WOW!!!

The Winner Of The DVD Is...

Michael Jones from the blog My Two Yen Worth. It looks like this DVD is going to Japan. Congratulations Michael. It pays to openly follow blogs :)

Thanks to everyone who entered the give-away!

Note: I updated the previous post about my birthday. Now with pictures!

Happy Birthday To Me!

Today's my birthday! Happy birthday to me!

I got myself a gift. A box of LOST Archives trading cards. WooHoo! Thankfully my local comic shop does layaway. There are four autograph cards per box. Here's who I got --

Sam Anderson as Bernard Nadler
Daniel Dae Kim as Jin-Soo Kwon
Cynthia Watros as Libby
Wayne Pygram as Isaac in "S.O.S."

I like the first three autos, but I don't remember Isaac. I also bought two loose packs and got --

Dharma Patch Card DP1 Jack Shephard #038 of 250.

These cards are pretty rare. The odds of finding one is 1 in 144 packs. I'm happy with what I got.














Edited to add: My brother got me the Marvel Essential Defenders Vols. 3 and 4.

The Mighty Thor

From the Thor Movie Hub at Marvel.com --

The epic adventure "Thor" spans the Marvel Universe from present day Earth to the realm of Asgard.

At the center of the story is The Mighty Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans as punishment. Once here, Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

Director Kenneth Branagh leads a cast that includes Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston and Natalie Portman in the Thor's big-budget, silver screen debut, in movie theaters on May 6, 2011!

The cast includes --

Chris Hemsworth » Thor
Anthony Hopkins » Odin
Tom Hiddleston » Loki
Natalie Portman » Jane Foster
Ray Stevenson » Volstagg
Tadanobu Asano » Hogun
Idris Elba » Heimdall
Rene Russo » Frigga
Jaimie Alexander » Sif
Josh Dallas » Fandral

Here's some random photos from the movie --

Photos from SDCC --

Avengers Assemble!

From the San Diego Comic Con -- The Avengers!

(L-R) Robert Downey Jr.(Iron Man), Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Chris Evans (Captain America), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Mark Ruffalo (The Hulk), Director Joss Whedon, Producer and Marvel Studios’ President Kevin Feige.

The Best of 2006

Today is officially the Wonderful Wonderblog's 4th anniversary! So I though I'd look back at some of the most popular posts or one's that I like the best. Starting with 2006. I hope to get the other years posted before the end of July. Click on the dates to go to the original posts and enjoy the Wonderful Wonderblog from 2006.

July 18 - My first post was just a welcome message.
July 19 - My second post was the origin of the name Wonderful Wonderblog.
July 21 - My first post about The Monster Bash.
July 23 - The first person to leave a comment on my blog was brainwerk from the blog Check the Cool Wax (where are you brainwerk?). The second was Max The Drunken Severed Head (seven months before he started his own blog).
July 29 - I turn the big 4-0!
August 6 - My review of the Twisted Nightmare Weekend convention.
September 4 - My first celebrity death notice - Steve Irwin, The Crocodile Hunter.

September 30 - The first full-length CD I offered for download and one of the best. Halloween Stomp (1990). It features a bunch of old-time Halloween songs and is still available for download. It's been downloaded over 1000 times.

November 24 - The most downloaded share on the Wonderful Wonderblog. Christmas In The Stars has been downloaded over 2300 times .

December 3 - A Classic Cartoon Christmas has been downloaded over 600 times.

December 10 - A Classic Cartoon Christmas, Too has been downloaded over 400 times.

December 24 - A Classic Cartoon Christmas, Three has been downloaded over 500 times. I thought we needed a third volume in this series, so I put this compilation together.





December 31 - Gone in '06. My first "Gone in..." post. Listing most of the famous people who passed away that year.

James Gammon, R.I.P.

From The Los Angeles Times --

James Gammon, a versatile character actor who brought to stage and screen his gravelly voice and craggy face, died Friday in Costa Mesa. He was 70 and had cancer.

Gammon may be best known for his role as Lou Brown, manager of the hapless Cleveland Indians in the 1989 comedy "Major League" and its 1994 sequel. He stood out with key roles in many films including "Urban Cowboy," "The Milagro Beanfield War," "Ironweed," "Silverado" and "Cold Mountain."

On television he played the father on "Nash Bridges" from 1996 to 2001, though he was only nine years older than star Don Johnson. He also had roles in such TV series as "Gunsmoke," "The Waltons" and "Bagdad Café."

A co-founding member of the MET Theatre in Hollywood, he received several Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards for acting and directing. Gammon played a succession of roles for Sam Shepard and received a Tony nomination for a 1996 production of the playwright's "Buried Child."

Donations?

I found this cartoon in my local newspaper and thought it was pretty funny.

Peter Fernandez, R.I.P.

I loved the original Speed Racer cartoon. R.I.P. Mr. Fernandez.

From Anime News Network --

William Winckler has informed ANN that Peter Fernandez, the actor and voice director best known as the title character in the animated Speed Racer series, passed away this morning due to lung cancer. He was 83.

Fernandez not only voiced Speed himself, but also his brother Racer X and several other characters in the English-dubbed adaptation of Tatsunoko's Mach Go Go Go anime series. He also directed the voice cast and even wrote the lyrics to the signature theme song. He later played Lupin III, Daisuke Jigen, and President Jimmy Carter in the JAL dubbing of the Lupin III: The Secret of Mamo film. His voice can be heard in such dubbed anime titles as Astro Boy, Gigantor, Marine Boy, Star Blazers: The Bolar Wars, and Superbook. He made a cameo appearance as an announcer in the 2008 live-action Speed Racer film.

Corinne Orr, the actress who played Speed Racer's romantic interest Trixie and younger brother Sprittle Racer, spoke with Fernandez as recently as last week. The two had worked together on 200 productions, and she noted that he was a big star on radio and Broadway and had starred in the 1949 film City Across the River "where Tony Curtis only had a bit part." Orr is the last surviving member of Speed Racer's main cast. Orr told ANN, "His great joy was doing all these conventions and receiving the acknowledgement and accolades from all his fans at the end of his life."

Winckler said that he was glad that, in the renewed interest that accompanied the Speed Racer film, Fernandez "finally got the attention and respect he deserved from the general public and mainstream press." He added, "Anime and Japanese live-action fantasy will never be the same without him. Peter's contribution to anime and Japanese live-action will live forever."

Fernandez's family is planning a private service, but there are plans for a public celebration of his life in September in Pomona, California.

4th Anniversary and a Give-Away

July 18th marks the fourth anniversary of the Wonderful Wonderblog. Who knew that I would still be blogging all these years later and people would actually look at what I post. It amazes me. I would like to thank everyone that visits and especially the people that leave a comment. I really appreciate it. I'm working on putting together some posts that feature the "best of" the Wonderful Wonderblog. They should start showing up in a few days.

To celebrate, I'm having a give-away. All you have to do to win is be or become a follower of the Wonderful Wonderblog and leave a comment that says you would like to win. Make sure that you either leave an email address in your comment or it is listed in your profile so that I can contact the winner. That's it. What do you win? A sealed DVD of the documentary The Sci-Fi Boys. I will pick a winner on July 29 (my birthday). Here's a description of the movie from the back cover --

Peter Jackson, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, John Landis, Dennis Muren, Ray Bradbury, Rick Baker, Roger Corman, Ray Harryhausen and other legendary all-stars of cinema bring to life the evolution of science-fiction and special-effects films from the wild and funny days of B movies to blockbusters that have captured the world's imagination. This is the story of the Sci-Fi Boys, who started out as kids making amateur movies inspired by Forrest J. Ackerman's Famous Monsters magazine and grew up to take Hollywood by storm, inventing the art and technology for filming anything the mind can dream.

Good luck and thanks for stopping by!

Harvey Pekar, R.I.P.

From The Cleveland Plain Dealer --

(AP) — CLEVELAND - Comic book writer Harvey Pekar, whose "American Splendor" was made into a 2003 film starring Paul Giamatti, was found dead in his home early Monday, authorities said. He was 70.

Officers were called to Pekar's suburban home by his wife about 1 a.m., Cleveland Heights police Capt. Michael Cannon said. His body was found between a bed and dresser.

Pekar had been suffering from prostate cancer, asthma, high blood pressure and depression, according to Cannon. Pekar had gone to bed about 4:30 p.m. Sunday in good spirits, his wife told police.

An autopsy was planned, said Powell Caesar, a spokesman for the Cuyahoga County coroner's office in Cleveland. He had no information on the cause of death.

Pekar's "American Splendor" comics, which he began publishing in 1976, chronicle his grousing about work, money and the monotony of life.

His quirky commentary developed a cult following and his insights and humor were often a bit on the dark side.

In 2003, the New York Film Critics Circle honored "American Splendor" as best first film for the directing-writing team of Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini. Part feature and part documentary, with animated elements added, the film starred Giamatti as the disgruntled Pekar.

Pekar told The Associated Press in a 1997 interview that he was determined to keep writing his "American Splendor" series.

"There's no end in sight for me. I want to continue to do it," Pekar said. "It's a continuing autobiography, a life's work."

Happy Independence Day!

I hope everyone has a happy and safe 4th of July. Don't blow your arm off!

I found these scans from The Mighty Marvel Bicentennial calendar on the Sanctum Sanctorum Comix blog. I had these calendars when I was a kid. Unfortunately, my brother and I cut them up.

An American Idea (Disc 1007)

I had hoped to share all of these An American Idea albums by July 4th. Well, that ain't gonna happen. I've had over six months to rip these records and I didn't do it. I suck.

Anyhoo, here's Disc 1007. It features air dates January 12, 1976 to February 7, 1976.

Click here to read the history of these records and to download Disc 1006.

Track Listing

Cut/Air Date/Program Title

1. 1/12 Mae West
2. 1/13 Harry Houdini
3. 1/14 Bill "Bojangles" Robinson
4. 1/15 Charlie Chaplin
5. 1/16 Lily Langtry
6. 1/17 Humphrey Bogart
7. 1/19 Robert E. Lee
8. 1/20 Presidential Inaugurations
9. 1/21 George Washington Carver
10. 1/22 The First American Novel
11. 1/23 The Golden Spike
12. 1/24 Haym Solomon
13. 1/26 Basketball
14. 1/27 Skiing in USA
15. 1/28 Pinkerton
16. 1/29 Ralph Bunche
17. 1/30 Bourbon
18. 1/31 Carry Nation
19. 2/2 Groundhog Day
20. 2/3 The Four Chaplains
21. 2/4 George Eastman
22. 2/5 Samuel F.B. Morse
23. 2/6 Clara Barton
24. 2/7 Molly Pitcher

Click the link below to download --

--> An American Idea (Disc 1007) <--