Susi Rajah

How to Make Monster Wrap

On Sunday, I had to wrap presents for our little nephews and niece, who, luckily for me, are too young to log onto this blog and ruin the surprise. It soon became apparent that even in this city, where you can buy just about anything, kid's wrapping paper is hard to come by. That is, if you don't want trademarked characters (you know, trains named Thomas, builders and kitchen sponges named Bob, plastic-looking women named Barbie) printed on cheap and nasty paper. And, as I'm pretty sure those aged zero to five are not yet ready to appreciate the subtle beauty of handmade, hand-dyed Japanese paper, artfully wrapped around a box without the use of tape, I was left with a roll of brown paper, a pad of construction paper and glue. Taking inspiration from  the Doodle Stuffers and the Ugly Dolls, I made my own wrapping paper and, surprisingly, it did not take long, was a lot of fun, and did not make me feel as if I'd been brainwashed by Martha Stewart.

See the rest of the monster wraps.

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

A Nostalgic Animated Moment (Or Two)

These were two of my favorite Warner Brothers cartoons when I was growing up. My brother found them again for me.

This musical version of the three little pigs story is a classic. And it twists the tale so that the big bad wolf is the protagonist. I thought this was very cool as a kid, and you know what, it's still cool.

Three Little Bops:

My brother says that Steven Spielberg calls this cartoon "the Citizen Kane of cartoons". I call it "the one with the singing frog in it". And there you have it, the reason Steven Spielberg is Steven Spielberg and I'm not.

(Unfortunately, the "One Froggy Evening" video is no longer available on YouTube. Sorry about that.)

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

Throw Like a Girl!

I first played this game a few years ago but it still stands up. Not only is it a fun way to avoid work for a few minutes, it's also very therapeutic. Especially if you've just been dealing with not-so-enlightened male colleagues.

Throw Rocks at Boys. Play Now.

Wax Hoff

Another reliable oldie, which might be new to someone. This one kept me occupied for 30 seconds. His chest isn't that hairy.

Get Waxing

Darth Vader Reads Your Mind

This is really old but it just helped me procrastinate for three whole minutes. Let Darth Vader read your mind.

SithSense

USPS Doesn't Do This!

Through rain or sleet or snow, or however that goes, yeah, yeah. But does US Post have an online service where you can write and draw and stick cute stickers on postcards with your mouse and then have your squiggles printed onto a real postcard and sent by snail-mail? I know, it'd be better if you could send the postcard by email but then the post office wouldn't make any money. At least you don't have to actually go to the post office to send this postcard. 

And it's fun (even if you don't send it) because unless you have one of those touch pad things with a pencil attached to your computer, your mouse writing and drawing skills will probably be on par with mine, and whoever you send the postcard to will think you're on drugs.

Of course, US Post doesn't have a service like this. But the Swedish Post Office does.