Happy Halloween, True Believers!

I'll likely have a recap of the Famous Family celebration on Monday and then more Election '08 mayhem. Have a great weekend and HAPPY HALLOWEEN! For real this time.

VOTE HOPE or NOPE!

Couldn't Resist. Don't worry, you won't have to listen to me talk out of my ass about politics after next week!

TRICK! Wilco (and Colbert) Will Love You Baby!

BOO! I know I said yesterday I wouldn't likely post today, but (SURPRISE!) I just had to after seeing the clips above and below. Tired of reading the newest internet fodder that Obama's real father is Malcom X and that he's been using the power of hypnosis to brainwash people into voting for him? I'm not joking.

Well then, Nation, instead watch Steven Colbert interview Wilco's Jeff Tweedy up top and then watch them perform the most excellent 'Wilco (The Song)' (per Jeff 'just like Joe, The Plumber') below...

'Nation, that is a number one hit!'

HA! Wilco...Colbert...El Famous...will love YOU, baby!

Okay, Trick or Treaters...

Too much going on today and quite frankly, I think i've OD'd on Halloween after the past month's worth of content celebrating it. So, even though the actual holiday is tomorrow...i'll be taking the twins trick-or-treating so we'll conclude our Halloween programming today.

Please enjoy the Misfits video above and if I don't get a chance to jump on tomorrow...have a great holiday and weekend! MASH IT UP!

Plus, Just Like The Batman...

...you can get this sweet Barack Obama action-figure from Jailbreak Toys. I actually nabbed one for me and one for Owen at Border's today, as he has taken to yelling 'OBAMA!' when you ask him who's going to be the next President. Swear to God, we've never even brought his name up around the boys.

To be 'fair and balanced'...and, really, because every Superhero needs a 'bad guy', they also make a McCain...

...but he looks a little more like my Dad than Johnny Mac. I don't think it'd be too cool to let the kids pretend that B is putting the kung-fu grip on Grandpa or anything. Hmmm, now i'm wondering if anybody makes a blow-up Sarah Palin doll...

O! TV RAPS & Obama VS. The 'S Word'!

Under a week to go until election day and I can't wait for this to all be over. My man, B, will drop not only a 30-minute infomercial on most of the major networks, but (more importantly) he'll be appearing via satellite on The Daily Show this evening as well. While i'll be watching, I am a little concerned 30 minutes may be overkill.

That said, the McCain/Palin 'bent-rhetoric express' has been pummeling Obama with accusations of socialism since that ill-fated (and likely fabricated) off the cuff conversation w/ Mr. Plumber. Which is precious really, as McCain himself said in the 2000 race that there’s 'nothing wrong' with the wealthier 'paying somewhat more' in taxes...'wealthy people can afford more' and that 'the very wealthy, because they can afford tax lawyers and all kinds of loopholes, really don’t pay nearly as much as you think they do.'

Sarah Sixpack is Governor of a state has no income or sales tax, as levies on oil companies provide proceeds to both finance the government’s activities and enable it to issue a four-figure annual check to state residents. Per her, in an interview several weeks before the VP nod, they are 'set up, unlike other states in the union, where it’s collectively Alaskans own the resources. So we share in the wealth when the development of these resources occurs.'

B responded in kind by saying today that: 'I don't know what's next,' speaking at an outdoor rally in North Carolina...'By the end of the week, he'll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten. I shared my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.' Too funny.

You can read the piece I pulled most of that from in The New Yorker, a great retort to the countless emails that my Republican friends regurgitate prior to me debunking them via snopes.com. Plus, in an excellent A/V companion to said print...Nation, Steven Colbert:

'Clearly the McCain campaign is targeting it's most important voter: Joe the McCarthy.' Genius.

Can't Leave Out DC Comics...

They may not have had a Legion of Monsters, but they did have the Creature Commandos! I actually had this exact issue (plus a lot of the Marvel stuff posted earlier) and loved it to death.

Up until this post I had no clue if they ever made another appearance, but it seems they not only got their own mini-series...there is/was an updated version released a few years ago. Wow.

Mighty Monsters of Marvel II: THE LEGION(s)!

Old School?

New(er) School?

Mighty Monsters of Marvel!

'I Got A Rock.'

Just in case you missed it on TV...it's 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!' broken up into 3 bite-sized chapters.

Looks Like I Didn't Get the Memo...

...must have been out of the office! Now I don't have to worry about a costume, but really...isn't every month 'fun'?

8 More Days 'til Election Day...

SILVER SHAMROCK! Wait...ummm, no. Hopefully, no scares on November 4th.

One More Week 'Til Halloween...

SILVER SHAMROCK! Have a great weekend everybody!

Kinder, Gentler Slasher Greats...

Some great interpretations of a few slasher film icons from Dave Perillo. You'd never think they'd decaptitate you just for giggles. Check out his other stuff at Montygog's Art-O-Rama!

More Rocking Horror Movie 'Hits'...

MEGADETH - 'NO MORE MR. NICE GUY' ('SHOCKER')

THE RAMONES - 'PET SEMETARY' ('PET SEMETARY')

DOKKEN - 'DREAM WARRIORS' ('NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3')

Dude?

I had some stuff to post yesterday, but BLOGGER was all ganked up. Rest easy, we should be back in bidness today and return you to your semi-regularly scheduled useless pap. THANKS FOR WATCHING!

I Wonder if the 'Friday the 13th' Re-Boot...

...will have anything nearly as awesome as this 1986 Alice Cooper track from the 'Part VI-Jason Lives' soundtrack?

Is This Really A Good Idea?

Wow. I totally missed this, but I guess they are doing a 're-boot' of 'Friday the 13th' for release in 2009. I like the use of 're-boot' over 're-make', similar to Marcus Nispel's 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' in 2003 and Rob Zombie's 'Halloween' from last year.

I really had a lot of fun w/ Zombie's 'Halloween', but Nispel's 'Chainsaw' was just okay...slick looking, but not really that much of a step up from the original. Nispel is doing this '13th' re-boot as well, so i'm not sure what to expect. Plus, it's being written by the guys who did the overly goofy ' Freddy vs. Jason' flick back in 2003...IMO, further reason for skepticism.

It seems that unlike the recent 'Halloween', this 'Friday the 13th' would not be an actual origin story, but we will get a sense of the history as the film progresses. For example, we'll see Jason transition from wearing a bag over his head (ala 'Friday the 13th Part II') - to finding and actually placing the hockey mask over his face, unlike in 'Friday the 13th Part III' where he obtains the mask off-screen and comes out of the barn already wearing it.

Really, I don't take major issue w/ these re-interpretations of these major horror franchises. All of them ended up so diluted after the second or third sequel, they were neither scary or even fun/funny. In fact, 'Friday the 13th' probably suffered from that the worst...the first 2-3 were great and I even have a soft spot for the couple that followed those...but Jason's visits to Manhattan, Hell and (eventually) THE FUTURE were painful to watch.

Hmmmm. Maybe it deserves a chance to polish itself up. Watch the presentation of the teaser trailer from SPIKE TV's Scream Awards and see what you think...

World's Finest (Goofballs)!

'SuperLogan' wears the detachable cape 24/7...'SpiderOwen' pretty much is a real-life 'wallcrawler'. Still working on getting their Mom to dress up as Wonder Woman.

A couple of Bat-Mites. Personally, i'm a little more partial to Lo's Adam West than O's Christian Bale.

Family Values

ADDAMS.

MUNSTERS.

Ummmm....

Ghosts in the Machine...

'DARN, DARN, DARN!' Had to take the wife's car into the dealer, due to some screwy wiring issues w/ the driver's side door. Unfortunately, they won't have the kit in to make the repair until tomorrow. So, I need something w/ a little more horsepower to put me in a good mood...

Yep, thanks Marilyn, that'll do it. More poop tomorrow, kids.

Y'know, McCain Kind of Looks Like Frankenberry...

Going to visit family this weekend, no politics or work or anything else remotely stressful. Have a good one yourselves and i'll see you on Monday!

In Each and Every Every Box!

In case you missed the original figures on the box of 'Fruit Brute' posted earlier and seen above (thanks to neatocoolville.com)...

...you can at least get the 'Big 3' via the Medicom/Kubrick/General Mills exclusive set over at Toytokyo! That's right kids...

Boo Berry!

Franken Berry!

Count Chocula!

...and if you act now, they even have ginchy versions that GLOW-IN-THE-DARK! Head on over to Toytokyo.com and get yours today!

CHOCULA VS. FRANKENBERRY

They may be 'monstrously delicious', but they're no Bela Lugosi or Boris Karloff.

CEREAL KILLERS!

...what was really scary was the radioactive colors these would turn your milk.

Like Joe the Plumber, Bringing Alice the Meat...

GAS FACE!

Sorry kids. I've been slammed at work today and really don't have the bandwidth to dish out any major debate response. I will say that it was 100X more interesting than the previous two debates, kudos to Bob Schieffer.

I think McCain did what he had to do to reduce the bleeding, but it hardly changed anything other than giving some plumber that looks a little like Rob Corddry of the Daily Show his completely undue 15 minutes.

'Joe's the man!' McCain said at a rally today in a Philadelphia suburb as supporters chanted 'Joe! Joe! Joe!' (Sixpack or The Plumber?)...

Ironically, Joe currently has an income level that would make him eligible for Obama's proposed tax cut rather than the tax increase...isn't actually a licensed plumber...and actually owes unpaid taxes.

Regardless, his story clearly caught on with McCain's crowd at the same rally. Some supporters held signs saying: 'Joe the Plumber for senator. Undeniably qualified to clean up Washington's waste.' Sighhhh.

I'd Take a HANDFUL at My Will...

BZZZZ! Great 'PTMM' era press kit premium. A joy-buzzer...what could be more perfect?

In More Recent Mats News...

Throwing more fuel on the never ending fire over a Mats reunion, it was reported last week that Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson got together last month to 'mess around' in Minneapolis with Soul Asylum/Prince drummer Michael Bland.

Tommy told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that the trio didn't roll any tape, because 'that's getting to first base. We're sort of still in the dugout chewing gum.' But he also assured that he and Westy are 'good friends, and I'm sure we're going to work together again.'

Paul's manager, Darren Hill, confirmed the sessions to Billboard but added there are 'no plans beyond that right now.' With Bob Stinson gone, no interest from Chris Mars in turning away from his art career and what seems to be an indifference towards Slim Dunlap...hard to really call it a reunion anyhow. That said, Tommy and Paul worked together on some tracks for the 'Open Season' soundtrack that we're pretty nice...I still think it could be fun.

Pleased to Re-Meet Me...

As I stated in an earlier post, i've really been enjoying the recent batch of re-mastered Replacements albums. I didn't pursue Rhino's re-release of all the Twin/Tone stuff earlier in the year outside of 'Let it Be'...love it, but I don't go back to it nearly as much as the Stuff from the Sire -era. Needless to say, I was nearly 'kid on x-mas morning' giddy over revisiting the more-polished second half of their career.

'Tim', 'Pleased to Meet Me', 'Don't Tell a Soul' and 'All Shook Down' all get the deluxe treatment with 35 freaking bonus tracks distributed between the four discs. I would have been happy enough w/ the 'superior to my CD's still from college' audio quality, but some of the expanded material included is a lot of fun to hear as well. Some tunes are more interesting than others, but there are some fantastic audio nuggets on each release. I've thrown up a few of them in the sample area for you to enjoy.

More importantly, if you've never taken the time to really sit down and listen to this band...these albums are a great opportunity to get an understanding of what makes them so special to me and countless others. Even if you are a long-lost fan, it's a perfect way to rekindle your love of Paul Westerberg's oft-amazing lyricism on 'Here Comes a Regular', 'Skyway', 'Valentine' and/or the entire band's ragged pop rock glory on classics like 'Bastards of Young', 'Left of the Dial', 'I'll Be You'. Pure, pure bliss.

If anything, these albums will make you feel young again...and maybe challenge the notion you have life any more figured out now than you did then. That's what made the Mats so awesome, they were so uncool it was cool...so blatantly normal it made them anything but. I know a lot of people connect more w/ the earlier stuff, but for me 'Tim' marked the real beginning of what made them great...'PTMM' is still in my Top 5 albums of all time ('Alex Chilton' my favorite song EVER)...so on and so forth.

They are all up on iTunes, but I may have to pick up the CD's for the new packaging/liner notes...to further recapture the full experience of when rock'n'roll could really mean something to me. Something less disposable and something just as much a part of who you were than what you listened to.

Fear of a Black (Planet)?

...or is it 'Welcome to the TERRORdome'?