The work of Belgian sculptor Stephane Halleux has been described as “Tim Burton meets Jules Verne”. The sculptures don’t move, but they look wild and have a lot of character. He’s made robots, people, chairs, cars and machines that are just remarkable. It looks like the medium used to make these amazing creations is leather, metal, wood, clay and scrap. If you like this, you’ll probably like Crabfu.

Joe Ledbetter has 16 new original figures produced by Kidrobot coming out. The Finders Keepers mini-series is Joe’s very first blind box mini-series and they’re amazing looking! It’s the same vibrant colors, shadows, and character expressions we’ve grown to love. They’ll be released (tomorrow) Thursday, August 30th at 11 am EST and at 3 inches tall are $7.95. There’s even a Finders Keepers Chase Race at the Kidrobot stores in SF, LA, and NY - where you can win a case of figures, a $300 gift certificate and more!

My guess is that this will be the fastest selling mini-series ever! If you’re a fan of Joe Ledbetter, these are a must have. I hope I can get some of these cute little animals.

Update: I bought a couple of blind boxes so far and luckily got the character I like the best - the more common Cutter (3/20) and the harder to find Frozen Cutter (1/40).

In general most women aren’t this thirsty, but then again most fellas aren’t as forthcoming. You ladies are probably better off just drinking milk.

It’s interesting that the study found that the female beetles were 40% more likely to mate if they were thirsty. If that was true for humans, I imagine more guys wouldn’t buy a girl a drink and would probably suggest a walk through a dry desert instead.

Laugh-Out-Loud Cats - Let me show you them. The first time I saw the silly and creative artwork by Ape Lad was with the 700 Hoboes Project. Now his Laugh-Out-Loud Cats comics are entertaining folk everywhere. I really enjoy his sepia tone view of the world with the antics of those grammatically challenged cats, Kitteh and Pip. His old-timey artistic style gives you a real feeling of yesteryore. Enjoy the Original Laugh-Out-Loud Cats film and you’ll swear it was 19 aught 2 again.

Bloxorz - use the arrow keys and move your block into the square hole in the least amount of moves and don’t fall of the edge. It’s darn tricky and it will take you some time to figure out this clever little puzzle game.

Check out the second and third series of the classic G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary action figures that will be out this September and October, respectively. The second series includes Beach Head, Serpentor, Buzzer, Lady Jaye and a Cobra Trooper. While the third series has Red Ninja, Zartan (with color changing head), Shipwreck w/Polly, Stalker and Firefly.

The first series rocked and these figures look swell and I’m sure to get them all, but is it me or does Zartan’s face remind you of Alice Cooper? And doesn’t it look like Lady Jaye put her head in a vice grip? Plus how did the Red Ninja get into the 25th anniversary collection? Sure the world needs more ninjas, but he was originally released in the 90s! What about making Major Bludd or the first Joe I got - Rock N Roll?

(In my days toys were different… Old Man rant…)

While we’re all waiting for the release of the Dark Crystal Sequel in 2008 why not watch the original Jim Henson classic? The Dark Crystal (25th Anniversary Edition) is available on 2-disc DVDs for your viewing pleasure. Now you can enjoy this amazing fantasy film with all it’s organic details in full digital. This newly remastered DVD has everything that made the original release great plus a good deal more including a making-of documentary and interviews from the writers, directors, and performers. I’m a big fan of this flick with it’s atmospheric music, amazingly detailed natural world and of course the wonderful “lively” characters.

It’s time to enjoy a live-action, puppeteering masterpiece.

Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Dragon Quest and more! At the Square Enix store the selection of high-end merchandise includes action figures, sculptures, plushies, jewelry and exclusive items. There’s not a huge selection yet, but unless you live in Japan where else are you going to find quality stuff like this? The Final Fantasy III mini-figurines, Cactuar, Tonberry and Moogle plushies look awesome and make great gifts! (*Wink, wink.*) Be sure to check out their store often for updates.

I don’t know about you, but I’m still waiting for Dragon Quest IX and Revenant Wings.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters follows a middle school science teacher as he battles a hot sauce mogul for the Guinness World Record on the arcade classic Donkey Kong. This movie was a hit at this year’s Slamdance Film Festival and it got pretty good reviews. I saw their booth while at the Comic-Con and there was always people playing those games. I enjoy playing the classic games like Donkey Kong, Q-bert, Joust and Pac-Man, but I’m not obsessive enough to worry about the high scores. (With the exception of winning so I could put in the high score name of A S S.)

Even though this movie has video games and a lot of heart, it can’t compare to the movie classic The Wizard. Even if you aren’t a Nintendo freak, you know that movie rocked. Plus it had a young Fred Savage (aka Kevin Arnold of the The Wonder Years! He so should have married Winnie Cooper.)

The Inochi Project commercials look a bit weird, but they’re really funny. The three Japanese commercials are entitled “Thumpity Thump”, “Milk” and “Sha-La-La” and are combined into one short (PG13+?) video. I can almost ignore that big head of his.

Note: Inochi is Japanese for life or life-force.

(via we make money not art)

The Mr. Men Show series goes on-air in 2008. The 25-strong cast of the new show will be revealed over time with Mr Bump, Little Miss Sunshine, Mr Tickle, Mr Bounce, Mr Happy and Mr Grumpy currently online. This is great news for those who enjoyed the children’s books (that started in 1971) and now have kids of their own. To keep up with the latest Mr. Men news be sure to read the Mr. Men blog.

Now you too can be like Savage! Just pop this action-adventure game cartridge into your Atari 2600 to begin the hours of thumb worn fun. Search for the lost, magical, golden treasure in the maze-like tombs of the Apple Dumpling Gang, while negotiating obstacles and the 8-bit creatures! Collect all the fruit salad and the coins to get the high score. You can choose between two difficulty levels and four directions of movement. (Be sure to check out the the Atari 2600 Label Maker.)

When you say RPG what is the first thing you think of? Well for me it would have to be the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. Of all the gaming genres, RPGs are my favorite and it was D&D that introduced me to it, back in the late 70’s. Even before video games came around I was rolling dice, fighting wizards and finding treasures with my friends. I’d buy whatever handbooks I could and was totally fascinated by the mechanics of the game. Traveling to strange new fictional worlds, gaining experience and special powers was quite fun - especially compared with the workaday schedules that most of us have. Playing D&D was a nice way to get away from the usual and enjoy an adventure with friends. Whether you were a rogue, cleric, wizard, fighter, bard or dungeon master you could always have a good time playing.

The popularity of D&D has grown since its inception and references to it are throughout popular culture. Over time it has become more socially acceptable to talk about it in public, but it still has a geeky air about it. Even though I’ve not played any D&D since the 80’s, I’m still a big fan of RPGs. Now whenever a new Final Fantasy video game comes out, I’ll buy it. I’m glad D&D came about and showed us the road to great adventure.

Be sure to arm yourself against the threat of magical dragons and get the full page version of this ad.

I’ve seen the wonderful illustrations by William Wallace Denslow before, but I was just reminded of just how impressive his artwork was with this post on BibliOdyssey. The illustrations of each character, the style and the page decorations throughout this 1900 classic are top notch. You can see all the high quality scanned images of the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, at the Library of Congress (Rare Books). You’d be one lucky lad or lass to find a quality book like this still on the shelf at a thrift store.

Here’s a great interview with Joey Weiser about his first full-length graphic novel The Ride Home. It’s a fun for all ages story following the adventures of Nodo the van-gnome. I got the book at the Comic-Con this year when I saw Joey at the Flight booth. The book’s a good read and it’s creatively drawn, I bet you’ll enjoy it too.

I’m excited about his second graphic novel and of course his work in Flight comics.