Check My Haul *(Boughs Of Holly Not Included)

First off, go vote in the battle of the UnBands. Secondly, it's snowing outside and it's sort of hardcore. The snowflakes are roughly the same size as cornflakes. Delicious. Anyway, let's get down to brass tacks.

So, this post has been waiting to get out for a while. This Christmas, with graduation & all, I made out like a bandit. Yes, The Mister Burt Reynolds himself would have been envious of my Bandit-ness. Here's some of the cool stuff I scored:

First off are these little guys that Candace got for me. She rocked the house this year, as she always does. They're Uni-Po figures that are designed by Unkl and they're awesome. She got them through Rotofugi, one of the better U.S.-based urban vinyl stores (it's in Chicago - Brandt? Have you been?)... maybe even better than KidRobot? I dunno. That's a tough call because KidRobot's pretty cool. I do know that Rotofugi's logo is Abe Lincoln with an eyepatch and that, I can get behind.

Candace also got me this sweet little volume that I've had my eye on for quite some time. I've been obsessed with Luchadores for a while now and this book, which is essentially a photojournal about the whole culture in its native Mexico is quite awesome. Expect to be seeing a homemade lucha shirt sometime soon.

My mom got me this book, which has some pretty cool projects in. It's just like a really big Readymade issue: there are some cool, do-able projects, and a few that make you go, "Well, no thanks." Also, the cover for this thing is cool, with the exposed bookboard. I'm thinking I'll use that idea on either my leave-behind portfolio or the portfolio proper.

My parents also got me this scanner, which I've already sang the praises of here, and it's incredibly cool to have a scanner right there instead of having to go down to campus whenever I needed some scanning done. This thing is super-light, too and draws power esclusively from the USB port, so no power cord to worry about. It's sweet. Anyway.

I also snagged this Xbox from my parent house which had been just sitting there for a while. I picked up some games used for cheap and am now thoroughly engrossed in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2: the Sith Lords which I'm sure Candace is sick of by now. It's an RPG which stands for "You Have To Play It Forever In Order To Beat It And I Do Mean Forever Like For Reals."

Additionally, which I didn't get photographed, I got a Speedball silk-screening kit which I'm dying to try out. I'm sort of immersing myself in it before I dip my toes in, but it's exciting to get started learning it, as it's something I've been wanting to know how to do ever since we had a scout sctivity where we silkscreened shirts in out leader's garage.

I also got some iTunes gift cards, which are always a great idea, (thanks to the Brennan's and Russel/Caitlin... you guys rule) which bought me some more albums, because I don't have enough of those. Seriously, my music is out of control. Soon will come the day when I must box up that wall of CD's and it's scaring me.

Anyway, so that's my stuff. I know that stuff isn't what life's all about, really I do, but I just wanted to share my cool stuff with you. Cause we're tight like that.