Top Five: Birthday Wishlist

Unicorn Meat

How about some canned unicorn meat from Radiant Farms. It's sure to make any dish a little more magical. I wonder if they are free-range unicorns?

Han Solo in Carbonite Ice Tray

This is just genius if I do say so myself--ice in the shape of Han Solo frozen in carbonite. If you are going to use ice why not do it in style?

Monolith Action Figure

This cracks me up. If you haven't seen the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey then this might be over your head. I am not going to explain it so I guess you'll just have to watch it if you haven't seen it.

Warcraft Mugs

For those of you who are obsessed with WoW, now you can get that early morning start to your addiction with a nice mug of coffee or grog... whatever you prefer. Me, I'd probably use the mug to drink away my Blizzard-ruined-a-good-thing-sorrows.

Floating Tardis Desk Toy

Need I say anything about this? If you like Dr. Who, if you like magnetic toys, and/or if you enjoy anything that has to do with science fiction in general then this desk toy should be on your wish list.

Desk not included.

Top Five: Stupid Things That I Really Want

If had money to blow on stupid stuff these things would be at the top of the list.

Beardhead



















Toilet Mug



















Marshmallow Shooter











Mini USB Turntable



















Mini USB Turntable

Top Five: Toys of My Youth

I spent a half an hour today in a Toys R' Us looking for a birthday gift for my favorite soon-to-be six year old. As I was standing in one of the dozens of aisles dedicated to girls' toys I was a little overwhelmed by my options. It was a very nostalgic experience, not because I played with girl's toys as a kid, though I can't say never, but because I was a toy fanatic as a kid. But then again what kid isn't. I landed on a toy that has been a staple for all little girls since I was a kid, My Little Pony. I'm not going to lie. It's a pretty cool toy. And of course I got some Hot Wheels for her brother, a staple for all boys' toys. It was actually a lot of fun being back in a store dedicated to toys. I am a huge kid myself and if I had millions of dollars I would have a room in my house dedicated to toy collecting.

Anyway, while I was there my mind wondered back and dusted off the memories of me playing with my favorite toys as a kid. The toys from the 80s and early 90s were the best. So, I figured I would make another Top Five list of my favorite toys from my childhood.

1.) Marvel X-Men Action Figures

These were the crème de la crème of toys when I was a kid. The cartoon was on FOX kids and in full swing. I was obsessed. I still remember humming the theme song throughout the day at school. I had a fantasy of being one of the gang. Mimic was my name and my powers were the ability to change form to look like anyone. I also had the "Rogue" ability to absorb mutant powers for a short time by touching that mutant. In essence I was cheating because with these powers I could be anyone I wanted, even if only for a short period of time. And, for all you X-Men fans, yes there is already a Mimic... I didn't know that at the age of 11. But since I couldn't be Mimic I settled for the next best thing, Wolverine. You can't go wrong with adamantium claws. I remember spending hours having X-Men battles in the back yard. It was beyond epic. Marvel toys redefined the action figure with this collection.

2.) Masters of the Universe

What kid didn't like HeMan in the late 80s? Santa got generous one year and brought me, pretty much, the whole collection of toys. I remember going nuts that Christmas morning. Castle Grayskull was, by far, one of the coolest hero bases ever. It had a secret door and a falling-rock trap at the front gate. Skeletor and his minions had no chance. And even if they did ever break through, HeMan's oily muscles, stunning power sword and faithful friend Battle Cat would destroy them. I HAD THE POWER!

3.) Ninja Turtles

This was another classic toy dynasty from the early 90s. Leo, Raph, Donnie, Mikey, Splinter, April O'Neil, Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady, the footclan, Krang, the Turtle Van, The Sewer System... the list goes on. This was one of the coolest collections of toys. The thing I remember the most were the accessories. The various weapons, vehicles and environments that were in the collection were amazing. I even had quality (plastic) replicas of the turtle's weapons so I, too, could be a turtle in my own back yard. The cartoon was fantastic as well. I remember as a kid this particular toon came on for a full hour on Saturday mornings. And for those of you who are a little younger and think the later TMNT cartoons that followed were just as good or better... you couldn't be more wrong. The TMNT cartoons to follow never did the original justice.

4.) Battle Beasts

These were some of my favorite toys. I had a million of them. They came in packages of 4 or 5, I can't remember, and they covered every animal imaginable. On the front they had a square powercell that showed one of three elements: fire, water or earth. They "activated" when you held your thumb against them for a couple seconds. These elements indicated which "team" they were on. Like the ever popular, Pokemon, of the next generation, I had to have them all.

5.) Legos

I loved Legos. I had three Lego cases full of them. But of all the Lego series out during my youth the Ice Planet collection was my favorite. I had the whole series. Just looking at the pictures bring back so many memories. The two images to the left I built on Christmas morning on the kitchen floor. It took me all morning to put the whole series together and then I spent the rest of the day playing "Ice Planet". I mined ice crystals and fought off space pirates, played by characters from the Space Minifig series. I think my parents were convinced that I would grow up to become some sort of toy engineer. I would spend hours building my own models. I won second place and got a 250 dollar Lego gift card for a lego building competition when I was 12. That was one of the biggest highlights of my youth. Alas, math would become the bane of my existence and engineering would become a less attractive avenue. Besides, I had plans to become a weatherman... that didn't happen either.

Top Five: Favorite CG Short Films

So with my new found addiction taking up a lot of my free time, as well as time that is not-so-free, my love for CG films has been rekindled. Blender has given me a whole new perspective on what goes into a film like The Incredibles. I thought I already knew so much. I had taken classes on basic animation when I was in school (studying fine art: graphic design) but I suppose I had never really taken a class purely on animation. Just modeling basic low-poly junk is tedious... but fun. I can't imagine the time and attention to detail it must take to even produce a CG short with a fully realized world. Granted, many of the larger films have massive teams of people who know all the hot-keys and shortcuts but much of the time these shorts are done with a team of three or less... even just one person at times. Seeing what goes into modeling, texture wrapping, bump mapping and rigging, among many other tasks, I see now, more than ever, how impressive these films really are. Sure they are beautiful to look at but there is beauty behind the scenes as well... and a lot of crying and temper-tantrums I am sure. So, while rekindling this love over the past few weeks I have been watching a lot of CG shorts and have come across some really good ones. These are my top five favorite CG shorts as of now.

Sigg Jones from Asterokid on Vimeo.

I lived on the Moon from Yannick Puig on Vimeo.

Cat's Meow from Jorge Garcia on Vimeo.

Pigeon Impossible (720p) from Paulo David on Vimeo.

REPLAY HD from Anthony Voisin on Vimeo.

If you would like to see more amazing CG work check out the post "10 CG Shorts You Must See" at www.3dworldmag.com. This site is great for keeping up with what's new in CG.

Top Five: Books I'd Like To Write

I have often thought about writing a book. I have so many ideas in my head for stories. I am a big fan of fantasy, if it is done well, and I also enjoy historical fiction and biographical memoirs. Most of the stories/ideas I have in my head are loosely based on my own life experiences. So, if I were to write a book, which book would I write? That's the question: What are the top five books I would write?

I also realize I have very few, if any, people reading this blog so far but feel free to comment and respond the question yourself.

1.) The Lemon in the Grass - This would be an observation about people who are considered useless or defective by others or themselves. The image of a lemon, fallen from the tree, and in the grass is indicative of a person who is beyond redemption. As long as a useless person is still attached to the tree they have potential.

2.) Avant: The First Born - I have had this idea for some time (almost a decade). The genre rests somewhere between Tolkien and Lewis. The story is about a young boy growing up with expectations of his potential and position. He would be the one to join two nations together that had been at odds with one another for centuries.

3.) Common Sense for Dummies - This is pretty self explanatory. There are a lot of people out there that could benefit from a book that teaches them how to identify common sense. But then again, maybe its not something that can be taught. That's a sad thought.

4.) Roanoke - A work of fiction on the historical mystery of the disappearance of an entire settlement. I have always been interested in the mystery of their disappearance and have many ideas as to what could have happened based on the evidence that we have.

5.) Font - I love design and my favorite design tool to work with is type. Art and information achieve their greatest potential when they work in tandem with one another. But most people don't realize that what they are reading is art or the art they are admiring has information or a message within it. I would love to write a book about the value of type (font) in our modern culture. I'd also like to take a chapter to discuss how text-speak is damaging to this art and information.

Here are a few writing resources I have used if you get the urge to do some writing yourself.

www.bookwritinghelp.com

www.bookcatcher.com

www.thesaurus.com