Sometimes life operates at such a level of astounding stupidity, you can only bang your head against a brick wall or laugh. I chose the latter. Comedy duo Holt & Steele tackles the issue of gays in the military using puppets for Funny or Die. My favorite quotes: “How am I supposed to kill those ragheads when some feltface is singing songs about butterfly kisses and caring behind me?” and “What’s wrong with the alphabet, lady?” I wonder what Felt Mistress has to say about puppets serving in the military???
We want to hear from you. Do you think this art is the shit? Or do you think this shit is art? Many of you had (and continue to have) things to say about our interview with Frank Kozik. There was a flurry of response on Twitter, but just a few of you left comments on the post itself. We put our heads together and thought, “How can we encourage people to leave comments?” Pretty quickly our eyes drifted away from each other and locked on the toys and comics that surrounded us. And there it is. Take a minute to leave a comment that makes us think or makes us laugh, and you could win cool stuff. We’ll choose winners every so often, get in touch with you, and send you something that makes you smile. It’s really that easy.
Why are we doing this? We want to promote discussion. We like to hear your opinions.The artists we interview like to hear your support. You might be used to putting your thoughts on Twitter or a forum, but if you’ve got something to say about a topic we post about, submit a comment! We know that the Library of Congress is going to be archiving your tweets (have fun with that one, guys), but a blog permalink is immediately there for posterity!
By reading this blog, you get to know a little (or a lot) about us. We want to get to know you. Here’s a little story about that. There was a guy who constantly cracked me up with his comments back when I was editor of ToyCyte. His name is Kyle Nelson. When Red Hot Robot curated the 2009 Resin Collective in Phoenix, Kyle said I could crash at his place. I’m not in the habit of accepting sleep accommodations from strangers on the Internet, but I’ve never met a sarcastic sociopath, so I figured I’d be OK. And I was. Now Kyle’s my buddy, and, as reigning Comment King, he’s your biggest competition to win our Neon Interaction Prizes. Win our NIPs!
In a nutshell: Leave a comment. You might win something. This contest is retro-active to the last week of posts. Quality over quantity. We really appreciate if you post this on your blogs or the forums you visit. Let the commenting commence!
How many of you out there are in couples that look like this? One of you likes modern art and the other favors antiquity. You collect vinyl and resin toys, but your partner, when pressed, and with the qualification, “do NOT buy me anything,” favors wood and tin toys. Well, Atlas Obscura is the antidote to this anecdote. The crossover is Curios, and the meeting place is Musée Mécanique. After last weekend’s first annual Obscura Day, we’re already eagerly anticipating the next. Let’s take a look back.
If you’ve never been to San Francisco’s Musée Mécanique, you’re missing out on something really special. As you walk through the tourist trap collectively known as Fisherman’s Wharf, there’s a ton of places where you can buy a new SD card for your digital camera because you took too much video of the world famous Bushman or one of the silvermen. We live in the acronym era of CGI and information overload, but Pier 43 offers some respite. Overwhelmed by new technology? Refuge awaits in the world’s largest privately owned collection of mechanically operated musical instruments, antique arcade machines, fortune tellers and dioramas made completely out of toothpicks.
Yeah that’s right. I said toothpicks. Next time you idly pick your teeth and toss one of these “art sticks,” contemplate what the prisoners of San Quentin did with their time. Don’t worry, I’m sure you showed that piece of parsley who’s the boss.
I guess crafty convicts are a good excuse for a “The devil is in the details” pun. It’s true though. Look at the intricacies of that ferris wheel! In the modern toy scene, we’ve got a genre we call “creepy cute.” One stroll through the Musée, though, and you’ll see your grandparent’s generation had their own blend of sweet-n-scary. The East Bay’s Playland-Not-at-the-Beach offers a disclaimer regarding bringing kids under three through, stating: “Laughing Sal scared a lot of us when we were kids at Playland in San Francisco!” Read the rest of this entry »
This great “infographic” hit my inbox from an overseas artist who sympathizes with the mind-blowing madness that is the American health care system. I’m not looking to start a political debate on this hot button issue here. For that, there’s The Huffington Post or Twitter (where several artists immediately weighed in after Sunday night’s news). I think whoever wrote this blurb did a good job of illustrating hypocrisy, and for that, I salute you! [Click the image to enlarge it.]
Does everyone know about Rotocasted? The toy collecting database is being developed by talented toy designer Sergey Safonov with little bits of assistance here and there from volunteer helper monkeys like yours truly. I like Rotocasted for the fact that I can show my Collection to anybody with a computer, and by extension, I can share my Wishlist with just a link. It’s also extremely addictive. Want to see what people are saying about the latest toy by Andrew Bell? Or what’s currently the most popular? How about the entire works of James Jarvis? How about the entire production line from France’s Artoyz? Or maybe you just want to see every toy that happens to be pink? You can leave comments and make trades. It’s a lot of fun, and like most passionate side projects, it’s always evolving. You can tell Sergey has his heart in this project and really believes in trying to do the impossible: create an accurate, visual encyclopedia of art toys. Every time we upload toys and enter data about them, we’re helping write toy history Check it out, and claim your toys!
One of the best parts of being a toy writer is getting good swag. Recently, I’ve discovered that giving good swag is equally awesome. All the people who support Neon Monster in one way or another do not go unnoticed. Be on the lookout for a pink bag in your mailbox…
Incidentally, if your pink bag has a bit of fur on it, this terrific cat crossed my path on the way to the post office. White fella with two different color eyes just like David Bowie. So if you get a pink bag next week, consider it imbued with some extra good luck. And speaking of good luck cats, little Ziggy Stardust on the street reminds me of the new Smiley Mao Cat by Touma ($15.95).
Check it out, and claim your toys!
