70th Anniversary D-Day

The 6th of June, 1944. Operation Overlord begins, a day late due to bad weather. The writing is on the wall for the Axis powers in control of Europe.

Such very much hinged on this one massive operation. The very success of  the war against Hitler, Germany, and the reign of Fascism in Europe rested on the young men of the United States, Great Britain and Canada as well as other allied nations. Amazing that even though all the official, carefully laid plans of the Generals had turned to chaos within minutes of the landing, that the Allied Forces prevailed that day. Once the beachheads were secured the liberation of Europe could begin, and the end of the Nazi nightmare was one big step nearer its inevitable end.

Canadian Troops landing on Juno Beach 6 June 1944

70 years have passed, and the number of WWII vets that are still around grows smaller every year. Just another reason to always remember the sacrifice given by those young men who never came home and those who did.

Happy Star Wars Day!

Happy Star Wars Day to you all! It's a pretty awesome time to be a fan of that Galaxy Far, Far Away. From all the exciting news coming out about "Star Wars VII", extra "season 6" episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars on Netflix and the new animated series out in the fall, Star Wars: Rebels. Lots to be happy about on this Star Wars Day!

This sexy and seductive Dark Lord, brought to you by the folks over at Blue Milk Special. One of the best Star Wars web comics around. If you haven't ever checked them out, your missing something fantastic!

First Contact Day!

Happy First Contact Day to all the Star Trek Fans out there! April 5, 2063! Only 49 more years to go!!  Live long and prosper!

Who You Gonna Call...

This just looks so cool.

"Ghostbusters" Ecto1 and the boys. Word is these are early production pictures of a soon to be released Lego kit. In response to fan requests. This will be the second time Lego has done this.

They released this "Back to the Future" Delorian last year, which I picked up of course. Can't wait to get this one as well!

New to the Closet's Collection - Obi Wan Kenobi

Bran new to my shelf this week is this Animated Maquette of  Obi Wan Kenobi from "Star Wars-Episode IV, A New Hope"  created by Gentle Giant a few years ago.

A couple of years back I started to notice that, even though I have a good sized collection of toys and other collectibles ( I like to think), most of it was a little low end mostly made up of mass produced figures (although some are rare and hard to find) and other such stuff, so I started to buy some mid to high end stuff. Good quality collectibles from time to time. This one is a gift to myself from my lovely wife for renovating our bathroom.

From the first time that I saw "Star Wars" in 1977, Obi Wan was the coolest character in the movie (next to Han Solo, which every 10 year old boy will tell you was the coolest.) Part old wizard, part mystical knight and part hardened warrior and general. A mentor to the films hero, Luke, he was cool and collected in every situation that came along. The great mystery of what it meant to be a Jedi Knight was all part of the fun back then. This was long before we would see Luke as a Jedi in "Return of the Jedi", or even better, A Jedi Knight and his Padawan in their prime in Episode I. So the whole Jedi Order and The Force were one big cool mystery.

First off I am a huge fan of this animated style. It is a very clean, tight design and Gentle Giant has released many figures from the entire Star Wars history over the last few years in this style all to great success. This statue does a great job of capturing the spirit of General Kenobi, as he stands cool and calm ready for battle against his former student, fellow Jedi Knight and friend. The figure is in great shape with no visible flaws and has a nice weight to it. It's part of a limited edition which is nice. The only draw back to the figure at all was the extra charges when you bring something in from the States. I don't mind paying the duty, But a extra "handling fee" that adds up to more than the duty and taxes after paying extra for shipping from the United States seems kind of like being mugged by my own Government.

Still, all in all, totally worth it. I love this figure and he will make a great addition to my bookshelf and to my growing collection.

R.I.P. Harold Ramis : 1944 - 2014

Sad to hear of the passing of Harold Ramis. An outstanding writer, director and actor. From "Animal House" and "Stripes" to "Ghostbusters" and "Groundhog Day". Thank you for all the laughs over the years. You will be missed.

Merry Christmas