February 5, 2005
One of two things will happen: He’ll eat your heart off a pike, or he’ll have your guts for garters. You have a choice: You can fight him with a cutlass, or you can walk the plank. Choose: The devil or the deep blue sea. These little avatars, these plastic warriors are a safe outlet […]
Filed under: symbol, Toy | Comments (0)
January 31, 2005
At some point – midway between the Playskool block-sorting drum and the Thomas the Tank Engine fetish, we began to sort our two young children’s toys. Bricks, gears, stuffed animals, dress-up clothes – all were assigned translucent plastic bins in a pine toy rack – and my wife would spend a happy, idle hour every […]
Filed under: Artifact, Toy | Comments (2)
January 21, 2005
At some point – midway between the Playskool block-sorting drum and the Thomas the Tank Engine fetish, we began to sort our two young children’s toys. Bricks, gears, stuffed animals, dress-up clothes – all were assigned translucent plastic bins in a pine toy rack – and my wife would spend a happy, idle hour every […]
Filed under: symbol, Toy | Comments (0)
January 14, 2005
At some point – midway between the Playskool block-sorting drum and the Thomas the Tank Engine fetish, we began to sort our two young children’s toys. Bricks, gears, stuffed animals, dress-up clothes – all were assigned translucent plastic bins in a pine toy rack – and my wife would spend a happy, idle hour every […]
Filed under: Artifact, Objet, symbol, Toy | Comments (0)
January 12, 2005
At some point – midway between the Playskool block-sorting drum and the Thomas the Tank Engine fetish, we began to sort our two young children’s toys. Bricks, gears, stuffed animals, dress-up clothes – all were assigned translucent plastic bins in a pine toy rack – and my wife would spend a happy, idle hour every […]
Filed under: Artifact, Objet, symbol, Toy | Comments (0)
January 11, 2005
At some point – midway between the Playskool block-sorting drum and the Thomas the Tank Engine fetish, we began to sort our two young children’s toys. Bricks, gears, stuffed animals, dress-up clothes – all were assigned translucent plastic bins in a pine toy rack – and my wife would spend a happy, idle hour every […]
Filed under: Objet, symbol, Toy | Comments (0)
December 20, 2004
Divans. Bobby sox. Fondue dishes. Poodle skirts. Cocktail shakers. Gingham tablecloths. Highball glasses. Swizzle sticks. Meerschaum pipes. Waffle irons. Ice crushers. Condiment squeeze bottles. Tiki mugs. Doo-wop 45s. Tupperware. Demitasses. Poker chips. Bridge mix. Tulips. Ambrosia. Corn forks. Booze drenches and lubricates human endeavor. We like a good drink with friends. We think about drinking. […]
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December 6, 2004
Biological engineering made this ornate clot of bone. The curved incisors, the high zygomatic arch, the thick molars. Let fundamentalists and scientists haggle over its niche in God’s grand plan versus whatever mysterious purpose evolution could have for developing a furry submarine that gnawed down trees to dam rivers for easier swimming and fishing. Ignore […]
Filed under: Toy | Comments Off on #302 :: Lionel Engine
December 1, 2004
The madness of the “Christmas season.” drapes over sanity throughout December like a perfumed scarf on the only good lamp in the room. People behave like apes, focus like hummingbirds, drive like children. There are years when I loathe my fellow man from Dec. 1 to 20. It’s getting worse. A bit of perspective: Just […]
Filed under: Toy | Comments Off on #297 :: Spiked Flicker Ball
November 23, 2004
Iconic, kinetic, and about as simple-minded as a yo-yo, the Wheel-O was your own hand-held Sputnik. The red wheel spins on axle-tips of magnetized metal that cling to the wire frame. Tip the frame back and forth, and it spins faster as it rolls around the frame. Get good enough at it, you can get […]
Filed under: Toy | Comments (3)
November 15, 2004
Iconic, kinetic, and about as simple-minded as a yo-yo, the Wheel-O was your own hand-held Sputnik. The red wheel spins on axle-tips of magnetized metal that cling to the wire frame. Tip the frame back and forth, and it spins faster as it rolls around the frame. Get good enough at it, you can get […]
Filed under: Toy | Comments Off on #280 :: Dreidel
November 6, 2004
Iconic, kinetic, and about as simple-minded as a yo-yo, the Wheel-O was your own hand-held Sputnik. The red wheel spins on axle-tips of magnetized metal that cling to the wire frame. Tip the frame back and forth, and it spins faster as it rolls around the frame. Get good enough at it, you can get […]
Filed under: Toy | Comments Off on #271 :: “Incredibles” Happy Meal toy
November 1, 2004
Iconic, kinetic, and about as simple-minded as a yo-yo, the Wheel-O was your own hand-held Sputnik. The red wheel spins on axle-tips of magnetized metal that cling to the wire frame. Tip the frame back and forth, and it spins faster as it rolls around the frame. Get good enough at it, you can get […]
Filed under: Toy | Comments Off on #266 :: Glow claws
October 31, 2004
Iconic, kinetic, and about as simple-minded as a yo-yo, the Wheel-O was your own hand-held Sputnik. The red wheel spins on axle-tips of magnetized metal that cling to the wire frame. Tip the frame back and forth, and it spins faster as it rolls around the frame. Get good enough at it, you can get […]
Filed under: Toy | Comments (1)
October 26, 2004
Iconic, kinetic, and about as simple-minded as a yo-yo, the Wheel-O was your own hand-held Sputnik. The red wheel spins on axle-tips of magnetized metal that cling to the wire frame. Tip the frame back and forth, and it spins faster as it rolls around the frame. Get good enough at it, you can get […]
Filed under: Toy | Comments (2)
October 11, 2004
Iconic, kinetic, and about as simple-minded as a yo-yo, the Wheel-O was your own hand-held Sputnik. The red wheel spins on axle-tips of magnetized metal that cling to the wire frame. Tip the frame back and forth, and it spins faster as it rolls around the frame. Get good enough at it, you can get […]
Filed under: Toy | Comments Off on #246 :: Clockwork Mayhem
October 6, 2004
Iconic, kinetic, and about as simple-minded as a yo-yo, the Wheel-O was your own hand-held Sputnik. The red wheel spins on axle-tips of magnetized metal that cling to the wire frame. Tip the frame back and forth, and it spins faster as it rolls around the frame. Get good enough at it, you can get […]
Filed under: Toy | Comments Off on #241 :: Cheese with Mouse
September 29, 2004
Iconic, kinetic, and about as simple-minded as a yo-yo, the Wheel-O was your own hand-held Sputnik. The red wheel spins on axle-tips of magnetized metal that cling to the wire frame. Tip the frame back and forth, and it spins faster as it rolls around the frame. Get good enough at it, you can get […]
Filed under: Toy | Comments Off on #234 :: Z-Cardz
September 28, 2004
Iconic, kinetic, and about as simple-minded as a yo-yo, the Wheel-O was your own hand-held Sputnik. The red wheel spins on axle-tips of magnetized metal that cling to the wire frame. Tip the frame back and forth, and it spins faster as it rolls around the frame. Get good enough at it, you can get […]
Filed under: Toy | Comments Off on #233 :: Wheel-O
September 16, 2004
this correctly). Wrapped around the ceramic jar (which stands about 4 inches high), they look crude, orthographically drawn and gallant in the sort of stiffbacked fashion that would have had them still shooting and reloading by ranks in the regimental way, only to be cut down by guerilla potshots, as if they had learned nothing […]
Filed under: Toy | Comments (1)
August 21, 2004
this – an elaborate ice castle lit from within. It glows with a liquid intensity, the frosted bulb cavity diffusing all 25 watts of its little bulb through about two pounds of solid glass. It would make a dandy blunt instrument – coldcock your prey, then fling it to a concrete floor to shatter into […]
Filed under: Toy | Comments Off on #194 :: Strobing Ball
August 15, 2004
this – an elaborate ice castle lit from within. It glows with a liquid intensity, the frosted bulb cavity diffusing all 25 watts of its little bulb through about two pounds of solid glass. It would make a dandy blunt instrument – coldcock your prey, then fling it to a concrete floor to shatter into […]
Filed under: Toy | Comments Off on #187 :: Tin Kaleidoscope
August 2, 2004
The invention of the white LED has sparked a renaissance in personal illumination. The carbon-battery-powered torch in 1899 began pushing back the darkness around us at night that was only somewhat held at bay by oil and kerosene lamps. Beef that up into brick-sized 9-volt-powered floods, tweak it into the shape of a cop’s metal […]
Filed under: Toy | Comments (2)
