An inscription worth committing a crime for

I stopped in at the Book Cellar the other day. I didn't end up buying anything, but did come across this book. 

I already have said book, though mine is titled "1886 Professional Criminals of America". Given the different titles, I wanted to thumb through it to make sure that there wasn't any additional content that mine doesn't have. Upon doing so, I found this wonderful inscription:

In case anyone has any trouble reading that, it says:

Dad

"It's Criminal" 

How much we love you!!!

Love

your "little bandit"

T.T.

&

The guy who "stole" her heart, Bruce

Christmas "88"

So great. This might be one of the best inscriptions that I've ever come across. And sure, there are a few grammatical errors, but I'm hardly one to judge when it comes to that sort of thing.

I sure hope dad is no longer with us, because it would be a real shame if he willingly chose to part with such a gift.

Had I not already had the book, I would've bought it. And even though I already have a copy, if this one had been a little cheaper, say around $2, I would've bought it for the inscription alone. They do lower their prices from time to time, so maybe I'll still have a chance at it if it sits there long enough.

As for the book itself, if you're into true crime, New York City history, or the crimes and criminals of late 19th century NYC; then this book might be worth taking a look at. 

Happier days

Never having to drive very far, the recent rise in fuel prices hasn't affected me nearly as much as it has some others. Sure, I've had to stop making my monthly trips to Knoxville, and unless the prices start coming down some, I won't be taking any of the other trips around the state that I had been planning during the summer; but in the grand scheme of things, it's not the end of my world. I still have things that I can do locally, and at home. Heck, there's always something that needs to be done around the house.

My last trip to Knoxville, and more specifically, McKay's (heaven for lovers of all things physical media), was back at beginning of February. And while I have been jonesing to get back, gas was at $3.65 as of yesterday, and that's still way too much for me to be galavanting off to Knoxville again anytime soon. It does stink, but again, I'll live. Speaking of that last visit though, I never did get around to recapping my haul, so...

I haven't been making a lot of purchases this year, and wasn't really doing so towards the end of last year either. I've noticed though, that when I do buy something as of late, it's almost always nostalgia based. Growing up the way I did, I am often nostalgic for things that came before me, as is the case with Happy Days. I wasn't alive when it was new, but spent many a year watching the reruns on Nick at Nite. It would seem that I'm now longing for those days spent watching Nick at Nite. Also, the book was only 10¢ (as were the next couple), so it didn't require much of decision as to whether or not I should get it.

Now we're in my era. Anybody remember Chip? Not Quite Human, or it's sequel, Not Quite Human II? I still have the tape that my mom recorded the premiere of the first film on, as well as the commercially released videos of both films. Looking back, robot boys were strangely in during the 1980's. I guess robot girls were a thing too, Deadly Friend... anybody?

At 9 years old, I was the perfect age for Eerie, Indiana when it made it's 1991 television debut. I, like a lot of other kids, absolutely loved the show, and was saddened that it only lasted one season. I was 15 by the time they started releasing the books in 1997, and despite still watching the reruns in syndication, I was not comfortable going into a bookstore and being seen buying a "little kid" book. Such things don't bother me in the least anymore, and was more than happy to be seen shelling out ten whole cents on this particular book.

This is as close to Goosebumps as you can get, without it actually being a Goosebumps. I was already too old for the Bumps when Bobby Stine started putting them out, and wouldn't have been caught dead buying on at the time. Thankfully, I've been able to catch up with them, and their knockoff's, in my later years.

Despite it's many flaws, I would call myself a fan of the film, Phantoms. I've suspected for years though that it probably differed some from the source material, but not until now was I able to see just how much it differed from the book. Aside from the basic premise, and a few of the character names, the two share very little in common. After finally reading it, I can see that they couldn't have ever made this story, as is, into a film, but geez, I do not understand how Dean Koontz was able to butcher his own work so badly, just to be able to get it up on the big screen. Actually, scratch that, I do understand... $$$$$$

Feel free to roll your eyes, but things like cryptids and UFO's were a huge part of my childhood, and strangely, have been making a strong resurgence in recent years. What can I say, I like woo woo!

It seems funny to me that I could never find the Forever Knight books when they were new, and now 25 years later, and nearly 2,500 miles away, I'm finding them left and right. Better late than never, I suppose. 

I rarely bring it up, if only because so few other people are interested in the subject, but I am a longtime fan of old radio programs, and just old radio happenings in general. I could tell you multiple stories of pre-teen me trying to get friends to listen to one of my cassettes of, say, Lights Out, and how well those many attempts didn't go. It wasn't always the easiest being the only kid who liked such things. I don't expect this book to provide much, if any, new info, but it seems to have quite a few photos that I've never seen before, which was enough to warrant my splurging to meet it's $3 price tag. This was my big ticket item for the day, such as it was.

I've talked many times (on the old blog) about the ever continuing decline of quality pictures in the Bargain DVD section ($1.95 or less). There's still thousands of DVD's and Blu-Ray's to look through, but it seems like every time I go there the selection just keeps getting worse and worse. I'd say that a good 60-70% of the movies are now just all of that straight-to-DVD crap that comes from the Dollar Tree. I know why McKay's takes it, because they can pay people 10¢ for them, slap a $1 price tag on it, then make a pretty decent profit when someone other than myself inevitably buys it. Because of the now poor selection, I rarely spend much time going through this stuff, I just sort of scan and walk, and if something jumps outs, I'll pick it up and take a look. Twenty minutes of scanning produced all of one DVD this time, albeit a pretty good one. I bought this primarily for Room Service, as it's one of my favorite Marx Brothers pictures, which I somehow didn't already have it.

That wraps up that trip. I was really hoping to find a few "new" CD's from the CD bargain section, but was unfortunate enough to get up there (they're upstairs) just at the exact same time as an older guy was setting up shop (he brought a folding stool with him). Normally this wouldn't be an issue, as the section is large enough for multiple people to be looking at the same time, but almost as soon as this guy sat down, he started coughing... a lot! He didn't seem to be in any distress, like a "help, I'm dying" sort of thing, he was just coughing, and coughing, and coughing some more. I might've been able to tough out the sound of him trying to bring up a lung, but then he started making weird noises with his throat; noises that started to make my stomach turn. Needless to stay, I didn't stick around for very long after that. I just went back downstairs to the books, and occasionally looked up to confirm that he was still there, which he still was even as I was leaving. Maybe I'll have better luck next time.

As is often the case, what with it being on the way home and all, I stopped in at the Book Cellar, and the Threads of Hope thrift store that's right next to it.

History will always be a popular subject with me, but the older I get, the less I care about emperors, famous battles, and other similarly well-trod topics; instead choosing to learn as much as I can about how just regular folks went about their daily lives. I especially like reading about people who were off the beaten path, and this book definitely fit that bill. If you're into such things, I'd highly recommend this one.

I continue to have great luck finding old Scholastic books at the Book Cellar, and with a date of 1969, I'm pretty sure that this is the oldest one I've found so far. Without looking it up, I can't say that I know when Scholastic began, but it sure would be neat to find a cheap book from their first year. And now that I'm thinking about it, it'd be kind of cool to find a book from each year of it's existence, or at least up to 2000, I don't really care about much after that.

Those two were definitely worth stopping for. The thrift store would pay off as well...

This place always has puzzles, enough that I can usually find at least one of interest; obviously I found two this time. I will cover both of these on here a little bit more after they've been completed.

There's no synopsis on the back for me to show, but as implied by the title, this book allegedly covers all things 1950's. I've read a few of this fellows baseball books, but have yet to read a non-sports offering from him.

Not a bad way to spend an afternoon, hopefully I'll be able to do it again sometime soon.

Coming soon

I was watching an old music video on YouTube over the weekend, which unto itself isn't all that interesting, but the video that was uploaded appeared to be from an old countdown show -- and judging by the style of numerical graphic that popped up in the corner, I'm fairly certain that it came from one of those Top 100 Videos countdowns that MTV used to do on a yearly basis back in the 80's (I think they might've still done them into the early 90's as well, but I can't remember for sure anymore). 

This got me to thinking about music countdowns in general. Obviously other music channels would do them from time to time way back when, and of course radio stations have been doing them for 50+ years now. Lists have long been a staple of music magazines, though from what I've seen in recent years, most of them should probably end the tradition of doing so (I'm looking directly at you Rolling Stone). I haven't looked, and I'm not going to, but I would have to think that there have been plenty on YouTube, and probably quite a few blogs as well. With this in mind, I'm not sure if the world is clamoring for yet another countdown, but after just a few moments of thought, I decided that I too was gonna do one, or rather, five. Yes, five music countdowns!

Ideally, I'd just do a top X amount of songs of all-time list, but I don't see how I'd be able to limit myself to a low-ish number when talking all-time. Such a list would have to be at least 500 songs strong. No, breaking them down by decade seems like a much better way to go about this. Seeing as how very few people care about post-2000 music, as they shouldn't, I'll start with the 90's and work my way back to the 50's; doing a decade every couple of months or so. If I'm feeling froggy when I'm done, I might even come back and do the 2000's and 2010's, "might" being the key word. A top 100 of each decade would be fun, but I don't want the posts to drag on forever (I do have other things that I'd like to blog about) -- so right now, I'm thinking 50 songs per decade, but I don't know, it's gonna be a struggle to limit myself to only fifty once I hit the 60's and 80's.

Not surprisingly, these lists will not be objective in the least, they will just be favorites of mine. It would be silly for me to pretend like they'll be anything else. Although, if an executive from some record label wants to show up with a big bag of coke in exchange for my pushing a particular band or song, I may or may not be open to such an arrangement 😜

I don't expect these lists to require much effort on my part, aside maybe from deciding who has to be left out (that's where the honorable mentions come in). If all goes well, I should be able to get the 90's done, and posted, sometime within the next couple of weeks. I don't know how much interest there'll be in such a series, but even if there's none, I think I'll still enjoy putting them together for myself.

Joy of a Completed Puzzle: Television History

If you've ever been to an Ollie's, you probably already know that they will often have a large selection of discounted puzzles. Granted, they're not always the most interesting of puzzles, but at least there's plenty to look through. Occasionally though, they will have one that stands out from the rest, today's puzzle being one.

At 1,000 pieces, this was my standard fare, but in terms of dimensions, "24 x "30, it was a little bit bigger than the puzzles I usually do. Being so large, it was a bit of a challenge to try and get a decent picture for the blog.

Even the sell sheet inside was oversized, so much so that it wouldn't all fit on the scan tray; hence another glarey picture.

99% of my puzzles come from thrift stores, so it was nice to work on a brand new one for a change. This is only the second new one that I've done in recent memory. 

The puzzle itself was very fun to put together, but I do have two minor complaints:

1. There were an awful lot of pieces that weren't cut all the way through. Now it's not uncommon to find a few pieces in any puzzle that are still attached on the back, but this one had more than a few. There were even a couple that had completely missed the cutter. Partially cut pieces are one thing, at least you can take a hobby knife and finish the backs on those, but when they haven't been cut at all, you're kind of SOL. This is the first White Mountain puzzle that I've ever done, so I don't know if this is a common issue with them, or if this was just an anomaly. Either way, it's something to keep in mind if you're looking to pay full price for one of their puzzles.

2. For the most part the artist, James Mellett, did a pretty good job with his documentation of television history, but there were two notable exceptions missing from the group; Perry Mason (cast or just Raymond Burr by himself), and George & Gracie. The former was noticed right away, while the latter didn't come to me until I was taking it apart. Two pretty big whiffs if you ask me.

Also, not a complaint, but still worth noting. Mr. Mellett decided to use existing animation for all of the animated characters rather than illustrate them himself. I don't know if this was part of a licensing agreement, or if it was just a choice on the part of the artist. It doesn't take away from the overall aesthetic, it just makes for an interesting juxtaposition.

Final thoughts: Fun puzzle to put together. Great subject matter. Poor Machinery. Might not be worth paying full retail price for.

Got a few minutes?

Remembering something that you didn't even realize you had forgotten is a weird feeling.

I'm very used to forgetting things outright, what with my ever-increasing bad memory and all, but to be reminded of a thing that I didn't even know was gone, is just odd, and is something that I'm definitely not accustomed to.

This happened while responding to a question that Bo had asked on the last post. It was in response to my talking about finding (interesting) things in the woods (and thinking about doing blog for it many years ago), in which he asked if their were any blogs dedicated to such things. Having never looked before, I didn't know, and still don't. I mentioned that there had to have been some blogs, at least at one time, about bottle hunting and metal detecting, but am not sure about any being created specifically to show off things found while hiking, or as is usually the case with me, items found while wandering. A few minutes after typing this reply, I remembered a thread on a survivalist site about finding strange things in the woods that I came across a few years ago; or at least I thought it was only a few years ago.

I knew that I had bookmarked the page, but after going through my favorites three times and not finding it, it hit me; that link was in the favorites of my old desk top, the desk top that I haven't had for almost nine years now! Talk about a weird feeling. One of my favorite internet things ever, and I had somehow forgotten about it, but didn't even realize it.

It sure doesn't feel like almost nine years have past since I last read through that thread, but that's how long I've had my current laptop, and it's not here, so obviously it's been almost nine years since I last read through it. The fact that I haven't read it for awhile was hammered home even more when I found it again via Google, and see there are now 180 pages on the thread; there were only like thirty-something pages the last time I visited it. Oh, and the site looks completely different too.

Anyway, some folks commented on the last post about being interested in seeing some of the things that I find out in the woods, so I thought if those same people were interested in reading about some much more interesting things that other people have across over the years, you might enjoy reading through this thread. I haven't gone back and read past the first page of posts yet, so I can't attest to the quality of the 150 pages that have been added over the last nine years, but I do remember there being some interesting stories among those 30 or so pages that I read all of those years ago. 

While Googling, I also found a similar thread that been started two years earlier on another site, which is currently got 119 pages of posts. I read through a couple of pages on this one, and am now very confused, as this might've been the one that I had forgotten about. I really don't know now. It's been so long! Either way though, if you're interested in such things, both of these threads will probably be worth reading. There's certainly gonna be some much better stories than I could ever tell, especially since I've never come across anything overly crazy in the woods; the same of which cannot be said for some of those who contributed to these two message boards.