13 Comments Posted on movie reviews, toy reviews, Uncategorized

Ghostbusters Reboot Movie Toys: Boys Aren’t Buying Them?

Ghostbusters Reboot Actions Figures Already on 30% Clearance at Target, 2 Weeks before Movie’s Release

This week while perusing through Target during my lunch break, because apparently that’s what I do for fun, I discovered a curious thing:

The action figures for the upcoming Ghostbusters reboot movie are already on 30% clearance, even though the movie doesn’t come out for another 2 weeks, on July 15th.

(This took place at the Franklin, TN, location.)

It presents a theory about the free market:

Could it be that boys aren’t interested in buying action figures

in which females are the protagonists?

I invite you to watch the video I shot, on the scene, which clearly shows that the Ghostbusters reboot movie is clearly being marketed to boys, as these toys are in the same isle as Star Wars and Ninja Turtles, which primarily consist of male characters.

Even though the new Ninja Turtles movie has been out for a month already, none of those toys are on clearance, which implies boys are still asking their parents for them.

ghostbusters-2016-movie-cast

Obviously, there has been a lot of skepticism about the upcoming movie by Ghostbusters fans; especially to make the four Ghostbusters female; as opposed to male, which is the gender they been identified as since 1984.

Ghostbusters Reboot Actions Figures Already on 30% Clearance at Target, 2 Weeks before Movie’s Release

Sure, I admit: If they couldn’t get the original cast to do an actual sequel (especially since Harold Ramis passed away two years ago in 2014), I would have at least liked to have seen brand-new characters to carry on the torch, in the likeness of the original cast:

Maybe Paul Rudd, Steve Carrel, Seth Rogen, and Donald Glover. I think that would have been awesome to see!

Ghostbusters Reboot Actions Figures Already on 30% Clearance at Target, 2 Weeks before Movie’s Release

In that version of reality, I could imagine that much more action figures would have been sold and prevented this 30% clearance situation at Target. Not to mention, I think fans would be much more excited about going out and seeing the new movie.

Again, these toys are purposely placed in the boys’ aisle, not with Barbies. The Ghostbusters toys are clearly intended to be purchased mainly by boys, not girls; which is why they are stocked on the shelves the way they are.

Yet boys aren’t buying them.

This is the free market at work; in which politically correctness is evidently being ignored by very young consumers.

With all that being said, I will be seeing the Ghostbusters reboot movie in a few weeks and will be doing a movie review on it; comparing it to the original, from a family friendly perspective.

So if you if this post has entertained you, check back in a few weeks for more on the Ghostbusters reboot.

Leave a comment Posted on fatherhood, parenting, Storytelling, Uncategorized

Dear Holly: I am Your Fitness Instructor and Speech Pathologist

9 weeks.

Dear Holly: I am Your Fitness Instructor and Speech Pathologist

Dear Holly,

One of my exclusive daily responsibilities as your Daddy is to make sure you’re being physically challenged in your exercises. So when I’m home, I do exercise time with you after each feeding.

You curiously love to stand up while I hold your hands. This seems peculiar to me, in that you’re only 2 months old. But yes, you stand on your feet for several minutes at a time before you need a break.

It’s funny because you always stand with your feet perfectly together; never in a regular stance.

Sometimes I pretend we are having a father-daughter dance, jokingly signing “Cinderella” by Steven Curtis Chapman. You totally go along with it, not knowing any better.

But while it is a joke, I look forward a lifetime of dancing you with as your father.

After you get tired of that, I turn you over on your stomach, which forces you to attempt to crawl. You have every reason to cry within in a few seconds, yet you never do.

Instead, you are always inspired to keep trying to crawl until I finally flip you back over due to your puddle of drool.

In addition to you having an obsession with maintaining mobility, you also are getting very serious about learning to talk.

During our exercise training, you also will smile at me and starting talking:

“Grrrr-ooowww-ahhh…”

I’ve learned that as I make random sounds back, you try to imitate them.

You’re also fixated on trying to roll all the way over from your back to your stomach.

Rolling over from your back to your side is easy for you at this point. My favorite time was last weekend when you were laying down on your play mat, smiled at me real big, then just threw your whole body into immediately rolling over.

It was as if to say, “Hi Daddy, bye Daddy!”

We have fun together! I am your fitness instructor and speech pathologist.

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Jack: We Loved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles- Out of the Shadows!

5 years, 7 months.

Dear Jack: We Loved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles- Out of the Shadows!

Dear Jack,

You and I have seen many action movies at the theatre in the year 2016 so far, including Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Captain America: Civil War, and X-Men: Apocalypse. But after this weekend, you and I both decided we have now seen our favorite so far- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.

I’m not saying it is better than the other movies we’ve seen so far this year, but I am saying it was definitely the most enjoyable and entertaining.

This is the first time a live-action Ninja Turtles movie included the essential villains Krang, Bebop, and Rocksteady; as well as Baxter Stockman. The action was non-stop. It was fun to watch the entire time, yet not cheesy at all.

Here’s an Instragram (nickshellwrites) I did of you eating your huge slice of pizza right before the show:

It is most appropriate for the kid to wolf down pizza right before we go see Ninja Turtles 2.

 It is most appropriate for the kid to wolf down pizza right  before we go see Ninja Turtles 2.

I recently officially realized that one of our traditional father and son activities is to watch action movies together. It was a couple of months ago when we were watching Jurassic World together that I put that together. Then conveniently, a few weeks later, Jurassic Park (as well as its sequels) showed up on Netflix. That was convenient.

Mommy calls the movies we watch “boy movies.”

She understands that you are wired for adventure and that it’s good for just you and me (“the boys”) to disappear for a few hours and see an action/superhero/dinosaur/sci-fi movie together.

Of course when you and I go to see a movie, we make an event out of it. We are not casually about it at all.

I typically buy our tickets a day in advance, then the next day, we show up at least an hour before the movie begins. It’s vital to get the perfect seats, so therefore we are the first to arrive to have the ability to choose whatever seats we want.

Plus, we always stay until all the credits are over, to make sure we don’t miss any hidden scenes.

I keep my calendar marked with upcoming movies to take you to see. We don’t play around when it comes to our movies!

Dear Jack: We Loved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles- Out of the Shadows!

Love,

Daddy

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Unboxing: Interactive Watch Kit for Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday

Unboxing of the Interactive Watch Kit for Pee-wee’s Big Holiday

If you’ve been keeping up with my son and me, you know we are big Pee-wee Herman fans. A little over a year ago, when my son first started an interest in watching Pee-wee’s movies and show, I did a couple blog posts on it:

Dear Jack: Why Pee-wee’s Playhouse is So Relevant for You Right Now

Dear Jack: Your Homemade Cinnamon Milk/Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure

Then last month, when Pee-wee’s new movie, Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, was released exclusively on Netflix, I was already in the middle of planning to do a blog post and videos on it when I had a representative for Netflix reach out to me because of those 2 blog posts I did from a year ago.

Unboxing of the Interactive Watch Kit for Pee-wee’s Big Holiday

They asked me if it would be okay if they sent me an “interactive watch kit” for when my son Jack and I watched the movie for 2nd time. I didn’t know what an “interactive watch kit” even was, but I quickly agreed.

Last Saturday night, Jack and I sat down to watch Pee-wee’s Big Holiday; this time with our camera rolling as we participated in the full interactive watch kit experience.

Here’s the fun video I made showing how it all happened. I’m happy with how this turned out, as the whole thing was completely unrehearsed:

The kit consisted of a giant shoe box which contained 8 smaller numbered boxes. We also received a road map, which cued us on when to open each box during certain scenes of the movie.

My personal favorite box we opened was the first one, which had Pee-wee tuxedo t-shirts in it for each of us. They even guessed right on my t-shirt size, which is large.

Jack’s favorite box was the one that included the root beer barrel candies like Pee-wee and John Manganiello ate in the movie.

We had such a great time together! We like “interactive watch kits” after all.

By the way, don’t forget to also check out my recent Parental Summary Guide of Pee-wee’s Big Holiday.

Unboxing of the Interactive Watch Kit for Pee-wee’s Big Holiday

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Dear Jack: The Mysterious Package- Puss in Boots Funko Vinyl Character

5 years, 7 months.

Dear Jack: The Mysterious Package- Puss in Boots Funko Vinyl Character

Dear Jack,

You are always so excited whenever a package is delivered to our front door. When I got home Tuesday afternoon from work, Mommy asked me, “Were you expecting a package for your blog or something?”

The only thing I have been waiting for to come in the mail was a much larger package; a Simply Fit Board I saw on Shark Tank.

So I was just as surprised as Mommy to see such a small box with my name on it. With much anticipation, I opened the mysterious brown box in front of you, Mommy, and Baby Holly.

It was as if time stood still. The anticipation…

I had received my first Funko Pop Vinyl character: It is Puss in Boots from the Shrek series, which is part of DreamWorks Animation, which is now part of Comcast and XFINITY.

Dear Jack: The Mysterious Package- Puss in Boots Funko Vinyl Character

It was only natural that you immediately asked me, “Daddy, can have that cat?” You immediately named him Quasi, and it appears “he” is your new favorite toy.

Coming up in a month from today, you and I are taking a special father and son road trip in an all-new 2016 Toyota Prius that Toyota is sending us to drive for a week; like our they recently sent us a 2016 Lexus IS 200t.

We have decided to take Quasi’s picture at each point in our trip, as a way to sort of document the chronological progression with the background of the photo illustrating our whereabouts.

So this new toy cat of yours will be showing up again in a few weeks.

The reason I received this gift from Comcast is because for the past 3 months, I’ve done a monthly sponsored post about the relationship between Comcast, XFINITY, and DreamWorks Animation:

April: XFINITY X1 DVR: Taking Entertainment on the Go for Road Trips

May: Comcast + DreamWorks Animation = Future of Family Entertainment

June: XFINITY’s Share App Lets You Stream Live from Smartphone to TV

The folks at Comcast recognized that I’m one of the top findings when you do an Internet search on “Nashville Daddy Blogger”. So they hired me to spread the word about what’s going here in Nashville with Comcast.

Little did they know, they would be making you very happy!

Love,

Daddy

Dear Jack: The Mysterious Package- Puss in Boots Funko Vinyl Character