Amusemental: The Toy and Candy Weblog

Restaurant Empire

Okay, so once you've tired of the fast pace business of running your own Yoshinoya, you can go for the more cerebral Restaurant Empire.

Review of Restaurant Empire.
Official Restaurant Empire site.
View screenshots from the game

Link via kottke.org

Playboy: The Mansion Video Game

We heard abbout Playboy: The Mansion game back in May.

In the game, players don the pajamas of Playboy impresario Hugh Hefner and are given the task of building the Playboy empire by developing contacts, keeping the bunnies happy, selling magazines and, of course, throwing lavish parties.

And now we have the answer to the question on all our minds: Yes, the illusionist David Copperfield does indeed makes an appearance in the game.

The Toy Museum

The Toy Museum is an incredibly cool site that documents "over 700 advertising icons spanning more than a century of American history." The museum itself is "located in Miami, Florida in the offices of the award-winning advertising, PR, interactive agency named CreatAbility."

You can browse the online museum as you would the actual exhibit and with each click on brand mascot, you receive more information about the figure and the company it represents.

I'm particularly partial to the Big Boy.

American Girl Dolls TV Movie

American Girl dolls headed to U.S. TV "Julia Roberts' production company has developed a U.S. TV movie based on the popular American Girl dolls, it was reported Wednesday."

Related:
Official American Girl site

Mattel 2nd-quarter profit up 12 percent"Due to solid growth at its Fisher-Price and American Girl divsions

American Girl dolls boosting Mattel as Barbie slumps

Barbie and Blaine

From the "kind of creepy of Mattel for thinking so much about Barbie's relationships department" comes news that Barbie has finally found a new boyfriend after her breakup with Ken in February. (I wasn't aware that they were even fighting).

The Seattle Times: Living: Single Barbie finds new boy toy

The article ends on another particularly odd note:

Voelker-Ferrier theorizes that Mattel never had Ken and Barbie marry because of perceptions about his latent sexual preference. "What if Ken is gay and coming out?" she says, pointing out the 1993 "Earring Magic Ken" doll, which gave him a pierced left ear and had him clad in a lavender mesh vest. That Ken doll became extremely popular in the gay community.

It's not like "Blaine" seems particularly straight.

Go wild in the Barbie Amazon store.

Pop Rocks Kill

Inventor of Pop Rocks candy dies in Stockton at 92

Mitchell's most famous invention was Pop Rocks - the exploding candy that became a cultural phenomenon after it hit the market in 1975. He made the discovery accidentally, while trying to design an instant soft drink, when he put some sugar flavoring mixed with carbon dioxide in his mouth

Candy is cyclical. Every generation thinks they discover the secret gem of sugary bliss. My class discovered Pop Rocks when we were in fourth grade. Enterprising students bought in bulk and sold at recess. The same enterprising students also sold lanyard strings, stickers and slap-on bracelets.

See also:
Did Mikey really die by mixing Pop Rocks with soda?
Buy your Pop Rocks in bulk! Because it's all about moderation.
How do Pop Rocks work?
Gassified Candy patent

Transformers Movie

Spielberg Turns 'Transformers' to Film

Steven Spielberg, who has turned sharks into blockbusters and aliens into lovable movie characters, is now taking on shape-shifting toy robots for a "Transformers" film.

The live-action version of the 1980s toys is planned by DreamWorks for a summer 2006 release.

The good news: We're finally going to see a live-action Optimus Prime on the big screen.

The bad news: He's going to be played by Tom Hanks.

See also:
20th Anniversary Optimus Prime
Transformers: The Ultimate Guide
Transformers - First Season Collector's Edition
I have a preference for his brother, Rodimus Prime
Official Transformers site from Hasbro
Transformers fan fiction

Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory starring Johnny Depp puts the focus back on Charlie and plans to stay truer to the book. US release date scheduled for July 15, 2005.

the new Oompa Loompas should prove to be fascinating to see. While in the movie they were uniformed little men with orange skin and green hair, in the book they were even tinier, with rosy-white skin, luscious manes of golden-brown hair, and tribal-looking deerskins slung over their shoulders. One commonality that they do bear to their filmic cousins is a love for singing.

For those who aren't creeped out enough by the original oompas, these seem determined to provide sleepless nights.

Somewhat related: Bit Players, a short film in which Verne Troyer monologues as an actor who just wants to be taken seriously -- the problem is that he's relegated to playing an Oompa Loompa.

See also:
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory pre-release news
The Candy Home of Willy Wonka
The official Roald Dahl site

Hello Kitty Robot

Japan to debut Hello Kitty robot

FANS of Hello Kitty will get a chance to realise their dream of chatting with the hugely popular cartoon character later this year with the launch of a hi-tech robot of the feline. The Hello Kitty Robo, equipped with a camera, speakers and sensors, will make its debut in Japan on November 1 to coincide with the cat's 30th "birthday", a group of Japanese companies said Monday...priced at around ¥400,000 yen ($5,080), by mainly targeting women in their 30s who are among the cat's biggest fans.

More about the robot in French (with kickass diagrams).

Gizmodo on the robot.