I thought I'd take a little break from the baseball research with an impromptu post of random things.
It's 3/11! What's your favorite 311 song? I think mine is either "Beautiful Disaster" or "Don't Stay Home". Their cover of The Cure's "Love song" is pretty good, too. A lot of my high school friends listened to 311 but I didn't get into them until much later. Have you seen any good movies lately? I was finally able to get out to the local video store (aka the library) earlier this month. Couldn't find any new releases that were interesting so we rented Long Shot (which I had wanted to see for a while) and Why Him? Long Shot was really funny. I enjoyed that one a lot. Why Him? was good, too. The actress who plays James Franco's girlfriend looked familiar to me - sort of like Isla Fisher, or Emma Roberts. My wife was the one who searched Google/IMDB for Zoey Deutch because she's usually good at recognizing people in movies/TV shows.. and the reason she looked familiar is because she's Lea Thompson's daughter.
Zoey starred in the film adaptation of Before I Fall, which I have sitting on my bookshelf. I'm not certain I've read it, but if I have it was at least four or five years ago when I was immersing myself in Young Adult fiction.
Sometimes I feel like I've outgrown all the books, movies, and TV shows I used to enjoy. Then again..my manager (who is a dozen years older than I am) was talking to one of the guys about Arrow. They're both big fans and I've never seen it. They were talking about the ending, and the characters they liked..and she said she likes Mia because "Mia is a badass."
Mia is played by Katherine McNamara. That sweet little thing is a badass now? Where does the time go?
Speaking of lovely ladies who can sing.. you may have noticed the picture on my right sidebar changed. I went down a bit of a wormhole earlier this week because a Carole King song came on at work.. and my mind immediately went to Melissa Benoist.
Goddamn that woman is talented. Y'know, Glee never interested me at all but I might have to give it a chance some time. I've seen Pitch Perfect at least twice. It's pretty much the same thing, right?
It's the weirdest thing. I rarely - almost never - have any interest in female singers. Some of them might be nice to look at but their music doesn't appeal to me. Except Lynn Gunn of Pvris. She frickin rocks:
That said, nearly every actress and entertainer I've liked over the past few years can also sing. I think I made a playlist of them all in a post some years back, so I won't repeat myself here. I know Kristen Bell was on that list...
One other thing we watched recently was the fourth season of Veronica Mars. I might have to share my thoughts on that in a separate post - not that anyone cares, lol.
Do you have a favorite singer or actress at the moment? Any Veronica Mars fans reading this? Let me know if I should bother with a recap post in April :)
Switching back to sports.. I completed my 102nd trade on TCDB earlier this week, which was supposed to be a one-for-one with user terrbear5951. I offered up my extra Ryan Zimmerman manupatch for a Satchel Paige MLB Debut coin. When Teresa checked her collection she realized that the Paige was no longer there and asked me to pick a replacement. I didn't mind at all since she had a lot of things I needed. I made a list and asked her to send whatever was fair. This is what I received:
All the Boston guys were on my list. The Ultra Jordan was too, but I wasn't expecting a graded copy. No idea why she sent the 1994-95 Ultra cards, I'd asked for 1993-94 Ultra singles. But that's okay. I think this was a fair return - though I'm not sure what to do with the MJ now.
I don't want to get into a whole big discussion over the Coronavirus, but it would be a shame if Joe Thornton played his last home game in an empty arena. I'm not sure how much he has left in the tank but I'd really like to see him come back next year and take one last run at a Stanley Cup - with anyone but Pittsburgh. Or Carolina. Or the Rangers. Or Winnipeg. Or St Louis. Or...damn there's a lot of NHL teams I don't like.
Anyway, that's all the random thoughts I have for now. Its' been fun to free-write a little bit. The All-Time Teams series will resume this weekend. I'm working hard to complete it before the season starts in 15 days. Also, at the conclusion of the series - and a "Free Stuff Friday" exclusive for those of you who have commented on the series. (There will be cards to claim from all sports, not just baseball.) Thanks for reading this randomness!
I was a big fan of Bill Simmons back when he wrote great articles for ESPN (Grantland was fantastic..I've lost interest in The Ringer.) One of the topics I particularly enjoyed was the Championship Belt series. If you're not familiar with it, you can see examples here and here. Basically, the premise is: you're the champ until someone beats you.
I thought it would be a fun exercise to try this using my favorite female celebrities over the years. Who was my favorite and when, and what led to them losing their title? Let's start with the first year I had any interest in the opposite sex...
Champion: Jennie Garth Reign: 1991-1992
Beverly Hills 90210 was a few years above my age group, but that didn't stop the girls in my fifth-grade class from obsessing over Jason Priestly or Luke Perry may he rest in peace. My sister-in-law is related to one of the supporting actors on 90210 (Joe E. Tata), and between her family ties, the "water-cooler" talk at school, and Jennie Garth being all blonde and gorgeous, I was enjoying the teen soap opera as much any female fan.
I can't recall anything specific about Jennie's character but I do remember buying a couple packs of 90210 cards and searching stores for a Jennie Garth poster (don't think I found any..they only had Priestly, Perry, and Shannen Doherty) I even wrote a TTM letter to Jennie and got back some fan club gibberish on reddish pink paper..but no autographed photo.
Thanks to the Summer Olympics and Sports Illustrated For Kids I spent the next year obsessed over world champion gymnast Kim Zmeskal. (For purposes of this post I'll call her a "sports crush" and skip over her.) It was around this time that I was also sneaking around my mom to watch Married...With Children. Soon I had turned my attention to another blonde Kelly..
Champion: Christina Applegate Reign: 1992-1994
Once my mom finally allowed me to watch Married...my sister bought me a VHS copy of the Christmas special as a gift, and at one point I taped notebook paper over all of the cast(and Buck)except for Christina so that I'd only see her. I also stopped saving my allowance money for a Joe Montana rookie card when I saw an autographed Applegate 8 x 10 hanging up in a comic book store. Even though I was still a hardcore fan of the Bundys in 1994 (and beyond) Christina lost her Crush crown to an unlikely contender..
Champion: Winona Ryder Reign: 1994
Nothing made sense in 1994. The Rangers were Stanley Cup champions. The World Series wasn't happening, and I was crushing on an ingenue actress with a pixie 'do. Winona Ryder was indie-cool, but she was also critically acclaimed for her on-screen performances. I binge-watched the entire Winona Ryder filmography in the summer of '94, after a video store clerk chose her as "Star of the Week."
It had been years since I'd seen her in anything anywhere, until my wife and I started watching Stranger Things. Winona forever!
Well, maybe not forever.. Ryder's short reign at the top of my crush chart ended when Pulp Fiction was released and my best friend John and I both drooled over..
Champion: Uma Thurman Reign: 1994-1995
Uma was destructively gorgeous, she was almost too hot to handle when she wasn't wearing that Mia Wallace wig. My best friend and I collected cutout pictures of her like baseball cards (he even stole a copy of Details from his school library.) I watched some of Uma's early work like Jennifer 8 with John, and Dangerous Liasons with my real-life crush Jessica, who was obsessed with Keanu Reeves at the time.
In my freshman year of high school I started crushing on a six-foot tall senior girl named Liz because she resembled Uma Thurman. I also started drifting towards another blonde celeb..
Champion: Jewel Reign: 1995-1997
It sounds strange to me now, but I was a huge fan of a frickin' folk singer. (Not that there's anything wrong with that!) Jewel had a unique and captivating voice - and her videos were sexy as hell. I did have a poster of her on my wall and I did drool over her obvious physical gifts but! I also played my Pieces of You CD regularly and I saw her perform at the Oakdale Theater in Connecticut with my girl friend Gretchen (who at least one guy assumed was my girlfriend.)
In the late 1990s there were a few contenders like Mira Sorvino, Renee Zellweger, and Jenna Elfman that I really liked, but none that rose to the level of a top-tier celebrity crush. Until the teen soap opera wave returned with Dawson's Creek..
Champion: Michelle Williams Reign: 1998-1999, 2002
Where have you gone, Jen Lindley? I was all about blondes back in the day, and Michelle Williams was exactly my type. Her bad-girl Dawson's Creek character was not a fan favorite, and it's a sharp contrast to the characters she plays today. I'm pleasantly surprised that Michelle emerged out of the collective of WB-era hotties and became an Academy-award-winning actress...but I do miss her Maxim days.
I think I still have a copy of this mag in my closet
Champion: Katie Holmes Reign: 1999-2001, 2003
I'm not going to get too specific here. Throughout the Dawson's Creek years I alternated between the sexy siren and the girl next door. Katie Holmes didn't strike my fancy at first; she sort of grew on me over the years. Speaking of the Girl Next Door...
Champion: Elisha Cuthbert Reign: 2004
Yeah, so...funny story. I was in Chicago with the aforementioned bestie and his brother (also a lifelong friend of mine) when I saw a stand-up promo for this film - and Elisha - for the first time. You know that old cliche about a gorgeous woman having the ability to stop traffic? Well, when I saw this/her I literally tripped and dropped my wallet. It was kind of embarrassing, but it physically forced me to see the film in question (which was pretty good) along with other things Elisha was in, such as 24. Sssh! Don't tell anyone I started watching that because of Kim Bauer.
My Cuthbert "crush" wasn't like most of the others on this list. There was very little substance behind the surface-level hotness (and she dated Sean Avery ffs.) I wouldn't say she was champion by default, but it wasn't All That difficult for a teenager to take her title...
Champion: Amanda Bynes Reign: 2004-2007
Ooomph. This one hurts. Like, it physically hurts to be reminded of just how funny and talented and girl next-door gorgeous Amanda Bynes was. It hurts to remember the days when her contemporaries were getting wasted and Amanda insisted that she'd never end up as tabloid fodder like them. It hurts to remember how much I enjoyed her movies and TV shows, especially What I Like About You..which also starred my first celebrity crush, Jennie Garth.
It hurts to know that she just turned 33 (still younger than the Current Crush Champion) and that she's spent the past decade as a cautionary tale. Damn. Let's move on.
Champion: Kristen Bell
Reign: 2007-2009, 2018
Who doesn't love Kristen Bell, am I right? Looking back, it's fascinating to me that she became such a big star and that I became such a fan. The first time I saw her, Veronica Mars had just started on the WB or CW or whatever and she was on Conan talking about hockey. That's about all the incentive I needed to check out her show.
Of course I became a fan of it, and her. But unlike the other blonde puck bunny on this list Kristen stuck around because she's good in everything, she's always an entertaining interview guest, and as the kids say, her and Dax Shepard are #relationshipgoals. The Good Place was a big reason why Kristen reclaimed her spot as my favorite actress after losing her crown nearly a decade earlier.
I honestly can't remember if I had any celebrity crushes in 2010 and 2011. I liked Olivia Wilde, Zooey Deschanel, and a couple others but not enough to award anyone the Championship Belt. So until something jogs my memory let's say that it was vacated for a while.
Champion: Jennifer Lawrence Reign: 2012-2017
What can I say about Jennifer Lawrence that I haven't already said on this blog? Well for starters, I probably wouldn't have seen her in X-Men:First Class if it wasn't for the sub-plot about the Cuban Missile Crisis. She looked so different in that it's as if it was filmed five years before The Hunger Games. It's kind of strange to think she was "cute" once.
The other thing I can say is that I didn't get tired of her "act" as some people have. I don't agree with everything she says or does, but it bothered me how quickly the wave of public opinion turned from "She's unrefined and relatable. I love her!" to "She's immature and overrated. I hate her!" It's true what they say, they build you up just to tear you down.
J-Law has taken some blows (some self-inflicted) but she's got more staying power than anyone on this list - with the possible exception of Kristen Bell. I'm amazed that she's only in her twenties; there's still so much ahead for her.
That said, she did lose a bit of zip off her fastball by 2017, just enough for the Crush crown to be claimed by..
Champion: Taryn Southern Reign: 2017
I'll admit, I was about eight years late to the party with Taryn. I spent all of '17 catching up, only to find out she's not fun anymore. It's probably for the best. She's too damn stunning to be that funny and chill.
Before I get to the current champion here's a Southern song that sort of fits the occasion:
I say "sort of" because I'm not the stalker type. Also, the irony of this track is delicious. Anyway...this post has been long enough, yes? Let's get to current events here. In 2018 I wasn't as focused on any one in particular as I was in '17. Kristen Bell held off Katherine McNamara and Melissa Benoist mostly on reputation and personality -- which went a long way toward awarding the Championship belt to..
Champion: Anna Kendrick
Reign: 2019-
I've mentioned this before, but I like Anna for a lot of the same reasons I like Kristen. There have been times when the belt was awarded to a smoldering, statuesque blonde but overall it often stays with a woman who has talent, personality, and an approachable attractiveness. Could Kendrick hold on to the belt into 2020 and beyond? Sure. Then again, maybe Kristen or Jen will reclaim the crown. Maybe Brie Larson wrestles it away from AK. Maybe I will outgrow this whole charade altogether. Lol..not likely :)
If any of you read this incredibly long post, I hope you enjoyed it. My next post won't be for a few days but it will be a contest! Anyone who comments on this one will automatically be entered, as a reward for reading all the way to the end. So share your thoughts and stories about your favorite celebrities for a chance to win some free cards!
A few weeks ago Gavin offered up some surplus customs for trade. I was happy to take a few off his hands.. but what I really wanted were originalBaseball Card Breakdown creations.
I had received a "Pretty Girls" mini in a previous trade package and was hoping he could whip up a few of my favorites. The Allen & Ginter set is a nice one, but I never really sought them out due to their size (I can never find Ultra-pro pages that fit non-traditional cards.)
Gavin indicated that this template was kind of a tough one anyhow, and so Itried to make his work a little easier. I made a list of six famous ladies I like, e-mailed him a few pictures to choose from, and gave him one design element request for these Pretty Girls cards:
fairly basic, borderless design...but with "Pretty Girls" written in ribbon/cursive at the top left and the first name written in the same style
Naturally, I went with Jennifer Lawrence as card #1. Around this time last year I spent actual money on Hunger Games cards just to have her in my collection. (retailers like Dave and Adam's are practically giving those cards away.)
This is not a new picture of Jennifer (I miss her long locks) but it is my favorite of all-time. I'm thrilled that Gavin chose it for the front photo.
The card backs feature a second photo...
Gavin wrote the text on all of these. I had thought about writing some myself but his reputation and knowledge speaks for itself. Also, these are in Card Savers because I didn't want to smudge the ink; Gav warned me about it and I didn't take the cards out of the sleeves, but a tiny bit of text did start to smudge (on other cards, not this one.)
Kristen Bell is a mutual favorite of ours. I have a couple Kristen cards in my collection but Gavin has a much, much better one.
Here's a look at the back. As is the case with Jennifer, I've seen all of the films/shows mentioned.
If you've heard of Katherine McNamara before, there's at least a 65% chance it's because of this blog.I adore this young actress (and she's quite a good signer, too.)
The photo Gavin chose for the back is probably my favorite. I really hope that Shadowhunters helps her land some more significant film/TV roles in the future.
Batting cleanup in this set is Supergirl star Melissa Benoist.
She's another multi-talented actress who can sing better than most chart-topping pop stars. Glee never interested me, but I wouldn't say no to seeing her perform as Carole King in the Broadway hit Beautiful.
Melissa is featured in the Cryptozoic Supergirltrading card set(no autographs though). I picked up one card on COMC and might grab some more before the end of the month.
When I made my request for six custom cards (eight, counting some MusiCards you'll see in a future post) I told Gavin that he didn't have to make all six, if he was too busy or I was asking for too much of him (I've got a complex, what can I say?) The first four would have been fine with me, but he had no problem fulfilling my entire order. And so, we have card number five...
Here's another under-the-radar actress that might make you say "Who?"
Britt Robertson first caught my attention in Under The Dome..and then I forgot about her (I haven't seen her in anything mentioned in this text) until I heard about a film called Ask Me Anything, where she plays...a blogger. I really want to see that someday - if I can ever find it. I'd also like to get my hands on one of these Under The Dome autographed cards. They're not cheap though.
Until then, I'll try to catch Britt in the Shonda Rhimes legal drama For The People.
Rounding out the "original six" we have my dream girl Anna Kendrick..
...and by "dream girl" I mean that she has literally appeared in my dreams. This photo was featured in that dream journal post, wherein I alluded to a potential card connection.
I hadn't noticed until this card, but Gavin used different colors for each name. The black really pops here, and it matches this photo perfectly. I read a preview page of Scrappy Little Nobody and I'm making a mental note to read the whole thing. (now that I've just typed it out, it's not a mental note..)
As I said, I offered to trim this list down to four. Gavin's response was to suggest I add three more to the list, so I'd have enough to fill a 9-pocket page. Sounds good to me!
In the seven spot I chose yet another talented signer, Victoria Justice. She's been featured on this blog - and on a trading card - before.
I don't care what anyone says, Victoria is the most talented and strikingly beautiful Nickelodeon alum ever..and this is coming from a guy who straight-up obsessed over Amanda Bynes back in the day. So... when Gavin gave me the option to choose three more Pretty Girls subjects, I had to think a little bit. This time last year Taryn Southern would have been right at the top of the list - which is why I commissioned Corky to produce a 4-card set of Southern singles.
Did I need another custom card of her? I suppose not. But I'm very happy to add this one to my collection. I didn't have a lot of photos to choose from, but this outdated close-up looks fantastic. Taryn has one of the most perfect faces I've ever seen. That smile..my god.
The back features another classic pic. Oh hey, I just though of an idea..what if Taryn and Victoria played partners in a police or courtroom drama? It would be called Southern Justice..lol. No mention of her latest album I Am A.I. but Corky's cards covered that.
The ninth and final card in the set is someone who has just recently landed on my radar. College sports fans probably know Laura Rutledge better than I do; I've only seen her a few times on SportsCenter and Get Up. (Didn't realize they were the same person at first. But when I did...)
Gavin appears to be more familiar with her work, possibly due to her San Diego connections?
She's a beauty queen and a sports personality. Who's the lucky bastard that got to wife her up?
That would be former Rockies and Red Sox infielder Josh Rutledge. Now I have husband and wife in my collection.
Gavin, thank you very much for these fantastic customs! I'm thrilled to add them to my growing custom card stash.
Last week Blowout Cards had a 4th of July special with discounted prices on all kinds of products. I've been dying to bust open some packs/boxes, so I did some window shopping. There was a whole row of old school basketball boxes, from as far back as 1992-93. 2018 Topps baseball was available at a reasonable price, and the best deal might have been a 72-card hanger box of 2012 Topps Football ..for $1.76!
All of that caught my eye, but not as much as a pre-order product: 2018 Cryptozic Supergirl cards.
Scheduled to hit stores next week
As some of you know, I've got a side PC of Women on Cards. It would be ideal to place them in my collection based on their abilities in sports or entertainment (even politics) and I do so whenever possible. But...sometimes I like adding cards of attractive women because they're attractive women. I feel a little guilty about that - hence the title of this post.
So, here's the thing...I don't watch Supergirl. I've seen a few minutes of it here and there, because I happen to think that Melissa Benoist is incredibly cute. But I'm not a superhero guy. Never got into DC Comics or Marvel or any of that. The lady at the local comic book shop knows me as the guy who comes in once a month to buy four packs of penny sleeves (75 cents each!), a pack of Topps baseball (the only sports cards they sell), and a Mountain Dew.
No, of course not. That would be silly. A pack or two..maybe. And even then I'd feel guilty because I could have used that $6 or so to buy baseball cards. Having said that, I always get excited when I see a celebrity I like on a trading card. It doesn't happen often.
Jennifer Lawrence appears a dozen times in the Hunger Games card set(s) as Katniss Everdeen. I mentioned those in a previous post. Zero guilt here. My wife knows I'm a big J-Law fan, though lately I've had a hard time reminding myself why. Old loyalties die hard I s'pose. If anything, the 'guilty pleasure' here is the fact that I enjoy teen/YA stories.
Kristen Bell is another longtime fave. Wifey rolled her eyes when I first started watching Veronica Mars - she saw right through my excuse. But a few weeks later, we were both fans of the show and Kristen. It was her idea to go see the Veronica Mars movie in theaters, and she probably watches more of Kristen's late-night interviews than I do.
I don't feel guilty for picking out these promo cards on COMC, and I doubt it would be an issue if I plunked down $25 or so on an autographed K-Bell card...which I don't have to worry about, since they sell for about five times that!
Taryn Southern might have appeared on American Idol cards had she made it farther in the competition. But then she probably wouldn't have done musical comedy on YouTube and I wouldn't have had any interest in her. I didn't feel guilty about asking Corky to make custom Taryn cards for me..sending them to her TTM wasn't a great feeling, though.
I don't consider Taryn a guilty pleasure - for two reasons. One, because she is/was genuinely funny (and I love funny women.) And two, even though she is probably the closest anyone has ever come to my idea of an absolutely perfect woman.. she doesn't produce interesting content anymore. She's all about science and technology and gadgets that will accelerate the downfall of civilization. Plus she's engaged to a gazillionaire who built a fortune on such things. Bye, Felicia.
Aaaand now we're back to guilty pleasures. Allow me to explain how I became a (casual) Katherine McNamara fan. I was writing a young adult novel a couple years ago when I found a discussion topic called "Make Your Mock Cast" or something similar. I didn't know any teen actors but I knew what my characters looked like. And my female protagonist looked a lot like Kat. So I went with it. I browsed her IMDB page, saved a couple pics in a "Mock cast" folder (along with some male actors such as Logan Lerman and Alex Pettyfer) and that was that.
Until she did Shadowhunters. I decided to check her out in the first episode. It wasn't my thing - too supernatural I s'pose. So I didn't watch another episode.. until an article on ESPNW caught my eye. It discussed her training for the show. Is that the same girl? I thought. She looks buff!
I'm a huge fan of gingers anyway (Molly Quinn comes to mind) and now that Kat was a little more grown-up I decided to give Shadowhunters a second chance. And I dig it.
Wifey watched a minute of the first episode with me, after I explained why I wanted to see it. She knew Kat was on my radar a bit - for creative purposes only - and she, too, dismissed Shadowhunters as too weird.
I never told her I started watching it again. I feel guilty about that. (Btw, Shadowhunters and Supergirl were on at the same time during the spring.)
One more thing...there is a trading card set for Shadowhunters:The Mortal Instruments.
The movie version. No disrespect to Lily Collins but I'm not chasing these any time soon. If the TV series gets its own card set however...I'm going to buy a box. I'm going to chase a KatMac auto, and I'm going to tell my wife it was a box of Stadium Club baseball ;-)
Do you watch any "guilty pleasure" TV shows? Do you have any "guilty pleasure" cards in your collection? Share with the group - we're all friends here!
