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Toy Fair Quick Glance

Feb 15

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Some quick highlights: Uglydolls booth is amazing as always. Their new tin toys produced with Schylling are spectacular. Lunchboxes, trucks, robots and alarm clocks are crazy detailed and fairly inexpensive. Looks like MSRP is between $4 and $8. Wow.

Lego and Playmobil are solid. Nothing mindblowing but dependable. That’s why they’ve been around as long as they have.

I’ve only cruised maybe 5% of the floor but so far Diamond is the most fun booth because of the variety of companies and product they distribute. Great new Kubricks for Pixar, Nightmare and Ren and Stimpy look great.

Also spied the new Qee Domo blinds series 2. Nutso.

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New Uglies @ Toy Fair

Feb 3

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We can’t wait for the latest and greatest from Uglydolls — Toy Fair promises to be uglier than ever this year.  We’re looking forward to the second line of Uglydoll action figures as well as the public debut of their 2010 plush line — just picked up Pointy Max & Picksey at our local toy store – Big Fun Toys – and they’re outta sight.  But perhaps the most exciting development in Uglyworld is their upcoming line of tin toys.  Unreal.  Check out David Horvath’s blog and Facebook page for updated pics and be sure to check back her during Toy Fair (2/14-17) for our first hand reviews.

Jonny Quest

Feb 24

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johnny_questI picked this up a few years back but just got around to watching it this week.  It was just as awesome as I had remembered.  Jonny has definitely aged well.  The purists will bitch about the wrong credit sequences being used on the episodes (it’s true – for some reason they grafted the same one to each episode) and some of the un-politically correct dialog being dropped – but I really didn’t notice.  I was too busy getting sucked into the stories and the styles.  Absolutely one of the most beautiful cartoons ever created.   The boxed-set says “Season 1″ but there really haven’t been any other seasons, so this is it.  Sure they created a new Jonny a few years ago, but that version sucked, so sink your money into this one and you’ll be complete.  If you don’t wanna lay down your bread, pick it up at Netflix.  Perfect for watching while you eat your cereal.

Jonny Quest – The Complete First Season (1964) [Amazon]

Sweet Emotion… not so much.

Feb 11

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guitar-hero-aerosmith-usFinally picked up Guitar Hero Aerosmith a couple of weeks ago.  I’m not a huge Aerosmith fan, but I had a giftcard burning a hole in my pocket, so I grabed that and Rockband2 for the Wii.  I haven’t cracked open Rockband yet – still kind of winding my way through Guitar Hero: World Tour.

The game looks pretty good -  graphics are on par with GH3, but the onstage character animation feels great.  Seems very Aerosmith.  When wii little Steven Tyler starts spinning around,  you almost expect to see if his package flopping around inside his spandex.  Playability – exactly the same as GH3, including the f*cking stupid boss battles.  The premise is kind of fun though… in each multi-song set, the first couple of songs are covers, performed by you and your band, and then you perform as Aerosmith when they headline.

But here’s the thing… Aerosmith songs aren’t that much fun to play.  Probably if your’e a superfan it’s awesome, but as a fan of rock music in general, their music is… meh?  There are some classic tracks, no doubt – “Sweet Emotion” is a fave, particularly when used as the title sequence for Dazed and Confused – but the rest of it I could leave.

Right now it’s $20 at Amazon.  Wait till it drops to $12.

Guitar Hero Aerosmith [Amazon]

America, F*ck Yeah!

Feb 10

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State By StateFrom 1935 to 1942, the WPA created a series of guide books that captured what life was like in each of the 48 states.  Inspired by that series, the editors of State by State paired together some of today’s most interesting authors with each of the fifty states (D.C. is an afterword) to paint a picture of our nation today.

There are a couple of entries that left me a little dry, but each essay is so completely different in tone and style that it makes for a great ride.  Anthony Bourdain crafts his memories of growing up in New Jersey with such detail that you can practically smell the funk wafting off the page.  In the Massachusetts entry, John Hodgman equally makes me want to avoid that state at all costs, yet find a nice place there to retire.  And there’s more than one state that is presented in graphic novel format.

The entries vary wildy from “facts” about their founding fathers, to memoirs of growing up to basic observations of daily life.  Somehow it all works and when you’re done you feel just a little bit more knowledgeable about that neighbor state you only visited to buy fireworks.  Plus if nothing else, you’ll be able to come away knowing the state bird of Oregon.  It’s the western meadowlark.

State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America [Amazon]

Nuclear Family Vacation

Oct 3

Posted by Lance in DVDs, books | No Comments

I don’t remember where I heard about this book, but it was a good find and a great read.  To be clear, it’s less about a family vacationing at nuclear spots and more about indepth visits to nuclear weapon sites.  It doesn’t just cover silos, but the labs that created the science and the factories that helped to build them.  The couple doesn’t just stick to American sites either – they journey to the former Soviet Union as well.  In fact some of the more worrisome accounts take place in now independent republics of the Cold War juggernaut forced to deal with their role in the big WMD drama.

If you’re at all interested in the nuclear arms race, or the cold war in general, this is a good little book.  The science is explained well, and the details are thorough.

A Nuclear Family Vacation: Travels in the World of Atomic Weaponry [Amazon]

Also check out the DVD set: Atomic Bomb Collection Complete Library (including Trinity and Beyond) — amazing series of documentaries on the creation of atomic weapons at home and abroad.  Bonus: narration by William Shatner

Late to the boat, unlike Chuck Norris

Sep 22

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Yeah, I missed this one the first time around.  Well, second time around too since it was also a website I had never come across.  Anyhoo… picked this up in Virgin Megastore today while I waiting to make a return – bravo to whoever is in charge of their impulse buy point of sale items.  For less than $10 bucks you get such Norris factoids as:

“In China there is an ancient legend that one day a child will be born from a dragon and vanguish evil from the land.  That man is not Chuck Norris, but Chuck Norris did kill that man.”

Plus some other more PG-13 rated items: Read the rest of this entry »

The must-have holiday decoration of 2008

Sep 17

Posted by Lance in bigfoot, cryptozoology | No Comments

I’ll take the Bigfoot Christmas Tree ornament please!  Actually, Jezebel has an article detailing what they’re calling “seriously crazy” ornaments.  I call them fraking awesome.  Margaritas, dinosaurs, a delicious looking hoagie (or grinder, or sub or hero depending on which crappy city you’re from).

9 Really Weird Christmas Ornaments From Bronner’s [Jezebel via Gizmodo]

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Star Wars Cross-Sections

Sep 15

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This isn’t exactly new, but I just got around to “reading” it.  If you’re into Star Wars and have a jones for engineering or possibly a subscription to Popular Mechanics, you’ll dig this.  It’s basically a ton of beautifully painted technical schematics for some of the more interesting vehicles from the Star Wars galaxy.  It’s not entirely complete – but it’s very thorough.  It’s also kind of fun to see the continunity department hard at work (check out the entry on the Death Star to see who/what are credited as the designers).  Just seeing the Falcon dissected alone is worth the price of admission (although I still say it doesn’t have enough storage space for a cargo ship).

Star Wars Complete Cross-Sections: The Spacecraft and Vehicles of the Entire Star Wars Saga [Amazon]

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I’m gonna sleep with Leia. And Luke.

Sep 5

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And yes, that’s me.  I’m twelve.  Look how clean I keep my room.

Look how unhappy this kid is.   He’s just sitting there staring off into space.  Probably because he knows if he makes a mess his Mom will beat the crap out of him.  Or give him another bad haircut.

Anyway, Star Wars sheets are back, and although they’re being sold through Pottery Barn Kids, they actually have sizes up to Queen.  For those of you without significant others, this is a must have.  The rest of us can just store them in our bailout bags for when we run away from home.

Star Wars Bedding from Pottery Barn Kids

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