March Madness to April Fools.

I am preparing a book review of a book I read a little over a year ago. I am just squeezing this post in at the end of March. As I type this post it is approaching and passing Midnight on 31 March to 01 April, 2011. So although technically it is starting in March it is ending in April. I will still count it as a March entry and I think Blogger has it marked as March. (If not I can fudgit the posting time slightly and it I won't feel like I'm cheating too much.) OK so technically it was posted in April, but when I previewed it the post time said 11:59 on 31 March so I'm adjusting it to that.

Five Year Anniversary!

Hey you know what today is?

Yes that's right it is the 5th Anniversary of me starting this Blog. And there was much rejoicing. "yay!"

~Nuff Said!

I synced up this post with the time of my first original post...5:46 AM!
AM? 
AM?
AM I CRAZY?

Oh wait it was President's Day I was off of work for the holiday. Silly me.

December DVDs and a CD

I was going to post this back in December when I only had gotten 3 DVDs but I got 6 during the month. Some months I'd have many times that anyway First I had gotten my second DVD from the MLB Insiders Club. Plus a surprise. This one was not $10 as the first one was. I was sucker fished into a $30 ($29.98) "Major League Baseball: Memorable Moments". As with the previous DVD this one is a repackaged disc which of course No websites have good large scans of, not even the MLB Insiders Club Website shows any of the DVD covers. UGH.

Next my order from the Quality Paperback Book Club came through. I got a double dip of "Sex And The City 2" so I can compare the standard issue with the Target Exclusive version. Also so I could have a cover that has Kristin Davis and Kim Cattrall on the cover not just SJP (or actually a semi-look-a-like in wearing shades to cover the fact it's a stand in)

Then I got the Complete First Season of the 2009 "V" Reboot series. Now I can compare it to the original 1980s series.

Through Columbia House I got the Leonardo Dicaprio movie Inception.

The Movie version of the 1980s smash TV show The A-Team (2010) from Target. It was enjoyable, pretty good they didn't mess it up too much.

Also from Target I got "Family Guy: It's A Trap" the third Star Wars Movie Parody. They probably won't do parodies of the prequels.

In the music department I got a couple of CDs of Jen Chapin, Harry's Daughter her 2004 album "Linger". Proceeds of the album go to World Hunger Year (WHY) and her 2006 release "Ready". From the samples of her stuff I've heard online she is really folky, following pretty much in her dad's footsteps.

I also got Paula Cole "This Fire".

[I might get around to adding some cover images of these things sometime later, maybe maybe not]

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