Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations - Sardinia

Tonight’s episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations is a big one! For the first time in five seasons, No Reservations will finally feature Tony’s better half, his wife Ottavia. In “Sardinia,” Tony travels with Ottavia to her father’s homeland to learn what it means to be Sardinian and give himself over to the Busia family for a week. From the craggy mountainous landscape to the exotic cuisine and age-old traditions, Tony learns that Sardinia really is its own country with a strong island mentality and an even stronger personality. I have to admit, The Blot knows absolutely nothing about the Italian island of Sardinia, and so I am really looking forward to learning more about it from the Bourdains’ visit.


Although Bourdain grew up in a small family, he’s always dreamed of large family meals where old recipes are still honored and everything is made by hand. In Sardinia, Tony gets to live his dream as he dines on a whirlwind of pastas, cheeses and meats, such as donkey, famous Sardinian snails, baby goat drizzled with pork fat, wild hare, partridge and of course carasau, Sardinian bread. Fans are really going to love this glimpse into the life of Anthony and Ottavia Bourdain, and the amazing foods they eat on their journey through Sardinia.



Anothony Bourdain: No Reservations airs every Monday night at 10/9c on the Travel Channel.

PON - AP Grease Stained Take Out Dunny Chase and Canvas Set

PON, one of The Blot’s favorite artists, will be putting the Artist Proofs of his Kidrobot Series 2009 Take Out Dunny chase up for sale on his website tonight in a very special set! Not only has PON added some extra detailing to his Take Out Dunny to make it grease stained, but he is also including a handmade 5”x7” canvas to make this truly a set collectors will not want to miss out on.


Each of PON’s Artist Proof Grease Stained Take Out Dunny chase figure and 5”x7” canvas sets will retail for $120 and goes on sale today, Monday, Sept. 14th, at 9pm EST NOW. You can purchase the AP Grease Stained Take Out Dunny Set here at PON’s official website FeedThePigeons.net

MINDstyle x Disney D23 Expo Exclusive Vinyl Figures Pre-Sale

Last weekend D23, the official community for Disney fans, held its inaugural Expo this past weekend at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA. MINDstyle was there selling all sorts of Art Toy Collectibles (i.e. designer vinyl figures) that you can’t find anywhere else in North America. These figures included the Bloc28 Mickey Mouse figure by Tenga, the Bloc29 Mickey Mouse by Suiko, the Jiminy Cricket vinyl figure, The Black Hole’s D23 Expo Exclusive Tron Colorway V.I.N.CENT. vinyl figure and Fantasia’s Chernabog vinyl figure. Best of all, MINDstyle announced on its blog this past weekend that fans and collectors not able to attend the D23 Expo can now pre-order these awesome Disney figures directly from MINDstyle by emailing in your order info@mindstyle.com.


Disney’s Bloc28 collectible vinyl figures were originally only sold in Hong Kong, but as of the D23 Expo they are finally available in the US. Bloc28 Mickey by Tenga is big at over 15″ tall and has a wing span of 22 inches. The edition size of the Bloc28 Mickey by Tenga is only 300 pieces and retails for $125 each.


Bloc28 Mickey by Suiko is 12″ tall and is limited to an edition size of 500 pieces. This figure also includes a free random sized t-shirt, all for $125 each.


The MINDstyle x Disney Jiminy Cricket art toy collectible figure stands nearly 12 inches tall and retails for $125 each. Jiminy’s edition size is open to all pre-orders until the pre-order period ends at 5:00PM PDT, Monday, September 14, 2009.


Disney’s Tron inspired “The Black Hole” V.I.N.CENT. vinyl figure is sized at over 10″ tall and masterfully painted in metallic blue color tones. The edition size is open to all pre-orders from now until the pre-order period ends at 5:00PM PDT, Monday, September 14, 2009, and retails for $130 each.


The hard to find Disney Villain Chernabog ATC is sized at over 12″ tall with a massive wing span. The edition size is open to pre-orders during D23 with orders being taken until 5:00PM (PDT), Monday, September 14, 2009, and retails for $150. Once production is closed, the figures will no longer be available direct, except on a very limited basis at select retailers.



From all reports, the D23 Expo sounded awesome! It featured pretty much everything Disney you could possibly imagine, and even featured some crazy celebrity appearances. If you’re interested in finding out more, click here.

Michael Jordan x Upper Deck x OBEY Giant BULLS Print by Shepard Fairey

Tomorrow is the 2009 Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony and it’s going to be a big one! Not only are “The Admiral” David Robinson, John Stockton, Coach Jerry Sloan and Coach C. Vivian Stringer being inducted, but so is Number 23, Michael Jordan. To commemorate the induction of arguably the greatest player to ever lace up a pair of sneakers into the Basketball HOF, Upper Deck is re-teaming with OBEY Giant artist Shepard Fairey to release a series of Michael Jordan screen prints.


This is actually the second time Fairey has collaborated on a series of prints with Upper Deck. The first series of prints featured LA Lakers guard Kobe Bryant and were entitled KOBE, MVP and GOLD. Right now not much is known about this first print in the upcoming Michael Jordan x Upper Deck x OBEY Giant Hall of Fame tribute series, including price or release date. What The Blot does know is that it is entitled "BULLS" and will measure 26”x36” and should be dropping sometime soon.

If I had to guess, I’d say there will be two editions of each print released similar to the UD x OG Kobe prints, a dual signed print autographed by both MJ and Shep and a single signed print autographed only by Shepard. Knowing how much Upper Deck authenticated Michael Jordan signed memorabilia runs for, I feel pretty confident in saying the dual signed prints will cost a pretty penny.

Travis Cain Wood Dunny Hinged Chase Figure from Dunny Series 2009

Here is the much rumored Travis Cain Wood Dunny Hinged Chase Figure pulled at the Domy Books pre-release party in Houston! It's solid wood inside, but it's still really cool that the head opens and closes. Thanks to daaznnikeboi3 for the pics! How cool is this wooden Dunny!?! Good luck finding one for the completists out there.

The Blot’s Recovering From Dunny Overload

The Blot's still recovering from last night's awesome Dunny Series 2009 pre-release party at Domy Books here in Houston, Texas, so The Blot Says... will be a little light in the posts department today.


I got some awesome figures last night, but am still looking for a Pon and Huck Gee! Arghhh. I hope everyone else found/finds the figure's they're looking for this week. The designs in this series look even better in person than they do in pictures, so I highly recommend picking up a few blind boxes. And the two Travis Cain Wood Dunnys I saw look incredible! The highlight of the night was finding out there's a chase Wooden Dunny that has a hinge in its head so it can be opened and shut! How cool is that. I only wish I had gotten a picture of it.

Kidrobot - Buff Monster 8 Inch Dunny Packaging Teaser Photo

Please forgive The Blot, I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to post this! According to a tweet by Buff Monster, the LA artist has an 8” Dunny dropping very, very soon. No word on its official release date or price, but I’m guessing it could be as soon as October considering Buff’s already received a shipment of the 8 inch Dunnys he designed for KR.


The Blot’s dying to see what Buff’s Dunny looks like, but until then we can only speculate. Hopefully it has lots and lots of pink all over it. Thankfully, Buff did give us a little teaser by posting the picture above. It’s just the bottom panel of the Buff Monster 8” Dunny packaging, but hey beggars can’t be choosers! At least this way we definitely know it's coming. More details to come…

Nightwing Chase Batman CosBaby Figure

It’s been almost a year since The Blot spotlighted Hot Toys’ Batman CosBaby toy line, and I wanted to follow that post up with a picture of the line’s Nightwing chase figure now that the Batman CosBaby figures have hit stores worldwide. I had some mixed feeling about a toy line featuring baby versions of Batman and his rouges gallery, but the figures are actually pretty cool (the affordable price tag of $10 per figure also helps). So when I randomly saw the Nightwing CosBaby in a comic book store in Dallas a few weeks ago, I caved and bought him immediately.


The Batman CosBaby line includes Modern Batman, Classic Batman, The Joker, Robin, Classic Batgirl, Catwoman, Two-Face and a chase Nightwing figure. Each CosBaby stands 3” tall and comes packed on a 4-color blister card.

Lost Screen Print #4 - The Crash by Eric Tan

Wow, The Blot didn’t even get a chance to post about the fourth official Lost screen print released on the Damon, Carlton and A Polar Bear website before it sold out! As more and more fans find out about this awesome art project created to honor Lost: The Final Season, the prints are selling out in mere hours. It also doesn’t hurt that print #4, entitled “The Crash,” was designed by popular Disney/Pixar artist Eric Tan. Tan has created tons of killer retro posters similar to "The Crash" for Disney/Pixar movies like Up, Wall*E, Ratatouille and The Incredibles, and you can see those posters and so much more at his official website The Art (and Random Adventures) of Eric Tan.


Eric Tan’s limited edition Lost screen print “The Crash” measures 18”x24”, has a run size of 300 pieces, and comes hand signed and numbered by the artist. The print originally sold for $50 each, but is now SOLD OUT.

In celebration of LOST's final season and as a project of fan appreciation, 16 top designers and artists, who are also fans of the show, were commissioned to create artwork celebrating one of the series' most memorable, and unforgettable, "water cooler" moments. This ultimate "fan art" was then turned into labor intensive, hand-pulled screen prints, limited to an edition of just 300, with less than 200 available to the public through our websites. Each beautiful poster tells its own different story, allowing the fan to relive memorable and influential moments in an artistic manner, as the show's storied run comes to a close. Once this limited edition print has sold out, they will never be printed again. Celebrate the fandom, community and family created by one of televisions' greatest shows by hanging a little part of its history, inspiration and influence on your wall. (link)

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations - New York Outer Boroughs

For some reason, The Blot’s post on last night’s episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations didn’t post yesterday afternoon as it was supposed to. So instead, here is a teaser for last night’s episode “New York Outer Boroughs.” It turns out that Tony knows the jungles of Malaysia and the streets of London better than he knows what's just outside his home in Manhattan, so he enlists some locals to help him explore New York City’s five boroughs.


While in Queens, Tony enjoys traditional Chinese, Indian and Korean foods such as pig’s feet, head cheese, lamb noodles, fried pancakes, wriggling chopped octopus and piles of steaming seafood. When traveling to Staten Island, Tony meets up with David Johansen, the lead singer of the former band the NY Dolls. Their first stop is New Asha, a Sri Lankan restaurant, where they enjoy the Sri Lankan specialty black curry goat and discuss the true roots of rock and roll.


After Staten Island, Tony goes to Brooklyn and joins Chris Chung for a delicious dim sum breakfast of duck feet, tripe, fried bread, pork meatballs and hargao in Sunset Park. Bourdain then meets up with Carlos, his close friend and chef at Les Halles, to have lunch at Los Hermanos, a tortilleria that both manufactures and serves tacos.



Back in Brooklyn, Tony and Peter Meehan, food writer and critic, are treated to a delicious meal of seared beef heart and bone marrow, which are enough to render Tony speechless. Peter and Tony then dine on some unique dishes like pig’s head fettuccine, brussel sprouts and grits, and a deliciously juicy rib-eye steak, all while discussing whether or not Tony missed the boat to Brooklyn. New York City has always been known for its exquisite foods, but sometimes the amazing restaurants and chefs of its outer boroughs are overlooked. Thankfully now the rest of the world will know of the great things going on in NYC’s five boroughs.

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations airs every Monday night at 10/9c on the Travel Channel.