Daddy Types: September 2010 Archives

September 2010 Archives

September 30, 2010

I'm Loving It!

So here's what's going through my head as I'm watching this mystery-PSA [via]: 1) This is your brain on Uggs. 2) Richard Pryor on Sesame Street: 3) 3, maybe 4, and the kid can't even freebase on his own...
[read the full post...]

Genital Bleeding! Does The CPSC Have Your Attention For The Fisher-Price Mega-Recall Now?

In its great, revitalized mission to rid the world below our knees of potentially injurious protrusions, the CPSC has recalled more than 10 million Fisher-Price trikes, playsets, and high chairs. The biggest news is the 7 million kids' trikes--sold...
[read the full post...]

September 29, 2010

Lazy Environmentalist Puts The E-C In Eco-Friendly

What's a modern treehuggin' new dad--and the author of a green lifestyle book to boot--supposed to do when confronted with the absorbent hyper-convenience of Pampers Cruisers? Josh Dorfman aka The Lazy Environmentalist, we're looking at you, buddy:"Because we feel guilty...
[read the full post...]

What's The Secret, Max?

See, this is why I was wondering if Grover's near/far lesson wasn't completely lost on someone who basically sees the television as a glowing flat spot on the wall. I mean, when does it really seem any different from a...
[read the full post...]

Incredible Creative Playthings Collection Trickling Onto eBay

Over the last few years, a few of us have helped bring long-overdue attention to the amazing, innovative, vintage toys of Creative Playthings. Why? Partly to give credit and appreciation to the makers of the toys we might have...
[read the full post...]

September 28, 2010

Trick Contour Rocking Chair By Vladimir Kagan

It's been a while since we've had a good, old-fashioned rockerlusting around here. So thanks Wright20 for putting this sweet, c1955 Contour rocking chair by Vladimir Kagan up for sale next month. Kagan's very welcome 'round these parts, and...
[read the full post...]

Bel Air To Crescent City, With Mister Mort

Mister Mort and some of his fellow style sharks went on a road trip up the California coast, and all we got is--actually, I think we made out pretty well: a giant pile of awesome photos, including a set...
[read the full post...]

Grover Tries To Teach Linear Perspective

I love this, of course, but does it still work for the postmodern kid who recognizes and embraces the flatness of the screen? Maybe this needs to be reworked as a two-iPhone near/far teaching app that uses GPS. Or...
[read the full post...]

Dunk The Kids In Angry White Politics With This Fine Tea Party Coloring Book!

You know, after taking a bit of heat for going all Wonkette on the latest car seat data, I have learned my lesson. So I'll just point out that this thing exists, and if you want to find out...
[read the full post...]

Whoa, Camel, Kalon Hut-Hut Rocker Now Available In Resin

I still have my suspicions that the Kalon Hut-Hut isn't actually a rocking toy, but a Fifth Element-style, 5-dimensional CNC-carved key to a wormhole in our saddle-slash-Pringles-shaped universe. Now that they've announced a $125 version molded from 100% recycled...
[read the full post...]

Original Sunshine Clubhouse, Bagram

How much better is the new Parwan detention center than the nearby Bagram torture and abuse center it replaces? Well, for one thing, it's got a visitor center with an awesome Rainbow Play Systems Original Sunshine Clubhouse almost as...
[read the full post...]

September 27, 2010

Eighties Eighties, Whoa, I'm Living In The Eighties

She's barely two and a half, but recently, K2's gotten fixated on "outfits." Obviously, she has to get dressed all by herself, but she insists on laying her outfit out on the floor, like she's going to shoot it for...
[read the full post...]

Fake It Till You Make It

I didn't click through when the publicist sent me the link for Phillip Toledano's essay about reluctant fatherhood, because I thought it was going to be all about his own dying father or whatever. Which is fine and good and...
[read the full post...]

OG Creative Playthings Alarm Clock

My brother the expert kidgiftgiver. When he came to visit, he rightly figured that any annoyance we might feel towards the Disney Princess Silly Bandz he brought K2 would be forgotten as soon as we were all woken up...
[read the full post...]

But What Does The Constitution Say About Car Seats?

Let's just look at the FACTS, shall we? FACT: Big Governmentocrats claim that the use of car seats and booster seats caused the 3% drop in 2009 of traffic accident fatalities for kids under 14. BUT overall traffic fatalities dropped...
[read the full post...]

September 24, 2010

DT Friday Freakout: Got Milk? Edition

What, you worry? Here are some stories from the worlds of parenting and pregnancy and what not to freakout over this weekend: In case you're having a hard time telling breastmilk and formula apart, just remember: they don't recall 5...
[read the full post...]

M-I-C See You In The Bomb Shelter!

If you've been waiting until you could find a cherry example with the box, your WWII-era UK Mickey Mouse children's gas mask waiting days are almost over. Sept 30, 2010, Item 2254: ENGLISH VERSION MICKEY MOUSE CHILD'S GAS MASK...
[read the full post...]

At This Point, A Shark-Jumping Muppet Would Be An Improvement

In explaining their phony Katy Perry publicity stunt, Sesame Workshop acknowledged that'Sesame Street' has always been written on two levels, for the child and adult. We use parodies and celebrity segments to interest adults in the show because we know...
[read the full post...]

September 23, 2010

The World's Awesomest Public Toilets, And Not One Changing Table

In three blog posts, the hyper-sustainable architecture duo Brute Force Collaborative has collected images of the world's most incredible public toilets. Real make-a-day-of-it affairs, every one of them. And yet, there appears to be not a single changing table...
[read the full post...]

Hot 'N Cold 'N Bothered

I'm sorry, it's been a bit busy in my real world lately. Was there really a surge of parental outrage over the supposedly suggestive content of that Katy Perry & Elmo music video that caused Sesame Workshop to suddenly decide...
[read the full post...]

Eight Months Gone, Jerry Hall By Lucian Freud

Jerry Hall met Lucian Freud at a dinner in 1997 when she was eight months pregnant with her fourth child. He asked if he could paint her portrait, and she started posing the next day, three times/week, until she...
[read the full post...]

September 22, 2010

Pop Space: Perpetually Convertible Kids' Loft Bed Structure By Matali Crasset

A couple of years ago, Matali Crasset built a loft-cabana and library space with a bed underneath it for her young daughter Popline. And wouldn't it be even better, she thought, if such a structure could evolve and adapt...
[read the full post...]

DT Tags Are Back, Possibly Wonky

A couple of months ago, while doing some site maintenance, I lost the tags that [hopefully helpfully] lead to related posts. Though the top five tags on Daddy Types are like, cardboard, plywood, Uma, awesome and WTF, so their usefulness...
[read the full post...]

September 21, 2010

Finally, Something A Canadian Can Get Upset About

So polite, so self-deprecating, so peacekeepy, so neighborly, our Neighbors To The North. Until they find out an American mom was improperly arrested for indecency because she was breastfeeding in public. Two years ago. Hmm, looks like the outrage is...
[read the full post...]

September 20, 2010

Ringo Atelier, Qu'est Ce Que C'est?

If you wish to make a Ringo Atelier from scratch, you must first invent the universe. Paris is filled with a network of ateliers I've stared at it for a few days now, and near as I can tell, Ringo...
[read the full post...]

Excuse Me, Doc, I've Got A Creative Playthings Scooter To Land

The last thing he said to me, "Doc," he said, "some time when the crew is up against it, and the breaks are beating the boys, tell them to get out there and give it all they got and win...
[read the full post...]

September 19, 2010

Just A Spoonful Of Sugar And A Shotglass Of Ginger Ale

Barely two weeks into school, and the kid gets some kind of superstrep that requires the nastiest-tasting antibiotics this side of Bangalore. Our pediatrician--actually, his resident, who clearly doesn't have a kid--suggested we sprinkle it on apple sauce. Almost made...
[read the full post...]

Gerrit Rietveld The Impaler? What's Up With This de Stijlin' Playpen?

Alright, every time I think I've exhausted the Gerrit Rietveld kids' furniture, something else pops up. We already knew that Rietveld basically had his furnituremaking breakthrough by designing stuff for his own kid and his friends' kids. But somehow...
[read the full post...]

Hans Fischli, Architect, Son, Father

After he'd finished his studies at the Bauhaus under Josef Albers and Paul Klee, the 1933 commission to build die Schlehstud house for his parents helped architect Hans Fischli start his own practice in Zurich. Devised as a three-family...
[read the full post...]

September 18, 2010

OG Slot-Together Ply Shelves By Harry Davis, Editor

Andy found this this summer, and then after talking to the folks at Modern Times to learn more about it, I promptly lost the link. In any case, there's really not much more to say at this point besides...
[read the full post...]

September 17, 2010

DT Friday Freakout: Pedo Edition

I missed last weekend, so maybe you've already freaked out over some of these headlines from the worlds of science, education, health, and parenting? Let's rip that scab off and freak out all over again! You walk out that door,...
[read the full post...]

Holy Moley, Billi Bolli 'Adventure Bed' System

Yes, now that we've successfully taken the plexi front off K2's Juddy bed, I've been thinking about bunk beds more. But no, I did not plan to make it Awesome & Unobtainable Bunk Bed Week around here. And yet,...
[read the full post...]

But What's The Car Seat Setup?

Here's a sweet crop from an even sweeter ride, a nicely restored VW Beetle that Todd Lappin spotted recently and dubbed the Surfinstrollerwagen. Check out Telstar Logistics for the full pic and a report that does not, alas, include...
[read the full post...]

September 16, 2010

Toobspotting: Whatchootalkingbout, Willis?

Holy smokes, and I'm not kidding. DT commenter MikeM thought he *might* have seen the H.U.D.D.L.E. Toobline Cornerbunk, the L-shaped bunkbed setup somewhere before... where was that? Oh, right, in Willis and Arnold Drummond's bedroom. And after some surfing...
[read the full post...]

Alright, Southern California, Show Me Your H.U.D.D.L.E. Toobs

Four years ago, Daddy Types was the only Internet mention of Toobs, the awesome modular/homebrew/adaptive reuse children's furniture collection by Los Angeles designers Penny and Jim Hull. The Hulls and their new company, Hull Urban Design, Development, Etc., or...
[read the full post...]

September 15, 2010

Q: How Do You De-Scum A Crazy Straw?

I've tried soaking, sucking and blowing, but so far, nothing....
[read the full post...]

Oy Vey. Jewish Silly Bandz

You call that a dreidl? They look fine on Amazon, but at the Meshuga Bands website, I gotta say, these Jewish Silly Bandz knockoffs look kind of ghetto. Waitaminnit, the Amazon ones are actually called "Jewish Silly Bandz" and...
[read the full post...]

Bugaboo Donkey Looks To Kick Some Double Stroller Ass

Via PRNewswire and the secret Bugaboo media link site that went live at 12:01AM, the world now knows that Bugaboo is finally introducing--the Bugaboo Donkey. It's a double stroller--that they don't want to call a double. Instead, it's a...
[read the full post...]

September 14, 2010

Ruth Bernard's Creepy Carousel Horse

Ruth Bernard, pioneering [female] photographer of the lithe female nude, also created one fo the world's creepiest nursery photos. Now a little vintage-sounding print can be yours to haunt your child's dreams. Forever. Sept. 19-20, Lot No: 4111 -...
[read the full post...]

M3 Cliff's Notes. And Brian's Notes. And Jason's Notes

In my six-plus years since I started Daddy Types as the "Gizmodo for dads," my ambivalence about the weirdness of professional parenting has only intensified. And before I decided not to, I did originally plan on doing a panel at...
[read the full post...]

September 13, 2010

Swing Of Fire

You know, to look at the extraordinarily detailed patent diagrams for George and Charlotte Blonsky's centrifugal birthing table [patent no. 3,216,423, granted Nov. 1963 that's a fence surrounding it by the way. It's a birthing cage.], you'd just have...
[read the full post...]

Parapluesch Mental Plush Toys

Orange News, the news service of the British mobile company, reports that some German hipsters have unveiled Parapluesch, a line of cuddly toys with collectible mental disorders. The toys--and the accompanying Flash game [more of a slo-mo Flash storyboard,...
[read the full post...]

September 10, 2010

De Stijl-Style Slot-Together Ply Chair At Mid Mod

How does he find these things? Etienne at Mid Mod Design in the Netherlands has this awesome-looking, de Stijl-inspired beech ply high chair c.1950 on hold right now. I hope he keeps the pictures online after it sells, though;...
[read the full post...]

Oh Well That's Pretty Awesome: The Orbit Baby Sidekick

Hey, the Orbit now has a stroller board! But it only fits the new-generation Orbit Baby G2 stroller. Hey, the Sidekick's the only stroller board designed for a "skateboard riding position"! But no offense little girl, that's not what...
[read the full post...]

Transitions

It's going to be a rough few weeks getting everyone adjusted to the kid's school schedule--1st grade, up at 6:30 and out the door by 7 or so. For example, K2 just slept from 8:30 until 11. Is that even...
[read the full post...]

Unhappy Childrens Book Writers Are Each Unhappy In His Own Way

Writes John Walsh at the end of his 2,400 word article in the Independent:It would be foolish, for all kinds of reasons, to suggest that the lives of contemporary children's authors will turn out to have been battlefields of neurosis,...
[read the full post...]

September 9, 2010

The Stig Abides

Leave it to the English to put a helmet on the only guy with remotely normal-looking hair. The Stig is a guy named Ben Collins, who wrote a tell-all book because he and his wife have had three kids...
[read the full post...]

September 8, 2010

Congratulations!

I guess it's not uncommon for second kids, but K2 got interested in toilet training unexpectedly early. We've been taking it super low-key, letting K2 set the pace and be interested in it when she wants. But we were...
[read the full post...]

On The Other Hand, The Company IS Called Amazon

The shocking transgression of gender roles has been central to Amazons' identity for thousands of years. And while much attention has been paid to the Amazon as warrior--the Iliad description, amazones antianeirai means "those who fight like men"--historians have...
[read the full post...]

September 7, 2010

The First Nation Of Hockey And Dad Time Outs

I can't figure out how to do it, so I'll just say to imagine Mister Rogers as you read about how Nathan's recent Dadwagon discussion of parents getting angry at their kids got turned into a Teaching Moment by the...
[read the full post...]

They Don't Make Alphabets Like They Used To

Science book guy John Ptak wondered what jobs were common enough in 1850 they could illustrate a kid's alphabet book: I thought Wharfinger won the prize, until he did a followup post of a 1844 alphabet primer from Newark: "O...
[read the full post...]

September 3, 2010

DT Friday Freakout

With a long weekend, a hurricane, a roadtrip, and kids waking up at 6:30 when they're supposed to wake up at 8, you'd think nothing could ruin one's weekend any more. Well, the reporters of science, health, parenting, and education...
[read the full post...]

What To Expect From A Movie Called Hobo With A Shotgun

There are so many different versions of the end of Blade Runner, it's hard for even the diehard fan to keep them straight. So let's go with the basics: there's the Domestic Cut, originally released in US theaters with...
[read the full post...]

September 2, 2010

Bwahahalvar Aalto Children's Playset

So what did we discover in the upcoming Rago Arts Discovery auction scheduled for Sept. 11? That even with "(Attr.)" and "unmarked" in the lot description, it still takes a pretty big set of stones to sell this pile...
[read the full post...]

Alright People, Start Mosaicking! Charley Harper Murals

I know Charley Harper was so 2008 or whenever, but isn't now, after the Old Navy herd has moved on, the best possible time to make a Charley Harper-inspired mosaic mural? [Hint: YES.] In 1964, Cincinnati native Harper did...
[read the full post...]

Sounds Pretty Crowded Under The Table

UMass Amherst economist Catherine Haskins did a study of off-the-books household work, which includes nannies and housekeepers, and part of me really IS shocked, shocked to hear there are so many nannies under the table:Her analysis, which includes consideration of...
[read the full post...]

September 1, 2010

Goat Standing On A Cow T-Shirt

As an impossibly infrequent producer of esoteric yet deeply meaningful kids' t-shirts based on true stories myself, I can only applaud the folks at RadioLab for introducing the Goat Cow Toddler Tee, a two-color design by Jez Burrows inspired...
[read the full post...]

Deep In The Galaxy Far, Far Away: Wookie The Chew

James Hance's site, where he sells his prints and comic books of his adorable creations such as Wookie the Chew, a Star Wars X Winnie the Pooh mashup starring Han Solo as Christopher Robin, is very slow at the...
[read the full post...]

La Biennale Del Bambini

The Venice Architecture Biennale opened last weekend. It's the first time it's been curated by a woman, Kazuyo Sejima, co-founder of the architecture firm SANAA. And because women are just so innately nurturing, the Biennale was transformed overnight into a...
[read the full post...]

« August 2010 | Main Index | | October 2010 »