This, this, this! Do you hear me, World? We need more of this. This kind of thing precisely. I cannot tell you how much I love that it exists. More, World, gosh-darn-you. MORE OF THIS!

Artist: Eric Althin
Work: Felix
Venue: Bold Hype

More pictures at the existence-affirming Hi-Fructose

When I was a kid, I had a few Star Wars figures, but none of the really cool vehicles like the At-At or the Millennium Falcon. So, seeing these paper models online sent a little thrill through my toy-loving soul. And even better? Like so many of the paper toys out there, they’re free. Free! (Unless you count the printing costs or the hours upon hours of construction time.)

People in the paper toy community are amazingly generous with their talents. Check out this guy who designed paper replicas of the Haunted Mansions at Disney World/Land/Whatever-the-heck-they-call-the-French-one-these-days:

There are also a bunch of artists who are either making their own paper toys or are putting their designs on toys that others have made. Some good sites to check out are Nice Paper Toys, Speakerdog, and Shin Tanaka.

I discovered that last one on a recent episode of Toy Break, a video podcast about designer/art toys. Ah, how I love Toy Break. That could be a whole post on its own. I’m totally addicted to this show, even though it focuses almost completely on vinyl (which I don’t care about at all) and only rarely covers plush (which I care about way too much).

Anyway, this episode of Toy Break is a good introduction to paper toys. If you want to skip right to the relevant part, go to the 10:30 point. And the At-At shows up just before 27:00. (Please note that despite the presence of the word “toy” in the title, this is not a show for kids. There is some swearing and general grown-up snarkiness.)

So, that’s it, you’re all set to go make some toys. Unfortunately, I’m not. I got so fed up with my finicky, ink-guzzling bohemoth of a printer that I gave it to Goodwill. Hmph.

But there’s some good news for the printerless. There are a couple books of paper toys out there that look yummy. Including one by Marilyn Scott-Waters, whose lovely site also includes free downloads.

And I’ve picked up a fair number of old ones at library book sales (stockpiling against the day the Officially Awesome Kid can be trusted with scissors.)

P.S. to my Muppet pals: With a few alterations to this King Kong model, you could build yourself a fine Gorilla Detector.

It’s such a trope now that the Good Old Days weren’t all that good. (Unlike in the Good Old Days, when we really knew how to look back on the Good Old Days…)

But you know what? Some things actually were better. Like Dr Pepper.

Unless you live in central Texas, there’s a good chance you’ve never had a real Dr Pepper. That’s where Dr Pepper was invented and it’s the only place in the country where it’s still made with the original formula, which uses real cane sugar.

See, sometime in the 70s, the price of sugar jumped and soda companies switched to high fructose corn syrup. (Which is icky, in everything, and probably killing us all, but I digress.) Only the tiny little bottling plant in Dublin, Texas, where it was first bottled, kept using sugar.

And you know what? It makes a huge difference. Huge. It’s smoother and has a more subtle flavor. After you try it, regular Dr Pepper tastes kind of harsh and bitey.

Oh, and you can get it in teensy glass bottles, which is another thing the Good Old Days had going for ‘em — glass bottles. They keep stuff colder and they don’t make your soda smell like plastic.

You can order real Dr Pepper online here. And yes, you’ll feel like a fool paying to ship heavy soda by mail. Until you taste it.

And if you ever happen to be in beautiful downtown Waco, Texas, (where Dr Pepper was invented) you really owe it to yourself to stop by the Dr Pepper Museum and have a real Dr Pepper fresh from the soda fountain.

Yes, it’s an e-mail forward. And yes, I’m as much of a jaded poser as you are when it comes to e-mail forwards of cute animals.

But this one is worth it. (Cleared by Snopes, by the way.)

So, German photographer Norbert Rosing is a ways off, snapping some pictures of his sled dogs tethered out in the snow at sunset, when along comes a male polar bear and … does not eat them.

He plays with the dogs. Then comes back every night that week to play with ‘em some more, according to Stuart Brown, founder of The National Institute for Play, who used the pictures in a slideshow you can see here.

If the only thing missing from your glamorous lifestyle is a purse dog, but you don’t want to deal with the p-o-o-p, this may be your answer.

Artist Mary Holstad makes amazingly realistic dogs out of mohair fabric. They’re a wee bit pricey — one recently sold on eBay for more than $5000. But think of what you’ll save in vet bills and grooming costs.

For more, check out Tales of Mere Existence.

I first discovered Tove Jansson’s Moomins when I saw a handful of strips reprinted in a 2001 issue of The Comics Journal. It was just a taste that left me longing for more of the unfailingly polite, imaginative, and gently melancholy Moomins. A few years later, a friend pointed out that there are Moomin children’s books! Made me feel kind of dim for not looking before, but what a joy those were. Perhaps more on them later…

But now, the wonderful little comics publisher Drawn & Quarterly is putting out beautiful editions of the whole run of the Moomin comic strip.

Dream. Come. True.

The first story from Volume One is up on the Drawn & Quarterly web site. It’s far from the best of the series. The art gets better — or at least, the characters look more like themselves — and many of the later stories just work better. (I particularly like “Moomin Mamma’s Maid” in Volume Two.) But, hey, you can read this one for free before you order the books.

Click here to read (just keep clicking “next” at the bottom).

Step 1: Get rid of all furniture.

Step 2: Buy oodles of these bloxes and make new, cooler furniture.

Step 3: Convince spouse/parents/roommate that this is a good idea.

Feel free to tinker with the order of those steps.

(Via Paper Forest)

My early musical education centered around a plastic recorder and some “rhythm sticks,” which looked like foot-long sections of broom handle painted an industrial blue. They were less than inspiring.

So now that I’m bringing along an Officially Awesome Kid of my own, I’m pleased to see that there are some niftier musical playthings around.

I’m intrigued by the kid-sized versions of a harp and cathedral organ. I’m leaning toward the steel drum, though, as soon as the OA Kid gets out of his all-objects-must-be-devoured phase. Unless the neighbors start acting up — then it’s bagpipes all the way.

No, they aren’t sexy. You won’t see one tossed invitingly on the bed in a romantic film. “Oh Darling, lying here with you is heaven. And my neck is perfectly aligned!”

But they are gosh darn comfy. And once you start using one, regular pillows seem mushy and useless.

You can pay a hundred bucks for one, and maybe the fancy kind is worth it. But I’ve been totally happy with the cheapo ones.