Happy Birthday

I just announced major changes at the blog so my first post after that is finding something interesting on someone else's blog, getting an idea at 10pm, quickly rushing around to scan everything and getting a nice little caffeine buzz to help me write the post. So basically what I've been doing for years. Tonight we have a package from Captain Canuck.

PRETTY PINK PRINCESS PONIEZ

So basically I told Canuck that I was way overdue in sending him cards so he was not to send me any more cards period I really mean it don't do it. So, he sent me this instead. Which honestly I liked better than cards. My daughter already has this coloring but but now I have one. Mine! All Mine! To color just the way I like! Yay! I think I shall color Cap'n Canook's favorite pone first:

Rainbow Brite. I feel ok with posting this package finally because the cards I've had put aside for Canuck are finally inside of a bubble mailer and ready to mail as soon as I fill out the customs form. With a little bit of luck (ie. if I don't sleep 'till 2pm tomorrow) I'll have it in the mail along with a few other packages. 

The other reason I feel compelled to post this is because apparently it's Dick Perez' birthday today! Happy Birthday Dick! I wish I could paint pictures of ballplayers half as good as Dick Perez. The reason this is at all relevant in a post about a pony coloring book is that Canuck very deviously snuck this card into the book in express disregard for my 'no cards' request. 

1982 Donruss Diamond King Phil Niekro autographed by Perez. Ok Canuck, you get a pass this time. Not much to say about this other than it's amazing. The '82 DK set is one of the best subsets ever made and here's my favorite Pre-Chipper Brave. Signed by the artist! This painting really speaks to me now that I'm trying to be an artist myself. One thing it says is: Cap logos are hard. Shoot, caps period are hard. I hate drawing caps. So this is a hell of a thing to sneak in a coloring book, eh? But wait there's more. 

Eeyup. Murphy too. In the grand pantheon of Braves cards going back over 130 years, this card right here might be in the top 10. If you know of 10 other Braves cards nicer looking than this one, I'd like to see 'em. And look at that cap! PERFECT. Oh hey, what's this here wedged in between the Fluttershy picture and the Pinkie Pie word search? 

OH HAI JOHN SMOLTZ. Yeah Canuck sent three of these signed cards. With another perfect cap! He really is the best Braves card blogger ever. I almost feel bad for bipping him wi- oh, um. Nevermind. No bipping in his package! Happy Birthday Dick and may Canuck's Man U win this week. (they'll win anyway but hey it's the thought that counts)

Some COMC swag

Swag means something different nowadays from what it meant when I was a kid but oh well.

Every 8 months or so I get drunk and spend a Jackson over on Check Out My Cards. This happened once again a couple of weeks ago. Someone on Twitter mentioned there were cheap Rickey Henderson rookies on COMC, I checked it out, started wandering about the site, found a card I had to have or ELSE and ended up picking out a handful of cardboard to have shipped to my house. A combination of busyness and confusion and procrastination has left me with a death of ideas for posting (well, other than the dozens of posts stuck in my draft folder) so let's go ahead and show them off. To go with Rainbow Dash, here's a...

Rainbow Medlen. Twilight Diamond Sparkle, Transmogrifier Set parallel and Liquorfractor. Instant Meds Rainbow Starter Set. Of course now I need to track down the Gold border, Black border, Blue Sparkle and any other weird parallels that are out there but I'm off to a good start at least!

Old School Heritage and New School Ponies - Part 2

Ok, so the inclusion of Pretty Party Ponies in the last 1963 Topps card post was apparently a hit, so I'm going to blatantly pander to you all and include ponies in every post. Aren't you excited!!!

Here's another '63 Topps card I bought instead of a pack of 2012 Heritage.

Augh! A Cub! I must make fun of Cubs right now because I am angry because I can't see 75% of Braves games on Atlanta TV but every friggin Cubs game is on WGN  and I have a Deep Dark Cub Secret I have delayed in admitting to in public. Hint: eventually I'll have to post another video on Youtube. Three things I really like about this card:

1/88th of a 1963 Topps first series set
That freaky blank stare cubbie logo amuses me.
DEM GLASSES

Oddity: of the 4 green-bordered cards I got in this '63 Binge this is the only one with a yellow circle for the inset photo. I'm too lazy to go check my set to see how uncommon that is, but I like the combo.

1965 Topps Yankees Team

"But I have to charge $50 for it, that's an original Mickey Mantle card!"

"It's a team card."

"But look! HE'S RIGHT THERE"

(yes i have had this conversation before)

Sketch Card #16 - 20% Cooler

OK! I've completely trainwrecked my Card Show posts, I have about 15 art projects to do, I'm blowing off some work I have to catch up on, and my wife is not going to be happy if I'm up until 3AM again on the internet. Let's do a sketch card post. Why not! Today's card went to The Cardboard Don whose blog is still called My Past Time... I Love It! on my blogroll because 411 blogs on one blogroll is apparently too many and it's gone all higglety pigglety. So I really need to work on transferring active blogs over to the new one too. More procrastination for me!

The Don often throws up trade bait on the blog to lure in trading partners. The man trades more than NASDAQ. A few months ago he offered up a pile of 70-71 Topps Game Inserts so I sent over some Marlins in exchange. Did I mention The Don loves his fishies? As a Braves fan I have less than favorable feelings toward the Florida Miami franchise, especially since they have two World Championships since we won our last one. Without winning the division even once! HOW?!

I have to admit the franchise is entertaining, even though they only get about three dozen fans in attendance each game. I mean, just look at what they have planned for this upcoming season:

And you thought putting Ozzie Guillen, Hanley Ramirez, Jose Reyes, Logan Morrison and Carlos Zambrano in the same clubhouse was going to be crazy. Not as crazy as whatever the hell that is up there. So what kind of sketch card do you draw for someone who lives in this world? Well, there's only one choice...

Rainbow Dash fits right in with the Miami scene. I drew this about the same time Miami released their new logo and uniforms. Which are terrible. Just AWFUL. Oh Mah Gawd, it looks like a minor league  Baseketball uniform. BUT... Since I have been sucked into the Cult of Pownay I've tried to look at things in a more positive light. It's very easy to run around yelling "EVERYTHING STINKS". No matter the subject, if you take that attitude, you will end up being correct most of the time. Trying to find the good in things is harder. Trying to find the good in something horrible is a challenge! Challenge accepted! I took a long hard look at the Miami franchise and looked for the good in it. Here's what I came up with:

The Marlins have never beat out my Braves for the Division title.
The LoMo/Ozzie Tweet War is going to be EPIC.
Big fishie looks pretty.
Did you know Jeffrey Loria wrote a book about Snoopy?
The Hanley/Jose on field fracas over who gets to play short is going to make the Thrilla in Manila look like a pillow fight.
And while the new Miami Marlins uniform is hideous, there's one pony who would really like them.

Heck, Dashie might have even had a hand in designing the things.



Here's some special bonus too much personal information about me. I have a soft spot for doing those stupid internet quizzes that tells you your Hobbit name (Drogo Fuzzybutt) Pirate name (Cap'n Chartreusebeard) What Reservior Dog are you (Mr. Pink), Where do you lie on the Political Spectrum (moderate anarchist facist libertarian communist discordian Republican). I've even let the interwebs determine my ultimate date of death (8/16/2032). So I saw a "Which Pony are you?" quiz up in the blogroll and decided to take it. You know, for Science!

I figured I'd probably be Fluttershy since I'm introverted and reserved when I'm not acting the fool online or maybe Pinkie Pie because I love comedy or possibly Twilight Sparkle because I'm a big ol' honkin' Nerd. To my surprise, I ended up being...

This I did not expect. It kinda fits though, in a vague generic horoscope/fortune cookie kinda way. I feel bad about calling her Rainbow Douche for most of Season two now. Speaking of competition, I will be involved in one this weekend. More details to come, assuming I can get Skype to work.

MLP:FIM Season 2 Ep 16

Woooo! It's Saturday morning and I'm not hungover! Much!

Rainbow Dash learns to read today! Hooray for Literacy!

Fluttershy finally gets an episode in season 2! WOOOOOO

An overly excitable fanbase throws their weight around and solves a problem that may or may not have existed in the first place! Wheeeeeee!

It's episode time and I don't have any goofy pony images or drawings to post! Derrrrrrp!

Wooooo! I found a RD drawing I probably haven't posted already!

EPISODE STARTED!

Pinkie is Linda Blair!

RD just busted her ass!

Commercials!

RD is crippled!

Twi makes the squee noise!

Reading is for eggheads! Y U SO DOUCHEY DASHEY??

RD is an egghead now! NOOOOOOOOOO

Indiana Pony!

Wait, is that a Littlest Pet Shop crossover?! WHY DO I KNOW WHAT THAT IS

Battleship is now canon!

Ha! RD loves reading more than her friends!

Time to go Dashie! No socialized medicine in Equestria and your insurance ran out!

TIME TO GO CRAWLING TO TWI, EGGHEAD

NINJADASH

IN YER HOSPITALZ

STEELING YER SLIPPERZ

Barking pony is best pony.

RD admits she's an egghead. Time to go to prison now!

Hooray! RD gets to read the rest of the book!

What the hell is that freaky blue jackal thing anyway? And who is voice actor doing the doctor's voice? I swear I've heard it before.

Spike! Write that letter! I'm too busy REEDING!

(oh yah. spoilers)

Wait... did that tiger have a mace?

MLP:FIM Season 2 Ep 7

Getting this out of the way early.



Ok, Episode 7. Rainbow Douche adopts a pet. Not gonna lie, I've got a Pony hangover right now. Last week's episode was cool. It had Lebowski in it. It was an homage to The Red Shoes. It was funny and silly and my daughter watched it over 9000 times this week. Combine this with a highly stressful week, back pain brought about by stress and a general feeling of ennui and I kinda got a little sick of Pony. Now we got a Rainbow Dash episode. Oy Gevalt. This might be a Strawberry Shortcake blog by tomorrow.

Streams here. I usually go to the Reddit one if I can find it and don't get bumped two minutes before air.

Episode 7 in 30 seconds:

(The girls play at the park with their pets) 

Rainbow Dash: "Howcome you losers all have pets and I don't have nothin?" 

Twilight Sparkle: "Perhaps because you're a selfish lazy slob who could kill a pet rock through neglect?" 

(Pinkie Pie does something random) 

Rainbow Dash: "Ok bitches, which one of you dumb animals is COOOOoooOOOL enough to hang with the D?" 

Animals: "Derp." 

(Fluttershy gets two seconds of screentime and steals the episode) 

Rainbow Dash: "I know! Let's have a race! Because that's the only thing I'm good at!" 

(Race is run) 

(Animal Hasbro wants to sell the most toys of wins)  

Rainbow Dash: "Ohmygosh! I totally did not expect this outcome! I learned a lot about friendship today!" 

(Spike sends a letter to Princess Celestia, exeunt) 

Scootaloo: (runs in after credits wearing a chicken costume and racing shoes) "FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUU....."

Ok, I need cawfee bad, so here's a drawing of squinchy face Rainbow Dash and Plastic Man I drew like, a month and a half ago.

I really need to color Plas, don't I?

Spoilers & Nonsense later now.

FLUTTERSHY SIIIIIIIIIIIINGS!!!!!!!!!


YYEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(so does Rainbow Dash)

Story of my fukkin' life. The Falcon finally wins something and it doesn't matter. I shall adopt that poor rejected Falcon and name him Jesse. Let's go, Hammer! Forget Rainbow Dash!

Jeez, I pretty much nailed the summary of the episode, didn't I?

Rainbow's new pet:



How to choose your pet: put them through a grueling ordeal and the one who lives becomes your property. Oh wait, never mind, I like this critter better. Rainbow Douche in full effect!


Oh and there was Wagner. In My Little Pony. WAGNER. Yeah, this show is for little girls.

1954 Topps Cartoons - #4 Knothole Gang

Yay! Posting before work again! I'm actually up early for once! And full of energy! I guess that happens when you go to bed before 2:30am! Let's have some Vinegar Bend!

His name is Wilmer Mizell, he signs his name David Mizell and everyone but his momma calls him Vinegar Bend. I guess we'll see a cartoon about the fermentation of alcohol by acetic acid bacteria today...

Mizell never touched a baseball until he was sixteen! 


To gain control, he threw at a knothole in a barn door!


It was good practice - but he threw so hard he knocked down the barn door several times!

I like how 16 year old Wilmer is built like a stevedore and is wearing a fedora while he practices throwing a baseball at a barn. Wilmer, er David, um Vinegar Bend was a pretty dang good pitcher for the Cardinals in the '50s, although he missed a couple seasons serving in the Army during '54 and '55. He ended up finishing his career with the '62 Mets, but that wasn't the most incompetent organization he was associated with. Nope, Vinegar Bend went on to become a Congressman, serving North Carolina's 5th district from 1969-1975. After 6 years in Washington the Mets must have seemed like a tightly run ship! Who would you rather have leading you - Casey Stengel or Richard Nixon? Remember kids - if you throw baseballs at a barn door one day you too might be a congressional representative. Or something like that.

Ya know who else knocks down barns....

At the Grand Sticky

The theme song for tonight's sticker post is At The Grand Gala from MLP:FIM Episode 26 "The Best Night Ever":


The voice acting in this show is frigging fantastic.

Now, onto the stickers. Yes, you have to listen to the song while you read the post. Otherwise it will lose all its emotional impact.

Interesting thing about this pack. If the top row quit baseball forever to become the new team of Iron Chefs while the bottom row did the same thing to form the world's first Death Metal Barbershop Quartet Supergroup, not only would I not miss any of them at all, but I think their overall contributions to the Human Experience would increase tenfold. Just my opinion though. (Michael Young is seriously wasting his wonderful singing voice)

No doubles in this pack but three of these fellows are on a truck to Virginia.

Through 15 packs:

Total stickers - 126
Stickers I need - 104
Stickers traded away - 11
Dupes - 11

Percentage complete: 110/309 - 36%

Braves team set - 5/9

I don't get some of these foil team sticker pairings. Indians and Phillies? I guess they both have kinda sorta red team colors. I think this is also my tenth Yunel Escobar sticker. I just keep finding the damn things everywhere. Yunel is the only dupe though and my good luck avoiding the doubles is starting to scare me. My luck will even out eventually and I'll end up with 78 straight packs of complete duplicates.


Through 16 packs:

Total stickers - 132
Stickers I need - 111
Stickers traded away - 11
Dupes - 12

Percentage complete: 118/309 - 38%

Braves team set - 5/9

Oh yeah, here's a PSA for a certain Canadian reader. This is Rainbow DASH.

DASH. Not Rainbow Brite. Or Bright. I was going to post a Rainbow Brite for comparison, but I did an image search for Rainbow Brite with safesearch off and saw things that will never ever be unseen. Goddamnit, internet.

BEHOLD!

STICKAHS!!! 

THREE WHOLE PACKS OF 'EM!!!

LOOKIT MAH FIRST PACK!!!

AND I DIDN'T EVEN POST ANY PONIES THIS TIME!!!

Wait... Aw fffffuuuuuuuuu-

More Lemmers

I might have to rethink this whole binder thing. This thing is a beeyotch to scan and over half the pages are over half empty. I may just have to suck it up and relocate the collection to real binder pages so I can scan and post the collection properly. Here's a 2/3rds filled one with a spiffy Bowman card and a real life Parallel card.

Also, this is for my good friend Dennis:

MARK LEMKE CARDS ON THE INTERWEBS!

yay!

I eagerly await all the the wonderful Brippings! Thanks Bro!(ny)

Update! 

HOLY GUACAMOLE!!!

  THE QUEEN MOTHER OF BIP BOMBS!!!