AF2011 Double Barrel Pistols!

In the world of "Guy Stuff" this is pretty darn amazingly cool!  I would love to fire one of these on the range.  I bet these will not be cheap.

Check it out here!

I thought this was a pretty clever display.  My youngest daughter loves Stitch. Can't wait to go to Disneyland again this year for vacation with my family! My oldest daughter will be 16!  WHERE HAVE THE YEARS GONE!  Disneyland is one place I love to just be a kid.  This picture was taken from disboards.com.

John Wayne's 1953 Corvette (51st)

Saw this at a car show recently, pretty cool. I have read many many books about John Wayne but this was the first time I knew anything about this cool Corvette that the Duke bought, in 1953 brand new off the line, the 51st Corvette built. That's pretty cool!

Seems he was too large for it and his head stood above the windshield so he gave it away to his friend Ward Bond.  Wasn't Ward Bond about as tall as the Duke, not sure, have to look that one up.  Anyway, this is not my photo but we did get pictures of it.  Had a great time at the car show with friends and family. Cool Fun!  Go here and here to learn more, although I will say there is not much out there about it.

Old Time Radio

When I was a kid I remember one day laying in bed in the attic of our small house where my Dad had built me a room, complete with pull down stairs I thought this was one of the coolest places in the world (The Beach Boys song "In My Room" comes to mind).  I was listening to my radio on one of those single flesh colored ear buds (anyone remember those) and across the airwaves came KNX 1070 News radio (I still remember the jingle) and the sound of a creaking door.

I was totally engrossed, totally captured and totally glued to my radio as E. G. Marshall came on with his disturbing voice and said "Come In, Welcome, I'm E. G. Marshall".  He then introduced the show and off on an adventure, thriller, mystery I would go.  At the end he ended the show with "Until next time, pleasant... dreams?"

Oh man, you cannot believe the excitement when I found this show and I couldn't wait until next time, I listened faithfully every night that I could from then on out for several years.  I believe this was around 1976 or 1977 and the show ran from 1974 to 1982 and produced 1,399 shows.

This experience started my life long love of Old Time Radio and even to this day I find comforting memories in listening to my favorites... CBS Radio Mystery Theater, Suspense, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar, Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel, Burns and Allen, Abbott and Costello and many many more.  I'm not old enough to have heard these old radio shows when they originated but I am old enough to have heard CBS Radio Mystery Theater when it was still on the air and oh such wonderful memories.

Here's a funny little story.  I remember traveling with my parents somewhere, no idea where but the people we visited had a cassette of Abbott and Costello that they gave me.  Well I had a little walkman type radio of some sort, and I had some headphones.  And you remember how the show starts out with Costello screaming "Heyyyyy  Aboooott!!!!"  Well my Dad was pulling out of the driveway and I turned on that show and that little cassette player must have been turned up all the way and that sound came over the headphones loud enough to scare my Dad half to death.  He thought he had run over a kid or something.  Like I said, great memories.  I can laugh about it now but I don't think my Dad was real happy at the time.

If you would like to experience some of these shows, try the following free sites:

Old Radio World
Internet Archive - Old Time Radio

ENJOY!

A Great Deal...

 
As a promotional deal, Ashampoo is giving away their full version Burning Studio 2012 (a $49.95 value).  This is no Nero in my opinion but a pretty good burning studio, I've used it a few times and am impressed.  Go here for instructions how to obtain it.  Hurry, I'm sure it will expire soon!

San Quentin (1937)

I've been watching Bogie lately, so consequently that is what I end up writing about.  Just finished San Quentin starring O'Brien, Bogie and Sheridan.  Not a bad little movie, storyline is a bit week but it's not bad.

The prisoners of San Quentin are getting out of hand under the iron fist and cruel treatment of the Captain of the yard (Barton Maclane).  The Warden sees this as a problem and hires a new Captain of the yard, Captain Stephen Jameson (O'Brien) to clean things up and regain the trust of the prisoners.


Bogie plays Joe 'Red' Kennedy, a mouthy little punk criminal who gets time in Quentin.  His sister is May (Ann Sheridan) a singer who believes her brother has just gotten a bad break in life.  O'Brien works with Bogie and for a while Bogie tries to reform but when the other prisoners lie to him telling him Jameson is only treating him good because he likes his sister, Bogie breaks out of Quentin to get back at O'Brien.

In the end Bogie gets shot trying to escape the police, but not before realizing that Jameson is "all right".

If you enjoy Bogie like I do, this is a pretty good movie.  If you are trying to turn someone on to Bogie, I wouldn't start them out on this movie.

Go here for a more detailed description of this movie.

TV Westerns

When I was a kid in the 70s there were still a lot of TV Western re-runs out there.  Some I suppose may have been syndicated but mostly the TV western was gone by the 70s so whenever I could find a re-run to watch I was in heaven.

As a kid, my preference for make believe playing in the back yard or with my neighborhood pals usually gravitated toward cowboys, which is kind of interesting because I have heard my Father say that his tendency as a kid was toward playing Army.

Anyway, like anyone I had my favorite TV shows so for fun I thought I would list them and maybe do some write-ups on some or all of them, the research would be fun and nostalgic.





My 10 favorite TV western shows as a kid:
1. Wild Wild West (by far this one was number 1)
2. Rifleman
3. Gunsmoke
4. Rawhide
5. Maverick
6. Have Gun Will Travel
7. Bonanza
8. Lone Ranger
9.  Little House on the Prairie (stretching it a bit I know.)
10. Big Valley

My 10 favorite TV Western shows 35 years later, some of which I didn't even know about as a kid, but I sure enjoy them now when I can find them:
1. Wild Wild West (Yes, still!)
2. Wanted: Dead or Alive
3. Magnificent Seven
4. Gunsmoke
5. Rawhide
6. Maverick
7. Have Gun Will Travel
8. Rifleman
9. Bonanza
10. Big Valley

Anyway, I'm no TV Show expert by any means, unlike kids of today I spent more time outside playing than inside watching TV but I may jot my thoughts down about a few of these classic TV Westerns in the coming days, stay tuned...

What were your favorite TV westerns and memories from your childhood, I'd love to hear from you.