Pictures Of Toys

Brian McCarty will be presenting a lecture at the Hanes Art Center on the campus of UNC - Chapel Hill on the subject of toy photography this Tuesday, February 1^st at 7 pm. Seats are limited to 300, so get there early. Hanes Art Center can be contacted at (919) 952-2015 for more information. Brian will also be showing his photographs from February 1^st through the 28^th at The Carrboro Arts Center:



The opening reception will be held on February 4^th from 7 pm until midnight at the Arts Center in Carrboro, North Cackalacka. For more information call (919) 929-2787. And don't forget, the photography of Dave Winter and my drawings and paintings will be on exhibit from now until February 28^th at Temple Ball in Carrboro:



The opening for our show will be on Saturday, February 5^th from 4pm until 7pm. Call Temple Ball at (919) 929-1208 for more information.

Nobody Beats Tha' Biz!

Hahah-ha-ha! Biz Markie represents big time with this ass-kickin' Biz Markie clock at Kidrobot:



This one is definitely up Mike's alley. Speaking of alleys, don't forget to come check out the 301 Film Forum this Saturday night at 8:00 pm at Temple Ball in Carrboro, North Cackalacka. My artwork, the photography of Dave Winter and the music of Puritan Rodeo Show will be there also, so enjoy!

Limited Ed. Ketchup?

I was eating dinner at my parents' house last night, like every good Jewish boy should every now and then, and I noticed that on the table was a bottle of Limited Ed. Heinz Celebrity Talking Label Ketchup:



I was both befuddled and amused by the fact that Heinz had decided to go the Limited Ed. route. I soon realized that the talking ketchup bottles didn't actually talk. They just had quotes about ketchup from different celebrities on them. Heinz is also donating a portion of the sales of these Limited Ed. bottles to charities such as the Mia Hamm Foundation, The Nerine Shatner Foundation, The Mel Blount Youth Home of Pennsylvania and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Here are some of the quotes from the Celebrity Talking Ketchup bottles:

-- Olympic soccer gold-medal winner Mia Hamm - just back from Athens and the 2004 Summer Olympics - proclaimed that it's "Worthy of Gold."
-- William Shatner, known for his role as Captain Kirk on "Star Trek" and a 2004 Emmy Award winner for his role on "The Practice," announced that Heinz Ketchup "Fixes Burgers at Warp Speed."
-- NFL Hall of Fame quarterback and TV commentator Terry Bradshaw, revealed that Heinz Ketchup was "Served at the Immaculate Reception" - a nod to Bradshaw's 1972 pass to Pittsburgh Steelers teammate Franco Harris - in what NFL Films has dubbed the "greatest play in NFL history."
-- Lindsay Lohan, a young and popular actress admired by teens, summed up her opinion in just one word: "Burger-licious."

After discoving this I decided to look for other Limited Ed. ketchup stuff. First I found out that along with the Limited Ed. Celebrity Talking Label Ketchup bottles, Heinz and Swarovski Crystals designed and auctioned off jewel-encrusted versions of the Celebrity Talking Label Ketchup bottles at Sotheby's for charity:



Truly delicious. But what Limited Ed. ketchup roundup spectacular would be complete with a set of balls?! Baseballs! To be exact, a Limited Ed. Heinz 6 Piece Collectible Baseball Set by Anaconda Sports:



All this talk of ketchup is making me hungry. It makes me want to go get a big fat scoop of ice cream... and put some ketchup on top! Sweet!

Not One Damn Dime

In conjunction with the Presidential inauguration, today is "Not One Damn Dime" Day, a day on which people who do not agree with the current administrations' foreign and domestic policies are encouraged to not spend any money for a 24 hour period. In honor of that sentiment, I present several toys I like, but will not be buying today. First off, Nongyoushi has a pre-order on their website for the new 12" KOSTAS Assassin Figure from Medicom Toys:



Kostas is a pretty interesting artist who has been around the block a few times. Now he's got his own 12" figure! For just $135.^oo! But I won't be pre-ordering it today. Also on the Ningyoushi website is this cool Vinyl U.N.K.L.E. figure by Medicom Toys:



This little cutie is a Japan-only release. I pre-ordered this one last week, so I don't have to worry about spending money on it today. Kidrobot has also got some new toys on their website, including the new Kidbomber:



Which was released last Thursday, while I was winging my way to Punta Cana, in a limited run of only a thousand. I really like the Kidrobot figures and I plan on getting one later, but not today. Kidrobot also has some fresh new Run DMC exclusive figures:



These Kidrobot exclusives are limited to only 375 sets, only available from Kidrobot. Maybe I'll pick up a set tomorrow. They also have an exclusive Christmas in Hollis colorway set:



I'm not a big Christmas fan, so I won't be getting these. Also, they are limited to only 125 sets only available at Kidrobot. So go out and don't spend any money today and feel sorry for all of the citizens of Washington, DC who had to shill out forty million dollars to put on some crappy inauguration party for a president that the majority of them didn't even vote for with some really bad music and more security than most war-torn countries will ever see. Hooray for the U.S. of A.!

Use The Spork, Luke

Hasbro, Inc. has announced that in association with the release of the hopefully-not-crappy, third? sixth? installment of the Star Wars series, Revenge of the Sith, they will release a new Mr. Potato Head: Darth Tater:



The goofy-looking spud will come with a light saber, cape and helmet in addition to the regular Mr. Potato Head accessories. No reason or explanation for the release of this ridiculous toy has been given by Hasbro, but my guess is, as with all of the Star Wars product tie-ins, they just want to make a quick buck off of the young and susceptible and old and reminiscent. The toy will retail for $7.⁹⁹ and will be available next month. Hasbro will also release a Wookiee Soaker Super Soaker, shaped like one of the weapons used by the Wookiee warriors in Revenge of the Sith, in association with the film's release. So go out and spend, spend, spend so that George Lucas can further line his pockets.

Zissou?

The man, Josh Rubin, is on a mission. A mission quite a few people who have seen the movie The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou are on. That mission: to get Adidas to release the special edition sneakers made specifically for the movie. Here's a post about Josh's current progress. Here's a picture from the movie:



Here's a post some jerk-face wrote at Gawker putting the movie down. Not just the movie, but all of the people who want the shoes from the movie. Now, I have seen all of Wes Anderson's films and I have enjoyed them all. A lot of people didn't like The Life Aquatic, for reasons I don't and may never understand, but I thought it was an amazing epic adventure, full of the sort of magic realism that Gabriel Garcia Marquez would fully appreciate, and containing some of the best set design I have ever seen in a feature film. That they recreated the ship The Belafonte in all of its glory as a cut-away set complete with an aquarium with dolphins in it so that they could film movement between cabins from a side-view, and revealed it to the audience in a behind-the-scenes way, was well worth the price of admission.The idea that Gawker considers the narrative of the movie bloated just goes to show how dim-witted and attention-deficited people have become in our sorry, TV-addicted country. Maybe it is because I live in North Carolina, where "pseudo-hipster lifestyle sheep" aren't as prevalent, that I don't consider wanting a pair of Zissou Adidas to be jumping on some sort of bandwagon, just a way of expressing my delight in a film that I greatly enjoyed and a product that I have always loved and worn. Of course, Gawker makes no mention of the Onitsuka Tiger "Tai-Chi" shoes:



That were made popular by Uma Thurman and Quentin Tarantino in the movie Kill Bill Vol. 1. Just a minor detail, I guess, but one that someone with an attention to detail would not overlook. And yes, I know the picture of the Onitsuka Tigers that I posted are an opposite colorway. They only sold 1,500 of the Kill Bill versions, and they are long gone. These are the only ones still available, that's why I posted them, silly. Oh, and by the way Gawker, I have already made my donation to the tsunami relief effort and bought my grandmother a gift for her 90^th birthday, but thanks for the reminder.

Hand-Rolled Dominican Cigars

I'm back from five days of lying in the sun on the beach in Punta Cana getting burnt, literally, and smoking delicious, fresh, hand-rolled, right-there-in-front-of-me, Dominican cigars and boy did I miss a lot of stuff while I was gone. First off, Mike sent me a link to this pimp-ass LED Scrolling Text IcedOut Belt Buckle:



I don't know if these things are Limited Ed., but I'm sure you probably won't be seeing a whole heckuva lot of them around, unless you hang out with me, in which case you will see one everyday, with a new message scrolling across it each time you see me. The buckle can store up to six messages, up to 256 characters per message, has nine speed settings, and nine brightness settings. It doesn't say on the site how you program it, but I'm sure if you are blingin' enough to afford this little accessory, you can probably figure that shizzle out yo'self.

In other blingin' news, Moog, my absolute favorite synth company, none of whose products I can actually afford, has just released their new 19" Rack Mount Edition Minimoog Voyager:



Moog doesn't have all the tech specs up on their website right now, but what they do say is that the package contains all of the features of the Voyager plus switchable audio out. What you don't get is the keyboard or the Voyager's touch surface. The advantage of this rack mount version is that you can connect several of them to a single MIDI keyboard to create a polyphonic cacophony of vintage Moog sound. The Rack Mount Edition will be available in April for $2195.⁰⁰, but due to overwhelming demand, supplies will be limited. Now who wants a cigar?

Here It Is... Finally!

So all of the rumors were true, the lawsuit against Think Secret gains legitimacy, there really is headless Mac, even if those pictures I posted yesterday are complete bullshit. Here's the real Apple Mac Mini:



MacWorld this week... *drool*... I'm just going to sit back and soak it all in... *salivate*... you can check the deets on Engadget... enjoy!

The Kingdom Of Silence

In another attempt at shameless self-promotion and shameless family-promotion I have submitted the t-shirt design that I did for my brother's upcoming movie The Kingdom of Silence to Threadless to try to get them to print it. If there are enough positive votes they will print it. If they print it, that's free promotion for Seth's film. Anyway, here's a picture and where you can vote for the t-shirt:



Also, I really appreciate it when people who don't like the t-shirt designs that I have submitted to Threadless give me personal criticism in the comments section, especially those who have no previous art criticism experience and have not submitted a t-shirt design of their own. It really makes me feel good about myself. So go ahead, do your dirty work, I can take it... *sniffle*... no I'm fine... *cry*... I told myself I wasn't going to cry... *wail*... pull yourself together, man. Alright, I'm all better now.

Is This My New Computer?

So everyone has probably heard the rumors about a sub-five-hundred-dollar, headless Mac by now. You may have also heard about the lawsuit brought against Think Secret by Apple over this revelation. Well now someone has posted some pretty suspect looking pictures and video of the thing, labelled the iHome:



From this picture:



It looks like someone mocked-up a rectangular template and covered a thick book with it to make it look like a new-fangled computer. Well, the MacWorld Expo begins today in San Francisco, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see if this fantasy becomes a reality.

Cool, But Not Limited

Gizmodo had a little bit of information on their website about the new DVForge JamPod:



Unfortunately, their information wasn't very informative, so I went to the DVForge website to find out more. And I'm sure glad that I did. This cool little device is a miniature amplifier module that connects to your iPod and lets you plug in a guitar, bass or any other musical instrument or microphone with a 1/4" jack and allows you to jam along to any music on your iPod. You can use your iPod earbuds with it, or you could plug it into your stereo or other speaker system and jam out loud. A 48-inch white guitar cord is included with the JamPod. DVForge seems to be a really cool company with lots of Mac-related music products. They have a really nice USB microphone:



And a cool keyboard designed to be used with GarageBand:



I especially like the keyboard, 'cause that's my main instrument of choice and 'cause it has little legs that allow you to slide your computer keyboard under it. Quite convenient. Now I just need a computer that can run GarageBand without crashing. Stupid, four-year-old, first generation, G3 iBook! Anybody out there got a G5 iMac they want to donate to me to help improve my musical progression? Anybody?

The Monkey Wrench Gang

Yeah, I know I have been a little slack about my postings recently. I have been working on a t-shirt design for the crew of the movie The Kingdom of Silence that my brother is working on over in Thailand. Don't worry everybody, he's fine. He was in Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand when the earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit, so he only experienced some moderate shaking on the fourteenth floor of his condotel. I have also been extremely busy at work with the new year upon us. I am actually expected to be doing work while I'm here. Well, I took a little break from work to find something Limited Ed. for y'all. It's the 1975 Edward Abbey written, R. Crumb illustrated graphic novel, The Monkey Wrench Gang (Dream Garden edition):

This well-known [not to me] book is a fictional account of four "environmental warriors" liberating parts of Utah and Arizona from evil road-builders, miners and rednecks [are rednecks really evil?]. The book fueled a new generation of angry young environmentalists (such as Earth First!) practicing monkey-wrenching, sabotage for the sake of protecting the wilderness.

I don't know, I guess I just like monkeys. Or the environment. Or something. Hell, I don't know! Just leave me alone. I have work to do.

[Also, check out my new music link Boom Selection for all of the latest mash-ups (via Social Pest)]

Cool New Watch

Alright, what happened? I was gone for a week or so and already Tokyo Flash has dropped the ball on me. Just like Jake Delhomme in that stinkin' Panthers vs. Saints game on Sunday. Stupid Panthers just had to win one game and they would have made the playoffs. What the hell?! At least New Orleans was eliminated from the playoffs also, bastards. Serves 'em right! Alright, now what was I writing about? Oh yeah, new EG watch by EleeNo, blah, blah, blah. Here's Wrist Dreams take on it and a picture:



It uses wierd LED patterns to tell time. Here's a diagram so that you can use it yourself:



Wasn't that helpful? Did you figure it out? Good for you! At least the watch is only ¥7,900. So it isn't that expensive to not be able to tell time. I'm sure the moving squares look pretty, though. Enjoy!

Not Safe For New Year's

Yeah, I know it has been a while since I posted anything. So what?! You wanna' fight about it?! Whatchu gonna' do, punk?! I will kick your ass! Speaking of ass, I got an e-mail from Michael letting me know about these disgusting Scat Dolls. They are so disgusting I can't even put pictures of them here. There are pictures on the link, but they are definitely NSFW. I don't know if they are Limited Ed., I just know I couldn't get done reading the information about them before I had to get up and take a dump. Ewww... they remind me of the chocolate baby birthday bukkake that I had for dessert New Year's Eve. Delicious!