The Horror Movie BBQ

Well...Christmas is over with.

Crap.

I love Christmas so much. I've stated that before. Don't get me wrong, I love Halloween but by the end of October, I'm over it all together. But starting around October, I want nothing but red and green. I want cold air and snow, I want peppermint everything, I want Christmas specials and I want houses with more Christmas decorations than should allowed by a court of law.

Christmas, as always, went perfect. A trip to the fiance's sister house for a fun evening of laughs, food and presents. It was a pretty good time, especially considering the relaxing nap with cats I take after dinner. Here's one of them, Sprocket:


Cute, isn't he? And he loves attention. Even better!

So the real reason you're here is most likely to read about what I received for presents. Ya know, the materialistic part! Yay, presents! So let's knock this one out.

Ok, if I sound a little less than enthusiastic, it's only because working retail th…

Happy 94th birthday to The Man, the myth, the legend, Stan Lee! The man who is responsible for so many memorable heroes, stories and some of the greatest modern mythology. Stan has given practically his whole life to bringing joy to peoples lives and has certainly left an impact on so many of us that not many others can compare to. I just can't imagine what life would be like without X-Men, SpiderMan or any of the dozens of great creations he's given to the world. It would be like a world without sunshine. Just wouldn't be the same.



For most if not all comic fans, meeting Stan is the holy grail of convention experiences. And I thankfully got to meet Stan this past September at Fan Expo in Toronto. My friends Tony, Kerry and Matt made the hike up to the Great White North to meet the legend himself. He seemed like he enjoyed meeting the multitude of fans coming out to meet him. He had a handshake for everyone that came by to say hello.

We actually arrived 15 minutes after hi…

While 1990 was certainly the year of my favorite Christmas present ever, The Ninja Turtles Sewer playset, the year after wasn't too shabby either. 1991 was probably one of the finest years of my childhood due to so much fun stuff going on. I had a great year all around and whenever I think about events of that year, I get that big ol' grin on my face. Whether I was watching wrestling on a Saturday morning, chowing down on Cheetos Paws on Friday night while watching TGIF, or just another weekday watching GI Joe and Wake Rattle and Roll before school. Huh. I kinda sound like a bum. But uh...when you're a kid, you're kind of allowed to. Besides, between playing with action figures, NES, riding bikes and playing street hockey with my friends, watching cartoons and ABC sitcoms and wrestling, I didn't have time for much else. But that all changed Christmas morning 1991...

The big item I wanted more than anything was the Fisher Price 3-In-1 Tournament Table. Check this ba…

(I wrote this back in April and for some reason, I never finished it. So, here in all it's glory, is the scrapped White Castle adventure!)



I recently went down to Maryland to visit friends and family for a few days. I only get to see my family once or twice a year so I always try my hardest to fit some sort of memorable event into my somewhat-vacation. That said, my best friend of almost 30 years and I both had a grand idea on how to spend our Saturday together. And hoooooo boy was it a doozy. See, Andrew and I have been craving something so delicious and so rare for the longest time that we just had to make the visit.



WHITE. CASTLE.




YES YES YES YES YES.




Ok. Now follow me here just for a second. Please, before you decide to go read MorbidMuch instead because I've lost my mind, just listen. The last time I had freshly crafted Sliders was in 2010 when I stopped in NYC on the way up to Rochester to see my then girlfriend, now fiancée, Laurie. And before that, it would be an even …

I think as adults, it's common for us to buy ourselves a present every Christmas season. To some degree, I kinda think it's a little excessive when it's a holiday where a big tradition is to...ya know...give gifts. However, if I'm allowed to just buy myself one present for myself shouldn't be just one item that I've wanted all year? Or maybe...30 years?

Yup. I did it. I got my wish. 
I found...A MY PET MONSTER!!!!

For those unaware, My Pet Monster is one of the greatest slices of 80s nostalgia. It was a big deal if you owned one. It was like having an invisible friend. You know those My Buddy or Kid Sister dolls from that time? Those big, goofy dolls with soulless eyes and serial killer smiles? Yeah, I mean I guess they were ok in a mini-Charles Manson kinda way, but if you really wanted the coolest of the cool, you had THIS. I was 3 or 4 when it came out so my mom put the constant kibosh on owning it but as I got older, I saw the other kids who had one have th…

The world was a different place in 1990. No internet, no cell phones, and most importantly, no Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. No sir, none of that nonsense flew back then. It was all basic stuff. We kept it as simple as humanly possible. We liked it that way. And while a lot of things did stay the same, a lot has changed.

Now, when you're a kid, Christmas takes on different meaning than it does as an adult. Its just presents, presents, presents. Thankfully, you grow out of that phase. Now it's more family, food and then presents. But remember when you were a kid, wanting that one thing and then waking up on Christmas morning to finding you had received it? It was usually the last present you were to open. Parents know what's up. They wanted us to be as excited as humanly possible seeing our holy grail after opening books and socks and crap.

And 1990, I had a huge holy grail. It was the undisputed chanmpion of playsets...THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES SEWER PLAYSET.



Th…