Put your sneeks down and do some different kinda running. Run up that credit card and do your part by shopping in October aka breast awareness month! Key to the Cure t-shirt, saks.com
Fashionistas: Saks Fifth Avenue's charity shopping weekend will take place October 16 to 19 at all of its stores nationwide and through saks.com, during which 2% of sales will benefit local organizations through EIF's Women's Cancer Research Fund.
Hasbro is bringin' back the MLP Power to Comic Con with yet another exclusive pony. Yay!!!
This year's Little Pony is decked out in ninja black with a hot pink mask, tail and mane. Fancy. And take note of the "HIYA" on her leg -- yeaaah, take that Witches from the Volcano of Doom! This pony is here to take on all the baddies that try to invade Dream Valley with her lightning quick ninja skills.
i Need to go to japan. because i Want this: which Needs to be stored in this: which Needs to be paired with this: which Needs to be carried around while wearing this: Without each other, they'd all be lost. so all in all, they're all essential.
[all screenshots courtesy of sanrio.jp. lucky sons of guns.]
The upcoming series, Transformers Animated, will take place in the future city of New Detriot where the Autobots defend the city from Decepticons. Some of our old school faves will be there as well as new characters. The tv series is just around the corner -- scheduled to hit tvs in January 2008.
The graphic novel will also be out at the same time and will tell the story of the show's seventy minute pilot. Each subsequent volume will include two complete stand-alone episodes of the series.
[all sneak peak photos included in story are courtesy of idw publishing]
the adidas originals Ali Values Project will have three more new pieces joining the collection and will be celebrating this Thursday December 6th at the adidas Originals Los Angeles.
Six live-by values, Six sicka$$ artists.
Come hangout with some of the world renown artist involved in the series -- Eric Bailey(dedication), HVW8 (giving), and Shepard Fairey (conviction) will be co-hosting the event.
Click on the flyer above and dont forget to rsvp. And with a $150 purchase, you'll receive a limited edition poster. sweet deal.
After my Birthday Barbieque (like my play-on-words? hehe), Leslie, a pal of mine, was telling me the latest scoop on Barbie. She too is a Barbie fan and she told me the most coolest news:
The Hello Kitty® Barbie® Doll is set to hit stores on September 14. It will be a pink label barbie, which means it does not have a "run" limit and should be found at most retailers, premiere destination to be at Walmart. Also, it can be purchased on barbiecollector.com.
Another popular zip code is here officially here today!
1 0 2 2 2
The Saks Fifth Ave in New York has a new shoe section that's SO BIG that it has its own zip code!
uh, when can i move in???
Ribbon cutting ceremony happened today at 9:30am with stylist to the stars, Mr. Philip Bloch (such a doll!). 10222-Shoeofficially opened its doors today at 11:00am.
"10222-Shoe" will have its own express elevator, private vip rooms, and its own cafe. my, my my!
To commemorate this joyous (bordering ridiculous, like c'mon, its OWN ZIP CODE?) event, USPS has printed a special issue of stamps depicting shoes designed by some of the industry's top designers! Those who cannot make it to New York, you can purchase any shoe on saks, put in the code, SHOE, and you get the collectible stamps free! Ha, and if you don't want your stamps, I'd be happy to give them a nice home ;)
[Disclaimer: Ok, so I know I have been lagging to write this post, but really I have a good reason. I'm not going to blame it on having regular work, freelance work, everyday life events, being pooped from the con, getting sick, celebrating my birthday, or being out of town away from the computer. Nor will I remind you all that we write for okeedorkee as a hobby. The reason why I lagged is because, I am scared of ghosts. I usually write my posts at nite and yes, I am a fraidycat. so I can't explore the ghost whisperer website as far as I like to or even check out the promo disk I was given at the con. Even with the sound off, I still get scared of the images. So, bare with me and I will promise to try really super duper hard to watch the promo disk and go on the website during the day right after work. soon. sooner than later. so sorry again. forgive me? love you! ok, now back to our regularly scheduled program...]
If you do, these people are ready to scare the bejhesus outta ya. Ok, ok, they don't want you to be too scared...just be aware. (o_O) OoOoOoOooOOoOO....
Executive producers, Kim Moses and Ian Sander, Web dude, Justin Fisher, and miss star actress, Jennifer Love Hewitt gathered with us press peeps to discuss the cool new stuff to expect from The Ghost Whisperer at the Comic Con this year.
People, people! It's not just a tv show anymore. You too can take part in the haunting storyline with Melinda. Fans have a chance to dig deeper into the story. We are encourage to head online and experience the journey inside the underworld and see for ourselves what goes on at The Other Side. The Other Side is a spin-off of The Ghost Whisperer and is an all new Web-based series that shows you the world through the eyes of ghosts. There are webisodes that only viewers can see online! And who knows, your favorite webisode character might be seen on The Ghost Whisperer.
After ComicCon on Thursday night July 26, hundreds of fans and I caught a special advance screening of the upcoming action filmShoot 'Em Up. Michael Davis and Clive Owen were on hand to answer questions and give some insight about the film just before the showing.
Action fans will definitely eat up the kinetic film with a constant stream of frenzied shoot-outs with a unique plot going above the synopsis of average action flicks: Clive Owen (star of Sin City and BMW Films: The Hire) stars as a carrot-wielding loner known only as Mr. Smith who gets caught protecting a newborn baby from a cynical hit man Mr. Hertz (the always great Paul Giamattiof Sideways). To take care of the baby, Mr. Smith enlists the help of DQ (the Matrix Reloaded's Monica Bellucci) a prostitute catering to a lactating fetish. The newly-formed, unlikely family must find out why the baby is being chased while constantly running from Mr. Hertz and his endless supply of gunmen.
Beneath the surface is a convoluted and unique story with engaging characters and witty dialog, yet it definitely takes backseat due to the high quality of the action. In fact, writer and director Michael Davis presented the concept to studios and faced constant rejection because of the seemingly shallow plot's face value. But it wasn't until he put together a 17 minute animated reel of key action scenes that the movie was green lit.
Predictability has been the bane of most films of the genre in recent years, but because of the immense creativity of the action scenes, Shoot 'Em Up delivers what most gun-crazy action movie fans have been craving for. In the tradition of the all out gun play of classic John Woo films like Hard Boiled and following in the adrenaline stylized footsteps of films such as Crank and Smokin' Aces, Shoot 'Em Up also adds some of the most unexpected shoot-outs with a consistent flow of fast-paced editing throughout.
The violence, sex, and humor all take extra steps, or rather, GIANT LEAPS to levels that you probably wouldn't expect. Some moments often taken too far to the point of ridiculousness but they're done so extremely well that all disregards of realism are forgiven and appreciated for providing satisfying entertainment value.
*SLIGHT SPOILERS* Without giving too much away but there seems to always be some off-kilter quirk to every situation in the movie. For example the gun fights have some sort of gimmick to add to the fun: a shoot-out during a baby delivery, a shoot-out during a car chase, a sniper shoot-out in a playground, a shoot-out during sex, a shoot-out while skydiving, and a Home Alone-inspired booby trap-filled shoot-out in a gun factory.. just to name A FEW. *SPOILERS END HERE* To top it off the plentiful shoot-outs all end with climactic sight gags sure make its target audience satisfied with a laugh or awe of the absurdity. Each time, I had to pick up my jaw from the bottom of my seat as I contemplated how much each the scene ROCKED.
For the most part the stellar cast is top notch in this type of film. Clive Owen is perfectly cast as the typical suave bad ass and unlikely hero. As Mr. Smith, Owen comes off as a natural whether it comes to spitting one-liners while unfazed at the face of adversary, snapping witty remarks throughout, or shooting, flipping, and sliding acrobatically during the action scenes. If it will teach a lesson to those that need lessons taught, this character will draw every line to accomplish it. You'll love Mr. Smith if you hate to see drivers that don't signal or parents that beat their kids in public. He reacts to things in ways everyone has wanted to but had the sense to not do them!
Monica Bellucci's portrayal of DQ is excellent in bringing warmth to the character. Peppered by her exotic Italian looks and accent, the chemistry between her and the British accented Owen is exciting and convincing. With DQ you genuinely care about what happens to the character because of the humanity she shows trying to take care of the newborn Oliver and trying to care for the even Mr. Smith herself.
With such strong protagonists you would need an conversely evil adversary and thats where Paul Giamatti steals the show. His character, Mr. Hertz, provides most of the dark humor and is such an evil bastard you'll actually grow to love him due to Giamatti's excellent portrayal. As he matches wits with Mr. Smith, Mr. Hertz in turn matches gun prowess whether he wields a sniper rifle or his signature Desert Eagle with a custom fingerprint identifier, all while being annoyed constantly from the cell phone calls of his wife. The cynical yet humanized villain is immensely fun to watch much in the vein of great cinematic bad guys like Gary Oldman's portrayal of the crazed cop Stansfeld in Leon: The Professional.
Strange to say but the real star of the movie is the vision-enhancing orange vegetable, the carrot! Never in a film have carrots been so important, so hilarious, or so awesome! When Mr. Smith takes bites off of a carrot in a calm after the storm the stock of adrenaline that viewers have gained will inspire them to stock up on carotene. In fact, after the premiere the audience was treated to fresh carrots! Lets just say after this movie you'll never guess how bad ass eating carrots can be.
Along with the plentiful homages to Hong Kong cinema greats like John Woo and spaghetti westerns, there are many allusions to Clive Owen's trademark of driving Beemers in films, such as his stints in BMW Films as well as a hitman in Bourne Identity. There even is a nod to Owen's potential as a previous successor to Pierce Brosnan's James Bond that fans will definitely eat up as this film comes as perfect example of what he would've been like as the next Bond.
After watching this movie with fellow action aficionados it was unanimous that our socks had been knocked off. Also worth mentioning was the very vocal and energetic Comic Con audience laughing, cheering, and giving ovation to every awesome scene (and were scenes of awesomeness plentiful!).
As far as for who the film is for, just watch the trailer. Its definitely a movie that gives so much fan service to action film fans that anyone out of that circle can instantly dismiss the film as typical action fare or even as a 'bad movie'. Not so when you put into account how clever and how deep both action, style, and plot go with Shoot 'Em Up. However its very rare that a film had the whole audience's blood pumping NONSTOP throughout. Not to say that the film is perfect, but as an action film you'll definitely come out satisfied. Even during the pauses, the direction, art direction, and cinematography is so sharp and stylized that it keeps the intrigue going. Each metal and electronica song in the soundtrack paint and frame the action perfectly. I don't think I've seen better use of Motorhead's Ace of Spades or Motley Crue's Kickstart My Heart in a film. Some films "cut to the chase" but the whole entire film is THE chase.
Movies are supposed to entertain and Shoot 'Em Up goes above and beyond to meet that expectation. I applaud Michael Davis in both having the immense passion for his story and the efforts he put into directing such a sharp, exciting movie. Each and every scene will had me sitting in my chair in disbelief wondering why the heck I haven't been this much entertained. I can't say I've had this much DAMN FUN watching a movie in a long time! As I told my friend that I was going to post a review here, he told me I should write this article as a one word review: AWESOME. There's no better way to put it!
So stock up on your carrots and mark your calendars on September 7th!
Since the special series premiere at Comic Con 2006, Heroes has skyrocketed in popularity... as if it wasn't already getting enough buzz last year! Back then, they had an exclusive release comic book along with the special 73min series premiere. I missed out on all the Heroes goodness last time because it all happened the one day that I didn't go to the Con. Oh well...
This year, NBC did not disappoint their Heroes following, offering more exclusives and a panel with the entire cast! Unfortunately, I missed that panel too... I failed to hear that people could stay in the ballroom where the panel was being held all morning leading up until the Heroes one. Which means that people who were there for the very first panel of the morning could stay in the room as long as they wanted. So we waited in line for 2hrs in vain because they could only let in as many people as there were people leaving... which was practically none. Boo... wish I had gotten that memo!
I did, however, come across one of the Comic Con Exclusives the Heroes booth was passing out at random. Believe it or not, it was leaning against the wall next to a trash can in one of the hallways! There was another exclusive being handed out at the booths - another comic book - but I didn't even know about that until the Con was over. As I mentioned, these were handed out at random - you just had to be lucky enough to be at their booth when they were being passed out... or come across it chillin' somewhere on the floor. Us unlucky ones will have to shell out some money on eBay now... blah!
And if you were in the same boat as me and couldn't get into the panel (or weren't able to go to the Con) you can find clips from the panel online at the NBC/Heroes page. But don't forget to check back here for more updates on Heroes exclusives from the Con!
If you were the lucky few that picked up Kobe at Comic Con, have no fret. Your Kobe has a playmate! or I suppose an arch enemy.
Upperdeck's All Star Vinyl series is releasing the LeBron action figure on August 7th at 9:23am pst (is the time symbolic of something? :23=Lebron's number?) They are to release four versions of LeBron - A Red Road uniform, a White Home uniform, a Black uniform, and a retro uniform.
[away vs home]
Each variant will of course be limited...the most being the Red one, which will have 1500 produced, while the Black one being the most limited at only 250 figures.
Will you be one of the lucky few to get the two newly inducted Hall of Famers Tony and Cal's signed sweet spot?
Yes, the card is embedded with the "sweet spot" of a baseball. and its an actual game used ball. SAH-WEET!
Find these and other super duper cool collector cards inside of the upcoming releases of 2007 UpperDeck Ultimate Collection and series packs: MLB Sweet Spot Classic, MLBGoudey, SP Legendary Cuts, MLBMLB Masterpiece.
As promised, here's a little something from the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Sorry for the delay, but that Comic Con sure did take a whole lot out of me... and I just downloaded the software to upload my pix to my computer =)
Being the dork that I am, I decided that I had to go to the Harry Potter midnight book release because it was the last book of the series. If I didn't go this time, there wouldn't be a next time and I didn't want to have any regrets. So I dragged rye-uhn-air-ick [it was reserved under his name] and we went to the Borders Grand Hallows Ball. Let me back track a bit for some of you. To celebrate this momentous occasion, Borders had a Harry Potter party on the eve of July 20th that started from 9:00pm and went until midnight. Get into character and enter their costume contest. State your opinion in the Great Snape Debate or show off those Ravenclaw smarts in the Potter Spelling Bee. Unfortunately, we missed all the fun and games because we were coming back from out-of-town. However, we made it just in time to not win anything in the raffle... The Borders I went to had all the festivities inside the mall and it was really odd seeing so many people there after business hours. We were given wristbands that were color-coded to indicate which group of people could line up first to get their books come midnight. I was in the second grouping but didn't get home until after 2:00am! Can't say I regret any of it though... just wish I was able to take better pictures. The lighting in the mall wasn't really that great. And just 'cause, here's an exclusive Harry Potter tote bag the folks at Scholastic were giving away at the Con in San Diego. It's made of some sort of synthetic material and has the cover image from the recently released book printed on both sides (Harry on one, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named on the other.) People had to get to their booth early to get ahold of one of these babies! Luckily, I got one on the last day they were giving them out. Until next time...
Holy madness! Because I was already delirious the past couple of days at the loony Comic Con and wanted to heighten my insane factor, I waited in line for two hours for a signature. yes. i know. i'm trippin' right? But don't worry, i had fun. I entertained myself by gettin' gangsta' on the jenius elite security f'tards. Know your roll sons! but i digress...
...I've seen Simone Legno (the brains behind the Tokidoki obsession) plenty of times before and I have his signature already...but I just had to get my dang Deva's signed (post on that later.)
But, the wait was worth it. I got exclusive news! (I did it for you guys!!!) I was able to chat with Simone about his new project with Asics on their Onitsuka Tiger line:
The Tokidoki Onitsuka Tiger line will consist of 4 designs containing the 4 tigers with 2 styles each -- a hightop and low top sneaker -- so that's a total of 8 shoes you need to collect! The line will be for both the fellas and chicas! The line is scheduled to be released in Spring of 2008 in Japan and USA. Simone said he has the Tokidoki-Onitsukas collabo prototypes sitting on his shelf next to his Devas and other tokidoki paraphernalia. I wanna see! Simone, house party at your house, yes? Tell Kaori! and okay, Ivan can come too. lemme know! ;)
hmmm...what will they look like? Here are a couple of the past Onitsuka Tiger Line Styles...(maybe they'll use these???)
Yo, Simone, my badd. I thought the above postcards were of bears. Note to (slow) Self: those are actually tigers. Waka-waka-waka! duh, tigers for onitsuka tigers. like hello, they gots teeth like sabre-tooth tigers. ha, sorry simone. I'm really slow.
Got an email from the good folks at MUNKY KING, they gave me the low down on their signing schedule regarding their featured artists and exclusives for the 619 Comic Con. They will be featuring artists Thursday – Saturday with nobody on Sunday.
In order for them to make it fair for everybody, none of the exclusives will be sold Wednesday the 25th for preview night. The 619 Comic Con exclusives can be acquired once the Munky King booth opens at 10am. As soon as they open you will need to acquire a numbered wristband for each exclusive. From that point on, once you get your wristband, they’ll be calling out your number for the designated signing time.
Munky King will be selling 40 a day of the following exclusives at the designated artist signing time:
SDCC Possessed by LUKE CHUEH edition of 150 SDCC Pirate Pusher by THOMAS HAN edition of 150 SDCC Spirit Pusher by THOMAS HAN edition of 150
and below is their following schedule:
THURS. JULY 26th noon - 2pm LUKE CHUEH 2pm - 3pm YOSKAY YAMAMOTO 3pm - 4pm DAVE PRESSLER 4pm - 6pm THOMAS HAN
FRI. JULY 27th
11:00 am - noon AMANDA VISELL noon - 2pm LUKE CHUEH 3pm - 4pm DAVE PRESSLER 4pm - 6pm THOMAS HAN
SAT. JULY 28th
11:00 am - noon AMANDA VISELL noon - 2pm LUKE CHUEH 4pm - 6pm THOMAS HAN Also, don’t forget about the little shindig they got going on called DA FESTICON. It’ll be poppin Thursday night (July 26th) @ BASIC Bar on tenth and J from 9pm-2am. It should be dope, with Dj’s spinning and live painting going on through the night. Oh and for those that go, let me know how it went, unfortunately I’m working that night.
holy moly. if Preview Nite was only for the selected few -- press peeps and multi-day pass holders -- i am scared for the sold out saturday crowd. Preview Nite was packed! and oh, the smell. good gawd, its only the first day people!
anyhoo, though i parked really far, got dizzy a couple times, (ha, i don't do well in crowds, thank goodness for the on-site medics, but don't worry, i didn't use them. yet) and was not able to get all the free stuff i wanted, (because of the crazy long lines and them "running out") Preview Nite was fun =)
enjoy a tiny peek of the hoopla...
G4 Stage - watch them as they film live throughout the weekend!
KidRobot booth where tagging was preferred, but SOMEONE was way hoggin it...
Way Cool Naruto and Bleach Characters The most comfortable looking booth -- best place to set as the "meet up" place Isaac's NY Apt/Paint Studio aka the ultra tiny Heroes Booth (hello??? do they even understand their popularity???) Darthea is yo mama ready to partay! _____ in a box! that's huge! Mister Lover Man...JABBA! Want... WAY Want... NEED... (...to stop buying, lucky for simone, im a sucka.)
ho-hum... comic con, we had a great thing going. you. me. some friends. but now. oh now. gollie, why are you so popular? and better than ever???
We STILL have tons of Comic Con coverage to tell ya about!
We're telling you,
Let me back track a bit for some of you. To celebrate this momentous occasion, 
The Borders I went to had all the festivities inside the mall and it was really odd seeing so many people there after business hours. We were given wristbands that were color-coded to indicate which group of people could line up first to get their books come midnight. I was in the second grouping but didn't get home until after 2:00am! Can't say I regret any of it though... just wish I was able to take better pictures. The lighting in the mall wasn't really that great.
And just 'cause, here's an exclusive Harry Potter tote bag the folks at 
