Library Booksale Haul March 2015

Dropped $4 this time. But grabbed 4 armfuls.

Another unofficial games strategy guide. Covering lots of SNES games. Each game gets at the most 3 sentences of strategies. So it isn't that helpful.

Read Lemons never lie late last year,it was written by Westlake under a pen name. I enjoyed it so figured for 10 cents I would take a chance on another book from him. Seems to be a comedy/mystery book.

Seems to be a horror/comedy novel. Never heard of the author,it would be cool if it was Mark Henry the pro wrestler. It had on the cover  Dollar General $1 price sticker. And later the day I bought this I saw copies at the run down Dollar General in the down town area.

The cover reminds me of the 5th Wild Cards novel. Hell when I saw it from a few shelves over I thought it was that book in hardcover. I was actually a fan of Clinton,but thought this would be a decent laugh.

And to counter balance the previous book I got this book.For various reasons I wasn't a fan of Mr Bush. I think the first time he ran I wrote in Jesse Ventura.Second time I wrote in Steve Rogers. Yep voted for a fictional character.

Thankfully I had a list of my dvds/blu rays with me. Checked it and I don't own Creepshow in any format. Haven't tried it out yet. But for 25 cents if it doesn't work I will display the box with the few other VHS I have held onto.

Yep 3rd month in a row I found a Buffy book. This is the first book of the series I got the last book of last month. I am hoping the second book in the series will show up. If not I will grab a used copy online.

Never seen the film,but I have enjoyed Priest's comic book work.

I love the movie. One thing I don't like about the book is it in in that over sized paperback form. Which makes shelving it a pain in the ass.

Been wanting to read more Thompson. Read Fear and loathing in Las Vegas years ago. But really don't remember much about it.

Remember in the early to mid 90s when Virtual Reality was the big thing various companies kept promising us? This appears to be the instruction book to a PC Virtual Reality headset. I haven't even looked to see if the discs mentioned on the upper right corner are in the book. And with how old this is I doubt they would work on any computer I have.

Years ago when I was working a job where they just needed a warm body sitting in a chair for 8 hour shifts I read at least 12 of the Cat Who mystery series. Until recently I had kind of forgotten about this series of fun books. This is as the cover states a guide to the series.It looked like someone gave the library an complete run of this series. Because besides this I found 20+ of the novels.

From the early 80s so I am sure it will be full of Cold War scare tactics.

When I saw this I thought Art was the guy who did Candid Camera. Turns out he did Kids say the darnest things. But I usually enjoy bios.

Sure I have read this before. But I don't own it. Grizzard was the last newspaper columnist I read. I was buying the Jackson county paper just to read his stuff. Once he passed I quit reading the newspaper.

A book about Hunter S THompson. So another Bio for cheap.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 043 Battlestar Galactica TPB from Maximum Press

TITLE -Battlestar Galactica

AUTHOR-Rob Liefeld & Robert Napton

FORMAT-Trade paperback

FIRST TIME READING-No

COST-$2

Being a young child when the first Star Wars film hit theaters I became a huge space opera fan. So when Battlestar Galactica started airing I had to see it each week.Even going as far as getting my parents to set the vcr to record the show.I managed to convince them to let me keep 3 tapes of BSG. Which was huge back then cause blank tapes were like $10 bucks each.So once we got a new vcr, a VHS model. That's right I was recording BSG on a Betamax vcr.But once we got the VHS my parents let me move the Betamax to my room. And for years I would watch those BSG tapes over and over. Even now that I got the entire series on DVD,I would love to still have those worn out old Betamax tapes.Just getting to see those old ass commercials again would be a time trip to my childhood.

In 98 I had found  a great comic shop. Was talking to the owner about BSG and he jokingly mentioned that Rob Liefeld had published a BSG comic. This sent me diving into his back issue bins to find the dozen of so BSG comics published by Maximum Press in the mid 90s. I found a couple of issues of the anthology title Asylum. Which had a 5 to 8 page black and white BSG story in each issue that I found. But what I really wanted was the first four issues from Maximum Press. I had seen a online review of those 4 issues.They seemed to provide a good resolution to the first season. And a good start to more stories. Sure I could have ordered them years ago from Mile High,Mycomicshop or one of the many other online shops. I am sure I could have gotten all the issues off Ebay fairly cheap. But I wanted to find the issues in a shop or at a con. I do enjoy the "hunt" for back issues. And keeping fairly cheap but not that common stuff on my want list makes sure that at almost any comic shop or con I can find 10 to 20 bucks worth of comics I don't own and want.

After close to a decades worth of searching all I had was an almost complete set of the Asylum comic. And 1 issue of a later series from Maximum Press.I was looking for the dvds of Galactica 1980,yeah I have finally seen this horrible series,and below it I saw a BSG trade published by Maximum Press.I clicked the thumbnail and found out it reprinted the first 4 issues that I had been searching for all these years.And it was $2. But I was conflicted. I really wanted to find this at a shop or a con.I thought about it for a bit.And decided that the price was better than I would more than likely ever get at a con or shop. Plus I had "hunted" for them for right at 10 years.

So after waiting all this time how  is the comic? Well the art is your normal mid 90s Liefeld hacked out clone art. I do not hate Liefeld art. Sure isn't amazing and more often than not has horrible layouts and anatomy. But it has a weird funky energy to it that reminds me of the energy Creeper era Steve Ditko artwork has.The art isn't good enough to add to the story. But also isn't bad enough to subtract from it either. Then there is the writing.I wonder how much of it is from Rob's mind and how much is Mr Napton. I have never heard of Napton before. Sadly like the art,the story isn't good or bad. It is just there. Was I entertained? Yeah,I was. But I am a huge original BSG fan and will read and be at least slightly entertained by any media that continues the story from that one single season.Well not any media, FUCK GALACTICA 1980!

Battlestar Galactica trade paperback from Maximum Press gets a 2.50 outta 5.

Dirt Cheap Haul late Feb 2014

Made my pretty much monthly trip to Dirt Cheap. Budgeted out 25 to 30 bucks. After looking at the furniture,where I found a dresser I wanted but it was about 100 bucks more than I want to spend I saw they had 3 shelves full of books. Dug around and noticed that instead of a percentage off the cover price all books were $4. Grabbed Cinema Serial Killers by Paul B. Kidd.

Flipped thru it earlier and I like the format. The author talks about films with serial killers,then if the killer is based on a real person you get a bio on that person. I got a feeling this is gonna move up to the top of my "read next" pile. And $4 for this was great cause it is originally $25

I am always looking for more lamps for my room. The I hate using my big light in the ceiling fan. So I keep lamps all over the room.Saw this and thought it will look good on my wall or on a shelftop.It was on a shelf that had the 80% off sign. I suck at figuring out percentages in my head. But since it was $14.99 I guesses it would be around $3. I was right it was $3.It is battery powered,using 3 AA batteries. Sadly since this is Dirt Cheap that means something might be missing and there is no returns. The sticker that makes it look like it is breaking thru the wall and the screws you mount it on are gone. No biggie on the screws I am sure I can find some in the workshop out back of the house. Really thinking about attaching this to the side of my big shelf.

I walked up and down the various house hold and other junk aisles. Seeing only a set of Simpsons tumbler that caught my interest. Priced at 20 bucks for 5 they were 20% off. Meh too high for what they are.I got to the back wall which is the toy section. The place was packed with kids. So trying to maneuver a cart around the kids playing with stuff wasn't easy. Squatted down to check the bottom shelf and found.

I love mini figures. For years I had 100s of loose full size,IE for my generation 3 to 5 inch,action figures. But displaying they eats up so much space. Mini figures eat up so little space I can have piles all over my shelves,tabletops and entertainment center. I had eyeballed this two pack of Playskool Heroes figures on a previous trip. But that trip the $11.99 figures were only 50% off. This time they were 80% off. Making them $2.40. They got way more articulation that I expected. Gonna have to see if they made a Captain America figure for this line.

Been wanting to get some board games. This seems to be a fast paced comedy themed game. It was 80% off of $12.99. Making it $2.60. I took a chance. Opened it up and checked out the rules and stuff. Should be fun.

I know I just said I don't have much room for bigger action figures. But this one looked too good and was too cheap for me to pass up. Plus I am converting half of my computer desk into a figure display area. The articulation is nothing special. The elbows,hips,waist and tail move. The paint job and sculpting are really good. I guess these came out to promote the newest Godzilla movie.And I wish I knew who this one is. But it was $10.99 at 80% off,so $2.20.

After looking at piles of opened then taped back shut lego sets and remote control helicopters and cars,all of which were marked way the hell down. But with each of the legos missing pieces and the RC stuff all missing wires or plugs,they aren't worth it even at the super low price.

Hey another figure from the Godzilla line. On this Godzilla the jaw,shoulders,elbows and hips move. Plus he has a button on his tail that makes him do a "attack" action.

Yeah lame as fuck isn't it. But I currently don't have a Godzilla figure,this one will look great fighting my Macross figure. What sucks is this one while having more points of articulation it isn’t  as posable as the other figure that has less points of articulation. The paint and sculpting jobs are as good as the other figure. I guess since this one has a amazing attack action feature they thought it should cost more. Originally $12.99 I got it for $2.60.

I was almost at the end of the toy section,which thankfully wasn't as crowded as the other end. Looked at the bottom shelf,piles of stained stuffed animals. And what do I see way at the back. A Tech Deck Darth Vader skateboard and quarterpipe playset. My first thought was to grab this as a birthday gift for my cousin's youngest son. He loves Star Wars.But the more I look at it the more I want to keep it. Anyways besides one none discounted item this cost me the most. Originally $14.99 I got it for $4.50.

So I spent $23.55. For what was originally $88.95. So my savings is $65.40

Now there is 4 items I bought I didn't include in these totals. 3 of them because I can't figure out what their original cost was. The other item wasn't discounted at all.

Dirt Cheap always has two big tables full of ex-Blockbuster rental copies in cardboard sleeves. What I dislike is the price is always changing. Sometimes they are a buck each. Sometimes $3. This time they were 75 cents. I grabbed .....

Tears of the Black Tiger-The artwork on the disc makes it out to be a Asian made and starring Western. I guess like Sukiyaki Django.

Stripped Naked-From Anchor Bay,no idea what this movie is. But the title sounded sleazy and with Exploited Cinema going soon to that Grindhouse in the sky I wanted to grab something sleazy to watch in tribute. My luck it will be some National Lampoon film that sucks.

Twin Peaks Complete series Disc 4-I have been trying to get cheaply Region 1 dvds of Twins peaks Pilot episode and season 1.Months back I got the Pilot from this same boxed set. I thought I grabbed a disc with episodes 4,5,6 of season 1.But it is 8,9,10 of season 2. So if anyone reading this needs Disc 4 of the Twin peaks gold box set let me know. It is free.

I was slowly making my way to the register to checkout,when someone threw something into my cart. "Newt you need this shirt!" I got told.

Yep they sell shirts with their logo on it. I wish they had one with the crackhead looking bird that is their mascot. But this one is good. I have been trying to get more non-black shirts. So a bright green shirt is a nice addition.This was also the most expensive item. But $5 isn't bad for a t-shirt.

              I doubt I hit Dirt Cheap again this month. Overall I got a good haul this time. 

Godzilla and the other monster are preparing to go attack my Macross figure,which is out of the shot to the right. I think Playskool Heroes Iron Man might be drunk.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 042 Carrie

TITLE-Carrie

AUTHOR-Stephen King

FORMAT-Paperback

FIRST TIME READING-Nope! I can not remember how many times I have read this book.

COST-10 cents

Right after I moved back to Mississippi the local library had it's 4 time a year book sale. They had 4 or 5 copies of Carrie. So instead of the normal 50 cents for a paperback,they were 10 cents. I had left most of my books out in Texas. And had no clue what all I owned. I figured if I bought it and already had a copy out in Texas I was out 10 cents. When I did get my stuff I had left 2 states to the west ,either I had not owned a copy of Carrie or someone had borrowed mine.

I feel like everyone reading this knows the story. They have either seen one if not all of the three film adaptations. I have only seen the original film and the made for TV remake.The original film is a decent adaptation of the novel. The main parts that are missing are medical reports that would have been hard to translate to the screen.

As for the novel. I choose to read it this time because I couldn't sleep. I thought reading something I have read many many times before would distract my brain long enough for me to get some much needed sleep. That didn't happen and in a little under 3 1/2 hours I read the entire book.

Hmmm.. what more can I say. I like this cover more than any other US printings cover. I wonder how many people before me owned and read this copy. I don't like Carrie enough to want to own it in hardcover.So this cheap kind of beat up paperback copy will do well.

Carrie gets a 2.85 outta 5.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 041 America's Best Comics trade paperback

TITLE-Alan Moore's America's Best Comics

AUTHOR-Various writers plots assists by Alan Moore

FORMAT-Trade Paperback

FIRST TIME READING-No

COST-$3.33

Besides a Promethea cover collection,which I got cause it was extremely cheap and got me to the free shipping limit on the site,this is the only other things I have read from  the DC's ABC comic line.I was at my regular con. And a dealer had a spinner rack packed with overstock trades. They were $5 a piece or 3 for 10.I dropped around 90 bucks and he ended up letting me get 30 trades instead of 27.

The trade is a sampler of the America's Best Comics line.Reprinted is the ABC 64-Page Giant,The Many Worlds of Tesla Strong and the ABC Sketchbook.

The 64-page giant reminds me of the last year or so of DC's Adventure Comics. When it became a digest that was stuffed with reprints of a strange bag of heroes. I am assuming this comic was meant to be a jumping on point for new readers. The Promethea 30's style comic strip has nice artwork and is fairly well written.The handful of Jack B Quick one pagers is a nice homage to Golden age comics. With a very Tom Swiftian boy genius.The Top Ten story was decent,but I was expecting a lot more. I guess it was cause I had heard so much praise for Top 10.I am a huge Sergio Aragonnes fan and of course enjoyed his First American story.The best for art and story from this issue is the Splash Brannigan story written by Alan Moore. With Kylie Baker artwork.

The Tesla Strong story has so many artist working on it. With each of them doing a few pages. After having so many 4 or so page stories getting a nice long story was a refreshing change. All of the art is well done. The Peter Hogan and Alan Moore story is so good that I added every appearance of Tesla Strong to my want list.

The sketchbook has some interesting art. But it just made me want to read more stories with Splash Brannigan and/or The Greyshirt. The Greyshirt is a very Shadow like vigilante. And Splash has the powers of Spiderman's foe Hydroman,and the personality of the Golden Age Plastic Man.

To me the 64-page giant is worth the $3.33 I paid for this issue. Then you got the really really really good Tesla Strong story.And almost added bonus of a decent sketchbook.I need to find more comics from the defunct line soon.

Alan Moore's America's Best Comics Trade Paperback gets a 4.45 outta 5.

How come no one told me about these 001

Earlier this month I made a visit to Vendor's Emporium.While there I found 3 toys. 2 from the Frantics line and 1 from the Weird-ohs.

I know of the Weird-ohs cause of a documentary I watched on Big Daddy Roth last year. Pretty sure it was in the Weird-ohs model kits that Rat Fink first appeared. The Frantics I have never heard of.

But onto the toys.

  Each figure comes in a sealed clamshell like packaging. Above is the male Frantic Cat.I did some looking and these sold for $7 originally. Not a bad price for what you get. Now let see what is in the package.

Each figure comes with a pack of 5 trading cards. The two things to the right are pieces of cardboard that were in the packaging as decoration.

While opening the pack of cards I noticed how the wrapper didn't feel right. It looks just like the old wax packs baseball cards came in. But it is made of a different type of paper.As you can see in the picture one of the two pictured cards has the male Frantic Cat figure on it. The other card has what I assume is the Frantics drummer.

 And here is the other three cards.The first card has the other Frantic figure I own on it. After opening the other Frantic figure I learned there is only 5 trading cards total in the base set. There is randomly inserted chase cards. I didn't get any. The art on these cards looks like Jack Davis,of Mad Magazine fame,and Big Daddy Roth worked on them.

 And here is the figure. I wondered when looking at him in the packaging how he would be able to stand up. Turns out there is magnets in his feet and the base is metal.So getting him to stand up is easy.

To me in the face he looks a lot like Buddy Bradley from Hate.The paint job is well done. The sculpting is pretty good. Overall a decent figure and with the cards is worth the $2.50 I paid.

 Here is my other Frantic figure,Totally Fab.

Again it comes with a pack of 5 cards. Here is the pack along with the cardboard pieces from the packaging.

And the same five cards that came with the Frantic Cat figure.Might make this extra set into magnets or buttons.

Here is Totally Fab along with his base. I like the two records,which I figure are 45s,on the base.Thankfully they put magnets in his feet. Without them getting him to stand wouldn't be easy. I now want to find the other 3 Frantics from this series so I can have a complete set.  At least I assume there is only 3 more. The backing board in  the packages shows 5 total figures. But on the front Totally Fab is listed as #25. But I don' t know if that means there are 25 figures in the Frantics or 25 figures total in all of the lines of toys in this lineup. Also on the back it says there is 66 total Frantics cards. I could do some googling to find out.But I am being lazy.

Then there is the one Weird-Ohs figure I found.

Drag Hag is part of the Weird-Ohs. Pretty sure this is all connected to Rat Fink.The backing card says there is 130 cards total. So now I am really confused.

The little purple guy on the wrapper is Wade A Minut. He is another of the Weird-Ohs figures.

4 of the 5 cards in the pack have Drag Hag on them. And unlike the Frantics cards these are all high numbers. With the highest number being 56. The two cards pictured above have Drag Hag ,with a baby in her car.The one on the top is about her and the kid.The bottom one has her and the kid at a laundry mat.

The top left card has Drag Hag and her daughter again. The bottom left card is of Sarge Barge.Who isn't one of the figures pictured on the back of the packaging.Remember when I said there is random inserted chase cards. I spoke wrong when I said I didn't get one. The top right card is labeled as a "Treasure Hunt" on the back. And it has Drag Hag out grocery shopping.

And here is Drag Hag.Her arms are a bit moveable. And like the other two figures the paint job and sculpting are well done.

Here is Drag Hag with her Weird-Ohs skateboard. She attaches to the board with magnets. The board is made just like those finger skateboards that were popular years back.

I am always on the lookout for smaller figures with a unusual look to them. All three of these meet that criteria. Doing a quick google search it seems like these didn't sell well. And I am wondering where the owner of the booth I bought them from got them.If I could find more at say $3 or less I would buy them.

Well I hope yall enjoyed this.I had planned on posting it weeks ago. Then had my computer issues and it hit the back burner.But if you are reading this and have some Weird-Ohs or Frantics you want to sell let me know.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 040 The Greatest Team Up Stories Ever Told

TITLE-The Greatest Team-Up Stories Ever Told
AUTHOR-Various
FORMAT-Hardcover
FIRST TIME READING-No
COST-$8

I have always like DC comics The Greatest FILL IN THE BLANK series of trades and hardcovers. Back when the first Burton Batman film came out I got the Batman and Joker trades from this line. And read each of them so many times they fell apart.

Back in 2008 I had a lot more disposable income. Was on Ebay looking for decently priced comic trades and hardcovers.I saw this collection. With the great artwork on the dust jacket catching my eye.I looked it up and scoped out what stories are reprinted in this collection. They looked to be a nice selection of both stuff I had read and hadn't read.It had 3 days to go in the auction.So I put in  a bid of $8,which was 25 cents more than the current highest bid. By the time I won the auction I had kind of forgot about bidding on it.

It came in and I filled up my glass with some cold sweet tea.Went out on my back porch. Spent the next 2 hours reading some really fun Golden age and Silver age stories with various DC heroes teaming up.

Oh yeah the stories.There are 15 stories total. 5 Golden age stories,with 3 of them teaming up Superman and some combination of Batman and/or Robin. These are decent. But nothing about them stands out that much.The other two stories team up Aquaman with Green Arrow and Speedy.These two are really fun. I like how Green Arrow has to change up his techniques because of him being underwater.And the Aquaman part of the story has beautiful Ramona Fredon artwork.

There are 6 Silver age stories. And there is much more variety in what heroes team up in these stories.Of course the classic team up stories of the 60s,Flash of Two World,Crisis on Earth-One and Crisis on Earth-two.The Hawkman/Adam Strange team up is a story I had never read or heard of.But after reading it I would rank it with the stories I mentioned a few sentences back.Gardner Fox is the author,with Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson doing the pencils.Mr Anderson pulls double duty by also doing the inks.The Atom/Flash team up....well it isn't anything special. The Alex Toth art is nice.But I have never been a big fan of Bob Haney's storytelling skills.Then the final story from the Silver age,another classic. From The Brave and the Bold #54 it is first appearance of the original Teen Titans.I had a reprint of this teaming of Robin,Kid Flash and Aqualad. But the reproduction of the artwork was really bad. Here it looks better than it ever has.I love the Bruno Premiani pencils. And the only drawback is the by the numbers Bob Haney story.

Finally we get 4 Bronze age/Modern age stories.Before getting this collection I had read 2 of them. The first is O'Neal & Adams Green Lantern #76 from Spring 1970. What can be said about this comic? Really it has been discussed indepth for over 40 years now. All I can say is that I do enjoy it,but feel that it feels a bit dated. Which isn't really a bad thing,the story is 44 years old. The next story is one I have never read.It is the story about how if Krypton hadn't explodes Kal-El would have been the greatest Green Lantern of all time. I have never been a Superman fan. There is at the most 10 or so Superman stories I even enjoy. This is not one of them.We jump ahead to the very early 80s. From Brave and the Bold #178,the Jim Aparo drawn team up of the Creeper and Batman. Kind of surprised I had not read this issue before getting this collection. From the very late 70s until the series ended I rarely missed an issue of Brave and the Bold. This was the title that not only made me a Batman fan,but also introduced me to so many DC heroes and villains.And when Jim Aparo was drawing it I tried my best to never miss an issue.I loved this issue so much. The Creeper is a low enough level super powered hero that he works very well with Batman.And finally not only the last issue in this great hardcover,but the best issue in it. As I said above I am not a Superman fan. But DC Comics Presents #85 is one of those 10 or so Superman stories I enjoy. The first time I read it was not long after it came out in the fall of 85.My cousin had bought the comic. We were 11 or 12,and had found out the local library had a comic book trade. He had bought the issue of DC comics presents cause he was a big Superman fan. And he did not like it. He hated it.Before we got into his mothers car to go trade comics he asked me if I might want it.I looked at it and saw Superman was teaming up with Swamp Thing. At the comic trade that summer I had gotten a few issues from the 70s Swamp Thing run.So I agreed to trade him one of my Gi Joe comics for the issue. It got buried in the pile of comics I got that day. And at least a week went by before I read it. Holy Hell what a great story. Wait I am just assuming people reading this know who wrote it and did the pencils. Alan Moore wrote the comic.Rick Veitch did the pencils. So you got the at the time current creative team on one of the best comics of the 80s. OK enough gushing. This is one of my favorite comics. And one I think every comic fan should read.

Lets see. This is a well made hardcover. Out of the 15 stories 9 of them are great. The other 6 suffer from either being very dated or starring heroes I have little interest in. But even the stories I have no interest in the artwork is reproducted so well.

The Greatest Team-Up Stories Ever Told gets a 4.05 outta 5.

Bargain Store finds from early Feb 2015

This is another article I had half written when my main laptop shit the bed. I am still working on getting it working properly. But have managed to get all my stuff off of it. So here is a post that should have hit 20 days ago. Hope y'all enjoy.

Most months the first week of it I spend a few hours hitting all the bargain stores in my town. We have 5 Dollar Generals,a Family Dollar,Dollar Tree and Dirt Cheap. Been thinking about doing a post each month on the stuff I find. Cause everyone always tells me they love hearing about my finds. So this is the first of what I hope to be a monthly feature here.

DOLLAR TREE
Now for those that don't know,Dollar Tree is a nationwide chain. Where everything is a buck or cheaper. I mostly use it to buy super glue,AAA batteries for my remotes and other small gadgets and for cheap greeting cards. I hate how much a greeting card cost. So Dollar Tree having them for 50 cents is great. But onto what I bought.

 I was checking the toy aisle when I found this keychain TMNT Leonardo item. They had all four Turtles. And over the past 6 months I have gotten back into the TMNT franchise. Each of these keychains came with a pog and has something in the base that you use a smartphone with. Something about being able to fight your turtle online against others. I don't own or want a smartphone. But a well detailed Leo "statue" for a buck was worth it.

 I assume they made 2 figures for each Turtle.Because after seeing mine a friend went and got a Raphel one. But her's looks different from mine. I had planned on adding these to the dash of my car. But didn't right now they are on top of one of my many shelves.Kind of wondering how many people put these on their keychains. They are so big they wouldn't fit in most pants pockets.

But besides a soda and a bag of chips all I bought from Dollar Tree was the turtles. Dollar Tree is very hit or miss. This time it wasn't a hit or a miss.

DOLLAR GENERAL

I love Dollar General. I got one pretty close to my home. And almost everyday I stop there to grab a drink.I love how DG has lots of used DVDs cheap. But my favorite thing to look for at DG is books. Every DG I have been in has at least one spinner rack of cheap paperbacks.

Well I was in town and ran by a Dollar General I rarely go into. Mostly cause it is in a part of town I kind of avoid. I had been asked to go grab some sodas and since I was in DG I had to check the spinner rack of cheap paperbacks.

 After the Golden Age book review

I had never heard of this book or the author. The artwork on the cover caught my eye. I read the synopsis on the back and it sounded good. Plus it was only $2. My only small complaint about DG and their books is you never know what the price will be. Sometimes it is $3,sometimes it is $2 and sometimes it is $1. You don't know until the find the price sticker DG adds to the cover. Speaking of those stickers,I wish more stores used them. I have never had an issue removing that sticker. It never damages the cover. But if you don't feel like reading my review I will sum it up. If you like superheroes give this book a try,

Got this newer printing of Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter for $2. What is strange is the sticker on the front said 3.But it rung up as 2. I haven't seen the film ,but have seen the Asylum ripoff Lincoln VS Zombies. Heard the book is good. Had been wanting to read it. So grabbed this cause of it being cheap.

FAMILY DOLLAR

I might hit Family Dollar maybe 5 times a year. It is rare they have any toys I want. Their DVDs are placed in a high traffic area,which makes it hard to dig through them to see what they got. And if they do get in books,it is mostly romance novels.I was with a friend who was telling me how Family Dollar has cheap and nice curtains. Plus they had their women's clothing on sale. While she looked at clothes I went to dig through the DVDs.

Yep the original release of the first TMNT film on DVD. I love this movie. And have been meaning to pick it up for years now. But never saw it for under 10 bucks. It was $3. I have been seeing a Blu Ray pack that has the first 3 live action TMNT films. I don't like the 2nd film and have never seen the 3rd. So thought grabbing the first film for $3 was a great deal. I was wrong. Later that night I threw in the DVD. Had popped some popcorn and was ready to enjoy a film I haven't seen in close to 20 years. Well guess what the DVD looks like total ass. To my eyes it looks like they took a well worn ex-rental VHS and made a capture of that.Way too much grain. The picture's contrast is way too high. I feel ripped off. Guess I am gonna buy that Blu Ray set soon.

The Super 6 was a Saturday Morning cartoon made by the Depatie-Freleng studios. Most people will know this animation studio from their many Pink Panther cartoons. This show aired from 1966 to 1969 on NBC. And was rerun in syndication for decades. I never saw it,but had heard about it. The Super 6 are a bunch of superheroes that all work for an agency. If someone needs a hero they call in and the cranky dispatcher sends out a hero that can handle the situation. Each episode has 3 cartoons. Our main heroes are.
Super Bwoing-He is extremely clumsy. And is the last hero the agency wants to send out. He flies through the air on his guitar. And reminds me a bit of Van Hallen from that superhero spoof cartoon that aired as part of Dextor's Lab.
Granite Man-A living statue who's sidekick is a pigeon who lives on him.
Magneto Man-A British hero who has the power of magnetism.
Elevator Man-Who can grow or shrink in size.He is the Super 6's detective and the most serious hero on the roster.
Super SCUBA-A water based hero. Who has a mermaid sidekick
Captain Whammo/Zammo-He started off as Whammo,but only used that name for 1 or 2 episodes.Before it was changed to Zammo. Maybe the Whammo company threatened a lawsuit. He is the Super 6's Superman like hero.
This set is 2 DVDs and contains every episode. It was $5 but worth that much to me. After finding it I am now seeing it pop up in the Walmart $5 bin. If you like superheroes and don't mind comedic versions of them grab this set.

And time for the final store.
DIRT CHEAP
I mention Dirt Cheap fairly often. Because I go there all the time.Recently my lady,I and some friends made a trip to Hattisburg MS. And what was our first stop? Dirt Cheap Treasure Hunt,which is a more upscale version of the normal Dirt Cheap store. If you haven't heard of Dirt Cheap it is a close out store like Biglots. But where as Biglots is organized,clean and smells good. Dirt Cheap is messy,kind of dirty and smells bad. Plus Dirt Cheap carries lots of clothing. Where as I have never seen much clothes in Biglots.

Let me mention two items I didn't get. I always look through the shirts at Dirt Cheap. Months back I got a great TMNT shirt for $3. I was looking through the shirts when I found a nice Johnny Cash one. It had a good picture of cash on the front and that was it. I loved the design of it  and it was in my size. But it didn't have a price sticker on it. So I grabbed it knowing that once I checked out they would call a manager over to figure out a price.

I also found a hat that said "100% weird" on the front. With me cutting my hair soon,I plan on starting to wear hats more often. My girl is always jokingly saying how weird I am. So I figured a hat that says that would make her laugh. After picking it up I noticed a weird stain on the inside. I looked closed and some kind of white substance was all over inside the hat. Not knowing what it was I wasn't going to buy  the hat.

While waiting on the others that had come shopping with me I walked up and down all the aisles. In the toy aisle I found some of those Imaginext blind buy bags. I like the concept of these blind buy bags. The figures that come in them are well made. But at normal stores they cost 3 or 4 bucks each. Which is more than I will pay not knowing what I am getting. But at Dirt Cheap this was 50 cents.

I am sure if I looked it up I could find out this alien's name. Because his brain is exposed I just named him Brain dude.His shoulders are the ball and socket joints. His hands spin. And his legs are articulated at the hips. Plus the staff can be removes from his hand. Along with his cape being removable. Like the TMNT statues I planned on adding Brain Dude to my ever growing collection of stuff glued to the dash of my car. But I actually got an idea for a new project and Brain Dude is gonna be used for that.

After looking at all the toys,and finding lots of Lego sets I would have bought it they were not opened and most likely missing pieces,I went over to see what electronics they had. The smaller electronics they keep behind a counter or in glass display cases. I saw nothing I liked. But behind the counter on the floor I saw what I was sure was a headset with built in mic. I got one of Dirt Cheap's staff to come get it for me. It is a 100 buck computer headset with mic. According to reviews I have read online this is one of the best headsets on the market. The sticker on the package said $100. But as with everything at Dirt Cheap they discount it a certain amount.I asked the staff helping me if they had any idea how much of a discount it had. "No idea sir but everything over here is at least 70% off" I thought about it. 70% off would make it 30 bucks. My last headset mic was 30 bucks and not as nice as this one. So I grabbed it.

Made my way to the checkout area.And  the people that had rode with me were also ready to check out. They had grabbed lots of 90% off Halloween and X-mas decorations. Plus one of them had found some really nice boots. Normally $120 at Dirt Cheap they were $30.

The cashier rang up the Imaginext toy.Then asked me if they had anymore. Seems her son loves the Imaginext stuff and collects them. I offered to not buy this one so her son could have it. But she told me that wasn't needed. When she saw the Johnny Cash shirt had no price and the Headset didn't have the discount percentage listed on it she called the manager. The manager came over."So no DVDs this time sir?" She has gotten to know me and is use to me buying a bunch of DVDs each time I come to the store. I told her how I had already gotten 2 DVDs that day. She then looked at the headset,looked at me and said "Does $15 sound fair to you?" Of course I said yes. "Well with t-shirts if it doesn't have a price it is $10." I told her for that price I didn't want the shirt. I had seen a similar one at Walmart for $7.

Well I hope yall enjoyed my trips to these bargain stores. I believe people do not realize what kinds of deals they can find if they are willing to spend a little time looking.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 039 Booker T From Prison to Promise

TITLE-Booker T From Prison to Promise

AUTHOR-Booker T Huffman & Andrew William Wright

FORMAT-Ebook

FIRST TIME READING-Yes

COST-$3

Caught this on sale a year or so back.But it has sat on a flash drive forgotten until last week.I was looking for something to read digitally.

I first saw Booker T wrestle when Harlem Heat showed up on the various WCW syndicated shows. Over the years I have tracked down a decent amount of his matches from Global. And had heard about his stint in prison. I even got to meet Booker T back in the early 2000s.We had went to a PPV in Houston. Ended up hanging around after the show and saw Booker T heading to his car. He was really nice. Signing stuff and thanking us for coming to the show.  It sucks I lost my autograph in a move.

Booker starts the novel with his birth and goes pretty much chronologically through his life.He ended up losing both his parents when he was very young. Got abandoned by the older brothers and sisters that had said they would help raise him and his little sister. Then ended up living in their parents house with no power,water,heat and very little food. Thankfully Booker got sorta of adopted by a family.

He was doing pretty good. But ended up as part of  a group that was robbing Wendy's fast food places all over the Houston area. They get caught and Booker is set to prison. He gets out on good behaviour after a bit over a year. After some minor stumbles,Booker ends up working for a storage rental place. Where through complete chance,his boss is a huge wrestling fan. This man ends up giving Booker the $1000 he needs to start at Ivan Putski's wrestling school.

So we got Booker and his brother,the future Stevie Ray,being trained by Ivan Putski and Scott Casey.With Casey really doing most of the training.Booker tells lots of funny stories about his run ins with older vets during this time. The story about Killer Tim Brooks was the best.

Then once again a chance meeting with someone gets Booker a shot in the Global Wrestling Fed.Back then Global had a show on ESPN. So while they only ran a tiny area,they had nationwide TV.Booker and Stevie Ray become a tag team. That according to Booker gets lots of racist catcalls during their early matches. But they quickly got the crowd behind them.Everything is going good.When Booker and Stevie get a call from Sid Vicious. He wants to bring them in WCW. Of course they want to go. And the book ends with them speeding off out of the Sportatorium parking lot on their way to Atlanta.

Going into this book I was most interested in reading about Booker's days on the various Texas indies. And what he had done to get sent to prison.So with the book just covering that era I was entertained. I would have liked to hear some about his early years in WCW. Booker does hint that there is going to be a second book. I really hope it happens.

Booker T From Prison to Promise gets a 3.95 outta 5