The Dream Catcher Antique Mall

Today I thought I'd feature a local establishment in Ellsworth Maine, near where I live. It's an "Antique Mall" that boasts three different floors and "Over 50 Local Dealers". 

I don't shop here too often, as the prices are not terribly reasonable, and the stock doesn't switch out very often (I think there may be a connection between these two details...).

Anyway, there's a dealer in the upstairs portion of the store that specializes in action figures, comic books, and vintage toys. I thought I'd show off a handful of the stuff I've seen there and have been drooling over.

More on Motivational Growth... and the surreality that is my life.

So... a while back I posted one of my lazy "Hey, here are some movie trailers to movies that look interesting because I can't be bothered to actually post anything today..." posts.

That post included the teaser Trailer for a movie called "Motivational Growth". At the time I wrote this about the preview:

"This just looks insane. I mean, there's a talking pile of foul looking mold... and someone obviously having some sort of existential crisis, and then reality blends with whatever messed up crap is going on here and... well I just want to be a part of whatever this is going to end up being."

Wow.. That's quite the write up.

And I still stand by that. In the same post I mentioned Quentin Dupieux's new film "Wrong" and honestly, watching the trailer for Motivational Growth, I see some of the same weird abstract storytelling at play, with some obvious body horror influences. Movies like "Jon Dies at the End" and "Detention" come to mind, or even Charlie Kaufman films like "Adaptation" or "Being John Malkovich". I'm wondering if the future of horror... or movies in general... are going to be more and more surreal stories that try to take the movie-viewer out of their comfort zone (I know it's horror, which is all about not being comfortable... but traditional horror movies can be a sort of worn-smooth comfy spot for horror fans expecting a certain "kind" of movie) by turning traditional story-telling conceits completely on their ear.

But what about the three-act formaaaaaaaat!!!!!????

Well... yeah. Anyway... I posted those youtube videos without giving them another thought and went on with my life.

That was on February 10th. Since then I've posted some other stuff. I've gone out for Valentine's day to see one of the other movies in that post (Silver Linings Playlist) and I spent my vacation off from work catching up on some other Netflix viewing. I had a payday Friday visit to Goodwill and I've participated in a couple of  League of Extraordinary Blogger posts. My life just sort of... went on.

And then on February 20th I was contacted by e-mail by Don Thacker, founder and director of Imagos Films... and the writer and director of "Motivational Growth".

And I was like: "Huh. I do not believe anyone who has written and directed a film watched by more than 3 people has ever contacted me via hotmail before."

Me. Totally normal, just checking my hotmail.
"Don Thacker? Huh. Cool."

He told me that he'd noticed my sharing the preview on my blog and that he wanted to reach out to me with more promotional information about the film. He showered me with informational links about the film, including one leading to the IMDb page and the one that leads to the Motivational Growth official website. He also mentioned that the film won the Boston Science Fiction Festival's "Gort Award" for Best of Fest.

That's... actually pretty awesome. 

And for good measure he threw in a link to the official poster for the film:

There was also a link for Vimeo containing a different trailer for the movie and an interesting treatise on the subject of "panic". I also learned that the type of mold featured in the film is Aspergillus which according to wikipedia is not known for it's powers of speech... but can cause all kinds of horrific invasions of the human body. 

Don't know who they cast as the mold but he's going full Stanislavski method here.  

Now, with all this being said and shared. I should tell you all that I was extremely flattered by Mr. Thacker's interest in my blog, and the fact that he took the time to contact me and give me the information he did. He's really taking the time to promote his film by hitting the (figurative) bricks and knock on (metaphorical) doors to contact folks showing interest in this venture. 

I was not offered any kind of financial incentive to help Don promote his movie. I was happy to do it because I genuinely think the movie looks great and I cannot wait to see it. I did let him know that there was no guarantee that I would be writing a favorable review for his film after I'd seen it (believe me, this blog has defined the box-office takes of many a film project with only a few deft words so... I can't even finish this ridiculous sentence) but that I was looking forward to seeing it whenever I was able to. He remained unfazed by this information... as he should.

So that was something that happened to me once. I posted a youtube preview of a movie I wanted to see... and the writer and director e-mailed me and contacted me due to my interest in his film. I found it surreal, and less a bit of proof that this blog is anything more than what it is... and more just that the internet is a big, weird place, and full of people doing fun things and working their asses off... and that I should never take that for granted. Also don't tell people you want to be a part of something amazing-looking unless you mean it, because the people responsible may contact you and give you information on how to help promote it. 

Thanks for your e-mail Don! Can't wait to see Motivational Growth at some point! It looks like a total mind-f**k!

That's it for today guys! I'll be back real soon with more Goodwill Goodies! Until then, Happy Hunting! 

Payday Friday 02-15-2013

Today I'm going to tell you about my last payday Friday, which happened back on the day right after Valentine's day. It wasn't as amazing as the LAST last Payday Friday, which was so epic I dedicated Not just one post... not just two posts... or THREE posts... but a whole week of four posts to it... but I still made a handful of finds that I was really pleased with just the same. I'm saving the very best for last... so if you're just here for the pretty pitchers, scroll on down to the bottom. 

First off, I'll start with one of the 2 grab-bags I picked up. There was quite the mix in there for 2.99. You can see the whole pile here on the left, and a couple of Pokemon on the right (there were actually 2 identical Pikachus in the mix, but I forgot to include the other one.)

Then there were these 3 sets of Hercules Happy Meal toys. I've never seen the movie, and I'm not sure who everyone here is... but I think the blue guy is the centaur villain, and the other two shells are Titans... Zeus, Hera, and a satyr (wasn't he voiced by Danny DeVito or something?) I think I like the rocky two-headed Titan guy the best out of all of these. 

The reason this grab-bag actually made it home with me are these Batman Returns Happy Meal toys. There's only the front half of the Batmobile (which fires out of the back end) and the Catwoman toy looks like a hungry dog chewed the crap out of it (I already have one, luckily...) but the Batman and Penguin vehicles look amazing. I'm especially in love with the colors on the Penguin's car. The blue and yellow penguin and the hypno-umbrella on the front... It just does it for me. So when I really face facts, I spent the 2.99 on those 2 items alone. Not the best deal I've ever made... but considering I would have happily paid .99 cents for each of them had I found them separately, I only overpaid by about a dollar. 

Here's a couple of YA books I picked up to check out. I've never read any of the Deltora books, but this is a compendium of monsters, which I just can't resist. The lush full color illustrations and pages packed with bizarre monsters just begging to be adapted for D&D... right up my alley. The Key to Rondo is a magical-world-accessed-by-some-weird-old-antique story starring some kids. I paid .99 cents for each of these. 

Here is another item I was particularly excited about. Death is a Lonely Business by Ray Bradbury in Hardcover was a nice  pick-up for 1.99. 

I can't even tell you how long I've been meaning to pick up this movie. So finding a copy of "Gladiator" at Goodwill for 2.99 was pretty spiffy. 

The last (and best) things I found on this trip to Goodwill were in this grab-bag full of Happy Meal toys for 2.99. And not just ANY Happy Meal Toys, but the transforming food toys from the late 80's and early 90's... "Changeables"!!! Some of these are robots, some of these are dinosaurs, and some of these...  

...are just weird only semi-transforming anthropomorphisized food items named Milly Milk and Otis Sandwich, from the Food Fundamentals line... who appear to be promoting a healthy life-style you clearly won't have if you are eating at McDonalds... not really Changeables at all. 

So here's this set of Changeables Dinosaurs that transform into McDonald's foodstuffs. Top row, left to right we see Big Mac-O-Saurus Rex, Quarter Pounder With Cheese-O-Saur, McNuggets-O-Saurus, and Hot Cakes-O-Dactyl. Across the bottom is Tri-Shake-Atops, Fry-ceratops, and Happy Meal-O-Don. 

Here we have some of the McRobots... Turbo Cone, Gallacta Pounder, and Krypto Cup. I had already gotten a few of the toys included this grab-bag from a semi-recent transaction I made with Brian over at Cool and Collected. A couple of them I had on hand already, so all total I already owned about 5 of the toys I found at Goodwill on Friday... but 7 toys I actually needed out of 12 ain't bad really.  

I plan on doing a post on my Happy Meal toys collection on here at some point very soon. These guys will make another appearance, and I'll feature the stuff I bought from Brian, along with some other stuff I had already, and/or found at Goodwill. 

For now though, that's all there is to report for last Payday. Between the Batman toys, a new-to-me Ray Bradbury novel, and those McDonalds Changeables I was pretty happy. 

I'll be back soon with more Goodwill Goodies! Until then, Happy Hunting!

Happy Birthday League of Extraordinary Bloggers!!!

It's League of Extraordinary Bloggers Time again! This weeks topic is a two-parter and it's all in celebration of the League's first Birthday! This insanity has been going on for a full year now... can you believe it?

1. Write about your involvement in the League of Extraordinary Bloggers and recall some of your favorite posts — these could be your own and/or those written by others. 

So first let me say Happy Birthday League of Extraordinary Bloggers! I'm glad we're not throwing one of those awkward parties where everyone comes and pretends like this little 1 year old who is barely walking is the life of the party. Those are THE WORST.

How I loathe you.

Instead... let us reminisce:

I think I've mentioned on here before that Goodwill Hunting 4 Geeks would not exist if it were not for the League. I started this blog specifically so I could join up with this fantastic band of merry madmen (and women) and blah-blah-blah on about the things I love. I started it so I could infiltrate their ranks and prattle on about geeky movies and comic books, and action figures. Mostly to talk about the things I find second hand, and mostly geeky stuff from Goodwill...

This is my Graceland.

...but mainly I just wanted to be a part of the community. I saw the connections being made through the League, and the camaraderie, and I wanted a piece of that action. I still feel like I'm a bit on the periphery (I'm more an Elastic Man or Red Tornado than a Batman or Superman) but I've made some excellent friends through the League, and participated in some great contests and gift-exchanges I would never have found out about if not for the League.

Some of my favorite topics-gone-by include the very first one I participated in: The League Road Trip. It was that particular topic featured over at the Green Plastic Squirt Gun blog that introduced me to the Bunny Man Bridge.

Nessssssssquiiiiiick....

One of my personal favorite posts here on GH4G was one of the recent Pirates posts I did for Pirates week. I showed off my collection of cheap skeleton pirate figures and just went nuts describing their back stories. I love those little guys, and I felt it was one of my more fun and funny posts (IMHO).

I promised myself I wouldn't cry.

Another personal favorite was the Christmas topic: Wishlists! It really gave me the motivation to think about what would actually be important for me to track down and collect at some point. 

I have a thing for skeletons okay?

I've discovered a bunch of excellent blogs showing off some of the coolest, drool-worthiest, funniest, and freakiest things I've even seen on the internet. And I'm going to go ahead and lump porn in there too. 

So to sum up: The League of Extraordinary Bloggers = Awesome. Happy Birthday! 

2. Come up with a list of potential topics you would like to see as future weekly League challenges.

So with this Birthday, Brian is getting lazy in his old age. Suddenly he wants us to do his job for him. Sigh. He's like that embarrassing grandfather that sits around on the couch in his underwear and demands you make him sandwiches while he talks about is bowel movements. You'll do just about anything to get him to just... just stop. 

Diabeetus.

So let's humor him shall we? Here in no particular order are my suggestions for future League topics:

More photo topics! Colors! They've done Green. That was before my time. I think it's time for blue or red or orange or plaid or whatever. More shelf expression! More themed photos in general! 

More one word topics! Horror! Puppets! Robots! Childhood! Monkeys! Adventure! Octopii! Kittens! Ninjas! 

More memory posts. What's your worst collecting experience? What's the first toy you ever remember? What's your biggest pop culture influence? What is your guiltiest shameful-est indefensible guilty pleasure?

Not... thimbles.

More crossover imagination madness!!! Draft your fantasy superhero team! Draft your fantasy curling team! Draft your fantasy Magnificent Seven! Pick 6 imaginary characters from pop-culture and tell us how they would all die in your fantasy horror movie! Recast your favorite movie with fictional characters from other sources!

More conquests! Your white whales and holy grails! Your best finds! Your happiest collecting moments! Your most unbelievable deals! Your most horrible losses! The ones that got away! All the stuff you've bought at Goodwill! (all right, that one's a gimme).

More pop-culture discussion! Your favorite movie and why. Your favorite show and why. Your favorite pop-culture role-models... and why. 

I've got more but I'm keeping them close to the vest for now. 

Here's what some of my fellow Leaguers are doing to celebrate the Birthday of the League!

- Achievements in Gaming 
- Whatever I Think Of!
- Fortune and Glory Days

I'll be back soon with more Goodwill Goodies. Until then, Happy Hunting! 

Postmodern Jukebox's Vintage Cover of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis's Thrift Shop

So there's this "Vintage" cover of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis's "Thrift Store" by Postmodern Jukebox.

Aaaand here's the original, which I already featured once before but... can't really get enough of. 

I'll be back soon with more Goodwill Goodies (Don't forget today was payday Friday! More on this sometime soon). Until then, Happy Hunting! 

League of Extraordinary Bloggers: I Love...

It's League of Extraordinary Bloggers time again, and this week's League topic is:

Write a stream of conscious post 
listing the things you love and hold dear.  

And I'll be honest, this wasn't strictly "stream of consciousness" writing, but it was as close as I could get. I went back and slipped in author names, and moved stuff around by category a bit. I just couldn't handle all the chaos... and it needed pictures. I discovered I love a lot of stuff. Way more than someone ought to love, probably. 

Like this. This for instance.

I love my wife and my three kids. I love my Aunts and my wife's cousins. Those people are my family. I love the things that make my life real and semi-stable, like my house, my job, my car, my friends. But those things should go without saying. Those things I love so much that the love is bigger than anything else I love, and it eclipses everything else. 

Wuv.

Beyond the big stuff... this may take a while. 

I love horror. 

I love Freddy and Jason and Michael Myers. 

I love zombies. 

I love the Walking Dead, and the Evil Dead, and Dead Alive, and Dead Snow, and the Night of the Living Dead, and Dance of the Dead, and Dawn of the Dead, and Shaun of the Dead, and the Return of the Living Dead, and... and... Zombieland. 

I love SE7EN and Scream, and the Descent. 

I especially love the movie V/H/S. 

I love Bubba Ho-Tep.

I love sci-fi/fantasy. 

I love the X-Files. 

I love Fringe. 

I love the first 2 Alien movies.

I love Indiana Jones.

I love the Goonies.

I love the Terminator. 

I love District 9. 

I love PUSH. 

I love ALF. 

I love cryptozoology. 

I love Bigfoot. 

I love chupacabra. 

I love the Mothman. 

I love the Jersey Devil. 

I love the Mongolian Death Worm. 

I love Nessie. 

I love books! 

I love Illusions by Richard Bach.

I love the Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey. 

I love Heart Shaped box by Joe Hill. 

I love Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. 

I love The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.

I love The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon.

I love Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer.

I love Halloween. 

I love costumes. 

I love The Nightmare Before Christmas. 

I love the Headless Horseman. 

I love fun-sized candy bars. 

I love jack o'lanterns. 

I love the Halloween Tree. 

I love the movie Trick R' Treat.

I love and red and gold leaves. 

I love kids walking down the sidewalk excited and happy for one dark but harmless (or is it?) night.

I love cartoons. 

I love the Thundercats. 

I love Regular Show. 

I love Inspector Gadget. 

I love Scooby Doo. 

I love Darkwing Duck. 

I LOOOOOVE Gravity Falls. 

I love Batman the Brave and the Bold. 

I love Aeon Flux. 

I love the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the original and the current series). 

I love Robot Chicken. 

I love The Real Ghostbusters. 

I love Adventure Time. 

I love some live-action "cartoons" like Pee-Wee's Playhouse and Yo Gabba Gabba.

I love the Muppets. 

I LOVE Sesame Street. 

I love urban legends and hauntings and dark history. 

I love Typhoid Mary. 

I love Lizzie Borden. 

I love Jack the Ripper. 

I love the Bunny Man Bridge. 

I love the hook-handed man. 

I love Spring-Heeled Jack. 

I love Bloody Mary. 

I love comic books.

I love the X-Men.

I love Batman. 

I love the rainbow-colored Lantern Corps. 

I love Spider-Man. 

I love iZombie. 

I love Planetary. 

I love the Ultimates. 

I love Leave it to Chance. 

I love Promethea. 

I love Hot Stuff. 

I love Ex Machina. 

I love the Fantastic Four. 

I love Astro City. 

I love Courtney Crumrin.

I love The Goon.

I love Y the Last Man. 

I love Hawaiian Dick. 

I love Watchmen.

I love a really good indie film. 

I love Punch Drunk Love. 

I love Brick. 

I love The Royal Tenenbaums. 

I love Reservoir Dogs. 

Did I mention I love Bubba Ho-Tep?

I love Joss Whedon. 

I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 

I love The Avengers film. 

I love Firefly. 

I love Cabin in the Woods. 

I love the Astonishing X-Men. 

I love Dr. Horrible.

I love Pixar. 

I love Toy Story (1,2, and 3).

 

I love Brave. 

I love Ratatouille. 

I love a Bug's Life. 

Yes, I even love Cars. 

I love Monsters Inc.

I love UP.

I love WALL-E.

I love Neil Gaiman.

I love Neverwhere.

I love The Graveyard book.

I love Mirrormask.

I love Coraline.

I love The Sandman.

I love Stardust.

I love Smoke and Mirrors.

I love Fragile Things.

I love American Gods.

I love mythology and legends and folklore.

I love Medusa and Stheno and Euryale. 

Image by Matt Rhodes

I love Trolls under bridges.

I love the Four Riders of the Apocalypse. 

I love Anubis. 

I love Bluebeard.

I love Rawhead-and-Bloody-Bones.

Image from 'Strange Lands' by Andrew L. Paciorek

I love Trickster Raven.  

I love toys! 

I love Masters of the Universe. 

I love Madballs. 

I love M.U.S.C.L.E.

I love Little People. 

I love Happy Meal Toys.

I love toys of ANY advertising mascots, the Noid, Cap'n Crunch, etc. 

I love toys from any of the cartoons, movies, or TV shows I love above. 

I love Hasbro Heroes figures (Galactic Heroes, Combat Heroes, Adventure Heroes, Robot Heroes, Super Hero Squad).

I love kid's books. 

I love Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.

I love Frog and Toad. 

I love Shel Silverstein. 

I love Dr. Seuss. 

I love Little Golden Books. 

I love Henry and Mudge. 

I love Jane Yolen. 

I love The Lost Playground by Patricia Coombs.

I love Jack Prelutsky. 

I love Mr. McGee and his little dog Dee. 

I love I SPY books. 

I love Where's Waldo. 

I love Chris Van Allsburg. 

I love Steven Kellog. 

I love thrift stores. 

I love flea markets.

I love rummage sales. 

I love yard-sales. 

I love garage sales. 

I love penny sales. 

I love church sales. 

I love finding geeky treasures at Goodwill! 

I also love what other members of the League Listed for Loves:

- Monster Cafe Saltillo

- Lair of the Dork Horde

- Fortune and Glory (Days)

- Sideshow Cinema

- Branded in the 80's

Well that's it for the love-fest folks. I'll be back soon with more Goodwill Goodies. Until then, Happy Hunting!