Indie Squid Kid

A few more cephalopod sightings from my local Super Target…

“Little Squirt” bathrobe and towel set from Carter’s® Just One Year® (a Target exclusive brand).

“Love the Ocean” romper by OshKosh B’Gosh® Genuine Baby

“Double Dutch Apple” detangling spray by Suave Kids®

(These last two were sighted by Ryn.)

My friend Chris and his brother Martin sent me these photos from their recent visit to the Boston Museum of Science.

Here Martin poses in front of a case displaying a plethora of model cephalopods (part of the Making Models exhibit). Squirters and Grabbers indeed.

And here he stands before an exhibit on collecting…and look, there’s someone’s octopus collection! I have that plush Blue Ringed Octopus in my own collection (although I haven’t got around to posting it yet), and, in all likelyhood, I have a few of the other ones as well. I’d say they should have featured my collection instead, but they’d probably have needed to dedicate an entire wing of the museum to it. Now there’s an idea…the ISK Hall of Cephalopods!

©Katie Deedy

Design: Captain Smith
Color: Promenade (additional colors available)
Price: $180/roll; $48/sheet

Visit Grow House Grow! to purchase this and other beautiful and unique hand printed wallpaper designs.

Sighted by Natalie

Target has always been good for the occasional cephalopod-themed product, but lately I seem to spot a new one every time I go there (which, for some reason, seems to be a least once a day ever since I got laid off last month). Here is an assortment of recent finds:

Little Tikes® Party Machine bubble blower

Disney Club Penguin "Squidzoid"

I know that Club Penguin is a MMORPG for kids, but I have no idea why this penguin is wearing a squid costume. I approve, of course, I just don’t get it.

Circo® Sealife Collection waste can

This same one-eyed, seven-legged pirate (presumabely) octopus adorns a whole series of new items from Circo: shower curtain, beach towel, bath towl, kids’ apron, kids’ dishes, etc. The collection also features cute little whales, sharks and submarines.

Here are two surreal Star Wars/octopus mashups that were posted recently at Distracted by Star Wars, one of my favorite Tumblr sites.

Star Wars and cephalopods, two great tastes that taste great together!

"The Disorder is Me" ©Rubens Cantuni

See more by this artist at TokyoCandies.com.

"Octotrooper" ©Aaron Jasinski

Visit this artist at deviantArt for Octo-Fett, Octo-Vader, and more!

Dan Beard, 1887

Via Cephalolove (via finegarten)

Via Succeed Blog

Mr. Sardonicus sent me this sighting of a super-detailed line of Japanese gashapon (aka capsule toys).

He says,

Produced by Takara/Tomy, the complete set includes 10 figures (3 octopi, 2 cuttlefish, 4 squid, and 1 “secret” argonaut) and runs upwards of $75, but it’s not too difficult to find individuals being sold on eBay for $10 or less.

I’ll definitely have to keep an eye out for these. Thanks Brian!

At long last, Dr. John Zoidberg makes his debut appearance on Indie Squid Kid!

I don’t know the identity of the artist who did this, so I have to assume it was spontaneously generated by the Internet just to make me happy.

Thanks to my brother-in-law Alec for sending this my way!

Yeah, I know, I’m a few days late, but Happy New Year!!! I probably say this every year, but I have a feeling that 2010 will be the Year of the Cephalopod. (Well, I don’t say that about 2010 every year, but you know what I mean.)

My week offline, while a pleasant change of pace, has resulted in a large backlog (well, larger than normal) of material for the blog. So, let’s start with a trio of octopuses I spotted at the Antropologie store at my local mall.

These De Vincennes Dinner Plates are Antropologie exclusives by artist Nathalie Late. They are $24 each and are also available at the Anthropologie website.

Pictorial Webster’s: A Visual Dictionary of Curiosities by John M. Carrera.

When I was a kid I was always fascinated by the illustrations in the dictionary. I used to make up stories, often about a zoo that put all their animals in alphabetical order and you traveled through it in a series of similarly organized vehicles. Anyway, this book contains over 1,500 engravings from 19th century editions of the Webster’s dictionary. And yes, they are arranged alphabetically.

List price $35.00. Also available at Amazon.com.

Lastly, we have The ABC of Animals Activity Book by the North American Bear Company. It contains a cute little plush animal for each letter of the alphabet. O is, of course, for Octopus, and well…that’s all that matters isn’t it?

List price $75.00. Also available at Amazon.com.