Same seller, two different classic Transformers. See that Prowl over there? That is the sweetest one you will ever see. That is an AFA 90! Yes, 90! The seller pulled it before the end of the auction. I am sure that he was made an offer he couldn't refuse.

Next up is a sweet AFA 85 Jazz that with a final bid of $1385.

Tomorrow, the new Transformers movie toys are to be released. I will be at Target in the morning to pick up a Target exclusive Optimus.

A nice G1 Smokescreen went to the high bidder for $810 on May 6,2007.

Also a nice AFA 85 Hound was recently sold for $480 with subgrades of 85-85-90.

The movie Transformers are being released, saw the first batch of them at Target on Saturday (5/5).

Here is an Autobot Triple Changer that you don't come across too often. Transformers from Aircraft Carrier to Jet to Robot. I don't like the unrealistic scale of that transformation, but O.K.! I also don't care for the thrashed box, but still interesting to check out. Sold for $212.01 on 4/3/07.

Next up was a SWEET Ultra Magnus AFA 90 being auctioned from a seller in Germany. Nice!!! Sold for $664 + $70 shipping/handling.

Although Dirge is my least favorite of the Transformer jets, I still can appreciate such a fine example such as this one. This one closed on eBay yesterday for $523.00.

I really wanted this Optimus. Although it was not MISB, nor AFA certified, it was in SWEET condition. Also, the seller lived in the same town as I do. However, I was overbid. Closing bid was $305.00. This one still had the original Toys R' Us sticker on it...it was originally $29.97.

Two rare and killer Transformers sold on eBay this week, both AFA 85 examples.

The first was a sweet Construction Giftset that sold for $2,903.

The second was a Metroplex that sold for $1,625.

Both very fine examples of what should be in MY collection. = )

C-ya!

Yesterday I was riding around Frisco, Texas on my motorcycle in jeans and a T-shirt as the sun beat down on my face in 77-degree weather. I saw "the storm" (i.e., cold front from Canada) coming from the northwest at about 6:00 PM last evening. The temperature has dropped to 27 degrees (feels like 13 degrees) in less than 24 hours. It is going to get even colder tonight. I have never experienced a 50+ degree drop in temperature in such a short time span in my life! I'm glad I was able to take the bikes out one last time before the weather turned from sun to sleet. My endless summer has finally ended!

Hello all. I rented a few movies over the weekend and only one there is only one that I wanted to recommend to my readers. I rented An American Haunting (2006), Rest Stop (2006), and The Haunting (1963). The winner is the black and white movie, The Haunting. Even though The Haunting was released 43 years ago, it blows the new releases out of the water. To top it off, it is rated G! The G rated movie is more intense in psychological terror than two "unrated" movies. Actually, the movie is actually quite sexual in nature as well with numerous suggestive lines, even between two women! Rated G?????

So, If you see the the DVD shown to your left at your video store, pick it up and take it to the rental counter or immediately add to your Netflix list. Be prepared for 112 minutes of true entertainment. At the end of this movie I said to myself, "that was a really good movie. I really enjoyed that." With the other two movies, I felt guilty for wasting precious hours of my life (and no, I am not Catholic).

Today, the house is now a hotel located in the Warwickshire countryside in England. Click here for the details on the hotel. Be sure to check out the rooms. Very cool!

A SWEET Generation 1 Perceptor was sold for $910.00 yesterday on eBay. Considering the condition of this piece, someone scored a really good deal. I mean look at this thing. It is one of the flawless/beautiful non-AFA pieces I have seen!

4267 Roxbury Street

Although the house used as the exterior of the Feeling's home in the movie "Poltergeist" is located in Simi Valley, most of the neighborhood shots were filmed in the city of Agoura Hills, CA. The streets seen in the opening of the movie are Kanan Road (which is the road seen with the center divider and a single car driving on each side).

You can get to this Agoura Hills neighborhood by exiting Kanan Road from the 101 Freeway and turning north (right if coming from Los Angeles or left if coming from Thousand Oaks.) Then make a right turn (east) on Idle Drive and follow the map to the various locations. As the script called for, this neighborhood was very new at the time "Poltergeist" was filmed (1981) and has "grown up" quite a bit over the past 25 years.

There are rumors that graves of the Chumash Indian tribe that inhabited this area in the 1800's were actually excavated and relocated to what is now Chumash Park in Thousand Oaks in order to build homes here.

Thank you to http://www.seeing-stars.com for the majority of the location information.

Your host at the "Silver Shamrock Factory" - Loleta, California - Early 1990s

Halloween III: Season of the Witch is my absolute favorite movie. In fact, it was the first VHS video tape that I ever purchased in 1986 and I kept it even in the age of DVD!

Recently, the grocery store "featured" in the movie went up for sale and was sold in Loleta, California. Click here to check it out. It would have my dream to have purchased the store and convert a section of it into a Halloween III museum.

Not everyone likes this movie,the most critical and amusing review on the Internet was found here.

In related news, a huge fan of the movie "A Christmas Story" (1984) bought the house that the movie was filmed in and is restoring it to how it looked in the movie. He also bought the house across the street and is turning it into a museum for the movie. Read about it here.

A few select screenshots from Halloween III: Season of the Witch provided below for your entertainment. Bye the bye, the actress is Stacey Nelkin.

There was an article in the news back in June about Laika Studios that I have printed out and posted at my desk at work. Laika is the studio that I am most interested in working for, specifically in their stop-motion animation department. Not only are they poised to be the next hot studio, they are located in Portland, Oregon. Oregon is my #1 choice for where I would like to live and work. It would truly be a dream come true to work there and with this studio. Here is a copy of the article:

Nikes Knight buys land for Laika animation studio
By Sheigh Crabtree
June 18, 2006

Nike cofounder and chairman Phil Knight has purchased 30 acres of land south of Portland, Ore., to house a state-of-the-art campus for his burgeoning computer animation studio.

The future site, set to open in 2008, will house Laika Entertainment and its growing roster of talent and productions.

"Just as we anticipate our films will look like no other before them, so too will this campus make a bold and distinct architectural statement," Knight said in a statement.

The first phase of campus construction will include buildings dedicated to computer animation, stop-motion animation and corporate services including reception, executive offices, conference rooms, fitness center, cafeteria and theater.

Groundbreaking is planned for early next year, and an architectural firm and construction company will be announced shortly.

"This facility will be sought-after destination for the highest caliber of animation talent in the world," Laika CEO David Wahl said.

Laika Entertainment has two animated feature films in production under the supervision of Henry Selick. It was a production entity on his Oscar-nominated animated film "Tim Burton's Corpse Bride."

Selick's latest feature, "Coraline," is based on the international best-selling children's novel by Neil Gaiman. Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, and the comedy duo of French & Saunders lead the voice cast. It will be distributed through Focus Features.

The second feature, "Jack & Ben's Animated Adventure," set in the animal kingdom, is being directed by animator and writer Jorgen Klubien.

In addition, Laika recently acquired the film rights to one of the U.K.'s current best-selling children's novels, writer-illustrator Alan Snow's "Here Be Monsters," and will develop it as an animated feature film. Reuters/Hollywood Reporter.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter.

For Sale: Nightmare on Elm Street House
By: Christopher Campbell

There are two Transformer figures (AFA Graded) that I have left on my wish list, Optimus Prime and Soundwave. Unfortunately for me, these are the two most in demand action figures for collectors.

Optimus Prime is probably the second most sought-after G1 (Generation One) figure. The Optimus Prime figure shown to the right is an AFA 85 that a legitimate bidder outbid 26 other bidders to win on eBay yesterday for $3,552.

I would say that most sought-after figure is Soundwave. The AFA 90 Soundwave shown to the right sold late year sold for $5,100 to a legitimate bidder also on eBay.

Speculation among most collectors is that interest in Transformers will be renewed when the Transfomers movie comes out next July. Sellers have been anticipating prices to skyrocket after the release of the movie.

I took a photograph of my DVD collection today and wanted to share it with my readers. In addition to having all of my favorite movies, I tried to create a diverse library where no matter what genre preference a person has, they could find something in my library to watch if they were at my house.

I have been doing a lot more renting than buying these days in anticipation of the new DVD format. The two formats (HD-DVD and Blu-ray) are still battling it out so I am not sure which of the players I will eventually buy. The new Sony PS3 will play Blu-Ray discs, so I may use that player for Blu-ray and then purchase a HD-DVD player. Anyway, here is an article if you are interested in reading more about the format war.

If you have recently watched A Nightmare on Elm Street and enjoyed it (hopefully you rented it after reading my August 12, 2006 entry) you must check out Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994). This movie is like no horror movie you have ever seen. It is a total MF (other MF movies I can recommend are Dreamcatchers (2003) though the critics didn't like it but I did, and Donnie Darko (2001).) It is essential that you have seen A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) prior to watching this movie to pick up on all of the cross-references. This movie is a must-see horror movie for anyone even remotely interested in the A Nightmare on Elm Street series.

I became downright disoriented while watching this movie because of familiar characters playing unfamiliar roles (you will see what I mean when you watch it, but I don't want to to spoil the plot for you.) The footage of the Northridge earthquake of 1994 also added to my disorientation considering I was living about 25 miles from the epicenter at the time of the earthquake. Even though it has been 12 years now, I remember it well and the footage is very unsettling. Anyway, check out the movie...even the critics liked it!

Here are a few pictures of Heather Langenkamp from the Wes Craven's New Nightmare : Pic1 Pic2 Pic3 Pic4 Pic5

Oh, and avoid Freddy vs. Jason (2004) at all costs. It's complete crap.

Original Halloween Negatives Exhumed! Posted Aug 30th 2006 5:31PM by Scott Weinberg

Between the one with the lenticular cover and the "Network TV" version, I've simply lost count of how many different Halloween DVDs Anchor Bay has released in my lifetime. (I'll guess eight, and that's not including the feature-length Halloween documentary that recently got its very own DVD release instead of being packaged as Disc 2 in a normal Special Edition.) Me, I own one copy of John Carpenter's unquestionable classic (this version, I think), and I've never really felt the urge to invest in any of the subsequent releases.

But I may have to change that tune pretty soon.

Don May Jr., the horror-lovin' DVD producer who runs Synapse Films, recently let Fangoria know about a virtual Holy Grail of Horrordom: "What we've got is pretty much all the unused original camera negative from John Carpenter's original Halloween," is what May had to say, and to imply that the guy is very excited about the treasure trove would be an understatement on par with "Dr. Loomis is mildly obsessed with Michael Myers." What does this mean to you and me? It means we just might get to see an all-kinda-new and unseen-footage-laden version of Carpenter's classic, complete with new "clothesline scene" and an alternate (unused) ending. Mr. May also found a box of negatives that has "1981" scrawled on it, which is a little strange since Halloween was shot in 1978! The assumption is that this box may contain materials shot exclusively for Halloween's network TV premiere! Oooh, it's all so geekily exciting!

That said, don't expect anything to come of this discovery for quite a while. May's been in contact with original Halloween editor Tommy Lee Wallace and film preservationist Robert Harris, and everyone seems pretty darn excited about the find. No word yet on the state of the overworked salivary glands over at Anchor Bay.

The article above was pulled from http://www.cinematical.com/2006/08/30/original-halloween-negatives-exhumed/

A few things, first of all saw the Descent and it more than decent (I kept e-mailing others to see the Decent - ha ha!). The movie got great reviews from the critics and positive word of mouth spread its seed across the nation. It's a salad of Deliverance, Alien, with a little Blair Witch Project sprinkled on top. The last scene was a disappointment (that's what she said), but I thoroughly enjoyed the rest.

Secondly, came across a "killer" web site with filming location pictures for John Carpenter's The Fog. Click here to check it out. I have always appreciated this movie for the amazing beautiful outdoor scenery captured with an anamorphic widescreen Panavision camera. My saying of the day is, "Take me away to Bodega Bay".

Speaking of John Carpenter there is some big new for fan of his work! It has also been announced that Robert Cummings (a.k.a. Rob Zombie) is going to be directing a new version of one of the most of the most respected horror movies of all time, Halloween (1978). The new Halloween movie has a scheduled release date of October 2007. Rob has stated that this film would not be a copycat of any prior "Halloween" flicks. During an interview with MTV, Rob said the film will be "a bit of a prequel and a remake, combined." The movie will be set between the events of Halloween and Halloween II. The focus will be on Myers' evolution into a serial killer. It is not going to be Halloween 9 as some web sites have reported.

These are some of the coolest promotions ever! At the official Snakes on a Plane web site, you can fill out a form to have "Samuel L. Jackson" call a friend or loved one via telephone! You select options from drop-down lists that you choose options to customize the conversation. Completing the form is quick and easy and there is no need to sign up for a password or any of that shite. The safety Instructions are also pretty cool (they remind me of the Safety Instructions from Fight Club).

Not expecting too much from the movie itself considering New Line isn't allowing critics to screen the movie prior to release.

Even though the original A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) is a good horror flick and considered a "classic", it is not as good as the third. However, it is worth the rental fee to check out. This movie contain one of the most famous scenes in all of horror, the bathtub scene with Freddy's glove rising out of Nancy's bathtub. This is also Johnny Depp's first movie.

Here are a couple more screen captures of Heather (Pic 1 Pic 2).

For those of you interested in visiting the famous A Nightmare on Elm Street house, it is located at:

1428 Genesee Avenue Hollywood, CA

Note: If you listen to the commentary on the DVD, Wes Craven refuses to give up the location of the house, simply saying it is located in "Los Angeles".

Iron Maiden is my all-time favorite band and I am excited about their upcoming release entitled 'A Matter of Life and Death'. The new "album" will be released in early September of this year.

Maiden also has has a world-tour scheduled for this year. Unfortunately, Maiden will not be performing here in Texas. I was excited with the possibility that they might play here in Frisco at Pizza Hut Park.

Pizza Hut Park is a great new venue in the Dallas Area. I was there last month for Edgefest 15 (Staind, Seether) and it was a great complex to see a concert (and it is less than three miles away from my house).

To see the latest Iron Maiden video for the song 'The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg' from the 'A Matter of Life and Death' album, click here. This video was released just over a week ago and is quite awesome.

Even though I will miss out on Maiden, I will be at the Korn show here in Dallas (at Smirnoff Music Center) on August 5th.. I am very excited about being being so close to the stage (I have pit tickets) for another of my all-time favorite bands.

Speaking of cool shite, I wanted to include some photographs for The Transformers movie coming out in July of 2007. These are rather hard to find on the Internet right now (i.e., pulled), so enjoy!

Here is my list of adventures that I will take embark on over the next five years:

O Attend European rock festival (e.g., Donnington (a.k.a. Download Festival, Bloodstock)
O Attend South American rock festival (e.g., Rock in Rio though no longer in Rio)
O Attend Blaze concert in Europe
O Attend the Coachella Rock Festival
O Take a train ride through Redwoods (Northern California)
O Take a train ride up California coast (during the DAY this time!)
O Go motorcycling through the Swiss Alps
O Tour Scandinavia (visit The Viking Museum in Oslo, visit the Holmenkollbakken ski jump       and museum in Oslo, visit the Vigeland Sculpture Museum in Oslo, travel across the               Øresund Bridge)
O Tour New Zealand
O Tour Madagascar
O Attend rally car racing school (capture driving performance on video)
O Hike, camp, and canoe in northern Maine for 7-9 days
O Hike in the Amazon rain forest
O Go snowmobile riding and mountain bike riding in Wyoming
O Attend Jack O' Lantern Spectacular (formerly held in Roger Williams Park)
O Go canoeing in a Louisiana Bayou

Rock in Rio 2001
250,000 people watch the greatest metal group in history, Iron Maiden.

Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular 2003
5,000 illuminated pumpkins on a three-acre woodland trail .

I came across this killer illustration from Noma Bar of Stephen King that I wanted to share. Although I have only read a few of Stephen's books, I highly respect his creativity, passion, and dedication to his craft. His tireless productivity is definitely an inspiration to me. He has shown me what is possible in a creative field. I was curious enough about his life to visit his hometown of Bangor, Maine and was able to locate his home for a photograph back in 2002.

Speaking of creativity, while I was in California earlier this month, I took some photographs of the Fry's Electronics store in Burbank that has a 1950s Sci-Fi theme. Be sure to visit my Inspiration page to view the photographs.

Some movie news for ya':

The June/July 2006 issue of Giant magazine features an article on the stunning Eva Green, who will appear in the next James Bond film Casino Royal. The article on page 38 of the magazine mentions that the new movie will be coming out this fall. This movie will also introduce us to Daniel Craig (Munich) as James Bond.

In other movie news, the new Miami Vice movie shows promise. I am thrilled that Michael Mann (director and producer of the original television series) wrote, produced and directed this movie.

I noticed the new movie poster for the first time on Saturday (5/13) after a showing of Mission Impossible 3 at the Edwards 18 in San Marcos, California. Click here to view the trailer. The movie is scheduled for release on July 28th, 2006. Speaking of MIP3, I read in a magazine article (GQ at the Burbank airport) that Tom Cruise has 8 motorcycles. Cool, I didn't realize that he was so into motorcycles.

Also recently purchased the Hitchock Masterpiece Collection on DVD. Simply awesome.

However, I seriously doubt that this is is going to happen. The upsetting rumor is that this movie is going to be directed by the novice director, Rawson Marshall Thurber. If this is the case, someone please put a Colt 1911A1 to my head and pull the trigger. For those of you who are not familiar with Thurber, he was the director of the useless 2004 "comedy" Dodgeball. The

I had a great time with my friend Erik at Bike Week 2006 in Daytona Beach, Florida. While in Florida, we also visited my family in Merritt Island. In addition, we went to Epcot Center and stopped in New Orleans. Click the OCC Black Widow motorcycle picture to the left to see my photo gallery of our trip. Click here to read Erik's travel journal of our trip.

By the way, if you are a fan of the Super Mario Brothers video game click here now!

Even though this movie came out five years ago, it completely slipped past me as it did for many people. A huge factor for this was that the movie was released about a month after 9/11. I had looked at the DVD at he video store in the past out of curiosity, but I didn't particularly like the title, was unimpressed with the description, and I didn't like the DVD packaging. Erik recommended that I check it out, and he really came through for me on this one. This is one of the best movies I have ever seen. If you are into science fiction with a twist (e.g., The Twilight Zone) or are open to something for something a "little" different and you haven't seen this movie, stop what you are doing and go rent it...now! Don't believe me that it's that good? Read more about it here.

Regret Number 1
1999 Moto Guzzi Centauro Motorcycle

This was years after production had ceased. I had the chance to own one of the finest examples of the Centauro on the planet (with exception to the example of the bike at the Moto Guzzi factory at the Mandello del Lario in Italy). I called the shop in NY that was selling this and all of my questions were answered with satisfaction. This pristine bike only had 500 miles on it! The dealership also even placed protective covering on the exhaust so it wouldn't get scratched by customers. At the time this auction took place I was in college and only working part time and got cold-feet. I ended up buying a much less impressive copy of the same bike years down the line for the same dollar amount. Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch. This one hurt, BIG time. I completely blew it.

Guzzi01 Guzzi02 Guzzi03 Guzzi04 Guzzi05 Guzzi06 Guzzi07 Guzzi08 Guzzi09

Regret Number 2
Jennifer Connelly worn dress from Mulhulland Falls

I remember asking myself, what would I do with a Jennifer Connelly dress anyway? Still a good point! However, maybe I should have looked at it as an investment in a one-of-a kind piece of Hollywood history from the most beautiful and talented actress on the planet. Not to mention an unbelievable deal at the auction closing price of around $300! This item was on eBay back in early 2000 before the site really exploded to its huge number of users today (over 100 million people worldwide have registered to date). How much more do you think this dress would go for this Oscar-winning actress today? I blew it.

Regret Number 3
G1 Optimus Prime - Condition 9.5+

This is the sweetest Optimus that I have ever seen on eBay. The auction had ended at $1,150 back in 1994. The price has at least doubled for a figure of this quality since then. Look at the color of the box, it is as close to perfection as you get. I see no flaws. Unopened, and untouched perfection. Remember that is a 25+ year old action figure, this looks like it just came out of the Hasbro factory. One will come up again eventually of this quality, but it may take years of waiting and the price will be at double or triple the amount. However, I would never buy a figure in today's market without it being graded by the AFA (Action Figure Authority). This particular one was not AFA graded.

Regret Number 4
184 Jennifer Connelly Japanese Magazine Clippings

This amazing collection would be extremely difficult, expensive, and time consuming to reproduce. I could have had the ultimate collection in one swoop. These Japanese magazines are rather rare and go for about $20+ a piece. Even thought the auction ended at $365, I still feel I cheapened out because I really wanted these magazine covers to add this to my Jennifer collection. This is a rather recent auction, too (December 2005). I should have learned by now! The Regret, the regret!

Eric's vote for funniest moment of the American Chopper series (to date):

To get the full comedic effect, you really have to watch the episode from the beginning to get the full build up of the situation. Pauly is having spacer trouble on the rear wheel of the Police Bike. Paul Senior starts bragging about how he and Rick got the front end of the bike done and they (Pauly and Cody) hadn't even gotten the rear wheel on yet. Pauly’s response was so funny (and I think I can see him smirk, but can't be 100% sure), and Senior's reaction is equally as funny. It's a really short moment from the show (only 12 seconds), but I found it to be so funny that I watched it over and over again. Senior gets burned so bad, and he deserves it for gloating!

Take the time to check it out to see if you agree! A classic Ameican Chopper moment!

DVD Season 3
Disc # 3
Police Bike Episode #2
Chapter 5
26:08 – 26:20

On a gloomy and bitter cold Saturday, I purchased my very first motorycle trailer. I am really happy about my 1996 5X8 Kendon trailer that I purchased from Morning Star Texas in Dallas. It is a one-bike trailer that I primarily purchased it to take my Centauro to Bike Week in Daytona Beach next month. I am really happy how well the trailer goes with my truck. In fact, the trailer's rims almost match my trucks's rims...how cool! Here are the pictures of my trailer that were posted on the Morning Star Texas web site:

I get all revved-up about new motorcycle parts (this is to inform those who didn't read through my Centauro parts page). There is something very special about going to the dealership and getting OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) parts. If you ever break or damage a part, you can get an exact replacement for your exact motorcycle model, make and year. Even down to the smallest washer or bolt! It is such a perfect and pure experience. I guess that I respect the organization of it all. It is just so cool that you can rebuild you bike piece by piece if you wanted...for a price. Now this is not true for all manufactures (e.g., Moto Guzzi), but it is true for the big dogs like Harley, Suzuki, and Honda. This is also not true for older models, there is a cut off point. But for my 1999 Suzuki GSX 1300 R Hayabusa and 2001 Suzuki SV 650, it works out perfect!

To the right are a couple of pictures of recent purchases for my bikes. The first is various oils and oil filters, the second picture is of my new Pit Bull bike stands used for maintenance.

My friend Beth let me borrow the first season of American Chopper on DVD. There were a superabundance of impressive bikes that were worthy of commenting on. One bike that really blew me away (even though it was a non-OCC bike) was at the the The Rat's Hole motorcycle show during Daytona Bike Week 2003. I was completely blown away by this bike created by Freddy, Jr. Two years and $256,000 went into building this bike. Check the pictures here:

Rat01 Rat02 Rat03 Rat04