Sunday, October 6, 2013

The magic of vintage Star Wars toys...


Grab a nice beverage, get cozy, and settle in for a post that meanders into odd places a bit more than I thought it would when I began writing it…
I really like documentaries.  I think I first became a fan of documentaries after seeing Ken Burns’ The Civil War many years ago (heck, I even bought the DVD set).  So, not only have I since watched everything I could get my hands on that Mr. Burns has done (thanks, Netflix, for helping me accomplish this!) but I also now love watching all sorts of things by other folks – there’s nothing like watching something that’s both entertaining and educational *cue a cheezy, old Saturday-morning “The More You Know” and “Knowledge is Power” moment*.  Honestly, if I were to ever meet Ken Burns, I’d probably transform from a calm-normal-dude to giggly-teenage-girl-meeting-some-lame-boy-band…I mean, c’mon, he made the fucking Dust Bowl interesting!  But I digress…

I’m a life-long Star Wars nerd.  My earliest childhood memory goes back to the day when I first saw Star Wars at the old Glenwood Theater here in town.  I don’t remember many details (mainly just R2-D2 and C-3PO walking through the desert, and the Jawa’s), but my mom tells me I sat still for the entire 2 hours (which apparently was a first for me), wide-eyed the whole time.  The following year, the amazing Star Wars universe that had only existed on screen and in storybook photos opened up and sucked me in as Kenner released toys(!) from the movie.  With these toys and my imagination, I could now re-create scenes from the movie and create all sorts of my own amazing adventures!
My first Star Wars toys were received on my 4th birthday.  Additionally, my baby-sitter was a wizard cake-maker, and for that birthday she created what is still my all-time favorite cake – a miniature R2-D2!!!  Check out two of my old photos from that glorious day many years ago (along with my added commentary):

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Odd Bedtime Thoughts...


During the day, I go about my business in a normal way just like anyone else…and if I can make someone smile or laugh at some point during any day – great; if I can make myself laugh, even better.  As much as we may try to concentrate and absorb only the “good” in the world, we’re also still constantly bombarded by all the crap, ridiculousness, and head-scratching stupidity of the world – though we may try to ignore it for sake of sanity, we still absorb it too.
Case in point, almost every time my head hits the pillow at night to go to sleep (even if I’m dead tired), my brain says – “Hey! Not so fast!  We have some weird things/issues to ponder over!”).  Ugh! Ok.  It’s at this point that I’ll start to think about various things that usually involve the classic taboo conversation subjects – politics, religion, morality, money.  I just don’t know if I want to share any of those thoughts…as we all know, opinions are like assholes – we all have one and we think ours is the only one that doesn't stink.

Though, other times, it’ll just be weird things that pop into my head – for example:  If the word “Boo!” wasn’t associated with ghosts, would it still startle us when we heard it?  Has anyone ever heard of a ghost actually saying “Boo!”?  Also, why do people who say they don’t believe in ghosts also still get startled when they hear the word “Boo!”?  Hmmmm?  Yeah, stuff like this is what delays my nighttime slumber.

Other times, I start to envision myself in ridiculous scenarios – for example:  

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Believe It...or Not! - Just realized I'm in my very own WABAC machine...

My house isn't filled with countless gears, buttons, switches, or blinking lights, but based on what I've been enjoying lately, I think I may have inadvertently created my very own WABAC machine... 

Current reason I'm thankful for being literate
A Curious Man: The Strange and Brilliant Life of Robert "Believe It or Not!" Ripley - I've always been a big Ripley's fan, though as a young kid in the early 80's, I actually thought Jack Palance was "Ripley" since he was the one who hosted the show.  Anyway, a biography on this guy's fascinating life was long overdue, but it was worth the wait - Neal Thompson has created a fantastic read!  I'm not even done with it yet, and it's already one of my favorites.  The early 20th century world still held so many secrets,

Saturday, April 27, 2013

New Volbeat - Hard Rock/Metal have a gunfight with Spaghetti Westerns




Denmark's Volbeat are currently my favorite hard rock/metal group going right now (sidenote: when the legendary original Black Sabbath (minus Bill Ward - still pissed over that) return with their new album on June 11th, all the current whipper-snappers of hard rock/metal will "kneel before Zod"!...just saying).  What I like about Volbeat is that they're not your run-of-the-mill rock band...they take some of their favorite genres of old music and give it a new, metallic, twist.  They're sometimes referred to as "Elvis Metal" - not sure I agree with that (I hear more Johnny Cash at times), but then again, I'm a super (duper!) Elvis nerd so I refuse any dilution or twisting of The King.  Anyway, Volbeat's entire catalog is great, though I must admit each of their previous albums are a bit uneven - there will be a few really kickass numbers, then a few "fillers", then a few more kickass numbers. 

However, their latest Spaghetti Western-inspired album is fantastic from the opening track to the finale!  Perhaps their inspiration for this album is why I like it so much:
A.  I'm a big fan of Spaghetti Westerns
B.  I'm a

Friday, March 22, 2013

Feeling warm on a cold day...

This morning on the local news, they had a report that was pretty damn cool.  It was about a blind dog who had his own guide dog...I had never heard of that before!  Was this common?  Had I been living under some sort of ignorant rock?  Apparently, I had been, to some degree.  I got on YouTube to see if there were any other videos like this and - yep, there were more examples of heartwarming tales like the one I saw this morning.

Besides the ones featuring one dog leading another dog around, there were even examples of a cat leading a blind dog around.  But the one that really got me was the story below (looks to have originally aired about a year ago):