Kidrobot - Dunny Series 5 Vinyl Figures by MAD and Clutter

Now that Dunny Series 5 has been officially announced, artists are starting to leak their designs for Kidrobot’s latest designer vinyl mini-figure series. Today The Blot is excited to share with you two more very cool designs slated to be included in this newest series of Dunnys set to be released on September 4th. The first figure is from one of The Blot’s favorite artists, Kansas City designer MAD (you may recognize his design work on Upper Deck’s line of All-Star Vinyl figures). His secret agent inspired Dunny has some of the best accessories ever. I’m really digging MAD’s newest vinyl figure.


Then comes a pirate themed Dunny from the artists of Clutter Magazine. I love the creativity of the pink one-eyed pirate’s peg leg ear. With pictures of these two new Dunnys hitting the web, we now have seen 10 of the 19 designs for Series 5. I’m just dying to see what Huck’s ultra limited edition Golden Ticket Dunny will look like.

2008 Beijing Summer Olympics - Michael Phelps Goes 8 For 8

The Blot has watched so much Olympic coverage over the past 10 days that my head hurts. When NBC announced they would be airing more Olympic coverage of the Beijing Games than of all of the coverage of the previous summer and winter Olympics combined they weren’t kidding! And yet even with all of this coverage the ratings are higher than ever.


One reason for this has to be that all of the United States has been following the amazing feats of American swimmer Michael Phelps. He’s won all 8 races he competed in and broke 7 World Records and 1 Olympic Record in the process becoming the only Olympic athlete ever to win 8 gold medals in a single Olympic Games. This surpasses the record set by American swimmer Mark Spitz at the 1972 Munich Summer Olympic Games where he won 7 gold medals in 7 events and set 7 World Records.

Did anyone catch the joint interview Bob Costas did with Phelps and Spitz after Phelps tied Spitz’s record? I thought Spitz was so gracious and called Phelps’ accomplishments epic. Spitz went so far as to call Phelps the greatest swimmer ever. I was happy to see how well Spitz took the breaking of his record, but I am not sure how I feel about Phelps’ anointment as the best swimmer ever. There have been some amazing swimmers over the past 100 years and to say that Phelps is hands down the greatest seems disrespectful to everything that has come before him.

On the one hand swimmers today are bigger, faster and stronger than ever before. The competition Phelps faces every day seems to be much better than the competition in the 70’s and 80’s ever was, but like with all sports it is very hard to compare athletes from different eras. I also have a problem with the crazy rate World and Olympic Records are being broke at these Beijing Olympics. There is not a doubt in my mind that the pool is “juiced.” I’ve even heard that the pool was built deeper than most pools to allow for faster times.

While Phelps’ 8 gold medals are not tarnished at all because of this, it does put many of the time records he set in question. It is unfortunate, because now we’ll never know how many records Phelps would have set in an un-juiced pool. The fact that Spitz set 7 World Records and Phelps set 7 World Records is a wash, but to me the Spitz records seem like a bigger deal. In the end, we’re really discussing apples and oranges and the fact remains that Phelps is now the most decorated U.S. Olympic athlete of all time and has set a feat not likely to be broken for many, many years.

Oh yeah, can anyone explain to me why Phelps’ sister Hilary was always shown crying after every single gold medal winning race? After Phelps’ first few wins I would have thought the emotional impact of his accomplishments would have lessened. But no, after every single final there she was sobbing next to Phelps’ jubilant mom. I’m a sucker for things like this, but I think crying on eight times in a week might be pushing it. Oh well, I guess she was just stuck in the moment. It did make for some entertaining television and I’m sure NBC praying for Phelps to win and sister Hilary to cry.

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations - Spain

After last week’s episode of No Reservations, which featured Tony touring Tokyo with Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto, Bourdain heads to Spain for what promises to be an exciting episode. I am basing this on a very cryptic message posted last week by Bourdain on his Travel Channel blog:

I will spare you additional details [about the Tokyo episode], giving you time, I hope, to pour yourself a stiff drink, situate yourself comfortably on the couch, position a bucket of ice water nearby, and strap on some extra absorbent adult diapers to avoid embarrassing emissions. Foodies with heart conditions should probably medicate themselves appropriately. The Spain episode that follows next week will only make matters worse. Food bloggers will surely be caused to bleed unexpectedly and inexplicably from various orifices, a fine mist of brain matter and steam issuing from the ears.

A seemingly straightforward scene at “Espinaler” near Barcelona, where we crack open some cans of mussels, cockles and razor clams will cause, I’m quite certain, heads to explode across the internet, leaving only smoldering stumps. The gurgling pipe-loads of dark, African chocolate rumbling beneath the floor of Enric Rovira’s workshop, when spread across marble, will no doubt initiate many newcomers watching with that special someone -- to the experience of rolling over into the wet spot. By the time the Extebarri scene rolls around, and the Imperial beluga caviar and the prawns and the freshly made, uncured chorizo and the just-killed baby eels start grilling over their individual fires of hand made charcoals, few will be left alive, I fear, to appreciate the Arzak scene.

You have been warned. (link)

Sounds like a pretty good episode doesn’t it??? Bourdain goes as far to say that outside of Asia, Spain is the single greatest place for culinary achievement in the world. (link) Now that’s some high praise! To find out more about tonight’s episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations check out this promo video:

The Blot Says… Reaches Its 500th Post

I can’t lie, this is actually post number 502. The 500th post was on Friday and I didn’t even realize it! For some reason I thought I wasn’t going to hit my 500th post until this week. I guess I blogged more last week than I realized. Regardless I missed the big 5-0-0 and I wanted I’d bring attention to The Blot’s big milestone.

In all honesty, I thought it would take me a long longer to reach this point than it has. I’ve been blogging for less than a year and, well, here we are. In honor of my 500th post check out this awesome painted cover that came out last month by Alex Ross for issue #500 of one of my favorite comics of all time, Uncanny X-Men:

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Animated Feature Film

The Blot was all excited to talk about Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the animated feature film debuting in theaters today, but then reviews of the movie started to trickle out from media outlets and around the web. Let’s just put it bluntly, everyone hates it! I can’t tell you how disappointing that news is, but at least it’ll save me from having to take a trip to my local theater and shell out who knows how much money.


I guess now I’ll just wait for the movie's DVD release or its replay on TNT before the start of the new Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated television series. I had some high hopes for this animated movie, but I should have learned by now that any movie associated with George Lucas in this day and age is going to be a disappointment (no matter how much money a movie grosses). It really sucks that his ideas and imagination can’t be translated into movie masterpieces like they once were in the 70’s and 80’s.

Kobe Bryant and LeBron James USA Basketball Edition Upper Deck All-Star Vinyl Figures

To commemorate the Games of the XXIX Olympiad Upper Deck is producing two limited edition Team USA figures: a LeBron James USA Basketball Edition All-Star Vinyl Figure and a Kobe Bryant USA Basketball Edition All-Star Vinyl Figure. Both figures are wearing the exact same Nike uniforms Team USA is wearing in Beijing, and even has the special graphic featured on the backs of the Team USA Nike jerseys. (link) This is a great way to commemorate the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games, but only if we win the Men's Basketball gold.


The Redeem Team still has a few more games to win before they can bring the gold back to the United States. So far the U.S. Men’s Basketball team is 3-0 and on their way to doing just that. What I like best about these two figures is that they will never become outdated like many of the Upper Deck NBA All-Star Vinyl Figures already have. Players and teams move around so much that UD’s Shaquille O’Neal Heat figures and Kevin Durant Sonics figures are already inaccurate. Plus, who knows where LeBron will end up once his current contract expires. But LeBron and Kobe will forever be members of Team USA and will always have worn numbers 6 and 10 respectively for the 2008 Beijing Summer Games.


The Kobe Bryant and LeBron James USA Basketball Edition All-Star Vinyl Figures are both limited to just 500 figures and are on sale now at the Upper Deck online store for $74.99 each.

EA Sports x Reebok - Madden 20th Anniversary Recline PH Sneakers

With the release of Madden NFL ‘09 this week I thought I’d spotlight a sweet new collaboration from Reebok honoring the hit video game’s 20th anniversary. No details are known yet about this extremely limited edition shoe’s release or price, but I am sure this will be an extremely popular sneaker for both football fans and video game aficionados.


The coolest part of this shoe is that it includes a collage of Madden Football video game covers on its outer shell. I just hope the Madden cover jinx doesn’t affect wearers of these sneakers like it has the professional athletes who adorn its covers. This year’s cover features the immortal Brett Favre in his Green Bay Packers jersey. At first this seemed like a smart way for EA to avoid talk of the dreaded cover jinx, and yet now it seems to have already struck and we didn’t even realize it.

Could the Madden cover jinx be behind all of the problems between Favre and Green Bay? I’m inclined to think so. Because while Favre is not hurt yet, he is now wearing a Jets jersey and what could be worse than that? I’m kidding Jets fans! Either way if I was a New York Jets fan I’d be really worried about my new starting QB now that he’s on the cover of Madden ’09.

Sara Gilbert Joins The Cast Of The Big Bang Theory Full Time

As we get ever so close to the start of the 2008-2009 television season, The Blot is excited to announce that Sara Gilbert has been added as a series regular for Season 2 of the CBS comedy The Big Bang Theory. (link) This is some really exciting news because I have always loved the chemistry between Gilbert and Big Bang star Johnny Galecki ever since their days as Darlene and David on the hit 90’s comedy Roseanne.

After guest starring on The Big Bang for three episodes last season, there was no denying that Gilbert and Galecki's trademark playful/sarcastic chemistry was stronger than ever. When you throw Big Bang co-creator Chuck Lorre into the mix, who also served as a writer/producer for Roseanne during the show’s early 90’s heyday, you have a real Roseanne reunion going on here now on a weekly basis.


The freshman comedy did surprisingly well as a part of CBS’ Monday night comedy lineup and expectations are high for The Big Bang Theory’s second season, which begins on Monday, September 22nd.

2008 Beijing Summer Olympics - Swimmer Amanda Beard Is One And Done

The Blot is sad to report that my favorite United States Olympic swimmer and reigning Olympic champion of the 200-meter breaststroke, Amanda Beard, failed in her bid to defend the gold medal she won at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. In a preliminary heat last night the four-time Olympian was unable to advance to semifinals in her signature event, the 200-meter breaststroke.

According to reports from Beijing, “Amanda swam the 200 in 2 minutes, 27.70 seconds, more than 2.5 seconds slower than her entry time and nearly 4.5 seconds slower than her Olympic record time in Athens four years ago.” (link) While Beard still currently holds the Olympic Record in the 200-meter breaststroke, I would imagine that mark will be eclipsed later in the week like almost all of the other swimming records have been over the course of these Olympic Games.


This was Amanda’s only event of the 2008 Beijing Summer Games and will more than likely be the highly decorated swimmer’s last race ever at a summer Olympics. I am sure the U.S. swim team and fans around the country will miss seeing the PETA supporting model at future competitions.

The Legendary Golden Claw 8 Inch Dunny by Huck Gee

There really is no slowing down for Huck Gee this August. The guy is releasing custom, hand painted 8 inch Dunnys at an alarming rate. Next up in his Gold Life series is...the Legendary Golden Claw!?! I know what you’re thinking, there is another Golden Claw?


The question you should be asking is which Golden Claw is the real one? Who knows since this latest 8” Dunny from Huck is hiding its identity behind a mask, but the figure is pretty cool nonetheless. There seems to be more to this figure’s story than is currently being told, but I am sure more details will be released from Huck’s camp soon. Maybe the story will unfold in Huck’s upcoming new Gold Life prints? I guess only time will tell.


The custom hand painted Legendary Golden Claw 8 inch Dunny will be released as a 10 figure set on Huck Gee’s eBay Store on Friday, August 15th 2008 at Noon PDT. Each signed, numbered and gold embossed figure sells for $800 and will be limited to one figure per customer.