yes, yes, and yes.

Still from a video about cute sloth babies at the Aviaros Sloth Orpahnage from this site here.   Apparently it was posted to raise awareness for a fungus which is killing red-eyed tree frogs. Personally I got stuck in sloth-love. This guy is my favorite!
Hello, buddy!
here's the vid:

Meet the sloths from Amphibian Avenger on Vimeo.

the wacky world of socks!!

I have decided to give all of my family members socks for Christmas this year. Among other things. Socks are a great gift classic, probably because a good pair of socks is a good thing to have. I, for one have favorites among my socks, and I wear them accordingly. Sometimes I save my favorites, the way I save the last bite of steak, for a day towards the end of the laundry cycle... I'm a horder like that.

Internet research yields an eye-opening peek into the wacky world of socks. I was told once that I seem like the kind of person who would be into funky socks. I'm not ashamed to admit it. But I got nothing on some of the folks out there. Here are some of my favorite finds:

'tis ever more the season

I like the idea of Santa as an army of little "Heinzelmännchen". These are dwarf-looking creatures of German folklore - mostly in the sense that they wear pointy red hats and are tiny. Though Heinzelmännchen are very, very tiny, and they come out at night to help you by cleaning, or repairing, or making things. Friendly little domestic spirits. Mythical cleaning ladies. This is a great topic to be explored at length later.
For now: Santa trying on different outfits in front of the mirror:
you can buy them for lots of money here, or hire a cleaning lady.

Post-Apocalyptic Design

1 part sawdust
1 part plastic
1 giant pot
1 tooled mold
1 standard kitchen oven.
In the future, when we run out of materials, or energy, or both, maybe this is how we will make things! Or we can make them now, this is just my personal interpretation.

Designed by israeli-based kulla design studio. Also yoinked from designboom, here.

Ugly Duckling

What an aptly named lamp! The materials really do transform into something different. It's still a bird, but a very different bird.
With all the DIY, recycling, raw industrial materials stuff around this one really hits the nail on the head. It's austere but still a little playful. You can just see the hands screwing the different bits together, pulling wiring through the pipes, and painting the lampshades a matching yellow. This one makes me wish I knew the next thing about electrical wiring so I could make it too.
Also, nice details! The switch, and the use of curves to turn flat pipes into a stable, three-dimensional frame are just elegant.
Unfortuantely the chopped-off bottle lampshade leaves a little something to be desired, but isn't the lampshade the easiest thing to replace on a lamp? I am sure other plastic refuse could do nicely here. Or even a 1st use, real-live fabric lampshade?
Designed by Hong Kong-based designer Kamric. oh yeah, yoinked from designboom, here. thanks!

'tis the season