Tag: tko 8

Q: “Where have you been young man?” A: Working. A lot.

Hey gang! Sorry it’s been so terribly long since I’ve posted anything with any really awesome and good substance. Forgive me but I’ve had a lot of good reasons. Lets do the list:

First up is a new animated / live action show I’m producing at my day job. It’s call “Critter Connection” and it’s gonna be a really informative and hopefully equally entertaining. It also has been fully endorsed by the Ozark Humane Society which is the local shelter here in my area. Good for them, good for the animals, good for the station, good for the viewing audience and good for me as I get to do some serious creating. Stay tuned…

critter connection

Next up is the next big contest from the Toy Box courtesy of Entertainment Earth. Those fine folks called me a couple weeks back and said; “Hey Jim! Wanna do some reviews of bobble heads for us and then give them away to your super cool sight visitors?” To which I promptly replied; “You bet your bippy sister!” So all total I have six really cool All American themed bobble heads that I will be giving away during the month of July. Sure Independence Day is on the 4th but by golly I’m stretching the celebration out for the whole month. Why? Because I’m American! And it’s more fun that way. Reviews and how to win are coming on July 4th so stay tuned.

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Also I’m getting caught up on a bunch of reviews I owe you from way back. From super sweet Captain Actions sent to me by my fantastic pal Gar Ghoul to other neat things from View Askew alumnus Scott Shciaffo and some other neat toys I’ve picked up along the way that are just too cool for school. But wait there’s more! But first another picture…

It's like a swimming pool of fun.
It’s like a swimming pool of fun.

Work is drawing to a close on the show I’m working on with the legendary television writer Ted Bergman called “Dogs and Cats Go Hollywood.” I do believe you are going to really dig the funny that’s coming from the mind of one of televisions greatest writers. If you don’t have time to check him out on IMDB (slackers) Ted was writer on numerous programs including the Munsters, The Smothers Brothers and Sanford and Son. Plug in to stay up to date 🙂

Ted Lgoo copy 2

So as you can see it’s been really busy around this box and beyond. I’m looking really forward to sharing all this stuff with all of you. Again thanks to all of you for the continued love and support.

Now, Go Play! – Jim 06/26/14

P.S. Thanks to Dave LePage and Ted Souppa for hooking me up with my own and very first IMDB credit for my voice over work in their incredible short film “Ten Minutes”.  Let’s see if I can fill that sucker up!

Daily Update – 03/17/14

Good evening gang! I do hope your St. Patrick’s Day went well. Overall ours went smooth, no pinching, green beer or leprechauns to speak of but all in all a good day.

The days on the calender seem to be getting in a hurry as I get closer to the launch of the TV version of the Toy Box. No pressure though, it’s all about play and a variety of it so stress is most certainly not allowed. Plus I’m having a ton of fun!

The day job kept me busy as the chief was out of the tepee today and I was left to man the village. Not a bad thing really. It gives me the opportunity to go into super multi-tasker mode. Honestly I liked that. Wouldn’t want to do it every day but its a nice change up and keeps me sharp. The only real difference between today and any other day is that I plop my posterior back in the air chair to spit out the local headlines. which you can see here:

Playing “news guy” is fun but not something I would ever want to do for the rest of my life. Too depressing. Thankfully the chief will be back tomorrow and I can comfortably kick back at master control. Plus after watching the playback it’s simply too much “Jim” for a good broadcast. Between the rip and read with the news my pipes are heard on all of the commercials. One must know overkill when you spot it.  Ego be damned. Plus the uploaded version looks like all of the blacks in the video were hit with  bleach bomb. Terrible.

One thing that I did get to have a lot of fun with today was the article on a CD I picked up over the weekend. As I try to get the “Thrift Store Flipping” segment back on track the family and I made the rounds at the area thrift shops this past Saturday. Tomorrow I’ll talk about one of the unseen perils of this project, bit of a bummer really but I’d rather keep this one on a positive note.

edwards_0001 Pickin’s were very slim but I did score some cool books and a CD for personal consumption. More about the books later but the CD was a winner on so many levels. You can read all about it HERE. It also gave me the motivation to get another segment of the Toy Box in place; the Listening Room.

Well, the clock is ticking and the sandman is calling my name. So off to bed for your old buddy Jimbo. One last tip for you before I wrap this one up. As you have probably figured out I’m pretty easy to amuse and I love a good deal. The Mrs. introduced me to an experience that satisfied both of those needs; a shopping trip to Rue 21. Dude, if you have never been there, pop in.

lrg_logo_rue21We just recently had one come to town and I figured 1. it was a girl’s store and 2. I am way too old to be in there. I was wrong on both accounts.  Not only did I find a pair of high top sneakers that make me giggle a little (they’re black, shiny and faux snakeskin with white soles) but they were crazy cheap. $5 bucks later and I’ve got shiny shoes. Plus another Lincoln later I picked up a couple of belts, a hat and two watches. Do the math gang, that’s a buck a piece for brand new stuff! I dig it.

Again, thanks for stopping by, catching up or just being nosy. Now, Go Play!

Jim 03/17/14

Customizing your heroes. Even if they are a little bit weird.

The latest creation from Jim and Gar!

 

Scroll to the bottom to see NEW pics of the subject and his doppelgangers as well as a very nice and appreciated video shout out from the main man!

Custom Secret Squirrel: You know the “Bleh, Bleh” Guy!

Introduction – Greetings gang! In this entry I get the distinct pleasure in introducing you to two separate but equally cool things. The first is my pal Gar Ghoul who is the host of “Horrible Horror” on the web and has been for the past six years. Each week Gar brings you a complete line up of fun and merriment consisting of music, fun and funny banter, lots of “bleh, bleh’s” and of course, a horrible movie. Add to all of that the online broadcasting platform allows you to chat directly with Gar and other members of the audience in real time.

To those who haven’t tried it out yet the best way I can describe the experience is like, being able to talk in the movie theater but no pimply-faced usher is going to try and kick you out for disruptive behavior. Or better yet, its like a movie with subtitles that actually salvage an otherwise crappy movie. Check it out for yourselves Saturday nights at 8PM Eastern / 7PM Central (the rest of you can figure out your own time zones, I’ve got an article to right)..

The second really cool thing that I am introducing to you today is the art of custom figure making known as ‘kit-bashing’. This my friends is an ancient Chinese secret that very few are tuned into. Okay that’s not really true. Kit-bash customizing is actually a fun and relatively easy way to create action figures of characters that have never been produced, using existing parts and pieces in a configuration that captures your heroes in 3 Dimensional form. And the best part is that for this particular 3D art form you don’t need stupid glasses that cost you an extra two bucks and that they expect you to give back at the end of the feature. Sorry about that. But that really does get on my nerves. Back o the fun stuff.

What it is 

Now that I have introduced you to our subject I’d like to share with you some of the insider tips I used to create this custom “Gar Ghoul” 8 inch, classic Mego style action figure that may inspire you to have your own arts and crafts fun day.

First, the character that Gar ‘is’ really lends itself easily to the custom Mego treatment. To me Horror Hosts (the name is a proper noun, show some respect) are cool on so many levels. A few of those being that 1.) They’re great entertainers, 2.) There’s not a terrible amount of money in it (if any really) so these guys and gals are doing it for the love and for the artistry and 3.) The characters created are like real life cartoon characters, super heroes, movie monsters come to life etc… It’s those reasons that toys of the characters are a natural fit.

 *editors note – for more on Horror Hosts from today and days gone by check out the fantastic archive created by Corpse S. Chris at 

Three others that I would like to also recommend (I could go on but for the sake of time I’ll narrow it down to just three)… Ormon Grimsby…Dr. Gangrine and MeTV’s  very own Svenghoulie. 

Ormon Grimsby
Dr. Gangrene

Back to the custom…

The Gar custom consists of two parts – the packaging and the figure itself. I list the packaging first in this case because honestly my customizing skills ain’t what they used to be so the packaging is crucial to the final products effectiveness.

The packaging 

Card Front
Card Back

If the old saying “imitation is the greatest form of flattery” is true than you folks at Bif Bang Pow should be blushing brighter than a red, ripe tomato. For the packaging I used Adobe Photoshop, stills captured from the Horrible Horror show(Thanks Tammy)  and the layout is a direct copy of the one used on the later issued Venture Bros action figures. The outer shell was recycled from a EMCE Toys/ Diamond Select Star Trek action figure. *astute readers will notice that the name on the card art says “Secret Squirrel” … to learn about why that is come on over to the Horrible Horror facebook page and find out why.

The figure

The figure is actually really simple. The base used is the Companion character from the Space 1999 series of figures released by Classic TV Toys. The only thing I really had to do was slap a little black and white paint on and “WAH LAH!” instant Gar Ghoul. The nose of the base figure was the real deal maker actually. It looked just similar enough to help add to the overall likeness needs.

I only made three of these (1 for Gar, 1 for him to use as a giveaway and 1 for my own personal collection.) but more are always possible thanks to the ability to kit bash.

Now the bigger question some of you may be asking;

“Why do I care?”

The main one being that the art of kit bashing is a great way to make some really neat gifts for those you love. The creations could also be used for unique marketing promotions or simply just for fun!. And while you can customize and kit bash pretty much any toy line out there, something about the Mego style just seems to mesh better with the final products “fun factor”. So what are you waiting for? Pick a subject, gather your supplies and get to creating! You can even work on it while watching “Horrible Horror with Gar Ghoul”, Saturday nights at 8PM EST / 7 PM CST on Vaughn TV!

Now, Go Play! – Jim 6/30/2012 (Updated 02/05/2014)

“So, it’s Bleh, Bleh,Bleh”?
“No,just  Bleh, Bleh. The 3rd is over kill. 

Entertainment Earth

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