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Urban vinyl toys, vinyl figures, designer toys; all these terms are used to describe toys and other collectibles (plastic or vinyl) you might have already seen somewhere. When I published my first Sama drawings on the Internet, back in 1999, I was working on a 3D model of the Sama Water Tank, made with clay. The result was approximate but my Sama went to life in real 3D. I had a Mazinger Z figure on my desk, an Astro Boy on a shelf aside this Sama kind-of-thing; that was before I heard of Michael Lau. The Gardeners, his first original action figures created in the late nineties, were the start of a whole new industry, the designer toys industry was born. It would be too long to talk about every artist, designer and figure but I can tell you is that I really like vinyl toys. I’m not making a…⇒ READ MORE

Subtleties of satire can be powerful and I discovered that with Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. In this film, Kubick gives us an insight about Cold War (and Mutually Assured Destruction with the Doomsday Machine) in a satirical manner. When it comes to talk about very serious topics, using satire or black comedy can make people realize how stupid a situation can be. Dr. Strangelove satirizes the Cold War and Kubrick’s attention to detail bring us far beyond the topic of nuclear weapons; sometimes humanity can be its worst enemy. In Dr. Strangelove, each detail has its importance and a meaning: the sexual connotations of the name of the characters (Dmitri Kisof’s / Kissof, Alexei de Sadesky / Marquis de Sade, Merkin Muffley / Muff), the table in the War Room is green like a poker table and so on. Many details…⇒ READ MORE

From Ball in 1980 to Mario the Juggler in 1991, the Game & Watch series was made by Nintendo and created by Gunpei Yokoi (RIP). These handheld electronic games had first two buttons, they used a LED display and had a clock and an alarm; everything could slip into your pocket. Amazing, huh? Well, not that much for today’s criteria on gameplay and fun in video games but for those who played them during the 80′s, they were a must-have. I remember when the Widescreen series came out with a wider screen and -some- colors, I played Parachute a lot (see the flying Shibi below this article, you’ll get the point). Then the Multiscreen series and the great Donkey Kong Jr… At primary school, we created a trade market for Game & Watch games. Few schoolboys/girls could afford to get the latest ones and the others had to watch them…⇒ READ MORE