80s Spotlight - Black Rain

The 80s was a decade rich with cop movies. There was "Lethal Weapon", "Beverly Hills Cop", "48 Hours", "Robocop", "Police Academy" (for the lols), "Running Scared" (childhood favorite), "The Untouchables" (epic soundtrack), "Die Hard", "Red Heat", "Tango and Cash", "Turner and Hootch", and the list goes on. With all those great and memorable movies mentioned, there's one that rises to the top for me, "Black Rain". 

This movie had an amazing cast and the settings in Japan were perfect. The score by Hans Zimmer as well as "I'll Be Holding On" by Greg Allman were perfect compliments to this great cop flick. 

The movie begins with Nick (Michael Douglas' character), a motorcycle racing for cash New York cop embroiled in an internal affairs investigation into his on the job ethics. His partner Charlie (Andy Garcia) is a young, hip (for the 80s), hot shot cop loaded with enthusiasm. They make for a great pair! 

While Nick is dealing with the heat of the investigation, he and Charlie by chance witness a Japenese mob style hit in a restaurant in New York. They are able to chase down and apprehend a high ranking member of the Japanese mob, Sato. Sato is wanted in Japan for an assortment of offenses and is to be sent back to Japan. Nick and Charlie are to personally deliver him and that's when things go south....fast! They are duped before they even get off the plane by Sato's men impersonating police. Needless to say Nick is not the type of cop that takes kindly to being screwed with. They delve head first into a counterfeiting war more complex than they could have ever predicted.

It's truly a masterpiece of a movie with some great quotes from Michael Douglas that if I included would lose me my PG rating fast! The performance by the cast is outstanding. If you haven't seen this movie put at the top of your to do list! 

LOEB - My Life in One Square Foot

 

This week for the League of Extraordinary Bloggers we'll be snapping a photo of one square foot. The catch is we'll need to fill that one square foot with items that sum up our lives. I decided a fun way to approach this topic would be my life as a lover of pop culture in one square foot. Here goes....

 

Literally the first thing I popped into my frame was the MOC Super Powers Superman and my Flying Fist He-Man from childhood. Super Powers and MOTU are the first action figures I remember playing with. You could say it's where it all started. Also in this photo are two variations of Super Mario. I don't think many 80s kids can think back to their childhood and not recall fond memories with everyone's favorite plumber! I also threw in some Muscle Men. I had loads of them. Simple yet fun! Finally I popped in my Ultimate Warrior action figures (Thanks Brian!). For a few years my brother and I went through what I like to call our wrestling phase. We were obsessed and the Warrior was my favorite!

In this shot I've got some more vital pieces of my childhood. My first pocket knife (I thought I was Indy himself with that thing), Malebolgia from the 90s Spawn toy line (I had quite a collection of those but never had this guy!), a pvc E.T. (my favorite movie of all time), Ghost of Obi Wan (my love of Star Wars began in the 90s and I had loads of those figures), 1989 Batmobile (all time favorite Super Hero flick), a Micro Machice (cause they were pretty much awesome), and a ghost from the Real Ghostbusters!

Moving right along I've got a Super Powers Batman (cause he's Batman), a Dinosaurs Attack Card (we could handle the violence), my Batman watch from 1989 (that symbol was everywhere!), some Cap N Crunch cereal premiums, a super rad Super Powers ring, a pvc Alf, my R2D2 clock key chain that I had on my school bag in grade school, a Congo Taco Bell giveaway watch (there was a Taco Bell next door to the movie theatre), and my first pet Buddy's shell (he was a hermit crab)

Finally I have my high school class ring, my 1989 Toy Biz Superman (I loved that toy!), a photo of me and my bro decked out in Nasta Super Powers shades, a check list I made for the new Star Wars figures coming out in the 90s (I love that this somehow survived), a transforming box of chicken nuggets, 2 sticks of gum from about 25 years ago (sentimental value), and a foil card from a set of Spiderman cards I collected (I loved comic cards!). I probably could have jammed more stuff into this photo but I tried to stick to the stuff I remember the best and enjoyed the most! It's true, I'm a life long lover of pop culture with no signs of stopping!

Hope you enjoyed my photo and be sure to scope out Cool and Collected for the rest of this week's post. They are sure to be worth the look!

MOTU Minis!

It's official, I made my first ever purchase from Matty Collector. The little guys in the picture above are what finally broke my resolve! They represent the first toys I've purchased in a good six months that were made after the 80s! These toys are part of the new MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE MINIs line.

As a kid I always liked compact toys. This continued to adulthood and even evolved to me enjoying silly/stylized versions of my favorite characters. These 2 inch tall, top heavy toys cover all bases! A neat added bonus to the 20$ two packs is a build-a-piece for Castle Greyskull. I'm certain that when assembled, this set is gonna look sweet! I'm hoping to see another wave with perhaps a build-a-Snake Mountain? One can only dream of how awesome that display would be! 

As of this post Battle Armor He-Man and Mer-Man are sold out at Matty Collector but available at BigBadTyStore for $35 ($15 more than Matty). As for Battle Armor Skeletor and Moss Man (who's actually been flocked! How cool is that!?) they'll be available on Matty Collector on April 15. 

I'll be posting my progress as these awesome little dudes start arriving in the Nerd Nook. Stay tuned!

Nerd Nook Newbies

I'm just gonna dive right back into Nerd Nook Newbies and the logo above says it all! Yes, I have recaptured a huge part of my childhood with this one. He-Man and the Masters figures were literally the first action figures I remember playing with. Until this new addition I only had one single Masters of the Universe figure in the Nerd Nook, my flying fist He-Man. I'll never forget the day I dropped his weapon into a water trap on a golf course near my house. Who knows what happened to the shield. Regardless of him being incomplete, he's still a favorite!

For the longest time I wanted to reclaim the piece of my childhood that was defined and dominated by these muscle bound characters. I'd casually search for them here and there but would never pull the trigger. That all changed about 10 days ago when I scored this guy!

I figured if you're gonna start a MOTU collection why not dive in head first and start with non other than the Most Powerful Man In the Universe, He-Man himself! I'm not ashamed to admit that I've been walking around the house today (he just arrived in the mail this afternoon) shouting "He-man...and the Masters of the Universe!" then proceeding to sing the melody that would play in the cartoon's intro. Thankfully my wife knows the level of uber nerdyness I've achieved and loves me anyway!

Seeing this guy reminds me of great times! Times spent with my big brother and the amazing Masters of the Universe collection! The feeling I got when I pulled this guy out of the box is why I collect in the first place!

I love the pose of He-Man and the line that describes him! Iconic to say the least!

So there ya have it! My first Nerd Nook Newbies in a while was quite the jolt of nostalgia! Now I need Skeletor ;)

"He-Man guards the safety of all Eternia, his faithful allies at his side."

 

LOEB - Regrets

As the banner indicates, this week we're answering a question each collector will inevitable ask themselves....

"Why did I buy that?"

Now when I first started my collection I was a bit all over the place. I was picking up new stuff, old stuff, LEGOS, random blind bags, posters, you name it. I have since purged my collection of all the stuff that didn't fit my collecting focus. I ended up selling most of it for a loss, that question ever present in my mind "why did you buy all this junk!". Since the great purge I have managed to maintain my discipline and have been pretty happy with my collecting progress ever since.I've even resisted the Black Series!

With all that said, when I first saw this assignment I wondered what I'd write about. I thought to myself this would have been perfect about a year ago when I cleared out all the excess clutter. I did some brainstorming and realized there is one collection I'm in the process of building, that I absolutely love, but still find myself saying "why did I ever buy that!?"....and that collection is....

My 1978 Vintage Star Wars 12 back action figures. Yeah, these are arguably the most iconic collection of toys to ever grace the pegs of toy stores. Now astute eyes will immediately see that I've only got 8 of the first 12. I am still missing Princess Leia, Darth Vader, the Stormtrooper, and Obi Wan. It has been quite an adventure piecing together this collection so far. It's been a work in progress for what feels like forever. Every now and again when I consider how close and yet so far away I am from completing this monster of a collection I do sometimes ask myself "why did I ever start this crazy undertaking!"

I'm sure when it's all said and done I'll be thrilled to have this set collecting dust on my shelves. Honestly, if I never get another single one I'd love these 8 just the same! 

Be sure to scope out Cool and Collected for the rest of the League's posts!

Thanks for this neat topic idea Cody, looking forward to hearing everyone's take on this one!

"Judge me by my size do you!?!?"

League of Extraordinary Bloggers - I'm Obsessed!

Wow it's certainly been a long time since I posted anything here at the old Nerd Nook. I have most definitely been more focused on my Instagram (NerdNook) than this blog. I'm excited to see our League Leader Brian over at Cool and Collected getting the band back together! So without further adieu:

 

Well as it turns out I've got loads of obsessions as of late, most of which stem from nostalgia, the 80s, and recapturing pieces of my childhood. I've got several toy collections going at the moment and will be hopefully adding a new installment of Nerd Nook Newbies to blog soon. Stay tuned for that! But in the interest of staying to the point I'm gonna write about one recent obsession that encompasses the nostalgia, reliving of my childhood, and the 80s.........

If you haven't checked out this show DO IT....DO IT NOW! It really manages to capture that 80s feel with the music, clothes, decor, and general attitudes of the characters. They regularly include some the 80s biggest heavy hitters including: The Goonies, GI Joe, Masters of the Universe, Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Transformers and more!

For the nostalgia impaired, like myself, it is a must watch show. I find I can relate to the characters, the family dynamic (I grew up with my great uncle living with us and he was funny and silly much like the grandfather), and of course the pop culture that defined the decade! I often find myself sitting there grinning while watching, having just been reminded of a long buried memory or 80s detail I'd forgotten about.

Even the brief intro and song pull you back to that simpler time, devoid of tablets, smart phones, and BS. You feel like a kid again, popping a recorded over VHS into the VCR ready to kick back on the carpet, drink some Ecto Cooler and enjoy some care-free relaxation!

Be sure to check out the rest of the League's Obsessions over at Cool and Collected!