Meet Rusty and his morbidly obese canine companion, Dworkin. They, along with a bunch of interesting characters, are the protagonists in the comic book "Vortigern's Machine and the Great Sage of Wisdom", illustrated by James Jarvis and written by Russell Waterman. We showed you the book a couple of months back. Click right if you missed that feature or if you just want to see it again.

I say that these guys are only two of a bunch of protagonists because even the "bad" characters in the book (most of which have also been brought to life in vinyl like these guys) are downright likable if not even lovable. I think it goes without saying that Jarvis' style is amazing and that it lends itself really well to vinyl collectibles, but you really have to read the book to appreciate Russell Waterman's hand in helping to craft each of the individual personalities and making you want to own them all.

I think that everybody who enjoys music should thank Radiohead for pulling an incredibly human and, dare I say, revolutionary move last week by offering their new album for sale for whatever price the listener chooses to pay for it.

While the big record labels are banging their heads against the wall taking out second mortgages on their private jets, scrambling and scratching away, suing individual music fans and attempting to scare us all into buying music the exact same way that we used to, Radiohead (who aren't tied to a label) have taken it upon themselves to do something worthy of dialogue: they've promoted change.

They've proven that they're a rock band, not a business run by a bunch of crusty old turds, and that they understand that if they don't embrace change, and work with it, their donuts just might be done.

Strictly Italian artists grace the pages of the latest issue of Arkitip magazine, the release of which (and the pair of gloves that come free with it) coincided with this year's Gran Premio d’Italia F1 race in Monza, Italy.

You know it's a big deal that Puma AG produced these gloves, but just how big of a deal is Puma AG? Well, I was told that they're the official supplier for the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro F1 Team. A quick Wikipedia search (motor sports is not one of my trivia fortes) reveals that "Scuderia Ferrari is the name for the Gestione Sportiva, the division of the Ferrari automobile company concerned with racing... Scuderia Ferrari was founded in 1929, and... [is] the oldest and arguably the most successful team left in the championship.". I think that's a pretty big deal.

They also look and feel good, and they're also most likely the same ones that are on the hands of the dudes who drive in those insane car races. And they come FREE when you buy the magazine. That's more than stupid good.

Since Turf launched not long ago, I've been trying to think of a tactful way of including it in a Buyers Blips feature without making it look like I'm giving special treatment to a brand that I'm the art director of and that I stand to benefit from by promoting it. There exists a fine line between telling people what you're doing and being a douche about it and I've been accused in the past of being a shameless self promoting douche... but without self promotion Turf wouldn't have no promotion at all at this point, so bear with me here:

Turf is a new skateboard company based out of the Bay area, headed up by Mike York and designed by me, Bob Kronbauer. The boards pictured above are the first ever series. The next complete series will be dropping early next year around the same time that the first Turf video, "Turf's Up!", is slated to be released.

That wasn't too douchey, was it?