Year: 2008

My Newer Favorite Tee

My newer favorite tee has a lot in common with my older new favorite tee: they both came from a Graniph spree in Japan, they are both pink (not my favorite color), and they both depict cute animals who could fry you with their bionic eyes.

graniphbear

I’ve also already managed to stain this one, like I did the older one, with some ramen broth or something. Sad!

The Electric Company

Did you hear that Seseame Workshop is producing new episodes of The Electric Company?

I don’t have any specific memories of the show, which was in reruns on PBS by the time I was around to see it, but it must have made an impression on me, because everything I imagine about childhood in the ’70s seems to be based on the show: cheery diversity, music that was both educational and smart, and swirling animations in yellows and reds.

Here’s a delightful clip with Morgan Freeman that I could watch over and over again. I love its totally analog quality.

The new episodes are supposed to begin airing this fall.

Suitcase Table

The same day that I scored a delightful rubber cat at the Hell’s Kitchen flea market, John picked up a fun foldable table.

suitcasetable1

suitcasetable2

As you can see, the sides of the case become the tabletop, and the seats unfold from the inside to make a picnic-style table. Pretty cool! It would be even cooler if the table weren’t kind of rickety-feeling when you sat on it, and if it wasn’t reealy heavy when folded up.

Prizes, Anyone?

I’ve already blogged about a couple of the amazing prizes in store for the winner of this year’s Mochimochi Photo Contest here and here. But wait! There’s more.

Japanese craft books, including the new sequel to the popular Sock and Glove:

prize08_books

Fun fabrics, straight from Japan:

prize08_fabric

Adorable bacteria characters:

prize08_bacteria

An assortment of patches and buttons (the beetles are my personal favorite):

prize08_patches

…and more! So check out the full contest details on how to enter. You have until July 31st!

Sidebar Buttons

Hi, Mochimochi friends. John here. Some of you may have been having trouble with the sidebar buttons for the photo contest and the free patterns, particularly if you were using Firefox. Sorry about that. It was a little server-configuration glitch that I introduced while I was upgrading Mochimochi Land’s blog software. The buttons should be working now (you might have to reload, but probably not). Please let us know if you have any other problems. Thanks for your patience!

Copy That

I usually seem to catch up with new music about 1-2 years after it’s released, so I’m happy to have found a great album a mere two months after its debut.

cutcopy
Listening to Cut Copy’s new album In Ghost Colours feels kind of like cheating, it’s so listenable. It makes me think of a tree somewhere that grows songs, and Cut Copy just went and picked their favorites before anyone else got to them.

If you, like so many of us, are a sucker for the retro 80s vibe, you should pick this one up. That is, if you haven’t already in the past two months.

Grass in Stop Motion

Annie, an avid knitter of Grass, recently sent me a video that she and her friend made about a grassy adventure in the front yard.

Annie says they “failed” at the stop motion, but I think they did a fine job, and the video is hilarious. (I especially love the smoking scenes!)

Maybe next year’s photo contest will have to include a category for video…