Alice In Wonderland (July 22, 2009)

Alice In Wonderland was definitely one of my favorite stories growing up and knowing that it will soon come to theaters (March 2010) in live action/3D, directed by Tim Burton....JUST BLOWS MY MIND!!!

Tim Burton has chosen to update his version of the classic fantasy story — earlier adaptations of the story were too disjointed and episodic, he'd concluded. So in his version, Alice (Mia Wasikowska), now 17, is revisiting a Wonderland that she has forgotten.

I'm not sure what to expect, but all I know is that the characters look awesome and being a huge fan of Tim Burton, I can only hope for something very trippy, dark and creepy.



For some reason, I have always enjoyed dark interpretations of Alice.

Do you remember the game American McGee's Alice? It's a third-person action PC video game released on October 6th, 2000.

Alice's house is burned down by a fire, killing her parents, and leaving her as the only survivor. Because of the guilt, she tries to commit suicide (bandages can be seen on her wrists), and becomes catatonic.



They also made action figures of these creepy characters, which you can still find online.



Here's English artist Trevor Brown's vision of Alice. His works are controversial. The subject matter are often young girls and morbidness. Not for the faint of heart.





And to lighten things up...here's a cool Alice remix by Pogo. An electronic piece composed using sounds recorded from the Disney film 'Alice In Wonderland'. Enjoy!

SAY CHEESE! (July 17, 2009)

Nerviswr3ck just finished up a batch of his amazing customs and these lil bad boys are mini Munny's that he made using sculpey (super), wires, and acrylic paint. These sweet customs were actually given away for FREE on the Kidrobot forums and he says that he plans on doing more free giveaways soon. He's only been doing customs for a year and I think he's doing a great job. Check out these other bad boys he made.

And here's work from an artist who I am a huge fan of, Chris Ryniak. He's really big on creating monsters and also loves to emphasize on big scary teeth. He recently collaborated with Jonathan Bergeron and they will have a show at the Galerie d'Art Yves Laroche in Montreal from July 29th to August 9th' 09 for their show titled "Misfortunate Travelers". Here's some of Chris Ryniak's past work.

And since I'm on a roll with scary teeth. Here's one of my favorite video's "An Eye For An Eye" by Unkle. Directed by Ruth Lingford and codirected with the Shynola collective. It's an epic and multi-layered fantasy and has been acclaimed variously as an anti-war film, a psychoanalytic exploration of infantile oral aggression, and a cool pop promo. Enjoy!

Parra’s Prostitute (July 13, 2009)

adFunture is showing several upcoming figures at their TTF booth including The Prostitute by Dutch illustrator and street artist Parra . “The Prostitute” brings to life one of his 2D characters into a 3D world.

But instead of turning toy-tricks along Taiwan streets, Parra's signature-styled beak-faced femme fatale was on window display at the recent Taipei Toy Festival (July 9-12).

This toy is set to come out Fall 2009. I can't wait!

If this character looks familiar, it's because she was the video vixen in Le Le's video "Breakfast" last year. Check it out!

A-Trak x Dust La Rock x Kidrobot = “Grateful Bear” Toy ( June 29, 2009)

Say Whoa! The iconic creature used in various DJ A-Trak projects, and designed by artist Dust La Rock, has been crafted into an 8 inch plastic toy. Kid Robot will be releasing a limited run of 500 “Grateful Bear” figures, which come outfitted with a gold-plated A-Trak necklace, leather cuff, cotton sweatband, snowcapped igloo, fitted cap and wayfarers.

The A-Trak x Dust La Rock x Kidrobot “Grateful Bear” will be available July 2nd at Kidrobot and other select retailers for $50USD.

A-Trak will be signing his new toy this Wednesday July 1st, the day before it officially drops with Dust La Rock at the Kidrobot store in New York (118 Prince Street) from 6-8pm.

I'm a huge fan of A-Trak and Kidrobot, and if I wasn't stuck in Toronto celebrating Canada Day on Wednesday, I would totally hit up this signing.

Luckily us Torontonians don't have to wait too long to see A-Trak. He's going to be playing at the Sound Academy on Saturday July 25th for the Time Fesival. Wicked Line up! I can't wait!!!

O-NO SUSHI! ( June 25, 2009)

Oh my! How cute are these? I must have them! Andrew Bell will be releasing these cute little guys in July & August. The blue version of the toy titled "O-No Sushi Blue" is the premiere edition of this fine food product and will be available at the International Comic-Con in San Diego from July 22nd to July 26th. Check in at the Dumbrella booth #1335/1337 for signing schedules! The Blue SDCC09 edition is going to run you only $30. The standard "O-No Sushi Red" edition, based directly off of Andrew Bell's popular "Never Look Back" art print, will be available at fine toy and culture retailers both on-line and off beginning this August,and this will cost $25.

Here's a track by Elton and Betty White called "Why Do You Make Me Eat?" Maybe it's a little too 9 1/2 weeks for these little guys...but you get my point. Enjoy!

Tom Wrecks x Metric x Hollywood Cambodia (June 17, 2009)

I love days like today! My boy Tom Wrecks just sent me his remix of Metric's- Collect Call that he just released . That's right, it's brand spankin' new and I have it here for your listening pleasure and if you're like me...your dancing pleasure. It's Hot! Tom Wrecks formerly known as T-Wrecks is a Canadian DJ who lives in Toronto. He was on the Kanye West mixtape for the official Love Lockdown remix and he's part of Canada's world renowned crew the Stylusts, who won the Canadian DMC Team Championships in 2006. The mans got skills! Check out his mix! Metric-Collect Call (Tom Wrecks Remix)

Metric, who are also Canadian and from Toronto released their latest album Fantasies back in April, and have received a huge responce. Emily Haines, the lead singer of the band took a trip to Buenos Aires to write the album and while she was there, discovered this graffiti art collective called Hollywood Cambodia and decided to include their art in a 12x12 poster that you can rip up into postcards. Pretty cool! However, you can only get it by ordering their Fantasies package. Hollywood Cambodia has various works on abandoned buildings around Buenos Aires, but they have this one designated wall in a Palermo cafe where artists from the collective have created an amazing mural by adding to the wall instead of painting over each others' original images. Colloaberating into something very special and interesting. Enjoy!

Stream MAJOR LAZER The Entire Debut Album! (June 9, 2009)

Ok, this is AWESOME!!! I've been really excited and counting down the days for the release of the Major Lazer album that is set to come out on June 16th. Well, I guess sometimes when you want something so bad....you get it! Major Lazer has streamed their entire album on their MySpace page. Check it out right now! Can you say summer jams? Brap! Brap! I love The Mary Jane track ft. Mr.Evil and Mapei!

Also, check out this toy of Major Lazer, the Jamaican Commando who lost his arm in the secret Zombie War of 1984. Read full story here.

I asked Diplo if they were planning on making more of these cool toys, besides the ones they made for the video and he said "he hopes they can". I'm going to keep my fingers and toes crossed

for this.

I want them all! Major Lazer, The Zombie Vampire, the Mummy...every toy that is in their new Hold The Line video. Check it out!

I have a feeling this won't be the last time we see some animated Major Lazer. Perhaps an adult cartoon might be heading our way? Hmmm.....

Word Of The Day- BOOTY BABE! (June 9, 2009)

“What is a ‘Booty Babe?’” you may ask. As a term of endearment, a Booty Babe is generally a woman with curves. Waist to hip ratio is usually breath-taking. She’s not necessarily run-way model material, in the traditional sense, but she feels sexy and her self-confidence makes her glow. She’s not afraid to wear skin-tight outfits – and we love her for it. Now you’re getting the picture. You’ve seen her at the mall, in line at the bank, grocery shopping, and out dancing. She’s sweet and sexy, stylish and smart; and her body language states, “This is who I am, and I LOVE being me.”

In 1998, with this in mind, artist Spencer Davis started adding material to an otherwise skinny, 12" fashion doll. Taking cues from Black Tail magazine and a few liberties of his own, the first Booty Babe was conceived. Over the past few years since, Spencer has exhibited his Booty Babe Art sculptures at numerous art gallery exhibitions in Los Angeles and in Oregon. But this is only the beginning...

With Booty on the mind here's Spank Rock's track B-O-O-T-A-Y and check out this 2 Live Crew performance on the Phil Donahue show in 1990. Classic!

Sebastien Tellier VS La Roux (June 8, 2009)

Besides the fact they both have French names.... I can't help but notice they have a few more similarities. Hmmm....

Check out these 2 video's. I like them both....but I have a soft spot for Sebastien Tellier.

I wonder who Salvador Dali would pick? Sebastien Tellier- Roche or La Roux-Quicksand?

(Compare the first scene and the last minute in the video Roche to the video Quicksand)

Cris Rose Blows My Mind! (June 5, 2009)

Cris Rose is definitely one of my favorite artists. His style is just amazing! Lately he's been making resin robots with nature on their minds and I'm loving them. They're fantastic! His latest robot is "The Wandering Memorial". By the year 2138, over population of the planet meant that a much greater number of people needed to fit in the same space. With the cities overcrowded, one of the first things to disappear was England's graveyards. So it was that the Wandering Memorial was created. Two metric tones of prime English soil encased in an autonomous walking robot. The Wandering Memorial would slowly walk from one city to another and anyone that wanted to morn need only wait for it to visit their area, and one by one they would be lifted up by it's arms and deposited into it's climate controlled dome." Read more Here.

When I envision this world filled with Wandering Memorials, I hear Sigur Ros' song Untitled #1 (Vaka) playing in the background.

OMFG! Yo Gabba Gabba! (May 27,2009)

I don't even know where to begin....this show is BANANAS!!! Hosted by a human character named DJ Lance Rock, the series features a mix of live-action segments featuring cartoonish costumed characters--Muno (the red cyclops), Foofa (the pink flower bubble), Brobee (a little green monster), Toodee (the blue cat-dragon) and Plex (the yellow robot)--and many short animated sketches and musical numbers. In its first two seasons, the show featured a wide variety of guests, including Jack Black, Leslie Hall, The Shins, Tony Hawk, Elijah Wood, Biz Markie, The Roots and Chromeo....just to name a few.

Check out Kidrobot if you want to get your hands on some Yo Gabba Gabba toys or clothing.

Here's a clip of Chromeo teaching kids about washing their hands.


Here's a clip of Biz Markie showing kids the Halloween Beat of the Day. He's a regular on the show. "Just suck your teef" Hahaha!

Kids love this show! Check out this kids costume of Muno while holding his Muno toy. Awww....how cute! You know what I think when I see Muno? I think of this movie called "The Creature that wasn't nice" aka "Spaceship" that came out in '83.

Check it out! Hahaha!

It's Never Too Late For Monsters!

Last night I had the privilege of watching "The Monster Squad", thanks to my good friend Vlad. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I had never seen or even heard of this movie. (I know, you can take this moment to judge me...I'm judging myself right now.)

I'm still trying to figure out how this may of happened? For one, I love horror movies and two; I grew up watching almost every movie imaginable in the 80's. My dad was a big movie buff! Oh well, nobody's perfect!




So what did I think of this movie? I liked it! All I could think was "Man, I would have loved this movie as a kid!" I think every kid has dreamt about kicking a monster ass....well, every cool kid in my opinion ;) If you liked The Goonies, ET or Ghostbusters growing up...I think you could appreciate this movie. It's a great way of introducing kids into the horror genre.

They didn't make any toys for this movie but check out the Universal Studios "Home of the Original" Monsters Series 1 figures that include 5 of your favorite Monster figures. Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolfman, The Mummy and The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Each figure includes a mini-poster and stand. Collect all 5 figures to build the 14" Frankenstein figure.

Also, here's a track with Vincent Price (put against Canada's Circlesquare) where he shares with us tips on how to create the perfect mood for guests, and make a curry from scratch with his very own, unwilling ingredients. Muahahaha! Enjoy!

Vincent Price VS Circlesquare= Fright Sounds- An Evening With Vincent Price

Adidas x Tilt = Original (May 21, 2009)

Adidas recently just celebrated their 60th anniversary of the iconic 3-Stripes mark introduced by company founder Adi Dassler. It was the largest global brand campaign ever for Adidas Originals under the banner of Celebrate Originality.

One of the original things they did, was call onto graffiti artist Tilt to drive around Paris in a car that both he and graffiti artist Mist customized, called the "Super Cool Pussy Magnet".

The idea was to have Tilt drive around 6 bloggers that he has never met and give them a cool illegal graffiti mission experience.

Here are the 2 mission videos, which are both in French. However, if you don't speak French I recommend that you still watch them to get a feel of the experience and to see the final pieces. He's a great artist and a good friend of mine. Enjoy!

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9aa9s_tilt-lost-dans-le-94-be-originals_creation

DA LIZARD PACK (May 19, 2009)

Check out these PUMA shoes that just came out on Sat May 16th. They’re crazy!

With the success the Cheech Wizard PUMA Clydes had back in 2007, PUMA once again called out to Mark Bodé to design a pair of sneakers to honor the artwork of his father, Vaughn Bodé. Mark and PUMA this time put together two pairs of the PUMA Mid in what is called ‘Da Lizard Pack’, a pack paying tribute to a lizard character named ‘Da Lizard’ that Vaughn Bodé created in the 1950’s.

They also made a high quality jersey hooded sweatshirt with attention to detail in the hood. Check out Da Lizard head on that!

Vaughn Bodé is one of the most influential American cartoonists of our time. Much of graffiti art itself comes from the work of Vaughn Bodé. Rendering his characters, lettering and cartoon semiotics is a rite of passage for graffiti art crews.

Here’s an animated short by Nigel Hendrickson, with input from Mark Bodé.

FOOD IS MY FRIEND =)

Video: Polysics- Black Out Fall Out

Video: Blur- Coffee & TV

It's such a beautiful day today, so I'm going to Kensington Market to buy lots of yummy food. I LOVE FOOD!!!

If you're a food lover like me, check these out!

Kidrobot's Yummy Breakfast Keychains by Heidi Kenney.

Kidrobot's Smorkin Mongers by Frank Kozik.

Kidrobot's Let's Hang Zipper Pulls by Aaron Meshon.

Kidrobot's BFF's by Travis Cain.

The Moofia by tokidoki.

TEAR DRIPS (May 16, 2009)

Travis Lampe did an exhibit with Rotofugi Gallery back in December 2007 called Fantasy Cryland. One of the things Travis did for the exhibit were these amazing little hand-stitched and hand-painted pieces he called “Tear Drips.” Inspired by Travis’ creations, Rotofugi and Squibbles Ink immediately approached Travis into letting them make his art into vinyl toys.

On Thursday May 21st, you can get your hands on these little sad guys. The "Tear Drips Series 1" by Travis Lampe has a total of 12 designs and will be blind boxed.

Travis has a very unique style to his work. His illustrations are cartoonish, colourful, cute and full of emotions. He likes to put faces on everything. One of my favorite resin art toys that he made was “Accidental Mishap”. It’s a sad unicorn crying for his broken rainbow.

Here’s a cute video that you may remember watching as a child.

WARNING! MAY CAUSE TEARS!

KAWS X CLIPSE (May 14, 2009)

I don’t know about you, but I sure got excited when I heard the lead-off single Kinda Like A Big Deal by The Clipse feat. Kanye West. I was also excited to find out that the artist KAWS added his iconic art style to the single cover and that he’s set to create the album artwork for the new album“Til the Casket Drops”, set for release late this summer.

Check out this video as it profiles the artist known as KAWS, former Graffiti (tag) artist turned painter and designer of limited edition toys and clothing. It also features some cool clips of KAWS' art displayed in Pharrell Williams' Miami Home and Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak cover and billboard.

Clipse x Kaws-ReUp Gang Blog 4 from Clipse on Vimeo.

Here we have KAWS with Pusha T, from Virginia hip hop duo The Clipse, talking about their collaboration for the new album “Till the Casket Drops”.

ZOMBIES!!! (May 13, 2009)

"They're Back from the Grave and Ready to Party" The first ever Return Of The Living Dead Action Figure is coming! Tarman Zombie features ball jointed neck, shoulders, opening jaw and base with Trioxin canister and bitten brain!

I'm a huge fan of Zombies, so I can't wait to get this! But I'll have to wait a while, since it's not coming out until September/October (Just in time for Halloween 2009).

It looks like I'm not the only one who's a fan of Zombies. Major Lazer, the Diplo/Switch dancehall project has come out with a track called Zumbi Feat Andy Milonakis. It's some pretty funny s#!t ! The beat is sick and the lyrics are ridiculous, dirty and violent. It's everything a zombie track should be!

Check it out!

Zumbi feat. Andy Milonakis

Here's a video of Andy Milonakis with Diplo and Switch in the studio.

Huck Gee’s SkullBunny Figures (May 12, 2009)

Huck Gee, is a contemporary artist, illustrator, toy maker and designer best known by toy enthusiasts for his iconic "Skullhead" character. Huck Gee has released some of the most exclusive and sought after Dunnys to date through Kidrobot, including figures for The Standard and DJ Qbert.

Most of Gee's characters are cute but a little violent. Here he is showing off his softer side with a series of ten SkullBunny figures that came out last Friday, May 8th for $650 each at Huck's eBay store. Each is signed, numbered and comes in shown bunny suit.

Looking at this toy, I can’t help but think of the common metaphor “A wolf in sheep’s clothing”. I don’t know if I trust this little guy.

Same with these guys!

Tara McPherson's Space Friends (May 11, 2009)

Greetings Earthlings! Pastel Punk illustrator Tara McPherson has teamed up with Kidrobot to make a cute mini series called Gamma Mutant Space Friends. They landed on Earth just a few weeks ago. The series includes 10 figures and 2 chases that come blind-boxed.

I'm a big fan of Tara McPherson's work, so I was very excited to meet her and purchase some of her toys at her signing here in Toronto, at Narwal Art Projects last Friday.

Most of Tara's work have a space theme to them. She majored in Astrophysics and was Vice President of her Astronomy club. She's a hot nerd!

Here's a cool space track that I feel works with Tara's art called "A fun beat from outer space" byRonald Jenkees. He's quite interesting and Ah-mazing on the keyboard!

Secretly, I want to shrink him and put him on my shelf with the rest of my toys. Shhh...don't tell him. LOL

Check him out!