Air Krakens!

Kites, that is. From The Berkeley Kite Festival, which set a record for the number of giant octopus kites flown simultaneously.

Berkley Kite Festival 2010 by amadne [Youtube]
Berkeley Kite Festival

23/10/09 by Station

Last week I ran a $45 painting commission special on SWEATSHOP. My first request was from a chef and restaurant owner, who sent me the following story and asked me to illustrate it.

Meanwhile, Station00023 was idling in the SWEATSHOP chatroom, as he usually does. At the end of the night, he sent me the music at the head of this post, having composed it while he watched the painting going up.

Between the three of us, we nearly had an opera. Please enjoy.

I purchase my fish from various fish mongers, (local fisher gentlemen) they come to my back door with their fresh catch looking to sell. Depending on a number of things, I usually buy. Usually they all have the same types of fish and/or crustaceans.

About 4 years ago on a Friday afternoon I opened my door to a 20 gallon cooler of squirming alive medium sized Octopus. It was glorious! As I was bargaining with the fisherman, he labored to keep them in the cooler, dozens of tentacles slithering over the edge trying to go free, dark sack-like bodies with little eyes peering over the edge, as he unstuck something, others popped up.
Continue Reading…

This delicious little vicious has been advertised on Ectomo for quite a while, and I’ve only now gotten around to perusing the rest of the squid, octopi, cuttlefish and jellyfish jewelry at Noadi’s shop. It’s quite adept, very affordable, and extremely cute.

So on the off chance that ad-blindness has obscured these wee guys from your clicking fingers, do give them a look. Their ads have supported Ectomo for ages now, so I figured they deserved at least a mention.

Behold, the fearsome steamsquid, driven only by clockwork and the urge to strangle, sucker, and beak!

Noadi’s Shop [Etsy]

[Additional: if you are interested in advertising on Ectomo (and we've been getting far more requests, lately) the best and easiest way to do it is through Project Wonderful. We've been using PW for years, on the advice of a reader, and it's been an excellent little system for we somewhat-non-internet-business-oriented persons. You can also email us directly.]