Thursday Night at the Movies - Night At The Museum 2

The full title of the movie is Night at the Museum Battle of the Smithsonian. I'll give a little capsule summary of the plot after the poster. We had liked the first movie. It was very cleverly done with slap-stick humor and a tongue-in-cheek attitude. I think if you liked the first movie you'll like this one but probably not as much. If you haven't seen the first movie, this one might not make a lot of sense.Larry the night guard (Ben Stiller) has moved up in the world as a TV pitchman for a line of products (like the glow-in-the-dark flashlight) that he has invented. For some reason he decides to visit the museum he used to work at and finds that most of the exhibits are being shipped to Washington to be stored at the Federal Archives at the Smithsonian (I don't think this is a real place). The magic Egyptian tablet which makes the exhibits come alive is staying in New York. So is Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams who only has a bit part in this sequel). But the tablet actually ends up in Washington and Larry goes there to rescue his exhibit friends. The brother of the Egyptian bad guy from the first movie is the bad guy in this movie (with a lisp no less). He wants to use the tablet to open the Door to the Underworld and thus conquer the world. Along with the tongue-in-cheek additude there is this underlying current of doom. A strange combination. We meet lots of new characters like Amelia Erhardt (who has lots of moxie), Albert Einstein bobbleheads, and a giant Abraham Lincoln. Owen Wilson has a much smaller part than in the first movie spending most of his time in an hour glass with sand pouring down on his head.

There are some good scenes. Larry and Amelia are being chased around the museum by 17th century French soldiers and Egyptian spear carriers. They pass through a picture gallery and the scenes on all the pictures are alive. One picture is a life sized version of the famous photograph of the sailor kissing the nurse on Time Square at the end of World War II. Our heroes duck into the picture and turn into black and white versions of themselves. They are closely followed by the Egyptians. They run around Times Square a bit with Larry trying to keep ahold of Amelia who is distracted by everything. They jump out of the picture and turn it around so the front faces the wall which traps the Egyptians inside. Larry says "Hey it worked". Amelia refers to the world in the picture as that "monochromatic madhouse".

1996 Part 11 - Select and Select Certified

1996 SelectThe Select brand was introduced by Score in 1993. The first year featured non-glossy cards with green borders. In 1995 it became more of a premium brand featuring a glossy finish, gold foil, and full bleed printing. They have always been horizontally oriented cards. This was the last year for Select. The set featured a glossy finish with gold foil. they were available in 10-card packs for $1.99.
This subset featured 1996 Rookies. It has the same design as the base cards, minus the second photo.
Another subset featuring an entirely different design. I think I only have one of these so I'm not sure what the theme is.
Checklist cards were vertically oriented, and numbered as part of the main set.

1996 Select Artist's Proof
As with many of Pinnacle's sets in 1996, there was an Artist's Proof parallel. The cards were inserted at 1:35 packs. The gold foil is refractive, otherwise they are identical to the base cards. I only have this one, paying $3.49 for in in July 2004. Beckett gives a high premium for these cards listing them a 30x the base cards. There are not a lot of these available right now on eBay. Someone is offering the Ripken card at $60 (which is 40x the base card).

1996 Select Claim To Fame
This was a limited edition (2,100 sets but not numbered), inserted at 1:72. The cards are die cut. Beckett lists this card a $30. I paid $7 for in in September 2004. It's being offered on eBay for a Buy It Now price of $35.

1996 Select En Fuego
Another insert set (1:48). The card features colored foil printing on the front. En Fuego means "on fire". I paid $5.50 for this in September 2004. Beckett lists it a $25. It's being offered on eBay for $29.25. I'm glad I got these two Bonds cards back in 2004.

1996 Select Team Nucleus
Inserted at 1:18, this card is printed on semi-transparent acetate. There was a card for each team. I must have pulled this from a new pack back in '96. Beckett lists the card at $12. It's currently offered on eBay at $11.64.

That's it for Select. I have all of the inserts.

1996 Select Certified
A super premium set featuring a mirror silver foil background with gold foil lettering. The cards came with a protective plastic film. 6-card packs were available for $4.99. I bought the entire 144-card set on eBay in September 2004 for $7.00 (including shipping). A pretty good deal. There are very few of these on eBay these days.
There was a '96 Rookies subset. Here's the Derek Jeter card. I'm happy to have this.
Another subset was called Pastime Power. This is the Griffey card.

Select Certified featured a number of parallels: Artist's Proof (1:18), Blue (1:50), Red (1:5), Mirror Blue (1:200, 45 sets), Mirror Red (1:100, 90 sets) and Mirror Gold (1:300, 30 sets). I don't have any of these although I've got bids on some Blues and Reds. The Mirror Golds are pretty pricey (Ivan Rodriguez for $500). I may settle for a mirror gold hockey card (going for $0.99).

There is also an Interleague Preview (1:42, none on eBay) and Select Few (1:60). I've got a bid out on a Select Few.

Thursday Night at the Movies - The Changeling

This is a bit of a late post. We actually did see this last Thursday on DVD. We had planned to see this last year when it was released (we always like to see Clint Eastwood films) but didn't have an opportunity.By now you probably know the story. Angelina Jolie plays Christine Collins, a woman whose son is kidnapped. After months, a boy is found half-way across the country who appears to be her son. He is brought back to Los Angeles by the police and presented to Collins as her son. She recognizes right away he is not but the police, not popular in the city due to wide-spread corruption, need a positive story and refuse to believe her. Eventually she makes enough of a pest of herself that she is committed to a mental institution. She is released when it appears that her son was killed by a mass-murderer.

Jolie is very good in this. She is very much the star of the movie, being in almost every scene. Michael Kelly (who we know from his excellent TV show Burn Notice) plays the police captian in charge of the case.

The movie has been praised for its historical accuracy. The scenes of Jolie in the mental institution were intense. Apparently, at the time, the LA police could have someone committed with out a court order.

We liked the movie quite a lot and recommend that you rent it if you haven't seen it.

Song of the Week - Everybody Wants To Rule The World - Tears for Fears

I have a soft spot in my heart for mid-1980s music but not because I was in high school at the time. I was in my 30's, married with one kid and another on the way. In the first half of 1986 I was working shift work to provide engineering support for the pilot plant of a new product my company was developing. Therefore I was awake at weird hours compared to the rest of my family. I spent a lot of time listening to the radio. There was a new station in the Philadelphia area trying to get established playing new wave music. They had virtually no sponsors and played music with little or no commercial interruptions. I listened to them (I can't remember the call letters) and a few college stations that came in loud and clear in the small hours of the night.

Songs From The Big Chair was released by Tears for Fears in 1985 and was a huge hit with a number of hit singles. They were all over the radio in 1986.

Strangely, I never saw the video for this until I went looking for it this morning.



Welcome to your life
There's no turning back
Even while we sleep
We will find you
Acting on your best behaviour
Turn your back on mother nature
Everybody wants to rule the world

Its my own design
Its my own remorse
Help me to decide
Help me make the most
Of freedom and of pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world

There's a room where the light won't find you
Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down
When they do I'll be right behind you

So glad we've almost made it
So sad they had to fade it
Everybody wants to rule the world

I can't stand this indecision
Married with a lack of vision
Everybody wants to rule the world
Say that you'll never never never never need it
One headline why believe it ?
Everybody wants to rule the world

All for freedom and for pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world

Virtual Bike Tour of Baseball Sites - Taylor Texas

My long-time readers (defined here as anybody who was reading my blog last fall) may remember that I was trying to get back into shape after my cardiac catheterisation in September by riding my at-home stationary bike. I was charting my progress on a map starting at Minute Maid Stadium in Houston. I planned to virtually travel through cities, highlighting the baseball players born in each city on the blog, hopefully with baseball cards of the players. Unfortunately, I was having trouble with my knees and gave up near the end of October. In early March of this year I joined the brand new YMCA in my town and I've been working out there regularly. And I'm back on the bike! So let the trip resume. It was a pretty long haul from my last stop in Brenham Texas (the home of Astro's manager Cecil Cooper) to my next stop at Taylor Texas (78.9 miles). I'm up to about 8 miles on the bike now so progress will be better. Taylor is a small town of about 15,000 located 29 miles northeast of Austin TX. I've never actually be there. Nothing exciting to report about players from Taylor. According to baseball-reference.com there were only two major leaguers born there.

Jim Gideon was born in 1953 and was the Rangers #1 draft pick in 1975. He was 2-0 in the Rangers rookie club and the 4-5 in their AAA affiliate in Spokane. The Rangers brought him up to start on game in September 1975 where he got shelled, giving up 5 runs in 5.2 innings. He was in and out of the minors until 1982 but never pitched again in the majors. Here is his only major league card, 1977 Topps #478. I don't own it, I found the image on Beckett.com.
The other player was Pat McLaughlin, born in 1910. He had a long minor league career but only spent parts of 3 years in the majors (1937 with the Tigers, 1940 with the A's and 1945 back with the Tigers). No baseball cards for him according to Beckett.com.

Google vs. Bing

This is something a bit off subject but I thought it interesting. I read the other day that Microsoft had launced a new search web site. Apparently, their last last attempt LifeSearch (which I'd never even heard of) wasn't making a dent in Google. The new site is called (for no reason I can see), bing.com. So I though I wonder how it compares to Google. My first test was to see if it could find my blog. Here's what I get when I search for capewood in Google. As you can see (you may need to click on the image), my blog is the second item on the list. I've done this before and it usually comes up 1st or 2nd.When I searched for capewood on Bing, my blog wasn't in the first 10 pages of listings. There were a couple of hits of other blogs which mentioned mine. When I tried capewood's collections (the actual name of my blog), I got this:

There were about 10 pages of listing, not one of which was a link to my blog. Almost every listing was a link to another blog which had a mention (usually a link) of my blog. What's with that? Finally, I typed 'capewood's collections blog' and it came up as the first hit.

Phillies Transformation 2005 to 2008 Part 3

Part 3 of a series. How did the 2005 Phillies become the 2008 World Champion Phillies?

2005 Topps Total Jason Michaels #564
Jason Michaels was the Phillies #4 draft pick in 1998. He broke into the majors in 2001. From 2002-2005 he was a part time outfielder for the Phils. In 2005 he hit .304 in 289 AB. In January 2006 he was traded to the Indians for pitcher Arthur Rhodes. Rhodes was 0-5 for the Phillies in 2006 and then was a free agent. So Mr. Michaels didn't have any direct on the 2008 Phillies.

2005 Topps Cracker Jack Brett Myers #159
Myers was the Phillies 1st round draft pick in 1999. He came up to the majors in 2002 and by 2005 was an established pitcher, going 13-8 that year. In 2007, the Phillies made him a reliever and he got 21 saves. But with the acquisition of Brad Lidge after the 2007 season, he was again a starter in 2008. His 2008 record was an unimpressive 10-13. Most of the losses were in the 1st half of the season when he was 3 and 9. He accepted a temporary demotion to the minors in mid-season, and came back a much better pitcher. He was 7 and 4 in the 2nd half of the season.

2005 Topps Opening Day Vincent Padilla #151
In July 2000, the Phillies traded Curt Schilling to the Diamondbacks for Padilla, Omar Daal, Nelson Figueroa and Travis Lee. Of the 4, only Padilla was still with the Phillies in 2005. Padilla was a middle reliever when the Phillies got him but was made a starter in 2002. He was 14-11 in '02 and 14-12 in '03. But he started slipping, going 9-12 in 2005. In December 2005 the Phillies traded him to the Rangers for Ricardo Rodriguez. As near as I can tell, Rodriguez never played for the Phillies at any level and is currently in the Mexican League. No impact of the 2008 Phillies by Vincente Padilla.

2005 Topps Total Tomas Perez #81
Since I live in Texas I can't follow the Phillies in great detail. Perez is one of those players who I only know because they have a baseball card. He was a free agent signing in December 1999 and released in April 2006. During that time he appeared in 504 games with a .250 average. He played center field, right field, shortstop, 2nd base, 3rd base and 1st base. He even pitched a third of an inning 2002. The definition of a utility player. No impact on the 2008 Phillies.

2005 Topps Total Placido Polanco #25
With a name that makes him sound more like a opera singer than a baseball player, Polanco was a free agent middle IF utility guy in 2002 and traded to the Tigers in 2005. The Phillies got Ramon Martinez (not the pitcher but another infielder) who was released after the 2005 season, and Ugueth Urtain Urbina, a pitcher who was 4-3 in 2005 and released. Urbina surely must be the only baseball player whose initials are UUU. His nickname was Oogie.

2005 Topps Total Todd Pratt #217
Pratt was a career long back-up catcher who had two stints with the Phillies, 1992-1994 and 2002-2005. No impact on the 2008 Phillies.

2005 Topps Opening Day MLB Game Worn Jersey Collection Jimmy Rollins
I was lucky enough to pull this card from a blaster box, exclusive to Target, of Topps Opening Day. Rollins was the Phillies #2 draft pick in 1996 and made the big club in 2000. He's been the starting short stop since 2001. He is one of the key Phillies, one of the players who makes the team go. In 2005 he hit .290 with 47 SB and 115 runs scored. His best year was 2007 when he won the NL MVP. 2008 wasn't as good as 2007 but he was still a key player. He's gotten off to a slow start this year but his average has been rising lately.

2006 Topps Danny Sandoval #306

Sandoval played 3 games for the Phillies in 2004 and 28 in 2005 and that was it. No impact on much of anything.