Kikkerland is a really fun place to browse for interesting products and gift ideas.
Their puzzle section has some great anatomical models. For example:
FLEXING MAN! HUZZAH!
I call this one “Techno Snail” due to his electric and somewhat alien qualities:
And this is where bacon comes from, kids:
Of course, I’m still partial to the Human Torso Model I received for my birthday`from Ronnie last year.
Scott Radke has been one of my favorite doll/marionette makers for many years. These are the bastard toys the “nice” kids don’t like to play with, the magnificent outcasts of the puppet community.
His creations are rarely without an air of sorrow, a forlorn sense of hopelessness (as if self conscious of their own mismatched bodies and sickly faces).
And sometimes…they are just chilling.
If he ever made a stop-motion film, or designed props for a motion picture, I’d be ecstatic!
I was that kid who watched documentaries on the Titanic in hopes of seeing the remnants of majestic decor. A broken statue…a clock frozen in time…
It was nearly impossible to choose only a few images from Jason Taylor’s underwater sculpture gallery.
The experience of viewing these IN the water must be phenomenal. The weightlessness of the observer coupled with the gravity of the objects, the kaleidoscopic light filtering down from the surface, the stillness within movement…
My favorite aspect of the underwater sculpture is its organic nature; how it reflects, absorbs and responds to its own environment, ever-changing as it rests in place. The decay adds to the intrigue, the sense of gazing upon a lost relic.
Rarely do we get to see a sculpted snapshot in time evolve and transform in this way.
I’m a sucker for cute robots. I wish I had owned a Hootbot in 1985. He’s got a little Wall-E thing going on.
In a time when new robot abilities were part of their allure, I enjoy Hootbot’s utter uselessness. Watch him in “action:”
That’s some damn fine twitching and blinking! Oh Hootbot, I love you.
Now that I’ve found The Old Robots site, I may have to incorporate some kind of regular robot feature.
That’s the title of this splendid video from the (hopefully budding) FUBEAR STUDIOS.
This flat-out delights me, despite the eventual fate of the fez wearing protagonist. It perks me up more than a morning cup of coffee (especially when the bear starts rocking out on guitar).
Personally, I want a sequel in which the bear rules the colony from his little glass chamber. It could be done.
This made the blog rounds a little while ago, and I still haven’t gotten over how awesome it is:
It even features storage for various waffle toppings on the back. Dare I say, it’s a complete waffle CENTER.
“We must have waffles! We must have waffles Forthwith!”
(Thee cheers for finding a truly relevant use for this quote)
Here we have an item that appeals to me conceptually, though I would never actually incorporate it in my own home decor.
I feel mildly dizzy.
Conversely, I could get VERY accustomed to this book shelf. I’d like nothing more than to fill it up and make myself a nice little hideaway.
With a comfy chair, blankets and good lighting…I don’t think I’d ever come out.
I watched Blood Tea and Red String last night, and was quite impressed.
Thirteen years in the making, Christiane Cegavske’s dialog free film tells the tale of the struggle between the aristocratic White Mice and the rustic Creatures Who Dwell Under the Oak over the doll of their heart’s desire. The Mice commission the Oak Dwellers to create a beautiful doll for them. When she is complete, the Creatures fall in love with her and refuse to give her up. Resorting to thievery the Mice abscond with her in the middle of the night.
This stop motion fairly tale cloaks some rather dark messages of obsession and socio-political commentary. It’s probably not for everyone…but I loved it and I’m eagerly awaiting the sequel: Seed in the Sand due out in 2012. Anyone intrigued by the style of the more mainstream Jigsaw puppet in the Saw film series should definitely pay homage to Cegavske’s craftsmanship by watching her film.
In addition to the painstaking (though certainly worthwhile) effort of these films, Christiane Cegavske also has galleries of other mixed media arts on her website.
Although there is some phenomenal digital art out there, I’ll always have a soft spot for tangible creations that get an artist’s hands dirty.
As a lover of contradiction, I can’t help but enjoy Gary Baseman’s latest limited edition toy, Creamy.
If you like your ice cream dazed, drooling and metallic (with a questionable “accident” leaking from the bottom of his cone), Creamy is your man.
The Ukraine is home to this spectacular floating house, supposedly built to store an overload of mineral fertilizer.
But I agree with the source. There’s a better story lurking out there.
So what kind of entertaining origin do you attribute to this levitating mini-masterpiece?
Odee’s collection of gravity defying houses is definitely worth a look as well.
SheWalksSoftly 
