Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 20, 2010 in
Hobbies and Collections 
Yes technically this is the Hello Kitty Kitchen Spice Rack however judging by the icons kitty has a bit of a sweet tooth as there are clearly symbols for cupcakes, coffee and jam! My guess is that you should put in sprinkles into the cupcake canister, hazelnut into the coffee canister (or maybe sugar?) and I still haven’t figured out why you’d have a strawberry jam icon in a spice rack. All in all there are eight containers — two of which come pre-filled with salt and pepper. Bien manger manquez chat!
Tags: Hello Kitty, Japan
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 19, 2010 in
Animation,
Hobbies and Collections 
Domokun has many adventures — and for this set of goodies he’s joined the cast of the Japanese costume drama show Ryomaden. The story is based upon the life of Sakamoto Ryōma (坂本 龍馬) who lived in the 19th Century and played a key role in keeping Japan united while allowing for the creation of a modern government which will allow it to avoid be colonized by foreign powers. Ryōma was very much in love with technology, so I think he’d love the idea of westerners learning about his life story via the internet (although I’m not sure how he’d feel about Domo). Read more…
Tags: Domo, Japan
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 16, 2010 in
Animation,
Hobbies and Collections 
I was brought up with the belief that coffee isn’t for kids — of course as an adult I see that this was a clever plot to keep more of the good stuff for the grownups who are so addicted to it. So I was a bit surprised to see a line of coffee beverages from Japan designed just for kids! On March 22nd in Japan Pokka will be introducing Café-au-lait Flavor Kizzukafe which features characters from the anime series Penguin Problems: Read more…
Tags: Anime, coffee, Japan, manga
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 15, 2010 in
Animation,
Hobbies and Collections 
As of today the latest Uniqlo anime themed t-shirts are hitting the street — this latest batch includes shirts based on old school favorites Galaxy Express 999, Saint Seiya, Dr. Slump, Dragonball and Devilman. In April a new set of shirts will be released which will be based on Cobra, One Piece and Mazinger Z. Here are the Devilman shirts: Read more…
Tags: Anime, Devilman, Dr. Slump, Dragonball, Galaxy Express 999, Leiji Matsumoto, Saint Seiya, t-shirt
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 13, 2010 in
Cinema,
Fandom,
Hobbies and Collections 
For his day gig Tommy Williamson professional artist working in the motion picture industry, but for fun he likes to play with Legos: His latest creation is this wonderful Alice in Wonderland tribute. What’s brilliant about his sculpture is how few bricks that he used to capture the likeness of the Mad Hatter and Alice: Read more…
Tags: Alice in Wonderland, Lego
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 11, 2010 in
Hobbies and Collections,
Star Wars 
For decades fanboy wine connoisseurs have debated if Star Wars works best while enjoying the red or white wine — but alas the idea of opening up multiple bottles to see what goes best with each film could be quite wasteful. So coolstoppers.com have solved this issue by creating a series of Star Wars wine stoppers: So you can have the likes of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Princess Leia, Han Solo and a Stormtrooper guarding your vino. Read more…
Tags: Han Solo, Obiwan Kenobi, Princess Leia, Stormtroopers
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 10, 2010 in
Hobbies and Collections,
Tech 
In the real world there are working dogs who have been bred to perform a specific task — and Dodobongo is not based on any of those canines! The entire “purpose” of USB Dodobongo is to entertain geeks. By plugging Dodobongo port (because geeks have so many free ports) your reward is to watch him bark, run or move his head. Sadly this cute critter is designed for the Japanese market, so I’m not 100% sure that all of his tricks will work for you: Read more…
Tags: Japan, USB device
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 8, 2010 in
Comic Books,
Hobbies and Collections 
If you’re a fan of horror manga you’re going to like this: Shown above is a GeGeGe no Kitaro collectable which is from a larger line of monster balls. The first set of these goodies will go on sale in Japan on May 6th and there are plans to create 120 for the full series. Below are the first eight which will be released: Kitaro, Nezumi Otoko, Neko Musume, Nurikabe, Medama-oyaji, Ittan Momen, Konaki Jijii, and Sunakake Babaa: Read more…
Tags: GeGeGe no Kitaro, Japan, manga, monsters
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 6, 2010 in
Comic Books,
Hobbies and Collections 
Natsume's Book of Friends
Ah yes we’ve seen it all before — the parade of countless sexy figurines from Japan
aimed at fanboys who seem intent on scaring away any potential girlfriends. Well now figurine maker Alter in Japan is trying something new for a change: A new series of figurines for fangurls! The first in this series will be the character Takashi Natsume (夏目 貴志) and his mysterious feline spirit Nyanko-sensei (ニャンコ先生) from the manga series
Natsume’s Book of Friends (夏目友人帳). In the manga Takashi has the ability to see spirits and spends his time working with them. A translation is available for the series from Viz and last year and
an anime series was produced based on the title. As for our figurine, he’ll be out in October and available for ¥7140.
Read more…
Tags: shōjo manga
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 6, 2010 in
Hobbies and Collections,
Star Wars,
Tech 
In Star Wars the All Terrain Armored Transport (AT-AT) is an instrument of evil — however this clever variation is a techies best friend for hiding unsightly power strips. The AT-AT Cable Tidy is a do-it-yourself kit that you assemble yourself and the final model has adjustable legs which you you can pose: Read more…
Tags: AT-AT
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 4, 2010 in
Hobbies and Collections,
Star Wars 
As a Star Wars fanboy I’m quite impressed with the level of detail in this Kubrick Star Wars DX Series 1 which is based on Return of the Jedi. Featured in the set are Luke Skywalker as a Jedi Knight, C-3PO & Salacious B. Crumb, R2-D2, Chewbacca, Amanaman the bounty hunter, Bib Fortuna and extra parts to build a Jabba the Hutt! These goodies will be shipping around the end of June however pre-orders are already being accepted. Read more…
Tags: C-3PO, Chewbacca, Jabba the Hutt, Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, Return of the Jedi, Urban Toys
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 3, 2010 in
Animation,
Hobbies and Collections 
Least we think that only fanboys grow up to yearn for their youth behold the collection of chopsticks aimed at fangurls who grew up in the 80s with the countless magical girl anime series of that era! Shown above are the chopsticks which are based on Creamy Mami, the Magic Angel (魔法の天使クリィミーマミ) which aired in 1983 — here’s an illustration from that show which features a ten year old girl who thanks to magic can transform into a sixteen year old girl: Read more…
Tags: Anime, Japan, magical girl
