Astro Boy made from recycled train tickets

A 3.2 x 2.1 meter (10 x 7 ft) work of Astro Boy pixel art made from 138,000 recycled Tokyo Metro tickets is on temporary display at the Shinjuku Takashimaya Department Store (2nd floor) to mark the opening of Tokyo’s new Fukutoshin subway line. Created by volunteers from Takashimaya and other Shinjuku-area businesses, the work depicts Astro Boy, Uran, Professor Ochanomizu and Higeoyaji (Mr. Mustachio) in Shinjuku along with the new Fukutoshin train. 04 more images after a break...

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Neha Dhupia Latest Images

Neha Dhupia is an Indian actress and model who appears in Bollywood films. She is a former beauty queen and winner of Femina Miss India 2002. Neha Dhupia started her career with a play in New Delhi called Graffiti. Thereafter she did a music video for Indipop band Euphoria. She modeled foradvertisement campaigns. She did the TV serial "Rajdhani". She did a song with Ginuwine & Shayal called "Baby". She entered the Femina Miss India pageant in 2002 and came in first place winning the Femina Miss India Universe title and was subsequently sent to Miss Universe 2002 pageant in Puerto Rico. She placed in the top 10 More images after a break...

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Skyscraper Urban Forest

Urban Forest, Chongqing, China

All images courtesy of MAD architects

MAD architects has sent us images of a new project, urban forest, located in chongqing, china. drawing on the mountainous landscape of the country, the commercial high-rise building, is made up of curved, abstracted shaped floors which have been layered slightly off-center from one another. Connected by a core cylindrical structure, each level's interior is protected by full length glass windows with a see-through, wrap around balcony. this provides transparency throughout the building, and makes the floors almost seem as if they are floating on top of one another. the overall design brings together nature and the urban metropolis, with the incorporation of green space and large expansive views of the city. 06 more images after the break...

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Allison Stokke

Allison Stokke was a standout California high school track star that became an internet phenomenon after her picture was posted on net. Stokke set a national record for pole vaulting with a mark of 13-7 in her senior year at Newport Harbor High School. Stokke is now attending University of California, Berkeley and is on the track and field team. 25 more images after a break...

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Finger Puppet Fun: Oriental Trading Company

Some of the following items are available on Amazon, but they are Oriental Trading Company items and are best bought through that source. (SurLaLune is not an Oriental Trading Company affiliate either. Links to OTC are purely for your convenience.)

These were more finger puppets to share for this week's unofficial theme, albeit mostly generic fairy tale figures, but still cute. Especially the Frog Prince.


Fairy Tale Finger Puppets: Create a magical puppet show with these vinyl puppets! Featuring frog princes, kings, knights, wizards and other fantasy story favorites, your fingers will love these mythical little characters!

And while we're here, I will share a few more items on OTC:


Fairy Tale Rubber Duckies: Fairy Tale Rubber Duckies. Tell tall tales with these vinyl duckies! Dressed like kings, queens, knights, horses and other fantasy characters, these duckies are great for pretend play! (I love the Fairy Godmother Duck best. And I own these and they are just as cute in person.)


Fairy Tale Fantasy Enamel Charms: Make the bracelet of your dreams! Includes queens, frogs, kings, castles, dragons and crowns. (I really would have loved these when I was six years old.)


Fairy Tale Fantasy Stencils: Write and illustrate your own story with characters straight from classic fairy tales. (This set has a lot more flexibility and more recognizable fairy tales in it, especially Cinderella and Frog Prince. I think these might be snuck onto my next Oriental Trading order...)

And now I'm imagining a fairy tale themed birthday party...

Red Riding Hood Restroom Signage

For your Friday amusement: Red Riding Hood Restroom Signage.

Yes, you can buy this on Etsy from bathroomsigns. Beware that the other signs are of varying taste levels and are not fairy tale themed. But this was too good not to share...

New Poll, Same Question

In updating the sidebars on this blog--mostly with fun Amazon widgets of new releases coming out in 2010--I've also expanded and started anew the poll at the bottom of the page: What is your favorite fairy tale(s)?

I am keeping it open for all of 2010, but results are limited to one voting per IP address or computer--haven't looked closely but I know I can only vote once--so the results aren't skewed too much.

This is one of those questions that appears periodically from students and others on the SurLaLune Discussion Board. The poll is not rigid, but it is a little more scientific. I always enjoy seeing the results myself. And then I compare them with the traffic stats I have to various tales on SurLaLune--they rarely match up. Which means most of my readers here are lovers of tales.