Indie Squid Kid

Yes, it’s time for more squid art by my pal Leah Riley! Sadly, this one isn’t mine but part of a series of five small (5″ x 3″) plaques commissioned by one of Leah’s Etsy customers. Here is the complete set:

Leah’s art has shown up here on Indie Squid Kid a few times already, and if you haven’t yet, I really think you should check out her work. Her Etsy shop is a good place to start.

I also suggest visiting her blog. UNLESS YOU HATE THINGS THAT ARE CUTE!

Lastly, if you are reading this tonight (August 14, 2009) and you are near Carrboro, NC. Leah is one of the featured artists at a local art opening!!

Damn Hot

Where: Wootini Carr Mill, 200 North Greensboro St., Carrboro

When: Friday, August 14, 7-10 pm

Featured Artists: Jerstin Crosby, Orvokki Halme, Kelly Green, Amy Richards, and, of course, Leah Riley

Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it to the opening, but the art will be on display at Wootini for the next month. I don’t know yet if any of her squids are part of the show, but I look forward to finding out!

Smart Animals™ is a toy line from Discovery Channel’s Discovery Kids™ imprint that puts a new spin on the classic concept of plastic animal figures. Each figure has a small chip that, when scanned with the Scanopedia™ device (sold separately, of course), plays sound effects and quizzes you on trivia about the animal. The line includes a large assortment wildlife, including dinosaurs, African and North American animals, and marine life.

The squid figure is really cool, but it looks more like a Humboldt than an Architeuthis—its fins are too large and its tentacles are too short. (Incidentally, the squid figured on the back of the package appears to be a slightly different sculpt, one which actually matches the silhouette sticker on the front of the package.) The Great White’s gaping mouth seems almost comically large, but, hey, sharks have big mouths! It’s kind of their thing. Both figures are approximately 4 inches long, and each has it’s own display stand. I don’t have the Scanopedia “electronic talking animal encyclopedia”, but I am really curious to know what sounds they think a Giant Squid makes!

I picked this up the other day at my local Target, but it doesn’t look like it’s made it onto Target.com, Amazon, or even the Discovery Channel online store yet.

Via Pharyngula

CreatureCast Episode 1 from Casey Dunn on Vimeo.

Subscribe at CreatureCast.org

Via Pink Tentacle

The Ningyo-do Bunko Database is a huge online collection of watercolor paintings by Kawasaki Kyosen (1877-1942). The collection consists of over 5,000 still-life images of antique toys and folk crafts from across Japan, including a few lovely octopus-themed items.

Paper octopus balloon (1930)

Roly-poly toy and bell/whistle, Aichi prefecture (1932)

See more at Pink Tentacle!

Sir Squid

Looking for something new to wear to all those formal white tie and/or animal-themed T-shirt events? Well, look no further than Sir Critter—the site that proves there isn’t an animal alive that doesn’t look good in a top hat, bow tie, and monocle. These include, but are not limited to, manatees, sea urchins, squirrels, bats, mountain goats, tunicates, and Mola mola (aka the Ocean Sunfish).

The basic “Sir Squid” shirt is $15.99 and comes in a variety of color combinations in men and women’s styles. For a little bit more you can get it as an American Apparel shirt, as well as a hoodie or a messenger bag. Sir Critter is a division of Amorphia Apparel which produces a wide variety of geeky, sciencey, and generally awesome T-shirts.

I know, I know. Music Week was last week, but somehow I ended up being too busy over the weekend for my last planned post. So, here is that final straggler—three of my favorite squid album covers.

Brooklyn’s favorite sons (sorry JoCo, but the Johns have this one!) make their second Music Week appearance. (The first being their tentacular collaborations with Hine Mizushima.)

For my money, TMBG’s fourth studio album, Apollo 18 (1992, Elektra Records),  is the mark to beat when it comes to squid-themed album art. What’s more awesome than Architeuthis dux vs Physeter macrocephalus? That same fight…IN SPACE!

The Gourds are a honky-tonkin’ alt-country band from Austin, TX, and their album Noble Creatures (2007, Yep Rock Records/Redeye) could almost be the sequel to Apollo 18—if the cover art is any indication. The Giant Squid, having either defeated or escaped from the Sperm Whale, now faces down a longboat full of lunar whalers! Man, that Space Squid is having a bad day!

Finally, we have To the Bottom of the Sea (2008, Projekt Records) by wacky Goth troubador Voltaire. No Space Squid this time…unless he has followed the whalers back to their ship to exact his final, horrible revenge. The title track mentions a “She-Kraken,” so Voltaire gets points for actually including a cephalopod in his squid-covered album! (Shout out to Kevin Z. at Deep-Sea News for posting this one first.)

Today’s Music Week (and Flickr Friday) entry is a gorgeous handmade cephalopod-themed banjo ukulele by Michelanious.

Here’s the first image I saw (via Dinosaurs and Robots), but one photo is not enough! There is so much cool detail here, that I would be remiss if I didn’t share the entire set.

Timothy Sellers is the core of Artichoke, a band from Highland Park, California which specializes in quirky, rollicking rock music about science and nature. This year saw the release of 26 Animals, an alphabetic assemblage of children’s tunes about various denizens of the animal kingdom. The letter “O,” as you have by now no doubt surmised, is for “Octopus,” and the song celebrates this cephalopod’s unique talent for evasion. A few other marine invertebrates are featured on the album: “J” for “Jellyfish” and “U” for “Sea Urchin.”

The CD is available on its own, or paired with a fully illustrated songbook featuring original watercolor paintings of each animal alongside the lyrics and guitar chords for each song. You can buy it directly from the band at www.artichoketheband.com, as well as at CD Baby. You can also download it from iTunes and Emusic.

While we are on the subject of awesome alphabetical aural acquisitions, I also highly recommend Artichoke’s 26 Scientists Volume 1 (Anning-Malthus) and Volume 2 (Newton-Zeno).

Yo La Tengo are Ira Kaplan, Georgia Hubley, and James McNew. Not only are they Hoboken’s most famous indie-rock trio, but they are also the one of the most prolific bands in the genre, releasing more than 15 albums since 1984. In 2001 they composed an instrumental score for eight aquatic-themed short documentary films by Jean Painlevé. Called “The Sounds of Science,” the complete score was first performed live at the 2001 San Fransisco Film Festival. In 2002, it was released as a CD called The Sounds of the Sounds of Science.

Clocking in at just under 12 minutes, “The Love Life of the Octopus” is the hypnotic sixth track on the album. It was written to accompany Painlevé’s Amours de la pieuvre (1965), and it is available as a free full-lenth MP3 download at www.yolatengo.com, where you can also hear samples of the other 7 tracks. (The CD might also still be available from their website, but the store is currently down for repairs.)

This spring Criterion Collection released Science is Fiction: 23 Films of Jean Painlevé, a 3 disc box set with special features that include a live performance of “The Sounds of Science” score by Yo La Tengo. Buy it on Amazon.com.

CD tray art by Jim Woodring

“Machine & Squid” is a T-shirt designed for They Might Be Giants by artist Hine [hee-neh] Mizushima. Here are photos posted by the artist herself on Flickr.

(front)

(back)

The shirt seems to only be available on the TMBG website as part of the Super Value and Enormo-Bundles. I plan to see them live in Raleigh next month, so I hope they sell it at their shows as well!

Hine also animated this excellent video for “With the Dark” from They Might Be Giant’s 2007 album The Else.

John and John vs a Giant Squid! Who will prevail?

See more of Hine’s art at her Esty shop!