Just Keep Giving Us The Bat Goodies, Please!

As we get ready to celebrate 75 years of the Batman, we have already been given an anniversary Detective Comics#27, we have a slew of Bat goodies coming out, which includes some statues, figures and a Hot Toys 1966 Batman and Robin, and we got official word that we are finally getting the 1966 Batman T.V. show on DVD later this year. All of this has made me a very happy geek.

Now comes word that Warner Brothers will be releasing another long over due Batman series to DVD.

Coming June 3rd, we are finally getting the 1968 Filmation The Adventures of Batman. This series debuted as part of the Superman/Batman hour, but later was repackaged as Batman With Robin The Boy Wonder and given their own 30 minute show on CBS. Olan Soule was the voice of Batman in this series and Casey Kasem was the voice of Robin. Both would reprise their roles a few years later, but this time on ABC in the Super Friends.

As a Batman fan, this is a series I have long wanted on DVD. Mind you, I have only seen a handful of these cartoons, but I enjoyed the ones I seen. They have been available for digital download on Amazon for a while now and I downloaded the first episodes with featured the Joker and Penguin as the villains. In my opinion, the show captures the spirit of the comics at that point in the '60's perfectly.

I have a few of the Filmation releases, including the 1977 New Adventures Of Batman And Robin in which Adam West and Burt Ward reprise their roles as Batman and Robin. I always felt the animation was good for it's time. I was never a fan of their re-using footage over and over again, as well as the placement or coloring of costume symbols from time to time, but that all just adds to the fun of these shows.

I cannot wait to pick this series up. I have always felt that The New Adventures Of Superman was the best series that Filmation had ever produced, but after seeing a couple episodes of Batman, I think this series will give Superman a run for it's money. This DVD will be a first day pick up for me and I cannot wait to spend the whole day watching this series.

Holy 1966 Batman News, Batman!

Of course my first post of 2014 would be something Batman related. I mean, did you really think I would post something about some new Smurf figures? Bwhahahahaha. That's a good one.

By now, you all must have heard the news that was broke Conan O'Brien on his Twitter page (how did Conan get the scoop anyway?) and was confirmed by Warner Brothers, we are FINALLY getting the classic 1966 Batman series on DVD and Blu-Ray, although Blu-Ray has yet to be officially confirmed. But you would think that it would be released on Blu-Ray along side it's DVD brethren.

Along side the episodes (which I pray are uncut), I hope we get a plethora of special features like a make of the series documentary, a look inside the Batmobile, a look inside the Bat Cave, a documentary on the villains and the guest stars who played them and maybe a documentary on the guest stars who appeared on the series just to look out the window and talk to the Caped Crusaders. I'm also hoping whatever we get has interviews with the actors who has passed like Cesar Romero, Frank Gorshin, Eartha Kitt, Alan Napier, Neil Hamilton, etc.

Right now, I am hearing it will be released as a set, which again, is not official. I'm sure it will also be available by season. Either way, I do not care. I am buying the set. I don't care what it costs me. This is probably the only series I would pay top dollar for. I've waited long enough for it's release. If there is a bonus by buying the set like a statue of Batman and Robin or exclusive figures, I would only run to my nearest Best Buy and throw my wallet at the cashier.

Now if we could only get the Green Hornet next.

We also got our first glimpse at Figures Inc's 1966 Batman figures. These are the figures that Mego should have released but never did.

As you can see, the first wave includes Batman, Robin, Joker and Riddler. Upon first glance, the figures almost look nothing like the actors who play them. The Joker figure seems to be the best looking of the bunch. That, however will not stop me from picking these up. I mean, they're not Hot Toys. They are supposed to look as close to how Mego might have released them although I doubt Mego would have gotten simple accessories like Batman's belt as close to how it really looks as Figures Inc did.

They are scheduled for release in April and are available for pre-order on bigbadtoystore.com for 26.99 each, 104.99 for the set. I am hoping for a Wave 2 with Catwoman, Penguin, Egg Head and maybe King Tut. I thought I seen a prototype for an Egg Head a few months back.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Batman and it seems like we will be celebrating it with a ton of cool stuff coming our way. I'm a bit behind on my Batman hauls, but I will be looking to catch up in 2014 and I know I will have a blast hunting it all down.

Lets just hope my credit card can stand the usage.

Yes, I Like Pro Wrestling And Here Is My Favorite Wrestler

I don't discuss Pro Wrestling very much, but here's the truth. I love Pro Wrestling and have since I was about 12. It's not because I'm ashamed or anything. It just never really came up here. And boy, have I have watched it all since then: WWF then WWE, NWA, WCW, WCCW, Mid South, Mid Atlantic, Pro Wrestling USA, AWA, UWF, ECW and any other promotion that was shown on TV here in NYC. Technical wrestling, brawling, Fall Count Anywhere, Last Man Standing, Steel Cage Matches, Ladder Matches, Tag Team Matches,  I love them all.

I remember my first time watching it too. It used to come on here on WOR-TV Saturday nights after Racing From Aqueduct, which would usually be around 11:30 PM unless a Mets game either was from the west coast or went to extra innings. I don't remember what the date was or who was wrestling. What I do remember was Pat Patterson, who was working as a commentator next to Vince McMahon, went to interview Ivan Kolloff. There was a discussion regarding Russian wrestlers vs American wrestlers. Patterson defending American wrestlers vs Kolloff upholding the virtues of the Soviets. After a few minutes, Kolloff hauled off and slapped Patterson and stormed off set. Patterson gets up and rips his suit off and is screaming bloody murder and being bleeped after every second word. McMahon is screaming "Pat Patterson is angry and Ivan Kolloff better have left the arena" Me? I'm just sitting on my bed with my mouth wide open. I was hooked immediately.

I had seen wrestlers like the Masked Superstar, the Wild Samoans, Pat Patterson, Sgt. Slaughter,the WWF Champion Bob Backlund, George "The Animal" Steele, Andre The Giant, The Magnificent Muraco, who was the Intercontinental Champion, Rocky Johnson, Tony Atlas and colorful managers like The Grand Wizard, "Classy" Freddie Blassie and Capt. Lou Albano. I did have a favorite at the time. The "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka was a guy who had just turned face right around when I started watching, was having the first vicious feud I had ever seen with Muraco. I loved that rage he had when he was angry, but I loved his Superfly Splash off the top rope even more. But I wouldn't say I went GaGa over the guy. Then one show, there was a wrestler who was called "Dr. D" David Schultz. He was beating up a ham and egger (Bobby Heenan representing, yo!), so I wasn't too interested. Then I saw his manager. Here was a loud mouth who was yelling instructions, had a sneer on his face and was wearing a kilt. Who the heck was this guy? During the interview after the match, I found out he called himself "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and he was the best manager in the business. I found out much later he was managing only because he was recovering from injuries sustained during his vicious Dog Collar match with Greg Valentine at Starcade months earlier. He later added Paul "Mr. Wonderful" Orndorff to his stable and his career in the WWF was off and running.

Piper interviewing Frankie Williams right before pummeling him

Then, he started to host an interview segment called "Piper's Pit" and that's what made he's known for. At the time, it was pretty innovative. Buddy Rogers had a segment called "Rogers Corner", but it was boring as heck. I would have rather watched paint dry. "Piper's Pit" was anything but boring. His first segment, he insulted a writer for the WWF Magazine, who used to host a segment at that spot. The next week, he called an injured Eddie Gilbert's dad stupid for letting him wrestle The Masked Superstar. Piper was so funny as the host. He would complement the rule breakers and embarrass the good guys. He would assault wrestlers like Frankie Williams,  insult Rocky Johnson, and tell Andre The Giant he had a teeny tiny brain. His most famous segment was when he attacked my former favorite Jimmy Snuka by breaking a coconut over his head and then whipping him with his belt. That started off a feud with Snuka that lasted a year. Piper's Pit may have made Piper's career, but it made him my favorite wrestler and I watched everything and listened to everything he said as well.

I was there at Madison Square Garden the night he beat up Capt. Lou Albano, kicked Cyndi Lauper and power slammed her manager Dave Wolfe as well as the next show when he wrestled Hulk Hogan in the first wrestling match aired on MTV. It was called "The War To Settle The Score" and it was a classic. I realize that using the word "classic" and Hulk Hogan in the same sentence is stretching it a bit, but trust me, it was. The electricity in the crowd that night was so electric, you could cut the air with a night. By then, cheering Piper openly was becoming dangerous as I would have cups thrown at me or I would be cursed out. The end of the match had Piper disqualified when Orndorff and Bob Orton interfere in the match. They were about to beat up Cyndi Lauper when Mr. T made the save. Piper and Orndorff beat up on T until Hogan made the save. The interviews leading up to Wrestlemania was classic and Piper stole the show on Saturday Night Live. I wish I could have been at Wrestlemania. But my mom decided my grades weren't up to snuff, so I couldn't go. Back then, there was no pay per view, so I had to wait until the results were posted in the NY Post the next morning. I was crushed to read that Piper and Orndorff had lost. Piper and Orndorff feuded for a while and he "boxed" Mr. T at Wreslemania 2. After, Piper left to film "They Live", which is a Sci-Fi Classic.

If you have not seen They Live, see it!

When Piper returned, he became a fan favorite and hosted Piper's Pit where he now complemented the good guys and insulted the bad guys. He also feuded with wrestlers like "Adorable" Adrian Adonis, Bob Orton, Ric Flair, Harley Race and Bad News Brown. He won his only singles title around this time when he beat the Mountie for the Intercontinental Title. He then had his best match when he wrestled Bret Hart at Wrestlemania 7 and dropped the belt to Hart. After, he would only wrestle sporadicaly, mainly serving as color commentator with Vince McMahon on WWF TV. He left and later showed up in WCW to feud with Hogan before returning to WWE after. He shows up every now and then to host a Pit which is always entertaining.

God, I still wish I had this

I really don't have much of a Piper collection. When I was a kid, I got the Piper LJN figure and had the poster that came with the figure on my wall. I also got the Hogan figure and had Piper beat him for the belt, which he wore. I also had a picture book that the WWE put out. I also had a cup that 7-11 had sold with a Big Gulp and the later Hasbro Piper figure from the 1990's. All of this got lost due to various moves and I hope to one day get them all back in my collection, as well as other things so I can have a shelf dedicated to Piper. Here's what I do have:

I have always loved the Unmatched Fury line. The figures were pretty realistic and had a base to pose them on. When I found out that Piper would have a figure in this line, I knew I had to have it and grabbed it when I saw it.

The Entrance Greats was a Christmas gift my buddy, George got for me. The figure also has a stand, but this stand plays a few seconds of his entrance music. I love this figure and was thrilled when I tore open the wrapper and saw Hot Rod underneath.

Speaking of Hot Rod, this was a t shirt I had wanted ever since I was a kid and saw him sporting it on Piper's Pit. Thanks to the magic of eBay, I now have this shirt as a part of my geeky wardrobe.

I had shown this pin off in a blog from last year. I picked this pin up for a buck at SuperMega Fest in New Jersey. There wasn't a lot to be had at the show, but I was more than happy to add this pin to the Piper collection.

One of my most cherished experiences was meeting Roddy at the Big Apple Comic Con a few years ago. I was extremely nervous, which I never get when meeting a celebrity. Waiting on line, I met his son, Colt and struck up a conversation with him until it was my turn to meet Piper. When I got up there, I basically spilled my guts to the man like a little girl meeting the Beatles circa 1964. Piper was the best. He listened intently to everything I said, laughed at a few comments, was genuinely pleased when I told him he was my all time favorite and even asked about my family. He signed these 2 pictures for me and posed for a photograph with me.

When I get my man cave, there will be only 2 photos of myself on my walls. A picture of me at the old Yankee Stadium and this picture of me and the "Rowdy Scott". I want to blow it up and have him sign it for me before framing it. I got Albano to sign the Piper's Pit photo at the same show. I just need Cyndi Lauper to sign it so I can add it to my future man cave wall.

I do have the Piper DVD that the WWE put out not too long ago as well as Hell Comes To Frogtown. I'm always looking for the Pit's burnt on a DVD as well as They Live, but I want that on Blu-Ray and I'm not sure its been released on Blu-Ray just yet.

I apologize for the long read. I guess when you admire someone for as long as I have, there's a lot you want to say about the individual. I know if he was a jerk when I met him all this would have been flushed down the toilet like when I met Graig Nettles. But when you know the man is as decent in real life as he's bad in the world of Pro Wrestling, then you know he's doing something right. Ether he's beating up someone or insulting them with his quick tongue or acting in a movie Piper is one of the most entertaining individuals to ever have stepped into the squared circle. He's as big a reason for the popularity of wrestling in the 80's as Hogan was. To this day, he is wildly cheered when he appears on Raw and that is a well deserved cheer for a man who gave his life to wrestling. He was Rowdy before being Rowdy was cool and that's a fact. When you can't throw rocks at a man who carries a machine gun, the only thing I can do is say thanks to for making my childhood a different, yet entertaining one.

The Weekend Hauls

This weekend, my buddy George and I went to Poughkeepsie, NY to go see Man Of Steel and to see if we can add to our collections. George is just as much a collector as I am. I learned a lot from George so anytime I get the opportunity to go on a hunt, I will jump at the chance every time.

The first place we stopped was the Goodwill store. I usually find something worth my money here and today was no exception.

This was a DVD I had wanted for a while. The Scooby-Doo Meets Batman DVD has the 2 episodes of "The Scooby-Doo Movies" which Batman and Robin appeared on. The episodes, The Dynamic Scooby-Doo Affair and The Caped Crusader Caper, aired on September 15th and December 15th 1972, respectively. I remember watching the episodes in reruns on WPIX-TV and enjoying them. It's a nice addition to my Batman DVD collection and at 2.99, one deal I couldn't pass up.

The next stop we made was at Big Lots where I always find some stuff to take home with me. On this day, I was able to take home three pretty cool items.

I grabbed this great looking 3 inch Batman figure from the Dark Knight Rises line. I grabbed this figure because I thought it looked like the New 52 Batman. I have to admit, in the next movie, I would like to see Batman wear an outfit similar to this one rather than the all black outfit.

Last week, I posted a whole blog about starting up a Superman collection, so I grabbed this 3 inch Superman from the Man Of Steel line. I don't think I will be grabbing too much of the Man Of Steel stuff except the Movie Master figure, but at 5 bucks, I figured it wouldn't hurt the collection to have it. I would be paying a few bucks extra at Target for the same figure. By the way, my thoughts on Man Of Steel, I liked it, but I didn't love it.

I also grabbed this Star Wars Poster Puzzle set for my Luke Skywalker collection. I am not really sure what I am going to do with this. I could put the puzzle together, frame it and hang it up next to my collection when I have a shelf up or I could just leave it in the pouch and put it on the shelf. For 2 bucks, I couldn't pass it up.

The last stop on my shopping spree was at Dragon's Den, which is a comic book shop in Poughkeepsie. There used to be a Dragon's Den in Yonkers that was practically next door to the Barnes N Noble where George and I used to work. It was the first comic store I would buy my books at and I really wish they left it where it was. The owners moved it to an outdoor shopping mall named Cross County, then closed it. This store, I think, is the last in the chain. I usually never find anything to pick up, but I was able to find one comic to take home with me:

I have been reading Dark Horse's Star Wars run since the first issue and love it. It's one of the few books I have been picking up each month. I actually missed this issue when it came out and when I found it at Dragon's Den, I grabbed it. I need to find Issue 6 now and read it with this issue.

Overall, I did pretty good. I added some pretty cool stuff to my various collections and didn't even break the bank doing it. But even more, I got to hang out and celebrate my buddy George's birthday with him. It was an honor to hang out with my long time buddy and see Man Of Steel, have some great food and go toy hunting. Happy Birthday buddy. I leave you with this:

Stay Sexy My Friends.

Star Trek Has Always Been There

Let me start off by saying this: I am not a Trekkie. Not by a long shot. I couldn't tell you why Kirk joined Star fleet or even if that's the name of the academy or whatever it is. But, for some reason or another, Star Trek has been a part of my life for one reason or another. Be it something I had seen or a toy or whatever, James T. Kirk and company have not been too far behind ever since my geek roots were laid.

Believe it or not, the 1960's series was not my first exposure to Star Trek, it was the animated series that first introduced me to the world of Spock, Kirk, Scotty, McCoy and the rest of the crew of the Starship Enterprise. From 1973 to 1974, Filmation produced a series simply called Star Trek. It's now called Star Trek: The Animated Series to differentiate between this show and the live action show. It was a Saturday morning show that aired on NBC and featured the voices of William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelly, James Doohan, George Takei and Nichelle Nichols. Walter Koenig was the only actor who didn't return because the show's budget could not afford the complete cast, which really doesn't make sense to me. I'm sure Koenig was not commanding top dollar to lend his vocal talents to the show, although he did later write an episode of the show.

I know I saw this show during it's first run because I cannot find any instances where this was rebroadcast on later on syndication until the 1980's when it aired on Nickelodeon and on Sci Fi Channel in the 1990's. I was only 3 years old when the show finished it's second run, but I remember vividly sitting on the floor in my grandmothers home, watching the show. How many episodes I watched I could not say. May have been only one or maybe the whole run. All I knew was something about this show interested me enough to warrant my attention when I could have been playing with my Megos instead. Once the series ended, I am assuming, I had nothing to do with Star Trek for the next few years.

The next time Star Trek entered my life in December of 1979 when my mom took me to see Star Trek: The Motion Picture. By now, I was 8 years old, but I still did not know who these characters were. I didn't realize that these were the same characters I had watched on T.V., animated, only 5 years prior. Having seen Star Wars the year before, I thought since this was set in outer space too, it had to be just as good, right? Well, let me be completely honest with you guys, I have not seen this movie since I saw it in the theaters back in 1979. I am guessing the movie didn't leave a great impression, so I never really bothered to see it again. Not when it was shown on T.V. nor have I purchased a copy of this movie on DVD or Blu-Ray. But I do remember wearing a blue Star Trek shirt with the sewn on and begging my mom for some of the toys from the movie.

I didn't have much, but I do remember having these two figures:

These are not mine. I do wish I had these. These are the Mego 3 inch figures from the movie. I don't recall what happened to them. Probably the same thing that happened to my Star Wars figures, which I am still trying to figure out what happened to those to this day.

I remember having both these plush figures from Knickerbocker. These were my favorites from the Star Trek stuff I had and Lord, I wish I still had them. I had some emotional attachments to these for some reason. I used to always carry these around with me until the school bully knocked me down and ran off with them. My mom's response was "I shouldn't have taken them to school". A bit harsh, but I now know she was teaching me a lesson about taking care of my cherished toys.

I finally got around to watching a couple of episodes of the original series. The show was always shown here in NYC on WPIX-TV at various times, so I could always catch it whenever I wanted, which was not a lot. I don't know if it was because I wasn't impressed or I had other things to watch. I can honestly tell you I did not nor have I watched very many episodes to this day of the OG show.

In 1987, Gene Roddenberry gave us a Star Trek show I actually tried to watch on numerous occasions, but ultimately gave up on. I could never get behind Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, Data, Warf, Riker and Wesley. I saw certain shows like when Spock returned and such, but I can't really say I was a fan of the series.

A few years later, I met my best friend, George. He was (and still is) the Ultimate Trekkie. He is a huge fan of the original show and could do a great impression of William Shatner. Because of George, Star Trek was a huge part of my life and I would go see the movies with him, or in the case of Star Trek V, make fun of him (I call Star Trek 6 The Apology).

I have to say, I hated the Next Generation movies. I found them boring and not well written. When I saw Generations, I snickered at the fact that William Shatner's stunt double looked like Huey Lewis. I walked out at the end of Nemesis and vowed I would never see another movie again. By this time, I had had it with space, the final frontier. I had liked Deep Space Nine, but not enough to keep up with the series and I never seen Voyager or Enterprise. From what I heard, I'm better for not seeing either.

A funny thing happened in 2009. I saw a trailer for the new Star Trek reboot movie and instantly became interested in seeing the movie. I'm not sure if it has to do with the casting of Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, who look like young versions of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy or because it was an origin story, one that I never got to see. When it came out I went to see it and was instantly blown away by the movie. J.J. Abrams directed the hell out of this movie and it showed. Not only did I think Pine and Quinto do a great job in the movie, but I also enjoyed John Cho's Sulu, Simon Pegg's Scotty, Karl Urban's McCoy and Zoe Saldana's Uhura. Casting Eric Bana as a Romulan named Nero was the icing on the geeky cake and I instantly became a fan of this film series.

I just saw Star Trek: Into Darkness today and loved it. All the elements that made the first movie fun was there in this movie and again, the casting of the villain was perfect. I won't say too much more as I don't wish to ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. All I have to say is, if you enjoyed the first, you will love this one. I will see it in the theaters again soon.

After seeing Into Darkness, I now have an interest in going back and watching some of the stuff I may have taken for granted. I'm older now. Maybe I will dig the stuff that I didn't when I was younger. I have always had a soft spot for William Shatner (his version of "Rocket Man" is awesome) and, truth be told, I have been wanting to re watch Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Now, I may pick up the Blue-Ray and spend a day watching it. I also have The Animated Series on my Netflix que.

It seems to me that over the years, no matter how hard I tried to shake it loose, Star Trek has stayed a part of my life for almost 30 years. I guess it's time to embrace this classic piece of American pop culture geekness and enjoy the voyages of the Starship Enterprise and boldly go where just about every other geek before me has gone before.

A Day Of Monkee Madness

I'm not sure when I became a Monkees fan. I know it was when I was a kid. At school, a buddy of mine used to go to the music room during lunch and listen to records (ask your parents what they were, kids). We would always play Fabien's "Sunshine Superman", The Beatles "Hey Jude", The Kinks "Lola" and The Monkees "I'm A Believer", so I'm guessing it was then because I couldn't get enough of "I'm A Believer". I thought it was the greatest song ever. Then, channel 5 used to run 3 shows back to back to back that would become 3 of my all time favorite TV shows. The 1967 Spider-Man cartoon at 3:30, The 1966 Batman series at 4 and The Monkees at 4:30. That was probably the greatest block of programming because I was in front of the TV every afternoon. Homework? That could wait. I wanted to see what mess the Monkees got themselves into this time. 

I continued to listen to their music as I became a teenager. I even got into the New Monkees back in 1987. But the originals were still awesome and I got caught up Monkee-mania when the shows started airing again on MTV. when a neighbor went to see them at what was Brendan Byrne Arena in NJ (It's now the Izod Center), he bought me back a T-shirt, which I wore to school. The kids rolled their eyes, but I didn't care. I was a fan dammit!

When my buddy George and I started hanging out, I didn't initially tell him I was a Monkee fan.He was a metal head and I wasn't sure if that was going to fly. One day, he and I were in Kmart, just looking around, I found Arista's Monkees Greatest Hits CD, That was Then, This Is Now. I wanted it and was going to buy it. I just didn't want George seeing what I was buying and save myself the ridicule that would follow. I started to slowly walk to the register, trying to hide the CD. George actually came up behind me out of nowhere and asked what I had. Busted! I sheepishly showed him the CD. He asked if it was a Monkees CD. I confirmed it. George looked at it for a few seconds and then admitted he loved the Monkees. Relief! I bought the CD and the Monkees became something we bonded over. 

For the next 23 years, he and I would listen to the music together, see them in concert, buy their merchandise, and mourn the death of Davy Jones together. The Monkees are something I can't see myself enjoying without George to this day. 

Last year, We found out about the Monkees Convention and made plans to go. But life got in the way and we both initially said we would pass. Then, last week, George called me and surprised me with a ticket to the convention, so George, his wife Marge, and I went to the convention today at the Sheraton Meadowlands in East Rutherford, NJ. As soon as we got there, we were greeted in front of the hotel

I'm pretty sure it's a reproduction of the famous Monkee mobile, but it was a damn good repo.

We went inside and signed in at the registration desk and got our wristbands for the day. After sitting around downstairs and talked among ourselves we decided to go upstairs and wait in line to get into the dealer room. The line was pretty long by the time we got upstairs.

As soon as we got to the dealer room, I jumped on the line to get Mickey Dolenz's autograph. I have been working on a Monkees 8x10 picture for a few years now, having gotten Peter Tork and Davy Jones to sign it. I needed Dolenz to sign it and today was the day I would get that autograph. I looked across the room and noticed George and Marge on a line across from me. Apparently, they had to wait on another line just to get into the dealer room. The room was crowded with VIP's who paid to get into the dealer room an hour before the general public. 

After waiting a few minutes, I was allowed into the dealer room and lined up by a table where Mickey was appearing. I managed to get off a few shots of him from a distance, as you really weren't allowed to take a pic of him unless you paid for the photo op.

And when I got a bit closer

A few minutes later, I got up to the front of the line and got to meet Mickey. It was truly an honor to meet one of my all time favorite personalities and he was such a nice man. I got to shake his hand and thank him for all the years of music and laughter.

I met up with George and Marge and we wandered around the dealer room, looking at the tables. To be honest, there was not a whole lot. Either the VIP's cleaned up or the dealers didn't really bring much. I did pass by Peter's table and snapped a quick pic of him signing an autograph.

I had met him countless time before, so I didn't meet him today. I saw he was walking around with the use of a cane. I just hope it's nothing too serious. 

I managed to pick up 3 posters for 20 bucks. A Vote For Batman, A Back To The Future and a Green Hornet poster. I'll show those off at another time. They will be used for autographs. I also picked up Season 2 of The Monkees. 

After we headed to the ball room to rest up and was told there would be an opportunity to take a picture with David Cassidy of The Partridge Family if you paid a donation. I was told the woman who made the announcement had a laundry list of rules before taking the picture like, no messing about, leave your stuff behind, get in and out, blah , blah, blah. Cassidy arrived soon after and announced he had a plane to catch soon. He sat down and talked about Davy Jones and how close he got to him the final 5 years of Davy's life.

As you can see, we were pretty far back, so the picture is not the greatest. The yellow blur is Cassidy. 

Cassidy kinda bored me. He went on and on about how depressing it was to be type cast and not being able to find serious work after the Partridge Family and how he understood Davy's frustrations at the same as he was a talented actor and could comfort Jones. Pretty egotistical if you ask me. Then he bought up Jones's daughters and it seemed to me like he was drooling over them, saying how beautiful they were, more than once.. Kind of creeped me out. Then we realized that Cassidy was talking on and on because he had no intention on taking the photographs with the fans. Mickey was taking the stage for a Q & A at 4 pm and it was 3:45 pm at that point, so we decided to grab a bite and end the day.

Here's the small haul

Mickey adding his autograph to my 8x10. He was selling a Monkees drum head for $60.00 signed, which I was considering, but since Davy is gone, I can't get him to sign it. I passed on it for that reason. Just need Mike Nesmith to sign this piece and he is the hardest one to get. I might try to get him to sign when he does his solo show in New York coming soon. If that fails, I do have his autograph on a book he wrote when George and I went to his book signing in the 90's. I could just matte that with the pic and frame them.

Season 2 of the series  which would also be the last. I cannot wait to watch it. Three of my favorite episodes are in Season 2: Fairy Tale, Monstrous Monkee Mash and The Frodius Caper. I highly recommend Fairy Tale. Mike Nesmith in drag as a crabby princess is pretty funny.

Overall, I had a nice time at the convention. I just wish that the dealers had better stuff to sell. I was looking to see if they had the 1:18 Die cast Monkee mobile  the Monkee finger puppets from the 70's, The Monkees hand puppet from the 60's Those are tops on my Monkees wish list and I might have bought them if I found them there. But, meeting a favorite of mine was good enough for me as well as spending time with 2 of the best people in the world. I can't think of any better way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

I'm A Fan, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

I have been a huge, ginormus Beatles fan ever since I was about 6 years old. I got into them through a friend who was a little bit older than me. I remember that year I had started listening to records (google it kids), singles in fact. I wasn't listening to anything that current. Most of the records my friends and I were listening to were songs like I'm A Believer, Sunshine Superman, Cracklin' Rose and Lola. I had a friend, Mark Fioritti (Sorry if I mispelled your name Mark) who played me a record that had an apple on the label. It's funny I remember the apple. I think it was because I hadn't seen on on a record up to that point. So, the first song he played for me was Hey Jude and from that day on, I was obessed with The Beatles.

Growing up, I read every book I could get my hands on about them and listened to all their albums, repeatedly. I remember working I was working at the Fordham Public Library the day the CD's were released. I rented Please, Please Me and With The Beatles and ran home with them. I remember I was beside myself when I first heard Paul, clearly, counting up then the opening of I Saw Her Standing There followed. It was awesome. I had a poster on my wall that a friend gave me for my birthday of the Beatles through various stages of their career and I have been looking for that poster on ebay for the longest time.

As I got older, I picked up various DVD's, books and other Beatle goodies. I wanted to take this week and show off various parts of my Beatles collection. It's actually very small, a lot smaller than I care to admit. But that's the beauty of a collector, you can always add to it and grow it as large as you would like.

So today, I wanted to show off my 3 Beatles Enesco figurines. These were released back in 1993. They made figurines of all four Beatles on black lacquered stands and an album cover slotted behind the figure on the stand. I got these three figures as a gift from my buddy, George. Don't remember if they were christmas or birthday presents. Very cool pieces to have in my Beatles collection.

Sorry about the flash on some of these pictures. But here is a shot of all three figures together

Here's George with Capitol's Meet The Beatles album cover. This was the album that introduced America to the Beatles in 1964.

This one is my personal favorite for two reasons. One, John was my favorite Beatle and two, The Beatles Second Album was one of the very first Beatles albums I purchased with my own money. I remember going into Alexander's on Fordham Road as a kid with my mom. We marched into the record department and I grabbed The Beatles Second Album and Help! and bought them with my own allowance money. It was a proud day for the young sexy geek. The only non Beatles album I also bought was The Police's Zenyatta Mondatta. It was 1980. I loved De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da.

Here is Paul with the Something New Album cover. This might be the only Beatles album as a kid I never got to hear. By the time I started buying my own music, Apple was releasing the british versions of The Beatles albums and I just never got to listen to this record, but hey if you heard The Beatles singing I Want To Hold Your Hand in german on one CD, it really doesn't matter right?

I never could get Ringo. At first, he was pretty hard to find. Once I did find him, he was pretty expensive. I saw a listing for him on ebay recently for $150.00 and that's not money I can spend on one thing right now.

I have been on a real Beatles kick as of late. I saw a restored version of Magical Mystery Tour on the big screen recently, watched The Ed Sullivan shows that had The Beatles on them, watched A Hard Day's Night and have been listening to their music non stop. This band is timeless and their music never sounds stale. I had the good fortune of seeing Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr on their tours multiple times and will continue to see them whenever they come around.

I love other bands like KISS, The Monkees, Depeche Mode, The Cure, etc. None of these bands come close to capturing my imagination like The Beatles did and still do to this day. Whenever I hear their music, I am back at school, listening to their records on that crappy record player and pretending I'm one of the Beatles, singing to the records and playing air guitar. I have heard thier songs hundreds, if not thousands of times and never tire of hearing them. That's why I know I will be a fan for life. Now to find more stuff to add to my Beatles collection.

Toys, Toys and More Toy Pick Ups

Saturday I actually started off going to a card show in White Plains with my buddy, George. After only picking up a couple cards, we left the show and hit the road in search for some geeky goodness. Toys, Toys and more Toys. And there were deals to be had on this day.

Let's start with some new additions to my Spider-Man collection. One of my dreams is to own a 1960's Captain Action Spider-Man Figure. Now, maybe I'm shooting a bit too high since that particular figure is one of the most expensive figures for a Spider-Man collector to add to their mantle. So, I found the next best thing: The new Captain Action Spider-Man Costume Set. I love this as it is very John Romita-ish in the way it was made. From the mask to the outfit, once I put it together, I'm sure it's going to look like it jumped out of the pages of a John Romita drawn/Stan Lee written comic. Once I get the Captain Action Figure, I will open it and display this with the rest of my Spidey goodies.

Then I got some great deals in Marshalls on the Amazing Spiderman PVC Figure (3.99) and the Superhero Squad Spider-Man & Daredevil set (2.99). On a normal day, that is a great haul, but I was not through finding bargins.

My Iron Man collection got bigger by three additions. Now, I did pay full price on the Walmart exclusive Avengers Iron Man figure, but Toys R Us had some great deals and I was able to add two cool Iron Man pieces for under 5.00. The Marvel Legends Titanum Iron Man piece was 1.49 while the Marvel Universe Avengers Iron Man was 2.99. At those prices I was pretty much like, Yes please. I picked these up at the Toy R Us in Jefferson Valley, NY, along with the Captain Action Spidey. The register clerk was trying to get me to buy more Spider-Man stuff. I never had a register clerk try a sale, nevermind the hard sale this guy was pushing. Sponges, candy and some of the other Spidey figures was what he was hawking. My buddy said he should have offered them for free if he wanted me to take them so bad.

Then finally, I ended my geeky shopping spree by picking up the Hal Jordan Green Lantern Movie Masters figure from Marshalls for 3.99. Then we hit a 5 Below near Jefferson Valley and I snatched up the 2 disk Special Edition Batman Returns dvd set. I previously picked up the Batman 2 disk set because I wanted the special features that the previous releases didn't have. I enjoyed them so much that I decided to get the rest. When George alerted me to the dvd, I naturally grabbed it. 2 down, 2 to go.

Overall, Saturday was a huge sucess, toy-wise. I was able to add to my Spidey and Iron Man collections while adding my 4th Green Lantern figure and adding to my Batman dvd collection for less than 50 bucks. I didn't break the bank, yet I went home with more bags than I normally do.

Saturday was one of those days that we toy collectors dream of. It was a good day to be a geek.