Blockbuster.co.uk

Product Number: 104
How much: £9.99 (1 DVD)/ £15.99 (3 DVDs) / £22.99 (5 DVD’s) a month
Where: Blockbuster.co.uk

I’ve always been curious about the huge range of DVD rental sites that people can chose from. I mean there’s Love Film, Blockbuster, Amazon and assorted others but really how much do we know about those companies before we sign away our hard earned £10, £15 or even £20 a month, and more importantly how easy is it to get a copy of E.T.?


Deciding to take the plunge and investigate Marie signed up for Blockbuster.co.uk’s 2 week free trial without any mention of the words 'press' or 'review' (after all special treatment wouldn’t make for a very fair review). This equipped us with the chance to borrow three DVD’s at a time from Blockbuster’s entire back catalogue with no late fees. Opting for some new releases she chose ‘Children of Men’, ‘Superman Returns’ and ‘You Me and Dupree’ which had all been released in the past few months.

The next day all three DVD’s arrived exactly as we had asked in separate thin blue envelopes. Each DVD worked fine and although we did experience far too many trailers whilst waiting for Superman to start there were no errors to speak of. Once we’d watched the movies we simply popped them back in their pre- paid blue envelopes, added in a filled out card and returned to sender.


So far so good, and the next step was for us to add a list of movies that Blockbuster could send us in the future. For the first ten on our list we added mostly new releases and then after that pretty much anything that took our fancy from a huge back catalogue. Seeing it as the perfect time to catch up on movies I really should have watched in the past I also added E.T. and Mary Poppins.

Once the free trial ended we were moved up to the £15.99 a month package which also allowed us to have 3 DVD’s at a time. For some reason it was exactly after this point that we seemed to have a string of bad luck. In the space of a month a DVD was lost in the post, the E.T disk barely worked when we started it up and occasionally Blockbuster would send us a movie that was 12th on our list despite a list of popular new releases.


As for my major problem with the service, it’s simply that Blockbuster.co.uk don’t send DVD’s on a Saturday or Sunday. Because of this the only way to watch a DVD a day is to opt for the 5 DVD package at £22.99 and I’m sure Blockbusters knows it. They do try to resolve this by letting you lend Mondays new releases on a Friday but it’s a shame that it’s not quite the 7 day a week service you’d get in a store.

Despite these niggles I’m relatively happy with the service, and whilst it’s annoying to not always get the DVD you want the benefit of hunting down old classics or taking a risk on an unusual movie is more than worth it.

Grab Mat Review - Does it work?

Product Number: 103
How much: £3.99 RRP
Where can I buy one: JML Direct.com, ASDA, Woolworths and Wilkinson.

The JML stands in Boots and Woolworth’s have always been a great source of mystery for me. Although many of their products such as slimming body suits, cooking trays, invisible bras and ice cream makers would attract a world of attention if they appeared up on Firebox.com for some reason I simply walk on by when I see their products in the shops.


I’m not sure why this is, and I’ve always found myself more likely to take a risk and try a new product if it’s something I see online, as opposed to something I see in a store. In many ways that’s why I’m glad I started Blagman.co.uk as it helps me to toss those premonitions to one side and to simply try a new product without any worry whatsoever.

Take the Grab Mat for example, it’s a small, handy device which you place on your car dashboard to hold in place keys, money, sunglasses or just about anything you want to put in an easy to reach place. As it’s designed to peel on and off your dashboard easily you can also carry it around and use it on planes, trains or even a wobbly cruise liner.


As I don’t own a car I decided to recreate the turns and twists that the Grab Mat would go through on the average car journey by attaching it to a book and swinging it from side to side. For the full effect I even bumped the book up and down to emulate a speed bump. During my test I found the mat was very effective for items with flatter items such as coins and phones although it seemed far less effective for keys and glasses due to their smaller surface area.

So whilst we can agree that the Grab Mat is ultimately a very useful and practical device for less than a fiver, it’s still something I’d be unlikely to buy if I saw it in a shop. For some bizarre reason I’d probably waste my £5 instead on a dire DVD and as a consequence suffer the annoyance of having my keys slide round on the dashboard simply because I failed to listen to my curious side.


I guess what I’m trying to say is that sometimes it pays to gamble and to try something new. I have no doubt that the gadget stands in Boots contain all manner of useful items that could save me time and effort in the long run and perhaps maybe it’s time I listened to my curious side and took a look.

Bud Bucks

Product Number: 102
Where can I buy one: Bud Bucks.co.uk

Free money must surely be the ultimate dream of any blagger, and in some ways that’s what I received last week from Budweiser when they sent over some test codes for their new site Bud Bucks.co.uk. Picking up where ‘Kit Kash’ left off, 'Bud Bucks' can be used to bid on a number of items such as ski trips, film festival tickets and digital cameras. If you win you simply hand over your dosh and your item is mailed straight to you.


To get promotional codes all you need to do is pick up a bottle of Budweiser from March and you’ll find a Bud Bucks code to enter on to the website. For testing purposes I received a measly 10 bud bucks which was just enough to attempt to win myself a £20 cinema voucher, although you can expect the bidding to go a lot higher than this once codes start appearing on bottles.

Once you’ve got your bud bucks registered you’re then taken to 'Bud Blvd' which includes a number of places to spend your virtual moolah, listen to money or simply watch Budweiser videos. There’s also an Arcade, which is due to open next month (which is a shame as it looks like it'll be the best bit) alongside a range of empty stores which Budweiser can fill as the site gets more popular.


Whilst navigation is relatively simple there are a range of annoying pop up men that appear from time to time to explain what each store does and how it works. Whilst this is fine the first time you enter the town it can become a little tiresome on repeat trips, especially when all you want to do is see if you’ve been out-bidded on an item. Stores also load bit by bit, which again is very cool initially but tiresome in the long run.

Of course it’s very hard to judge a website like this before a public community arrives and predicting its success is even more troublesome. There’s definitely some great stuff up for grabs so far and if Budweiser can keep the uniqueness of its product range going for months to come then they could be on to a winner. For now then I recommend simply giving it a try, grabbing a few bud bucks tokens and trying your luck. After all if you don’t get in early all the good bargains will be gone!

Oh and in case you're wondering I've yet to spend my bud bucks, although I was able to get some Budweiser swag such as pens and bottle openers so it's not all bad news :)

Super Mop Pro

Product Number: 101
How much: £9.99 RRP
Where can I buy one: JML Direct.com, ASDA, Woolworths and Wilkinson.

Isn’t that just the best name you’ve ever heard of for a mop? It reminds me instantly of old school gaming titles such as Super Mario World and Super Metroid which filled my childhood with many a happy memory. Of course in those days Super was added to the title simply to differentiate the games from their older counterparts on earlier video game systems. It was a way of showing that you were about to enjoy something totally new that you’d never seen before, and perhaps that’s why JML chose ‘Super’ for their new mop…


After all a quick glance at the above photo quickly indicates that we’re in slightly different territory to the usual ‘straggly hair’ style mop you’ve probably got tucked away in a cupboard under the stairs. Okay, well perhaps it’s tucked away in an ironing cabinet instead. But the point still remains, there’s definitely something a little ‘Super’ about this mop.

One quick test later and I soon realised what made the head so special. Rather than having hundreds of little fibres the Super Mop Pro includes one giant head which soaks all of the water in to one central rectangular store. This is great for three reasons. The first being that when you wish to apply the water all you simply have to do is lay the mop on the floor and push in a straight line. A little bit of pressure is all it takes to get the water to come out and the fact you can clean in a straight line rather then wherever the mop wants to take you is a godsend.


The second advantage comes from the mop’s fantastic absorbency. I’m no floor mopping expert and as a result whenever I clean the floor I end up nearly flooding the kitchen with excess water which my standard mop simply won’t pick up. This generally results in me having to leave the water to dry which can take hours. The Super Mop Pro on the other hand quickly picked up all of this excess water and made it so I could set foot in to my kitchen again within a matter of minutes.

Last of all we come to the mysterious handle half way up the mop, which is used to empty the water from the absorbent head. When you pull the handle the head is scrunched together and the water comes pooring out. A couple of pulls later and the mop will be all dried out. When I tested my sample I actually found it was so dry that I didn’t even need a bucket to store it in after I was finished.


That’s not to mention that you can extend and reduce the size of the mop to your personal preference or that the head is also great for picking up excess dirt and bits of food.

Super.

Comic!

To celebrate the arrival of my 100th product I asked the saviour of UK webcomics (and fellow brummie) Joe Butcher to draw a comic for the site. As I'd hoped Joe chose his popular anti-hero Ted 'the purple gerbil' to show of his blagging antics! Be sure to click the images for beautiful Hi-Res versions.




For more from Ted head over to Purple Gerbil.com and if you fancy submitting any of your own blagging artwork or even a drawing of Blagman himself then get in touch at mike@blagman.co.uk.

Logic 3 i-Station Traveller

Product number 100: Logic 3 i-Station Traveller
How Much: £20 RRP x 6 = £120
Where can I buy one? Amazon.co.uk

Apple may have the biggest and loudest iPod speakers on the market at the moment but I’ve never really seen the point in paying for a giant hi-fi system for my own home. After all if you’ve got an iPod then all your songs will be located on a computer somewhere and if you’ve got a computer then a few fancy speakers aren’t going to cost much at all. Apples behemoth speakers also make little sense outside of the house and you’re unlikely to want to lug them with you on a romantic picnic or even pack them in your suitcase on holiday.


So what’s a music player owner to do if they want others to hear their music without having to resort to the balancing act of headphone sharing? One option is to switch the music to your mobile phone and then become one of those annoying people who feel the need to play every one of their songs in a crowded train carriage at 9 in the morning. Whilst you will introduce other people to the latest songs it’s likely they probably won’t want to thank you for it in the long run.

Enter the Logic 3 iStation Traveller, a small and compact music player for pretty much any occasion. It’s also small enough to place in your hand luggage making it the perfect companion for a short break if you want to beat the ques at Airport check in. Speaking of travel, the unit is incredibly well designed and even comes with a built in slot for you to place the headphone jack when you’re not using it. It also runs on batteries so there’s no need to lug around a charger, and a carry pouch is included at no extra cost.


To use the iStation Traveller all you do is slide a headphone jack in to the bottom of you iPod, MP3 player, or mobile phone (if it has a slot) and then play away. This makes the device relatively future proof - unless companies decide they want to stop using wired headphones any time soon you should be safe - and there’s no fiddly changing of slots to store your device as two speakers will clamp it in place. Volume is controlled directly by your media player as opposed to the speakers and we found when using an iPod that this gave us the perfect volume setting.

During our testing of the iStation Traveller I opted for the silver model, and Marie for the pink (there’s also a range of four other colours including blue, green, red and black which you can win later today!) and we then set about putting the devices to the test using various different songs and genres. Read on for our thoughts…


Chill: To get things off to a relaxing start and to give the unit a relatively easy test I opted for my album of 2006 ‘Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly. Both the chilled out beats of ‘Call Me Ishmael’ and ‘War of the Worlds’ came through perfectly and even on maximum volume the sound was crisp and clear.

Rock: Wanting to up the bass a little and provide more of a challenge we then chose ‘Linkin Park’ and again the unit continued to hold up with no real problems. We also found that by switching the iPod equalizer to ‘small speakers’ the sound quality improved even further.

Club: For our first club test we chose ‘Silence’ by ‘Delirium’, again a relatively soft song, but one that contains a lot of bass. At the highest volumes the song started to become a little distorted and the clarity reduced, but on lower volumes (which were more than loud enough to enjoy the song) the unit still performed well.

R&B: We now decided to turn up the heat a little and opted for a bit of Rhythm and Bass in the form of ‘R Kelly’. At this point we started to notice a blue LED was flashing on the front of the unit in time to the bass. Thinking this was a nice feature reminiscent of the iDog we then went back to some softer songs and noticed the flashing LED had stopped. A few more bassy songs later and we realised that it was in fact the intense bass which was causing the LED to flicker. Intentional feature or not it’s definately mesemerising.

Extreme: For the final test we decided to push the speaker to its limits and go for ‘Clubland Hardcore Xtreme VoL.2’. Up to about three quarters volume the sound still came through fine despite some very heavy songs. After that point the music become distorted and hard to hear but for the size of these little babies that not surprising.


And that’s essentially what’s on offer here, some good value, nicely sized speakers which are perfect for any impromptu music you fancy. I have no doubt that by the time my summer holiday rolls around these babies will have a prized place in my luggage.

Check back later today for your chance to win one of four iStation Travellers.

Product 100

And so I've made it. 99 unique products and 195 free samples later and now it’s time for product number 100. When I first started this 'quest' it was my goal to see if a normal bloke could receive 100 products for free simply by asking. This wasn't just a selfish pursuit however, and during the past 8 months I've bought you the low down on tons of products that have never been reviewed anywhere else. In that time I've also found myself meeting new people and ultimately trying new experiences every week. It's for that reason that this isn't the end of Blagman.co.uk, but only the beginning!


With so many unique and unheard of products out there waiting for a savour my quest must continue ... and will continue later today with a multitude of updates including Product 100, a special comic and your chance to win something for nothing.

Spring Fair 2007 Part 2

I should probably warn you upfront that today’s update is going to get more than a little bizarre. If you thought some of the last free samples in my Spring Fair round up were a bit strange then you really haven’t seen anything yet. I’ve saved the best product for last but for now all I can do is look on and shake my head. Normal (less bizarre) service will resume on Monday and next week I will reveal my 100th blag! See you then…


I’ll start with something a little more normal to get the ball rolling with these greetings cards from Avanti. Four cards were enclosed in my press pack including an extreme close-up of a Bulldog, a baby picking its nose, a duck about to jump in to a bowl of water and an old couple engaging in a spot of arm wrestling. Ok, so I guess these cards aren’t that normal after all but at least they’re well made and sure to lure a smile from anyone that sees them. Sadly you can’t buy these cards directly from Avanti but if you’d like your local card retailer to get some in stock then tell them to head over to Avanti Press.com.


When I first saw this sample I thought it was nothing more than a free toy flower, but a quick look at the top of the flower soon revealed that it had something hid in its centre. Eager to find out what this hidden gem was I tugged away and to my surprise found a pair of tiny babies socks. It turns out this wasn’t just some unique press promotion and that the team at Baby Blooms.co.uk actually sell all of their baby socks in this way. More adventurous customers can also order bouquets including baby sleep suits, bodysuits, socks and a hat. It’s the most eccentric thing I’ve seen in a while but I absolutely love the presentation of these products and would encourage anyone in need of a gift for a newborn baby to head over to the Baby Blooms garden.


Ever dropped your food on the floor at a BBQ? Or do you simply tire of eating from soggy plastic plates at picnics? Then worry no more for the ‘plastic plate’ is here! Just like its name the team at AAV Plastic Design have created … a plastic plate. That solves the sogginess issue but what about the worry of holding a plate with one hand at BBQs and a beer in the other? Well there’s a handy slot for your beer or wine glass and the whole thing can be held with just one hand. Just make sure you don’t look at your watch when someone asks you the time or it’ll be the last you see of your bacon buttie.


At first I thought this bizarre toy was some sort of dwarfish Santa but it turns out it’s actually modelled on ’Tomtars’. The story goes that when these tomtars were scared by the perils of everyday life they would pull their caps down to hide their face. While I still have no idea what tomtars are I can at least picture a tiny nose and beard on the figure and can even relate to their fears of every day life. I still think it looks like Santa though.

simplehuman Range

As promised here’s part two of my simplehuman roundup. Read on for kitchen holders, smelly stuff and cleaning mitts. Or if you want to buy some shining silver kitchen products of your own then head over to simplehuman.co.uk to browse the complete range.

Press ‘n’ Tear Paper Holder
How much: £19.99 RRP


As cars are such complex products it’s no surprise that they often come complete with one, two or even three year warranties just in case something goes wrong. Kitchen towel holders on the other hand have never been particularly error prone yet simplehuman offer a complete five year warranty on every single one of them just in case. Whilst that might seem like complete madness and corporate suicide it’s clearly the mark of a company that is proud of the build quality of its products and really wants to push that to its customers.

In terms of the ‘press-n-tear’ paper towel holder, with a similar stainless steel finish similar to the Swing Top Bin and more fantastic craftsmanship you know you’re in safe hands. As with all simplehuman kit there’s some innovation in there too thanks to a push down top which holds the kitchen roll in place so you can easily tear off a piece. Bizarrely our kitchen roll simply wasn’t tall enough for the top part to reach it but at least we had a very snazzy looking kitchen holder.


Microfibre Sponge Mitt
How much: £5.99


One of my main gripes about the Swing Top Bin was that it was really easy to leave smudges and food on the top of the bin. No doubt in anticipation of this kind of issue, simplehuman have created a mitt which you slip on your hand to allow for easy cleaning. All you do is run the mitt under some water and then wipe away.

As I’d hoped the mitt made quick work of any excess food juices that had managed to miss the bin and as it’s so quick to clean it can easily fit in to your washing up routine. For those who want their products to have a fantastic shine you can also use the dry side of the mitt to polish any steel surfaces including the rest of the bin.


Carbon filter
How much: £2.99 RRP for 2


Lets face it, bins smell. It’s a fact of life and there’s two obvious solutions. The first is to become a victim of habit and empty your bin three times a day, which although very efficient is definitely going to cut in on the time you’ve got to watch Alias reruns. The second strategy is to hide the smell until you’ve filled your bin to completion. Although this can be done with Ambi Pur kits which circulate a fragrant smell there’s still the issue of a smell when you get close to the bin itself.

Enter simplehuman with the simple solution of removing the smell entirely with a carbon filter which you fit directly to your bin. At £2.99 for 2 they’re an absolute bargain and when they run out all you need to do to ‘recharge’ then is leave them out in the sun for three hours. Solar powered smell filters? Genius.

Ghost Rider Figure

Where from: Hasbro
How much: £9.99 RRP
Where can I buy one: Amazon.co.uk

For some reason the Ghost Rider movie brings up many lingering questions in my mind: Can Nicolas Cage return to the heights of (the best action movie ever) ‘The Rock’? Will we be able to watch a whole movie with a talking flaming skull without laughing? Will the toys give away the plot or key fights in the movie*? And oddest of all, the question I found myself faced with last week; Is Ghost Rider better than Evel Knievel?

Whilst in real life Ghost Rider would simply touch Evel and he’d evaporate in to a pool of goo in the world of toys it’s an entirely different story. After taking the Ghost Rider figure out of its package I was immediately reminded of the Evel Knievel stunt set that I reviewed back in November. Keen to pit the two figures against each other I devised a series of challenges to see who really is the king of the road.

First of all I decided to look at the quality of the figures. All in all the Ghost Rider bike seemed a whole lot better thanks to its flaming wheels, demonic headlights and a skull headed rider. The figure also stands upright on its own so when you’re done playing with it you can add it to your desk as an action figure as well. If we compare this to Evel’s rather womanly figure Ghost Rider wins the first round without so much as taking a fiery breath.


We move then to speed, a key factor in winning any competition and an essential part of a rider’s arsenal. Whilst Evel Knievel contained a ramp to help your rider build up speed the Ghost Rider figure opts for the more traditional ripcord which you simply insert in to the figure and pull out in order to build up enough momentum to send the figure roaring across your carpet. Although this is noticeably quieter than the Evel set it can’t compare for speed.

In terms of distance both figures seem to be evenly matched, although with my room consisting of 90% carpet and a tiny flat surface in the kitchen I wouldn’t really consider this area to be a fair test. Poor carpeting aside both figures seem to go a long way and as Ghost Rider has added balance in his favour he’s likely to be the one to go the distance. (If anyone gets the figure and a long flat surface be sure to let me know how it works out…).


After deliberating all of these factors I came to one simple conclusion: get both! Mixing the ramps and tricks of the Evel stunt set with the extra stability of the Ghost Rider figure seems to be a match made in heaven, and if you simply want to pit Evel and Ghost Rider in a battle to the fiery death then you’ve got yourself a match made in hell. Take your pick.

(*For those interested in these things the Ghost Rider figure gave no clues as to what will happen in the movie itself, curses!)

simplehuman Swing Top Bin

Where From: The simplehuman store
How Much: £75 RRP

One of the best aspects of the Spring Fair was the ability to see products that have a real practical application in your own home. To really push this point home the stands at the show had chefs preparing gourmet meals with various different brands, stands that looked like living rooms and even stands that looked like small gardens. For the simplehuman stand however, all they needed was the products themselves, because as soon as you saw them you could immediately imagine them in your own home.


Take the swing top bin for example; it’s an elegant looking design which immediately lends itself well to your kitchen set up. It doesn’t matter what bin you’ve got already, everything seems to look just a little bit outdated when placed in comparison to this token of style. In my case it took less than a second for me to imagine the sample replacing my smaller blue plastic bin, but really there was no contest. Five minutes later and my blue bin had been hidden out of the way and replaced by this newer sleeker model.

Unlike my standard issue blue bin the simplehuman model required a very small bit of assembly on arrival. Thankfully all this amounted to was placing a lid on top of the bin and squashing a bin liner down the side. One benefit of having the bin come in separate components is that it makes cleaning far easier, you simply lift out a smaller bin inside the main bin and then clean this instead. It may seem like a little touch but given the weight of the main unit itself you’ll be thankful for it when the time comes.


Then there’s the screw on top which resembles the swing bins you see at your local park. Although it might seem an odd choice for a kitchen set up the swing bin works surprisingly well as it has been moulded to make even the slightest push allow you easy access to dispose your rubbish. The only real downside of this is that it’s easy to leave smudges or runny food on top of the bin but that’s somewhat made up for by its wipe clean surface.

When the time comes to empty your rubbish you simply pop off the top and lift up the inner bin to release your bin bag. Because the bag is held firmly in place as you add your 55 litres of rubbish there’s a reduced risk of the bag falling down inside the bin. To round off the package the bin comes with a stainless steel finish which makes the whole thing incredibly heavy duty and generally nice to look at.


It’s not often I get to review a functional slice of everyday living, which is a shame as there’s nothing better than finding something new to show off in your home. The swing top bin is unfortunately no longer available but if you fancy a look at the rest of the range visit The simplehuman store.

Spring Fair 2007 Part 1

It may only be two weeks since I packed my bags and headed to London for Toy Fair 2007 but that didn’t stop me from loading up on business cards and heading to the Birmingham NEC last Sunday to hunt down the best new products about to hit the market. With over 2000 companies and 20 halls rammed to the edges with stands ranging from jewellery, toys, home, garden and kitchen appliances the show was definitely hectic, but as always I endeavoured to bring you the best of the free samples on offer at the show:


After spending half of the show consisting on nothing but a half eaten chicken and leek slice and a few various free sweets I was pleasantly surprised when the generous standees on the Cookies4u.co.uk stand offered me any cookie from their stand to review on the site. After browsing their various mothers day, Easter and wedding cookies I stumbled upon the above delicious looking bear and decided to give him a good home in my belly. It was then I realised that with no cameras allowed in the show I’d have to bring the bear all the way home to make this update. It seemed my growling appetite would have to wait till later. When I eventually got round to eating the bear I found it was sweet and delicious, and made all the better by a hint of vanilla or ginger. Sadly if you fancy one yourself it seems you’ll have to order 20 all at once from their site but if you’re an International Man of Mystery and you’ve got that many valentines to satisfy then you may as well put in a bulk order right away.


Within the surprisingly comfy press area I stumbled upon this little guy attached to an article from TY Beanies. Sat there all on his own in amongst various piles of paper and CD’s he seemed keen to escape from the madness around him so I gladly took him home. The toy itself is soft and keeps its shape well thanks to the various ‘beans’ inside him. Rather oddly gravity seems to have dragged the beans inside him to a rest right at his bottom which gives him an identical ‘spare-tire’ look to his TV Equivalent.


With two potential valentines day presents beside me I was even more surprised to be given a set of cards for free by the guys over at Cards Unlimited.com. Sadly I doubt Marie would appreciate a card with a golfer or a lion on it but I’m sure a lot of people out there would love these high quality photo cards. The cards themselves are available in a pack of 5 for £5 and by far and away the best feature of their site is that you can even submit your own photos to a public vote. If they win they’ll be available form the store in the future and can then be purchased by people all over the UK. Perfect for anyone that sees themselves as a budding photographer.



Lastly here’s something for the kitchen from OXO Good Grips. As anyone who has ever tried to make a mango smoothie will agree, chopping up Mangos is an absolute nightmare thanks to the seed right in the middle. To get around this all you need to do is put the Mango Splitter on top and push down. Just make sure the Mango is fresh and hard otherwise you’ll end up simply squashing the mango, which as I just found out can lead to a very sticky kitchen floor.

Don’t forget to check back next week for Part 2 including baby socks, a peculiar toy, and the most innovative plate you’ll see all year. As with Toy Fair I’ll be bringing you bigger reviews of any products I receive after the show, the first of which will be up on Friday and is by far the most useful product so far!

Kellogg's Wheats

Not that I wish to play in to the hands of Kellogg’s marketing people but the trouble with their new ‘Wheats’ range is that “they taste too good”. And while that’s technically the slogan for Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Corn Flakes it’s just as relevant here as the following tale of woe and addiction will explain….


Everything started off relatively normal. I’d agreed with a Kellogg’s rep to review their new Raisin wheat’s cereal and was told they’d post a box over straight away. A couple of days later the box of raisin wheats arrived along with, chocolate wheats, frosted wheats and another box of raisin wheats to sweeten the deal. As you’d imagine these new cereals make fans of Shredded Wheat, Wheetos and Frosties feel right at home on name alone.

Feeling spurred on by their generosity and my childhood love of Wheetos I decided to indulge my sweet tooth and get started on the Chocolate Wheats. After tucking in to a generously full bowl and feeling very satisfied I set about watching the new series of 24. Around half way through that week’s mixture of deaths, torture and terrorists I started to get a rather unusual craving for a snack. With my Christmas chocolate finally depleted and a complete lack of crisps I turned to my new ally… Chocolate Wheats…


Returning to the show with box of chocolate wheats in hand I preceded to pluck away at the box with all the dignity and grace a couch potato can muster. After finishing a worrying portion of the box in no time at all and feeling slightly ashamed, I decided to hide the box away from my prying eyes. With my cravings satisfied I got on with my day and any thoughts of gouging myself on one hundred little wheat parcels seemed to have all but subsided.

As it approached dinner time I set about preparing a marvellous dinner of chicken ala pasta ready to set right the cravings I had indulged that morning. Unfortunately earlier that day I had stacked the Kellogg’s boxes right next to the stove and as the pasta boiled away my hands started creeping towards the Frosted Wheats, this time egged on by childhood memories of Frosties. Once again I found myself wanting these addictive parcels of wheat, and after spilling water on the stove and nearly burning the chicken my craving finally subsided.


I write this story not as a product review but instead as a warning so you’ll know what you’re getting yourself in to when you walk down the breakfast aisle. Don’t think you’ll get off easily with the raisin wheats either, while although they lack the ‘naughty boy’ factor of chocolate or sugar they will get you hooked when you roll out of bed each morning. You’ve been warned.

Toy Fair 2007 Freebies Part 2

As promised here’s the final part of my Toy Fair 2007 free stuff roundup. All that’s left to do now is sit back, relax and wait to see what mystery toys come my way next. Until then be sure to check back next week for the usual mixed bag to reviews including some chocolatey frosted goodness. Mmmm.


Who doesn’t love bubbles? Especially when there’s gazillions of them! While on the Flair stand I got the chance to try out a giant bubble spraying gun and even meat flavoured bubbles to make your dog go crazy. For my free sample I was taken back the simpler days of bubble spraying with a simple set of bubble solution and a stick to blow. Interestingly the stick had a variety of holes in different places which meant the resulting bubbles were a mixture of sizes and shapes. The set was true to its name and with just one dip in the solution I created an army of bubbles. Magic.


Who doesn’t love Play-Doh? While in the past ten years not a great deal has changed 2007 is definitely going to bring some interesting new developments including new sets, fantastic storage solutions (including an octopus) and even mats encouraged to make your child do the cleaning up afterwards! As for the above penguin he’s part of a new series called Play-Doh ‘Make ‘n Display. Each set contains a few cubes of colour and a quick guide to making a few simple figures. The real magic behind the set is the plastic container it comes in which can be placed over your figures allowing you to preserve them forever. There’s even a To and From bit on the bottom in case your kids fancy making you something as a gift. I’d also like the point out the warning inside the box “Model results vary depending on child’s age and level of skill” which is why Marie made the above figure instead of me….


Who doesn’t love bears? Mbears are the latest not to cuddly companions to the stikfas brand which includes all manner of quirky little figures such as brilliantly styled skeletal robots. Mbears themselves can be positioned in a number of ways and even come with removable sun glasses (although it’s a little creepy to see that they lack eye sockets underneath). It’s easy to see the potential for hundreds of these little guys to take over a toy store near you before you know it.


Who doesn’t love .. err… Kooti Kooti? Our starter pack essentially contained two figures which you’re supposed to flick around a flat surface until you eventually land on your opponent. Up to four players can play at once and each KootiKooti has a different point amount which affects the number of times you will have to pin an opponent to win. At the moment it seems hard to picture how it all works but it’s clear as soon as it becomes a playground phenomenon everyone will want one.