Lego Cufflinks

this guy is genius. he pops lego heads unto cuff links and sells them for $17.50. not bad for a little side business. he can also make you a "box" for your cuff links for $5.50. geez, why not get paid to play, why don't ya?

and if you're not a star wars fan, just mix and match any lego piece and he'll turn it into cuff links just for you. hey, why *not* add a splash of fun and color to your work wardrobe?
apparently bobafett and other hard to find starwars lego heads make such cuff links hard to come by. to place your order check out: {etsy.com} and type "cuff links" in the search box.

Food & Fashion - Hello Kitty, Happy Meals

Oooo....Blast to the past...I want one of these!

Now until Feb 26, McDonalds is giving away 8 different designed Hello Kitty watches with a purchase of a Happy Meal!

The watches actually look semi-hip...not too cutesy...and more edgy than the Hello Kitty toys I grew up with. In New York many business women wear Hello Kitty accessories as a way to blend youthful fun with stanch professionalism--postmodern fashionisms in the 21st century.

Hurry and get yours before they run out: Chococat, My Melody, Little Twin Stars, Bad Batz, and Hello Kitty herself.

Happy Meals, Easy Bake Oven & Gendered Toys

So, I’m sitting here eating a McDonald’s Happy Meal. And does it make me happy? Well, sort of. I ordered the Happy Meal because I was saw the poster outside for the new Star Wars Bobble-Head toys that it came with. Cool! When I asked the lady at the drive-through window what toy was being given away this week, she pointed to Darth Vader on a Ty-Fighter. Very Cool! So I ordered a 4-piece chicken McNugget meal and eagerly stuck my hand in the bag to pull out the toy. Not cool! It was C3PO. I like 3PO, he’s just not the toy I was expecting.

As I sit here eating my fries I laugh as I recollect this funny childhood memory. When my brother was in kindergarten, his teacher, Mrs. McKibbens, made the class write a list of everything they wanted Santa Claus to bring them. In pencil, my brother wrote down only one thing--the two words: “at-at.” Yes, “a” “t” dash “a” ”t”. The teacher circled it in red, put a question mark by it, and had a private meeting with my mom. Perhaps she was concerned that he was having trouble spelling. Or maybe that he had trouble following assignments. Or maybe she was concerned that my parents wouldn’t know where Santa would even buy—I mean make—such a thing, an “at-at.” But my mother reassured her that it was a Star Wars toy…an All Terrain Armored Transport (AT-AT) to be exact. I can imagine how confused the teacher must have felt.

I remember how excited and thrilled my 5 year old brother was that Christmas morning. Per his annual routine, he woke up super early on Christmas morning, shaking me out of my slumber, so we could rush out and see what Santa had brought. Sure enough, Santa had brought an AT-AT down through our chimney tied with a perfect red bow. It was a cool toy to play with; after all, you could stuff a ton of action figures in that thing.

Don’t get me wrong, I also enjoyed playing with girl toys too. That was the year I got my Barbie swimming pool. But there were few girl toys that really had any real purpose behind them. It’s a testimony to how gendered children’s’ toys are, and the ways in which it socializes young girls to be passive recipients in society and into nurturing, care-taking roles. Girl toys rarely allow girls to build and construct, battle for power, or take over the universe. Rather, we are socialized to brush the hair of My Little Pony, change the wardrobe of Barbie, and go marketing with miniaturized plastic food. I appreciated my Strawberry Shortcake collection, but again, the best part of these doll was being able to smell their hair. The extent of fun with this toy was to make my brother close his eyes and guess which character he was smelling. Poor guy! The Easy Bake Oven played into stereotypes and gendered processes of socialization but it was one of the few toys that allowed girls to start and complete a mission and purpose. To bake, albeit, but at least this was an active rather than passive way of playing with toys. I mean, who knew that you could actually bake a brownie or small cake via the heat of a light bulb? Genius! The Easy Bake Oven took ‘playing house’ to the next level.

All in all, I will probably return to McDonalds for another Happy Meal soon. They really should make Happy Meals for adults. After all, we work hard and deserve some fun in life too!

Clone Wars toys are available for 4 weeks only. See: www.happymeal.com for details. My favorite Happy Meal toys are: Boba Fett on the Slave 1, Darth Vader on the Ty-Fighter and R2D2 in a plane, and the Stormtrooper on an AT-AT. (If you understand any of these terms you are either:r a) born in my era b) a Star Wars geek or c) the parent of a child born in the 70s or late 60s)

Sushi Dog Toys

Is your dog Japanese at heart?
Then how about getting a sushi squeak-toy?

These toys were too cute to resist. They are made of soft fluffy material and run $7-9 a piece. Hey, just like ordering sushi at a real restaurant!

Where to get it: online at www.sushipup.com
On Oahu: Bark Avenue, Koko Marina Shopping Plaza

Split Obsession - Toy Collectors

Toy collectors of all ages will love this store: Split Obsession. It's for folks who have that private dual side to them...a collection obsession.

Most of the toys in this store are unique ones shipped directly from Japan. Next Tuesday a special shipment of Bobafett and other Star Wars items will come in. The items are being internationally distributed now that the Japan Star Wars Convention has ended. The conventions, drawing over 35,000 people each, were held in London, San Francisco, Tokyo and Los Angeles. Exclusive toys were made for each country.

My brother's "split obession" is with Star Wars, a movie our family enjoyed and grew up with. It was the very first drive-in movie we saw as kids. We got dressed up in our PJs, brought our pillows and favorite stuffed toy, and eventually fell asleep in the car before the movie was over. Leah confronting an angry Darth Vader was the last scene I remembered on that big screen. It was a fun family experience.

Today my brother owns a house, and has dedicated one room specifically to his Star Wars collection. His room looks like a specialty store--literally!, with gray and black painted walls lined with hanging action figures (much like Toys R Us aisles), different Star Wars space ships hanging from the ceiling, and artfully placed on tables and the ground. Bruce, the owner of Split Obsession, was so intrigued by this that he wanted to see the room...until he learned it was on the mainland. Yet in the typical aloha spirited way, he offered to order my brother any Star Wars items from Japan that he might want. Sometimes I get "good" culture shock when I'm in Hawaii--when I see how genuinely friendly and kind people are here and how they go out of their way to help one another. Through these small acts, I find my soul refreshed time and again in the land of aloha.

For a fun Star Wars blog see:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://geekologie.com/2007/04/papercraft-star-wars.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.geekologie.com/mt/mt-search.cgi%3Ftag%3Dstar%2520wars%26blog_id%3D1&h=360&w=320&sz=29&hl=en&start=14&sig2=Op7QgkY1-Yc9ecfxzYKLyg&tbnid=m37SkmV9Mv4fbM:&tbnh=121&tbnw=108&ei=jPSgSLP5CoyipwTtq5DgBw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dstar%2Bwars%2Btoys%2Bfrom%2Bjapan%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DG

Where to Shop:
Spilt Obession (in the Koko Marina Shopping Center)
7192 Kalanianaole Hwy, #D-100
Honolulu, HI 96825
808.395.3380
www.splitobsession.com

Star Wars Gone Green?

Some of my favorite Star Wars finds:

Recyclable R2: Has Star Wars Gone Green?

Can Vader Actually Breathe while Dancing?

Will the candy now stay fresh?

Shoyu D2? ...Someone had way too much time on their hands!

Barbies, GI Joes and Legos

My brother probably hated playing with Barbies. I mean, what really does Barbie do? I had a collection over 20 dolls but did I really need that many? The most fun you can have is dressing her up in the latest outfit and maybe seat her with her friends near her real-water swimming pool (a memorable childhood gift from Santa) or in her Barbie Dream House (another cool gift from Santa). But it’s not like the dolls talked or had conversations with each other. They just sat there, looking pretty, staring at one another in their nice clothes and styled hair.

But Star Wars and GI Joe action figures on the other hand were quite fun. The clawed hands could actually be fit with guns and light sabers (with Luke and Vader’s eventually built directly into its arm) and the figures could actually battle one another for ruling power. Sure we had to move each figure with our hands, but hey, at least there was a bigger story and purpose for these toy lines. The GI Joe guys had cool code names like “Snake Eyes” and “Storm Shadow” and were equipped with their own specialty weapons. My brother made me memorize these facts for days. He would quiz me on the real name, code name, specialization, and weapon of each different GI Joe. I spent many summer hours reading the information on the back of the action figure cardboard cut outs. He even made a little box out of white construction paper and staples to file all the cards in order. Eventually all those memorization exercises eventually paid off and got me through high school and college.

Transformers were cool because the concept of attaching multiple robots to build an even larger robot was a thrill. And who, but the Japanese, would think of turning each transportation vehicle into a dinosaur, bird, animal, or robot. My brother and I would have timed races to see who could transform each toy the fastest. It was such a hot concept that even McDonald’s Happy Meal toys would transform plastic mini McNuggets, Hotcakes, Shakes and Fries into a robot of sort. Of all the Transformers, Bumble Bee the little yellow bug (VW) was my favorite. Perhaps that’s why I wanted a VW in college. My friend Angie and I wanted to paint one hot pink and plaster sorority Greek letters on the hood and doors.

But in my opinion Legos are the best toys of all time! I’ll have to write a stand-alone post for Legos next time. They are in a category of their own.

Cheers to my brother who was my best friend and who made childhood and growing up so much fun and memorable. I can’t imagine my childhood without him