What do you get when you cross “America’s Favorite Serial Killer” with America’s favorite literary periodical? Conventional wisdom would say you get one very well read sociopath…or perhaps one devilishly clever ad campaign. Readying the launch of it’s promotional push for the premiere of Dexter’s third season on September 28th, Showtime has concocted their own mock cover of The New Yorker, replacing the usual masthead to trumpet “New Dexter,” accompanied by a wonderful cartoon likeness of the smiley slayer portrayed by Michael C. Hall. It’s quite the fiendish display, but we like it anyway.

An impressive group of artists and vinyl toy companies have come together for “This One’s For The Children of Sichuan,” a charity auction orchestrated by MINDstyle to benefit victims of the Chinese earthquake. The auction includes original paintings, rare toys and limited-edition collectibles from KAWS, Joe Ledbetter, Michael Lau, Ron English, Buff Monster, tokidoki, Shepard Fairey, Devilrobots, Amanda Visell, Doktor A, Tim Biskup, Kathie Olivas, Brandt Peters and many more. A few of the auction’s highlights: Lau’s sold-out “Jordon” Gardeners, Ledbetter’s signed lot of monotone toys, a 4-foot tall KAWS companion (and pair of promo Nikes) and numerous large-scale resin figures. There are 29 lots posted with pictures and estimates on eBay here. The auction commences August 31st at 6 p.m. PST, but absentee bids can be placed immediately. Be charitable if you can afford to, and be sure to read all the rules of the auction, which may include additional shipping costs.

With a cast as diverse as that of JJ Abrams’ Lost, there’s more than enough room for multiple toy tributes. In contrast to the detailed doppelgängers released by McFarlane Toys in 2006, the upcoming line of Lost Kubricks from Medicom Toy Co have been paired down to the characters’ broadest characteristics. In addition to Jack with signature stubble and Kate with characteristic cleavage, the range includes 2.4-inch representations of Sawyer, Sayid, Hurley, Locke, Charlie, Desmond and Ben. Each figure comes with a tiny trademark accessory. If you’re a Lost fan, but new to buying Kubricks, you should know that the collectible figures are sold by the case, carton and box according to individual ratios. A carton contains 96 boxes, which means that (for example) 19 of those boxes will contain a Jack figure, 12 will have Sayid and just one (known as a “chase figure”) will reveal Ben. Collect them all and remember, if you get doubles, you can always kitbash your own Dharma Initiative.

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There’s no chill in the air just yet, but we can sense it coming. You better face the fact it’s going to be winter soon, and with that comes prime snowboarding weather. Why not celebrate the imminent frosty season by grabbing yourself new deck? The masterminds at Monument Snowboards (or MNMT) have just what you’re looking for with their new line of boss boards for ‘08-’09, featuring some seriously sick designs from a slew of talented artists such as KRINK, Kime Buzzelli, and Todd Tourso. In additon to their top gear, MNMT has also launched a brand new site that allows you to take a gander at both the brand’s hard and soft goods, check out a few blogs, and become part of the Monument consortium by signing up for their newsletter.

You’d think that with the trend of checking our cellphones for the time rather than our wrists, that the art of telling time has become lost. Though this may be the case day to day, there are groups of creative people out there that know that time defines all parts of our lives, and they sure have interesting ways of displaying it. Smash Magazine recently rounded up their top ten listm and on it you’ll find time displayed on Fed Ex boxes to random Flickr images. My favorites are the Word Clock and the HumanClock, both of which are simple in their foundation but thought-provoking enough to keep you around long enough to see minutes flip by.

Tokidoki, the Italian lifestyle brand with the Japanese name, has just ventured into laptops. Simone Legno’s Cactus Friends and Moofia characters are easily recognizable gracing the top of Fujitsu’s new LOOX U series ultra-mobile PC. Let’s face it, anyone who is shopping for this ¥123,800 (about $1100 USD) Japan-exclusive UMPC are doing so for the tokidoki branding. To that end, people who purchase the laptop will be rewarded with a 1GB tokidoki USB drive, stickers and an original T-shirt. Check out the product page (in Japanese) here.

I’ve been watching the evolution of Cypher13’s SOFT&FURRY with keen interest. It began with a contest to create the forthcoming hand-cast toys’ logo. After 8 weeks of online competition, a winner, Shitty Kitten, was declared. The premise of the three S&F characters–LOOFT, DOO and GROOND–is that they existed at one point as soft and furry creatures helping all to breathe, drink and grow. But the natural balance of things was upset by the manifestation of greed, causing them to harden with gloom. Cypher13 indicates that they may be soft and furry once more though. To that end, they have recruited a stellar roster of worldwide talent to customize their resin figures. Just a few of the participating artists include: Argentina’s DGPH, Hong Kong’s Michael Kwong, Germany’s TILT, The Netherland’s Zeptonn and USA’s sketchBot. The first completed SOFT&FURRY figure just rolled in from Sydney Australia’s TOKO, and it’s a true testimony to typophilia. The rest of the gang will make their debut on September 13th at Plastic Chapel in Colorado.

In the future there’ll be no such thing as a newspapers. All reading will be done on a complex device called a computer. But as long as someone’s still putting print to paper there’s going to be waste associated with it. Thankfully, there are people like the inventive minds at Onceneto design studio, who have found ways to turn the print industry’s trash into someone else’s treasure. Teaming up with Santiago’s La Tercera de la Hora daily newspaper, the Chilean firm founded by Ricardo Vargas and Abi Jarkowiec has taken the difficult to recycle cardboard tubes from the periodicals printer rolls and connected them using a steel support to create a nifty chair called the Conolounge. While this precious furnishing is still in the prototype phase, with any luck, it’ll be rolling hot off the presses sometime soon.

Toy2r has done many collaborations with fashion labels over the years — from DKNY to tokidoki. Their latest range of collectible 2.5-inch Qee figures includes Mark Fairwhale (above) and LUISAVIAROMA (after the jump). The Mark Fairwhale brand was created in 1999 by Shanghai-based designer Mark Cheung. Cheung incorporated familiar elements of his clothing line into this elaborately detailed set of four figures. LUISAVIAROMA is a Florence, Italy based retailer of high-fashion from designers like Roberto Cavalli, Marc Jacobs and Jil Sander. For their set, they produced a series of five bear Qee. The Fairwhale Qee look great together or as standalone art toys. (In fact, an 8-inch Bear is also available.) The LUISAVIAROMA Qee work best as a cohesive group. Both sets are currently available in Toy2r’s new double window-box packaging at designer toy retailers worldwide.

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We’re always on the clock; literally. Sao Paulo’s Estudio 5 skips over the traditional agenda pad and designed a wood clock with a write and erasable surface so you can mark time for that “fun-time break” in chalk in between walking the dog and meeting the girlfriend’s parents for dinner. They’ve also got other irreverent surprises, like a soap in the form of a pencil that you can use to write messages to your roommates (like “It’s your turn to buy some tp, please!”) on the shower door that will appear with the help of steam the next time someone jumps in for a wash. We’re trying to track down a place in the States where you can find this stuff, so hang tight.

Between the opening ceremonies and the most decorated athlete in history, this year’s Olympics in Beijing are arguably larger than life. So how do you pay tribute to something that big? You go small. The Hong Kong Lego Users Group painstakingly recreated everything from The Bird’s Nest to The Water Cube brick by brick in Legos. Tennis, ping-pong, beach volleyball, soccer, sailing, swimming and windsurfing are among the dozens of sports rendered in tiny details in the replica, which measures about 26 feet by 10 feet. If you stare at the images long enough, you can almost spot Michael Phelps’ mother cheering in the bleachers and a sweat-stained George W. Bush mugging with Misty May-Treanor. More than 300,000 Lego bricks and 4,500 Lego people were used to create the display, which is on display until the end of the month at Grand Century Place in Hong Kong.

Our love for toy art crosses all borders here at JoshSpear.com, as you know through our enthusiastic posts. Plastic, paper, vinyl; each is equally adored. So why not a combo of these three formats then? TroyArt’s robot models come in flat, acrylic panels with pieces that you punch out and assemble by matching slit to slit. They’re a little like the 2009 version of Japanese Gundam toys. Contact them directly in Brazil to find out how you can order one.

Congratulations Klee.

It was a tough decision … so many sweet rides to choose from. So we deferred to our benefactor: Puma USA. We realize there were a few of you who brought us wooden bikes, but Klee got there first by finding this uniquely intricate and amazing cycle. Our man over at the Puma says, “I would have taken a wood-burning pen and drawn some cool #@&$ on it.” Agreed. Congrats Klee, you’re going to be one bad-ass riding through town on this new bike.

You’d think the most interacting you could do with a door is to open it. Hey, I’m not venturing into pervy matters here, but Brazil’s No Design had a different idea for their handle-less Max Door. It locks and unlocks with a remote control like the one you use for your ride and takes only a tap to open. But rather than clicking the remote a thousand times to ensure you’re triggered the lock, LEDs on the door will light up to tell you whether you ought to click again. Smart door. The doorbell’s sound is even digital. You’d think the door should come with a portal to the future or something, but alas, it’s part of Max Haus‘ amenities in their new-living apartment buildings in Sao Paulo and a winner of Idea Brasil’s Design Award 2008.

They say that clothes make the man, but we beg to differ. In our estimation, nothing makes a man more manly than a classy, well-manicured mustache. Ditto goes for a distinguished looking deck. It looks as though Lawrence Melilli agrees. He’s chosen to adorn his new gentlemanly line of boards entitled “Mustaches” with a few esteemed looking mustachioed fellas. These decks owe their stately appearance to their fine facial hair as well as their hand-painted detail. If you’re looking to make your time on the half-pipe appear more prestigious, perhaps it’s time you put in an order for your own custom-designed, well-groomed gear.