My Great Ghastly Garage: One Tough Pencil

While sorting pens, markers, crayons, nails, screws and other various mixed up things in bins, boxes and drawers, I found what I thought was just an ordinary, well worn pencil...
I was about to toss it, but as it twisted in my fingers I saw this...
Where did this come from? How did I end up with it? Is it a gag pencil? A movie or TV promotion? I've done a quick web search for answers but turned up nothing. Anyone have some insight? The only other clue was this written underneath...
This now has a place on my shelf of oddities and I may use when needing to draw tough things or make tough notes.

My Great Ghastly Garage: Gosh and Golly!

I've actually gotten to a point with the clean up that I can start organizing small stuff!

Vampire 101

Niece Devin asked her Uncle Ted...

"Vampires are from Pennsylvania right?"

"No, I think you mean Transylvania." He answered.

Devin thought for a moment and said remembering...

"Oh yea!"

Then she asked...

"Is that near Philadelphia?"

STAR TREK: Destroying the Timeline

Is it just me or does the the new Star Trek movie poster look like the first movie poster is being burned away in a white hot flash, as if being erased from memory? Coincidence or brilliantly intentional?

1979 - 2009

My Great Ghastly Garage: Geekness

The clean up project goes well, but I've discovered ancient treasure from my youth which may distract me from the task for awhile...


Wedged between some comics... unused fun from 1983.

My Great Ghastly Garage: Grrrrrrrrr

Have you ever noticed that gifts in flower shops rarely have price tags on them?

I think it's because the owners live for procrastinating men who run in 10 minutes before the closing time, late to a girlfriend's birthday dinner and willing to pay whatever they're told something costs in desperation.

Gravestone Making in a Recession.

Fed Ex boxes are free...there are no excuses not to have a vast and full front lawn cemetery. These are Halloween cute for a client but with some extra time on detailing, I think the possibilities are endless.


In regards to all the great comments on my last post, I'm going to keep Halloween stuff right here again this year and I'm pretty sure you'll be seeing many Fed Ex box creations...it's my new favorite junk item to be creative with.

Halloween '09 Idea Gears Are Spinning

One of the driving forces behind my dedication to getting the garage into real workshop shape is my fun in prepping for October. I'm looking forward to getting started very early to actually make happen some of the ideas I've hoped to do in the past.

Thanks to the web, a new layer of Halloween fun was added last year, being involved in blog countdowns and discovering so many great websites dedicated to all things Halloween and yard haunting.

I had a thought today about creating a new blog dedicated to just my October prepping. Maybe starting 100 days away from the 31st? Anyone out there think this a good idea? I'm sort of torn...I also like keeping this blog alive with Halloween stuff from time to time, especially closer to the season.

My Great Ghastly Garage: Gaps

Slow but steady. During spare time from work, I managed to create open gaps so I can actually get around inside the garage. This is a huge step forward...


Okay... sure, I just dragged most of the clutter into the driveway to do it, but it's still some kind of progress right?

My Great Ghastly Garage: Grim Groupings

A bin of Halloween gravestones...expected.

This many mismatched mannequin legs...unexpected.

Join me on a frightening journey...

into the darkest, most vile part of my world...the great ghastly garage.

For more than a few years I have attempted to turn it into a decent work space. It's come close on occasion with fitful attempts at cleaning and organizing. I usually end up just making a section usable as I'm surrounded by junk. Most often it's my "catch all" and remains a shameful secret.

I'm going to make the new attempt to transform it public as a series here on the blog. My hope is by making the process a journal, it will actually force me to really do it right for once. Along the way I'll share any treasures I uncover, lessons learned and maybe, just maybe inspire others who share my plight.

Be warned, this may get worse before it gets better...

My Junk Stash "What Tha?" Find Of The Day

When did I aquire a large bag of tiny compasses? Boy, I really hope there aren't hundreds of little ships lost at sea right now needing these.

Goodbye STARLOG Magazine

It's old news, but I just found out STARLOG has published it's final issue. Although I 've not read an issue in 20 something years, it makes me a bit sad. I truly loved that magazine. For a kid like me in the late '70s and early '80s, it was the only source I had for sci fi fan news. I'm especially nostalgic because of this "Fanboy Tale of Old"...

A long, long, long, long time ago, I made my usual 2-3 times a month trek to downtown Scarsdale, NY and visited a favorite little corner grocery/everything store seeking my regular comics and dorky magazines.

I had learned a valuable skill in those days. I could scan the numerous racks of layered magazines and single out my favorites by just a visible hint of their cover logos. On this day, very high up, I could see a new issue of STARLOG! Reaching for it, I then read the small teaser banner across it's top...


I was startled. I pulled my hand away scared that what I was reading would not be real. Empire?! Photo section?! Excitement took hold. I was living for this movie in those days. It was still a few weeks away. I had yet to see any images from it. I reached for the new issue again. I wondered if the cover picture could be from the movie. That thought actually made me a bit shy and awkward, kind of "star struck".

I took hold of the magazine by just two fingers. I pulled it from behind the others, very slowly, letting the image become visible much like the opening scroll in Star Wars. I saw Vader begin to appear...


Every image, still frame, set, prop and location from the first Star Wars was burned into my memory. I could tell by the small portion revealed, Darth was not standing in the Death Star or anywhere seen before! In a flash, I took the magazine down and held it in both hands, like a holy relic. I stood staring at it with a huge grin on my face. This was it! My first glimpse of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK! It was real! I was hypnotized by the cover...


I took in every detail...those feet...on the ground! Who is it? Luke? Han? My brain was about to pop out of my head. I wanted to enjoy what other surprises there might be at home. So I bought it without peeking inside. I rushed out the door and started to speed away on my bicycle.

I only got 10 feet before I had to stop, I couldn't wait. I found a nice big rock to sit on, in a shady spot, along the nearby Bronx river close to the train station and started reading! One of the best spring afternoons I can remember.

My Sunday Night Highlight

I poured numerous cans of Hershey's chocolate syrup into a 5 gallon bucket and pulled a rope on cue. Click here.

By the way...did you see that giant lever I made in the previous post? There might be a Kardashian sister connection on the BRAVO network when the "A- List Awards" airs April 15th.

A New Gig This Week...

brings new crazy things I needed to make.