2010 Topps 206 Part 2

Last week I featured the regular Topps 206 cards. I said I'd feature the inserts and short prints in Part 2.

Just like last year, the set features Bronze cards printed in heavy board. There are 352 cards. None of the cards (as near as I can tell) are short prints. In the base set, the cards numbered over 300 are short prints. The Bronze cards come one per pack. I featured this card because it's the only card I have with Johnny Evers. Now all I need is Tinker and Chance.Topps didn't go overboard with non-baseball cards in the set. There is one non-baseball insert, called Historical Events. They are mini cards and there are 20 of them. I got a few in my 3 blasters so they seem easy to get. This one features the first sale of an airplane by the Wright Brothers to the army.
As I mentioned, the cards numbered over 300 are short prints which feature a different picture from the non-short print card. The cards are also un-numbered. There are two Pujols short prints so I don't know which one I got.
Here is the back which is different than the regular cards. One thing I forgot to mention in my other post is that none of the cards (regular or short print) have fake smudges on the back. Last year's set had facsimile smudges to make them look old. The problem was that every card had exactly the same smudges.
The mini cards follow the same predictable pattern of ancient tobacco brands. Except for the card number, the backs are the same for each mini card within each subset. As usual, Piedmont is the easiest to get. There is one mini card per pack.
Based on what I got, American Caramel is the second easiest to get. Notice that the player's team name is on the back.
And since it's a Phillie, Chase Utley, I'll show you the front.
I got two Polar Bears.
And one Old Mill.

Song of the Week - Us by Regina Spektor

Us was featured on Regina Spektor's 2004 album Soviet Kitsch. I'm not sure how I came to know about her but it was probably from finding her CD at my local library. She is a Russian-born, now living in America singer-songwriter. If you follow my Song of the Week feature, you may remember, that I like quirky female vocalists and she sure does have a quirky voice. She also has a distinctive piano sound which I like. If you want to know more about her, I encourage you to read her entry in Wikipedia. Last Thursday I posted about the 2009 movie (500) Days of Summer which featured two of Spektor's songs. This is one of them. I apologize that the clip starts with an ad but YouTube has to make money somehow I guess. I decided to go with the official video rather than the ad-less concert video because the video is very clever.

Thursday Night at the Movies - (500) Days of Summer

This movie came out in August 2009 but we missed it in the theaters. I recently noticed in on cable and utilizing the DVR magic box, recorded it for my wife and I to watch. It starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Tom and Zooey Daschanel as Summer.It's your basic boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-finds-girl-again-but-by-this-time-he's-lost-her for-good story. Tom, who thinks there is the 'right' girl out there for him, meets Summer, and soon believes she is that right girl. Summer doesn't believe in the concept of love and tells him that right up front. But Tom falls for her anyway and eventually things get too much for Summer and she leaves. Not only leaves him but quits the job where they both work and cuts off all contact. Some months later they meet quite accidentally on the way to the wedding of a mutual friend and have a great time together. She invites him to a party at her place but after awhile at the party Tom finally realizes it's really over and goes home.

What was interesting to me about the movie is the non-linear story telling. It presents various days from their relationship with numbered title screens. But although there is a lot of jumping about, the story moves through the 500 days eventually, And of course, not every day is shown. In what relationship does something importantly happen every day? Often a scene at a later day is followed by an earlier day where some small happening prefigures the event in the later day.

The actors are very good. I know nothing about Gordon-Levitt, although now that I look him up on IMDB, I see I have seen him before, most recently in Inception. I've only seen Deschanel once before, in Shyamalan's The Happening.

What I really liked about the movie, however, was its realness. Tom and Summer seemed like real people who I could understand. There was none of the contrived events you often see in romantic comedies.

One of my favorite scenes was the party. There is an occasional voice-over narrator in the movie. As Tom is approaching Summer's apartment, the narrator says something like "We'll see how Tom's expectations match reality". And the screen splits in two. The left is labeled "Tom's Expectations", the right is labeled "Reality". For example, when Summer answers the door, Tom's Expectations shows Summer smiling, glad to see Tom and giving him a big hug and a big kiss, but the reality is that she's glad he's come but only gives him a slight peck on the cheek. And so it goes. I can't speak for every guy out there (and certainly not for any woman out there), but I'm sure we've all been there. I've certainly experienced similar situations in that long ago age when I was single and dating.

The soundtrack for the film was pretty good as well and featured two Regina Spektor songs. If you don't know her check back on Sunday when I will feature one of the songs from the movie.

2010 Topps 206 Part 1

When Topps 206 came out last year I was pretty excited because it was a set I always liked. Unfortunately, I didn't like the set very much. This year's 206 is better but not nearly as good as Allen & Ginter. I think I like it better than National Chicle. There are 353 base cards. Cards numbered 301-353 are short-print, alternate versions of some of the players in the first 300 cards. There is also an alternate short-print card in the first 300 featuring Stephen Strasburg.If anyone cares, I'd nickname this set "Men without hats" or perhaps, the Forehead set. For whatever reason, Topps chose this set to feature baseball players standing around without their caps. This Jered Weaver card is a typical pose. This or with arms hanging at the sides. Not too many players managed to look as wan and forlorn as Weaver.
Without hats, you learn that some players have rather startling hair like rookie Mike Leake.
As with last year's 206, there are a lot of pictures with sunset backgrounds. Here's Michael Bourn, apparently being raised up to heaven.
Some cards feature closeup shots. The sky background with little white clouds is a popular one. This is Adam Lind squinting, after apparently making a face-first slide.
And some cards just have a colored background like this one for Starlin Castro. Although he's only 6 feet tall, he looks like he's 6'8". There are several cards with skewed perspective like this. I also feature this card, as, I think, young Mr. Castro here may be the first card I own of a player born in the 1990's who has made his major league debut. He played his first game in May and, with 106 games played, he must be playing pretty regular shortstop for the Cubs.
Johnny Bench in front a new background for 2010. It looks like a prison.
And here is Bench's 2010 National Chicle card. Yea, it looks like the same picture to me as well. And yes, this is the photo from his 1969 Topps card.
Of the approximately 90 (out of 300) base cards I have, this is the only one with anything like an action shot. And notice that Geovany lost his cap.
Andrew McCutchen is the only card I have who has, at least some, of his hair covered.
Clayton Kershaw posing outside of prison.
This is probably my favorite card of the one's I have.
Carlos Beltran with another new background. It looks like it is in a baseball stadium but I can't guess what the large white rectangles are supposed to be. Whitewashed billboards?

In a later post I'll feature some of the short-print cards and the minis.

Song of the Week - Do It Again by Steely Dan

In my opinion, there was not better band in the 1970's then Steely Dan. They put out 7 albums and each one was excellent. Not only that, the band grew better with each release and their sound, almost fully realized on their first album, reached perfection. In the beginning, they were primarily a studio band, with Donald Fagen on keyboards and Walter Becker. In fact, Steely Dan is really Fagen and Becker with whatever studio musicians they gathered around.

This song is from their first album Can't Buy a Thrill. On this album, David Palmer did the singing during their infrequent live shows, but the primary vocalist has been Fagen.

Steely Dan has regrouped and Fagen has put out his own material but I don't think any of their new material captures what they did in the 1970's.

Phorgotten Phillie Phile - Derrel Thomas

I haven't done one of these posts for awhile.

This is the 1985 Topps Traded Card #121 of Derrel Thomas. Derrel was purchased by the Phillies from Miami of the Florida State League in May 1985. He appeared in 63 games for the Phillies before being released at the end of the season. He ended his career with the Phillies.Thomas actually had a pretty long career. He was the Astros #1 draft pick in 1969 but only played 5 games for them in 1971. He spend most of his career with the Dodgers, Giants and Padres. He was a .249 batter and mostly played in the center of the field, shortstop, second base and center field. He appears to have been a starter through most of his career. Wikipedia doesn't have much to say about him except that he is one of a few players who have played every position (except pitcher) at least once in his career. He also has a World Series ring, with the 1981 Dodgers.

Book Club - The Ghost of Cannae

I'm sure you remember learning about Hannibal in World History class. Hannibal was always one of my favorite characters from ancient history. If you remember anything, you remember that Hannibal brought an army over the Alps, including elephants, into Italy and attached the Romans. This was the Second Punic War.The cities of Carthage and Rome were engaged in a many-years long struggle for domination of the eastern Mediterranean. Ultimately, it was an uneven struggle. Carthage was primarily interested in trade and commerce. Rome was primarily a military society. Carthage was rich but Rome was determined. Rome would eventually rule the entire Mediterranean. Carthage would disappear.

Hannibal spent about 15 years wandering around in Italy. He killed lots of Romans. He won many tactical battles but could never gain the strategic upper hand. The title refers to the Battle of Cannae. Whenever Hannibal could force a battle, he won. The problem was, getting the Romans to engage. The Battle of Cannae was the third great battle that Hannibal won in Italy and one of the greatest battles in the ancient world. It is still studied by modern armies. Hannibal's and Rome's forces were pretty evenly matched in size, although Hannibal's army was probably better trained. And then, there was Hannibal. The victory at Cannae was decisive. Over 50,000 Romans died that day. After that, the Romans were reluctant to engage with Hannibal. They slowly confined him to southern Italy and gradually starved him out.