Album Playthrough Project February Update

As the days pass, I continue to move forward with the Album Playthrough Project.  Below are the albums I listened to throughout February.  I even got in an album on Leap Day!  

I didn't get in as many albums as I had hoped, but quantity isn't the goal with this project, taking time to listen is the goal.  

Dulcinea (1994) Toad the Wet Sprocket 2/1/24
Fear (1991) Toad the Wet Sprocket 2/1/24
World in Motion (1989) Jackson Browne 2/19/24
Four (1994) Blues Traveler 2/20/24
New Orleans, Vol.1 (1977) Preservation Hall Jazz Band 2/21/24
Heart Shaped World (1989) Chris Isaak 2/26/24
International Pop Overthrow 1991 Material Issue 2/29/24
Let the Day Begin (1989) The Call 2/29/24
Lifted (2022) Trombone Shorty 2/29/24

Best Memories:  International Pop Overthrow

Disappointed in:  World in Motion

Best New listen: Lifted

Top 5 Moments of The Bad Batch Season 3 Ep 1-4

 

The return of The Bad Batch in late February brought a feeling of homecoming.  We left this family of soldiers at the end of season two in a state of loss, separation, and desperation.  The excitement of adventure returned with a certain purpose to reunite and continue to make the Empire feel their presence. 

Here are my top 5 moments of the first four episodes: Confined, Paths Unknown, Shadows of Tantiss, A Different Approach.   

5. Any mention of Tech: His presence if felt throughout the first four episodes and I don't believe that will change as season 3 continues.  His impact on all of the characters is clear, but especially with Omega.  She learned a lot about being a clone, a soldier, and herself from conversations she had with him.   In his own way, he had a lot to give beyond his technical expertise and quirks.  I will miss him as the season continues, but something tells me that a return of Crosshair might help to ease that loss. 

4. A visit from the Emperor:  In Shadows of Tantiss, the Emperor shows up to the lab and is "most eager to see the progress" Doctor Hemlock has made.  The thunderstorm that accompanies the arrival is not by accident.  What impresses me and I quickly note the grace and confidence that Hemlock displays in the presence of the Emperor and red helmeted and cloaked guards (I still think these are the most awesome costumes).  Shall we mention Project Necromancer at this point?  It's too chilling to discuss.  

3. Hunter returns the horn of Isa Durand's son:  Upon completing and turning over a Pyke prisoner to Isa Durand, Hunter tosses Roland Durand his missing horn.  This was a highlight for me, because it reminds me that The Bad Batch isn't just good at what they do; they pay attention to the details. They also know that to get the information they need from Isa Durand, they will need every favor they can get.  It is the small things to the Bad Batch, and I look forward to more of that as their story finishes up. 

2. "Did they teach you plan 72?"  This brings up one of the Tech mentions from above, but this demonstrates that Crosshair hasn't lost his edge with strategy.  I also can't imagine that he doesn't think of the others, his friends when he thinks of plan 72.  It also reminds me, with the mention of Tech, that Crosshair doesn't know Tech's fate.  

1. "All right, let's try things your way."  After spending most of the events in episode four following Omega's plans of negotiation and stealth, she and Crosshair find themselves surrounded by Captain Mann's troopers and local guards.  Captain Mann insists on handing over all the credits that she won from him earlier in the episode and surrenders for Hemlock's arrival.  Omega tosses the credits and utters the quote.  I love this because it gives a real sense of Crosshair's return.  It also demonstrates that Omega is willing to trust and work with Crosshair.  Their relationship is strengthened throughout this episode, and this moment is a defining one.  

An honorable mention has to be the conclusion of episode four when the Bad Batch reunites.  There numerous things to mention regarding that scene, but rather than write about it here, just listen to the Coffee with Kenobi podcast episode 731, where host Dan Zehr and I break it down in detail.  

A Picture Filled with Memories

I found this picture in my office at work.  It was drawn by my then seven-year-old daughter who at the time was excited about Star Wars and her new Star Wars hero, Rey.  I love the little kid image of a person with arms coming off the body instead of coming off of shoulders.  When she drew it, I remember talking with her about the detail of Rey's triple ponytail hairstyle that she included with detail in the picture.  I also really enjoyed her depiction of BB-8  with the orange circle designs and ball shape.  

It brought me joy when I came across this picture that she had drawn 9 years ago.  I was instantly taken back to a time when my daughter was little and loved everything Star Wars.  It reminded me of when she would wear her  Rey costume for Halloween and any comic convention we would attend.  One time she wore a mash-up Rey/BB-8 costume to a museum event.  The museum had an exhibit on dragons, and she pretended that she was fighting one of the dragons.  Maybe she was pretending it was a Krayt Dragon!   

It is funny how things change.  She still likes Star Wars, but not with the same passion as then.  She has moved on to her own hobbies and activities.  She hangs out with friends now and is working her first job.  She is in color guard with the marching band, is a cheerleader, does pole vault, and is on the speech team. I love who she has become even if it doesn't still include weekly viewings of new Star Wars shows.  She just doesn't have time.  It reminds me of the truth in Cat Stevens' song, Cats and the Cradle. 

I hope her love of Star Wars and watching the stories return (maybe even in adulthood), but what is most important to me are the memories this picture brings back.  It made me sit back and smile.  Even better than that, when I showed her the picture I had found, it made her smile too.  She couldn't believe  I still had it, but she remembered drawing it a long, long, time ago, in a galaxy not so far away.    

2024 Album Playthrough Project

I was having a conversation with my daughters (12 and 16) about popular music.  I asked them about what artists they enjoyed and what kind of music they liked.  Taylor Swift, Olivio Rodrigo, Dua Lipa, and Noah Kahn were named, but after that, the general response was, "I don't know.  I listen to stuff I like."  I asked, aren't there any other artists that you can name?  "No."  

I felt I had one more question before I turned the conversation into an investigation.  So, I asked if they listened to the albums of Taylor, Olivio, Dua, and Noah.  The response, "No, who does that?"  

This conversation led me to reflect on my own listening habits versus my listening habits as a teenager and college student.  Today, I, like my daughters, listen to music on streaming apps or satellite radio, which presents an artist's hits and not usually in an album format.  Music is often introduced to my children and most others through clips on TicTok, Instagram Reels or other social media snippets.  No wonder why they don't have a deep knowledge of who they listen to; they focus on what they like.  An artist is less important than a genre or style of music.  

In contrast, as I continued my reflection, growing up I listened to music on the radio.  Even though music on radio stations like The Loop, WLS, and WXRT generally only played the hits of artists, they discussed and highlighted artists on the radio.  This led me and other fans to the music store or K-Mart to look for albums of our favorite artists, so we could enjoy more of their music.  It was great!  I loved Jack and Diane by John Cougar, so I grabbed the album so I could discover more music like Jack and Diane.  We were album listeners in the 1970's, 1980's and 1990's.  I fell in love with Billy Joel, Aerosmith, Van Halen, John Cougar Mellencamp, The Cars, and Dave Matthews Band.  I loved these artists not because of one song but because of albums of songs.  

After visiting with my daughters and this self-reflection on my own listening habits, I really started missing album listening.  I started wondering what it would be like to revisit the albums of my childhood and young adulthood, or even more, what would it be like to start listening to the albums of today's artists like the Black Keys, George Ezra, Noah Kahn, and Taylor Swift.  Would artists of today live up to the album collections of the artists of the past, or are they one-hit wonders?  

In November of 2023, I started my Album Playthrough Project.  I started listening to the albums of artists with as much intentionality as I possibly could.  My discretionary time isn't quite the same as my younger days, but I could still take time to listen to albums.  I plan to share my album lists through 2024 here on Seeking Positivity in the Galaxy.  I hope to get the lists out monthly with a little bit of commentary on my reflections on the experience month-to-month.  

Here are the albums I listened to in January 2024: 

B-Movie Matinee (1985) Nile Rogers 1/1/24
Wet Leg (2022) Wet Leg 1/1/24
Joshua Tree (1987) U2 1/2/24
Remain in Light (1980) Talking Heads 1/3/24
Electric Ladyland (1968) Jimi Hendrix 1/3/24
Turnstiles (1976) Billy Joel 1/4/24
Let's Rock (2019) The Black Keys 1/5/24
Bad 25th Anniversary (2012) Michael Jackson 1/5/24
Father of the Bride (2019) Vampire Weekend 1/5/24
Breathe In (2024) Armin Van Buren 1/12/24
Live from Llamaland Studios (2022) Younger 1/13/24
Murmur (1983) REM 1/15/24
Various artists (2024) Echo Disney+ Soundtrack 1/17/24
The Who By Numbers (1975) The Who 1/17/24
Sleepwalker (1977) The Kinks 1/17/24
Love&Hope&Sex&Dreams (1986) Bodeans 1/29/24

After the first month of listening, I realized that it is so easy to go back to playlist listening or my favorite Sirus/XM station the Dave Matthews Channel; however, I was pretty happy with the listening I completed.  I found that most of my desire was to go back to my younger days and enjoy albums I used to own or albums I always wish I had.  

Here are a few notes: 

Better than I remembered: Murmur, REM

First time listening to this artist: Nile Rogers and Wet Leg

Best album this month: Electric Ladyland, Jimi Hendrix

I listened to all the albums on Spotify.  Have an album recommendation from today or back-in-the-day?  Leave a comment here or leave one for me on X @draftline

Coca Cola Kids - Fantasy Football Champs!!

Now that we have cleaned up all the confetti, we can finally sit down and reflect on the 23/24 Fantasy Football season.  It was a season that started in a pedestrian sort of way for the Coca-Cola Kids with a 3-4 record by week 7.  But then the kids went on a 5-game win streak and found themselves in the hunt with an 8-4 record then ending the regular season at 9-5.  

After that slow start, the Kids' manager started making some tremendous waiver wire pick-ups and seemed to play the hot players at the right time.  It was masterful managing (luck) to earn the five-game win streak as players like Sean Howell emerged mid-season.  When the Kids' manager realized that he had squeezed all he could out of the Miami Dolphins' defense, he swiftly turned to the Buffalo Bills defense which really brought the points the last several weeks of the season.  

Throughout the season Dak Prescott, Stefon Diggs, Amon-Ra St.Brown were stalwarts whom the Kids could count on every weekend.  Genius waiver wire pickups like Najee Harris, Howell, and late-season pickups of Isaiah Likely and Jake Browning kept the winning ways through the end of the season and playoffs.  

The Kids had a playoff run like no other season winning in the following ways: 

Quarterfinals: Bye

Semifinals: 216.70 - 198.26 over Roll Tide (8-6) the 2020 champions

Final: 207.48 - 149.41 over The Watergirl (12-2) the regular season champions. 

The season was topped with raising the Last Murray Standing Fantasy Football League Champion trophy.  The Kids become one of two teams to win the league since 2013 with their second league championship.  To their credit, the other multi-league winning team, LukeIAmYourFather has won the league six times.  

But, the Coca Cola Kids are the 2024 League Champions!

Top 5 Star Wars Card Trader Cards of 2023

I am really happy that this list has become an annual item that I have the opportunity to share.  These 2023 Star Wars Card Trader cards all come from the rare variant and are, in my opinion, the Top 5 of my collection.  There are many, many more insert sets that I don't have that might very well be much more interesting or coveted, but I am only going with what I've collected.  That said, I may not have succeeded in completing the set, but they are cards that I pulled from those sets.  

Here is my Top 5:  

5. Original Art: Pulp Covers by Robert Jimenez, Icebound Invasion, Wave 3 Red Variant, 4,379 Card Count

I loved this entire set of Pulp Covers, but I, as a librarian, really enjoy a digital trading card of a book cover.  Icebound Invasion depicts one of the most epic battles of the Star Wars original trilogy.  It really captures the imagination and reminds me of some of the great pulp book covers.  

4. Character of the Month - 2023, Darth Maul - six, October - Darth Maul - Red 6564 Card Count

I really liked the look of the Character of the Month set in 2023, but I especially like that they find images of the characters that aren't on other card sets.  Darth Maul just happens to be one of the coolest and most interesting characters from the Star Wars saga, so he receives #4 on my Top 5 of 2023 list.  

3. Featured Creature - 2023, Loth-Wolf, Series 1 - Red, 5184 Card Count

Well, the Loth-Wolf holds a soft spot around our house, so it should be no surprise that they would show up on this list.  Besides that, the Loth-Wolf is shy to the digital cards, so any sighting definitely puts that card on the shortlist.

2.  Classic Card Art - 8th Anniversary, The Mandalorian & Grogu, Wave 1 - Green Card Count

I loved the look of these cards in 2016, and I think they still look great today with our new Star Wars characters from the Mandalorian.  I am old fashioned, so of course the title Classic Card Art would be something that I would absolutely love.  

1.  Topps' Choice - 2023, The Colossus, Series 1 - Cards, 3328 Card Count

Over the years, the Topps' Choice may be my favorite set because of the originality of the images and topics.  Many times the cards are quite scenic as is this particular card with a rare, like the Loth-Wolf, sighting of the Colossus on digital cards.  This is an absolutely beautiful card.  

I appreciate you taking a look at this year's SWCT Top 5 from the collection of JEDIGROSS.  I do have duplicates of some of these top 5 cards if you are interested in acquiring any of them.  I don't trade singles, so hands off if it isn't a dupe.  

I also have a collection that goes back to the beginning in 2015.  I will never forget standing in line at the Indiana Comic Con with Coffee with Kenobi co-hosts, Dan Zehr and Cory Clubb, as we downloaded the app and started building our collections.  The rest is history;  I was hooked. 

Give me a follow on the SWCT app as well as here on Seeking Positivity in the Galaxy.  Also, consider following the Rebel Basecard Podcast hosted by Greg McLaughlin and join his #CardSquadron group on X for some fun trading card discussion.  

My 2023 Reading and Viewing Stats

Happy New Year and welcome 2024!  The new year leads us to reflect back on the past year, and once again, I am grateful to @eyeoncanon who at the end of 2020 shared a short list of personal reading and viewing stats for the year.  I took his idea, which I wrote about here, and have kept my yearly stats since 2021.  Over the last few years, I have modified what I keep track of and added a few categories myself.  

                                                2023        2022            2021

Movies watched:              26            21              31
Rewatch:                         10             13             16
First time:                        16              8              15
Viewed in a theater:                 8                N/A            N/A

TV series (streamed):
Episodes:                      149            111            86
Rewatch:                        90              25            40
First time:                        59              86            46

Books read:                    18               13            21
Graphic Novels:                2                 4            6
Fiction:                           12                  8            12
Nonfiction:                        4                 0              3
Pages read:              4,703           2,895        4195

Books abandoned:            1                  2            0
Pages read:                  154               N/A

Podcast Episodes:          N/A              N/A        N/A
Fiction:                            
Nonfiction:
Time listened:              

Audiobooks:                     1                     1            3
Fiction:                                                    1            3
Nonfiction:                         1                    0            0

Short Stories:                                                         8
Pages read:                                                        244

Comic books read:          94                 142         164
Digital:                             30                   42           64
Print:                                64                 100         100

Book Titles:
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
Slaying the Dragon by Ben Riggs
The Loop by Ben Oliver
Dungeons and Dragons Honor Among Thieves The Road to Neverwinter by Jaleigh Johnson
Dragons of Winter Night: Dragonlance Chronicles Book II by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Astral Adventurers Guide
To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo
High Republic: The Edge of Balance Vol. 1 (graphic novel)
High Republic: the Edge of Balance Vol. 2
Star Wars: Shadow of the Sith by Christopher Adam
Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales
Cleric Quintet: Book 3 The Night Masks by R.A. Salvatore
DragonLance: Dragons of Fate by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
We Should Hang Out Sometime by Josh Sundquist
The Legends of Drizzt Visual Dictionary by Michael Witwer
Vivian Van Tassel and the Secret of Midnight Lake by Michael Witwer
Being Henry by Henry Winkler (audiobook)

Movie Titles:
Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania
Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Super Mario Bros.
Murder Mystery 2
The Speed Cubers
Inside the Mind of a Cat
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Air
The Little Mermaid
Across the Spider-verse
Glass Onion Knives Out
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Star Wars The Phantom Menace
Star Wars The Clone Wars
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
A Few Good Men
The Barbie Movie
Galaxy Quest
The Haunted Mansion
Aladdin
Miracle on 34th Street
Home Alone
Elf
Disney's A Christmas Carol

TV Streaming Series:
The Bad Batch Season 2
The Crown Season 1
The Crown Season 2
The Book of Boba Fett
Mandalorian season 2
Tales of the Jedi Season 1
Mandalorian season 3
Visions Season 2
Rebels Season 1
Rebels Season 2
Rebels Season 3
Secret Invasion
The Crown Season 3
Rebels Season 4
Ahsoka
X-Men 92 animated
Loki season 2
Marvel's What If... Season 2
The Crown Season 4

So, one day I will find a cleaner way to display the stats, but I think this shows them well enough to discover there are some interesting details in the numbers above.  My TV streaming and comic book reading seem to show an interesting trend over the three years.  

My TV streaming in 2023 has a sizeable jump.  My rewatches increased and I believe that is a result of rewatches to prepare for a new series.  For example, I rewatched the entire Rebels series to prepare for viewing Ahsoka.  Will this rewatch trend continue?  Hard to tell, but I am gearing up for a Bad Batch rewatch this summer in anticipation of season 3, so the magic 8 ball says "It is decidedly so."  

Comic book reading went down considerably.  It is true; I do not subscribe to as many print comics these days, but my subscription to Marvel Unlimited (not subscribed yet?  Read this) gives me easy access to over 10,000 issues!  What gives?  I suspect time.  I will say though, that the accuracy of reporting may be at fault here.  There are times I binge 10-15 comics (yes, that is a binge for me) over a weekend and I can't remember if I recorded them or not.  To not over-inflate numbers, I error on not reporting rather than double reporting.  I need to do better.  

Being a podcaster (CWK Pourover and Teachers in the Dungeon), I don't listen to nearly enough podcast episodes, so this year I added a podcast listening category to attempt to motivate me to do more listening to my peers.  There are some amazing podcasts out there, and I need to do a better job of listening.  

I also added in the movie category a place to record how many of the movies I watch in theaters.  After the pandemic it was really hard for me to want to return to the theaters.  I found myself just waiting for it to come out on a streaming service.  In 2023, I think I found the love of returning to the theater, but I am interested to see if I continue that trend.  Last year I even considered subscribing to a customer loyalty program at our local theater.  Maybe this is the year.  

To conclude, here are my 2023 favorites as heard on the podcast The Colby Cast where my good friend Colby and I talk about our favorites of 2023 among other topics.  Colby is great and so is his show.  These are all chosen from material I actually watched and read: 

Favorite Book:  Slaying the Dragon by Ben Riggs

Favorite Star Wars Disney + show:  Bad Batch season 2

Favorite Marvel Disney + show: Loki season 2

Favorite Marvel film:  Guardians of the Galaxy 3

Favorite Non-MCU film:  Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Favorite Non-MCU/Star Wars show:  The Crown season 4