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While this image may look new to you, the name will not be. This is actually a McDonald's restaurant in Tokyo that's been reworked. The store sells two items - a Quarter Pounder with Cheese meal, and a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese meal, and nothing else. And according to American bloggers who've visited the clownless counter, they are indeed Quarter Pounders; they just get served to you in a black and red nightclubbish sort of room. Apparently, this little experiment has become a huge success, and it's the first time we've seen a global brand strip (or rather, de-Americanize) itself of the expected trappings, while keeping the core product intact. Even the website for the store has been left devoid of everything arch-y.

http://www.quarter-pounder.net

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As stores around the world release their fabulous holiday gift catalogues, we couldn't pass up the chance to talk a little about the most fabulous of them all - World Vision's 2008 Christmas Catalogue. It's an amazing concept; choose from dozens of ways to help those who are most certainly in greater need than you. For instance, $110 will buy 4 hens and 2 roosters for a family, providing them with up to 300 eggs a year, or for $75 you can help a Congolese child soldier get restored to a life - as a child. Goats, alpacas, text books, blankets, medical vaccinations, counseling, soccer balls, a beehive - the list is not only impressive; it's outstanding and just may make you rethink how badly your next door neighbour really needs that fruitcake this year. These life-changing gifts start at just $25.

https://catalogue.worldvision.ca/gifts/Forms/Home.aspx?mc=3221603&lang=en

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Well the temperature is dropping slowly, which means that my appetite is starting to wake up again, and it wants comfort food. The people at Smitten Kitchen have found a way to lure you into staying home on a Sunday afternoon and cooking. By signing up to their free food blog, you'll receive to your inbox, periodic little e-feasts, replete with gorgeous photos and the accompanying recipe for the featured item, which today was Mushroom and Barley Pie (pictured). Smitten we are.

http://smittenkitchen.com

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This image comes to us as part of the collective visual identity for the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Throughout it all, athletic power and human might are shown ornamented with water and vegetation motifs to represent humanity within nature's forces - and done so quite appealingly. The result is a set of dynamic images that will adorn the various Olympic sites throughout British Columbia when the world's fastest and strongest convene, just over a year from now.

http://www.vancouver2010.com

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Holiday shopping is upon us again, and what better way to say, "I'm scarily obsessed with you" than to have commissioned a life-sized replica of your stalkee by American artist Nathan Sawaya. Coming in at around $60,000 USD, Sawaya's sculptures are among the less expensive gift ideas in the 'WOW' pages of Neiman-Marcus's new holiday catalogue.

Those looking to spend a little more might consider some of the other wares in this wish book supreme, including a $110,000 Harlem Globetrotters Playing Experience or the $1,000,000 custom, three-hole golf course, designed by Jack Nicklaus. (Construction and property costs not included, but the Golden Bear himself will stop by to play the first round with you.) Glad tidings indeed.

http://www.nathansawaya.com

http://www.neimanmarcus.com/store/sitelets/christmasbook/christmasbook.jhtml?_requestid=57434

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Dutch designer Jonas Samson wants to shed a little light on the world, and he strives to do it beautifully with this wallpaper that doubles as a light source. When turned off, your walls will appear to be covered with - well, wallpaper, but when turned on, they'll look like that. The inclusion of tiny LEDs in the paper will ensure your room inspires those within, which of course, turns us on.

http://www.jonassamson.com

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With Halloween's approach, we were curious to see what modification Google made to their logo this year, which got us thinking. You know you've established an extremely successful brand when you can play with / fiddle with / completely change the presentation of your logo on a near-weekly basis, not to mention attract people to your site just to see what it looks like now.

Google's line of holiday logos began in 1999 with the addition of a goofy little turkey for Thanksgiving. Since then, the company has been displaying different versions of their identity for a number of special occasions including the Persian New Year, Louis Braille's birthday and the 50th anniversary of understanding DNA. Almost all are the product of one young man, Korean American Dennis Hwang. Bravo, Dennis. A google bravoes.

http://www.google.com/holidaylogos.html

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Well if you've been unsuccessful in finding just the right Halloween costume for your dog, (yes, you read that correctly) you may want to pay a trip to your local Target store to peruse their selection of pet dress-up duds. The possibilities will make you laugh out loud, first at the unavoidable cuteness (you have to admit) and then at the ensuing absurdity of what this really means.

The pet industry in the United States was worth a staggering $41 billion in 2007, according to The American Pet Products Manufacturers' Association, up from $21 billion in 1996. You might think these numbers will fall as the economy makes us reconsider our spending habits, but apparently the pet industry is nearly immune to such fiscal fears. Those that will be the least affected by the downturn will be the ones most likely to continue buying spa days and velvet divans and uh, costumes like this, for Sir Barks-a-lot.

http://www.target.com/b/ref=sc_fe_l_1_1038602_6/601-2893872-4228155?ie=UTF8&node=343171011
http://www.pawpalaceonline.com/coats-jackets-luxury-coats-c-1_6_118.html

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And it continues. Pepsi becomes the latest titanic brand to remake their identity into something more approachable and humane. Following in the footsteps of Walmart, the soft drink deputy underwent a five month long rebrand and just released to the world how the new logo, (and can) will look shortly.

The new graphic is meant to recall a smile, and in varying forms will dress the major Pepsi sub-brands across the world including Mountain Dew, (soon to be called 'Mtn Dew'). A grin will be used for Diet Pepsi and a laugh will be used for Pepsi Max. Like the other logos we're watching get remade, the company has opted for a lower-case typeface. Who will be next?

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Truth be told, it's not yet time for our Halloween issue, but we couldn't resist sending something out early for this very special haunted affair. The Thornhill Woods Haunted House opened in Toronto again this year, and is rapidly becoming an annual go-to place to get some good ol' fashioned neck chills and goose bumps. Open every evening from 6 to 10pm, any visit to this cemetery themed attraction promises gargoyles, tomb stones, earth breaking zombies and a meat shop that sells cannibalistic delights, among a myriad of other macabre offerings.

And here's the best part. Not only is it free to visit, but the ghouls that run it request donations, all of which go entirely to benefit SickKids Foundation. Being afraid will never feel as good as this. See the website for more details.

http://www.thornhillwoodshauntedhouse.com

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