Word: toying
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
TREND Vintage TV superheroes are big sellers in toy stores again...
Kids may not watch them on TV anymore, but vintage superheroes from the '80s, like Voltron, He-Man and the Transformers, are hot items in toy stores once again. They have been popular for years on eBay, where nostalgic adults buy boxed He-Man figures for $60 or a complete Optimus Prime, the truck leader of the Transformers' Autobot heroes, for upwards of $150--eight times its original value. Sooner or later the toymakers had to notice and start making the items again. Trendmaster's mini-replica of the robot Voltron ($29.99) has completely sold out since its release...
...purest. They don't copy our world by photographing it; they dream up--draw up--worlds we were too timid to imagine. From the early work of Walt Disney (a pen draws a cute mouse) to the computer stylings of Pixar's John Lasseter (a mouse draws a toy cowboy), a good animator is a true creator--almost the Creator--and animation is God's breath; it makes movies move. Kids knew this: their first film was often a Disney animated feature. In the dark cathedral they giggled, cried, were transported. It was a good place to learn astonishment...
...advances in animation technique, the most successful films are the ones based on traditional movie strengths: story, script and acting. Toy Story and Shrek have plenty of glamour in their design, but they work because they are funny, their plot tensions taut, their characters persuasive. The heady promise of Pixar's Monsters, Inc. (due in November) is the creation of character comedy that moves faster than the speed of live action. Don't blink, or you'll miss a great...
...watchword of '00s design. Rashid didn't invent it, but he has pushed it. "Every new object should replace three," he says. His packaging for an Issey Miyake perfume was a corrugated polypropylene envelope that could double as a toiletries purse; his Bozart children's chair is also a toy box; and his Q Chaise converts from a table to a chair-and-footrest and then to a daybed...