All posts by Piercing Ken

I'm a Freelance Music Photojournalist from NYC and Founder of the Heavy Metal website PiercingMetal.com; I created this blog site to showcase the other things in life that keep my interest or catch my attention. Believe me that is a lot of stuff to talk about when it comes down to it. I hope you enjoy what we are delivering because there is so much to share as a resident of this bustling metropolis.

Checking Out “Sweet Suite” 2016; Chapter 4

Hey there once again my readers, you’ve safely arrived at the fourth and final chapter of my “Sweet Suite” 2016 event coverage.  This super cool event was only a few hours in length and a part of the larger Blogger Bash that was happening on the Cornucopia Majesty yacht on Pier 81.  As I’ve mentioned before, its all done under the guidance of the Toy Insider people and it was my first time attending.  To see the previous chapters please click on THIS LINK before continuing as it will bring you up to speed.  I’m going to continue along with where I left off in the previous chapter with the Playmates Toys offerings and their wonderful “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” license.

sweet suite 2016, sweet suite, toy insider

sweet suite 2016, sweet suite, toy insider

This looked cute and its called “Splashlings”.  The premise is “an ocean full of friends”.  That sounds nice doesn’t it?  Let’s look.

sweet suite 2016, sweet suite, toy insider
Continue reading Checking Out “Sweet Suite” 2016; Chapter 4

Checking Out “Sweet Suite” 2016; Chapter 3

Welcome back to my continued presentations from the “Sweet Suite” 2016 event that was recently held as a part of the Blogger Bash on the Cornucopia Majesty yacht on Pier 81. The whole thing is under the mindful eyes of the Toy Insider people and if you’d like to see the previous chapters please click on THIS LINK before continuing as it will bring you up to speed.  I’m up to Chapter Three of the bunch and will continue where I left off with the images.  There were a lot of awesome properties to examine and I’ll chime in as necessary.

sweet suite 2016, sweet suite, toy insider

Is it just me or does this “Animal Jam” character remind you of Paul Stanley of KISS.  Sure the star is on the wrong side but isn’t that a clever thing that they did here?  I think so.

sweet suite 2016, sweet suite, toy insider

sweet suite 2016, sweet suite, toy insider
Continue reading Checking Out “Sweet Suite” 2016; Chapter 3

Checking Out “Sweet Suite” 2016; Chapter 2

Greetings my friends and welcome back to my continued documentation of the 2016 “Sweet Suite” event which was being held on the Cornucopia Majesty yacht as a part of the Blogger Bash conference.  This was my first time at this convention and my first chapter of this series can be examined on THIS LINK.  Please hit that before you continue along so you have a sense of fluidity.  Based on the age groups involved in so much of these product lines we’ve stockpiled our coverage here as opposed to posting on PIERCINGMETAL.com – In our previous chapter we had left off with the Hexbug folks so let’s continue along with them now shall we.

sweet suite 2016, sweet suite, toy insider

sweet suite 2016, sweet suite, toy insider

sweet suite 2016, sweet suite, toy insider
Continue reading Checking Out “Sweet Suite” 2016; Chapter 2

Checking Out “Sweet Suite” 2016; Chapter 1

toy insider logo

Hello there my kind readers. So as some of you might know, I’ve been attending the American International Toy Fair convention for the past six years and generally all of that coverage has gone over to the PiercingMetal.com website where I would focus on the superhero and monster movie geek stuff.  However, with that said I decided a couple of years ago to share additional event coverage on The Chronicles for the vendors and companies that didn’t fit within the context of my Metal and Pop Culture site.  Folks who are interested can click on THIS LINK to open a tag of said content.  All of this leads me to this event being discussed in the narrative before you which focuses on a brand new convention to my eyes called the “Sweet Suite”.

The “Sweet Suite” is considered to be THE BIGGEST NIGHT OF PLAY and comes care of the fine folks at Toy Insider.  This is connected to their “Blogger Bash” event which I shall discuss in a later post.  “Sweet Suite” was all about toys for a traditionally younger audience and instead of in your typical hotel or convention center would be on this beautiful boat called the Cornucopia Majesty.  I was excited because I had not been on a boat since a couple of years ago excursion with friends on the Circle Line and while this was going to be docked it was still cool.

sweet suite 2016, sweet suite, toy insider

sweet suite 2016, sweet suite, toy insider

My media badge sported the PiercingMetal branding since I’m more known for that outlet than The Chronicles, but perhaps in time that will change and this one will be as loud a voice as my Music Media one.  Only time will answer that one.  As you can see the badge says “Blogger Bash” and I guess this is because the “Sweet Suite” is only a smaller portion of this two day conference.

sweet suite 2016, sweet suite, toy insider
Continue reading Checking Out “Sweet Suite” 2016; Chapter 1

Testing Eargasm’ High Fidelity Earplugs

Hello again my friends, I’m back with another product review piece and one that follows the trend of sharing my views on the assorted brands of earplugs that I’ve been using in the field. In my quest to help prevent your suffering any substantial hearing loss I’ve discussed the products from Flents and Etymotic and have found that each particular company serves a need. Recently, I got my hands on a pair of earplugs by the folks over at Eargasm so let’s get onto some quick opinion about them.  Here’s a quick photo of the pair of plugs and their sturdy carrying case.  As you can see its also a keychain if you should choose to use it that way.

earplugs, eargasm

This close of up the earplugs showcase their sleek design and as you can see they are a little larger towards the rear which prevents any extra sonic waves getting through to your ear canal.  When I first tried to get these in place I did have a little difficulty based on the larger base and think that my ear canals might be a tad smaller than this implement can work with.  It took a little doing but I did manage to get them on and they worked very well with the super loud Heavy Metal band that I was covering the show of.   According to what I read about this model, they reduce the level of sound by 21db.

earplugs, eargasm

Closing Thoughts: While these worked fine upon getting them in, I think that a slightly slimmer model will work better for me. They are easy to remove and can be placed back into their container which is aluminum and has a screw on top. The case did set a couple of security guys at the gate some concern as they wanted to see the contents to prove it wasn’t drugs. True story as you can never be too sure nowadays. Personally speaking, once I am done for the night I tend to keep the earplugs in the small plastic zip bag that they came in. Also, I wipe them off first to make sure they go away clean. Once I’m home I use lightly soaped warm water and let them air dry. Good maintenance of stuff like this lets it work for numerous uses and keep you healthy as well. Overall this is another solid choice to use but you should be aware that such protection will run you a few bucks. Once you purchase these you will want to keep them safe or risk spending far too much money replacing them out of careless behavior. The link below on Amazon.com will bring you to these type of plugs but with two pairs and a different casing. Don’t play games with your hearing especially if you go to a lot of loud events.

Official Website: https://eargasmearplugs.com/