Elvis Pez

Wow, it's been awhile since the last blog post. Since I'm going to be moving soon, my attention has been on condensing all my stuff into an endless supply of boxes and rubbermaid totes. I've also been busy with the holidays and lettering a book for my friends, Adam and Comfort. It's been a crazy couple of weeks. Happy New Year to all, by the way....

Today, I picked up (on x-mas clearance) an exclusive Elvis Pez collection in a record shaped tin. It contains three Elvi? from his career- '58 Army Elvis, '68 Happier times Elvis, and my favorite of the bunch- '73 Downward Spiral Jumpsuit Elvis. The tin also contained three cola flavored pez candies and a three track cd- with one song I actually knew, Hound Dog. Elvis Pez, who would have thought? This will be a great addition to my every growing collection.

"Thank you. Thank you very much."

The bookshelf- before and after

As stated in previous multiple posts, I have too much junk. The good news is that for all the junk I do buy, should I grow tired of it, has potential resale value. True, if I were to average out the cost of buying/reselling I wouldn't come close to breaking even. Still, I feel better about my own twisted form of recycling, or as friend Chris calls it: Jeff Math. I also enjoy less clutter too. Here's a before and after pic of my bookshelf after a recent 'cleaning'.

My enormous Marvel Legends collection- taking up two shelves and a domino effect waiting to happen. Yowza.

The same shelves post E-bay. I pulled trades out of comic boxes and added to the shelf above for easier access. I read them more often now. The Justice League nine inch figures look a lot better than 100 little figures. Easier to dust too. Squint and you'll see The Atom at Wonder Woman's feet.

Uh....okay. I'll admit the second picture looks worse than the 'before' pic. I have good reason..really. First, I've bought more games. Second, I organized by playability rather than by box shape. I found it difficult to run through 30+ games trying to decide what would be good for certain groups and clarity of rules/time. All the bottom games take an hour or more to play, which I found the average person gives up on after about 10 minutes. Bummer. Good thing I have plenty of friends who DO like these games. I'm still in the process of filtering out the crummy games. One day I'd like to get TWO bookcases- one for comics and one for boardgames. I'll make do for now.

This is the one thing that hasn't changed. Yet. These stackable comics or DRAWER BOXES are a fantastic space saver. The drawers on the bottom slide out for easy access, while the boxes on top provide the weight (without crushing them) to keep them in place. Once I do get a bigger place I'd like to actually build a comic back issue box like the one you'd find in any comic store- then place the drawer boxes underneath. Another thought was to have comic sleeves on the wall where I could replace the issues as I see fit- like those plastic baseball card sleeves but comic size and mounted to the wall. Not sure how this would look, but interested to try.....Whew!

Civil War in Riverdale

I picked up the latest Archie digest while grocery shopping today. I found the cover to be particularly amusing. Rarely do you see Archie taking sides against his chums as if he's prepared to fight to the death in this parody of so many face-off covers that have come before it. The story very loosely parallels Marvel's CIVIL WAR although the issue here isn't anti/pro-registration but rather anti/pro-increase in allowance. Archie is pro, wanting more money to spend on dates, and Jughead is anti, believing that an increase would mean less 'buddy' time with Archie. (insert Chasing Amy joke here) Sigh.... Even in high school, these kids are still getting allowance. Doesn't anyone work in Riverdale? Friggin' kids.

The resolution comes by way of Mr. Lodge (Veronica's wealthy old pop) who talks to all the parents and get this: "WILL get an allowance, provided they keep up with their chores and responsibilities!" That's it? No dead teenagers? No traitors? No underground rebellions?
Two words: Lame ass.

I've spent way too much time on this post. Stupid Archie.

Happy Birthday Wii!

One year ago today I braved the cold and sacrificed a mere seventeen hours and $250 to get my hands on a little white bundle of joy, my Nintendo Wii. The thrill of the addition to my household has recently been overshadowed by its younger sibling, the Xbox 360. However, I still don't regret my time spent and decision on making the purchase.

I've bought more downloadable classics than actual Wii games-but in this case, I'm fine with it. Who knew Super C could be so addicting? It's my video game jukebox. I love it. And, it seems things are starting to look up with current releases like Super Mario Galaxy, Trauma Center: New Blood, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Happy birthday to all the Wii owners out there- and to all who haven't bought one yet Christmas is just around the corner...

A Lard Lad to call my own

I made the weekly trip to the comic store Wednesday with the intent to buy comics. Among the piles of books, boxes, and such was none other than Lard Lad. Yes, Lard Lad- the beloved mascot of Lard Lad Donuts from The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror. I couldn't resist.


Lard Lad comes with a minature Homer figure, car, and chain to move his arm and eyebrows.


He's a good sized figure, slightly taller than a Marvel Select figure (minus the raised arm holding the colossal donut). Lard Lad fits in perfectly with my other Simpsons figures adorning my desk at work. I hate staring at my drab cubicle wall. I hate cubicles period.


"If you're looking for that big donut of yours,...Flanders has it. Just smash open his house"
-Homer

Random stories 2

I stayed out way too late last night. I think I went to bed around four. Gaming, good times, and Mountain Dew can do that do a guy. It was well worth it.

Decided to go to the library today thinking: I'm going to get a novel and start reading it. I pull up to the door. They were closed. So I bought a cheeseburger for breakfast, drove home and watched Invasion of the body snatchers instead. A creepy film for a creepy day.

Treehouse of Horror XVIII

It's that time of year again....another Simpsons Treehouse of Horror is upon us. The 18th one to be exact. Here's a breakdown of this year's episode:


Mr. and Mrs. Simpson - Homer secretly lives a double life as a secret agent and is assigned to eliminate Kent Brockman, discovering that Marge is also an agent with the same mission.

E.T. Go Home - Bart and Lisa find Kodos, who is hiding from the government, and help him obtain devices that he can use to contact his home planet, but Kodos's intentions prove to be less than friendly.

Heck House - Bart, Lisa and some other kids pull pranks on Halloween night and, after they go too far, Ned Flanders turns the church into a Hell house. Gaining supernatural powers from God, he subjects the kids to his wrath.

"Will it be better than last years?" is the first question that pops into my head. Being a hardcore Simpsons fan, I've actually watched less and less of the show as its gone on. Yet, I've always come back for the T.H.R. episodes- (despite each year they seem to have less and less to do with Halloween). I've stupidly taped over each epsiode as my original plan was to have ALL of them available for my viewing pleasure. Sadly, Fox hasn't made any plans to release a DVD of just the Halloween episodes in order. It would sell like hotcakes! For now, I'm stuck catching it on YouTube or the few seasons of Simpsons I own on DVD....Rats.

I was also going to list my favorite Treehouse of Horror episodes until I realize they've made so many- with three stories per episode......that's 54 episodes to sift through. So I just list a few. The Monkey's Paw, Clown without Pity, The Devil and Homer Simpson, The Thing and I, and Send in the Clones. Great stuff.

Mr. Peanut gets a lobotomy

Went grocery shopping today and couldn't pass up this jar of peanuts. It's Mr. Peanut! Just twist off his top hat/skull and dig into the crunchy goodness. Kinda creepy now that I put it like that. Oh well.