MYSTERY JOSMAN COSTUME

 

I saw this on Todocoleccion recently. Anyone know what this costume is from?

MONSTERS INK: Godzilla Drawings Commissioned By Terranova47

Hello Woodsy

Attached are the four commissioned Godzilla drawings by Carmen Cerra, from the story book I wrote, in sequence.

Even Godzilla is no match for Milesosaurus Rex.

I like them even if my Grandson didn't.

Regards,

Terranova47

NYC

[words in italics added by Woodsy]

LOOEY'S HOME-MADE THUNDERBIRDS AND STAR TREK GUM WRAPPERS .... and MORE!

Hi Woodsy! I was VERY impressed with Norman's ephemera collection. My Captain Scarlet choccy wrappers must be lurking around there too!

I was amused at the scrap booking with Sellotape holding the cherished items on place.

I have just finished my first ever Portrait of my friend Nick Stathopoulos, for the Blue Mountains Portrait Prize this year.

Nick is a Fine Artist, but I've known him since he was just a drooling fanboy and this work celebrates that history.

Here, he is surrounded by his closest friends and all the influences of his childhood ( mostly disaster movies!).

The display box is a mash-up of 1950's Bolland style amusement machines and 1970s style Greek action movie posters!

Of particular interest (maybe to Norman), are some decorations on the sides of the display box. Greek style Thunderbirds and Star Trek gum wrappers, glued down with yellowed Sellotape as if from 50 years ago!

Too bad none of them are real!

Keep on Bloggin' 

 Looey

Oz Base

LOPING ROUND LEEDS

 An impromptu trip to the bright lights of Leeds our nearest big city was a fun and festive experience yesterday, an unusual thing for us to do these days especially on a Sunday.

Evidence of the coming Yuletide was all around like this gorgeous Christmas tree in the Corn Exchange, the erstwhile grand circular Victorian grain market, now a haven for indie shop browsers.

Little shops where you can find ... Devil Man, not a Japanese character I know. You?

and customised Godzilla figures! Is that the King's original box below them? £75 is a king size price tag too! Would you pay that?

Some cute baby Gojiras and lots of new Japanese Manga characters in this cabinet, which are not my cup of cha but I'm sure they'll fly this December.

and this pugnacious fellow's name eludes me. You?

In a small bookstore I clocked new glossy editions of The Killing Joke and Death of Superman graphic novels, neither of which I have and either of which would be welcome under the baubled tree!

Were there graphic novels before the Killing Joke?

Onwards through the Victorian Quarter and its glass-bedecked wings of finery and festive glister ...

.... we arrived at Waterstones the bookstore in search of novels for our Grandson. Armed with a list from his Mum we quickly found them in the 9-12 section and then we began wandering.

I liked the film-related big books.

and the new copies of Dracula, a paperback I used to collect.

So many Star Wars novels these days. I remember when it was just Splinter of the Mind's Eye and Alan Dean Foster's other tomes available. Remember them?

In the Forever Young section It was nice to see Michael Ende's Neverending Story, a flick that will no doubt grace the Christmas schedules this year. I remember how it caught the public imagination. Getting Kajagoogoo and Limahl to sing the opening was a winner. Michael Ende, a Bavarian, died aged just 65, in 1995. I recall seeing his book MOMO in a German bookstore back in the 1980's for the first time - it had parts that read from either end I recall, like the palindromic name.

 Another novel on my bucket bookcase!

Richard Adams' Watership Down, along with The Plague Dogs, was part of my teenage rebellion against animal cruelty, as I'm sure it was for many kids back then. The film adaptation became a Christmas staple, although some scenes were too violent for very small children. Art Garfunkel's Bright Eyes was a melodious bonus. Like The Snowman and Father Christmas, it feels like another time, another world, when I see it at Christmastime on the telly.

Ah, fuzzy felt! What a blast from the soft play past. I loved FF as a nipper and used to gingerly place oddments of felt lovingly on those backgrounds. Was there a farmyard? This is the Jungle and is a modern re-release, part of a 'classic series'.

As a teenager in the late Seventies I began to soak up all and everything between covers that today we might call quirky or geeky. Some were children's' books and Moomin troll was one of them. I still have my Seventies Moomin paperback and was thrilled to see an entire section devoted to the Finnish stars.

Always of interest since I read Lord of the Rings in the office drawer of my first paid job in 1978 [don't tell them!] the Tolkein shelves draw me in. My own interest lies in 1970's editions but I always enjoy looking at modern fayre.

When did you first read Lord of the Rings?

Shirley Jackson modern editions have their own section. Last year I read the Lottery, a quite devastating short story. I've loved her work since finding out she wrote the original story which the film The Haunting was based on, a book called The Haunting of Hill House. I adored the Haunting and the movie scared the Bejeezus out of me, an amazing feat given that it relies largely on sound for its scares, a real aural shocker. I've one more book on the shelf at home, which I've yet to read; We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Jackson died aged just 48 in Vermont.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince was a novella  that my wife gave me as a young man when we first got together in 1979, a copy I still have with her inscription when we first began giving each other books, a tradition we've kept going for 45 years.

Do you give your partner books?

I've not read Joan Aiken's 1962 kids' book The Wolves of Willoughby Chase but I remember seeing the film vividly. Starring the late great Mel Smith, it was that quintessential chilly winter Sunday movie to watch with the kids like the Secret Garden, Uncle Buck and Curly Sue. I imagine it'll be on this Christmas season. Have you seen it?

Last but not least, theHound of the Baskervilles is one of my favourite books all round and I adore a couple of the movie versions too. At one time I collected different editions of the Hound and have quite a few loping in the attic. This is a modern edition with a rather nice cover ......

but I prefer the original cover and binding of the 1902 first edition lavished with golden lettering and a simple silhouette of the hell hound, a tome which would set you back upwards of a thousand pounds! I wish!

Have you read it readers? Do you like the film versions? Which one?

So that was our rare wander round Leeds. Do you visit your nearest big city at all?

Saved! Arto's Fosta & Tudor Rose Rocket Banks

As an addendum to my comment on Ed's fab October post about the Fosta Grant Rocket Bank, here's a snapshot of my Fosta bank along with two Tudor Rose variants (and friends). The red rocket bank is the one pictured in the seminal book on plastic space toys, Blast-Off! Have you got one readers?

Arto

Helsinki Base

SPACE BALL: all Strung Up.

 This a a new one on me I saw online.

The Space Ball.

A ball with a parachute.

Chuck it in the air and it floats back down.

Neat and simple. A born stocking filler.

I wonder if it worked?

Did you have one?

The chute reminds me of the chute on the Project SWORD Apollo Saturn capsule.

The plastic ball makes me want to fill it with ice cream! Remember those?

Catching the Worm

 I took this shot on holiday in Hornsea as the tide was fading on the beach.

 I added some darkness for effect.

The little flat topped sand-worm mound reminded me of this snap of Olympus Mons on Mars taken by Mars Express I think (Wikipedia).

Jeepers, let's hope there's no ginormous Dune-like sand-worm beneath it just as we plan to visit the red planet! 

The biggest mountain in the solar system and it's so close to us! 

The Lincoln Monsters Re-Issue Promo Clips

Paul A kindly sent me this top clip a while back and it fits neatly into our current them. I think these are the same figures, from Spectra-X, that Brian at Monster Base has bought.

Intriguingly the girl Victim appears briefly in the film too!

I've since found a more recent clip from two months ago.

What do you think readers?