9/30/08

Lunchables Clone Wars Card Game (2008)









With the new Clone Wars series beginning this Friday night, here are all four "Clone Wars Conquest" card sheets, currently found on Lunchables, so you can cut, print, and play.

"How To Play: Cut & fold cards, then line 'em up so your characters are hidden. To battle, each player picks a new card, showing them at the same time. Compare colors to see who wins and give cards to the winner (tied battles are discarded). Game is over when all the cards are played--winner is whoever has the most collected cards!"







8/23/08

More of Chris' Art!







I have been meaning to post the rest of the photos I took of Chris' art (see Steampunk Fish Sculpture below), including Snake and Boris' favorite super hero, Spazoman!

8/11/08

Signed By The King!



















Went to a comic convention Saturday, and on the second time passing a large, hardcover book in a slipcover box, I asked the extremely nice guys at the table exactly what it was. When they told me, my jaw dropped, and so did $100. This is an extremely amazing book from 1992 called THE ART OF JACK KIRBY, limited to an edition of 1,000 and published by The Blue Rose Press. Not only did Kirby do special artwork for the box (just look, Orion and Captain America together! Darkseid and Doom! Gasp!), but on the endpages is a lithograph hand-numbered....followed by a rice paper page....wait for it.....SIGNED BY JACK KIRBY! Words cannot express my joy.

8/9/08

Unauthorized And Yet Quite Funny


File under: B**tleg items of Jamaica. I picked this up on my aforementioned Caribbean Cruise, because it cracked me up.

8/4/08

Living Noodles

Anybody see the news story over the weekend about the discovery of the world's smallest species of snake? It was found on Barbados, and is literally the size of a piece of spaghetti. Just check out the picture! Amazing.

8/3/08

I Saw "Destino" In the Middle of the Ocean!

So there I was, on a cruise ship going 'round the Caribbean, when suddenly, quite out of the blue, I got the chance to attend a screening of the unreleased-and-abandoned-but-later-finished collaboration between Walt Disney and Salvador Dali, "Destino"! You just never know.

I talked to one of the Art guys, and here's the lowdown on the film. The auctioneers on the cruise line have a relationship with Disney, as well as the Dali estate, and, as they were going to be auctioning a set of 7 lithographs of Dali's storyboard artwork, they arranged a screening of the film. I asked the guy what the release plans were, since I had read different things, and he told me that Disney now plans to add it to their next feature release as a short, thus getting it into theaters...as well as a home video release. So, you may have to pay to attend a (possibly) middleweight Disney CGI feature in order to see it on the big screen, but I can tell you it's worth it. I enjoyed it immensely, and could've watched a whole feature's worth. It was funny, but it was definitely more "Dali" than "Disney," and that was a great thing. The story goes that Disney met Dali at a cocktail party at Jack Warner's house, and approached him about collaborating. an ecstatic Dali actually punched a clock at Disney for SEVEN MONTHS, working 9 to 5 on the project...only for it to be abandoned incomplete. By the way, if you are interested in obtaining a set of the 7 storyboard lithos, they are only $11,000. And, my attempt at photographing them failed miserably.

There were a few neat collectible cels at the auction (but they didn't come up for auction, or else I would have bid!), including some signed by both William Hanna and Joe Barbera, and two neat Fleischer cels, both signed by animator Myron Waldman (which would've looked GREAT on my wall!)




7/7/08

Laughing Sally

File under: Local Amusement Parks of the Past. This is Laughing Sally, who used to be the "Fat Lady" at a small park that used to sit in front of my local zoo. The weird thing was, she was situated about 8 or 10 feet from the ground, above the door as you would enter a ride (which I believe was the "Spook House"). She used to rock back and forth and cackle madly, which scared the ever-loving crap outta me as a small child. (I also remember one thing about the horror ride: in the dark, an old-fashioned mop would emerge from nowhere and threaten to hit you in the face...weird.) Alas, the park is long gone, and Sally, newly attired, now resides in the lobby of a local restaurant.

6/27/08

NOT the Beatles! (Leaping Fox)


Well, it's Friday, and here's another compliation I just finished. For several years now, I thought it would be interesting to have a collection of "bogus beatlegs," in other words songs that weren't the Beatles, although many of them have been represented as such. When a few more interesting tracks turned up in recent months at the WFMU blog, I knew I had the makings of a great disc.

I made artwork, but rather than try to format liner notes, here is a run-down of what you need to know:
1-2) Tony Sheridan & the Beat Brothers
These often get lumped in with the recordings that the Beatles made in Germany with Tony Sheridan, and a couple of times, I've heard people suggest that it's really them, but besides the different instrumentation, it doesn't sound like it to me.
3-4) The Liverpools
In 1964, when Beatlemania hit the U.S., records like this were everywhere, trying to entice Yankee children to fork over more of their allowance for further "Beatle beats." Here are two spurious examples.
5) The Knickerbockers - Lies
I don't care if these guys were trying to rip off the sound or not, this is a good track, and I would say they succeeded!
6) John and Paul - People Say
Now we get to tracks that actually appeared on Beatles boots. This awful song might be John and Paul, but it's not THAT John and Paul. There are lots of John and Pauls in the world, right? Exactly.
7) Litmus Paper Shirt
In early years, lots of titles for supposedly unreleased Beatles songs emerged, some as jokes, but nevertheless they stuck. (See Neil Innes' Rutles song "Unfinished Words.") This is one that was assigned to a scrap from the "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" sessions (although somebody added something over the top since then).
8) Peter Cook and Dudley Moore
Again, this one showed up on boots, and while it's a pretty good send-up of psychedelia, it's not THAT Beatley to me.
9) Peace of Mind
And here we have probably the most widely-debated track contained herein. Supposedly found in the Apple trash (where it belonged), my guess is that origin story tells us all we need to know. Included on many discs over the years, I don't think Lennon on his worst day wrote lyrics that ridiculous. All I am sure of is that we'll never know who actually did this, because they won't admit to it.
10) I Want You (acetate)
Some people swear that's Paul on vocals, but it's pretty obvious it's not. Just who it is, though, is a matter of discussion. I was leaning toward the Iveys at one point, but now I have my doubts. It's a competant rendering, but I've always thought it was rather a rote run-through.
11) Oh, I Need You
I remember buying a disc as a young teen, getting to this track, and yelling out "That's not them!" I have heard Apple discovery Mortimer as the ones being to blame for this wretched song.
12-13) The Masked Marauders
In the late 60's, somebody printed a joke review in an issue of Rolling Stone, alleging that George Harrison, John Lennon, Mick Jagger, and Bob Dylan all went somewhere and secretly made an album together, even listing song titles. People took it so seriously, an album had to appear, and for a short while it was available. I enjoy "Cow Pie" as a pleasant piece, a good parody of the "Nashville Skyline" album, and the impression of Jagger is pretty good on Track 12 (for a while, anyhow, it's only twice as long as it needs to be), but the rest of the album is pretty bad, and I don't know who it would have fooled.
14) The Fut - Have You Heard the Word
Now this is a different story. Also a staple of numerous bootlegs, I can play this one over and over and not get tired of it. That, plus Maurice Gibb's Lennon is spot-on.
15) Session Jam (parts 1 & 2)
Now here's one that fooled me as a kid. I bought Yellow Dog's GET BACK, and this was included as a bonus track. And you've got to admit, it fits in well with the Get Back sessions, but now that 90+ hours are available (and I've listened to it all), it seems this wasn't anywhere to be found. Oh well, I doubt this was a deliberate hoax, except maybe on the part of Yellow Dog.
16-17) Klaatu
There was a time when the world swore that Klaatu were the reformed Beatles. "Subway" is a pretty good Macca, if that's what they were going for, but the rest of their album is so progressive, it becomes quickly obvious that Klaatu is their own band (with a cool name).
18-19) The Rutles
And sometimes the parodies fool people. Track 19 was included on the famous "Indian Rope Trick" boot, and I included 18 because it's the rare single version not available anywhere that I've seen. Love them Rutles!
20) bonus track
I'm not telling!
Enough rambling, get after it!

6/21/08

John Birch Society - Monthly Oral Message #10 (June 1968)

I hesitate to try and explain this one, so you'll have to look it up. Suffice it to say, this was an unusual find.





6/19/08

SUPERMAN - Original Radio Broadcast - Volume One (Mark 56, 1974)

This one is a little confusing, since it clearly says KELLOGG'S on the front, but they were the original sponsor of the 1940's mega-hit radio show, four episodes of which are featured on this album. What confuses me is the origin of the vinyl--whether it was available in stores, or as a cereal mail-away promotion in 1974. Nevertheless, I have three volumes.




The Rockafire Explosion - Happy Birthday Medley/Do You Love Me (1981)