I’m sad to hear that top-notch illustrator and nice guy Nick Dewar has died at the young age of 37. His work is crisp and deceptively simple, and he never feared sharing the secrets to his success.

James White makes awesome retro-inspired rainbow-tastic digital artwork. His latest commission for the Finnish band Reckless Love is a love letter to 80s hair metal.

I’ve been wishing a long time for a USB-compatible classic Atari joystick to play emulators with. This brand new luminescent blue model goes beyond my wildest dreams. It leads the way in what I predict will be a coming wave of Tron nostalgia.

Cycling Inquisition has a terrific appreciation of German designer Otl Aicher and his contributions to the 1972 Olympic Games. I love the author’s introduction which reveals his childhood Pavlovian hatred for the Aicher’s ubiquitous pictograms. You’ve probably never wondered where the generic man/woman symbols used for so many bathroom signs originated, but you should so go read it.

I’m not a huge Pat Metheney fan, but his mechanical orchestra is undeniably awesome. Very cool that it responds to his playing, not just pure sequencing.

The number of colors in the Crayola crayon box doubles every 28 years. I love the chart showing palette growth from 1903-2010.

Thanks to Jason Dragon for the link to this video of finches “playing” a guitar. I like how they go all Sonic Youth with some twigs.

While waiting for the new season of The Office to begin, enjoy Ryan’s photo blog and a peek into the mind of Kevin.

Lisa Congdon intends to post a photo or rendering of one of her collections every day this year. It makes me feel a little less ashamed of my own pack-rat tendencies.

Fun party theme: guess the games represented by 100 cupcakes. My faves are Barrel of Monkeys, Checkers, Mousetrap, Dig Dug and Q*Bert, which also happen to be some of my favorite games.