Corpus Libris

January 20, 2012 FIGHT! #4

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And, an oldie but goodie that you've already seen...

January 18, 2012 FIGHT! #3

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...another fan submitted this one! Resonance, baby!
Which do you prefer?

January 16, 2012 FIGHT! #2

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Within a few days of taking this photo...

January 11, 2012 FIGHT! #1

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This one totally KILLS me.

January 9, 2012: Barth!

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Laura is totally an artiste, so I had to make sure the colors were complementary...

January 6, 2012: PLEASE READ

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WE'RE BACK!!!!

December 5th, 2011: SCIENCE INK

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An amazing photo that was submitted by Carl Zimmer, the author of Science Ink: Tattoos of the Science Obsessed (among other books). It was sent to him by one of his contributors, and I love how it fits in with Corpus Libris. Thanks Carl!

October 11, 2011: Fr-Endarkenment

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I've been waiting for WEEKS to catch Franny in a pose for this.

October 5, 2011: Book Trailer Cameo edition!

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There is actually a Corpus Libris cameo at the very beginning of this animated book trailer for Missed Connections by Sophie Blackall (from Workman Publishing). Awesome!

September 26, 2011

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Screenshot from an ad that appeared on my Pandora radio station. Corpus Libris-esque shots are all over the place! Though I suspect that this one was actually achieved via Photoshop...

September 23, 2011

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Ooh, does this count? I think so.

September 9, 2011

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September 1, 2011

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Sorry for the hiatus y'all! And hello to all of you who found this blog through The Stranger. Got some great stuff lined up, however. Never fear!

Remember A Million Little Pieces by James Frey? And in case you forgot this one from last November, here's a spoof of that very same book:

August 31, 2011

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Antonia sent me a link to this photo. Not quite a Corpus Libris, but definitely in the same spirit. And since cats don't read, perhaps this is more appropriate anyway. You Are What You Eat.

July 29th, 2011: Van Gogh!

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In honor of Van Gogh,
121 years after his death:
here's a shot from
Oliver in Vancouver.
Thanks!

July 25th, 2011: These. are. AWESOME. #7

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Allison writes: "Ann, from the fantastic used book shop The Spiral Bookcase in Manayunk, PA, turned me on to your blog. It looked like such fun that my boyfriend and I spent a Sunday afternoon taking our own Corpus Libris photos!"

Their photos are so great that I'm going to do a series for the next couple of weeks. Enjoy!

July 22nd, 2011: These. are. AWESOME. #6

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July 19th, 2011: These. are. AWESOME #5

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July 16th, 2011: These. are. AWESOME #4

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July 13th, 2011: These. are. AWESOME #3

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July 10th, 2011: These. are. AWESOME. #2

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July 7th, 2011: These. are. AWESOME. #1

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July 4th, 2011: Nothin' says patriotism like...

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...basketball, muscles, gay writers, and the good ol' red, white, and blue. Right?

July 1st, 2011: A Twist!

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Originally posted by berkeleymarina on Tumblr, this is a great twist on the Corpus Libris concept: rather than the book becoming the body part, the body part becomes the book cover. I LOVE IT. Would love to know where the original image came from..

June 29th, 2011: knuckle tattoos

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LOVE these great shots from Jessica at Latitude 33 Bookshop in Laguna Beach, which sadly announced that they will close by the end of the summer.

June 26th, 2011: Jaime Oliver in Brazil!

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Love this shot of a Jaime Oliver book in Portuguese, taken by Alberto in Belo Horizonte, in southeastern Brasil.

June 23, 2011: Allen and Unwin's ALIEN ONION

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Check out these (and so many more) amazing shots from the good folks at Allen & Unwin, an independent publisher in Australia:

Really, just go look at all them (there are 14!). I had the hardest time deciding which ones to pull. They also get mad props for a clever blog name: Alien Onion (to play on Allen & Unwin).

June 23, 2011: BookCourt vs. Skylight

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Okay, whose shot is better? Gotta love the McSweeney's box.

June 20, 2011: By Hand

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Corpus Libris Manus et Manus

June 17, 2011: GOVERNATOR

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My friend Pat, a bookseller at Vromans, during our visit to Libros Schmibros. He's gonna have to beef up a bit to make his face the same size as Ah-nold's.

June 14, 2011: The Sixties

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A great shot from Jennie, using The Sixties by Richard Avedon & Doon Arbus. LOVE the color continuity.

June 13, 2011: BEA! sweet pea! WORD!

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This photo contains so many things I love, made possible by the massive convergence of book people in New York for Book Expo America 2011. sweet pea, owner of Kings Books in Tacoma, Washington, posing with Pulled: A Catalog of Screen Printing at WORD in Brooklyn, photo taken by Jenn. Elements of awesome right there...

June 11, 2011

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2 photos from GateGeek, emphasizing the importance of balancing work and play...

June 5, 2011

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June 2, 2011

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A couple from the ladies at Skylight Books, humoring me once again...

Cinco de Mayo, 2011

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No photos from Mexico yet, but I do have these two great shots from Romina in Argentina. Love the Allende one! And the books are in Spanish, so it counts. Enjoy!

May 3, 2011: JennIRL/KeithRichards visits Skylight!

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April 18, 2011: A Tribute to The Book Cellar

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My friend Emily works at The Book Cellar in Brattleboro, VT. There was a horrible fire there on Sunday (and into Monday), and they have lost a whole lot. Books and fire and water don't get along in any circumstances. She sent me these photos that were taken a few months ago. They are great shots which also show their lovely store and their lovely staff. Send them lots of love and support as they figure out what's next for the Book Cellar.

Which half is Emily, which half is the book?

Just one cup of tea will be fine, thanks...

April 14, 2011: Fifty-Fifty

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The front cover of Fifty-Fifty: New Hong Kong Writing...

And the back cover of the same book. Double whammy!

April 7, 2011: Who's Been Sleeping In Your Head?

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An old one from the archives that never got posted. Genius, once again, from the good folks at Third Place Books. LOVE IT!!

April 2, 2011

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March 25, 2011: Chat Noir Books in Ontario

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Chat Noir Books is my new favorite bookstore that I've never been to. They've totally taken the Corpus Libris bone and run with it. If you live in Canada (and Northern Ontario specifically), you should go there and buy books from them. Below are just a few of their awesome photos.

Connery has a little more hair than I'm used to seeing him with!

Thanks to Paul McLaren the lovely crew at Chat Noir Books -- keep 'em coming!

March 23, 2011

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I'm kind of in love with this one. Thanks, Chris!
Brothers Ashkenazi by I. J. Singer

The Brothers Ashkenazi

March 20th, 2011

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No comment.

March 14, 2011

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Some great shots of Murakami's Norwegian Wood (designed by John Gall). Thanks, Lisa!

March 5, 2011: Lisa Yee!

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I found a few from the archives that never got posted. We tried so hard to get all three Lisa Yee books to align. But the faces are all different sizes! It's not so bad. At least the facial expressions match up...

March 1, 2011

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Great shot from Stephen Bishop, an artist, designer and developer based in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Thanks! Canadians are totally winning in the outside submissions category. Come on, everywhere else. Step it up! Next up, more Canadians.

February 21, 2011

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I tried for a long time to get our store cat Franny to pose for a picture. She kept looking at the book and rubbing her face on it. Finally, a coworker suggested that I try it this way.

Cut-outs of cats are so much more likely to stay still!

February 16, 2011

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After being on BoingBoing.net, Neatorama.com, and Spiegel.de, this blog got lots and lots of hits, which is totally awesome. I've had visitors from all 50 states and from 107 countries! Thanks for that, guys. BUT I also started to get submissions of photos from all over the world, which is way cooler. I have a total blast taking these photos, and I am thrilled that some of you can join me in the fun.

The first submission I'd like to share with you is from Yossi in Israel. For those of you who don't read Hebrew (like me), a translation of the title is "World's weirdest stories." How apt! I love this photo. What a great solution to larger-than-life body parts!

February 13, 2010

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Noel + Zhivago + Pevear + Volokhonsky = AMAZING!

February 10, 2011: Experiments

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Here are a few experimental shots we did. What do you think: do they work?

Monday, January 10, 2011: SNOOKI

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OMG how did Snooki know about my blog?! Next time, girl, hold the book a little farther from your face so that the sizes match up. It's all about perspective. Trust me, I've practiced this a lot...

Thanks, Janet, for the heads up!

source: Pop Dust: Now I've Written More Books Than I've Read

December 7th, 2010

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All right, ladies and gents: Which photo do you prefer?

PS: Aren't my coworkers great? They humor me so much. Thanks Jenn and Justin...

November 17, 2010

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October 28th, 2010

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Do I dare? Do I dare to eat a peach?

October 24, 2010

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Pretty nuts, huh? Your eyes dost not deceive you, there are indeed 7 different books in this photo. Why would I do that to myself? I'd have to be crazy? Or perhaps...just...BOOKRAGEOUS. There exists a calendar, which you can purchase, which contains another photo from this shoot and 17 others of people doing crazy shit for the love of books. How could you not want one? Get it here.

July 23, 2010

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In Honor of Comic-Con

June 10th, 2010: Author Cameo!

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Very excited for this photo -- Steve Almond was very nice to humor me. I told him that now he knows what my coworkers feel like. "Just hold this book in front of your face. A little to the left... a little more...THERE! Hold it!" And a few hours later, he did a wildly entertaining event. Thanks, Steve!

I'm now an official affiliate of Skylight Books! Click on this link to help me learn more about how it works!

Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life: A Book by and for the Fanatics Among Us

May 10th, 2010

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In honor of all of the graphic novel events we're having at Skylight Books this week (Geoff Johns, Ariel Schrag, Esther Pearl Watson, Daniel Clowes), here's Darren with one of his recent favorites -- CRIMINAL (Deluxe Edition) by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips.

March 23, 2010

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Top half = Adrian Tomine's illustration for the cover of John Wray's LOWBOY.
Bottom half = author Cecil Castellucci at Skylight Books!

March 15, 2010

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A couple of great pictures from other booksellers:

More awesomeness from Autumn and the folks at Third Place Books in Seattle

From Guinevere, Pat, and the folks at Vromans in Pasadena. I should have done this one last week for the Oscars!

March 4, 2010

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February 26, 2010

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For your Friday endowment. Er, uh...enjoyment: Gustavo's MANHOOD.

February 22, 2010

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Ladies and Gentlemen, I am happy to announce that after being in a coma for more than 4 months, our beloved Corpus Libris has been revived! And like Lance Armstrong, it's coming back stronger than ever!

The Corpus Libris revival was in part due to some great submissions I've gotten in the last few weeks, so don't worry, they will get posted! But first I'm going to reach into the reserve stacks (librarians, how do you like that?) and introduce you to the amazing folks at Danbury Public Library in Connecticut. They have been doing a Corpus Libris-like project of their own and they have an incredible set of photos that put me to shame. Here are a few, and check out their Flickr stream for the full glory.

October 11th, 2009

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Arlo gives himself an impermanent tattoo...

September 16th, 2009

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This is an old AMOK catalog that my new coworker Gustavo had lying around. AMOK, in its glory days, was just down the street from where Skylight Books is located today. Hence, Gustavo calls this photograph "Tribute to Old Los Feliz" How awesome is that?

September 10, 2009

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My co-workers surprise me with the most phenomenal photos!

August 29th, 2009

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Ben Lee had to leave Skylight for greener pastures, but it wasn't because of the trauma of this photo. I don't think. We miss you, Ben Lee!

August 6th, 2009

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Emily the Hooligan gets rowdy on a Saturday night...

...while Noel goes out on the town in Los Feliz.

July 24th, 2009

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Two left eyes...

July 9th, 2009

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Another one from the good folks at Arcana...

June 23, 2009

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Can't remember what book this is from, alas!

June 16th, 2009

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In the absence of a Ulysses Corpus Libris photo celebrate Bloomsday, I've decided to post perhaps the best Corpus Libris photo submitted yet. Congrats again to Autumn and the folks at Third Place Books.

Really, guys, this is incredible.

June 3, 2009

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Here's one for those of you who were at BEA this past weekend:

And here's a great photo from Hans and the good folks at Micawbers in St. Paul, Minnesota. It's an important reminder that the "corpus" need not be limited to the homo sapiens species!

May 16th, 2009

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Hott!

May 11th, 2009

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Check out this amazing photo of an incredibly obscure book that I'm sure none of you have ever seen before...

May 7th, 2009

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Ah, nothing says spring like babies -- they're sprouting up everywhere!

Thanks to the folks at Arcana (fellow Angelenos. Or Santa Monicians?) for sending me some great photos!

April 25, 2009: The Granta Oath

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I do hearby solemnly swear that Granta is one of the best literary magazines around. These photos were taken post-Day-1 of the LA Times Festival of Books, at the party thrown by Granta and hosted by Equator Books in Venice, California.

This is John Freeman, the American editor of Granta, holding the latest issue of Granta. How cool is that!

This is Lizzie, my very obliging girlfriend, who accompanied me to a party where she knew nary a soul.

And this, of course, is me.
Do oaths count if you're missing your pinky?

April 23, 2009

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April 10th, 2009

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March 30th, 2009

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Thanks to Candace, from the blog Book Booker Bookest! As she mentioned, I don't have that many photos from kids books. So, consider this an invitation to help me fix that -- send your kid lit Corpus Libris photos!

March 25th, 2009

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Bill, oh Bill...

The Ides of March, 2009

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Getting our hands dirty at Skylight Books on a Saturday night...

March 10th, 2009

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Awesome shot, Autumn! Thanks for the follow-up submission! Does this mean that we booksellers are going to have to get beefier and beefier in order to keep up?

February 20, 2009

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Here are a couple of images that people turned me on to. Thanks Mashanda and Elyse! Alas, I had a hard time tracking down the original sources, but there are links to the blogs that they were found on.

http://riotclitshave.com/2008.11/seifer.jpg

http://www.foundshit.com/geisha-book-illusion/

February 11, 2009

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Sometimes it takes 2...

Many Many Thanks

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Whoa whoa whoa, what's going on with this one? One co-worker plays both roles in this cover!

Thanks to everyone who has enjoyed this blog in its first few months of existence!

First, to my co-workers who always indulge me when I run around the store with a camera and a stack of books.

Second, to those of you who I DON'T work with who bothered to send me photos. Chanel, Andre, and Autumn. I love you for it! And for all of you who MEANT to document your favorite covers in 2008, you'll never believe this, but 2009 is officially the Year of Corpus Libris Photos. It says so on Wikipedia. I swear! You still have 11 months to e-mail them to me!

Finally, to all of you who posted links to Corpus Libris on your blogs and websites. Sincerely, Thank You.

The Skylight Books Blog, of course.

The Divine Miss Pixie Woods Blog of Cecil Castellucci

The LA Times Book Blog, Jacket Copy. One of my favorite blogs discovered in 2008.

The Written Nerd Blog

The Inkblotter at the King's English

Richard Nash at Soft Skull Press. Thank you for all you do.

The Bookavore

The ABA Omnibus Blog

The LA Observed Blog Native Intelligence

black_elephants Blog

The Readerville Journal. Check out their Most Coveted Covers feature...

The Inkwell Bookstore and also here.

Cynsational Blog of Cynthia Leitich Smith AND Cynsations

Charlottesville Words Blog

Good Books Blog

Magers and Quinn Booksellers Blog

Olduvai Blog

Lizzie Nichols Concept Design

Mashanda Scott

Thanks guys!

Emily Pullen
Skylight Books

January 10, 2009

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Good day, or bad day?

December 30, 2008

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I know Edan is just dying to have tattoos like these!

December 11, 2008

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My, my, Autumn, you seem to have aged a few... thousand... years since the last time I saw you! But your complexion is so clear!

And P.S. Skylighters thank you for the crumbly yumminess!

December 4, 2008

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November 25th, 2008

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Corpus Libris has jumped the pond! Thanks to Andre in Portugal for these great photos. And I dig your blog (although I can't read Portuguese)!

November 17th, 2008

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I won't name names, but someone at Skylight said, "Okay, I'll be a part of your little project, just as long as no one has to see my face." For any of you who know our staff, I'll give you one guess... :) (I love you, CCH)

November 7th, 2008

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And I just couldn't resist...

OBAMA!!!

October 28, 2008

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I'm particularly proud of Kevin's shirt in the background and the color contrast...

October 18, 2008

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October 15, 2008

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October 10, 2008

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The Bearded Lady!

October 6, 2008

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Darren gets in touch with his roots.

October 1, 2008

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In Honor of Banned Books Week...