Monday, October 14, 2024

Album Playthrough Project September 2024

What a great month of album listening! I found a groove and a good time to get some listening in.  First thing in the morning has turned out to be a really good time to get in most if not all of an album while I am getting ready for the day.  At least, it seems to have worked well this month.  We will see as we enter the fourth quarter of the year.  I hope you enjoy the music I enjoyed (mostly) last month!  

You Can Tune a Piano, but You Can't Tuna Fish (1978) REO Speedwagon 9/3/24
Hotel California (1976) Eagles 9/3/24
1984 (1984) Van Halen 9/6/24
Flesh & Blood (1990) Poison 9/6/24
Guts (Spilled) (2024) Olivia Rodrigo 9/7/24
The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess 2023 Chappell Roan 9/9/24
emails i can't send (2022) Sabrina Carpenter 9/10/24
Fine Line (2019) Harry Styles 9/10/24
Under a Blood Red Sky remastered 2023 (2023) U2 9/10/24

Born in the USA (1984) Bruce Springsteen 9/11/24
Whenever We Wanted (1991) John Mellencamp 9/11/24
October Road (2000) James Taylor 9/11/24
Tuesday Night Music Club (1993) Sheryl Crow 9/12/24
Ringo (1973) Ringo Starr 9/12/24
Get Lifted (2005) John Legend 9/14/24
Beneath the Skin (2015) Of Monsters and Men 9/16/24
Fear (1991) Toad the Wet Sprocket 9/16/24
Sister Sweetly (1993) Big Head Todd and the Monsters 9/16/24
New Jersey (1988) Bon Jovi 9/19/24
Hozier (2014) Hozier 9/18/24
Trouble (2008) Ray Montagne 9/18/24
Deeper Well (2024) Kasey Musgraves 9/19/24
Sound and Color (2015) Alabama Shakes 9/20/24
Streetlight Serenade (1974) Billy Joel 9/21/24
Music (2021) Sia 9/23/24
The Black Album (Metallica) (1991) Metallica 9/23/24
Unorthodox Jukebox (2012) Bruno Mars 9/24/24
Because of the Times (2007) Kings of Leon 9/24/24
Nothing to Lose (2024) Hollow Cove 9/24/24
PourIt Out Into the Night (2023) The Revivalists 9/24/24
White Blood Cells (2001) The White Stripes, Jack White 9/25/24
Stereopathetic Soulmanure (1994) Beck 9/25/24
Only God Was Above Us (2024) Vampire Weekend 9/26/24
Gold Rush Kid (2022) George Ezra 9/27/24
Hardwired Mixtape (2018) Hailey Knox 9/28/24
Moonstone EP (2020) Raveena 9/28/24
The Classic Roy Orbison (1966) Roy Orbison 9/29/24
Live Trax Vol. 44: The Gorge amphitheatre (2017) Dave Matthews Band 9/28/24
In My Tribe (1987) 10,000 Maniacs 9/28/24

Best Listen of the Month: Only God Was Above Us, Vampire Weekend

Biggest Surprise: In My Tribe, 10,000 Maniacs
Don't get me wrong, I loved this album back in the day, but whoa, it still hits today.

Biggest Disappointment: Music, Sia
It was okay. She should stick to Christmas music. Her songs are pretty enjoyable in that season.

Still Resonates Today: The Black Album, Metallica
Dude. This album rocks in 2024 like it did in 1991. And it will in 2054.

Favorite Newbie: The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, Chappell Roan

Best Concert Memory: Mixtape, Hailey Knox
Caught her show at a local tavern on St. Patrick's Day in 2019. Passionate about her music!
Perfect Moment to Listen: Under a Blood Red Sky, U2
Something about these guys always seems to be the right time.

Most Fun: Stereopathetic Soulmanure, Beck
He knows sound, and boy, does he play with it in his first album. Not an album to relax with.

Monday, October 7, 2024

2024 Reading/Viewing Stats 1st - 3rd Quarters

The summer has come to a close and Autumn has arrived.  I got some really good Dungeons and Dragons and DragonLance reading in this last quarter.  I also hit the comic magazines this last quarter bringing tons of entertainment and great storytelling.  I am not super pumped with the movie and streaming offerings, so I consumed lots of sports from MLB, Olympics, WNBA, NASCAR, and the NFL.  Once again, I am disappointed in the amount of podcast listening I did.  There is tons of content out there that I am missing out on.  I still haven't found a short story book that catches my attention.  
I have also been dedicating time to my Album Playthrough Project which I don't record here, but you can follow my progress in monthly posts that begin with this post in January.  

Here is what I've consumed in the first three quarters of 2024:  

Movies Watched: 10
Rewatch: 4
First time: 6
In Theater: 1

TV Series (streamed): 116
Rewatch: 44
First Time: 72

Podcasts episodes: 35
Time listened: 1,435 minutes

Books Read: 17
Fiction: 16
Non-Fiction: 1
Pages read: 3,777

Audiobooks: 1
Fiction: 2
Non-Fiction:
Hours listened: 8:39

Books Abandoned: 2
Fiction: 2
Non-Fiction:
Pages read: 258

Short Stories read:
Pages read:

Comic Books read: 181
Print: 115
Digital: 66

Book Titles:
Dragons of Spring Dawning: Dragonlance Chronicles Volume III
Star Wars: Dark Disciple by Christie Golden
Mandalorian: The Manga adapted by Yusuke Osawa
Numb to This: Memoir of a Mass Shooting by Kindra Neely (Graphic Novel)
#MurderTrending (abandoned)
Salt to the Sea by Rural Sepetys
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Cable: Conquest (Graphic Novel)
Monsters Born and Made by Tanvi Berwah
Superman: For All Seasons by Jeff Loeb (Graphic Novel)
Dungeons and Dragons: A Druid's Call by E.K. Johnston
Spells for Lost Things by Jenna Evans Welch (abandoned)
Star Wars: Inquisitor Rise of the Red Blade by Delilah Dawson (audio)
Batman: Hush by Jeof Loeb (Graphic Novel)
Lord of the Fly Fest by. (abandoned)
Transformers Vols 1-6 (Graphic Novel)
Cat + Gamer vol. 1 (Manga)
Dungeons and Dragons SpellJammer: Memories Wake by Django Wexler
Classic DragonLance: Dragons of Eternity, DragonLance Destinies: Vol. 3 by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Conan the Barbarian: Vol. 1 Bound in Black Stone by Jim Zub

Movies Watched:
Solo: A Star Wars Story
The Marvels
Elvis
Hamilton
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
Godzilla minus one
Big
Deadpool
Deadpool 2
Deadpool and Wolverine

TV Streamed Series and Documentaries:
Marvel's What If...
X-Men animated season 2
The Crown season 5
Echo season 1
Resistance season 2
Voltron
X-Men animated season 3
Bad Batch season 3
X-Men 97
Percy Jackson and the Olympians season 1
Heroes Journey the making of Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Star Wars: Tales of the Empire
Wednesday season 1
Star Wars: Visions season 2
Taylor Swift Eras Tour
Assembled: The Making of X-Men 97
American Pickers
Star Wars: The Acolyte
I Woke Up a Vampire
Batman: Caped Crusader
Rings of Power season 2

Podcasts:
Song Exploder (8)
Teachers in the Dungeon (3)
Rebel Base Card Podcast (5)
Untapped Mana (2)
Coffee with Kenobi (2)
Business Wars (6)
All Songs Considered (2)
60 Songs that Explain the 90's (7)
The Colby Cast (2)

Sunday, October 6, 2024

Topps Bunt Community - Paying It Forward

The first week of October when the Major League Baseball playoffs began an unusual thing happened on my Topps Bunt app.  See, my profile picture on the app is the Detroit Tigers "Old English D."  I am supporting my second favorite team, but my favorite in the playoffs.  Suddenly, I started getting unbalanced trades by 4 or 5 different people on the opening day of the Wildcard games.  When I say unbalanced, I mean unbalanced in my favor.  These people started sending me Tigers cards out of the blue with "Go Tigers!"  messages.  They weren't sending base cards; they were sending common and uncommon cards.  How fun!  It really made my day.  

I don't know.  I thought this was an amazing little trend, so I paid it forward and a sent whole bunch of my Tigers doubles to those who have the "Old English D" on their profile.  As the games continue through the playoffs, I plan to do this with fans of other teams.

Let's take this random act and pass it on in the other card apps.  Take a look at someone's profile and ship off unwanted dupes that match team or character of their profile.  This, by the way, isn't a trade you send to get something, just ask for a random base card.  Let that person know that you are celebrating their team or character.