Flea market find - tasty!

I bought these at a flea market today. The box alone is supurb.

Lolly Scramble

I grew up laughing to the antics of the D Gen, with fond memories of watching them on the ABC, and listening to them on the radio as my mother drove me and my sister to school. Upon moving to the UK 10 years ago when I felt a bit homesick, putting on a Martin and Molloy album soon perked me up. So it was a joy to discover the Get This program on MMM last year. I have since listened to all the Pod casts many times. Greg Fleet, Ross Noble, Daniel Kitson, Kevin Smith, Weird Al and many more guest hosts made the show a spectacular production that I (and many others) will miss. Receiving Tony’s book in the post the other day felt like Get This had gone into over time.

Krazy

Retrospective collecting

The grey colour way of King Kun came in the post today fresh from the Amos store. I don’t normally go in for multiple colours of figures unless they are significantly different (viz Stussy Leon and the Sillything Leon), but I was keen to get the grey colourway too as its a nice transition from the King Ken to the grey King Kun to black King Kun to black Skull Kun. Buying the figure was rather straight forward, despite Amos’s advance warnings it would be limited numbers. It was also a fantastically boring exercise and empty “experience” that is one of the major, if not the major, downside of modern prospective collecting.

As I see it there are collections that are based on what has already been made and collecting this ephemera I have classified as retrospective collecting. Rarity may be due to production numbers and popularity (as in the case of prospective collecting) but it is also due to factors including shelf life, original intent, target consumer at the time. Whilst highly dependant upon the nature of the item collected, modern objects created to collect don't have the same "magic" in discovery as does the everyday item of yesterday that has gained the status of collectability.

Prospective collecting, in the case of vinyl toys at least, has become a case of ensuring your cache is empty, being logged in, and hitting refresh repeatedly. Sure there are the events like the San Diego Comic Con and the bricks and mortar shops that get the figures, but these aren't the type of collectable that you are likely to stumble upon (outside of Tokyo). There isn’t that excitement when you go to a market and find that rare gem amongst the crap, because these figures circulate in the world of online auctions and forums. I remain dedicated to collecting both Bounty Hunter and Jarvis vinyls, but the magpie in me yearns for a return to the flea markets and car boot sales. Boolean searches don’t have the same thrill of the chase and find as does rummaging through junk on a Sunday morning or a local charity shop.

Past efforts have included various Stormtrooper memorobilia, John Carpenter films on VHS and any consoles (an Amiga CD32 my best discovery at a car boot for £5). The discovery always seemed more thrilling than the trophy and these have all moved on to new owners. I can feel its time again; I feel a new collection coming on....

Ab Fab

I seem to be getting a few moments here and there to read more recently. At the moment I;m engrossed in The Beautiful Fall. A thoroughly researched and an almost overwhelming array of characters contribute to this exhaustive account of the rise of Yves St Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld. Both men saw success in 1954 with their entries in the International Wool Secretariat Competition, but their rise to success took divergent paths. St Laurent saw in the revolution of the couture business whilst Lagerfield was always visionary in anticipating the rise of ready to wear and the cult of youth. The influence of the May 68 riots, youth culture and changes in society shaped the development of Paris Couture in the latter half of the Twentieth Century more so than any other time in its history.

Jumpman

I left my old job (after 10 years) at the start of this year to run my own business. I was chuffed to receive a Wii as a leaving gift, but with the pressure of the new business, it hadn’t had much of a work out until the last month or so. So after many hours and much swearing I finally finished Super Mario Galaxy. This is without doubt the most inventive of the Mario outings, making both great use of the Wii controller and mind bending use of in game physics. But is it the best Mario game? I think that crown must remain with Super Mario 64. The most important in its significance remains Super Mario Bros as it defined 2D platform gaming. It still is the gold standard.

My fop 5 favourite Mario games, in no particular order...

*Donkey Kong (Game and Watch)
*Super Mario Bros. (NES)
*Mario Kart 65 (N64)
*Super Mario 64 (N64)
*Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)

Round the Outside!

I love this record cover. Not only does it represent the pairing of two of the most important people to shape street wear (if not the most important influentially), but it later became both the source material directly for a classic Supreme T and also Supreme’s use of the “World Famous Supreme Team” slogan. Released in 1990 on Virgin Records.