Last Day For Black History This Year

WRG? (What's Really Good) Magazine has produced this sweet, Limited Ed. skateboard deck [pictured above] in honor of February being Black History Month. Good thing I found this today, February 29, the last day of February, a day that is only in February once every four years, over at Josh Spear's blog. I like both the aesthetic and idea behind this board. It looks sweet, bust out the silver markers and fill in the crossword, then head out and shred it. Also, some of my favorite skateboarders are black (does that sound racist?), like Ray Barbee, a huge inspiration of mine back in my skateboarding days of the late 80's, Anthony Mosley, Kareem Campbell, and of course Keenan Milton (born in 1974, the same year as me), R.I.P. 2001. Mad respect. Only 100 decks have been made, so head on over to the WRG? Black History Month website to procure yours today.

Yeah, Whatever

Sorry about my lackadaisical posting lately. I have been very busy in my non-blog life with a new toy design to be revealed soon, an exhibit of my artwork going up on March 3rd and my birthday on March 6th. So I haven't really had time to post anything. Not to mention, nothing has really sparked my imagination and interest recently. I do like a few of the new Alife Spring t-shirts that were just announced yesterday. My favorites are the Dawn til Dusk [pictured above, top], Dr. Revolt [above, middle] and Voodoo [above, bottom] tees. I like the Dawn til Dusk and Dr. Revolt tees because of the nice landscapes that each of them feature. Each will run ya' only $40 and telephone orders are accepted in NYC at 212-375-8116, in LA at 323-655-2093 or in Vancouver, BC at 604-685-6400, so get yours quickly before they all disappear.

Long Live The Witch

Ding dong, the witch is dead! Which old witch? The wicked witch! Well, not really, but Popdeck.com has just released a new Limited Ed. "King Kong the Witch is Dead" board [pictured above] by Ray Frenden. The deck is limited to only 20 pieces and each is individually numbered. It looks like they are all still available, for now, for $40 a piece. The colors on the board are solid spot colors and no gradients or halftones were used. The lines are hand inked and not node or pen-tool based. Very high quality. Get yours now before they are all gone!

New Balls

Secret Base has released a new Night Shadow Mad Mantis figure [pictured above] that freakin' glows in the dark! It is pretty sweet, and only ¥4725 or $43.88! Cheap for a Secret Base figure. My guess is you can order them direct from SB by sending an e-mail to info@secret-b.com like it says on the website, since their new Tokyo store hasn't opened yet. They are available at Toy Tokyo and probably Super7 soon, but are not as cheap as ordering direct from SB.

Mousey Micci Vinyl?

I got a little teaser e-mail from Erick Scarecrow at Esc-Toy Ltd. this morning with this cryptic image attached:

Looks like there is going to be a new Mousey Micci vinyl figure to go along with the plushes. Sweet!

Kamehameha!!!

Some of you out there may not know this, but it is probably pretty obvious from reading my blog that I am a big anime fan. And back when I had cable, I was a huge Dragonball Z fan. The extended fight scenes that go on for entire seasons of the show, the power-ups that take entire episodes, the fast-paced, frenetic, seizure-inducing animation: what's not to like? One of the first toys in my now heavily equipped arsenal of anime figures was a plastic Goku figure with a Kamehameha Wave (little blue plastic ball) that launched from his hand. Now Medicom Toys has released a Limited Ed. 12" Real Action Hero version of Goku [pictured above] that looks freakin' ridiculous! It is available for pre-order from Big Bad Toy Store for $159, which is a lot of money, but cheaper than a lot of other RAH figures. Not to mention, they did some really nice work on the arms and face sculpts and costume to get the figure to look exactly like the animated Goku. Well, I can't afford this figure right now, but I do have a birthday coming up, and this would make a good replacement for a toy that somebody accidentally broke... hint, hint.

Darkness Everybody, Darkness!

My Plastic Heart NYC presents A Tale of Death and the Path to Darkness, an exhibit of new works by Krista Huot and Parskid. This dark fable of sacrifice and power features individual and collaborative paintings showcasing their hauntingly beautiful work. Opening night is February 22nd from 6-9PM and the show runs until March 23rd. My Plastic Heart NYC is located at 201 Forsyth St. (corner of Forsyth and Stanton) in SOHO.

Diarrhea Of The Dead

Chapel Hill Comics is giving out free passes to a screening of George Romero's new movie, Diary of the Dead! The tickets are courtesy of WXDU 88.7 FM.

The film is playing at Durham's Carolina Theatre with this special sneak preview this Thursday, February 14: Valentine's Day, how special (get your sweetie a live human heart this year instead of a chocolate one!). Immediately preceding the film, there will be a Zombie Costume Contest. Also that night, starting at 9:30pm, WXDU will host the "Eat Our Hearts Out Zombie Dance Party" at Bull McCabe's. All are welcome at the party regardless of movie attendance.

Passes are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please arrive at the theatre early on the 14th. The film's distributors are intentionally overbooking to insure capacity and non-admittance is not the responsibility of the theatre or WXDU. No one will be admitted once the film begins.

Each pass admits two people, and Chapel Hill Comics can't hold them for you; you need to swing by the store to pick them up. They also have to limit these to one pass per person.

Oui Oui, Croisant!

I am disappointed to see that Wootini has been excluded from the list of trading parties. Hopefully nothing bad is going on between Kidrobot and Wootini. That would suck! We should all get along people. Come on, isn't this whole thing about the love?

Flat Tired

        I got a flat tire this afternoon on the way back to work from lunch and spent an hour on the side of the road fixing it, so I am not really in the mood to write anything today except to say this and that there is an art opening this weekend at the Chapel Hill Public Library on Sunday, February 10th from 2:30 to 4 pm sponsored by the Chapel Hill Public Arts Commission and featuring Jeffrey L. Cohen [above, left] and Lori Easterlin [above, right]. The artwork will be on exhibit until April 2nd. The exhibit is free and open to the public and there will be refreshments at the opening on Sunday.

Poor Kitties

I got e-mail from Michael Schupbach, a character designer and puppet builder who designs characters for film and TV, but has recently gained a new passion: plushies! He has created a new plush toy for ESC Toy Ltd. called the Konjoinedkitty. Konjoinedkitty is two plushes in one: one Kute, the other Kranky joined down the belly with love. What's with all of the K's, huh Michael? Kute, Kranky, Konjoinedkitty = KKK? Okay, maybe I am reading a little too much into things. Anyway, you can get the Konjoinedkitty retail from the kitty website or wholesale from DKEtoys.com. The press release is below.

Ninjas Are Coming!

Kidrobot got themselves some new figures, the Limited Ed. Kidrobot 14, Kidninja figures. These two figures, designed by Kidrobot's own Huck Gee, come in two flavors, white and gray. The white Kidninja is known as Shiro [pictured above, left] and the gray Kidninja is Haiiro [above, right]. Each of them comes with several accessories, including shukos, ninja sword and obi sash. They will be available on Valentine's Day, for all of your stealthy ninja-love needs, for $39.95. They are limited to only 1000 pieces of each colorway, so you better be on the ball because these little 7-inch fella's are gonna' go quick!

A(pple) Holes!

This morning Apple released a new 16GB iPhone and 32GB iPod touch, making my 16GB iPod touch look a lot like a piece of shit. Thanks Apple. They are a little more expensive, at $499 each, but that doesn't make up for the fact that they still expect us "early adopters" to look the other way and spend an extra $20 to upgrade to the new iPod OS with the software that should have come with the device to begin with. I like Apple and all, but this is really starting to piss me off. I'm just glad I haven't bought an Air yet. Just wait a month and it will have a 128GB SSD!

Memories

For some reason, last night while trying to fall asleep, I began reminiscing about this old lighter that I had stolen from my dad as a kid. It was a beautiful, pewter pipe lighter with pictures of different varieties of pipes on it. When I took it from my dad it didn't work, which may be one reason he left it out where I could get to it. I was the kind of kid who gravitated towards anything shiny. The lighter didn't work for the first few years that I had it, and I really didn't know what to do to fix it. If I had been old enough to drive, I may have taken it to the local tobacconist to repair, but at the time I would have had to get a ride and then my parents would have known that I took the lighter. Eventually, when I was old enough, I bought a bottle of butane and fixed the lighter myself by spraying butane into it with the cap open until it cleared whatever was blocking the fuel line. The lighter worked well for a while, but when I was in college it stopped working again. Then, while my sister and I were visiting my brother in New York when I was taking a year off from school in 1994, miraculously, just when we needed it, the lighter sputtered back to life. I kept that lighter until 2002 when it accidentally went through the washing machine in a pair of pants and was destroyed. It was in so many pieces, and some of them apparently missing, that I was unable to reassemble it. That was the best lighter I have ever had, and I have never been able to find a suitable replacement. So this morning I decided to try and figure out who made the lighter, how much it cost, and whether or not it could be replaced. Fortunately, it wasn't that hard to find. I had a little help from my friend Jim who has a lighter by the same brand, IM Corona. My lighter was an IM Corona Old Boy Pewter Shape Chart lighter [pictured above] which you can get from PipesandCigars.com on sale for $107.99 (down from $135). Not a bad deal. I might have to get one for my dad for Father's Day to replace the one I stole from him about twenty years ago. I'm really surprised that they even still make these lighters! Now the mystery is solved and tonight hopefully I will be able to sleep a little better.

Big Bad Bertie

Desert Rat [pictured below, top] and Dirty Deeds Bertie [below, bottom] will available in April world-wide ... more details soon.

Only Two In The World

Alright, so it has been brought to my attention that I have neglected my duty as new "crazy uncle" Alec to my cousin Stacie's two new beautiful twin girls Ava and Delaney by not posting anything about them here on my blog. What can I say, I have been sick for the last couple of days. Anyway, the babies are here! The babies are here! And they are adorably cute. I think Ava [pictured above, left] looks just like her mommy Stacie and unfortunately (jk) Delaney [above, right] looks exactly like her daddy Rich. Take a look at the pictures above and you be the judge. Extremely Limited Ed. and cute. You can see a YouTube video of Rich changing Ava here. Each one of them should be getting their own Ugly Doll very shortly.

Madballs For Mac

I know Mac is a huge Madballs fan, so I just wanted to let him know that a new retro series of Madballs has been released. I believe these were created in conjunction with Secret Base, because they had a Madballs post on their website, but unfortunately I don't read Japanese, so I couldn't translate it. Anyway, Big Bad Toy Store has got all of the new Madballs in stock, including the Limited Ed. Sick Series [pictured above], so have at it Mac!

Another Text Post

2nd annual HEART SHOW at Jinxed

More than 80 plush, tattoo, mixed media, and fine artists were given a wooden heart and told to paint, print, sculpt, or alter it in some way. Forget about the flowers and cheesy card; buy your special someone an original work of art. With prices capped at $100, it won’t break the bank, and the show is set up as cash (or credit) and carry so you can take it home that night. Opening reception includes candy buffet and drinks. It all kicks off on Friday February 8th from 7pm until 10pm…so bring your cash, your sweet tooth and keep your sweetheart in mind.

JINXED
620 4TH STREET
PHILADELPHIA, PA
215-978-JINX

Low Aloha

From Kicks/Hi:

|x| What's good fam! I'm just going to get right to it. No fancy web fliers or hype.

KICKS/HI SPRING CLEANING
Friday (February 1) through Sunday (February 3)
at both KICKS/HI Ward + Makaloa locations (regular shop hours apply)
50%-80% OFF SELECT NIKE, VANS, CONVERSE and GRAVIS shoes
there will be different sale merchandise at each shop so you might want to check both to see what's really good...
cash + credit + debit accepted / all sales final / limited to stock on hand

That's about it. Get yours!

KICKS/HI ohana