Stop digging through files, punching numbers into your calculator, and put that Go2Meeting on mute. You'll want to watch this video from the Dallas Zoo of an adorable baby giraffe. First-time giraffe mommy Chrystal gave birth to a 6-foot-tall baby over the weekend and the zoo released a video of a few affectionate first moments. It's not named yet, so maybe you should send the zoo a few suggestions. And if you're asking yourself when you can see said baby in person, the zoo is hoping for as early as next week.

You may now return to whatever important business task you were performing before this charming interruption.

Keanu Reeves in John Wick

On this week's Voice Film Club podcast, we welcome Village Voice contributor and filmmaker Zachary Wigon, who tells us about his paranoid thriller The Heart Machine (iTunes).

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Mixmaster presents "100 Creatives," in which we feature cultural entrepreneurs of Dallas in random order.

John Pomara exhibited artwork before the Internet. With degrees in studio art, and exhibitions on his resume dating back to the 80's, it was more than a decade into his practice before he took an interest in technology. Now, he brings a painterly eye to the digital world, focusing much of work on the intersection of painting and new media. He magnifies images, incorporates computer stenciling, and focuses on the capacity for human error in the technological world. It's savvy abstraction, and it's a visual delight.

If he's not in his studio, manipulating images or shaking up a can of spray paint, he's investing in the future of art, instructing young artists at the University of Texas at Dallas. His most recent work can be seen at Barry Whistler Gallery through November 24.

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Pepino Chick

Most of us would much rather buy something than make it, especially if it's hand-made by a much more creative and talented person. Fortunately, the rise of Etsy and the DIY trend has made it much easier to find unique goods crafted by individual artists and not sweatshop workers. No longer are crafty types and artists relegated to flea markets and gallery showings.

Even though Etsy is a global market place for artisans, that doesn't mean that it isn't possible to shop local when you're looking for handmade prints or vegan, gluten-free soaps. Add these ten Etsy sellers to your radar, and prepare to max out your credit card on their varied and excellently crafted wares. At least you'll be stimulating the local economy.

Pepino Chick
When she's not making music with the Polyphonic Spree, or stealing the show on stages across Dallas, Natalie Young is crafting up one-of-a-kind fiber art for her Etsy shop Pepino Chick. Young's minimalist dreamcatchers, "low-impact" wall hangings and jewelry are visually arresting and made with "magic, goodness, natural love." Whether or not Young's art will actually bring you good juju, your walls, or outfit, will certainly look better. If you're looking for a special gift or really unique piece of art, you can also commision Young to hand-draw a 3-D portrait of you in a super-cool flower crown.

Hurd & Honey
With a little reclaimed wood and infinite creativity, the minds behind Hurd & Honey create stunning, one-of-a-kind furniture and decor. Each piece is unique to its buyer, and painstakingly made to order after purchase. All things considered, their prices are also insanely reasonable. A snooty New York boutique would charge the price of most people's first home for a hand-made chevron end table made from reclaimed wood. At Hurd & Honey, this beauty is only $170.

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Schluesselbein

I'm not sure this is the kind of public art they're talking about....

We're just passing this information along. Apparently the city of Dallas has a list of whom they'll commission for public art in Dallas. And apparently this list is currently accepting applicants, even those without any public art experience. And apparently these applications will no longer be accepted after October 30. And apparently they won't reopen the list again for two years.

And in keeping with the city's obsession with the number 50, this list will be 50 artists long, who will be considered for public art commissions of $50,000 or less, for places that sound like the undesirables on the Monopoly board: "parks, street right-of-way, water utilities locations, and other public locations in 2015-16."

That's all the news that's fit to print. If you're an interested artist, you can find more information at dallasculture.org/publicart and you can submit the materials at callforentry.org

Nothing says Halloween quite like a couple of confused, sexy adult angels.

Halloween is on a Friday this year. This means your excuses are all worthless and you will have to participate in the festivities. But house parties are so 1998. Get out of the house and do something. Want to go to a haunted house? We've got you covered. Want to do something else? Something a little more under-the-radar, or down the back alley, if you will. Here we've picked some spooky theater, sexy performances, and a few warehouse parties to fill your pumpkin bucket. But you're an adult, so BYOCandy.

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If you're up on the local comedy scene, which seems to rotate around the nuclear hub of the Dallas Comedy House, you may have found yourself snort-laughing at jokes coming out of youngster, Saffy Herndon. The 9-year-old comedian, who tells jokes about everything from cartoons to her dad's drinking habits to adopting highways. She's making the observations other kids might make, but with better comedic timing and the knowing, devious smile of a 4th grader who knows how funny she is. And Dallas audiences tend to agree, as she performs at many of the popular open mic nights, as well as in line-ups at DCH, and the Kessler Theater.

Our videographer, Sarah Passon, caught a recent set at DCH.

Mixmaster presents "100 Creatives," in which we feature cultural entrepreneurs of Dallas in random order. Know an artistic mind who deserves a little bit of blog love? Email lauren.smart@dallasobserver.com with the whos and whys.

In 2009, Sarah Perry had an idea for a neighborhood market. She was tired of going all the way downtown to buy local produce, and wondered why nothing similar but smaller existed near her in east Dallas. She partnered with her friend Mary Norvell and began looking for locations. After talking with Green Spot's Bruce Bagelman, he agreed that they could set up there, and White Rock Local Market was born. "Bruce could have easily said no and we wouldn't have thought twice," Perry says. The market operated two Saturdays a month and it quickly blossomed. Three years later, it had obtained 501c3 status and began accepting food stamps.

Soon, Perry recognized that there was demand for a farmer's market more than twice a month. "That wasn't enough to make an impact on the community and to give the vendors the best economic opportunities," she says. Perry opened a second market at Lakeside Baptist church and just recently, she opened a third at Half Price Books on Northwest Highway. That market, which she's calling Vickery Meadow Local Market, is in a more ethnically diverse neighborhood and she hopes its character will be influenced by that diversity. Between all three markets, Perry is now bringing locally sourced goods to east Dallas every weekend.

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Tega Brain

An artist used Flickr to explore how we interact with nature.

Patricia Reed's "The Two" greets visitors to Zhulong Gallery's international group show, Systema. A pair of bright red megaphones frozen in french kiss, any amplified messages lost in the other, in what you can imagine as an echo chamber of yelling instructions. When used appropriately, megaphones can relay instruction to large groups, counting down to the start of a race, or keeping time of a unified march. It's a device by which a leader organizes followers, and it's this idea of arranging life through systems, technology and taxonomy that unites (or, organizes) the exhibition, on display through November 29.

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Photo Courtesy Wikimedia user AndreasPraefcke

Anonymous 19th century watercolor: Scene from Mozart's opera Le nozze di Figaro

The men's urinals are where you learn the most about an ongoing opera. The unedited state of things--the real nitty-gritty. (In all fairness, I'm sure the women's room is equally revelatory). Inside, pre-performance, the occupants were academics and critics, dishing on a half dozen lesser-known facts concerning The Marriage of Figaro (it was all "did you know" and "interestingly, during Mozart's time..." type proclamations). The message being, in nearly any circumstance, the performance of this opera is a big deal, an event worthy of celebration.

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