Buff and Stuff

Several weekends ago- I can't remember how long now since my daysweeksmonths tend to run together, I was lucky enough to meet L.A. Artist BUFFMONSTER, and to have him draw a custom Buff tattoo design for me.

When I told him, an artist obsessed with tits,  that the tattooist who's to do the piece lactates and goes by the nickname THE MILKMAID.... well.. it was nice to have made his day.

Weeks later and I've still yet to meet up with Joy to tattoo it. That's sort of the theme of my present condition- serendipitous fortune matched with a schedule that's too tight to exploit it. 

Oh well. The design isn't going anywhere.

Cabinet of Pus(head)

I finally got the KAWS/PUSHEAD Companion I posted about a while back- he's sittin' pretty in my display case with some other Pushead goodness. As I sit here typing this, I realize what a monument to total "dorkery" my life has become, and I can't say I'm not pleased.

the Valley of the Dolls

It was bound to happen, with the frequency a new piece of vinyl catches my fancy- my toy display case had reached maximum capacity and a trip to Ikea became a must.

Luckily Ikea is only 5 blocks away. With the visiting parents in tow, I made the trek and picked up another all glass display case to match the one that's already in the reading room. With little to no difficulty, I put it together and it lived happily ever after.

Ok. That's totally a lie. In all reality, I've been half in the bag and done Chinese arithmetic with less difficulty than putting together this case which, in theory, should take about 10 minutes to complete. It's a wobbly, poorly plotted out all glass deathtrap. But hell. I'm usually up for the challenge, so we do what we can.

As it turned out, I only needed one lemonaide and Jack to get through the process, which took the combined efforts of not only yours truly but Robin and the Gator to build. Once we put the finishing touches on it, it was no longer a wobbly deathtrap, but a well lit womb for my vinyl babies to show off a little for the guests.

Luck held, and the very next day my Pushead "Astrozombies" piece from Secret Base came in and had the honour of being the first toy to reside in the new case. Followed in quick succession by two amazing FRIENDS WITH YOU pieces.

Now it's just a matter of time before I start worrying about space in the second tower.

Being a toyspazz has its moments of joy.

New Toy acquired

As a kid, I always had toys. My earliest memories are of laying belly-down on the living room floor on a Saturday morning, avoiding the Florida heat, watching cartoons and playing with toys. Micronaughts, G.I.Joe, Transformers, The Krusher- any monster, robot or horror toy I could get my hands on battled it out, to the death, every weekend, holiday or summer vacation.

Somewhere along the way I started skateboarding, and through the magazines of the time, particularly Thrasher, discovered the artwork of Brian Schroeder- better known to legions of skaters and thrash music devotees as the enigmatic PUSHEAD.

Like tons of other kids into the skate/art culture, I rushed my S.A.S.E. out to San Francisco to join the Pushead Fan Club- getting letters and stickers from the man himself, encouraging me to keep on drawin' monsters.

Fast forward 16 years and I was still collecting toys here and there. My knees and wrists weren't really happy with my occasional bouts of skating, but when I did, I skated on a deck with art by- you guessed it- Mr. Schroeder.

Around the same time, my then girlfriend developed an obsession with vinyl toys. She was a little more than a decade younger than me and I quickly picked up her enthusiasm for collecting Western and Eastern toys- based on seeing the green colourway KAWS Pushead companion behind locked doors in a NYC toystore's display. The price read $500- a bit too much for a single toy, so I let go on ever owning this monument to my childhood obsessions; toys, monster and Pushead.

Several years later, and my toy collection had a few Pushead pieces in it- but the one that started it all for me still eluded my capture. Over time, I started finding it for under the initial $500 pricetag that the store in Manhattan sold it for. After chasing and missing for months, I finally picked it up- $250 from a fellow collector who was willing to part with it to pay bills.

In a few days, it will be in my collection, with a new glass display case purchased just to house it.

Little things like this make me happy.