Ghoulardifest

If your looking for something to do this weekend, you could go to The Big Chuck & Lil' John Ghoulardifest III. It's being held at The Medina County Community Center in NE Ohio. Special guests include--

Big Chuck, Lil' John and Hoolihan - Local movie host legends

Priscilla Barns and Joyce DeWitt from Three's Company

Jonathan Haze from Little Shop of Horrors

Baron Von Wolfstein - Makeup artist and actor

Son of Ghoul - Local horror host

Jungle Bob and his animals

Soul Men - A tribute to the Blues Brothers

The Batmobile and Roy Rogers Boat

Toon Tunes

Here's an OOP CD originally released by Kid Rhino in 2001. It has a bunch of great cartoon themes on it. I have a few other cartoon theme CD's I'll try to post in the coming weeks. Stay tooned.

Track List

1. Superfriends
2. Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?
3. Speed Racer
4. Batman: The Animated Series
5. The Tick
6. The Powerpuff Girls
7. Jonny Quest
8. Space Ghost
9. Sailor Moon
10. Spider-Man
11. King Kong
12. Ducktales
13. Underdog
14. X-Men
15. Popeye The Sailor
16. Mighty Mouse
17. The Mighty Hercules
18. Super Chicken
19. Chip'n Dale Rescue Rangers
20. The New Scooby-Doo Movies
21. The New Adventures Of Superman
22. Astro Boy
23. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
24. Hong Kong Phooey
25. Darkwing Duck
26. The Hardy Boys
27. Gigantor
28. Tale Spin
29. Crusader Rabbit
30. The Amazing Chan And The Chan Clan
31. The Atom Ant Show
32. Touche Turtle
33. Where On Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?
34. Captain Planet And The Planeteers
35. The Secret Squirrel Show
36. The Real Adventures Of Jonny Quest

Click the link below to download --

--> Toon Tunes: Action-Packed Anthems <--

REQUEST - There was a companion CD to this one called Toon Tunes: Funny-Bone Favorites. If anyone has this and could make a copy for me, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.

**UPDATE** Thanks to alarson17, the link for this CD can be found in the comments section.

**UPDATE II** (11/14/07)

The link for Toon Tunes: Funny Bone Favorites in the comment section has expired. I re-upped it to Rapidshare.

Track Listing

1. The Flintstones
2. The Jetsons
3. George Of The Jungle
4. Inspector Gadget
5. The Bullwinkle Show
6. Pinky And The Brain
7. Dexter's Laboratory
8. The Yogi Bear Show
9. Mickey Mouse March
10. Tom And Jerry
11. The Alvin Show
12. Fractured Fairy Tales
13. Top Cat
14. The Huckleberry Hound Show
15. Mr. Magoo
16. Animaniacs
17. The Pink Panther Theme
18. Rugrats
19. Rocky And His Friends
20. The Magilla Gorilla Show
21. Dudley Do-Right Of The Mounties
22. Johnny Bravo
23. The Banana Splits (The Tra La La Song)
24. Dastardly And Muttley In Their Flying Machines
25. Casper The Friendly Ghost
26. Tiny Toon Adventures
27. Pixie And Dixie
28. Bozo The Clown
29. Donald Duck
30. Quick Draw McGraw
31. Woody Woodpecker
32. Ren And Stimpy Show
33. Peabody's Improbable History
34. Pebbles And Bamm Bamm Show
35. Peanuts
36. Merrie Melodies Closing Theme

Click the link below to download --

--> Toon Tunes: Funny Bone Favorites <--

Stephen Sommers to direct 'G.I. Joe'

This article is from Variety.com.

Paramount Pictures has set Stephen Sommers to direct "G.I. Joe," the live-action feature based on Hasbro's line of action figures.

The studio is hiring a writer immediately, and has set a February production start for a summer 2009 release.

The accelerated production schedule began right after Sommers pitched his version of the film to Par chairman-CEO Brad Grey and production prexy Brad Weston on Wednesday evening. He was hired in the room.

Lorenzo di Bonaventura will produce with Hasbro chief operating officer Brian Goldner. Sommers and his Sommers Co. partner Bob Ducsay will also be involved as producers.

While "G.I. Joe" served several futile tours of duty as a movie property, its momentum has been helped by "Transformers," the movie transfer of another Hasbro brand. That di Bonaventura-produced film has grossed $667 million worldwide for studio partners DreamWorks and Paramount.

Hasbro's Goldner said that the mythology of G.I Joe was fleshed out during the 1980s through 155 issues of Marvel Comics, as well as an animated TV series. There are about 30 core characters, good and evil, that can be exploited in films.

"Marrying Steve's vision with 25 years of this brand mythology feels like a great way to go forward," Goldner said.

While some remember the character from its gung-ho fighting man '60s incarnation, he's evolved. G.I. Joe is now a Brussels-based outfit that stands for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity, an international co-ed force of operatives who use hi-tech equipment to battle Cobra, an evil organization headed by a double-crossing Scottish arms dealer. The property is closer in tone to "X-Men" and James Bond than a war film.

"Our vision (for "The Mummy") was clear the time the first trailer played during the Super Bowl, and by the time this one plays a Super Bowl, you'll see the coolest characters and visuals you can imagine, and beyond-state-of-the-art equipment," Sommers said. "I wouldn't have jumped into this just because of the Hasbro-Transformers tie. Remember, 'Pirates of the Caribbean was a big hit, but 'Haunted Mansion' not so much."

Di Bonaventura said the film has some of the elements that made "Transformers" work as a film.

"My experience with beloved properties is that characters, attitude and tone are even more important than plot," di Bonaventura said. "Paramount showed a great deal of confidence in Stephen's take, and our ability as producers to get this up and running for a February start. His passion for the characters and the world convinced the studio this was something they couldn't resist."

WMA plugged its client Sommers into Hasbro, which left CAA to become a WMA client earlier this summer. Sommers haunted Hasbro's Pawtucket headquarters to steep himself in the lore.

WMA is also helping Hasbro with possible movies based on such properties as the board games "Monopoly" and "Battleship."

Official Hasbro G.I. Joe Site

Comic Book Artist Mike Wieringo RIP

This article courtesy of Newsarama.com.

The comics industry lost a luminary this weekend - Mike Wieringo passed away Sunday of a sudden heart attack. Details are still sketchy as of this time, but according to close sources, the acclaimed artist had chest pains at some point during the day and called 911, but the responders did not make it in time.

Wieringo was 44 years old. He was a vegetarian, and "one of the healthiest ones of us in the bunch," as his longtime friend and collaborator Todd Dezago described him. Currently, there are no details about services or a funeral.

Wieringo worked every day, updating his blog and website with a constant stream of sketches at MikeWieringo.com. His last sketch was posted on Friday.

Wieringo was born June 24th, 1963 in Venice, Italy, and first caught the attention of comic book fans when he joined writer Mark Waid on DC's The Flash with issue #80 in 1993. Together, the two co-created the character Impulse, the future speedster brought back to the present. Wieringo (or, 'Ringo as he was better known by then) moved on to Robin at DC, and then moved to Marvel, where he settled in on Sensational Spider-Man with writer Todd DeZago.

The pairing with DeZago was something of fate, as the two co-created and launched their creator-owned property Tellos, which saw several projects and miniseries published over the years. Ringo moved back to DC for a run on Adventures of Superman, and then, in 2002, reunited with Waid for a run on Fantastic Four that was perhaps best known for fan outcry when Marvel announced that they were going to replace the team. Marvel quickly reversed their decision, and the two completed their run on the series.

Ringo then moved to Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man with writer Peter David, and most recently, completed a Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four miniseries written by Jeff Parker. His next project had not been announced, although, as readers of his blog knew, he was very excited at the prospect of doing more Tellos work, with an eye on being able to debut something at next month's Baltimore Comic-Con.

UPDATE from Newsarama

We do not have funeral arrangements finalized yet but will have those by this afternoon or early tomorrow. We are definitely having a service here in Durham this week- most likely Thursday or Friday.

I do know that in lieu of flowers, donations can be made to two charities that Matt [Mike’s brother] has decided on. I believe that Matt had mentioned The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund before, which is fine but he thinks this one below is actually more of what Mike would have wanted.

THE HERO INITIATIVE- www.heroinitiative.org They have a direct link on their homepage for you to donate. Matt said that Mike loved the old guys that blazed the trail for him. He would love to know that he's helping out in a small way.

ASPCA- www.aspca.org Mike donated regularly to the ASPCA. Anyone who knew Mike knew how much he loved animals, especially his cat Charlie. The ASPCA is the national chapter. If you go to their homepage you can click on the "Memorial Giving" button near the lower right and follow the directions.

I got this sketch from Mike Wieringo some years ago at a local comic book show. I used to make my own sketch cards and have the artists draw a small picture on them. Mr. Wieringo was a great talent and will be greatly missed by all comic book fans. Rest In Peace 'Ringo.

Merv Griffin, RIP

LOS ANGELES (Aug. 12) - Merv Griffin, the big band-era crooner turned impresario who parlayed his "Jeopardy" and "Wheel of Fortune" game shows into a multimillion-dollar empire, died Sunday. He was 82.

Griffin died of prostate cancer, according to a statement from his family that was released by Marcia Newberger, spokeswoman for The Griffin Group/Merv Griffin Entertainment.

Read the full story here.

I grew up watching "The Merv Griffin Show" with my mom almost everyday in the 70's. And, of course, I've always been a fan of his game shows. Rest in peace Mr. Griffin.

Here's a clip of Merv singing "I've Got A Lovely Bunch Of Cocoanuts" --


Be sure to check out Music You (Possibly) Won't Hear Anyplace Else for an INCREDIBLE musical tribute --

The Music Of Merv, Part 1

More Merv--Coconuts, Screamin' Meemies, and more!

Much More Merv!

Yet more Merv....

Merry Mervmas!

Mervelous!

'S Mervelous! Part 2

Funny Bone Favorites

There have been many novelty song compilations produced over the years (many by K-Tel) with names like "Goofy Greats" or "Silly Songs". But, this is the one I had as a child. It was released by Ronco in 1978 and features some songs that were on all of those other records and some that you don't see that often. I don't have the ability to rip records to mp3's so I gathered these songs from other sources. Some I already had in my CD collection, a couple of them were downloaded online and a bunch of them came from CD's I checked out of the library. The back of the album has this ad for Mr. Microphone--

Track Listing

1. Aba Daba Honeymoon - Debbie Reynolds and Carleton Carpenter
2. Alley-Oop - The Hollywood Argyles
3. Along Came Jones - The Coasters
4. Stranded In The Jungle - The Cadets
5. The Thing - Phil Harris
6. Life Is A Rock (But The Radio Rolled Me) - Reunion
7. Harry, The Hairy Ape - Ray Stevens
8. Mr. Custer - Larry Verne
9. Disco Duck - Rick Dees
10. Ahab The Arab - Ray Stevens
11. Dinner With Drac - John Zacherle
12. The Name Game - Shirley Ellis
13. Baby Sittin' Boogie - Buzz Clifford
14. Love Potion #9 - The Clovers
15. Western Movies - The Olympics
16. May The Bird Of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose - "Little" Jimmy Dickens
17. Yakity Yak - The Coasters
18. Witch Doctor - David Seville


Click the link below to download--

--> Funny Bone Favorites <--

Aurora Monster Models

(Click on pictures to enlarge)My brother sent me these scans of Aurora Monster Model adds from the backs of some old comic books. We had some Aurora kits when we were kids in the 70's. I remember we had Frankenstein, The Hunchback, Godzilla and maybe Wolfman. I sure wish I still had them.

Monsters Lead Such Interesting Lives by Mel Tormé

It took me awhile to track down this song, but I finally found it. I know a couple of other bloggers are looking for it also (Greg at Soundtrack Rarities and Stephen). I actually had to go to the library in the next county over from where I live and sign up for a library card to check out this CD. It's called Mel Tormé At The Movies, released in 1999 from Rhino. This is a CD rip at 320k.








Here's what the liner notes have to say about this song:

Night Of The Living Duck (1988) was (along with the previous year's The Duxorcist) one of the first new theatrical short cartoons featuring the classic Warner Bros. characters that had been made in three decades. To supplement the ailing voice of longtime Looney Tunesman Mel Blanc (who died the following year), writer/codirector and first-time songwriter Greg Ford turned to another Mel, namely Tormé. In a plotline witty and irreverent enough to compare with the great Daffy vehicles of the '40s, here the duck is a nightclub tummler forced to entertain famous monsters of filmland--if he "dies" in front of this gruesome crowd, it's not mere showbiz parlance. Fortunately, Daffy atomizes his throat with a spray called Eau de Tormé, which endows him with the voice of the Velvet Fog. Equally lucky for the little black duck, lyricist Greg Ford and composer Virg Czurinko also supply him with a delightful ditty, "Monsters Lead Such Interesting Lives," inspired by a line uttered by Bugs Bunny in the 1946 cartoon Hair-Raising Hare. Mel said at the time, "It's a joy beyond my fondest dreams to hear my voice coming out of Daffy Duck's bill."

Click the link below to download--

--> Monsters Lead Such Interesting Lives <--