This is an archived page. Links may be broken or outdated. ***********************************
DRAGON'S BREATH The Official Newsletter of Heroes and Dragons http://www.heroesanddragons.com ________________________________________________________________ From: [email protected] v7.7: November 11, 2001 ________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS: >> HEROES Second Printings Are on the Way >> That Dang STAR WARS Trailer, Part II >> Triad Toy & Doll Show in Greensboro >> Welcome (Back) to the Working Week (Answers to Last Week's Trivia Question) >> E-Mail and the Weekend >> Site Seeing: Television Sites >> New at Heroesanddragons.com >> Update on Multiple Copies of This Newsletter >> Veterans Day Message ________________________________________________________________ >> "HEROES" SECOND PRINTINGS ARE ON THE WAY ________________________________________________________________ If you missed on on Marvel Comics' HEROES, don't despair! First printings are long gone, but the second printing will be here this week! We don't know the exact day our shipment will arrive, but if you'd like to pre-order, please send your requests to us at [email protected] or call us toll-free at 1-877-543-HERO (4376). Like the first printing, proceeds from the sale of this second printing of HEROES will benefit the Red Cross Relief Effort in New York City. So don't miss your chance to help. (And don't forget Alternative Comics' tribute book, 9-11: EMERGENCY RELIEF -- which is due at Heroes and Dragons in January and featured in the current issue of PREVIEWS. E-mail us today to reserve a copy, or add it to your sub the next time you visit our Mega-Store! For more information, including a complete list of contributors, visit http://www.indyworld.com/relief.) >> THAT DANG "STAR WARS" TRAILER, PART II ________________________________________________________________ It's *still* everywhere! You can't turn on the television or go to a movie without seeing it -- and now the DVD-only trailer is starting to crop up, with a *third* trailer looming this weekend on the opening night of HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCEROR'S STONE. You can still view the first trailer (the "breathing" teaser as it's come to be called) at http://www.heroesanddragons.com/entrance.htm by clicking on the image of Jango Fett. However, to limit server stress, you will only be able to view it once per computer. A second attempt to view the trailer at www.heroesanddragons.com will redirect you to the official STAR WARS site, http://www.StarWars.com. If you'd like to watch the trailer over and over and over and over, you still can! Just right-click on Jango Fett and choose "Save Target As...". This will allow you to save the file to your hard drive and view it as often as you like. You'll need Apple Quicktime to view the file, and if you use a dial-up modem I recommend using a download manager such as Go!Zilla. You can download both (for FREE) on the web: Get Quicktime 5 at http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/ Get Go!Zilla 4.0 at http://www.gozilla.com/download_links.html If demand stays high, I'll see what I can do about getting the new trailer posted next week ... ! >> TRIAD TOY & DOLL SHOW IN GREENSBORO ________________________________________________________________ Next weekend is the 18th Annual Triad Antique and Collectible Toy, Doll, and Sports Card Show in Greensboro, North Carolina! (Or, as we like to call it, "the Triad Show.") The show runs from 10:00am to 5:00pm Saturday, November 17, and 10:00 to 4:00pm Sunday, November 18. Admission is $6.00 for adults, $2.00 for children, with over $300 in door prizes to be given away. For complete details and directions, visit http://www.TriadShow.com. Chris and Matt will be in attendance, along with Chad -- who'll be making a rare convention appearance. Stop by and say "hello"! >> WELCOME (BACK) TO THE WORKING WEEK >> (Answers to Last Week's Trivia Question) ________________________________________________________________ Either you folks really like Elvis Costello, or you really like winning prizes -- because I got *lots* of responses to last week's trivia question! The game was a lot of fun and even took some twists and turns I hadn't anticipated. Keep reading for the complete saga of "Trivia That Took on a Life of Its Own"! (Answers and winners at the end of this section.) ____________________________________________ MY QUESTION WAS: Who recorded "Seven-Day Weekend" with Elvis Costello and on what album did it originally appear? ____________________________________________ This was a trick question that became even trickier than I thought! Trivia questions are dangerous items on the Internet, because anyone can find the answer with a few quick keystrokes. So I tried to make my trivia "cheat-proof" by phrasing it as a trick question. I knew everyone would rush out to Amazon.com or CDNow.com to find a Costello album containing the track "Seven Day Weekend," and I knew what they'd find: BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE. Here's the "trick": BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE didn't originally include "Seven Day Weekend" when it was released in 1986! The song was added as a bonus track when Rykodisc re-released the album in 1995. The original version of BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE is long out-of-print and wouldn't show up for sale at most music sites. To find the "correct" answer, you'd have to go rifling through Elvis Costello fan sites (or be a big fan who just *knew*). If you did the research, you'd discover that "Seven Day Weekend" was originally recorded by Elvis Costello and reggae-man JIMMY CLIFF for the soundtrack to CLUB PARADISE (with Robin Williams and Peter O'Toole). The movie came out in 1986, as did the U.K. single. In 1987, Demon Records compiled a bunch of Costello songs (including this one) on OUT OF OUR IDIOT -- making OUT OF OUR IDIOT the first *album* appearance of "Seven Day Weekend" -- and thus, the answer to our trivia question! Right? Well -- except for this: Albin Johnson e-mailed me that there *is* a soundtrack album for CLUB PARADISE. And that it includes "Seven Day Weekend." Like OUT OF OUR IDIOT, the Soundtrack Album for CLUB PARADISE is *long* out-of-print (and was apparently never released on CD) -- but it *is* and album, and it pre-dates OUT OF OUR IDIOT by a full year! So congratulations to AL JOHNSON, who knew the correct answer to my "trick" question even when I didn't! Al is our official "winner" and will get to choose his prize from six fabulous trade paperbacks. Two other contestants receive special recognition as "runners-up" for knowing OUT OF OUR IDIOT (my "correct" answer) and will get to pick through the remaining graphic novels when Al is done. Those fine Costello fans are ROBERT BROWN and LOUIE LANFORD. Good show, gentlemen! Honorable mention also goes out to RACE BANNON, GARY COLEMAN, BUCK CONNOR, CHRIS SIMS, BRIAN SMITH, and GREG WOODARD -- who are all great sports and came within an inch of the "correct" answer! ____________________________________________ THE OFFICIAL ANSWER: The CLUB PARADISE Soundtrack (1986) With prizes and official "runner-up" status to everyone who answered with OUT OF OUR IDIOT (1987) ____________________________________________ >> E-MAIL AND THE WEEKEND ________________________________________________________________ As many of you know, my "weekend" is Friday and Saturday. As a result, many of the e-mails I receive on those days are not answered until Sunday. If you send an e-mail on the weekend, rest assured that I will get back to you. I pride myself on reading every e-mail we receive and replying to *almost* all of them. If you've e-mailed me and haven't heard back, you may want to take a moment and drop me a line and remind me. Sometimes mail gets lost in the electronic labyrinth of e-mail servers and ISPs; a quick reminder is never taken as an offense and is a great way to be sure that I've received your e-mail. Also, please do *NOT* send correspondence to the DRAGON'S BREATH address ([email protected]). That address is managed and co-ordinated by an unthinking machine whose only purpose is to react to command messages in the subject line of an e-mail. It won't answer questions or e-mail you back like a sentient human being would. Having said that -- [email protected] does some really cool stuff, in spite of not being able to think! For example, it can subscribe and unsubscribe you automatically -- and it can re-send the last issue of DRAGON'S BREATH, if you think you've missed one. It can also deliver the latest version of our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) right to your inbox. [For a complete list of cool commands you can use in conjuction with this newsletter, just send a blank e-mail to [email protected] with the word "HELP" (no quotes) in the subject line.] >> SITE SEEING: >> TELEVISION SITES ________________________________________________________________ I've said it plenty of times over the last couple of years: "The internet is the new television." And I stand by it! The internet is as exciting and vital as TV was once, and I daresay it's changing our lives just as much as the television ever did! However, that doesn't mean television has become a thing of the past. It's still a mighty influential part of 21st Century life, and we all enjoy it in some form or another. Here are some great TV sites to keep you occupied while surfing the Web: THE TICK made his live-action debut on FOX-TV last Thursday, and the animated JUSTICE LEAGUE hits Cartoon Network this coming Saturday (November 17), so you might want to check out their respective sites: THE TICK - http://www.TickTV.com JUSTICE LEAGUE - http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/jl/ Want to find out when they air? Check out the "Local Listing" tab on TV GUIDE's web site: http://www.TVguide.com Looking for complete episode guides to your favorite show? Start here: http://www.epguides.com Still can't get enough of the tube? Maybe there just isn't enough of your favorite show to go around! Why not write some TV-based fan fiction, or check out some of the fun (and bizarre) stuff other people have come up with? You can start your TV fanfic adventures at: http://www.fanficweb.net/directory/tv/tv.htm >> NEW AT HEROESANDDRAGONS.COM ________________________________________________________________ What, no updates to www.heroesanddragons.com this week?! What's going on? I'll tell you: We're starting that long-promised upgrade and redesign of heroesanddragons.com, with an eye toward having the new site online for Thanksgiving weekend. That means you'll have a great new interface to use when doing your holiday shopping or surfing for information about H&D. It also means we'll be pretty light on updates for the next two weeks, as all my effort is going into the beta version of heroesanddragons.com! In the meantime, I'm going to leave our much-enjoyed Halloween pictures up for another week. If you didn't get to see them last week, then cruise by http://www.heroesanddragons.com/Halloween and check 'em out! I've added two new pictures sure to delight fans of BATMAN BEYOND! And I owe a big apology to JESSICA SAWICKI and FELECIA HOLLEY, who I misidentified last week in their photos. Sorry, ladies -- I was in a bit of a hurry and, um, negelected the finer points of editing when I posteed the page! Even with the site redesign in progress, you'll still be able to access the latest shipping lists for comic books by going to http://www.heroesanddragons.com/NewThisWeek. Both Marvel and DC covers are posted for November 14, and you can expect brand-new shipping lists on the afternoon of November 12 (including a tentative list for the week of Thanksgiving). [GAMERS: Do you know of a web site that routinely posts shipping lists for the major games? Would they be willing to share their lists with Heroes and Dragons, as Diamond does their comic lists? If you know of such a site, please e-mail me here at [email protected] -- I'd like to incorporate them into the new H&D.com!] >> UDPATE ON MULTIPLE COPIES OF THIS NEWSLETTER ________________________________________________________________ I know many of you are still receiving multiple copies of the DRAGON'S BREATH, and I'm still looking into the potential problems, one by one. Michael D., Mike S., Jay, and Vaughn have all put me on the trail of a NEW potential culprit -- but you will still likely receive two copies of this message. If so, please accept my apologies and take some comfort in the knowledge that I'm researching the problem! Thanks to everyone for your patience and your feedback. Never hesitate to e-mail me here at [email protected] if something is amiss with your newsletter! >> VETERANS DAY MESSAGE ________________________________________________________________ Today is Veterans Day in the United States. If you're not familiar with the holiday (or if you're wondering when the heck it stopped being "Armistice Day"), you can read all about it at the official site, maintained by the U.S. Veterans Affairs (VA) Department. The URL is http://www.va.gov/vetsday/index.cfm. If you're not a U.S. citizen, this next bit may seem a bit nationalistic and inscrutable. I assure you that it's more human and sincere than nationalistic and rhetorical -- so please feel free to co-opt the spirit of this holiday and apply to those in your own lives who've made sacrifices for you. If you are a U.S. citizen, you're well aware that your we can easily forget the sacrifices our veterans made and the hardships they endured to preserve our way of life. Yet they made those sacrifices and bore those hardships for all of us. They did it so that I can sit here on a Sunday night and be excited about comic books to a thousand of my closest friends. We Americans may not see eye to eye on the politics of our nation, but we are all in the same boat when it comes to living a distinctly American way of life. Our veterans have made that possible. So, to each veteran who reads this newsletter, from everyone here at Heroes and Dragons: Thank you for risking your life so we can live ours. We can never repay the debt we owe you, but we will always honor your sacrifices and hardships in our lives. We appreciate you and all you have given us. See you next week!
--- DRAGON'S BREATH ________________________________________________________________ ABOUT THIS MAILING LIST ________________________________________________________________ DRAGON'S BREATH is written and administered by Scott Simmons for Heroes and Dragons. Send inquiries, corrections, suggestions, or comments to [email protected]. To subscribe to this newsletter, send a blank e-mail to [email protected] with the word "SUBSCRIBE" (no quotes) in the subject line. To be removed, use the word "UNSUBSCRIBE" (no quotes) in the subject line. For a complete list of commands you can use with your DRAGON'S BREATH subscription, send a blank e-mail to [email protected] with the word "HELP" (no quotes) in the subject line. ________________________________________________________________ CONTACT INFORMATION ________________________________________________________________ >> TELEPHONE (OFFICE) (803) 772-9198 >> TELEPHONE (STORE) (803) 731-HERO (4376) >> TOLL-FREE (ORDERS & PAYMENTS) 1-877-543-HERO (4376) >> FAX NUMBER (803) 772-5010 >> STORE ADDRESS Heroes and Dragons 1563-B Broad River Road Columbia, SC 29210 USA >> E-MAIL ADDRESS [email protected] >> WEB SITE http://www.heroesanddragons.com ________________________________________________________________ DRAGON'S BREATH copyright © 2001 Heroes and Dragons. All rights reserved.