Album Review: 01 "Weird Al" Yankovic Having A Bad Hair Day

ALBUM REVIEW: 01

"Weird Al" Yankovic Having A Bad Hair Day

This review was originally posted on rateyourmusic. It was one of the reviews I was assigned in the "Go Review That Album" game on their community forums. This version of the review has had some editing and corrections.

"Weird Al" Yankovic - Bad Hair Day

1996 Scotti Brothers Records 72392 75500-2

****

"Everything you know is wrong

Just forget the words and sing along

All you need to understand is

Everything you know is wrong"

OK so this "Weird Al" Album is not among my fave ALbums, after listening to this for review, I dropped my original star rating of 5 down to only 4. There were not as many songs that I really really liked than I had thought there were. Don't get me wrong I still enjoy them, but just not as much as I thought I did. I do like some of the songs that others have said they absolutely despise. Lets see Amish Paradise I really enjoy, as well as the video for it. I won't talk about the Coolio thing because others have done that at length. I absolutely love Everything You Know is Wrong, The Alternative Polka (I love all the token polkas, I think a compilation of polkas should be made with all of them linked together as one long marathon polka). I also like, but not necessarily love Gump, and Phoney Calls.

For the final track The Night Santa Went Crazy I understand that there is an alternate version. One of them is more tame than the other. I forget the exact details of that. Also there are three different designs for the CD disc itself depending on the pressing. I have the version that is the Alapalooza CD Al's face looking cross-eyed at the CDs center hole in red. Here is the different CD info from the FAQ page (by specific album) at the website http://www.al-oholicsanonymous.com/faq/ :

"Why does my friends copy of "Bad Hair Day" have Al sitting, while mine has a red picture of his face?"

Added: 7/17/00

There's three different versions of what's printed on the "Bad Hair Day" CD. The first 500,000 have Al sitting cross-legged with his hands on his head, and this is in color. After that, to try and save a few pennies, the record company printed the next batch in black and white. Then Scotti Bros. ceased to exist and the people at Al's new label made a mistake and put the "Alapalooza" picture on the "Bad Hair Day" CD. There, now go collect 'em all! "

Pictured is the CD of Alapalooza that was used for later versions of Bad Hair Day like I have. Image is from a listing for Alapalooza.

Ah so I have the most widely spread third version, hmmm I guess I should look for the older, other two.

Update: While looking for online images of the variants I came across an Ebay listing for the color Al sitting variant. I bought it and have received it.. I am also currently watching a listing for a black and white version. What The? It looks like there might be some even newer reissue versions with a one color image of Al Leaning backwards, bending over like a backwards "C". A full color photo of that image is behind the disc in the case.

Note: I over-rate "Weird Al" Albums, because he is one of my fave acts. It is fun to hear his twisted version of an overexposed song that America's Youth are eating up. I get a kick out of the one-hit-wonders that he has parodied. They are no longer in the business, but Al is still going strong. I first Heard Al on the Doctor Demento Show, back in the MY Bologna days, been a fan ever since. Saw him once at a record signing for Even Worse, he signed my copy of The Authorized Al book. I asked him if It's Still Billy Joel To Me would ever be officially released, and he gave me a bizarre grimace that only he could make, and explained he was slightly embarrassed by it and apologized to Billy Joel over it, he never asked permission for it and probably never will. That song then will never have an official release.

Album Review: 00 Beginning With Sound FX

ALBUM REVIEW: 00

Beginning With Sound FX

Here is the first post of a feature that hopefully I'll have the stamina to continue with for sometime. I teased about this Music Review feature some posts ago here. These first several reviews will be simple cut and pastes from the reviews I have posted over at rateyourmusic (RYM). I have a total of 27 reviews there, However, there are 2 (maybe 3) of them that I will not repost here. They are reviews of CDs that I plan to sell or get rid of somehow, sometime and were short cheap reviews of the "I hated (or loved) this album" type reviews with no review meat on them. For quite a few years RYM was the only online site where I tracked my music collection. I still don't have my entire collection tracked there, just a small portion. More recently I have started tracking some of my collection at Discogs because I started finding they had some of the albums that were not over at RYM. I have not yet posted any reviews at Discogs and don't plan to.

My rating system is a simple 5 star system like they use at Rate Your Music.

I tend to try to keep track of more of my information electronically online, but I don't want to have only one lone website as the only source of my information in case that site goes bye-bye. On the other hand I don't want to have to keep a huge cluttered hard copy archive as my only source in my already cluttered and disorganized apartment. So I try to keep some stuff both electronic and physical hard copy. But I digress.

This first review is pretty straight forward it is simply a CD of sound effects used for Hannah-Barbera cartoons.

This review was originally posted on rateyourmusic. on their community forums. This version of the review has had some editing and corrections.

Hannah-Barbera Cartoon Sound FX

1994 Rhino Records R2 71828

**.5

"Yabba-Dabba-Doo!, Pingitty-Pingitty-Ping, Kablam! Ba-Wong, Boi-EE-Ing!"

This disc is just what it says it is, the audio sound-effects from the Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. The only thing I don't like about this CD is the segments they call "Comic Caper" where characters like Fred Flintstone (voiced by whoever the guy is who voiced the characters in 1994, who just doesn't sound as good as the original voice-over Fred Flintstone) tell stories, make an answering machine recording or explain what sound effects are next on the disc. I got this mostly for the sound effects, but was kind of disappointing because even though they are the sounds used in the cartoons, they sound strange. They sound almost "canned". I can do without the goofy capers and second or third generation voice-over talent, who aren't as good as the originals. Still if you want to add some zip or perhaps a zing, Szwip-p, Twang-g-g-g-g, Kabong to your personal recordings and mix tapes then this is a nice disc to use (except for the voice-over stuff).

Ebay Reselling Update: February 2021 Sales

EBAY Reselling Update:
February 2021 Sales

Lets see in my last Sales update (Dec 2020) I had 5 sales and 43 listings in the store. I had no sales in January of this year 2021.

So What Sold in Feb 2021?

1. 2006 Contenders Devin Hester Rookie Ticket Auto 165 Bears $62.00 plus shipping
2. Number 10 Envelopes Blue 25 count pack $4.99 Free Shipping

Total: $66.99

Item number 1 was originally listed at $70.49 I got a message from a buyer asking if I would consider an offer of $62.00 (11% off) after mulling it over for a few hours into the next day I accepted the offer. First there were some exchanged messages then I had to add the "accept best offer" option to the listing and the buyer officially made the offer. It is my first sale for the calendar year 2021 and also my first Ebay sale under managed payments. Took 2 days for the funds to be in my bank account (I think that was how long it took could have been 3 days) Additional info at $62 it is the biggest sale I have made so far. Item number 2 was listed with free shipping to try to get the things to sell quicker, doesn't really help.

I now have 41 store listings at a count of 51 units.

Some related links:
My Ebay Store: CaptKirk42s Federation Trading Post
My YouTube channel: klandersen42
Up On Ebay Videos: Episode 01 | Episode 02
Ecrater Store: CaptKirk42 (AKA: Kirk's Knook)

To Blog Or Not To Blog? Is That Really The Question?

 

I have probably said this before and sound like a broken record. Kids ask your grandparents about that concept of a "broken record". Sometimes I go through this sort of depression mode where I think about throwing in the towel on the blogging concept. Just as some years back I exited the personal website arena. Sometimes those "I want to quit the blogging thing" feelings are STRONG in this one, sometimes they are just fleeting moments. For me it would mean stopping 3 blogs. 

Technically at one time I had 4 blogs. My 4th blog is at Trading Card Central Forums. Hmm I haven't updated that one since 03 Jan 2019. I used to use it as a Mail Day posting blog. Like a lot of my projects I let it slide from time to time and had to work like the Dickens to get caught up. It got to the point where it was more of a chore than a fun activity. That combined with the landslide of incoming cards vs any attempts at organizing anything and well yeah welcome to this week's episode of "Hoarders: Buried Alive". It is sad really because I was for a long time the most consistent and prolific bloggers on the forum. Now the most recent blog post over there is from someone on 20 Nov 2019, then my post on 03 Jan and the next most recent one someone posted on 09 Nov 2017. Over the years TCC has had long periods of being off-line, years ago it was website registration renewal issues (that is a long story that I don't have all the details about but has been discussed there at length) and who knows what else. At one time I started backing up my posts there I only got as far as the first year or two worth of posts. It was a nice detail of what I had acquired over the years when I did keep good track of things. Which was why at one time I wanted to have an offline copy of things. Like many of my other projects I fell behind on it and got too far backed up and gave up.

Anyway I'm not sure anymore. I think there is more of me that wants to continue with my blogging than there is that part that wants to quit. Some months I deal with this because of my self-appointed post blogging of a minimum of 1 post per month per blog. That can be very taxing at the end of each month. UGH I just reminded myself that it was February the shortest dang month of the year and it is half-way through already. I have this post for this regular blog, but NO IDEAS about what I'll grab for my trading card blogs. Big Sigh.

This blog kind of gets revived from time to time since I started blogging my Ebay Sales stuff. I probably shouldn't for financial security purposes. How different is it than those Ebay sellers that have YouTube Channels about their Ebay sales?

Thinking of Ebay selling sometimes make me think about all my various collecting habits, and that sometimes leads to what collections I might consider condensing or just plain getting rid of completely. More and more as I get older and older I think of the possibility of "just sell the whole damn thing". Some of my collections are more sentimental than anything else those are the ones that are harder to abandon.

Ebay Reselling Update: December 2020 Sales And Year Totals

EBAY Reselling Update:
December 2020 Sales

and Year Totals

Lets see in my last Sales update I had 3 sales and 23 listings in the store. 

So What Sold in Dec 2020?

1. 2006 Contenders Howard Cassady Award Winners auto AW-23 serial numbered /200 Lions $25.00 plus shipping. 
2. 2011 Threads Mikel Leshour Rookie Class Letterman Patch Auto "E" 286 #/400 $8.49 plus shipping
3. 1994 Nintendo Rare Killer Instinct 5 card promo lot 99¢ opening bid plus shipping
4. McDonalds Gift Certificate One McDollar 1998 $7 offer plus shipping.
5. New York Yankees drink coasters 10 pack $7.95 plus shipping

Item number 1. I had originally listed for $35.95 plus shipping, a buyer submitted an offer for $25.00 so I took it. I had 7 or 8 views w/in only about 12 hours after listing. Maybe I jumped on it too soon, but I thought it could be one of those long tailed listings that would take ages to sell. Item #2 I had a watcher on and sent an offer for a dollar off from the original $9.49 I had it marked at they took the offer. Item #3 sold at the opening bid of 99¢. Item 4 started as an auction that didn't sell then I listed originally at $9.42 (or maybe $9.99) then dropped it to $8.42 it sat for a while and then a buyer sent an offer for $7 and I accepted. I had nothing into it so why not? I had gotten it from a friend's son's old card collection they gave me. Wow item number 5 I thought would have a much longer tail on it than it did. I am maybe breaking even on it, but probably not due to the shipping costs.

I have managed to make some more listings a mix of fixed price and auctions. For some things I am getting back into the habit of starting some of them as an auction some with an opening bid at 99¢ others with a larger bid I'm comfortable starting with. 

I now have 43 store listings at a count of 53 units. 

2020 Year Totals: 

Not including shipping costs.

SALES:

Jan - 0    $0.00

Feb - 5   $26.49

Mar - 7   $33.43

Apr - 4    $7.50

May - 2    $6.00

Jun - 1    $25.00

Jul - 0    $0.00

Aug - 0    $0.00

Sep - 5    $23.99

Oct - 1    $5.99

Nov - 3    $15.98

Dec - 5    $49.43

YEAR TOTAL: Items: 33    $193.81

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that this is the most number of sales and items I have sold in one single year. It is definitely the most I have made in terms of money. I even in some cases made a little profit on the shipping. Usually I underestimate actual shipping costs and will undercharge for shipping even though sometimes it seems like an overcharge. I am improving a little bit in my estimation of what the actual shipping will cost. I think in some ways the shipping costs sort of even out. I think I manage to eek out a profit, even if it is only a couple of bucks. I have a long way before I make $100s per month or day, or even make that magic $20,000 per year mark when you have to start paying the business sales taxes.

Well I failed to reach my goal of having 100 listings in my store at the end of the year. I'm only at 43. UGH. Well hopefully I can breach the 100 listings sometime during January.

Some related links:
My Ebay Store: CaptKirk42s Federation Trading Post
My YouTube channel: klandersen42
Up On Ebay Videos: Episode 01 | Episode 02
Ecrater Store: CaptKirk42 (AKA: Kirk's Knook)

State of The Blog: 2020 Recap

STATE O' THE BLOG

2020 Edition

2020 maintains the failing Red years in my annual State of The Blog tally. Did that really surprise anyone for such a year? Oddly it wasn't the absolute bottom of the barrel that 2019 was.

Here are the monthlies from 2020:

January: 1
February: 1
March: 2
April: 1
May: 1
June: 2
July: 3
August: 1
September: 1
October: 1
November: 1
December: 2

TOTAL: 17
Monthly Average: 1.42

No real surprise I FAILED my yearly goal of 32 posts per year. That is now 6 years in a row. SIX! 

Now lets look at how the 2020 blogging matches up with past years:

2006 - 32
2007 - 43
2008 - 36
2009 - 34
2010 - 18
2011 - 20
2012 - 38
2013 - 93
2014 - 57
2015 - 24
2016 - 29
2017 - 16
2018 - 18
2019 - 12

2020 - 17
Yearly Average: 32.47

Another failing year continues to bring the yearly average down. If the trend keeps, which it probably will, the yearly average will dip below my desired goal per year. Last year the number of failed years was even with the number of years when the goal was reached or exceeded. This year the losing years are more than the met-plus years.

As for my trading card blogs (CaptKirk42's Trading Card Blog and Curly W Cards) both of them I only did the bare 1 post per month minimum so they both only have 12 posts for the year 2020. For those my only posting goal is to make at least the bare minimum of 1 post per month, 12 posts per year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR: WELCOME 2021 GOODBYE 2020

GOODBYE 2020 HELLO 2021

A very large part of the world's population is so glad to see 2020 out the door. The COVID-19 Pandemic is a huge party pooper to understate it. 'Nuff said about that 

I will make my annual "State of the Blog" post to publish sometime early January. I usually plan to publish them on 01 January around Noon but I'm not sure when I'll publish the one for 2020. As far as my posting went 2020 was slightly more than just the bare minimum one post per month years. Oddly it doesn't look like it will be tied with the absolute lowest/worst years. Anyway.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Ebay Reselling Update: November 2020 Sales

EBAY Reselling Update:
November 2020 Sales

Lets see in my last Sales update I had 1 sale and 26 listings in the store. 

So What Sold in Nov 2020?

1. Number 10 business sized envelopes Red sealed pack 50 count $6.99 Free shipping.
2. Dream Games by Karl Hansen 1985 paperback $4.99 plus shipping.
3. 2017 Leaf Draft Football Trading Cards 5 pack $4.00 plus shipping.

With these sales the listing count is now down one to 23 listings. The store count is now 23 listings with 33 items quantity. OK that is not the final count because I have actually did some listings "gasp". Yippie Yahooie! So far the count is 12 listings all 1 unit count, most football cards so now I have 35 listings with item count of 45. some were listed as auctions w/ a Buy It Now option.

By the time this post is published I might have a few more listings posted.

Some related links:
My Ebay Store: CaptKirk42s Federation Trading Post
My YouTube channel: klandersen42
Up On Ebay Videos: Episode 01 | Episode 02
Ecrater Store: CaptKirk42 (AKA: Kirk's Knook)

Ebay Reselling Update: October 2020 Sales

EBAY Reselling Update:
October 2020 Sales

Lets see in my last Sales update I had 5 sales and 27 listings in the store. 

So What Sold in Oct 2020?

1. Exilie's Quest by Richard Meade 1970 paperback $5.99 plus Shipping

With that sale the listing count is now down one to 26 listings. I had another pack of the 1991 Bowman Hockey cards I have listed so I added that to the count for that listing. I wasn't sure if I had another one or not, but checked my little box that I have some packs of cards in and there was one. That brings the "item" count up but not the "listing" count. The count is now 26 listings with 36 items quantity.

In November I have one sale so there will be a November sales update after December first. Plus at the end of the year I will have my annual New Years post (which doesn't really change too much) and then in early January on the first or second I will have my annual "State of The Blog" update on the past year's posts. Fun fun fun.

Some related links:
My Ebay Store: CaptKirk42s Federation Trading Post
My YouTube channel: klandersen42
Up On Ebay Videos: Episode 01 | Episode 02
Ecrater Store: CaptKirk42 (AKA: Kirk's Knook)

Ebay Reselling Update: September 2020 Sales

EBAY Reselling Update:
September 2020 Sales

OK lets see in my last post I mentioned adding 4 additional listings to my previous listing update that included 4 item listings and before that a sales update. Yes I have been slacking since then. I've wanted to list but haven't. Part of my hesitation is because of only having Saturdays to do my shipping out and post office visits. Anyway those semi recent 8 listings lead to 5 sales in September that are listed below, and one sale so far in Oct as we are at the halfway point for the month.

So What Sold in Sep 2020?

1. Sealed pack of size 10 business envelopes red colored 25 count $3.99 Free Shipping
2. 2 Sealed packs 2017 Leaf Draft Football cards 5 count $8.00 plus Shipping
3. Sealed pack of 2017 Leaf Draft Football cards 5 count $4.00 plus Shipping
4. Sealed pack of 2017 Leaf Draft Football cards 5 count $4.00 plus Shipping
5. Sealed pack of 2017 Leaf Draft Football cards 5 count $4.00 plus Shipping

That took the number of store items down to 27 during Sept from 28 listings. Just a few days ago a book sold for October figures so now I'm down to 26 listings with 35 actual items. With the year 5/6 done I have had 24 (25) sales for the year. That is the most I have had in a year to date. At my busiest years ago I forget what my most number of yearly sales would have been. Until this year I had never been really consistent for more than 3 or 4 months tops for the year. I'm still pretty much just in the "smalls" market. I'm not ready to ship heavy bulky items on the regular yet.

Some related links:
My Ebay Store: CaptKirk42s Federation Trading Post
My YouTube channel: klandersen42
Up On Ebay Videos: Episode 01 | Episode 02
Ecrater Store: CaptKirk42 (AKA: Kirk's Knook)