LOST Poll Results

The poll ended with 26 votes.

What did you think of the LOST finale - "The End"?

7 - Awesome
7 - Great
6 - OK
3 - Poor
3 - Awful

It seems that most people enjoyed it.

ESB Coloring Book - Part 1

Just when you thought The Empire Strikes Back month was over, here comes some more.

I went to the Hartville Flea Market today and found this Empire coloring book. I'm gonna scan it and (hopefully) share a few pages each day.

Click on the pictures to enlarge them. Then print them out and share with the whole family.

Come back tomorrow for part two.

Lost Lightsaber Stand Off

This is one of the coolest things I've ever seen!


Uploaded by Kram1563.

Some Like It Hoth

There are a ton of Star Wars references in Lost. Especially the episode "Some Like It Hoth". It was the 13th episode of Season 5 and was originally broadcasted on April 15, 2009. 

What you need to know: some of the castaways were time traveling and ended up in the 1970s.

Here are the Star Wars scenes from the transcripts courtesy of Lostpedia --

[Miles's blue DHARMA van cruises down a dirt path cut through the vegetation on the Island. Albert Hammond's "It Never Rains In Southern California" plays on the DHARMA van's stereo. Hurley sits in the passenger seat, scribbling in a DHARMA Initiative brand composition notebook. The logo on the notebook figures an apple on a stack of books. The logo on Hurley's jumpsuit patch shows a chef's hat over a crossed knife and fork.]

STEREO: Got on board a westbound 747...

HURLEY: How do you spell "bounty hunter"?

MILES: What are you doing, writing your memoirs?

[Hurley defensively snaps the composition book closed.]

HURLEY: It's personal.

[Hurley goes back to writing. Later, he looks up at Miles again.]

______________________________________________________

MILES: You want to get into my business?

[Miles snatches the composition book away from Hurley.]

MILES: Let's get into yours!

HURLEY: Give that back to me.

MILES: How about we read your little diary?

HURLEY: It's not a diary! It's personal!!

[Miles gets out of the van. Hurley gets out, chasing him.]

MILES: Let's see what's going on--

HURLEY: Give that--give that back to me.

MILES: --in that piece of granite you call a head.

HURLEY: Give it back!

MILES: "Exterior--Hoth. A little spy robot thingy zips through the atmosphere and crashes into the snowy planet below. That's when Chewbacca shows up and blasts it away with his crossbow laser. He shakes his fury fist in the sky in triumph. Chewbacca--Raaar."

HURLEY: [Embarrassedly] It's "furry." "Furry fist." I need a spell-check.

MILES: What the hell is this?

HURLEY: I'm writing Empire Strikes Back.

MILES: Uh... I'm sorry. What?

HURLEY: It's 1977, right?

[Miles nods.]

HURLEY: So Stars Wars just came out. And pretty soon, George Lucas is gonna be looking for a sequel. I've seen Empire, like, 200 times, so I figured I'd make life easier and send him the script... with a couple improvements.

MILES: That has gotta be the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

HURLEY: Oh, yeah? Well, at least I'm not scared to talk to my own dad.

[Hurley snatches his composition book back and gets back in the van.]

______________________________________________________

HURLEY: I used to hate my dad, too.

MILES: Yeah?

HURLEY: He left when I was 10. But the best thing I ever did was give him a second chance. We got to be the best of friends, and although I may never see him again, I miss him. And I know he feels the same.

MILES: My dad didn't leave when I was 10. I--I was a baby. I never knew him. And I don't want to. It's not happening.

[Hurley removes the gas pump and recaps the van's fuel port.]

HURLEY: That was Luke's attitude, too.

MILES: What?

HURLEY: In Empire, Luke found out Vader was his father, but instead of putting away his lightsaber and talking about it, he overreacted and got his hand cut off. I mean, they worked it out eventually, but at what cost? Another Death Star was destroyed, Boba Fett got eaten by the Sarlacc, and we got the Ewoks. It all could've been avoided if they'd just, you know, communicated. And let's face it. The Ewoks sucked, dude.

Gary Coleman, R.I.P.

Gary Coleman has died.

The Diff'rent Strokes star succumbed at 12:05 p.m. (MST) today at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center to a brain hemorrhage suffered at his home Wednesday, a statement from his management firm said. He was 42.

"Conscious and lucid" yesterday morning, per the statement, the former child star was on life support by Thursday afternoon.

"Family members and close friends were at his side when life support was terminated" today, the statement said.

From 1978 to 1986, Coleman cracked wise as perennial kid Arnold Jackson on the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes. His timing, chubby cheeks and catchphrase ("Whatchu talkin' 'bout?") helped make Coleman the highest paid child actor of his era.

A one-kid powerhouse, Coleman fronted his own Saturday morning cartoon show, bantered with Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, worked with Lucille Ball, and hosted first lady Nancy Reagan on a famous 1983 anti-drug episode of Diff'rent Strokes. He starred in the big-screen comedies Jimmy the Kid and On the Right Track, the latter of which traded on his real-life love of trains, and cranked out TV-movie (The Kid from Left Field) after TV-movie (The Kid with the Broken Halo) after TV-movie (The Kid with the 200 I.Q.). For four straight years, from 1980-1983, Coleman was named Favorite Young TV Performer at the People's Choice Awards.

Coleman's acting career all but ended with the onset of adulthood. He, along with his prime-time siblings, Todd Bridges and Dana Plato, who suffered their own post-sitcom troubles, became the symbol, and punchline, of former child stardom.

Read the rest of the story at E! Online.

Star Wars Action Figures Gone Wild!

Back in the day, my brother and I used to take photos of our toys using our dad's camera. Here's one such photo featuring a bunch of Star Wars and Empire action figures on the kitchen table. Note Boba Fett in the green vase and Han Solo and Walrus Man in the white planter.

Art Linkletter, R.I.P.

From TVGuide.com --

Art Linkletter, who hosted popular TV shows People Are Funny and House Party in the 1950s and 1960s, has died. He was 97.

Linkletter died Wednesday at his Bel-Air home in Los Angeles, his son-in-law, Art Hershey, told the Los Angeles Times.

Art Linkletter's House Party, which debuted on radio in 1944 and aired on CBS from 1952 to 1969, was one of television's longest-running variety shows. One of the show's features was daily interviews with schoolchildren, which Linkletter collected and used to create the best-selling book, Kids Say the Darndest Things.

Linkletter's other well-known series, People Are Funny — which started out on radio in 1942 and ran on TV from 1954 to 1961 — centered on pie-in-the-face slapstick humor and audience participation.

After retiring from daily broadcasting in 1969, Linkletter continued to write, make public appearances and appear in television commercials.

Linkletter and his wife, Lois, had five children together, but in 1969, their 20-year-old daughter, Diane, jumped to her death from her sixth-floor Hollywood apartment. Not long before her death, Linkletter made a recording with his daughter, "We Love You, Call Collect," which won a Grammy for best spoken word recording after she died.

In 1980, one of Linkletter's sons, Robert, died in a car accident, and another son, Jack, died of lymphoma in 2007 at age 70.

Linkletter is survived by his wife of 75 years and daughters Dawn and Sharon.

LOST Poll

What did you think of the LOST finale? Please vote in my poll over in the sidebar. It'll be up for about a week.

I enjoyed it. I'm not one to nit-pick. Of course, I'd have liked to have seen more of the questions answered. But, whatever happened, happened. Hopefully the extra 20 minutes on the Season 6 DVD will answer some of them.

LOST Finale!

I am going to geek out on LOST tonight! A 2 hour recap show, 2 1/2 hour finale and the Jimmy Kimmel special. I took a vacation day tomorrow so that I can stay up late tonight :) In my opinion, LOST is probably the best show to ever be on television. I have never been so engrossed in a TV show like this before.

Caffeinated Joe pretty summed up my feelings about LOST.

Namaste!

Cheers To Major Derlin

I Googled The Empire Strikes Back to see what everyone was saying about the 30th anniversary and found this posted by Jedi Grrrl on Tumblr --

John Ratzenberger

played Rebel Force Major Derlin in ESB

he was born on April 6th 1947

his most recognizable role is “Cliff” from Cheers

he is the only actor to voice a character in all the Pixar movies - Toy Story (1, 2 & 3), A Bug’s Life, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatoullie, Up, Wall-E

Interesting Tidbit: The trading card for his Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) character, Bren Derlin, says that “At the Mos Eisley Cantina, everybody knows his name.” Derlin is never seen in the Mos Eisley Cantina. This is an inside joke about his character Cliff Clavin the mailman, who frequents Cheers, “where everybody knows your name”

From Wookieepedia --

In the Star Wars Customizable Card Game, Derlin's card notes "At the Mos Eisley Cantina, everybody knows his name." The line is a reference to the theme song of Cheers, in which Ratzenberger appeared as "Cliff Clavin."

I already knew that John Ratzenberger was in ESB, but I found the quote from the trading card interesting. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a scan of it.

ESB Minimalist Posters

It was exactly 30 years ago today that The Empire Strikes Back premiered in movie theaters. Happy anniversary ESB! This also marks my 500th post on The Wonderful Wonderblog. Yay me!

Digital artist Justin Van Gendersen has created a series of minimalist poster designs from the original Star Wars Galaxy. Including Bespin, Dagobah and Hoth from Empire. Check out his Flickr page to see all of them.

Empire Jazz

As you can tell by the name of this album, it contains jazz versions of music from The Empire Strikes Back. It features an all-star band of jazz musicians, including bassist Ron Carter and was released on vinyl by RSO Records in 1980. That cover is all kinds of awesome!

Track List

1. The Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme)
2. The Asteroid Field
3. Han Solo And The Princess (Love Theme)
4. Lando’s Palace
5. Yoda’s Theme

Click the link below to download --

--> Empire Jazz <--

Ronnie James Dio, R.I.P.

I was a huge fan of 80s era Dio. I wish I could have seen him perform in concert. R.I.P. Ronnie.

From CNN.com --

Heavy metal rocker Ronnie James Dio died Sunday morning after a battle with stomach cancer, his wife announced.

"Today my heart is broken, Ronnie passed away at 7:45 a.m. 16th May," Wendy Dio said in a message posted on his official website.

Dio, 67, followed Ozzy Osbourne as Black Sabbath's lead vocalist in 1979.

"Many, many friends and family were able to say their private good-byes before he peacefully passed away," she wrote. "Ronnie knew how much he was loved by all."

Born Ronald James Padavona in 1942, Dio's professional music career began as a high school student in the late 1950s.

His 1960s rock group The Electric Elves evolved into Elf by the early 1970s, when the group played heavy blues rock.

Dio's rock became darker with his band Rainbow, which he left in 1979 to join Black Sabbath.

Black Sabbath released three albums with Dio, including "Heaven and Hell" in 1980, "Mob Rules" in 1981 and "Live Evil" in 1982.

Dio left that band in 1982, but he had a brief reunion with the group a decade later.

He formed the group Dio in 1982 and later Heaven and Hell. The group continued to perform until his illness.

His last public appearance was in April at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards when he accepted a vocalist of the year award for his work on last year's Heaven and Hell album. Dio appeared frail, but he was able to speak when accepting his award.

Jim Henson Remembered

I was reminded of this today by a post on Trader Crack's Card Blog. Jim Henson passed away 20 years ago today. It's hard to believe it's been that long. Mr. Henson had a big influence on my childhood. From his television shows Sesame Street and The Muppet Show to movies like The Muppet Movie, The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. He was a great talent and is definately missed.

What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?

I saw this over at Electronic Cerebrectomy and thought I'd give it a try --

I Am A: True Neutral Human Bard (5th Level)

Ability Scores:
Strength-12
Dexterity-12
Constitution-12
Intelligence-13
Wisdom-11
Charisma-11



Alignment:
True Neutral A true neutral character does what seems to be a good idea. He doesn't feel strongly one way or the other when it comes to good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. Most true neutral characters exhibit a lack of conviction or bias rather than a commitment to neutrality. Such a character thinks of good as better than evil after all, he would rather have good neighbors and rulers than evil ones. Still, he's not personally committed to upholding good in any abstract or universal way. Some true neutral characters, on the other hand, commit themselves philosophically to neutrality. They see good, evil, law, and chaos as prejudices and dangerous extremes. They advocate the middle way of neutrality as the best, most balanced road in the long run. True neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you act naturally, without prejudice or compulsion. However, true neutral can be a dangerous alignment because it represents apathy, indifference, and a lack of conviction.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Class:
Bards often serve as negotiators, messengers, scouts, and spies. They love to accompany heroes (and villains) to witness heroic (or villainous) deeds firsthand, since a bard who can tell a story from personal experience earns renown among his fellows. A bard casts arcane spells without any advance preparation, much like a sorcerer. Bards also share some specialized skills with rogues, and their knowledge of item lore is nearly unmatched. A high Charisma score allows a bard to cast high-level spells.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

'The Empire Strikes Back': 13 Rare Pics!

EW.com has posted 13 behind-the-scenes images from the upcoming book "Star Wars: The Making of The Empire Strikes Back" by J.W. Rinzler. Click here to see them.

(ewwww, gross)

Hymns from the House of Horror

It's never too soon to gather more music for Halloween.

From Rue Morgue.com --

In honour of Rue Morgue's 100th issue, it gives us great pleasure to gift you, Dear Music Lovin' Reader and Web Fiend, this free, downloadable compilation album we've sacrilegiously christened Rue Morgue Radio Presents...Hymns from the House of Horror! Thousands of horror bands have graced the pages and airwaves that emanate from this unholy place over the course of thirteen years, more than 300 radio shows and 100 magazines. We put our misshapen heads together and enticed a handful of the many artists we believe best encapsulate Rue Morgue into giving us exclusive mixes, previously unreleased tracks, obscure rarities and classic cuts for this morbid mixtape, hosted by Rue Morgue Radio's proprietor of perpetual darkness, Tomb Dragomir.

To download your copy, simply click on the big button to receive the packaged ZIP file, complete with fully-printable, original artwork by Justin Erickson. And don't delay - this soundtrack to your dirty, black summer is only available for a limited time!

Track List

01 The Creepshow - Rue Morgue Radio
02 Midnight Syndicate - Haunted Nursery
03 Cauldron - Into the Cauldron
04 The Independents - Black Dream
05 Ghoultown - Return of the Living Dead
06 Ghastly Ones - Banshee Beach
07 Psycho Charger - Redneck Zombies (Tomb Dragomir Mix)
08 Harley Poe - It's Only the End of The World
09 Those Poor Bastards - Nightmare World
10 Dead Man's Bones - My Body's a Zombie for You
11 Forbidden Dimension - Hand of Glory
12 Zombina and the Skeletones - Something Weird
13 Creature Feature - Grave Robber at Large
14 Damn Laser Vampires - Saint of Killers
15 Balzac - Hurt
16 Handsome Family - The Lost Soul
17 The Unsettlers - Oil and Blood

Click here to go to the download page.

Max Headroom: The Complete Series Coming To DVD

The 1987/88 TV series Max Headroom is finally coming to DVD. It will be released by Shout! Factory on Aug. 10 and will contain five discs and a lenticular cover. Suggested retail price is $49.97, but you can preorder it from Amazon for $44.99.

The cast includes --

Matt Frewer as Max Headroom/Edison Carter
Amanda Pays as Theora Jones
Chris Young as Bryce Lynch
Jeffrey Tambor as Murray
George Coe as Ben Cheviot
Lee Wilkof as Edwards

Frank Frazetta, R.I.P.

From The New York Times --

Frank Frazetta, an illustrator whose vivid colors and striking brushstrokes conjured up fantastic worlds of musclebound heroes fighting with broad swords and battle axes to defend helpless women from horrible beasts, died on Monday in Fort Myers, Fla. He was 82.

The death, caused by a stroke, was confirmed by Rob Pistella and Steve Ferzoco, his business managers. In a telephone interview, Mr. Pistella said that Mr. Frazetta, who had a history of strokes, had returned from a Mother’s Day dinner with his family on Sunday night and complained of feeling ill. Emergency medical services were called and Mr. Frazetta was rushed to the hospital, where he died.

After working on daily comic strips like “Buck Rogers,” “Flash Gordon” and “Li’l Abner,” Mr. Frazetta moved onto comic books in the 1950s. He drew the movie poster for “What’s New Pussycat?” in 1964, and hit his stride executing detailed illustrations of pulp heroes like Conan the Barbarian and John Carter of Mars for their comic magazines and books. His realistic renderings of otherwordly scenarios (and barely clad women) made him the ideal candidate to illustrate the album covers for popular heavy metal albums like Molly Hatchet’s “Flirtin’ With Disaster” and Nazareth’s “Expect No Mercy.”

In November, Wired.com reported, Mr. Frazetta’s cover artwork for the paperback reissue of “Conan the Conqueror” by Robert E. Howard sold to an unnamed collector for $1 million.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you mom's out there. Where would we be without you!

Here's a couple of family photos from the 70s. The first one shows my mom, dad, me and my two brothers (I'm the goofy looking kid in the brown vest).

Happy Mother's Day, mom. I miss you.

1981 Kenner Empire Strikes Back Catalog

Here's some scans I made of a 1981 Empire Strikes Back catalog. Some really cool stuff was released that year. My brother had most of those figures and ships. You can still join the Star Wars fan club, but you'd better hurry. Sadly they are discontinuing it after this year. Here's the announcement from the website --

Due to changing realities of the evolving fanscape, the Hyperspace Membership Community will be discontinued as a paid subscription offer in 2011. Today -- May 5, 2010 -- begins the last year of Hyperspace.
But Hyperspace is going out with a bang! Celebrating the 30th anniversary of Episode V, we've put together our biggest and best Hyperspace Membership Kit ever -- a tribute to three decades of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and a look forward to the future of STAR WARS. For the first time in years, this kit will be shipped in a tube, rather than flat. Good news for poster collectors! We'll have a closer look at the kit very soon. Some key items include:

•Dark Horse Comics presents "Thank the Maker" comic book
•An uncropped, larger version (18" x 32") of the Empire poster included in the original 1980 kit
•Patch with 30th anniversary Empire Strikes Back logo
•Membership card with Clone Wars art.
•Exclusive Topps trading card
•Pencil with classic Empire Strikes Back art -- a recreation from the original 1980 kit
•And more! Look for a full preview of the kit to come soon....

Download This...

You'd better hurry up and download these files before Rapidshare deletes them!

An American Idea Radio Spots
Christmas With Garth Brooks
July 4th With John Williams & The Boston Pops
The Many Moods of Romance: Night and Day - A Time Life Collection
Goofy Gridiron Greats
Christmas With Bing Crosby
The Twelve Days Of A Cleveland Browns Christmas by Elliott, Walter & Bennett

Vader and Fett

This is one of my favorite autographs in my collection. Way back in 1997 I had Dave Prowse autograph this wonderful ESB photo at The Pittsburgh Comicon. In 2006, Jeremy Bulloch signed the same photo at the Twisted Nightmare Weekend. Now all I need is Billy Dee Williams and James Earl Jones to sign it (and the Stormtrooper behind Vader).

The Empire Strikes Back PrestoMagiX

Does anyone remember PrestoMagiX Rub-Down Transfers? They were made by American Publishing Corp. (APC) in the 70s and 80s, I believe. I had a few different ones including this Empire one called "Asteroid Storm." The transfers have all been rubbed down, but they don't stick anymore. They're falling all over the place.

The Empire Strikes Back Turns 30!

Happy Star Wars Day! May The Fourth Be With You!

On May 21, 1980 Star Wars - Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back premiered in movie theaters. I was 13 years old. To celebrate Empire's 30th Anniversary, I hope to make a few related posts this month. Make sure you come back tomorrow for the first one.

Also, check out John Rozum.com this month. He's doing an Empire Strikes Back post-a-day for 30 days.