This an updated video to Miley Cyrus’ song ‘When I Look at You” that features more footage from The Last Song, the film she stars in with Liam Hemsworth. The song appears on both the movie’s soundtrack and Miley’s The Time of Our Lives. Previously, we’ve brought you a bunch news about the The Last Song, which is based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks. We have promo images from earlier this month along with a featurette presented by Miley and Liam, and the poster.

The release date for the film was bumped up and hits theaters now on March 31st. With Cyrus and Hemsworth, the film offers a cast that includes Greg Kinnear, Kelly Preston, and Bobby Coleman.

What is the only toy that I have played with every day since I returned from the Toy Fair his year?  The Original Perplexus.  See now I have you intrigued, so let me tell you a little bit about this toy.  It all started before the Christmas holiday in 2009, I wanted to get my boys a wooden labyrinth game, but my wife was against it because of the little metal balls that would be around the house when the new baby came.  Somehow though I luckily won that battle and a labyrinth was had.  Little did I know though, that there was a better toy, one that answered all my requests.  I would find it right when I walked into Toy Fair 2010, Perplexus.

It is no wonder that Michael McGinnis’ invention is on the cover of Hammacher Schlemmer for Spring 2010, this thing is just unreal.  So where to start, well Michael was on hand at the booth demonstrating the toy and giving us some background on the Superplexus, which is how this thing originally got started.  You can check his site for even more info.  Not to be outdone by other displays, he also had a Superplexus there for us to try out while looking at the smaller Perplexus version.  They were positioned right outside the entrance to the main hall, which was genius in my opinion, you could not help yourself, you had to stop and look.  PlaSmart also had booth just in case you wanted to sit down and talk business with them.  McGinnis is a very interesting fellow to listen to (and was also extremely nice) and I was happy to hear the background on the product before getting it into my hands.  The Perplexus is addicting and once it came into my house my boys would not put it down either, we actually had to allot each other a certain amount of time as we passed it around like a hot potato.  What is special about the one that we received from PlaSmart?  Well Michael McGinnis’ himself signed it, which is great.  The toy itself is a self contained 3-d labyrinth that has numbers marked off on it so that you can see how far you have gotten and compete a bit with friends and family.  I love the fact that it is self contained, no ball to lose, also having no strings or bars, you also do not have anything that might break after repeated use of the toy. 

I can not gush enough on how much I love this toy and you can find it at Amazon for your purchasing pleasure.  I will admit to not being very good and needing more practice with the toy, not that I am complaining about spending more time with Perplexus.  Check out the quick video below of my wife playing with it.

Perplexus is a 3-D labyrinth game enclosed in a transparent plastic sphere. By twisting and turning the sphere, players attempt to maneuver a small, steel ball through an intricate maze composed of narrow plastic tracks. There are obstacles of varying difficulty that must be navigated in order to reach the end. The experience offers hours of entertainment and fun.

Perplexus was invented by 3-D design teacher Michael McGinnis who began his project in the late 1970’s and originally named and marketed it as Superplexus. Through years of experimenting and design it was finally developed into a finished product with the help of KID Interactive, a toy invention and licensing group.

In 2009, Busy Life, LLC became the licensed manufacturer of the Perplexus line of toys. It is distributed by PlaSmart, Inc, a Canadian corporation.

Note:  We received our Perplexus from PlaSmart for review

A toy that makes me happy that I am having a girl in April?  Yes, Mattel gave us a glimpse of one of those as well at the Toy Fair.  The Barbie Video Girl Doll from Mattel is another way for the long standing brand of Barbie to push forward into the future with a video camera in her necklace and a viewing screen on her back.  You can also hook her up to a computer and do some editing. 

We got to see this Barbie in action and off the top of my head we have two really good uses for this Barbie.  The first one is recording video while Barbie Video Girl is driving around in her pink convertible car.  They actually had this as part of the presentation video.  The other one is the bane of brothers everywhere, use the Barbie Video Girl to catch your older or younger brother in the act of teasing you or doing something wrong.  Ok, maybe not the pitch you will see on the commercials but a interesting way to change the balance of power in the family.  What is neat about this is that you can have recorded events like weddings, music videos, all sorts of new ways to play “Barbie”.  You can check out my video below, which I did ask at the publicity desk if I could record, of Barbie Video Girl Doll.

What was also very hip is that you can use editing software at Barbie.com to add all sorts of effects to the video you have recorded.  Pretty darn cool and the price point seems acceptable as well.  I have added two of the larger press images below so you can really take a look at how the Barbie brand is merging with technology to keep itself current and relevant in this modern age.

Innovative engineering allows for the transformation of ordinary toys into sophisticated gadgets — bringing a new dimension to how kids today play. Allowing girls to see the world through Barbie’s eyes, video girl will allow girls to create their own movies and capture footage in a unique way 

BARBIE® VIDEO GIRL™ DOLL

Lights, Barbie®, Action! Girls can create movies from Barbie® doll’s point-of-view with a real video camera inside Barbie® doll.  With the camera lens in her necklace and a color LCD video screen on her back, girls will have endless fun recording and playing back their digital masterpieces with close to 30 minutes of recording time. Editing software available at Barbie.com enhances videos with the ability to add music, visual and sound effects!

ARP: $50.00                         Age: 5+                      Available: July 2010

After bringing you the behind-the-scenes look and the Valentine’s Day performance of his “Baby” earlier this week, we now have the official video for Justin Bieber’s song featuring Ludacris! The girl you see – I think – is Jasmine Villegas. If you remember, in that behind-the-scenes spot, Drake showed up, and he’s also in this official video for a moment!

Remember, On March 23rd you can grab “Baby” and the rest of Justin’s album, My World 2.0 (see album cover). Also this month, you found that Bieber will be on School Gyrls, and we even have a trailer! laos a reminder because this was announced in December, but tomorrow you can catch him hosting Pop-Con, chilln’ with Selena Gomez (I’d imagine if weather permits)!

I love everything about this: one of the best artists in the business today, the modern oz writer (and a hell of an artist himself) , and Baum’s Oz. That’s what you get when you have Skottie Young and Eric Shanower’s Marvelous Land of Oz#4 from Marvel Comics! We have the preview for you today, so that you know what’s good when February 24th comes around the comic shop!

Issue Synopsis - The New York Times bestselling team of ERIC SHANOWER and SKOTTIE YOUNG continue their historic interpretation of the world of OZ! In this stunning chapter, Tin Woodman has a badge, and he’s afraid to use it to make sure law and order are preserved in the Land of Oz… All Ages …$3.99

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As an aside, I recently posted my original art page by Skottie Young from their first series, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Bullseye! Awesome! The team of Paul Tobin, Christian Nauck, and Takeshi Miyazawa (cover), bring us issue 60 of Marvel Adventures Spider-Man. This issue hits shops on February 24th, and we have the sneak peek for you!

New York’s police department has been known to hire bounty hunters, psychics and assorted spiritualists, but Peter Parker never thought he’d see the day when they sent out a call to hire… special agent Spider-Man? But is this offer too good to be true? Maybe even a trap? It would take a mind-reader to find out the truth, and luckily, Peter knows just such a person. Unluckily, that person is Emma Frost, the very person the police want Spider-Man to hunt down. All Ages …$2.99

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You may remember that I posted this year’s free club figures for members of the G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club last year (and talked more about Big Lob at VI), and now our friends over at Fun Publications have dropped off to me an image of this year’s member’s figure for the Transformer Collectors’ Club – Dion! Here is the note:

Anyone with an active Transformers Collectors’ Club (TCC) membership as of March 16th 2010 will receive this toy along with their magazines and other benefits.

Dion comes with Henkei blasters and mini-con Cop-tur! Who is Dion? This guy knew Prime waaaay back in the day when they used to be dockworkers, and he looks kind of awesome!

Recently we also talked about the Collectors’ Club (back to G.I. Joe) convention set, featuring the Red Shadows. I was very excited to see this mold/articulation this year for a con set!

Back in December we brought you the trailer for How to train Your Dragon, the upcoming animated movie based on the novels by Cressida Cowell. It will feature the voices of Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrara, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Craig Ferguson, Kristen Wiig and T.J. Miller in a story that combines vikings and dragons! We now have some new stills from the 3-D movie that’s set to be released on March 26th from Dreamworks (they brought us the Shrek films, Madagascar , Kung Fu Panda and more!)

What’s it about?

Set in the mythical world of burly Vikings and wild dragons, and based on the book by Cressida Cowell, the action comedy tells the story of Hiccup, a Viking teenager who doesn’t exactly fit in with his tribe’s longstanding tradition of heroic dragon slayers. Hiccup’s world is turned upside down when he encounters a dragon that challenges he and his fellow Vikings to see the world from an entirely different point of view.

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Great movie or not, let’s promote reading as well and take a look at the novel:

Gamewright really did their walk-through correctly, we had a scheduled time with Jason at 12:30 and he gave us a demo of all the new games that Gamewright will be putting on the shelf in the spring (I believe that is the timeframe).  The key word of that last sentence is “demo” as Jason actually played a few rounds of each of the games with us to give a real taste of how each of the games work.  I think that is much better than just reading a press release or hearing about how a game is played from someone.  Jason had it all down pat and really made this walk-through a blast.

For me and the wife, Order’s Up! was probably our favorite game that will work well with both of the boys.  Plus it has an actual call bell that you have to ring!  My wife beat both Jason and myself in a few quick rounds of the game and had a blast doing it.  Ages 6 and up.

It’s rush hour at the Ring-a-Ding Diner and you must hurry to serve a table full of hungry customers! Roll the die to add dishes to your tray. Roll a Free Meal or snag the Special of the Day to help fill your order. And if you roll a bell, it’s a mad dash to grab your grub before another player beats you to the lunch! Be the first to complete all your orders and – DING! – you’re the winner!

For the younger player, they will be introducing Take the Cake which was colorful and perfect for kids that like to shake things.  Age Range 4 and up.

We don’t know who invented the cupcake, but whoever it was surely deserves a culinary gold medal. The idea of a personal-sized portion of scrumptious cake topped with rich frosting and colorful toppings is genius – pure and simple. Speaking of pure and simple, Take the Cake is a simple game that’s pure fun! As you shake the shaker, you’ll hone fine motor skills, as well as shape and color recognition. For a double treat, whip up a batch of real cupcakes and play this game while you’re waiting for them to bake!

Bingo Link was one of the games that I thought was pretty cool, and it prompted a very interesting conversation of how age ranges are determined for games, some of it based on the chance a specific age range has on winning the game.  Bingo Link, while looking like a simple game at first does have enough strategy to push up the range to Ages 6 and up.  It makes sense after I learned how to play.  I think me and my older son will have some great Bingo Link battles.  Ages 6 and up.

Can you see a trumpet? How about a rabbit that’s pink? Now mark a path between them in this clever game of links! Take turns calling out objects and marking off the spaces. Every board has the same pictures but found in different places. You don’t want to help another player win, so be careful what you name. Be the first to link two sides together and Bingo! – You’ve won the game!

Dweebies! is one of those games that I am glad I got to see played, because I might not have understood exactly how it worked.  The Dweebies are also unique to Gamewright and the characters are pretty cool looking and will definately be enjoyable for the children.  This is for the older children based on the gameplay, ages 8 and up.

Meet the Dweebies! These uniquely colorful characters are out to capture your heart, but you must capture them first! Round up Dweebies by matching cards on both ends of any row. Seems simple at first… but Dweebies can be tricky, and some will disappear before they’ve met their match! Collect the most cards and consider yourself the Dweebie-in-Chief!

I also got to see Sumo Ham Slam and Forbidden Island and while Sumo Ham Slam is not my families type of game for family game night, I can see two kids having fun with it.  Forbidden Island looked really awesome but is for Ages 10 and up and in my family we are just not there just yet.  Might be something interesting to play with the adults though and the artwork is outstanding. 

Again, a big thumbs up to Jason for giving us a fun display of the new games coming from Gamewright and Ceaco.

With baby number three on the way, the WubbaNub is a product I am looking forward to trying.  Once we knew that we were going to the Toy Fair and I saw that this product was going to be there, I knew it would be one of the booths I needed to stop at.  WubbaNub has taken the all important pacifier and made it even better.  Using the Soothie pacifier was a brilliant move as it is the pacifier given to babies in the nursery at the hospital and the only pacifier that many babies will take. 

The only drawback to the Soothie is once the baby spits it out, it is difficult for the baby to get it back in their mouth.  It is also difficult to fit with traditional pacifier clips.  WubbaNub has fixed those problems by permanently attaching the pacifier to an adorable plush toy.  This allows easy grasping for a baby as well as a bigger visual preventing it from getting lost.  And of course the added benefit of the plush toy itself.  There is a wide range of cute animals to choose from and all are machine washable.  While I am looking forward to trying this with my own baby, I know this will become a standard shower gift for all my friends.

After speaking with the inventor and owner of the WubbaNub, Carla Schneider, at the Toy Fair I can say she is a very intelligent and caring lady.  Such a useful invention that I know will make my life much easier with this new baby coming.

Distributed in hospitals, NICU and well-baby units nationwide

Made wth a Soothie™ medical grade, latex free pacifier

BPA, PVC and Phthalate Free

The durable one-piece construction means no germs hiding between cracks so the pacifier stays cleaner.

WubbaNub™ functions as one! Patented design prevents pacifier from being lost, dropped or even forgotten!

Carefully calculated weight and size of plush animal keeps the WubbaNub™ near baby’s mouth, whether lying on side or back, the car seat, sling or stroller.

Plush animal makes it easy for baby to grasp and manipulate the pacifier.

Easy to clean: place in washing machine with baby’s laundry, gentle cycle in mesh laundry bag. Allow to air dry.