James and Jackie get caught up in the estate sale mania that is going on in reality TV and spend two weekends experiencing it.   And they learned a few things on why it isn’t for the faint of heart.

Well, for the last few weeks, Jackie & I have been hitting estate sales here in Central and Northern New Jersey.   This is a new thing for us as we have never even really hit garage or yard sales since moving to NJ from the Bronx in 1993.   We just didn’t think it was what respectable people did.

Well, reality TV changed all that for us.  Every pawn shop and antiques reality show had these stories of people finding tremendous deals at estate sales. Even one of our new favorite shows – Kevin Smith’s “Comic Book Men” showed the main characters finding big scores at garage sales and the Collingwood Flea Market.  So Jackie and I decided to check out this suburban phenomena.  And we lived to tell the tale.

We started our expeditions at the Collingwood Flea Market Mall in Farmingdale, NJ after seeing it on Comic Book Men.  The characters on the show said that “the people who went to this mall were not allowed in regular malls” – and that was enough to pique our curiosity.   And after asking around, we found it was a “ghetto mall” (which are usually awesome) where you could find “anything” – from brass knuckles, swords, and grappling hooks (seriously), to Nazi paraphernalia (we think – we didnt go in that section as it looked too shady). This is the type of mall where you could find the million-dollar first issue of Superman idly lying on a shelf under a bong lamp.  Jackie & I learned a lot about what the “real” NJ Shore was this first weekend.

But alas, we didn’t find anything that we could re-sell to make millions on our trip.  So we decided to do some estate sales browsing instead.   We found a website with a list of em, and we mapped out about 14 of em spanning two Saturdays and off we went.

And we learned stuff in our estate sales travels…  The two separate days we went out, we had two separate types of experiences, so I will split them out

Saturday #1
Estate Sales Shopping is a completely new experience for us, so we didn’t know what to expect.

Here’s the rundown of what we learned this first Saturday….

You will feel your own mortality instantly.
Its called an estate sale for a reason – Chances are the owners had died and the family is selling off their crap to make money off stuff that they’d probably throw away or donate otherwise.

One of the first feelings I felt at my first estate sale was that one-day there will be masses of clueless people traipsing thru MY stuff looking to see if there was anything worth anything.  And that just depressed the hell out of me – I dont think I believe in the “those with the most toys at the end, wins” philosophy.

But the depression about your mortality will wear off when you hit your next emotion…

You will feel like a vulture picking through people’s stuff. 

The depression will be replaced by disgust that you are picking thru deceased people’s stuff.  Watch the first minute of this clip of Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol to get an idea of what I felt like going thru this stuff…

But after you digest all feelings of disgust, you start to justify what you’re doing…  And it does work for a bit..

This is a wonderful experience for an aspiring writer looking for character inspiration.

At any given point, you are walking into the lives of people you have never met and seeing the total accumulation of their life laid out in front of you.  And without knowing anything else about the people who owned the house, you can piece together a semblance of their life.

For example, one of the houses, there was a lot of camera equipment, golf equipment, and African and Asian folk art and stuff.  Without knowing much more, you start to put together a life profile of these people -  They were world-travelers with no kids accustomed to the finer things in life.  The husband was a successful businessman  who was an avid golfer.  The wife was a bored housewife who fancied herself an art collector and photographer.   They spent their entire life together except for a short period when the husband strayed with his gold-digging secretary.   The wife eventually forgave him, but kept him on a short leash. Eventually the wife developed cancer, and the husband took care of her till the end and passed shortly after.  I have no idea if any of the facts are true, but it is for a fictional character, so I’m fine LOL

Another house had tons of watchmaking equipment.   This was inspiration for a strict Swiss-German watch repairman in a mall store like Zales who came into work only two days a week.   But he was always tinkering at home who was very distant from his wife who drank a lot.

And so on.  The sky is the limit on the characters you can come up with.

But eventually, you’ll see something that will depress you again.

One house had paintings of the owners up around the house.   They weren’t very good, so I’m thinking it was done by a fledgling artist family member.  And the paintings were FOR SALE for like $20.   So basically these people had absolutely nobody to leave these personal paintings to.   Nobody wanted to remember Mom and Dad (or Grandma and Granddad)…   That $20 price tag was one of the saddest things I’d ever seen, and I kinda had to get out of there shortly afterwards.

Well that was weekend #1 where all these new experiences sank in.   We decided to go back the next weekend to see if it would be any different now that we knew what to expect…   It was…

Saturday #2:
We became a bit jaded to the emotions experienced last weekend and decided to see if there was any hope of making money

This is more of a list of what we learned with experience to get the most out of your estate sales shopping

If you don’t get there in the first hour. you probably won’t find anything worthwhile.

Before the estate sale, you have the relatives going thru the house with first pick at anything.  Then you get the company that runs the sale getting second pick… Then they’ll probably bring in antique shops and specialty shops in to see if they can get good prices for other items…

Then the estate sale opens – And there are a LOT of people who go to these sales.  And some of these people are professionals who have a second nature of what is valuable and whats not.  And they scan the online listings and will go to ONE (maybe two) sales per weekend and get there before it opens on the first day and grab the good stuff.

So if you get there later, its already been scavenged a lot… But don’t fret there is some hope..

If you can’t make it in the first hour, try to go the last two hours of the sale.

There will be stuff that the sellers price too high and they’ll be sitting there all throughout the sale.  In the last hour or two of the last day, they’ll be willing to make a deal.   Being that Jackie and I did hit some sales during the last two hours of the sale, we saw them drop the prices 50% and even 75% automatically.  It sounds like its a standard practice across the board, so if you see something expensive, you might want to go back – if its still there…

The prices on the sticker are only a “suggestion”

Still feeling some guilt from last week, Jackie and I didn’t want to insult the memory of the owner by trying to bargain with the sale people.   When we asked the price of 25 Matchbox cars from 1979, he told us a dollar a car.  We politely declined and were ready to leave.  Then he told us we could have all the cars for $10 – which was definitely worth it.

Not all sellers will do this, but give it a shot…

Cash is king, and very few estate sales deliver.

None of the places I went to accepted credit cards or checks…  It makes sense I guess, but it wasn’t obvious to me.  I wouldn’t take a check from many of the people I ran across during my 2 days there.

Also, only one estate sale was willing to deliver items (for an extra fee).   Again, it makes sense, but not obvious to me at first…  Especially since theres always a lot of heavy furniture being sold at these auctions, so if you plan to buy anything big, mnake sure you have big burly friends available that day to help you home with stuff…

It looks like many of the sales will let you buy the item and come back that day to pick it up…  I’m not 100% sure as I didn’t buy anything big enough to carry, but I saw a lot of SOLD stickers on big items…

Oh yeah, and here’s a big tip that you may not know…

Don’t assume the food is for customers

I had to leave the room during an incident at one of the sales this morning because I was laughing so hard.   The seller had a box of cupcakes on their table – presumedly for the people working the sale.   One of the customers decided to open the box and take one.  The sales person got REALLY nasty with the guy about how bold he was and they started arguing.

I had to leave because these grownups were acting like children in their taunting each other and it was just ridiculous.   Personally, I think this was the sellers fault for leaving the box right next to the register.  I thought they were for the customers too, but I make it a point in life to not accept free food from random people I don’t know.  Call me paranoid, but I don’t even take free samples in a supermarket.

Which brings me to my final point.

People just suck

Not everyone mind you, but you see a lot of clueless jackasses at these sales.   Buyers AND sellers…   Competition for dead people’s stuff really bring out the worst in people…  I’ve seen people complaining loudly that the quality of the merchandise was horrible. I’ve had another buyer get too close to me when I picked up something that looked interesting, and I could hear her breathing start to get labored…  When  I put it down she picked it right up and realized it wasn’t anything spectacular and make some snorting noise – like it was my fault that she got excited over it.  Calm down lady, you’ll have your chance to buy a dead person’s item soon enough…

So thats pretty much it.   Jackie and I spent maybe 50 bucks over two weekends on matchbox cars, some dishes and other tsotchkas, but as you just saw, we got an education on estate sales…  The bottom line is that I don’t have what it takes to be a good estate sales shopper…  And I’m kinda OK with that…  There has to be a better way to make some cash tho…

Will we go back?  Right now, I’m gonna say no, but if i get a lead on a sale with some comics or 1970′s toys, we’re so there…

Thanks for reading – please leave a comment if you can.

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Now for the shameless plugs…   I let you read the blog without bugging you, so indulge me on this please?

First off, I wrote a Book last year, called Lost Boys of the Bronx: The Oral History of the Ducky Boys Gang. It is about the real-life exploits of the Ducky Boys gang that was so terrifying in the 1979 movie The Wanderers.  They also happened to roam the Bronx neighborhood that I grew up in in the early 1960s.

Please check it out on Amazon or Barnes & Noble or get a signed copy directly from me (Its actually cheaper thru me and you get some free bonus stuff, but I understand you like the warm & fuzzy feeling of dealing with the big stores)

Secondly, I am currently writing a new book about the really cool people I have met doing this costuming thing.  There are a lot of interesting stories about how and why people got into this hobby.  Many people get into it for the nerdy and fun aspect of the hobby, but there is so much more to it – For example, The 501st and Rebel Legion devotes a LOT of time and energy into helping people (especially kids) who need it – Any given weekend, there are members of our group visiting hospitals, participating in charity walks and raising money and awareness for a variety of organizations (Make A Wish, FAAN, Autism Speaks, amongst many others) – So we’re not just geeks – we’re geeks that really try to make the world a better place…

Anyway, in this new book, I am looking for interesting stories of people who costume.  It could be Star Wars or Star Trek related; It could be Superhero costuming; It could be Renaissance Faire, SCA or even LARPing;  it could be Historical Re-Enacting; If you put a costume on outside of Halloween, I’d love to hear your story – so please drop me a line at JamesHannon@Lantern-Media.com – you could end up immortalized in a book.  But please hurry – before I finish writing it.

And the third and final advertisement… I’ve been writing this blog for a while now, and there’s a lot of variation in my topics…  There’s quite a few more costuming stories, some Bronx and Ducky Boys stories, reviews of movies, and concerts that I’ve been to, and tips for writers and/or procrastinators…  Take a look thru the rest of them – I’m sure you’ll find something that interests you.

See, that wasn’t so bad was it?  Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time!

-=James

.

The Barn

So back in September,2011, my wonderful niece Heather Guglielmo (who is an aspiring actress) sent me a link to a Kickstarter project for a movie called “The Barn” that she was going to be in with her Portland, Maine film-making director friend Corey Norman from Bonfire Films.  I had seen a bunch of their previous stuff and I was impressed on how good they were for being self-funded projects, but I was impressed to see they were going the Kickstarter route and taking their productions to a whole new level…  So of course I donated to the cause – Sure, I think they are very talented, but lets face it – if my niece is a part of it, I’m absolutely donating…

As a sign of how good these guys had gotten, they were asking for $500 to cover their basic production costs, and by their Kickstarter end-date of October 2nd, they almost-quadrupled that with $1,975!   Which meant they were going to add some real production value to this movie!   I was excited to see what they’d do with the extra money because they have pulled off some impressive movies with no funding…

So once they got the money they got to work right away – like setting up locations, building props (like coffins), etc.   And Heather would tell me all about the shooting, etc…   Within weeks after they started, they got all their principal photography done, and the film was in the editing room…

A few weeks after that, they are announcing their release date of December 5th, 2011 at the Nickelodeon Cinema in Portland!   I just want to note it was 2 months and 3 days after they officially started!  And as you’ll see later it was a half-hour movie with a lot of actors and special effects…  So they kicked ass in getting it done quickly..

Sadly I couldn’t make the premiere, but I heard that it was SOLD OUT and people were being turned away – which was awesome for the cast and crew.   Now I just had to wait for the DVD to see it.  I got it a few weeks back and watched it within minutes of getting the package in the mail.

And I loved it!   It was even better than the trailer would lead me to believe.   The director Corey Norman did a wonderful job making this movie LOOK like a big-budget movie.   The story was great, effects were awesome, the actors were professional quality, and the cinematography was gorgeous..

There is one thing I REALLY didn’t like about it though…   THERE WASN’T NEARLY ENOUGH HEATHER GUGLIELMO SCENES!!!   (Just remember, I said this was a BIASED review)   It sounds like Heathers been in the main cast of a LOT of previous Bonfire movies, and they didn’t want to overuse her, but as her uncle and godfather, I disagree with that 100%   For future reference, please remember this mantra:  More Heather equals More Better!  

Ok, now that I got that off my chest, now I can get back to being as unbiased as I can be with this review.  Also, I promise I wont give away any spoilers without adequate warning.

Writers Tyler Wood, Christopher Moulton & Rebecca Johnson did a great job of telling the story of how a supernatural force turned a small town in Maine upside down.   Appropriate that this short film  was shot in Maine, as there definitely was some inspiration from Stephen King’s “The TommyKnockers” here.  I never saw the movie version of that, but the feel of this movie is what I imagined when reading the book.   For the record, it seems to be inspired by Stephen King, but The Barn is a fresh original story on its own merit.

The actors were phenomenal – I’ve seen many of these actors in previous Bonfire and other of Heather’s projects, and they always do a great job.  Regular Bonfire actor Daniel Noel as Skip perfected the role of the creepy outsider who you wouldn’t want living near you.  Jack Tracksler was an absolutely perfect small town Preacher.  Peter Campbell who played Jake has the right feel of a kid from a crappy home life who doesn’t want to, but keeps finding himself in situations that will send him down that path.   Erik Probst who played Bobby was so good at his role of some sort of special needs kid, that I had to ask Heather if he really was  (He’s not as seen in the bonus footage on the DVD).. And of course, best newcomer award at the Oscars should go to Heather Guglielmo for her role here as the unfortunately named teacher called Ms. Blood (supposedly the real name of one of the writer’s teachers)… (You knew I couldn’t leave her out LOL).  The rest of the cast were great too, but I had to limit the praise here or I’d be going 10 pages longer.

As I mentioned before, director Corey Norman is great at directing, but the real reason this film is so awesome is that he has some great people collaborating with him.  Kenn Gonneville is the cinematographer and co-writer Tyler Wood  was the video editor of the Barn.  And no joke, they should win many awards for their skills here.   The whole look of The Barn is gorgeous from the scenery and the camera angles to the final glossy end product.   Just watch the trailer below to see what I mean.

Bottom Line: I loved The Barn (even tho there wasn’t enough Heather scenes) – I told Heather as soon as I saw the trailer that this movie has the potential to take off big time and change the cast & crew’s life.   And After watching the actual movie, I am convinced that it will…   Looking at the KickStarter page’s updates, I saw that it is already getting interest from a few festivals and reviewers.   And all I can say about that is that I’ll be able to say that I was a small part (thanks to Kickstarter) of a movie that launched a bunch of careers…

The Barn Teaser #2 from Bonfire Films on Vimeo.

THE BARN INFORMATION

Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Barn/114656861969960?sk=wall|

Kickstarter Page - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/942103898/the-barn-bonfire-films

IMDB page: – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2131653/

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Back in 2009, I joined the 501st Legion. In case you don’t know what that is, it’s a volunteer fan organization where its members dress in screen-accurate Star Wars “bad guy” costumes and go out to various comic conventions, charity and corporate events to promote Star Wars.  Lucasfilm gave us permission to do this, and have regularly used us for various events over the years.

Much more detailed info can be found on the 501st Legion website and the Wikipedia entry for the group.

Here in New Jersey, my local group is the 501st NorthEast Remnant Garrison.  I’m currently the Garrison Public Relations Officer (GPR) and I’m tasked with helping to promote the group – which is easy because the group does some great work with charity organizations.

One of the things we decided to do is create a series of videos to show how to put on various Star Wars costumes. Some of the costumes we have are pretty complicated to put on, and these videos were designed as a look behind-the-scenes and see how everything fits together. Many times in the dressing rooms for 501st events, troopers help each other get dressed, and while doing this, we gain an appreciation for other costumes… And being that our troopers learned stuff about other’s costumes, it stands to reason that others would be to. And this was the inspiration for this series of videos…

So without further adieu, here are the first 3 videos in the series:

Video #1 – How to put on SandTrooper Armor by Johnny Rox – TD-2298

Video #2 – How to put on Biker Scout Armor with Bro Browning – TB-8869

Video #3 – How to put on TIE Pilot Armor with James Hannon (TI-6799)

Here are some setup pics for the TIE Pilot video:

More to come soon!

For more information check out these links:

Main 501st Legion – www.501st.com
501st Northeast Remnant Garrison of NJ – www.501stner.com
Mos Eisley Police Department (Sandtroopers info)  www.mepd.net
PathFinders Detachment (Biker Scouts info)     www.bikerscout.net
Jolly Roger Squadron Detachment (TIE Pilots info)   www.jrsdetachment501st.org

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Just a quick ending note.  Joining the 501st, I’ve met a lot of great new friends out there, did some good in the world, and had some interesting adventures along the way. As a matter of fact, I found things so interesting that I decided to write a book about the experiences of all the cool people I have met during the way. Hopefully it will be ready by October 2011, and I’m busting my butt trying to make that happen.

By the way, other than a couple stragglers, the main interviews for the book are done… But if you are reading this, and think you have the coolest costuming story ever, feel free to email me at JamesHannon@Lantern-Media.com and let me know – Until I lock the book down, I’ll gladly listen to (or read) any experiences that you have in the costuming world that you think the world needs to hear…

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As always, thanks a bunch for checking my blog page out! Feel free to comment!
-=James

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Ok, this is gonna be easy to write. I’m basically gonna steal two lists of life principals from two great writers, thinkers, and humanitarians and tell you to follow their rules…   It could very well be a Twitter or Facebook update to give you motivation, but I didn’t want it to scroll off within 20 minutes after posting it – I plan to look at the list regularly during my life..   As I’ve said before, sometimes these blog entries are more for me – but if it helps someone else, all the better

The first is from the Dalai Lama…   Now don’t get scared – you don’t have to give up your current religion to follow these – they are practical and simple guidelines that should be a part of EVERY religion.    Even Carl from Caddyshack gets it (See the end of this blog for the video)

And now on to the first list:

20 Ways to Get Good Karma

By The Dalai Lama, Published 11/16/2006
Stolen verbatim from: http://www.spiritualnow.com/articles/25/1/20-Ways-to-Get-Good-Karma/Page1.html

The Dalai Lama isn't pointing in judgment.. He's giving us finger guns for Pete's sake..

Instructions for Life by The Dalai Lama

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three R’s:
   - Respect for self,
   - Respect for others and
   - Responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.
7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
19. If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
20. If you want to be happy, practice compassion

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For the second list, I’m going to go wayyyy back to Colonial times and one of the Founding Fathers – Thats right - Benjamin (freakin’) Franklin.  I’m referencing the man on the hundred dollar bill, so you know he’s got his stuff together…  I’ve been reading his biography from Walter Isaacson (the same guy who wrote the Steve Jobs one) and its been an eye opener for me.

Old Ben wasn’t always “old” – He was actually only 20 years old when he developed this list of things he needed to work on to make his character better.  Apparently it worked since 220 years after his death, people are still talking about him being one of the greatest historical figures ever. ( I’m sitting on my hands trying not to give you a history lesson of everything he’s ever done, but this isn’t the forum for that – Seriously, pick up the Walter Isaacson biography – you’ll love it…)

One of the coolest things about Ben is that he created this list because he knew he wasn’t perfect. But he wanted to try to become as close to perfect as he could…  He failed at the items on the list plenty of times during his life – but he kept trying, and even tho he failed often, that trying made him do did better than most…

Another cool thing is that he didnt even try to work on them all at the same time… He specifically worked on only one of them a week and let the others happen as normal.   He worked on the first one for a week, and then hoping “something stuck”, he moved on to the next one… He even developed a chart of his virtues, and put a mark when he failed – That chart had a lot of erasings as he re-used it over and over…  You have to love a guy who knows where he’s weak and tries to fix it…

So now without further adieu, I give you:

Benjamin Franklin ‘s Thirteen Virtues of Life

Ben Franklin has heard all the excuses and still thinks you can do it

Stolen verbatim from Wikipedia altho inspired to steal based on Walter Isaacson’s book “Benjamin Franklin: An American Life” (which is great so far)

1. Temperance. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
2. Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
3. Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
4. Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
5. Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
6. Industry. Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
7. Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
8. Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
9. Moderation. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
10. Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.
11. Tranquility. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
12. Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.
13. Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates

Almost 300 years after he wrote this, they are still relevant…  If you need help translating Ye Olde English, do a Google search, or email me and I’ll give you “my” version of what I think they mean, but like anything, it will come with my personal viewpoint.

So there, if you want some good direction to your life, why not at least take a shot on two very successful people who are not trying to sell you an entire kit of how to live better…   Hmmm, maybe I should develop a kit based on these principals???   Hmmmmm…

Thanks for reading and I hope this helps you get on a path to being better – whatever that specifically means to you..
-=James

Bill Murray in Caddyshack with the Dalai Lama

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x-nQ-vPw5k

___________________________________________________________________________

Now for the shameless plugs…   I let you read the blog without bugging you, so indulge me on this please?

First off, I wrote a Book last year, called Lost Boys of the Bronx: The Oral History of the Ducky Boys Gang. It is about the real-life exploits of the Ducky Boys gang that was so terrifying in the 1979 movie The Wanderers.  They also happened to roam the Bronx neighborhood that I grew up in in the early 1960s.

Please check it out on Amazon or Barnes & Noble or get a signed copy directly from me (Its actually cheaper thru me and you get some free bonus stuff, but I understand you like the warm & fuzzy feeling of dealing with the big stores)

Secondly, I am currently writing a new book about the really cool people I have met doing this costuming thing.  There are a lot of interesting stories about how and why people got into this hobby.  Many people get into it for the nerdy and fun aspect of the hobby, but there is so much more to it – For example, The 501st and Rebel Legion devotes a LOT of time and energy into helping people (especially kids) who need it – Any given weekend, there are members of our group visiting hospitals, participating in charity walks and raising money and awareness for a variety of organizations (Make A Wish, FAAN, Autism Speaks, amongst many others) – So we’re not just geeks – we’re geeks that really try to make the world a better place…

Anyway, in this new book, I am looking for interesting stories of people who costume.  It could be Star Wars or Star Trek related; It could be Superhero costuming; It could be Renaissance Faire, SCA or even LARPing;  it could be Historical Re-Enacting; If you put a costume on outside of Halloween, I’d love to hear your story – so please drop me a line at JamesHannon@Lantern-Media.com – you could end up immortalized in a book.  But please hurry – before I finish writing it.

And the third and final advertisement… I’ve been writing this blog for a while now, and there’s a lot of variation in my topics…  There’s quite a few more costuming stories, some Bronx and Ducky Boys stories, reviews of movies, and concerts that I’ve been to, and tips for writers and/or procrastinators…  Take a look thru the rest of them – I’m sure you’ll find something that interests you.

See, that wasn’t so bad was it?  Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time!

-=James

On 12/05/2011, we lost a local Bronx legend. Ducky Girl Phyllis Carpenella-Germano passed away. If her name doesn’t ring a bell, you were probably not living in the Norwood area of the Bronx during the early-mid 60′s.  During the course of my Ducky Boy interviews, I got to know her a little bit, and found out she still had that rebellious spirit she had back when she was a member of the infamous Ducky Boys gang…

Dec 31st, 2011

On this last day of 2011, I was going thru my to-do list, and writing this blog was at the top of the list. For athe last few weeks, I kept putting it off because I knew it would be awkward to write since I didn’t really know Phyllis “the person” all that well. But she was one of the first interviews I did for my book on the Ducky Boys gang, and she really showed me what I had gotten myself into…

On May 27th, 2006, I met Phyllis for the first time in Bronx Park. My friend and ex-Ducky Girl Geri Gertler-Norcross set up the meeting with Phyllis and Lenny Lim (also one of the original Ducky Boys).

To save typing tonight, here is the link to my blog entry of that day:
Down the Ducky Turf with some Ducky’s 5/27/2006

Read that entry (it’s not too long)… But it shows just how fearless and bad-ass Phyllis was throughout her life…  At almost 60 years old, she and Lenny climbed over a barbed-wire fence just to send a middle finger to the Botanical Gardens who had put this fence up to block people from getting to the Twin Lakes section for free. In talking to Phyllis & Lenny that day, I found that they were two of the most honest interviewees EVER. Neither of them were embarrassed nor apologetic of anything she did back in the Ducky Boys heyday.

I have to admit that I was a little intimidated by this 5 foot, 100 pound (if she was soaking wet) woman… Phyllis was still a tough cookie, and could still kick major ass.   Read my book,  Lost Boys of the Bronx to see all the gang fights she was in, including fighting tooth and nail with the boys (who weren’t taking it easy on her because she was a girl – they were fighting her at full capacity)

Over the years I was working on the book, I also found that EVERYBODY who hung out in the neighborhood knew Phyllis and were not ashamed to admit that they also were a little intimidated by her as well… I had went to a neighborhood reunion and everyone there had stories of just how tough she was, and how nobody wanted to be on her bad side.

After the Ducky Boys, she rolled with a motorcycle club and was even featured in a June 7th, 1998 NY Times article (See picture)

Phyllis was one of my best interviews.  She was tough, honest, and fearless…  I wish I knew her better than I did, but she probably would’ve kicked my ass at one point or another

The world is less interesting without Phyllis in it…   Rest in Peace…

My description of Phyllis from Lost Boys of the Bronx

Phyllis Carpenella-Germano
Phyllis was co-leader of the Ducky Girls. Phyllis was one of the tiniest Ducky Girls, but also widely known as one of the toughest members in the gang.  She was always the first to jump into a fight – regardless of the size or gender of her opponent. In May 2006, as she was approaching her sixtieth birthday, I interviewed Phyllis on location “Down the Ducky.”  During the interview she walked into a dark tunnel in the middle of nowhere just to show kindness to a homeless guy. And later she scaled a barbed-wire fence to send a middle finger to the Botanical Gardens for putting it there.   This woman has no fear whatsoever!

If you knew Phyllis at any time in her life, please post a comment or story about her below… Please be respectful…

Thanks for reading
-=James

——————————————————————————————————–

Well, I just woke up after taking a well-deserved nap today.   You see, I had to get up at 5am this morning to be in the heart of Times Square in New York City by 7:30am – And I was shooting to be there at 7am since I didn’t want to be late, so I gave myself a half-hour putz factor.  (Remind me at some future date to talk about the “putz factor” dynamic LOL)

Now, for those of you that don’t know me very well, getting up at 5am is usually reserved for something special.  And today was definitely a day that it was worth getting up at 5am…

Today, I got to help ring the opening bell at the NASDAQ stock exchange in Times Square!

Here’s what happened:

Electronic Arts was scheduled to ring the bell today to signify its changing of its ticker to EA on the NASDAQ stock exchange.  Also, along with it’s subsidiary company BioWare, it was having a HUGE release event for their videogame “The Old Republic” that came out at Midnight last night.

And EA/BioWare asked the Empire City Garrison (the NYC branch of the 501st Legion – which is the Star Wars costuming group that I belong to) to provide some Star Wars characters to the ceremony.  They agreed, and graciously asked the NorthEast Remnant (The NJ branch of the 501st) if we had any folk who could show up for this mid-week and early event.   Terry “Bro” Browning and I jumped at the chance since it was one of those once-in-a-lifetime troops.

People have asked me “How did you get chosen for this?” – Well the answer is simple  – I had a 501st/Rebel Legion approved Star Wars costume and I was able and willing to go.   The EA/BioWare/NASDAQ people would have gladly had another 5-9 costumers show up.  (One day, remind me to write up a blog about how to get a a 501st/Rebel Legion approved Star Wars costume if you’re interested.)

Well, we got to the NASDAQ on time, the NASDAQ staffers brought us to our changing room (I’m kinda surprised how many people thought I drove into the city with my costume on – without the helmet of course), and once we were changed we were brought out to take some promo pictures with the staff as well as take a souvenir picture that they gave us to take home with us…

Then they lead us into the “bell ringing studio”  which had a huge window to the street level of Times Square…  Some more promo pictures, some impromptu interacting with the passerby outside the windows, and then we set up for the bell ringing ceremony.

At about 9:15am, we went live and the NASDAQ executive came on and introduced the president of EA Labels, Frank Gibeau – who spoke a little bit and then introduced the BioWare co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk.  Then NASDAQ gave EA the ceremonial “bell ringer” crystal, and at 9:30am, Frank Gibeau rang the bell and we took a few more promotional pictures..

You can see the entire televised appearance here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CLVV7ZfsVU

The video is also on NASDAQ.com for Dec 20th, 2011, but I’ve heard
a few complaints that people had problems opening the video there.

Once the bell appearance was over, they brought us out to the center of Times Square for some more promo pictures against the NASDAQ building backdrop. Where we were surrounded…

Maybe I think too cinematically, but just picture looking down from the top of the building where you see an overhead view of people milling about slowly at any given time.  When we walked out there, picture *everybody* in Times Square swarming towards us and eventually surrounding us…   It was pretty damn cool…

After what felt like a million pictures out there, they had us turn around and watch our TV appearance on the full-size building length video screen above Times Square…  It was wicked cool (and I REALLY don’t use that term very often) – We enjoyed our celebrity for a few more minutes and then headed back inside where we were told we were done and could leave..

We went back to the changing room,and changed…  We grabbed our plastic tubs with costumes and put them in the coat check area, and went out for breakfast at the Brooklyn Diner across the street – compliments of EA/BioWare.

Its funny, just a few minutes earlier we were rock stars in Times Square, but as we went outside in civilian clothes, we were completely ignored – Its a weird feeling LOL

Ok, back to the Brooklyn Diner…. Bro and I had scrambled eggs – Bro had pancakes, and I had french fries (a diner without home fries? – the shame!  To add insult to injury, the combined cost (incl tip) for both Bro & I was $60.00!!!  For scrambled eggs!!  I know Times Square is a huge tourist trap, but why the hell do people put up with these prices??  And the place was PACKED at 10:30am!  If I were footing the bill myself, I would be outraged…  The scrambled eggs were good, but not worth $30 a person! (I told my niece later that I felt like John Travolta ordering a 5-dollar milkshake in Pulp Fiction LOL)

Afterwards, we picked up our stuff, and went our separate ways home…  personally when I got home, I took a nice long nap which I woke up from not too long ago…LOL

It was a great troop – The EA/BioWare/NASDAQ people really treated us right and it was a smooth troop – I was surprised how laid back it was for such a high profile event.  I would definitely recommend doing this type of troop if you get the chance…

Pictures with better descriptions are at:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151061880035133.774193.876445132&type=3

_____________________________________________________________________________

Now for the shameless plugs…   I let you read the blog without bugging you, so indulge me on this please? 

First off, I wrote a Book last year, called Lost Boys of the Bronx: The Oral History of the Ducky Boys Gang. It is about the real-life exploits of the Ducky Boys gang that was so terrifying in the 1979 movie The Wanderers.  They also happened to roam the Bronx neighborhood that I grew up in in the early 1960s.

Please check it out on Amazon or Barnes & Noble or get a signed copy directly from me (Its actually cheaper thru me and you get some free bonus stuff, but I understand you like the warm & fuzzy feeling of dealing with the big stores)

Secondly, I am currently writing a new book about the really cool people I have met doing this costuming thing.  There are a lot of interesting stories about how and why people got into this hobby.  Many people get into it for the nerdy and fun aspect of the hobby, but there is so much more to it – For example, The 501st and Rebel Legion devotes a LOT of time and energy into helping people (especially kids) who need it – Any given weekend, there are members of our group visiting hospitals, participating in charity walks and raising money and awareness for a variety of organizations (Make A Wish, FAAN, Autism Speaks, amongst many others) – So we’re not just geeks – we’re geeks that really try to make the world a better place…

Anyway, in this new book, I am looking for interesting stories of people who costume.  It could be Star Wars or Star Trek related; It could be Superhero costuming; It could be Renaissance Faire, SCA or even LARPing;  it could be Historical Re-Enacting; If you put a costume on outside of Halloween, I’d love to hear your story – so please drop me a line at JamesHannon@Lantern-Media.com – you could end up immortalized in a book.  But please hurry – before I finish writing it.

And the third and final advertisement… I’ve been writing this blog for a while now, and there’s a lot of variation in my topics…  There’s quite a few more costuming stories, some Bronx and Ducky Boys stories, reviews of movies, and concerts that I’ve been to, and tips for writers and/or procrastinators…  Take a look thru the rest of them at the main page of http://jameshannon.com/wp – I’m sure you’ll find something that interests you.

See, that wasn’t so bad was it?  Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time!

-=James

On Saturday, I was at a local 501st Legion – NER troop over at Bookends Bookstore over in Ridgewood, NJ.  We were there to support the release of a bunch of Star Wars books by DK Publishing.  The troop was fun and all and we took a lot of pictures, and made a lot of kids (and some adults) pretty happy with our appearance there. But that’s not the main point of this blog.

What I do want to tell you about is that while we were there, we noticed that there were a LOT of big-name stars that were listed on the store’s past & future booksigning event schedule. People like Bill Clinton, Regis Philbin, Mary Higgins Clark, Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath, Bill O’Reilly, Snookie from the NJ Shore TV show, the Kardashian family, and lots more..  Not every one of those names will appeal to everyone, but you have to admit they all do have some star power behind them. And it was impressive considering that it was a LOCAL bookstore and not one of the big corporate ones (i.e. Barnes & Noble).

I had to know “how” they got the caliber of authors to have a book-signing event, and I asked them. It seems they report their sales numbers to the NY Times Book list, and apparently that is a big deal when authors are going on book-signing tours.

So, me being the marketing whiz I am, thought “How am I going to jump on this bandwagon with my book Lost Boys of the Bronx: the Oral History of the Ducky Boys Gang“… So I asked the owners how to get on their author list… And it was pretty simple – basically they had me autograph a few of my books and leave them there… And depending on the interest generated, they’d figure out if they wanted me to hold a book-signing event.

So the #1 piece of information you should take away from this blog is:
Go to Bookends Bookstore at 211 East Ridgewood Avenue in Ridgewood, NJ and show some interest in Lost Boys of the Bronx – hopefully by purchasing one of them!

But the story doesn’t end there… I wouldn’t hit you with a marketing plea like that without giving you a hopefully interesting story!

While talking to the manager of the store, Blair Relyea – the official (and pretty awesome) photographer of Bookends, overheard my conversation about my book and asked if these were the same Ducky Boys of the Bronx that Ace Frehley of KISS was a part of. I told him yes, and then pressed him how he knew that, since he didn’t seem to have any Bronx or obvious KISS ties.

He told me that Ace Frehley had just had a book-signing event at the bookstore for his book “No Regrets” a few weeks earlier and written a large section of the book about his involvement in the Ducky Boys growing up.

This floored me because when I talked to Ace Frehley when I was writing my Ducky Boys book, he really didn’t want to tell me any stories about his involvement with the gang – at least not for free. I have an entire chapter of Lost Boys of the Bronx devoted to my interaction with Ace regarding my book – and it wasn’t that pleasant of an interaction. Now it all makes sense – he wanted to save the stories for his own book.

So, curiousity got the better of me and I bought a copy of Ace’s book at Bookends… Even better was that they still had a few autographed copies of it (They have a huge selection of autographed books)… I must like this bookstore giving them so many free plugs LOL

I got home that night and started reading. True to Blair’s word, there were a bunch of Ducky Boys references in the first couple of chapters. It would be too much to expect that Ace would actually refer to my Ducky Boys book, but I was impressed with his stories. While they were different stories than mine, they were actually in-sync with what I had.

Some examples:

• Most of the Ducky Boys I interviewed don’t remember Ace being in the Ducky Boys. But Ace never said he was in the Ducky Boys. He says he was in the Junior Duckies – which were the younger kids who hung out with the Ducky Boys and eventually became the 2nd generation of Ducky Boys when the original members got older and stopped hanging around the park.
• In my book, Ducky Boy Kevin Byrne only remembers seeing Ace (then known as Punky) around the gang once. And it was when Ace put the moves on Ducky Boy Eddie T‘s girlfriend Marianne, and Eddie beat the hell out of Ace for doing so. Ace, in his book, tells that story from his point of view.
•  Ace remembers that the original Ducky Boys were more about the camaraderie and friendship of the members, but eventually degenerated into drugs and crime. Ace also spoke of having to get away from the gang to make something of his life. That was a key theme in Lost Boys of the Bronx – a large percentage of the kids in the Ducky Boys who didn’t get away died way before their time – sometimes with very grisly endings.

I didn’t want to like Ace’s book based on our prior interactions, but I am really glad to see that he was honest and fair in his memories of the group. I am still reading how he got into KISS and his adventures there, but the interesting part of the book was his Ducky Boy memories, and he delivered.

So, the #2 thing you should take away from this blog is:
If you have read Ace’s book, and liked the Ducky Boys section, you should pick up Lost Boys of the Bronx to find out a lot more about the gang. And vice-versa – If you liked my book, you should pick up Ace’s “No Regrets” and read the first few chapters at least.

That’s about it for this blog entry – Hope you liked it… Let me know if you have any comments or questions!

Take care and I hope you have a great Thanksgiving!
-=James

P.s. Here’s a picture of us trooping at Bookends last weekend 11/19/2011
More pictures here

Just an FYI that I’m in the process of adjusting my JamesHannon.com website to make it run faster. And while it seems to be going well, there may be some bumps in the road.   For example, a picture may not load, or a link is dead, etc…   Hopefully in due time, all will be working perfectly (or at least as perfect as it was in the past), but please let me know if you are running into any issues….

Thanks

-=James

Well, this one is about the big boy of conventions in the New York City area – NY Comic Con!  Last year there were 96,000 or so attendees – this year 105,000.  According to Wikipedia, its been going up steadily since its inception…It sold out both weekend days this year, so I dont know how much higher those numbers can get…

Last year, Johnny Rox and I went to NYCC for a first time on the Saturday, and it was MOBBED (I’m not talking supermarket mobbed – I’m talking last train out of the apocalypse-mobbed!)…   We went in normal civilian clothes (as opposed to being costumed) and we had a great time.  Check out our experience last year here  (Lots of pix there too)

Anyhoo, so lets get on with the events of the individual 2011 days!

Friday Oct 14th, 2011 – Day #1 (for me)

Someone mentioned to me that since I was vacation on Friday, I should go to NYCC that day because it would be a LOT less crowded…  Nobody else was on vacation, so I had nobody else to go with, but I knew enough people there – so I headed into the city on Friday sans costume…

I got a call in the morning saying that the lines around the Javitz Center were insane but happily found out that these were people who had to pickup tickets.  Luckily I ordered my tix a few months ago and had them in hand, and didn’t need to wait in any lines..  But I got there after 2pm anyway to avoid the initial confusion that usually happen at these things.

I went in without any maps, or any idea what I wanted to do…  I said I wouldn’t do that again, and I actually created an agenda on the NYCC website, but I never printed it, nor did I remember anything on the list…   There’s a LOT to see, and there’s no way in hell I was gonna see 5% of what there was to see, so I just decided to let Fate be my guide…

So I walked… And walked…  And walked…  I zigged and zagged down aisles dodging human traffic looking for anything that would catch my eye…  And there were quite a few things…   So many great costumes and displays.  There was a giant Transformer statue, The Emperors Chair from Star Wars, and a really cool Spidey Display…. Look thru the pictures below and you’ll see a fraction of all the cool that were at NYCC 2011..

One thing I did miss was not having my beauitful wife Jackie Hannon or any of the RiffSurfer Squad (John, Jeff, Jimmy, Jenna, Leon, and now Andres – who was inducted earlier this month) with me that day…  Other than that I like having these people around in general, its a lot more fun experiencing this stuff with friends – not to mention not being able to jump into pictures with the costumers (as opposed to taking random costumed shots of just the costumer) which requires a two-person operation…  Sure I ran into a few of my costumed friends who I hung out shortly with, but they were all on their own solo missions that day.

Speaking of, after wandering aimlessly for a few hours, I found some guys in Vader, StormTrooper and Emperor costumes heading away from the action…  So I followed them figuring they would be heading towards the 501st & Rebel Legion tables.   And I was correct…  I only know one local Emperor costumer, so I ran up to the Emperor and said hello.   Luckily it was my friend Chris Feehan (an awesome costumer) and he led me to where the rest of my Star Wars friends were…

Happily, I got there just in time for the Star Wars Trivia event that Kevin Liell was running – You may remember Kevin from last weeks Garden State Comic Con adventure..  Watched the trivia (because I suck at it) and hung out there for a while, but its not very fun hanging with costumers while NOT in costume (yes, I like to be in random people’s pictures LOL), so I headed back into the crowds to look around some more and get some more pix… Eventually I got tired, and hopped on the ferry back to Jersey and went home..

Saturday Oct 15th, 2011 – Day #2 (for me)

I have to admit, I was a little worried about coming back on Saturday…  If Friday was supposedly half the people they would have on Saturday, it was looking to be a VERY crowded day since it was mobbed on Friday.   But I made some promises and I was actually looking forward to experiencing NY Comic Con IN COSTUME and with Jackie.  So off we went.

Jackie & I got there around 2pm and went straight to the 501st/Rebel Legion to find out where we were changing.  Headed slowly over to the changing rooms with my costume tupperware box (Its not easy getting thru the throngs of people by yourself, let alone rolling a huge plastic tub behind).  Got there and there were a lot of people already there and in various states of dressing – And I found a corner and Jackie & I started getting ready too.

I brought two costumes with me – My TIE pilot and my X-Wing Pilot.  I was originally going to just go with the TIE since I’m more comfortable in it, but there were a bunch of folks in X-Wing costumes, and there was a group picture at 3pm, so I wanted to jump in that one…   Afterwards my plan was to change into the TIE pilot.   Jackie had her Imperial Crew costume, and Johnny Rox had his SandTrooper.

We all got ready about 2:30pm and headed out into the public.  And within 15 minutes we probably didn’t go 50 feet…  Which leads me to this piece of wisdom

If you have to be somewhere at a certain time at NY Comic Con (Like an X-Wing photoshoot at 3pm), DON’T WALK WITH A STORMTROOPER!!!!

The requests for photos were staggering.   Its hard to say no to people, but in that 10 minute period, we probably took 200 photos (no exaggeration) – I eventually had to give up the ghost, and leaving Jackie to keep a watch on Johnny (being helmetted leaves you at a disadvantage in crowds), I split off and rushed down the halls to get to my photoshoot in time.   On my way over, I got a bunch of requests for photos, (and gave them), but nowhere near the amount that were requested white with Johnny’s StormTrooper (pardon me, SandTrooper LOL)…

I got to my photoshoot at 3pm, took it, and we had a great time over there – I haven’t been in any particular costume group shots before and it was pretty cool having 7 people in the same costume together in one picture – Especially one that gets photobombed by my TIE Pilot friend Bro Browning.

During the photoshoot, we got the idea to try to talk to Mark Hamill‘s (Luke Skywalker, but you really should have known that if you know me LOL) people to see if we could get a group shot with him.  So we all headed over there – They told us to try back at 4:30pm – which we agreed to – but kinda changed my plan of getting back into the TIE Pilot costume..

By the way, Mark Hamill was charging INSANE prices to have a picture taken with him.  If you wanted a photo with Mark, and a signed 8×10 photo, the cost was $175.00 (swear to God) – So if I could get a free shot with him and my X-Wing crew (Hawkbat Squadron), you know damn well, I’m gonna try…

Well, we had an hour to go, and Peter Mayhew was there too, so we tried to get a picture there as well, and Peter Mayhew being an outstandingly nice gentleman gladly took pictures with us and was just a classy guy about it.

We hung around a bit taking lots of photos with fans and goofing around.   Got a picture with Brian O’Halloran (Dante from Clerks), and Herb Jefferson who played Boomer in the original Battlestar Galactica came over to shake our hands for being so passionate about our favorite movies.  (I wish I had taken a picture with him, but things just happened too quickly)

4:30 came, and we went back over to the Mark Hamill booth, and they actually let us in to take the picture and meet him.   He was really nice and a lot more down to earth than the security surrounding him that day would lead me to believe.  He didn’t rush us out and shook our hands when we left and thanked us as we were thanking him.

Just want to say thanks to Mark (not that he’ll read this), his assistant who helped us get in, Gil Guemes – our Hawkbat Squadron leader  who gave up a precious Hawkbat coin to get the picture, Patrick Delieto who got his own picture with Mark, and opened the door for a group shot, and Ed O’Connell for schmoozing the assistant and taking our pix.  Luke Skywalker was definitely an icon from my childhood and meeting him and shaking his hand was really coo

After the pic, I was too tired to change into the TIE costume, so I just stayed in the X-wing and Jackie, John, my friend Joel Lutenberg, and I went to the opposite end of the Javitz Center to get pictures in that Star Wars Action Figure bubble…  And along the way, took a zillion more pictures and met the really cool Superman from the Superheroes for Hayley event two weeks ago, and helped the Man of Steel out a bit – which is always good for your soul…

Then we headed back to the changing room, BS-ed a bit more with the people there, and headed out.

On the way out, Jackie & I took pictures by the red carpet setup they had, and made a bunch of new friends who really wanted pictures of themselves in front of it, but didnt have someone to take the picture, so I took em… Including one guy who wanted a very intricate video of himself introducing “something” at NY Comic Con… It was fun, it was goofy, and it was costumers helping costumers…  Which is always nice…

Then we headed out to the Ferry back to NJ and home to rest our now weary bones…

_____________________________________________________________________________

Now for the shameless plugs…   I let you read the blog without bugging you, so indulge me on this please? 

First off, I wrote a Book last year, called Lost Boys of the Bronx: The Oral History of the Ducky Boys Gang. It is about the real-life exploits of the Ducky Boys gang that was so terrifying in the 1979 movie The Wanderers.  They also happened to roam the Bronx neighborhood that I grew up in in the early 1960s.

Please check it out on Amazon or Barnes & Noble or get a signed copy directly from me (Its actually cheaper thru me and you get some free bonus stuff, but I understand you like the warm & fuzzy feeling of dealing with the big stores)

Secondly, I am currently writing a new book about the really cool people I have met doing this costuming thing.  There are a lot of interesting stories about how and why people got into this hobby.  Many people get into it for the nerdy and fun aspect of the hobby, but there is so much more to it – For example, The 501st and Rebel Legion devotes a LOT of time and energy into helping people (especially kids) who need it – Any given weekend, there are members of our group visiting hospitals, participating in charity walks and raising money and awareness for a variety of organizations (Make A Wish, FAAN, Autism Speaks, amongst many others) – So we’re not just geeks – we’re geeks that really try to make the world a better place…

Anyway, in this new book, I am looking for interesting stories of people who costume.  It could be Star Wars or Star Trek related; It could be Superhero costuming; It could be Renaissance Faire, SCA or even LARPing;  it could be Historical Re-Enacting; If you put a costume on outside of Halloween, I’d love to hear your story – so please drop me a line at JamesHannon@Lantern-Media.com – you could end up immortalized in a book.  But please hurry – before I finish writing it.

And the third and final advertisement… I’ve been writing this blog for a while now, and there’s a lot of variation in my topics…  There’s quite a few more costuming stories, some Bronx and Ducky Boys stories, reviews of movies, and concerts that I’ve been to, and tips for writers and/or procrastinators…  Take a look thru the rest of them at the main page of http://jameshannon.com/wp – I’m sure you’ll find something that interests you.

See, that wasn’t so bad was it?  Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time!

-=James

This was originally going to be one blog entry, but there were too many pictures to split out between the two events, so I figured I’d make two so it would be easier for my readers to digest.

During the 2nd weekend of October, 2011, a small convention down in Cherry Hill, NJ happened. It was called the Garden State Comic Con and it was run by a company named ZoloWorld.   Its not the biggest con I’ve been to, and it certainly is going thru some growing pains, but you know what? I had a great experience there, so I’ll cut them slack on the problems faced…

For a small con,they had some big con names appearing – Barbara Eden from I Dream of Jeannie, Hayden Panettiere – the cheerleader from Heroes, Davy Jones of the Monkees, Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis from Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Rusty Goffe and Bonnie Piesse from the Star Wars franchise.

One particular attendee – Jackson Bostwick, most people probably wouldn’t recognize, but he was the reason I drove an hour and a half to Cherry Hill to see.  Mr Bostwick played the original Captain Marvel from the 1973 live action Saturday morning show “SHAZAM!” which was my favorite show from when I was 6 years old.  I  dare say that this show may have been the early inspiration for the costuming bug I developed years later.  I remember yelling “SHAZAM!” and tying a towel around my neck and pretending to be Captain Marvel (or as I call him Shazam).

A funny aside, even tho he was my favorite character, I never got his name right.  Because of the TV show name, I used to call him Shazam and not the proper Captain Marvel – I still find it funny calling him anything but Shazam.  After talking to Mr. Bostwick, it seems I wasn’t the only one confused – He tries to correct the now grown kids, but  its a losing battle

Anyhow, so the 501st Legion was invited to troop this event, so it was a double bonus.  Get to meet your childhood hero, and do the Star Wars geek thing as well…  Jackie & I couldn’t make the Saturday show, so we hit the Sunday one…  And that switchup actually made things cooler since Sunday was the less-busier day…

I decided to go with my TIE Fighter Pilot costume for the day since its a cool armored costume that is pretty recognizable, and its pretty easy to pop the helmet off and become an off-duty pilot.  No helmet also means I can talk to and hear people better – which is important since I’ve become such a social butterfly (who would’ve guessed LOL)

We got there, changed into costume and settled in.  Once the initial batch of photographs were over, Jackie & I made a beeline over to Jackson Bostwick’s table.   Being Sunday, there was no line, and we had a great conversation that wasn’t rushed at all.  I got my original SHAZAM! comic from when I was a kid signed, and got a picture with him.   It really was a great moment.  My Star Wars friends who saw the exchange tease me that they saw me instantly revert back to being 7-years old…

After this historic meeting, I trooped some more and checked out the vendors at the con – They had some really cool stuff and I spent more than I had wanted, but I was in a good mood…

After a while, I looked in and saw Barbara Eden‘s line was empty.  This was a major bonus because when i went to Chiller Theatre a few years back, her line was at least 2 hours long (no exaggeration) – My friends couldn’t stay that long, and I remember I had a bunch of other people to meet that day, so I skipped it… But I regretted it to the point of stealing someone else’s pic and photoshopping myself into it  (and giving everybody full disclosure that it was a fake).  So to see her line empty was a dream come true…

Just like everybody else I grew up with, I had a huge crush on Jeannie – I still  consider her one of the most beautiful celebrities ever. And I’m not just saying that because she was awesome to me that day.

So I went over to her table and started talking.   It seems that the con wasn’t advertised as well as she had hoped, and there was some moments of quiet time during her appearance.  Of which I was lucky enough to have found one.  We talked about the con, we talked about her career, we talked about my costume and the 501st, we talked about a lot and it was great interacting with one of the most famous actresses of all time at a very human level.  I picked up an autographed pic and got a picture with her and I was off trooping again.

Later on that day, I was with my Star Wars costuming friends and I saw Ms Eden and her assistant walking thru the halls back to her table.  She looked over and smiled, and I waved…  She came over and wanted a picture for HER collection with the group which we all jumped at.

Once that pic was taken, she shooed everybody out of the shot, saying she wanted a picture with JUST ME…  I obliged of course, and while taking the picture I felt her hugging me.   I have to say, I was glad to have the helmet on because I had the goofiest smile on my face and was probably blushing!   I mean its one thing to get a picture with her for my files…But its a completely different thing when she wants it for herself (and is willing to kick people out the shot for it!)  Afterwards, I was naturally walking on air.

With the new book I am writing, I ask my fellow costumers what their favorite costumed and celebrity experiences were.  Well  you just heard mine.

During the rest of the day, I met  the Star Wars celebrities…   First was Rusty Goffe who played a Jawa in the original Star Wars, but was more recognizable as an Oompa Loompa in the  original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  Rusty was a very nice man.  The day before my fellow Star Wars geeks inducted him as an honorary member of the 501st Legion, and he was very appreciative of the honor, and of our group.

While walking around taking (helmet on) pictures with the attendees, all of a sudden, I felt a hand on my back and someone had jumped into the picture.  It turned out to be  Kevin Liell who is very talented and an official Star Wars Galaxy Sketch Card Artist.   He is also an honorary member of the 501st Legion from a few years back.

When I got back from shmozoing with the Star Wars fans, I stopped by his desk, and had a nice conversation with him and got some pics.   He seemed like a really cool guy – which was confirmed a week later at NY Comic Con where we ran into him again.

Afterwards, I met, and got a picture with Bonnie Piesse who played the young Aunt Beru in the new batch of Star Wars movies.  She was really nice to talk to, but I didn’t really know her work as I’m more of an original trilogy Star Wars fan…  The new stuff is ok, but the old stuff is what I grew up on.

We hit a few panels with the Star Wars folk, Davy Jones and Barbara Eden, and then we decided to call it a day..   I spent way more money on stuff than I had expected, but had a much better time than I had thought — Overall, a great day…

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Now for the shameless plugs…   I let you read the blog without bugging you, so indulge me on this please? 

First off, I wrote a Book last year, called Lost Boys of the Bronx: The Oral History of the Ducky Boys Gang. It is about the real-life exploits of the Ducky Boys gang that was so terrifying in the 1979 movie The Wanderers.  They also happened to roam the Bronx neighborhood that I grew up in in the early 1960s.

Please check it out on Amazon or Barnes & Noble or get a signed copy directly from me (Its actually cheaper thru me and you get some free bonus stuff, but I understand you like the warm & fuzzy feeling of dealing with the big stores)

Secondly, I am currently writing a new book about the really cool people I have met doing this costuming thing.  There are a lot of interesting stories about how and why people got into this hobby.  Many people get into it for the nerdy and fun aspect of the hobby, but there is so much more to it – For example, The 501st and Rebel Legion devotes a LOT of time and energy into helping people (especially kids) who need it – Any given weekend, there are members of our group visiting hospitals, participating in charity walks and raising money and awareness for a variety of organizations (Make A Wish, FAAN, Autism Speaks, amongst many others) – So we’re not just geeks – we’re geeks that really try to make the world a better place…

Anyway, in this new book, I am looking for interesting stories of people who costume.  It could be Star Wars or Star Trek related; It could be Superhero costuming; It could be Renaissance Faire, SCA or even LARPing;  it could be Historical Re-Enacting; If you put a costume on outside of Halloween, I’d love to hear your story – so please drop me a line at JamesHannon@Lantern-Media.com – you could end up immortalized in a book.  But please hurry – before I finish writing it.

And the third and final advertisement… I’ve been writing this blog for a while now, and there’s a lot of variation in my topics…  There’s quite a few more costuming stories, some Bronx and Ducky Boys stories, reviews of movies, and concerts that I’ve been to, and tips for writers and/or procrastinators…  Take a look thru the rest of them at the main page of http://jameshannon.com/wp – I’m sure you’ll find something that interests you.

See, that wasn’t so bad was it?  Thanks for reading and see you next time!

-=James