Little Golden Book Monday #8

Today's Little Golden book is Walt Disney's Once Upon a Wintertime. The story is adapted by Tom Oreb from the Walt Disney motion picture "Melody Time", and is copyright 1948 and 1950. It tells the story of a young couple who take a sleigh ride and go ice skating on thin ice before being saved by some helpful woodland creatures. It is told in verse and adorned with wonderful artwork by the Walt Disney Studio. The inscription on the inside front page reads "This book belongs to Carol-Ann Cob, 1950, From unknown". I am not sure why they would bother to write From unknown... maybe it was their old aunt Mable Unknown from Oshkosh.

The New Pet Sensation... Crazy Crabs

Everyone loves a great comic book cover, but what about the back cover? You can find the most interesting things in the world back there!
Today we have a look at "The new live pet sensation that's sweeping America" Apparently the Transcience Corporation of New York, NY was hoping to cash in on the popularity of Sea Monkeys with this twist on the much loved Sea Monkeys--Crazy Crabs!
This ad comes from the back cover of a 1978 Yosemite Sam comic book.
Here is some of the sales pitch from the ad: "A Crab of AMAZING INTELLIGENCE! A truly INTELLIGENT pet, give it a name such as L'il Caesar, Leapin' Linda, Happy Henry, Sandy Claws, Tippytoes, Sexy Snooky, Merry Mimi, Tiny Tim, etc., and see how well it responds when you call it! It loves to be touched and petted, and enjoys running from hand to hand, swinging from your fingers or just cuddling on your shoulder like an adorable tame parrot. But that's just the STAR of the FUN that awaits you! You get instructions for paying FOUR "Crazy Crab" Races and Games including a BAFFLING new magic trick called "The Haunted Coffee Cup", that uses a "Crazy Crab" as your "Assistant"!"
I also like the text that reads "Actual "Crazy Crab" photos which is placed beside the obvious drawings!
Then there is the promise of a "Free carrying crate". Yes that's right, they give you a free cardboard box with each Crazy Crab you order!
Lastly, the ad says: "And to create some REAL EXCITEMENT, you can even "customize" it! Because it is a hermit crab, its shell is not its own and can be painted, covered with dazzling rhinestone jewels or decorated any other way without harm! It looks SO SPECTACULAR, you can proudly "shot it off", give as a "personalized" gift or, it you wish, even SELL for profit!"
That's right, you can Bedazzle your Crazy Crabs and sell them for profit! What a great idea for a home based business!
And don't forget, they come with a Money Back Guarantee!

Free Comic Book Day 2007

It's almost here... The 6th Annual Free Comic Book Day Saturday, May 5th, 2007. Don't miss your chance to get FREE comic books, simply by stopping by your local comic store! What is Free Comic Book Day? As the name implies, Free Comic Book Day is a single day when participating comic book shops across North America and around the world are giving away comic books absolutely free to anyone who comes into their stores. That's right, just walk into your local comic shop and you can walk away with a pile of cool comics books. That's right, you can walk out of the store with free comics... you won't have to leave the store running!

Little Golden Book Monday #7

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Gerald McBoing-Boing is a 1950 animated short film produced by UPA and given wide release by Colombia Pictures on January 25, 1951. The winner of the 1950 Academy Award for Best Animated Short, Gerald McBoing-Boing is the story of a little boy who speaks through sound effects instead of spoken words. It was adapted by Phil Eastman and Bill Scott from a story by Dr. Seuss, and directed by Robert Cannon. The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. In 1994, it was voted #9 of The 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field.
Today I present the 2004 "Gerald McBoing Boing" Little Golden Book. I remember seeing the cartoon for this title many times as a young kid and as soon as I saw the cover of this one, I immediately remembered the story and wanted to add this to my collection. I absolutely love the retro style of artwork throughout the book!

Some Cool Comic Book Finds

The other day at the local comic shop, I picked up some great comics from the junk bins. A lot of times I pick up comics just because I like the cover artwork. I have a comic book spinner/rack that they used to have at local convince stores etc to sell comics. These new additions will look great displayed on my comic book spinner. three of the comics pictured are: Fox and the Crow, DC Comics, 1964. Dennis the Menace, CBS Consumer Publishing / Fawcett, 1979. Night Rider, Marvel Comics, 1975.

Disneyland Gate Flyers

A coworker recently went to Disneyland. Knowing that I am a huge Disneyland fan, he asked if there was anything I would like him to bring back for me. Although there is probably thousands of dollars worth of park items I would love him to drag home for me, I really can't afford that (and I'm sure his luggage would not fit all my wants)! So instead, I asked for what I always ask for which is the park gate flyers that you receive as you enter the park. They have a map of the park inside and a listing of all the attractions, dinning, shows etc. Its a nice way to see how things change in the park over the years. In the past they used to have a new gate flyer each week and they were dated at the top. As the parks try to keep things 'cheap', they have gone to a more generic gate flyer which can last for months at a time. Here I present the the Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure gate flyers for the month of February 2007. The covers feature the promotional artwork for the new Rockin' Space Mountain and Rockin' California Screaming, which takes the two rides and adds music from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to them while you ride. You will notice that the Disneyland flyer is mint, but the California Adventure flyer has been bent and creased. I found that kind of funny, as DCA is always considered to be a substandard version of a Disney park. Disneyland is always considered to be kept so clean and pristine, while DCA is thought of as not being kept up to the standards of Disneyland... now it seems the gate flyers are following the trend ;-)

Little Golden Book Monday #6

I found this one at the local Salvation Army the other day among a large selection of Little Golden Books that I had seen a million times before. This one caught my eye, as I had not seen it before, and it had Fozzie Bear on the cover. Fozzie Bear and Bean Bunny are my two favorite Muppet characters, so fining a book with Fozzie on the cover it was a "great find"! Although I was not a big fan of the Muppet Babies which this book features, its still a great addition to my collection. This one is from 1995.

The Montgomery Biscuits

I love logos and I am always checking out new teams and leagues to see what new teams/logos are out there. The other night I was visiting the Logo Quality Control blog and came across one of the silliest logos ever. Its a minor league AA baseball team from Montgomery, Alabama. The name of the team is the Montgomery Biscuits and their logo is a wacky breakfast biscuit! If they were a hockey team, that would make one heck of a cool jersey!

Death Proof

The new double feature Grindhouse was released the theaters last week. I have not yet had a chance to see it, but will make it out to my local googleplex some time soon for sure. I am not a fan of Tarantino or Rodriquez, but, but I love the look of this double feature with all the effort they have put into making them look like old grindhouse films. The movie posters, movie trailers etc all look amazing! Being a big fan of movies such as "the Car", I am especially interested in seeing Death Proof. And I would love to own the movie poster for Death Proof. Hopefully when it comes to my local theater, I can talk the owner into giving me the poster for this one!

Little Golden Book Monday #5

As well as collecting Little Golden Books, I am also a big fan of Walt Disney's 1959 masterpiece, Sleeping Beauty. So, anytime I find something to add to my Sleeping Beauty collection, I snap it up, and this item falls into two of my collections. I have a few different Sleeping Beauty Little Golden Books, including this on which was published in 1997 and 2004.