STORK BITES MAN: November 2007

Family Vacation

We'll be back on Tuesday, December 4. Have a happy Thanksgiving!

1959 folkways street gang kids do improv raps NM

Urban field recordings of the Junior Mint gang. Freestyling, rhyming and letting it all out over kiddie bongo drills. Listen to clips of Gang Fight and I Want Some Food.

eBay: "stone mint in the shrink" ($80 and going up)
amazon: download the album for $8.99.

"One Way to Unschool A Twelve-step Program" Or "How to stop worrying and learn to love to learn"

GET AN IDEA.
1. See, hear, smell, taste, touch something interesting.
2. Obsess about it (think and dream about your new interest).

DO YOUR RESEARCH.
3. Find several books at home, in the library, in the bookstore (exhibit A).
4. Look online.
5. Watch videos.
6. Take a field trip (exhibit B).

RECORD WHAT YOU FIND.
7. Take notes.
8. Take photographs (exhibit B).
9. Sketch (exhibit C).

PUT YOUR NEW-FOUND KNOWLEDGE TO WORK.
10. Make something (exhibit D).
11. Show someone, let them know all that you've learned.

WHAT IF SOMETHING ELSE CATCHES YOUR EYE?
12. Go back to step 1.

Enzo's Meat Research from the amazing Grecolaborativo.

Daycare cleanout near Bangor, Maine

Community Playthings Maple hardwood 48x24 shelves $145
36inch round table, legs unscrew for storage $70.00
30inch square table $60.00
Unit blocks with storage chest $140.00
Mini hollow blocks $150.00
5 chairs 12 inch seat height $30.00

See the craigslist ad here. Pick-up in Ellsworth, Maine.

DRUMS PLEASE?!!

We got a drum kit for Elsa's second birthday, but I'm not satisfied and we're sending it back. Any suggestions for a good quality "real" drum kit for a two-year old? It should have a bass, snare, tom and at least one cymbal. I don't care about the stool. A nice sparkly candy apple green or coppertone would be nice.

Oh, and feel free to leave comments, condolences or a rant about how awesome/stupid it is to buy a two-year-old a drum kit.

AJ Purdy

aloha

Elsa's grandparents are taking us to Hawaii for Thanksgiving (!). Any suggestions for things see and do and places to go will be great. Elsa (two years old, a trooper, likes cheese, pizza and bacon) is coming too. All the guide books say don't take a kid to Hawaii, so any toddler-friendly ideas will be really great.

Brick oven, Rotisserie Chick In

Cardboard blocks from CP Toys. (No, not this one or that one.)

Creative Playthings: Box Set

Playforms by Antonio Vitali

This is the box for the Creative Playthings five piece Kitchen.

iwatchtheebaysforcreativeplaythings

Creative Playthings Playtown house designed by Antonio Vitali. Mixed set of furniture, also designed by Vitali. EBay auction ended at $301.00. Congrats iwatchtheeasternskyforhim!

More: Dollhouses and Creative Playthings on Stork Bites Man.

Alph-Beds: Cantilevered bunk-beds

Sweet cantlivered bunk beds designed by Philippe Allaeys.

alph.be [via kck]

Elsa's Favorite Song: "standing by the door"

Kaw-liga
(Hank Williams, Sr. and Fred Rose; performed by Hank Sr.)

Kaw-liga was a wooden Indian standing by the door.
He fell in love with an Indian maid over at the antique store.
Kaw -- Li -- Ga, just stood there and never let it show;
So she could never answer "Yes" or "No".

He always wore his Sunday feathers and held a tommy-hawk.
The maiden wore her beads and braids and hoped someday he'd talk.
Kaw -- Li -- Ga, too stubborn to ever show a sign;
Because his heart was made of knotty pine.

Poor ol' Kaw-liga, he never got a kiss.
Poor ol' Kaw-liga, he don't know what he missed.
Is it any wonder that his face is red;
Kaw-liga, that poor ol' wooden head.

Kaw-liga was a lonely Indian never went nowhere.
His heart was set on the Indian maiden with the coal black hair.
Kaw-liga, just stood there and never let it show;
So she could never answer "Yes" or "No".

Then one day a wealthy customer bought the Indian maid.
And took her, oh, so far away, but ol' Kaw-liga stayed.
Kaw -- Li -- Ga, just stands there as lonely as can be,
And wishes he was still an old pine tree.

Poor ol' Kaw-liga, he never got a kiss.
Poor ol' Kaw-liga, he don't know what he missed.
Is it any wonder that his face is red;
Kaw-liga, that poor ol' wooden head.

Note: The G in "Kaw-liga" is soft, pronounced "kaw-lye-jah".

This is Elsa's greatest motivator for dance and choreography ("like this"). It also works as our night-time lullaby. Kaw-liga is also my favorite inspirational, during long drive thoughts of art-making.

Video: This version by the Collins Kids is pretty rad.