tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2428290888078016462024-03-13T09:46:12.318-07:00terebi funhouse: Drunken Catspaw Projectartwork, articles, objects & stupid comics by d. merrilld.merrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07704651182760972937noreply@blogger.comBlogger69125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242829088807801646.post-48988298515490271562020-10-16T14:33:00.021-07:002020-10-18T07:24:01.568-07:00fall 2020 antique mall roundup<p> We got out of COVID quarantine lockdown in, what, May? And immediately we went out to the antique malls that we'd been denied entrance to since February, some of which we hadn't been to in a year or so. What did we see?</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oekGyAncSkk/X4xPTrrfwvI/AAAAAAAAIpg/BAaaAP_WC0wYkusfwkVDkbtIGLZzMXCwwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1000/skysketch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oekGyAncSkk/X4xPTrrfwvI/AAAAAAAAIpg/BAaaAP_WC0wYkusfwkVDkbtIGLZzMXCwwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/skysketch.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Well, let's see. The <b>Woodstock</b> antique mall was the first one we hit and it's upped its game considerably; it claims to be the largest in Canada and so far it seems like that's indeed the case. Three floors of this former manufacturing/warehouse/I dunno space are now filled up with stuff, and it's worth an afternoon. </p><p>The two in <b>St. Jacobs</b>, on the other hand, are pretty much exactly the same as they were last year, with the weird new wrinkle being that the vendors in both that once had comic books have had all their comic books mysteriously vanish. They're still in the same spaces, still have the old magazines & paperbacks, but the comics are gone. </p><p>The <b>Cambridge</b> mall hasn't changed a bit. In fact it seems to have less stuff, if that's possible. </p><p>Ditto the <b>Tillsonburg</b> mall, it seems like it has the exact same merch from when we were in there last, in 2019? 2018? I get that the pandemic has made it more difficult for pickers to get out there and bother the retirees and estate salers that are their typical targets, but still, it's weird to see the same exact stuff in the same exact spots in the same exact booths. The Courtland place down the road seems to have a better refresh rate, however. Not great, just better. </p><p>Haven't been to <b>Waterdown</b> yet this year. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UYo0hFXiklM/X4xPd49PECI/AAAAAAAAIpk/Nt1BMsf5p1YNyQd5Y9njESq0us7-HFaTgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20200913_144643.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UYo0hFXiklM/X4xPd49PECI/AAAAAAAAIpk/Nt1BMsf5p1YNyQd5Y9njESq0us7-HFaTgCLcBGAsYHQ/w300-h400/IMG_20200913_144643.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><b>Beaumont Mill</b> Antiques in Georgetown has been static for a while. We've found better stuff in the Georgetown thrifts.</p><p>The <b>Hamilton</b> Antique Mall is reasonably new, in a great building, and seems to be adding vendors at a nice clip. It's worth a visit. </p><p><b>Freelton</b> Antique Mall is reliable, they keep managing to cycle through interesting merchandise. </p><p>The 401 Roadshow mall in <b>Innisfill</b> has changed things around a little, it has a few more (boring mid-80s super hero) comics, every once in awhile some neat stuff cycles through.</p><p>Further north of Barrie the <b>Pickers' End</b> on the side of Hwy 11 has some great architectural stuff and some truly insane crazy grandma comic book prices. Further north, the <b>Antiques On 11</b> mall is turning up some interesting pieces, it's worth the drive.</p><p>The <b>Port Perry</b> mall is, once again, one of those places where the comic book vendor just vanished. There isn't a funnybook in the place. </p><p>The Roadshow mall in <b>Pickering</b> is almost not worth a stop. Overpriced comics and bad furniture. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ae2-SRU2p6g/X4xPp0qCeUI/AAAAAAAAIps/-8RvehsCDmwkEkqnJvEhOWgpN6Cr7ce7QCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20200823_144142.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ae2-SRU2p6g/X4xPp0qCeUI/AAAAAAAAIps/-8RvehsCDmwkEkqnJvEhOWgpN6Cr7ce7QCLcBGAsYHQ/w480-h640/IMG_20200823_144142.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>The <b>Courtice</b> flea market delivers interesting stuff from time to time. </p><p><b>Antiques On 48</b> in Baldwin is ehhhh (makes hand waving motion)</p><p>Sydney Claire and Heath Vintage in <b>Colborne</b> - NOT PORT COLBORNE! - had some groovy stuff the last time we were out that way. Might need to visit again. </p><p>The <b>Main Thru Church</b> mall in <b>Orono</b> seems to keep replenishing with just enough interesting merch to keep us coming back. The other antique mall in town is bigger, but the stuff isn't as good. </p><p><b>Perth</b> has a really great antique mall, one of the best we've been to this year. We hit it years ago coming back from Ottawa and it was great then and it's still great, lots of the mid century kitsch we like. Saw a Robotech Lisa Hayes fashion doll there in August, always a good sign.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q0j9ijLhz_Y/X4xPw00JzPI/AAAAAAAAIp0/wIdS7VXnuuIDZa6diKwXpFPDmrM4DXJiwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1000/lisa%2Bhayes%2Bperth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="675" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q0j9ijLhz_Y/X4xPw00JzPI/AAAAAAAAIp0/wIdS7VXnuuIDZa6diKwXpFPDmrM4DXJiwCLcBGAsYHQ/w432-h640/lisa%2Bhayes%2Bperth.jpg" width="432" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>The Nostalgic Journey mall in <b>Peterborough</b> on Hwy 7 has been a dry hole for a while now. </p><p><b>Craftworks & Antiques At The Barn </b>in Selwyn had good stuff last summer. Haven't been back this year. </p><p>The <b>Crossroads</b> mall in <b>Brantford</b> seems to keep delivering small amounts of neat stuff, enough to keep us coming back. </p><p><b>Prudhomme's Antique Market </b>on the QEW seems to have better stuff, need to get out there when the outdoor vendors are rockin'. </p><p>If we've been to <b>Lakeshore Antiques & Treasures </b>in Niagara-By-The-Lake any time soon, I can't recall. </p><p>Queensville mall closed, Stratford mall closed, and the Barrie mall closed. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gmy4a8AF5ac/X4xP6u-gzdI/AAAAAAAAIp8/gMf_6tDU23wbYe58yM0kACMS6VjzXyUWACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_20200628_141651.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gmy4a8AF5ac/X4xP6u-gzdI/AAAAAAAAIp8/gMf_6tDU23wbYe58yM0kACMS6VjzXyUWACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/IMG_20200628_141651.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>d.merrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07704651182760972937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242829088807801646.post-38527849563630262792020-05-07T11:57:00.000-07:002020-05-09T07:11:59.579-07:00May 2020 Eyesore Cinema rentals: short reviewsHere are some reviews of five films we recently rented from <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Eyesore-Cinema-68245065379/">Eyesore Cinema</a> -1176 Bloor West - one of the city's last remaining sources of rental video.<br />
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ALICE SWEET ALICE was at one point titled "Communion" which is a title that makes a lot more sense in that this film is absolutely steeped in Catholicism and growing up in a hollering, dysfunctional Catholic family in Patterson, New Jersey. And there are some murders, and the killer wears those creepy translucent face masks which gives the whole affair the feel of one of Devo's early music videos. It's a low-budget creeper that makes good use of Patterson location shooting and period set dressing, marred only slightly by the refusal of the male cast to trim their very 1976 dry-look haircuts. Apparently the director got excommunicated for an earlier film; ALICE is his response. If you aren't as invested in the Papist trappings you might not get the intended emotional beats, but ultimately it's suitably unsettling, if at times weirdly suggesting the entire film is a setup for a modern-day sequel.<br />
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BLOW OUT: DePalma's BLOW UP remake/reinterpretation/whatever tries to go in about four directions at once - a less paranoid THE CONVERSATION, a commentary on slasher movies, an actual slasher movie, a Kennedy assassination picture, an educational movie informing non-Philadelphians that a holiday called "Liberty Day" actually exists. Come for the great cinematography, stay for the gritty 1981 Philly - it's like gritty 1981 NYC but without the charm - and enjoy the good Travolta performance and a terrific Nancy Allen. Ultimately the pieces don't quite fit together, and the story feels almost disinterested in the whys of what happens, but it's a good funhouse ride while it lasts.<br />
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SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES: Disney's 1983 'dark fantasy' version of the Ray Bradbury story about the Dark Carnival that rolls into your small town, pushes all your midlife crisis buttons, and turns you into a sideshow attraction is pretty much the Walt Disney Company's midlife crisis writ large on the screen, an expensive misfire without purpose or vision. If you wanna see character actors wander through backlots, bitch about their regrets, and dodge Disney special effects department animation while two kid actors fail to compel or inspire, this is the movie for you. Seriously, if your movie needs a child to work opposite Jason Robards, that kid has to be charismatic and appealing, and the kids in this picture are neither, especially up against Jonathan Pryce, who absolutely nails the evil ringmaster role. He gives 120% at all times, hissing and twirling and working those brows. Pam Grier is wasted, James Horner's soundtrack is James Hornering it all over the place trying to liven things up, I saw this in '83 and there's a reason I barely remember it. Apparently the production was its own nightmare carnival, involving reshoots, expensive special effects sequences being entirely cut, Horner's soundtrack a last-minute addition, you name it, they fudged it. Pass.<br />
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THE MAN FROM HONG KONG is an Australian/Hong Kong coproduction starring former Flying Guillotine Master Jimmy Wang Yu as the titular Man From Hong Kong. If you've seen the Ozploitation documentary "Not Quite Hollywood" or just the trailer for "Stunt Rock" you might have an idea of what was on director Brian Trenchard-Smith's mind: high speed car chases, hang gliding, and lots of wall-smashing, glass-breaking, board-shattering fists-furious kung fu. This film delivers exactly what it promises, a gritty James Bond with the sweat, violence, and sneers dialed way up. Even ex-Bond George Lazenby is there, a dry-look heel with a great mustache and a willingness to get down and dirty with the stuntmen and to let Jimmy Wang Yu knock the holy hell out of him. Trenchard-Smith never saw a stunt scene he was willing to cut even a fraction out of, and we get to see every slo-mo instant of the crashing, bashing, smashing as Wang Yu, with an assist from Hugh Keays-Byrne - you know, "Toecutter" from MAD MAX! - works his way up to Lazenby's international narcotics gangster. It's rare to see an exploitation movie that actually lives up to the poster, but this one does.<br />
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THE BIRD WITH CRYSTAL PLUMAGE is Dario Argento's first feature and you can see Argento straining against the conventions of the murder-mystery genre; not as dreamlike or as evocative as his later features, but there's a charm to the picture that comes from all the late 60s Italian design, the spy-movie hired killer subplot, and a square-jawed American hero who's gonna get to the bottom of this, darn it. It's no SUSPIRIA, but it's worth a look.<br />
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What will we rent next time? Stay tuned!d.merrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07704651182760972937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242829088807801646.post-61239385934412064372020-01-14T10:30:00.002-08:002020-01-14T10:30:47.213-08:00Dave reviews the Marvel Cinematic Universe<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
Just what nobody needed: Dave reviews the Marvel Cinematic Universe!! </div>
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IRON MAN - reasonably fun, enough of the 60s vibe to keep it rolling, they even used the cartoon theme song.</div>
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<br />INCREDIBLE HULK - Hey, there's the Sam Sam The Record Man sign! Bring back The Leader, I say. Very Herb Trimpe film, which was "my" Hulk growing up</div>
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<br />IRON MAN 2 - this is the one with Tony Stark's Dad from Mad Men hiding a secret inside his minature railroad set, and Mickey Roarke with a bad Russian accent, right? </div>
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<br />THOR - I waited until Rifftrax riffed this one before watching it. It's a boring movie right until the part where The Destroyer shows up, and then it gets good, and then immediately it ends.</div>
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<br />CAPTAIN AMERICA: obviously this is the best of the early run of the movies because it has the Red Skull in it, who shows up and immediately starts vaporizing his own guys just for the hell of it. Also it has some kind of version of the Howling Commandos. I have pretty much every issue of Sgt. Fury & The Howling Commandos. </div>
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<br />THE AVENGERS: remember when every movie had the bad guy getting captured and put in a glass cage so he could smirk and tell the heroes that this was all part of his plan? Yes.</div>
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<br />IRON MAN 3: this movie has people on fire and some kind of climax involving shipping containers at the Port Of Los Angeles, which is the climax of at least three other movies. What's the matter, screenwriters, does your corner office have a great view of the Port Of Los Angeles?</div>
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<br />THOR THE DARK WORLD: Fun fact: nobody wants to see a movie where the bad guys are "dark elves" except for super gothy teens who haven't figured out what they really want to be are hippies</div>
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<br />CAPTAIN AMERICA THE WINTER SOLDIER: Solid picture, good fights, ground-level super guy stuff with a minimum of magic beams shooting out of hands or flying. I wish there was a cut of this movie where Robert Redford reveals he's the Red Skull all along and somebody asks if he's going to take off his mask and he says "what mask?" This one really feels like the mid 1970s Kirby run of Captain America & The Falcon, which are my favorite Captain American comics.</div>
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<br />GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY: fun spacey movie with that very specific Marvel outer space stuff that is very post Star Wars but still influenced by all the drugs Marvel's creative staff was doing in the early and mid 1970s; spaceships are big airplanes that do whatever you need them to do and go whereever you need them to go, blaster guns shoot whatever they need to shoot, and everybody's some degree of super strong, able to speak all space languages, and space suits are totally optional. Also stars John C. Reilly! </div>
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<br />AVENGERS AGE OF ULTRON: why does a robot have lips? Ultron is a great villian in the comics, Spader makes a great bad guy, both are totally wasted in this film that exists solely to move continuity forward and get everybody to the next movie. Time is wasted with a detour to Asia, to secure Asian funding, I guess. A big thing is raised high in the air and then falls down, that's what happens in the climax of a lot of these movies.</div>
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<br />ANT-MAN: fun heist movie starring funny people doing fun things, doesn't take itself seriously, a nice change. More Gregg Turkington please!</div>
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<br />CAPTAIN AMERICA CIVIL WAR: Super heroes have to fight each other for contrived reasons. Not quite as silly as the Batman vs Superman movie, but still pretty contrived. Ant-Man is in all the best parts, which should tell you something.</div>
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<br />DOCTOR STRANGE: Nice Ditko pastiche papered over with iffy American accent for Cumberbatch. Am still not sure about Swinton's Ancient One; do you keep a racist stereotype character as a racist stereotype, do you change it to a painfully white character, thereby whitewashing your racist stereotype, I dunno. It's a difficult proposition.</div>
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<br />GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 2: This was the first one of these movies that I actively disliked, mostly because it was a retread of the first picture, with lots and lots of screen time of Saldana and Gillian in crazy face makeup hollering at each other, lots of More Of The Hits From The 70s, more smirky cosmic stuff, bad digital de-aging, more hand-wavey super stoned outer space "what if, like, there were these Ego The Living Planet flowers on every planet in the universe, man? And what if they all went off at once? Because things happen simultaneously across the universe, right? Dude!" Relax and listen to Mellow Hits Of The 70s again, dude</div>
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<br />SPIDER MAN HOMECOMING: I saw three decent Spider Man movies, avoided two lame Spider Man movies, waited on this Spider Man movie, and I liked it, they let teenagers be teenagey, kept it local for the most part, and got the most out of Keaton. Still about a half hour too long.</div>
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<br />THOR RAGNAROK: Great course correction for Thor, somebody finally realized they should start looking at the Thor comics people actually enjoyed, instead of the Vince Colletta-inked stuff people pretend to like but that nobody actually likes.</div>
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<br />BLACK PANTHER: fine action picture, great cast, halfway through you start thinking Killmonger actually has a point, confusing Asian detour and pandering Give Martin Freeman Something To Do segments make this movie, again, about 25 minutes too long.</div>
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<br />AVENGERS INFINITY WAR: let's get this straight: I think Thanos is a bargain basement Darkseid ripoff, he's boring, his whole "kill half of everything" plan is stupid, and this movie isn't going to age well. In fact I don't think a lot of these films are. How dare you put the Red Skull back in these movies and he's just playing the goddamn Crypt Keeper? What a waste!</div>
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<br />ANT MAN AND THE WASP: again, solid, grounded, action-oriented, heisty switcheroo sciency picture with, instead of Gregg Turkington, his "On Cinema" partner Tim Heidecker as "Whale Man". Keep putting these guys in these movies and I will keep paying to see them in theaters.</div>
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<br />CAPTAIN MARVEL: A-list cast works their way through deep-cut Marvel space-empire mythology and generally makes a good showing; fun 90s setting made people nostalgic for Blockbuster Video until they remembered what a shitshow Blockbuster Video really was, burn in hell Blockbuster Video. </div>
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<br />AVENGERS ENDGAME: again, Thanos is boring, he's that boring guy you went to college with who would show up in your dorm room after two beers and three bong hits who really wanted to talk about his philosophy class and then later he got angry with you because he thought you were hitting on his girlfriend, and then even later he dissolved into weepy tears. Also, seriously, again, here's the Red Skull NOT being evil and betraying everybody, and here's way more Jeremy Renner than anybody wanted or needed, combined with, again, Inexplicable Asian Detour. Let's really take our time with this one, okay? Also let's tone the color way down until by the end of the picture it's all one gray-brown smudge. Remember primary colors? </div>
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<br />SPIDER MAN FAR FROM HOME: Actually liked it better than the first movie? Maybe? Moved a little faster. It did the Mysterio very well, better than I'd been expecting. Likeable cast gets to be teenagers, too, thankfully. </div>
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<br />I am probably done seeing these movies anywhere except Netflix, and as it turns out they likely won't be on Netflix, I'm... probably done seeing these movies? Maybe?</div>
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d.merrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07704651182760972937noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242829088807801646.post-65808769986996291562020-01-06T11:51:00.004-08:002020-01-06T11:51:58.859-08:002020 event calendar<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I do every year, here's a list of events for the coming year just so I can have things I might attend all in one space and I can plan. Events will be added as they're announced - no dates for Canzine or Zine Dream yet, for instance - so stay tuned. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>January</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>February</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ancaster Nostalgia Show Feb. 2 Ancaster Fairgrounds</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Toronto Comic Book Show Feb. 16 Montecassino http://www.torontocomicbookshow.com/show-dates/</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anime Hell: 70s Night Feb. 22, Eyesore Cinema</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oshawa Record Show Feb. 23 </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">https://www.vibrations.ca/en/record-shows/month.calendar/2020/02/06/-</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>March</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Toronto Toy & Nostalgia Show Sunday March 1 Montecassino</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Guelph Record Swap & Sale March 29, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unifor Local 1917 Hall</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">611 Silvercreek Pkwy N</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Guelph Ont</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">N1H 6J2</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ancaster Collectibles Extravaganza March 1 Ancaster Fairgrounds</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>April</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Vintage Marketplace 2020, April 18, Westinghouse HQ Hamilton </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aberfoyle Antique Market Show April 26 Aberfoyle</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Toronto Comic Book Show April 26 Montecassino http://www.torontocomicbookshow.com/show-dates/</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Toronto East Vinyl Record & Collectibles Show April 26 </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Heron Park Recreation Centre</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">292 Manse Road</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Toronto</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>May</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Toronto Mississauga Redord Show May 3 Capitol Banquet Centre </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TCAF May 8 & 9</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anime North May 22-24 https://www.animenorth.com/event/</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>June</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Toronto Comic Book Show June 28 Montecassino http://www.torontocomicbookshow.com/show-dates/</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>July</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>August</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Toronto Comic Book Show August 16 Montecassino http://www.torontocomicbookshow.com/show-dates/</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Guelph Record & Music Collectibles Show Sun Sept. 20 </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Royal Canadian Legion</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">57 WATSON PARKWAY SOUTH</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">GUELPH</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>September</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Toronto East Vinyl Record & Collectibles Show August 13 </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Heron Park Recreation Centre</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">292 Manse Road</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Toronto</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Toronto Comic Book Show September 27 Montecassino http://www.torontocomicbookshow.com/show-dates/</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>October</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anime Weekend Atlanta Oct. 29-Nov. 1 https://awa-con.com</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>November</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Toronto Comic Book Show November 22 Montecassino http://www.torontocomicbookshow.com/show-dates/</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>December </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Toronto Comic Book Show December 27 Montecassino http://www.torontocomicbookshow.com/show-dates/</span></div>
d.merrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07704651182760972937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242829088807801646.post-30152878896534766602019-01-05T07:14:00.003-08:002019-01-05T07:14:54.911-08:002019 event calendar<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's what's going on in and around Toronto for my own reference and the reference of anyone who might find it helpful. Comic shows, record shows, antique shows, anime cons, it's a mixed bag of distraction! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<pre class="a-b-r-La" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; overflow-wrap: break-word; user-select: text; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anime North Staff Meeting
Sunday Jan 20
Ancaster Nostalgia Antique Show
Sunday Feb 3, 2019
Ancaster Fairgrounds
collectorshows.ca
Toronto Comic Book Show
Sunday Feb 17, 2019
http://www.torontocomicbookshow.com
St. Catherines Record Show
Sunday Feb 17, 2019
Holiday Inn Parkway Convention Centre
www.vibrations.ca
Kitcheners Collectibles Expo
Sunday Feb. 24, 2019
Bingemans Conference Centre Marshall Hall
collectorshows.ca
Anime North Staff Meeting
Sunday Feb 24
Oshawa Record Show
Sunday Feb. 24
Lviv Hall Oshawa
vibrations.ca
Toronto Antique & Vintage Market
March 2-3
Queen Elizabeth Building, Exhibition Place
torontoantiqueandvintagemarket.ca
Ancaster Toy And Collectibles Extravaganza
Sunday March 3
Ancaster Fairgrounds
collectorshows.ca
Ottawa Nostagia And Collectibles Show
Sunday March 17
Nepean Sportsplex
antique-shows.ca
Anime North Staff Meeting
Sunday March 17
Newmarket Vinyl Show
Sunday March 24
Newmarket Community Centre
vibrations.ca
Guelph Record Swap & Sale
Sunday March 31
vibrations.ca
Ancaster Nostalgia Antique Show
Sunday April 7
Ancaster Fairgrounds
collectorshows.ca
Elora Vintage and Antique Show
Saturday April 13 - Sunday April 14
Elora Community Centre
antiqueshowscanada.com
Kitcheners Collectibles Expo
Sunday April 14
Bingemans Conference Centre Marshall Hall
collectorshows.ca
Anime North Staff Meeting
Saturday April 20
antique, vintage & retro show and sale
April 27-28
Belleville Armouries
mercatusevents.com
Toronto Comic Book Show
Sunday April 28th, 2019
http://www.torontocomicbookshow.com
Toronto East Vinyl Record Show
Sunday April 28
Heron Park Rec Centre
vibrations.ca
Toronto Mississauga Musical Collectibles Show
Sunday May 5
Capitol Banquet Centre
vibrations.ca
TCAF
May 11-12
http://www2.torontocomics.com
Anime North Staff Meeting
Monday May 20
Anime North
May 24-26
Toronto Congress Centre & Delta Hotel Airport
www.animenorth.com
35th annual Beaverton Antiques & Collectables show
June 1 & 2
Beaverton Thorah Community Centre
St. Catherines Record Show
Sunday June 2
Holiday Inn Parkway Convention Centre
www.vibrations.ca
Toronto Comic Book Show
Sunday June 23rd, 2019
http://www.torontocomicbookshow.com
Toronto Comic Book Show
Sunday August 18th, 2019
http://www.torontocomicbookshow.com
Toronto East Vinyl Record Show
Sunday Sept. 8
Heron Park Rec Centre
vibrations.ca
Toronto Comic Book Show
Sunday September 29th, 2019
http://www.torontocomicbookshow.com
Newmarket Vinyl Show
Sunday Oct. 20
Newmarket Community Centre
vibrations.ca
Anime Weekend Atlanta
Oct. 31- Nov. 3
Cobb Galleria Convention Center/Renaissance Waverly
www.awa-con.com
St. Catherines Record Show
Sunday Nov. 10
Holiday Inn Parkway Convention Centre
www.vibrations.ca
Toronto Comic Book Show
Sunday November 24th, 2019
http://www.torontocomicbookshow.com
Toronto West Vinyl Show
Sunday Dec. 8 2019
Ken Cox Community Centre
vibrations.ca
Toronto Comic Book Show
Friday December 27th, 2019
http://www.torontocomicbookshow.com</span></pre>
d.merrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07704651182760972937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242829088807801646.post-44483973321744959002019-01-05T07:11:00.001-08:002019-01-05T07:11:38.436-08:00Anime Hell Presents: The 60s Show<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Join ANIME EXPERT Dave Merrill for an evening of 1960s Japanese animation madness as we take a time tunnel trip back to the decade that put anime on the map as a force of international pop culture. TV cartoons, short films, commercials, trailers, and more will be impressed onto your eyeballs at the speed of light! We're showing an episode of Speed Racer, an episode of Prince Planet, and the film "Flying Phantom Ship", all dubbed or subtitled in English for your listening pleasure. See you on January 26! </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">https://www.facebook.com/events/224447995111778/</span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fG3sy2jExP0/XDDIw8qkkVI/AAAAAAAAHbk/JRDHU7E5a505V-8k-kUyFD5FvZ23tpccQCLcBGAs/s1600/60sshow_72.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="749" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fG3sy2jExP0/XDDIw8qkkVI/AAAAAAAAHbk/JRDHU7E5a505V-8k-kUyFD5FvZ23tpccQCLcBGAs/s640/60sshow_72.jpg" width="598" /></a></div>
<br />d.merrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07704651182760972937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242829088807801646.post-65087693397671302482018-01-23T10:38:00.001-08:002018-01-23T10:48:42.794-08:00calendar of 2018 events of interest to me<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Every year I try to take a minute and go through various websites and figure out what's happening in and around my area that I might be interested in visiting, and this usually means comic book shows and record shows and antique/collectible type shows. Here's for 2018!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>This list is by no means comprehensive or complete, and inclusion on this list should not be considered to be an endorsement of any kind. </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Jan 28 Ontario Collectors Con 2018 Hilton Mississauga/Meadowvale – 6750 Mississauga Road, Mississauga</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Feb 4 Ancaster Nostalgia And Antique Show And Sale</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Feb 10 Saturday Newmarket Card & Comics Show </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Feb 18 Toronto Comic Book Show Toronto Plaza Hotel 1677 Wilson </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Feb 18 Canadian ToyCon Holiday Inn Burlington Hotel & Conference Centre, 3063 South Service Road Hours: 10 AM – 3 PM </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Feb 18 ST. CATHARINES RECORD SHOW - Holiday Inn Parkway Convention Centre, St. Catharines, On $4.00 </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Feb 25 Oshawa Record Show - Lviv Hall, Oshawa, On $3.00 </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">March 4 Ancaster Toy And Collectibles Extravaganza </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">March 10 Newmarket Card & Comics Show </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">March 25 Guelph Record Swap and Sale - Record Sale & Swap Meet, Guelph, Ont </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">March 25 Toronto Downtown Record Show - Toronto Downtown Record Show, Toronto, ON - $5.00</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">April 15 The Toronto/Mississauga Record Show & Sale - Capitol Banquet Centre, Mississauga, Ont $5 </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">April 15 Ancaster Nostalgia And Antique Show And Sale April 21 Newmarket Card & Comics Show</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">April 22 Newmarket Vinyl Records & Collectibles Show - The Record Vault, Newmarket, On $4.00</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">April 22 Canadian ToyCon Holiday Inn Burlington Hotel & Conference Centre, 3063 South Service Road </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">April 29 Toronto Comic Book Show Toronto Plaza Hotel 1677 Wilson </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">May 6 Ancaster Collectorfest </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">May 25-27 Anime North </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">June 3 Ancaster Toy And Collectibles Extravaganza </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">June 8-10 Anime Next Atlantic City NJ </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">June 23 Newmarket Card & Comics Show </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">June 24 Ancaster Nostalgia And Antique Show And Sale </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">June 24 Toronto Comic Book Show Toronto Plaza Hotel 1677 Wilson </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">July 28 Newmarket Card & Comics Show </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">August 18 Newmarket Card & Comics Show </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">August 19 Toronto Comic Book Show Toronto Plaza Hotel 1677 Wilson </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">August 19 Ancaster Toy And Collectibles Extravaganza </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sept. 9 Toronto East (Scarborough) Vinyl Record & Collectibles Show - Heron Park Recreation Centre, Toronto, On $5.00 </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sept 20-23 Anime Weekend Atlanta </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sept 30 Toronto Comic Book Show Toronto Plaza Hotel 1677 Wilson </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">October 13 Newmarket Card & Comics Show </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">October 21 Newmarket Vinyl Record & Collectibles Show - The Record Vault, Newmarket, On $4.00 </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Nov. 4 Toronto Downtown Record Show - Toronto Downtown Record Show, Toronto, ON - $5.00</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Nov. 13 Newmarket Card & Comics Show Nov. 25 Toronto Comic Book Show Toronto Plaza Hotel 1677 Wilson </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Dec. 9 Toronto West (Etobicoke) Vinyl Record & Collectibles Show - Ken Cox Community Centre, Toronto, $5.00 </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Dec. 15 Newmarket Card & Comics Show</span></div>
d.merrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07704651182760972937noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242829088807801646.post-3895318381547577602017-01-24T12:29:00.002-08:002017-01-24T13:09:44.304-08:00the first movie I ever saw<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">For no particular reason whatsoever, I've been trying to remember the first film I ever saw in a theater. Obviously as I am a white North American male in my 40s, the big cinema event in my early life was STAR WARS (1977). I believe we saw it the summer it came out. I was not sold on it at first; the ads seemed to involve a lot of people in robes standing around in the desert, and I believe there was some standing in line involved which I probably complained about a lot. Of course after seeing the movie, my brother and I were all THIS IS THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER MADE EVER!!! and we spent the next couple of years contriving to see the thing as often as possible. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">But what are some of the other movies we saw at the Miracle Theater, at the Belmont Hills, at the Akers Mill General Cinema where I'd wind up with a part time job? What was the first? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I know we saw OH GOD - that one came out fall of '77, so it's post SW -in the Belmont Hills theater in Belmont Hills, at one time the South's largest shopping center, now demolished. It was already run-down when I was a kid, and I'd spend most of my Belmont Hills time in the Turtle's Records or digging through comics at the Book Trader than seeing movies there. I didn't get to see CLOSE ENCOUNTERS on its first release, we tried three times and it was sold out each time. There's a bunch of films from '77 that I've subsequently seen, but lord knows you wouldn't want a seven year old to see, say, SLAP SHOT. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I know we saw SNOW WHITE ('75 re-release) and PINOCCHIO ('78 re-release). We saw MESSAGE FROM SPACE ('78) at the Cobb Center theater with a gang of friends and we all thought it was just as good as STAR WARS, an opinion I still hold. I saw ISLAND AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD (1974) starring future Good Morning America host David Hartman, and that's a good three years before Star Wars. </span></div>
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A similar picture, WARLORDS OF ATLANTIS (1978) starring Doug McClure was screened with friends at the Town & Country theater that was in the Town & Country shopping center behind the Miracle on South Cobb. Actually it was more directly behind the old Dairy Queen. That's also where we saw the quasi-documentary THE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH (1979), planting within me both an apocalyptic no-future worldview AND a healthy regard for the work of Hal Lindsey. The Miracle, on the other hand, is (I believe) the theater where we saw MOONRAKER (1979), the first James Bond film I ever saw. Strangely enough, the film's amazing badness didn't prevent me from seeing other Bond movies. There was yet ANOTHER movie theater in this vicinity, the free-standing Cobb Cinema, built behind the Miracle, and that might have been where we saw Moonraker. </div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">FLASH GORDON (1980), on the other hand, was seen in the Belmont Hills theater, a crumbling edifice that dated from the shopping center's construction in 1954. I loved that movie in 1980, felt it was rubbish in 1990, and came to realize its campy glory again later in life.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I never saw FREAKY FRIDAY (1976) or THE BAD NEWS BEARS (1976) but I did see GUS (also '76), the Disney film about the mule that kicked field goals. GUS was screened in Cobb Center Mall - not in the theaters outside the mall, but in a small auditorium INSIDE the mall that appeared to be a community room that showed kids' movies during the summer. I have distinct memories of seeing THE STRONGEST MAN IN THE WORLD (1975) starring Kurt 'Snake Plissken' Russell, but where or when I cannot say.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I am pretty sure I saw Disney's ROBIN HOOD (1973) in a theater. It may have been in a drive in that was showing a Planet Of The Apes picture on another screen - I never saw any of the Apes movies in the theaters, but the TV show scared the bejeezus and fascinated me at the same time, and I can remember turning my head to watch the apes go about their apey business. I did not see the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (1978) theatrical compliation film - though I watched a lot of the TV show - but I did see the BUCK ROGERS (1979) pilot film in a theater and liked it fine. Hey, I was 9. I did not see JAWS (1975) - would you take a 5 year old to see that? - but I did see JAWS 2 (1978) and was appropriately scared to go in the water even though I had not previously been under the assumption that the water had been in fact safe.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The whole family went to see STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE (1979) at Akers Mill and I fell asleep at some point when Spock was mind-melding with V'Ger. That summer me and every kid I knew saw THE MUPPET MOVIE (1979) over and over again - it was the default babysitter that year. I saw THE BLACK HOLE (1979) and enjoyed the great visual design and the ending where the bad guy is shown suffering in Hell. More movies should end that way. </span></div>
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We actually got out of school the day THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980) premiered, because our parents loved us deeply. I think we saw it at Phipps Plaza. SUPERMAN II came out in 1980 as well and I enjoyed it more than the first SUPERMAN (1978). </div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I never did get to see INFRAMAN (1975) or GODZILLA VERSUS MEGALON (1973) in theaters, though I desperately wanted to and probably made a pest out of myself about it. Of course, as soon as home video made them available, I immersed myself in the ultra-bionic world of Princess Dragon Mom and her legion of Inframan-fighting monsters, and to a lesser extent the cheesy Jet Jaguar badness of Godzilla Vs Megalon. At the time I also really, really wanted to see LASERBLAST (1978) but thankfully did not. Sheesh. I know I have seen BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS (1971) but in a theater? I hope not. Don't take your 2-year old to movies.</span></div>
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</span>d.merrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07704651182760972937noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242829088807801646.post-84461116617163619992016-09-02T21:58:00.002-07:002016-09-02T22:05:09.268-07:00Anime Hell 2016 for AWA!My freeform clip show Anime Hell returns for its 19th iteration at <a href="http://awa-con.com/">Anime Weekend Atlanta</a>, which is a fact that fills me with both pride and horror. As does much of what I'll be showing this year!<br />
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If you miss it you'd better be dead or in jail! And if you're in jail, break out!d.merrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07704651182760972937noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242829088807801646.post-15972510574132104002016-07-15T17:08:00.002-07:002016-07-15T17:09:02.872-07:00Tokyo 2009 part 5<i><a href="http://d-merrill.blogspot.com/2016/07/tokyo-2009-part-4.html"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">continued from part 4...</span></a></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">Thursday our plans were (a) shop in Shinjuku including the Sekaido art supply store, and (b) meet K. for dinner somewhere and (c) not much else, because we had to be packed and ready to go on Friday, and to be honest after a week of marching all over Tokyo we was tired. I got ahold of K. using the hotel's lobby computers which were still equipped with Windows 95, and then we set out for breakfast and Sekaido. </span><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">Sekaido is a great art supply store, and I'm not just saying that because they have three aisles of screen tone. It's three floors of just about everything; pens, pencils, brushes, inks, papers, wood, glue, computer software, light tables, guidebooks, hot glue, plaster statuettes, and official Toei animation company brand cel paint. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">Because they still use cel paint! I dunno, maybe they do. Their three aisles of screentone includes screentone of buildings, clouds, cityscapes, rural and urban backgrounds, interiors, crowds - as Ed Wood would say, "Why, you could make a whole comic with this stock footage screen tone!" And there was always somebody shopping in the manga accoutrements aisle, too. You can pretend it's famous manga-ka stocking up on supplies or a gofer from a big studio stocking up on supplies for famous manga-ka. </span><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">After that we went to the Shinjuku Tokyu Hands. (We went to the Shibuya one previously with Roy on Wednesday night but I forgot to mention that). Tokyu Hands is the local Target/Wal-Mart/Honest Ed's - hardware, sporting goods, toys, stationery, small appliances, USB drives that are little mechanical humping dogs, you name it, they got it. So if it's coming close to Halloween and you do not yet have a costume, Tokyu Hands can supply! </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">This being the knockoff Detroit Metal City costume it was just a wig and face makeup. The official DMC costume comes with a mask and is more rockin', IMO. Either one will likely shock and horrify your friends.</span><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">After Tokyu Hands we figured it was time for some nature, so we headed to Shinjuku Gyoen National Gardens and joined other picnickers with our combini box lunches. Shinjuku Gyoen is a beautiful breath of fresh air after the noise and confusion of Tokyu Hands and Shinjuku in general. I</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 19.5px;">t's another one of those spots that's quintessentially Japanese. You're literally walking through souvenir postcards here! </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And the carp... when they see you coming towards that bridge they come from all over the pond. You can see their fins leaving wakes as they charge desperately for a few crumbs.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Entrance is 200 yen, a bargain at the price; if you're in Tokyo I highly recommend getting a bento and wandering through Shinjuku-Gyoen. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">After a lazy afternoon in the park we dropped our stuff off back at the hotel and then set out again for the Studio ALTA sign to meet K. </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">for dinner! On the way we wandered around Shinjuku/Kabuki-cho again and got some </span><a href="http://supermerlion.com/chip-chop/">Chip Chop</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"> at the combini based solely on their hallucinatory TV ads. We also witnessed a karaoke bar apparently endorsed by Satan.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">We met K.</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"> right under the ALTA screen, and after hellos and some discussion we hopped onto the train and went back out to Shimokitazawa, which is even trendier at night! Dinner was curry and lots of beer at a funky place three floors underground that has a giant lizard on the ceiling. Oh, you don't believe me? </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">We kept K. out way too late talking and catching up, but all too soon it was time to get back on the train for our last trip through the maze of Shinjuku station, time to get back to the hotel and get packed up and ready to head out. </span><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">In the morning we checked out and took a taxi to the Airport Limo bus stop outside the Keio Department Store in Shinjuku. It was a beautiful clear day and it was sad to say goodbye to our vacation and return to the 'real world'.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">That's a Friday morning photo of the Cocoon Tower, one of Shinjuku's newest landmarks and a controversial architectural choice in a city filled with questionable architectural choices. As a Toronto resident I quickly learned to orient myself downtown with a quick glance towards the CN Tower, so it's nice to have something distinctive on the skyline to get your bearings with. </span><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">The bus ride took us through downtown Tokyo, past the Tokyo Tower and Tokyo Disneyland and generally a lot of the city we hadn't had a chance to see. We had time to kill at the airport so we got lunch at McDonalds, which for a limited time was serving the "Tomago Doburu Mak Setto", a combo meal featuring a Big Mac enlivened with an egg. That's one thing that stands out about Japanese cuisine, if they can put an egg on it, they will put an egg on it. This particular sandwich is advertised with a friendly-looking, slightly dorky Caucasian man.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">Not a bad burger, but you can feel the cholesterol surging in your bloodstream within minutes. I would not recommend this on a regular basis.</span><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">Anyway, we boarded and the flight was uneventful, for the most part. We landed in Toronto at around the same time we left Tokyo. Customs informed me my Permanent Resident card has expired, which was an oversight on my part, really, and then we got back in our car and drove home and went to bed, which wasn't really the best plan because of JET LAG KICKING OUR BUTTS. It took me the better part of a week to get back on a normal sleep schedule. </span><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">Big thanks go out to Roy for being our guide and spiritual leader, for Tim and his essential shopping information, and to Jim and K. for taking a little time out of their lives to be a friendly face to a couple of tourists. You are all wonderful people. Look out Japan! When our bank balances have recovered and our jet lag combat techniques are more developed, we will return!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"><i>We did return to Tokyo in 2012 and you can see a <a href="http://letsanime.blogspot.com/2012/09/lets-visit-toei.html">little bit of our trip at Let's Anime.</a> Our next trip is hopefully not too far off!</i></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;"><br /></span>d.merrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07704651182760972937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242829088807801646.post-33420017039860051332016-07-15T16:35:00.002-07:002016-07-15T17:09:40.540-07:00Tokyo 2009 part 4<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://d-merrill.blogspot.com/2016/07/tokyo-2009-part-3.html">continued from part 3!</a></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">On Tuesday our mission was to investigate the Used Bookstore neighborhood of Kanda/Jinboucho (or Jimboucho or Jimbocho, however you feel like spelling it, we saw all three)! We slept late again but were out of the hotel by noon. So, after consulting Tim's information we hopped onto the train and soon we were walking down Hakusan-Dori past bookstores and record stores and a coffee shop where we had a light lunch. Kanda Jinbo-cho is a university neighborhood and there are a lot of publishers there so it's just a real booky sort of place. The record stores have a lot of jazz LPs. And of course the streets were filled with political candidate sound trucks: </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">There is a tall thin building near the intersection of Yasukuni-Dori and Hakusan-Dori that is called the Kanda Kosho Center; it contains a record store, a shop filled with movie stills, posters, program books, and other paper ephemera, and a store called Nakano Shoten which was mind-blowingly awesome; walls decorated with original manga artwork, original manga pages for sale (including a Tezuka page), tons of old manga tankubons and weeklies dating back to the 1960s, anime magazines and books, anime cels, LPs and 45 singles, and more incredible stuff than I can describe. </span><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">At any rate we spent a lot of money in that shop, and then we wandered around the neighborhood and went to another of Tim's recommendations, a shop called "Book Dash" next to a crazy lookin' movie theater. Book Dash had a lot of 80s anime books and magazines and manga; their prices seemed to be a bit higher than elsewhere, but they did have neat stuff and it's worth a look if you're in the neighborhood.</span><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">Afterwards we went back down to the train station and got some lunch. I looked at the map and noticed that if we just walked up the Sotobori-dori next to the Kanda-gawa (river), we'd be in Akihabara again! The river is in a steep ravine and is lined with trees and the cicadas were ear-splitting on occasion, but it was a gorgeous walk. We went past a truck apparently owned by a Miyazaki fan:</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There was only one shop I really wanted to hit again in Akihabara, a store called "Golden Age", but of course it was closed on Tuesdays. So we wandered around some more and watched the packs of foreign otaku tourists investigate the vending machines, and then we went back to the train station and back to Shinjuku. We had dinner in a little place near our hotel that was all pork dishes: we established early on that the wait staff did not speak English, but they had a menu with English and handy photos for us barbarians. Afterwards we wandered around Kabuki-cho and got a bit lost but found our hotel by approaching it from the other direction, which was kinda neat. Saw the first vending machine with beer. And that was Tuesday in Tokyo!</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So on Wednesday we got up and over to the station and met Roy in front of that ubiquitous Studio ALTA sign. And it was off to Mitaka Station (named after the Maison Ikkoku character) to go to the Ghibli Museum! This mecca for anime nerds is of course on the must-see list for every stinking roundeye tourist and we're no exception. Fun fact: </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 19.5px;"> buy your Ghibli tickets way in advance. Don't just fly to Tokyo, take the train to Mitaka station, take the cat-bus to the Ghibli Museum, and expect to walk right in! Here's the bus, by the way.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">They don't allow photos inside, and unlike the Schulz museum I actually obeyed their instructions. I was a GUEST in that country, soldier! So you don't get pictures of the amazingly gigantic zoetrope, the enormous soft cat bus that children can play in, the huge pile of every single drawing that went into making PONYO, the reproduced studio and office, or the iron staircases, little cubbyholes, and whimsical platforms to nowhere that give the building character. On the roof they do have a garden accessible by a spiral staircase, and this garden is guarded by... </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">AAAA! Giant Laputa robot!! It's a great reproduction, it's not just a solid cast but is metal fitted around parts, so when you thump it it feels just like a real robot. So if you make it to the Ghibli Museum don't forget to go to the roof. There's also a gift shop and a cafe, of course. </span><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">After the museum, we took a stroll through Inokashira Park (you used to be able to see Miyazaki jogging in this park on a regular basis!) and boy, the turtles are totally looking for handouts in this park.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's a popular cherry-blossom viewing park in the springtime and it's right next to Kichijoji, where we wandered around the shopping arcade and got some lunch. We then went across the tracks...</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">...yes, the pedestrian crossings you've seen characters waiting around in every anime show ever, the ones you do not want to try and beat because those trains are FAST... to Shimokitazawa, "one of the trendiest and most looked-after area to live for young Tokyoites." This funky hipster neighborhood features trendy boutiques, coffee shops, and toy stores owned by guys who will follow you out the door giving you free Ultraman finger puppets. It's also home to a store called "Grown up Tabatha" which has a giant mural of the "Bewitched" character as an adult decorating its storefront and sells fashion and fashion accessories. We hit three toy stores and then had very good coffee in a wood-paneled coffee shop accented by the owner's collection of lanterns and dolls. </span><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">From there we got back on the train and went to Harajuku. </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">Harajuku, of course, is the crazy young people fashion capital of Tokyo. It being a weekday there wasn't a lot of public exhibition going on, but the crowds were still overwhelming.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yeah, that's just people, all the way down. Harajuku is home to extremely fashionable shops and high-end botiques of all kinds, as well as "Kiddyland", a multi-story toy wonderland for kids of all ages. We picked up some gifts and learned that Monchichis are back and this time they're dressed as your favorite cartoon characters! </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Having dispensed with Harajuku, we got back on the train and went to Shibuya and wandered around gaping at the love hotels and the seedier side of the Japanese Economic Miracle, including this adult accessories shop whose warning sign was really amusing: </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We hit Mandarake again and I found even more cool stuff that I'd missed the first time around, and then we got some dinner, and then we said "goodnight" to Roy and got back on the train and went back to Shinjuku and went to bed because we were beat! And that was the way it was Wednesday August 26 2009.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://d-merrill.blogspot.com/2016/07/tokyo-2009-part-5.html">More to come in part 5!</a></i></span></span>d.merrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07704651182760972937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242829088807801646.post-78204243198896680452016-07-13T18:19:00.000-07:002016-07-15T16:39:17.848-07:00Tokyo 2009 part 3<i><a href="http://d-merrill.blogspot.com/2016/07/tokyo-2009-part-2.html">Continued from Part Two</a></i><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">After Sunday's long march, we were determined to take it a little easier on Monday. And we did. We slept late and took our sweet time getting out of the hotel and wandered through the neighborhood towards the train station, passing lots of closed up nightclubs. Including this one which apparently has a "Rose Of Versailles" theme:</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We never did see this place during operating hours, so who knows what kind of establishment this is? Lesbian bar? Transvestite bar? Transvestite lesbian manga cafe? Fencing school? Historical manga re-enactment society headquarters? We shook our heads and moved on to Mr. Donut, who not only has a decent donut, but the coffee is also OK and unlike Tim Horton's, they will come by your table with refills. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">From there, acting on travel advice given to us by darn near everybody but fleshed out into action-plans for us by the mighty Tim "The Hammer" Eldred, we hopped the train to </span><a href="http://bwy.jp/" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #e68692; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_self">Nakano Broadway</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">, (warning, link has embedded music so turn your speakers down) a "Holy place for Otaku in Tokyo." For once the internet hype isn't lying. This building is filled with fairly normal business establishments on the ground floor but above is honecombed with shops selling toys, figures, manga, doujinshi of all stripes, video games, animation cels, records, DVDs; much like Akihabara but with less moe and more Showa. Oh you don't believe me. Well, look.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The first place we went into had a case full of Prince Planet memorabilia. That's right, the show I watched when I was 2 that began my obsession with bug-eyed Japaheeno cartoons, all rendered in plastic and screen-printed metal still life. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I am still deeply psychologically moved by my experiences at Nakano Broadway. We bought some cheap cels and old 45 singles and manga and spent most of the afternoon shopping, and then we went downstairs to the coffee shop and had some drinks, and then we went back upstairs and made sure we didn't miss anything. We then got back on the train and went back to Shinjuku and dropped our stuff off at the hotel and rested a bit, and then we went back out to Ikebukuro on the advice of Shain's research which had uncovered several manga/anime type shops in the area. Long ago a turtle came out of a lake carrying a bag on its back, and hence Ikebukuro ("pond bag") got its name. Today it's home to a giant Seibu department store, the Sunshine City entertainment complex, and a Wendy's. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We did not go in the Wendy's. I am still sore on them for their terribly misleading "boneless wings" advertising. At any rate, we wandered around looking for "Otome Road", didn't find it, found a four story manga/anime superstore (first floor, anime DVDs and doujinshi for ladies. Second floor toys and kits. Third floor doujinshi for men with lots of porn. Fourth floor - big warning signs informing us that beyond this point only those aged 18 and up will be admitted. BELIEVE THOSE SIGNS, people, because if you think it can't get any worse, IT DOES.), found another shop that was tucked away around a corner and was nothing but doujinshi for the ladies, and from there got directions to the Animate store, four floors of anime stuff including the customary floor jammed with deviant transgressive homemade comics about cartoon characters learning more about themselves. Also cool Ultraman merchandise and merchandise from darn near everything else. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">We had dinner at the Denny's, where I found the Grand Slam and the Moons Over My Hammy to be completely nonexistent, though Shain did get the "American Club Sandwich", which contains that basic ingredient of Japanese cooking, an egg. Of course this invalidates it being a club sandwich, but whatever. </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">And then we went back to the hotel for a good night's rest. Tomorrow: Jimbocho/Kanda! Oyasuminasai, inflatable Prince Planet! </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;"><i><a href="http://d-merrill.blogspot.com/2016/07/tokyo-2009-part-4.html">More to come in Part Four</a></i></span></span>d.merrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07704651182760972937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242829088807801646.post-3878076466430513812016-07-13T17:56:00.000-07:002016-07-13T18:22:51.708-07:00Tokyo 2009 part 2<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="http://d-merrill.blogspot.com/2016/07/tokyo-2009-part-1.html">Continued from Part 1</a></i></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Where was I? Oh yeah, 2009, Akihabara, Ultraman ginger ale, Mos Burger. We left Akiba and its giant poster of the prime minister proclaiming how much he loves Electric Town, and we went over to Asakusa. This ancient district is home to a gigantic temple, the oldest amusement park in Tokyo, lots of narrow winding little streets filled with shops and bars, slightly shopworn pachinko parlors and movie theaters, and most important, the local OTB where drunk oyaji can bet on the ponies and have important, only slightly slurred discussions. </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nRNqdvytAOI/V4bgtiQm_zI/AAAAAAAAE3M/DL3A30Fdv4kso6WxR04HiKVndsHvtpdmgCLcB/s1600/asakusastreet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="474" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nRNqdvytAOI/V4bgtiQm_zI/AAAAAAAAE3M/DL3A30Fdv4kso6WxR04HiKVndsHvtpdmgCLcB/s640/asakusastreet.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is so Japan it feels like a movie prop or something at Epcot. The shrine itself was being worked on so it was covered in scaffolding and canvas, hence no photos. There was a fountain for ritual washing of hands and a firepit burning incense, the smoke of which is supposed to purify your body. There were also kiosks set up whereby you could randomly choose a printed fortune out of a little box, and if you didn't like your fortune, just tie the slip of paper to the handy little rails provided, and it doesn't count! Leading up to the temple was a long street of vendors selling everything from prop samurai swords to festival masks to candy to dolls and everything in between.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">the Kitaro store</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">Another Asakusa attraction is, or was, since it's no longer there, but there was a little shop devoted to nothing but Ge Ge Ge No Kitaro, the eponymous <a href="http://letsanime.blogspot.com/2013/08/spooks.html">star of the Shigeru Mizuki manga</a>. </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"> You can buy piggybanks of Kitaro's eyeball father, you can get a yellow and black striped vest of your very own, and you can even buy Kitaro toilet paper, which I actually did.</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">From Asakusa we walked over to the banks of the Sumida river and bought tickets for a cruise downstream to Tokyo Bay and Odaiba. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">We had to change boats to get to Odaiba and while changing we noticed something in the dock next to us- </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">It's the Tokyo Bay ferryboat designed by none other than Leiji Matsumoto, famed creator of Captain Harlock, Space Battleship Yamato, Galaxy Express, Sexaroid, and Danguard Ace! </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">Unfortunately this was not the boat we'd be riding. And there were guys standing around it preventing me from sneaking on board to take pix. And our boat was leaving in a minute anyway. </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">Still, it's kinda awesome. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-45BZWz6Hbpk/V4bhAFGL5FI/AAAAAAAAE3U/9_JkaxCj_nQ_KxhX8WkLVpnuwA6ua35bACLcB/s1600/matsumotoferry1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="410" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-45BZWz6Hbpk/V4bhAFGL5FI/AAAAAAAAE3U/9_JkaxCj_nQ_KxhX8WkLVpnuwA6ua35bACLcB/s640/matsumotoferry1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>the Matsumoto-designed ferry we didn't ride</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">So, we got on the other boat and set out across the bay to Odaiba, an artificial island built to defend Tokyo against Commodore Matthew Perry's black ships, but now welcoming tourists and visitors from around the world! This is where Tokyo Big Sight is and where Fuji TV has its headquarters and there's a replica of the Statue Of Liberty, for some reason. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 19.5px;">Anyway, the whole reason we and millions of other tourists are going to Odaiba is the 1:1 scale Mobile Suit Gundam that was built by the Green Tokyo Gundam Project in an attempt to create the most-photographed object ever built.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You'd think that nearing the end of its display dates, the public interest in the Gundam would have diminished a bit - the thing had been up for months at this point. Would there be enormous standing room only swarms of people crowding around as close as possible to the Gundam, even minutes before the park closed for the night? Yes there would.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LXa2KNFRYDE/V4bhNqWuMgI/AAAAAAAAE3c/TgtWLY7GpY0PcYH26KCuobHCMX8uSNomwCLcB/s1600/odaibagundam4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LXa2KNFRYDE/V4bhNqWuMgI/AAAAAAAAE3c/TgtWLY7GpY0PcYH26KCuobHCMX8uSNomwCLcB/s320/odaibagundam4.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>yes, there were cosplayers in the crowd</i></td></tr>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--DhSfSdWIoE/V4bh8jlQ-GI/AAAAAAAAE3o/wAaQ14w_EOY0Plc50R4iHOlLFpvZ8bxOwCLcB/s1600/jumpshop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--DhSfSdWIoE/V4bh8jlQ-GI/AAAAAAAAE3o/wAaQ14w_EOY0Plc50R4iHOlLFpvZ8bxOwCLcB/s200/jumpshop.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And we left the crowds ourselves and went back past the Statue Of Liberty into the giant mall complexes that share Odaiba. One mall contains Shueisha's JUMP SHOP, where you can buy all things Shonen Jump! </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; line-height: 19.5px;">No, I didn't check to see if they had jump ropes or jumper cables. Though I will bring it up at the next stockholder's meeting. One of the malls is called Decks Tokyo Beach and what makes it special is that one of the floors is a Showa-era museum of popular culture! Showa era means postwar, baby boom, Ultraman, manga, anime, robot, Tokyo Olympics 1964, Godzilla, Kamen Rider, you name it, all the things that made me a fan of Japanese cartoons. So it's like a place built completely out of dreams, literally my dreams. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yeah, that's an arcade full of vintage pachinko machines and 60s and 70s coin-op games, surrounded by anime posters of anime features from the 1960s and toys from everything from Olympic Sam to Kinikuman to Kikaider to Kenshiro. Watching over all this is a giant 2:1 Astro Boy<span style="font-size: 13px;">.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The rest of the floor is candy shops, a store where you can buy LIVE giant horned fighting beetles, a deliberately cheesy haunted house, and little dioramas of everyday Tokyo life circa 1964 and 1978. I say "1978" because of this display:</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The famous Yamato Bike!! It actually exists. And after a stroll through the mall and some rehydration via vending machine drinks, we made our way back to the train and back to Shinjuku station and from there Shain and I sort of wandered aimlessly for a while until we found a KFC and got our bearings, and our dinner, and then it was back to Hotel Tateshima for a well deserved rest, because that was kind of a long day. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;"><i><a href="http://d-merrill.blogspot.com/2016/07/tokyo-2009-part-3.html">To be continued in Part 3</a></i></span></span></div>
d.merrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07704651182760972937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242829088807801646.post-55507381232628542702016-07-13T17:31:00.002-07:002016-07-13T18:27:41.930-07:00Tokyo 2009 part 1<i>Back in the summer of 2009 we visited Tokyo for the first time! Here's our story.</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">Narita Airport is about forty miles from Tokyo. When our flight arrived, full of punchy international travelers dazed from 12 hours of "Mad Men" reruns and the abandoned-two-thirds-of-the-way-in film "Adventureland", we still had that forty mile march between us and our final destination, "Demon City" Shinjuku.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">It was always daylight during the flight. This meant we could look forty or fifty thousand feet down and clearly see chunks of unidentifiable somethings floating in the large bodies of water that make up Canada's extreme North. Logs? Ice? Floating eddies of windswept plastic garbage? Who knows. All I know is that I'd rather be having lunch above them than among them.</span><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">Our friend Roy met us at Narita after Customs (which didn't take long at all) and was immediately of vital assistance, namely because we didn't have the faintest idea of where we were going or what we were doing. He got us tickets on a slick JR train that whisked us through the lush, rolling countryside past fields and farms, through Chiba and right to Shinjuku Station. Even if you think you don't know Shinjuku, you actually do, because that's where that great big Studio ALTA video screen building is -that same Studio ALTA that was in the background of all your favorite anime hits of the 1980s, if your favorite anime hit was <a href="http://letsanime.blogspot.com/2012/02/megazone-23-part-one.html">"Megazone 23"</a>. We took a cab from the station to the hotel, even though it isn't that far, really, but we had luggage. You know we've just arrived because we're trying to close the cab door by ourselves. Silly tourists, in Japan, cab door closes for you!</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; line-height: 19.5px;">At any rate, we got to the hotel and checked in and the first thing we did was to turn on the TV, and the first thing on that Japanese hotel room TV was a rerun of Mach Go Go Go, or Speed Racer to us, which was very apt, as it's cartoons like Speed Racer that got us interested in Japan in the first place. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And we soon were back out onto the street, back to Shinjuku station, to try out our Suica cards and go to Shibuya! Shibuya, the heartbeat of young, wild-haired, shopping crazy, love-hotel addled Tokyo, is home to the famous Hachiko statue of the faithful dog, but it's also home to a Mandarake store which is where we was goin'. Mandarake is a chain of Japanese stores that exist to torture me and my bank account, being full of vintage robots, anime books, Roman Albums, manga old and new, doujinshi, DVDs, toys, model kits, advertising memorabilia featuring the little girl in my LJ icon, posters, if it's a crazy anime/manga thing and they can slap a price tag on it they will sell it and the prices aren't bad either. Immediately I found stuff I've been looking for for years. Had a great dinner in a traditional shoes-off place on the 8th floor of a shopping center, wandered around Shibuya for a while, took the train back to Shinjuku and Roy squired us around Kabuki-cho to scope out the tiny narrow streets full of tiny narrow bars that virtually cry out for you to belly up and down a shot in each. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 19.5px;">How could you not get sloppy weepy drunk in a bar decorated with famed prizefighter, the doomed Joe Yabuki?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 19.5px;">Sunday morning we met Roy and went over to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government buildings, seen being destroyed by Godzilla and/or Mecha-Ghidorah in the fine cinematic gem "Godzilla Versus Mecha Ghidorah". This has observation decks on both towers that, on a clear day, allow views as far as Mt. Fuji. Sunday was not one of those days. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 19.5px;">Afterwards we had a Western-style breakfast at a place that (a) has little egg-shaped things on the table that when picked up, alert the wait staff that you need more coffee, and (b) have a children's meal featuring the Benesse corporation's little toddler tiger mascot who is best known in the West for being taught how to use the toilet in an amusing short animated film.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 19.5px;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">From there we went to Akihabara, the famed "electric town" nerd magnet moe capital of Japan and therefore the world. If you are looking for sexy body pillows featuring doe-eyed girls in underwear, or little plastic figures of doe-eyed girls in underwear, or dating simulation video games starring doe-eyed girls in underwear, or generally any sort of merchandise that can be made starring doe-eyed girls in underwear, Akihabara is the place for you. Judging from the girls in maid outfits standing on street corners in Akihabara, there must not be an unmaid bed or a dirty bathtub within fifty miles! </span><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">Seriously though, what they're doing is handing out flyers advertising maid cafes where girls in maid outfits will serve you two-thousand yen cups of coffee. This is appealing, apparently. We went into a bunch of stores, most of which were very excited about the new season of Haruhi Sazumiya and K-On! and whichever version of Evangelion is currently being sold to people who already have other version of Evangelion. However, there are a few places that cater to the Showa-era nerds such as myself, with display cases full of vintage Spectreman toys and X-Bomber robots in four different sizes and Jumbo Machinder super robots of all shapes and sizes and prices far beyond what I'm willing to shell out.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">There is a Mandarake in Akihabara, though, and the bottom floor is full of guys who are choking back bitter tears as they sell their prized toys to the soulless, unfeeling claws of Mandarake. The upper floors are full of really awesome stuff, display cases of early pay-library Tezuka manga, used DVDs and Famicom games at reasonable prices, and doujinshi starring doe-eyed anime girls so unbelievably grotesque you'll want to claw your own eyes out. </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">I had some </span><a href="http://www.dydo.co.jp/product/hukkokudo/" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #e68692; line-height: 19.5px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_self">Ultraman ginger ale from a vending machine</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px;">, we witnessed hundreds of people playing the new Dragonquest on their Nintendo DSes on free wi-fi in front of a giant electronics store, and we met my old pal Jim at Mos Burger for a Mos Burgery lunch where we had burgers and Licca-chan shakes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://d-merrill.blogspot.com/2016/07/tokyo-2009-part-2.html">More to follow in Part 2!</a></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;"><br /></span></div>
d.merrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07704651182760972937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242829088807801646.post-22542201764993180982015-10-07T12:59:00.000-07:002015-10-07T13:01:24.423-07:00Alien Defender Geo Armor Kishin Corps review<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZQmrWwLWo_0/VhV1u-llfsI/AAAAAAAAERc/c7cIy7MyAt8/s1600/kishin1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZQmrWwLWo_0/VhV1u-llfsI/AAAAAAAAERc/c7cIy7MyAt8/s320/kishin1.jpg" /></a><i>This review originally appeared on Anime Jump in 2003. </i>
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Let's clarify a few things. The original Japanese title of this OVA series is <i>Kishin Heidan</i>, which roughly translates to <i>Armored God Corps</i>. It's based on a series of early 1990s light novels by Masaki Yamada. The Geneon-produced anime was first released in Japan in 1993, and was released in North America on VHS as <i>Kishin Corps</i> in 1995. To further confuse the consumer, the 2001 DVD release is titled <i>Alien Defender Geo Armor Kishin Corps</i>, and when the title of each episode is shown, it has the kanji for <i>Kishin Corps</i>, and beneath that, in English, "Kishin Corps - Active Defense Force". Confused? So am I.<br />
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<i>Kishin Corps </i>is an alternate-history World War Two story of Nazi Germany's pact with evil alien invaders, the secret army raised by Japan, Russia, the US, and Britain to defeat them, and how your requisite stalwart young Japanese boy is caught in the middle. Once again Japan's semiautonomous Kwantung Army is trotted out as power-mad imperialists (okay, but only because it's true); <i>Geo Armor Kishin Corps</i> labels them the Kanto Army, and as our story opens they're after a powerful secret module. Our hero Taishi is on board a Manchurian train with his mom and his pop, who is, as you have already guessed, a top scientist. The train is halted by Col. Shinkai and his Kanto Army, but their hijacking is interrupted by the arrival of space aliens, goopy amorphous humanoids who have mastered laser beams and space travel but prefer to use Russian PpSh submachine guns. This three-sided struggle is again interrupted by a mysterious giant robot from the Kishin Corps because this is, after all, their video.<br />
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Two months later Taishi, still holding onto the secret Macguffin Module, is leading a gang of orphans in Shanghai, staying one step ahead of the authorities and the Kanto Army. He helps a mysterious lady escape from Shinkai. This mysterious lady has a twin sister who is working with the Kanto Army to develop their own giant robots. Mysterious Twin swipes the Module from the kid gang, Taishi pursues, and again is saved by the intervention of the Kishin Corps. Taishi gets inducted into the Alien Defender Whatever Kishin Corps and gets to help out as their three giant robots - one land, one sea, one air - battle both the Kanto Army and our alien pals.<br />
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You see, a few years back, mysterious modules fell to Earth. These modules enabled whichever nation that found them to build giant fighting robots. Coincidentally these were distributed amongst the Major Powers of the prewar Earth, which was lucky for us since we had a world war brewing. It would have been interesting to see what kind of giant robot France or Brazil would have come up with, but we'd have to wait for <i>G Gundam</i> to see THAT.<br />
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The Japanese version of <i>Kishin Corps</i> made the rounds of fansubs and fanclubs for a few years before its legit release. To be honest, I wasn't too impressed with it at the time; mostly because Part One is weighed down with a lot of exposition and infested with charming kids and their charming kid-gang antics. Once Taishi gets hooked up with the Kishin Crew and is blasting aliens, things pick up considerably.
The best part of <i>Geo Armor Kishin Active Defense Whatever Corps</i> is the detail given to the titular robots: these are gigantic, heavy, riveted-steel behemoths. They have spark plugs and fan belts and vacuum tubes and hydraulics and all that stuff that your car has under the hood, and they all move with a ponderous weight that the animators do a terrific job portraying. In fact, there may be a little too much attention to detail. Kishin Thunder has to be transported to the battle via train: luckily, the bad guys have cooperated by locating their evil deeds or evil bases on train tracks. It's enough to make one think of Homer Simpson's favorite show "Nightboat", where there's always a river, or a canal, or a fjord.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9KL1Og-FRAE/VhV3nw5B4ZI/AAAAAAAAERw/dOjEURvrfFw/s1600/kishin2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9KL1Og-FRAE/VhV3nw5B4ZI/AAAAAAAAERw/dOjEURvrfFw/s320/kishin2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>Kishin Corps</i>' main ingredient is characters rushing from one place to another: our heroes jump from moving cars to giant blimps to airplanes to trains and back again, always chug-chug-chugging towards another battle with the foe, rattling off great gobs of exposition every chance they get. And yet, with all this "action", nothing much happens. This is a 7-part OAV that easily could have been a 4-parter, or even a 3-parter without too much trouble. Even the fight scenes are padded like a junior high school girl's bra; while the explosions and gunfire conveniently halt, characters will stare at each other, stare at their opponents, stare at the new arrival zooming in from a few miles out. In a film with a stronger visual sense and a knowledge of how to use the quiet moments for effect - think Oshii's <i>Patlabor</i> - these time-outs heighten the sense of drama and contrast the action. Unfortunately<i> Geo Armor Alien Kishin Defender Corps</i> isn't one of those films. <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FIVCSr_URgA/VhV31x2snII/AAAAAAAAESI/8VUeDxVCe6E/s1600/kishin3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FIVCSr_URgA/VhV31x2snII/AAAAAAAAESI/8VUeDxVCe6E/s200/kishin3.jpg" width="200" /></a>Not much attention is given to making this period drama look like a period drama. There's an attempt to make the Nazis into bishonen-style prettyboys with long hair and dreamy eyes; the Kanto Army's leader Shinkai looks like a pumped-up Count Dracula, and there are enough giant, pointed shoulder pads to make Joan Crawford run for cover. The good guys are all pretty standard anime-character good guys, with the big hair and pointy chins and giant ears. These are, hands down, the largest ears for standard characters seen in anime since <i>Tobidase! Batsuchiri.</i> All told, <i>Geo Kishin Armor Corps</i> sports a really jarring look for a period anime, and one that begs the question, if you're not going to be obsessive about period detail, why do a period anime in the first place?<br />
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Characters all have standard issue anime-character crazy multicolored hair, defying gravity as if they were ignorant of the Hair Treatment Technology that was widely used in those turbulent times. If these characters happen to be dressed in period costume, it's because fashions haven't changed that much - and some characters aren't anywhere near the 40s, unless the <i>Miami Vice </i>look began in 1943.<br />
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The dubbing is well-acted, but clumsily written. There are plenty of awkward pauses and sentences that sort of make sense. Here's my tip; if the anime involves Japanese military, go with the subtitles.
The DVD extras are: mechanical designs and character designs. There's a point-by-point explanation of the various systems of the various robots, which is where I learned that Kishin Dragon's Anchor Guns are powered by "gunpowder force". There is also a hilarious live-action segment, a round-table discussion starring non-acting gaijin playing high-level Nazis discussing the aliens, the modules, and the Kishin Corps in bad German. Available on the original video release, it's now professionally subtitled for everybody to enjoy. It is an interesting clamshell two-DVD set; instead of the standard black plastic Pioneer has given <i>Geo Armor Kishin Corps</i> a nifty copper-colored case that really stands out.<br />
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To be sure, there's some entertainment in <i>Kishin Corps</i>. The battle scenes are entertaining, if overused, and the concept of Japan at war with its own imperialist faction makes for a nice what-if. But the WWII setting is woefully underused and the aliens remain unexplained creatures from the planet Plot Device, while the character designs seem to be lifted wholesale from a completely different show. Plus, there are lots of annoying children. In short, <i>Geo Armor Kishin Corps</i> has some interesting parts, but they don't add up to an interesting whole.<br />
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-Dave Merrilld.merrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07704651182760972937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242829088807801646.post-92079756601197407802015-06-30T17:01:00.001-07:002015-06-30T17:01:35.389-07:00advice to the young fan event<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;"><i>Recently, a first-time convention organizer asked me for advice. I wound up writing more than I originally intended, and it seems as if this sort of thing might help others in the same position, so I figured I'd generalize it a little and throw it out in public for the benefit of anyone interested. Here goes!</i> </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">I helped start an anime convention (<a href="http://awa-con.com/">AWA</a>) in Atlanta in 1995, before Japanese cartoons were really any sort of pop culture thing, and it's still going, so I guess we did something right. I also helped organize a UFO/conspiracy culture/hacker show in 1991-1992 that kind of fizzled out, so I have a little experience in what NOT to do, as well. I now live in Toronto, and in both cities I've staffed fan conventions and seen shows rise and fall for various reasons.</span><br />
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You want to start with a small, manageable show. When I say "manageable" I mean a show you can manage physically, in that you can personally make sure all the advertising is distributed, all the guests show up, all the events happen on time, the dealers have what they need, the attendees get their badges, and registration gets their money. I also mean a show you can manage financially, in that you can pay for it without a second mortgage or having to hope an extra 500 people show up on Sunday. </div>
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When we started AWA, we budgeted assuming we'd get 200 people. We figured there were 200 people in the fandom community of our city that could be counted on to show up to just about any fan convention. We spent as little money as possible on our first year. Our program books were black and white copies assembled by hand fanzine-style, and our guests were industry folks, comic artists we knew, and local fans, all whom would show up without asking for speaking fees. We booked a very cheap facility and only booked the exhibit space we needed and we didn't have T-shirts or a con suite or any of the catering events that hotels love to throw at conventions. When the convention started on Friday afternoon, before the first walk-in bought the first walk-in badge, we'd already paid for the entire show via advance registration and vendor table fees. </div>
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It's vital to honestly estimate how many people will come to your show. You can base this on how well other first year shows do in your market, and other metrics like population, other fan events in the area, nearby colleges, etc. You'll want to lowball that estimate and spend money based on your lowest figure. It's much better to have booked a slightly too-small function space and be crowded and busy; the event seems more fun, more exciting, and it makes your show look attractive and successful, instead of a few fans wandering around inside a cavernous, empty convention center that got booked because the organizers fooled themselves. </div>
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Everything is negotiable; hotel rates, convention center rates, guest speaking fees, everything. Hotels will give you better rates on meeting space if you can promise (and sell!) a certain number of room nights. Convention centers aren't as flexible and will generally cost more. Convention centers may require you to engage further contractors to handle table setup, AV equipment, etc. Get quotes and do research while working out your costs.</div>
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I should mention the ridiculous turnover rate in the hospitality industry. It's nuts. People cycle through hotel positions with astounding rapidity. Speaking to the same person more than twice in a row is rare. If you do establish a good relationship with somebody at a convention center or hotel, hang onto it.</div>
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And of course get everything in writing. Make sure you have a printed copy of the contract in hand from the very beginning of setup to the very end of take-down, and that includes maps and diagrams of how every room is to be set up, table and chair layouts, power drops, everything. Count on it - there WILL be problems with the facility where everybody isn't on the same page, and having that page in your hand is a tremendous asset. </div>
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Plenty of people - potential guests, vendors, fan groups, local celebrities, you name it - will approach your show with what they think are great ideas for events or appearances. Generally they will want you to do most of the actual work while they reap the benefits, so be wary. Filling panel slots with fan-run events is a great way to round out your schedule and involve the community; just make sure to be very clear on what your organization is providing and what they will need to provide themselves. Most conventions have some sort of panel event form that panelists submit, and this is a great idea to keep everyone on the same page. </div>
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Again, you'll have countless people coming up to you with great ideas that you should implement. Well, "you" are busy with other things. Keep focused on YOUR goals. There's always next year for these people and their extraneous events. Of course sometimes these volunteers wind up producing terrific events and becoming valuable members of your team. Gambles sometimes pay off. Have a back-up plan for when they don't. </div>
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Like the saying goes - never buy what you can rent, never rent what you can borrow, never borrow what you can steal. You don't need a state of the art HD surround sound video room, you don't need to buy 10 TVs and 30 video game systems, you don't need to cater meals for 300 people all weekend long (these are all things people will ask you to do for them. "No" works great as an alternative). If you buy AV equipment, consoles, speakers, or anything else, guess what? They're yours now, and they have to be somewhere the 51 other weekends a year you aren't running a convention. Unless you own a warehouse, that costs $$$. There are many fine event equipment rental outfits in every large city - some of them probably provide services to your favorite conventions. Do your research.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q27nJ2ujzio/VZMtRglvpWI/AAAAAAAAD-0/MW-LhPA4Ehc/s1600/animehell1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q27nJ2ujzio/VZMtRglvpWI/AAAAAAAAD-0/MW-LhPA4Ehc/s400/animehell1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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In my opinion, one of the most successful shows I've seen is <a href="http://torontocomics.com/">TCAF in Toronto</a>; it's a free-to-the-public event held over 2 days in the main branch of the library downtown. TCAF works with the city and receives support from the library and other municipal organizations. The vendors and exhibitors are curated heavily and they do a ton of business, and the general public can wander through and enjoy themselves without having to stand in line for badges. Not every city can handle a TCAF but their model is worth emulating, I think. If you can work with the city and put together a package that appeals to the community at large, that's a win for everybody. Don't be afraid to think outside the box and move beyond the typical comic-con cliche. </div>
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What about guests? Here's the big secret about guests: they don't really matter that much. Sure, they look great on your advertising, but with few exceptions that's their only benefit to you. It's a great deal for THEM - they get a free airline trip, a hotel room and meals, events where they can pretend to be big stars, and a table they can sell autographs and merchandise from. For you, it might be nothing but headaches and babysitting. You need to do strict cost-benefit analysis on every single one of your guests and be blunt about how much they're going to cost you and how much your show will benefit from their appearance. Do you want to shell out travel and lodging for a guest whose big Q&A panel only attracts flies? Certainly, there are guests who are worth the time and money, and part of running a convention is knowing who those people are and how much trouble they're going to be to get. Pay attention when visiting other conventions and see who clicks with the crowd and who doesn't. If you honestly have no idea of how big a draw a particular guest is going to be, perhaps running a fan convention isn't for you.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">The truth is, fans will attend a fun event no matter who the guests are. You aren't selling a guest or a book or a physical object, you're selling an intangible - an experience, the experience of shopping in a dealer's room, of seeing people in costumes, of participating in discussions with fellow fans about favorite movies or TV shows or comics, of playing games with friends and strangers. Guests are only a small part of that package. </span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jAnavb6yXzI/VZMte9j-o8I/AAAAAAAAD-8/bCtY-_nf6YY/s1600/thursline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jAnavb6yXzI/VZMte9j-o8I/AAAAAAAAD-8/bCtY-_nf6YY/s400/thursline.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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What about competition? In terms of another organizer putting on a show in your territory, your best response is <span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">to make YOUR show the BEST show you can possibly make it. L</span><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">et the other guy go his own way. If you must mention other shows, make every public statement polite and professional. If you're going to promote your convention at his event, then be friendly and polite and smile and wish him all the best, and in return, make sure his experience at your show is a positive one. Maybe you can turn a potential competitor into an ally. Fan conventions need each other for networking and advertising, for staff, for vendors; conventions don't exist in a vacuum.</span></div>
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Let's face it; running a convention is a pain in the ass. Your phone rings all the time with idiots asking stupid questions, every teeny tiny detail will need your attention, every decision you make will be second-guessed and debated by pedantic fanboys and fangirls and fanwomen and fanmen, and if you happen to make any money at all out of the convention, it will need to be plowed right back into next year's show. The week leading up to the show you'll be a nervous wreck, when the actual show happens you'll be in a state of low-grade, out-of-body-experience panic, and when it's over you'll be totally destroyed, and then the grind starts all over again. If your competition wants to take that on himself, then he's welcome to it. It's a big world and there is room for conventions all over the calendar and all over the map and you can't waste any time worrying about anybody else's convention, you have your own thing to worry about. </div>
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So, to sum up: </div>
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1. start small and manageable</div>
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2. work with the city & community</div>
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3. don't be afraid to say no</div>
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4. get it in writing</div>
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5. cost-benefit analysis on everything</div>
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6. worry about your own show, not anybody else's</div>
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7. good luck.</div>
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-Dave Merrill</div>
d.merrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07704651182760972937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242829088807801646.post-86415005132527291092015-06-19T13:30:00.004-07:002015-06-19T13:30:56.268-07:00Element Of Surprise comics Kickstarter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oUQVeDNUVBU/VYR7jcsKQzI/AAAAAAAAD7g/lEM9VtXYR9o/s1600/ac7f9cee4259ed825fdbaf812ebb550b_original.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oUQVeDNUVBU/VYR7jcsKQzI/AAAAAAAAD7g/lEM9VtXYR9o/s400/ac7f9cee4259ed825fdbaf812ebb550b_original.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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“The Element of Surprise” Webcomic Launches Kickstarter Campaign</div>
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Toronto artist Shain Minuk, co creator of the comics and pop culture website Mister Kitty and Friends (<a href="http://misterkitty.org/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://misterkitty.org/</a>), has launched the website’s first Kickstarter campaign this week with the target of funding a deluxe, 268 page collection of her webcomic, The Element of Surprise. Described by the comic’s creator as “similar to Starsky and Hutch, only a little less gay”, The Element of Surprise details the relationship between two men, Mark and Ben, in a nameless but crime-ridden city somewhere in America’s “rust belt”.</div>
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The Kickstarter campaign, located <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1459489592/the-collected-element-of-surprise-webcomic-to-prin">here</a>, has a variety of rewards for pledges that range from $1 to $200. Readers of the webcomic, which updates weekly at <a href="http://www.misterkitty.org/comics/element/elementintro.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.misterkitty.org/<wbr></wbr>comics/element/elementintro.<wbr></wbr>html</a> , have been hoping for a print version for quite some time, and Mister Kitty and Friends have finally responded.</div>
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With the help of crowd funding by Kickstarter, Minuk intends to publish the first two story arcs of The Element of Surprise, while a third arc is currently running in weekly updates on the Mister Kitty website. The collected volume of the webcomic will detail the two men in the early stages of their relationship, struggling with their own internal conflicts while facing up against corrupt politicians and various violent miscreants, in a story providing plenty of action and romance.</div>
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The Element of Surprise Kickstarter campaign is on until July 17th 2015.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--luRiIL9ZGc/VYR73-VAStI/AAAAAAAAD7o/AMc5n9Zwh5g/s1600/5a9a18e595c444f3424e404418a5af29_original.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--luRiIL9ZGc/VYR73-VAStI/AAAAAAAAD7o/AMc5n9Zwh5g/s320/5a9a18e595c444f3424e404418a5af29_original.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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d.merrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07704651182760972937noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242829088807801646.post-41257957837323558772015-04-30T16:15:00.001-07:002015-04-30T16:15:49.395-07:00Mister Kitty's Etsy ShopIf you're a fan of mid-century kitsch - and who isn't? - then you owe it to yourself to visit <a href="https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/MisterKittyEtsy?ref=l2-shopheader-name">Mister Kitty's Etsy Shop,</a> the Etsy shop where the people behind the popular "Mister Kitty" site pass along their pop-culture artifacts to lucky consumers. Here's just a few of the items available:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MQJF3Qu__Y0/VUK239vGNzI/AAAAAAAADz8/iFd0h3JK4Ts/s1600/duke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MQJF3Qu__Y0/VUK239vGNzI/AAAAAAAADz8/iFd0h3JK4Ts/s1600/duke.jpg" height="320" width="267" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Calling All Girls" from 1965 starring Patty Duke</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vAJ_pvEeHKY/VUK230zn2XI/AAAAAAAADz4/-n5vDdyPjmU/s1600/intell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vAJ_pvEeHKY/VUK230zn2XI/AAAAAAAADz4/-n5vDdyPjmU/s1600/intell.jpg" height="210" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A selection of Intellivision game guides, overlays, and catalogs</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-swR4654S0v0/VUK23-iTdgI/AAAAAAAAD0A/QrLwRAl78w4/s1600/storch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-swR4654S0v0/VUK23-iTdgI/AAAAAAAAD0A/QrLwRAl78w4/s1600/storch.jpg" height="320" width="257" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An autographed 8x10 of Larry Storch</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GCqlHmcQXEM/VUK24bGNqaI/AAAAAAAAD0I/YuuUccoaG8g/s1600/wood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GCqlHmcQXEM/VUK24bGNqaI/AAAAAAAAD0I/YuuUccoaG8g/s1600/wood.jpg" height="185" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a Woody Woodpecker puzzle!<br /><br /></td></tr>
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All these items - and more!- are available at bargain prices for select consumers, so don't delay, help us clean out our closets today!d.merrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07704651182760972937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242829088807801646.post-78698469992163033922015-03-13T13:18:00.001-07:002015-03-13T13:18:59.387-07:00anime I hated: Melty Lancer<div align="justify" style="background-color: white; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.1;">
<span class="pn-normal" style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: left;"><i>(this review originally appeared on the website Anime Jump.)</i></span></span></div>
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<span class="pn-normal" style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="text-align: left;">Melty Lancer: A Half-Baked Recipe For Disaster</b><br /><br />This recipe will, if properly prepared, result in a bland, uninteresting casserole of characters and concepts previously used elsewhere to better effect. While fulfilling all necessary recommendations for Anime Video Cliché, it must be noted that this production is likely to be a complete waste of your time.<br /><br /><b style="text-align: left;">Ingredients:</b></span></div>
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<li><b>One (1)</b> team of Beautiful Female Police People, including one Brainy Mature Woman, one Alpha-Female Team Leader, one Demure Traditionalist, one Tough Chick With Battle Armor, one Shape-Changing Magical Girl, and one Cat-Girl With Big Ears. Must have unpronounceable or improbable D&D-character names like "Sylvia Nimrod" or "Nany Nataresionn Neinhalten". One character must have Pet of Indeterminate Species.</li>
<li><b>One</b> Whiny, Impotent, Crybaby Male. Glasses optional.</li>
<li><b>One</b> Rough, Tough, Mature Male. Roy Fokker from MACROSS is a good example here. In fact, one might say this DVD adheres to the Roy Fokker template a little too closely. Smoking, drinking, and gigantic sideburns are a must. Character is actually competent and therefore must be featured as little as possible.</li>
<li><b>One</b> mixed pair of Funny Criminals who Screw Up. See: <b>Time Bokan</b>, <b>Nadia</b>, <b>Pokemon</b>.</li>
<li><b>One</b> set of Real Criminals who are working for the Mysterious Big Boss. Even though their plans are smart and well-executed, they will never win. </li>
<li>Assorted cheap-looking CG spaceships, planets, computer readouts, crowd scenes, placards, and camera tricks. Use liberally and without shame. Here's a tip: crowd scenes are easily created by simply using a field of little moving dots.</li>
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<span class="pn-normal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br /><b>Directions:</b><br />Gather ingredients in two DVDs of three episodes each. Be careful to adhere slavishly to the clichéd anime formula of the Bizarre And Meaninglessly-Named Team Of Well-Meaning Yet Bumbling Female Police People Who Succeed By Accident.<br /><br />If possible, ensure that your anime is based on a Playstation game, as this one is.<br /><br />It is essential to include many scenes that highlight your lack of knowledge of the basics of astronomy or physics - the time-honored Object Entering Solar System Passes Every Planet In Order has been used successfully since the early 1970s, but <b>Melty Lancer</b> is notable for inventing new mistakes, such as Passing Stars While Travelling Between Earth And Saturn. You can also point out your ignorance of basic police tactics by having your policewomen threaten criminals with their guns while standing in each other's line of fire. At all times characters will talk before shooting, giving their targets ample time to escape.<br /><br />The script <i>must</i> include the following: Shocking Revelation that Our Heroes are only being used as a Diversionary Tactic; the Poignant Tragedy of the Doomed Romance between Heroes and Villians; and the time-honored Expository Scene While Character Lies In Hospital Bed, Suffering From Tragic Chronic Incurable Illness. In order to give this production that extra-stale taste, make certain the plot involves a Sentient Super-Computer Out To Destroy The Galaxy. Do not forget to have characters miraculously rescued by the timely invention of a brand new scientific device. One character must appear to be dead to allow the other characters to mope around for twenty minutes.<br /><br />Character designs should be ugly and unappealing, with bizarre chipmunk cheeks or the lack thereof the only indicator of a character's age. Hairstyles and clothing should be outlandish and impractical.<br /><br />Animation must be as cheaply produced as possible. Characters must deliver huge chunks of dialog with their backs to the camera or their hands in front of their mouths, or in extreme long shots. Still frames and digital zooms will be used at all times. Point-of-view scenes must involve the camera pitching and swaying drunkenly. Any scene involving a telescope or gunsight must contain a shot through the telescope or gunsight, in order to get the message across to the dimmer members of the audience that a character is using a telescope or a gunsight.<br /><br />Direct this series so that no scene lasts longer than thirty seconds. Combat scene, hospital scene, comedy scene - no matter what's going on, when your egg timer says thirty seconds, it's time to cut to another scene. This will give the production a schizophrenic aimlessness that will effectively kill any likely dramatic or humorous effects.<br /><br />Highlights of this title should include highly-trained combat soldiers who fight by ramming their heads into each other, a counterproductive tactic that brings to mind the Sanrio sheep-from-Hell production <b>Ringing Bell</b>. For extra irritation, dramatic climax must involve all characters being transported into a psychedelic freakout dimension where our heroes first whine like babies and then talk the supercomputer out of destroying the universe. Our crybaby male lead should not be merely uncomfortable around girls, but should literally scream in terror whenever touched by a female.<br /></span><br />
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<tr><td><img alt="Melty Lancer" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20041230223107im_/http://www.animejump.com/modules/ProdReviews/images/meltylancer1.jpg" style="border: 0px;" /> <img alt="Melty Lancer" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20041230223107im_/http://www.animejump.com/modules/ProdReviews/images/meltylancer2.jpg" style="border: 0px;" /> <img alt="Melty Lancer" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20041230223107im_/http://www.animejump.com/modules/ProdReviews/images/meltylancer3.jpg" style="border: 0px;" /></td></tr>
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<span class="pn-normal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">These ingredients- lackluster animation, intrusive and clumsy CG, mediocre character designs, obsessive-compulsive editing, confusing character names, and a script that involves people from other dimensions fighting supercomputers who control terrorist organizations who are starting religious cults in order to harvest DNA in an attempt to destroy space itself- don't combine so much as congeal, and result in what can only be described as an unsatisfying mess.<br /></span><br />
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<tr><td><img alt="Melty Lancer" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20041230223107im_/http://www.animejump.com/modules/ProdReviews/images/meltylancer4.jpg" style="border: 0px;" /> <img alt="Melty Lancer" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20041230223107im_/http://www.animejump.com/modules/ProdReviews/images/meltylancer5.jpg" style="border: 0px;" /></td></tr>
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<span class="pn-normal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Extras on the DVD release should include a glossary of completely irrevelant backstory information, including identifying the parents of the main characters. Printing of the DVD label should involve metallic inks that render the artwork and text nearly illegible. This release, if properly half-baked, should serve any amount of non-discriminating viewers who are reasonably undemanding in their entertainment choices. It is suggested that this feature be served alone, as it will suffer in comparison with virtually any other production ever made.<br /><br /><b>Dietician's Notes:</b><br />1. After watching <b>Melty Lancer</b>, I no longer fear death.</span><br />
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d.merrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07704651182760972937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242829088807801646.post-38756298093950257692014-09-03T13:33:00.000-07:002015-03-05T13:34:22.073-08:00guardians of the galaxy at Mister Kitty<a href="http://misterkitty.org/extras/stupidcovers/stupidcomics407.html">Mister Kitty's Stupid Comics </a>takes a look at the 1970s iteration of Marvel's popular space-spanning super hero team, the Guardians Of The Galaxy! WARNING this comic includes mind-expanding tripped out space god consciousness sequences and sex between ultra-powerful cosmic beings that threatens to destroy - or save - the entire universe!<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7FZK84F89IM/VPjLlp40olI/AAAAAAAADsY/Ffg9izCv9Ew/s1600/gotg1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7FZK84F89IM/VPjLlp40olI/AAAAAAAADsY/Ffg9izCv9Ew/s1600/gotg1.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />d.merrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07704651182760972937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242829088807801646.post-17780535185734013162014-08-13T14:57:00.000-07:002015-02-26T14:57:45.580-08:00Atlanta Fantasy Fair 1977 program bookWonder Woman, Captain America and Dracula leap out from the program book for the 1977 Atlanta Fantasy Fair, now over at the <a href="http://atlantafantasyfair.blogspot.com/2014/08/no-elvis-beatles-or-rolling-stones-in.html">AFF blog!</a><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p1mSmfqDxhg/VO-kvG49afI/AAAAAAAADqc/8siY54c8LYE/s1600/1977%2Bbook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p1mSmfqDxhg/VO-kvG49afI/AAAAAAAADqc/8siY54c8LYE/s1600/1977%2Bbook.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />d.merrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07704651182760972937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242829088807801646.post-11798422703146114282013-09-17T17:38:00.000-07:002015-02-27T17:38:24.863-08:00IT CAME FROM HOLLYWOOD<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RNe9isHR6Rw/VPEbr6IPcLI/AAAAAAAADrk/HAXnXmTiA3A/s1600/hypno.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RNe9isHR6Rw/VPEbr6IPcLI/AAAAAAAADrk/HAXnXmTiA3A/s1600/hypno.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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Over at <a href="http://cornponeflicks.org/ICFH.html">Corn Pone Flicks</a>' movie review section, I take a fond look back at the greatest badfilm clip show of all time, the movie that launched thousands of us on our voyage of discovery of terrible films from around the world; <a href="http://cornponeflicks.org/ICFH.html">It Came From Hollywood. </a><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ytMnC3qMiSM/VPEb0Vkd9wI/AAAAAAAADrs/hPWKPpexxQg/s1600/krankor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ytMnC3qMiSM/VPEb0Vkd9wI/AAAAAAAADrs/hPWKPpexxQg/s1600/krankor.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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Hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah.</div>
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<br />d.merrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07704651182760972937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242829088807801646.post-18350662910056594022013-08-13T17:27:00.000-07:002015-03-09T17:27:47.498-07:00Stupid Mutual Of Omaha ComicsJoin <a href="http://misterkitty.org/extras/stupidcovers/stupidcomics259.html">Mister Kitty's Stupid Comics as they journey deep into the wilderness to film Marlin Perkins and Jim battle ferocious beasts!</a> Well, okay, mostly Jim does the battling; Marlin narrates.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fOzNFWvnXyw/VP46VeW5DeI/AAAAAAAADso/tPSVfJsJROY/s1600/mutual1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fOzNFWvnXyw/VP46VeW5DeI/AAAAAAAADso/tPSVfJsJROY/s1600/mutual1.jpg" /></a></div>
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<br />d.merrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07704651182760972937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242829088807801646.post-70672751636728325622013-08-13T14:03:00.000-07:002020-04-11T09:30:24.321-07:00kung-fu plumbers<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FyjcVnCjAP4/XpHtlsBgBLI/AAAAAAAAILE/4Ti2Ilzakq044KWkQpkfwy-u-7w2JVRRgCEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoAeNlI-Vtv9THJBOe7fhOQI_DGM8UiVJUYqpu5ZNnt69kQ5yZqLuAeUEr9FywE2iAty1pAUGPy8Au5oJp3Z-m8qGlooanbQwaSBPcNeGbiSU13DDOnLwSSapm3koZpQSc0ULLCjssCWLj-y64fioxMuVmtTuJHw0Je8nrqiRpRWbf6gM3IpPoiP19GZQeoNXLFAbF7jVjs46HaEhgc2BJ7N8apJHVInXENmWIGJd5_DilBQTEYeVfXPG-p_0OFDLR2KfY2Qi64IQP9HtvlSejxkv0mSiLc3MSIAjspAm9I9TeFFRx_j2P-mB7wv5K7WZAB-gnOIlwWKlKR6cQYyaPQrV5qV8Z_2fzQqpKRWdjOC2CVzmWF2CJTzMq1w1tk2GmB_tUhcPcCYTNT8dP1QuJke0SVEPTh5SMha5VEbVgCk-TKjlaMKgu82052aAqkWm5J2hNeIr4h3jHxbWUx6cODb9UiYlElx3Y8B_EZrPP_G7J9NhcNsbwTE-b1tcX7CKwWrQsehd0I1ycZFPKLPOyZUhzl--tkySBCwqkMcEW7lDjHGuw2u3BN8ZbPaz7T1EpY4u3xGtQkfLiF4nE3ZStIOIW76jkwDTbNeMPLlx_QF/s1600/kungfu%2Bplumbers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1161" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FyjcVnCjAP4/XpHtlsBgBLI/AAAAAAAAILE/4Ti2Ilzakq044KWkQpkfwy-u-7w2JVRRgCEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoAeNlI-Vtv9THJBOe7fhOQI_DGM8UiVJUYqpu5ZNnt69kQ5yZqLuAeUEr9FywE2iAty1pAUGPy8Au5oJp3Z-m8qGlooanbQwaSBPcNeGbiSU13DDOnLwSSapm3koZpQSc0ULLCjssCWLj-y64fioxMuVmtTuJHw0Je8nrqiRpRWbf6gM3IpPoiP19GZQeoNXLFAbF7jVjs46HaEhgc2BJ7N8apJHVInXENmWIGJd5_DilBQTEYeVfXPG-p_0OFDLR2KfY2Qi64IQP9HtvlSejxkv0mSiLc3MSIAjspAm9I9TeFFRx_j2P-mB7wv5K7WZAB-gnOIlwWKlKR6cQYyaPQrV5qV8Z_2fzQqpKRWdjOC2CVzmWF2CJTzMq1w1tk2GmB_tUhcPcCYTNT8dP1QuJke0SVEPTh5SMha5VEbVgCk-TKjlaMKgu82052aAqkWm5J2hNeIr4h3jHxbWUx6cODb9UiYlElx3Y8B_EZrPP_G7J9NhcNsbwTE-b1tcX7CKwWrQsehd0I1ycZFPKLPOyZUhzl--tkySBCwqkMcEW7lDjHGuw2u3BN8ZbPaz7T1EpY4u3xGtQkfLiF4nE3ZStIOIW76jkwDTbNeMPLlx_QF/s640/kungfu%2Bplumbers.jpg" width="496" /></a></div>
d.merrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07704651182760972937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242829088807801646.post-43138606523720406802013-02-13T16:07:00.000-08:002015-02-26T16:08:02.720-08:00we can fly with cowsills comicsGet with the love vibration of<a href="http://misterkitty.org/extras/stupidcovers/stupidcomics347.html"> Mister Kitty's Stupid Comics as they take a look at the Harvey Comics version of The Cowsills,</a> America's number one family rock band!<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f4UyDU182z4/VO-1Nhk4koI/AAAAAAAADrU/BmA_OaHIdrs/s1600/cowsill1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f4UyDU182z4/VO-1Nhk4koI/AAAAAAAADrU/BmA_OaHIdrs/s1600/cowsill1.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />d.merrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07704651182760972937noreply@blogger.com0