BenSpark Family Adventures

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02439 On one of my Temu shopping sprees I got a bunch of knock off LEGO sets. They are mostly robots and supercars. Today I choose one at random to build. Actually I choose it and built all but one part yesterday but Andy too priority on the photo a day yesterday.  So I finished this up this morning and here it is. It is a bit wild looking. The TEMU cars never look like real cars, always look futuristic. At least this one wasn't made out of super tiny LEGO pieces like my fake Optimus Prime was. Had a call back phone interview with Target today. Very much a waste of time. I clearly stated on my application the days and times I could work but once we confirmed that in the interview it was over because they want people for the weekends. I told you I couldn't do weekends at all. You should never have called me. Off to Granite State Comicon tomorrow morning with Eva. Unfortunately both of the celebrities that I was looking forward to meeting and hearing their pan...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02390 I was in Target today and saw that they had one of the Funko minis on clearance and it was Deadpool and his Chimichangas food truck. I had looked at it previously but it was way too expensive for such a tiny thing. But, it was on clearance and so the price was decent. So I picked that up and also the Hot Wheels Target tractor trailer because that was also on clearance. Both items I have physically picked up many times over the past few months. Just gotta hit the store at the right time to get some deals. Other than that there wasn’t much happening today. Andy had more classes at JWU and today’s cooking was American food so mac and cheese and pulled pork and bbq chicken. Andy had a big lunch and tonight them finished working on their 8th grade Aleks program which is the math program. Andy had to have it finished by tomorrow. So we are happy that Andy is all done.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02386 A while back I bought the X-Men Blackbird LEGO set. I had finally found it on sale because it was priced way too high. It’s been sitting in my to be built pile and so tonight I went and built it. I also needed a photo for today. I liked this build because it was fun, a little complex and I liked how they set up the wings of the blackbird. Plus this came with four X-Men minifigs. I thought that five were in the box but unfortunately only just the four. I thought Storm would have been included. I’ll have to find her and Beast in another set sometime.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02383 Tonight I went to see The Fantastic Four with my friend, Frank. Frank and I have been friends since college. We don’t see each other often enough, though. We only live a half hour away from each other but it takes forever for us to coordinate and do something. this time, however, we had made a plan to see The Fantastic Four when it came out. Frank loves movies and so do I so this was perfect. We met up at BJ’s Brew House for dinner and great conversation. We caught up, laughed commiserated and genuinely enjoyed spending time together. I always enjoy conversations with Frank. After the movie we made plans to catch up again in the next couple of months. We plan to go see a Sunday Matinee of And Then There Were None, the next play at ACT.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02373 I came down to the Cape later today because I went and saw Superman before I headed down. I slept a few hours and then went over to the movie theater to see Superman. I didn’t have high expectations for the movie but I knew that James Gunn was in charge of it so I knew it was in good hands. The movie did not disappoint. It was the best DC movie since the Dark Knight, the last one I really enjoyed. The movie was bright and fun and had an excellent soundtrack. I laughed and I certainly teared up more than once. Such a fun movie to see. When I arrived at the Cape my niece and my sister’s dog were sitting on the bench at the table and I was able to catch a very happy expression on both of them.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02342 Ever since Wild Time Comics closed months ago I’ve been getting my comics from The Laughing Shield. While I miss Randy and his family I do appreciate Laughing Shield for what it is. It is a great little shop and very cool for customers. Kevin, the owner, does some very cool things like writing up synopsizes of each comic and even puts together groups of comics together so that nw fans can jump right into a storyline.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02318 My member pack for Marvel Unlimited arrived today. This is a membership program where I have access to a huge library of Marvel comics. Each year members get an action figure, a pin, some comics and more. It was rather light this year with only one comic book but the action figure was cool and the pin was also really cool. It was Wolverine themed this year.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02310 Ever since moving over to a new Comic Book shop I’ve taken a renewed interest in the Thundercats. I was already enjoying Transformers and G.I. JOE but this other 80’s group The Thundercats is seeing a resurgence and I got right into their books. I’m now pretty caught up. It is making me think that I should go ahead and reprint the Sword of Omens and try and get that painted and colored. Now that I know more about 3D printing I think I can do a much better job of it.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02308 I picked up a new series for Andy to read. I’m reading it ,too. The series is called Amulet and it is a graphic novel series. There are 9 books and I picked all of them up between my old comic book store and my new one and Amazon. Amazon was the last resort but I did complete the series. I’ve read book 1 and Andy has read books 1 and 2. Andy seems to like it so far. I am enjoying it but am reading many things at once.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02307 I finally got to see the Thunderbolts movie this morning. I was going to go yesterday but I had forgotten that Andy had a physical. I did have a ticket for yesterday that I got with a discount but never got to use it. I considered going to see part of it yesterday but that didn’t make much sense. I did see it today and I liked it very much. I did get spoiled about a couple of things, one from the Internet and the other from Marvel marketing. Neither really ruined my enjoyment of the movie, more of an annoyance than anything else. I’m really looking forward to seeing Fantastic Four next month, too. I hope that is done just as well.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02304 Today was Free Comic Book day so instead of heading to Wild Time Comics (first time in 20 years not going to them) for my free comics I ran by the mall to Newbury comics because there was a special Energon Universe comic that I had to make sure to get. I wasn't sure if I would get the comic at my new store, The Laughing Shield. The store is great but it is small and I know that smaller places are going to have a smaller inventory. I was right because Laughing Shield allowed everyone to take 1 free comic and Newbury allowed everyone to take 3. So, I did end up getting all the free comics that I was looking for. I even found one Minecraft one for Andy. At The Laughing Shield I picked up a new book that caught my eye, Moonshine Bigfoot. It looked as if Bigfoot was one of the duke Boys from The Dukes of Hazzard. It is a 4 issue run so that was fun.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02299 I backed a Kickstarter for a new comic book series called Ekos. It looked really interesting so I jumped at it. It recently arrived and I read the book today. The artwork is great and the story was very interesting.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02260 This past weekend I learned that my local comic book store of over 20 years was closing their doors. So, today I went for my last trip to the store. I picked up my last comic from that location. I did talk with Ethan and Randy a bit. Randy is already taking a look around for a new location. I hope that it isn’t too long before they are back up and running. I’ve been visiting Wild Time since before the kids were born. Ever since returning to North Attleboro after being in New Hampshire I got back into comics by going to Wild Time. The kids have grown up there going to the annual Free Comic Book Day event that Randy and family put on. It is a great time that we really enjoy.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02255 This LEGO set has been overpriced for a long time. I finally found it for a decent price and decided to pick it up. I’m excited to build it soon. Tonight was the second to last show of The People Vs. Frankenstein. It was a really good performance. Everything is coming together so well in time for our last show tomorrow. It has been very fun.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02226 The newest Marvel movie came out today, Captain America: Brave New World. In this movie Anthony Mackie plays Sam Wilson and he is the new Captain America after Steve Rogers gave him the shield. There was a Marvel TV show called The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. In that we see Sam becoming Captain America. They did a really good job of it, too. Now, this is the first time that there has been a Black Captain America and this is the first time that Mackie has helmed a Marvel movie as the main character. I enjoyed this movie very much. There was a good blend of action and character development throughout. We even had some good cameos in the film. I’m looking forward to seeing a Sam Wilson Captain America in more movies.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02201 I found a bunch of Marvel soaps at Target and decided on the Iron Man themed one. It has a great scent to it. I haven’t been using bars of soap for a long time. I’d been using body wash instead. I have a special scrubber which works great with the body wash. But I love this new scent so much more. I may have to change things up. I’m also interested in trying the three other scents. They have ones for Captain America, Spider-Man and Thor. They are from Dr. Squatch.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02197 The current run of Transformers and G.I. Joe books from Skybound have been awesome. In the latest Transformers Book the character of Astrotrain is seen in a fight in this month’s issue and It so happens that the kids got me an Astrotrain Funko POP! figure. I am hoping that the series will also introduce Blaster. as for G.I. JOE the new series is great and they have introduced a brand new character that I think will be an interesting addition to the team. There has been a slow build to this series over the past year or so and it is paying off.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02194 Back in May I backed an amazing Kickstarter for the G.I. JOE Compendium. This leatherbound book set contains the original run of G.I. JOE A Real American Hero from 1982 plus a bunch of great extras. The compendium collects issues 1-155 plus so many additional books from that time including Transformers Vs. G.I. Joe. It was expensive but today when it arrived it was so worth it. This is an incredibly beautiful set! I can’t wait to get reading!

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02170 I ran by the comic book store today and saw that Randy had a Hulk Mannequin now and Hulk was dressed as Santa. Very festive with the snow coming down all over. We had a nice bit of snow happening here and I hope it sticks around till Christmas.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02163 This past year a new Transformers comic book series began and it has been one of the best series I’ve ever read. The latest issue came out this week and I read it today. I love how they are slowly introducing different major characters. The story has been excellent and I enjoy rereading the issues. The other item is a Bumblebee Hot Wheels car. There are 5 in this series but Bumblebee was the only one that I wanted from the series. I’ll be adding this to the wall of Hot Wheels. The Funko Pops figure is Soundwave and it has a mini Rumble figure that fits in the head portion of the figure. Funko has made several of these from different fandoms. There is a Hulkbuster and Iron Man one and A Voltron one, too. Three fandoms that I enjoy.