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Hey everybody, I wanted to let you all know about this great company that releases limited edition CDs of film scores. They’re called La-La Land Records and have been bringing hard to find, and never before released movie & television scores to the masses for the last seven years! Each CD features a wonderful booklet with photos and original art, as well as personal notes from the composers, directors, producers, actors and historians.
Here are a few of their current releases:
I’m happy to say that we will be announcing all the upcoming La-La Land Record releases here at the Stash, and also possibly doing a few giveaways as well. So, be sure to keep an eye out for those!
Until then head over and check out their full catalog here.
My good friends Bethany Shady & Josh Peters have released their first children’s book together called, “Matilda Turnip’s Endless Belly Button.” The book is about a young girl who discovers that her belly button is a magical portal that all sorts of amazing things can emerge from, and with the help of her pet dalmatian mouse, they embark on an amazing adventure together!
Head over to LuLu.com to order your copy today!
Before kindergarten we all started our education on the street… Sesame Street. Can you count to forty? Well, thanks to Count Van Count, I can. Sesame Street is turning forty years old today, and they don’t seem a day over five. 
Sesame Street taught me everything, from near to far, from A to Z, and even that one of these things is not like the other. They even taught me loss. I, to this day, remember the day Mr. Hooper died. My favorite character from the show wasn’t even a regular on the show. No, I’m not talking about Kermit the roaming reporter. My favorite was always Barkley. What!? You don’t know who Barkley is! Barkley is the giant dog. I loved seeing him run down that hill with those kids in the end credits of every show, but would always be devastated when he wasn’t in the show. Which was like 90% of the time. I remember asking my mom, “Why would they show him at the end of every show, but never have him in the show?” I think the best part about Sesame Street for our generation, 
is that we got to graduate to The Muppet Show when we out grew Sesame Street. I can’t even begin to thank all the men and women who worked on this show over the last forty year, and helped raise billions of kids. However, there are two men, that we should all take a moment to be thankful for today. They are Jim Henson and Frank Oz. Would we even have a childhood without them? Not one I would care to remember.
That’s right true believers, the Walt Disney Co. bought Marvel Comics today, for a mere $4 billion dollars! Wait, What!? Disney? Marvel? What?! Well, I guess it’s a good day to be DC Comics.
I was flipping through the channels this weekend, and came across a channel called “Disney XD.” I have no idea what that means, but I thought it was weird that they were playing nothing but Marvel cartoons. Now it’s not so weird. Well, no it’s still pretty weird. I’ve never been a big Marvel fan, but I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. Disney has been nothing but bad new for the Muppets… Not once but twice! It looks like we’ll be getting that “Spider-Man: The Musical” sooner than we thought. That’s right, Zack Efron will be playing Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Miley Cyrus will be Mary Jane Watson, in Spider-Man 4 next summer. Can’t wait for that! I really hope that Warner Bros. and DC Comics take full advantage of this mistake, and green light some really edgy kick ass comic book movies. Boy, and I thought X-Men Origins: Wolverine was bad before, I can’t even imagine it now with a “G” rating. I hope it was worth it Marvel, because it’s too late now. Have fun in the kiddie pool.
Steven Spielberg is developing a new feature film based on Michael Crichton‘s forthcoming posthumous novel, Pirate Latitudes. The book won’t hit stores until November, but you can pre-order your copy here.
Michael Crichton has always been one of my absolute favorite authors. I’m just so glad we’re going to get one last story from him, and who better than Steven Spielberg to tell that story visually.
Let all just hope it’s better than Timeline.
==================== UPDATE ====================
This just in from researcher extraordinar, David Garcia, “According to wiki, there’s ANOTHER unpublished book after this one, scheduled for release in 2010!”
So make that two more posthumous tales from the late great Michael Crichton.
To help celebrate Candyland’s 60th Anniversary, Hasbro transformed San Francisco’s famous twisted Lombard Street into a life-sized rendition of the beloved board game. I can’t wait to see what they do for Hungry Hungry Hippos.
Well, Xbox LIVE launched their new dashboard update on August 11th, and even though they held back the social networking update, the new Netflix update is great. Xbox LIVE users can now watch movies with their friends and find new movies to add to their Instant Queue without having to go online. They’ve also added a new Avatar Marketplace, where you can purchase new premium items, including branded apparel from your favorite fashion labels and Xbox 360 games. Now the price of these items are anywhere from 80 to 400 Microsoft Points. That’s about one to five dollars. Also, they now have Avatar Props, which equips your avatar with an animated item they can interact with and carry around; one of which is a lightsaber for 400 Microsoft Points. Yeah that’s right, five dollars! I know! Who the hell, would pay five dollars for that?! You can get a game for ten dollars. I really hope no one buys it, to prove a point. But, you and I both know there are way too many stupid people out there for that to happen. Also, there is a new Games on Demand section that lets you enjoy the convenience of finding and buying new games right from the comfort of your own living room with a credit card or your Microsoft Points. I think the biggest news to come out of this update is being able to watch movies with your friends in a Netflix Party. So what are you waiting for? Go update your Xbox LIVE, and come watch a movie with Darby sometime. You can find me here.
Once again, Shout! Factory brings you the classic TV shows you always wished were on DVD. This time it’s Garry Shandling‘s first TV series, “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show,” and also another one of the early FOX Network’s original programs. Maybe there is hope for Beans Baxter after all. “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show“ was truly one of the funniest and most original TV series of it’s time. From talking to the studio audience, to high speed golf-cart chases, this show had it all. I can not wait to re-watch this great show. “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show“ The Complete Series is set to be released on October 20th, 2009, so start placing you special orders now. If your only familiar with The Larry Sanders Show, you have got to get this DVD set. Look for my DVD review in October. Also look for Garry Shandling in Iron Man 2 next summer.
John Hughes died today of a heart attack, and so did a little bit of my childhood. Actually, that’s not true. A large part of my childhood died today. So many of John Hughes’ movies have inspired me over the years. I know he hasn’t made a movie in many years, but loosing him this soon, just makes me realize we’ll never be able to get just one more film. I think deep down, I was always holding out for Ferris Bueller’s Day Off 2. Where Ferris and Cameron take the day off from work and just maybe their kids also just so happen to skip school that day as well. I really wanted to say something about John Hughes, but I never met him, and seem to be at somewhat of a loss for words. But then I stumbled upon this post, and thought it would just be better to share this with all of you.
Please read this link. Sincerely, John Hughes
Comic Con 2009
Well, Comic Con has come and gone, but if you didn’t make it down to San Diego your old friend Darby is here to lay it all out for you. The one thing that seems to always be true about Comic Con, year after year, is the fact that it has less and less to do with comics each year. This year it was the teenie girls and their “Twilight: New Moon” that over ran the Con. The one thing I always hated about Comic Con is the standing in line for two hours to get a ticket so you can stand in line for three hours the next day; the whole time not being able to spend any time on the floor. The panels are the same story. Wait in line for hours for a panel and miss a bunch of events while sitting on the floor. The Con is amazing. It’s so much fun and I wouldn’t miss it for the world. But every year, I make a list of the things I want to do, and every year I get like two done if I’m lucky. So, here’s a run down of some of the events that went down at Comic Con this year. Some I got to see and others that I only got to hear about.
“Iron Man 2”
The buzz for the first “Iron Man” movie started at Comic Con. So even with production having only wrapped a week ago, nothing was going to stop Jon Favreau from sharing what he could with the fans at Comic Con this year. Appearing with Favreau on the panel was Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle, and Sam Rockwell. After the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to Favreau’s son Max, they rolled the exclusive clip that introduced all the film’s new characters. “Iron Man 2” will hit theaters in May of 2010.
“Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead” & “Torchwood: Children of Earth”
At the Saturday night screening of “Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead” and the 5th and final episode of “Torchwood: Children of Earth,” fans got a little bit more than they were expecting.
“The Green Hornet”
Seth Rogen stopped by the Con to unveil the new Black Beauty, a modified 1965 Chrysler Crown Imperial that he’ll be cursing around in for the upcoming film.
“Alice in Wonderland”
Tim Burton premiered the first trailer for “Alice in Wonderland” on Thursday at the Con, with a huge surprise visit from the Mad Hatter himself Johnny Depp.
“Avatar”
James Cameron makes up for his lame E3 appearance with over 20 minutes of footage from his already over hyped film “Avatar.” He also announced that fans worldwide would be able to see 15 minutes of the film for free, online on “Avatar Day,” which is August 21st. The film is set to open this year on December 18th.
“New Moon”
“Twilight” fangirls came by the thousands to Comic Con this year. Some would say it was the downfall of Comic Con this year.
These two guys were walking the floor on late Sunday with signs to show their displease of the upcoming film’s presences this year. Some of the fangirls stayed two nights outside the convention center waiting in line to attend the “Twilight” panel on Thursday. This was truly the craziness of this year’s Con. There’s always one thing at the Con that you can’t get away from, and you at times just wish would go away. This year it was most definitely “Twilight.” It’s hard to explain. It’s like a high school click. Comic Con is geek’s paradise, and this year the popular cheerleaders stormed the gates and stole the show. “Twilight” seems like the kind of thing that would fit in at the Con, but it really just seemed to overpower everything around it. For the last six years Hollywood has been taking over Comic Con, but this is like the Jonas Brothers performing on the center of the convention floor.
“Dollhouse”
The almost canceled series had a screening of the unaired thirteenth episode, which can also be found on the “Dollhouse” Season One DVD set. Look for my “Dollhouse” DVD review here soon.
“LOST”
This was probably one of the best panels of the Con. Wayne has already done a write up on this so I’ll just redirect you there. Click Here!
“The Hobbit”
Peter Jackson talked a little bit about the upcoming project.
“Jonah Hex”
The next DC Comic film, starring Josh Brolin and Megan Fox, was premiered by the new teaser trailer. The new teaser poster was unveiled as well. I cannot wait to see this movie!
“Tron: Legacy”
Last but not least… The long awaited “Tron” sequel “Tron: Legacy.” A scavenger hunt sent convention goes around downtown San Diego, and finally brought them to their final destination, a marvelously reconstructed 1980’s arcade, called Flynn’s Arcade! They actually had Flynn’s Arcade tokens! I know! They also unveiled the first teaser trailer. I for one cannot wait!
But it’s not just all about the movies at Comic Con. One of the best reasons to go to Comic Con is to get your hands on the exclusive toys and action figures only available at the Con… Well that is until they’re put on eBay for five times the original price. This is just a few of them; there really are way too many to list.
The Wonder Twins and Gleek
This is the one I really wanted, but sadly it sold out by the time I stood in line for a ticket to stand in line for a figure. These DC Universe figures are so cool. I love that they make figures for the secondary characters. I can’t wait for the upcoming Question figure.
The LOST Benjamin Linus Bobble Head
This beaten up Michael Emerson bobble head is so cool. The likeness is uncanny.
Doctor Who Comic Con Exclusives
Okay, I’m a huge “Doctor Who” fan, and I love the figures, but there just always seems to be just too many of them to buy at the Con. This year there were five, all between twenty and forty dollars, mostly forty. I’m sorry, six figures if you count the Captain Jack Harkness Torchwood figure. I wish they would just make one exclusive figure each year. I would buy that figure every year, but I’m not going to spend over two hundred dollars at one booth.
The Blackest Night 5 Figure Green Lantern Set
One last thing, before heading back to L.A. I stopped in Eureka to have dinner at Café Diem.
Well, that does it for this year. Comic Con will be July 22nd to the 25th next year, so start making plans now.
