School supplies that add a touch of fun

Friday, August 25, 2006 School supplies that add a touch of fun Summer's just about over, and schools will be back in session soon. On the plus side, back-to-school shopping has never been more fun. Here's a look at some new takes on old essentials that can make getting organized for school a way of life instead of a daily chore: Two shoulders plus a stuffed backpack equals not a lot of extra room. Lucky for you, you still can compute with a hook-on calculator, which easily latches onto your backpack or inside a binder. The neon shade makes it hard to miss. $1.99 from Staples. Accessorize your locker with the Small Add-A-Pocket. The lightweight pockets easily latch onto one another, save space and keep your locker from being boring and barren. $12.99 for a set of two, from the Container Store. Keep your mini home-away-from-home tidy with magnetic locker bins. $2.99 each from Target. Don't worry about making mistakes. Not when you've got the fun Foohy Fooz Erasers. Choose from a rainbow of four colored erasers, pop one in the lava-flow holster, and rub your blunder away. About $3, where school supplies are sold. Web site's animation has odd sense of humor Neil Cicierega (www.eviltrailmix.com) is not the average teenager. He is a musician, a flash animator and a moviemaker. He has produced some famous flash animations such as Potter Puppet Pals and the Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny. Cicierega brings an odd sense of humor that has developed a fairly large following on the Internet, earning him several awards. The Web site contains several music videos that Cicierega made. The site links to Cicierega's LiveJournal where he posts much of his work as he completes it, such as a recent video about mustache shaving and his hallucination and yearnings for a thicker fuller mustache. Quote/Unquote "I really feel for people today. I see why everybody does online dating because how do you meet people? Wouldn't it be funny if there were a celebrity online dating serive for all of the lost and lonely, socially inept, dysfunctional celebrities who have screwed up their marriages, lost all their lovers and don't know how to meet anybody?" — Uma Thurman ("My Super Ex-Girlfriend"), in People. "Separately it was fine, but together we looked like some kind of circus act." — Bryce Dallas Howard ("Lady in the Water"), on coming from a family of redheads, in People. "I'm scared of heights. I don't get (too) high up — I get freaked out! I mean, I do it, but I don't like it." — James Marsden, in Teen People. "I definitely went through my geeky phase. Bad skin, long hair, bad clothes. I wasn't the popular guy." — Jesse Metcalfe ("Desperate Housewives," "John Tucker Must Die"), in People.