Tuesday, September 30, 2008

A Little Reminder


I'm participating in the Step Out: Walk to Fight Diabetes this coming Sunday, October 5th. Diabetes runs in my family. My brother and I are diabetic and so were our parents. Fortunately, my brother and I can keep it under control by just taking medication. For now. I've been walking to fight diabetes for over 10 years and hope that you will consider helping me make a change to this growing epidemic.

A few facts about diabetes --

  • About one in 10 American adults now has diabetes.
  • Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death by disease in the U.S.
  • One out of every three Americans born today will develop diabetes in their lifetime if present trends continue.
  • Nearly 5.7 million people (nearly one-quarter) of the 23.6 million children and adults in the U.S. living with diabetes are unaware that they have the disease.

Any donation to my campaign would be greatly appreciated. No matter how small or large your contribution is, it all goes to a very good cause.

Click here to view my personal page and make an online donation

Thank you very much.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Paul Newman, R.I.P.

There is a rumor in our family that Mr. Newman was a relation of some kind. But, I never found out for sure. Rest in peace "Uncle" Paul.

WESTPORT, Conn. (AP) - Paul Newman, the Academy-Award winning superstar who personified cool as an activist, race car driver, popcorn impresario and the anti-hero of such films as "Hud," "Cool Hand Luke" and "The Color of Money," has died. He was 83.

Newman died Friday after a long battle with cancer at his farmhouse near Westport, publicist Jeff Sanderson said. He was surrounded by his family and close friends.

In May, Newman had dropped plans to direct a fall production of "Of Mice and Men," citing unspecified health issues.

He got his start in theater and on television during the 1950s, and went on to become one of the world's most enduring and popular film stars, a legend held in awe by his peers. He was nominated for Oscars 10 times, winning one regular award and two honorary ones, and had major roles in more than 50 motion pictures, including "Exodus," "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "The Verdict," "The Sting" and "Absence of Malice."

Read the full story here.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Nick Fury at Best Buy


Found this at IGN.com.

Sam Jackson's predecessor hits DVD.
by Christopher Monfette

September 22, 2008 - Think that Sam Jackson was an inspired choice for the role of Nick Fury in Iron Man? Then turn back the clock ten years to the last guy to play the character in live-action form. From the pages of Marvel Comics comes Nick Fury (David Effin' Hasselhoff), the infamous hard-boiled, cigar-chomping, eye-patch sporting, former director of the covert counterterrorism strike force S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division). When his old organization uncovers a plot to annihilate Manhattan with a deadly virus by his arch-nemesis, the sexy, sinister Viper – Fury must return to duty, this time aided by his old flame Val and new colleagues Alexander Pierce and Kate Neville. Will Fury be the antidote Manhattan desperately needs, or will Viper's venomous scheme eradicate the city completely? Armed with a stockpile of high-tech weapons, Fury is the city's only hope in the full-length action-packed adventure debut of this Marvel Comics hero!

Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. is being released on DVD by popular demand for the first time ever on September 30, 2008 and exclusively at Best Buy for an SRP of $22.98. Originally airing on FOX Television in 1998, Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. was written by David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Blade, Jumper) and produced by Stan Lee and Avi Arad of Marvel Films (credits including X-Men, The Incredible Hulk, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Iron Man and more).

You can pre-order it at bestbuy.com for $14.99.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

It's Coming...


October is almost here. That means it's almost time for the Halloween Countdown!

The Halloween Countdown is where a bunch of bloggers post something Halloweenie every day in October. I did this last year and it was fun. It was also very hard. I'm not real good at planning ahead. But, I'm gonna try to get some stuff together early and wing the rest of it. Wish me luck.

If you have a blog and want to participate, leave me a comment. I'll post a list of the Halloween bloggers on October 1st. Also, be sure to let John at John Rozum.com and Jon at Random Acts of Geekery know if you are participating.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Sesame Street B.E.


Of course B.E. stands for BEFORE ELMO. I've been wanting to post this for awhile and I finally got around to finishing it.

This is pretty cool, check out Muppet Wiki for a complete Sesame Street discography. It shows every LP, cassette and CD ever released based on Sesame Street.

Here is almost 80 minutes of classic Sesame Street music.

Track List

1. Sesame Street Theme - The Kids
2. ABC-DEF-GHI - Big Bird
3. Bein' Green - Kermit The Frog
4. C Is For Cookie - Cookie Monster
5. Circles - Cookie Monster & Herry Monster
6. Doin' The Pigeon - Bert
7. Eight Beautiful Notes - The Count
8. Five People In My Family - The Anything Muppets
9. Five Song - The Kids
10. Four - Little Jerry & The Monotones
11. Henson King Of Eight - Jim Henson
12. How Do You Do - Lena Horne & Grover
13. I Love Trash - Oscar The Grouch
14. I Want A Monster To Be My Friend - A Little Girl (Marilyn Sokol)
15. I've Got Two - Bob, Susan, Gordon, Mr. Hooper
16. La La La - Bert & Ernie
17. Ladybug's Picnic - Jerry Nelson
18. Little Things - Prairie Dawn
19. The Lovable Monsters Of Sesame Street - The Monsters Of Sesame Street
20. Mah Na Mah Na - Mah Na Mah Na
21. Nasty Dan - Johnny Cash & Oscar The Grouch
22. The National Association Of 'W' Lovers - Bert
23. One Of These Things (One Of These Sounds) - Bob & Susan
24. 1-2-3 Sesame Street - Stevie Wonder
25. Over, Under, Around and Through - Grover
26. People In Your Neighborhood - Bob & The Anything Muppets
27. Pinball Number Count - The Pointer Sisters
28. Roosevelt Franklin's Alphabet - Roosevelt Franklin & His Mother
29. Rubber Duckie - Ernie
30. Sammy The Snake - Sammy The Snake
31. Sing - The Kids
32. Somebody Come And Play - Big Bird And The Kids
33. Tu Me Gustas (I Like You) - Maria
34. Two 'G' Sounds - Grover & George
35. Would You Like To Buy An O? - The Salesman & Ernie
36. Goodbye - The Cast

Click the link below to download --

--> Sesame Street B.E. <--

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Sesame Street Puppets

When I was a kid I had the Ernie hand puppet and my brother had Bert. These aren't our original puppets, but there still pretty cool.

I bought these finger puppets on eBay not too long ago. I know we had Oscar and maybe a few more back in the day. The Sherlock Hemlock and Salesman finger puppets are harder to find in good condition. The ones I see are usually missing the hats.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Downloading Problems

There seems to have been a problem with my Rapidshare files for the last couple of days. I just checked them and it looks like it's been fixed. If you were trying to download something, try it again. Hopefully the links works.

If you'd like to show your appreciation for the stuff that I post on the Wonderful Wonderblog, how about donating a few dollars to my Step Out: Walk to Fight Diabetes campaign. The link is at the top of the sidebar.

Thanks everyone!

Sesame Shirts

I have four Sesame Street shirts among my many t-shirts (I know, I'm a big dork). :)


Monday, September 08, 2008

Somebody Come and Play...

I noticed that it's Sesame Street Week over at PlaidStallions. So, I thought that I'd try to post some classic stuff from The Street this week.

I love Sesame Street. It's the greatest kids show of all time! Jim Henson was a genius. I'm gonna start off with some clips from YouTube --

Be sure to visit these fine folks YouTube Channels for more classic videos.

From asaweryold.

Does anyone remember when Oscar the Grouch was orange? This is "I Love Trash" from the first season (1969).

S For Superman (1970)

From BipBippadotta.

Roosevelt Franklin Elementary Poison

Countdown

Fat Cat Sat Hat

From sawing14s.

Grover The Elevator Operator

M For Magic

Yip Yip Aliens Discover a Radio

Visit the official Sesame Street Channel at YouTube. They have a bunch of classic and newer clips. Unfortunately, embedding has been disabled for these.

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Jerry Reed, R.I.P

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jerry Reed, a singer who became a good ol' boy actor in car chase movies like "Smokey and the Bandit," has died of complications from emphysema at 71.

His longtime booking agent, Carrie Moore-Reed, no relation to the star, said Reed died early Monday.

"He's one of the greatest entertainers in the world. That's the way I feel about him," Moore-Reed said.

Sony BMG Nashville Chairman Joe Galante called Reed a larger-than-life personality.

"Everything about Jerry was distinctive: his guitar playing, writing, voice and especially his sense of humor," Galante said. "I was honored to have worked with him."

Reed's catalog of country chart hits, from 1967 through 1983, were released under the label group's RCA imprint.

As a singer in the 1970s and early 1980s, Reed had a string of hits that included "Amos Moses," "When You're Hot, You're Hot," "East Bound and Down," "She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft)" and "The Bird."

In the mid-1970s, he began acting in movies such as "Smokey and the Bandit" with Burt Reynolds, usually as a good ol' boy. But he was an ornery heavy in "Gator," directed by Reynolds, and a hateful coach in 1998's "The Waterboy," starring Adam Sandler.

Reynolds gave him a shiny black 1980 Trans Am like the one they used in "Smokey and the Bandit."

Reed and Kris Kristofferson paved the way for Nashville music personalities to make inroads into films. Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson and Kenny Rogers (TV movies) followed their lead.

"I went around the corner to motion pictures," he said in a 1992 AP interview.

Reed had quadruple bypass surgery in June 1999.

Born in Atlanta, Reed learned to play guitar at age 8 when his mother bought him a $2 guitar and showed him how to play a G-chord.

He dropped out of high school to tour with Ernest Tubb and Faron Young.

At 17, he signed his first recording contract, with Capitol Records.

He moved to Nashville in the mid-1960s where he caught the eye of Chet Atkins.

He first established himself as a songwriter. Elvis Presley recorded two of his songs, "U.S. Male" and "Guitar Man" (both in 1968). He also wrote the hit "A Thing Called Love," which was recorded in 1972 by Johnny Cash. He also wrote songs for Brenda Lee, Tom Jones, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole and the Oak Ridge Boys.

Reed was voted instrumentalist of the year in 1970 by the Country Music Association.

He won a Grammy Award for "When You're Hot, You're Hot" in 1971. A year earlier, he shared a Grammy with Chet Atkins for their collaboration, "Me and Jerry." In 1992, Atkins and Reed won a Grammy for "Sneakin' Around."

Reed continued performing on the road into the late 1990s, doing about 80 shows a year.

"I'm proud of the songs, I'm proud of things that I did with Chet (Atkins), I'm proud that I played guitar and was accepted by musicians and guitar players," he told the AP in 1992.

In a 1998 interview with The Tennessean, he admitted that his acting ability was questionable.

"I used to watch people like Richard Burton and Mel Gibson and think, `I could never do that.'

"When people ask me what my motivation is, I have a simple answer: Money."

Read more about Jerry Reed on IMDb and Wikipedia.

I was going to post the soundtrack to Smokey and the Bandit, but I see that it's been posted over at Dartman's World of Wonder. Go there and get it. Instead, I'll post the soundtrack to Smokey and the Bandit II. It's not as good as the first one, but it still provides a few chuckles.



Track Listing

1. Texas Bound and Flyin' - Jerry Reed
2. Charlotte's Web - The Statler Brothers
3. To Be Your Man - Don Williams
4. Ride Concrete Cowboy, Ride - Roy Rogers
5. Deliverance of the Wildwood Flower - The Bandit Band
6. Pecos Promenade - Tanya Tucker
7. Here's Lookin' At You - Mel Tillis
8. Do You Know You Are My Sunshine - The Statler Brothers
9. Again and Again - Brenda Lee
10. Let's Do Something Cheap and Superficial - Burt Reynolds
11. Tulsa Time - Don Williams
12. Pickin' Lone Star Style - The Bandit Band

Click the link below to download --

--> Smokey and the Bandit II OST <--

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Don LaFontaine, R.I.P.

From Entertainment Tonight --

Voiceover Master Don LaFontaine has died. He was 68.

LaFontaine, known as the "King of Voiceovers," died Monday afternoon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. LaFontaine's agent, Vanessa Gilbert, tells ET that he passed away following complications from Pneumothorax, the presence of air or gas in the pleural cavity, the result of a collapsed lung. The official cause of death has not yet been released.

Over the past 25 years, LaFontaine cemented his position as the "King of Voiceovers." Aside from being the preeminent voice in the movie trailer industry, Don also worked as the voice of Entertainment Tonight and The Insider, as well as for CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox and UPN, in addition to TNT, TBS and the Cartoon Network. By conservative estimates, he voiced hundreds of thousands of television and radio spots, including commercials for Chevrolet, Pontiac, Ford, Budweiser, McDonalds, Coke, and many other corporate sponsors.

He recently parodied himself on a series of national television commercials for Geico. At last count, he has worked on nearly 5000 films, including appearances as the in-show announcer for the Screen Actors Guild and Academy Awards. Based on contracts signed, he has the distinction of being perhaps the single busiest actor in the history of SAG. Don is survived by his wife -- singer/actress Nita Whitaker, and three children: Christine, Skye and Elyse.

Don LaFontaine Official Website

GEICO Commercial

The Pledge of Allegiance

Masters of the Universe Trailer

Sinbad of the Seven Seas Trailer

Superman IV Trailer

The Fly Trailer