Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Tequila!

Kozik Tequila figure
I love tequila! It is one of my favorite liquers. It tastes just as good coming back up as it did going down. I also love the Tequila figure by Muttpop. I especially love this new Limited Ed. Frank Kozik x Vinyl Pulse El Brujo Narco Satanico Tequila figure. Damn that's some good Tequila! Translated by Babel Fish as the Wizard Narcotics Detective of Satan and limited to only 333, this figure will be available next Tuesday, June 6th (6/6/06), only from Vinyl Pulse. No pricing yet available, but these will definitely sell out quickly, so you better get up really early on 666 if you want to get your hands on one of these (the sale actually begins at noon Pacific time according to the cryptic code in red on the Vinyl Pulse announcement).

Cubanbee X Puma RS100 At Alife

Cubanbee x Puma RS100
My e-mail inbox sure was full when I checked it this morning. I guess that's what I get when I leave it alone for a three-day weekend. There were a couple hundred spam messages, but only a few really important things, including an e-mail from the Alife Rivington Club letting me know that they have the new Limited Ed. Puma RS100s by world-famous tattoo artist B.J. Betts, a.k.a. Cubanbee, in stock for $120 each. There are three different colorways, each featuring a different tattoo design on the heel [above, from left to right: "Mom", "Sacred Heart", and "Dad"]. I might get the "Mom" for my mother or "Dad" for my father, but I don't think I would wear any of these kicks myself. I like the "Sacred Heart" design, but not the symbolism behind it, since I'm not Christian. They are cool designs though, just not something I would wear, unless of course I won them from Cool Hunting (which I don't think I did).

3D Equalizer At Tokyoflash

High-Frequency Equalizer2
I received an e-mail from Tokyoflash at midnight last night letting me know that they just got the new Limited Ed. 3D Equalizer watch, a.k.a. the Equalizer2, from High-Frequency in stock. It's similar to the original Equalizer (which I have in blue with a black strap; it is one of my favorite LED/LCD watches) but the face appears to be three-dimensional, with the lights receding as they approach the center of the watch face. The Equalizer2 comes with a brighter, all green LED and either a black or silver strap. Until this Friday, June 2nd, Tokyoflash is offering ¥2000 off of the regular price, so it will only run you $140, and anything over ¥10,000 ships for free. Groovy!

Friday, May 26, 2006

New P-Rods At Pick Your Shoes

P-Rod Hemp 420    P-Rod Hemp 420

These are probably my most favorite P-Rods so far. They are known as the "Hemp 420". Can you figure out why I like them so much? Is it the mushroom, yellow and green color scheme? Is it the fact that hemp makes an excellent textile material, rope, biofuel, and its seeds make wonderful oil for cooking? Is it because I am in love with Woody Harrelson? Or is it because I am one of those stoners that you hear about in the media all the time (even though hemp contains less than 1% THC and does not produce the same euphoric effects as its cousin marijuana when smoked)? Maybe all of the above. Who can really say? Anyway, Pick Your Shoes has a few pairs of these hemp P-Rods in stock and I'm sure they will go quickly. P-Rods always do. Then they are seen on the feet of some of my favorite stars, including Mos Def at the premiere of Journey to the End of the Night.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

New Limited Ed. Products

Kickin Ass Takin Names  Destroying the Earth One SUV at a Time

I was a little bored at work today, so I designed a couple of new Limited Ed. products. I had been thinking about these for a while (not too long though, they didn't take much thought) and finally decided to put mouse to Gimp and whip them out. The first is a new golf shirt [above left] for all of those redneck golfers out there (you know who you are: wearing shorts, t-shirts and sneakers on the golf course and leaving a trail of empty Coors Light cans in your wake). The second is a bumper sticker [above right] for all of you SUV drivers out there destroying our planet or anyone who wants to tag SUV's with protest stickers. I plan on buying about a hundred of them and going around town smackin' them on the bumpers of every SUV I see. If you've got bad eyesight and can't read them, the golf shirt says, "Kickin' (Donkey) Takin' Names" and the bumper sticker says, "Destroying the Earth One SUV at a Time". Now click on the links or the picture of me on the top right of my blog and buy my stuff, dammit!

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

The Goon...

Touma Goon Figure
And not Alice the Goon from the ol' skool Popeye cartoons either. This Goon [pictured, right], standing eight inches tall and now available at My Plastic Heart, is from the mind of genius Hong Kong toy artist Touma. And it doesn't look much like a goon to me. It looks more like a dragon. Maybe in China dragons are goons... or the other way around. Either way, this is one seriously cool toy. And I like the purple, black and gold colorway, even if it does remind me of ECU's colors. Even though I just got the e-mail about this figure's availability yesterday afternoon, and the figure costs nearly sixty bucks, it is already sold out! Hopefully MPH will be getting more of these in soon, or maybe another colorway perhaps? I'll keep y'all posted on the goings on.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Evil Monkey!

Family Guy Evil MonkeyMezco Toys just unveiled their new 12" Evil Monkey figure from their Family Guy collection. This flocked and fully-articulated monkey, which normally lives in Chris' closet to torment him, can soon be yours for the low, low price of only forty-five bucks. There are no dates for availability yet for this summer exclusive, but it will be available at summer conventions and through Mezco Direct when it becomes available. I just want to get one so I can stuff it in my pants and walk around and have people come up to me and say, "Is that a 12-inch evil monkey in your pants or are you just happy to see me?" And I will reply, "Why yes, it is a 12-inch evil monkey in my pants and I am happy to see you. Now you must die!"

Friday, May 19, 2006

New Uglydolls?

Uver Chan    Tim Tsui Red Bling Dape
No, Uver Chans [pictured above, left]! What are Uver Chans, you ask. Well, that's a good question. Uver Chans are the mascots of Uverworld, a Japanese band created by Sony Music. I don't read Japanese, so that's about all I can tell you about them. The plush dolls were created by David Horvath, creator of Uglydolls, which they look exactly like. The band itself appeared at first glance to be a cheap Japanese knock-off of the Gorillaz, but they are actually real people, not just the cartoon version that they show on their homepage. You can get the Uver Chans at Ningyoushi. Speaking of Gorillaz, Ningyoushi also has the new Limited Ed. Red Version of Tim Tsui's Bling DAPE [picture above, right]. It was an exclusive to the Taiwan Toy Festival and limited to only 300 pieces. It features a spraycan, chain necklace, cigar, sunglasses, removable jacket, and comes packaged in a cool cloth bag. That's all for now.

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Toys

  

I'm not sure if I believe this is real or not, but apparently a company called Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies out of China has created a miniature fuel cell toy car and refueling station. At 16mm x 11mm this thing is pretty petite, but if it can do all of the things it professes in the brochure than it is pretty damn cool and I definitely want one to race around my basement apartment and scare my cat. Here's the info from their site:
Horizon has created a unique, patented miniature fuel cell car and hydrogen refueling station. For the first time, hydrogen is produced externally, can be fueled into an on-board storage tank. Once the car's hydrogen tank is full, the refueling station can be disconnected from the car, and the car can run on its own hydrogen fuel cell system on board, with the simple flip of a switch.
So when are we going to get the full size version so I can stop paying three bucks a gallon for gas, dammit!

[via Gizmodo]

Cameron Price Loves Vincent Price

Vincent Price figureI'm not sure if the two are related, but they share similarities. Both are B-grade horror film stars. Both have been covered in blood. Both are a little creepy (just kidding Cameron). But only one of them has his own action figure. Can you guess which one? Well, if you're not blind, then you probably know which one. MezCo has just released the deets on their new Vincent Price figure. What ghoulish fun. It is nine inches tall, will be available later this summer, was created as Price's professor character from Edward Scissorhands, and will run you twenty-five bucks. It is the perfect companion for last year's 9" Edward figure or you can use it to recreate scenes from your favorite classic horror movies like The Abominable Dr. Phibes, The Masque of the Red Death or Here Comes Peter Cottontail! The horror... the horror...

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Stuff On My Cat Is Awesome!

What a great party host Vincent is.I don't know why I hadn't heard about this sooner. I love cats. Really, I love all animals. I kinda' like animals more than I like people, 'cause animals don't give me no shit. You know what you're getting with animals, there's no hidden agenda. Either they like you or they bite you. People can tell you one thing and mean something completely different, but animals don't talk, so they don't tell you anything. Anyway, Stuff on My Cat is a website whose name tells it all. Pictures of cats with stuff on them. What could be better, cuter or funnier? And now they have a new t-shirt [pictured below]. I wonder if I can get one that will fit my cat. Now that would be a good picture!Stuff On My Cat t-shirt

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Happy Anniversary Sweetheart!

Today is Anne and my one year anniversary! I can't believe we have been going out for a year, it has just flown by. And we have known each other even longer. We first met on April 9th at our friend Mary's Superheroes and Supervillains-themed birthday party at Ringside in Durham. Anne was on Spring Break from UNCG and I was dressed as G.I. Jew. Her twin sister Brittany was (and still is) dating my friend Cameron and that's how we met. I was so nervous I barely talked to her all night, even though I was drinking heavily in order to loosen my tongue. The next time we met was on Friday the 13th of May at the second (and regretably last) 301 Films Forum. I had a good feeling about that night, mainly because my luck is so terrible it could only get better on Friday the 13th. I didn't really get a chance to talk to Anne that night until after the film festival, when a group of us went to Fuse for some drinks. We spent the next several hours talking and I tentatively invited her to see Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson later that summer. Then I drove her back to where she parked her car and, with my stomach full of nervous butterflies, asked for her phone number. I am a very nervous person, like one of those little dogs that shakes all the time, and for our first date, one year ago today at Caffé Driade, I had to call my sister, Leia, on the way to get some dating advice. I had been out of the dating circuit for quite a while, so I needed some help. Leia helped me calm down a little and the date went quite smoothly, obviously, since Anne and I have been together since. I'm not sure why I'm writing all of this on my blog about Limited Ed. items, I just wanted to share it with the world and let everyone know how much I love Anne, including her. Happy anniversary Schmoopy! See you tonight.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

MacBook On My Mind

New MacBookThe new MacBooks have been released into the wild and I want one. Everyone out there who reads this site, send me ten bucks so I can get myself a MacBook. Or just send me a MacBook. My current computer is a 500MHz G3 iBook with 256MB of RAM and a 10GB hard drive from 2001. It makes a great portable DVD player and paperweight. Other than that, it is a little out of date. The new MacBooks feature a 13.3-inch, 1280x800 pixel glossy display, Intel's Core Duo processor at speeds from 1.83 GHz to 2.0 GHz, up to 2GB memory, up to 120GB hard drive, an integrated iSight webcam, a remote control, gigabit Ethernet, WiFi and Bluetooth. The $1499 version also comes in shiny black. Of course I want the black one. Now I just have to figure a way to get fifteen hundred bucks. I could pimp myself out, but I don't think my girlfriend would appreciate that. I could rob a bank, but I don't have a gun or ski-mask and I could get five years in jail and a $500,000 fine for that. I don't have any rich relatives on their deathbed that I could inherit the money from. What's a poor boy to do? Any suggestions or donations would be greatly appreciated. E-mail me at limited[dot]ed[at]gmail[dot]com for where to send donations.

Update: the first person to send me a new MacBook or the money to buy one will receive a special prize of their choosing from my vast collection of Limited Ed. toys, shoes and artwork. They may also select to have their portrait or a painting subject of their choosing painted by me, a professional artist, in oil paint. What a deal!

Friday, May 12, 2006

Sorry...

Assault button and sticker setI must apologize for my poop-laden previous post. I was very tired this morning. Anyway, a couple more things for today. Assault! Design has a new Limited Ed. button badge and sticker set that consists of five new Assault! button badges and two new sticker designs. The stickers feature one of their new pattern prints that will be featured on other products in the future. They are also giving away copies of their Back to the Drawing Board or Diamond Ring posters with any orders of £15 or more.

Alife Summer 2006 CollectionNext, Alife got their summer 2006 collection crackalackin' yesterday at 11:00am. Y'all can peep it at the Alife Rivington Club store located at 158 Rivington Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan or at Alife Canada at 350 Water Street in Vancouver BC. I'm not sure what the whole 11:00am release was all about, maybe they were expecting the collection to sell out yesterday, whatever, that's cool.


Thirdly, check out the video [above] for It's Carrboro on Youtube. I'm not in it, but I should be, because I am a Carrboro fixture and have been here for years. I demand to be recognized, dammit! If you imagine really hard you can almost see me amongst the toys at Wootini in the video.

And lastly, hybrid grizzly-polar bear! Raar!

Crapalanche!

Consume!
I pooped my pants!


News from Wootini: the Limited Ed. 'Aven - Akhenaton's Counsel' version of the Jermaine Rogers' Squire figure will be going on sale today at 3:00pm EST. There are only 72 of these bad boys and they will be going for $72.00 a piece, so you better be there on time. I guess this is an in-store opportunity only, so if you live outside of Carrboro, I guess you're S.O.L.

I pooped my pants!


Also this evening at Wootini is the opening of Consume! The art of David K. Rose and Casey Porn [work pictured below]. It starts at 7 and will feature art, refreshments, and an acoustic performance by the group T.U.R.D.S.

I POOPED MY PANTS!!!
Casey Porn

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Mighty Slobots, Mighty Warriors!

Slomunny Seeker and FriendI got some feedback from M.Heisler about the robot art he makes, called Slobots. I really like his Slomunny Seeker and Friend Slobot [pictured above] that won "Best in Show" at the 2005 Uberbot Munny Show. Very cool, although I think it's wierd that his name is listed as Mike Blanchett on the Uberbot website. Much cooler than Go-Bots, even if they don't transform.

Monday, May 08, 2006

Now That's Using Your Head

Sonny from I, RobotHere's a new way to get a-head in life. "Sonny" the robot may have been head-strong in the Will Smith disaster movie I, Robot, but not anymore. Now he's lost his head, and you can own it! This Limited Ed. 1/2 scale NS-5 "Sonny" bust [pictured left] is made of hard ABS plastic along with brushed metal for neck, brain enclosure and fiberous muscles. Sonny features a semi-translucent face and a slightly frosted positronic brain casing with built in soft blue LED light and sound sensor. Limited to only 3,000 units worldwide, Sonny comes numbered with a certificate of authenticity. It was scheduled for a February release, but it is still listed as a pre-order item on Action HQ. It's got a built in LED and sound sensor, how close are we to having an actual working, full size version of these? I've seen those Robosapiens in the stores, just slap a Sonny head on one of those bastards and get it to serve me a hot cup of coffee and massage my balls... of my feet. They really ache.

Friday, May 05, 2006

Get Crazy: The First Annual Back Yard Flea Mart!

First Annual Back Yard Flea MartU bring the trees? When I see the word "trees" having to do with anything other than the ones in the forest, it is usually a veiled drug reference to "weed". I don't think that is what Alife is referring to here, but I could be wrong.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Who Knew?

Best-Selling Jewish Porn FilmsI was having a conversation the other day with someone about Jewish pornography (I won't reveal who it was in order to protect her identity), and I had completely forgotten about it until I got an e-mail today from the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture letting me know that they will be presenting a talk between Glenn Ligon and Wayne Koestenbaum on Friday, May 19th at 6:00pm at P.S.1 MoMA at 22-25 Jackson Ave. at the intersection of 46th Ave. in Long Island City. Admission is free, no reservation is required, but space is limited.

Glenn Ligon is an artist who has exhibited worldwide and is represented in major collections including the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington DC, The Museum of Modern Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Best known as a painter who uses language as a device for both image and communication, Ligon addresses issues of identity and politics through quotations from culturally charged material.

Wayne Koestenbaum is the author of five books of poetry, most recently Best-Selling Jewish Porn Films (2006). He has also published a novel, Moira Orfei in Aigues-Mortes, and five books of critical prose, including Double Talk: The Erotics of Male Literary Collaboration (1989); The Queen's Throat: Opera, Homosexuality, and the Mystery of Desire (1993); and Andy Warhol (2001). He has also written for many contemporary art exhibition catalogues and was the recipient of a Whiting Writer's Award. He taught at Yale University from 1988 to 1996 and is currently a professor of English at the CUNY Graduate Center, as well as a visiting professor in the painting department of the Yale School of Art.

Unfortunately, Best-Selling Jewish Porn Films is not a directory of movies like I had hoped, but rather a book of poetry. This slightly disappointed me, but I am just glad to know that someone other than myself is interested in this subject.

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

King Of The World

Florence and Papa
Florence and Papa looking as happy as I've ever seen him.

This is the happiest I think I have ever seen my father. Not only is he sitting next to Florence Faivre, one of the most beautiful Thai/French women in the world and female lead in my brother's feature film debut The Elephant King, but he is also a little drunk, not just on the Santori Whiskey he was drinking but also on the after-effects of just having seen a screening of his son's movie at the Tribeca Film Festival. And what an excellent film it was. Consisting of about 50% reality, 50% imagination, the movie follows the travels and travails of two brothers on an adventure through the seedy underbelly of urban Thailand. The film also highlights some of Thailand's more scenic features, such as beautiful temples and dense jungle, through the relationship between Florence's character Lek and Tate Ellington's character Oliver. Jonno Roberts, as anthropology student and Oliver's older brother Jake, also explores some of the more beautiful areas in Thailand, visiting waterfalls and hill tribe villages. But Jake's depravity, which causes his ultimate downfall, draws him into the darker side of Thailand; including visits to "massage parlors", dingy bars, dance clubs, throwing Thai boxing matches, and indulging in drinking and drug use. Jake draws Oliver into this world with him, but Oliver ultimately escapes and is redeemed. This film is the moral tale of two brothers' depravity and redemption, revealed through their relationship with one another, their parents, Lek, and Thailand (which can be considered one of the main characters). I know I am very close to this movie which makes it difficult for me to stay objective, but I feel that this is a masterpiece of a movie that everyone should see and bring at least two people with them.

Mos Def, Alice Braga, Brendan Fraser, Scott Glenn, and Eric Eason
From L to R: Mos Def, Alice Braga, Brendan Fraser, Scott Glenn, and Eric Eason.

I saw two other movies at this year's Tribeca Film Festival, Journey to the End of the Night and Pittsburgh. Journey to the End of the Night stars Brendan Fraser in a strange twist as the villain of the movie, Paul. It also stars Scott Glenn as Paul's nefarious pimp father, Sinatra, Mos Def as a Nigerian dishwasher named Wemba, and Alice Braga as Monique, a runaway on a downward spiral. The movie's gratuitous violence distracts from the excellent acting and cinematography and washes out any beauty that the Brasilian metropolis of Sao Paolo possibly possesses. Writer/director Eric Eason may have been trying a little too hard for the "edgy" label with this film (a label that has been over-used recently, causing it to lose its impact). In an interesting twist, the main character of the film, Brendan Fraser as Paul, is the antagonist and a secondary character, Mos Def's Wemba, is the protagonist and the person who the audience is (I guess) supposed to identify with. The audiences' reaction was one of the most interesting parts of this movie, with unexpected laughter at tense scenes and at the climax of the film, which comes completely out of left field. There was tepid applause at the end of the film and it seemed as if the cast and director were not going to come out for the Q&A at the end of the premiere. I had to admire Mos Def's choice of attire, however. He was clad in a pair of Limited Ed. Nike P-Rod Zoom Air Elite SB "Día de Los Muertos" kicks. Classic.

Illeana Douglas, Jeff Goldblum and Chris Bradley
From L to R: Illeana Douglas, Jeff Goldblum and Chris Bradley.

Other than The Elephant King (of course), the best movie that I saw at Tribeca this year was Pittsburgh. Produced by Jeff Goldblum, Pittsburgh blurs the line between documentary and mockumentary. This story of real "people", (Jeff Goldblum, Catherine Wreford, Illeana Douglas, Ed Begley Jr.) acting in a small playhouse production of The Music Man in Pittsburgh in order for Jeff Goldblum's girlfriend Catherine Wreford to maintain her work visa to stay in the United States, is a definite side-splitter. I laughed the whole way through the movie. It is difficult to determine what is real and what was scripted for this movie, but that is part of its mystique. It was nice to see the city of Pittsburgh, also, which I haven't seen since I was a student there at Carnegie Mellon University.

Seth and Jeff Garlin
Seth and a slightly confused Jeff Garlin.

Other than the screening of The Elephant King and the premieres of Journey to the End of the Night and Pittsburgh, the highlights of the trip were hanging out at the Tribeca Grand for free drinks where Lucy Liu walked within spittin' distance of where I was sitting, taking the above picture of Seth with Jeff Garlin from Curb Your Enthusiasm at the premiere of Journey to the End of the Night (Seth asked if they should kiss on the lips right before I took the picture), seeing Jane Lynch outside of the premiere of Pittsburgh, eating wonderful Italian food at John's in Little Italy the East Village, and the after-party for The Elephant King at Doug's apartment in Tribeca. What a whirlwind of a weekend. I felt like a hickory stick in a hurricane.

Monday, May 01, 2006

Step Off, B'yatch!

Don't StepI will post pics and reviews from Tribeca soon, but until then, I mentioned in a previous post that Assault! Design should make a poster from the illustration that they have on the splash page on their website because it is such a "dope" image, and they must have been paying attention, because it is now available on for purchase on their website. Titled "Don't Step" the poster depicts an average guy defending his kicks from being stepped on, in the harshed possible manner. £10.00 gets you this original, entertaining, clean-looking, graphic novel-esque poster and a couple of cool stickers, as I mentioned in that previous post.

So Much Pain

Scope WatchUuuuggghhh... I feel so rough this morning. What a whirlwind trip to NYC this weekend to see my bro's movie The Elephant King at the Tribeca Film Festival. I will have pictures and a fully detailed description up as soon as possible, but I forgot to bring my digital camera with me to work this morning because I was barely awake when I left my apartment. Until then, I hope y'all will be satisfied by a very cool watch from my favorite online watch retailer (I have bought four watches from them), Tokyo Flash: the new Limited Ed. Scope Watch [pictured left]! Here's what Tokyo Flash says about this intense watch:
The year is 2157, Alien Robots have taken over the Earth. Our cities lie in ruin. The last surviving humans have retreated to hidden caves and bunkers to escape the constant patrols by KX-400 Combat-bots. The remaining resistance fighters send out scouting parties for much needed supplies, but their job is extremely dangerous and few survive. Now, thankfully, they have the Arkon Industries SCOPE. This wrist mounted device accurately detects the power signatures given off by the Combat-bots allowing our patrols to evade the enemy. Powered by 2 lithium cells the SCOPE can locate nearby threats and indicate the direction and distance of the target.

Tokyoflash have managed to get hold of a shipment of SCOPE that was due to be sent forward to 2157. We didn't have any KX-400 Combat-bots nearby to test them out on, so we've modified the programming to display time.
The alien robots are all around us. A press of the scan control causes the Scope Watch to home in on your current position in time. The Scope is available in reflective silver or stealth black. The vertical line on the Scope Watch face indicates the hour and the horizontal line is for minutes. Minutes on the main screen are in groups of five and the number of Red LED's shown on the right indicate additional minutes. A second press of the scan control goes into date mode where the month and day are shown in the same manner as the time. For only ¥14,900 or $125.21 this alien robot-detecting wristwatch is bound to fly off the shelves in a hurry. Now all you need is a time machine to travel to the year 2157 to battle the alien robots of the FUTURE! Now I wish I could go back to sleep. But back to work instead!