My three year old loves to sing, and so do I — and she shares my trick memory for silly lyrics. So every day, I rack my brains for a new ridiculous song to teach to her. Last week, I scored a major hit with Harry Belafonte's Man Piaba, which sent me to Wikipedia to look up Belafonte's life, which in turn sent me to the entry on mento, a Jamaican precursor to ska and reggae. — Read the rest

Mark and I have rounded up some of our favorite items from our 2009 Boing Boing reviews for the second-annual Boing Boing gift guide. We'll do one a day for the next six days, covering media (music/games/DVDs), gadgets and stuff, kids' books, novels, nonfiction, and comics/graphic novels/art books. — Read the rest

I am thoroughly smitten with the new They Might Be Giants kids' album, Here Comes Science, which ships with a charming DVD of videos and supplementary material. In the best traditions of awesome educational kids music — Schoolhouse Rock, the Animaniacs, Electric Company — Here Comes Science combines top-notch pop music with humor that's aimed at both kids and adults (I once heard the creators of Sesame Street discuss how the inclusion of humor targeted at adults meant that grownups were more likely to watch with the kids, and thus be on hand to answer questions and discuss the material; this should be gospel for everyone who makes media for kids). — Read the rest

Irwin Chusid, journalist, music historian, radio personality and self-described "landmark preservationist," (wiki) wrote the following essay to mark the centennial of composer Raymond Scott for Boing Boing. Portrait of Raymond Scott above by Drew Friedman. (Click image for full size.) — Read the rest

Harpo Marx — my second-favorite Marx brother — explains the origin of the Gookie, his magnificent, world-beating funny-face (there was a fantastic Animaniacs version of this — post links to it in the comments below if you know where it lives online!) — Read the rest