Julie Andrews and Gene Kelly

Here's a fun clip of Julie Andrews and Gene Kelly. With both of them being highly talented, it's a joy to watch them work so well together.

Power Pack Classic Volume 3

"Power Pack Classic Volume Three" is out. Hop on over to Amazon or drive to your local comic shop and pick it up today! The latest trade paperback collects Power Pack (1984) #18-26, Thor (1968) #363. When I was a kid I used to go down to my local drugstore and pick up a comic or two. "Power Pack" was at the top of my list. I loved it! Then Marvel went and did something silly. Starting with issue #26 they decided to only sell "Power Pack" to the direct market (i.e. comic shops only). What prompted this I don't know, but what it meant to me is I could no longer get "Power Pack" since the town I lived in didn't have a comic shop. I had tried subscribing to "Power Pack", but Marvel's cheap shipping methods made me decide to never do that again. All they would do is take a brown paper sleeve with the address on it and wrap it around the issue to be mailed leaving the ends exposed to the elements. Not to mention the issue would almost always get ripped, torn, mutilated, bent in half, destroyed, etc. Also, to add insult to injury, when Marvel made the switch to the direct market, they also stiffed me out of the last two issues of my subscription.  So I was supposed to receive issues #26 and #27 in the mail, but never did. Thanks Marvel, I really appreciated that.

The Smurfs and the Egg

"The Smurfs and the Egg" is the latest volume of the original smurf comics to be released by Papercutz.  It was originally scheduled to be released March 23rd, but  it's been bumped up to the 15th instead. If you haven't already ordered it, then head on over to Amazon or drop by your local bookstore and grab yourself a copy today!

Free Game - Professor Neely And The Death Ray Of Doom

"Professor Neely And The Death Ray Of Doom" is a fun adventure game about a professor who discovers one of his former pupils is  attempting to create a death ray for nefarious reasons.  The game is FREE! Go here to download it.

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

Did you know that the Wii version of "Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings" has a secret unlockable game hidden inside it? Well it does and it's none other than the fabulous "Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis!" While "Staff of Kings" is a fun, but short, action game, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis is an amazing example of classic point and click adventure game goodness!

To unlock the game go to the main menu and while holding down Z press: A,U,U,B,D,D,L,R,L,B. If you own a Wii you NEED to pick this game up, it's that good! Remember it's ONLY available in the Wii version, none of the other versions of "Staff of Kings" has "Fate of Atlantis" as an unlockable so run on down to your local Gamestop or pick it up cheap on Amazon.com.

Greatest Car Chase Ever

Probably the greatest car chase ever filmed comes from the 1968 Steve McQueen thriller "Bullitt".  While the rest of the movie is only so-so, the car chase scene is AMAZING! Enjoy the entire car chase courtesy of YouTube. If you would like to own this on DVD it's currently going pretty cheap on Amazon.

Marvel Masterworks

For several years now Marvel Comics has been releasing color compilations of their older comics in hardcover called Marvel Masterworks. The high cost of these hardcovers ($50 each) makes them quite expensive to collect if all you want to do is read the stories. Fortunately, they've finally  wised up and are also releasing the Marvel Masterworks line in trade paperback form at a much more reasonable price point. Out of the 153 hardcover volumes they've released so far, 25 are available in paperback, with a new one being released every month. The titles are links to the respective amazon.com page for each volume.

Vol		Amazing Spider-Man 01 !TITLE	ISSUES						Release Date

1		Amazing Spider-Man 01 !The Amazing Spider-Man: Vol. 1	Amazing Fantasy #15, The Amazing Spider-Man #1-10						2009-02-04
2		Fantastic Four 01 !The Fantastic Four: Vol. 1	The Fantastic Four #1-10						2009-02-25
3		X-Men 01 !The X-Men: Vol. 1	The X-Men #1-10						2009-04-22
4		Avengers 01 !The Avengers: Vol. 1	The Avengers #1-10						2009-05-27
5		Amazing Spider-Man 02 !The Amazing Spider-Man: Vol. 2	The Amazing Spider-Man #11-19, Annual #1						2009-06-24
6		Fantastic Four 02 !The Fantastic Four: Vol. 2	The Fantastic Four #11-20, Annual #1						2009-07-22
7		X-Men 02 !The X-Men: Vol. 2	The X-Men #11-21						2009-08-26
8		Incredible Hulk 01 !The Incredible Hulk: Vol. 1	The Incredible Hulk #1-6						2009-09-23
9		Avengers 02 !The Avengers: Vol. 2	The Avengers #11-20						2009-10-28
10		Amazing Spider-Man 03 !The Amazing Spider-Man: Vol. 3	The Amazing Spider-Man #20-30, Annual #2						2009-11-25
11		Uncanny X-Men 01 !The Uncanny X-Men: Vol. 1	Giant-Size X-Men #1, The X-Men #94-100						2009-12-23
12		Uncanny X-Men 02 !The Uncanny X-Men: Vol. 2	The X-Men #101-110						2010-01-20
13		Fantastic Four 03 !The Fantastic Four: Vol. 3	The Fantastic Four #21-30						2010-02-24
14		Captain America: Vol. 1	Tales of Suspense #59-81						2010-03-24
15		Silver Surfer 01 !The Silver Surfer: Vol. 1	The Silver Surfer #1-6, The Fantastic Four Annual #5						2010-05-26
16		Amazing Spider-Man 04 !The Amazing Spider-Man: Vol. 4	The Amazing Spider-Man #31-40, Annual #3						2010-06-23
17		Daredevil: Vol. 1	Daredevil #1-11						2010-07-28
18		Mighty Thor 01 !The Mighty Thor: Vol. 1	Journey Into Mystery #83-100						2010-08-25
19		Silver Surfer 02 !The Silver Surfer: Vol. 2	The Silver Surfer #7-18						2010-09-22
20		Invincible Iron Man 01 !The Invincible Iron Man: Vol. 1	Tales of Suspense #39-50						2010-04-21
21		Fantastic Four 04 !The Fantastic Four: Vol. 4	The Fantastic Four #31-40, Annual #2						2010-10
22		Amazing Spider-Man 05 !The Amazing Spider-Man: Vol. 5	The Amazing Spider-Man #41-50, Annual #3						2010-11
23		Doctor Strange: Vol. 1	Strange Tales #110-111, 114-141						2010-12
24		Uncanny X-Men 03 !The Uncanny X-Men: Vol. 3	The X-Men #111-121 (First printing omitted issue 121.)						2011-01
25		Fantastic Four 05 !The Fantastic Four: Vol. 5	The Fantastic Four #41-50, Annual #3						2011-02
26		Mighty Thor 02 !The Mighty Thor: Vol. 2	Journey Into Mystery #101-110						2011-03-09
27		Avengers 03 !The Avengers: Vol. 3	The Avengers #21-30						2011-04-06
28		Fantastic Four 06 !The Fantastic Four: Vol. 6	The Fantastic Four #51-60, Annual #4						2011-05
29		Daredevil: Vol. 2	Daredevil #12-21						2011-06
30		Mighty Thor 03 !The Mighty Thor: Vol. 3	Journey Into Mystery #111-120, Annual #1						2011-07
31		X-Men 03 !The X-Men: Vol. 3	The X-Men #22-31						2011-08

Free Game - King's Quest III: To Heir is Human Redux

AGD Interactive has done it again. After releasing upgraded remakes of both King's Quest I and King's Quest II, they've now released an upgraded remake of King's Quest III! Help Gwydion, a young boy raised by the evil wizard Manannan escape from his clutches and find out his true heritage in "King's Quest III: To Heir is Human Redux". Go here to download it. It's available for both PC/Windows and Apple Macintosh. Enjoy!

Checkin' in with Goofy

Disney Cruise Lines has a new animated commercial that mimics the classic "How to" goofy theatrical shorts from the forties and fifties. While I personally don't like cruises, I felt like sharing this as I really enjoy the old goofy cartoons and they did a really good job emulating them. Enjoy!

Free Game - The Silver Lining Episode 3

I've mentioned "The Silver Lining" before, but "The Silver Lining Episode 3: My only Love From My Only Hate" is now available for free download. This licensed sequel to the King's Quest franchise has been getting rave reviews.  There are three episodes available for free download, with more on the way. Go here to download them.

Turkish Delight Recipe

If you've ever read or seen "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" by C.S. Lewis, they you will remember the scene where Edmund first meets the White Witch and she asks him what he would like to eat and he says he would like Turkish Delight. As a child, I had no idea what Turkish Delight was, it not being a very common type of candy where I grew up. When I purchased the DVD set of the BBC adaptation of "The Chronicles of Narnia" it included a recipe for Turkish Delight. I've scanned both sides of the recipe card in and you can find them above. Click on the images to make them larger. If anybody makes a batch, please let me know how it turns out. Enjoy!

Crystalis

One of my favorite games for the Nintendo Entertainment System (N.E.S.) was the action role-playing game "Crystalis". It was similar to "The Legend of Zelda" but with experience points. 

The music in the game was amazing. It had a cool science fiction/fantasy plot. The controls were also really good. My original copy was either misplaced or stolen as I haven't seen it in over 15 years. So when I found a copy at a used video game store for $5.99 I had to pick it up. Even after all these years it's still a fun game. If you get a chance, give it a try and maybe you'll like it too.

Dan McDougall and the Bulldozer

I picked up this cool book at a thrift store, "Dan McDougall and the Bulldozer" by Lydia Pender with pictures by Gerald Rose. It's the story of a man who lives in the Australian Outback and wants to visit the city by the sea and decides to drive his bulldozer all the way there.

The story is really good, but the quality of the illustrations really bring the book up a couple of notches. I'm really glad I picked it up.

Superman Classic

Animator Robb Pratt produced this fun little animated film showcasing his retro take on "The Man of Steel".

Free MP3 - A pirate I was meant to be

Lucasarts classic adventure game "Curse of Monkey Island" has a funny song sung by the ships crew called "A pirate I was meant to be".   An MP3 of this song is available for download on the World of Monkey Island web site. Go here to check out the lyrics, download the MP3 and sing along!

Costume Quest

After ending up with an X-Box 360 (you can read about that here), I decided to try some of the neat downloadable titles available for it. One of the first games I purchased and downloaded was Double Fine's amazingly fun "Costume Quest". It's an exploration and adventure game with mild role-playing features. After I beat the game, I liked it so much I also downloaded the additional chapter they have available as downloadable content (DLC). "Grubbins on Ice" is the name of the additional chapter and it was just as fun as the main game. Now let's hope they release more chapters or a "Costume Quest 2" in the future.

Hornswiggle

"Hornswiggle" is a fun little cartoon short that was originally intended to be a pilot for a series, but it wasn't picked up. Instead it appeared in episode four of the "Random Cartoons" series. It was created and produced by Jerry Beck and directed by Rich Arons.

Lanikai LU-21 Ukelele

I'm normally not into musical instruments, but I picked up a Lanikai LU-21 Soprano Ukelele and I love it. It's decently constructed, has the classic Ukelele sound, looks nice, is reasonably priced and comes with some really nice Aquila strings. I've been very happy with it and I highly recommend it if you're looking for a decent ukelele that won't break the bank.

My two seconds of fame

Way back in 1991, GamePro magazine used to have a section called "Secret Weapons And Tactics" (S.W.A.T.) where people could send in their hints, tricks, passwords and such and if they printed them in the magazine, the submitter would get a free GamePro t-shirt.

(Click photo to enlarge)

One of my tips was printed on page 62 of the June 1991 issue. It was for the NES game "Maniac Mansion".

Maniac Mansion (NES)

Inner Door Combination
To open the inner door of the lab, don't
fix the wiring in the attic and the combi-
nation will remain 0000.
Chris Pepin, Escanaba, Michigan

Jason Price of Trappe, MD and Nathan Park of Sumiton, AL also submitted tips for Maniac Mansion in the same issue. I received a free GamePro T-shirt for my tip which was neat, but quite frankly the shirt was pretty ugly looking. Oh well, I wore it anyway. I later went on to write a FAQ for the NES version of Manaic Mansion that can be found over at gamefaqs.com.

Free Game - Quest for Glory 2

AGD Interactive has released version 2.0 of their free licensed remake of Sierra's "Quest for Glory 2". This is probably my favorite of the Quest for Glory games. Multiple paths depending on which character you choose (Fighter, Magic User or Thief). I personally like to pick the thief and use my extra stat points at the beginning of the game to give him the ability to use magic, but however you choose to play it, the game is lots of fun.Version 2.0 includes numerous bug fixes and it's also now available for both the MAC and PC. Go here to download it.

Good Old Games

Good Old Games (aka gog.com) is a website that licenses old computer games, strips out any DRM (if any), fixes them so they work on modern operating systems and sells them cheap. They even offer a couple of games for free, such as the fun adventure game "Teen Agent". I've purchased several games from them and it's really refreshing to be able to download a game and install it on as many of my computers as I like. I give them two thumbs up!

Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham

Back in the eighties Marvel Comics created a parody of their famous character Spider-Man called Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham. Various other marvel characters appeared in the series such as a parody of Doctor Doom calling himself Ducktor Doom. It's quite a funny comic and thankfully Marvel is reprinting and compiling it into paperback volumes.

Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham - Volume 1 reprints Marvel Tails Starring Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham #1 and Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham #1-5.

Star Comics: All Star Collection

Back in the Eighties, Marvel comics released a line of comics aimed at kids called Star Comics. It was intended to fill a gap left in the market after Harvey Comics stopped publishing. Former Harvey Comics staff Lennie Herman and Warren Kremer (famously known for their work on Richie Rich) helped to create many of the titles in the Star Comics line-up. 

Marvel is now releasing several of their initial Star Comics titles (Planet Terry, Top Dog, Wally the Wizard and Royal Roy) in a series of volumes called Star Comics: All Star Collection.

Three volumes have been released so far and hopefully more are on the way.

Star Comics: All Star Collection - Volume One 

Volume one contains Planet Terry #1-2, Top Dog #1-3, Wally the Wizard #1-2 and Royal Roy #1-2.

Star Comics: All-Star Collection Volume 2

Volume two contains Planet Terry #3-4, Top Dog #4-6, Wally the Wizard #3-4 and Royal Roy #3-4. 

 

Star Comics: All-Star Collection - Volume Three

     Volume Three contains Planet Terry #5-6, Top Dog  

     #7-9, Wally the Wizard #5-6 and Royal Roy #5-6.

Big Buck Bunny

"Big Buck Bunny" is a comical cartoon short about a giant rabbit being harassed by a trio of rodents. Produced by the Blender Foundation it is available under the Creative Commons Attribution license.

Sticky Burr: The Prickly Peril

As I mentioned yesterday, I found a book called "Sticky Burr: Adventures in Burrwood Forest" at a thrift store. I liked it so much that I ordered the sequel "Sticky Burr: The Prickly Peril" from Amazon.com. It turns out the sequel is just as much fun as the original. This graphic novel is smart and funny with great characters. It's main audience is intended to be 4 to 8 year old kids, but every adult I've shown it to has liked it themselves.

Sticky Burr: Adventures in Burrwood Forest

I found this while perusing the shelves of books at my local thrift store. It's a fun graphic novel aimed at children from 4 to 8 years old.  "Sticky Burr: Adventure in Burrwood Forest" by John Lechner is really quite good. I laughed out loud several times while reading it. The art style is perfect for the book. Sticky Burr, the lead character in the book is always getting stuck to things. He also gets chased by Scurvy and Spiny Burr, the local bullies. In spite of these things, however, Sticky Burr goes on an adventure and becomes a hero.

Battletoads cartoon pilot

Here's a cheesy pilot for a cartoon based on the video game "Battletoads" It's split into two parts.



It tries so hard to be as cool as the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", but fails so miserably.

Gamefaqs.com

Have you ever been stuck in a game and not know what to do? Try looking up the answer in a FAQ (Frequently Asked Question), strategy guide or walk through over at GameFAQS.com. The site is a great place for gamers to share information about games they know. Anybody can write a FAQ and submit it to the site for others to read. In fact, I have several FAQS on the site. The most famous is probably my FAQ for the NES version of Maniac Mansion. Gamefaqs.com has been around for over fifteen years, but I still occasionally run across a gamer who's never heard of it. If you play any sort of video or computer game then you need to bookmark this site and keep it handy.

An X-Box 360 comes back from the dead

My friend had two X-Box 360s that were broken. One had a broken DVD drive, the other would output sound but no video. Since I like to tinker, I gave him $25 for the two broken machines and got to work. The one with no video looked like it could be fixed with the same procedure that fixes the "Red Ring of Death!" (Cue scary music.) The one with the broken DVD drive booted up fine but the drive tray on the DVD drive was busted clean off. Getting this one fixed seemed like the best option, but there was a catch. You can't just buy a replacement drive and drop it into the X-Box 360. Microsoft flashes a serial number into the DVD drive's firmware that has to match the serial number of the motherboard in the X-Box 360 or else it won't play any games. However, when I had both X-boxes torn apart, I noticed one of the DVD drives was a Toshiba/Samsung MS25 and the other drive was a Toshiba/Samsung MS28. Looking them up online, I found that hardware wise the two drives were exactly the same, the MS28 was just a version of the drive with newer firmware.

Following this tutorial, I disassembled both DVD drives and swapped the circuit boards. Now I had a working DVD drive with a circuit board containing the correct serial number. I popped it into the X-Box 360 that originally had the broken drive and tested it out. The X-Box 360 booted up fine and I was able to play a game on it. Success! The other X-Box 360, I stuck in a box for now. I'll worry about fixing it whenever the other one dies. For $25 and a little bit of time and effort  I now have a working X-Box 360!

The Smurfette

I've talked about the Smurf comics before, but since today is the release date for the fourth volume in the series I thought I would let everyone know it's now available. They're Smurfin' good!