My latest dessert addiction...

So here's my latest dessert addictions,

My good friend introduced me to this Hong Kong treat made at good ole Frostcity here in the 808.  It's pretty good stuff.  The dessert is called Snow Ice and it's a hybrid of shave ice (as we call it here) and icecream.  Snow Ice is  made from real fruit, is pretty light, not super heavy, and along with this pile of shaven iced goodness, there's a small side of these lil pom pom flavored bursty thingys, these tiny star shaped fruit, cubed strawberries and cubed mochi.  Oh man, it's the thing to eat on a hot day.  There's over 15 flavors to choose from, and depending on which flavor you get, it can vary anywhere from $5-$10.  I just had my fair share of it recently and I could go for another round.

Mango and Strawberry...

Lychee and Rasberry and Milk combo...

Remember that baby on the cover of the Nirvana album...

Well he's now 20,

Haha, so for all of you products of the 90's here's a then and now pic of the dude.

Back then...

Now...

Part 3: Huge graff collab hits Honolulu Community College...

What I failed to realize,

Is that Estria has a bigger vision than the intensity and size of the Hawai'i mural that he, Prime and other other artists did recently.  I did a little homework and read up via Estria's site and foundation regarding this huge undertaking, unreal.

Water Writes as Estria calls it, is a mural series across 10 cities at different corners of the world.  The intent of this huge project is to bring together, youth, artists, organizers, and environmental activists to depict the relationship that people have with the water/ocean in each of these 10 cities.  Below is a list of the 10 cities Estria plans on hitting up:

Los Angeles, California – KIPP LA Prep Middle School in Boyle Heights 

Oakland, California – Broadway @ 21st Street in Downtown

Honolulu, Hawaii – Kalihi Community 

Gaza Strip, Palestine – Middle Eastern Children’s Alliance Water Filtration Centers 

Palawan, Philippines – Palawan University 

San Salvador, El Salvador 

Windowrock, Arizona – With members of the Hopi and Dine tribes

Bogota, Colombia 

Arcata, California

Estria also writes, 

"Through this process of painting with some of the communities most impacted by water rights issues, the Estria Foundation hopes to utilize our artistic techniques to assist ongoing grassroots struggles, create a global platform to raise awareness and inspire a movement."

How unreal is that.  I have mad respect for the guy for sharing his artistic gifts, educational vision and global awareness with communities within the 808 and beyond.

For more 411 on Estria's Foundation and money donations, hit up his site at http://www.estria.org

Props 

Part 2: Huge graff collab hits Honolulu Community College...

When I got home this evening,

I was catching up on my Twitter feeds and read that both Estria and Prime posted some vids on Youtube regarding the mural that they did at Honolulu Community College.  It was hella cool learning about what they had to share with their vision for this massive project, you can just imagine me soaking it all up.

These guys REALLY did their homework, I can't emphasize that enough.  Estria shared a bunch of insightful information on Hawai'i's ahupua'a (land division) system.  He also shared some tidbits of info on some of Hawai'i's fish, you gotta hear/watch his explanation.  There was a bunch of interpretations that I got dead on, and a bunch of stuff that my very own eyes missed, that Estria and Prime explains in each of their videos.  Friggen unreal.

Prime also shares his mana'o (ideas/thoughts) on the mural.  I don't want to say too much, but I'll just throw in some keywords "Iao Needle Valley, Crown Lands,  and heart."  Oh man, now that I look at the mural again, I'm super floored.  You gotta watch the vids below to completely understand what I'm talking about.

Huge graff collab hits Honolulu Community College...

A few weeks ago,

A conglomerate of Hawai'i's finest got together to do a huge I mean huge mural near the gravel parking lot of Honolulu Community College.  I wasn't able to attend the official reveal of the mural a few weeks back, but today I was in the area doing some errands and snapped these photos.

In this shot, you can see the cars on the sides of the building, which gives you a perspective of how huge this unreal painting is (click on the photo to see a larger image)... 

From what I hear, Estria and Prime, two very well-known graff artists from the 808 did their homework in putting this wall together, and brought in a group of advisors to formulate the vision of this mural.  Overall, the mural bridges the past, the present and the future.  In true Prime fashion, I appreciate how he always infuses the Hawaiian cultural aspect in his work.  There are three 'olelo no'eau or Hawaiian proverbs incorporated into the mural.  The first 'olelo no'eau is on the far left side of the mural, "'A'ohe hana nui ke alu 'ia." which means, "No task is too big when done together by all." So true, as I mentioned earlier, the project was a huge collab with the following artists: Estria, Prime, Katch, Rival, Vogue, Trax, Ckaweeks, Dmize, Krush TWS, Krush BE, Eukarezt, Bieste, Quest, Escape, Ohana, Wyte, Sierra, SMK and Look.

As I looked a the mural, from my interpretation it looked like the part of the piece was looking at addressing Hawai'i's sustainable future, and looking at Hawai'i's ahupua'a (land division) concept and balancing that with environmental sensitivity.  The left side of the mural depicts clean burning air vehicles, energy generated by windmills and "green" earth friendly homes.

Pictured above is the word "Flow" which is pretty apparent in this mural...

This is my favorite part of the mural, which is a portrait of Queen Lili'uokalani, the last reigning monarch of Hawai'i.  I REALLY like how there was some research done on the queen, and I'm sure Prime had a lot to do with it.  From the naked eye, one wouldn't know that purple was Queen Lili'uokalani's favorite color, or that the crown flower pictured above was one of her favorite flowers.  The comb in the Queen's hair, I suspect is of the Hawaiian monarch butterfly, which primarily feeds off of mamaki leaves.  I'm sure here was a play too on the word "monarch."  Friggen unreal.  You'll also see that her royal sash is made up of the water flowing from the mountains, which to me symbolizes the past to the present and future.  And what is that she's holding in her hand?  A palapala (document) symbolizing education as the key for our people?  A piece of the newspaper that she'd read while being imprisoned at 'Iolani Palace?  A signed document of those who protested the wrongdoings on Hawai'i?  That remains a mystery...

In this portion of the mural, you'll see water flowing from "Ma Uka to Ma Kai" (from mountain to the ocean) as also said in the graff lettering.  Looking closer, you'll notice energy being captured from the rivers, kalo (taro) a Hawaiian staple being grown and also corn being grown, which I suspect is another representation of reusable natural energy.  The 2nd 'olelo no'eau is in this portion of the mural "Mohala i ka wai i ka maka o ka pua." which means, "Unfolded by the waters are the faces of the flowers."  And the meaning of that is "Flowers thrive where there is water, as thriving people are found where living conditions are good."  Unreal huh.  I just really love the mana'o (meaning) put into this mural.

This is the far right side of the mural with some ocean life, pretty sick work.  

And then finally, in the final pic above, it lists all of the people involved in the project, along with the 3rd and final 'olelo no'eau, "Ola ka wai, ola ka honua." which means, "When the water lives, so does the earth."  I think that speaks for itself.

UPDATE: Estria let me know that the 3rd 'olelo no'eau "Ola ka wai, ola ka honua" is actually the name of the mural.

So I just wanted to send my aloha to all that help put this awesome mural together...unreal.

Brackets and glass panels oh my...

Brackets and glass panels oh my,

That could only mean one thing a collection update, lol.  Yup, I picked up more glass panels and brackets for the shelving unit in my living room which will be expanded to one column on each side of the present set up.  So that's a project I have going on for the week.  So keep your eyes peeled for a collection update which will probably coming up in about two weeks.

The votes are in and...

What's up Everyone,

Many of you remember my earlier post about my collection being nominated for "Best Collection" for the Designer Toy Awards.  The votes are in and...I didn't win, lol.  Congrats to Mutonisyourfriend for the win.  

It's all good though, on the real, I was SUPER humbled and honored to be nominated for this inaugural event.  Rest assure, the collecting won't stop anytime soon, lol.  Thanks to all of you who voted for me, I really appreciate the support and all of the kind words.  And the Pete Fowler award looked so SICK!

Congrats to all of the category winners!

Below are all of the official winners:

Fan Favorite
 Blankie: Series 1
Micro.Mundos
Soopa Marias by Erick Scarecrow
Tuttz New Year Edition by Eric Nocella
Diaz / Argonaut Resins
Winner : Android by Andrew Bell

Best Plush Design
Cavey by Holly Stanway
Pecan Pals
Sir Artichoke by Lana Crooks
Thanks, Grandma by Amanda L Spayd
Winner : Plunk and Pop Lion by Anna Chambers

Best Online Toy Store
Bambaland
Lulubell
Myplasticheart
Tenacious Toys
Winner : Rotofugi

Best Collaboration
Google x Andrew Bell - Android
Itokin Park x Amanda Visell, Bed Monster
Kaws x Sorayama Campanion
The Hundreds x Garfield
Winner : Ferg x Brandt Peters - Trouble Boys

Best Collection
Gino Joukar
Kinohi aka “HaynMade”
Sara Harvey and Jason Foster
Toybreak’s George and Ayleen Gaspar
Winner : Carl Aka “Mutonisyourfriend”

Best Customizer
Chris Ryniak
Jason Freeny
The Beast Brothers
Walter Jacott aka Chauskokis
Winner : Doktor A

Best Blog
Kaiju Chronicle
Spanky Stokes
The Blot Says
Vinyl Pulse
Winner : Toysrevil

Best Licensed Product
Android by Andrew Bell
James Jarvis - Hello Kitty
Manny Pacquiao by Mindstyle
Pinocchio & Jiminy Cricket by Kaws
Winner : Super Shogun Stormtrooper by Super 7

Best DIY Platform
CE: Creative Enhancement
MAD*L
Omi by Munky King
Qee by Toy2r
Winner : Mini Munny by Kidrobot

Best Self Produced
Boss Carrion by Paul Kaiju
CAMO jumping Brain
Moon Fox by Sergey Safonov
Shawnimals, Ninja of the Month
Winner : Hermees by Gary Ham

Best Toy from a Comic
Skull Bunnies
Stitch as Deady by Voltaire and Mindstyle
Tomorrow Queen by Ashley Wood
Zombie Chuck by Brian Fyffe
Winner : Kill Audio by Vinyl Cut

Best Mini Series
Elements Alpha
Jibibuts Wooden Minifigures
Mechtorians by Doktor A
Resound Field Guide
Winner : Tic Toc Apocalypse by Amanda Visell

Manufacturer of the Year
Circus Posterus
Gargamel
Kidrobot
The Loyal Subjects
Winner : Three A

Best Toy Store
Freak Store
Kidrobot
Munky King
Super 7
Winner : Rotofugi

Break Through Artist
Angry Woebots
Chauskoskis
L’Amour Supreme
Sergey Safonov
Winner :  Jason Freeny

Most Influential Event
CE Design Contest
Designer Con
I love Munny
The Vader Project
Winner : San Diego Comic Con

Best Functional Toy
Incubot’s Voltron USB Drive
Marka 27’s Minigods
Maywa Denki’s Otamatone
Tokidoki Frenzies
Winner : Mimobot by Mimoco

Outstanding Production
Dievas Dunny by Nathan Jurevicius and Kidrobot
Frank Kozik Ultraviolence
Super 7 Jumbo Stormtrooper
Toy Tokyo x Secret Base x Ron English X-Ray
McSupersized Figure
Winner : False Friends (In Pain Edition) by Coarse Toys

Best 1/6th Scale
3A popbot Tomorrow King
Crazymichael by Michael Lau
Fighting JC by Ashley Wood
Hot Toys War Machine
Winner : Playge Rat by Ferg

Lifetime Achievement
Dov Kelemer
Frank Kozik
Israel “Lev” Levarek
Jim Crawford
Winner : Michael Lau

Artist of the Year
Chris Ryniak
Kronk
Paul Kaiju
Scott Tolleson
Winner : Ashley Wood

Toy of the year
3A Toys Popbot figure
Caleb by James Jarvis
Jaws by Coarsetoys
O-No Sushi by Andrew Bell
Winner : Kaws 4ft Companion

Goji from The Yellow Dino has arrived...

So yesterday,

I got one of those pink slips from the post office to let me know that a package arrived.  When I read that the original destination was from Indonesia, I knew right away what it was, "My Goji from The Yellow Dino" has arrived.  So I went and grabbed him and brought the box to my office.

Getting boxes with figs in the mail are always the best, it's like year round Christmas, lol...

I carefully opened the top of the box, to find an eye-catching Indonesian ad, lol...

Hot cha-cha...

My box musta got tossed around, there was some damage, but oh well, it's all good...

Uponing removing the lid, there was an envelope of goodies waiting for me...

We're talking goodies...

And even more goodies...

I pulled my Goji fig out, and to my surprise, it's a #2, way cool!...

And here he is, hot diggity...

I really can't wait to take this guy home and introduce him to the rest of the family.  A big thanks to my friends Marine and The Yellow Dino for the hook up's.  I can't wait to see what's coming up with the MyTummy crew.

Erick Scarecrow closeup...

This is one of my fav closeup pics,

This is a closeup pic of the foot of ESC's Medusa fig, Tai-yo's da man.

SoWhat closeup...

This SoWhat fig,

Captured the attention of Taiyo, again, this is a pretty small fig, and about 4 inches tall.

Huck Gee closeup...

Check out this Huck closeup Tai-yo snapped,

The ninja stars on that Dunny are pretty tiny, yet the camera was able to pick it up, trips.

Dok A closeup...

So unreal,

In this pic, I like how Tai-yo caught the tentacles of the LePodds, such an unreal photographic eye.

Zoomies closeup...

Here's another Tai-yo pic,

A super close up of one of the Zoomies Nigel chase figures.  If you didn't know any better, you'd think he's a 8 inch figure, but ya, only three inches.

Mist closeup...

Here's another closeup pic from Tai-yo,

This time from good ole Mist.  The composition of this pic is unreal with the Lucius figs blurred out in the background, eye candy I swear.  Much thanks to my homie NeonFox for the hookup on the Elements fig, he knew I wanted that figure from him for quite some time and he graciously gifted me with it awhile back.

Happy 4th peopz...

Happy 4th peopz,

So tonight my brother, my sister-in-law and I took my nephew to his first carnival not too far away from where I live.  I was especially happy and honored to be a part of one of his "firsts" in his life, that's some pretty cool stuff.  The night was full of people, good local music and stomach filling carnival food.  The evening menu included fried noodles, bbq sticks, soda, funnel cake and lemonade, life is good.  Because my nephew is still a lil guy, jus' a lil over one year old, he couldn't go on much rides so he went on that oversized slide with my brother and we all went on the ferris wheel.  While I was there I was able to snap a few pics...

I humbly ask for your vote...

What's up peopz,

I was reading on Vinyl Pulse that the award for each of the categories for the Designer Toy Awards is designed by Pete Fowler and cast in shiny chrome resin by Julie B.  I would REALLY like to add this trophy to my collection cuz I really like Pete Fowler's stuff and Julie's casting skills are unreal, so I humbly ask for your vote:

http://www.designertoyawards.com/categories/10

Much thanks in advance!