Why I Love...

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Pop-up books! (Man it's been I while since I've done one of these...)

Seriously though, who didn't like pop-up books? It made reading fun. Pulling out tabs that made a dog's tail wag. Entire forest scenes popping up from the page. Pop-up books were an interactive adventure story. But the best part is: it's not just for kids.

The world of book and paper arts just makes things even better. There are some absolutely amazing paper artists who just make me green with envy. Even the Smithsonian Libraries have dedicated a portion of their blog to it. There's even a Movable Book Society!

I mean, come on! Look at this and tell me it's not cool:

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Exactly. You can't! Check out some of the other posts on the SILS blog, some amazing stuff on this French website, and this NPR piece about Robert Sabuda and his Alice pop-up. Really good stuff to say the least.

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Remember when I used to post stuff?

Yeah me neither, but look crochet stuff! So this will be a quick post. I made this little guy, using this pattern, for a friend's birthday about a month after her birthday. I didn't follow the directions for the eye and just sort of made it up as I went, but since the other instructions we're good, I'm sure the ones for the eye are as well. It's still sitting in my living room. I'll mail it. One day. Soon. Hopefully.
I also made a crochet hair band for another friend (which I didn't take a picture of. And I also have to mail. One day. Soon. Hopefully) based on this design but tweaked a tad to make it continuous. This lady (who is funny enough located where my friend is...) has some other beautiful designs (including these hand warmers which I made but didn't take picture of, to go with a teal version of this hat which I made but did not take a picture of, that was for the same person as this cuttlefish a teal version of which I made but didn't take a picture of, using a pattern I bought from Hansi Singh on Etsy, the same person who wrote Amigurumi Knits which has an octopus pattern in it which I DID take a picture of but never posted, and also has a pattern for a Loch Ness Monster I didn't take a picture of. You see a pattern no?)
That's all I got. Sorry. I'll work on getting some other stuff to write about. Now that Conan's gone I don't know what to do with myself. Maybe post more?

***EDIT***

I found the octopus picture:

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This Post is Bigger After the Jump

Sorry; that was too easy I suppose. So, for you Doctor Who fans, here's a TARDIS iPod sock I made for my roommate's birthday. (October is le month of birthdays here in Ziggy's Magical Starship.

It's a basic sock, with the windows and suck embroidered on it. The end. Keep reading...

Um I thought Discovery was mildly educational?

Usually, when you hear someone say "I love the Discovery Channel" you assume the person likes to learn. It makes sense. Discovery generally has a number of great educational programs on various kinds of science. Woo!

OK, I'll admit that some of this shows are educational, yet still play to their audience. For example Dirty Jobs (one of my favorites) has its host Mike Rowe in a number of gross-me-out situations that sometimes lead to him shirtless (which might be one of the reasons why I like it).That's the gimmick I suppose: he cleans up poop, gets it onto the camera and then there's occassionaly a silly shower scene.

Another example is Mythbusters. Now they are all degree holding sciency types, but they work in the special effects business so they know the Number 1 Rule of Cool: Making things blow up is AWESOME! I totally agree. But I also like sitting through the slower myths to get to the explosion, which is how they set up the show anyway. They try and add science and learning into the show; as their sign says WARNING: Science Content!

Now, back to the orginal point, Discovery has disappointed me. Enter the show Time Warp.

Here is what Time Warp does:

Since when is owning a slow-mo camera enough reason to have a show?

Okay, don't get me wrong. It's pretty cool to see things we think as instant in its full glory. Seeing James Hetfield's spit was gross yet cool. And the chainsaw part? That was effin' sweet. But not worthy of Discovery Channel air-time.

Why not? Well, because I didn't really learn much. Sure the octaves part (which may be in parts 2-4 of the above video) on the guy's acoustic guitar was cool to see. But they skip over the explanation a bit. I'd rather a better lesson on the math of music.

I get that not everyone wants all the science with their entertainment. And yes, seeing bubbles in slow motion is awesome, mostly because bubbles are awesome:

See that's cool right? Imagine having to sit around for an hour just to see those five minutes of awesome. Yeah, exactly. The stuff they do on Time Warp is cool, but not Discovery-Channel-hour-program cool. It's more of I'm-gonna-watch-this-on-Youtube cool.

Moral of the story: I'm dissappointed in you Discovery Channel. You have made entertainment without much education. Keep to the internet.

Now if you want more cool videos from Time Warp without the one hour sit around, go to Discovery's Youtube account. I particularly enjoyed the water balloon to the face.

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Too Awesome for Words

Ian Pool is the man. But it needs more King Kevin. Keep reading...