Monster Life in the Derby City

SDCC DESTROYED!!

2009-07-29T22:08:00.004-04:00

We just got back from San Diego Comic Con '09, and it RULED!!

It was a mind melting good time! We rocked, hung with friends, met Mori, picked up a camper full of toys!

OH and we made some sweet Kentucky Fried Skull Krew buttons and handed them out to friends. They were well received. Thanks to Deebee for all the help on the layout.

We hung with these cats a bunch. Kevlo, UltraPaul, and that one dude from Toypunks...what's his name? Oh yeah, that's Carl aka Mutonismyfriend!

We even did battle at the Grasshut SDCC Pencil Fight. Look how scared Saps is at Le Merde's awesome pencil power!!

Saps met Ayako/Uamou too!

Thanks to all of you cat's who gave us a hook up, drew us a pic, or just said hey! Like Lamour Supreme, who pimped this slime Yamazakura!!

We had a blast and appreciate all of you!

SDCC Bound!

2009-07-22T00:22:00.002-04:00

We are off to San Diego in the morning! Can't wait to see all our buds and the sweet toy action!

We meet up with Kevlo and UltraPaul in just a few hours... can't sleep!

Our Hero

2009-07-06T23:01:00.001-04:00

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ALL RIDERS VS DAI SHOCKER!

2009-06-27T14:28:00.002-04:00

-From the desk of Monkey

Next Years Kamen Rider?

2009-06-15T10:53:00.003-04:00

Kamen Rider Double? Is this Studio Toei's next star of the their Kamen Rider franchise?

-From the desk of Monkey

The Theater

2009-06-06T00:12:00.002-04:00

Our buddy Kyle is a part of Le Petomane Theater Ensemble, and we went with Andi and Daniel to check them out at the Rudyard Kipling for their production of As You Like It! Great show with tons of laughs!! Check them out here: http://www.lepetomane.org/

Check us out with a sweet Beer 30, and an awkward smile! Saps always seems a little uncomfortable around Monkeys amazingly strong smell!

Kitaro through the ages

2009-04-22T10:00:00.001-04:00

Still The Best!

2009-04-18T10:32:00.003-04:00

Food

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Taste Test: KFC's Kentucky Grilled Chicken

There's a new chicken in town. Surprisingly, it's from an old poultry purveyor: KFC.

KFC's latest addition to the menu, grilled chicken, piqued our interest for several reasons. First, it's certainly healthier than its fried cousin with about half the calories and sodium per portion. Second, it's up against a lot of grilled chicken competition from other fast-food chains. And third, it just might be something we'd eat on the run, on road trips, or for a quick bite (yes, even Epicurious editors sometimes have to veer from healthy homemade fare). So we decided to conduct a blind taste test examining appearance, flavor, and texture.

Taste Test Procedure
Our editors purchased grilled chicken--in whatever form was available, including grilled chicken sandwiches--from four other major vendors. The contestants included McDonald's Premium Chicken Sandwich, Wendy's Ultimate Chicken Grill, Burger King's TenderGrill Chicken Sandwich, and Ranch 1's Ranch Classic. All samples were purchased at the same time, within blocks of one another, to keep the products at their hottest and freshest.

The Winner
KFC stood out in the flock from the start. All the pieces, ranging from the breast to the chicken wing, had a nice golden charbroiled color, and grill marks, giving the impression that it had just come off the grill. The competition was largely flat, yellow, and rubbery. KFC's meat was reasonably tender and juicy, and the skin actually had flavor thanks to the Colonel's six "secret" herbs and spices. Though the bucket costs $12.99, it is actually the best value of the bunch; there are six large pieces, enough to share with several people.

"Look's like chicken that I would choose to eat," said one editor. "Both the skin and the white meat are moist and well salted," said another. "Not rubbery at all; it breaks apart naturally like rotisserie chicken," chimed a third editor.

Second and Third Place
The runner-up was the Ranch 1's classic sandwich. Though the breast meat did not appear as plump and moist as KFC's sample, its natural white-meat coloring, and visible grill marks, had all the editors eager to try it. "This chicken has a nice peppery marinade," stated one taster. "I like its texture; it doesn't appear to be reconstituted like the others," said another.

Burger King's TenderGrill Chicken took third place thanks to its non-rubbery texture, but it still did not compare to our top pick. All tasters felt that there was a striking resemblance in shape and color between the options from Burger King, McDonald's, and Wendy's. One editor said it best: "These look like the plastic food that came with my childhood kitchen."

By Carolina Santos-Neves

Tough!

2009-04-16T11:50:00.004-04:00

Yeah, they are small. Sure I'll even admit they are a bit cute, but you see those jackets? Matching outfits, same expressionless stare? These guys are a gang. A real gang. A tough, hardcore, take no prisoners, up to know good, lock up your daughters, mean street gang. They are serious, and they want to be treated that way so don't laugh or point. Thank you.

Starfish Hitler

2009-04-08T22:20:00.001-04:00

It's not just cause it's hilarious, but I post this because it's also cool.

If you've never seen him before enjoy your first taste of Starfish Hitler.

Feather Design School

2009-04-05T19:40:00.003-04:00

Before:

After:

Pictures are Cool!

2009-03-25T22:28:00.026-04:00

The Vinyl Returns!

2009-03-25T14:05:00.002-04:00

It's been a while since we have posted some toy pics. We've picked up a thing or two lately and just haven't said anything about it. So here are some pics of the newness! Bandai Shinken Pink and Red, Popsodas (clear pink, and green). Kamen Rider Decade from Bandai. Secret Base Madball Mantis, Disco Pumpkin Brain (orange and green), clear orange pumpkin brain with plush, and clear orange pumpkin with GID head. Also the RxH Kamen Rider Ghost Sider, who is SO awesome! Then Saps new Bwana Spoons x Gargamel x Charactics Globby plane. This little fella is super cute!

New Ink

2009-03-25T14:00:00.002-04:00

Our buddy Steve is a tattoo genius and busted out these new sweet tats for us on Friday the 13th!

Monkey

Sappy

Play Time!

2009-03-07T21:46:00.002-05:00

Do you still play with your toys?

We do!

V-Day Rock!

2009-02-15T13:48:00.002-05:00

We had an awesome Valentine's Day this year. We headed out to the Louisville Zoo to see our big animal buddies. It was about 48 degrees out so some of the cold weather critters were really active. The crowds are nominal this time of year so no crying children and pushy tour groups. It was so cold, Saps brought her Power Rangers thermos. RAWR!

The Snow Leopard loved the cold and was right up against the fence being awesome. For some reason as you can tell from both pics he had a hankering for his tail. Weird! What do you do when animals do strange things? Mock them. Monkey see, monkey do.

Sam the zookeeper fed Sasha the big Siberian Tiger at their daily meet and greet. Some lady in the crowd asked why Sasha seemed so timid when eating. One of the keepers explained basically that when you are used to obtaining food by crushing preys spines in yer mouth that getting fed by a stick through a cage was a nothing to expend a lot of energy over.

Scotty the new baby elephant, who is about 2 now, was very playful. He was kicking logs and running around. He even tried to put on a little rock climbing clinic!

We ended up at Louisville's new Ethiopian joint, Queen of Sheba. The meal was INSANE! We had kostas, injoree, and the vegetarian combo for two! I know it all looks like mush, but it was the out of this world. Eating with your fingers is a blast!

Good times!

Monkey's Top 5 of 2008

2009-02-02T14:22:00.005-05:00

Top 5 Toys:

5. RxH x Popsoda GID Popsoda

4. Cometdebris x Gargamel GID Clear Tokoji

3. Secret Base Monster Mantis

2. Horvath x Gargamel Super Puncher

1. Secret Base Dead By Gun Brain

Top 5 Movies:

5. Cloverfield
4. Suki Yaki Western Django
3. The Wrestler
2. The Dark Knight
1. Speed Racer

Overall Favorite Thing of 2008:

New Mountain Bike

Sappy's Top 5 of 2008

2009-01-31T15:44:00.009-05:00

Top 5 Toys:

5. Kaiju-Taro x RealxHead Black New Years Fortune Cat

4. Secret Base 'Dead by Gun' Skullbrain

3. Gargamel x Bwana Spoons Clear Purple Globby

2. RealxHead Blue Fade Fortune Kid

1. Bwana Spoons Custom Mini Globby (SDCC 2008)

Top 5 Movies:

5. Cloverfield
4. The Dark Knight
3. Milk
2. Lars and the Real Girl (this was a 2007 release, but I saw it in 2008 and loved it... ;) )
1. Speed Racer

Overall Favorite Thing of 2008:

Lamour Supreme Fortune Cat Painting

Snow Days

2009-01-30T10:40:00.007-05:00

It's been a wild week! Sappy and I have been out of school and work all week due to a pretty rocking ice storm. Plus we've also been out of electricity since Tuesday night. So we are post up at Saps folk's house. We are enjoying home cooked meals, full pantries, and heavy drinking! The Sappy family is playing host to us and Sap's brother so it's like a massive slumber party. With 205,000 electrical outages city wide, it may be one of the longest slumber parties ever! Hopefully we don't get cabin fever too bad and start to run around our house wearing night vision goggles harassing our household pets or some nonsense!

Gargamel Gang Tokoji

2009-01-26T23:54:00.003-05:00

Just got my Grass Hut Gargamel Gang exclusive Tokoji. This little fellow is a real handful! Blue clear vinyl with glow vinyl inside. I love the internal glow effect. It's not a bright glow, but a colorful glow. It really preserves the color and paint job of the figure in the dark. The look of the clear outer vinyl has a neat transparent "skin" effect. The pics show how handsome he is, but not how deep and dark a blue he truly is. Cool Tokoji, definitely one of my faves.

New Year, New TV series!

2009-01-19T14:52:00.003-05:00

For some the new year is time to make pledges and resolutions. For some it is time to wish for luck, fortune, and prosperity. Here at monster island it's time to start thinking about this years new Toei studio's live action offerings. The Sunday morning block of children's programming known as SUPER HERO TIME, is what every breathing 10 year old on the island nation of Japan longs for. Japan's famous TV Asahi channel will be unleashing the new Super Sentai (Power Rangers to us westerners) and Kamen Rider (Masked Rider)series later this month. This years Sentai is called Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, and features a squad of, you guessed it, samurai themed heroes. Kamen Rider Decade is a culmination of 10 years of modern Kamen Rider programming (called the Heisei era of Kamen Rider), featuring all of the previous 9 seasons of riders in one show.

Frankenbrain Rocks My World

2009-01-19T12:25:00.004-05:00

On our trip to Ultra Pop yesterday Saps picked up the newest Gargamel Globby, and I snagged the Secret Base x Super 7 kaiju Spray Frankenbrain. Both are great figures, but that Frankenbrain is too awesome. I can't stop taking pictures of it.

Trip to Ikea

2009-01-11T23:45:00.002-05:00

Monkey and I took a trip up to Ikea last week. We scored some fun furniture, including a new shelve for the mini cats. The bad part is that I am already out of room... :(

TOKOJI LOVE!

2009-01-08T11:02:00.003-05:00

There is no doubt I love the Cometdebris X Gargamel Tokoji. I was lucky enough to get a sweet New Year's Lucky Bag from Cometdebris! So, here he is. My one of a kind Tokoji! He/she is a blue vinyl with silver spray. The pink eyes and green shell make this one super cool! The baddest Tokoji yet, as far as I'm concerned!!

Cat-Woman

2008-12-31T15:13:00.002-05:00

So, there is no stopping this kitty obsession with some people. They get a little neuro-chemical pay off from possessing things. I'm sure it's partly some primeval thrill of the hunt mixed with modern American consumerism, but whatever it is, some people have to have EVERYTHING. For this certain someone there is only one thing that can slake their buying thirst, and that's soft vinyl RealxHead cats. It's not enough that they have signed cat's, or every RxH mini cat there is, or a ton of rare cats, or cat artwork, it is all about the next score. Here is the junkie with her drug. Enjoy.

Found These Orphans on Our Door Step...

2008-12-24T23:14:00.003-05:00

Guess who came to our house?

Give up?

Kitty cats!

A Vinyl Bump

2008-12-07T20:52:00.002-05:00

Sunday morning and Saps and I needed a little vinyl pick me up. Not to mention Paulie got the vinyl motherload shipment at Ultra Pop yesterday. We met Kevlo at the shop for a little toy pow wow. If I wasn't broke and we didn't have to buy presents for the crumby December holiday of your choice we would have brought home more loot. I went the cheap route and got a single NGE Popsoda finger puppet, and snagged my final Secret Base Voodoo Skullbrain. The brain is super sweet too!

Snow day toys!

2008-12-06T11:42:00.003-05:00

When it snows outside all you want to do is stay in and play with your toys. Today looked like it was gonna suck, until the mailman came with some boxes!

We got the Artoyz Globby set, GID Popsoda, Kamen Rider Ixa Rising Form, and Kamen Rider Sagark! Now if it would just be 70 degrees out all would be well!

Hmmm

2008-12-03T11:07:00.000-05:00

It is rumored that there is a spy in the group...

Stretching Them Toy Dollars!

2008-12-02T18:08:00.004-05:00

In tough economic times it becomes important to conserve your funds. In order to do that real toy nerds don't sell, they just pick up smaller amounts of vinyl! These guys have fit that bill the last few weeks. Not only were they cheaper than their bigger counterparts, but they are also freaking SWEET! The Bullmark Namegon, the super smooth two headed Gargamel/Horvath Super Puncher, and the Pink US Toys Kanegon are reigning supreme at our house right now!

Super Puncher RIPS!!

Kan-YE!

2008-11-29T10:08:00.002-05:00

So we are blasting the new Kanye West album non stop at our place. 808's and Heartbreak finds Kanye taking a new direction away from rap, into electronica. It's really rad.

Also our youngest bird is obsessed with Lance Armstrong!

New Scores

2008-11-11T20:31:00.005-05:00

Here is a new grip of toys we scored in the past few weeks.

RxH Kinnikuman Chaosman
RxH Popsoda and Ryusei Ninja Set
RxH Pink Standard Fortune Cat and Pink Fortune Kid

Kaiju Taro 2nd Anniversary Fortune Cat
RxH Mini Fortune Cat (signed by Mori himself ;) )
Lamour Supreme RxH TMNT set

Ultra Rad

2008-11-01T16:09:00.004-04:00

I got my first vinyl toy when I was a little kid in the 80's. My uncle gave me a 1983 sofubi Bandai Ultraseven. I lost it when I was in high school. Now I can't stop buying them. Here is my latest, and all the friends he came with!! The Kanegon is extra sweet!
-Monkey

POPY POWER

2008-10-27T08:52:00.002-04:00

I just snagged these sweet old school Popy figures. Loving them!

Monsters Go Wild

2008-10-14T15:51:00.005-04:00

We had a bit of a "stay-cation" today. Drove out to bourbon country and toured the legendary Wild Turkey distillery. Had a blast checking out this world renowned 'Bourbon Lovers Paradise'. Saps even snuck out a bottle...

New Displays!

2008-10-10T10:55:00.003-04:00

The moving is still in effect, but we do have alot of the toys up. We got some new detolfs and erected a cool new toy shrine! It still needs work, like alot of risers, but it's coming along.

First Look at Monster Island

2008-10-07T23:33:00.006-04:00

We are still in the process of moving in and unpacking. We are just now getting around to putting all the toys up and out. We are also erecting a new toy shrine! We picked up some new pieces this week. Not new releases but definitely new to us! We have the SDCC Rxh mini set. The River Children Tokoji, LASH Invading Virus Popsoda, mini Booska head, Blue clear mini cat, and the Secret Base Voodoo Franken Pumpkin.

Hopefully we can get around to post more pics of the new apartment. We have been calling it Monster Island. I think it fits.

Lights Out

2008-09-21T22:04:00.004-04:00

We are moving!

We have relocated from our various homes, and consolidated our power and collections at the newly christened Monster Island. Our new apartment is nestled in the heart of St. Matthews here in Louisville. We are just a walk away from the park, and a bike ride from the Highlands.

Still hard at work at putting together our new home. But, this task is made more difficult because a wind storm hit last weekend and we have been without power since.

However, this hasn't stopped us from putting our toys on display and we've had a few new additions.

When we get our power back we will be sure to post some pics!

Happy Birthday Sappy!

2008-09-06T21:43:00.003-04:00

One very special present came in on Sappy's big day. A one of a kind RxH Fortune Cat painting from one of our favorite artist, Lamour Supreme. By far one of the greatest birthday presents!

Family Camping Trip

2008-08-29T23:06:00.005-04:00

We went camping at Patoka Lake! We brought some of our cute vinyl kiddos! It was fun. I was rugged, Sarah was sexy. We hiked, checked out the lake, and played a ton of cards. It was good times!

We're Manga Heads

2008-08-17T15:10:00.005-04:00

Create your own here: http://www.faceyourmanga.com/

Latest Photoshoot!

2008-08-14T23:32:00.008-04:00

It's been a busy week. We hit Louisville Slugger Field Monday with our friends Paul and Leigh. We ate the ballpark food, and drank the ballpark beer! Our hometown heroes the Louisville River Bats beat out the Columbus Clippers by 1 run in the tenth. It was a real nail biter.

We decided we'd snap some pics of the collection to welcome the three newcomers. The SDCC 08 Super7 Mummy Boy, Gargamel's GID Ojo Rojo, and the first Real X Head Mini Popsoda.

And here are some more photos we took:

Koji Harmon's Tokoji Seijin

Bandai Kamen Riders

River City Monsters Invade SoCal

2008-08-10T20:57:00.004-04:00

We just got back from San Diego Comic-Con. We came, we saw, and we left our wallets. Had a blast! Went through the zoo, hit the beach, crashed the con, and tore in to chow.

Sappy's scores:

Monkey's scores: