I have to admit, I feel more manly just looking at this cover. If you want that 25-point check-list, you'll have to pony up a hundred bucks to this ebay seller. It might totally be worth it.

To me, nothing says "festival" like a set of massive, neon-green tentacles reaching out of the second story of a hotel. Fortunately, English artist Filthy Luker and the Victoria Park Summer Street Party in Perth, Australia agrees.

For a mere forty bucks, you too could own this glorious octopus umbrella with tentacled  handle.

What better way to celebrate the first day of the Christmas season than with this lovely glass candy cane octopus ornament, available now on Etsy?

Comic strip Tina's Groove serves up an appetizing Thanksgiving treat. Have a great holiday, everyone!

In this gorgeous image by photographer 500 noise, a giant pacific octopus at the Aquarium of the Bay in San Francisco poses beautifully.

My taste in music is archaic, so I couldn't tell you if dance/electronica artist Z LaLa is any good, but she sure can rock an octopus dress at the AMA's.

Maker Culture is an awesome thing. I have frequently considered picking up an Arduino board or a Raspberry Pi and then making... something. Possibly a giant death ray. But I would never be insane enough to give a knife to a tentacle, that would be madness.

For reader Jeff Sichta, who commented that an octopus would make a good drummer:

This was sent to me the other day by a very dear old friend. No further comment required.

So there I was last night, posting pictures of singers from my favorite Open Mike Night, when I joked that if I ever found a video of a singing octopos I"d be in trouble. And then I found this.

Last night I got home from a trip, but my wife is staying longer to visit family and won't be home until next Monday afternoon. That means that I have to actually cook for the next four days. Photographer Ondřej Tichý has captured precisely how that is likely to go, give or take.

I've been travelling cross-country today, just squeaking this in under the wire. I need sleep like an octopus needs an ice unicycle.

So I'm in Seattle today, and there is a storm coming. So I googled "storm octopus" (like you do), and found this cool t-shirt designed by Hillary White. You're welcome.

Emergent Glassworks makes (among other things) lovely glass octopodes. Here is a gorgeous electric blue version. Very, very pretty.

On Friday morning I had to fly cross-country on a family matter, attending the memorial service for a close relative. I was already out of sorts because of that. The day was made worse by the fact that my wife and I overslept, having had not one but TWO alarms fail, and despite a panicked race to the airport we missed our flight. We were able to be booked on a later flight, at some small expense, but overall it was just one of those low-grade crappy kind of days. While we were in the air and offline, the Paris terrorist attacks happened. Needless to say, my stupid little annoying troubles were placed rapidly into perspective.

My heart goes out to the city of Paris, and to all of the people touched by these terrible events. I have professional colleagues there, and fortunately everyone to whom I am connected is safe and well. Many others are not so fortunate.

I guess I need an octopus here somewhere, so here is some street art by Parisian artist GZUP. He seems like a pretty swell dude. He just runs around the streets of Paris vandalizing street corners with groovy octopodes painted on plywood, and gives away free art to passers-by.  I like him a lot.

And then there's the time that Buzzfeed did an entire tattoo listicle just for me....

On this Friday the 13th, I tip my hat to all of my author friends who know just how scary writing can be. Yeah, I write too - I even wrote a book - but I don't make a living at it. With this sculpture called "Self Organization", Oakland artist Courtney Brown captured exactly how I feel every time I start to think about writing a second book. I think I'll stick with writing code and writing silly octopus blogs for now...

This is a gorgeous piece of functional art, done by Custom Kate. Oh yes, I would put this dresser in my house. Check out the time lapse video below, and then hop on over to Kate's blog for more details on how she designed and painted this masterpiece.

In honor of Veterans Day, a very sincere "Thank You" to all the brave men and women who have worn the uniform and answered the call to defend our nation. Thank you for your service.

(Artwork by DeviantArt user LukeRocks)

Artist Rebeca Saray agrees, an octopus makes a very sensible hat.

Alright, folks, it's time to get out your Barry White albums. I've got some hot cephalapod-on-cephalapod action going on here. I'm talking full penetration. Check out the size of the hectocotylus on this guy! As novelest Chuck Rogers might say, Mister Squid will be in her bunk!

A photo of this sculpture was sent to me by reader Thomas Bernal, with no attribution. After a little sluething, I discovered the photo was taken by Chris Metcalfe in Hastings Old Town in England. The scuplture is one of a series of placements in Chess Square on George Street, all designed by metal sculptor Liegh Dyer. 

Artist Robert McCauley has a thing for bears. But sometimes what a bear really needs is to wear an octopus as a hat, because Fashion. (Thank you to reader Melissa Lunt for the submission.)

This was sent to me yesterday afternoon by pretty much everyone simultaneously.You'll understand why as soon as you watch this little emerald beauty melt your heart.

Yeah, I'm obsessed with octopodes. Yeah, I'm obsessed with Doctor Who. Oh, look, it's a Doctor Who / Octopus pendant! Shiny!

I know, I know, I spent nearly two weeks doing Halloween stuff, and Halloween is over. But this is too cute to pass up. One of my coworkers has an adorable daughter. Well, I mean, I am sure several of my colleagues have adorable daughters, I work with a lot of people, but this one in particular just made me smile. The sweetie in question is six years older now, and still just as delightful. She gets it from her mom.

ME: Honey, how much would you expect to pay for a Ferragamo silk tie?

MY WIFE: Um... About $180?

ME: Huh. Well, I guess $165 for an octopus tie isn't as ridiculous as I thought...

(NOTE: I have no sense of style whatsoever, and am generally not allowed to pick out my own grown-up clothes)

It pulses. It oscillates. All glory to the HypnoOctopode. All shall obey the HypnoOctopode.

Check out this gorgeous video, posted recently from a diver in Hawaii. He calls it the coolest octopus ever, and I can't disagree. Just look at all the gorgeous color/pattern/texture changes. She even lets the diver pose for a selfie near the end. Just a beautiful, beautiful encounter.