end up looking like a droopy eyed, armless child*. (*Thanks Charlie!)

There is no beating him. And by jove I welcome you to try. (Oh, did I mention he's not cocky about it either? He's actually really nice. It makes it so much worse.)SO, instead of trying to compete with Leigh, I've decided to harness his musical knowledge into a column on Pausedesigns.com!

Leigh is the sole writer for our newest addition to Pausedesigns.com: Radio Dial (Cool name, right?) It will consist of anything and everything relating to music. From album reviews, to interesting facts, to live show pictures, and so on.

Ch-check it out! (It's the only way to beat him.)

-Eric Pause

CHOMPS

2011-02-27T15:43:00.000-08:00

Isn't a pain sifting through all of the blog posts on Pausedesigns.com looking for Chomps' entries?

I hate it too. My blog entries were always getting in the way. So I decided to do something about it.

If you'll look slightly to your right, (If you're reading this on Facebook, go to www.pausedesigns.com first, and it will make a lot more sense.) you'll notice a shiny new Chomps button. Well, if you give that button a click. You'll be taken to Chomps' new blog! Filled with new hilarious blogs all the time, as well as ALL the classics she's done for Pause in the past.

Pretty sweet, right? I highly recommend clicking the follow button at the top of her blog. You can't go wrong with hilarious blogs delivered fresh to you, on the free.

-Eric Pause

MOST WANTED DUNNY SERIES 2 DROPS TOMORROW!

2011-02-18T17:32:00.000-08:00

The Most Wanted custom Dunny series 2 drops tomorrow, Saturday, February 19 at 12 noon PST! (Series one sold out in less than 1 minute. So don't sleep on it!)

Also, Kidrobot has posted a great article about the series. Check it out!

Get them HERE, and good luck!

-Eric Pause

I'LL BE THE BLANKY TO YOUR LINUS

2011-02-14T08:07:00.000-08:00

I've been writing about Valentine's Day for the past 35 minutes but the post got a little bit too introspective, and God knows I don't want anyone to think I have weaknesses that go deeper than All Dressed Ruffles, so let's just keep things light.

Here's what I think will make your day better.

I can cross post some of this in YouTubular as well. Just as a heads up, if you don't think animals are funny, go sell your wares some place else because I got some cats up my sleeve.

5 Uppers on a Downer

1. Surprised Kitty

If you didn't smile, you probably eat pieces of kitten like that for breakfast. Shame on you.

2. Louis C.K.'s Hilarious (NSFW)

The whole performance is available, you're not going to regret it.

3. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

4. Ickle and Lardee

My Milk Toof

They're teeth that eat CHEERIOS! HAS YOUR MIND EXPLODED?

5. "Many too small boxes and Maru"

At about 2:17 you're going to laugh.

Do me a favour, if you're teetering on the side of craptastic today, watch these movies:

Wet Hot American Summer
Role Models
Step Brothers
Fubar
JURASSIC PARK - seriously, you probably haven't seen this in fifteen years, your 8 year old mind wasn't even comprehending the dialogue OR exactly how amazing Jeff Goldblum was AND is.
How to Train your Dragon

Do me another favour, do NOT watch these movies:

He's Just Not That Into You
Valentine's Day (February 14th aside, this would just be a waste of your eyeballs)
Sleepless in Seattle
Love Actually
Shakespeare in Love
Romeo and Juliet

And if all else fails, learn how to Cat Daddy. Andrew' s standing by to tell you whether or not you can pull it off.

We love you, and that's all that matters.

Hope this helps,

Chomps

NEW AWESOMENESS!

2011-02-11T20:21:00.000-08:00

As if our website couldn't get any more fun, right? We'll I've got news for you, buddy. It just has. We're proud to introduce to you not one, not two, but three fantastic new editions to our magnificent website of radness.

First up: Youtubular! Pause's very own selection of the best videos lurking around the internet. We sifted through literally thousands of hours of jerks video taping their stupid pets to bring you the absolute best of pets that have been video taped by jerks. (Just kidding. All the videos on it are totally entertaining. If you're at work, I'd highly recommend killing some time there now.)

Next on the list we have Pause, Or We'll Shoot. This is our brand new photo blog where we will be focusing on all the great things we take photos of. (Mostly breakfasts. And photos of us watching stupid pet videos on Youtube.) Every photo on the blog is taken by us, Not just some stuff we found on the internet, so you're guaranteed freshness every time!

Third on the list we've got Straight Shootin'. We figured it was way past due to give this section of our blog the attention it so deserves. If you're not familiar with it, Straight Shootin' is Pause's very own advice column, where you can write in and ask us anything, and we'll whip up something witty to sling back at 'cha. Not bad, right? (Please send all questions to straightshootin@pausedesigns.com)

So there you go. All the distractions you can handle. Stop by anytime!

(Also, stay tuned for the FOURTH new section launching next week!)

-Eric Pause

HEADSTAND OCTOPUS

2011-02-10T10:23:00.000-08:00

This year we were somehow invited to participate in the prestigious Most Wanted series. For those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about, Most Wanted is a blindbox series of Kidrobot's popular Dunny. The difference between Most Wanted and a regular Dunny series, is that instead of having thousands of each design printed onto Dunnies, each Dunny is hand painted by the artist. So no matter what design you happen to get inside the box, you're guaranteed to get a entirely hand painted Dunny by some of the best artists in the game! (Oh, and us.)

Our design is an octopus doing a headstand. There are are only 14 of these available to be found, plus one mystery chase!

Here's the specs:

-Each purchase is for a singular blind box which entitles you to one custom Dunny from the MW2 series, with its respective artist card, sealed and picked at random.

-A "golden ticket" will be placed within a blind box, which awards the holder a free 8" custom Dunny by Tim Munz X Simon Walter

-It will be first come, first served.

-There is no limit, so you may purchase as many you'd like.

- Artists include: Chauskoskis, FAS, Grimsheep, Igor Ventura, Jon Paul Kaiser, Kevin Gosselin, Luihz Unreal, Matucha, Nikejerk, Pause Designs, Rsinart, Sergio Mancini, Simon Walter and Tim Munz.

There are only 180 of these available. And quite a few sold out in minutes in the pre-sale. But! The remaining Dunnies will be up for grabs February 19th, 12noon PST. At THIS website, for $60 USD each. And let me tell you, $60 for an original piece of art from any of the artists participating in the series is an absolute steal!

Find out more about the series HERE.

-Eric Pause

NI HAO

2011-01-27T12:39:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know, the Chinese government has banned access to Google, Twitter and Facebook across their nation. However, a social media venue has now opened up AAAAAAAAANDWEUPINTHATSHIT!

http://t.sina.com.cn/1937664191/profile

BEST OF THE BEST 2010: PERSON

2011-01-13T13:37:00.000-08:00

Chomps - Adam Warner www.fortheloveofmeghan.org

"I already made mention of Adam earlier this year in a blog, and maybe it’s a wee bit creepy that I don’t know him, but he’s a guy who’s on a journey to do all the things his wife so deeply desired to do before she succumbed to cancer in the Spring. Adam went to India to work with underprivileged children earlier this year and he continues to carry out his and Meghan’s quest. He’s a do-er, which I always find inspiring in a world where a lot of us are sitters and watchers (present company included)."

Andrew - David Choe

"This guy is putting out some of the most original and unique art I've seen in a while. On top of running around random countries on his own VBS.TV series 'Thumbs Up' WHILE creating new art and putting on art shows."

Mel - Serbian Grandmothers

"My sweet lover’s grandmother, of Serbian descent, whose pots of pasta are never unboiled and whose pie crusts are never without flake, who will hand you a crisp $100 bill in hopes that you will drive her to the casino, who will never be without necessity should Niagara Falls ever endure a nuclear blast, and who once called herself Stalin, because she hadn’t yet waxed her upper lip."

Ken - Knives Chau

"I don't care that you're 17 and not real, we can work it out baby!"

Cameron - Blake Hannahson

"Great guy and friend! A really good filmer and photographer. He's been helping me get clips for a long time now! He is just a really rad guy and even better hes down with Pause!!!"

Eric - Bill Murray

"Forever."

BEST OF THE BEST 2010: WEBSITES

2011-01-07T16:49:00.000-08:00

Chomps - Go Fug Yourself

"I’ve been a faithful follower of Jessica and Heather’s for a good 7 or 8 years now, but I classify them as ‘new’ because every year they bring something fresh to the table. They’ve got a book, they’ve got merchandise, they’re fashion columnists for New York Magazine, and they make me and hordes of other celebrity gawkers laugh out loud regularly. Favourite regular fuggers on the site: Chloe Sevigny, Katy Perry and J.Lo."

Andrew - VBS.TV

"Brought to us by the good fellas at Vice Magazine (www.viceland.com), every time I return to this website they have an always amazing new series up."

Eric - The Hundreds

"Not only does Bobby Hundreds run a multi-million dollar streetwear company, he also posts (and takes pictures for) a totally readable blog EVERY DAY. I can't even rub my stomach and pat my head at the same time. I bet he can."

Ken - Kinna Grannis

"Kinna Grannis is a superhuman babe from the moon."

Mel - Go Fug Yourself

"Definitely a toss-up between pausedesigns.com and gofugyourself.com; two blogs that, without fail, have succeeded in creating the need for adult diapers in my apartment. But I just do it in my pants anyway, a-cause I’m a free spirit."

Cameron - Youtube

"pausedesigns.com and youtube.com for sure - enough said!"

BEST OF THE BEST 2010: CLOTHING

2011-01-06T10:01:00.000-08:00

Chomps - Preloved

"This store doesn’t carry stuff for guys, but they meet everything on my checklist: the store is welcoming, the merchandise is unique and looks great on the female bod, the prices (on the sale rack, which is the only place I shop from) are reasonable, and their pieces are made in Canada. If you could own a skirt made out of curtains and men’s khakis, wouldn’t you? I would. And I do."

Eric - Freshjive

"This year Freshjive decided to get rid of their name, as well as all their logos. Just because they were sick of having work the words 'Freshjive' into all their clothing. They now sew on labels that are completely blank. How ballsy is that?"

Ken - H&M

"I'm sorry plastisol, I still love you, but jeans for $13?!?! Business!"

Andrew - Vans

"I like turtles."

Mel - Modcloth

"Not actually a clothing brand but rather the retailer of many wonderful indie clothing brands that owned my Visa this past year, Modcloth.com. Don’t show this site to your girlfriend/mother/daughter/sister/girl cousin/yourself when you ‘make the change’."

Cameron - Altamont

"Pause is obviously rad as hell. But just for some variety I'm gonna have to say Altamont! - its based upon skateboarding and a bad ass event! .... what's better than that?!"

BEST OF THE BEST 2010: FOOD

2011-01-04T14:37:00.000-08:00

Chomps - Savera

"This is a family owned and run restaurant in the neighbourhood I live in. It’s on the corner of St. Clair West and Hendrick Avenue in Toronto, which is considerably out of the way of the downtown core but in a great pocket of the city for restaurants. You like Indian food? You like low prices? You like friendly servers? You go here, please."

Mel - The Cheesecake Factory

"Deep fried mac and cheese balls followed by chicken bellagio and raspberry white chocolate cheesecake making love to my tastebuds = 90 weight watchers points + stomach gluten allergy implosion. Cheesecake Factory. Tell ‘em Mel sent you."

Ken - Pancake Pantry (Nashville, TN)

"Blintz Blurb: Eating a Blintz for the first time at the Pancake Pantry was better than finding out your dad is Peter Pan, and he bought fireworks"

Andrew - Epic Meal Time

"Man Vs. Food don't got SHIT on the boys at Epic Meal Time!"

Eric - Cora

"I could eat breakfast food at every meal (and often do). But when I'm sick of Perkins (It's rare but it happens) I'll kick it up a million notches and go to Cora. Breakfast doesn't get any better than this. And after you finish, there's free fudge! FTW! (Tell them it's your Birthday, and they'll give you an apple shaped like a bird!)

Cameron - Sushi Jade

"Sushi's the shit!"

BEST OF THE BEST 2010: MUSIC

2011-01-03T16:40:00.000-08:00

Ken - Glassjaw (All 5 singles)

"$$$"

Mel - Lucero/Gaslight Anthem/Loved Ones

"Well, here’s the thing. The trunk of my sweet green Pontiac Bonneville, within which lies a very ’97-current 10-disc changer, just plumb doesn’t want to open, so one may think that all I listen to is angry political punk. While, yes, it is often my standard go-to, I would have loved to replace mix-disc 3 and mix-disc 6 with some Lucero and some Gaslight Anthem, thus sandwiching my Loved Ones albums, thereby creating a solid 4-disc car punk sing-a-thon. Seriously, if you’re looking for straight up rock and roll, you cannot miss these 3 bands. YOU CANNOT MISS THESE 3 BANDS.

Footnote: Willing to bet my last 2 delectable Lindt white chocolate balls of the season on Chomps picking the Glee soundtrack as her favourite album for the year, followed by some whiney description as to why she may be ‘un-hip’ to think so but then going on to justify why you, the reader, are missing out on one of the most joyous experiences you could ever have by not also choosing to be ‘un-hip’. Let’s read on and find out..."

Cameron - Black Keys

"Not sure why. I've just been diggin' them!"

Chomps - Broken Bells

"These guys kind of snuck up quietly, even though they’re already involved in other major enterprises that have been loved for years. Reviewing music isn’t in my wheelhouse so I’ll just tell you to seek them out if you haven’t already (but you probably have because you’re awesome), and enjoy."

Eric - Gorillaz/Four Tet

"No other album this year has more work put into it than Gorillaz' Plastic Beach. Whether it's the musicians Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett chose to work with, the art direction, or the overall story behind the album. Every fragment of this album is perfectly put together. It's one of the few CDs I've bought that I would've been okay with paying a lot more for. And let me tell you. I steal A LOT of music. (Dear Authorities: No I don't.) And Four Tet? That guy is just consistently awesome."

Andrew - Tokyo Police Club

BEST OF THE BEST 2010: MOVIES

2011-01-02T15:29:00.000-08:00

Now that 2010 is over, we can finally judge it fairly. This is the first in a series of blogs put together by the staff at Pause about our favourite things in 2010. If you disagree with us, please let us know! (But know that regardless, you're wrong. Dead wrong.)

Chomps: Tangled

"Yeah, it’s a Disney movie. But it’s going to warm your heart and then you’ll all feel bad that you laughed at me. I could’ve said Inception but that movie doesn’t have this little guy in it.

So, uh, now who’s laughing?"

Ken: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World / Black Dynamite

"Trying to choose between these master works of ironic comedy would be like trying to choose between salt and pepper."

Cameron: Stay Gold

"I know, I know. It's a skateboarding video, but I'm a skateboarder. What did you expect?! Its been anticipated for 5 years and its got some pretty insane stuff in it!"

Mel: Leap Year

"Well, most obviously, for the scene wherein Ryan Phillipe, the dreamsicle of my teenage years, sticks a celery stalk ‘twixt his butt cheeks and bunny hops to and fro’: MacGruber. But in all honesty: Leap Year. Gay?"

Andrew: Back To The Future: Part III

"I saw my first Back To The Future movie this year. (I know, I know). It was the third one too. You're supposed to watch them in that order right? Or else it doesn't make sense?"

Eric: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

"It's not that I didn't love Inception. But the rewatchability (look it up) on this movie is through the roof. I'm talking on par with Dumb And Dumber rewatchable. And the soundtrack? Oh man. Flawless."

RATED G MOVIES ARE RUINING MY HOLIDAY

2010-12-15T18:16:00.000-08:00

Santa Claus has a white beard and probably a urine stained lap while he sits 'pon his throne at the mall. Or all of the malls. Or none of the malls because he's like waaaaaaay too busy.

The Santa Clause was a stipulation in a contract that Tim Allen's character was obligated to fulfill for knocking the previously listed man off of an icy roof.

Does Santa care whether or not you spell his name wrong?

Ummm, can you afford to take that chance?

Stop it.

-Chomps

WHO WANTS A FREE SHIRT TODAY?!

2010-12-07T16:31:00.000-08:00

Just follow Ukamaku on Twitter (twitter.com/ukamaku) and RETWEET the following twitter message: "@ukamaku's 12 Days giveaway Day 2: RETWEET this msg to be entered to win this tee http://bit.ly/gLfBhT from @Pausedesigns #ukamaku12days"

They'll select a winner at random today, then BAM! Free t-shirt all up in your grill!

-Eric Pause

UKAMAKU'S 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS CONTEST!

2010-12-05T14:18:00.000-08:00

Starting tomorrow our good pals at Ukamaku will be starting their "12 Days Of Christmas" contest. Each day, they'll be giving away awesome free stuff from each of the Designers featured on their website! And you don't even have to buy anything to be entered. Hello!

Check out Ukamaku.com for all the deets.

-Eric Pause

RIP LESLIE NIELSEN :(

2010-11-29T17:37:00.000-08:00

"Doing nothing is very hard to do ... you never know when you're finished."

-Eric Pause

GOLDEN HORSESHOE 5 YEAR BASH!

2010-11-26T18:56:00.000-08:00

Our heterosexual life mates at Golden Horseshoe are celebrating their 5 year anniversary this Saturday, and they're having an all day bash to celebrate!

The party kicks off at noon, and it includes a ton of awesome deals, prizes, giveaways, and many surprises. We've stocked the place up to the brim with our newest Pause gear, so if you want to avoid shipping, taxes, and our shabby looking online store, now is your chance. Also, all of us from Pause will be hanging out in the back, so if you have some boobs that need to be signed, bring 'em!

Check out the Facebook Event Page for all the deets.

Bottom line is, if you miss this par-tay you better be dead or in jail. And if you are in jail, break out!

-Eric Pause

CHAINSAW PANDA FAN ART

2010-11-21T09:56:00.000-08:00

Have you ever tried Googling "Chainsaw Panda"? Our drawing seems to pop up just about everywhere. Here's some randoms I found. If you've seen it in any strange places, post a link!

-Eric Pause

MY SON THE HURRICANE TONIGHT!

2010-11-14T10:33:00.000-08:00

Tonight our pals in My Son The Hurricane kick off their "Remember Movember" tour in our fine city of St.Catharines. The show is happening at 8pm at L3, with The Years (It's still pretty hush-hush, but expect a Pause collaboration with them in the coming months. Shhh!), as well as Theatre Crisp and Beautiful Women of Belmez (Who I'm unfamiliar with, but they might be amazing.) opening.

If you're familiar with My Son The Hurricane already, then you know Pause created two of their popular shirts. But did you know there's a brand new third one that may or may not be released tonight? Hmmm interesting. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. (So mysterious!)

If you can't make it to St.Catharines tonight, here's the rest of the upcoming tour dates:

Nov 15th - The Rainbow, Ottawa

Nov 16th - The Mansion, Kingston

Nov 17th - 3 Minots, Montreal

Nov 18th - Rancho Relaxo, Toronto

Nov 19th - Ted's Range Road, Meaford

Nov 20th - Lop Lops, Sault Ste. Marie

See you tonight!

-Eric Pause

UKAMAKU

2010-11-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

Just launded today, is a brand new online store called Ukamaku. Ukamaku is both a online fashion store and community based out of Toronto (Wherever THAT is...) The designers and brands on the site are chosen solely based on their awesomeness (So yes, you'll find Pause in there). So you know that everything you find on there is going to be great.

The cool thing about Ukamaku is that it carries everything from high-end fashion designers all the way to streetwear. Rather than sticking to a certain style. They're single handedly putting an end to fashion prejudice between brands. Brand-on-brand violence has gone more than far enough, and to see someone stepping up and making a difference is a beautiful thing.

Check them out at www.ukamaku.com

-Eric Pause

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

2010-10-31T18:10:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone is having a great Halloween this year. Here's our costumes:

Ken and Eric, Born To Folk

Mel & Chompsy, Die Antwoord

Andrew, Run and tell that

Happy Halloween!

-Eric Pause

TOP TEN HALLOWEEN 'STUMES

2010-10-26T19:37:00.000-07:00

'Stumes is a new thing I'm saying now. Feel free to use it.

10. Antlers - no animal attached. People will be trying to figure out which animal with antlers you are ALL freakin' night. But you'll just be antlers. It's incredibly clever.

9. Kitty Clock - This one's SUUUPER simple. You dress as a cat and look from left to right all night. If you can get a mechanical tail that wags in time with your shifty eyes I say DO IT.

8. Johnny Knoxville - If anyone recognizes you, you can write to Johnny and say 'Hey buddy! Don't worry, you've stiiiiilll got it!' Someone's gotta stroke that poor guy's ego.

7. a Blog - go as this one! We love you! All you need is a sandwich board and a passion for the interwebs. Did I just paint a good enough mind picture with my imagination brush? E-mail me and I'll send you a diagram.

6. Mel Smith - You'll never have amazing hair like that, but you can damn well try.

5. Joe Biden - just recycle a George Bush costume but wear a whiter wig and give everyone a thumbs up. Totally do-able. I mean that in both the way that it's easily done and also that it's sexy.

4. Lady Gaga - just kidding.

3. T-Pain - put an Aero bar wrapper on your top teeth. DONE!

2. Ryan Reynolds in Buried - I don't know why. I like Ryan Reynolds and that's a movie he just did.

And number one?
Numero Uno?
El Supremo?

Jimmy friggen McMillan. Because he's a karate expert and he wants to make sure you get breakfast-lunch-n-dinner.

-Chomps

WHAT ARE YOU BEING FOR HALLOWEEN?!

2010-10-26T19:09:00.000-07:00

...I want to know!

-Eric Pause

Me?I'm being Chewy.

Not the character from Star Wars, but Chewy as in the adjective.

MAKING THE CUT

2010-10-24T19:55:00.000-07:00

I Am The Trend.com added our Ambassador Hoodie to their "70 Awesome Hoodies" list! I would like to thank the following people for making this possible:

Adam, I Am The Trend, Archie, Jughead, and the rest of the Riverdale gang, God, Satan, Santa, Tegan, but not Sara, the cast of Cats, Stay Puft, Bruce Willis, dinosaurs, Sean Connery, Sonic The Hedgehog, Twisted Sister, Gord, Zordon, Snuffy, Chicken Wings, Micheal J Fox, Guitar Solos, Chilly Willy, Kenny Hotz, Pirates, emptying milk bags and putting them back in the fridge, Amy Winehouse, Dog the bounty hunter, Samurai pizza cats, Cuba, Bill Murray, Captain Planet, Coffee, that double rainbow guy, Bobby's World, Skeletor, Karen O, the monopoly man, Hobbes,Jason Lee, Andre The Giant, Thundercats, Steve, Lego, The Rock, Johnny Bravo, Zombies, M&M peanuts, Larry David, Tahiti Treat, Firecrackers, the cold side of my pillow, 2 face, Mel, Deloreans, Shredder, Johnny 5, Pharrell (He produced it), Ryan Reynolds, Eek the cat, Scotland, big league chew, Macaulay Culkin, Stimpy, the cast of The Sandlot, Chompsy, Denver The Last Dinosaur, Andy Warhol, Charlie Brown, Tom Hanks, Banksy, Perkins pancakes, rubbing your socks on the carpet, then shocking someone, Fortune cookies, Katrina (not the hurricane), princess peach, B. Obama, and Yo Gabba Gabba.

-Eric Pause

TORSO!

2010-10-21T10:31:00.000-07:00

A little while back I was telling you guys about an upcoming t-shirt art book called "Torso", that featured a bunch of our designs. Well, our copy arrived at our doorstep, and let me tell you, it looks incredible. Seeing our designs right beside the artists and brands we look up to the most is such an honour. If you love t-shirts (and if you're reading this blog, I'm going to assume you do) then this book is definitely worth picking up. Actually, even if you don't like t-shirts, the book is still awesome.

Can you find the Pause shirts?:

Thank-you to Evan Hernder for the great looking photos!

-Eric Pause

BRAND NEW OWL TANK NOW AVAILABLE!

2010-10-17T08:42:00.000-07:00

This badboy is hand printed onto American Apparel Tri-Blend Coffee tank tops using a blend of water based, discharge, and plastisol inks. What are these inks all about you might ask? (What are you, a friggin' cop?!) Well, this secret recipe of ink blends allows the image to feel soft to the touch, and flow easily with shirt, while still keeping the colours vivid. Sweet huh? No more chunky prints for you!

The quality on these couldn't have come out any better. And get this: we're offering them up for $20 Canadian. What is that? Like...30 cents American? 10 Pence? A Peso? Probably. At that price you could stockpile these. Get one for every day of the week! Winter's coming, get a whole case and put them in the trunk of your car to improve traction on icy roads! Get a hundred cases and fill up your ~~money~~ tank top tower and go swimming in it! Not a bad idea.

Unfortunately for your tank top tower, these are a limited edition run. Therefore, we won't be making enough to fill a tower. (Soweeee.) But it does vastly improve your chances of not having the same piece of apparel as everyone else. And that's pretty awesome too.

To grab one, and see more/larger photos, click HERE!

-Eric Pause

WANNA KNOW WHAT REALLY GRINDS MY GEARS?

2010-10-14T13:27:00.000-07:00

Fashionable and chic as I may seem to those of you who’ve met me in person (read: three steps away from wearing plaid pajama pants and a waffle shirt without a bra in public) there are a few excruciating trends I’ve been noticing lately. Seeing as this is clearly a forum where people stand by the well(and independently)-made fashion choices they make, maybe this’ll be well received or maybe someone will try to strangle me with *leather leggings on the dimly lit street.

Can I even call these faux-pas? Not really. Reason: these are actually accepted social norms. These don’t violate the eyes of many, though they terrorize the hearts of the few. My grandmother and I being two of them. Hold on tight, and don’t cry “EGREGIOUS!” til’ we’re through.

1) LEATHER LEGGINGS!?!!!! : Come on. Let’s consider the source. Source A) Motorcycle riders who are afraid they’ll lose large patches of skin due to road rash should they accidentally skid out of control. Source B) Li-to-the-Lo-han. Neither are realistic fashion icons for the greater good, one of them is always crying in court because she can’t seem to stop spending her millions on alcohol and inventing new ways to wear leather leggings. Shudder.

2) Boyfriend Button-Ups: TUT, TUT. I do NOT speak ill of the oversized button-up when it is used as a top. I do wish a variety of Swine Influenzas on the The Hills wardrobe consultant who thought it would be ok to start wearing them as dresses. A plague sprung from the idea that a large shirt could easily double as an ill-fitting dress if belted (by rope, fishing line, or other) in some way which lends itself to frequent ‘whoopsies!’ and ‘bum-cheek peek-a-boos’.

3) UGG Boots: Friends, this was a problem in 2003. There’s no reason for it to still be wreaking havoc on my eyes. They don’t weather well in our Canadian climate, they make women look like abominable snowpeople, and they single-handedly turn any well-planned outfit into something Britney Spears wore into a gas station POST-baldy. “But they’re soooo comfortablllllllllleeeee!” I don’t care. They’re awful. Get some real winter boots and stop sliding around in front of me on the sidewalk.

4) The strapless dress: This just in! Straps keep your breasts INside your clothes. If you’re attempting to garner attention by having your fun-bags navigate territory with a bit more freedom, we also passed a law some years ago that’ll allow you to go topless. No need to keep tugging on yourself while you’re dancing to Ke$ha.

5) Purses adorned with the initials of whichever designer you chose that day because you had four hundred bucks burning a hole in your pocket: Though it pains me to be the one to expose this to you, you got had. You got had, and how.

I feel way better now. All of this being said, I should also add that there are a lot of really REALLY hot fashion choices out there right now. Some people lead the way by wearing pants as pants and shirts as shirts, and I respect that. You should also probably not take my advice too seriously because the greater part of my good taste in anything is for hamburgers and french fries. Try Buns in Montreal.

Hope this helps and please don’t hit me with your Coach bag,

-Chomps

NEW APPAREL DROPPING THIS WEEK!

2010-10-12T18:55:00.000-07:00

Oh that? That's just our new mannequin. We had it made up to look like our blog writer Mel. It's pretty close to looking like the real thing, except Mel's head is a lot bigger in real life. (It would have cost too much to have it made like that.) We've been using it as a rug/car shammy/surf board/garlic press around the office. And we figured "Hey, why not give it a go for our newest piece of apparel?" (Which will be available at a secret time sometime this week! OoooOooo!)

Needless to say, it worked flawlessly. It was like having the real Mel around, minus the noise and the smell.

Check back later this week to see the rest of the set AND our newest design!

-Eric Pause

YOUTUBE KILLED THE TV STAR

2010-10-05T14:32:00.000-07:00

Hey, it's Tuesday. Here's some fantastic music videos.

-Eric Pause

PLEASE HELP MY FRIEND GET SOME TEETH

2010-09-21T18:17:00.000-07:00

Hot mess

A couple weeks ago, our good friend Jessica (The one with the Pause sticker on her boob, so you KNOW she's down.) got into a bit of a scrap with a bicycle.

Zombie thug

Unfortunately, the bike got the drop on her, and she ended up with a severe concussion, fractures in her face and neck, tearing of her upper lip, bruises and road rash to large areas of her body, and the loss/damage of five of her front, upper teeth. Not good. Apparently, Jessica lives in a part of the world (Get this:) where hospitals charge you money for helping you! I know, I know. Crazy right? In any case, Jessica is short a cool $3,500 in dental bills, and we'd like to help her out, because we like her a lot. If you've met Jessica, you know how great she is, and have probably donated already. But for those of you who don't know who she is...here:

Right?

Please donate by visiting her website HERE.

-Eric Pause

PAUSE @ THE CLOTHING SHOW!

2010-09-19T07:41:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen, it's that time of year once again. Summer is passed out on the couch, and fall has been up since 5am doing pushups. It's time you exchanged those cut-offs for some slick new apparel. "But Eric, I'm sick of my old ratty clothes! Where can I get something awesome?!" Well my friend, luckily, we exist. And even luckyier (Yeah, you read that.) we're going to be at the Toronto Clothing Show again this year. September 24th, 25th, and 26th. We'll be selling our apparel on the cheap, dishing out the high fives, signing cleavage, and hanging out with all of you ALL WEEKEND long!

And if all that wasn't enough, we'll also be releasing and revealing never-before-seen (Well, except by us, and our printers...and I guess some of our close friends...and our pets... but still.) limited edition apparel on opening night! So you'll have first dibs on everything. But hey, we're not printing many, so it's first come first serve!

Check out the Facebook Event, or The Clothing Show website for more details.

Oh man, it's going to be an awesome weekend. We can't wait to see you there!

-Eric Pause

TAKE BLUETOOTH AND AUTO-TUNE WITH YOU...

2010-08-17T17:24:00.000-07:00

Our good friends My Son The Hurricane just finished up their music video for "Ain't My Style", and let me tell you, it's a party. I was trying to think of a witty line to put in here, about the amount of good vibes they put out, but I can't decide what to go with. "These guys put out so many good vibes...*INSERT WITTY REMARK HERE*" I was thinking something along the lines of "It'll make you wanna slap yo momma! It'll make you want to slap ERRYBUDDIES momma!" or "They make the Beach Boys look like neo-nazis!" or "You'll be glad you never killed yourself for real!" but, ehhh, I don't know. So here, help me out. Watch the video, then finish the line:

"My Son The Hurricane puts out so many good vibes...____________"

-Eric Pause

HOLY HELL! WE'RE IN A BOOK!

2010-08-13T17:33:00.000-07:00

...about t-shirts! Here's the write-up from their site: "Torso presents t-shirts whose motifs not only function as a means of personal communication, but also reflect and increasingly influence the complete spectrum of modern graphic design. As the first book to focus on t-shirts created by the most innovative and style-setting brands, it is the definitive guide to t-shirt culture." Not too shabby, right? Torso was compiled by Daniel Eckler, founder and editor-in-chief of Formatmag.com. (One of the world’s most popular and influential publications dedicated to streetwear, street art, and alternative lifestyles. Duh.) and it's chock full of fantastic t-shirt graphics from designers all over the globe. Close to all of our t-shirt designs are featured in the book, as well as a exclusive shocking tell-all interview. Basically, there's no reason for you to own a bookshelf, a toilet, eyes, or a coffee table if you don't own this book.

The release dates are as follows:

Continental Europe: late August
UK, Asia and Australia/NZ: early September
North America: mid September
Latin America: early October

Click HERE for even more info!

-Eric Pause

FOR THE LOVE OF...

2010-07-15T18:39:00.000-07:00

Hello, friends.

We haven't spoken in some time. I am rectifying that now. Carrying forward from here there will be no whining, no horseplay, no kicking your brother and no eating the Cracker Jacks between the car seats.

Let me point out that this has been a summer of successes for the fine company I blog for. In case you haven't noticed, people be desirin' this shiz all UP in they stores. The guys are bigger than the Beatles, AND the subsequent Gallagher brothers band to follow that claimed to be bigger than the Beatles. You heard me. They're a step above Oasis. Except they don't annually hire and fire their band mates. Yet.

I don't have a Straight Shootin' question to answer this week. However. I present to you a breath of freshness, wherein I shed some light on some really cool things that I know about.

Thing the primary: Cancer. Not cool. Not cool at all. Earlier this year someone close to me found out that one of their very VERY close friends was diagnosed with cancer for the second time. She had previously gone into remission but was unfortunately re-diagnosed. Following the first discovery of the disease she began to write a very up-close and personal account of the things she was going through. We're talking photos, too. She held nothing back. She also wrote a list. Not a bucket list, but a list of things she wished for and was driven to accomplish.

During her second bout of treatment, not too long ago in April of this year she passed away. Least cool of all the things I have mentioned thus far. However. Her husband has made leaps and bounds in accomplishing the things that she had on her list and he's brought attention to this journey in ways that are absolutely astounding. Every day he posts some other crazy new thing that has exposed his wife's story and has reached out to other people who are going through the same thing.

Being the starving post-post-secondary student that I am, there's not much I can do to monetarily contribute to his cause, but I thought you guys might dig his unwavering commitment to it, because you all seem like pretty cool people who like cool shit.

Her blog.
Her list.
Adam's campaign.

See? pretty effing cool, right? Sure beats telling you not to wear your underwear inside out, which is what I was originally going to post about.

Hope this helps,
Chomps

PAUSE TEAM RIDER: CAMERON SHENNAN

2010-07-15T10:30:00.000-07:00

Pause Designs is proud to introduce the newest member to our skate team: Cameron Shennan. Cameron is a mere 13 years old, but he already shreds harder than Mighty Mouse's cheese grater. (Yeah, I said it.) And he does it EVERY SINGLE DAY. Rain or shine. Heat wave or new ice age. How are you going to compete with that? I mean, what were you doing when you were 13? Spending all day unlocking tracks on Mario Kart 64? I rest my case.

Anyway, we're very excited to have Cameron aboard, and to christen it we've whipped up a wallpaper for free download. Check it out in our Media section, or just simply click HERE.

-Eric Pause

FREEDOM CLOTHING COLLECTIVE

2010-07-11T18:08:00.000-07:00

When artschool terrorists blow themselves up, they get this* instead of the standard 72 virgins.

*(This, being the 5 girls that run a fashion and design shop in Toronto called Freedom Clothing Collective that specializes in doing whatever it wants to. Which can include: art shows, gardening, craft sales, music showcases, potlucks, backyard parties, fashion shows, sewing workshops, and probably everything else you like. The shop carries the finest hand picked variety of indie designer clothing, jewelry, antiques, artwork, and, again, probably everything else you like. As of now, we're proud to say Freedom Clothing Collective also carries Pause Designs! What more could you ever possibly want in a shop?! YOU SPOILED BAS...*ahem* Here's their address. Go!)

-Eric Pause

PAUSE AT SCENE MUSIC FESTIVAL THIS SUNDAY!

2010-06-26T05:22:00.000-07:00

Hey man,

What are you up to this Sunday? Wanna hang out? I'll be at the SCENE music festival, at the Pause Designs booth all day. It's in St. Catharines ON, and it has 160 bands, on 17 stages. Not too shabby! You ought to stop by. Tickets are like, $25 or something. That's 15 cents a band.

That cute girl that did those Old Navy commercials is playing. And those guys who went to spring break and had a TV show about on MTV will be there too. So, them, plus 158 others.

Anyway, come and find me in Market Square, I'll be the guy surrounded by Pause t-shirts. We'll go grab some pizza and see some bands or something. Who knows!

Oh, check out the SCENE website to see who else is playing this year too.

See you there!

-Eric Pause

SPLASH PANIC!

2010-06-24T09:45:00.000-07:00

Growing up, I lived very close to the Ontario/New York border. Everything I know about Buffalo, I learned from their local television channels that would come in crystal clear on my TV. To me, Buffalo was a place where everyone sued everyone when they got into car accidents. A place where they have two Arby's restaurants for every three residents. A place where they'd let anyone have a commercial on TV, regardless of how low their budget was. Where Celino and Barnes ruled with an iron fist. And where the everyone pronounced words like "Bar" and "Cannibal Corpse", "Berr" and "Melodious".

Basically, it was paradise.

But last month I learned a little more about Buffalo. You see, besides all the weird and wonderful things Buffalo puts on TV, it's also home to one of the greatest indie shops in North America. Scratch that. The world. Splash Panic has been setting the awesome bar miles high ever since they opened early last year.

Splash Panic was started by two handsome devils: Amanda and Andrew. (A.K.A. The Double A Alliance) Not only is their shop superbly decorated, fun, and always chock full of babes, but they are also the only shop in New York to carry such brands as Design By Humans, Threadless, Alternative Apparel, American Apparel, Holly Hue, Indi Denim, and as of last week...*drumroll*...Pause Designs!

Needless to say, they are exactly what we look for in a shop, and we're quite excited about working with them.

I could try and explain how awesome this shop is here, but you're really better off going to see it for yourself:

Splash Panic!
818 Elmwood Avenue
Buffalo, New York 14222

info@splashpanicbuffalo.com
(716) 844-3344

Monday - Friday: 11am - 8pm
Saturday: 10am - 8pm
Sunday: 12pm - 6pm

"It's gonna be HUUUUUUU-JAH!"

-Eric Pause

SENIORITIS INTERVIEW

2010-06-13T17:36:00.000-07:00

Did you ever want to know what our favourite cartoon was growing up? Or how about the super secret fail-proof way to building a successful streetwear brand that will change you from a poor chump to a slick billionaire in 48 hours or less? Well, the interview we did for Senioritis a couple weeks ago answers at least one of those questions. Check it out in it's entirety HERE.

(And yes. We misspelled the name of the very city we live in. Stay in school.)

-Eric Pause

FRUIT OF THE PLUME

2010-06-04T20:35:00.000-07:00

Here's a little something to kick off your summer with. Our new "Fruit Of The Plume" tank top is now available in our online store! Retailing at an easy-on-your-wallet price of $19.99, this limited edition design is printed on American Apparel Tri-Blend racerback black tank tops. The Tri-Blend is made from 50% Polyester, 25% Cotton, 25% Rayon, and 100% awesome. The Polyester retains it's shape and elasticity; Cotton lends both comfort and durability; and Rayon makes for a unique texture and drapes against the body for a slimming look. Mmmm mmmm MMMM!

Get yours HERE!

-Eric Pause

STEVE

2010-06-03T10:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the lack of posts these past few days. Things have been a little hectic around here. You see, last Monday we had a new roommate move in with us. His name is Steve, and it turns out he isn't as easy to live with as we initially thought.

We figured it would be fun to have someone new around the house. He'd help with the chores, ease up the rent for the rest of us, and allow us to have even teams when we play candyland every Tuesday.

But as it turns out, it's not like that at all. All Steve does is hang around the house all day, eat all of our food, and nap. He doesn't even have a job! In fact, I even had to pay Steve's old landlord off in order to get him into Canada. Unpaid rent or something. He wouldn't say. I've known him a week and already he's into me a cool $600! Oh, but it gets worse. Last week, I was sitting on the couch, minding my own business, when Steve comes waltzing in (possibly drunk) walks in front of me, and pees right on the carpet! I shit you not. Right in front of me! Then he just walks out of the room like it's the most normal thing in the world.

But get this, despite Steve's obvious lack of caring and hygiene, he is an absolute chick magnet. Seriously. He's Sean Connery times a million. Cute girls are constantly coming up to him on the street and putting their hands all over him! I've never seen anything like it. I'm basically invisible when he's around. I mean, yeah, admittedly it does make pickpocketing a lot easier for me. But still. It's the principal of thing.

-Eric Pause

IT'S NOT A RACE

2010-05-26T05:40:00.000-07:00

I forgot to post this earlier. Here's a Banksy I caught in Toronto a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately it's one of the last ones left in the city, but this piece was untouched when we found it.

It is also cool that Banksy keeps using our stickers in his pieces. What a charmer.

-Eric Pause

MY SON THE HURRICANE

2010-05-23T04:29:00.000-07:00

Here's a t-shirt design we finished up for My Son The Hurricane. If you haven't heard of them, look them up. Not only do they have more members than Slipknot, but they've invented this weird fusion of Hip-hop, rock, funk, and jazz. Called Hip-ronzz. (No one calls it that.) And it's awesome! Also, their live shows are a party and a half.

P.S. We realize that's a tornado in the picture, not a hurricane. T'was Their idea.

P.P.S. We actually did two different t-shirt designs for them, but I can't find the file for the other, so just imagine a side profile of a baby carriage with an old guy's tattooed arm hanging out the side. The colour scheme yellows and black, and it's on a purple shirt. Pretty cool, right?

-Eric Pause

STEAL THIS ALBUM

2010-05-22T05:21:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, our old Friend Kirk called us up in a panic, and told us how his CD release show was in two days, and he didn't have any album artwork because something happened to his original artist.

"Oh. That's lame" We replied.

"Yeah..." Said Kirk.

"I guess you're pretty much screwed."

"...yeah."

"Haha. I'd really hate to be you right now. Everyone shows up for your CD release, looking for your CD, and you don't have any! Ooooh maaaan!"

*awkward silence*

"...so will you guys do it?"

"Oh. OH! Okay, yeah. We'll do it."

Kirk wanted "A van driving into the unknown" Here's what we came up with:

-Eric Pause

STRAIGHT SHOOTIN': WHO IS DOG THE BOUTY HUNTER'S SPRAY TAN GUY?

2010-05-20T10:54:00.000-07:00

"Who is Dog the Bounty Hunter's spray tan guy?"

Dear you,

Instead of entertaining this question with an answer that kind of requires me to get in touch with Dog's formidable yet scrumtrilescently gorgeous wife, I'm just going to think out loud for a couple paragraphs. I'm getting ready for bed and I'm reeling from a seriously terrible episode of Law and Order, so shit was going from bad to worse and now I'm faced with some of my own questions.

Firstly I have some genuine curiosity around whether or not questions about 'spray tanning' and the 'guys' that do it unto others are topics of civilized conversation. I basically live under a rock so bear with me on this but my grade ten experiences are kind of ingrained and I'm pretty steadfast in the notion that spray tanning is rarely a well thought out venture. I have a vivid memory of my friends' hands having dark orange lines where their usually not-orange much more human-like palms should have been. Never mind that, imagine the cracks behind your knees? Yikes.

I wonder what would happen if you just let it spray you for like 8 straight minutes with your mouth open? Maybe that's what Scooter from the Muppets mouth looks like inside. I wonder who his spray tan guy is?

Secondly, what's the deal with public transit seats that are covered with that red fabric? I was riding the Rocket two weekends ago and my Mom was like "this is disgusting". Since it was Mother's Day I supported her, but then I realized I wasn't just being patronizing. There's no reason to have tough-to-clean seats on a transit system that almost guarantees a steady supply of really gross stuff on peoples' pants and hands. Extrapolate this: I just looked down and realized I had ketchup on my jeans. Imagine who else would have my ketchup on their pants if I sat on a fabric transit seat?! This is a silent killer, probably.

I don't know guys. Is there a website I can contact with my questions about this obscure stuff? Wait. WAIT. What if there were a website that would answer obscure questions about public safety as it pertains to bodily fluids and ALSO sell me t-shirts with original art on them? I'm a fricking genius.

Hope this helps,
Chomps

Have a question? Email it to straightshootin@pausedesigns.com!

THE TORONTO CLOTHING SHOW SPRING 2010

2010-05-18T18:06:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we had the privilege of doing what we like best; selling Pause apparel, staying up all night in a city foreign to us, hanging out with old friends, and making a ton of new ones. It doesn't get much better than that. Here's some of the people that continually make Toronto awesome for us:

Y'know what's weird? I was headed over to our Crywolf's booth to snap a couple pictures of Rose and Steph for the blog, and Steph was just throttling Rose like that. She stopped when she saw me, but thank God I showed up when I did. Who knows what would've happened to Rose if I hadn't.

These are our pals at Love Poetry. That's ~~Chuck Norris~~ Nathan on the Right, Vanessa in the middle, and Dawn on the left. Every clothing show, Dawn makes sure we're well looked after. She makes us food, AND does our laundry while we're still wearing it. She's also single handedly responsible for convincing me that vegan food actually isn't gross, nor is it stupid...Just kidding of course, but her homemade cookies really are delicious.

When you have a favourite artist or author or whatever, before you meet them or see a photo of them, you make up an imaginary version of them in your head of how you want them to be, right? Usually in reality they end up being nothing like the cool guy you built up in your head, and like more the kind of guy you have to apologize for in a strip club. Well in this case, Playdead is EXACTLY how I wanted them to be. How fucking good do they look? They've got their shit so together it makes my chest hurt. That's Stu and Bean in the photo, and they've been running the streetwear scene (as well as looking good) in Toronto consistently for over ten years. (That's 108 in streetwear years!) Long live the dead.

Here's what I know about this girl: 1. Her name is Regina 2. She owns an awesome shop filled with indie clothing and accesories on Younge st. Toronto called Propaganda 3. She makes us laugh so hard we pee our pants every show. 4. She thinks Mel is a slut 5. Awesome.

"HEYYOUGUYSIDRANKWAYTOOMUCHCOFFEEANDPUTONYOURSHIRTDOYOUWANNATAKEAPICTUREOFMEEEEE?!"

You may remember this girl from the entire blog we did last year about her being rad. Cat runs a really cool cut and sew apparel company called Kali. She also is our go to person for all things awesome in Toronto. No joke. She's a pro. She takes us to the best restaurants, sneaks alcohol into the clothing show to loosen Ken up, shows us the best street art in the city, and gives us contact info for everything we need in the fashion industry. Also, she has this uncanny sense of direction. She's always telling us to head west, or meet her on the south side of the street, as though we have any idea what that means. Either she's constantly lying, or she carries a compass in her purse.

See you all in September.

-Eric Pause

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2010-05-01T15:46:00.001-07:00

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PAUSE AT THE CLOTHING SHOW

2010-04-29T10:30:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen, it's that time of year once again. Summer is nigh, and it's time you exchanged that winter parka for a slick t-shirt. "But Eric, I'm sick of my old ratty clothes! Where can I get something awesome?!" Well my friend, luckily, we exist. And even luckyier (Yeah, you read that.) we're going to be at the Toronto Clothing Show again this year. We'll be selling our apparel on the cheap, dishing out the high fives, and hanging out with all of you all weekend long!

And get THIS, everyone who shows up gets a FREE Clothing Show tote bag, designed by us, Pause Designs. The bag also comes chock full of weird freebies like laundry detergent and... bug spray or something...I don't know, but what's important is you can take your free totebag and use it to carry all your new Pause loot, or fill it with stolen merchandise from other booths, or use it to build a fort for your hamster, or get us to sign it and sell it on ebay! Cool!

And if all that wasn't enough, we'll be releasing a ton of new limited edition products on opening night! So you'll have first dibs on everything. Your friends are going to be green with envy!

Oh man, it's going to be an awesome weekend. We can't wait to see you there!

-Eric Pause

SKATEBOARDANIMATION

2010-04-13T10:02:00.000-07:00

Skateboardanimation from Tilles Singer on Vimeo.

This video was made using cutouts from skateboard magazines. How cool is that?

-Eric Pause

THIS LETTER

2010-04-08T10:10:00.000-07:00

Awesome.

-Eric Pause

THE LAST CARDIGAN YOU WILL EVER OWN

2010-04-04T14:45:00.000-07:00

If you own any of our apparel already, then you know there's a whole lot of love in every shirt we make. From the hand drawn designs, that are hand screened, to the hand sewn-in tags, to the hand made tags themselves. Er...okay, maybe there's more "hand" than anything, but you can bet the love is there too. With each piece of apparel we release we try and outdo the last. And how do we outdo the last you might ask?

That's right, more "hand".

"What has more hand in it than a cut and sew piece?! It'll be great! We'll have tons of different coloured fabrics and patches hand cut and sewn onto cardigans! Not by some kid in China either. We'll do it ourselves! The founders of the brand! Can you imagine?! The amount of work that is going to be out into each one! Oh man, it's going to be the most epic cardigan ever created!"

As it turns out, cutting and sewing is A LOT harder than it seems. Have you ever spent 9 hours sewing eleven different patches onto ONE cardigan? I have, and I no longer fear death. But luckily for us, and you, putting in an obscene amount of practice a day makes for a couple ruined cardigans, but many many more beautiful ones, that far surpass our expectations.

Ladies and gentlemen, we at Pause are extremely proud to bring you "The Last Cardigan You Will Ever Own."

-Eric Pause

STRAIGHT SHOOTIN': DO OLD PEOPLE WAKE UP EARLY TO MAKE SURE THEY AREN'T DEAD?

2010-04-01T08:39:00.000-07:00

"Do Old People really wake up early to make sure they aren't dead?

-Ben S."

My friend,

You misunderstand. Anyone who has a grandmother knows this can't be true. Anyone with the sense to catch seniors in their natural habitat as a young sprite staying over in the guest bedroom knows this simply isn't the case.

They're writing lists. To-dos, to-buys, to-write-a-card-tos, et cetera, et cetera. They're scanning the pantry for how many cans of peaches to buy on their daily trip to the grocery store. God knows they've already got seven, but most old folks like to keep supplies at a steady eight. Sure, the oldest can on that shelf has long since been considered eatable because it's from 1994, but they wake up earlier than most small birds in order to make sure they remember to buy a new one.

They're also writing five dollar cheques for their grandchildren. They're filing important anecdotes in their extremely large brains that they're going to tell you over your grilled cheese sandwich lunch so that you don't keep walking around the house without slippers on, or crossing your eyes.

Though this may not sit nicely, I strongly feel you should check yourself before you riggidy WRECK yourself, because old people get more shit done in the small hours of the morning than we accomplish in an entire day. You'll note that it probably took you about 10 whole minutes to write and send your Straight Shootin' question, and it's taken me approximately 45 minutes to get this answer written. An elderly person has already hung 55 ugly Easter decorations on the outside of their bungalow in that combined time.

Those are the facts.

Love Always,
Chomps

Have a question? Email it to straightshootin@pausedesigns.com!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDREW PAUSE!

2010-03-30T20:46:00.000-07:00

Dear Andrew,

You've still got it.

Happy Birthday!

Love,
-The other people at Pause

STRAIGHT SHOOTIN': HOW CAN I LOOK COOL WHILE USING A PC COMPUTER?

2010-03-19T16:12:00.000-07:00

Mr. or Mrs. Shooter. We all know how people who own mac's dress and act. How do I dress and act cool with a PC? - sincerely, a PC user in need of some Jazz!

-Jazzless PC

________________________________________________________

Jeffrey (may I call you that?),

From one PC user to another, I gotta tell you straight up. We're doomed to play out the rest of our lives in disturbing sweater vests and ill-fitting slacks. Mac users are to coolness as female university students are to leggings and ironic moccasins, after all.

Nevertheless, we'll strive for greatness in even the bleakest of circumstances.

Zero to Hero in Six Easy Steps

1. Be cooler.

2. Buy cooler clothes. Came to the right place for this one.

3. If anyone asks you a question that you can't answer, tell them you'll go home and check your Mac and get back to them. Use whichever Mac related prefix or suffix you like. Adding "i" or "lite" or "book" will make it more likely that people will believe you. Most PC users don't even really know what kind of computer they have, so there's little chance you'll mish-mash your actual computer jargon with the fake one.

4. Try cutting your hair like Justin Long's. People love him. He's dreamy or something.

5. If someone comes over, make sure you tell them your Mac's in the shop getting...uh..serviced. PC's get fixed, Mac's get 'serviced' or 'upgraded'. They never need to be fixed because they were crafted on a mountain by the hands of giant-winged, well-endowed seraphim.

6. Stroll about with an undeserved sense of superiority. This will strike people as attractive if they are also Mac users. While us naked mole-rats are burrowing underneath the city streets, you will walk amongst the shiny happy ones.

Go forth and multiply.

Hope this helps,
Chomps

Have a question? Email it to straightshootin@pausedesigns.com!

ARTWORK FOR SALE

2010-03-13T14:23:00.000-08:00

Recently we've had a lot of people emailing us asking if they could purchase some of our original artworks. Well, ask and ye shall receive. We've put up nine different pieces in our online store. Each piece is a one of a kind, comes unframed, and is free of trans fats.

Check them out here.

-Eric Pause

FALLING VICTIM TO THE MARCH 'HEATWAVE' FAKE-OUT

2010-03-08T16:20:00.000-08:00

So I saw some jerk wearing shorts this weekend and I felt like I needed to at least meet him halfway and come out of hiding to speak my obnoxious mind a bit more frequently.

Don't let the uncharacteristically tepid disposition of the outdoors fool you, you're still entitled to your winter-induced depression. The rhythm of suckitude to which our hearts beat (read: baDUM-baDUMPITY dum DUUUUUM) can carry forward for at least another 13 days.

But if it's all the same and you'd rather not be such a crumbum, run outside and just fill your mouth with the freshness of that earth that's been hiding underneath the snowdrifts for what's seemed like a minor eternity. Take a big handful of that dirt that replenishes your filthy city with flora, fauna, pollinating honeybees and fornicating urban species, and shove it in your gob.

Tastes like shit, doesn't it. Toldja it was too soon to get your hopes up.

Happy Soon-to-be Spring, Everyone!

-Chomps

AIM FOR THE HEAD

2010-03-06T08:04:00.000-08:00

Recently a private collector commissioned Ken and I to do a zombie themed 3" Dunny for his collection. He somehow got it into his head that we knew how to paint. (Shh, we don't!) It's loosely based on the zombie movie overlord George A. Romero. (Hence the snazzy glasses and white beard.)

Anyway, this was our first 3" custom, and we're quite pleased with how it turned out. What do you think?

-Eric Pause

STRAIGHT SHOOTIN': WHAT SHOULD I NAME MY CHILDREN?

2010-03-04T12:40:00.000-08:00

"Dear Straight Shootin',

I need to name my children, what first names are suitable?
example: Bur Gur...

peace and love to the pals at Pause.

-John"

Dear John,

I know you. I know you probably have good intentions. I know we’ve shared some good times in Ken’s family barn screaming along to budget metal and taking photos of what eventually would become the greatest clothing line ever. I know you probably don’t always talk the way you did that one time on webcam (for like, an hour straight, and none of us in that room who witnessed what went down on that camera will ever get that hour back). I know you, John. Not well, but enough. I know you enough to know that you should not procreate. John, hear me. Please. Do not have children.

Please note that based on your example of Bur Gur, I am assuming you are going for the Clever but Cruel route in naming your spawn. With that in mind, in the event that you screw up and go against my plea, the following names are suitable (I have also taken into account the time you have spent in other countries, which may lead to the need for names suitable to more than one ethnicity):

Ann
Finn
Bug
Warmon
Cou (pronounced Coo)
Humdin
Ja (pronounced both Ja, and Ya)
Lou
Ty
Zin

Stay away from the following, because people will think your last name is pronounced with a soft G:

Bad
Aven
Mer
Challen
Manny
Dylan

But John, please. Please. Just read the first paragraph of my response several times before making any rash decisions.

Hope this helps!

Your BFF, Mel

Have a question? Email it to straightshootin@pausedesigns.com!

YIPPIE-KY-AY

2010-03-03T16:07:00.000-08:00

If you're familiar with the Gorillaz at all, then you've probably come to expect a certain level of awesomeness from them. Since they put elements of funk, hip hop, electronic, punk, rock, reggae and folk on their albums, they're one of those groups that satisfies nearly everyone. (Even the crustiest of punks has to admit Feel Good is a catchy tune.) Even if you don't like any of their music, you can push mute and still love this band. They've got radmaster Jamie Hewlett behind the wheel doing all of the illustration and design for their videos, making everything look incredibly stylish and incredibly cool. There's so much effort and love put into everything this band puts out, that there is no way you could possibly hate on them. What more could you possibly want you spoiled spoiled brat?! Anyway, that's all fine and dandy, but have you seen their new video for Stylo? Ho. Lee. Shit. It doesn't even matter if you hate this song. This is basically music video perfection. Go watch it right now and try to hate it. (I'll wait.)

That's what I thought.

MAN, I love this band...

-Eric Pause