| Dolls gone wild: Unhappy moms want wholesome alternatives
Moms are hunting through toy aisles for more wholesome-looking dolls, concerned that the scantily clad Bratz dolls with their Party Palaces and Magic Make-up Studios are sending their daughters the wrong message about how they should dress and act. With their heavily made-up faces, short shorts and halter tops, Bratz are the No. 2 best-selling dolls in the country, just behind Barbie, but creeping up on her with their own lines of clothing, school supplies, video games and, most recently, a live-action movie playing in theaters. And some Moms are not happy about it. "I don't want my daughter viewing herself that way," says Gloria Baca of Tempe, Ariz., who has steered her daughter, now 10, away from Barbie and Bratz in favor of an American Girl doll by Mattel named Josefina.
Parents who worry about the message some toys send can face a doll dilemma
Moms are hunting through toy aisles for more wholesome-looking dolls, concerned that the scantily clad Bratz dolls with their Party Palaces and Magic Make-up Studios are sending their daughters the wrong message about how they should dress and act.
With their heavily made-up faces, short shorts and halter tops, Bratz are the No. 2 best-selling dolls in the country, just behind Barbie, but creeping up on her with their own lines of clothing, school supplies, video games and, most recently, a live-action movie playing in theaters.
And some moms are not happy about it. "I don't want my daughter viewing herself that way," says Gloria Baca of Tempe, Ariz., who has steered her daughter, now 10, away from Barbie and Bratz in favor of an American Girl doll by Mattel named Josefina.
Get 'em before they're gone
The real players in the debate over the hottest toys aren't the industry experts, of course, but kids.Cost isn't the decider. Ask any parent who watches a child unwrap a high-priced toy and then play with the box.That said, there are industry awards for creativity, quality and engineering. The 2007 awards listed below come from the Toy Industry Association, a 500-company trade group of toy producers and importers. Its membership accounts for 85 percent of the toys sold in the United States.The winning toys and nominees were released into the market in 2006. Several of them made Toy Wishes magazine's Hot Dozen for the 2006 Christmas season. We've included this year's Hot Dozen from Toy Wishes for the coming year, followed by a list of toys judged the best in the industry.The Hot DozenToy Wishes magazine's annual choices for hot toys for the coming season.• American Idol Talent Challenge (Tech2Go, $50) -- An interactive game combines karaoke with "American Idol" judging.
'Brown Bag' back at park
Rock 'n Roll Hall of Famer Gregg Allman will headline the 22nd season of Fanfare, Southeastern Louisiana Univer-sity's annual celebration of the arts, humanities and social sciences.Allman, who is both a founding member of the still-active and thriving Allman Brothers Band and a critically acclaimed solo talent, will perform at the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts Oct. 16 at 7:30 p.m. His concert will be one of the many films, recitals, plays, musicals, dance concerts, lectures and community events offered during the arts festival, which in turn is the opening act for the yearlong entertainment season of the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts.It has been a long-standing tradition to open Fanfare with music and socializing at Cate Square, the small park in the heart of Hammond and a few blocks south of campus.Last year, however, Fanfare's usual "brown bag" lunchtime concert was on hiatus as the city redesigned the historic park, and Fanfare launched the new entertainment season by dedicating the performance hall of the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts to the late Sen.
SPECIALS: The Pokemon Trading Figure Game
Now we've gotta spin' em all! Discuss it in Talkback! If you're a Penny Arcade reader, you've probably learned of the Pokemon Trading Figure Game. Gabe has been hawking it for a few weeks now. In fact, that's how I first learned of the game, and I swore on my dead lizard's grave that when I saw the game on the shelves of the local comic shop, I'd give it a shot. So barely more than a week ago, that day came, and I bought everything I'd need for a two-player game. And then—and this is the magical part—I got my wife to play with me. The Pokemon Trading Figure Game (TFG) is tough to understand without actually playing it. Each player has three (or six) Pokemon, and a Trainer figure. The players lay out a map, on which the action takes place.
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