If you haven't guessed I, like about a billion other people, am a huge Star Wars fan! I love everything about it... Except for the prequels, which to be fair weren't all bad, but were shadows of the original Trilogy. It was finally confirmed yesterday(finally) that the entire original cast will be reuniting for Star Wars Episode 7! This news is incredible, sure Hollywood is obsessed w/ sequels and movies about people who do things because they have to ... um... But I love the idea of a new Star Wars movie!  

When I was a kid I was lucky enough to have a cool place that my brother and I could go after school and especially in the summertime... The magical place of which I am writing about is my grandmother's house. Yeah that's right my grandma's where my brother and I would have some cheese after school, play GI Joe, watch GI Joe, draw, build robots outta toys we had laying around, make star ships out of chairs, act out movies like the Karate Kid and Back To the Future, play basketball w/ the Bordenhead's, hang w/ My uncle Steve and of course watch Star Wars! 

My uncle Steve lived in the basement when Kevin(My brother) and I were pretty young, but he would always make a point to hang out w/ us and play games and make fun of us too! One of the coolest things I remember is that Steve was into movies and had bought a VCR for my Grandma and Grandpa, while he was staying there after he graduated college. He'd been working w/ my Dad at place called Video Concepts, which in some ways was like the first Best Buy type place around. Anyway, My uncle sat me down one day... I am sure Kevin was there too, but I was so Blown away by what happened next that I can't remember... My uncle showed me the cover of these video tapes  and started to tell us about how cool the movies are and that we could watch them w/ him. Next thing I know we are watching Star Wars and I am totally freaking out! I remember thinking it was the coolest thing I had ever seen! I didn't fully understand it or appreciate it like I continue to do as I get older, but I loved all the different landscapes, droids, chewy, light sabers and of course Darth Vader! I remember watching Empire and Jedi soon after! In fact, I remember Kevin and I acting them out all the time... The part where they try to put Luke, Han and Chewy into the Pit of Sarlacc! From that point on I was hooked! If you look at old photos of me say around the ages of 5 to 8 I am always wearing some sort of Star Wars Tee. or some other type of 80's reference. But normally it was either this bad ass Yoda tee I had or an Ewok shirt. This Just continued as I got older.

I was super sick as a kid so I would watch movies, read comics and draw a lot when I was home, and I would constantly watch Star Wars... I always had to watch all 3 if I started them so if I was home sick for a few days I would sit and watch the trilogy at least once... I always liked to watch it because it made me feel like I was in a Galaxy far, far away. I was and am still a dreamer and I loved and Identified w/ Luke so much. I always had all these Ideas about what I wanted to be and I would have these really intense feelings of sadness and isolation? Anyway, when I would watch Luke look out at the twin suns setting on Tatooine I would feel and still do feel sort of overwhelmed by all of the things I want to do. Or how I was or am going to do them? Like I said I was a sick kid and school wasn't always easy for me so Star Wars would help me put things into perspective. I mean at least It wasn't on me to destroy the Death Star... I just wanted to be a either a Comic Book Artist, Actor or NBA Basketball player. No big deal:) 

Today, I feel like Star Wars hits even closer to home now that I am older and making my dreams reality. Star Wars is about letting go. It's about trusting yourself to do what needs to be done. Luke trusted his feelings and blew up the Death Star. He embraced the force and changed from a boy into a man. He stopped whining about power converters and lived what he felt like he had been missing on the farm! 

So yeah they are making Episode 7... But I guess that isn't what I was really trying to talk about? I guess the point I am making is that Star Wars should never stop being made as long as they can figure out away to make good stories, and get great actors who commit and are passionate about the material. Star Wars has a positive massage and teaches kids and adults alike to never give up on themselves or other people because it's never too late to live your dreams, or over come adversity! So here's hoping that bringing back the old cast will remind us all why we love Star Wars all over again!

Hello! So for those of you who have been checking out my work Thank you... I have so many things I enjoy and what I am learning is that most of the things I love today come directly from my childhood. I know this isn't really news to those of you who know me out there, but I guess I am realizing how important those years where for me and my art. Last week I shared a story about one of the soul reasons I love Toys so much and Star Wars, and that got me thinking about what it was like on the street I spent the first 13 years of my life, Hartman Dr, and then that got me thinking about the Goonies, because that's what it was like! 

Recently, Richard Donner causally mentioned he is working on the Goonies sequel... I literally wanted to jump for freaking joy, and I did... Then the police were called and they asked what the hell my problem was and I told them " Officers! Officers! they're making a Goonies 2!" They looked at each other and made me do the" Truffle Shuffle." Anyway, after they left I started thinking about all the cool possibilities for a Goonies 2! First, I have to say that for me personally being a kid in the 80's the Goonies was and is still "It." It is in my top 10 films of all time and at times I feel like it should be in my top five, which changes constantly. No movies I have ever seen truly captured being a kid during that time, (or anytime for that matter)like the Goonies did! I felt like those could have been my friends because other than being chased by escaped Cons and almost dying in booby trapped caves it was exactly like that.( Though I did almost lose my fingers w/ a pack of blackcats, Mike Jones) I even had a brother that I looked out for and would constantly threaten! All that aside the issue is what could they possibly do to even come close to capturing the magic of the original?  

So it's been about 30 years since the first film, and I do not kid you when I say that, I have wanted to write my own Goonies sequel for years... So the first and obvious plot is the "where are they now" and more importantly are they still friends? If they aren't what event could get them all together again? could it be that the Fatelli Brother's are now out of prison and all they have thought about for 30 years was getting even w/ the kids that out witted them and put them in jail. This a one of the ideas I thought of for a sequel early on, but I think it will be too obvious, although I like this plot. 

There's the "Big Chill" angle where one of them has died  and they all have to face it, but the twist is that maybe they figure out that their friend was really murdered and they have to follow clues that say "Mouth" left for them to solve his murder and maybe even find some Rich stuff?

 Another idea is of course introducing the Goonies children... This idea seems really easy, but it's my favorite...Again, it's been 30 or so years since their first "crazy Goonie adventure" and believe it or not A LOT  has changed... The Goonies didn't have internet or what Gaming is today... They Played outside and had cool adventures. The kids now play inside and have everything! Maybe the adventure we get to see is that the Goonies teach their kids the meaning of being a Goonie! They teach them To "never say die" and that things aren't always going to be easy! maybe they even create some sort of adventure where their kids have to save them, and of course something goes terribly wrong! I love this idea! It is timely and topical for my generation and the kids of today. Lets have the Goonies teach their kids to be cool and not listen to Justin Bieber and NickleBack or whatever bad commercial rock bands are popular that I don't listen to because they sucks! 

 God, I sound so old, but It's true. The music isn't as good, the toys suck, Disney owns everything, there are no cool movies about nice aliens, even Superman is a whine ass in the movies. Don't get me wrong I am a positive guy. I believe that there is some cool stuff out there. Marvel is making great films, Comics as a whole are doing well, but seriously making a good Goonies sequel could wake up, not just kids, but everyone. Everything is so fast paced and shallow! we need a little sincerity, man. That is what is so refreshing about the Goonies! It is sincere. It is a reminder of a simpler time (30 yrs ago) when Kids Played! That's it. No Texting, Sexting or Google! Yeah that's right we used to get lost too and we used to check books out of libraries and to do research... AND THAT'S THE WAY IT WAS AND THAT'S THE WAY WE LIKED IT!... We'd eveN write on paper! Okay, I think I have made my point! 

Let's get this movie made the right way! make a statement, not just nostalgia! 

Hello,
 
This is my first blog... I know what you're saying "but Matt it's 2014 blogs are so early 2000's." Well, I'm not pretty enough for youtube... yet (come on botox work your sweet magic). Anyway, I want to share one of my favorite stories from my childhood. It's one of the reasons I still love toys so much and of course it applies to comics and films too! 

To quote one of my best friends, Mike Swingle... (who I don't see near enough) "I remember back in 83 when I was a lowercase g...." So it really was about 83 or so and I don't really remember if I saw the films first or if I had the toys first but I loved Star Wars... My dad and my Uncle Steve both loved it too and they bought me some of the toys at some point... probably my mom too. I was a Lucky kid... It was the 80's the best time in toys. I had MOTU and GI Joes too! Anyway, I couldn't ride a bike yet and I was too small to leave the yard so I would take some of my toys to the end of my driveway and play w/ them in the dirt and rocks. I would have all sorts of battles w/ my Joes or my MOTU and of course Star Wars figures. I used this thing called an "imagination" to make up stories and create my own little worlds and played for hours. It's important to mention... I never mixed my Action Figures... If I was playing w/ GI Joe it was just GI Joe. I knew some kids who'd be having all there figures fight, like Transformers and He-Man guys having battles or in some cases tea time... um... these were other dudes like I said... Anyway, it wasn't like there couldn't be some cross over action w/ the different toy lines, but it had to make sense in my worlds... Like there was some kind of dimension issue and the Joes ended up in the Millenium Falcon or something, and Luke and Han helped them get home... something like that. I'm rambling and a nerd...So I'm at the end of my driveway playing w/ figures, not long after we had moved to Hartman Dr. the first "real house" I ever lived in on a "real street" w/ other kids to play w/.  And everyday I would be out there these kids would ride by and make fun of me and call me names. They were a few years older than me and bigger. I don't know how long this went on, but when you're a kid it seems like forever... Until, one day I'm at the end of the drive, I remember the dirt was super ashy that day, perfect Star Wars conditions. So I brought out the big guns my AT-AT Imperial Walker and the Millenium Falcon, and I was having a truly bad ass battle when one of the kids who'd been making fun of me rides by on his bike like usual but this time he doesn't say anything, just rides on. And this was the main dude and the leader of the group. So a few minutes later he rides by again only this time he stops and says " Dude, that's so "bad." Can I see em'?"  See kids, back in the 80s "bad" meant good or cool. All I remember after that was, literally, that dude and I became my best friends (other than my brother who was forced upon me:) ! He was only a couple years older than me and we'd hang out all the time, play sports in the summers, Nintendo in the winter when it was too cold for football, read and trade comics, listen to all kinds of music and lip sing Gun N Roses, Draw comics and try to create them and always toys and movies were a big deal till we got older. It was a great time!


You get older and things change, but Toys,Comics and Film are always there to remind you of your childhood. Or at least my childhood, which was super cool! I think it's pretty awesome that something like Star Wars and eventually GI Joe toys can bring a couple of kids together to settle whatever differences they had. (mostly kids just being kids) This is just one of the reasons I will always love this stuff! By the way, that kids name was Mike Jones and I am super grateful for those years on Hartman Dr. It was literally like being a Goonie!