Everyone these days seems to have one of those fancy programmable pressure cookers known as the Instant Pot (IP). Now I've learned that people are decorating their IP's stainless steel exterior with decorating decals and wraps. In fact, over on Etsy, there are whole shops dedicated to beautifying your IP. One shop, in particular, has a magnetic, easily-removable wrap that will make your IP look like R2-D2. If this is your jam, head over to InstantWraps to get one. They offer them in a variety of IP sizes with prices starting at $11.

(Technabob) Read the rest

Swoon...!

Look what SHAG whipped up (that's a reference to the Dole Whip, btw) for Disneyland: Enchanted Tiki Room mouse ears. Since early July, Disney has been releasing a series of Mickey Mouse ear hats and Minnie Mouse ear headbands designed by notable celebrities, designers, and artists. Photos of the other designs and their release dates can be found on the Disney Parks Blog.

He writes:

I’ll be signing these and other exclusive Disney products at D23 on Saturday, August 24 from 2:00 to 3:30 pm at Talent Central in the Anaheim Convention Center. These limited edition Enchanted Tiki Room Mouse Ears are part of Disney’s Designer Collection, featuring ear hats by Betsey Johnson, Vera Wang, Heidi Klum and other celebrity artists and designers. Mine are debuting at D23 and will be available at Disneyland and Disney World on August 28.

Skip through the images to see the back of the ears:

View this post on Instagram

I’ll be signing these and other exclusive Disney products at D23 on Saturday, August 24 from 2:00 to 3:30 pm at Talent Central in the Anaheim Convention Center. These limited edition Enchanted Tiki Room Mouse Ears are part of Disney’s Designer Collection, featuring ear hats by Betsey Johnson, Vera Wang, Heidi Klum and other celebrity artists and designers. Mine are debuting at D23 and will be available at Disneyland and Disney World on August 28. @disneyd23 #enchantedtikiears #enchantedtikiroomears #enchantedtikiroom #waltdisneysenchantedtikiroom

A post shared by Josh Agle (@theartistshag) on Aug 20, 2019 at 5:22pm PDT

As you're probably aware, this is just one of the many groovy products he's designed for them over the years. Read the rest

Cats don't care if you want to share their adorable face on Instagram. They look this way and that way, but never directly at your phone.

Enter the Cat Selfie, an attachment for the top of your phone made to get your cat's attention. How? It has a little bell you ring to get your kitty to look at your phone's camera, so you can snap that shot. Now the whole world will see how crazy-cute your kitty is! What did we do before this?

Available from UK novelty company Bubblegum Stuff (£11.95/~$14.50).

(Pee-wee Herman, Geekologie) Read the rest

Yes, really.

Although we're deep in the heat of summer, Hormel Foods is busy promoting their new fall pork product: Pumpkin Spice Spam. That's (sp)iced h(am) spiced with cinnamon, clove, allspice, and nutmeg.

For a limited time, you'll be able to get cans of it at Walmart and the Spam online store come September 23.

CNN reports that "Spam recommends topping waffles with it, adding it to a fall vegetable hash or baking it into a cornbread muffin." (No, thank you.) Read the rest

When tiny wigs land in your life, what else can you do but open — not one, but two — pop-up wig shops? One for cats, and one for jars of Fluff.

No joke.

This one is called the "Cousin Oliver":

Hey, since you're here, I wanted to share that I was recently a guest on the Archie McPhee podcast! I talk about my work as a blogger, how I learned I was a superfan of Fluff, and what I know so far about working with Children's Fairyland. You can listen to it here. (Someone asked if we were high when we were recording it. Nope, we just get extra silly and giggly when we get together.) Read the rest

Rule #1: Give the people what they want.

Thank you to Jack Black, and Tenacious D's Kyle Gass, for joining forces with Jack White to bring the world the rock collab we've been wanting: Jack Gray.

Vulture:

Over on his Jablinski Games YouTube channel, Black posted a video of the pair’s recent visit to White’s predictably macabre Third Man Records studio in Nashville, as well as his equally Tim Burton–esque home. We don’t actually get to see the inside of White’s reportedly antique-filled house, which sucks, but Black does confirm that the trio recorded a single, the “legendary collab” you’ve been waiting for. It’s no Bobby Castro or band made entirely of Led Zeppelin moms, but still satisfying.

Jack White invited us to party pic.twitter.com/0PLAqNnYqH

— Jack Black (@jackblack) August 8, 2019

Read the rest

"Killing in the Name" has never been played quite like this! Thanks to Rockin'1000, a thousand musicians from around the globe gathered at the Commerzbank-Arena in Frankfurt, Germany to play Rage Against the Machine's 1991 hit song together. In some ways, it's a hot, loud mess. In others, it's a beautiful, beautiful thing. Judge for yourself (or not, you don't have to do what I tell you).

Rockin'1000 previously on Boing Boing Read the rest

Prompted by a Stranger Things reference, YouTube guitarist 331Erock created this instrumental metal version of The Neverending Story theme song. One astute commenter calls it "The Evershredding Story."

P.S. Head to Germany if you want to ride Falkor IRL.

(Likecool) Read the rest

These aren't the chalky little marshmallows you'll find in Lucky Charms cereal. Thanks to a collab with Jet-Puffed, large, soft versions of the cereal's hearts, moons, stars, and clovers will be available nationwide indefinitely in September.

Fun fact: According to an old General Mills press release (via Wikipedia), each of the marshmallow's shapes have magical "powers."

Hearts – power to bring things to life Shooting Stars – power to fly Horseshoes – power to speed/slow down time Green Clovers – luck, but you will never know what kind of luck you will get Blue Moons – power of invisibility Rainbows – instantaneous travel from place to place Red Balloons – power to make things float Unicorn – according to the inaugural cereal box, unicorns can "cleanse water with a touch of their horn," "heal whatever troubles you," and "always know when you are telling the truth" Moon – power to change alternate gravity

It appears you'll only be able to harness the powers of the pink hearts, blue moons, yellow stars, and green clovers with this new product.

(People) Read the rest

During a recent stopover in Portland, Oregon, it was delightful to once again hang out with the "Duchess of Felt," artist LeBrie Rich. Read the rest

And by "dirty," I mean "NSFW."

There's a marketing mastermind at Granny's Attic thrift store on Vashon Island in Washington state. Instead of tossing out** all the risqué donations the store receives, they instead save the (good/sellable) items for a once-a-year sale for adults 18 and over. I vacation in Vashon and got to experience it for myself.

(**I'm assuming that's what thrift stores normally do.)

The preview for this "After Dark" sale was held on the island's popular First Friday evening:

"Find Out What Your Neighbors Have Been Up To":

Outside the shop's actual storefront was this large tent which held all the salacious secondhand goods:

Now, I've often thought that you can tell a lot about what a community is about by what ends up in their thrift stores, a sort of anthropological study. What would I learn about the denizens of Vashon? Only one way to find out...

(By the way, my 14-year-old was MORTIFIED that I was going to check the sale out and literally crossed the street and hid while I went inside.)

Walking past the "It's scandalous in here..." sign and into the tent, I immediately spotted racks of used (and presumably laundered) lingerie and books:

Turning around, I saw this table (click image to embiggen):

And this one (click image to embiggen): No comment on those pantyhose dolls.

Many artists live in Vashon, so it makes sense to me that a bunch of tasteful nude sketches ended up in the sale:

Oh, it's worth mentioning that everything was priced to move. Read the rest

Or live on, depending on who you talk to.

Ponyhenge started when a toy rocking horse was discarded in a field. It had been part of a headless horseman decoration from a nearby, shuttered haunted house. Soon, other toy horses joined it, lined up in a circle.

The herd mysteriously multiplies, moves around, and gets decorated seasonally. Roadtrippers reports:

The herd has not only grown in the last nine years, but the horses have been known to change positions unexpectedly. Like a less-labor-intensive crop circle, no one is quite sure who moves the residents of Ponyhenge, but every so often they are rearranged into a new formation...

For the Kentucky Derby, that the horses were moved into lines, waiting for a starting gunshot that presumably never came. After Labor Day… the horses were arranged in rows as if they were in school. They’re draped in lights at Christmas, and sometimes they’re buried completely by snow during the harsh New England winters.

The Rocking Horse Graveyard, as it's also called, has been a roadside attraction since 2010.

Want to see it for yourself? Head to 47 Old Sudbury Road in Lincoln, Massachusetts and look by the side of the road. It's on private property, so be respectful.

(RED, Nag on the Lake)

screenshot via Erin Essex Read the rest

Entrepreneur and Product Designer Matt Benedetto is an inventing machine. Under the umbrella of "Unnecessary Inventions," he's brought the world a-mazing, and absolutely absurd, creations. His latest pièce de résistance? Fingerless Crocs Gloves. Yup, he's made Crocs that you can wear on your hands. And, no, he didn't cut up a pair of shoes. No, no. These little beauties were 3D-printed. Watch the video to see the entire process to get from idea to prototype. It's impressive! Read the rest

Theron of IDIDTHAT.com isn't letting old rotary phones go to waste. This Bay Area artist is repurposing them into cool lamps ($167+) whose headset is hovering in mid-air as its light source. The cord is flexible and can be repositioned as you like. Neat!

They write:

In the early 1970s herds of rotary phones spanned the countryside. Social by nature, the phones bred in most homes and soon every imaginable color was available. Hunting was easy! Firmly attached by a cord, trappers harvested their cases by the thousands. They were at the brink of extinction when a few cordless models got into the population. Today’s cellular phone is the result of careful breeding management. We celebrate the near extinction event, with the release of our popular recycled phone lamps in every imaginable color. Relive the 1980s or earlier and be the talk of the town. Like really, people talked on these and now they will talk about these. One customer said “Truly the coolest thing I’ve ever purchased.”

View this post on Instagram

(Princess and her regal consort both SOLD) Our expeditionary team returned with one of the last breeding pairs of turquoise blue phones known to exist.  Behold a princess phone lamp and her regal consort in their corded glory.  Several large and unnamed museums have made offers, but we just can’t see them locked in a glass case!  They belong in their natural habitat, the rumpus rooms of America.  Take one home today before they are forever extinct.

Things are getting weird in the world of ice cream. First, French's created mustard-flavored ice cream for National Mustard Day. Then, in response to that, Oscar Mayer created the "Ice Dog Sandwich".

Fast Company:

Oscar Mayer, which is waging a Twitter war with French’s as we speak, teamed up with New York City-based Il Laboratorio Del Gelato to corrupt some perfectly good gelato with real bits of candied Oscar Mayer hot dogs, swirled with spicy Dijon Gelato, and “hot dog sweet cream,” a phrase that cannot be typed without gagging.

That unholy combination will be smooshed into hot dog shape, served on a cookie bun, and dubbed the Ice Dog Sandwich to mark the definitely not-made-up holiday of National Ice Cream Sandwich Day, aka August 2. That faux holiday is no excuse for this behavior, Oscar Mayer. The hot dog-flavored ice cream sandwiches will be bestowed upon the unlucky people of New York the week of August 12...

Who eats just mustard @Frenchs? Condiments were made for Oscar Mayer hot dogs. Say hello to the Oscar Mayer Ice Dog Sandwich - 🌭 flavored ice cream, made with our better hot dogs, sandwiched with spicy mustard 🍦. Do you want to try this? Coming in August🔥 #OscarMayerIceCream

— Oscar Mayer (@oscarmayer) August 1, 2019

screenshot via Oscar Mayer Read the rest

When Hawai'i-born Kamaka Dias joined the Peace Corps, he completely shaved his head and facial hair off. Then, during his two years serving in Madagascar, he just let it all grow out. No trims, no shaves, nothing. He's home now and has put together this fun and clever video showing his hair growing back in over those two years abroad.

He writes:

1. I didn't touch my hair or facial hair at all for 2 years after I shaved it all off. Saved a lot on shaving cream and haircuts! 2. This was filmed in Madagascar; the fourth largest island in the world with some of the kindest people you'll ever meet. 3. Some highlights of my service: I taught English to about 500 middle and high schoolers during my two years and raised $3,000 to buy 11 computers for my community among other things. Also cooked a lot of pancakes and pooped in a hole. 4. Most of the shots were taken during the school breaks and weekends proving that it is possible to work hard and play even harder ;p ...

(Likecool) Read the rest

Ooh, this is awesome. Activists have made a free font called Gerry that is made from the shapes of gerrymandered congressional districts. They encourage you to use it to write your representative.

It's here. GERRY. A font created by your congressional districts. Log on to https://t.co/WkuVp7oDpu and use the font to tell congress how happy you are that your vote doesn't matter. pic.twitter.com/j9U5W7qmTz

— Gerry (@UglyGerry) July 23, 2019

The Next Web:

The font’s creators, Ben Doessel and James Lee, made it to raise awareness and provide a method for disenfranchised voters to protest partisan gerrymandering. The duo, in a press release provided to the media, stated:

"After seeing how janky our Illinois 4th district had become, we became interested in this issue. We noticed our district’s vague, but shaky U-shape, then after seeing other letters on the map, the idea hit us, let’s create a typeface so our districts can become digital graffiti that voters and politicians can’t ignore."

For those unfamiliar with gerrymandering, it’s the process by which US voting districts use increasingly nonsensical borders to disenfranchise voters and limit who they can vote for by party lines instead of geography.

(The Week)

Thanks, Veek!

screenshot via UglyGerry.com Read the rest