My mother and brother are heading down to Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow here for a visit today, so I’m looking forward to showing them around the area.
Highlights of the grand tour will include:
Mint Premium Foods: I really need to take a photo of this place, as any description I (or the NY Times writer who wrote this review) can do justice to the overstuffed, beautifully chaotic environment found inside this corner store. I found this photo on flickr, though.
Patriot’s Park: Not only is it a beautiful park, but it gets its name from being the place where the British spy John Andre was captured while attempting to return to New York City with plans for West Point given to him by Benedict Arnold. Writer Washington Irving modeled the “headless horseman” from his famous story on Andre, who was executed somewhere within the area that is now Patriot’s Park. It’s said that his ghost still haunts the park… but I just like to go there for the Farmers Market. [Read more →]
Jessica and I trekked up to Stockbridge, MA, two weekends ago for an exhibit at the Norman Rockwell Museum titled “LitGraphic: The Art of the Graphic Novel.” Good times all around, and we were able to have dinner with John Ostrander and a host of other great writers and artists after checking out the museum. Most of the post-exhibit dinner was spent talking about Chicago, IL, where Jessica and I hope to end up at some point in the near future. John and Mike Gold, the ComicMix Editor-in-Chief, are both from the Chicago area, so they played storyteller for us, including one tale about a street that was named after a drunken, bootlegging boat captain during the prohibition era who crashed into the river bank one night and decided to settle there. [Read more →]
“During spring break, Tebow added a new facet to his fame. In an impoverished village outside General Santos City in the Philippines, Tebow helped circumcise impoverished children.”
“Fort Hood” off Mike Doughty’s most recent album, Golden Delicious, has quickly become one of my favorite new tracks by the musician. I was thrilled to hear him play it live when Jessica and I caught his show in Troy last month, and I was extra-thrilled to find out that he’s created/released a video for the song. So… Bang! Here it is:
After you watch it, be sure to read his post about the song, and the decision to post it on YouTube, over on the Mike Doughty blog.
There’s no denying that the Merry Marvel Marketing Machine went all out for Iron Man — to the tune of $75 million, in fact. From games and toys to Slurpee mugs, in the run-up to last week’s record-breaking release, it was difficult to go anywhere without being exposed to some sort of hype for Ol’ Shellhead.
Nevertheless, I’ll confess feeling a little old-school joy when I see some of the new movie merch making the rounds. Over at Cinematical, the movie blog’s crew posted a detailed look at one of the promotional Iron Man action figures they received a little while back, while EW’s PopWatch blog generated a bit of envy here at ComicMix with their treasure trove of Iron Man swag. Oh, and for the Iron Man completist, IGN posted a fairly comprehensive guide to the licensed Iron Man merchandise you can expect to see on shelves — at least until the collectors get their hands on them, that is.
As is often the case, however, my favorite piece of geekery fell a bit outside the range of mainstream Iron Man swag popping up around the InterWebs. In fact, it was something resembling love at first sight when I came across the Custom “Repulsive Iron Man” Marvel Legends Movie Figure seen here:
It’s a beauty, right? Not only is the figure packaged with a miniature bottle of Bacardi and a set of beer cans, but it also comes with a piece of original artwork by Shortpacked creator David Willis. It’s the perfect combination of comic in-joke and webcomic fun.
Check out the product pitch:
Decked out in sickly green metallics, inebriated shading, and vomitous brown highlights, Iron Man is loaded with disgusting detail. Load him up with the various miniature beer cans or his trusty bottle of Bacardi and he’s ready to battle the bad guys, just as long as you point him in the right direction first!
So, yeah… It’s too bad the auction ended last week. That would have been $152.51 well spent.
You might’ve noticed a few changes around the ol’ MindPollution homefront lately, so don’t be alarmed… I’m just setting up a new theme and rearranging things a bit, as the old theme was just way too hands-on for the time available to me these days.
My new, collaborative Doctor Who analysis and review column kicked off last week on ComicMix. I’m quite proud of this series, and from the feedback I’ve received thus far, it’s good fun for anyone who’s keeping up with the current season of the BBC’s classic science-fiction series.
In the U.S., the series airs every Friday night on Sci-Fi, and all of the DVDs are available via blockbuster.com or netflix - so you have no excuse not to be watching it, folks. After the episode airs, I post full reviews and analysis of all of the Easter Eggs, hints and continuity checks every Monday on ComicMix. Be warned, though: I go into detail about the episode, so make sure you watch it before you read the review.
Here are links to the two columns that have run thus far:
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