Song of the Week - Space Oddity by David Bowie

I have 5,517 songs on iTunes. This is one of them

This one goes way back into the archives. This was David Bowie's first big hit, in 1969, although only in England. It wouldn't be until Ziggy Stardust in 1972 that Bowie started to appeal to a larger US audience. I first became aware of Bowie with his Hunky Dory album of 1971 and then I managed to find his earlier work. I was a big fan of Bowie and I have most of his albums up through his 1983 release Let's Dance. But I lost interest and I don't know his later work. His last studio album was 2003's Reality which I know nothing about.

I'd never seen this video before. Bowie constantly changed his appearance throughout his career. This was one of his more flamboyant looks. You gotta love the orange hair.



Ground control to major tom
Ground control to major tom
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on

Ground control to major tom
Commencing countdown, engines on
Check ignition and may gods love be with you

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five,
Four, three, two, one, liftoff

This is ground control to major tom
Youve really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now its time to leave the capsule if you dare

This is major tom to ground control
Im stepping through the door
And Im floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today

For here
Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet earth is blue
And theres nothing I can do

Though Im past one hundred thousand miles
Im feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell me wife I love her very much she knows

Ground control to major tom
Your circuits dead, theres something wrong
Can you hear me, major tom?
Can you hear me, major tom?
Can you hear me, major tom?
Can you....

Here am I floating round my tin can
Far above the moon
Planet earth is blue
And theres nothing I can do.

Thursday Night at the Movies - The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Prince

We seem to be in the doldrums of summer as far as movies are concerned. We've seen all the movies we wanted to see with the exception of the new X-Files movie (I know it wasn't supposed to be very good) which is gone from the theaters, and Mama Mia, which is hanging on, but never seems to be playing at a good time. Wanting to go to the movies and having no better choice, we went to see The Mummy. The first Mummy movie was pretty good, if not exactly original (can you say Indiana Jones?). The second was loud, with wild fantastic special effects, but not as good as the original. The third, well, its a disappointment. I, frankly, wasn't expecting much, but I was still disappointed. The special effects, we've seen them before. That effect of an army turning to sand? Been there done that. And the story had almost the same plot as Hellboy II. Evil guy has to gain immortality so that he can raise his indestructible army and conquer the world. If Brandon Frasier was red and had horns, the movies would have been hard to tell apart. Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh are totally wasted. And Rachel Weisz does not return. Her replacement was a poor replacement. I give this movie 1.5 capes (out of 5).Trailer of the week: The Spirit. This is a movie directed by Frank Miller based on a comic book series by Wil Eisner. I know nothing about the comic, but the trailer makes me want to see the movie.

Trade with Phil

This trade started as a swap of super shiny cards and grew from there. A couple of weeks ago I posted some 2008 Topps Chrome cards over at A Pack A Day. One of the cards was a Chrome X-Factor card of Yovani Gallardo. Phil saw that and asked if I'd be willing to trade something for it. I looked over on his blog and saw he posted some 2008 Topps Chrome cards as well, including this Hunter Pence card. It didn't sound like he was too interested in Pence, so I offered the Gallardo for Pence. He agreed, then offered me a bunch of 1987 Topps cards from my want list for Brewers cards. So I pulled out a bunch of 2001 Brewers and the deal was made. You can see what I sent him here.The Pence card is from Topps Cards History of Baseball Cards insert set. The scan doesn't do it justice. The finish is mirror-like which just doesn't scan right. The design is from some 1922 set which Topps doesn't identify beyond W573.

I've recently completed two trades involving 1987 Topps. I've reduced my want list from over 100 cards to about 30.

1940 Superman Card

Last week I posted a 1940 baseball card called Play Ball which was published by Gum, Inc. On the back of the card was a little blurb about their Superman cards. I said I wanted one. Well, now I have one.Since you can find anything on eBay, I looked and found several. This card isn't in bad shape. It is far from mint condition, mainly because the front is poorly centered. It's also yellowed and has some staining on the back. When I bid on this card, there were 4-5 other cards from this set which had been graded and slabbed. The bids for these were in the $100 to $300 range. There are only 2 up for bid as I write this. I paid about $10 for this card.
When I was a kid in the 1960s, most of my allowance money went to comic books. The choice was between Marvel and DC comics. While I like some Marvel titles (mostly the more esoteric ones, like Iron Man and Dr. Strange), I really preferred DC comics. Superman, Batman, Flash, Justice League of America, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Aquaman, Superboy, Supergirl, etc. But Superman was always my favorite.

One piece of trivia I didn't know. According to Wikipedia, Gum, Inc. later became Bowman. Gum had to stop making trading cards after 1941 because of war shortages of paper and ink. When they came back in 1948, they were known as Bowman. Wikipedia doesn't say why this happened.

In 2003, Upper Deck produced a set called Play Ball which was clearly based on the 1940-41 Play Ball sets. I wonder why Upper Deck got rights to the name and design and not Topps?

The Kid From Left Field

I accidentally discovered this movie on a sleepless night last week. It was released in 1953 and, in addition to Bancroft and Dailey, also stared Lloyd Bridges. The story is about 9 year old Christy (named for Christy Mathewson) Cooper, the son of ex-ballplayer Larry "Coop" Cooper (Dailey), loves baseball. One day, he and a couple of buddies are caught sneaking into the Bison's stadium. He gets away but meets up with Marian Foley (Bancroft) who is the niece of the former owner and works for the current owner (who's name, improbably enough, is Mr. Whacker). Whacker is impressed with the boy and gives him a job as bat boy. Chris becomes friends with the team's aging star, Pete Haines (Bridges) and soon is passing tips to Pete from Coop. Eventually, Coop is secretly helping all the players, who of course, think the kid is a genius. Coop, by the way, is a peanut vendor at the ballpark. The team manager, who is pretty slow on the uptake, finally figures this out and has the kid fired.

The team immediately goes south and Mr. Whacker hires the kid back as manager. A winning streak ensues. the Bisons are apparently in the American League as their only named opponents are Cleveland (although Indians is never mentioned) and the Yankees. The Yankees are the only other team ever shown in game situations. But all is not perfect. In the beginning of September, the Bisons are 6 games behind the Yankees for 1st place but Chris gets picked up by the truant officer. After a short but noisy confrontation between the school district, Mr. Whacker, Coop and a lady judge, Chris gets back to managing but with a private tutor. During the last series of the season, with the pennant on the line, Chris gets pneumonia. Mr. Whacker assures his players that its not like when they were kids, Chris would only be in the hospital a week (a week!).

The Bisons go down in defeat in the first game and are now 1 and a half games back with 2 games to play. Chris comes clean with the team and tells them it was really Coop who was running the team. Mr. Whacker hires a reluctant Coop. The Bisons win to pull within 1/2 game. In the last game, Coop pulls out every baseball stunt you ever heard of including putting the starting pitcher at 3rd (which totally stumps the announcer) for one batter, and in a big finish, has a player steal home to win the game. It helped that the pitcher had the longest, most complicated windup in baseball history. The Bisons go to the World Series, and that's the end of the movie.

10-year-old Billy Chapin played Chris Cooper. Chapin had a 15 year career in movies and television from 1944 to 1959. His first credit was as 'the Blake's baby girl' in 1944's Casanova Brown.

This movie was remade as a TV movie in 1979 with 11-year-old Gary Coleman as Jackie Robinson Cooper, kid manager of the San Diego Padres.

Phorgotten Phillie Phile - Reggie Taylor

I haven't done one of these in awhile. This another Phillie's card I got in a trade with Michal. Along with 1987 Topps cards, he threw in some random PhilliesReggie Taylor was the Phillies #1 draft pick in 1996. He made his major league debut with the Phillies on September 17, 2000. In 6 minor league seasons with the Phillies he hit about .270 with 49 home runs. He had a total of 18 at bats for the Phillies between 2000 and 2001 with exactly one hit. In March of 2002, the Phillies traded him to the Reds for Hector Mercado, who could be the subject of his own Phile. Reggie appeared in 235 games for the Reds in 2003-2004, hitting 9 HRs but without much of an average. For this he was paid $534,000. Nice work if you can get it. He was released by the Reds in 2004 and kicked around with the White Sox, Rockies, Devil Rays, and Cardinals before being released for good in 2005. During that time he had 22 unproductive at bats for the Rays in 2005.

Song of the Week - Winter by Tori Amos

"Winter" is from Tori Amos' first solo album, Little Earthquakes, released in 1992. I've always been a sucker for female vocalists (Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, Kate Bush, Dar Williams, etc) and Little Earthquakes is one of my very favorite records.




Snow can wait, I forgot my mittens
Wipe my nose, get my new boots on
I get a little warm in my heart when I think of winter
I put my hand in my fathers glove

I run off where the drifts get deeper
Sleeping beauty trips me with a frown
I hear a voice you must learn to stand up for yourself
Cause I cant always be around

He says when you gonna make up your mind
When you gonna love you as much as I do
When you gonna make up your mind
Cause things are gonna change so fast
All the white horses are still in bed
I tell you that Ill always want you near
You say that things change my dear

Boys get discovered as winter melts
Flowers competing for the sun
Years go by and Im here still waiting
Withering where some snowman was

Mirror mirror wheres the crystal palace
But I only can see myself
Skating around the truth who I am
But I know, dad, the ice is getting thing

When you gonna make up your mind
When you gonna love you as much as I do
When you gonna make up your mind
Cause things are gonna change so fast
All the white horses are still in bed
I tell you that Ill always want you near
You say that things change my dear

Hair is grey and the fires are burning
So many dreams on the shelf
You say I wanted you to be proud
I always wanted that myself

When you gonna make up your mind
When you gonna love you as much as I do
When you gonna make up your mind
Cause things are gona change so fast
All the white horses have gone ahead
I tell you that Ill always want you near
You say that things change my dear

Never change

All the white horses