Album Playthrough Project: June 2024

I am a little embarrassed with my list of albums listened to in June.  It seemed like it would be a great month for me to sit down and listen, but it seems my life picked up in the summer.  Anyway, here are the albums in which I intentionally listened.  

Shake Your Money Maker (1990) Black Crowes 6/2/24
INXS Kick (1987) INXS 6/10/24
Night Service: Live at LunAtico (2024) Jon Lampley 6/29/24
Beginnings (2017) Bruce Harris 6/29/24
True Design (2020) Giveton Gelin 6/29/24

Best Memories: Kick, INXS-

80's cool

Biggest Surprise: Night Service: Live at LunAtico, Jon Lampley -

Cool Jazz right off the stage of Late Night with Stephen Colbert!

Biggest Disappointment: I didn't choose Shake Your Money Maker as best memories -

Great album, great band, but it didn't have as much of an overall impact today as INXS. Might be different tomorrow.

Listened to Over and Over: Night Service: Live at LunAtico, Jon Lampley -

It might be the album that sabotaged my listening in June! I'm listening right now.

For a description of the Album Playthrough Project, click here

February

March

April  

May

Balancing Act of Life

If you've ever walked through a school building in the summer when students are on break, it can really look like a mess.  Work that needs to be done on the building always waits for the summer months so it doesn't interrupt student learning.  Yearly maintenance like stripping and waxing the floors takes place so the school looks its best when students return.  

What all of this means is that classrooms are packed up and moved to the hallways for waxing and other maintenance.  It is a feat stacking and balancing to take the contents of a classroom out of the room and fit it into the hall in a short amount of time.  

I encountered a stack of desks that caught my attention recently.  I had to stop and take a good look to see how many desks were in a stack that was in front of me (see picture).  I couldn't help but think of the balance and work it took to stack all of these and how that can be related to life.  Sometimes we are taken out of our comfort zone to balance a lot in our lives.  It may seem impossible.  It may seem hopeless to tackle.  It may seem like a tangled mess.  But if we approach all of the things we need to do from our 9 to 5 jobs, spouses/significant others, to taking care of children, maybe caring for a parent or spouse, fulfilling our own lives with our hobbies and social activities, it can really add up.  Like those who stacked these desks, if we really look at our tasks and responsibilities and try to balance them, we can make it work.  We also need to realize that maybe it is too much!  There is a ceiling after all.  

Anyway, I hope when things seem to be piling up, we can think of the desks in the hallways of a school in the summer.  We can stack them in a well-balanced way to make it all work out or say no to a few things to make it all balance out.  

P.S. I believe there are 5 desks per stack.  Nice work to our custodial and maintenance staff for their balancing and their amazing work to make our schools look awesome at the beginning of the year and all year long.  

American Pickers: I can't stop watching

I don't watch much television, because I always feel guilty for the time it seems to waste. But when I swing by the History Channel and see American Pickers it on, I can't walk away.  For those who haven't ever watched the show, here is an explanation from the American Pickers website: 

The American Pickers are on a mission to recycle America, even if it means diving into countless piles of grimy junk or getting chased off a gun-wielding homeowner’s land. Hitting back roads from coast to coast, the Pickers earn a living by restoring forgotten relics to their former glory, transforming one person’s trash into another’s treasure. The show follows the team as they scour the country for hidden gems in junkyards, basements, garages and barns, meeting quirky characters and hearing their amazing stories. If you think the antique business is all about upscale boutiques and buttoned-up dealers, this show may change your mind – and teach you a thing or two about American history along the way.

The hunt is what draws me in.  I enjoy the history that the hosts share as they are picking.  In particular they have an affinity for bicycles, motorcycles, cars, advertising and toys.  Their passion and knowledge of these items is really fun to see.   

Watching them negotiate with the owners of this "junk" is a lesson alone.  I feel that they are super fair in their offers especially knowing they have to resell the items they find.  I like when a seller offers too little for something of significant value, the hosts will tell them that they aren't offering enough, and they will make a fair offer that is higher than the seller's original.  I love this honest bartering.  

American Pickers never disappoints me.  I never feel that it is wasted time watching TV when the show is on, because I am entertained and I feel that I learn a little along the way.  

Album Playthrough Project: May 2024

I have been thinking about how the Album Playthrough project will advance when 2025 comes about.  When listening to a John Mellencamp album this month, the next phase of the Album Playthrough project came to me!  I will share more details about that as 2025 gets closer, but it will have to do with a deep dive into an artist's career.  

May was a good month around here.  The weather was great (mostly), and I had some good times exploring more albums.  

Here are the albums I listened to in May: 

Do you want More? (2021) The Roots 5/1/24
But Seriously... (1989) Phil Collins 5/3/24
Nostalgia Kills (2018) Jill Sobule 5/7/24
Hold My Home (2014) Cold War Kids 5/7/24
Crying (1962) Roy Orbison 5/7/24
Traveling Wilburys, Vol.1 (1988) Traveling Wilburys 5/8/24
Highway 61 Revisited (1965) Bob Dylan 5/8/24
St.Vincent Broken man
Hit Me Hard and Soft (2024) Billie Eilish 5/17/24
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2018 Various
artists 5/23/24
Hamilton (2015) Original Broadway Cast 5/24/24
III Communication (1994) Beastie Boys 5/24/24
Wanted On Voyage (2014) George Ezra 5/28/24
Big Daddy (1989) John Mellencamp 5/31/24

Best Memories: Traveling Wilbury's -

All-Star musicians, unforgettable

Biggest Surprise: Hold My Home, Cold War Kids -

I knew most of these songs and didn't even know it was the Cold War Kids!

Biggest Disappointment: Do you want More? The Roots -

Just wasn't what I was expecting.

Best Staying Power: III Communication, Beastie Boys -

C'mon! Still relevant and I wanted to turn it up and roll down the windows, in my Honda Pilot. :)

Listened to Over and Over: Hamilton -

Who doesn't want our forefathers to seem that cool and what great bass lines in that music!

For a description of the Album Playthrough Project, click here

February

March

April  

Top 3 Topps Digital Cards of 2024 so far

When it comes to Seeking Positivity in the Galaxy, trading cards are way up there as things that just make me happy.  While I am a bit of a completist, I never feel the need to have the best or most expensive cards.  I am perfectly happy with a fist full or phone full of cool base cards.  

With that said, I would like to share my Top 3 Topps Digital cards of 2024, so far.  One card from each digital platform from which I collect: Star Wars Card Trader, Topps Bunt, and Marvel Collect.  Since I do like to compete sets that I start, I normally just collect one at a time, or one weekly and one ongoing set.  This  year that has really been a challenge since all three platforms have pumped out some really great sets with original art or photos.  Anyway, here are my Top 3 cards from each platform from the first four months of the year.  

Star Wars Card Trader

The Client from the Topps Star Wars Masterwork set, Wave 1 - Tools and Technology Medallions - Chrome Purple, Epic, 237 Global Count

Medallion cards are always cool but in print cards, they never fit into nine pocket binder sleeves because they are too thick.  However, in the digital world, that is never a worry.  The Beskar Ingot looks great in this card with a gold title at the top of the card and the image of the Client on the left hand side of the ingot.  It looks really sharp.  

Topps Bunt

Ken Griffey Jr. from the Celebration of The Kid 24, Series 1 - Team Color Signature, Iconic, 382 Global Count

I was so excited to see this set as I was a huge fan of Griffey Jr. in the 1990s.  Even after I sold my print baseball collection, I kept a binder with the cards of my favorite players.  Griffey Jr. is one of those players.  He was a positive, influential player who always seemed to have a smile on his face.  So when this set was released, I went crazy collecting it.  I didn't end up completing the set, but I did get this really cool card though.  I really enjoy autograph cards, and who doesn't want one of The Kid?  

Marvel Collect

Wolverine from the welcome event with the new 2024 base set of cards.  N/A Global Count

No, I am not crazy, and yes, I chose a free card from a "welcome to the new set" event.  Each of these cards are technically stand alone, but there are seven cards to receive as you work your way through the event.  Maybe I am X-Men 97 crazy, but this Wolverine card (and all of them, really) is so sharp and colorful.  They look great, and whenever Wolverine is featured on a "sharp" card like this, you better choose it as your top card, bub.    

Album Playthrough Project: April 2024

The Album Playthrough Project 2024 continues.  April was a light month for full album listen-throughs for me, but there was one album that got lots of play...over and over and over.  It may be obvious which one that is by looking at the list.  I also did lots of listening to playlists where I dug up some forgotten artists and some new artists I plan to give a full listen to the albums in the upcoming months.  

I hope to get back to more album playthroughs in May, but I lose my Friday nights to the live Dave Matthews concert series on the Dave Matthews channel on Sirus XM satellite radio.  

Here is the April List of Albums:  

Ammonia Avenue (1984) Alan Parsons Project 4/13/24
American Town (2000) Five for Fighting 4/17/24
The Tortured Poets Department (2024) Taylor Swift 4/19/24
1989 Taylors version (2023) Taylor Swift 4/20/24
Odelay! (1996) Beck 4/27/24
Scaled and Icy (2021) Twenty-One Pilots 4/27/24

Best Memories: American Town, Five for Fighting 

Biggest Disappointment:  Ammonia Avenue, Alan Parsons Project

Best New to Me (and the world): The Tortured Poets Department, Taylor Swift

For a description of the Album Playthrough Project, click here

February

March

Free Comic Book Day: Top Stories previewed

Free Comic Book Day has come and gone and the large pile of free comic books has been following me around room-to-room as I read them.  Also in that pile are some comics and a graphic novel I purchased at my Local Comic Shop (LCS) that day.  Most of the Free Comic Book Day books are previews to series or storylines that are upcoming, while some offer a side story glimpse of a current run.  This is a look at my post before FCBD where you will find books that I was looking forward to reading.  Interestingly, two of the three books below were on my pre-FCBD list.  

Here are three books that preview some really fun and cool-looking stories: 

"Target: Peter Parker" and "Forgotten Mavels:" 

Target: Peter Parker has Peter and his date attacked by pizza parlor animatronic band animals.  When
Spider-Man shows up, he discovers that the animals are trying to warn him that, "you are his target."  The animatronic animal is shut down by Norman Osborne.  Norman concludes this little preview of things to come by saying on the last panel, "...it looks like we got here just in time."   In the Forgotten Marvels, we have Captain America, Iron Man, and Doctor Doom working together!  They infiltrate an archive of oddities when they are attached by H.A.N.D agents.  In the battle, Cap apparently finds their target, lights a Molotov cocktail, and throws it to a standing burned-out corpse.  When it explodes into flame, the corpse comes to life as the Human Torch.  Say what??  I'm sold.  

Archie Horror Presents The Cursed Library Prelude: 

Jinx Holliday, the daughter of Satan, is telling horror stories from the library in which she sits to a tied-up mummy of some sort.  There are some familiar faces, kind of, like Betty Cooper, Archie Andrews,
Jughead Jones and Veronica Lodge.  It's creepy, but it looks like a ton of fun.  

Conan: Battle of the Black Stone:  

Writer Jim Zub brings his A-game to writing what can be a complex character with tons of history.  This preview introduces the idea of a Conan story to fit into a "universe" with many of, the original creator, Robert E. Howard's other famous characters like Solomon Kane, James Allison, and Dark Agnes.  There is a description of this universe called the Howardverse at the back of the book.  But, the action revolves around Conan battling invaders.  When he topples a massive foe, he discovers a signet stone around the neck of the adversary which rips open memories he had buried deep.  It seems Conan has discovered the Black Stone which will link him to many of Howard's other characters.  Stay tuned and hold on, this seems to be quite a ride.