I Heart Cool Stuff

Joe Ledbetter stopped by GAMA-GO’s flagship San Francisco store yesterday, and not to rub things in, but between Joe up from SoCal and fans in from NY, everyone was talking about our spectacular Bay Area weather. Having just returned from Brooklyn, I can’t help but concur. Joe was in town to sign his brand-new art book, Creatures of Habit, published by SF’s own Last Gasp. Creatures contains the usual suspects in awesome full color: signature JLED characters like Mr. Bunny and Firecat, going about their business either A) about to unexpectedly get snuffed out or beset by a bit of ultraviolence or B) up to some mischief-making of their own design.

I’m a big fan of collabs, so I particularly enjoy the pages of collaborations with Luke Chueh, Nathan Jurevicius and Alayna Magnan that I hadn’t seen previously. Creatures also features a forward by GAMA-GO co-founder Greg Long on meeting Joe and giving the young artist some pointers along the way, and a rumination by Joe on the question, “So, what do you do?” As a toy journalist, I field that question myself fairly often. There really is no right answer.

I hadn’t seen Joe since his last show at Gallery1988, and he was great to chat up and game to sign/draw for fans. A couple people brought DIY Mini-Munnys, and one lucky fan had a Lava Unicornasaurus. I’m a Qee guy, and I don’t care if the only Sharpie was a fat-nibbed sucka: this mini-fig is already at home in my collection with Joe’s Toxic Swamp Qees. GAMA-GO also had a special JLED shirt just for the event, as well as some stock from last season’s hoodie collab. Stop by and see if there are any remainders. Note to Saki: your shirt and signed book will hit the USPS on Monday.

I hope you guys didn’t forget about the name contest and giveaway we had on the site? Well, what’s important is that we didn’t forget. Today marked, 2 weeks since we (Lou Pimentel and IHCS) began the search to name Lou’s unnamed cherries. And, while the search provided us with a sizeable amount of responses– it seems we haven’t found a name yet.

Or better stated– the quest for a name, made Lou realize, that maybe, they shouldn’t have names. While some people came up with some rather expected names, others went in a whole new direction. This isn’t bad, it’s actually a good thing, because it made Lou realize, that you all have some idea of the character’s name and that’s part of interpreting his pieces.

So what do we do now? Although, you don’t get bragging rights for naming Lou’s cherries– kind of– Lou still picked his two favorite names.

And the winners are…

S. with the entry: Blossom!

& Shakey with the entry: Emilio!

Lou’s going to be contacting you soon, so look out for an email from him. Remember, you each get a one-of-a-kind canvas from Lou. Yay!! Congratulations, I’m officially jealous. =)

I don’t think I’ve blogged about any jewelry items in a very long time. I’ve been “rocking” the cupcake charm from ihotto since I got it 2 years ago, because it’s the charm I believe expresses my personality the most. Colorful, cute, delicious and yummy! Those are some good adjectives to describe myself as, aren’t they? Well– it seems, I may have just found the charm that I’ll be equally as excited to wear, the “hello” charm from above.

Here’s the only downfall I see– since it’s handmade the charms are kind of pricey. Blegh! My cupcake charm cost me $35, while the “hello” charm costs $120. AAAH! I don’t know– I’ll save my pennies and buy it for myself towards the end of the summer. Maybe. =( The charm is made out of sterling silver, so it’s a bonus since I’m allergic to fake jewelry. If you have more cash than I do, head on over to Joanna’s Etsy shop and order one for yourself. Also, if  you have any cute charm recommendations, send them my way– I like wearing cute stuff.

During this year’s ToyFair, one of the missions I had to complete for my Mr. was to get more info on the release of the Ghostbusters MiniMates. I’ve mentioned numerous times that the Mr.’s a HUGE fan and resembles that Nintendo 64 kid whenever something from Ghostbusters is released. I managed to track the MiniMates and took a picture, but Flickr is acting up for me right now, so I’ll share the pic later.

Although, I failed to accertain info on the Kubricks, and have yet to get any additional details regarding the release– the mini mates were worth getting excited over. I found out that they were going to be released during the Summer/Fall of ‘09.

Well, the first set to be released is going to be GID Stay Puft and Venkman. Now– not only is this Ghostbusters related paraphernilia, but Stay Puft is going to glow-in-the-dark?!! Oh snaps. The excitement became a little muted when we heard it was a SDCC exclusive. Unfortunately, for the 3rd year in a row since I’ve been into designer/urban toys, I won’t be attending the convention.

But, not to worry. Thanks to Funks on the West Coast, and his knack for paying attention to detail– he let me know I could pre-order them from ToyTokyo!! The set costs $19.99 and you can click on this link to pre-order yours. I hope this brings joy to the many GB fans who can’t go to SDCC either.

Just spotted this new original piece on Kathie Olivas’ flickr, and I was so blown away by it, I had to share. I’m sure we all know I’m a huge fan, and with works like the piece above, how could I deny her my fandom?

One of the reasons I’m a fan of Kathie’s works are because though I find her characters to be cute– they have a creepy aura to them. I interviewed her a while back, but things kind of fell through and I was never able to publish it on the site it was meant to be published– I should ask if it’s okay to share on my site, even though the interview took place last year around her solo show at MPH and the group show at The Opera Gallery.

Anyway, this piece is very different, at least to me. Not only does it seem to be the darkest yet, with the black surrounding the character– which bears the question, what is in the darkness that haunts? But, I think her character style looks more evolved here, don’t you think? I’m not sure if it’s because this is the most “human” character I’ve seen, or the soft glow on the cheeks, or because the image is much darker– but it seems different. I never took an art history class, so I’m not familiar with the termanology to describe this work– but I know many of you are. What do you think? Check out her site and tell me if you agree.

I’m not sure where this piece is being submitted too, or how much it costs, but I do know that I appreciate the darkness and I’d love to add it to my collection.

There are a couple times during the year where I actually feel envious of the West Coast– SDCC and anything that takes place at G1988 (either one of them), are great examples of this envy. Well, Crazy4Cult is one of those shows that really rubs it in my face and makes me an angry New Yorker– kidding, there are many things that make me a moody New Yorker.

Anyway, I’ve had the flyer sitting on my desktop for a while, but Jensen (I feel like we’re on a first name basis, but then I remember he signs off on all the blog posts) recently posted an exclusive print for this year’s Crazy4Cult show.

The print, created by Jim Horwat, pays homage to ‘Back to the Future’! I just took a look at the list of participating artists and man do I feel the burn. The show’s going to take place on July 16th at G1988 LA. Who plans on attending? I want pictures please!

phew! It seems I am finally recovering from whatever kind of infecion it is I have. Yay! With health improvement, I find that I have some energy to finally catch up on posts. And so, I start with the Wood Grain Qees.

I got an email last week about the release of these figures– which I remember spotting at this year’s Toy Fair. I have a couple friends who are big fans of wood furniture and other goodies, and instantly knew this would be a hit amongst them. Well, it seems they’re ready to be released.

I wasn’t too sure how I felt about the qees when I first spotted them, because I myself am a fan of wooden objects, and these are vinyl not wood. Ultimately, they don’t have the texture of wood– but one thing I find really neat is that Toy2R (who I have the highest QC respect for) is treating each qee like individuals. As in– just like wood, each qee will have it’s own unique pattern. If anyone was going to give vinyl the wood treatment, it would be Toy2R since they do amazing paint jobs. There are more details below about the releases:

The collection will be available in a range of sizes:

•    Our classic 2.5” Qee featuring the patented keychain attachment. Available in a blind box assortment made up of two different shades of design: Light wood and dark wood. The collection will include 6 classic Qee characters: Bear, Cat, Dog, Mon, Bunee and the Toyer.
•    8” and 9” Qees will be available as limited edition series – great for display in the home, office or anywhere. Packaged in window boxes – each box will have eye catching designs – making them true treasures.
•    16” Collection – perfect for home décor, these oversized pieces make quite a design statement. The 16” Qee Bear will be the first release followed by future characters.

And so, ladies and gentlemen, above you’ll find the latest project my Mr. and I have decided to dive into. Artist Series, is just what the name entails– we’ll be going around, hopefully, to the homes of NYC artists; and invade their homes, their studios, their kitchens, etc.; and learn more about them, their collections, and their current projects. The first artist, as you can tell from the title post is: Lou Pimentel. Keep reading to see images of some of Lou’s work, and read a little more about the CONTEST! Read the rest of this entry »

The Mr. (GrimSanto), just spotted these news of the latest drop from the BAPE x Ghostbusters collaboration. If you didn’t know, the Mr. (and myself, but mostly him) is a huge fan of The Ghostbusters series– I bought “The Real Ghostbusters” boxset for him last Christmas, and just this weekend, he went broke for the 360 game. =)

This latest collaboration features Baby Milo riding the infamous Ecto1A, not to be confused with the Ecto1B, which is in the game. Although I’m not a huge fan of overpriced clothing– I do find some of BAPE’s stuff to be “the bomb!” For instance, last year’s Baby Milo x Super Mario Bros. collection was awesome! The shirts are available in white, but black shirts are exclusive to NY and LA. I’m not sure how much they run for, but if they are like the Mario shirts, I think they ranged somewhere along the $60 price point? Someone, give me some info. Yay!!

 

**Update: Thanks to “thatgirl” I found out the price was actually $95 per shirt. And ALL shirts were sold out the first day they went on sale, so they’re no longer available. Oh, and John, I just found out you pointed these out, so thanks for the heads up. **

[Click here to Watch in HD]

Jeez, this video took forever to put together! I had loads of fun with this ‘Unboxing.’ Mostly, it was the subject, Marshall is simply too cute– but a lot of the excitement was really in hearing Marshall speak!

Marshall Mashumaro, was created by 64Colors (Eric and Laura, who are two amazing, talented and friendly artists). He was officially release May 21st and the date couldn’t come sooner. Hit the jump to read about the giveaway and more details about where to purchase them. Read the rest of this entry »