My Odds & Ends: AMENDMENT #2!!!

[packerbacker180]

I like Josh Gates. I find his shows pretty informative and entertaining. But I do think his stuff is better when he covers things like lost artifacts and ancient history,

[BrandonDaCollector]

Yeah he is but I'm not big on debunkers I mean there's a lot of'em out there

[packerbacker180]

I wouldn't call him a debunker. I think as an archeologist and a member of the Explorer Club he has to be more fact based and look for the simple, rational, explanation for things to carry any credibility. It's not like Ghost Hunters where he's a Roto Rooter plumber by day and ghost hunter by night, lol.

[BrandonDaCollector]

Well I give him kudos for his hard work

[packerbacker180]

Ah, here we go, much sooner than I original thought with a Wehrenberg Theaters special

I love stadium seating, don't get me wrong. It's terrific. There's very few theatres in the area I know that don't have it yet, even the cheapie theatre that has movies that are a bit older went with stadium seating. And why not? I don't think most movies get the same crowds they used to back in the day. They're so expensive. And lord help you if you want popcorn and a drink. Better take out a loan.

Most of the theatres I remember from my younger years are long gone so it's neat you still have something like that in your area. The ones I went to closed long ago and now we have mostly Regals and a few AMC theatres that are all cookie cutter. And one drive-in with four screens. There are a couple old school style theatres in nearby towns, but they weren't ones I ever frequented in my youth, and I haven't been inside of most of them. Except one.

In East Aurora, NY, there's a theatre called the Aurora Theatre. They even have the old school marquee outside.



There's a historic five and dime store across the street called Vidler's that is pretty famous. I've been there mnay times but never to the Aurora.



But when Jurassic World came out my daughter got invited to a birthday party at the theater to see that movie, so I dropped her off outside and then went about running errands. But to pick her up, I had to go inside and it was amazing. The actual theater had 100s of seats in dozens of rows. It was quite a sight to see. This was one of the pictures I found online but it doesn't really do it justice. You get so used to like 10 recliners in a row and maybe 7-8 rows at most in a theater, and then see something like that, like a sea of seats, it almost takes your breath away.



It brought back some memories of when places like that would be filled for a movie. I know given the choice; I'd take the stadium seating though. Having all that leg room and a comfy recliner is tough to beat. Especially with how long some films can be.

These days though, for the majority of movies I'd like to see, it's cheaper and just as comfortable to watch them at home. The only things I still go out for are cartoons my kids wanted to see, or Star Wars, even though most of the recent Star Wars movies were very deserving of the honor, lol.

I already told you my story of seeing Ghostbusters at the drive-in when I was young and how the library scene freaked me out to the point where I hated going into the shoe stockroom at the AM & A's my mom worked at because the long aisles made me think of GB and I half-expected the shoe boxes to fall off the shelves by themselves. Ah, to be young and impressionable again. I still haven't seen A Quiet Place 2 even though it's been on the DVR since last spring. I just, I don't know, I never feel like spending the time watching a movie when there's so many other shows and events to watch. Movies are just a longer time investment per sitting, and I'd rather watch something shorter.

[BrandonDaCollector]

Wow, thanks for the reply PB See, isn't it fun showcasing and talking locations old & new I don't know why other don't elsewhere as I feel it is crucial in many ways.

Yeah, it's a shame Marcus ain't every where cause like I said in My showcase they have $5 Tuesdays and I took advantage of that by seeing 3 to 4 films in a setting/a night. It was fun but oh I would be exhausted cause I'd be there for like 8 to 12 hours but I would only do this once a month as there was only about 4 films I'd want to see for that month. That's only $20. I don't know why people would go any other day. Of course their food and drinks were a bit high but with their rewards & bonus point programs you can get $5 to $10 back kinda fast and get your stuff much cheaper.

Your theaters looks great. I love them pics and all that and all your history you said there Congrats to your daughter That showroom reminds Me of the Kingsland where I saw Batman Returns in 92, one day I gotta showcase that theater. Wehrenberg/Marcus has an IMAX screen. The seating is similar like that but the screen is much bigger, like 50 feet by 50 feet. I loved that, it was truly the most awesome way to see a big action flick or even horror movies like the recent two part IT movies

I loved going to the show, it was so fun in so many ways but the p!amDemic took care of that

Yes, I remember you talking about your GBs moment, I'm sure that was something else too Yeah, I still haven't seen AQP2 yet either. Maybe soon, I've been thinking of it for a while now. Yeah I know what you mean but sometimes TV shows can be as long if your really into'em

Thanks for your reply PB, I really, really appreciate it OK, if we are done here I'm gonna soon post My first entry here for Halloween, later

[BrandonDaCollector]

That's right...Little Monsters by NOW Comics NOW was really good and was owned by Caputo Publishing, Inc. but unfortunately they folded in 2006 I had showcased a Ghostbusters comic in My Vintage Action figure Topic last year for Halloween So I have had this planned for a long time now for Halloween time cause it's one of My many yet few horror type comics A while back Me & PB were talking about Fred Savage & Little Monsters (I also spoke about the Wizard which you can check that out in My first/main Video Game Topic) and I'm like I got a little bit from the movie and here it is The movie also starred his real life brother Ben, How'ya Doin' Howie Mandel, Daniel Stern, Frank Whaley & the late great legendary Rick Ducommon! I only have one comic of the movie which is the last part of the special series which 6 out of 6 and was only $1.75 Now the film came out in the great year of 1989 however the comics came out in 1990, June in particular for this presentation. I cannot say for certain where I got this but I know it was either one of two places: Paramount Drugs or 7-11 by the Our House. I have greatly showcased both of them rather recently here in My Odds & Ends with some great moments of Mine. I tend to believe I got this at the former. My Grandma would usually get Me a comic or two when We waited for her prescriptions as they had a really nice stand there with little types of toys too, Paramount Drugs was really one of the funnest places to be, even for a kid The 7-11 was as well as I have noted before an dthat is actually were I saw My first Arabian in person as side note I meant to to point point earlier in My Glory Days of Movie Rentals

So I'm not going to go into detail here about the comic except for some brief various things so here we go. Right away we see a great Double Dragon II ad for the NES that shows how things were about to change with much promise of good things to come for the 90s that when you open up the comic. The Little Monsters story begins with it's main characters with some really cool pictures



The story progresses with a lot of shenanigans going on there. Well I'll be, there's an ad for the first Double Dragon for the NES Ah gosh these times were good, I loved Double Dragon



Holy cow, an ad for a monthly comic of Married with Children...can you believe that Here is more of the actual Little Monsters comic itself




Far out, NOW has their own video collection of Speed Racer My Mom loved that cartoon



Here is an ad to subscribe to NOW and look at that, the ULTIMATE VIDEO GAME CLUB Look at all them wonderful video game logos, ah these were the days



So the Little Monsters Comic has it's climax. There is the NOW Newsflash & What Now Comic Caper



Here is the wonderful Copyright Info and look at the Back Cover, it has Tiger Electronics' Ninja Gaiden Ah that is amazing, Double Dragon I & II within Little Monsters and ends with Ninja Gaiden, now I find that incredibly satisfying for the good ol' days



Well, I hope you enjoyed this Little Monsters Comic special. I have some more great spooky comic stuff coming soon for this Halloween Until then I'll see you around

[packerbacker180]

Never knew there was a comic of that movie out there. Can't say I ever heard of the comic company. It was never a film I was too fond of being a little bit older. I didn't even realize it was Howie Mandel until years later because I didn't pay that much attention to it and didn't really know who he was back then, though I'd seen him in many things. A $1.75 seems pretty pricey for back then, lol. I love old ads in comics, my favorites were always the Saturday morning cartoon lineups you'd see occasionally, and of course, old video game ads. Good times.

[BrandonDaCollector]

How about that. Yeah, he is quite hidden under that makeup. Yeah, $1.75 is it pricey but NOW was a bit higher than DC & Marvel but they were popular. Oh yes, that was always a fun thing for Me is to look at the ads hence the reason why I chose to present them here. Thanks for your reply PB, more coming soon

[BrandonDaCollector]

So here we go with another comic..on Halloween no less as I had planned long ago but this one is going to be quite different compared to My NOW Little Monsters Comic for some different reasons. This comic is based off of the cool 1993/1994 horror film THE DARK So the movie stars Stephan McHattie, Cynthia Belliveau, Neve Campbell in one of her first roles before her Scream days and the late great bad guy actor Brion James.

If you are unfamiliar with it go here ---> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109551/

The story is really good and while it seems like a monster movie, it's actually more of a Cryptozoological film than your typical horror flick as it deals with a Prehistoric Rodent that has survived since the Triassic, possibly the Jurassic period of the Mesozoic. It falls in the cateogory of the Lazarus Effect The specie is subterranean and scavenges off of the dead in the grave yard making the film go horror. There is one man (McHattie) who saves a good looking waitress (Belliveau) from a biker gang who joins him on the hunt for the creature for science while a rogue FBI agent (James) is on the verge to kill the creature for the moolah while a female deputy (Campbell) joins the heroes with more than she bargained for

OK, so now you know the story of the film, here is the story as to how I got this great comic. I got it from Star Video as a special promotional item back then in 93/94. I had showcased Star Video greatly just recently in My Glory Days of Video Rentals and said so much good stuff about them including getting WWF Promotional items from them as well. Now I don't recall if this comic was free however, is all I remember is Me & My Grandma going there looking at the new releases like usual which We'd always go for the horror ones. Star Video had coming soon booklets there where we could follow a release date (Holliwood Video had similar ones too). We saw The Dark advertised and thought it looked really good so We rented it and I got the Comic and that was that. It was really cool back in them days and I miss those times so much

Now as for as this comic movie adaption goes, it is published by Northstar. It is quite rare, in fact its very obscure. It's one of those countless things that has fallen into oblivion I'm afraid Sometimes you can find one on the bay and they usually go pretty cheap. So here is the Front Cover which depicts the film's story in a nutshell perfectly. You open the comic and there's a bonus Movie Pictorial with the story at hand with credits and such as this is like an actual mini movie poster! Next is the comic itself which does a terrific job starting off when the film really begins with the two cemetery guys. In the film we really don't see the creature up close til later but in the comic we do




Here we go with the main characters and what the film is all about




Ah, here is the Comic's radical depiction of the monstrous Prehistoric Rodent Also a special page of Behind the Scenes & The Making the Monster



Here is the Back Cover & Northstar's Logo! Look at his hand, clearly like a Rodent



Here is special closeup of The Making of the Monster



Now notice compared to My NOW Little Monsters Comic, there was NO ADS here. Northstar went all out with not a single advertisement, now that is saying something

So if you want to see the trailer and more than click below--->

Spoiler:

Now the film is actually a slight remake of the fun horror 1979 The Dark movie



Here is the actual trailer for 1993/1994 The Dark that My great Northstar Comic was based from



Here is the actual FULL MOVIE of 1993/1994 The Dark

I plan on revisiting this movie of The Dark in the future in My Cryptozoology topic to further show it as a film and the importance of it. So I hope you enjoyed this and were even a bit surprised for this special for and on Halloween. I have 1 more special comic similar like this that will be coming next and soon, until then I'll see you around