It's that time of year again. The infamous IC 'Top Ten Albums' of 2011. Get your hate mail ready ...

Ryan:

1. White Lies "Ritual" 2. Young Galaxy "Shapeshifting" 3. Chapel Club "Palace" 4. Jamie Woon "Mirrorwriting" 5. Bon Iver "Bon Iver" 6. Nero "Welcome Reality" 7. Elbow "Build A Rocket Boys!" 8. The Joy Formidable "The Big Roar" 9. My Morning Jacket "Circuital" 10. Graveyard "Hisingen Blues"

Don:

1. Young Galaxy "Shapeshifting" 2. Phantogram "Nightlife EP" 3. Active Child "You Are All I See" 4. Foster The People "Torches" 5. The Joy Formidable "The Big Roar" 6. Austra "Feel It Break" 7. Adele "21" 8. Mat Kearney "Young Love" 9. Jay-Z & Kanye West "Watch The Throne" 10. Mastodon "The Hunter"

Zac:

1. Tycho "Dive" 2. Mat Kearney "Young Love" 3. Nero "Welcome Reality" 4. Young Galaxy "Shapeshifting" 5. Friendly Fires "Pala" 6. Needtobreathe "The Reckoning" 7. White Lies "Rituals" 8. Mirrors "Lights And Offerings" 9. The Joy Formidable "The Big Roar" 10. Phantogram "Nightlife EP"

Ahhhh, our favorite time of year is back. The two Frank's (Sinatra & Capra), Yuletide logs, eggnogs, and Lord Of The Rings DVD extras in our pajamas. And of course, the great seasonal goodies at Target. We were lucky enough to work on two fun stocking stuffers this Holiday season. Last year, the LEGO Build A Bullseye set was such a hit, we were asked to come back for round two. And to make the kids (and us) even more ecstatic, you can create a polar bear and snowman in addition to Bullseye dog. It all folds up into a gift-able size for that special someone. Sequels are supposed to be better, right?

And the gifts keep coming ... We were also asked to design and illustrate a super-fun (and addicting) interactive game featuring our favorite pooch. The big idea: Can you pat the dogs as quickly as they light up without losing your cool? Oh, and each level gets more and more insane as you continue to play. Lights, barking, action. Find them both in-store or online now.

Art direction: Brian Holt, Rob Weaver and Ted Halbur. Once again, extra special thanks to the team at Target.

Kids. We love 'em. Teenagers ... well, we love them too. With both in mind, we're excited to offer 4 new stretched canvas prints and posters through Wheatpaste Art Collective. The stretched canvas prints are a whopping 24" x 30" and the uber-cool removable non-toxic "sticky" posters are an even more-whopping 28" x 35". We've got a few samples of both formats in the shop and we aren't afraid to tell you the quality level is perfect-o. The colors are rich and just as vivid as you see here. You can purchase them individually or collect the whole set. Seem them a tad bigger here. Enjoy ... here's to the kids.

"Afternoon Snack":

"The Visitor":

"High & Dry":

"Neighborhood Cookout":

Ahhh, the first day of pre-school. Today was a biggie for my son - definitely a few tears. Continuing tradition, here's a quick drawing I stuffed in his lunchbox to ease his first day jitters. Also in the shop for $12.

Time flies. Today is my little girl's first day of first grade. Just like last year, I decided to make her a quick treat for her lunchbox. Many of you asked for prints last time, so we added an 8.5" x 11" print to the shop for $12. All proceeds benefit her lunch fund ... and I'm happy to report that there were less tears this year ...

Heartwork is included in How Magazine's 'Top 10 Websites For Designers' this month. Cool!

What is Heartwork?

Heartwork is a project designed to raise money for art supplies within the art room at Target House—this wonderful home-away-from-home for the families of children facing long-term treatment at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

The whole idea started simply enough. We, along with a few other creative individuals, were asked to work on various design projects for Target House. But, in the process, we were so deeply moved by the experience that we didn’t want it to end. We witnessed first hand the special connection the kids had with the art room in particular. It was a place where we saw kids at all stages of health just being kids.

So, we began to wonder, “What if we could create a ongoing way to support more and better art supplies for these children?” It was then that Heartwork was born.

The idea is simple. Every year, a group of talented artists will create a series of prints to raise money for the art room. Each of the prints will feature a different interpretation of the Target House elephant mascot, chosen because it represents family, long life, strength and playfulness—attributes with special meaning at a place designed for families to live, play and heal.

Print details:

Archival giclee - printed with pigment inks on archival cotton rag paper Size: 11 inches x 14 inches Signed & numbered editions of 40

Purchase the prints here.

"Elephants Love Ooey Gooey Peanut Butter" by Johnny Yanok:

"Snailaphant" by Nate Williams and "When Elephants Fly" by Anna Chambers:

"Collaboration" by Don Clark

"Love To Grow" by Scott Thares and "Balancing Act" by Christopher Lee:

"Circus" by Katie Kirk and "Better Days Ahead" by Richard Boynton:

"Waterworks" by Ryan Clark:

"Tuskers Ahoy" by Michael Bartalos:

The Scott Hamilton Arts & Crafts Room at Target House:

We're honored to be part of this project and thankful for everyone who donated their time and talent.

Don:

Ryan:

We are extremely honored that the Minnesota chapter of the AIGA recently recognized all of our 2009 Target projects in their annual Design Show. See details here and here. Many thanks to our incredible A.D.'s over at the bullseye. More fun stuff to share coming soon ...

Super cool 'Thumb War' gift card created by our buddy Christopher Lee.

Love 'em or hate 'em ... our 2009 Top Tens have arrived.

Don:

1. Imogen Heap Ellipse 2. Coalesce OX 3. John Mayer Battle Studies 4. Miike Snow Miike Snow 5. Jay-Z The Blueprint 3 6. Wilco The Album 7. Paper Route Absence 8. Mute Math Armistice 9. Phoenix Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix 10. Mindy Smith Stupid Love

Top Ten "Honorable Mention"

1. Throwdown Deathless 2. Mastodon Crack The Skye 3. Switchfoot Hello Hurricane 4. Metric Fantasies 5. U2 No Line On The Horizon 6. The Boxer Rebellion Union 7. Blacklist Midnight Of The Century 8. I Am X Kingdom Of Welcome Addiction 9. Editors In This Light And On This Evening 10. Hot Leg Red Light Fever

Ryan:

1. White Lies To Lose My Life 2. Bat For Lashes Two Suns 3. Alice In Chains Black Gives Way To Blue 4. Metric Fantasies 5. Living Things Habeas Corpus 6. I Am X Kingdom Of Welcome Addiction 7. Phoenix Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix 8. Miike Snow Miike Snow 9. Dredg The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion 10. Depeche Mode Sounds Of The Universe

Top Ten "Honorable Mention"

1. Doves Kingdom Of Rust 2. Paper Route Absence 3. Temper Trap Conditions 4. Blacklist Midnight Of The Century 5. Biffy Clyro Only Revolutions 6. Editors In This Light And On This Evening 7. Imogen Heap Ellipse 8. Grammatics Grammatics 9. Silversun Pickups Swoon 10. Prodigy Invaders Must Die

Ryan's Top Ten Metal:

1. Throwdown Deathless 2. Bury Your Dead It's Nothing Personal 3. Coalesce OX 4. Mastodon Crack The Skye 5. The Ascendicate To Die As Kings 6. Napalm Death Time Waits For No Slave 7. Karnivool Sound Awake 8. Unholy New Life Behind Closed Eyes 9. Scar Symmetry Dark Matter Dimensions 10. Devil Driver Pray For Villains

Not a bad year for music! Yeah, yeah, yeah ... we realize there are a few more releases that are coming out before the end of the year. But are any of them good? Exactly. That being said, read 'em and weep. Don:

2008 TOP TEN

1. Portishead "Third" 2. The Night Marchers "See You In Magic" 3. Kings Of Leon "Only By The Night" 4. People In Planes "Beyond The Horizon" 5. The Out_Circuit "Pierce The Empire With A Sound" 6. Carolina Liar "Coming To Terms" 7. Copeland "You Are My Sunshine" 8. Keane "Perfect Symmetry" 9. The Helio Sequence "Keep Your Eyes Ahead" 10. Coldplay "Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends"

2008 TOP TEN HONORABLE MENTION

1. Snow Patrol "A Hundred Million Suns" 2. My Morning Jacket "Evil Urges" 3. Oasis "Dig Out Your Soul" 4. Your Vegas "S/T" 5. Secret Machines "S/T" 6. Dead Confederate "Wrecking Ball" 7. Royworld "Man In The Machine" 8. Young Widows "Old Wounds" 9. Starflyer 59 "Dial M" 10. Longwave "Secrets Are Sinister"

2008 TOP TEN METAL

1. Metallica "Death Magnetic" 2. Slipknot "All Hope Is Gone" 3. The Famine "The Raven & The Reaping" 4. Gojira "The Way Of All Flesh" 5. All That Remains "Overcome" 6. Bury Your Dead "S/T" 7. Scar Symmetry "Holographic Universe" 8. Meshuggah "ObZen" 9. Becoming The Archetype "Dichotomy" 10. Opeth "Watershed"

Ryan:

2008 TOP TEN

1. Elbow "The Seldom Seen Kid" 2. Portishead "Third" 3. Kings Of Leon "Only By The Night" 4. People In Planes "Beyond The Horizon" 5. Secret Machines "Secret Machines" 6. The Night Marchers "See You In Magic" 7. The Helio Sequence "Keep Your Eyes Ahead" 8. Copeland "You Are My Sunshine" 9. My Morning Jacket "Evil Urges" 10. The Out_Circuit "Pierce The Empire With A Sound"

2008 TOP TEN HONORABLE MENTION

1. Young Widows "Old Wounds" 2. Haunts "Haunts" 3. Carolina Liar "Coming To Terms" 4. Oasis "Dig Out Your Soul" 5. Bon Iver "For Emma, Forever Ago" 6. Goldfrapp "Seventh Tree" 7. Keane "Perfect Symmetry" 8. Starflyer 59 "Dial M" 9. Stereophonics "Pull The Pin" 10. The Subways "All Or Nothing"

2008 TOP TEN METAL

1. The Famine "The Raven And The Reaping" 2. Scar Symmetry "Holographic Universe" 3. Bury Your Dead "Bury Your Dead" 4. Slipknot "All Hope Is Gone" 5. Becoming The Archetype "Dichotomy" 6. Metallica "Death Magnetic" 7. Gojira "The Way Of All Flesh" 8. Disfear "Live The Storm" 9. Meshuggah "ObZen" 10. Trenches "The Tide Will Swallow Us Whole"

Tim (Feed The Creature):

2008 TOP TEN

1. The Walkmen "You & Me" 2. Fleet Foxes "S/T" 3. The Dodos "Visiter" 4. Coldplay "Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends" 5. Kings of Leon "Only By The Night" 6. Department of Eagles "In Ear Park" 7. Vampire Weekend "Self Titled" 8. Okkervil River "The Stand-Ins" 9. Deerhunter "Microcastle" 10. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals "Cardinology"

2008 TOP TEN HONORABLE MENTION

1. My Morning Jacket "Evil Urges" 2. Oasis "Dig Out Your Soul" 3. Portishead "Third" 4. The Helio Sequence "Keep Your Eyes Ahead" 5. Kanye West "808's And Heartbreaks" 6. Wale "The Mixtape About Nothing" 7. The Raconteurs "Consolers of the Lonely" 8. Beck "Modern Guilt" 9. The Cool Kids "The Bake Sale" 10. The Notwist "The Devil, You + Me"

Growing up, Ryan and I were Lego FANATICS. I vividly remember the massive room-sized bag of Legos that my mom found at a garage sale for $8 - and the day she brought it home. Our jaws dropped. We dabbled in Transformers, G.I. Joe and He-Man, but the Legos got the most love - for years and years. Naturally, my own kids love them (what kid doesn't?!) and those days in the 80's of creating airplanes and robots out of blocks are ever-present in our house 20+ some years later. I still think it might be the best toy to actually spawn creativity and imagination. All that to say - I just love Jason Freeny's anatomy of the lego man. Brilliant.

And yes, we are going to Legoland next summer. Anyone been?

Via Likecool

Got kids? I do. And I dig cool kids toys. Small Paul furniture by 10 Grain. Not expensive, but not cheap. Face it, you'd rather have this stuff all over the house instead of this.

We realize it's still November. Let's face it, nothing good comes out in December. Read 'em and weep ... Don:

TOP TEN 1) Foo Fighters "Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace" 2) The Hours "Narcissus Road" 3) Machine Head "The Blackening" 4) Band Of Horses "Cease To Begin" 5) Jimmy Eat World "Chase This Light" 6) Against Me! "New Wave" 7) Blackfield "II" 8) The National "Boxer" 9) Thrice "The Alchemy Index, Volume 1 & 2" 10) Soilwork "The Great Divide"

TOP TEN (HONORABLE MENTION) 1) Black Rebel Motorcycle Club "Baby 81" 2) Relient K "Five Score And Seven Years Ago" 3) Kanye West "Graduation" 4) Travis "The Boy With No Name" 5) Athlete "Beyond The Neighbourhood" 6) Editors "An End Has A Start" 7) Aqualung "Memory Man" 8) The Shins "Wincing The Night Away" 9) Peter Bjorn & John "Writers Block" 10) Wilco "Sky Blue Sky"

TOP TEN (NOT TO BE FORGOTTEN) 1) Porter Wagoner "The Wagonmaster" 2) Maroon 5 "It Won't Be Soon Before Too Long" 3) The Cooper Temple Clause "Make This Your Own" 4) Kings Of Leon "Because Of The Times" 5) Nine Inch Nails "Year Zero" 6) Jose Gonzalez "In Our Nature" 7) Rooney "Calling The World" 8) Maximo Park "Our Earthly Pleasures" 9) Justice "Cross" 10) Linkin Park "Minutes To Midnight"

TOP TEN METAL (New!) 1) Machine Head "The Blackening" 2) Soilwork "The Great Divide" 3) Him "Venus Doom" 4) Devil Driver "The Last Kind Words" 5) Bloodsimple "Red Harvest" 6) The Agony Scene "Get Damned" 7) Throwdown "Venom & Tears" 8) Sevendust "Alpha" 9) Megadeth "United Abominations" 10) Dark Tranquility "Fiction"

Ryan:

TOP TEN 1) The Cooper Temple Clause "Make This Your Own" (import) 2) Blackfield "Blackfield II" 3) The Hours "Narcissus Road" (import) 4) Machine Head "The Blackening" 5) Editors "An End Has A Start" 6) Peter Bjorn & John "Writer's Block" 7) Dave Gahan "Hourglass" 8) Against Me! "New Wave" 9) Band Of Horses "Cease To Begin" 10) Soilwork "Sworn To A Great Divide"

TOP TEN (HONORABLE MENTION) 1) Foo Fighters "Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace" 2) The National "Boxer" 3) Kaiser Chiefs "Yours Truly, Angry Mob" 4)Athlete "Beyond The Neighborhood" 5) Hard-Fi "Once Upon A Time In The West" 6) Stereophonics "Pull The Pin" 7) Jimmy Eat World "Chase This Light" 8) Radiohead "In Rainbows" 9) HIM "Venus Doom" 10) Kings Of Leon "Because Of The Times"

TOP TEN (NOT TO BE FORGOTTEN) 1) Kanye West "Graduation" 2) Rooney "Calling The World" 3) Field Music "Tones Of Town" 4) Travis "The Boy With No Name" 5) Neon Horse "Neon Horse" 6) Interpol "Our Love To Admire" 7) Falling Up "Captiva" 8) Biffy Clyro "Puzzle" 9) Maximo Park "Our Earthly Pleasures" 10) Black Rebel Motorcycle Club "Baby 81"

TOP TEN METAL (New!) 1) Machine Head "The Blackening" 2) Soilwork "Sworn To A Great Divide" 3) HIM "Venus Doom" 4) Becoming The Archetype "The Physics Of Fire" 5) Devildriver "The Last Kind Words" 6) Amorphis "Silent Waters" 7) Throwdown "Venom & Tears" 8) The Agony Scene "Get Damned" 9) Bloodsimple "Red Harvest" 10) As I Lay Dying "An Ocean Between Us"

Tim (Feed The Creature):

TOP 10 1) Feist "The Reminder" 2) Peter Bjorn & John "Writer's Block" 3) The National "Boxer" 4) Jens Lekman "Night Falls Over Kortadela" 5) Spoon "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" 6) Okkervil River "The Stage Names" 7) Sea Wolf "Leaves In The River" 8) Radiohead "In Rainbows" 9) The Pony's "Turn The Lights Out" 10) Travis "The Boy With No Name"

TOP TEN (HONORABLE MENTION) 1) Wilco "Sky Blue Sky" 2) Handsome Furs "Plague Park" 3) Arcade Fire "Neon Bible" 4) Band of Horses "Cease to Begin" 5) The Shins "Wincing The Night Away" 6) Liars "Liars" 7) Black Rebel Motorcycle Club "Baby 81" 8) Elvis Perkins "Ash Wednesday" 9) Kings of Leon "Because Of The Times" 10) Editors "An End Has A Start"

TOP TEN (NOT TO BE FORGOTTEN) 1) Benjy Ferree "Leaving The Nest" 2) Ryan Adams "Easy Tiger" 3) Kanye West "Graduation" 4) The Tough Alliance "A New Chance" 5) Josh Ritter "The Historical Conquests Of Josh Ritter" 6) Andrew Bird "Armchair Apocrypha" 7) Ferreby Lionheart "Catch The Brass Ring" 8) Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew "Spirit If..." 9) Interpol "Our Love To Admire" 10) Justice "Cross"