Loyd's BONUS AUDIO goodies!--- # 7--- 4 faves from the NEW 'Jeff Lynne's E.L.O'. album!

Another case of 'ol Loydster being the slow-poke that he is!--- It took me until just over 3 weeks ago, to FINALLY snag myself a copy of 'From Out of Nowhere', the NEW album.... put out late LAST YEAR (!!!) by the VERY talented singer / songwriter / producer, Mr. Jeff Lynne and 'Jeff Lynne's E.L.O.'! Such is the life of the responsible old family-guy! Sometimes you just HAVE to wait a while, to scoop-up things for yourself!

As is usually the case with me, I end up listening to any new music / album I've bought--- several times in the first week or so that I have it. In the case of somebody like Mr. Lynne though, (who's stuff I've been DIGGING on for close to 40 YEARS!) it'll be even MORE frequent than that!

I'm VERY glad to report, after a NUMBER of listens,'From Out of Nowhere' is Jeff Lynne in FINE form! Pretty much EVERY tune on the album is a carefully crafted, 'mini-masterpiece'. It was a little tough, since I've been getting such a kick out of listening to ALL of it, to pick JUST 4 tunes that I could consider favorites. But--- here's the 'quartet-of-tunes' that kind of 'jumped-out-and-grabbed-me-slightly-more-than-the-others' on the album!----

Odds & Ends, This & That!--

Every so often here at the bloggy-woggy-wing-dang-thang, I'll probably be doing more posts like this! Stuff that I've wanted to throw up here, that maybe by themselves, would make for kind of a DINKY post! So--- why not group up a few things that've kept the 'ol Loydster-GEEK-o-meter clicking away!

First up, a mild case of my old 'mad scientist' nature kicking in recently. I was lounging at my desk, up in the 'Secret Sanctum', gazing over at the collection of  'hero masks' in the top case, over to the left of the desk. THIS is what caught my eye.----

Your'e probably thinking: 'Ok, two 'Bat-cowls'. an 'animated' version, and a customized number--- made to look like the 60s comic book version'.  Right-o!  They're BOTH nifty, but nothing about either of them really 'reaches out and grabs hold of your inner-GEEK!' At least-- that what I was starting to think!

Then the old 'Dr. Frankenstein' mentality took over!! BUT... nothing drastic needed to be done. No 'desperate measures' needed to be taken.What would be VERY cool, I thought to myself, was to put in some white material behind the 'eyes' of each cowl. Just a little something to make BOTH items really POP off the shelf at you! This is the result!----

I also did a little work around the 'eyes' of the '60s-style' cowl, (using some wood-filler material-- it hardens over night, and you can sand it and work with it like bondo! Only it doesn't STINK or make as much of a MESS!) to make it look even MORE like the Caped Crusader's cowl from the 'Silver Age'!

Oh, and the 'white material' I used for the 'eyes'? Just some 'foam core' from an old poster-board scrap I had laying around!
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This next item, REALLY  fits into the strange (but VERY neat-o COOL!) coincidence department! Remember my post a while back, about the desire I had, for a better version of the poster for one of my ALL-TIME favorite flicks, 'The Maltese Falcon'? How I discovered there were SEVERAL versions made for this movie? How I finally stumbled--- through the MAGIC of Amazon-- onto one I felt just SCREAMED: 'Crime Drama'?

Well.... if memory fails you... here's the version I found! I still DIG it, EVERY time I see it out in the stairwell!---

Now, this is the 'strange-but-COOL-coincidence' part of the story! A few weeks back, my wifey and daughter, were helping sort through items being donated to a local church, for a big yard sale. The gal they were helping out---who also works with my wife--- said whatever neat stuff they found, they could either have FREE, or she'd sell it to them for extremely CHEAP!

While going through a pretty sizable PILE of DVDs, my daughter stumbled across THIS little item! Check out the image on the case!----

How VERY cool is THAT? Except for the background color, the image is IDENTICAL! Not to mention, I've been on the look-out for the DVD -version of this movie for AGES! The 'whipped-cream-with-cherry' on top of this 'classic-Bogart-movie-GEEK's' sundae? My wife's friend let us have it.... for FREE!

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Last on our list of 'Odds & Ends', just a little GOOF-BALL something to show that my family not ONLY knows without a doubt, that the Loydster is a SHAMELESS GEEK-A-ZOID, they do what they can to help him show-off that GEEKY-NESS with PRIDE!

Another joint-project my wife & daughter have tackled together, is sewing protective masks for a number of the family and close friends. Like, I'm sure a LOT of you out there-- the Ferrells have been staying home MOST of the time (during all the INSANITY going on with--- oh you KNOW WHAT!)!

This project not only helped friends & loved ones, it helped wife & daughter keep their sanity, and kept them from having too much 'cabin fever'! Here's the little number they worked up for 'dear old Dad'!---

Nothing says 'Hey, I'm SAFE & protected' better, than the JUSTICE LEAGUE covering half of  your FACE! AND--- yes, I HAVE worn it out in public... several times, in fact! That's kinda the point, right?


                                          Stay safe and stay SANE everybody!

Loyd's BONUS video-clip!!--- #32!!-- Now THAT'S making GREAT use of your action figures!

Alrighty.... somebody (out there in 'Youtube land', of course!) with WAY more free time than I've EVER had, has went and done something that I would INDEED do, given enough spare time! (AND--the exactly RIGHT action figures, of COURSE!) By the way, stop this (AFTER you've just enjoyed watching it a couple times, of course!) and watch it in slow-motion or 'frame-by-frame', to see just WHO some of the 'bad guys' are, attacking our heroes! FUNNY stuff!

A parking space for those tiny 'Bat-rides'!

The last of the four 1/64th scale additions to my collection of  'Bat-vehicles' arrived yesterday. (Thanks once again, E-bay!) So.... it was time To put them into the little display spot I'd already worked out for them, on my 'Bat-vehicle-display-shelf'!

This was AFTER a few 'mild' custom-paint touches to each car, of  COURSE! See if you can spot the MAIN thing I did to them! Hint: it's something that the otherwise SHARP folks at Hot Wheels left unpainted / unfinished-looking, and it's REALLY hard to miss!

If your memory is a little foggy as to exactly WHERE this shelf (with ALL the 'Bat-stuff') is, there in the 'ol 'Secret Sanctum', do some digging through some of my earlier posts, it'll show up!---

 

Stay SAFE, stay CALM and stay SANE  everybody!

Bitten by the 'little (1/64th-scale) car-collecting BUG'! (temporarily anyway!)

The FIRST version of the (1/64th scale) '66  Bat-ride I scooped-up, circa 2007-08 or so!

As pretty much ANYBODY who's paying attention to this here 'Loydster-bloggie-thingie-wingie' can tell, yours truly has a 'nearly unhealthy' obsession with The Caped Crusader's set-o-wheels! No surprise then, that I also have a pretty sizable collection of replicas / toys / scale models of this most favorite-four-wheeled-Bat-themed vehicle, I've loved SO much!

This includes, also no surprise, Hot Wheels versions (HEY-- they're CHEAP! At least the ones in the 'basic assortments' are! BUT-- more on THAT in a bit!). A few years back, and continuing on in to the present day, the makers / designers / crazed-masterminds at 'The world's coolest car company', began releasing various versions of the car.

Numerous comic book-based versions, a couple from the various video games (the one from 'Arkham  Asylum' / City' is the coolest--- my opinion-- of those!)--AND-- one of the FIRST versions to kick off all of the 'Bat-ride-MADNESS'-- The 'Classic TV series' Batmobile!

Back around 2007-2008 or so, I snagged two of the 'basic assortment' cars.They STILL look VERY cool, for a vehicle in such a TINY scale! LOTS of neat-o detail, and there's even the bright-red pin-striping along the fins and the side of the body-- a nice little replica, especially for the 'entry-level' / 'basic assortment' price-- under a buck!

Life, as it tends to do, moved on for a spell. As I noticed them,I scooped up some of the other versions of the Bat-ride, I mentioned in the earlier paragraph (like I said, once a 'Bat-vehicle-fanatic', ALWAYS a 'Bat-vehicle-fanatic'!).

Then, just a few weeks back... while cruising around on good 'ol  E-bay... the Loydster became curious. 'I wonder,' I thought FOOLISHLY to myself, 'if there might've been some alternate versions of the '66 car released, lo these several years-down-the-road later?' I'd never thought to do any digging around to find out. BOY-OH-BOY-HOWDY! Did I open up the proverbial 'can-of-worms'!---

A 2013 version of the 'classic 66' Bat-ride. Sporting some NIFTY pin-stripes and more 'realistic'-looking mag wheels. (one of the 'variants' I do NOT have, by the way!

 There have been..... DOZENS of them! Especially if you count 'special editions' (convention exclusives, department store limited editions, Holiday editions, 'Treasure Hunt' cars, etc... etc!)! I scrolled down through page-after-page on E-bay, my mouth hanging open in shock, as a seemingly ENDLESS parade of '66 Batmobile 'variants' scooted past!

It was then, that SNEAKY little devil, the 'collecting BUG', came up on me from behind.... and bit me! BUT---- not quite as deep a bite as he used to be able to do to me! Hey, I've been a responsible 'grown-up' for a while now! But bite me he did! Of course, I didn't go off into 'INSANE-collector-maniac' land, and sink a boat-load of my hard-earned cash into something like THIS!---

The OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD-expensive, 'red-line' wheel-version of the car! These things go for anywhere from 80 to 150 smackers! Remember.... this is a Hot Wheels car... it's LESS than 3 inches long!

No, I set my sights on a goal a little more within my budget... and also quite a bit less INSANE! Why not (since I was nosing around on E-bay anyway!) do some digging around, and try to find at least 3 or 4 examples of cool versions of the car. Also, I set a top-spending limit of no more than 15 - 16 bucks-- for ALL 4 cars. In other words, 'basic assortment' cars, with different paint-jobs ONLY!  Not crazy at all, and I'd still at least 'appear' to be all 'grown-up' and responsible! Here are a couple of the NEAT-O 1/64-scale-Bat-rides I snagged!---

Blue-flame job, metal-flake paint! What's NOT to LOVE about this one?

Silver, this time with gray-flames! The red-tinted windows & pin-stripes give it a nifty 'junk-yard' Hot-rod groove! Batman-- crime-fighter AND part-time drag-racer!

The other reason I set of goal of finding just 4 cars, is my SEVERE lack of display space for anything much more than that amount. I add very much more things to display into the old 'Secret Sanctum', I'm gonna have to start 'rotating' things in-and-out, like exhibits at a museum! Hot Wheels cars being SO tiny.... 3 or 4 don't really eat up too much shelf-space---thank goodness!

So...  Now that we've had our usual 'Loydster-GEEK-OUT'!---A brief moment to be all 'grown-up' and serious!----

HOPEFULLY, everybody who's following along with the 'ol Loydster here, is staying SAFE and doing your best to keep SANE, in these CRAZY times we're living in! Truly a time in history like NO OTHER! My thoughts and prayers go out to ALL of you! May God's protecting hand be on each and every one of you! Again, stay SAFE, stay LEVEL-headed everybody!

A single-BONUS-audio-goody! One of my FAVE 'telling a girl- OFF'-type-of tunes!

My old buddy, Jeff and I, have recently been discussing back and forth, about what we both laughingly refer to as our 'non-existent-teen-aged / young-adult-love-lives'.

When your'e blessed, as we BOTH are, with the GREAT women we have been married to, for as MANY years as we have (Debbie and I recently celebrated 30 years, Jeff and his lovely lady, shannon, are gonna be celebrating 20, in just a couple of months or so!), you can, thankfully, look back at all the mistakes / mishaps / missteps in your earlier years, and just go---- 'WHEW'!!

But--- you can also occasionally hear a song, at least if your a 'music-nut,' like 'ol Loydster, and also go---'Man.... wish I could go back in a time machine, and read those lyrics to some of the more---shall we say: 'unbalanced / psycho / SERIOUSLY goofed-up' females I've encountered in my younger years!'

Here be one of THOSE kinda tunes! Yes, it's from the point of view of somebody whose been in a 'toxic' relationship with a gal over several years.... but if  you've been in ANY sort of 'bumpy' /  'lop-sided' / relationship--- for ANY length of time---- you can  relate to what 'ol Bob's singing about here!

It's from Robert Cray's 2005 album, '20'. I also like the 'bouncy', 'upbeat' tone of the whole song! This guy's not sad OR down-trodden! He's GLADLY moving ON with the rest of his life.... looking forward to the next chapter!

Thank the good Lord, for the women he eventually BLESSED both my old buddy and I with! He TRULY saved us BOTH, from living a life-time in 'TOXIC-relationship-land'!