GUCCI MANE!

He also wins Best Chain for last year and 2011. And 2012. And 2013. And….

-Justin

Anyone that knows me is well aware that 1) I am on eBay way too much and 2) I love Harryhausen. Can you guess how excited I was when I found this up for auction? With a little over 3 days left as I write this, this original Ray Harryhausen model from GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD is going for a cool $20,000. I wonder what celebri-nerd is gonna pick this up? Someone call Seth Green to buy this and put it in Robot Chicken. Enough with the STAR WARS parodies…this is real claymation here. Here are some other pictures. Click on them to take you to the auction link.

If you don’t instantly recall this character from the film, check out the above trailer. She starts messin’ stuff up at about the 1:18 mark.

Also, in other INSANE Harryhausen news, I heard a rumor that Japan’s Bounty x Hunter was carrying this sweater. If you live in Japan, are going to Japan, know someone who is going to Japan or know someone that lives in Japan…get this in a size XL and I will have a son and give it to you.

-Justin

Yeah, yeah…this picture is like nine months old or whatever, but it is still CAHRAZY! I’m on a huge Conan kick right now and when I saw this I almost died.  If he still has this, can you imagine the other stuff that he has lying around?

PIE SLICE BAKERY!!!!!

Dammit, I’m not a thin man and learning about PIE SLICE BAKERY pretty much sealed the deal for me staying that way. To make things worse, it’s like two blocks away from Mondo….and it’s on the way to work! Not only do they have insane baked goods like cupcakes, cheese cake and, well, pies…they also have breakfast tacos and pizza! Seriously, I’ll probably be hitting this place up at least 2 times a week as it has become my new favorite restaurant in town!

Check out their website HERE and go get some pie!

SCARECROW VIDEO!!!!!

Scarecrow Video itself isn’t new to me, but their blog is! I’ve been there several times and have lots of friends that work there, but had no idea they were kings of the blogosphere! One post in particular really blew me away. It broke down every movie that even remotely influenced Tarantino’s INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS. You can read it HERE. I don’t know about you, but when KILL BILL came out, I loved watching the  movies that he took inspiration from. Now, thanks to Scarecrow, I can do the same thing with BASTERDS. So, before you go see it again, you can have a mini marathon to get you pumped to blow some Nazi’s away!

ALEX PARDEE AND THE SCARED FRIENDS!!!!!

Look it up on Wikipedia…it’s a fact. ALEX PARDEE IS COOL AS FUCK. Just when I thought this guy couldn’t get any cooler, I get this pic in my email from Mitch Putnam.

Click on the picture to read the full story from Pardee, but to summarize, some crazy dude at his Upper Playground Seattle show came with a razor and started gashing himself across the stomach and wrists spraying blood all over the place. After swearing a lot and saying “no way” out loud over and over again, I went to ZeroFriends and grabbed his SCARED FRIENDS shirt in blue.

In case you don’t remember, Pardee is the mega-horror fan/ super-artist who destroyed the RE-ANIMATOR poster we released in July.

You can also see it hanging in the background of the picture with him posing behind the blood!

A digital high five goes out to this guy for being the worlds biggest BASKET CASE fan and for cheating death! We at Mondo salute you!

-Justin

Swanky Modes Lobby Card

Three weeks ago I bought what I assume is one of the few remaining presskits for one of my top-five favorite films: TAPEHEADS (1988).

Swanky Modes Presskit

The outside was relatively nondescript (it came in a cheap, black, elementary-school-style folder with a yellow TAPEHEADS sticker plastered on the outside), but it contained 50 or 60 pages of press prepared by the now defunct Clein + Feldman Inc. public relations firm. The lobby card at the top of this post is one of four absolutely mint double-image cards that came in the presskit with their own transparent protective baggie.

But as great as the images and the other promotional material are, the clear gem from the presskit is a two-page “Swanky Modes Chronology,” which outlines a fascinating (but all too brief) backstory for the Swanky Modes, the fictional soul duo – featuring real life soul legends Sam Moore and Junior Walker – that Bill Fishman built TAPEHEADS around.

I recently ran a google search for “best fictional bands,” and – at least according to the top six results (here, here, here, here, here, and here) – not everyone appreciates the greatness of the Modes as much as I do.

In fact, the Swanky Modes don’t appear on any of those “best of” lists (or even get mentioned in the comments), while lesser acts like The Beets (from the Doug cartoon) and The Wonders (from THAT THING YOU DO!) get mentioned over and over. I hope that the publication of what the Swanky Modes were up to before Josh and Ivan began idolizing them will – to some degree – begin to correct this massive oversight.

As far as I can tell, this information has never been published online, and I’m excited to share what is – in my mind at least – a massive addition to the online world’s collective TAPEHEADS/Swanky Modes knowledge.

Swanky Modes Chronology 1

Swanky Modes Chronology 2

1964 – Swanky Modes end record 72 week run at the Apollo Theater.
1965 – Signed to a major label and begin work on their debut album “Thumbs Up“.
1966 – “Thumbs Up“ is released to critical acclaim. Modes sign a multi-record deal and travel to Hollywood to star in their first feature film, “High Noon Wake-Up“.
1967 – The “Brown Album” is released and goes instant gold. The Modes have their first of many re-occuring management disputes.
1968 – The Modes go on the Christmas USO tour with Bob Hope.
1970 – The Modes appear on the Ed Sullivan Show.
1971 – The Queen summons the Modes to perform at a Royal performance extravaganza.
1972 – “That’s Enough of This War Stuff” is released. Modes begin extended European tour.
1973 – Lester marries Olga Von Steistein in Oslo, Norway. Billy travels to India to study with Ravi Shankar.
1974 – “Black and White” album is unreleased due to the oil shortage.
1975 – Modes have their first reunion tour of the Midwest. Bus breaks down in Battle Creek, Michigan where Lester buys a farm and starts raising rhubarb.
1976 – Lester marries Sheena Brawn, a young farming neighbor.
1978 – Modes first album in six years is released, “Modes Fever,” the day after “Saturday Night Fever” hits the stores.
1979 – Billy moves to the Northwest and starts real estate brokering learned by Don Drussel’s Home Extension course.
1980 – Swanky Modes “Get Nasty” is banned from all radio play. Becomes instant collector’s item.
1981 – Billy’s yacht hits land mine in Persia. No one is hurt but he spends one year in an Iranian prison.
1982 – Lester is indicted for bigamy and is extradited to Norway.
1983 – The second Modes reunion tour kicks off in Yonkers, New York, but is cut short when Lester’s sax is stolen.
1984 – Billy and Lester move to California after landing a two year contract on Princess Cruises Oldies But Goodies nights. They anull contract when they find out they are also expected to bartend.
1985 – “New Wheels New Deals” album is released. Modes tour in Japan, sponsored by Tayota.
1986 – Modes third reunion tour of the Southwest is cut short when expected revenue does not meet continued expenses.
1987 – Swanky Modes are seen performing at the Manhattan Club in Santa Monica Mall by Billy Fishman, the soon to be director of “Tapeheads”.
1988 – Swanky Modes star in “Tapeheads”.

I don’t know about you, but I’ll enjoy TAPEHEADS even more knowing that Lester was married twice (at the same time), that Billy spent a year in an Iranian prison, that the Modes put out at least seven albums (Thumbs Up, Brown Album, That’s Enough of This War Stuff, Black and White, Modes Fever, Get Nasty, andNew Wheels New Deals), and that they starred in another film: HIGH NOON WAKE-UP (1966).

Man… I’d love to hear Modes Fever.

And while we’re on the subject of the Swanky Modes, here’s what I believe is the duo’s only late-night appearance, a performance of Ordinary Man (and follow-up interview) on Letterman.

If you want to discuss your favorite Swanky Modes revelation from the chronology, or the greatness of the Modes in general, feel free to do so in the comments.

- Micah :: Reel Distraction

We can now expect to see a 1:1 scale Tetsujin 28-go aka Gigantor! I’m seriously geeking out over here and trying to think of ANY WAY I can make it to Japan to see these in person.

Not only can you read the full story over at ToysRevil, but they have a link to the production blog where you can keep up with the full sized robots’ creation!

The Gigantor people  should fly The Dickies out at the unveiling to have them jam this tune:

-Justin

If you haven’t heard yet, we’re having a GIANT sale online and in the store. We’re giving you 20% off of everything online when you use the coupon code: DEALZ. In store, we’re giving you 20% off of everything as well, plus we’ve brought out all back stock and samples for our RUMMAGE SALE! If you had been following us on Twitter, you’d know that people are already writing about great deals that they’re getting. We have tons of  shirts for five bucks, WATCHMEN TPB’s and all kinds of random stuff (Brady Bunch bobble heads?! Really?).

If that wasn’t enough, I decided to make 20 Mystery Poster Tubes. Each tube will have 4 posters of varying sizes and will cost $50 a piece. PLUS, I went through my personal poster collection and pulled out a bunch of RARE, much sought after posters that are LOOOOONG sold out. We’re talking the Tyler Stout THE THING poster, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA posters and the two below….

I know a lot of people have been writing asking if these are going to be released online and the answer is…nope. At least not yet. These are going to be reserved for people coming to the store for the rummage sale. I do love all of our out of town customers though, so I’ll allow phone orders on this stuff. Call 512-476-1739 and we can take your order over the phone. There are some great stuff in these even if you don’t get the chase posters.

Keep an eye on our Twitter as we will have surprises ALL WEEKEND LONG! https://twitter.com/mondonews

-Justin

-Justin

Mick Foley, I love you.