Banksy will come to NY galleries (for the first time) in the form of an opening at Vanina Holasek. Offering an exhibition of the graffiti bandit’s prints and originals for sale, the exhibit will run through December 29, when Banksy himself will make an appearance as a live statue holding a balloon and a detonated bomb (kidding). Or maybe dressed up as Angelina Jolie, who will have already shown up once to buy the entire collection (kidding… except for the part about Angelina buying everything). Who knows, maybe he won’t come at all, but even though no one will know if he does, I certainly won’t — I’ll be here in the mountains, bombing my Christmas tree with Santa’s Artificial Snow Frost Spray. Full details here, you lucky bastards.

We love us some Jeremy Fish. Not that that makes us special (last time I checked, everybody loved them some Jeremy Fish) but here’s an idea for making someone else feel special. If you’re hunting down a good gift for a skate and art aficionado, head over to Upper Playground, where the powers that be have one-upped everyone’s powerful feelings for Jeremy by mixing him up with all our other love affairs — affairs by the names of Michael Sieben, Pushead, Todd Bratrud, and Mr. Skate Deck, I mean. These screen printed, hardrock Canadian maple decks (each produced in a limited run of 500) are available from Upper Playgrounds online shop for 80 bucks a piece, or you can buy all three for an easy $210. Still cheaper than a holiday weekend at The Block.

Some of us never quite got over our childhood obsessions. Admit it, you still have a box of G.I. Joe's that you like to take out every once in awhile and stage epic battles with. Don't be embarrassed there's nothing strange about having plastic figurines fight each other to the death...that's why they have a kung fu grip, so you can lay the smack down.

However, heroes change with age and while you may no longer worship at the altar of He-Man, that doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to celebrate your newer esteemed icons in little plastic form. Enter Mike Leavitt, CEO, sole employee, and manufacturing machine of Intuition Kitchen Productions; The Seattle-based visual artist is responsible for creating a kickass line of one-of-a-kind action figures of artists and celebrities with painstaking detail. Now your fantasy of having Han Solo thwart an evil plot by The Three Headed Tesh Bolton Kenny G Monster aboard the Death Star can finally be realized…or if you'd just rather stage a meeting between Skeletor and Andy Warhol at "the Factory," that can be arranged too.

It’s been a year since Star Wars Series 1 was completed with the addition of an evolved R2D2, and we’ve just about ran out of the Force during our long wait for the rest of those extra-nerdy flash drives. Good news: the days of staging attacks on Darth Vader with old Barbie dolls are over, because the rest of the intergalactic posse is about to land. Star Wars Mimobot Series 2, which is expected to ship in late January, 2008, will introduce four new characters: Luke Sywalker, Princess Leah, Han Solo, and bounty hunter extraordinaire, Boba Fett. Like all the latest mimobots, Luke and his pals/lover will come preloaded with exclusive digital content ranging from wallpapers and screensavers to icons and avatars - and will play you a sweet little Star Wars diddy whenever you insert or eject them from your PC. Lock yours up with a pre-order from either mimobot or Star Wars Shop.

You know we go ape for watches here at JoshSpear, and although I personally use my cell phone as a timepiece, I still love the novelty behind Lv Zhongfang’s TIWE-d watch and hope it’ll someday get out of concept stage. Zhongfang dreamed up a futuristic-looking watch that has constantly moving OLEDs that assemble — as if called to order suddenly by a sergeant— into the recognizable hands of a clock if the face is tapped or watch is shaken. The designer was inspired by Van Gogh’s Starry Night painting, which stuck with him since he first saw it as a kid. With this watch, I imagine brilliant friendships being made between strangers who ask each other for the time and incidentally find themselves with a great ice breaker.

This morning’s travels led me to In The Habit, the web home of designer Tiziana Haug. At first glance, it’s a little overwhelming — she’s done a LOT of work. So I started where I usually do: with the person. Clicking “about” left me momentarily befuddled as I thought the button wasn’t working…until I clicked again. Then I noticed the simple description: blond, Swiss, New York resident, makes design, loves design.

Call me a complete sucker, but I love stumbling into moments like that on the web. Does it give me a full CV and history of her work? No, but it tells me a lot about who she is. And the work says the rest. With clients ranging from Tiffany & Co., the Olympic Games and ICFF, Tiziana has clearly been hard at work for quite a while now. Have a look, go explore, drop her a line. Her site is worth a look.