FINALLY!

Hey they finally did it. Now Netflix accepts payments through Paypal. It's about Time!

I restarted my account, I had to build a new queue since my old one was older than 5 years old or so. Weird when they used to ask me to restart before they accepted Paypal they would let me use my old queue. Guess they finally deleted that since they are pushing their "View INSTANTLY" download service. I also had to fiddle a bit with the "renewing" to "delete" my old credit card info and be able to choose Paypal payments. Now I have switched to the 2 movies out service instead of the full 3 movies out. That was a bit over the top. This way I can still have one to view while the other is in transit. Now to fiddle with my old excel file (which I have actually updated to keep track of purchases somewhat) and get some of those obscure titles back on.

Ron Santo Cubs Legend and Fan Favorite Dead at Age 70

Ron Santo Banner from chicago.cubs.mlb.com

 

Sad News today. One of the Chicago Cubs Legendary and most loved by fans players passed way last night (Thursday 02 Dec). Ron Santo died of bladder cancer he was 70.

AP news story from msn.foxsports.com.

comics tracking.

I haven't seriously collected comics for many years. Probably not since the late 1980s. I've got many boxes filled with comics most of which I want to eventually sell, giveaway or possibly trade. Anyway like with some of my other hobbies I figured there was probably some sort of online "collection tracker" site. I was right.

The first place I checked out I had found from some chat forum that was the result of something I had been looking for or possibly a sidetracked idea from an Ebay search. Anyway I found comicspriceguide.com.

It looked great. You can search your collection and it also gives price info on your issues. Great right? I noticed you can sign up for free, but there is also a higher level pay membership. The difference? I found out after I signed up that the difference is the free membership only allows you to list 50 titles the paid membership gives you unlimited space of course. The paid membership is something like $45/year or some silliness that I think is too expensive. UGH that is like the book site Library Thing, which is why I use Good Reads.

OK so then I found another site that looks a bit more promising for us cheap guys.
stashmycomics.com is also a free to use site. It has some forums, and it also has a way to find out the prices of your comics but it is not as accessible as the comicpriceguide prices were. There the prices are shown in the list view of your books, at stashmycomics you have to click on to the specific issue to get a full detailed page with pricing info. I think I can live with that even though the site title makes me think I'm hiding my collection from my mom in the basement.

October End of Month plus DVDs

 Well here it is the end of October and I'm getting this post in barely. My post count for this year will be at an all-time blog year low. Shoot!

Speaking of All-Time... A few weeks ago I got a package from the MLB Insiders Club of which I'm a member (I also paid a little extra to be a "Life-Time" member to get all the cool stuff) . I've been getting some of the books that they offer. You know the "Greatest hits of the century" Time-Life type of books. Inside the package was not a book but a DVD.

According to the back cover the special is an hour long of Major League Baseball All Century Team. This DVD apparently was first produced about 10 years ago from some of the images and info on it I found about it on the internet (DVDprofiler has the older version listed, but this version isn't in their database yet). For $10 bucks I figured what the heck?

Before I move on to the other DVDs I got this month I'll put in my .02¢ worth about the show I directed that is now closed.

Yes that's right I directed a production of the Neil Simon Play "The Odd Couple" for the Sandy Spring Theatre Group. The story of how two recently divorced men learn to cope with each other and their opposing life habits. The old slob vs. neat-freak story. The show was well received and everyone I talked to who saw it really enjoyed it. Most thought I had cast the show very well. As with all community theatre productions I made do with what I could find, and I was very fortunate with the actors I cast. 'Nuff Said on that for now.

Moving On back to the recent DVDs I got. On Saturday 30 October I went to Target and bought along with some pairs of pants for work and some jeans the following two DVDs.

"Predators" the latest installment from the sci-fi franchise about alien sport hunters. As with the Predator vs. Alien DVDs I got this one sight unseen. I'm confident that I will like this film even if it is terrible. I like the series.

I also got another sight unseen movie, this one a chick flick. "Sex and the City 2" the second installment of the 30 now 40 something gals from the HBO hit series. I know this movie is probably not worth the salaries of the actresses in it, but what the heck I liked the show even though it's a chick series. Oh the version I got was the only version that I saw at Target the special 2 Disc Special Edition "Target Exclusive". Apparently the 2nd disc was made exclusively for Target yadda yadda. I'm guessing there is also a special "Walmart Exclusive" version that turns out to have the same special stuff.

 

Some DVDs for September.

I decided to try something, dangerous I know. I've seen others do this but I decided I'd try it. I made a rough very rough video of me showing some recently bought DVDs. I'm not sure if I'll do this anymore or not. I'd like to if I can remember, but I really need to get my webcam skills down a bit better for showmanship. Anyway I made a video on UStream.tv on which I'm CaptKirk42. My other videos there are trading card related and have no audience, this type of thing has more audience for people who do YouTube, I'm not sure about UStream though, it was a bit popular with the trading card people.

The link to my video is here: DVD Update 25SEP10

The DVDs I barely mention are:

The Greatest American Hero Season One and Season Two (Target as a Two Pack)
Warehouse 13 Season One(Target)
Max Headroom Complete Series (Best Buy)
JAG Seasons 7, 8, 9 and 10 (Columbia House)
NCIS Season 7 (Columbia House)
NCIS:LA Season 1 (Columbia House)

The stuff from Target and Best Buy I got in August, the Columbia House ones are from September in the following story:

I told my tale of ordering through Columbia House. After I had placed my order they said that JAG Season 10 was out of stock and would be shipped separate, which it was and the other DVDs would ship in one huge box. Long story short a week after they ship the bulk of my order I get the individual box of JAG Season 10, and one of those "You've Got A Package" slip/card. So the next day I go to the post office slip in hand and get the rest of the order. Long story short I got the entire order the "same day" even though one was sent some two days later.

Dang CD/DVD Packaging.

I've ranted this before on some DVD board sites, but I don't think I've mentioned it here on my Blog. One of the things that really gets me is the silly security stickers that keep CD and DVD cases closed.

OK so with the CDs there is a little trick you can do that makes it a little easier and most of the time it works. After taking the outer plastic off they usually just have one of those silly plastic stickers on the top of the CD case. The thing to do is carefully "pop" the hinge on the bottom of the CD case that way you can open the thing from the bottom to the top using the sticker as the hinge (the case has the hinge on the left side so you normally open it from the right to the left.) Once you have it opened up you can separate the two halfs fairly easily and then take the sticker off the remaining side.

The other day I got a CD from Best Buy and while in the parking lot decided to open the CD to listen to it in the car. I got the wrapper off and then went to pop the hinge on the bottom, and the hinge broke. ARGH. Then I went to separate the two halves of the case and the sticker broke off from the top section. It only came cleanly off the back part of the case. The front part of the sticker came off in about 3 pieces.

Now DVD cases are completely different. Some of the companies like to put the stickers on all three sides that open up, those type really suck. Fortunately most DVD cases like the CD cases will just have the sticker on the top. There is no secret way to get the sticker off cleanly though. The one exception is the type of plastic that Warner Bros. Uses on their "Snapper" cases the ones that are plastic hinged but have cardboard as the main part of the case. They don't make those much any more so most of the "Snappers" that are still around are old "new" stock. Anyway what really sucks about DVD cases and the security sticker label thing is sometimes the paper from the cover of the DVD (front or back sometimes both) will be just far enough out of the plastic sleeve part of the case that the sticker is in contact with the paper, and no mater what you do the sticker will take some of the cover away with it. This has happened to way too many of my DVD covers.

Now when these stickers come off, or don't come off completely they usually leave sticky residue that fortunately there is a product called "Goo Gone" that if used correctly and carefully can keep some of the headaches from this security sealed stickers that the CD & DVD Manufacturers like to use.

End of July?

 

Eek it is the end of July already. I haven't had much time to blog because I have been getting ready to start the rehearsal process for the production of Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple" that I am directing for the Sandy Spring Theatre Group (SSTG).

The show opens up in October. This past week we had auditions and Thursday was callbacks, with some more callbacks today (Saturday 31 July). I think I can get a full cast. I've locked in the two actresses to play the Pigeon Sisters. Yes there are two women's roles in The Odd Couple it isn't just Oscar, Felix and Murray (The Cop) with their three poker buddies Speed, Vinnie & Roy (Oscar's Accountant). The Pigeon Sisters (Gwendolyn & Cecily) are from England and live upstairs from Oscar they met in the elevator when the power went out.

Well at any rate more details about our production will eventually be added to the SSTG website. SSTG Home

G.I. JOE: The Rise Of Cobra

Destro: What did you say your unit was called?

General Hawk: I didn't.

I watched my DVD copy of the 2009 G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra Movie. This is a mini-review first because I don't feel like giving a full fledged review and second because I need to crank out a blog entry before July comes around.


G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra: Is a very cool action adventure movie. Plenty of testosterone, and some estrogen in this guys flick. Basically it is based on the characters that Hasbro toys created in the early 1980s for the rebooted line of G.I. Joe Action figures. When they shrunk the 12" "Boys Doll" down to a little 3" action figure. The basic plot line deals with some nanotechnology war heads being stolen by The "Joes" arch-enemy group Cobra. The only things that really brings the movie down is some of the flashbacks that tell each of the main characters and supporting characters origins and background stories. These stories give audience viewers who are not familiar with the newer G.I. Joe (A Real American Hero) characters and stories that were told in comic books, a cartoon series and an animated movie or two.

Now the real reason(s) I like this film. Well not the only reasons but it is nice to have some eye candy while having an action movie frat party.

One of the things that Hasbro did when they created the mini Joes toys was to have some female characters. For "The Joes" the good guys there is sexy redhead Scarlett.


Brought to life in the movie by the lovely Rachel Nichols. I wonder how single she is if she is?


Reason enough? I thought so.


Then for the villainess er Baroness the just a lovely and sexy Sienna Miller.


And here is some of the action sort of.


As I said just a sort of mini-review. Oh I almost forgot one of the things I wanted to mention. Christopher Eccleston (of Doctor Who fame as Doctor Number Nine) plays the main bad guy James McCullen/ Destro. Overall I liked the film, even if you take the women out of the equation. I gave the film 4.5 out of 5.

US Quarters

Regular US Quarter. WHEN WILL I SEE YOU AGAIN?

It has been 10 years since we have seen a regular release (minted) US quarter. The kind like this with George Washington on the front and an Eagle on the back. The kind of quarter you don't bother to look at and admire the design, because you know what it looks like. You might check out the front just to see what year the thing was minted. Sometimes it's fun to see a coin with the year you were born on it, or some other special year for you.

1965 Quarter front

Front and back of Regular US Quarters (1932-1998)

The George Washington Eagle Quarter went mostly unchanged from 1932 to 1998. The profile of Washington went through a couple of slight modifications once or twice over the years, but they were subtle and only coin collectors really cared that much to notice. The eagle on the back has also gone pretty much unchanged. In 1976 for the Bicentennial the US Mint made special Bicentennial Quarters. The special commemorative quarters still had George Washington profile on the front with the years 1776-1976 underneath in the regular spot for the year of mintage. The back had the portrait of a colonial drummer. Then in 1977 they returned to the standard George with the Eagle back.

This regular familiar design was interrupted in 1999 when the US Mint started their 50 States Quarters Program. Each year from 1999 - 2008 they minted a different design for each of the 50 states. They released 5 different state quarters each year in order of when that state joined the republic of the United States.

Front of US State Quarters (1999-2008)

The Front has similar George Washington Portrait as the old quarters, but the writing on the front was majorly changed. United States of America was brought to the front, the word Liberty was moved down from the top to the side and made smaller. The words Quarter Dollar was also brought from the back to the front.

Back of Delaware State Quarter 1999

The backs were each unique and distinct for each individual state. The state name along with the year the state joined the United States and the year of mintage were put on the back. More details and all the designs can be seen here: http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/50sq_program/

OK so now it's been 10 years since we've seen an eagle on the back of a quarter. Sure there are still tons of these coins in circulation, but new ones have not been produced since 1998. Sometime during the 10 years of the States Quarters Program people seeing the schedule for the coins started wondering if or when they would produce a quarter for the Nations Capital Washington DC. Technically not a state DC was not included in the States program. This past year 2009 the US Mint released a Washington DC quarter in their six quarter District of Columbia and U.S. Territories quarters. The quarter for the territory of The Northern Mariana Islands by the way is the most difficult one to find as they minted very few of those and the distribution of them was more limited than the other designs of the Territories coins. To see the list and links to their designs visit http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/dcandterritories/

NOW the US Mint has started a New Quarter Program. This is another 10+ Year Program. Called "America The Beautiful" this program features designs with US National Parks. The coin fronts will still have the familiar 1932 George Washington Portrait on the front, with the Park design on the back. The release schedule seems to be when the park was designated a National Park. This program starts this year 2010 http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/atb/ and will end 2021. There are 56 quarters in this set. Each year they will release 5 quarters with a design of a State Park. There is already a generation of kids who haven't seen the regular design as a NEW quarter. By the time the Parks series is finished those kids will probably barely recognize the regular design. This will be a large set for collectors to acquire. It also means it will be at least the year 2022 before we see a REGULAR QUARTER ever again.

Mailinglist Name Misspelling Rant

Or What's In A Name?

OK I can live with the common misspelling of my last name using an "o" instead of an "e". It used to really tick me off, but I've learned to accept it, as I'm sure people with the last name of Smith who spell their last name Smyth. The Scandinavian spelling I use seems to baffle most people, even though Hans Christian Andersen is probably known more world-wide than Pamela Anderson (except to fans of Baywatch and Playboy magazine subscribers). Still most people spell the name Andersen with an "sOn". It's only natural since the surname in most languages and cultures means "the son of Ander (or Anders)".

I can even put up with some of the weird misspellings of my first name but the one that gets my goat, or grinds my gears is "Kirl". ACK! that's right some idiot data entry clerk at some credit card company, probably Citibank about 2 or 3 years ago, maybe even earlier somehow deleted my second "k" and combined my middle initial to my first name. Now there is a mailing list with that name on it. Wait, What? KIRL isn't even a name, it's not even the proper spelling of Curl. It's what you do to your hair, or with a set of weights, or even a very bad misspelling of a young person of the female gender.

I don't know how many times I've received junk mail under that "name". I used to tear them up and recycle them, but now if I want to take the trouble I mark those letters "Return To Sender" mark up the name a little and put a note that says something like "No such person", or "Nobody by that name at this address" and I usually put "Please remove from mailing list". Of course all this returned mail won't even be looked at, and half of it won't even be delivered by the post office. So why should I bother?

OK this made me feel a little better.

Maybe I should try to get a second identity under that name and get a second Social Security number. NO I would probably be arrested for identity theft, or trying to use an alias. Then how the frack do all those criminals steal names so easily, yet the victims spend many years trying to get things fixed and it never gets corrected?

Other misspellings of my name I can recall have been:

Akirk -I think this was another CitiBank special, using the first letter of my last name added to the front of my first name.
Curt - Often people ask me if I spell my name that way, Um NO I'm a Kirk not a Kurt. It is interesting how I haven't heard of a spelling of "Cirk".
Kick - Another Non-Name.
Kurt - Again I've been asked if this it the spelling for my name.

Rick -I know sometimes I've been called that by people who have misheard my name. I don't think I've received any mail under that name. Oddly enough I have sometimes also been called "Erik". I have a brother Erik, but often the people asking have no idea I have a brother with that name.
Turk - This I've just heard from people who have misheard my name. Again another NON-Name. I have never received any mail under it Thank Goodness

Not sure If I've gotten a "Kirt", or even a "Krik", but once several years ago from the magazine Scientific American (or maybe just Science Magazine) the label was addressed "Dr. Kirk Andersen". Somewhere I think I still have that subscription form. I liked that I was tempted to subscribe to the dang thing just because of the title on the label. It wouldn't have been worth it though as the subscription rates for that magazine was pretty expensive. With doctors as subscribers I guess they do gouge their subscribers a bit.

Good thing I don't have a complicated Middle Eastern name, that would get butchered by most English speaking people, both in pronunciation and in spelling. OK Rant over for now.

Google Yahoo Word: Dodgent

DODGENT

Another Wacky Sign-In Word. IN another of my random wacky words. I got "dodgent". I'm not sure what to make of that. The only fun thing I could think of was the Los Angeles Dodgers. Either the Dodgers don't or that is what you call their agent a "Dodgent". Unfortunately when I entered that word I entered it wrong, or entered my password wrong because I got an error that said the word didn't match, so I got another word. I don't recall what the other word was it wasn't as fun a word.

Merlin Olsen (1940 - 2010)

Merlin Jay Olsen (September 15, 1940 – March 11, 2010)

Today is a sad day for Rams fans. HOFer Merlin Olsen (Age 69) passed away due to mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer often related to exposure to asbestos. He played with the Los Angeles Rams from 1962 - 1976 he was enshrined into the National Football League's Hall of Fame in 1982.

Olsen played left tackle in the Rams' legendary front four nicknamed "The Fearsome Foursome", with David "Deacon" Jones at left end, Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier at right tackle and Lamar Lundy at right end. Jones, who lined up to Mr. Olsen's left, coined the term "sack" to describe tackling the opposing quarterback behind the line of scrimmage. Olsen is the second member of the Fearsome Foursome to pass away, Lundy passed away on February 24 2007 at the age of 71.

Fearsome Foursome: (L to R): Lamar Lundy, Rosey Grier, Merlin Olsen and Deacon Jones

Merlin was also known for his acting in television roles for "Little House on The Prairie" and "Father Murphy" . Teammate Lundy also did some acting he portrayed the boulder-hurling cyclops in the (previously) unaired pilot of Lost in Space (this pilot was later made into episode 4 of the series, entitled "There Were Giants in the Earth").

Lamar Lundy as the Cyclops Monster in "Lost in Space".

Another Wacky Yahoo Word: Repturl

Gotta love those code words that Yahoo (or is it Google?) randomly comes up with when you enter some comment on someone elses blog, or you sign-in from some odd site somewhere. Well my latest blog-worthy weird word was "repturl". It made me think of these aliens from a Doctor Who book story or two. They were a warrior race of turtle-like creatures.

The aliens are actually called "Chelonian". They are lead by a great "mother" who is referred to as a "he". It has been several years since I've read these books. Doing a little research it looks like "The Highest Science" by Gareth Roberts was published first in 1993 then "Zamper" by the same author was published in 1995. I have read both books, but I think Zamper is the one I most remember vaguely more of than the other. These creatures have appeared in other Doctor Who Stories. In my research they were in an early script for what would become the TV Episode "Planet Of The Dead". They were replaced by the fly-like creatures called Tritovore. At least that is what I made of some of the info I gleamed from The Doctor Who Wiki website.

Max Headroom Coming to DVD

Well It's About Bloody Time!

Matt Frewer as Max Headroom

From an email I got from TVShowsOnDVD.com I got the heads up that one of my favorite Mid-1980s Sci-Fi television dramas is coming to DVD. Yes Finally MAX HEADROOM (20 Minutes Into The Future) is coming to DVD legitimately. Here is a blurb on it Max-Headroom DVDs Planned.

Matt Frewer and Amanda Pays

Max Headroom is a computer generated image (with assistance from scanned images of Matt Frewer in prosthetic make-up) that in the plot of the series a teenage computer whiz-kid created. I won't go into details of the series just yet here at least not in this post.

The character of Max Headroom first started out in Coca-Cola commercials in the US and I understand that previously in the UK he was a VJ host of some kind. Anyway first a British Made TV Plot was filmed (It was available on VHS it is long out-of-print) then a US television series was made.


This soon to be released DVD is for the US series. I hope that they include the original UK Pilot, or at least soon release that to DVD. There was even a Max Headroom talkshow after the US TV series died out way too soon, hopefully that will see the laser-light of DVD sometime soon.

So soon we will be able to toss back a few Zic-Zac cola's and skip the blipverts. Now Disney has to release Song of the South to DVD and my world will be back on track.

Release date is scheduled to be 10 August, 2010.

Ford 2010 Models Mailing

Back in November I think, maybe even as early as Sept or Oct, in the mail I had received a Ford promotional mailing thing for the new upcoming 2010 models cars and trucks.

Oh boy exciting.

I was going to throw it away actually recycle it, but I noticed there were some stickers. Then I realized the entire promo package was stickers so I decided to keep it for a weird collectible type thing. It won't become valuable for any real amount of money. Maybe a few years down the road I will sell it for "Wow Factor".


They start things off with a little "Edge". Each vehicle in the promo has an information sheet, and then on the back are some stickers of that model and some Ford Logos or car parts. I guess they intended to give the adults who were thinking of buying a Ford all the info on the various models and then give their kids something to do while Mommy and Daddy are out buying their new ford.


Then they brag a little about how tough their trucks are and how much they can haul.


Next for those of you who want to help keep the Earth green they have their Hybrid card The Fusion.

Finally they end with their popular economy car Taurus.


Pretty neat, but hopefully I won't be buying a new Ford this year.

I'm trying to make my 2002 Focus stay in focus for another 2 years before I even think about getting a new car. Plus financially I can't afford a new car until probably next year.