Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Otona no DS Kao Training

Thinking about getting some plastic surgery? Fuggedaboutit. Do some Face Training instead to lift saggy bags underneath your eyes, sharpen your jaw line, and tighten up the loose skin on your face.

We once subscribed to a newsletter called, "Bottom Line" which collected financial tips, health secrets, and other useful information within a handy 16-page publication. That subscription lapsed about a decade ago but there was one article which recommended "facial exercises" to tone the muscles in the face. There was a slow pucker move where you puckered up your lips and then slowly withdrew them to form a Cheshire Cat smile. Then there was the eyebrow exercise where both brows were raised a few dozen times. We've heard about Carole Maggio and her Facercise book which taught readers the benefits of facial exercises to tone up the skin and keep it taut and youthful.

The concept of face exercises isn't new but Nintendo is the first company to create an interactive face exercise regimen where users grimace, grin, and glare their way to healthy facial muscles. If your face is normally stoic and solemn with nary a smile to be seen throughout the day, it's a safe assumption that your muscles need exercising. Smiling uses more muscles than frowning so we recommend smiling like The Joker for optimum facial honing. A camera is included in the package which plugs into the Gameboy slot on the NDS. Once inserted, the camera trains its electronic eye on your face so your doleful mug can be viewed on the touch screen while the software facial exercise appears on the top screen.

Super Mario Characters Figure in Blister 2

A couple of months ago, NCS stocked a bunch of Super Mario Sofubi (Soft Vinyl) characters and promptly sold out. Banpresto soon announced more Mario Sofubi toys which would ship towards the second half of 2007. Another batch of Mario Sofubi toys are now in stock and shipping to preorders today. Smaller than their forebears, each toy measures approximately 5" in height with the exception of Goomba which is only 3.30" tall. Five types of Sofubi figures are in stock and pricing is set at US$15.00 per figure.