My First Murakami Chibi Kinoko

Chibi Kinoko, aka Little Mushroom, is an adorable little character Takashi Murakami introduced on his line of exclusive Louis Vuitton bags and accessories.

And there's a 9-inch plush version available, too, because as anyone who loaded up at Murakami's in-museum Vuitton boutiques last year can tell you, it's never too early to start collecting.

Although it may be too late to unload that stuff on eBay so you can make a house payment this month. Oh well.

Squishy Chibi Kinoko Plush is $34 at the Brooklyn Museum but just $24 at Giant Robot.. The more you buy, the more you save! [brooklynmuseum.org, giantrobot.com]

Remarkably Unscary Louise Bourgeois Romper @ MoCA

I was just following up on the last place you could buy giant, flowery Takashi Murakami furniture in the US, the MoCA gist shop in Los Angeles. Looks like they finally moved the last of their 6-foot flower-shaped tuffets, which gives them more than enough room for this:

an organic baby romper printed with a soothing, happy design from Louise Bourgeois. Bourgeois is better known for sculptures that are variously psychologically unsettling, phallic, or surreal. Or that are all three, like the giant, creepy spiders she's shown at the Tate, the National Gallery, and Roppongi Hills.

I'm half expecting the next Bourgeois romper in the series to say "Never Mind!"

Be Calm Infant Romper by Louise Bourgeois, sizes 6-18 mos, $24 [moca.org]

Takashi Murakami's Giant, Furry Balls

We're not at Art Basel Miami Beach this week, but if you are, I hope you'll get some shots of Takashi Murakami's three giant, furry balls.

The Murakami Home Collection just launched at Design Miami, and it includes, according to the first report I've read, plush flower-covered balls in three "giant" sizes, up to feet in diameter.

This photo is from I.D. Magazine's reporter covering the NY Times' T Magazine party, and shows what I expect is the medium size ball. Also, the most insanely awesome flower petal headdress for Art World Kid Halloween 2009.

Presumably, Murakami himself and designer Sebastian Errazuriz are sold separately.

Hmm, coincidence? Right about this time last year: Holy Crap! Takashi Murakami Furniture!

HOV-2.5

Call me naive, but wasn't the Big Dig supposed to elminate Boston's traffic woes and turn the entire region into a garden-filled, driving utopia?

Apparently not, because suburban guys driving their wives 25 miles into town so they can give birth in the same hospital their first kid was born in are still getting stuck in rush hour traffic. To alleviate this stressful situation, Massachusetts State Troopers have turned what was once called the "break-down lane" into a dedicated Guy Driving Wife Whose Contractions Are Like 3 Minutes Apart Now lane. The toll is $100, payable by mail. You use the reference number on the envelop the kindly trooper will give you right before you get to your exit.

The first parents to successfully use the new lane are John and Jennifer Davis of Dracut. Jennifer successfully delivered their second baby just minutes after using the GDWWCAL3MAN lane to get to Mount Auburn. 300 minutes after, but still. The Boston Globe commemorated the occasion by publishing the number of speeding tickets John has received over the past 20 years: six.

Mazel Tov! Or whatever they say up there in Boston.

In Rush-Hour Labor, Ticket Delivered [boston.com via dt reader sara]
Here's a Google Map of their trip [google]

A Pacifier Tree Grows In Brooklyn

Lost City is offering a free t-shirt to whoever can explain the presence of hundreds of pacifiers in a street tree in Borough Park. If the new Ikea hadn't shifted Brooklyn's Swedish neighborhood to Red Hook a few months ago, I would have guessed it's an homage to the Pacifier Trees at the Skansen Zoo outside Stockholm. So color me clueless.

Mysterious Pacifier Trees of Borough Park [lcnyc via curbed]

FOUND: Large, Slightly Mangy Toy Dog, Answers To The Name Of Bojesen

Are you on a sacred quest to find a Kay Bojesen pull toy dog woodworking project that's larger than a tuna can?

Because it appears that an outfit called Find The Grail Auctions has posted one on eBay.

But what about its few "hairline cracks" and peeling finish? "Just a flesh wound!"

And the rear wheels are missing. "No they're not!"

Of course, it could turn out to be just a Bojesen dog-shaped beacon...

Rare LARGE Eames Kay Bojesen Dachshund Dog Pull Toy, currently $25+25 s/h, auction ends Dec. 8 [ebay via dt reader hans]
Find The Grail has some otheBojesen pieces that require less work

Makey The Make Magazine Mascot Shirts

Main man Mark made Makey the Make Magazine mascot. Magnifico!

Makey: infant shirt, just $5; kids shirt, just $6! [makershed.com via the make mailing list]

Ayn Rand On Eco-Totalitarian Parenting

I wish I could forget how much I despise Ayn Rand. Things just published this excerpt from a 1971 collection of essays called, The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolutionwhere she tried to paint a horrific view of the world if the Indian tear-wiping, pollution-hating tree-hugging hippies took over:

Your wife gets up at six A.M - you have insisted that she sleep until the coal furnace, which you lighted, has warmed the house a little. She has to cook breakfast for your son, aged five; there are no breakfast cereals to give him, they have been prohibited as not sufficiently nutritious; there is no canned orange juice - cans pollute the countryside. There are no electric refrigerators.

She has to breast-feed your infant daughter, aged six months; there are no plastic bottles, no baby formulas. There are no products such as "Pampers"; your wife washes diapers for hours each day, by hand, as she washes all the family landury, as she washes the dishes - there are no self-indulgent luxuries such as washing machines or automatic dishwashers or electric irons. There are no vacuum cleaners; she cleans the house by means of a broom.

"There are no shopping centers - they despoil the beauty of the countryside. She walks two miles to the nearest grocery store and stands in line for an hour or two. The purchases she lugs home are a little heavy; but she does not complain - the lady columnist in the newspaper has said it is good for her figure.

So your kid's Scoutmaster is Ted Kaczynski, but at least you still get to be the man of the house.

No We Can't! Strollers Banned At Obamafest09

Longtime DT reader Buck sends word that infants and kids may have a rough go of it at Obama's inauguration next month. The US Capitol Police have banned baby strollers, backpacks, thermoses and large bags from the secured audience area around the Capitol during the swearing-in ceremony. Then there's this:

Direct questions regarding the admittance of items required for child care to the U.S. Capitol Police at 202-512-1226.

The Swearing-in Ceremony is a outdoor event held on the West Front Lawn of the U.S. Capitol. Inauguration day is typically cold--normally 37° F at noon--and occasionally wet.

Extra consideration should be taken when planning to bring infants, young children, the elderly, or anyone with a weakened immune system. A vast majority of attendees will be in standing room sections and should be prepared to be on their feet for several hours.

I tried calling a couple of times and got voicemail, so no word on what kinds of food or drink is permitted, or whether Baby Bjorns or slings will be allowed. Still, I'm sure that the GWU grad student who's renting you his walk-in closet for $5,000/night will be happy to watch the kid for, say, an additional $2,500/hr.

Inaugural 2009 | Plan Your Trip [inaugural.senate.gov]

This Just In From The Baby Came Early Department

In, or out, really. Wow. The Guardian has a transcript of a 999 call where a woman gives birth by herself. All in all, a good argument for cordless phones.

Unpublished 999 call transcript | Birth [guardian.co.uk via waxy]

This Just In From The Christmas Came Early To Jalopnik Department

Despite the fact that they don't exist, Pete from Jalopnik just bought a Ford Taurus SHO Wagon on eBay for three thousand measly bucks.

At least I can console myself that it was a 1992, and not the awesomer-looking, beanier-shaped Gen III Taurus from '96-99.

I am nonetheless adding the Audi S8 Avant to my saved searches. Because eBay is more magical than Santa Claus.

Ford Taurus SHO Wagon pops up on eBay [jalopnik]
Previously: SHO me the Ford Taurus Wagon, Baby!

Blame Candy Land

Because the board games teach kids what their parents don't have time to say, Greg Costikyan has an in-depth analysis of Candy Land, the board game created by Eleanor Abbot and first published by Hasbro in 1949. Costikyan lifts the lid on the sociological pot, and it sure tastes sweet:

Next, let us consider the role of Candy Land in the acculturation of the American child. The characters represented in the game, through whose desmenses the players pass, are all representations of sickly, in many cases objectively repulsive, sweets: Princess Frostine, the Gingerbread People, Mr. Mint, Gloppy the Chocolate (formerly Molasses) Monster. There's a clear message to the American child here, one our business establishment is at pains to transmit through all forms of media -- most importantly, of course, through the thundering waterfall of commercial blandishment none of us is permitted to escape, whatever media we peruse. That message is, of course: CONSUME. Consume candy. Consume everything. But for children, candy above all; the natural childish instinct to like what in more mature mouths is repulsively lachrymose is the key, the first way in for inculcation of the consumer instinct. Candy good. Consume candy. Whine at your parent until she, or as it may be, he, buys you the packet of Lifesavers....Thus, while Abbot no doubt had no such intention for her game, Candy Land also serves as an important element in the indoctrination of American youth in the cult of excessive consumption and extravagant and unnecessary use of resources, the fundament of our society and economic growth since the end of the Second World War.

Along with Chutes & Ladders, Candy Land is the first board game the kid has learned to play--she plays it with her grandmother. I always assumed it simply served the purpose of teaching the mechanics of a game: progression, chance, taking turns, winning & losing. Little did I know. Meanwhile, my vocabulary card for the day is already full, and it's not even breakfast.

Candy Land [playthisthing.com via boingboing]

Heading East To A List Of Sweet Picture Books

Last year, photographer Raul Gutierrez introduced us to yakskin babywearing, Tibetan-style. This year, he's got a list of "non-obvious" picture books that are in heavy rotation in their house.

The real find for me is one that feels like it's been right under our nose: a history of the universe and life on earth called Life Story, by none other than Virginia Lee Burton [who also did Mike Mulligan and The Little House]. The combination of hard science and Burton's soft, folksy art is unexpectedly awesome. And the book's concept of presenting everything on a stage, with an emcee, should placate even the staunchest creationists; just substitute "And on the first day" for "millions and millions of years ago."

Children's Books I Love, Part II [heading east]

Minivan Improvement: Tim Allen's Supercharged Saleen Windstar On eBay

At the peak of his Home Improvement fame, when he also had a best-selling book and was the voice of Buzz Lightyear, Tim Allen was consumed by one all-important question: ""If a man was to drive a minivan, what would it be like?"

It was the mid-90's, so let's set aside the dubious logic of the premise: "If a man was to drive a minivan," and focus on the answer to "what would it be like?"

According to Allen and his racing partner Steve Saleen, with whom he had formed Saleen/Allen RRR Speedlab, a Ford Mustang racing team in 1995, it would look like a supercharged 1st generation Ford Windstar with performance bodywork, Saleen brakes and suspension, carbon fiber rearview mirrors [for, uh, weight savings], and Gulfstream-grade interior finishes.

It would take two years of R&D, at which time Allen and Saleen would launch their own line of aftermarket minivan accessories for men, who would then race to the hardware store to stock up on Allen's collection of Home Improvement licensed tools.

Except that an Allen-led minivan revolution was thwarted when Ford redesigned the Windstar for 1999, leaving our would-be leaders with a prototype, some obsolete molds and a gnawing dream of what could have been.

That prototype is now for sale on eBay, offered by Allen's partner and CEO. The reserve price is more than the $7,300 current bid, and presumably much less than the $100,000 they claim was invested. Allen has offered to sign the dash and pose for a photo with [the van for] the winning bidder, at no extra charge. [note: thanks for the buzzkill of a clarification, Micah.]

1996 Ford Winstar *Built by FORD, Tim Allen and Steve Saleen* auction ends dec. 6 [ebay via autoblog, thanks dt minivan correspondent jj daddy-o]

Dallas Clayton On Dallas Clayton's An Awesome Book: "Awesome"

"Hi. I'm Dallas Clayton. This is my place. You're obviously here because you want to know more about me. I wrote a book. It's called, An Awesome Book. It's awesome. It's better than any book that's ever...existed. I don't know if I mentioned that. Uh, the Bible...then, I think, then this. Dostoevsky. Tolstoy. Melville. They're all dead."

Thus begins artist/poet/dreamer/dad Dallas Clayton's video pitch for his first children's book, An Awesome Book. As befits a book about the importance of dreaming big, Clayton's book's launch party/reading at the LA indie bookshop Family was hosted by Bjork and Matthew Barney and sponsored by Artforum, Mercedes Benz, and LACMA. If I close my eyes, I can see them all there right now, in fact, wiping away an unexpected tear as they realize how much more there is to dream of than just matching silverware.

Let me say I had to fight my East Coast/West Side reflexes to find out, but An Awesome Book is, in fact, pretty awesome. The order page says, with harmlessly awesome misspelling intact, that the book was "[w]ritten in the vain of classic tales by Dr. Suess, Shel Silverstein, and Maurice Sendak."

Which is funny, because all three of those guys are as dark and moody as Clayton is not. The books that come immediately to my mind, Suess's Oh, The Places You'll Go and Silverstein's The Giving Tree are relentless and depressingly cynical, respectively. And of course, Sendak's entire oeuvre is permeated by the harsh realities of children in an adult world.

Even as he dreams archetypically superficial LA dreams of wealth and fame, though, An Awesome Book calls on kids and kidults alike to reach back and nurture their most fantastical dreams of, say, watermelon boats and musical babboons.

It's the poignant paradox of his own experience as an artist and a dad, and in his own tender man-boyish way, Clayton could very well be the posterbard of his Silver Lake generation. Consider the evidence:

Another Clayton joint from the summer was a blog called More Popular Than You, which documented all the inexplicable things (Dollywood! Zamfir! Hot Pockets!) all the things that were more popular than you, dear fameseeker, will ever be.

All his friends appear to live in artfully renovated Echo Park communes with Miranda July.

He's baby daddy to an actual working and even intermittently famous actress.

While conscientiously raising his son Audio Science, he simultaneously grapples with and protects him from the knowledge that his atypical name means he's already probably more famous than his dad.

So yeah, it would be easy and cynical to dismiss Clayton's book as a self-absorbed parent's exercise in vanity publishing; believe me, I almost did. But that would be throwing out the dreaming baby with the LA Basinful of bathwater. From the delightful drawings to the deft rhymes to the inspiring sentiment, An Awesome Book definitely ranks high on the list of greatest books that ever existed. Though I would put it a little below Melville.

Dallas Clayton's newly redesigned website, with embedded video [dallasclayton.com]
Preview An Awesome Book by Dallas Clayton, then buy it for just $15 [radder.bigcartel.com]

filed under: art | books | awesome | baby daddy | celebrities are just like us | illustration | los angeles | silver lake

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Ceci N'est Pas Un Aibo Onesie

Two Blue Cars is a Brooklyn outfit that makes awesome t-shirts for boys, like this Onesie-style [1] bodysuit with an Aibo-style [2] robot dog on it. Too bad there's nothing for girls, but gender coding runs deep, even in the center of the city's progressive silkscreening district.

Robot Dog onesie [sic], $20, by Two Blue Cars [twobluecars.com]

[1] As early readers of Daddy Types well know, Onesie is a registered trademark of Gerber Childrenswear, Inc., whose lawyers sent DT our first cease & desist order way back in 2004 for quoting someone referring to an infant bodysuit as a "onesie."

[2] Aibo, meanwhile, is the registered trademark of Sony Electronics Corp, and when I was being stonewalled by Sony after my 1st gen, limited edition Aibo was stolen by the FedEx guy, I told the CSR, "Am I going to have to make a website called Aibosucks.com and publicize the Aibo theft ring that you're not acknowledging as the reason my Aibo went missing?" Sony promptly snapped up the domain aibosucks.com and all its variations. So I registered and published aiblow.com instead, and promptly got a call from the President of Sony Robotics, promising my Aibo was on the way. Which was good, because I'd already flipped it to some gadget junkie in Hong Kong for $7,000, and he was waiting for delivery.

Finally, Nissan Cube Rounds The Corner

In answer to my question from August, "Is this the Nissan Cube I've been waiting for?" the answer is, "Yes, and they even flipped the rear asymmetry to accommodate LHD and Right Side of Road driving."

Nissan finally unveiled the 2010 Cube at the LA Auto Show. It's the third generation of the awesome little space car, and the first to come to the US. It's about as big as a 1st gen Scion xB, and it should help push the bloated 2nd gen xB over a sales cliff where it belongs.

In Japan, the Cube manages to have three rows of seating. In the US, we only get two, though the rear seat slides back to provide limo-like legroom. When I confirm you can fit three car seats across the rear bench, like in the xB, I'll update the post--and start clearing out the garage. [figuratively speaking, of course, since we don't have a garage.]

Nissan Cube Revealed: launch and mfr pics, plus the awkwardly "hip" press release [jalopnik]

Untitled (Baby), 1973, Paul Thek

Sunday night is not a good time to have questions that Google can't answer. Like what is the deal with this sculpture by Paul Thek? Or even, where is it?

According to the Paul Thek Project website, which is an experiment in documenting Thek's pioneering installations, the artist created a work called "The Baby Room" for an exhibition in Lucerne in 1973. There's no indication, though, that Untitled (Baby) was part of it. Otherwise, Thek ended 1973 by creating Ark, Pyramid - Christmas, a Nativity-related installation/performance [he called them environments or processions] at the Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum in Germany. Maybe that's where it's from.

Several pics and blurbs: Paul Thek's Worship Zone [dennis cooper via, umm]
The Man Who Couldn't Get Up [frieze, 1995]

Auction At Pooh Corner: Original EH Shepard Artwork At Sotheby's

Stanley Seeger and Christopher Cone have amassed and divested themselves of several major collections over the years: Picassos, early and mid-20th century art, and now Ernest Howard Shepard. In London December 17th, Sotheby's will auction off the couple's incredible trove of EH Shepard's original illustrations for A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh stories and poems.

Most of Shepard's archive, including over 1,000 illustrations for his various books, is at the University of Surrey, so these drawings, which include actual art used in Milne's books, plus preparatory sketches and more, seem pretty special.

Though Milne famously based his stories on his son Christopher Robin Milne and his toys, Shepard based Pooh on his own son Graham's teddy bear named "Growler." Thanks to Wikipedia, we learn that while CR's original toys are on display at the NY Public Library [in fact, they just returned to view this month], while Growler was apparently eaten by Graham's daughter's dog. [Also, it turns out that the Mary Shepard who illustrated Pamela Travers' original Mary Poppins was EH Shepard's daughter. It is a small world after all.]

And a pricey one. the drawings all carry estimates of 20,000-60,000 GBP, so set your bidding strategy accordingly. If you're in more of a browse and study mood, you'll do well to head over to BibliOdyssey, where Peacay has done his usual remarkable job of finetuning the digital images, including removing some of the stray ink marks.

'That sort of Bear': E.H. Shepard's Winnie-the-Pooh From the Collections of Stanley J Seeger and Christopher Cone, 17 Dec 08 at Sotheby's London New Bond St [sothebys.com]
Original Winnie-the-Pooh Drawings [bibliodyssey, also a flickr set]

Babar Heartily Endorses This Event Or Product

I picked up a copy at the library sale of one of the stranger Babar titles I've ever seen: the 1965 Babar Comes To Amerca. Any history of the decline of children's culture into the pit of commercialism will need at least a chapter about Babar's hilariously shameless shilling on behalf of the corporate sponsors who put Laurent de Brunhoff and his wife up for their month-long cross-country tour of the US in 1963.

After many years of creative struggle with his father's original publishers, Hachette, Laurent de Brunhoff took his new Babar titles to Random House in 1962. Soon after, the publisher arranged a sightseeing/research tour for the de Brunhoffs, which was underwritten by companies in exchange for prominent mention in a Babar book.

Sure enough, when Babar Goes To America, he flies Pan Am to Dulles. Then he flies American to New York, where he eats breakfast in his room at the Hilton Hotel. When he gets to San Francisco, however, Babar reunites with his family in the grand lobby of an unidentified hotel that is obviously the Fairmont. I guess the de Brunhoffs didn't get that upgrade to the suite.

Even more surreal, if that's possible, is Babar's Ivy League realness. The king of the elephants visits Bob and Helen and their three sons in Scarsdale. Then he heads up to Harvard to get an honorary degree and chat with the staff of the Lampoon. And then there's the book's grand finale: the Harvard-Yale football game, held that year [1963] in New Haven. [Yale won.]

[Bob turns out to be Robert Bernstein, at the time a VP at Random House. Bernstein went on to become the company's CEO, but his most notable accomplishment is the founding of Human Rights Watch. Well, that and appearing in a cameo in a Babar book, of course.]

From the Coke & Pepsi Challenge to the Vistadome-equipped train to the multi-page trip to Disneyland, Babar Comes To America is a glorious celebration of the brands that made America great. So great, in fact, that de Brunhoff eventually moved to the US [he and his wife live in Connecticut--Yale Country!]. And after many years out of print, Abrams reissued Babar Comes To America in August. No word on whether they resold the story mentions for the now-defunct Pan Am.

Buy a new copy of Babar Comes to America for around $11, or the original 1965 Random House edition starting at $6.64 [amazon]