screaming over this Abigail Breslin auto

I'm still watching through the (since canceled) horror-comedy show Scream Queens. I was originally drawn to it because of Billie Lourd (of Star Wars and Carrie Fisher's daughter fame), but as the show has progressed, I've found myself crushing more on Chanel #5.

I looked to see if actress Abigail Breslin had any auto cards on the market. And while, no, she doesn't seem to have any cards, turns out she has a book out, This May Sound Crazy, and I ended up scoring an official SIGNED COPY for just $6 shipped.

If I have a complaint about it, it's that the cover photo doesn't really look much like her. Not terrible or anything, just not what she actually looks like. Here are a few better photos I found online:

Wow, that's a pretty girl! I didn't realize till I started looking for her autos, but she's the child actress in the Oscar-winning film Little Miss Sunshine which I remember watching when it came out on dvd not all that long ago, which does kinda creep me out to think about. But hey, she's all grown up now.

Nice looking signature. I want to give the book a read, though I also want to keep it in good "collectible" condition, so I don't know. I mean, the text is pretty big; it probably wouldn't take me too long to knock it out. Maybe one of these weekends.

Pairs well with my Billie Lourd autograph. And yes, I looked to see if Emma Roberts has any certified autos out there so I could complete the trilogy of main Chanels from the show, but no, she doesn't appear to have any out there at the moment. Oh well, I'm happy with these two.



--BONUS TRACKS--

SONG

PROOFREADER WANTED:

Would any fellow blogger out there like to be proofreader buddies with me? It sucks to make typos, but hey, it happens. Nobody likes to be called out on a typo in the comments-- kind of a stigma to it, like you're being "that guy" to bring it up-- but it's also nice to be made aware so the mistake can be fixed. I was wondering if someone wanted to be proofreader buddies with me; if you notice a typo in a blog post of mine, shoot me a quick email to let me know, and I'll do the same if I catch one in a post of yours. No "making it weird" pretence about it, just helping each other out. Let me know if you'd like to enter into such an agreement.


TWITTER TRADE TIRADE:

It happened again. I post on Twitter looking to see if anyone has any unwanted commons for a set I'm working on.

me: can anyone help me with this set?

dude: sure, I can help you out. I've got (these cards) from your wantlist for you.

me: great! here's my addy. just let me know what you'd be interested in so I can return the favor.

dude: I'm looking for these: (sends me a tiny list including vintage Clemente and Mantle).

And there the deal dies on the vine. SERIOUSLY! I'm looking for some filler set help and you expect me to hit you back with some all-time greats? I don't get these people. Shit like this is why trading is dying. I try so hard to have a huge wantlist to give trade partners lots of options for a swap. I feel confident that if you're a card collector, you've got available cards I'd be interested in. I have a bunch of PCs (from big stars to obscure nobodies), and am working on a bunch of popular, plentiful sets. Nothing frustrates me more than to be hit with a tiny-ass wantlist in return. I'd rather just buy cards than waste time playing games with "traders" who don't really trade.

Sorry, just had to vent a little there.


TEENY WEENY WIDDLE BUNNY

I saw a teeny weeny widdle bunny Thursday on my way home. Sorry, I didn't take a photo, but trust me, this bunny was cute.


VIDEO GAMES

Any of you guys on Steam, the video game website? Their big summer sale is going on now. I bought a few games today, mostly old stuff. I love Maniac Mansion and other similar games from folks involved with it. I don't seem to find the time to play games as often as I'd like, and I suck at video games for the most part, but it's a fun way to spend some time. I'm not sure how "friending" works on Steam, but if you wanna add me, I'm username Sweet Potato Jones. Would be cool to do some cooperative games with card buddies sometime.

Big thanks for stopping by!

Couldn't Hoyt!

Hoyt Wilhelm is one of my favorite guys to collect, and I really wanted a playing-days example of him in uniform from his brief time in Atlanta. There aren't many available options (I don't count his airbrushed blank cap in 1970 Topps), but I jumped at this 1971 Dell stamp when it popped up. I didn't even care if it was graded or not, but hey, a PSA 9 seems pretty good! I'm pretty sure this is the highest graded vintage card/sticker/stamp/thing in my collection now.

I gotta assume stamps are immune to the trimming controversy going on these days-- they're stamps, after all-- but I'm not sure. But again, whatever, I don't care about the grade.. just wanted a Braves Hoyt for the PC.

In other news...

- You may have heard rumors that I have a semi-secret alternate card blog that is an outlet for when I want to work on some bullshit creative writing, usually when drunk or high.  This is totally not true Just kidding, it's totally true.

- I recently Adblocked my Twitter numbers for followers and followees and I think it's the best social media move I've ever made. Now I can't see (at least by default) how many people follow me and how many people I follow. I hated the fact that I was drawn to these numbers each visit, but as they were right there when I clicked the link, I couldn't help but notice.

Boom.. nothing!
(Unsolicited plug but you should definitely get uBlock Origin to help block annoying ads on Google Chrome.)

But yeah, it's very nice to not worry about followers anymore. As it was, when I'd get new followers I'd stress out like "oh no, why are people following me?!" and when I'd lose followers I stress out like "oh no, why are people unfollowing me?!"

I'd much rather not give any thought to it and just do my thing. If you dig what I spew out, great; if not, that's cool too.

I'm generally stingy about who I follow, but it's not because I'm a stuck up bitch or anything, but just that I try to stay on top of my Twitter feed, ideally reading everything on my timeline, and it's hard to do even with a hundred or two accounts. I'm sure people following 1K or so accounts can't keep up with everything.

My latest temporary tattoo. Don't ask me cuz I don't know.

- I took off this upcoming Monday from work..

I never thought my life could be
Anything but catastrophe
But suddenly I begin to see
A bit of good luck for me
'Cause I've got a 3 day weekend
I've got a 3 day twinkle in my eye
I never had a chance to shine
Never a happy song to sing
But suddenly half the world is mine
What an amazing thing
'Cause I've got a 3 day weekend
I've got a 3 day sun up in the sky

This is the song I sing (or an approximation) whenever I have a 3-day weekend.

I hope to use this extra time to catch up on some card stuff, such as sorting and getting some outgoing trade (and contest prize) packages together.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

1957 Topps Dodgers Sluggers

Knocked another big one off my 1957 Topps setbuild the other day. Plenty of Brooklyn goodness there. My set is low grade for the most part, but I was able to score this PSA 5 for a solid price. I think it's the highest graded of the small handful of graded '57s I've got. Nice shot of the heart of the Dodgers order taking a knee. At first I thought that was a Squirt ad behind them-- you know, the grapefruit-flavored soft drink-- but upon closer look, I think it says Esquire.

This addition takes me to 302/417, good for 72.42% complete, with 115 cards left to chase (though a few of those are waiting for me in my next COMC shipment.. I'll hopefully hit ¾ complete once I get those.)

That's it for today. Just a short one. I've got a bunch of other posts in the pipeline but just need more time to type them up. Thanks for reading!

'72 serenade

While I should probably be focusing on the few sets I'm close to completing, I gave into the siren song of 1972 Topps recently, going after a couple separate auctions for starter lots as I try to get that setbuild into gear. Each lot ran me 30-something bucks and each included a bit over 100 cards, but otherwise they were different beasts and complemented each other nicely.

LOT #1

The first lot included a lot of big names, even the Fisk rookie(!), but with cards that were in poor condition for the most part.

I was expecting a few stars, but the lot exceeded my expectations.

And some of the cards were in good enough condition to the point that I probably won't bother trying to upgrade them.

John Mayberry was probably the worst off of the bunch, with even a smiley face stamp adding to the indignity. Bench looks good from the front, but has big initials in marker on the back. I already have a nice Reggie in the PC, so this creased specimen will probably suffice for my set, though I wouldn't turn down an upgrade someday.

I'll probably take a similar approach that I did when I completed '71 Topps a while back, which is to take any condition I can, and hope to upgrade the bad ones later over the years-- A big reason I love using my own Google Docs for checklists is I can mark a card "got it!" or "upgrade would be nice" so if I get the card, I can check it off but still leave the door open to upgrading someday-- and if not, oh well, I'd be content just having a complete set regardless if it'd be considered NM. Not like I plan to sell it ever.

Here's a card that made me blurt out "h*ly shit!" when I was sorting out the cards. Was not expecting to come across Ted freakin' Williams. It's the final "active in baseball" card from his career, and it's in good shape, too, compared to most of the other cards in the lot.

I'm so excited that I also have to show the back, which also looks good other than some wonderfully authentic corners.

Closing out the highlights from Lot #1 are a bunch of semi-high numbers (i.e. 5th Series). I previously had only one single card checked off from the series, so I was very happy to be able to make some progress there, especially with several well-known names.

I still have ZERO cards from the brutal 6th Series (unless I pluck Hoyt Wilhelm out of that player collection), which is part of the reason why I decided to forgo worrying about condition with my '72 setbuild and embrace creases and fuzzy corners. Those high-numbers will be tricky enough to acquire, period, even without having to worry about finding them in near-mint condition.

Anywho, this lot got me to 200 cards and a quarter of the way to complete. Lots of big names checked off.. definitely happy with the purchase.


LOT #2

The second lot arrived a few days later and included a few cards that were upgrades over what I got in the first lot, such as the Pirates team card (#1 in the set thanks to their championship the prior year). In contrast to the first lot, this bunch was mostly commons, with big names being few and far between-- the only HOF players included were Mr. October and Tom Terrific on these League Leaders-- but in better condition for the most part. Happily, there wasn't too much overlap with lot #1 or the cards already in my initial setbuild.

And there were a couple more HOFers in the form of managers, with Earl Weaver and Tony LaRussa.

This 2nd lot got me past the 1/3 complete milestone (all the way to 37.36%, actually). So now I feel like I've got a solid foothold with this set, though I know it'll be tough, especially that nasty final series. If you've got any '72s available to trade-- again, in ANY condition!!-- please take a look at my needs and let's see if we can work out a deal. Thanks!

HalfBirthday BoxBreak

Happy Half-Birthday to me!

I'm proud of myself for resisting the urge to rip any 2019 card product yet. I'll probably buy a box of Archives when it comes out, but I'm otherwise trying to spend my money on things that interest me more than today's cards.

But I did recently give in and buy my first retail blaster of the year in the form of a discounted box of 2015 Prizm baseball I found in the card section of my local grocery store. Figured it'd make a nice little half-birthday present to myself, so I held off opening it till today. I don't anticipate it being all that exciting, but who knows, I might pull something neat.

Let's go...

A couple solid PC additions with shiny Kirby and Big Unit here.

A few other dudes I collect. It's now kinda scary seeing David Ortiz among those fireworks! No but seriously, glad he's recovering ok after being shot.

As far as notable non-keepers, these 7 are available for trade. Heavy on San Francisco. The Will Clark Field Pass is the Prizm (refractor) parallel. On man, if only that Jorge Soler was Javier Baez instead.

More cards I don't need. Just let me know if you'd like me to set anything aside for you.

And saving the best for last.. A little retail mojo!...

It ain't Mike Trout, but hey Carlos Martinez is a solid major league pitcher with a pair of All-Star selections on his résumé .. there are worse guys you could pull an auto of. It's a camo parallel numbered out of 199 on the back. It might not quite "pay for the box" but still, always a victory to pull an unexpected hit like this.

So a few PC additions and an auto.. I'm happy with those results.
Thanks for reading.

Sort of adding a Harry Shearer auto to my Simpsons collection

I bought a lot of CDs back in the 90s and built up a big music collection. But as the millenium dawned, I was picking up less and less CDs, gravitating more towards mp3s, and later towards streaming. I've probably only bought 3 or 4 CDs in the past decade.

--Or at least up until just recently when I picked up a few autographs from Newbury Comics, who run a lot of promos direct with the artists-- basically, when you buy a CD, you get a bonus signed item from the band-- so I consider these essentially "certified autographs" since they're from a known legit source, not picked up on the secondary market. The prices on these offers are decent-- basically what I remember paying for a new CD back in the day, mostly around $15-- so I picked up a few (enough to qualify for free shipping). Here's the first one I wanted to show off...

Derek Smalls is a fictional character who plays bass for the fictional band Spinal Tap. While I think This is Spinal Tap is a classic film, what really made me jump at this was the fact that Derek Smalls is Harry Shearer, and I thought it'd be cool to add to my very small collection of The Simpsons related autographs. Harry of course is the voice of Mr. Burns, Waylon Smithers, Principal Skinner, Ned Flanders, Reverend Lovejoy, Kent Brockman, Dr. Hibbert, Lenny, Otto, Rainier Wolfcastle, Scratchy, Kang, the Vin Scully-inspired baseball broadcaster, and more.

As you can see, it's signed in character (as Derek Smalls), but it's still an authentic autograph from Harry Shearer-- close enough for me! This autographed sheet came with a sealed CD of Derek Smalls' new solo album, Smalls Change (Meditations Upon Ageing)...

I gave it a listen and it's pretty good. If you like the music of Spinal Tap, well obviously this is in that same vane.. hard rock songs with cheeky lyrics.

Again, not exactly Simpsons, but I'll happily take it and shoehorn it into that part of my collection.

Dennis trade post

Seems like trading has been drying up for me on the cardsphere, without much action lately (and no nibbles on my latest trade bait post). But it's nice to still occasionally receive unexpected cards from a trader buddy, like this recent package from Dennis at TMV.

I sure do love 2004 Topps Chrome black refractors! I needed this Armando Benitez, and am now at 170/487 in my foolish quest for a parallel set.

Pretty sure I've already got these Super Giles Bros., but I appreciate the thought. (Correction: I did need the Brian!)

A funky-shaped addition to my Michael Sam collection.

The rest of the mailing was a nice bunch of Gavins. That golden Cecchini looks good. I wonder how he's been doing this season. [Looks up his numbers.] Welp, he apparently hasn't played at all in 2019 yet. Back in January, he was DFA'd to clear a spot on the Mets' 40-man roster. He then cleared waivers and was outrighted to the minor leagues. I can't find any news stories on it, but he apparently got injured or something, as again, I'm not seeing any 2019 stats for him anywhere. Hmm. That's a bummer.

And a bunch of Gavin Escobar hits. Last we heard from him, he was with the San Diego Fleet of the AAF, but was placed on injured reserve not long before the league folded during its inaugural season.

I haven't counted, but I'm confident I've got more Escobar autos in my card collection than any other player by a decent margin. So that coupled with his disappointing professional career makes it hard for me to get too excited about his cards anymore, but I really like the look of this shiny auto/relic.

Thanks, Dennis! I'll get a return out to you soon.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

football cards from the card show

Ok, one last post to wrap up my haul from the June card show. These are a few football cards that caught my eye from the 7/$5 bins.

A pair of non-certified Reggie Bush autos, a guy I collect because he went to high school in the same district as me, a few years after I graduated. The card on the left jumps out at me as forged.. notice the two signatures are very different. The one on the right matches with the certified auto I picked up a while back, so I figure that's legit, or at least a decent forgery. The left card is from 2005, while the card on the right is from 2006, the year he was drafted. Maybe he had a different signature in 2005, and then the next year when he had to sign millions of cards and stickers, he adjusted to a quicker autograph..? But whatever, I didn't have either card in the PC, scribbled on or not, so I figured they were worth the 72 cents each.

The Marcus Mariota / Dorial Green-Beckham dual relic is kinda ruined by the boring plain white swatches, but is otherwise a cool looking card, #'d 43/50 on the back. The Cam Newton card caught my eye with a chunk of pigskin embedded in it. Nowhere on the card does it mention it, so I've gotta assume it's just a b.s. manufactured relic, not actual game-used memorabilia, which is kind of a bummer, but hey it was cheap. These are both up for trade if anyone wants either.

Junior Seau is a guy I still kinda like even though as a whole the Chargers are dead to me now. Couldn't pass up some cheap jersey cards.

This pair would be considered the same card on most checklists, but hey, different colored bits of fabric, I count them as different cards. Listed for over $7 on COMC, so they seem like a solid deal for me at a tenth of that.

Finally, a non-certified Emmitt Smith auto. I didn't put much faith in this one being legit, but figured it was still worth throwing on my stack just in case. From taking a quick look at his autos on eBay just now, this one isn't even close. Oh well.

Thanks for poppin' by.