Musical Discovery of the Month: Fred

Fred, the band from Ireland, is set to take over the world. And what a more wonderful world it would be with them in charge. Here's a video for their song Skyscrapers. All hail Fred!

Lolcats Classic

Zombie vs. Shark

From the classic 1979 Italian flick, Zombi. Here's something you don't see every day!

Action Figure Palooza: new Marvel Legends 2 Packs

So I went to my local Toys R Us not expecting to find anything new but was I surprised. They had these new Marvel marbles and a stand in a brand new box, none of the marbles were missing - a complete set. Wow! Unfortunately, they are pretty crappy and one more thing I DON'T need to start collecting. Some Marvel Legends 2 packs were sitting on the shelf as well and I just assumed they were the Elektra/Ronin and/or Mr. Fantastic/Thing sets that someone found in the back. Well, when I saw a red Hand Ninja and Nick Fury AND Skrull solider and Kree solider sets, I just about peed my pants. Too bad they didn't have the Iron Man/Maria Hill set too but I ain't complaining!

Musical Discovery of the Month: My First Earthquake

They don't have a video for their excellent song Vow to Vowels yet but I did find this gem on YouTube. It's like a B-52's song written by "Weird Al" Yankovic! It's so 1980's! The only thing that tells you it was recorded in 2008 is the Apple laptop. Hopefully this is a band on the brink of making it big. Unique lyrics and catchy hooks - Break out the parachute pants!

Loldogs Classic

SDCC - new Marvel Universe figures

Got this pic from Marvelousnews.com of new Marvel Universe figures from SDCC. There's some pretty cool ones coming soon like The Vision & Ultron. But I just had to post this photo after something caught my eye. What the heck is the Green Goblin doing?!? Better hope that Pumpkin Bomb doesn't go off accidently! LOL

Travelers Insurance Commercial

LOVE. THIS. COMMERCIAL.

It's so good, I get goosebumps and little tears in my eyes at the same time! That dog! What an actor!! Music is by Ray LaMontagne.

Musical Discovery of the Month: Super700

The video is a little creepy and a little boring but I love this song! It sounds like it could have been in a 70's horror film.

Lolcats Classic

Action Figure Palooza

Here's some pics I've taken of some of my action figures "in action" so to speak.

The Invaders strike a pose for the cover of Time.

Kang defeats the Avengers!

The Man of Steel vs. the Mad Titan.

ULTRASEVEN

I'm a huge Ultraseven fan but I have to admit, I've lost track of what's going on lately in the world of Ultraman. I assume this video is clips from a new Seven show. It looks very faithful to the original 60s series. I may have to poke around the internet some more to find out about it. Enjoy!

Bestest Cats in the World!

Here’s the last two members of our animal family. A male cat named Finnegan Floppsie but better known as “Buster” and Phoebe Meeker. We got them both from a Michigan feline rescue. We were hoping to get siblings of some kind (female/female, male/female) but Phoebe and Buster were the next best thing – they had been foster cared for in the same home. So if not actual siblings, they were at least friends before we brought them to our house. And they get along great together (except sometimes Buster gets a bit hyper and plays a little too rough). Both are super affectionate cats. Phoebe is our dairy kitty – she loves milk & cheese. Buster has a weird allergy but we don’t know to what. He’s licked the fur off his back legs, his whole stomach and parts of his front legs. This makes him look very silly. BellaBear loves them very much too. We really got lucky with this batch of pets.

Best. Decade. Ever! The 70s: We Are The Freakies!

I don't remember what Freakies cereal tasted like but I know I ate a lot of it! I still have my set of Freakies plastic figures (I even painted their eyes white and gave them other color highlights). This is a great collection of Freakies cereal commercials from the 70s. And I don't even remember Cocoa Freakies! Groovy.

Flea Market Finds: Knickerbocker Pinocchio Puppet

Just this past weekend, we went to the annual in-door flea market at McMoran's in Port Huron, MI. I seem to have good luck there and this year was definately not an exception. Besides buying a stack of comics for .25 to $1 (including many issues of DC's All Star Squadron from the 80s) and getting three Toy Biz Spider-Man Classics action figures still in the package (just like Marvel Legends) of Kraven the Hunter, Beetle & Scorpion, in the very last row of tables, I found this little guy. My eyes lite up like a kid on Christmas morning! I knew exactly who he was - Pinocchio! But not the Disney version. He's from the 1962 Videocraft series, produced by Rankin/Bass, "The New Adventures of Pinocchio." I fondly remember watching reruns of this "Ani-Magic" show on CBC Windsor Channel 9 in the 70s (along with The Friendly Giant and Mr. Dress-up). And I'm a huge Rankin/Bass fan (have to watch Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer every year!) Pinocchio is in excellent condition, very clean. The only problem is the finger trigger on his controller is broken off and some of his strings are fraying. Otherwise, he's in great shape and only cost $5 (that also included a Flintstone's Pebbles push button puppet). Pinoc is now proudly hanging in my comic book/tool area in the basement.

Lolcats Classic

Everyone loves Lolcats!

Musical Discovery of the Month: The Heavy Blinkers

From their album The Night & I Are Still So Young, which came out a few years ago, this is Canada's own The Heavy Blinkers with one of the most colorful videos around. Follow the adventures of a young cupcake as he journeys to Candy Land. Will he recover his missing cherry? Will he find true love? Hey, it's a super cute video so I bet the answer is yes to both questions! Their website is under construction but they do have a MySpace page for more info on the band.

You Know You're a Star Wars Geek When...

You know you're a Star Wars geek when you refer to spoiling food as "turning to the Dark Side."

Monster Mania: Godzilla in Mario Land

Here's a funny video I got a kick out of - if you love Godzilla & Mario Brothers, what better way to enjoy them than both at the same time!

My Marvel Legends Collection: Wave 2

When the second wave of Marvel Legends action figures first came out I wasn't as excited by the selection as I was the first series. I bought Namor the Sub-Mariner because he was an Avenger. My wife actually bought me The Thing (but I bet she doesn't remember that). And I had to get Dr. Doom because, well, the Avengers fought him a couple times. Ya see, at first, all I cared about were figures that dealt with the Avengers. It wasn't until later on in the series (when I realized how huge and cool the whole mess was) that I started getting most of them. It wasn't until much later when I bought the Human Torch, loose, off of eBay.

Flea Market Finds: Bionic Bigfoot

Every once in a while, I get super lucky finding treasures at garage sales or flea markets. One time, Kimm & I were at the Croswell Flea Market, looking through the junk. There was a guy with all kinds of toys spread out on a blanket on the ground. I immediately spied the Bionic Bigfoot, from the Six Million Dollar Man TV series. I had a Steve Austin and Maskatron figures when I was young but never Bigfoot. I didn't know for sure how much he was worth but I was amazing to see he had $1.00 written on a piece of masking tape, stuck to his chest! I took him over to the guy who seemed equally surprised. But he took my dollar and I got my very first Bionic Bigfoot action figure. Thirty some years late!

Geekin' 'bout Comics: Mockingbird

I’m so excited that Marvel has finally brought back to life one of my favorite characters – Mockingbird. I first discovered Bobbi Morse’s super heroine in Marvel Team-Up #96 (I didn’t know about her stories with Ka-Zar in Astonishing Tales until later). From just that one appearance, I liked her so much I included her in my own Marvel superhero team (fan fiction in my mind, lol). I don’t remember what the name of the group was but it consisted of Moon Knight, Adam Warlock, Tigra, Deathlok and Mockingbird (funny how three of them went on to become members of the West Coast Avengers, eh?)
Just imagine how happy little Markie was when writer Mark Gruenwald teamed Mockingbird up with another of my favorite Marvel characters – Hawkeye – in the first Hawkeye limited series. She soon followed him to the West Coast Avengers series. They loved, they fought, they got back together, kinda. Until that @#$% Mephisto killed her in AWC #100. Fortunately, I wasn’t reading the book at the time (just buying it and putting it away). But I was still very disappointed.
But now we learn in Secret Invasion, it wasn’t her after all and that she was replaced by a Skrull! She’s now a member of the New Avengers and starring in the New Avengers: The Reunion limited series with Hawkeye/Ronin. I couldn’t be happier. Unless they make a Marvel Legend action figure out of her!

Action Figure Palooza: DC Infinite Heroes - Gotham City Patrol

It seems like I'm the guy who never finds any good action figures at the store. I pop in to Toys R Us, Target, Wal-Mart and mid-West grocey/department store Meijer, searching for the latest Marvel Legends or DC Universe Classics. I feel like I get there right after some jerk buys all the good stuff, lol. Well, I got extremely lucky recently. I was patching & painting at my in-laws and ran into TRU on my way home. I found a bunch of the Toys R Us exclusive DC Universe Infinite Heroes - Gotham City Patrol gift sets. I thought, cool, and I bought one, hoping to sell most of the figures loose and keep a good one or two for myself. I went home and check my favorite auction website and saw they were going for big bucks. So, back in the car & back to TRU! However, I didn't buy them all, I was nice enough to leave some for the next guy. Hopefully, he'll return to favor some day :-P I'm not going to brag but my auctions did way better than I expected and I got to keep Catwoman and Killer Croc - guilt free! Here's a pic I took of Batman (old style) taking on Killer Croc!

Comic Book Spotlight: Justice Society of America

I’ve been a Marvel Comics fan since about 1974. However, I’ve never cared much for DC. That’s why I feel a bit like a traitor making my first Comic Book Spotlight blog about a DC comic. But I am soo diggin’ The Justice Society of America right now! I know writer Geoff Johns has been with DC for years but I’m only familiar with his work at Marvel, namely (and I believe exclusively) The Avengers and The Vision limited series. I felt his work on The Avengers was uneven – I didn’t like his multi-part stories but I think his stand-alone issues were very good (especially #62). But his current assignment on JSA is just blowing me away!
I never read the original Kingdom Come limited series, so Gog and Magog and all that is very new to me. I was able to read most of the issues back to back, instead of waiting each month. Some of the issues might have been a bit of a let down having waited 30 days for it to come out, but when you read it as one big story (like in a trade paperback) it is extremely enjoyable. I liked how the religious overtones of Gog divided the team. Pretty powerful stuff.
I’m disappointed Johns is leaving the book soon. I hope his successor will be able to match Johns’ creativity. JSA made a DC fan out of me!

A Brief History of My Comic Book Collection

Like a lot of children of the 70s, comic books were a huge part of life for me. I started out getting Casper, Spooky, Richie Rich, Bugs Bunny and various Disney comics (Super Goof was an early favorite), then worked my way up to Archie comics (& MAD magazine), and finally, super-hero comics. The Incredible Hulk really appealed to me at first, so I got a bunch of Hulk & Defenders comics (plus Avengers #118 which guest-starred the Defenders). In fact, Marvel Comics appealed to me much more than DC. At first, I would simple buy the latest issues off the spinny rack at the local drug store – very hit & miss. But once, when my family & I were going to visit our cousins, we passed by a store called Comic Kingdom in Detroit, and I became an official “comic book collector.”
Some of the earliest series I collected were Nova, Ms. Marvel, The Human Fly, & Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man. But I soon discovered what would become my favorite book – The Avengers! I had a couple coverless copies of Avengers #s 94 & 95 – the height of the Kree-Skrull War! #118 was the first issue I bought on purpose (as opposed to whatever came in the coverless, multi pack). Again, it was hit & miss for the next couple years – I really dug Steve Englehart’s Celestial Madonna storyline. Kang kicked butt! However, it wasn’t until Avengers #154, 155 & 156 that I officially started collecting The Avengers. After that, I was hooked! Avengers Assemble!

Musical Discovery of the Month: Kitty, Daisy & Lewis

If you like old timey music, these three teen siblings from the UK are a true breath of fresh air. Their song "Going Up the Country" should get you in the mood for summer time. You can buy their songs from iTunes or from their record label's website www.sundaybest.net.

My Marvel Legends Collection: Wave 1

Ever since Toy Biz introduced the Marvel Legends series of action figures onto the market, I've been hooked! They are incredibly articulate figures and very accurate to the Marvel Comics characters they're based on. The first series came out in 2002 and it featured three classic Marvel superheroes (Captain America, Iron Man & Hulk) and one unusual choice for a villain (Toad). After I bought Cap & Shellhead (faves from the Avengers) I decided to buy the Hulk as well.
Recently, I went to sell my Hulk on eBay (I never did like that ugly figure and they came out with better ones later on, IMO). Unfortunately, his head broke off! Well, someone bought him anyways, those I'm not sure why. And I never did get the Toad and now that's one of the most expensive figures in the series. Oh well, stupid Toad. So here's my pic of Captain America and Iron Man.

Geekin' 'bout Comics: War of Kings

I'm getting really anxious for Marvel's War of Kings mini-series. I loved Annihilation & Annihilation: Conquest. Plus writers Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning are awesome at doing sci-fi/space operas. They make Nova & Guardians of the Galaxy must reads! I'm showing my support for the Inhumans with this banner. Long live King Blackagar Boltagon!

WALL-E

Finally got to see the Disney/Pixar film WALL-E recently and I loved it! Of course, all Pixar films are wonderful (Toy Story 2 and Finding Nemo are all time favorites). Here's some promo clips I found on YouTube. Enjoy!

BellaBear's Two Favorite Times of Day

1. Going for her morning walk with me. She gets so excited when I get my shoes & coat on and grab her leash from the car. I have a hard time getting the leash attached to her collar because she's so wiggly. I let her lead the pace but she almost never pulls. I let her sniff around at whatever catches her attention (except garbage and other dog's business, of course). She knows when we are passing by her friend Zoey's house even though we're on the other side of the street. She looks forward to seeing (and sniffing) her other friends when they are outside like the Wonder Twins, Stalker, Mr. French and Buddy (only Buddy is an actual name, the others I made up). And Bella is so good, she rarely poops on our walks but when she does, it's usually in the vacant lot. When we get home, she happily lays down on her bed or ours and takes a little nap.
2. Her other favorite time is when mom comes home from work. Usually, and especially in the summertime, Bella will hear the car pull up in the drive-way, leap from her resting spot and head to the backdoor to wait for Kimm to come in. We don't know if it has something to do with her hip surgery or not, but when Bella gets excited, she doesn't just wag her tail - she wags her whole back-end! It's the funniest thing to watch. Then, after a couple kisses, Bella & Kimm usually start singing. I'll have to ask Kimm if she remembers how she discovered Bella's "singing" ability but if Kimm says "I love you" or "do you want to sing?" Bella will start to howl like a wolf. The neighbors must think we have a pack of wild dogs living in our house. The two of them howl, I mean sing, for a while, then once again, Bella will settle into one of her favorite resting spots, happy to have had another day of fun and company with "mom & dad."