Berol Fibre Tipped Pens

I’ve always loved to draw, unfortunately I’ve never actually had any actual skill or talent. I can remember sitting in art class constantly getting D’s and wondering what I was doing wrong. After all I was drawing what was in front of me and although it might not always have been great to look at or sometimes even in scale I was always proud that I’d even managed to produce any images on the paper at all.


Nowadays I still can’t draw but just like old times I’m still happy to have the occasional doodle now and then, even if I’m usually the only person who knows what it’s “supposed to be”. This is one of the reasons I blagged some pens from the kind people at Berol. I wanted to see if I could recapture that feeling of drawing just for the sake of it all over again. To help me do this they sent over a pack of 12 fine and 12 broad fibre tipped pens.

First of all the ‘fine’ range is brilliant, perfect for doing small outlines or for going over pencil outlines if you like to draw, outline and then colour in. Me, I like to just draw in felt tips and then pray there’s nothing that needs erasing. I didn’t blag any tip ex so here’s hoping the drawing works out well first time…


You see this is why we don’t have a logo on the site. As you can tell by the bit of the B which is cut off on the left this is also why my art teachers were always telling me to draw an outline in pencil first and then go over it. Oh well. You’ll also notice the nice strong colours from the ‘broad’ set which are generally just for backgrounds and filling in huge gaps. If you’ve only got little gaps then stick to the fine range and they’ll see you through most drawings.

The best bit about these felt tips? You can leave the lids off for 14 days before they start to dry up. On top of that if you happen to draw all over your clothes it’ll come off in a wash making them perfect for kids and messy adults. Although high school leavers if you use these to sign your leavers shirts make sure you don’t wash them or those memories will be gone forever!


Just in case my terrible attempt at drawing a B has put you off Marie’s drawing of AiAi above should prove that with some skill and patience you can still achieve good drawings with Berol fibre tipped pens. Or if like me you just want to do a quick scribble and call it art then that’s good too.

Sunshine Buddies

Long time readers will know I haven’t always had the best of luck with the toys I’ve blagged so far. After I proved my terrible parenting skills with Tamagotchi v3 and cheated death with Unazukin you may be wondering why I’m going back for more punishment with Sunshine Buddies. Well let me just say they’re the most carefree and stress free toys you’ll probably ever find.


First of all you’ll notice they’re incredibly cute and much like Mood Beams it seems these days anything that’s slightly round and with a huge smile will go down wonders. Aside from being cute figures for your desk, their heads also swing from side to side, their entire purpose in life being to swing left to right in a calming motion. I can almost imagine some Sunshine Buddy yoga teacher in the background chanting “Swing left, then right, then left, watch your breathing etc” and keeping the thing moving in time.

Unfortunately an inner Yoga teacher isn’t what keeps Sunshine Buddies moving, instead it’s down to solar panels. Remember them? Designed to end power shortages and replace the consumption of natural resources solar panels set a huge task for themselves. Sadly they failed and we’re still running around using natural resources like no tomorrow. Oh well, at least solar panels are put to good use in Sunshine Buddies as they mean you’ll never need batteries.


Yes that’s right never ever ever. It doesn’t matter how many kids have prodded the ‘try me’ button in the shops you’ll never have to replace any batteries on this baby. And to make sure you’re convinced there’s not even a battery slot on the bottom. Pure solar powered goodness all the way. And before you wonder that doesn’t mean you’ll need a desk with a nearby window, lamp and candles, generally the light in the room is enough to start it moving.

As if they haven’t made you happy enough by now you can also attach a small card to the front of your Sunshine buddy to remind you of things you need to do or just to have a relaxing message to brighten up your day. Ahhh.


So if you ever feel the stresses and strains of modern life are becoming too much then you can always count on Sunshine Buddy to cheer you up. All he wants from life is a little sunlight so he can swing his head from left to right. And even then he doesn’t worry about getting RSI or the threat of global warming destroying his only source of life. Truly relaxing…

To buy your own Sunshine Buddy click here

Lost: The Game

With Lost coming to the end of its second season in the UK in just a few short weeks I decided to take a look at the Lost board game from Re:Creation. The makers of the TV show have treated us to twist after twist over the last few months but very soon we’ll have a few months to kill and nothing to help entertain our crackpot theories.


Not wanting to leave us hanging for 6 months the creators of the show have put together a Lost board game which revolves around key characters and events from the show itself. Rather than create a standard board game with set events such as “Go straight down the hatch, do not pass Go” they’ve opted to include a board which you build yourself from assorted tiles. Each of these tiles are laid face down on the board in a 4 x 4 grid, and they each contain a different location from the show.

This creates a fair bit of mystery as you never know which part of the Island you’ll end up on next, or what events will occur when you get there. Speaking of events, again these are very faithful to the show. When you land on a space you’ll often be asked to draw a “Fate’ card. These include “French Lady’s Transmission” and “Passenger Manifest”, which even early fans of the show will be familiar with. Each card will either give you some equipment, an event, or an encounter with one of the Island's many dangers.


That’s just the tip of the iceberg, to actually win the game you’ll need to coerce other players in order to get them to work together. Plus you’re controlling two characters at once meaning you can have them work together to complete events or split up to cover more ground and unravel the secrets of the Island even faster. Splitting up isn’t without dangers, and it increases your risk of injury.

For those of us who grew up on Monopoly, where all your pieces can do is move and buy this will feel like a whole other world. There’s power levels to watch, events to control and coins to flip, and if you do it wrong your character will die. This isn’t a game for kids, it requires constant strategies and a real awareness of what you need to do to win. In fact if anything it feels more like a card game than a board game as characters have unique abilities which give them advantages as well as specific win conditions such as Locke who wins automatically if the ‘Monster’ is destroyed.


As you’ve probably guessed by now there’s a lot to take in with Lost: The Game. It has more depth than any other board game I’ve ever played, and at times that can be a bit overwhelming, especially if you’ve never played this style of board game before. There will be people reading this however, who think the above sounds like a walk in the park, if you’re one of those people then this is for you. There’s even advanced rules for those who want a real challenge. Nobody said getting off the Island would be easy!

You can buy Lost: The Game at Argos Or for more Lost merchandise click here

Clinique Anti Blemish Solutions

Just a quick honourable mention today before I run off to enjoy the bank holiday weekend. Blagman will be back on Tuesday!

Clinique’s one of the few brands that manages time and time again to run some sort of promotion for their loyal customers. Every month they seem to run a new Bonus Time promotion where you can buy two products and get a bag of goodies for free. Boots seems to have one of these every couple of months and for the rest of the year you can grab some sort of free gift by checking out Selfridges, House of Frasier et al.


I decided to take them up on their offer and review their sample sized Anti Blemish Solutions pack. In the pack you get a travel case, anti blemish soap, night time gel and clear blemish gel all for free. The sizes are very generous with the Clear Blemish Gel only half the size of its full priced retail equivalent, hardly what you’d normally associate as a free sample! The soap is nice and easy to use and really helps to make your face feel softer and much nicer to the touch. As for the solutions these are easy to just dab on at morning and night and seem to do a good job of keeping blemishes at bay.

So next time you go to a Clinique stall demand your bonus time! Or just wait a few weeks for the next one, as these free gifts are some of the most generous around and should not be missed.

Kenwood Café Retro

When Starbucks first opened in 1971 their goal was simply to sell coffee beans and equipment. They saw no interest in selling coffee drinks, sandwiches and tiny little cakes as they do today. For them coffee was no doubt an experience which was meant to be enjoyed whilst relaxing in a comfy chair with a nice big book. Ah how times have changed, 35 years later and Starbucks is a giant coffee drinks empire. Sure you can still sit down in a comfy chair with a good book but where’s the relaxing environment of home?


Enter the Kenwood Café Retro an affordable solution for those who want a quick espresso in the comfort of their own living room. As you can see above it’s a stylish looking machine which lives up to the retro part of it’s name. It’s simple too, a single switch flicks between espresso or cappuccino and there’s another switch to turn it on and off. That really is all you need to worry about.

You might also have noticed the handle on the side which you need to pull down to apply steam or to add water in to your drink of choice. Again it's simple to use and adds to the design of the machine. Whilst all the Café Retro machines retail between £150-190 they have the design and style of machines which cost a lot more.


Above you can see a closer look at the dials and knobs of the front of the machine. These give the device an extra bit of sophistication and mean it’ll look great in any kitchen. You can expect this to be the central talking point when anyone enters your kitchen from now on. Heck it makes everything else in my kitchen look incredibly old and outdated.

It makes a great drink too. As I write this review I’m enjoying a freshly prepared drink, which took a couple of minutes from putting in water to filling up the cup. Even adding froth to the drink is a remarkably quick affair and again just requires you to move a handle down and you’re done.

Oh and did I mention the best bit?


There’s a giant St George’s cross on the top as well. Need a new talking point for your kitchen, this is it. Need something to show your England pride, this is it. Or just need a quick and effective drinks maker, this is it. The founders of Starbucks would be proud.

For stocklist information please contact: 02392 392 333
Or to buy a Café Retro click here

Parker Pens (Vector Range)

A couple of weeks ago I talked about my childhood love of Funfax organisers and how my school destroyed their purpose by giving us all special school organisers. In one swift move they destroyed a childhood possession and made it utterly worthless. On the other hand they did do one thing that made up for this in some small way. With each organiser they gave us a Parker fountain pen and in that instance taught us how to write.


Every week we would have to attend a writing lesson and in that time they would take us from our scribbled chicken scrawl handwriting to something with a bit more class. In the years that followed I got used to my newfound quill and my mother would frequently praise me for not writing ‘scruffy’. Unfortunately as the years went by I got lazy, started picking up cheap biros in secondary school and pretty much threw away all those years of hard work. Sorry Mum.

All these years later and things are no different, I can still see my writing getting more hurried and scribbled with every extra document I write. With this in mind I called the kind folks at Parker Pens who provided me with a fountain pen and ballpoint pen from their Vector range. It even came with a free pen case, which is a nice gesture.


I’d never used a Parker ballpoint pen before so I decided to give that a go first. My initial reaction was just how smooth it was to use. Unlike cheapo biros you don’t need to jam the pen in to the paper, instead brief strokes across the paper are all that’s required to do the job. Also, although there’s no grips or padding it’s a very comfortable pen to hold thanks to its slim shape. If however you do long for a bit of grip you can always check out the Parker Reflect range which contains pens for those of you who have to write a few hundred documents a day and want to do so in comfort.

Now for my childish memory the Parker fountain pen. The weirdest thing is it feels exactly the same as it did all those years ago. This is parker’s classic design which has served them well for years and it’s still just as effective today. Sure people may crave their new 18K gold ranges but for those who want old school memories (literally in my case) the Vector range is the way to go. Sadly I wasn’t as good as I remember and my writing still looked a little sloppy, but I could definitely see potential for improvement.


See that’s the thing, having a Parker pen isn’t going to improve your writing style over night, but it can work wonders with a little practice and determination. Guess that would explain why they gave me all those classes in primary school. If only I could remember them now….

You can discover more about Parker pens at www.parkerpen.com

Boss Selection (Hugo Boss)

Hugo Boss aftershave has always been a personal favourite of mine. It’s very distinctive and generally I’ve been through almost all of their product launches. From ‘BOSS’ to BOSS in motion and even the limited edition BOSS Duo I could always trust them to give me a smell I liked. Then Boss Baldessarini came along and pretty much put me off the whole brand. So when I got a sample of Boss Selection I was a little cautious before applying.


It’s definitely one for those who like a lighter scent, it doesn’t overpower when applying and you’ll need to apply a lot if you want to get people hooked from afar. But then again this is for the man who wants to appear and vanish leaving a quick impression for others to ponder. It’s aimed at the 35-45 year old market so fits in nicely between ‘BOSS’ for younger generations and Baldessarini for the older generation. Personally I’ll stick to Boss Soul but for those willing to try something new you can get your own sample by clicking the link below:

Men - for a free sample click here
Women - for a free sample click here

Cirondo Review - Chess for the 21st Century

It’s hard to find a game that can stand up to the almighty Chess. Invented in the 2nd Century and played all over the world by millions of people it’s a hard game to beat. Heck even my school had a chess club, with school on school leagues and stupid tournament robbing idiots… but that’s another story.


So with chess such a huge success worldwide you have to wonder why there aren’t many spin off’s on the format, at least not in the 21st century anyway. Most likely it’s because chess is still seen as a hard game to pick up and play. Give a child chess these days and they’ll probably throw it on the floor and go back to their Xbox 360’s. But who can blame them? I mean who wants to learn what all those pieces do when happiness is just a few button presses away?

This is probably the logic behind Cirondo, a new spin on the chess format that tries to simplify everything by giving you only three pieces: Planets, Moons and Solar Systems. Of these ‘Planets’ are knights and can move diagonally. ‘Moons’ are pawns and can only go forward and take pieces diagonally, and ‘Solar Systems are your queens which can travel in all directions. Simple. Although the instructions in the box try to complicate all of this by talking about ‘arcs’ and ‘orbits’, why can’t they just say what it is you need to do?


Hang on what’s that? The board is a circle? Yes when we said Cirondo puts a new ‘spin’ on the chess format we weren’t kidding. Whilst confusing at first (especially if you’re used to chess or even checkers) it’s easy enough to pick up. One problem we did have was picking up our pieces and then forgetting where we picked them up. This happened a lot when our moons made it to the center of the board, which is where they turn in to solar systems. We’d put our piece in the middle, grab a solar system and then forget where we needed to put it down again!

For those who have trouble following rules there’s always www.cirondo.com an online version of the game which makes sure there’s no foul play. Sadly it’s not free to play so you’ll need to shell out £10 for 12 months play but they make up for this with an online community and the ability to globally play anyone who is logged in. If you like the online games provided through MSN and Yahoo Games this is a little cheaper than most and it’s even cheaper than the actual board game so if you’re not really a board game household there’s always this option.


If chess is a cryptic crossword then Cirondo is Arrowwords, an easy to pick up activity that doesn’t require too much mental strain. If you fancy a new take on Chess then give Cirondo ago. Although for those who still don’t think it looks exciting enough you could always take up Chess Boxing

You can learn more about Cirondo and purchase the game at www.Cirondo.com

Jacob's Cream Crackers

According to ancient folklore and myth I just completed the impossible. A task many a schoolboy has attempted and failed. The task of eating three Jacob’s cream crackers without a drink of water. How did this happen? And why didn’t I eat them with cheese or butter like a normal person?


As with my HobNob’s and KP Nuts reviews you’ll know the drill by now. A one pound voucher arrives and then I attempt to get as much of the product as I can. First up as Jacob’s Cream Crackers cost 69p at my local corner shop bartering wasn’t an option so I walked away with just a single packet and missing almost a third of my voucher. What was different this time is I’ve never had to review a food product before that tastes a lot better with extra toppings.

Normally I’d enjoy a Jacob’s cracker with a dollop of jam or some cheese and butter but as we’ve never blagged any of those items I had to resort to eating them dry. For me this is like attempting to eat a pizza base without tomatoes, cheese and pepperoni, it just doesn’t feel right. Naturally if you’re the sort of person who enjoys toast without butter then you’ll probably enjoy them without toppings but personally I prefer a little extra.


After realising that there really isn’t a whole lot to talk about with Cream Crackers I decided to attempt the playground challenge: Eating three cream crackers without water. So I ate the first one easily, ate the second one with my mouth getting a little dry and then chowed down on the final one no problem… hmm guess it was just a myth after all. Well either that or you aren’t supposed to swallow between each one?


If you feel up to the challenge then grab a pack of these babies, and see if you can do it too. And if anyone knows the real way to do the challenge then please leave a comment below as I’m stumped.

L’Oréal Glam Shine lip gloss and Telescopic Mascara

As I can’t review make-up myself I decided to hand these over to Marie. However being an evil git I made her write the below review before she’d get to keep them!

In my mid-teens I often found myself along with my best friend Louise hanging around in the aisles of Boots whenever I had a free minute. We must have spent hours looking at all the different make-up products and since pocket money never stretched that far L’Oréal products were pretty much off limits. I remember the first time I bought a L’Oréal Glam Shine, I felt so grown up and used it at every opportunity, always making sure when I took it out my bag to take as long as possible so everyone in the room noticed that I was using it.


At the age of 21 I have mostly outgrown being in awe of high street brand make-up however when 9 bottles of Glam Shine were waiting on my pillow when I got home from work I couldn’t help but feel some of that childish excitement I though I’d outgrown years ago. The Glam Shine range includes 4 different types, all supposedly with different uses and functions within each type. There are also many different colours for all occasions. The first type is the classic range that has been around since my teenage years. I always loved the ‘Gem Crystal’ colour so imagine my joy when I realised it was one of the 9 sent. Although my style has changed slightly, from put on as much as possible to using make-up to accentuate rather than completely cover, I have found myself subconsciously slipping this into my handbag on a number of occasions.

The second type is Moonshine, I’m not quite sure what distinguishes this but it seems to shimmer, I assume to give a moonlight effect (well that would at least explain the title!). This is probably a good one to wear on a night out to give a pretty but more sophisticated look. The third type is Crystal. Although extremely pretty in the tube I think this is perhaps aimed at younger girls growing out of the ‘Mary-Kate and Ashley’ range as the crystal effect is a bit over the top. Finally the fourth type is Juicy. This is a great lip-gloss to wear if you want to plump up your lips, it looks very sexy and made my lips shiny and pouty.


Mike insisted the best way to show off these lip glosses would be for me to kiss a piece of paper whilst wearing them. Above you can see slight differences between the types the first is Juicy, the second is moonlight, the third Crystal and the fourth classic. Although if you want to see the full effects these are best apparent when actually wearing them. A good new feature of the Glam Shine’s is the new wider, softer applicator brush which can hold more lip-gloss and cover larger areas, it also feels softer. The good thing about this is the reduced need for dipping back into the pot four times or so. I only had to dip twice, once for each lip!


As well as the Glam Shine lip glosses L’Oréal also sent a mascara called telescopic. My regular mascara is Lancôme Hypnose so I was eager to try a potentially cheaper brand. When applying, the differences from my usual brand were immediately apparent. The consistency of the L’Oréal mascara was much thicker and stickier which had positive and negative consequences. On the plus side it made my eyelashes look thick and lengthened however it was not as nice to put on. Also the brush applicator is a new design, plastic and hard rather than the usual flexible brushes, this is not necessarily a bad thing either as it means a more even coverage is given and it is also easier to clean if it gets clumped up.

Overall I think the lip glosses are the better product and can be a stylish accessory whether it be for day time or night. They have a colour and variety for each occasion however the mascara is worth a try if you like thicker lashes and a thick consistency of mascara. That said I’m sure I’ll find a use for all the products, most of which have made their way into my regular make-up bag.

The O.C. Game

Officially licensed board games seem to be everywhere these days, whether they be based on soaps, hit movies or TV drama you can’t escape them. They seem to magically fill the void between seasons and sequels by letting you act out the lives of your favourite characters and invent your own plot lines. The OC Game on the other hand takes another approach and instead of giving you a fantasy scenario to develop it chooses to test your knowledge of the first few seasons of the show.


As you travel round the board you’re given the chance to answer questions in order to win money and character cards. In order to win the game you’ll need six character cards, and $100,000. With only $5,000 available for every question you’ll need to get at least 20 questions right to win.

The game’s creators seem to have found a nice balance between casual and obsessive fans of the show with a mixture of questions of varying difficulties. As a bare minimum you’ll need to have watched the first season to be in with a chance. After that it’s a simple case of hoping you can remember all the catchphrases, odd events and strange goings on in Orange County.


In addition to Trivia cards there’s also Survey cards which are simple questions posed by major characters from the show. The idea behind these is that everyone writes down their answers and then one person has a guess. It’s a good idea in principle but when Ryan asks “Which of you has the biggest crush on me?” you’d better pray you’re not playing with a group of lads. Then again this is a board game on the OC….. the target audience probably isn’t teenage boys….

Another layer to the game is the “Show Deck”, this is an optional deck of cards that can be distributed to each player at the start of the game. Each card contains three events that could potentially happen in any episode of The OC. The idea is you watch the show with these cards and if the event on your card comes up you get some bonus money. Personally I found it too hard to play the game, answer the questions and watch the TV show (watching the TV show is usually taxing enough). I’m not sure if the creators of the game had an alternate use for the cards in mind but they do make for one heck of an interesting drinking game. Line up the shots, turn on the show and wait for your events to happen. Surely there’s a potential spin off here?


When not being used as a drinking game the OC Game is still an interesting proposition. If you absolutely love the show then you’ll either own the game by now or be wondering why you haven’t heard of it before. Naturally there is something for casual fans but this really is perfect for the weekly devotees.

To buy the OC Board Game click here
Or for more OC products including the Season 3 DVD click here

Veet for Men Wax Strips Review - Ouch

There’s a great episode of Scrubs where Elliot comes to the hospital with a wax strip stuck to her leg because she’s too afraid to remove it. I laughed at the time, but as I lay there on the bed last night with two wax strips stuck to my legs and Marie poised two inches away waiting to tear them off I couldn’t help but feel her pain.

And I mean really feel her pain….


Yes Veet for Men is finally here which means every man in the UK has no excuse for a hairy back, legs or underarms (although we can still have a hairy chest for now as you shouldn’t use the strips there). This worries me. You see before we could get away with being hairy and ape like purely on the basis that ”Waxing is girly”. Now on the other hand, Veet for ‘MEN’ says otherwise, and we all know once one man starts using it everyone else has to in order to not seem hairy by comparison.

Now as much as I’d love to just list the key points on the press release and end the review that’s not something I’m accustomed too. I always like to give every product here at Blagman a fair road test and that’s exactly what I decided to do. So I got Marie to peel off a wax strip and then stick it to my leg. As two of the strips come stuck together, I figured what the heck I’ll attach one to my other leg too. No turning back now…


As you can see the strips fit well and it’s easy to apply them, at least that’s what Marie told me as I was too busy waiting to see what would happen next. After the obligatory three second countdown off one of the strips came. If you’ve seen the movie ‘The 40 Year Old Virgin’ you’ll probably know what happened next. Honestly, I wanted to swear my head off, but trying to be a new-man I sat there calmly pretending to not feel a thing. Glad it was over I looked down at my other leg and remembered the second strip….

As the second lump of hair was tore from my skin it actually didn’t feel that bad. Looking down the amount of hair that had been removed was impressive and these things really do work. Standing back up again I looked in the bag from Veet and found another product “Hair Removal Gel Cream” which was a lot easier and a lot less painful! You simply apply the cream, leave it on a bit and then scrape off with the hair coming with it. It’s not as effective as good old-fashioned waxing but it’s a much safer place to start.


After v Before
As I said above once one man uses it then everyone will need to so I guess you could say the gauntlet has been well and truly set. So next time anyone say’s you’re looking a bit hairy you won’t have any excuse.

Veet for Men is available from all major supermarkets and pharmacies.

Tamagotchi v3

If my Tamagotchi parenting skills are anything to go by I shouldn’t be allowed kids for quite some time. After arriving from Bandai last weekend Marie did the motherly thing of caring for our newborn Tamagotchi with regular meals, regular cleanups and even turning the light off at bedtime. All was well and then the weekend finished, Marie went to work and I was left to look after our newborn throughout the day. Oh dear…


Now generally my track record with this kind of toy isn’t very good. Back when they first came out all those years ago I went for the cheaper unofficial ‘Nekopet’ substitutes. This would be my first lesson in not buying inferior products as at school one day we had a bet to see who could drop theirs the furthest without it breaking. I started, dropped mine from about 5cm in the air and my Nekopet died never to be seen again.

With that it mind I took on my new role of parenting with cautious steps. This time around I wouldn’t resort my baby to any freefalling experiments, bets on or off. For the first day everything went well, mostly I got on with the day-to-day tasks of being Blagman and attended to the occasional beep. I even found the time to play some games with my Tamagotchi. These include a game where you catch falling music notes from the sky, a game where you have to bump other Tamagotchi’s out of the way and a guessing game. Playing these games gave me points which I then spent on some more games and a trumpet.


As you can see he loved his little trumpet and all was well with the world. As for day 2 things didn’t go so well. Marie had told me that if he was sad for no reason then I should discipline him. Makes sense I though, and sure enough at one point his food bar was full yet he wasn’t happy. I tried playing games, unlocking stuff online at tamatown.com, giving him his favourite flute and even praising him but nothing seemed to do the trick. So as a parent at the end of my rope I raised my hand high in to the air and bought it down hard on the discipline option. After a good spanking he was still sad. So I disciplined him a few more times and probably caused some serious psychological damage (The Tamagotchi therapists will be busy for years).

Turns out all he wanted was some snacks, so after feeding him cakes and ice cream he felt a lot better. The great thing was he still seemed to love me all the same. You’d think after all this Marie would be shocked what I had done to her baby, not so, when she got home she purchased some make up and a bow and preceded to get our male Tamagotchi to try them out. And the weird thing was he actually loved the bow. Guess I did cause some psychological damage after all.


So whether you’re a good parent or a bad parent it doesn’t really matter, your Tamagotchi will love you all the same. Which to be honest is probably for the best. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to take care of some 9AM feedings.

Tamagotchi version 3 is available from all good toy stores. You can purchase one online at Amazon.co.uk here, or head over to Tamatown.com to win prizes for your Tamagotchi. And naturally for all things Tamagotchi you can head to Tamagotchi.com or Bandai.co.uk.

Gillette Fusion Review - Five blades better than 10,000?

Yesterday I woke up feeling grizzly. Most of the men reading this will know what I mean, those mornings where you wake up, look in the mirror and think “I really should get around to shaving today before my chin resembles a Coconut”. Usually I’d whip out an automatic shaver and let it do all the work, but yesterday I was feeling a little different. Yesterday I wanted something new and so decided to test out the Gillette Fusion.


I guess you could say for years I’ve been wimping out, always opting for an automatic shaver rather than using the razor blade to your face closeness of Gillette’s range of products. For some reason manual blades always conjure up an image of a caveman sat on a rock, carving at his stubble with another sharper rock, and for that reason I’ve shied away from manual razors all my life. But being one to accept a challenge I decided to give it a go and thankfully it turned out I just have a rather overactive imagination.

First up they’ve made a range of products to support the new razor which are available from launch (which coincidentally was this Monday so this review is hot off the presses). These include Hydra Gel and Hydra Soothe which we were lucky enough to receive as well. Hydra Gel is for pre shaving and Hydra Soothe is for soothing your tired face after all that hard shaving. Simple, and although I’d never used shaving gel before it’s pretty much common sense, good job too as there’s no instructions on the back of the packaging so you’re on your own!

So after spraying half a can over my face, then rubbing it in, then washing it off and reapplying properly I was ready to begin.


After a quick test it’s easy to conclude that the Gillette Fusion is a ridiculously comfortable and safe way of keeping stubble at bay. It shaved a lot closer than my regular automatic razor and even allowed me more precision so any dreams of having Craig David style facial hair may some day become reality.

As is typical of Gillette each new incarnation of their product has to have at least one more blade every time. It’s tradition and you don’t mess with tradition, so even if it means that by 2050 we’ll all be using 30 bladed machines to do the job, you can bet they’ll still be adding blades. So as you’d expect tradition hasn’t let them down this time with a new blade added once again. Although rather than clump this with the rest it’s now been added to the top of the razor. Confused? Well this little wonder is designed for those of you who want to keep those sideburns trim, and also for getting to the hard to reach places such as under the nose or the base of the chin.


So as you can see it did the job smoothly and effectively, heck I barely felt like I was doing anything at all. And you know what, as quickly as the time it took to read this review the stubble was gone, and with it all my fears of shaving with rocks as well. So gentlemen it seems it really is time to throw away your fears and your 10p Bic razors and give yourself something with a little style.

Gillette Fusion is now available in Boots, Super drug and pretty much everywhere else. It comes in both manual and automatic variations and there’s also a range of pre and post shave products as well.

To buy Gillette Fusion products from Amazon.co.uk click here

Next week: Blagman tries out Veet for Men (click here for the review).

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The Bedlam Cube - Can Anyone Solve It?

No it’s not James Blunt’s new album, it’s a mind bending cube from Bedlam Puzzles. Anyone who watches BBC’s Dragon’s Den will already be familiar with this little baby. It’s probably the most successful product to ever appear on the show, and also one of the best.


Your goal is to take all the assorted pieces out of the box and then put them back in again. Oh and there’s 19,186 possible solutions in your favour as well. Sound like good odds? Trust me they’re not. Finding one of the possible solutions is tough and even if you’re a master of logical thinking you’ll still have a struggle with this. What’s more once you finish it you’ve also got the added challenge of trying to find another solution as well.

What makes the game so tricky is that each of the pieces are slightly different, some are easy lifesavers whilst others are disfigured pains in the backside. Each time you play you’ll look at each of them a little differently. You can hear the inner monologue now: “Maybe you should put that + shaped piece down first this time?” “Maybe you should rotate that piece more to the left?” “Maybe you should throw all the pieces on the floor and start again?”


Like any great product there’s a good community aspect on the company website where it hosts a hall of fame. If you can find a new way of solving the puzzle that hasn’t been done before then you’ll earn your place in Internet history. Well, that and an exclusive gold bedlam cube.

Those who fancy something a little more interesting than the retro cube in our photo will find wooden cubes, purple cubes, chrome cubes and more by clicking our Amazon link at the bottom of the review. Heck they’ll even make a corporate cube or special cube with your favourite football team over at www.bedlampuzzles.com. Talk about tailoring to your audience.


So did we manage to crack the cube? Well let’s just say I’m glad we took photos of the cube before we wrote this review! Despite this failure we won’t stop playing now the review is up, we’ll keep trying for 20 minutes every now and then and we’ll get there one day. Bedlam Cubes are addictive, one-more go puzzles. With this and Blokus it looks like odd square cubes are going to take over.

P.S Perplex City addicts this is NOT the Receda Cube, so you'll have to keep searching for that one.

Click here to see Bedlam Cubes on Amazon
Or for the official Bedlam Puzzles website click here

Filofax Organisers

If there was one thing I loved when I was younger it was my Funfax. I must have had all sorts from the Beano edition all the way up to a special ‘Top Secret’ edition with secret spy tapes. It was always great fun to fill in the pages of details with weight, height, age, and favourite Beano character. You could then pretend that at 10 years old you had enough of a life to write something in your diary every day (Today: Eat cake, watch TV, sleep). As fun as it was times change and as soon as our school started giving us all special (read: crappy) school diaries that was the end of Funfax organisers for me.

Until today, when this casual little number arrived in my post-box:


Yes while we’ve all been getting older, taller (and a little fatter) Filofax organisers have been there in the background keeping the world organised and up to date. What’s more with the recent launch of some new retro and sporty models they pretty much pick up where we left off all those years ago.

Okay so you can buy personal organisers everywhere now, and if you love Winnie the Pooh or Eeyore there’s probably about a thousand other organisers you could buy but I challenge you to find a brand where every single product in their catalogue is this elegant, stylish and practical. Oh and don’t forget the extra street cred factor that comes from being able to say “Hang on, I’ll just check my Filofax”.


Now I know what you’re probably thinking, that Filofax organisers are expensive right? That they are all coated in leather and a hassle to use. Well neither of those points are true. Whilst you can get leather coated £100 prestige items you can also get more casual models between £12 and £30. The one featured on this page is the “Sport” model, which costs just £18.

And whilst you may not get pictures of Beano characters to colour in, you do now get an A-Z section for all your contacts as well as a week by week diary. So for those who don’t rely on Microsoft Outlook or Blackberry’s to handle their day-to-day time management this is the ideal solution. Oh and in case you were wondering the intro page doesn’t ask for your favourite cartoon character any more, just things like passport number and national health number instead which isn’t anywhere near as much fun.


They do however make up for all of this with a fold out map of the world, international dialling codes, weights and measures and a list of notable dates for the year. Ah August 28th Bank Holiday seems a little closer now.

It’s not always a good feeling to see a product from your childhood again. Usually you’ll be met with a horrible realisation of how gullible you were at the time and how little fun you can have with the product now. Thankfully with Filofax, that’s not the case, they’re ready to pick you up on your way and help organise your life whether that be at work, College or University.

You can pick up where you left off at Filofax.com

Or for a funfax click here

Unazukin

Today I was faced with an interesting conundrum, how to review a product which is the devil in toy form. Unazukin is a ‘cute’ toy designed for young children to help answer life’s little questions with a nod of her head for ‘yes’ or a shake of her head for ‘no. She can even give a double nod, or double shake for definitely yes or no. Sounds nice… so why is mine pure evil?


It started off well enough with the usual little boy questions. Will Marie kiss me when she gets home today? Will I become rich? Will I live forever and become grand Master of the Universe? All of those questions got ‘yes’ responses which means I’m in for a good few weeks. Convinced I’d found a good magic eight ball substitute I sat the toy down, pressed the off switch and started to type a review.

Then the strangest thing happened. Unazukin shook her head from side to side. I looked over and she’d stopped moving. I pressed the off switch again and she nodded to tell me she was turning off. 5 seconds later there was another nod of the head and then another. Creepy stuff.


Later in the day Marie got back and I did indeed get my kiss (Master of the Universe here I come). We proceeded to ask the ‘toy’ a few more questions and eventually turned to the topic of evilness. “Are you evil? – Yes”, “Do you hate us? – Yes”, “Are you going to kill us in our sleep – Double Yes”. After that response Marie threw our new evil friend on the floor and we eventually tried to sleep.


Thankfully we made it through the night to bring you this warning. Unazukin’s may look cute but they actually harbour the souls of small mystics*. They lie in wait, ready to attack when you least expect it. Thankfully the people at Bandai are comedians, and they decided not to give Unazukin any arms, which means you’re actually perfectly safe. What this all means is that the Unazukin’s are doomed to a life of constant servitude, nodding and shaking their heads and helping guide your life.

*Disclaimer: Unazukin’s are in fact harmless, unless swallowed. In which case please see your local GP.

To get your own Unazukin Mystic from Amazon click here

Or to visit the wonderful word of Unazukin at Bandai.co.uk click here

KP Nuts

Those who read the McVities Hob Nobs review a few weeks ago will already be accustomed to the Blagman.co.uk rule -That everything we feature on the site must have been attained for free. That means we can’t even spend a penny in order to get items for the site (well apart from our hefty phone bill!). With Hob Nobs I found we had to do a lot of searching to afford a pack that was covered by our one pound voucher. Luckily I didn’t have the same problems with KP Nuts.


At my local newsagents I managed to get two packs at 49p each, leaving me with an imaginary 2p that went to waste. I would argue my case that I should have got an extra 4 nuts for that but it seemed a little petty at the time. I went for Original Salted Peanuts, and lets face it they live up to their name in every possible way. I’m not sure if they apply the salt in a way which means the five top nuts are coated and the middle ones are just right but it certainly creates a shock when you first tuck in.


One mistake I did make was laying out the nuts on my desk for the above photo op. I’d polished the desk the day before and I guess the residue hadn’t faded away. Needless to say it was not a taste sensation I want to enjoy again! Luckily the second packet wasn’t tainted in this way and tasted as nutty as you’d expect. Lets face it though KP Nuts aren’t designed for home use at all.


Any pub goer will know KP Nuts spiritual home will always be at their local. Get people incredibly thirsty with salty nuts so they buy more booze. Then make them buy more nuts to fill their stomach up whilst drinking. It’s genius and it works too! For that reason I can’t recommend KP Nuts for home snacking, it just feels wrong. Your local pub landlord on the other hand will be more than happy to satisfy that craving.