Wil Wheaton Loves Me!

Yesterday I posted birthday greetings on Wil Wheaton's blog WWdN: In Exile and this is the conversation that took place --

I really appreciate everyone who takes the time to check out Wonderful Wonderblog, but it's really cool when someone famous likes what you are doing. Thanks Wil!

My Birthday Update

My day was OK. The wife and I went to a little restaurant for lunch called Fred's Diner. It's kind of a dive, but they have great food. For dinner, my wife made Spanish rice. It was awesome as usual! Other than that, all I did was some laundry and cut the rose bushes in the front yard.

I forgot to mention that my brother got me Essential Defenders Vol. 5 and my nephew stayed with us Thursday and Friday night. It was great seeing him, he's only able to visit a few times a year.

Happy Birthday Wil Wheaton

Besides today being my birthday, it's also Wil Wheaton's birthday. Wil has also declared July 29 as Don't Be A Dick Day. Click here to see how you can celebrate DBADD!

Mars Attacks My Birthday!

My birthday is Sunday July 29, but I celebrated a day early. My wife took me to The Toys Time Forgot ( a local vintage toy store; see some pics I took there a few months ago here). She gave me some money and said "buy whatever you want". Wow, was that tough. I wanted everything! Here's what I ended up with --

An unopened box of the new Mars Attacks Heritage trading cards from Topps. This card set is beautiful. It reprints the original 55 Mars Attacks cards from 50 years ago plus has some new cards called Deleted Scenes and New Universe. I got a full set of base cards, some of the inserts (the 3-D cards are great) and this one-of-a-kind sketch card by artist Ingrid Hardy.

I also bought a vintage Marx Hulk figure from 1967.

And six packs of Battle of the Planets trading cards by Dynamic Forces from 2002. I pulled this wonderful sketch of Keyop by Dan Parsons.

We went to breakfast at IHOP and dinner at The Brick House. Not too bad of a day. A great big thank you to my wonderful wife for making this all happen. She's a keeper :)

Last weekend I went to the North Coast Comic Con here in Akron (it sucked), but I did commission artist Don Pedicini Jr. to draw me a Hulk sketch card. I got it in the mail Friday.

Sherman Hemsley, R.I.P.

I loved The Jeffersons when I was a kid. Rest in peace Mr. Hemsley.

From TMZ --

Sherman Hemsley, the actor who made the character George Jefferson famous in "The Jeffersons," has died, El Paso cops tell TMZ.

Hemsley died at his home in El Paso, Texas.

Hemsley, who was 74, became famous during his appearances on "All in the Family."  The spin-off, "The Jeffersons" was a monster hit.  He also starred in the TV show, "Amen."  He was also a professional singer and even released the single in 1989, "Ain't that A Kick in the Head."

Hemsley had no wife and no kids.

It's unclear how he died.

North Coast Comic Con

Can't make it to San Diego this weekend? Come to Akron, OH next weekend for the North Coast Comic Con. I've never been to this con, but it looks like fun. Check out their website. They've added a bunch more guests.

North Coast Comic Con
Tadmor Shrine Hall
3000 Krebs Drive
Akron,OH 44319
Phone: (330) 644-8494
Website: http://www.northcoastcomiccon.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/North-Coast-Comic-Con/131510753590129

Power Records Presents...

2 for $3.50? I'll take them all please!

Ernest Borgnine, R.I.P.

Disney's The Black Hole (1979)

From CNN.com --

Film and television actor Ernest Borgnine, who won an Academy Award for his portrayal of a lovelorn butcher in 1955's "Marty," has died at age 95, his manager said Sunday.

The thick-set, gap-toothed Borgnine built a reputation for playing heavies in early films like "From Here to Eternity" and "Bad Day at Black Rock." But he turned that reputation on its head as the shy, homely title character in "Marty," taking home the Oscar for best actor -- one of four awards the film claimed.

Born in Connecticut to Italian immigrants, Borgnine -- originally Ermes Effron Borgnino -- began taking theater classes after serving in the Navy during World War II. He had joined the service after graduating from high school during the Great Depression and had been discharged in 1941, but re-enlisted after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor launched the United States into World War II.

Mermaid Man

He made the move to films and then television in 1951, racking up more than 200 credits in projects ranging from the era of live television drama to the children's cartoon "SpongeBob SquarePants."

He starred in the 1962-66 sitcom "McHale's Navy," was one of the original celebrities on the game show "The Hollywood Squares" and played William Holden's right-hand-man in Sam Peckinpah's revisionist Western "the Wild Bunch." He also was a regular on the 1980s television drama "Airwolf" and a frequent guest star on a variety of shows.

In addition to his Oscar for "Marty," Borgnine was nominated for three Emmys -- the most recent in 2009, for a guest spot on the hospital drama "ER" -- and won a life achievement award from the Screen Actors Guild in 2010.

Christmas In July

Baby, it's hot outside! So, let's cool you down with a little Christmas.

A lot of my old download links are dead. I used to use Rapidshare, but they suck and deleted most (if not all) of my links. I'm not sure which old shares are active or not. Someone requested that I re-share this one and I just happened to have it handy on Mediafire. So, here it is --

A Merry Geoffrey Christmas

For a whole bunch more Christmas in July downloads, check out the blog Ernie (Not Bert).
Also check out the Christmas TV History blog for Sci-Fi Christmas in July, where they are reviewing old Christmas episodes of science fiction tv shows.

32-Year-Old Man Has Conversation with 12-Year-Old Self

This is really cool! From mandatory.com --

"This may be the only interesting and actually productive thing the Internet has created since it's existence.

A 12-year-old named Jeremiah McDonald made a video tape where he wanted to talk to his future self. So, 20 years later, 32-year-old Jeremiah edited together an epic conversation with his 12-year-old self. And you know what, I can barely remember what life was like before the Internet, too.

This is sort of like the movie "Inception" except without the dreams."

Gene Simmons Discusses Comic Books in Cleveland (1979)

I remember seeing this when it originally aired.

Happy Birthday, America!

Here's some Fourth of July facts from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.

• Congress actually voted for American independence on July 2, 1776, but the documents weren't printed until two days later. The printer recorded July 4 as the "official" date of independence, and Americans have celebrated it on that day ever since.
• Although the Independence Day barbecue has become a symbol of the holiday, only about 25 percent of Americans actually attend one.
• More than 14,000 different fireworks displays -- using 238 million pounds of pyrotechnics -- occur every July 4.
• The original title of "The Star Spangled Banner" was "The Defense of Fort McHenry."

Andy Griffith, R.I.P.

From TVWeek --

One of television’s most beloved actors, Andy Griffith, died this morning at his home in Dare County, N.C., USA Today reports. The star of “The Andy Griffith Show” and “Matlock” was 86.

Griffith, born in Mount Airy, N.C., played Sheriff Andy Taylor on the CBS sitcom “The Andy Griffith Show” from 1960-1968. Moving from comedy to drama, he found success again as a country lawyer in “Matlock,” which ran from 1986-1995, first on NBC and for its last two seasons on ABC.

Before he became a familiar face on television, Griffith broke through with a tour de force performance in Elia Kazan’s landmark 1957 dramatic feature “A Face in the Crowd,” playing a man who becomes a demagogue on TV. He followed that performance with another well-received outing in the 1958 comedy feature “No Time for Sergeants,” reprising a role he had played on Broadway.

Griffith worked consistently in television between his major series roles, receiving an Emmy nomination for the NBC TV movie “Murder in Texas” in 1981.

Along with his acting career, Griffith was a director and producer, a writer and a Southern gospel singer, winning a Grammy in 1997 for his album “I Love to Tell the Story -- 25 Timeless Hymns.”

After “The Andy Griffith Show” ended its run in 1968, Griffith executive produced the show that continued the storylines of some of the show's characters, “Mayberry R.F.D.,” which aired for three seasons on CBS. Griffith made occasional guest appearances on the show, which was headlined by Ken Berry and George Lindsey.

Before settling in on “Matlock,” Griffith appeared in a number of short-lived series, including “The New Andy Griffith Show” (1971), “Centennial” (1978-79) and “Salvage 1” (1979).

He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005.

Griffith’s last screen credit was as Grandpa Joe in the 2009 feature “Play the Game.”

Griffith underwent quadruple heart-bypass surgery in 2000, and in 2007 had hip surgery after a fall, USA Today reports.

The story adds: “Griffith and his first wife, Barbara Bray Edwards, married in 1949. They were divorced in 1972 and she got custody of their daughter Dixie and he got custody of son Sam, who died in 1996 after years of alcoholism. His second marriage, to Greek actress Solica Cassuto, lasted eight years, from 1973 to 1981.

“He and Cindi Knight were married on April 12, 1983, when she was 27 and he was 56. A private man, he told the Virginian-Pilot in 2008 in a lengthy profile by Mal Vincent that he's friendly and outgoing to a point, but has been known to turn down requests for autographs.”

In that interview, Griffith quipped: "When my wife, Cindi, and I go somewhere and we don't want to be recognized, she says, 'Don't talk.'"

America the Beautiful by Vincent Price

I know I haven't been blogging much lately, hopefully someday I'll get back into it.You can follow Wonderful Wonderblog on Facebook. Just click the "like" button in the Facebook badge on the right. I've been posting some stuff over there that's not on the blog.

What I have for you today is something for you to listen to on the Fourth of July. It's a record from1961 called "America the Beautiful - The Heart of America in Poetry" spoken by Vincent Price. This album was originally shared by the blog Azathoth's Abode on the Plateau of Leng back in 2008. This blog has been dormant for sometime and the link to this share is dead. So, I hope they don't mind if I re-share it. Enjoy and have a happy July 4th!

Track Listing


1. Introduction
2. The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers (Elizabeth Barrett Browning)
3. Thanksgiving Day (Lydia Maria Child)
4. Paul Revere's Ride (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
5. The Village Blacksmith (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
6. The Star Spangled Banner (Francis Scott Key)
7. The House by the Side of the Road (Sam Walter Foss)
8. Trees (Joyce Kilmer)
9. The Barefoot Boy (John Greenleaf Whittier)
10. Introduction to Christmas
11. A Visit from St. Nicholas (Clement Clark Moore)
12. O Captain! My Captain! (Walt Whitman)
13. Jesse James (traditional)
14. Casey at the Bat (Ernest L. Thayer)
15. Casey Jones (Wallace Saunders)
16. The New Colossus (Emma Lazarus)
17. Chicago (Carl Sandburg)
18. America for Me (Henry Van Dyke)
19. In Flanders Fields (John McCrea)
20. America the Beautiful (Katharine Lee Bates)

Click the link below to download --

--> America the Beautiful <--