Beautiful

I think I might have to change my pants. Pre-order the new Limited Ed. SBTG Nike Dunk SB Lows next Tuesday, August 1^st starting at midnight from Kix-Files. I'm not sure how many pairs of these there will be available, but the word "few" comes to mind. There is also no price list available yet on Kix-Files, but I think "expensive" will describe them pretty well. Unfortunately, it looks like the only sizes Kix-Files has are 8, 8.5, 9, 9.5, 10, and 11, so big foots like myself will be S.O.L. I can probably find them somewhere else, but can I afford them? Of course not. Too bad I don't have a birthday coming up soon. Where's Christmas in July when you need it?

p.s. - Dunny Trading Party pictures later today!

Shine On You Crazy Monkey

From the desk of Malcolm McLean: now you can get all of your monkey needs from monkeyneeds.com! This monkey breeding website has everything you need for your monkey... and the monkeys to go along with all of those accessories. Who wouldn't want an adorable pet monkey? I want two, so I can have monkey knife fights aboard my yacht in international waters.

On a completely related note, Lance Bass of N*Sync is gay!

Monkeys and gay Lance Bass on the same day, somebody pinch me!

Two Great Tastes That Taste Great Together

My favorite vodka brand, Bong Vodka, has just released a series of artist-designed bottles and cases created by the likes of OGI, Yosoh, Jason Thielke, and Matthew Curry that will be available in select locations at the end of August. These are probably the coolest looking vodka bottles I have ever seen, followed closely by those frosted bottles with an image viewable on the reverse side through an unfrosted window, created by the likes of Chopin, Belvedere and Grey Goose. With Bong Vodka, however, you can also create your own images on their bottles, boxes, t-shirts, or CD compilations by visiting Spirit of the Brand. Seriously Limited Ed. The company donates a portion of all sales to the arts community. That's cool. How about donating a bottle of Bong Vodka to a starving artist like myself so I have something for inspiration on those cold, lonely, Carrboro summer nights? Jackson Pollock was a vodka drinker, wasn't he?

[Via Cool Hunting]

Dunny Trading Party

I fucking hate Blogger right now! Motherfuckers lost my entire post and now the "Recover post" function does absolutely nothing. I hate this bullshit! I had a nice post all written out; it contained humor and valuable information and now it is all gone. What the fuck?! It makes me want to go out and get an ArmaLite AR-15 assault rifle and head down to the Blogger office (if there is such a thing) and go on a random killing rampage! I hate this impotent rage I am filled with! I am angry and frustrated and there is nothing I can do about it except to put it into words here on my blog! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!!! ASSHOLES!!! Jesus Christ sucks hairy cocks in hell!!!

Well, now that I have gotten that out of my system, let's see if I can recreate the post that was lost when Blogger fucked me in the ass with a shovel sideways.

This Thursday, July 27th is Dunny Trading Party day across the country. There are only eleven toy stores participating in the event (including all three of the Kidrobot stores) and Wootini in Carrboro is one of them. Yee-haw! The trading party is a celebration of the release of Kidrobot's Dunny series 3 which features designs by artists Tilt, Huck Gee, Ron English, Flying Fortress, Attaboy, Craola, Tokidoki, Mishka, CW, Touma, Joe Ledbetter, Alex Pardee, Friends With You, Tristan Eaton, D23, Abe Lincoln Jr., and Feric. The 17 piece blind assortment series will retail at $5.95 each and some designs are limited to just 500 pieces. To add to the excitement, hidden inside special boxes are 400 tickets redeemable for an 8-inch Love Dunny by Tado, who also designed the box art. One grand prize winner will receive a custom 20-inch Dunny by Tado. There will be some cool giveaways such as pins, stickers, coloring books, shirts and MORE! Wootini will also have soda to quench your thirst! The trading parties are not just limited to Dunnys, so I will be there with a wheelbarrow full of old toys to trade for new stuff. The event will take place from 6-8pm at Wootini, so get organized and get there early before all of the mayhem ensues!

The Con Is On

Well, San Diego's world famous Comic-Con starts today, and where am I? Stuck in Chapel Hill, North Cackablacka strapped to my desk at work, being tortured by the incessant ringing of my phone. I wish I was in San Diego with my good friends Kevin Smith and Stan Lee hanging out, drinking a couple of brews, reminiscing about the golden days of comic books before all the hype, movies, poseurs, etc. Not to mention all of the toys. The toys! Every toy company will be at Comic-Con this weekend (including Carrboro's very own Wootini to unveil the new Jermaine Rogers toy) premiering their newest lines and whatever special Limited Ed., only-available-at-Comic-Con toys they have. I can't wait for pictures so I can drool all over my computer monitor. Until then, Ningyoushi has a couple of new things available. They have the new Star Wars Kubricks series 6 [pictured above] available and they say they have the new Limited Ed. Michael Lau Bone figure [pictured below] available for pre-order, but I don't see it anywhere. Vinyl Pulse has more information about the Bone figure and its availability. Apparently, there will be 1000 of them in three different colorways, they will run $89.⁹⁹ and they will be available at Michael's store in Hong Kong and "soon" from Garden Toyz Book. There is no info about them on the Garden Toyz Book website yet, but hopefully there will be soon. I like the one with the white skull and black body or the glow-in-the-dark one the best. If anyone sees one of these anywhere, let me know so I can post more information.

Update: You can get the black-on-white and white-on-black colorways of the Bone figure for pre-order at Panik's Toy Box, but they are $109.⁹⁹ instead of the list price of $89.⁹⁹.

Two More Openings

And I'm not talking about one of those inflatable dolls Seth is so fond of when Risha is out of town. No, I'm talking about two art openings this weekend brought to you by the good people at the Chapel Hill Public Arts Commision.

The first is the annual Town Employee Art Exhibition. It takes place on Friday night, July 21st at the Chapel Hill Town Hall from 5:00 to 6:30pm and features the work of Town staff and their families including the work of Chris Berndt, Gwendolyn Carter-Baptiste and Steve Wright [pictured above]. Steve Wright's painting is totally awesome. It's like, what would happen if Miami Vice met Airwolf! I pick Jan-Michael Vincent and Ernest Borgnine over Don Johnson [NSFW] and Philip Michael Thomas anyday. It would be cool to see the two guys with Michael in their names duke it out, though. My middle name is Michael also. Maybe I'll start going by Al-Michael Grossman. That would be cool. Anyway, now that I am done with that tangent, refreshments will be provided at the Employee Art Exhibit opening. The exhibit will remain on display until September 8th.

    

The second opening takes place on Sunday, July 23rd from 2:30 to 4:00pm at the Chapel Hill Public Library. It features the work of Dianne Cable [above, left] and Sutapa Das [above, right]. Refreshments and music will be provided. The exhibit will remain on display until September 11th.

For more information, visit www.chapelhillarts.org.

Lions And Tigers And Bears...

    

Oh, my! Local Carrboro, North Cackalacky artist David Huyck is curating his first exhibit beginning this Friday, July 14th at the Wootini Gallery at Carr Mill Mall in Carrboro. The opening of the exhibit, entitled "Frightened Friends and Fearsome Foes", is scheduled for Friday night from 7pm until midnight and features artwork from over 30 artists, including Colin Christian, Chris Ryniak, Andrew Bell, Bwana Spoons, David K. Rose, Jermaine Rogers, and The Little Friends of Printmaking. The works will be on display until September 4th. After the close of the show, all the art will be collected in a catalog to be available nationally. I'm sure the usual array of snacks and booze will be present. I'm not sure if there will be music, but if there is, I'm sure it will be provided by Uzi and the rest of the Family. I know people coming in from as far away as Greensboro for this one, so it should be good. I checked out the cardboard show - "This Side Up", the last exhibit at Wootini, and was pleasantly suprised by the high quality of the work done on 12" x 12" squares of cardboard. So come on out Friday night and check out the Lions, Tigers, Bears, Etc.

Wootini is located at:
Historic Carr Mill Mall
200 N. Greensboro St.
Carrboro, NC 27510

For more information, click here.

Welcome To Jamaica, Have A Nice Day!

If you know the joke that the subject of this post is the punchline to, then you know more about me than most people. If not, then go out and get yourself a copy of the Truly Tasteless Jokes book. One other thing you might not know about me is that Jamaica is one of my most favoritest countries, even though I have never been there. On my list of favorite countries, Jamaica is right up there with Holland and Thailand, two countries I have actually been to. Anyway, one of my most favoritest sneaker stores, Proper, has got some new Jamaican colorway Nikes in stock. They have the Jamaica Vandals [pictured above, left] and Rasta Air Max 95's [pictured above, right], both of which, I'm sure, will fly off of the shelves in no time, 'cause they be jammin'. It's too bad they don't have an online store, but if you are in the Long Beach, California area, you can stop into their shop on First Street between Elm and Linden and pick up a pair. Then head off to the islands, mon, and roll a spliff for me.

Damn The Pusherman

One of my favorite electronic musicians, Squarepusher, has a new album entitled Hello Everything coming out on October 16th and you can listen to a sample of the song 'Modern Bass Guitar' on the front page of the Warp Records website. The song is a delightful amalgamation of bleeps, tweaks, squeeks, and farting bass with a lazy looping drum track to hold it all together. Squarepusher has definitely been an inspiration to me and I'm pretty sure Spaceboy and I have used some samples of his work in our own music. I can't wait for his new album to come out so we can "steal" more inspiration from him.

Foostang Available

One of my favorite custom car designers, Chip Foose, has put his signature touch on the 2007 Ford Mustang with the Limited Ed. 2007 “Foose Stallion” Mustang which is now available for a base MSRP of $40,000 and a production run limited to just a few thousand a year. Foose did everything on this ride, from drawing the concept sketches to scupting the custom bodywork out of clay to designing the custom interior. It is available in both a coupe and convertible version [pictured, right] and features a Foose designed body with a modified hood, side molding, revised grille, fascias, custom side marker lights, side “C” pillar scoops, a rear aerodynamic spoiler, optional custom graphics using DuPont’s Hot Hues finishes, and Foose designed 20” custom aluminum wheels. It also comes with the option to include a Ford Racing Supercharger system with custom hood scoop, which increases the horsepower to 425. These bad ponies are available at select Ford dealers now.

Swatch Beware

Tokyoflash has some new Limited Ed. watches available. They have three new EleeNo watches; the Eye Test, the Orbit [pictured above, right] and the Cranky. They are all conventional analogue watches with reflective silver faces. Only the Orbit features actual numbers on the face for telling the time, though. Tokyoflash also has the new Limited Ed. L Version by Twelve 5-9 [pictured above, left] in stock. They have four variations available; gun metal or brushed silver finish with either blue or white LEDs. This watch features Kanji characters for the numbers, so you will have fun trying to figure out what time it is while learning a new language. "...If someone asks 'How do you tell the time on that?' simply reply in Japanese 'Jyu Ni Ji San Jyu Happun desu' (It's 12:38)." And at ¥12590, it's a bargain to do so.