WARNING: Making Videos This Cute Is Prohibited By Law

Omigodz, it's red pandas snuggling through the snow.






If you do not watch this video until the very end you are a) soulless b) going partially blind, or c) destined to have extremely unattractive children. Godspeed. And Godredpandas.

Another Amazing Thing I Now Own

All of this purchase bragging is getting ridiculous. Am I becoming a hauler? Could I somehow be like the Fowlers? (Note: these ladies are great people to love loathing on the internet.)

Whatever, I don't care. Becuase in addition to my AMAZING bouncy ball, I have just purchased an EVEN MORE AMAZING TIMES TEN jacket, and it deserves great amounts of jaw dropping recognition. Behold:


Is it almost enough to overtake THE COAT in its awesomeness?


Join our Town Hall debate Saturday, May 14th to voice your opinion. It's actually on twitter. It's a town hall twibate. #koolkidskoatz


Um, for those of you who clicked the Fowler link and watched the video:
a. "Gimme, gimme. Buy, buy."
b. I hope this jacket helps awkard, choke collar-wearing tweens "understand what they would want more."

Ok PEACE I'm about to go hit the streetz with this thing on and blow everyone's minds.

Welcome to the Fun House

They've done it. Those crazy Asians have finally done it. They've created the most fun place to live on the planet. Level Architects have made my and every kid's dreams come true with this:






That is one hell of a slide house, boys and girls! Unfortunately, you'd have to go shack up in Tokyo to experience the overwhelming joy that clearly pervades those four walls.

The slide even ends in a secret library


Which brings me to another point about things that make houses awesome: books and nooks. Books and nooks to come. For now, let's continuously ogle this fun house.

It also has a blowing ball pit. For real. These kids are the happiest children on the planet:


This is an actual room in their home, just for them. Just wait until they get old enough for homework. Then what? Mom and Dad are just going to casually get them to stop playing in their awesome in-home ball pit and do math? Pfft, yeah right. Oh wait, they're Asian. Alright, they should be ok.

I guess it's time to start gearing up for Christmas List 2011, because this bad boy is definitely going to top it.

(PS - I basically just jacked this whole thing from dezeen.)

Check Out Trump's Smacker

Look at this fishy fish fish face he's got on! It's totes legit:

Omigod, Shoes (Part 3 of Infinity)

Okay, so no more apologies for writing about shoes. They're awesome and we need them to go outside and we spend at least 8% of each day thinking about them, so there's no reason we shouldn't constantly be talking about them.

Remember duck boots? I had to get a new pair every year since my feet were always growing and it was such a practical choice for those harsh Boston winters. I remember I would wear them to school, but then change into different shoes once I got there because they were so ugly and made your feet hot once you weren't standing in snow up to your chest.

But like most things that weren't that great in your childhood (remember skeggings?), they're experiencing an exciting comeback. Tommy Hilfiger managed to take a shoe I never really liked save for its practicality, slap on a 5 inch heel and $300 price tag and make me fall in love all over again.

I particularly like the ankle version; I can see it pairing very well with tights and miniskirts or skinny jeans. I'm not sure they'll do you much good during a New England winter, but luckily (duckily?) it never snows in Santa Cruz.

I Have Fallen in Love with a Camera

This is me:



This is me with a Werra 1 35 mm with a Tessar 2,8/50 lens:


This camera is so badass. Made in 1950s, communist-controlled East Germany, it came out remarkably well made and attractive, and it probably overheard at least three people talk about the Gulag while it was still in the factory! And guys, you should hear the sounds it makes when you snap a shot and wind the film. It's like going back in time, without having to become a repressed house wife.

The best thing is, the camera takes straight up 35mm. It is just standing the test of time so well. It makes me a proud German. überproud.

Perhaps you're wondering how I could be so lucky as to get my paws on this little sex-machine of a gadget. It is all thanks to the seriously, mind-blowingly cool Levi's Photo Workshop. I don't understand how they make everything so free, accessible and awesome, but they do it. Let me give you a run down of the kind of Funland production they have going on down on Wooster Street:

• There are about 40 vintage cameras like my beloved Werra, spanning several decades and a world wide range of manufacturers. For a $100 or $200 deposit, you can take the camera of your choice out on the town for 24 hours and take all the pictures your heart desires. Return it, and get the full deposit back. It is so deliciously f-r-e-e, free. Bonus: put down your deposit on Sunday, like I did, and get the camera for 48 hours, because the workshop is closed on Mondays. Huzzah! (what's with that?)
  
• They also have GIANT photo printers, also for free. Just burn your digital pictures on to a CD and get on the queue. (Warning: it's usually about an hour wait, and they tend to run out of larger paper, so get in early!) You can print pictures on paper up to 30 x 40 inches. That's an honest-to-god poster of your artsy fartsy photos, for free. And that's just down right incredible.
  
• You can also go in and have an artsy fartsy photo shoot. You guessed it -- for free. They have all these wild cameras and lighting and back drops, for which I know absolutely zero terminology, and you can just go to town with your inner model/designer/Andy Warhol self. When I popped in, there were chicks dressed as goth bunnies with peacock tails strutting around for the camera. So, yeah, do what you want.
• There's a cute little photo booth (see pictures above) that you can hop in front of for free as well. And if you're not so selfish like me, you can leave your pictures there, and they'll go in a "yearbook" which will be produced when the work shop ends.

So... duh, you're going, right? The workshop is going on until December 18th. Basically, it will be taking over my life until then. Also, look what I found on eBay that I am about to blow a bunch of money on:


God, Werra, I love you so, so much. Update clearly coming when I get my film developed.

Look What Sarah Can Do!

As some of you may know, September 26 to October 9 was a whirlwind of birthday celebrations. Most importantly, it was Gary Busey's very first birthday!  And he hated his cake so, so much. 

Thankfully, Sarah Tosh is a master of scissors and glue, and is the craftiest craft queen I have ever seen.  Someone should probably hire her over at Kate's Paperie (because then I could get a bunch of cool free stuff and be the craftiest craft queen in training). 

Look at this card she made for a cat!

It even folded from the top like a real card, and was filled with giant neon bubble letters -- Gary's favorite.

Now, as you also may know, Gary is much, much more popular than me, and had a lot more guests at his birthday than I did. But don't worry! Sarah and her paper skillz came to the rescue and made sure I was not to be outdone. First she brought me 70 glowsticks and a tiara. And THEN, she brought me this:

It's a real live card rendition of me, wearing the tiara she brought! It even has green glitter eyeshadow on, just like me!

This is nothing less than incredible. And that's that.

Omigod, Shoes (part 2)

Irena had a post about shoes, so now I can too.

I just got trapped in Moxsie's stranglehold, and fell helplessly under the spell of their "Moxsie First" newsletter, which gives its unsuspecting victims the opportunity to pre-buy amazing stuff months before it actually gets released. They even have a little clicking timer on top, showing how long the pre-sale will last, and reminding you that you are a shopaholic idiot, just like the woman calling into HSN talking about her rhinestone cat brooch. (Order in 10 minutes and get two rhinestone kitties for the price of one!)

Whatevs. They sent me a follow-up email with a 15% off coupon, so I crumbled. I've decided $75 is a totally ok price to pay for what will be the first item on my Christmas List I actually know I'm getting. (Still holding out for the bedazzled, white pony with the rainbow mane.) These won't ship until the end of December, but they're mine. All mine:

Holy Shit

Holy shit you guys, I just found the most amazing moment in time ever recorded. Pee Wee Herman, Regis Philbin, and CANDY? Are you kidding me?!



Also the soon-to-be most amazing moment in time ever recorded is when I go out to Dylan's this weekend and stage the world's biggest gumball heist. Who wants to be the photographer?

Alright, alright, I know you just want more Pee Wee. Fine:

He's also in the Washington Post today, proof that Pee Wee Herman is BACK, people. Get used to it.

PS - Why doesn't he AGE?!

Epic Saturday: Part 2

So, uh, this took me a while.  Get over it.

After all the daytime shenanigans, we were pretty pooped.  Realizing the show must go on, or that we must go on with the never ending show, it was back on the streetz for some more crazy art fun time.  Bonus points -- there's a playground at the end.

 Wait, wait, wait holy shit I just remembered an amazing part of phase one that can not go unrecognized!! You're psyched, right?  Check it:

That is bona fide baby scented air freshener.  I bet it smells like pampers and wide-eyed wonder. I also bet at least 18 babies had to die to make this one can.  The guy behind the counter wouldn't sell it to me -- too precious, to be sure -- but he did spray it on his finger and smell it for me, which is clearly the best of all awkward consolations possible.

Ok, onto the night!

Seeing as Nuit Blanche is a giant, international homage to the night and things that glow in it, we clearly had to wear blinking necklaces and party rats. This in and of itself is a highlight. A highlight that happens constantly throughout life. So get used to it.

While Greenpoint's (and NYC's) first foray into the celebration wasn't as intense as what the kids are doing over there in Europe, it was still a pretty good time, and I got all googly-eyed at least twice. Like when I saw  Light Harvest's giant projection wall. I have a video, but it kind of sucks, because I couldn't whip out my camera in time to catch the amazing optical illusion of a bird trapped in a cage. I guess you'll just have to spend the next 4 seconds wondering and wishing you were there. Here's what I did catch:

Also of note is the fact that this whole thing was put together in three days, according to the guy manning the projector that I spent at least eight minutes tracking down.  It was about twenty minutes of looped footage, all perfectly aligned to make the building fuck with your mind.


We also found these giant poky things! Made by Norman Mooney:

And another optical illusion!

Another huge highlight here was when Ian tried to be as awesome as me, like this:

But then got told by some random Asian dude that his fly was actually down.  Then he looked like this:

And the one thing I don't have any pictures of, because no shoes or bags were allowed inside (special thanks to Ian for holding all our stuff): A giant bouncy, gymnastics gym for adults!  Yes!  I played on a trampoline, balance beam and parallel bars with about 40 other wide-eyed big kids whose minds were collectively blown. And it turns out this place throws monthly parties, so it's time to mark your calendar and find a sweet new set of neon sweatbands. 

Finally, I'm not quite sure what this is, but I definitely know it's a highlight.

Oh and I also found a few holes,

 

 That second one is pretty incredible, no?  I was tempted to go to the open house just to pay my compliments.

Cool Like Space

So it looks like over the weekend when we coined the phrase "Cool like space," (while talking about deep sea creatures, of course) we were actually riding on the cusp of a rising wave of awesome. Space is back, full force.

Tomorrow the House will vote on a NASA appropriations bill, and they're slated to give nearly $2 billion extra per year by 2013.  Honestly, that's not really that much compared to a lot of things, but check out their upfront goal:

"The long term goal of the human space flight and exploration efforts of NASA shall be to expand permanent human presence beyond low-Earth"

Their goal is to get more people in space! We all know that the only thing cooler than space is going to space.  Even the U.S. government can get behind it. Basically this is the only time you'll ever get the chance to say, "Fuck yeah, Congress!" and mean it.

Oh, and did I mention that now, thanks to billionaire Richard Branson, we can go to space too?! That's right, astronauts. It's time to share your piece of the space pie. This means two things:

1. Richard Branson is the coolest billionaire on the planet, and makes Bill Gates look like a nerdy asshole. 
2. I need to immediately make friends with one of the other 937 billionaires (yup, looked it up) and make them give me $200,000.  Because I need to get to space like woah.

In the meantime, I'm going to be all "like, e-wow man" over Discover articles about space. I'll also desperately try not to be a nerdy ass like Bill Gates.  (I can feel the fail already.)

Oh, and in case you forgot how cool space is:

Oh, and in case you were expecting Morgan Freeman:

Burberry Prorsum Makes My Dreams Come True

Omigod you guys, remember this post when I realized how amazing and underused clouded leopard print is? Burberry read my mind.  Look at this jacket!

I am a prophet! And the obvious reward for my supernatural skillz is.... this jacket!  Now on the Christmas list. (But I think the bedazzled horse still ranks higher.)

OMGZ Give Me Suitcase Furniture Now

And I'm not talking about the kind with rollers.

Gone are the days of hard-topped, square-shaped, leather-handled briefcase-style suitcases.  You know, the kind you might wear with a bowler hat, some white gloves, or a weird smattering of lace across your face.  The kind of suitcase you held in one hand, while puffing a pipe in the other saying, "Now, look here, see!"

Now it's all nylon and rollers, and people who can't seem to take responsibility for 30 pounds of their shit dragging behind them.  (That's you, guy running over my foot.)

But wait! These sexy traveling vestiges are back! Back and better than ever.

This brilliant idea comes from Recreate, a furniture design brand started by Katie Thompson in 2009.  Everything they make comes from recycled bits of awesomeness past, i.e. this old scale-turned-clock:

So brillz, I can't take it.

Ok, that's it. Go buy.


PS - this is all procrastination from talking about New York Fashion Week. 2much2handle.com.

PPS- let's buy the domain 2much2handle.com right now

OMG You're So Jellz of My Pen Palz

Hey, guys! Remember that time Mayssa lived on the other side of the planet?

She sent me the most ballin' good letter from Australia; I'm not even scared about blasting out my address to the world. (Or about proselytizing my love for Lisa Frank.)

Look at the back!

Attention to detail everywhere.  You can't even imagine what's inside.

Does it Make You Live Forever?

The little birds over at Nylon Magazine have just informed the world of the most amazing thing ever invented to spray on your body: Unicorn Perfume.

The new fragrance is called I Heart Unicorns, and comes from Lambertville, New Jersey-based company, A Beautiful Life. Fuck yeah Central Jersey! I'm glad my hometown area can represent the unicorn love so hard. Look at this stuff:
It definitely makes you live forever, just like Lisa Frank trapper keepers!

And for those keeping track, this is now on our Christmas wish list:

It may not technically be a unicorn, but it totally makes you live forever too.