PHESP.Review - Real life Transformers

Transformers the movie has just wowed Hong Kong audiences with mostly good responses. I was actually expecting Hollywood to really screw-up an amazing oldskool legendary series, but actually I thought they did alright... not 'wet-myself' kind of satisfaction but still, not bad.

In tribute my childhood idols (yea, so what if I am a little geeky) I have found some real life Transformers on -somethingawful - that we can all see in everyday life... more then meets the eye huh? Which one is the coolest?

Red Version: Nike/Transformer

If the original Transformer/Nike combo wasn't enough to whet your appetite, (see Transformer post for more pics) well someone on E-Bay has got the following all-red paint version dubbed as "Sky" and by others as "Starscream". I don't really care, names aside, it looks beautiful!





I thought the Optimus Prime (white/blue/red) and the Megatron (black)were good enough for the collection....but alas no, red is in apparently.....

Original Post on Toysrevil.

Its time to get Physical!...Well sort of!

Well well well. VideoGames inspiring and creating physical activity eh? I'm sure there's a bunch of you saying.."derrrrr...Nintendo's Wii console"..right..but this seems more important than the Wii.

Every generation has their memories of particular toys from their childhoods. Action Man figurines were among mine. But this generation, who'll be tugging at Mums dress with teary eyes cos they want one of these cycles so bad, will have a memory which cements videogaming culture in their brain, in conjunction with it's purpose as an exercise bike. Brilliant!!!

Britain has one of the highest levels of child obesity in Europe. If a simple toy like this, aimed at the next generations child, can encourage exercise as a regular and fun past-time, then i say crack out the USB Multi-Gym!!!

Perhaps this is gonna be the first generation who enjoy videogames without excessive weight gain. Maybe it'll even encourage them to discover the world around them on a vehicle that moves.

Original Post on http://money.cnn.com

Photo from Fisher Price

PHESP Music Review

PHESP.Reviews

MUSIC- Some new ideas for all you music addicts out there PHESP is checking out a few names you probably would have heard of. It's no surprise that ESPers are into their loud tunes and hard rocking bands as much as their trippy electro, downbeat, triphop, ninja/bigdada, DnB, etc, etc... tell us what you think!

Listening to - N.I.N. - Year Zero

Thankfully, Hong Kong sees the famed industrial rock/electro band on Sep13, at the Asia World Expo, tickets HK$580, all standing. Hopefully front man Trent Reznor will rock the Cantonese crews out of their minds and inspire people over here to buy/download decent music other then Canto Pop for a change (seriously, drives me crazy)...
A good album in all, allot softer then Downward Spiral and other earlier albums, but a worthy buy, or download... do people still buy at all?

Just finished - Seven Dust - Alpha

A sweet NuMetal album, definitely not their hardest release but satisfying all the same unless DeathMetal is more your thing, then this album is quite pussy really. Great distorted crunchy guitars, in your face singing with nice backing vocals e.g. screaming.. choruses are a little lighter and melodic but all in all, a good album.



Am interested in - Chris Cornell - Euphoria Morning

Legendary Grunge band front man Chris Cornell, from Sound Garden and now singing for Audio Slave (guitarist, bassist, drummer from Rage Against the Machine), releases his first solo album. If you've heard allot of the recent Audio Slave albums (kicks ass) then you'd probably find the solo album a bit tame. A chilled acoustic escape from digital distorted mayhem and well worth a listening, but tame all the same.


Enjoy!

PHESP Reviews

PHESP.Reviews

ESPv is as much about showcasing the many (and there are lots) cool aspects of art, music, culture, life etc, as it is about giving actual opinions on why we may like/dislike something, inviting discussion and trading perceptions.
PHESP.Reviews is a random feature, new to the ESPv Blog and aims to simply review this, that and the other. It's also about letting you know about something, an album release we think is cool, something in the news we thought sucked (not allot of 'happy' news out there), checking out or comparing toys, or just talking about why we thought the new Harry Potter book sucked balls. Although the reviews are thrown together by PHilfy from ESPv (PHESP), allot of the content is based on things the crew are into and think is worth a quick mention.
If you like something, think we should chat about something, then email us at the blog address or email PHilfy on philsyb@yahoo.com.. If you thought a review seriously sucked, was way out of line, rude or distasteful then... email Selph.
Nice one.

Herakut

Again, at the Evovling Styles Charity Auction (Cargo), I got to meet and interview (UKAdapta) another one of my heroes of Graffiti; Akut (infamous Maclaim Crew) and his new partner in grime, Hera. Together, their work really stands out as there is a huge but complimentary difference between Akut's photo-realism and Hera's darker, more abstract backgrounds and characters. I will post the interview once it is online at UKadapta.








Get their book on Photorealism Graffitti at Amazon.
See more of their incredible work at the Herakut website.

"It's a Beautiful World"

Check out some great work in this established Art Tour showing the very best from a whole load of contemporary artists. The exhibition can bee seen in Boston next on Aug 3rd.

Original post on thelittlechimpsociety.com

The Vinyl Frontier

Daniel Zana's upcoming "The Vinyl Frontier" documentary explores the vinyl toy world through feature interviews with a broad cross section of artists and designers including: Dalek, Tristan Eaton, Ron English, Huck Gee, Jim Koch, Frank Kozik, Simone Legno, Nick Cowan, Raymond Choy, Tara Mcpherson, Joey Potts, Sket One, Gary Baseman and Tim Biskup. The film is in the final stages of production, wrapping up shooting in California and New York. Daniel expects to release Vinyl Frontiers in 2008. Media coverage of the vinyl toy industry is really heating up with the recent wave of books released and several documentaries in the works. The more the merrier -- there's alot of artists and angles to cover.

Post by VinylPulse.

"Insider Art" at the ICA London

Sponge Bob's Diddle Shop, 2007, Recycling, HMP Haverigg. Photo: Marcus J Leith

From the 12th July to the 9th September, the ICA in London is holding this exhibition, "Insider Art", which is contributed to by thousands of prisoners and youth detention inmates. The exhibition is part of the Koestler Awards Scheme which promotes creativity throughout the criminal justice system in the UK.

Original Post on: http://artnews.info/news

She-One & O.Two Interview

Had the distinct pleasure of meeting and interviewing (for UKAdapta) the Rockgroup crew comprising of Graff artists She-One and O.Two last week at Cargo over two seperate nights. The interview was hilarious to do as we were all in good spirits and they had some briliiant answers to give us. I look forward to sharing it with you guys on the UKAdapta site next month sometime.



She-One was live painting for an event called Planet Patrol Sessions, sponsored by Boombox records.



O.Two was live painting for a charity auction event called "Evolving Styles".

Images by Steff Plaetz and She-One.

Ani-Com 2007 HKG

It was such a shame that ESPV couldn't make it down to the event this year....Loads of one-off custom toy goodness on exhibit, as well as all the cosplay-heads showing off their look. It's usually a great day out and theres always plenty to buy. How was it this year? Anybody go?











Images Courtesy of Toysrevil.

Steampunk Coffee Machine

Perfect for that Monday morning coffee vibe: Designed by Swiss designer Carlo Borer, the cover of Etienne Louis machine is a steel sphere while the spikes and the supports are crafted from polished aluminum. The removable water tank is concealed under the detachable upper half of the sphere. Pricing for this strange looking coffee machine is unknown but they must be charging some good amount for this brilliant steampunk design.



Link from the Appliancist.