Gone baby gone

And for my next trick...

look for me to be gone for a quick week or so on bv vacation. I fly to Toronto tomorrow for the Christmas festivities.

I might be able to throw in an update or two, but probably not. So until next week everyone, have a wonderful holiday and stay safe.

I part leaving you with this final show from the fine folks who brought you Star Wars. This is a cartoon that aired during the infamous Holiday Special, and features the very first appearance by Boba Fett. Enjoy.


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I got an iTouch.

You know the best thing I like about Christmas? I mean aside from the goodwill, cheer and other crap that is so very important.... the presents. It's 16Gb, slick black, all shiney and beautiful. so very very nice. Check out this video of the system... pretty freakin sweet.



Thanks to my dad for this awesome gift :)
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Yo, I'm back

Do you ever feel like all the old people on the plane just suck up the moisture. I'm so dried out. Planes are gross. totally make me feel like I'm getting sick. Gotta remember it's all in my head, persevere.

Erica and I got back yesterday around midday. We had a long time getting home, with troubles both mechanically, and with the dreaded border patrol. US customs is for chumps. I mean seriously look at the Canadian customs versus US customs. The guys who work at Canadian customs are young, friendly kids, often times its a summer job away from college. They are happy that you're coming to the great white north and treat you with the civility and courtesy of a guest. Oh they are still professional, but they don't carry guns, and they manage to do their job while still maintaining a positive image of Canada. Compare that to the US guards and its a whole other issue. Granted the people that work at the airports are slightly better than the ones at overland border crossings, but generally speaking US border patrol scares the heck out of me.They're gruff, armed, and seem pissed off just being there. It's a career of dealing with crap and they hate every minute of it. Did you known that because of forced quotas the most common people pulled aside at the airport checkout line are people of mid-eastern decent? well maybe that's not so surprising, but the second most pulled aside group is young white women. Why exactly? do they look dangerous? No, actually they are pulled aside second most because the border patrol has to meet their quota of (random) searches and knows that young white women will generally not give them any trouble. Very disturbing...

Ok, sorry for the rant. I've just woken up and am a little distracted / asleep still. Thanks to all the people who bought my stuff on eBay, it seemed to be for the most part a success :) I sold over half of the lots I put up and made, after all the shipping, and ebay/paypal fees (I think), around $240. That would've been more but I accidentally screwed up on the listed shipping costs, so some people literally got away with a steal. D'Oh! my fault though, good for them for noticing the mistake I guess. I'll probably re-list 2 or 3 of the lots that didn't sell, or maybe rearrange them to make a more attractive collection. I suppose my final resort is trying to sell them at work too. Which would probably work, only I would definitely lose money on it. As of now my plans for the money go about as far as picking up the Robotech Protoculture Collection, and a few more trades.

I'd better go get myself together for the day, its New Years Eve tonight. Hooray! We've got plans to go over to our friend Miriam and Florian's house for a small gathering, should be fun. I'm sure I'll be back with more later, I had a really good time in Toronto, got to hang with Erica's family, even had a bonding moment or two with her father. Seriously! and I got to catch up with my buddys Bernard, and Lisa. Good times all around. Ok, I'm off to shower lates.

buy my stuff... please

Hey everyone,

So I'm in Toronto now. Well, not exactly Toronto, but Caledon area, and as expected it's very nice. Unfortunately though, they lost our luggage in Chicago with all the Christmas hullabaloo at the airport, so we have no presents and are stuck wearing the same clothes until we get them back :( Thankfully that should be either tonight or tomorrow, and they're even going to deliver it to the house.

I did get into the city today and saw Bernard which was great.

What I really wanted to let you all know though, is that my items on eBay have finally gone on sale. I'm selling something like 430 comic books in 19 different lots (of 20-40 books a piece). I'm selling them cheap, so if you or someone you know might want some comics, please go check out my eBay Sellers Page for more info.

Thanks all.... happy holidays :)

A land far far away...

Tomorrow I'm heading out on the big Christmas trip. Off to Toronto to spend the holidays with Erica's family. It should be a really fun time. Family time is always good, maybe a bit stressful, but still good :)

So with that said, I probably wont be doing any serious updating here until I get back on the 30th. Usually the pop culture news is pretty slow this upcoming week anyhow, but I sure do wish I could see that Fantastic Four trailer clearly... Ah well, it'll be here when I get back.

So I hope you all have some fun plans for next week, and that all your holiday wishes come true. If you're looking for something fun, and festive to do online, check out this page for links to 101 Christmas videos. It's all there, from It's a Wonderful Life, to The Grinch, Frosty, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and the Star Wars Holiday Special. Enjoy 'em while there here. Ok, I better go now, gotta finish packing. Lotsa love people. Peace out.

ps - yes Bernard, it's a personal post. deal.

a mostly great weekend

This past weekend held a little bad, and a lot of good for me.

The bad, frustrating, terribly awful , and annoying thing was that I went for a charity run, The Christmas Classic through Golden Gate park, and I actually couldn't finish. I think I mentioned that I'd been having knee troubles. Well its getting worse. I went to the doctor a few weeks ago, and she gave me a recommendation for a specialist. When I went to the specialist he said that my right knee predominantly, and somewhat on my left, is 'tracking' wrong, especially when fatigued. Basically that means the plate on the knee, the patella, isn't following the set alignment that it should when bending. You know that it floats right? ok, sorry; everyone knows that. So thankfully though, he said it actually isn't a physiological problem, nothing is physically wrong, and I should be able to retrain my knee to bend properly. He suggested a few sessions of physiotherapy and that after i build some strength in different parts of the knee I should be good as new. This is a very good thing. I know way too many people who have knee problems, and none of it sounds even remotely good. Of course the problem now is that I haven't had time to go to the physiotherapist yet, and won't until the new year. Running is becoming a problem though, and its extremely frustrating. I know the thing to do is not push it, but man.... I can't even finish a 5km run! After about 2 miles my knee just blew. Ok, it didn't blow out really, but it just started killing. Like sharp crippling pain with every bend. So i had to stop. it was depressing, and I know I shouldn't beat myself up over it, I just was pretty upset about the whole situation. So I stopped and rested the knee for 15 minutes or so, and was then able to walk around. Nothing permanent done at least. Erica and I had a good plan though. Because I have a gym membership with my work, I'm going to stop by one of their facilities that has a pool tonight. I think maybe I can handle swimming laps, and that at least will be some exercise. And zero impact too. It won't fix the problem, but it can't hurt.

The really good thing this past weekend was that because Erica and I are going to spend Christmas with her family outside of Toronto, we had Christmas with my family yesterday! Hooray for Christmas! Although we actually see my parents like once every week or so this was a very good visit. I should actually get some more pictures of the kitties. Loki and Freya are sooo cute now, and they've grown so much. We had a good meal too, of some yummy salmon. But of course most importantly, we all got presents. Erica didn't get me anything now, because she got me the Wii a month or so ago, which is totally amazing and I love, so that is really my best present this year. Other than that though, my mom bought me a ton of clothes for Xmas that I badly needed. I actually went with her to pick them out last week, then she took them home and wrapped them up. Its nice to finally have something new to wear again. And then my dad got me a great gift too. He's going to pay for my airfare and entrance fee at this years San Diego Comic-Con!!! Yup that's right kids. I'm going to the SD comic-con! And I'm very excited about it. Sure its not til the end of July, but it's going to be sweet. Erica might actually have to be there for work, but that's not going to be for sure until a bit closer to the date. So for now at least I'm going to plan on going with my buddy Joey. Yes I know this is super geeky, but man it'll be fun. I went two years ago and really loved it. This time, I think I'll have to save up some money beforehand though, and really plan out a proper schedule for the panels I want to see. oh, so exciting...

The main present Erica and I got my parents was tickets to the symphony. We also got tickets for us too; so that should be a fun night, especially since I've never been to a symphony before. And the main present I got Erica was some kitchen knives. I know, I know... it's not super romantic, but she's a practical girl... and really these are very good knives ;)

I also went to a kinda lame holiday party. But that's ok. You can't have all good parties. Oh but I did get a ton of stuff set for sale up on Ebay. I have 13 lots of comic books set to go on auction on Dec 23rd at 8am. And actually 6 more lots to add to the mix still. So please check out my sellers page and buy some comics if you're interested. oh wait, actually you can't see anything there cause nothing has gone up for auction yet. But after the 23rd I'll post that link again. ok, I'm going to sign off for now, there's more I'm sure, so I'll talk to you all laters.

a busy xmas wiikend

Man its just been super busy lately. Christmas is taking not only all my money but also all my time. Well, that and just you're standard Christmas silliness at work. This past weekend I spent a lot of time showing off the Wii to people. My parents came up from San Mateo and played it. They really enjoyed it. My mom LOVED playing the Wii Sports bowling... she actually gets a bit crazy when you put her in a competitive situation. We also went to a party on Saturday night, pretty chill cause of some rain here, but we brought the Wii along for the ride, which was fun. And then again on Sunday we had another friend over for dinner and she played the Wii with me... It's nonstop Wiinsanity! Thankfully I managed to snag a second set of controllers, as you can see in the picture, and I have to say, head to head bowling or golf is great, but unfortunately the Wii Sports boxing... not so good. On the other hand I've just discovered all the mini games in Super Monkey Ball (there's 50!)so I'm a happy camper for now.

E had to take off for another business trip. But does that mean I'm having time to just relax, laze around and watch cartoons all day. Nope. of course not. There's tons to do before we head off to Toronto on the 23rd. Like this Saturday, we're doing Xmas with my fam. Should be fun, but we're really just packing a lot in.

I've finally got Erica's big present sorted out. Of course I still have to wrap everything. Its good, but just a bit crazed I guess. On Thursday I've got another one of those snazzy "informational interviews" with a guy from work, to see if maybe, just maybe I have some sort of prospects for a future... Still, I shouldn't get down, this is good, at least they'll get to know who I am and that I want to actually do something with my life... meh, w/e, on with the show.

Here's what our little tree looks like now that it's all decorated. too bad with the flash you can't really see the lights; its very charming. Ok, I'd better go wrap before it gets too late. Bye.

look at our tree!

I just put up our Christmas tree. It was way tougher to do than I thought it would be. I've never actually bought or put up a tree myself before, but I think it's really nice that Erica and I have one (and a real one) for this year. It just kind of makes it more homey here. Unfortunately, Erica wont get to enjoy the tree until she gets back from a work trip in Japan, later on this week, but at least there will be a nice festive spirit to come home to.

I paid $42 for it this morning in the Castro, and it's a good thing I got it now. The guy at the lot said that probably by the end of the day today all the 4-5 foot trees will be sold out. This one is just over 5 feet tall, but really pretty full. It was a bit of a bitch carrying it on the streetcar home, but at least its all set now.

Here are some pictures, click to make them bigger. I put the lights on but I'll obviously wait for Erica to get home before we decorate :)

Oh, and if you're getting in the festive mood yourself, yesterday I picked up an excellent holiday album off of iTunes, called hOMe for the holidays. It's one of those discs made by the OM people.And is Christmas tunes mixed with electronica, and lounge. Totally chill. I'd definitely recommend it, and I usually hate Xmas music.

Ok, I'm off to play the Wii for a while. Later all.

Top Toys for X-Mas - a buyer's guide

With Halloween over it's finally time when we can start looking forward to Christmas. Hooray for Christmas! Ok, I know that there's Thanksgiving first, but that doesn't get commercialized in anywhere near as fun a way as Christmas does. Also aside from any religious connotations, that I'm not prepared to get into at the moment, the thing I always loved most about Christmas is something you just don't get for Thanksgiving; presents. So maybe I'm not really saying hooray Christmas, maybe what I'm really saying is hooray presents!

This past weekend, I received a flyer in the mail which was unfortunately recycled before I had a chance to read it, The Toys R Us Big Toy Book Christmas catalog. I loved toy catalogs. When I was a kid, they we're the kind of thing I could pour over for hours. Sears had a good one, as did Simpsons, and of course The Bay both of which are Canadian department stores. As you might have guessed, I always went for the action figures first, but I really tried not to be discriminatory on the whole. I liked all the toys and would spend time looking through the entire catalog: baby, to toddler, to girls, to boys, to family and games, to sports equipment. Weird how toy catalogs have basically the same set up all the time. Anyhow, it was the action figures I think I liked best because especially back in the day the product shots often had tons of different figures in a single 'scene'. Nowadays its odd, toy companies only seem to advertise the two or three hottest and newest toys of a given line and then leave the rest of the line, or older toys, for you to find when you go to the store. I always loved it when they would show all of the toys of any given line together, and best when they were interacting. I think it had something to do with my collectors mentality, and a small level of obsessive compulsiveness. I just really like the idea of having everything together. Heck it really didn't have to be action figures, If I had a good product shot of ten different My Little Ponies hanging out at The Dream Castle, I would totally love that too.

So without further ado here are my top picks from the '06 Toys R Us christmas catalog for the best toys of the season. Follow along in The Big Toy Book online if you like. This is my Buyer's Guide.

Fisher-Price Kidtronics Digital Camera - $59.99

I know this may be in the preschool section but seriously, what kid doesn't want a digital camera! this is super sweet. I want this. This is one of those 'toys' that's so great because it's so versatile. It includes 8MB built in memory, has an SD slot, USB connection, and fun editing software. It also comes in blue and pink! The only negatives I can see are that the picture quality is apparently pretty bad, and there are a few reports of buggy systems. I think kids will really love this though. I know I would've loved it when I was a kid.

Snugglers - $19.99

Snugglers are basically pillowcases with heads and limbs attached. This is seriously a fun idea. I'm actually tempted to get one myself, so simple and so cool. When I was a kid I definitely would've wanted a huge Spider-man pillow buddy. Also it comes in like 17 different variations, from Power Ranger, to Superman, to cows, and pigs, cats and dogs, to a host of the Disney Princesses. very snuggly cool. and cheap.

Leapster Portable Learning System bundle - $74.99

I really love the toys Leapfrog makes. They're a great company and make (on the whole) very solid learning products. This is their ever popular portable gaming/learning system, I think they try to skew it a bit older than it really plays for but thats ok, kids 4 and up seem to love these. things. They've got a game catalog that is good for preschoolers up to I believe grade 3. And additional games range from $19.99 - $24.99. This is the portable system bundled with their hot new title, Cars, at a pretty decent price. Also, while Leapfrog does make a home console system to play the games, the portable version is the far superior product, and can also be plugged into your television.

Marvel Heroes Ani-Movie Studio - $49.99

This is one of the coolest toys out this Xmas in my opinion. Yes I know that technically its just a mounted digital camera, with some simple software, and cheesy Marvel themed background cells, but I would be all over this as a kid. Basically this is a cartoon making studio, and I don't think you really need to explain much more. Creative and fun, it only requires a bit of patience, but honestly for the sake of my own personalized spider-man cartoon, I would do just about anything.

Play-Doh Creativity Center - $24.99

Play-Doh is always in fashion. This is a pretty good set containing 48 different accessories, including cutters, shapers and extruders. Its also got good storage area inside it, and comes with a full 10 cans of Play-Doh. What pushes this set over the edge from the Mountain of Colors set, or the Big Barrel set, is that it comes with a bonus case of 10 more cans of Play-Doh for free. now that's a good deal.

LEGO Batman: Arkham Asylum - $59.99

Woah! LEGO Batman. This is sweet! I can't decide what's awesomer, the fact that this amazingly cool playset actually exists, or that toy's r us is selling you an exclusive playset of a MENTAL ASYLUM FOR THE CRIMINALLY INSANE as a toy for children. The set comes comes complete with fairly horrific conditions for it's inmates (The Scarcrow, The Riddler, and Poison Ivy) as well as Lego versions of Batman and Nightwing! Actually, I'm not sure if this is really cooler than their other new Batman playset for The Batcave, but Arkham is a TRU exclusive and on sale for $30 cheaper than the other one, so I'd go for this. Definitely for the older kid on this one though.

Dora the Explorer plush - $19.99

Ok so technically this plush Dora isn't in the '06 Christmas catalog, but Dora is so crazy huge I felt I'd be remiss if I didn't mention her. Toys R Us lists a whopping 177 products branded after her. Unfortunately a lot of those products are overpriced garbage. There are a number of battery operated talking and singing versions of Dora dolls for this Xmas and from what I can tell they are all pretty bad. I'm talking worse than Teddy Ruxpin bad... actually now that i think about it Teddy Ruxpin was pretty awesome. Anyhow, why not go for this simple cheap Dora plush instead. She's cute, and this doll would totally hold up to the rigors of childhood. now if only there was a Boots plush.

Disney Fairies Sparkling Tinkerbell Dress -$24.99

Normally I'm definitely not down with little girls dressing up as princesses. Firstly it seems a bit too precious, but also I think it promotes some bad ideas in kids, and bad images for girls. Not as overtly manipulative as something like Bratz or Barbie, I think that the whole 'disney princess' concept can make girls at the worst bratty and self-involved, and at best an avid consumer. I don't really think Disney is evil, I just think they are exceptionally good business people, and if you let them get a toehold on your child it could very well be all over. That said, this Tinkerbell fairy costume is pretty darn nice, as long as you explain that fairies really aren't the same as princesses. Then again little girls probably know this better than you already. This would also apply to this cool Little Mermaid costume. Neither of these are too bad, and I think girls would have a lot of make believe fun with them.

Lifestyle Dream Kitchen - $139.99

Ok, so not only does this play kitchen come with a whopping 27 piece set of accessories, plenty of storage space for play food and other sundries, and real lights and sounds for the appliances, not only all that, but it is just fantastically stylish. I mean come on. I wish my real kitchen was as nice as this. Honestly the only downside I see to this toy is the price tag, which I admit is a bit steep. But hey, some kids are really really into playing like they're in the kitchen. I think this is a very cool playset.

Slurpee Machine - $24.99

I don't think this needs any explanation. It's a slurpee machine. Everyone wants one of these.

Cranium (various games) - $16.99

Cranium is one of the few companies really bringing family fun back into board games. Sure there's a lot of great complex new games for adults coming out of Europe, but in terms of something that can appeal to the young and old, these guys know where it's at. Their games for the most part require only one thing, that you be willing to be a little goofy... and as soon as you do, you'll have no end of fun. These specific games are their ones specifically geared towards parent and child play, but their entire lineup is definitely worth a look.

X-Games 20" Moto-bike, Flybox Ramp - $149.99, $49.99

This is just plain awesome, and any kid would thank you for the coolness points associated with this sweet bike and ramp set. Admittedly once you get this stuff for your kid they'll probably get a bit crazytown on you, and possibly start wanting 'real' and expensive gear. Until then though, I think this is a great starter set into the world of extreme sports. Which of course is where I know I plan to push my children.

Don't buy the helmet or pads; that's for chumps...

Action Figures - Really whatever strikes your fancy. It's weird with the action figures this year. I mean action figures are really all about the licenses. The big ones this year are the obvious one: Justice League, Batman, Ben 10, Avatar the Last Airbender, Ninja Turtles, and Spider-Man. Despite the moderate success of Cybertron, Transformers have a pretty weak showing this year, Not that they don't have toys, just crappy toys. Next year after the movie comes out I'm sure they'll be on top of the world as will Spider-Man probably once again. Some of the standby classics like Star Wars seem a bit flat to me this year. Really for my money I'd say skip the figures this year. But that's just me.

Matchbox - Mega Snow Rig Monster Mission - $34.99

Matchbox still makes some lame-o toys, just look at their "pop-up" series. But I think, or at least hope, that maybe they're finally going to stop trying so hard to be Hot Wheels. Seriously guys, face it, you'll never be Hot Wheels. So when I see something like this Mega Adventure set start to show up I think its a very good sign. It's kind of like a cross between the Fisher-Price Rescue Heroes series, and 80s G.I. Joe. I just think this looks super fun to play with. And for added bonus, the vehicle all comes apart and can be reassembled differently. Fun.

Hot Wheel's Radar Gun - $24.99

It's a Radar gun... it reads speed up to 100 MPH. What wouldn't you do with this...

Nintendo Wii - $249.99

I honestly think the Wii is the toy of the season. Granted I don't think you'll be able to get one. EB Games, Wal-Mart, Target, everyone has sold out of pre-orders. Be careful if you are actually pre-ordering it, cause you might not (ie probably won't) get it by XMas. The Wii, along with the PS3 WILL be sold out everywhere. I'm personally not even going to bother trying to get this until Februrary-March. For a whole slew of reasons including the price, the virtual console, the motion sensitive controllers, the overall fun factor, the degree of 'casual games' that are going to be offered for the Wii, and much more, I think it will be the most fun new console to play with. I'm very excited to get my hands on it and I think you should be too. I don't know if this really is the game system to break that wall between children and adult gamers that industry people have been trying to tear down but it's definitely a step in the right direction.

Check out more information on the Wii here, and here. When you buy it you'll want an extra, Wii-Mote ($40), extra nun-chuck ($20), possibly the classic controller($20), at least one new game ($50), and probably a virtual title or two ($5-$10), so try out this handy online Wii calculator to see how much you'll be set back. For me, it's less than $500 for everything, and that's a heck of a great deal considering how much fun I'm expecting to have.

So yeah, maybe it's not technically a Xmas deal, as you almost assuredly won't be able to get one, its still part of my holiday picks for '06.

Nintendo DS Lite - $129.99

The DS has, to me at least, proven itself to be an incredibly robust and innovative game system. I sometimes get to play my girlfriends DS, and I always have fun. There are some great games out for it now like Animal Crossing, Nintendogs and Mario. But if that's too much there's always the Gameboy Advance SP (now with a brighter screen) which is running at a very reasonable price of $79. Anyhow, I'd go for the DS if you are thinking about the Wii, but not sure you want to spend the cash until a few more hands on reviews are in.

This will make a super great gift for any kid.

MiJam Drumsticks - $22.49

Ok, admittedly I have no clue whether these work well or not, but they definitely look like they'd be fun... sadly I suspect they're utter garbage. Ah well, at least they're pretty ipod white. And frankly if they did work really well, you'd be driven crazy by some kid playing them ALL the time. Let's be thankful that they probably will break in a week.

Ok, so there you go. Finally at the end of the Toy's R Us Big Toy Book catalog. Note that the prices I mentioned are pretty much all the TRU Sale price valid until Nov 22nd. I'm not trying to make this a big TRU advert either. Obviously go around a check out other stores for prices or sales, I just found their Xmas catalog pretty handy, and they really are a one stop shop. So all done, and I only ended up with what? like 17, or so recommendations. Hmm, well that's just my take on the toys of the season. Obviously this isn't necessarily the predicted best sellers of the season. No where on this list did I mention TMX Tickle Me Elmo.. ok, no where unitl right there. Also things like Power Wheels, while always super sweet, aren't really realistic toys, no kid really ever gets a Power Wheels for Christmas. Well, no kid except that one down the street who you all secretly envy and hate. Honestly if you're a parent, don't make you're kid into that one spoiled kid on the block. I'm fine with a degree of consumerism, but avoid Power Wheels. There's more to say of course, always so much more, but this is where I stop.

This post is getting dangerously past feature article length and into ridiculous territory so I'll stop. I hope everyone enjoyed my '06 Holiday Buyers Guide. Maybe I'll do it again next year. Later Gators.