the baseball hero

My visit to Taipei would not have been complete without a trip to Hot Dog Toyz, probably the best bearbrick source in the whole of Taiwan. I dropped by on January 1 – what a exciting way to start the year! As I leaned close to the display shelf, I immediately spotted this bearbrick in baseball uniform (see above).

The saleslady (who remembered me from last year's visit) told me excitedly, "That's supposed to be Chien-Ming Wang. He's a Taiwanese who pitched for the New York Yankees. It comes with a nicely-bound book that contains all his baseball records."

She rummaged through piles of unopened boxes and lifted two boxed sets. "There's two versions – two bearbricks, two different uniforms, see? But both record books are the same."

"So he's a baseball star, huh?" I smiled.

She frowned a bit. "Yes, but since 2008, he's had a series of injuries – now, he's out of the team."

I reached out for the boxes and examined them.

"Those have been marked down," she continued, "Less NT$400!" (That's US$12.50)

Half of me was happy about the discount, although the other half felt sorry for Chien-Ming Wang. Imagine, mementos and memories of his glory days as ace pitcher for the Yankees had just depreciated! :-/

While trying to shrug off my mixed feelings, I placed my Visa card on the counter and said, "I'll take them."

Wang currently lives in Fort Lee, New Jersey with his wife, Chia-Ling Wu, and their 7-month old son named Justin Jesse.

Pics by yours truly. Copyright January 2010. Info from wikipedia / www.nj.com

2009 be@rbrick of the year

I've never hit the 'buy-it-now' button on eBay faster than when I first saw the Jimmy Liao bearbrick (above). Released during last year's Taipei Toy Festival, I consider it my favorite bearbrick of 2009 for two reasons.

1. It's simply beautiful. From composition to color. From idea to illustration style.

2. It promotes art, not a brand of jeans nor a department store.

Jimmy Liao is Taiwan's best-known illustrator. A design graduate from the fine arts department of the Chinese Culture University, Liao worked in an ad agency for twelve years. After a bout with leukemia, he quit his advertising job and started to write and draw books for children.

The bearbrick's design is based on an illustration which first appeared in Liao's book, "How To Own A Corner" (below).

According to someone I asked, the Chinese caption at the lower right of the page says, "I wish that in every corner of the world, everyone will find his own happiness." A beautiful wish for the new year, isn't it?

By coincidence, I am now in Taipei, Taiwan, for a short holiday. Instead of a trip to a museum or park, I first opted to visit the Nangang Subway Station because I read somewhere that Jimmy Liao's work decorate the station's walls.

See? I took pictures!

Below is a humongous hare, a recurring figure in Jimmy's work.

The little cat-boy carrying the moon is a character from his book, "The Moon Forgets".

I love this chair collection! Do you see the sitting girl?

The giant drummer boy below is sitting along the main corridor that connects all exits.

Below are the three most arresting images that I found alongside the train tracks.



Taipei's subway stations are generally not remarkable. In fact, I find them rather antiseptic. But at the Nangang Station, Liao's whimsical imagination has delighted many local commuters and tourists like me.

Whenever I chance upon art on the street, whether it's painted graffiti on the side of an old building or a commissioned mural on subway walls, I find instant joy. There's really nothing like beauty to brighten up any corner of the world.

Happy new year, bearbrick lovers! :-)

All pics by yours truly. Copyright January 2010. Info from culture.tw, taipeitimes.com

what's so scary about the scarygirl be@rbrick?

Nathan Jurevicius' Scarygirl Be@rbrick (left) has a very interesting pattern, but there's nothing scary about it. The term 'Scarygirl' was simply derived from the designer's signature comic strip of the same title.

Look closely – what seems like a school of fish is actually a flock of silver birds (note the beaks).

I am reminded of African cuckoos (below, right), migrant birds with a fascinating story. Do you know that they fly from Africa to England every summer, breed there and fly back home after? What's even more interesting is that they're called brood parasites. Why?

They don't build their own nests. Instead, they search for existing ones (often with eggs) built by host birds, and lay their own eggs on them while the host birds aren't looking.

Even more disturbing is the behavior of their offspring. Once a cuckoo egg hatches, the baby cuckoo pushes the host's eggs out of the nest! The poor, innocent host does not realize that the baby it is feeding isn't actually his own. What treachery!

Right after giving birth, cuckoo parents fly back home to Africa. The young are left to traverse continents on their own once they are strong enough to. I guess being abandoned and unguided at such a young age makes them extremely tough – and downright selfish. It's called survival.

Now, that's scary.

(The Scarygirl Be@rbrick was released at the 2006 Taipei Toy Festival. To see more of Jurevicius' wonderfully whimsical work, go here. Cuckoo Info: RSPB Wildlife Explorers)

a be@rbrick's flight of fancy

The Avian Flight Be@rbrick (right), released at the 2005 Taipei Toy Festival, features a whimsical pattern of birds with eyes like saucers. Designer Nathan Jurevicius, a graduate from University of South Australia, already had a background in editorial illustration before he collaborated with the Hong Kong-
based toy company, Flying Cat, in 2002.

Of all the toys he conceptualized, he is most famous for Scarygirl (left), the cute but slightly odd little girl (in a pirate's costume) who was abandoned late one night and was later found and brought up by a giant, intelligent octopus named Blister.

Scarygirl's mysterious past is the basis for the adventure that ensues. The two travel to a large and dangerous city in search for answers, guided by a mystic rabbit called Bunniguru.

I'd guess that Jurevicius had an overactive imagination as a kid. And even at 33, when asked in an interview how he displayed his toy collection, he answered, "I like to position them in odd ways - some holding other toys, some balancing on top of each other." A man child!

Truth is, I could probably say the same for all the thirtysomething toy collectors I know! :-)

(Scarygirl pic from www.scarygirl.com)