this is what concerns me:

Whoa. I’m really hoping this person compiled this info from many unnamed sources and didn’t just make it up…

Circuit City closing 155 stores
Ann Taylor closing 117 stores nationwide
Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, and Catherine’s to close 150 store nationwide
Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores, more after January
Cache will close all stores
Talbots closing all stores
J. Jill closing all stores
GAP closing 85 stores
Footlocker closing 140 stores, more to close after January
Wickes Furniture closing all stores
Levitz closing remaining stores
Bombay closing remaining stores
Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January.
Whitehall closing all stores
Piercing Pagoda closing all stores
Disney closing 98 stores, more after January
Home Depot closing 15 stores, 1 in NJ (New Brunswick)
Macys closing 9 stores after January
Linens and Things closing all stores
Movie Galley closing all stores
Pacific Sunwear closing all stores
Pep Boys closing 33 stores
Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores
JC Penney closing a number of stores after January
Ethan Allen closing 12 stores
Wilson Leather closing all stores
Sharper Image closing all stores
K B Toys closing 356 stores
Loews to close some stores
Dillard’s to close some stores

Tiny Tim says “Fuck yeah!”

[via Kim]

This looks like fun, but it costs $42,997. The plans alone are $995. Wonder how much it costs to build… (Permits not required, composting toilet not included.)

Things have been relatively bustling in my living room at TIWCM HQ lately. For APE last weekend, I made a lil’ quarter-sized, 24 page self-obsessed mini-comic about my favorite shoes (pictured: page one) and, in typical TIWCM fashion, table-squatted with the thing rather successfully. I swear that one of these days I will pay to play. Stumptown, perchance? Good news: that leaves nearly six months for a couple other stories, including the long FNB situation. Oh, plus my return to regular civilization.

Bad news: the entire miniscule “lit” comics industry may very well have collapsed in upon itself in a small, self-contained haze of inflated egos and semi-toxic inks by that point. Tom Spurgeon shares his cynical old-man wisdom on the subject.

For every new exhibitor at SPX putting their creativity on paper in order to share it with a couple of hundred fellow travelers, two young Hollywood functionaries descend on San Diego for the first time looking for idiosyncratic projects with a hook by which they get to justify their place on payroll.

Me, I’m just happy to get some really sweet deals on my print runs from my friend Henry down the street. Because print shops, those are definitely depression recession-proof…

It appears that yesterday I was peer-pressured into getting a table for APE. Despite what this might make you think, I’m generally a pretty strong-willed person.

This being said: um, do you any of you guys know someone who might want to share a table with me? I don’t need all that real estate for just three (3!!) (knock on wood) things (unless I make the T-shirts!!*), and if there are more of us we won’t be stuck there so often and will have more opportunities for bathroom and Chris-Ware-stalking breaks.

Oh, right, plus it’s cheaper — that too.

*You didn’t really fall for that, did you? If I made T-shirts, I wouldn’t be in this mess now would I?

I like Anthropologie; like, I likelike Anthropologie. But I’m kind of cheapcareful with money, so I mostly just go there to ogle all the over-priced, well-designed stuff, and/or to play the “How much does it cost?” game, which really never gets old. Really! — just guess how much this shirt costs.

Anyway, I realize this is kind of absurd, especially considering my lowwell-managed income, but it’s a fun distraction from time to time. And at least I am not like Jade from Jersey, who blogs at Craving Anthropologie. From her site:

An obsession, have to have it, definitely want to live there! A gal who spends way too many lunch hours at Anthropologie — browsing, making my wish list, inspired, charmed, teased, of course I have to leave with something.. anything!

I love it when other people’s idosyncracies overshadow mine — it makes me feel so normal.

So apparently about 6% of adults shop compulsively, though probably not all at Anthropologie, or else they could make that shit a little more affordable — they must be Craving Urban Outfitters, or Old Navy.