LEGO has released images of the upcoming line of Lord of the Rings legos, and frankly, they are quite adorable.

I am also pleased to think about how easily it will be to remove Boromir’s head, given it’s lego properties.  Excellent Sean Bean death scene recreation potential!!! via Geekologie

And while we’re on the topic of legos, check out this great donut lego:

via Incredible Things

Yup. It’s LEGO DAY at Stickers & Donuts.

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Maria is an Oscars fan (remember her lovely little Oscar ballot?) and I find this infographic on the color distribution of gowns worn by Best Actress/Best Supporting Actress winners very interesting.  Lesson learned: Oscar winners do not wear orange.  The full infographic is available here.

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Hi friends. Whereas the looming cloud of unemployment ominously crept towards me a month ago, I am now officially unemployed. Although I dedicate most of my time trying to find a job, I’ve also been pursuing other worthwhile endeavors like perusing OpenCourseWear, repeatedly playing “Killing me Softly” on my banjolele, and (sort of apathetically) opening an etsy shop.  The eons of time I spend online at job recruitment sites is punctuated with the occasional distraction, and here I present to you a compendium of interesting things I’ve come across recently.

1. Yup.  It’s a cat dress. Warehouse Embroidered Cat Dress at ASOS, $80.57

2. Years ago, I used to wear Jeffrey Campbell shoes to work because they were comfortable and unique.  Since then, Jeffrey Campbell shoes have gotten too odd…even for me.  In the midst of a sea of questionable LITA boots, these red studded boots are lovely. I’d probably get them if they weren’t $188 and I wasn’t unemployed.  Starburst Stud Boot-Red at Nasty Gal, $188

3. I’d like to dedicate this to a friend who sent me an email that contained the following line: “Should you be desirous of a manly man, there is a surplus of them in Anchorage.”  Slumber Jack Jr. pillows at threadoverheels on etsy, $26

4. In high school, I was quite enamored with green fluorescent protein. Had I not decided to abandon the hard sciences for public health, I probably would have designed something as frivolous as a light fixture powered by fluorescent protein.  I did want to create a fluorescent tomato plant, after all.  via Treehugger from Notcot’s feature on geometric lighting

5. I am absolutely currently obsessed with Games of Thrones.  I watched the first season last month, and have been telling all my friends to watch it (although it seems like everyone has watched it already).  I’ve begun reading the Fire and Ice series, and am anxiously anticipating the start of the season.  Reynaud Forestie, a French artist, created a series of illustrations based on the house sigils in Games of Thrones/the Fire and Ice series. via Flavorwire

6. During the years that this blog has been in existence, we’ve always featured a diverse representation of creativity-whether it be in art, media, or fashion.  My specialization is public health, and I am especially fascinated with innovative strategies to address global health issues.  There are a lot of interesting initiatives promoting innovation in health likeAshoka Changemakers, and the Gates Foundation’s Toilet Reinvention challenge, which highlight really great ideas.  For example, there’s ColaLife, which addresses constraints to delivery channels of basic medicines and social products by sneaking them in the crevices of Coca-Cola delivery crates.  Another interesting organization is APOPO, which specializes in training rats to detect mines and tuberculosis (TB).  A long time ago, someone sent me a picture of an assiduous APOPO rat outfitted in mine detection gear because it was cute.  And now they’re detecting TB too!!!

7. More boots. ALEXA Chunky Lace Up Leather Ankle Boot at ASOS, $107.43

8. I love Chicago. And dinosaurs. Dinosaurs in Chicago print by Laura Peters at funnychord on etsy, $15

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Happy Monday!  The penultimate week leading to a long holiday weekend (or in my case…a return to the STATES!) is always excruciating for me.  A compendium of stressors!  There’s always some type of challenge, whether it be (cough cough) writing my thesis or finishing projects for work.  This is all complicated by pesky self-questioning of what gifts I should purchase for individuals, or more importantly, fears that I will forget someone.

So, as we embark on this week (and in the name of “you gotta look out for number 1″), here’s a potential treat for yourself.  Well, I suppose you could share it, but selfishness is sometimes fun (I shoved a woman so *I* wouldn’t get hit by a motobike today).

JetPens has been a huge Stickers & Donuts supporter for the past couple of years, and has generously offered a $25 gift certificate to JetPens.com for one reader!  To enter, describe what you fantasize spending the gift certificate on.  Or, write something that will make me laugh.  Winner will be chosen by a random number generator.  Giveaway ends on December 21st!

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Perhaps because I work in public health, poop is more than something I excrete.  I am desensitized to any stories of fecal mishaps, and poop is fully integrated in my daily conversations.  Especially diarrhea. You do know it’s the number two killer of children under five in the developing world, no?  Well now you know (shooting star).

Given the importance of poop in my field of work, and my fascination with strange pens and pencils (here, here, here), you can understand how pleased I was to find the above poop pens in a Hanoi cutesy-stuff shop.  LITERALLY, POOP ON PENS!

“We all love crazy shit, so we have it!!!” Is this a true statement? I mean, I know people who are quite relieved when they have a nice s-shaped bowel movement. Would that be “crazy shit”?  The store also had a stuffed poop (like the figurine on top of the pen, but with the softness and density of a stuffed animal).  I did not get that.  This is unfortunately one pen that you can’t get on JetPens.

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Since high school, my sprightly youth has deteriorated, and has been replaced with grumpiness and laziness that rivals that of Carl.  I am of course referring to Carl from Up (between the time you cried…thank god tears can be obscured by 3d glasses…and when he meets the annoying boy scout).  I was reminded of the lost of my limited athletic prowess recently when I found myself heaving through a 12km mountainous hike.  Given my established dissociation from physical activity, I was surprised that it is possible to purchase omniscient running shoes:

Nike LunarGlide+ 3 iD Running Shoe (customized!), $145

Woah , technology.  There is a little pocket in the back of the shoe that holds something that communicates with your iPod/iPhone, which then can communicate with the Nike+ website.  Bananas!  Things like this make me consider whether cylons could be real!

I didn’t come across this whole world of shoe technology from wanting to run in Hanoi.  Hanoi is far from pedestrian friendly, and with the thriving market for imitation goods here, I would probably not be exposed to such technological novelties.  I was browsing Visual Complexity (a very aesthetically pleasing network visualization site), and read about the Nike+ City Runs project by YesYesNo LLC.  The above map of NYC represents a composite of a year’s worth of runs that were uploaded to the Nike+ website. As Visual Complexity describes:

The software visualizes and follows individual runs, as well as showing the collective energy of all the runners, defining the city by the constantly changing paths of the people running in it.

This visualization was an installation for Nike retail stores, and I think it would be intriguing to see it in person.  As the video below suggests, there seems to be a Nike store in Soho, so I might have to stop by when I return to the US.  My conjecture that there is a Soho Nike store is solely based on the fact that there is  Uniqlo bag in the video.  I can spot those suckers so easily.

Nike+ City Runs from yesyesno on Vimeo.

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If you have been reading S&D for a while, you are quite familiar with the fact that I am opinionated when it comes to pens and pencils.  So in addition to learning how to use tumblr this past week, I also came across a new species of pencils.  The engraved pencil.

The engraved pencil embodies an unparalleled opportunity to add something unnecessarily witty on a useful object.  Its use most surely affirms your superiority compared to the banal yellow pencil user sitting adjacent to you.  You know, an implicit “this person has a sense of humor, embraces novelty products, and is friendship material.” (More gentler descriptors than purely  ”quirky,” which Zooey Deschanel once astutely pointed out is a pansy way of telling someone they’re weird.)

1. I LOVE YOU LIKE A FAT KID LOVES CAKE, Cicely Siller on etsy, $12

My ability to recall 50 cent lyrics is a skill that is both useless and more awkward/less admirable than Taylor Swift rapping Eminem “Lose Yourself.”

2. Classic rap pencil set, oneupdesigns on etsy, $6

Age when I learned what “ill” really meant (from someone who played collegiate squash) = 20.

3. WHAT WOULD HONEY BADGER DO, thecarboncrusader on etsy, $3.50

The first screening of “Randall”‘s honey badger video in my Baltimore house prompted numerous proclamations of honey badger love on every internet venue imaginable.

4. Husbands don’t help pencil set, wwchloerunning on etsy, $6

Tiger mom of pencil progeny.

5. Me & You pencil set, erin on etsy, $12

This reminds me of the Minty Lewis salt and pepper comic in PS Comics.

6. EVEN ARTICHOKES HAVE HEARTS, thecarboncrusader on etsy, $3.50

Amelie is my favorite movie, and it was unfortunately lost in the mail when I sent my belongings from Baltimore to California. :(

Happy Friday!

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If only I was in NYC right now to see jewelry designer Irene Neuwirth’s pop-up shop designed by Marc Fornes/THEVERYMANY @ the Boffo Building.  Closes October 12th!

BOFFO Building
57 Walker Street
(Between Church St. & Broadway)
New York, NY 10013
Google Maps
Monday – Saturday, 12pm – 7pm
Sunday, 12pm – 6pm

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(2) Handprinted Oraber Calendar (oraber on etsy, $33): I <3 linoleum prints. Checkout how the artist’s process on his blog.

(3) Puzzle Calendar (ThinkGeek.com, $10): “Created entirely with interlocking plastic tiles. Stack ‘em how you like to create a master piece of time keeping!”

(4) Desk-it (Poketo, $8): “Desk-it is a post-it note for your desk. You can write down your to-dos for the day, week, and then stick on your wall or you computer.”

(5) Bubble Calendar (Perpetual Kid, $20): “A bubble to pop every day.”

(6) Die Cut Sleeping Cat Calendar (Urban Outfitters, $12): “Every month is printed on an animal-shaped card, each with a different facial expression and color!” (By clicking the “colors” you can also select a “Stretch Cat Calendar”, “French Bulldog Calendar”, or a “Retriever Calendar.”)

(7) Days In, Days Art Multipurpose Calendar (ModCloth, $28): “Every magnificent month invites you to turn its page into a file folder, gift box, note cards, tags, and more.”

(8) Linda & Harriet Letterpress Wall Calendar (Orange & Pear, $30)

(9) Flying Dirigible Letterpress Tear-Off Calendar (HammerPress, $30) (Other calendars from HammerPress: “Your Life Ideas Calendar,” “Honeybee Calendar,” “Good Luck Pony Calendar.”)

(10) POSEIDON Letterpress Year Calendar (lizardpress on etsy, $20): “The Lizard Press artists’ calendar Poseidon is based on the lure and the lore of the sea. This is a specially requested reprint of the previous year’s calendar which was shown in exhibits across the country.”

(11) Zoo Year Calendar (ModCloth, $33): “The calendar comes with six different cardboard animal cutouts, each displaying two months across its side. By folding and assembling the cutouts, you can create a three-dimensional menagerie that will drive you wild while helping you keep track of your days.”

(12) Letterpress Year Calendar (“Things That Are Long,” “Boats,” “Flower Garden,” or “The Farm”) (1canoe2 on etsy, $22 for one)

(13) Sumo Sticker Calendar (Patina, $6): “These stickers adhere to your planner, computer, car, folder, or wherever you want a calendar.”

(14) Flat Printed Desk Calendar (Delphine, $16)

(15) Perpetual Calendar (orangebeautiful on etsy, $28): “Tired of throwing out a calendar at the end of each year? This little lovely includes only numbers, months & days of the week - so you can use it forever & ever…”

(16) Calendar & Poster by Ron Rege Jr (Little Otsu, $12-16): “On the calendar side, the amazing devolving drawings form a comic-like linear backdrop to the twinkly bars of dimensional months. Turn it over to find a detailed panoramic scene of hot-air balloons and mountains and lands surrounding a giant inverted triangle of “abracadabra” magic. So at the end of the year, you can flip over the calendar and still have a great poster to hang on your wall, giving this calendar a second life.”

(17) It’s All About Me: 2011 Daily Notepad Calendar (KnockKnock, $14): “It’s All About Me, All Year Long includes narcissistic quotations, fatuous facts, self-aggrandizing tips, and plenty of space to record your novel ideas, incisive insights, and all-around irresistibility.”

(18) “Pineal Grigio” Letterpress Lunar Calendar (TinyShowcase, $35): “The limited edition letterpress printed lunar calendar details the 365 phases of the moon for 2011.”

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