The I Love You Blog

I Love Spring

noreply@blogger.com (I Love You) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:02:00 +0000

Every May, my blog slows down a little because Spring sproings me outside! This year, warm weather came early, and then left ... even the cherry blossoms in High Park are confused. Here they are, almost in full bloom, one month ahead of time. Happy Spring!

Love is Possible

noreply@blogger.com (I Love You) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 03:17:00 +0000

Why yes, I do believe it is! This stencil was photographed by Flickr's 4illa, in Brooklyn, New York. Seeing "love is possible" done up in stickers and stencils in many styles -- the earliest seem to be from Berlin. Also, check out this "love is possible" photoset from Tel Aviv.

Simple.

noreply@blogger.com (I Love You) — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 12:22:00 +0000

The heart of all spiritual teaching is simple.
Be love. Be peace. Be harmony. Be compassion. Be joy.

-Author unknown

I'm sure that the meaning of life would fit on a T-shirt. It might say something like this:

There is no greater than love with no object.
For then you yourself, have become love, itself.

-Rumi

Or maybe that's too complicated. We have been taught to make things complicated:

Enlightenment is a destructive process. It has nothing to do with becoming better or being happier. Enlightenment is the crumbling away of untruth. It's seeing through the facade of pretense. It's the complete eradication of everything we imagined to be true.

-Adyashanti

I love you. I love. Maybe the T-shirt only needs to say:

(in any font or colour you like : )

Neon I Love You

noreply@blogger.com (I Love You) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:54:00 +0000

Sometimes I Love You is subtly whispered; other times, it's screaming in neon. Neon I Love You signs have been sold on eBay as long as I've been looking for ILY items, but in the past few years, they've entered the art world. The following three photos are part of 12 Months of Neon Love, a project that rendered twelve bits of pop lyric in large, red, neon letters. The messages were displayed on a rooftop in view of a commuter train and were, fittingly, sold by auction afterwards.

The project was a collaboration between British artists Victoria Lucas and Richard William Wheater, and began on Valentines day 2011. They write:

As the fleeting expressions of love change month by month, so too does the relationship that conceived them. On the eighth month of the project the personal journey between the collaborating artists dynamically shifted, their own failing relationship becoming as much a part of the artwork as the neon that blazes on the roof top. Lyrics such as Joy Division’s Love, Love will Tear Us Apart Again echoed the real events occurring closer to home. Thus 12 Months of Neon Love is as much about the pain that all lovers endure as it is the euphoric rapture the feeling of love can bestow.

“I think the fact that we have experienced the full spectrum of feelings associated with love during the projects short life span is so important, and for me has become the main concept driving the work. The work was conceived out of our love, which now only exists in our memories. The transitory nature of the project and its temporal existence echoes this; a year long artwork representing a year long love affair.” – Lucas

Neon has been big in the art world for a couple of years. The formula seems to be something like: take a banal and/or highly personal phrase, do it up in a form that we mostly associate with seedy businesses, and then note that neon is light, meaning that your words are now pulsating with electricity. Not saying this is a bad thing. Tracey Emin has embraced it:

Image swiped from art-Corpus

More neon love art here, here, and well, just search through the hundreds of signs at Google Images for more. Ever since I saw my first I Love You neon sign on eBay, I've wanted one for the collection of found I Love You objects. I think a found sign is as interesting as a created one, but I didn't feel like shelling out the cash.

I do have one of these, though. From eBay.

wtf I Love You

noreply@blogger.com (I Love You) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 18:15:00 +0000

Throwboy decorates brightly coloured pillows with chatroom acronyms, Internet icons, and even Facebook "Like" buttons. I bought one of their small "ily" chat pillows for my I Love You collection (which, with thousands of pieces, will make a bizarre art show one day) . Months later, I received a package at my door, like this:

Graphic swiped from Throwboy

The package looked too large for the little pillow.

Inside, was this:

Wtf, Throwboy? My seven-year-old son wanted the three letters explained, turning the wtf moment into a teachable moment (but just barely). Then, at the bottom of the package, what did we find?

There was the "ily" pillow, plus a note apologizing for its delayed arrival: "Enjoy this pillow on the house!" We will, Throwboy. Let the adolescent jokes and badly-done Photoshopping begin.

"Wtf" could be a response to I Love You. Or, if you're surprised to find yourself saying I Love You, you might be thinking "wtf" at the same time. But maybe the most commonly spoken combination -- especially on the Internet -- is, "I love you, but wtf????" Heck, "ily but wtf?" might name one our our favourite feelings about the Internet, expressed with acronyms that became popular through social networking technologies. It's the theme of many pop songs, films, and stories, which need the conflict of "wtf" and the "ily" happy ending. The "wtf" factor triggers our adrenaline and keeps us engaged; then, "ily" makes it all better so we'll watch or listen or read the same formula again.

I guess that's why I try to stay in love, in energies that are more subtly rewarding, instead wanting to ride the love/conflict cycle. Life throws me enough wtf moments so I don't feel like seeking it out through "entertainment" or in most of our "art."

But if I were starting a punk band, "ily but wtf" would be pretty kickass.

Who Did You Love?

noreply@blogger.com (I Love You) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 01:33:00 +0000

The First Love Project collects videos in which people reminisce about first relationships, first crushes on celebrities, first unrequited loves, or even first infatuations over cars. It's "a place for people gay or straight and from all backgrounds to share and watch stories about their lives and loves."

Above is a cute video by the amazing Jenny Foulds, Head Of Happy Things at HappyGraffiti.com. Who (or what) was your first love? I have never thought about it, but mine was hockey. Yes, hockey : ) Then, there's the following advice, from Love Science:

Dr. Nancy Kalish, expert on reunited relationships and author of a research-based book, Lost and Found Lovers: Facts and fantasies of rekindled romances, has interviewed hundreds of lovers who re-established contact with a former flame. Although a few re-connections crash and burn, almost 80% of rekindled first loves—if single at the time of the re-kindling!— passionately burn for a lifetime of happiness.

I don't think that Jenny wants to look for her first love, but my reunion with hockey four years ago was an astounding success. Dr. Kalish predicts good outcomes for rekindled first relationships if they fit a certain profile (kind of turns Facebook into an accident waiting to happen, doesn't it?). Check out Duana C. Welch's summary of the criteria at Dear Duana.

Hello, I Love You

noreply@blogger.com (I Love You) — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 16:51:00 +0000

I write about love. It's non-political, simple and universal. "I love you" are the corniest three words you'll ever use, but the whole world is looking for it and you can't wait for someone to say it to you.

-Lionel Ritchie

Movie mashup of Lionel Richie's "Hello."

A recent study suggests that it takes one-fifth of a second to fall in love, so maybe there's something to saying, "hello, I love you," and checking names later. Who would have time to even say, "hi"?

I Love You By Accident

noreply@blogger.com (I Love You) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:56:00 +0000

Have you ever said I Love You to an acquaintance or stranger when you only meant to say, "thank you"?

She handed me my receipt and credit card and told me I could pick up my order when my name was called and I said 'Ok, love you." Followed by "I mean 'THANK YOU." Then, I dropped my credit card, scrambled away and found my friend B.

-Jen Fernicola Ronaly, Stop and Blog the Roses

In related but different news, Glamour's 2012 Guy Survey found that fifty per cent of one thousand male respondents let I Love You slip after a few drinks and/or sex. Intoxication accounted for twenty-three per cent of premature declarations; sex was to blame thirteen per cent of the time.

The survey also found that fifty-six per cent of men said I Love You to their partners first. There have been at least two other surveys with similar findings. In 2011, MIT interviewed 205 heterosexual men and women and found that sixty-one per cent of men said I Love You first. Ten years ago, a survey of university students also showed that men went first, noting:

Female students now have empirical verification that hearing "I love you" may mean little more than "I am saying this just so I hope you will have sex with me." Faculty who teach relationship courses and counselors of university students might reemphasize that hearing and saying "I love you" may have entirely different meanings for college men and women.

She Said ‘Scotch,’ So I Said ‘I Love You’

noreply@blogger.com (I Love You) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 23:01:00 +0000

This is Rocio and I meeting for the first time:

INT. Jurgen’s kitchen – Evening

Bryan (looking for more wine, finding none) – You know what this party needs?

Rocio – Scotch?

Bryan – I love you.

The second sentence I ever said to this girl was “I love you.” Since then I have said that sentence probably millions of times, and each time I have meant it even more, and for a new reason. The sentence itself has transformed into this fantasy we have conjured where we exist as the solitary conscious creatures. We dream together, and when I think of her during the times we are separated, I can only laugh or cry to myself because she makes my life so beautiful.

-Bryan Aranson.

More about Bryan's and Rocio's story at HyperVocal.

I Love You Chips!

noreply@blogger.com (I Love You) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 21:15:00 +0000

I'm working on a few longer posts, so my seven year-old son, Cyan, is taking over the blog today.

He only asks to be paid in cookies! Chip off the ol' block.

Love Letter Boxes

noreply@blogger.com (I Love You) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:39:00 +0000

♥♥, a photo by Adam Holloway on Flickr.

Kinda meta, no?

"when someone says i love you and means it"

noreply@blogger.com (I Love You) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 13:50:00 +0000

"shades of pink and green glow around them ... their shoes stop squeaking ... trees begin to talk to them ..."

By Stephen Roxborough. From this wonderful perpetual beauty (NeoPoiesis Press).

Levels of Truth

noreply@blogger.com (I Love You) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:04:00 +0000

"Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for."

-Bob Marley

Working theory: when you get beyond pain and suffering, you realize it was a gift. Let's hope you didn't resist pain so long that it became suffering. You see why you attracted this event into your life. You grow. Maybe one day, you look back at it and think you wouldn't change a thing, because you wouldn't be the same person you are today. You forgive.

The funny thing is, when you get to this point, you find there's nothing to forgive.

Ancient Love Messages

noreply@blogger.com (I Love You) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:49:00 +0000

Rebecca Benefiel is an archeologist who studies the graffiti that was left behind in Pompeii, before Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79 and buried the city. She told The Smithsonian:

They were much nicer in their graffiti than we are. There are lots of pairings with the word ‘felicter,’ which means ‘happily.’ When you pair it with someone’s name, it means you’re hoping things go well for that person. There are lots of graffiti that say ‘Felicter Pompeii,’ wishing the whole town well.

She hypothesizes that graffiti was widespread in the ancient world and part of everyday expression. It was carved into brightly painted stucco walls, showing the underlying white plaster.

In the ancient Roman world, graffiti was a respected form of writing—often interactive. Inside elite dwellings like that of Maius Castricius—a four-story home with panoramic windows overlooking the Bay of Naples that was excavated in the 1960s—she’s examined 85 graffito. Some were greetings from friends, carefully incised around the edges of frescoes in the home’s finest room. In a stairwell, people took turns quoting popular poems and adding their own clever twists.

Driving home from my studio this evening, I noticed a mural on the side of a laundromat signed by "AMORE," a stylized "ily" painted underneath a train bridge and a bumper sticker that read, "I love, therefore I am."

"I love, therefore I am" bumper sticker.

2000 years since ancient Rome: expression in the public space is illegal instead of celebrated, limited to those who will break laws. Our graffiti is brightly coloured, a visual response to our neutral buildings, and ephemeral, not carved for future historians.

But some things don't change. Amo ergo sum.

Family Day Love

noreply@blogger.com (I Love You) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:27:00 +0000

Taking down the Valentine's decorations today, though some might think my house is ready for Feb.14 any day of the year. Yesterday was Family Day, a new holiday in the Canadian province of Ontario, where I live. I got thinking about the mysterious origins of holidays and their traditions, and wondered how Family Day will play out:

FAMILY DAY: A Primer To Ontario’s Newest Holiday

1. Holiday events will be packed with other people’s families – avoid.
2. Federal employees work on Family Day. Provincial employees have the day off. Therefore, provincial workers have families; federal workers do not.
3. All children’s extracurricular activities will be cancelled except for hockey, which only stops for Christmas Day.
3a. Do not allow your son to dismantle his goalie helmet prior to Family Day dinner, before his 6 p.m. game. That you are coaching.
4. If Easter has eggs and St. Patrick’s Day has shamrocks, then Family Day has ______?
5. Family Day is celebrated in AB, ON, and SK. Also, in Arizona, Nevada, and Vietnam. The only factor common to these locales: families live there.
6. Valentine’s Day may piss off citizens without significant others. Family Day may anger adults without kids, and parents who would rather be vacationing in warm, tropical countries. Expect an Anti-Family Day Movement, with parties, Anti-Family Day cards, manifestoes, and Occupy Family Day parades.
7. In Canada, National Family Week is in October. I approve of this day/week model and suggest Hallowe’en Week in June.
8. “Family Day was certainly not invented for the self-employed.” – Shawn Squires, Father of Two.
9. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty created Family Day after his 2007 election victory. Every post-election giddy Premier should be encouraged to create a new statutory holiday: eventually, no one would ever have to work again. “Everyday Should Be A Holiday” by the Dandy Warhols could be adopted as our provincial song.
10. You can’t pick your family, but you can pick the family you want to celebrate.

Roadsworth’s Street Art Hearts + Stars' Dead Hearts

noreply@blogger.com (I Love You) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 15:58:00 +0000

“Dead Hearts” by Montreal's Stars contains heavy, somber lyrics...

...but the video is lovely with street artist Roadsworth's contrasting heart imagery.

Edit: Roadsworth explains to PSFK why he chose hearts:

The hearts are a metaphor for dead spaces that exist in urban areas in particular, spaces that nevertheless exude a certain kind of soul. And yes, these dead spaces also speak of a certain kind of environmental neglect that is endemic of our time. Former industrial areas for example – and in cities around the world these areas are legion- which have been abandoned and which exist in a state of limbo of sorts. No longer are they used for industrial purposes but they are also often too toxic or problematic for whatever reason, to be exploited by developers or used by people. But aside from the physical spaces that these “dead hearts” occupy, they are also metaphor for a human state of being which is characterized by a sense of alienation, disconnection and general loss of soul that a modern urban world can bring about. The dead hearts speak of loss but also of the beauty that is apparent once that loss is recognized.

Check out Roadsworth's photo gallery of Dead Hearts for more pics. Thanks to Michelle Morgan for sharing!

I Love You x 100

noreply@blogger.com (I Love You) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 20:33:00 +0000

A few posts ago, I wrote that there are many webpages telling us how to say I Love You in different languages, but that I'd like to hear how I Love You sounds in all of those tongues. Thanks to Memrise and Occupy Love for granting my wish!

The Best Of The Worst Pick-up Lines

noreply@blogger.com (I Love You) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:25:00 +0000

Image swiped from Buzzy Multimedia.

Last week, The Grid asked, "What’s the worst pick-up attempt you’ve ever been on the receiving end of? We’re not talking do-you-come-here-oftens or what’s-your-signs—we mean the mortifying ones, the ones that aren’t just lines but stories." Dinner at the Miller Tavern was offered as a prize.

Why not turn lemons into lemonade? So I entered. And won! Please check out the worst pick-up stories received by The Grid to read it. I'm "Sharon H." (which is totally fun, because the last time I was Sharon H., I was in Girl Guides with Sharon R. We're still friends).

While you're there, you might want to visit The Grid's excellent Dating Diaries Issue too.

What I Know About Love

noreply@blogger.com (I Love You) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 19:27:00 +0000

What I Know About Love Now That I'm In My...

20s
30s
40s
50s
60s

over at HuffPost Women. Interesting and a good start, but I'd also like to hear from men. And women who aren't white. Gay folks. Octogenarians. And, well, everybody. Kids too. I wish my four-month old puppy could tell me all that she knows, because she excels in applied love.

The question, "what do you know about love?" makes more sense than the usual (but impossible to answer) "What is love?" A collection of answers to the former could make a great book.

Missed Connections

noreply@blogger.com (I Love You) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:34:00 +0000

Messages in bottles, smoke signals, letters written in the sand; the modern equivalents are the funny, sad, beautiful, hopeful, hopeless, poetic posts on Missed Connections websites. Every day hundreds of strangers reach out to other strangers on the strength of a glance, a smile or a blue hat. Their messages have the lifespan of a butterfly. I'm trying to pin a few of them down.

-Sophie Blackall, Missed Connections

I hate to use the word, "exquisite" but that's how I'll explain Sophie Blackall's Missed Connections project. I love how she illustrates heartfelt yet anonymous craigslist posts with such care. And that she says she can't draw landscapes or animals well because she is so interested in people. And I love how this poster sums up the entire Missed Connections phenomenon:

I saw you for maybe a second or two.

I've read missed-connections before and wondered why people just didn't say something then and there. Now I understand... perhaps it's because the moment is extraordinary; containing a fullness of its own... and the thought that this person across from me is not a part of my everyday life, and at any second will disappear, didn't even occur to me... it seemed that we were in whatever it was together, and that sort of connection rarely, if ever, happens between strangers, so my mind was a little slow on registering that there would be no "some other time" if neither of us asked for the others phone or email.

Now, hours later, the ripples created by those few tender seconds still gently rock something within me...
and I become a missed-connections poster.

Would you be interested in having tea or going on a ride?

If life were slower, would we miss the connection? I wonder.

Valentine's Day Rant And Link Love

noreply@blogger.com (I Love You) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:51:00 +0000

Niiiice Valentine, Google!

I've been saying for years that Valentine's Day has a lot of potential: celebrating romance is a good thing, but why not have a day for loving everybody? Love your partner, your friends, your family, the world, yourself. Love it all. Love life. Shine love on anything that needs it, whether its a personal problem or a global issue. A day that gets people thinking and talking about love isn't a bad thing.

All good things can be used for bad, though. Of course, Valentine's Day has been commercialized. EVERYTHING HAS BEEN COMMERCIALIZED. You don't have to take part in that aspect of it. There is no "pressure" unless you believe in it such things. I like The Oatmeal's "Less complaining. More sexy rumpus." (Warning: swear words : )

Valentine's Day can also bring up pain and show where healing is needed. This can hurt if you resist it! I don't know anyone who has not suffered a broken heart in some way. If that's you, maybe try going inward to investigate -- instead of expressing your pain outwardly? I don't want to tell you what to do, but that's what I try when it's me, and it seems to help. Otherwise, you carry around your own, personal Museum of Broken Relationships. Maybe forgiveness needs to be a big part of Valentine's Day. Letting it go and letting it out feels pretty darned good -- and then there's chocolate!

Ok, end of rant. Here are a few Valentines from around the internet world today.

I have a small collection of vintage Valentines and a hard-to-find book about the history of the Valentine's Day card. Mitch O'Connell's selection of old, unintentionally funny Valentines is inappropriate, sexist, and violent -- not for everyone -- but I'm cracking up. Thanks to Marc Lostracco for sharing.

"Love among the carrots at Everdale Farm." Everdale Farm has been called "Loverdale" Farm because its interns keep falling in love and starting their own farms together. "Given the killer hours and program’s workload — seven months of long days learning curriculum and working the fields — it’s surprising anyone found time to court. But McCormick thinks it’s precisely the hard physical labour that results in love. The “feeling of energy and being more alive” puts you more in touch with your body, he says. Combined with the close physical contact of being side by side in fields under a hot sun, it’s a recipe for romance."

Old school love map. Swiped from minimoz.

You (and I) Are Here: we like to map love with any available technology, maybe because we're afraid of getting lost? Anyway, Canada Kiss Map, an interactive online map for sharing stories about memorable kisses, launches today. Great introduction to the project by its creator, Chris Kay Frazer, here. The Guardian is attempting to map how love holidays are celebrated around the world with its online Love Data Map. And check out I Just Made Love, which shows places where, oh, nevermind. I mapped the sites of Toronto's I Love You graffiti in 2001 and once made my sweetheart a map showing cities and towns that included our names, so I am not immune to the fear.

Right, so that's all well and good, but let's conclude with what you really want to know: what is Justin Bieber doing for Valentine's Day?????? OMG

Valentine's Day Chez Moi

noreply@blogger.com (I Love You) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:48:00 +0000

I write about love almost every day, so sometimes people think Valentine's Day must be the household highlight of the year, with fireworks and marching bands. On Feb 13, my youngest son said, "I can't wait for Valentine's Day." His Dad thought he was looking forward to the chocolate, but no ... "I like that there is a day all about love." My oldest son made this:

I attempted to decorate cupcakes for the hockey team I coach. These are supposed to look like faceoff circles, but green (our team colour):

Here's what our newest family member, four-month old Molly, is up to:

I'm feeling grateful for my family and friends today. Also, I love you, Stephen Cain.

2012 Valentine's Day Love

noreply@blogger.com (I Love You) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:04:00 +0000

I write about Valentine's Day trends each year because once every 364 days, popular culture dedicates one day to love (sort of). One day! Amateurs ;-)

As in most years, the 2012 stories can be categorized as: gifts to buy, the perfect night out (or in), things to make, cheap gifts, anti-Valentine's Day, weird and/or geeky ways to celebrate, aphrodisiac recipes, sex advice, statistics on the amount of money people spend, to break up or not break up (to buy a gift or save your money), being single, the history of Valentine's Day (though its origin is unknown), marriage proposals, lists of appropriate songs and films, heart-shaped ______, men's opinions of Valentine's Day (what does he really think?), green Valentine's Day, countries where Valentine's Day is banned, and my favourite, which is gaining in popularity every year: Valentine's Day should be a holiday to celebrate every kind of love (not just romance).

White bears holding red I Love You hearts enjoyed popularity for many years (I wish I knew why) but have vanished from most store shelves. Stuffed animals still offer their red hearts, but they are now blank or say, "hottie," "cutie," or "xoxo." There are more puppies, apes, and kittens than last year. Unicorns are new, as they've entered the teen lexicon -- interesting that "unicorn" is being used to denote unobtainable fantasies, for example, "The hottie who no one can beat at Guitar Hero is an absolute unicorn" (from Urban Dictionary).

This year, instead of press releases promoting Valentine's Day events, there were infographics about gift-buying habits in my inbox. Guessing that this is due to the popularity of photos + text that are being shared on Facebook and Pinterest (if you're on Pinterest, please say hi! I'm here).

New-to-me: the Valentine's tree. People decorate trees for Christmas, Easter, and Hallowe'en -- is this a year-round thing now?

At our house, we don't decorate the greenery for Valentine's Day. No, not at all.

I can't quite put my finger on it, but there seems to be a throwback to some sort of Victorian cutesy meets Mad Men retro look meets silk screened everything happening on Etsy. Dollar stores and big chains are selling fake-looking homemade. Red velvet cupcakes rule.

Usually, I find the annual love and sex guides presented by Toronto's alternative weeklies to be depressingly shallow, but The Grid put together a great dating issue last week. Instead of sensationalizing sex and portraying love as a freak show, they photographed forty-four single Torontonians and offered up some pretty solid dating advice.

Other Favourite 2012 Valentine Stories:

Valentine's Day in Africa - "Valentine's day is not widely celebrated in Africa, except by the more affluent urban folks. But Africa is very much involved in our Valentine's day celebrations. More than 70% of all cocoa beans are grown on African soil, so your Valentine chocolates are likely to have originated in Africa. And around 800 million flowers will be making their way from Kenya's Lake Naivasha region to markets throughout Europe for the Valentine's day rush."

The cheesiest Star Wars thing ever. I admit that when I was a little girl, I made my Star Wars figures kiss. But this is worse than Jar Jar Binks.

In which a Classics professor insists Valentine's Day is NOT based on Lupercalia, as every press release in Western civilization would lead you to believe.

"How to Write a Love Poem" by Jim Behrle. "A not-so-serious tutorial on the art of seductive verse." Thanks to Amanda Earl for sharing.

Valentine's Day around the world - in pictures (2011, but oh well). "From old married couples to newlywed dogs."

How to fend off the restaurant Rose Guy and still keep your romance alive. "Few contemporary figures strike fear into the hearts of men more than The Rose Guy." Thanks to Amy Lavender Harris for sharing.

And, the weirdest gift of 2012: a cockroach. Nothing says love like naming a roach at the Bronx Zoo after the beloved: "tell your chosen love bug you admire their resilience and ingenuity by naming one of our 58,000 hissing cockroaches after them." If that's not enough, a hand-painted, artisanal chocolate roach can be added to the gift for $15.

"Lonely roaches looking for love." Photo: Bronx Zoo

A Twitter meme for the Valentine haters: "Valentine's Day canceled this year. 14-02-12 = zero." For the rest of you: Happy Valentine's Day!

Mad Math Love

noreply@blogger.com (I Love You) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 15:43:00 +0000

Pssst ... go type this into Google:

sqrt(cos(x))*cos(300x)+sqrt(abs(x))-0.7)*(4-x*x)^0.01, sqrt(6-x^2), -sqrt(6-x^2) from -4.5 to 4.5

"Hot Guys Saying I Love You"

noreply@blogger.com (I Love You) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:50:00 +0000

To compare and contrast with yesterday's video about saying I Love You in different languages: the Hollywood I Love You is released after tension has a chance to build between the two main love interests. It's usually a significant moment in the plot, spoken at the climax. It has the power to save the protagonist when all else fails, transforming the hero's suffering, evoking a happy ending.