Protesting SOPA and PIPA

I’ve set my blog to be blacked out in protest of SOPA and PIPA from 8am-8pm today.  These despicable bills must not be allowed to pass because are fundamentally, fatally flawed on every conceivable level.

Here’s a nice look at how screwed we all are if this passes: LINKY

So yeah, these horrible abominations of RIAA/MPAA fuckwittery have to die so hard nobody will ever even be able to try to resurrect them again without the horrible stench of astoundingly reckless violation of basic common sense/sanity/human rights/etc irrevocably destroying their careers.

It’s not about piracy, it’s about the shortsighted greed and desperation of the outdated big boys.  And if either of them pass, we all pay dearly.  Good night and good luck.

Arm your DeSOPAs and ATTAAAAAAAAAAACK!

Checking In

Hi!  What’s new in the new year?

Not much to say on the card front, other than I finally got around to having my latest order from Check Out My Cards shipped.  A little over 100 more on the way.  Night Owl & maybe a couple others will be getting their cards out of this deal.

What’s been taking a lot of my time the past week or so is a pretty new story idea deciding to start fleshing itself out in my head.  So I started putting it to digital paper.  Pretty happy with it so far.  We call it Missionworks, a fantasy/steampunkish tale.  It’s coming together quite nicely, and I’m excited to get to work on the story itself.

The other main thing I’ve been doing is polishing off my FATSA: Lord of the Dragons sketch cards.  My main ones were finished days ago, but I just got what are my likely to be my Artist Proofs penciled and inked, and I’ve gotta say they are some of the nicer cards I’ve done in awhile.  I end up despising how 75% of my cards turn out, but I’m really pleased with at least three of the four.  I’ll be posting my FATSA cards here & dA & wherever else I can think of once I get them scanned and submitted for approval.

Now to get started on my Mac & Trouble cards.  Don’t have much time on them, but I only have two (and two Artist Proofs) to do, so no worries there I guess?

I cleaned a bit.  Got the place looking a little better than Reverend Jim’s, though it’ll be spring before the clutter levels start dropping dramatically (provided they don’t block the damn doors during spring cleanup, like they did in the fall… idiots).  Next step in this stupidly long process: get a new (used) chair that isn’t broke so my back will stop bothering me so much.

Finally, card buying is about to go way down (yes yes, you’ll believe it when you see it), because I have the quite frankly insane idea of trying to hit both Otakon and The National this summer.  The National is in Otakon’s home of Baltimore this year, and happens at the same place, something like three days after Otakon.  It may be time to part with some of my bigger hits to raise funds.  Also maybe get a few for-cash commissions or something?  Please?

Guess that’s about all I’ve got for now.  Hope to be back soon.  Seeya.

Until our next…

More Cards to Check Out

I’m not up for posting anything thoughtful or intelligent or insightful or any other big word at the moment.  So how about pics of my latest batch of cards shipped from COMC?  (Another order, that I was intending to have shipped in mid-december, will be on the way soon.)

Minis! One with a piece of stadium seat in it. And one that I accidentally bought twice...

Yep, I accidentally bought two Nelson Cruz Kimballs.  I’m sure another blogger can use the second one though.

1975 Topps Minis of Cubs Hall of Famers in the wrong uniforms.  And Billy Williams rocking the late-career heel turn ‘stache.  Very nice.

Cy Young is a keeper.  I’d really like to knock out both mini Icons sets this year.

Ferris Fain is… for trade, I guess.  I kinda wanna keep it, but I’ll let him go for the right price.

Old timey players on shiny cards and current players on old timey cards.

Jimmie Foxx is the only one available for trade on this page, again reluctantly.  The nonsensical shininess really works well with that particular photo, methinks.  I might just be too out of it to know better though.  I’ll at least need some form of one of the legends I collect (any version, any team) in return.

In the unlikely event you got your hands on the obscure early-2000s Donruss Estrellas set at some point and pulled any other Leyendas del Posados, I’m collecting that set.  You can find it on my page dedicated to set needs.  The only other one I have besides the three above is Tony Perez.  I need the rest.  I like… goooold.  Ahem, moving on.

Jerseys... Jerseys... And more JERSEYS!

Except Forte.  He’s just a bronze parallel #’ed /999.  Also, the two SPx jerseys on the bottom row were in rougher shape than the pictures indicated.  But oh wells.  The Colston is an eBay 1/1, being #’ed 250/250.  And cost me less than $1.  Actually only Tomlinson ($1.49) and Hester ($2.50) cost more a buck.  All of these are keepers, if you didn’t know.

Right then, one more picture for tonight.

All sorts of random silliness. Mitch and Roberto aren't even from COMC...

Yeah, Keith’s kid and Sandy’s kid came from Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius.  Thank you, Matt!  Did your stuff from me ever arrive?

Beckham is Razor Metal or something.  I never really paid much attention to any Razor offerings.  I wanted to see what these in particular were all about though, and it was priced at a solid shiny nickel, and I had just slightly more than that leftover, so I was all “Eh, why not?”, and there it is.  I know nothing more about these or Razor than I did before.  But it’s pretty cool looking I guess.  He and the Nomo are the two cards on this scan for trade.  I’m not keeping Moreland, but his destination has already been chosen.

Ah, Starfire, in presumably less terribly written days.  The Titans have had a lot more downs than ups in their existence, as I understand.

Cards like the Nomar above are mostly what I’m after of him.  Love the quirky inserts from the second half of the ’90s and first half of the aughts, and who better to go after than the Ken Boyer of his day, whose heyday coincides with the most unbridled creative time in the history of the hobby.  Haha, yeah!  Stamp-like die-cut, foil that can’t decide if it’s silver or gold (I still don’t know!), and multiple photos.  Man… the 1990s were truly the greatest decade ever.

And speaking of that 1996-2000 sweet spot of glorious cardmatic wonder, a pretty spiffy insert from a happier, more easygoing, less cynical point in the life of Topps Finest, celebrating the previous year’s MVP (TD), Super Bowl MVP (Tebow Hater Elway), and Rookie of the Year (Straight Cash Homey Moss).

Well, there ya go.  I woke up enough to get wacky at the end.  But for this post, this is the end.  And after just over 300 posts, I still don’t know how to segue to outtro.  So I’ll just be on my way then.  Seeya. 😉

Man I totally realized I left off at least two other people I owed cards to on my New Year’s post… 😦

 

Roy Hibbert is a Smart Man

Who doesn’t look like Hasheem Thabeet. (via Deadspin)

Seriously though, how refreshing is it to see a good young player being responsible with his money?

.. And this would be Hasheem Thabeet. I think? 😛

This would be Roy Hibbert, for the record..

A New Year Is Upon Us

Which means millions of failed resolutions will cover the earth like a post-apocalyptic wasteland by March.  I only made one: To be on more sketch card sets this year.  One’s already confirmed (and the cards are hear), still waiting to hear on a second (becoming less hopeful by the minute).  So I’m off to a good start.  I don’t like the resolution thing, making unrealistic goals you can’t keep.  Besides a little more sketch card work, I just want to keep building on the good of 2011.  I lost 15 lbs from late spring through mid-summer and have maintained it, weighing in between 199 and 208 lbs ever since (206 at last check, after overdoing it bigtime to start the year).  Nothing unrealistic, just keep getting better.

I’d like to maybe get one of my first drafts of novels written (three in development), and while I’m going to try, I’m not making it a resolution.  It has to be an organic thing, like my success in getting healthier was last year.  I didn’t make a resolution to do that.  I just decided last March to take the vast majority of red meat out of my diet and try to eat a little healthier in general.  And circumstances necessitated I be a little more physical than normal, having to clean up and prepare my place for inspections entirely on my own.  It just works out better that way, I think.

I have a few collecting goals I hope to achieve this year, but again, I’m only making a resolution of the first one or three.  I’m not going very far out of my way for the rest.  Life and everything will dictate where I end up on them.

1.) This is the important one.  I must get all my outstanding trades dealt with.  I know I owe cards to Marie, CamClow, GSNHoF, Carl Crawford Cards, Shoebox Legends, Project ’62, Pursuit of Griffey, and one other very long-defunct blog.  Plus I have several more trades to get too in the near future.  I need to be a better and more consistent trader!

2.) This is of some importance too.  Get all my pages fully updated.  I’ve done a bit of this here & there in recent weeks, getting a little trade bait and player collections added in, but I’m still a long way from finished.  There are probably more tweaks to come as well.

3.) Also kinda important.  Blog more!  Since I got my parents old scanner and it’s already set up and working and everything, I don’t have any excuses left to not blog on a regular basis, except just not having anything to say sometimes.  And those times I can probably find something else to talk about.  Geeky news, sports commentary, novel nonsense, passable poetry, whatever.  Just say something, kid.

4.) Now for the collection itself.  Break 100 cards in at least two player collections.  With the Zambrano collection on the shelf for the time being, I think Aramis Ramirez is my only one within shouting distance, so I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me if I’m going to finish this one.  I think Vlad Guerrero and Ichiro are my next closest, and Vlad doesn’t have as many chasers, so I’d guess he’ll probably be my second.  Ichiro and Ryne Sandberg could still be contenders though.

5.) Get to 50 cards in the 1960 Topps set. I think I’ll need about 37 cards to do this.  I have 12 in-hand and Wally Post waiting to be delivered from the Diamond Giveaway.  It’s… doable, I guess.  We’ll just have to see what comes up.

6.) Complete a few sets.  I think 2010 Topps 2020 (only need Buster Posey), Propaganda Posters, and a couple of the Baseball Highlights sketches are reasonable to expect myself to finish.  Perhaps the World’s Greatest Word Smiths.

7.) Start a baseball Frankenset.  792 cards.  Every base set ever made by any company can be used.  SPs and variations are acceptable as long as they retain their particular set’s numbering (thus making recent topps variations and such eligible for inclusion, but only non-parallel versions).

Guess that’s it for today.  I’m done braining.  Coherence… failing.  Today was long and busy.  Most of the last couple weeks have been.  Sleep sounds good.  Preferably 16 hours or so.  I’ve been doing a little better with it lately after falling apart for a couple months, so lots of fairly restful sleep isn’t entirely out of the question.  Goodnight and such.

Oh yeah, I also resolve to have a one night stand/torrid affair with a celebrity. 😉