New TMNT and He-Man toys!

This past weekend my family and I had the opportunity to scour Portland Oregon for any and all Comic Book/Toy shops in the greater area.  I must say there are many shops in Portland and I don't know my way around that well.  Thank God for Google Maps and my oldest daughter navigating from the back seat of our mini-van.  Today I want to talk about 2 new and very cool shops that we were able to visit and then show you some cool pics of my purchases.

Our first great stop was at a store called Billy Galaxy.  You can check out their website here or visit their Facebook page here.  Billy Galaxy is located on Burnside St across from Powell's Bookstore. Billy Galaxy is my dream store!  From what I can tell they deal specifically in toys from the 1950's to the 1980's.  Vintage Star Wars to He-Man to many toys you won't recall until you are once there. Yes, I was in Heaven because he did have quite a few He-Man toys and even some Ninja Turtles. Unfortunately the prices were a little high so I did not buy much but I do recommend this shop for anyone that is looking for older vintage toys or general nostalgic things from years ago. Below is a picture of the He-Man horse "Stridor" I purchased from there and a couple of Ninja Turtles also.

Our next stop was in Beaverton at a shop called Mad Max's Heroes and Hobbies.  This place I have been trying to visit forever and it has always been closed.  I guess on Saturdays they don't open until the mid evening.  Me living about 80 miles way makes it kinda hard to show up at night but I was in luck this time around!  I first heard of this shop from a college student at OSU who had similar interests in comics etc.  She said that if I was looking for action figures that this was the place to go to.  She was right and it was worth waiting for this place to open because he had a TON of action figures, comics and cards of all liking.  There I was able to pick up some more Ninja Turtles including a rare "Krangs Robot Body" toy.  Heroes and Hobbies is a very cool store but be aware of there hours and call ahead especially if you don't live around Portland.  You can check out pictures of my purchase below.

I also wanted to thank my father and brother in law.  They came across some Ninja Turtles on a recent trip to an antique shop and brought me home a few.  The antique shop is on the coast and I find a lot of the turtles have sand in them and missing parts but it's still great to have them.  One in particular I am fond of is a turtle called "Beach Combin Mike".  He is very cool and one that I have not seen very often.  I also picked up a duplicate of "Chief Leo", a Native American turtle at Heroes and Hobbies.  I already owned the Chief but it was incomplete so this was a great chance to pick up a whole one.

Mission Impossible 4 Teaser Trailer!!

I have a late night posting for you all!  The premiere of the teaser trailer for Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.  I nearly had a mangasm watching this.  This time around we add Jeremy Renner and "Sawyer" from Lost, Josh Holloway.  After watching this preview I am totally psyched about seeing the movie.  You can check out the trailer below!

Footloose Poster and Trailer!

Here comes your first look at the remake of the 1980's hit film Footloose.  How could you not forget Kevin Bacon in the original with the great 80's soundtrack to go along with it. From what I can remember this remake pretty much follows along the same lines as the original did with obviously a lot of dancing.  I don't recognize the main guy that takes over on Bacon's part but Dennis Quad and Julianne Hough, from Dancing with the Stars fame, also star.  The film is due out in October and you can watch the first trailer below. Now when are they going to remake Weird Science. Come on guys! My favorite goofy teen film from the 1980's.

Tags: Movie Trailers, Movies Blog

My Father's Day Artwork Present!

To your left you are looking at my 17 year old daughter, Krystal, who is an aspiring artist and drew me a picture of my favorite WWE Superstar John Cena.  I had an amazing Father's Day and you can check out some more photos of her drawing below and you can also check out her website for more of her artwork here.

My Father's Day Video Present

Like all of the other fathers out there I celebrated Father's Day with my 4 wonderful children this past Sunday. My 15 year old daughter, Jessica, made me a short video and I wanted to share it with all of you!

Weird Al Yankovic: Perform This Way!!

Hey everyone!  Just had to post this cool new music video from Weird Al Yankovic titled "Perform This Way".  Yes it is a parody of "Born This Way" from Lady Gaga and is the first single off of Al's newest CD Alpocalypse.  I personally think this is a really funny song and a great video.  Kind of creepy though how they put his face on those bodies.  It's cool how major performing artists don't mind him spoofing their songs and videos and probably making millions in the process.  Al is also touring. Check his site out here to see if he is coming to a town near you.

Mechamania Super 8 Review! Contains Spoilers!!!

Super 8 is here!  The film directed by the amazing JJ Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg has arrived in your local theater.  I actually had the chance yesterday to watch this in my local IMAX theater.  We caught our first glimpse of what Super 8 was to be last summer in the extravagant teaser trailer that plays a very important part in the final film.  After a year waiting does Super 8 live up to the hype and mark another notch in the belt of JJ Abrams or does it not live up to the hype and crashes like a train wreck?  I am going to review this movie with information that will be considered spoilers and will ruin the experience for you if you intend to watch this film in the theater or at least rent it in the future. Now, let's continue on and find out what I thought about this original science fiction film.

As I stated before this film is directed by JJ Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg.  From my understanding JJ wanted to make a film that is an homage to Steven and his scifi films from the 1980's like E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  The child stars are relatively unknowns. You will recognize Kyle Chandler who plays the deputy and father of our lead actor Joel Courtney aka Joe and Ron Eldard plays Alice's father Louis.  Most of the children are like I said before, unknowns, but fit the roles perfectly and were enjoyable to watch on screen.  Noah Emmerich is also a familiar face as the baddy Nelec.  You will recognize him from such films as The Truman Show and Frequency among others such as the JJ Abrams tv show LOST.  Their isn't much more to say about the cast because well they are kind of unknowns for the most part.

Let's get to the story.  It's good.  It's not totally ingenious and blew me away but it is still a good story.  The film revolves around a group of kids (Joe, Carey, Charles, Martin and Alice)  in a small town in Ohio are filming a zombie horror film with a Super 8 camera when one night they decide to film a pivotal scene down at the local train station.  It is late at night and a train comes racing by the station when a mile down the tracks a truck careens into the engine causing the whole train to wreck and derail.  What is uncertain is where the train is coming from.  Where it is heading to and what is in it?  It's an Air Force train and it is heading from Area 51 in Nevada to an undisclosed location in Ohio carrying an alien among other things.  In a nutshell the train wrecks and releases an alien that has been held prisoner by the US Government and wants to go home.  E.T. phone home.  In the meantime the alien wreaks havoc on the small town the film is set in by stealing parts from cars to build it's spaceship and eating random people.

Our friends that are filming their movie are thrown into the middle of everything and find themselves to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  At times this movie reminded me of The Goonies but only slightly.  The children had chemistry similar to the kids in The Goonies.  It is based in 1979 and does have the feel of an old 80's movie but just slightly also.  We find out the man that crashes into the train is a local school teacher who previously was a scientist that actually studied and vowed to have the creature released to go home.  He was grabbed by the alien once and the alien knew he was not there to harm him and let him live.  The town is eventually evacuated but the group of friends find themselves emerged in the finale between the Air Force and the alien before the alien is finally able to piece together enough parts to create his ship and leave Earth once and for all.

Probably the most dramatic and one thing that keeps this movie together is the story of Joe's mother who is killed in an accident at work.  All he has left from her is a locket with a picture of her in it that he keeps in his pocket always.  We find out in time that Alice's father who is a drunk was supposed to be at work but was too drunk to come in so she took the job instead and died. Joe's father has been unable to forgive Alice's dad and they finally do in the end.  Their is also a pivotal scene where the alien grabs Joe and see's his pain and looks at him in the eyes and let's him live because the alien realizes that he wishes him no harm like the scientist before.

Thinking about this film.  I really still don't know how to react.  This is a good film.  I guess it's just not exactly what I was thinking it was going to be but still it was if that makes any sense.  It was a genuine story and didn't feel all too rehashed but not super fresh either.  I saw it in IMAX but don't pay the extra money for it.  I was half wanting to go to see the theater in anticipation for Transformers and I will totally be seeing that in IMAX 3D!  Overall this film is not a waste of money and will be had by most people out there.

Linkin Park: Iridescent from Transformers 3!

Hey everyone!  Just wanted to make this post before going to bed.  It's been a long week and I haven't had too many opportunities to work on the site this week.  This video premiered earlier this week in conjunction with the new Transformers: Dark of the Moon movie that comes out in a couple of weeks.  Not a bad song but I i'm not too sure if I like it better than some of the previous Transformer Linkin Park tunes.  Check it out below!

WWE Tough Enough 2011

This week marks the end of the latest season of the reality television series called WWE Tough Enough.  The 2 month long show introduced us to 14 contestants that had the dream of becoming the next big WWE Superstar.  Contestants ranged from amateur independent wrestlers to men and women who had never wrestled ever to the current Miss USA.  The winner receives a WWE contract to be a future WWE Superstar.  The show is hosted by Stone Cold Steve Austin along with trainers Bill Demott, Booker T and Trish Stratus.

I really enjoyed watching this show because it really showed you how hard it is to train and compete in the WWE.  Is WWE scripted and the outcome known before the match?  Yes.  We all know that but I think a lot of people tend to push WWE Wrestlers aside as athletes.  Think again because they are amazing athletes and being a WWE Wrestler can be very dangerous at times. Through out the series we saw several contestants have to drop out of competition because of injury.  As big as the physical side of the sport is the character and charisma side is just as important.  I think that is where you see guys who "look" the part but just can't fill it charismatically.

As the series came to a head it was a tie between contestants Andy and Luke.  You could not have 2 completely opposite people go head to head.  Andy is a big man with a wife and a child who's dream is to be a WWE Superstar.  He is strait edge and bad to the bone.  He calls himself "Silent Thunder".  Then you have "Cool Hand" Luke who is a party boy and wants to live a life of drinking, women and being the top dog.  Luke had previously wrestled before the show and looked to be a winner from the first episode until the last.  It was Andy that hadn't had as much experience but had the drive, heart and determination to be the next big thing.  Everything boiled down to this past week's WWE Monday Night Raw.  You can see for yourself below who wins......

Dwayne Johnson in talks for GI Joe 2!!!

Pretty awesome news involving one of my favorite actors Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.  Wait, any news involving The Rock is good news.  It looks like he is in early talks for a role in the upcoming GI Joe sequel "Cobra Strikes".  According to Deadline.com Johnson's stock has risen greatly with the success of the latest Fast 5 film which he stars in.  Rumor is that he will star as the "Roadblock" character with Channing Tatum likely to return also.  The film this time around is being directed by Jon. M. Chu who recently directed the Justin Bieber, Never Say Never film. Hmmmmm....interesting! Go Joe!

WTF Post of the day: Russian TMNT!?!?!

Seriously.....WTF!  Came across a totally weird site that showcased some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle artwork.  The description says that it is from some kind of Russian picture book.  Whatever that is?  I have posted a couple of pictures below and you can check out the rest of the pictures by clicking this link.  Is it just me or does that alien spaceman kinda look like the Predator?  Since when does Donatello use a samurai sword to fight with?  Are they paranormal fighters too?

Amazing 1986 He-Man Toy Display!!!

I just came across this really cool article of at IO9.com.  Apparently back in 1986 Mattel had a traveling display of He-Man toys to show off at local malls.  The video below is from Indianapolis.  I only have one word to say and that is WOW!  What a freaking awesome display!  Where is that stuff today?  Does someone own that display or was it destroyed?  I want the suit of Hordak with the light up arm!  You can watch the video in it's entirety below.