2009 Topps A&G vs. 2009 Topps 206

I've mentioned before how disappointed I was in 2009 Topps 206. OK, it's been 4 years so maybe I should get over it, but I keep finding reasons to be disappointed. I was recently scanning 2009 Allen and Ginter cards. While I was doing this I kept noticing similarities to 2009 Topps 206 cards. Take these Rich Harden cards for example.

 

On close examination, these probably aren't the exact same pictures but they are real close. Close enough in fact that the one might be a photoshopped version of the other. But what about this pair?

Cropped differently as with the Harden pair but I think these are exactly the same image. And one more.

OK, so only 3 cards. For one thing, I don't own more than half of either of these sets so there are probably more. For another think, why should there be any?

2013 Triple Play - First Look

I actually bought these a few weeks ago but I'm just getting around to them.  I purchased 3 28-card rack packs-from Target.  This is the second year Panini has published Triple Play.  The set is clearly aimed at kids, with cartoon like drawings of the players and lots of sticker cards. My question is, are kids collecting baseball cards these days?  When I'm in the big-box store looking at cards I rarely see kids at the card rack. In fact, I hardly ever see anyone. If it weren't for my fellow bloggers I might think I'm the only collector left.

Aimed at kids or not, I kind of like these cards. I suspect that most people are either going to just hate them or feel like I do.  Panini gets around not having an MLB license by using drawings, therefore there are no accidental showing of logos. Would these cards be better with MLB logos? Absolutely. Would I like to see Panini get an MLB license? Absolutely. Topps needs some competition.

There's a lot of wackiness going on here as well.

There are 100 cards in the base set featuring three kinds of drawings.

There is the Cold War, socialist workers paradise style:

 The backs all feature what is apparently a baseball card game. Instructions not included.

And then these cards featuring backgrounds evocative of the player's team's hometown.

Rockies. Snowflakes, mountains and I'm not sure what the rest of them are.  And then the just plain wacky cartoons.

The last 10 cards are a subset called "When I Was A Kid". I only got one of them.

Before I show the inserts, let me complain at bit. There are only 100 cards in the set. Only 90 of the cards are player cards. With 26 teams, that works out to 3-4 players per team. I think if I was a kid, I'd be disappointed in only getting 3 guys from my favorite team.

On the other hand, with only 100 cards in the base set, you'd think this would be a pretty easy set to complete by buying packs. I got 84 cards total in the 3 rack-packs, which resulted in 43 cards from the base set. 29 of the cards were duplicates. That's more than 1 in 3! Way too much. OK, on to the inserts.

There is a 30-card All-Star set. I pulled one. Luckily it was Howard, probably the only one I really want.

More wackiness. I got 2 of this 8-card insert. I'm not at all sure what this picture is supposed to mean,

Eye Blacks returns from 2012. These are stickers you can stick to your face. Whee!

This 20-card sticker set features the same drawing as the players regular card. The stickers come in two flavors this year, blue and red. Even though there are 30 red stickers, I didn't get one.

Tattoos are also back from last year. I got 4 of the 10. I'm not sure how these are supposed to work. Maybe you just iron them onto your skin.

Perhaps the wackiest card I pulled. Traditions is an 8-card set, new this year.

Movie Review - Iron Man 3

Comic book movies, you either like 'em or you don't. We generally like them so of course we were going to see this. And as comic book movies go, it was pretty good. It's got everything you expect in an Iron Man movie, a sarcastic Tony Stark, a beautiful Pepper Pots and lots of Iron Man action.

This time around, Tony is sort of in a funk still about the events in the last Avenger's movie. Mention New York, aliens, worm holes or the guy with the big hammer and he gets an anxiety attack. I'm just a man in a can he says, what do I know from aliens and gods.

Fortunately a villain comes along, The Mandarin, and Tony raises above his funk and gets his house blown to bits (if you've seen the trailers you know this).

The Mandarin isn't quite what he seems, which becomes apparent early on. The real menace may be another entity which seems to have an army of people who can do a Human Torch impersonation (except for the flying part).

With Tony seemingly going to pieces, the Iron Man suit seems to spend more time in pieces as well. He's got a new suit which he can call the pieces to him (telepathically?). There is some comic relief as the pieces generally come in pretty fast and knock him about as the attach.

Don Cheadle reprises his role as War Machine, renamed Iron Patriot, although he spends more of the movie out of the suit than it it. There's also some red-hot action involving Gwyenth Paltrow.

As usual you'll want to stick around through the credits for the final scene. Have patience, there must have been 10,000 people involved in the making of this film. For example, they had 9 second assistant accountants, but apparently, only one plasterer.

2009 Donruss Americana

As I've mentioned before, I'm in the midst of trying to get all the cards I purchased over the past 3 years or so put away. At the rate I'm going, it's going to take me the rest of the year as I keep getting distracted by new stuff (anyone bought any Panini Triple Play?) or scanning old cards, or filling out sets of old cards. We'll it's a hobby, not work, so I've got no deadlines.

I had earlier in the year bought some relics and autos from the 2008 set which I thought I posted but apparently I didn't. Maybe later. As I was pawing through my 2009 cards I found I bought some from 2009. I don't remember what I bought. I don't have than many cards so I must have just bought a few packs. Mostly what I got were base cards.
2009 Donruss Americana #1 Jackie Chan

There are 100 cards in the base set featuring, in my opinion, mostly second or third rate celebrities. Jackie Chan was one of the few cards I got that show someone I'm actually a fan of. Jackie looks pretty young here. The blood is probably his own.

2009 Donruss Americana Silver Proofs Retail #91 Jamie Donnelly

There are a number of parallel sets and you really need to find a checklist on-line somewhere to understand what you've got. Ms Donnelly here was one of the Pink Ladies in the original stage production of Grease. The Silver Proofs Retail are serial numbered to 250.

2009 Donruss Americana Platinum Proofs Retail #24 John Kerr

Another actor I don't know, appeared mainly in Broadway productions in the 1950s. Thank God for Wikipedia. The Platinum Proof Retail cards are numbered to 25. The Hobby version is numbered to 10.

2009 Donruss Americana Private Signings #57 Geoff Stults

The rest of the cards I bought off eBay when I found how inexpensive they were. Private Signings is a complete parallel set printed on foil board with an autograph sticker. The autos were actually harder to find than anything else I bought, and correspondingly more expensive. I did manage to snag this guy (know for appearing in TV shows I either never watched or never heard of) for only $4.28. These are also serial numbered but to varying amounts. This one is weirdly numbered to 428.

2009 Donruss Americana Stars Materials Silver Proofs #70 Albert Brooks

There are also parallel cards with swatches of material. And then various PROOF parallels of them. I didn't see any of the base Materials cards. This is numbered to 100. Albert Brooks is actually one of my favorite comedic actors so I didn't mind paying $5.99 for this.

2009 Donruss Americana Stars Materials Silver Proofs Meredith Salenger

I'm not quite sure why I bid on two of the Silver Proofs. I must have been trying to hedge my bet that I'd get at least one of them. According to Wikipedia "Her best known role was the title role in the 1985 Disney film The Journey of Natty Gann.". She was 15 then.

2009 Donruss Americana Stars Materials Gold Proofs #94 Marton Csonkas

 I'm glad I won the Salenger card because the seller threw in this card as a bonus. I got the two for about $3.50. It's numbered to 25. I would have said I didn't know this guy from Adam but he played Lord Celeborn in the Lord of the Rings movies. The nerd in me is happy.

2009 Donruss Americana Stars Signature Materials #51 Jon Provost

 And here's a card with a sticker auto and a swatch. Looks like a piece of his pajamas. It's numbered to 100. I actually had to have this card and was able to get it for $7.60. Why did I have to have it? Surely you recognize Jon Provost, little Timmy from the CBS show Lassie. I loved this show when I was a kid. Provost wrote his autobiography called Timmy Down the Well. I'll have to look for that.

In addition to the numerous parallel cards there were also inserts.

2009 Donruss Americana Cinema Stars #18 Patrick Stewart

More nerdiness. Are you kidding me, a Captain Picard card for only $2.24! There is so much blank space on this card because there are parallels with a swatch, or an autograph, or both. It's numbered to 1,000.

2009 Donruss Americana TV Stars #21 James Caan

I tend to think of James Caan as a movie actor rather than a TV star. Anyway, this is one ugly card. And the off-center photo sliding off the edge doesn't help. But it was only $3.99. Numbered to 1,000.

2009 Donruss Americana Hollywood Legends #5 Gary Cooper

Gary Cooper, now you're talking about a Star! Also numbered to 1,000.

2009 Donruss Americana Co-Stars Materials Leslie Howard/Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.

It's cards like this that start making this set look attractive to collect. Here's the back so you can read the "Certificate of Authenticity".

Looks like the real deal, numbered to 250, and only $7.04.

Random Cards From My Collection #43

Card #35769
2012 Topps Update #291 Jesus Montero

Comments on the card: In the 2012 Update set, Topps featured 2 cards for most rookies. One a regular card, the other with the player's debut date, like this one.
When acquired: 2012
How acquired: Paid $0.14 in a rack box bought at Target
Player's season: Montero came up in September for the Yankees, hit .348 in 18 games and hit 4 home runs.

Card #22819
1989 Score #493 Al Newman

Comments on the card: Score's second year of production, the cards looked pretty much like the 1988 set. Weird color combinations, but nice photography with a large color photo on the back.
When acquired: 2010
How acquired: Paid $0.04 in a Fairfield repack.
Player's season: Al had his best season as a hitter in 1989, hitting .253 in 141 games.

Card #35186
2004 Topps #434 Doug Glanville

Comments on the card: Nice set from Topps. I always liked how the player image is repeated in silver foil in the lower left corner.
When acquired: Don't know
How acquired: Don't know.
Player's season: Glanville had 5 pretty good seasons with the Phillies in 1998-2002. He came back to the Phillies in 2004, appeared in 87 games and was released at the end of the season. It was his last.

Card #28394
2011 Topps Allen & Ginter Mini #340 Ryan Zimmerman

Comments on the card: In 2011, Allen and Ginter started taking a turn toward the ornate.
When acquired: 2011
How acquired: Paid $0.45 cents in a rack pack.
Player's season: Zimmerman spent 2 months on the DL in 2011, limiting his playing time to 101 games.

Card #7055
2001 Topps Traded #1 Barry Bonds

Comments on the card: For their 50th anniversary, Topps included a lot of prior season reprint cards. This is a reprint from the 1993 set, Bond's first year with the Giants.
When acquired: 2001
How acquired: Paid $0.23 in a hobby box
Player's season: Of course, 2001 was a monster year for Bonds when he hit 73 home runs, setting (maybe) a new season high total for HR.

Card #19882
2010 Topps 206 #157 Edinson Volquez

Comments on the card: I was really disappointed in 2009 Topps 206. The 2010 issue was much better in my opinion.
When acquired: 2010
How acquired: Paid $0.45 in a blaster box from Target.
Player's season: 2010 was a tough year for Volquez. He started the season with a 50-game suspension for using performance enhancing drugs. When he finally came back he didn't perform well and was demoted to single A.

Card # 35840
2012 Topps Chrome #55 Paul Konerko

Comments on the card: It's Topps Chrome! It's shiny
When acquired: 2012
How acquired: Paid $0.68 in a rack pack from Walmart.
Player's season: In his 16th year, Konerko had an excellent season. He hit 0.298 in 144 games with 26 home runs.

Card #251
1991 Studio #145 Tom Glavine

Comments on the card: What a great idea, feature players photographs taken in a studio!
When acquired: Don't know.
How acquired: Don't know.
Player's season: 20 wins (the first of three straight years with 20 or more wins) and a Cy Young Award. He was an All-Star and the Braves went to the World Series.

Card #20045
1990 Topps Big #136 Pat Combs

Comments on the card: Slightly over-sized cards which didn't catch on with collectors. I never saw these for sale when they were new.
When acquired: 2003
How acquired: I bought 57 packs on eBay at $0.03 per card.
Player's season: Combs' best year of his 4-year career by far. He was 10-10 with a 4.90 ERA for a pretty terrible Phillies team.

Card #28455
2011 Topps Allen & Ginter #218 Bobby Abreu

Comments on the card:  The full sized version of the set from earlier in the post.
When acquired: 2011
How acquired: Paid $0.45  in a hobby box.
Player's season: Abreu has a .292 career batting average. 2011 was the second year in a row with an offensive decline for him. He hit .253 with only 8 homers for the season.

Song of the Week - Oblivion by M83

In addition to liking the movie, we also liked the music. Here is the closing credits track featuring M83 with Susanne Sundfor.

Movie Review - Oblivion

Those of you who read my reviews could have predicted (but probably didn't give it a thought) that I'd go to see this movie. After all, it's hard science fiction.  You were right.

If you've seen the trailers than you know the basic plot. It's some years after the aliens have attacked Earth. And Earth is a mess. We beat the aliens off but pretty near destroyed the planet in the process. Earth has been evacuated into space (it turns out to Titan, a moon of Saturn). Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) is part of the mop-up crew, extracting the last bits of usable resources for the colony. One day he discovers that there are still human beings living underground on Earth and that he's been lied to.

Since the "he's been lied to" part involves some pretty big plot twists, I won't really go into them.  Any science fiction movie is going to have some problems with the story line, mainly because it would slow the story down to the pace of a technical textbook to try and explain everything. So if you like science fiction you just go with the flow. Overall, we liked the movie a lot.

Like I said there are issues but they don't rise to the level, at least for me, of ruining the story.

The movie is beautifully filmed and the technology, like the jet-powered helicopter that Harper flies around in is spectacular. Jack's main job is repairing the drones which protect these giant structures which are sucking up sea water producing energy from fusion (one minor issue, where exactly is that power going?). The drones are man-sized flying spheres loaded with sensors and weapons. They protect the water processors from "scavs" whom Jack believes are the surviving aliens from the invasion force. The drones are effectively portrayed as terrifying.

Jack spends his time flying over ruins, some mostly buried, which look tantalizing familiar. Occasionally we see things like the torch from the Statue of Liberty, or the top of the Empire State Building. This is all presented in a confusing jumble. Amongst these ruins is where he finds the surviving humans led by Morgan Freeman. The last time we saw him, he was the acting President in Olympus Has Fallen.

As is usual in a Tom Cruise movie, he takes an enormous amount of punishment, which aside from some scratches on his cheek and a cut above his nose (which is very important in one scene) he appears to survive with little after affect. One of the plot twists however, can probably explain that.

If you liked the trailer I think you'll like the movie. In fact, I think that the movie is actually better than the trailer makes it look.   The trailer actually manages to not give away key portions of the plot.