I spotted this in Wired's roundup of weird usb gadgets -- they call this an "eyeball baby" but actually, it's a webcam designed to look like Pops from Gegege No Kitaro, only the best ghost manga ever written!! The great things about Pops, is he lives in the empty eye socket of his dead ghost son. No, really! We've loved Gegege ever since it was shown subtitled in NYC back in the early 90s. I seriously think I need this webcam. Not that I even use a webcam. But...it's Pops! (okay, I don't know that "Pops" is the official translation, in fact I'm pretty sure it's not. But the subtitled version we saw called him that. So, to us, he's always Pops.)
Isn't this illustration adorable? It's the cover of the latest Babybug -- a junior-junior version of Cricket (if you remember that) for 1-3 year olds. We got Emily a subscription right before her 1st birthday when I got a good price on it through the mail, and she loves every little issue. They're like little books, and mostly are really cute and not too painful to read and re-read. (With a few notable exceptions.) This cover is by far my favorite illustration we've seen so far! The artist, Holly Berry (for real!) also does a two-page spread inside that's great, it could totally be from an old Golden Book or something. I found out very little about her, but she's illustrated at least a dozen children's books, (check out this page from The Impudent Rooster! So pretty!) some of which will definitely be going on Emily's wishlist!
Reader Sandy T alerted me to Pancake Meow--a collection of handcrafted miniature fake food jewelry!! And as we all know, there's not much I love more than mini fake foods...but what to get? There's an amazing array of confections which you can buy (or use) as necklaces, earrings or charms. As a bonus, you can get them scented (although that's not for me--ugh). A bunch can even be customized! I'm personally leaning towards a pink cupcake with white icing (see the one on the left in the pic)...what would you get? Oh, and if the cuteness that artist Leslie makes herself isn't enough, she's going to start carrying an adorable line of Japanese goods from Decole soon. I am so there.
My galpal Mary discovered this incredibly cool retro-licious Housewives Tarot and it only took me about 2 minutes to add the (real) deck to my Amazon shopping list! You can also do a reading right on the site, which is pretty fun. Here's my reading!
Mm, don't those french fries look good? But wait - that's actually dessert! These are deep fried custard sticks, disguised as fries by the new and trendy Mamido Burger stand in Toyko, which styles all its sweets and cakes as fast food. The signature sweet, the "Mamido Burger" is a sponge cake bun, with a chocolate cream "hamburger" and kiwi slice "pickles". Clever, clever!! And of course I want to eat there right now. [From Trends in Japan as seen on Treehugger.]
Last October I wrote up Target's Ready. Sit. Read! book club promotion, but I never got around to the follow-up, which was the awesome stuff that we got for signing Emily up! I was shocked to get a huge box that contained a whole load of stuff, all illustrated by J. Otto Seibold (of Olive, the Other Reindeer et al). First came out the heavy cardboard backpack, with everything else stuffed inside. Parts to convert the backpack into a jetpack or angel wings (or bird wings? not sure), stickers, a book, an electronic bookmark (very cool), door hanger, and book club flag. I'm not sure if they are still sending it all out (they didn't say when I signed her up that she'd get all this stuff!) but it's worth a try. (I'm tempted to get someone to sign up at their address so we can stash extras for Emily!!) Photos of the swag are up at flickr (although it'll take a wee bit of time for that link to be working, I think - in the meantime, click on the photo above and just go backwards through the photos).
Notice that I did not say "super-cuteness!!" because I just noticed that I've had an exclamation point on every entry for a month. Yeesh! Anyway, this is a wooden puzzle, called "Magic Mushroom" that we got Emily for her birthday (her first wooden puzzle, and she loves it. Well, she loves taking the pieces out, anyway). I spotted it on moolka.com, and fell in love with it and its companion puzzle "Magic Tree" right away. I was happy to see that there was a design credit on the packaging, because I love the art. It's by Nadia Berkane, who I can't find much info on, other than some listings on amazon.fr which appear to be a totally different style (or by a different Nadia Berkane?) and a site with baby items illustrated by this Nadia Berkane which are adorable. I want them all!
Does anyone else know anything about this artist? I love her work and would love to find more stuff by her. That, you know, is actually available for purchase to us Americans, that is...
This is one of my all-time favorite treats, leaf pie. I first had it at the Takashimaya Tea Box many years ago, and since I don't come across it often, it's one of my most longed-for treats. My favorite leaf pie of all time is the one on this page, which is the one I had at Takashimaya. But these were pretty good - "Chef Tool" brand, bought from the big Xmas gift display at Mitsuwa. And, half of them were chocolate! That was a new one on me. I think I'm going to be sticking with the classic version though. More leaf pie photos here.
When I posted about Bon Bon Panda last night, I went to check the link at jay is games and discovered another time waster -- SnowDays! Cut your own paper snowflake and see the work of others. Two things I learned so far: look at the little dots in the snowstorm, they're paper flakes you zoom in on too (I suppose it's obvious but it took me a while....); and, I suck at cutting out flakes in flash. In the real world, I'm actually good at it. But I'm terrible at these. Might be because I have a trackball and not a mouse. But anyway. It was still fun! And the most snow I'm seeing this month, most likely...
A while back I came across this Bon Bon Panda flash game, I have no idea how. Anyway, it quickly became a House of Fun addiction! Evan of course got obsessed enough to beat it one night (20 levels in all, "nothing exciting happened" he said, but then again we've been playing the Korean "bootleg" version so the official version might be different), but I haven't gotten near the end. Cute and fun, but easy to walk away from if you have to stop playing. Enjoy!
More on the limited Jones Sodas: you may know this, but the whole concept started in 2003 with a Turkey and Gravy soda. In 2004, they had a whole Holiday Pack which added Green Bean Casserole, Mashed Potato & Butter, Fruitcake and Cranberry flavors to their Turkey & Gravy Soda. I heard about it, but it's not like we found it anywhere for sale (not to mention, those are probably not flavors that an often-nauseated pregnant woman should even be thinking about, much less drinking). So, you can see, they've had a history of disgusting flavors that led up to those scary halloween sodas at Target.
And now the Holiday Pack for 2005 is about to hit. They're being coy about it on their own site still, but I find it listed as containing the famous Turkey and Gravy, plus four all-new flavors guaranteed to make you sick: Smoked Salmon Pate, Broccoli Casserole, Corn on the Cob and Pecan Pie. Now, I would definitely give Pecan Pie a shot. But...smoked salmon flavored soda? I swear, they make these sodas as a dare to the general public.
Go get yourself these cool Halloween comps from Oddio Overplay and have a great night!
My September tie one on apron was made from a vintage towel with "Swedish Weaving" or huck embroidery on it. As it turned out, another tie one on contributor had a collection of similar towels and almost had made an apron like mine! She ended up doing some research on the technique and has some lovely photos of it here.
Evan's comic shop radar is still in effect; on our way home from Duke last week we pulled off the highway to find a Subway and a few doors down from the sandwich shop? A comic store. It's ridiculous, really it is.
You know those Target Halloween sodas we forgot to buy? Well, a kind fairy left some for us at our hotel!! So now we know what they taste like. And can I just say, "Ewwww!!" "Caramel Apple" ought to be called "Poisoned Apple", and "Candy Corn"...well, it didn't taste like anything but chemicals. At least Caramel Apple tasted of apple in a really nasty way. But thanks, kind soda fairy!! It would have irked me forever to not have known.
 As someone who prefers to eat small amounts of several foods at any meal possible, I love bentos -- looking at them, eating them, thinking about them...and I have often thought about how much I would love to make them when Emily goes to school someday. (Of course, I doubt I'll have the time and patience to make fancy anime bentos like these!) But the idea of sending her off every day with a lunch that's attractive, fun and well-balanced really appeals to me.
My only hesitation was that it might be too strange for an American kid to take to school. As I read here, the experiences of kids taking bentos to US schools has been mixed. But then, I discovered the waste-free lunch movement, and the accompanying Laptop Lunch Box, and I started thinking that maybe it wasn't such a weird idea after all. With bento-like lunch containers coming out here, by the time it's an issue I think it just might seem normal!
And then yesterday I came across the Vegan Lunch Box, which documents the (vegan, obviously) lunches packed every day by a mom in WA using the Laptop system. Great ideas, feedback on how the system works (and doesn't -- more lids are needed, I agree), examples of bento-style lunches of (mostly) Western recipes, and some idea of how well it goes over in her son's 1st grade class (very well, apparently). I'll be keeping an eye on this one and taking notes!
So, looks like Emily will get bentos and I get to have fun in, well, another 5 years or so!
More resources: fantastic bento photo blog from Mizuko Ito (this a great companion to the Vegan Lunch Box blog); flickr bento box group (drool!); Cafe Japan , which I have; Bento Boxes: Japanese Meals on the Go, which is on my wishlist; and if the Laptop system doesn't work for you, there's also the Zojirushi "Mr. Bento" lunch set and Zojirushi "Ms. Bento" lunch set.
I've been watching WildCam Africa on the National Geographic website whenever I get the chance lately. It's a live webcam (with sound!) that's bringing you video from a pond in Botswana 24 hours a day. Unfortunately, since it's live the best viewing hours are not East-Coast-living-with-a-baby hours, but even so we've seen elephants, zebras, steenbocks, hyenas, a jackal, an ostrich, and loads of other birds. It's very science-fiction, the idea that you really DO have a window that can show you sunset in Africa live as it happens, and it's really fun to watch animals in the wild without actually having to go there. It'll only be running until December 8th -- but I hope it's only the first of many such experiments!
The September Tie One On gallery is up! Some very cute submissions, too. I forgot when I wrote about my apron to mention that I had really wanted to track down a set of Nigella Lawson's cupcake-motif towels for my apron. But, they're UK-only and incredibly expensive for kitchen towels. Close to $30 for kitchen towels? That you're going to get dirty? Even for a set of 4 that's a lot. Still, if I could have bought them around here I might have thought about it...
So, earlier this week we stop at a Target to check out this year's Halloween stuff (they've had better offerings but there's some cute stuff) and in the candy aisle we notice some soda cans with Halloween graphics on them. "Hey, look!" I say. "Someone made soda you can give to trick-or-treaters!" "Mmm, yeah," says Evan (or something like that, actually I don't remember). Both of us thinking it's going to be some crappy house brand orange and grape sodas, we keep walking. So imagine my dismay when I find out we passed up this year's limited edition Halloween Jones Sodas!! And we won't be near a Target again for months, most likely! And you all know how we like trying out ridiculous sodas....feh.
Who knew? All this time, I had a theme song!! (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, go here.) Of course, I have no idea what they're actually saying but still, it's pretty funny and actually a really good song. I wish I'd found it years ago!
Now that's an apron! From eatliver.com. I only wish they'd say where these pictures came from.
UPDATE: mystery solved!! Thanks to Popgadget, I found out that it is (as we suspected) an artwork, by Japanese artist Aya Tsukioka, and is part of a series.
In honor of the tie one on project, there's a massive set of links to apron images over at red current. Some pretty neat stuff to look at! I have to add two of my all-time favorites though, the catbus and totoro aprons (officially licensed) that you cannot get anymore.Which is sad because I need that totoro apron!! I bet I could make one someday... (there was also an apron of Jiji from Kiki's Delivery Service but I guess I didn't save the link)
So, I'm only like, a year behind on links to things here. But let me try and slap a few up so I can clean them out of my "things to link to" bookmarks!
Mei & Satsuki's house. At the World Expo in Aichi, Japan, there is a replica of Mei & Satsuki's house from Totoro. Apparently it's such a popular attraction that going to the Expo does not guarantee that you'll get to see it! They are planning to move it elsewhere at the end of the Expo though, so perhaps it'll find a permanent home somewhere.
amaztype. A super-cool little thing someone dreamed up where you can spell any word out of book covers from an amazon search. If you use an author's name, it'll spell it in their books! Yes, I've done both our names, it's pretty fun!
Uwajimaya. Also amazon-related, asian grocery store Uwajimaya is now online at Amazon. Get your Pocky fix no matter where you live, straight from Amazon!
Retro Arcade. Found this flickr photoset on scrubbles, and man is it a killer. Evan was mesmerized.
The Lewis Carroll scrapbook at the Library of Congress. Not exactly enthralling but a really interesting object. Note his clippings from Punch!
Superdickery. You've seen this, right? Everyone probably has, but just in case...it's a hysterical collection (one of the many) of vintage comic covers. No wonder it's been so hard for the medium to get any respect, right?
The Mod bullet is public domain. (warning: link is to a pdf file) Okay, a little dry and you'll want to skim, but I actually found it fascinating reading. And on that note, have you seen our ska baby clothes? That "Rude Baby" is so cute on Emily it kills me.
and finally for today:
My "Diry" of My Trip to Peekskill, a really entertaining photo tour of Little Lulu's home town!
Oh, I only desperately want to get this kid's Hello Kitty bike for Emily!!
And some of the moms! Available in Japan only from Combi (their US strollers aren't quite so spiffy) is this:
Can you tell what it is? Yep, it's the "M78 ultra man dream baby buggy". I'm normally not too into character goods on this scale (you may find that hard to believe but it's true). And I love the stroller I got for Emily. But for this, I might have made an exception (and I know Evan would have!). All you need is $350 and a trip to Japan to find one.
And when baby's too big, you can move on up to the "M78 ultra man dream junior seat":
All I can say is wow. Why is it that here baby character goods seem limited to Mickey Mouse and (urgh) Precious Moments? We want cool characters too!
 This Hello Kitty phone from Nokia & Cingular would have been my dream phone once upon a time (okay, it still kind of is, except that I have this really nice LG phone and a Verizon service plan....) and must be the dream phone of a bunch of other people too. This is the NYC phone, but they also have them on the West Coast and one or two other areas. There's also an actual HK credit card, but I lost that link....the things you can get these days astounds me. All this stuff used to be so difficult to track down (although some of it still is!).
In other news, today is the last day of the WFMU marathon. If you're a listener that hasn't pledged, please do so! And if you're not a listener, go check out the archives and find out why WFMU is the most essential radio that there is today.
You know, I knew there was some link I wanted to post. Actually, there's quite a few, but this is "time sensitive" as all my junk mail likes to say. Kids or no kids, you must check out the Kiddie Records Project and start downloading all the amazing vintage kid's records they will be putting up (one a week) this year. I'm already amazed by the selection! I'm hoping that they somehow will have a copy of my personal favorite kid's record, which, of course, I can't even remember the name of right now (it's this very odd beatnik/jazz fairytale record, with the stories narrated by this very world-weary Susan Tyrell type -- it was one of my favorite records when I was little and I Wore. It. Out.) Anyway, bop on over and start your collection today!
Long-time readers will know that I've been a big fan of Kiki's Delivery Service for (gulp) over a decade now. For years, every time we were at the NJ Kinokuniya (sadly now closed, and the replacement bookstore isn't half as good) I'd look at the original Kiki novels and wish I could read them. Finally, last year, the first installment was translated and published in North American by Annick Press (where you can read a brief excerpt), and then finally, last month I got off my ass and ordered a copy. I'm giving it two thumbs up -- if you're a fan (not necessarily a Miyazaki fan, but a Kiki fan) you'll definitely want to read the original stories. And the translation is very good, at might not be precise but it reads really well and that counts for a lot as far as I'm concerned. The cover art is off-putting (the original book design was so nice!) but they did at least retain the original illustrations for the interior. Now I just have to hope they decide to translate a few more!
A funny aside -- in 1992 we were in London for UKCAC, and while walking around one day came across the London office of Yamato Transport. We loved the logo and scored some stickers of it from the nice office ladies (for years I kept seeing t-shirts of it in Japanese magazines, but never got hold of one!). It was years and years before we knew that there was a connection between Yamato and Kiki!
It's amazing how there are products coming out these days that really are as "new and exciting" as they claim to be. Take the Magic Eraser, which really might as well be magic, it works so well. We've used them to clean things nothing worked on for years. Tonight, my new miracle product I'm in love with is the J&J Advanced Care bandage system. After getting a rave recommendation from a good friend, we picked some up yesterday to try out on Evan's nasty scrape. I'll let him explain why we had to replace them after just 24 hours -- but I have to say, the difference underneath was astounding. Between myself and my four brothers, I have been looking at scrapes and cuts and scabs my whole life, and I've never seen anything heal like that. We'll be using them until the arm is better, and I think he might actually escape with minimal scarring (and it is certainly a better option for day-to-day wearing, especially on a drawing arm!). I looked them up and they come in small sizes too -- including a special "finger wound" assortment. Not that we'd need that around here or anything. I'll definitely be stocking the first aid box with these from now on! Next time your arm looks like unbaked pizza, you should check them out too!
My favorite holiday is officially on the way! (I think September should be off-limits for Halloween stuff, as far as I'm concerned it's just the whole month of October.) And this year you can all start the Halloween season with the October 1st showing of the Scary Godmother special on the Cartoon Network! Yay!! It's going to be on at 8pm EST. So fix yourself some creepy halloween recipes, curl up in front of the tv and kick off the holiday season!!
If you've got access to a color printer, you can build your very own video game arcade thanks to the Way of the Rodent's Paper Arcade project. Get the current set (much larger than in the original article) here -- I have a feeling that URL will change when the next piece goes up, so grab them now. I'm not exactly sure what I would actually do with a paper arcade but that's really beside the point anyway.
Please, tell me, is there a special effect involved in this Japanese "how-to-fold-a-t-shirt" clip? Because it is freaking me out.
Did you know about the Joe Strummer Memorial Forest? I didn't. Very neat.
Betty Crocker gives us the cake for reformed alcoholics (or not-so-reformed): the Strawberry Margarita Cake! I'm assuming you could do this with just about any drink mix you like and make a cocktail cake recipe of your own. Mmmm! (although, I think I'd use real whipped cream and maybe call my lime peel "zest")
Being of the XX chromosome persuasion, I do carry the gene for handbag lust. (I try to keep it controlled -- and when I don't, my little Jiminy Cricket I call "Evan" is uaully there to say "ahem, you don't need that..." But even so, without moving from my seat I can see...6 bags. Yikes!) So this new service, Bag Borrow or Steal absolutely slays me. As the NYT said, it's like a Netflix for swanky handbags. Amazing! If I had to work in an office or went out a lot, I would so be signing up! I bet everyone in the fashion industry will be claiming their memberships on the tax forms next year.
First, NY: if you are a freelancer working in NYC, Working Today needs 300 more freelancers to take their survey rating the top NY companies to work for. Of course, if you hate everyone you've worked for in NY I guess you can skip it!
And if you're in LA: White Castle is opening up it's first (temporary) West Coast location to promote that movie coming out. Totally bizarre. It'll be at 8301 W. Sunset Blvd., and they'll be giving away burgers and prizes from July 22 to Aug 11. So if you're an East Coaster who lives there now, here's your chance to get your fix! And if you've never had one, here's your chance to find out what all the fuss is about. (And your chance to find out why so many people ban White Castles from their homes around here.)
Spotted in the NY Times today -- the Pokia cell phone accessory. More form than function, but pretty clever! I think the hotline is my favorite. Surely there were more attractive handsets out there though?
Today I bring you the Fossilized Skull cake and the Flayed Goblin cake, created by Kimberly Chapman. Lots of other amazing cakes that are much less gruesome, too!
And everyone else who likes goofy stuff in their house...we went to ikea (in an unsuccessful search for a living room chair we've been trying to get) and found this super-cute spider lamp in the children's department (also comes in pink, not so cute). The point of the spiderweb is to keep kid's fingers out of the lamp, but we thought they were just cool. So we promptly got two to replace the dying VÄRD lamps we'd had in the bedroom since we moved. Add in some shelving we needed and a big plate of swedish meatballs and I call that trip a success, chair or not.
Things have been just too, too much. And our weekend left me completely wiped out and feeling ick, like I may have picked up some bug at the show (it was still a great show, other than the minor jerk incidents Evan mentioned). Working on catching up now.
The links have been piling up, so here's a few:
Super-exciting: ImaginAsian tv -- dumb name but great idea, a 24-hour asian-american digital cable station with dramas, movies, etc. They're also opening a movie theater/cultural center here in NYC this summer. Seriously looking forward to this and keeping my fingers crossed that it happens!
Scariest human beatbox ever: Dokaka! A japanese beatbox artist who has to be heard to be believed. Start with his "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and go on from there.
Bringing out the envy in me: photos of a day at the Ghibli Museum. Ooh and aaah. Last time we were at Mitsuwa we saw a poster for the museum in the travel office and the lady started trying to sell us on tickets...oh did we ever wish we could have said yes.
And the yummiest: kid's cartoon character bentos, found by reader Marc. I have a couple books of these, but the ones on this page look like they might be homemade versions. the Anpanman bento is my favorite, but I find the goofy keroppi incredibly endearing.
...it's a dream!! Dakin (now part of Applause) has just reintroduced their Dream Pets line, a toy series that began in 1957 and continued through the 70s. The amazing thing is that it's the first launch of "retro hipster" etc toys that is cheap and widely available -- retail is just $8 and they're at most card stores (and Cracker Barrels, wherever they have those). Evan brought the Flying Tiger home Thursday night and we are absolutely mad for the whole line (well, okay, most of it). Go look now!! (And yes, Rikki, you will be completely broke before I'm done with you ;P )
In comical news, the Funnyrama appearance we had yesterday went really well, I thought. It was more of a mini-con than I had expected and very busy. I was wiped out by the end, it's so over-the-top, but we had a good time (and whether or not we go back, if you're in the general area I completely recommend checking it out in the future).
How cool is this? A home DNA mapping kit? For kids? My god do I wish I could have been sequencing DNA in middle school. Put this on your xmas list for any kids over 10!
Best. Comics. Ever. (via scrubbles)
Why videogames are good for you!
Alright, I'm getting ready to leave tomorrow on a quick business/pleasure trip, so if I don't check in again, see you all again Monday!!
If you thought Sky Captain looked amazing, then check out Casshern...I'm hoping this gets a limited release here so we can see it on the big screen.
First up -- thanks to reader arved, who let me know that the original Ghost Town page (a girl's rides through Chernobyl) is not only back online, but newly updated! Go. Read. Now.
Second -- why I was going to post. We took a little time out to do some organizing this weekend, and one of the things we did was finally tackle the CD collection. We have too many CDs we don't listen to, and even getting rid of those, the ones we want to keep are taking up an enormous amount of space. Finally, I got the chance to try out the CD sleeves I'd bought -- let me see -- in 2001!! And we are totally into them. I only had 100, but the amazing thing was to see all 100 of those CDs (with their tray cards and booklets) in a box about 10" deep. A big thumbs up to this system from us -- if you have too many CDs you might want to check these out.
Some quick links:
Brief story on Puffy, mentioning their thoughts on the US cartoon.
Interesting BBC story on manga, note the comment from the "yaoi expert" who seems to be saying yet again that the men in these comics are not, in fact, gay. Just in love.
Excellent commentary from Devo's Gerald Casale, found via Bob Mould's blog (an excellent read in its own right).
And for pure fun, check out the gallery of Toy2R's qee's at Queester. I love Qees, too bad they're so spendy for such little things. (Currently drooling for: series 4 monkeys and 3 of the cats -- cheshire, girl and xray.) Saw an 8" at Toy Tokyo yesterday, so cute I could barely stand it!
Speaking of yesterday, we attended the big Adult Swim season launch party. It was interesting. A little weird (in that it was a big party paid for and planned by marketing people, so...there was some stuff going on I wouldn't have chosen myself) but we got to hook up with a number of people we know and rarely see, including the producers we are allegedly still doing development work for on the series. So that was good.
The new t-shirt for the Glen Jones Radio Programme Featuring X. Ray Burns is close to finished! It's the $60 (whoops, $120) pledge premium for the show during this year's marathon at WFMU. And pledging to Glen's show (or making a large online pledge) is the only way you will be able to get this shirt! I'll try to have at least line art up for it soon, since they may not have time to get the art up on their site before Sunday. Even if you don't want it though, please consider giving WFMU whatever you can if you are a listener (or if you just want to support the idea of true, commercial-free, free-form radio). Okay. PSA over!
Here's some luck -- last week, I'd found this photo album/travelogue written by a young woman who lives near Chernobyl and rides through the "dead" zone often, bookmarked it and meant to post it, but she took her site down. Today, what do I find but a mirror of the site!! Yay! Thank you, ninja assassin, who ever you are. This is a must-read when you have a few minutes (and don't wait, this mirror might vanish as quickly as the original). I've never seen anything like the photos this girl has taken, and I've read a lot of National Geographics. It's absolutely haunting, and beautiful in that weird freaky way that ruins can be.
Okay, a quick post just to link to these movies. Some of you have already seen these, I'm sure, but if not, check out the incomparable Phantasmagoria's Mario Bros. movies. These things are hysterical, I can't even believe how good they are. (Evan thinks they're better directed than the Harry Potter movies, but you probably know how he feels about those.) There will be 5 parts, but only 3 are finished. Go watch them (do yourself a favor and download them so you can show your friends over and over and over...)
Part I
Part II
Part III
Just a quick heads up, the Zojirushi NS-KCC05 rice cooker I wrote up in the cooking pages is 44% off today. That's even better than the deal we got on it. If you're in the market for a rice cooker, I loooove this one. Drawback -- it does not make a ton of rice, but it's perfect for 1-2 people. And I don't know if anyone else cruises the Friday sale on a regular basis, but they've been putting Le Creuset on sale every week lately. I'm very tempted, but I don't even know where to start.
The Subcultures opening Friday was apparently a resounding success! There's coverage in a few places, but the best pics are here. You can see pics of our figs in their display case about 9-10 rows down. I'm a little bummed that we don't have photos and stuff around our display like other figure designers, but ours did get finished right at the last minute. So maybe at the next stop. Rumor has it the show will go to L.A. next and then NYC -- we'll keep you guys posted!
And how about the entire wall of Ugly Dolls? I'd like to take that home!! It all looks great though -- I'm looking forward to (hopefully) seeing the show myself eventually!
We got a photo today of the finished action figures we designed for the Subcultures art show that opens in Ft Lauderdale this weekend. Hopefully we can put a photo up of the whole set asap. They came out so great, I really was totally impressed. Hopefully the exhibit will travel after its run down in FL is over. (With Kid Robot as a sponsor I'm hoping they bring it up here!)
Update!! Got permission to post a photo of the whole set! It's up now at the HOF page!
And I have a small favor -- would a couple people go look at the front page of the HoF site and then comment here to tell me what they see? I need to know what the newest headline is for you in the news section, and if you see the images on the page. We're having some inexplicable problems that I think are somehow, magically confined to any computer Evan touches, but I want to be sure. (No comments on the news page, please, the template went wonky and I have no time to fix it). Thanks guys!!
Those of you who know me, know I have an obsession with fake food, miniature food, or food that pretends to be something else. Today I have seen the ultimate in food fakery -- Koo-Ki Sushi. Seriously, the stuff is to die for. Every single thing on their site is a thing of beauty. I would love one of the big boxes (although I'm also very into the maneki-nekos!). All I want to know is, why isn't this place in NY? That's just ridiculous. I want my Koo-Ki Sushi! (spotted on not martha)
Well, if that movie is going to prompt a new design wave of 30 futurism, kitchenware company DeLonghi is all over it already with this new Metropolis line we saw part of today. I mean, this toaster is to die for! Too bad it also all costs an arm and a leg. And doesn't go with anything we own, really. But still...a robot toaster? What more can you ask for? (Aside from, okay, an toaster that's an actual robot...!)
Just because I keep forgetting to mention it:
dig the trailer for Sky Captain and the World Of Tomorrow!!
How about those Fleischer-esque robots, huh?
Okay, as part of my year-end cleanup, I'm trying to get rid of tons of bookmarks I don't need, and a pretty big handful of them are things I wanted to link to or write about here. Oops. Here's the top 5 (not actually in order though). If I uncover any other good ones I'll go ahead and post them later.
1. The iduck. Only 16MB, but pretty cute (if overpriced!) I can only hope more cool USB storage devices come out as the world gets rid of its floppy drives. (Evan's new computer is our first with no floppy drive! Crazy!)
2. The Thunderbirds. Long trailer for the upcoming live-action version of the Thunderbirds. I think we'll be seeing this one, but not because we think it's going to actually be good...
3. Deleter USA. The manga supply company has a US division now, selling pens, paper and tone screen (never thought I'd see that stuff for sale again anywhere!) for making comics (and no, they don't have to be manga style). Of special interest to me are their software packages (one for doing screen tones, one for coloring) as they're the only apps I've ever seen specifically for comic creators. (If the tone screens in ComicWorks can be imported into PhotoShop, it'd be worth the price for that alone!) They also have their own tablet, which I'm interested in finding out more about. Hopefully I'll have time to look into their stuff more next year.
4. Time magazine covers. Time has made every single cover of their magazine available online (and you can buy prints if there's one you love). A little hard to search if you aren't sure what you're looking for (have there really only been 5 Christmas covers in 80 years?) but it's all there for the browsing. (Oh, and the cover I found? Mystery writer Craig Rice, whose collaborations with Stuart Palmer we just finished reading.)
5. Elsa Schiaperelli. Celebrated in an exhibit that's unfortunately about to close at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (and if it's travelling anywhere else, I can't find anything out about it). The website is really informative and well-done, though. I'm seeing the exhibition next week (yes, cutting it close, I know!) and am really looking forward to it.
Alright, that's it for today!
Monkey Brains Move Robot Arms, and I'm not talking about a new Kochalka series, I mean seriously, monkey brains moving robot arms. Very cool.
Mullins' new mom Branden is in a really cool art show this month, "Woodland Creatures From Outer Space". I wanted to be in it too, but with what time was I going to get anything done? Sheesh. See more of Branden's work here.
Highly annoying event of the weekend: buying an expensive art book that was defaced in production. Yay. Not only is it stupid and wretched, it's disrespectful to the artist, and now, the only English edition is annoying. Did I say annoying enough?
Best event of the weekend (okay, I'm counting Monday): getting the new DVR box from the cable company. It does almost everything that tivo does, but it's just part of the cable box. It doesn't make suggestions or any of that stuff but who cares, we didn't pay for it. Today when we ate breakfast we watched last night's I've Got A Secret off of our saved list. Ooh, so exciting!
Got stuff in on my new Tokyopop job, so far I'm liking it a lot. Very neat art. Very girlie though.
I'm rereading Tik-Tok of Oz for the whateverth-time, we finally have gotten a bunch more of the gorgeous Books Of Wonder editions, because they've been showing up at BookCloseouts.com for $10 each. Yes, they're clearance copies so they have a marker streak on the bottom (of the paper, I don't know what you call that part of a book) but so what? That's a serious bargain. We had some but stopped buying them years ago. Now, we're close to having all of the Baum Oz books. Yay!
Back to work. Yeesh, this weather is the pits.
Things are finally starting to settle down. The new Dork trade, Circling the Drain is printed, we're just waiting to see our copies. Reports are good, however.
Mullins is settling in nicely to his new home. I think he's going to be a very happy cat, and that the story of the Little Girl and her poor little kittens can have a happy ending. (Oh, yeah, and she didn't have rabies, so my dad doesn't have to get the zillion shots in the stomach or whatever it is they do to you if you're attacked by a rabid animal.)
I've turned in the very last volume of Kodocha (boohoo), which was actually pretty emotional, I swear I'm as attached to those characters as if I'd invented them myself. And I've just today tentatively confirmed my new projects at Tokyopop, although not only it is not 100% settled what I'll do, they're titles that aren't announced, so I can't discuss them yet. However, I highly doubt you'll have heard of any of them. (I can say they're shoujo books, though.) I'm looking forward to doing more stuff, I hope I'll enjoy the new books even half as much as I enjoyed Kodocha.
In other work news, we're now hard at work (along with a few other things) on the new development stuff for the Cartoon Network. It's fun, we're enjoying it, hopefully it'll turn into something. More on that later, obviously.
In house news, this really should be part of the unfinished "my favorite tools" bit for the cooking class, but since I've had no time I just want to push on you my latest favorite thing, the in-drawer knife block that was delivered today. I've been wanting one of these for ages, but they all seemed too expensive or too junky. This one is great—it holds 6 knives, 6 steak knives (or small knives) plus your steel. And it only cost $17! (Most I've seen didn't hold that much and ran about $40.) The regular knife block on the counter was just bulky and annoying, and got so dirty. So, a bunch of stuff came out of the drawer and went into my new cool Fiestaware tool crock (mine is turquoise) and then the knife block went into the drawer. It's all so much neater and easier to get to now.
Finally, Evan's been having all the fun talking about movies lately, so I'm chiming in first with a report on The House Where Evil Dwells, a horror movie we thought might be quick and goofy and which turned out to be one of the most ludicrous things calling itself a film I've ever seen in my life. One IMDb user calls it "high camp", except it's not supposed to be…the best user comment is "Be Drunk. Very Drunk." It was hysterically funny, I have to admit. Giant talking cursing crabs going up trees? Talking heads in soup? Evil ghosts who act like naughty children? Awkward out-of-shape white man martial arts? Worth catching for a laugh, if you've got some downtime to spare.
Got that minor little server problem ironed out…lots going on, slipped up to the top level of busyness. So just a couple quick notes before I start forgetting them all:
Astro boy has been confirmed for Kid's WB!
Been reading Science Blog a lot lately, pretty great stuff.
And here's a great article from the NYT about asian ghost movies, basically, exploring why they do the supernatural so differently from us (and some would say, better). They specifically discuss the HK movie The Eye, which we saw a while back. I totally recommend it if it plays near you. Very creepy and effective (although, don't think I'm saying it's the greatest movie ever, but it's good).
And speaking of asian film, here's an interesting look at the state of animators in Japan right now. (Today's new word: kime, those pauses and stills in Japanese animation.)
Finally, I checked in at BookCloseouts the other day to see if anything I wanted was remaindered, and they've got a big children's book sale going on. Don't know how much is left, but it's not often you can find cool books by artists like David Kirk for $1.50 a pop. If you need to come up with kid gifts over the next year or so, it might be worth stocking up (books suitable for up to teens are in the sale, too).
Anyway, that's all for now. See you soon!
The Five Kinds Of Busy. At the moment, Evan is without a doubt "way too". Last week I was "too" but now I'm slowly downshifting to "perfectly". Here's hoping I can stay there for a bit.
Came across the acclaimed UK Honda ad that will presumably soon be running here. It really is something else. (secondary source)
At Evan's request, I tracked down the Star Wars Teen at waxy.org. I don't have any idea where he heard about it, (either WFMU or NPR, I think), but if you haven't seen it yet either, there you go.
Crayon Shin-Chan gets some props. I'll always be sorry that the attempt to get him for the Cartoon Network wasn't in time. I doubt the current licensee will ever get that show on the air. But you never know.
Here's some info on an exhibit of advice books for women at the U. of Delaware. From this I learned that there was once a "New York Female School of Design" (at Cooper Union). I also learned that I really want that Munro Leaf book of advice for young women!
Abbie the Cat is back after an extended absence. Still one of my favorite daily reads.
The new Reynolds Wrap Release foil is brilliant. Totally non-stick, and if you like roasting vegetables or doing any other sort of cooking where food normally sticks like mad (see this roasted potato recipe, you've got to try it. Seriously, it's completely changed the way I cook several things (not to mention how often I'll cook them now).
Anyway, as you can see, the busy level in the house has prevented me from bringing you the greatest essay ever published in a comic book. Will try to get to that in the next day or so. In the meantime, a quote-in-the-way-of-teaser from said essay: "Your world of men has not ended." See you there!
Hopefully you all already know that we'll be appearing in Toms River tomorrow (Saturday) at the library at their big comics event thing. Should be interesting, and a nice road trip if nothing else! Things have been crazy hectic around here, but looks like we'll have lots of small-but-interesting projects to announce later this year. I've been saving links to post, and here's the first few. Quote of the year coming up this weekend!!
The Great Sasuke still won't take his mask off.
Anyone remember the Green Machine? Did you know it came back?
Finally, wrist-phones are here! (Well, in Japan, anyway.) (follow-up: the phones sold out in 20 minutes!)
And best link of all, the World of Mary Blair, an officially sanctioned Blair estate website with art, merchandise, info and more. Just getting started, but already amazing. J'adore Mary Blair. Link via scrubbles.
Since most of you read Evan's journal, I don't have to go into the miles of stuff we've been dealing with. It's been overwhelming, but for the most part positive stress. (If nothing else, having finally gotten health coverage means that Evan's finally being sent to a neurosurgeon to try and find out what exactly is wrong with his back and neck.) I have been dealing with the stress by spending what small bits of free time I find in the garden since the weather's been so lovely. Things are bursting into bloom all over the place! Well, I'm off to make Evan's birthday cake (actually, a vintage brownie recipe that doesn't taste anything like modern brownies but is delicious). But before I forget, I want to leave you with this:
If any of you have not seen the video for Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt", I stumbled across it online today. We just saw it for the first time a few days ago and it's absolutely breathtaking. Maybe "devastating" (as one reviewer put it) is even more accurate. Anyway. Watch it.
For some reason, the last few days, everytime I've tried to sit down and write either my browser has flipped out (actually, it's not the browser, it's another certain resource hog of a program) or something's happened to distract me. So know I know I've got a bunch of links and things with no coherent idea of what I was going to say about them. So, I'll just get them out of the way and just get going again!
See, now that is exactly what I'm talking about. Just as I got to the end of that sentence, I had to leave off to discuss an important work call we got, by the time that was all finished with it was time to go fix dinner, and now it's a couple hours later. This lack of focus in my life is driving me nuts! I'll try again:
Ebay—we've got some art and stuff going on ebay (time to pay for that root canal!), a couple things are up right now.
Astro Boy's birthday (not the anniversary, his actual day of birth) is coming up in a little over a week. There've been nearly daily articles about it, this article is one of my favorites.
Have you seen Gamefly? Basically a NetFlix for gamers, looks like a great deal if you actually play games regularly, which I do not. (Since I can finish a game, oh, every 3-4 months at best, this isn't a good deal for me. I wish it was!)
This shopping site, Fred Flare has some neat stuff, but really. Five 25¢ superballs for $8? Are you kidding?
I've got a new regular read, thanks to Scrubbles. It's Abbie The Cat's blog. It reminds me of one of my favorite childood reads, I, Scheherazade, if it had been written by Kay Thompson rather than Douglass Parkhirst. (By the way, if you've ever read I, Scheherazade, yes, I really did read that as a "kid's" book and no, I did not get quite a few of those references. I still think it's a great book, I have my copy to this day. And I'd totally let a kid read it.)
The Gameboy Advance SP has shipped, how I am restraining myself I do not know. (Oh, yeah, that money-in-the bank issue…) I haven't actually seen one in person, so I'm curious to see the lit screen in action. I'm surprised to see that reviewers are wondering why Nintendo would bring this out when the GA is still pretty new. I think it's obvious that the GBA is for kids (colorful, cute, wide and easy to hold), the SP for, ahem, big kids.
And finally, I've mentioned Go Home Productions before—his recent mash-up "Ray of Gob" now has a video, amazingly enough. Download either track or video at his site while supplies last!
A couple articles of note—first this coverage of the Japan release of the new GBA. Wow does that thing look swanky. Can't wait til it's on sale at the end of the year.
And this article I found today is absolutely fascinating, on the life of Winnifred Eaton, a writer who was apparently "rediscovered" in the 1970s, but who I never heard of before today. She's one of those people whose lives will probably interest people long after her work will—I can't really summarize this article in less than half a page so just go check it out (and notice, as of today, the article is from the future! how cool is that!)
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