Me and that Hydro74 rascal in the streets of Amsterdam. Photo by Jennifer Cirpici.

Back home in Dartmouth after a long 2 weeks on the road. Manila, Toronto and Amsterdam all jammed up together. Man, what a ride. Met so many awesome people and had many great times. But nice to be home to relax and recharge. Can barely string these words together.

So, FITC Amsterdam! My first time in that great city and I sure didn’t want to leave. Without further babbling, here’s the machine-gun list of times in the ‘Dam.

1. Amsterdam, your airport looks like a big shopping mall.
2. First face I see when I get to the hotel, Joshua “Hydro74″ Smith. Instant buds.
3. Met up with friends and speakers to enjoy the FITC “sneak preview” night.
4. Got made fun of for my love of Heineken. Apparently frowned upon?
5. Walked through the Red Light district. Saw some scantily clad dames through windows.
6. Opened up FITC with my stage show. Awesome audience, many laughs had.
7. Saw Hydro74 drop some vector science and hilariously answer questions.
8. Browsed through a bookstore with a MEGA design section. Heaven.
9. Took the audience through my entire poster process for my second talk.
10. Ate some steak at the speakers dinner. Talked all kinds of design.
11. Hydro grabbed my rump. Possibly twice.
12. Laughs shared with FITC’s Shawn and Lisa. Several laughs.
13. Met so many great people at the final party. You all rock.
14. Long flight home. Many screaming babies.

I’m missing all kinds of good stuff in between, but as you can see it was an amazing trip. Only the 3rd stop on the Signalnoise World Tour 2o13. A HUGE THANKS to Shawn and Lisa for rolling the dice on me and shipping me over to Europe to represent East Coast Canada.

In only 1 hour I’ll be getting into the air again to start my venture to FITC Amsterdam. This is stop #3 on the Signalnoise World Tour 2013, hot off my trip to Manila and Toronto. My bag is packed and I’m armed with stickers and buttons for those interested. I’ll be taking the stage TWICE on Monday, first will be Design Renegade to start off the event at 10am then I’ll be doing a 30 minute drawing session in the Influxis Lounge at 3:30pm. Be there!

Looking forward to meeting up with my favorite FITC crew, along with some fellow speakers and pals Hydro74 and GMunk. Can’t wait to hang with this yahoos over in Europe, hope I get out alive.

Without further keyboard pecking, I need to pack this rig up and fire it into the car. I’ll be seeing you real soon Amsterdam!

The second stop on the Signalnoise World Tour is in Toronto TONIGHT for the We Made This event. At 6:30pm I’ll be taking the stage with Hector Ayuso,  Eduardo del Fraile and my pal Ron Gervais to discuss art, design and Canadian culture. We will each be doing a little presentation about ourselves and our work, then a panel discussion will ensue.

This will all be happening at the Design Exchange (234 Bay Street) and is bound to be a killer event. Check out the full event details and be sure to register.

ONE NIGHT ONLY! Not to be missed, Toronto!

Photo by The Wandering Jade.

A dark but giant shot of the audience. And this is only the center portion.

New pals! Koto and Shin of DEVILROBOTS!

Shin of DEVILROBOTS messed with my Sad Mac icon.

What a hell of a trip. I’m currently pecking away on my laptop in a hotel room in Toronto, my head still spinning from my trip over to Graphika Manila. What a heck of a time. Seen in the photo above are all us speakers onstage at the end of the event. (L-R) Benjamin Seide, myself, Jessica Walsh, Armand Serrano, Benja Harney, Shin, Ryan Honey and Koto.

Without further ado, here is the Signalnoise Machine-gun list of what made this trip worth it.

1. The Heat! A welcome treat for this Canadian to escape the chilly February winter.
2. Meeting the wonderful event organizers, Aram and Ella! Best hosts a guy could ask for.
3. The distinct pleasure of meeting the other amazing speakers. See above.
4. Had a big (and political) historical tour of old Manila. Such a crazy story.
5. An intimidatingly big a beautiful event venue. Very surreal to see.
6. THE AUDIENCE! 3,000 energetic people packed that place, laughing and cheering the whole way.
7. My giant Canadian flag slide came onscreen and the place erupted!
8. Handed out Signalnoise stickers to a mob after my talk.
9. Signed about 100 autographs after the event. Thats a huge first.
10. Nerded-out with Devil Robots about toy culture. Many laughs! Great guys!

A HUGE thank-you to Aram and Ella for organizing everything to be smooth and enjoyable. For a solo Canadian venturing for the first time into Asia, you really made it an awesome experience.

Whenever I go to an event like this there seems to be an immediate friendship formed with the other speakers, and this was no different. Such a varied and talented crew full of smiles and stories. It was a DISTINCT PLEASURE to meet and hang out with you all. Hope we can cross paths again in the near future.

And once again, all of you in the audience. I have never EVER presented in front of such a huge crowd before, which can be pretty intimidating, but you all made it one of my best talks on record. Your cheers, laughs and reactions kept my story on track and it was a wonderful experience to be on that stage. You all rock! Thank-you!

I’m happy to announce another speaking gig just added to the calendar. I’ll be telling my story at Adobe’s ADIM13 in Boulder, Colorado this April. Not only am I excited because this is an Adobe event (y’know, the people who make that software we all use) but because this has zombies and beer involved. For real. Here’s the legit description from the Adobe brass:

“In this hands-on 3-day class you’ll design with still and moving images, using a powerful combination of cameras, computers, and the Adobe Creative Cloud. You’ll begin with still images to create monster-themed beer packaging, then you’ll create an online beer advertisement utilizing advanced Photoshop video features. In the process you’ll master many of the wonders of Adobe Creative Cloud.”

Check out the full ADIM13 website for the full details, tickets and all the fun facts. I’ll be seeing you soon Boulder!

The 2013 speaking schedule is filling up quick. I’m happy to announce that I’ll be making the trek down to the wilds of Columbia, South Carolina in April to tell my story at Converge SE. I’ve never been to this part of the States and I’m really looking forward to shaking some hands down there. Heard wonderful things.

This event is bringing together an intimidating line-up, including Mig Reyes, Daniel Burka, United Pixelworkers, Happy Cog and my friend and ally from out in Portland, Aaron Draplin. So much talent, now I’m getting nervous.

According to the top brass at Converge SE, tickets for this beast will go on sale January 30. Be ready, South Carolina.

I’m proud to have been asked by Héctor Ayuso, Director and top brass at OFFF, to be a part of his presentation We Made This in Toronto next month. I won’t babble too much, just read this synopsis of what will be going down…

“We will discuss the importance of place in an ever-more connected global community. How does defining one’s nationality impact one’s place in the creative community? Does place play a role in creativity? Invited artists will talk about their work and the state of design in today’s global world. The convergence of hand processes, traditional printing methods, and digital production are creating new ways to make and consume media.”

Now that’s a tall order with a lot of interesting dialogue to be had. Guess I need to start cracking some books to brush up on my smart-talk. I’ll be joining Hector, fellow Canadian Michael Brown (operator of the mighty Ventilate.ca) and Spanish artist Eduardo del Fraile for some onstage hi-jinx as we discuss the topics at hand. This thing was even put together by the Spanish Embassy. International relations!

So Toronto, mark down February 12 in your little calendars and come down to Design Exchange, 234 Bay Street for this 1-night only event. Tickets are only 10 bucks and you can grab them right here. Looking forward to shaking some hands!