Susi Rajah

Sock Puppet Portraits (What to buy the person who has everything.)

I think these pictures speak for themselves. (On the left is Captain Smarm, who I'm pretty sure has a substance abuse problem. On the right is Spot, the elusive dinosaur.)

Marty Allen makes the sock puppets and takes their portraits. That is how he spends his time and makes a living. Which makes me think most of us have probably gotten this job/career thing wrong. Why work for an evil corporation when you could spend your days with friendly sock puppets. Or, if you must pay the mortgage, put a sock puppet portrait in your cubicle and confuse your coworkers about what your boyfriend/girlfriend/family look like. Find Marty, and the 27 puppets, at the Union Square Market. They are also all available online:

Click here to go look at Marty's stuff.

These sock puppets have their own MySpace profiles. Some of them have written their own songs.

Click here to see puppet profiles on MySpace.

Some of the puppets are in a sock puppet rock band, which also contains human beings. The band is called UncleMonsterFace.

See a Sock Puppet Band.

Christian, The Lion

My friend, Shampa, told me to put this on the blog, so here it is. It is a cuddly lion story and the world needs more cuddly lion stories. As Shampa said, it is a little "Siegfried and Roy", if only in the styling and the fact that there are lions present. Unlike Siegfried and Roy, these two men, John and Ace, were actually fashionably dressed for their time, and I dare say, the hippest people on the African savanna that day. And, what they were wearing aside, it takes some courage and faith to just stand there while an adult lion, who has been living in the wild, runs up to you, regardless of whether you raised him from cub. The most amazing part of the story, at least to me, was that you used to be able to purchase baby lions at Harrods, even if you lived in a flat.

Bulgarian Idol

I wasn't going to post this as just about everyone I know has already seen it, but the more I see it the more I like it and I hate to think that anyone will miss out. So without further ado, here is the latest Bulgarian singing sensation, Valentina Hasan, with "Ken Lee".

Chinese Swan Lake

Here is a Chinese, acrobatic version of Swan Lake. It's actually Frog Lake for the first couple of minutes, then the swans come out and it looks as if it's going back to a traditional version of the ballet, that is until the lead dancers start doing things above and beyond the normal range of the dance. I was most impressed with the way the lead ballerina was able to dance on her partner's head, on one toe. If you can't view it below, click here.

Mark Lives in Ikea.

If you thought that it was a little extreme of me to go on a cruise for the couple of days my apartment was uninhabitable, this will prove to you that people in Manhattan, because nobody has the space to put their friends up, do this kind of thing all the time. This guy, Mark, went to live at Ikea for the week that his apartment was being fumigated.

See Mark live in Ikea.

Free Hugs

There once was a man who returned to his hometown of Sydney (after a life upheaval) and noticed that everybody else getting off the plane had people waiting for them with hugs and smiles. He had no one.

So he sought out a busy pedestrian intersection, standing there with a sign that said " Free Hugs". For fifteen minutes everyone ignored him. But then a woman tapped him. Her dog had died that morning, and that morning was the first anniversary of her daughter's death. She needed a hug.

Since then, Juan Mann, has been handing out free hugs every Thursday, inspiring others around the world to do the same. He has even hugged Oprah.

Of course, it hasn't all been smooth hugging. The authorities, at one point, decided there must be something wrong with what he was doing. They banned the hugging. But the people spoke. And hugging prevailed.

Watch the hugging prevail.

Get a "Free Hug" t-shirt from the Remo General Store.

Visit the official site of Free Hugs.

The Remo General Store

I liked this store when it was a real store with walls and a door but I like it better now it's a virtual store because you can shop from anywhere. Check it out. There are neat t-shirts, Aussie things and stripey things. You'll like it. And there's still time for Christmas delivery.

Go Windows Shopping.

Mahna Mahna

I'm afraid this is exactly what you think it is. It's scary how well it holds up after all this time. It's even scarier that I still find it so entertaining.

Get Your Doodle Stuffed

I read about this great site in Tomorrow's Soup, the always inspiring monthly email newsletter from Today Was Fun, Ltd.

This is how Stuff Your Doodle works. You draw a doodle. You send it in. Somewhere in Scotland, someone will bring your doodle to life and stuff it for you. And you end up with a one-of-a-kind stuffed figure with all the quirks of your doodle intact. Oh, and they make your doodle-critter out of recycled fabrics, so you're also being environmentally sound.

Pictured above are the before and after of a doodle by a 5 year-old named Gus. His doodle creature is called "Tinkle". Tinkle is a thing of beauty. I'm especially enamored with his monobrow.

Go Stuff Your Doodle

Cake or Death?

I like Eddie Izzard. A lot. Because he is very funny, swears a lot and sometimes looks like this (see picture, left). If you have not yet met him, please allow me to introduce you. If you have met him, you already know he's well worth revisiting.

Cake or Death? (< 2 mins.)

English Empire Building (< 3 mins.)

Two Countries Separated by a Common Language (< 4 mins.)

The Gospel According to Eddie Izzard (< 6 mins.)

Visit Eddie Izzard