Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 14, 2024 18:29:21 GMT -5
looks like recent ebay sales would indicate 10-15 each, with some lots that were a lost less (under 5 bucks per) There seems to be a 2nd set in 1977 that had more backgrounds and not just the character on a white cup So...not quite as pricey or collectible as I had assumed.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 13, 2024 4:09:01 GMT -5
Does anyone else remember the Marvel Super-Heroes Slurpee cups that 7-11 was offering back circa '75 or so? There were 60(!) of them in all, of which I managed to snag six (Captain America, Doc Savage, Hercules, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Thing). I might've gotten more but I wasn't a big Slurpee fan. Unfortunately, it only took two or three washings for the pics to wear off so I chucked 'em all decades ago. Cei-U! I summon the summer I graduated from high school! Here's a poster listing the cups in the '75 series. And Cei-U! it says right on there not to put them in the dishwasher! There was a DC set as well... I bet these cups -- especially a full set -- are worth a pretty penny these days on the collector's market.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 12, 2024 3:10:00 GMT -5
Like many here, I'm sure, I've always had a real soft spot for Roger Coreman's films. Favourites include The Raven, Death Race 2000, The Dunwich Horror, and Battle Beyond the Stars. Shame that he's passed away.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 11, 2024 12:15:32 GMT -5
I re-read the first Elfquest TPB this week, "Fire & Flight", which collects these five issues… I like Elfquest a whole lot, but I probably haven't read any of these comics for close to 10 years. This first volume introduces us to a tribe of elves called the Wolfriders and almost immediately we see them driven from their forest home by savage humans, betrayed by conniving trolls, and stranded in a parched desert. After many days arduous trek across the wasteland, the Wolfriders stumble upon a hitherto unknown second tribe of elves called the Sun Folk. The Wolfriders are welcomed into the Sun Folk's village and the two communities join together and adventures ensue. The characters here are all really strong and it's a mark of Wendy and Richard Pini's talents that the different Elves are all very easy to remember and differentiate from each other. The Wolfriders' chieftain Cutter is a good protagonist and his close friends Skywise, Strongbow, Redlance, Nightfall, and Treestump are also enjoyable characters, all with very distinct personalities. Cutter's love interest is a Sun Folk healer named Leetah, and she is also a very well-rounded and a fairly strong, independent female character. In the first issue (originally published in Fantasy Quarterly #1), Wendy Pini's artwork is decent, but it does look a little bit amateurish and marks this out as very much an indie comic. By the second instalment, which was originally published in Elfquest #2, there's already a marked improvement in how accomplished the art looks. Wendy's art continues to improve throughout the rest of this first collection. The series is a very easy read. It sucks you in and bowls along nicely in a "can't put this down" manner. It is sometimes a product of its time (the late '70s): Cutter's flared trousers are a dead giveaway, for example, and the female characters are not especially strong from a modern viewpoint. That said, Elfquest does feel like something of a feminist comic, just by dint of it being co-created and drawn by a woman, at a time when women in the comics industry were still a rarity. Plus, the female characters are, for their era, unusually independent—especially Leetah. With its elves, trolls, wolves and human characters, along with the medieval-like setting, you can totally see why this comic resonated with the late '70s fantasy paperback, Tolkien, and Dungeons & Dragons crowd. I really enjoyed re-visiting Elfquest and I can't wait to get stuck into the next volume.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 9, 2024 19:45:31 GMT -5
Dang! It had looked like maybe we were going to get a chance to tour the White House when we're in DC. My son's girlfriend's mother (the gf is graduating law school also) is friends with one of Obama's speechwriters and was hoping to arrange it. But, alas, it was not to be. Ah well. Another time. Sorry to hear that. I know that not getting to see where Superman was when he returned the roof and flag to the top of the building will come as a bitter blow to you.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 9, 2024 11:55:42 GMT -5
Let me add that I'll be moving on to 2014, but not until after I'm back from D.C. because I leave in less than a week. So y'all get a break from me for a bit. Sadly, I won't be joining in with 2014. I had a look in my record collection, and I only own 3 then-current albums from that year. There are about another 15 or so albums that I own from 2014, but they are all either compilations or archival releases of much older music, so are not eligible.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 9, 2024 11:23:49 GMT -5
Finishing up my list of Top 10 albums from 2004... #1 - Hot Fuss by the KillersIndie rock band the Killers might be from Las Vegas, but musically their debut album steadfastly homages British '80s new wave and '90s Britpop. Singer Brandon Flowers even goes so far as to sing in a cod-British accent, which is an interesting twist on the usual pop and rock convention of British singers trying to sound American. Hot Fuss spawned several hit singles, such as "Somebody Told Me", "All These Things That I've Done", "Smile Like You Mean It", and the perennial (even 20 years later!) "Mr. Brightside". There's a youthful and artsy energy to the album that is infectious, with the songs all couched in glitzy, new wave sounds (often recalling early Duran Duran) and guitar-driven, mid-90s Britpop swagger. But beneath these new romantic and indie rock trappings, there are some great pop melodies – and there's nothing wrong with that! For me, subsequent Killers' albums have all been subject to the law of diminishing returns, to the point where Hot Fuss is really the only album of theirs that I have any time for anymore. But this is a remarkably assured debut album, chock full of arena-ready sing-along anthems, and is a record that I just couldn't get enough of back in 2004. I won't subject you to the ubiquitous "Mr. Brightside" or "Somebody Told Me", so take a listen instead to another of the album's hit singles, "Smile Like You Mean It"…
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 9, 2024 11:17:01 GMT -5
#1(A) - Old Crow Medicine Show – O.C.M.S. aka Old Crow Medicine Show
I've heard of these folks, but the only song of there's I know is "Wagon Wheel". That's a nice, gentle song and these two examples that you have posted here are similarly pleasent in their old-timey country stylings. I'd be perfectly happy to listen to this music, but it doesn't quite grab me enough to fork out my hard-earned cash to buy any of their stuff.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 9, 2024 9:30:17 GMT -5
I've just learned that Chris Pine is the son of prolific character actor Robert Pine, who may be best known as the sergeant on CHIPS. Never made that connection. Yeah, that kinda blew my mind too when I found out. I loved CHiPs back in the day, though watching it again in recent years I've come to realise that it's absolute rubbish.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 8, 2024 18:23:47 GMT -5
Another music legend gone. Steve Albini, an engineering and producing icon, as well as performer with his band Shellac and others, has died of a heart attack way too young at 61. Blimey! I'm surprised he was even as old as that, but then again, thinking about it, that sounds about right. I principally know him from his production and engineering work with the Breeders, Nirvana, the Wedding Present, and Bush.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 8, 2024 18:02:42 GMT -5
^^ I'll second James' nomination.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 8, 2024 15:56:44 GMT -5
I'll be honest, I've never been a Beach Boys fan...and this does nothing to move the needle to make me like them or Brian Wilson more. I'll also cop that it's possibly a failing on my part, but I kind of hated that. I have enormous respect for Wilson as a songwriter and I really love most of the Beach Boys classics, especially the slower numbers , e.g. In My Room, but I've never thought he was quite up there with the likes of Lennon and McCartney, which is where the consensus seems to rank him these days.
I absolutely love Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, but even I'll admit that the term "genius" is much too readily applied to Wilson and his music.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 8, 2024 15:55:24 GMT -5
Another favourite album of 2004... #2 - Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE by Brian WilsonI'll be honest, I've never been a Beach Boys fan...and this does nothing to move the needle to make me like them or Brian Wilson more. I'll also cop that it's possibly a failing on my part, but I kind of hated that. Fair enough and no, it's absolutely not a failing on your part. You like what you like. Just because an artist is regarded as one of the greats, it doesn't mean it's compulsory to like their music. On the other hand... you philistine!
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 8, 2024 10:47:44 GMT -5
Another favourite album of 2004... #2 - Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE by Brian WilsonIn 2004, the world's most famous unreleased album finally got released. Back in 1967, the SMiLE album was to have been the Beach Boys and their musical mastermind Brian Wilson's magnum opus. Unfortunately, a combination of Wilson's deteriorating mental state, band in-fighting, and legal problems between the group and their record label all conspired to prevent the album from ever being finished. For decades most of the songs recorded for the album remained unheard, while the legend of SMiLE and what it might've been grew and grew. In late 2003, with little warning, Wilson announced a tour in which he would perform the finished album in its entirety. The following year, a newly recorded studio version of the album was released, with Wilson's on-tour backing band the Wondermints providing vocal and musical accompaniment. Myself, I've long been a fully paid-up member of the "Church of SMiLE", ever since I first read about the "lost" album in 1990 and began collecting bootlegs of this unreleased material. So, the news that a newly recorded, modern version of the album was coming out in 2004 filled me with both excitement and trepidation. Would Wilson be up to the task of reconstructing his musical masterpiece? I needn't have worried because Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE is amazing. This is simply some of the best music I have ever heard. I mean, OK, it's not quite up to the lofty standards of the '60s recordings in terms of musicianship or vocal performances, but it's much, much better than we probably had any right to expect it to be. The album is divided into three movements: the first, "Americana", deals with the mythic history of America; the second, "Circle of Life", charts man's physical and spiritual journey from birth to death; and the third, "Spiritual Rebirth/The Elements" examines the wonder of the natural and supernatural world. Like the original late '60s sessions, this album is experimental, wildly eccentric, often humorous, and catchy as all hell. The spirit of '67 and the "Summer of Love" is in this music's DNA and thank God Wilson and his lyricist Van Dyke Parks didn't try to alter that. It's pointless trying to pick out the best tracks because as far as I'm concerned, this entire album is faultless. In fact, the only reason that this isn't my number 1 album of 2004 is because, after all, the material on it was almost 40 years old at this point (even if these are new recordings). I wanted something that was more of the era...a bit more "2004" in my number 1 spot. Anyway, have a listen to the gorgeous "In Blue Hawaii" and the delicately beautiful "Wonderful" and let them do their thing to you…
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 8, 2024 10:33:01 GMT -5
#1(B) - Drive-By Truckers – The Dirty South
I know these guys. I have a couple of friends who are well into them. I even recognise the album artwork! This is good stuff, very much in the same ballpark as Steve Earle or Green On Red. Really nice crisp production on these tracks too and I love the sound of those crunchy telecasters on "Carl Perkins' Cadillac". I really should check this album out properly.
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