Stick These To Your Ribs

Cover your body with some of these cool anatomy-related shirts, by Young Lovers at left, organ donor awareness tees (they say “I have the guts…” cute…maybe they should make “future organ donor” shirts too, to be extra creepy.) by Mats Ottdal, and one-of-a-kind patchwork anatomy tunic by takeaholiday on etsy.

Happy Monday

Disco Bear gets a heart transplant following a breakfast of deep-fried butter in Happy Tree Friends ultra-disturbing episode “Change of Heart.” What we learned: don’t eat deep-friend butter.

Northwest Kidney Fest

The idea of going to a kidney celebration may sound odd to some, but to the Northwest Kidney Center in Seattle, WA, it’s business as usual. The center provides screening and support to African Americans, who are disproportionately affected by kidney disease. You needn’t be black to attend and take advantage of the kidney-centric festival, featuring educational programs, free health screenings and a recipe contest. And while I’m sure most people would like to walk away from the event’s raffle with an iPod or an Xbox, we hope someone will be happy to take home one of the Kidney Gutsy Gift Packs we donated to this year’s event.

What It Takes To Be a Doc

Be sure to check out Nova’s Doctors’ Diaries, it is an incredible in-depth look into what it’s like to become a doctor, from what it took to get through medical school, how they dealt with cadaver lab, how they survived residencies, and eventually how they became practicing doctors — or not. The filmmakers began by filming students at Harvard Medical School in 1987, and continued to follow these people throughout their careers today (that’s Dr. Luanda Grazette, pictured, she’s a cardiologist). Really, really interesting program and you can watch it online.

Guts Down Under

We’ve had the good fortune of working with some really great stores during the past few years, and I wanted to spend some time on this blog highlighting some of our favorite shops. Ruck Rover General Store is an adorable lil’ shop down in Perth, Western Australia, the sisters who run it, Claire and Isabelle Trolio are super sweet, have a taste for independent design (Princess Tina, Supermaggie, Heavy Rotation), and have amassed a collection of cuteness (is that a polka-dotted stuffed mushroom on the sofa? Why yes, it is!).  They just launched an online store, so check out their goods or if you’re in the area, go visit!

Totally Boweled Over

More brand-new tees in stock, including men’s and women’s intestine “I Heart Your Guts” t-shirts and our fancy new “Gall of the Wild” gall bladder shirt for men and women. Be the first on your block to wear your bowels on the outside! I have finally caved to consumer trends and have made separate colors for men and women’s tees. Apparently real men don’t wear pink.The new gall bladder tee also means we’ve got the goods for a Gall Bladder Gift Pack. Woo hoo! And for those of you waiting for the Smells Like Spleen Spirit t-shirt, we’ve got that back in stock, this time in Kelly Green, in all sizes, finally. Thanks for being so patient!

Brain on the Block

Nerdcore baby blocks from ThinkGeek feature Robots, Tentacles, X-Rays and of course, best of all, Organs in jars! Yes, these Young Mad Scientist Alphabet Blocks are a hell of a lot more interesting for the parent than the standard Apple, Bear, Cat sort. The kid prolly doesn’t care. And speaking of geeky kids, Parents magazine featured our guts in a roundup of  “Stuffed Animals for Geeky Kids.” Not only do we love the embrace of the geek child, we also like it when people call our guts “stuffed animals.”

Happy Ending

If you’ve never encountered a plush maggot or plush sperm in your life, then drop by purpleflavor.com, where both are in residence. Need a maggot in a bunny suit? Too bad, they’re sold out. Creator Shane Geil can hook you up with an alien sperm, devil sperm and even a super sperm. Yay!

We Heart These Guts

Some fun and silly stuff frm around the anatomy world: bone socks that come complete with acupressue points, an adorable anatomically correct heart needlepoint kit from 29Olives, and instructions on how to make a brainy alien hat for baby.

Your Body – The Book

Another book worth checking out is author-illustrator David Macaulay’s The Way We Work, an anatomical take on the classic  The Way Things Work. Filled with great illustrations — my favorite is the disco-dancing muscle cells — and clear explanations of the body’s myriad functions, it is the ultimate resource for anatomy geeks.