I’m always amazed at the number of people I see on the subway with portable DVD players — well now if you’re a Kitty fanboy (or fangurl) you can watch your video in purrfect style:
“Japan’s Sanrio unveiled a cute, new portable DVD player shaped like a Hello Kitty face. It features a 7-Inch LCD screen with 480×234 resolution, a built-in rechargeable battery (2000mhA) and plays DVD,DVD-R,DVD-RW,CD (for music), CD-R, and CD-RW formats. It also provides a battery life span of 2.5 hours, and comes with a remote control.”
“f you’re looking for a good time, might we suggest palling around with the Futurama Series 3 Bender Action Figure? Based on the robot from the recently revived animated series, this action figure stands for pornography, stealing, smoking, sleeping around, and hard drinking… truly, the cornerstones of life in the 21st century. This 6-inch tall plastic pal has oil, malt liquor, and a huge pile of money. If you can ask for anything more from a friend, we don’t know what it is!”
I love how minimal but playful the design is on these two packages for soft chewy candies. Even the very vertical aspect ratio of the box makes the design feel just a bit more classy. Out of the two I enjoyed the slightly creamy of the Meiji Caramel just a bit better than the Tokachi Azuki Caramel.
The web address for the purple package on the left (Tokachi Azuki Caramel): www.dounan.co.jp
Web address for the white/blue dots package on the right (Meiji Caramel): www.meiji.co.jp
This horror inspired LEGO masterpiece is wonderful! It was on display at BrickCon 08 — check out all of the amazing photos here (taken by Nannan Zhang).
It’s amazing to think that Godzilla is over 50 years old, I wonder what fanboys will think of him when he hits 100 in the year 2054? Will fanboys cherish him as we do King Kong today or will they just see a silly rubber suit? Shown above is a package design from a model kit, my guess is that it’s from the 1960s.
“Send normal lawn ornaments into orbit with artist Fred Conlon’s gnome-be-gone to the moon that, like his other sculptures, will bring just the right amount of mischief and mayhem to your yard. Handmade in Utah.”
One of the highlights of my fanboy Summer was exploring various Japanese ice cream flavors. My two favorites were the Nigamiga Oishii Maccha Bar (shown above) and the Uma-Kohcha Milk Bar (shown below). The Maccha Bar had a nice full green tea flavor while the Uma-Kohcha mostly tasted like cream with just a hint a tea flavor. Both treats are under the White Rose label and imported by JFC International in San Francisco.
“Each Japanese Popping Edamame Keychain has three beans. The end beans are small and immature. The middle bean, however, has one of 12 random faces printed on it. Why? We don’t know, but there is nothing like the smile it puts on your face. And the beans are connected to some sort of elastic band, so they pop back in to be popped again as many times as you want. It sounds silly, but trust us, these things are highly addictive. They are also a great way to keep your fingers busy during boring meetings and your mood positive – because no one can frown when their edamame smiles.”
If you’re in NYC you may get a chance to spot these tall bronze sculptures of Miffy and Hello Kitty at 53rd Street and Park Avenue which are designed by artist Tom Sachs.
I love the Kidrobot store which isn’t too far from my office in NoHo, it’s a nice oasis from the world of the normal. Either this film deal will go one of two ways: My hope is that Paramount allows Wildbrain (who owns the chain) to do something interesting — but there’s always that chance that they’ll dumb it down and make some bad 3D CGI film ala Shrek:
“Paramount Pictures has made a deal with Wildbrain to turn its Kidrobot branded collectible character creations into a series of feature films that will be a mix of animation and live action. The films will be generated through Par’s Nickelodeon Movies family label and produced by Scott Aversano, who made an overall producing deal with the studio after ankling his post as head of the Nick and MTV Films labels.”
…I also still can’t forgive MTV films for ruining Aeon Flux!
It’s been less than two weeks and I’m already burned out by constant coverage of the moose hunting mamma of the north! But while I wouldn’t trust her as a Vice President if she reincarnated as Yoko from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagaan she might just earn my vote:
“A movie version of the popular mecha anime “Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagaan” has just opened in theaters, and coinciding with its release comes the announcement of the nendoroid version of the beautiful sniper, Yoko! She comes with various items that featured in the anime – including her huge rifle, as well as her signature sunglasses. She also comes with additional head and hand parts, allowing for a countless number of posing possibilities. You can pose her ready to fire her rifle, or you can switch to a completely different side of Yoko, posing her in a shy, embarrassed position. This is one nendoroid that’s going to bring a ton of fun along with it!”
“What happens when you take a deadly extraterrestrial with chest-bursting parasitic offspring and acid for blood then turn it into a cute plastic figurine? Well you get these Giant Alien Kubricks of course. Made by toy master MediCom of Japan this 400% Kubrick stands almost 11″ tall and features a lever to extend and retract it’s teeth. Use it to discipline your Lego minifigs.”
“We spotted this Hello Kitty Action DJ Speaker and were unable to resist the overwhelming cuteness any further. Hello Kitty in a DJ booth with a speaker in the base is a pretty cool juxtaposition of dance music and Kitty. She even bops her head back and forth with the music. Plug in your iPod or similar music playing device and observe the cuteness for yourself. If you’re really looking to give in and completely “cute out” we recommend the pink version. Hey, we won’t judge you… we’re already there ourselves.”
By the way the definitive version of Our Lips Are sealed is in fact by Fun Boy Three.
Part I: One of the differences most visitors to Japan point out sooner or later is the reality that most public transportation in Tokyo as well as throughout Japan starts to shut down at midnight to start up again after 5 AM. With trains and subways the reasoning is to perform thorough daily maintenance. The fact of the matter is they do run on time. Apparently the stationmaster will even issue a late pass if a train is late so you don’t get reprimanded for being late at your job. I guess it’s harder to justify busses not running either. It’s often rumored that perhaps taxi drivers used political influence to make sure no alternative to taxis run at night, but that might be a popular myth.
As far back as I could remember as a child the advertising for Twix cereal always centered around the fact that “Twix are for Kids” this taunting the poor bunny associated with the brand. In 1984 things changed and there was a campaign to allow kids if they wanted to share their cereal with the rabbit — shown above is a promotional button from that historic election.
I’m only guessing (due to my lack of Japanese language skills) but it looks like Garbage Bag Artwork that chronicles people turning their every day garbage bags into bunny rabbits! It’s funny how just adding a small bit of artwork can make something so mundane so much more interesting.
I think I’ve seen this design kicking around recently, but it’s never too late to share something that you like! In this case what attracts me to Helbotica is my love of typography and giant robots:
Even though I’m a vegetarian the sight of this cute little lion cosplay figurine brought a smile to my face! I guess if I buy this goodie I’ll have to pretend that her meat chop is made out of tofu:
“In the Fate/Tiger Colosseum game, the cast of Fate/Stay Night is shrunken, deformed, and shifted into toddler-like versions of themselves. Archer is lanky in his full-size form but he’s a chubby little punk in the Colosseum. Similarly, Saber’s normally lean and mean but in her Coloseum turn, she does “Lion Cosplay” and whacks her enemies with a bone-inl meat chop. ”
“Hello Kitty products never before seen in the United States are some of the many products on view at Felissimo Design Gallery in Midtown as part of an exhibit called Japan C. Director Haruko Smith says it’s a showcase of contemporary Japanese culture, specifically Japan’s “4 Cs”: cute, clever, creative, and cool! “Japanese are really into little things. We call them zaka,” Smith explained. ”
The latest trend from Korea are contact lenses that give you that “big eyed Anime look” — it seems that the look has been popularized by J-Pop star Ayumi Hamasaki. The results to me look a bit more disturbing than anything, but I guess it’s a safe alternative to surgery for those into cosplay, and at $32 a pop they work on a low budget. One place selling them online is shop-crazy.blogspot.com (note: I can’t vouch for them as a shop) and the contacts are manufactured by gngcontact.com. Here’s afull chart of what’s available:
Shown above is the IBM 026 Printing Card Punch which is from the Vintage Computer Festival website. If you’re a lover of antique hardware there’s going to be a show coming up in September that’s worth catching:
The 5th annual Vintage Computer Festival East will be held on Saturday, September 13th and Sunday, September 14th, at the InfoAge Learning Center at Wall Township, New Jersey. The event is sponsored by MARCH and VintageTech. The exact daily schedule will be announced shortly.
The more I see cool collectables like the Transformers – Autobot Logo USB Hub the more I want to ditch my current ugly civilian USB hub. The best part of the above hub is that it lights up when connected (in addition to making you smile and earning snarky remarks from your more mundane coworkers).
