My Year in Hobbies 2019: September, Part III!

After spending my summer watching New Japan Pro-Wrestling, I jumped at the opportunity to see a show live when they announced their Fighting Spirit Unleashed U.S. tour.

A promotional image for New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Fighting Spirit Unleashed tour. Against a grey background, to the left, a red and white fist appears above the words "FIGHTING SPIRIT UNLEASHED NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING BOSTON PHILADELPHIA NEW YORK", with New Japan's red, yellow and black Lion Mark logo at bottom center. To the right, clockwise from top, pictures of Japanese wrestlers Kazuchika Okada (a Japanese man with short bleached blonde hair), Hiroshi Tanahashi (a muscular Japanese man with shoulder length messy blonde hair and a short black goatee, shown from the neck up), Kota Ibushi (a muscular Japanese man with short brown hair that hangs over his eyes) and Tetsuya Naito (a Japanese man with dyed red hair, wearing and tipping a black baseball cap, and wearing a red wristband on his right arm) appear. (Image Credit: New Japan Pro-Wrestling)
A promotional image for New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s Fighting Spirit Unleashed tour. Against a grey background, to the left, a red and white fist appears above the words “FIGHTING SPIRIT UNLEASHED NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING BOSTON PHILADELPHIA NEW YORK”, with New Japan’s red, yellow and black Lion Mark logo at bottom center. To the right, clockwise from top, pictures of Japanese wrestlers Kazuchika Okada (a Japanese man with short bleached blonde hair), Hiroshi Tanahashi (a muscular Japanese man with shoulder length messy blonde hair and a short black goatee, shown from the neck up), Kota Ibushi (a muscular Japanese man with short brown hair that hangs over his eyes) and Tetsuya Naito (a Japanese man with dyed red hair, wearing and tipping a black baseball cap, and wearing a red wristband on his right arm) appear. (Image Credit: New Japan Pro-Wrestling)

I made it to the first night, which was labelled as being in Boston, but was actually in Lowell, MA at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium.

Professional wrestler Lance Archer (left), a tall man with white skin, several arm tattoos, a dark brown beard, a hint of dark brown hair with a red braid weaved into it, and a black t-shirt that says "ARCHER" across the top of it in bloody looking red letters, raises his right hand above his head in a claw position and makes a mean looking face, next to the author of this piece (right), a man with white skin, brown hair with black sunglasses on top of it, a brown goatee, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and a black t-shirt with a black and white picture of a man on it that's obscured by a black bag strap. The man is also making a mean face, and is making a claw gesture with his left hand. Bronze laques are visible on the marble walls behind the two men.
Professional wrestler Lance Archer (left), a tall man with white skin, several arm tattoos, a dark brown beard, a hint of dark brown hair with a red braid weaved into it, and a black t-shirt that says “ARCHER” across the top of it in bloody looking red letters, raises his right hand above his head in a claw position and makes a mean looking face, next to the author of this piece (right), a man with white skin, brown hair with black sunglasses on top of it, a brown goatee, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and a black t-shirt with a black and white picture of a man on it that’s obscured by a black bag strap. The man is also making a mean face, and is making a claw gesture with his left hand. Bronze laques are visible on the marble walls behind the two men.

Not only that, I got to meet a few of the wrestlers! Here I am with Lance Archer, who did the first of what would be a couple surprise meet-and-greets in the lobby of the venue.

After I met Lance, I headed up to my seat, and was talking to the people in my section, when one of them casually mentioned that Tomohiro Ishii was also taking pictures and signing things for people downstairs, in a part of the venue that I didn’t make it over to.

An animated gif of the beginning of the Tomohiro Ishii/Katsuyori Shibata fight from NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10, 2016. Two Japanese wrestlers beat the living hell out of each other at extremely high speeds to start a wrestling match. "Red Shoes" Unno is your referee.
An animated gif of the beginning of the Tomohiro Ishii/Katsuyori Shibata fight from NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10, 2016. Two Japanese wrestlers try to beat the living hell out of each other at extremely high speeds, matching each other move for move, to start a wrestling match. “Red Shoes” Unno is your referee.

?!?!?!?!?!

You have never seen someone with bad knees and equally bad feet traverse two flights of stairs quicker.

Those of you who don’t care about pro wrestling, or who are unfamiliar or uninterested in NJPW might not get why I ran, so I’ll do my best here, above and beyond what you’d read at the Wikipedia entry, or see in that so-fast-it’s-blurry GIF of him and Shibata: Tomohiro Ishii is maybe the toughest, most shit-talkingest, punch way above his weight class badass in the world. He’s a billed height of 5’7″, but built like a tank, impossibly strong (I’ve seen him throw around Bad Luck Fale, who’s around 400 pounds), deceptively fast, and fearless. Due to the scripted nature of pro wrestling, he doesn’t win the big matches quite as often as many of us feel he should, but I can guarantee you that everyone he’s in those matches with walks away feeling like they got their ass kicked, and with their self-esteem pretty wounded by the demoralizing things they’ve had him say about them, but probably strangely proud and grateful for the experience. My Japanese isn’t good enough to pick up on all of what he says, and Chris Charlton, the resident Japanese translator on the English broadcast team, doesn’t repeat some of what he says, for what I assume are obvious reasons. He’s one of the people who the wrestlers themselves tend to stop and watch, because he’s great at his craft (he can carry just about anyone to a very good to great match), seemingly able to turn off his pain response at will, and also incredibly entertaining.

At left, the author, a man with white skin and brown hair (with sunglasses in it), wearing black clothing, holding a yellow New Japan Pro-Wrestling shopping bag. At right, New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Tomohiro Ishii, a stern-looking Japanese man with a bald head, wearing black shorts and a black t-shirt that says "STONE PITBULL BITE YOU" on it.
At left, the author, a man with white skin and brown hair (with sunglasses in it), wearing black clothing, holding a yellow New Japan Pro-Wrestling shopping bag. At right, New Japan Pro-Wrestling wrestler Tomohiro Ishii, a stern-looking Japanese man with a bald head and a faint black goatee, wearing black shorts and a black t-shirt that says “STONE PITBULL BITE YOU” on it.

Holy shit.

I also met TJP outside before the show, as he’d come outside to meet up with a super-fan of his, then ended up talking and posing for pictures with what seemed like about 100 people before he found her. I didn’t get a picture with him, but I did get to say hi for a minute, and he liked my Orange Cassidy shirt.

All of the wrestlers I met were totally cool to me and everyone I saw them spend time with. Not a shocker, as, generally speaking, when I’ve met pro wrestlers, they’ve been solid citizens.

In a wrestling ring, New Japan Pro-Wrestling wrestlers Kota Ibushi (far left, a shirtless Japanese man with short, dark brown hair) and EVIL (just below Kota Ibushi, a Japanese man in black and white singlet with purple ponytail) stand head to head at left, with referee "Red Shoes" Unno (a Japanese man with black hair in black and white referee uniform, black pants, and red shoes) and wrestlers Hiroshi Tanahashi (a Japanese man with long bleached blonde to brown hair, in black and white spandex pants) and Kazuchika Okada to their right (a Japanese man with short bleached blonde hair, in red tights and boots, holding the IWGP Heavyweight Championship belt over his right shoulder).
In a wrestling ring, New Japan Pro-Wrestling wrestlers Kota Ibushi (far left, a shirtless Japanese man with short, dark brown hair) and EVIL (just below Kota Ibushi, a Japanese man in black and white singlet with purple ponytail) stand head to head at left, with referee “Red Shoes” Unno (a Japanese man with black hair in black and white referee uniform, black pants, and red shoes) and wrestlers Hiroshi Tanahashi (a Japanese man with long bleached blonde to brown hair, in black and white spandex pants) and Kazuchika Okada to their right (a Japanese man with short bleached blonde hair, in red tights and boots, holding the IWGP Heavyweight Championship belt over his right shoulder).

As my seats were pretty far back, I didn’t get many pictures (I also wanted to watch the show without pretending to be a photographer), and the ones I got were not great (it was tough to balance the dark arena/bright wrestling ring thing, clearly), but I figured I’d give those of you who are familiar with NJPW one shot that should give you an idea of the star power at this show.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, a pretty strong case can be made at this point for Kazuchika Okada being the best professional wrestler who’s ever lived. Hiroshi Tanahashi‘s really not far behind him, and carried New Japan for many years. Kota Ibushi has singles wins over both of them (though he fell short in his match vs. Okada at Wrestle Kingdom last month), and he still has a good chance of catching up to both of them. EVIL is also an awesome, and still very steadily improving wrestler with a great gimmick (think of him sort of like a Japanese version of The Undertaker) who’s a member of New Japan’s most popular stable of wrestlers, Los Ingobernables de Japon. If the people in this picture weren’t enough, LIJ’s leader, Tetsuya Naito (who beat “Switchblade” Jay White for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, then beat Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on consecutive nights, becoming a double champion on this level for the first time in NJPW’s history at Wrestle Kingdom) and EVIL’s partner SANADA (who many feel is a future IWGP champion, and is also one of the best wrestlers in the world right now) were both in the match, as well. (Oh, and “Red Shoes” Unno is more or less the present-day god of refereeing.)

Full results for the night are here, and it was a great night. Along with the main event, Lance Archer vs. Ren Narita, and Tomohiro Ishii and Amazing Red vs. BUSHI and Shingo Takagi (which Ishii did win) were my favorite matches of the night.

If you have the means (and you will at least have the opportunity; NJPW have announced an expansion of their company, New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America, were just over here for a tour of the Southeast, and will be back in Tampa over the first week of April when seemingly every wrestling promotion on Earth are in town to capitalize on Wrestlemania week), I highly recommend catching a NJPW show.

My Year in Hobbies 2019: September, Part II!

The day after my visit to Brimfield, I went to the Tampa/St. Pete area.

Exterior shot of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Tropicana Field is an off-white domed baseball stadium with an angled roof that resembles an orange juicer. Cars are parked in front of the stadium, and trees can be seen just past the cars, off in the distance.
Exterior shot of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Tropicana Field is an off-white domed baseball stadium with an angled roof that resembles an orange juicer. Cars are parked in front of the stadium, and trees can be seen just past the cars, off in the distance.

Look! It’s Tropicana Field! Active MLB park #13 for me, and #15 overall (Yankee Stadium II and Shea Stadium are no more).

Interior shot of Tropicana Field, taken from right-center field. Green artificial turf and brown infield dirt can be seen, and blue seating is visible on the other side of the field, as well as an off-white roof.
Interior shot of Tropicana Field, taken from right-center field. Green artificial turf and brown infield dirt can be seen, and blue seating is visible on the other side of the field, as well as an off-white roof.

Interior, from center field! I liked the park a bunch, and think it sucks that people shit all over it like they do. It was a comfortable, fun park.

The roof of Tropicana Field, and the catwalks that run near the top of it.
The roof of Tropicana Field, and the catwalks that run near the top of it.

The catwalks!

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Brendan McKay warms up in the bullpen of Tropicana Field. Just in front of the bullpen, fans and Rays staff circulate in the picnic area of the ballpark.
Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Brendan McKay warms up in the bullpen of Tropicana Field. Just in front of the bullpen, fans and Rays staff circulate in the picnic area of the ballpark.

Rays pitcher Brendan McKay warming up, taken from our seats. He pitched really well, and is as good as the hype suggests, even if the numbers don’t bear it out yet.

I didn’t get any in-game shots (I use an iPad primarily, which mostly rules that out, and I still don’t travel with a battery pack, so I was screwed by the end of warmups because I’d been out all day), but I saw the Rays beat a Blue Jays team that didn’t seem to have much left in the tank. It was a fun game, regardless, and my friend Dain and I enjoyed it (Dain especially enjoyed the “JI-MAN CHOI!” chants).

I got to hit the Ted Williams Museum and Hitters Hall of Fame while I was at the game, because it’s inside Tropicana Field these days. It was crowded, so it was tough to get pictures of the Ted stuff, but I got a couple pictures from the Hitters Hall of Fame section.

Wade Boggs' case in the Hitters Hall of Fame section of the Ted Williams Museum, located at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. A Devil Rays jersey, several baseball bats, 2 baseball caps, a glove, a baseball, and several pictures and plaques are visible in the case.
Wade Boggs’ case in the Hitters Hall of Fame section of the Ted Williams Museum, located at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. A Devil Rays jersey, several baseball bats, 2 baseball caps, a glove, a baseball, and several pictures and plaques are visible in the case.

The Wade Boggs display case!

Sadaharu Oh's case in the Hitters Hall of Fame section of the Ted Williams Museum, located at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. At center, a large picture of Sadaharu Oh batting is visible. Just below it, a signed Sadaharu Oh Yomiuri Giants jersey is visible, as well as a magazine, a plaque, and a baseball bat.
Sadaharu Oh’s case in the Hitters Hall of Fame section of the Ted Williams Museum, located at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. At center, a large picture of Sadaharu Oh batting is visible. Just below it, a signed Sadaharu Oh Yomiuri Giants jersey is visible, as well as a magazine, a plaque, and a baseball bat.

And the Sadaharu Oh display case!

While in town, I also went to the Dali Museum. Here are a few things that I saw there.

Salvador Dali's "The Hallucinogenic Toreador" painting. The link directly below this image and its caption gives a detailed description of the painting and its history.
Salvador Dali’s “The Hallucinogenic Toreador” painting. The link directly below this image and its caption goes to the Dali Museum’s page on the painting, and gives a detailed description of the painting and its history.

“The Hallucinogenic Toreador”, 1969-1970

Salvador Dali's "Portrait of My Dead Brother" painting. The link directly below this image and its caption goes to the Dali Museum's page on the painting, and gives a detailed description of the painting and its history.
Salvador Dali’s “Portrait of My Dead Brother” painting. The link directly below this image and its caption goes to the Dali Museum’s page on the painting, and gives a detailed description of the painting and its history.

“Portrait of My Dead Brother”, 1963

Salvador Dali's "Galacidalacidesoxiribunucleicacid (Homage to Crick and Watson)" painting. The link directly below this image and its caption goes to the Dali Museum's page on the painting, and gives a detailed description of the painting and its history.
Salvador Dali’s “Galacidalacidesoxiribunucleicacid (Homage to Crick and Watson)” painting. The link directly below this image and its caption goes to the Dali Museum’s page on the painting, and gives a detailed description of the painting and its history.

“Galacidalacidesoxiribunucleicacid (Homage to Crick and Watson)”, 1963

It’s hard to tell from the photographs themselves, but the paintings themselves are enormous (for instance, “The Hallucinogenic Toreador” is 11′ long and x 13′ tall), and I don’t know that there’s a photograph that’d really do any of them justice.

Salvador Dali's "Aphrodesiac Telephone" sculpture, which is a sculpture of an ivory-colored rotary telephone with an ivory-colored lobster replacing the phone receiver. The link directly below this image and its caption goes to the Dali Museum's page on the sculpture, and gives a detailed description of the sculpture and its history.
Salvador Dali’s “Aphrodesiac Telephone” sculpture, which is a sculpture of an ivory-colored rotary telephone with an ivory-colored lobster replacing the phone receiver. The link directly below this image and its caption goes to the Dali Museum’s page on the sculpture, and gives a detailed description of the sculpture and its history.

“Aphrodesiac Telephone”, c. 1936-1938

My lifetime Lobster Phone-in-person count is up to 2 now (I saw the one at Tate Modern in London, as well).

Photo of Haslam's Book Store, St. Petersburg, Florida, taken from across Central Avenue South at 21st Street. A beige building with brick red painted letters that say "HASLAM'S" at the top level (obscured by a tree), and "BOOKS" near the top of the ground level in five different spots. Green curtains cover the windows of the building. A number of cars are parked in front of Haslam's, and the Central Av. S. and 21 St. S. signs are visible across the street.
Photo of Haslam’s Book Store, St. Petersburg, Florida, taken from across Central Avenue South at 21st Street. A beige building with brick red painted letters that say “HASLAM’S” at the top level (obscured by a tree), and “BOOKS” near the top of the ground level in five different spots. Green curtains cover the windows of the building. A number of cars are parked in front of Haslam’s, and the Central Av. S. and 21 St. S. signs are visible across the street.

If you’re in the St. Pete area and looking to shop a bit, I highly recommend going to Haslam’s Book Store. It’s a great old book store that smells like old books and has a ton of stuff.

Mannequins stand outside ARTpool Gallery, St. Petersburg, Florida, in various poses. At front left, two mannequins in brightly colored clothing stand up against a tree.
Mannequins stand outside ARTpool Gallery, St. Petersburg, Florida, in various poses. At front left, two mannequins in brightly colored clothing stand up against a tree.

I also recommend ARTpool Gallery in St. Petersburg (which, as you may be able to tell from this picture, is right across the street from Haslam’s, and both are not far at all from Tropicana Field) is awesome, too. They sell vintage clothing, music, comics, and all sorts of other things, and the staff are super friendly.

The cover to Dalbello's "whomanfoursays" album. On the cover is a close-up of Lisa Dalbello's face, in yellow, red, blue, black and white tribal warpaint. the name "Dalbello" appears in black faux Cyrillic lettering at the top of the cover, and "whomanfoursays" appears in the bottom left in white scrawled lettering.
The cover to Dalbello’s “whomanfoursays” album. On the cover is a close-up of Lisa Dalbello’s face, in yellow, red, blue, black and white tribal warpaint. the name “Dalbello” appears in black faux Cyrillic lettering at the top of the cover, and “whomanfoursays” appears in the bottom left in white scrawled lettering.

By popular demand, here’s a picture of the best purchase I made at ARTpool, a vinyl copy of Dalbello’s “whomanfoursays”, one of the more adventurous pop records of the ’80s. Have a listen, if you like…

Back to the trip on the whole: we could have a discussion about how I was in an area with a ton of natural beauty (for instance, I saw an amazing Gulf Coast sunset on the beach right before I had dinner at Frenchy’s Rockaway Grill in Clearwater, which was also amazing…), but didn’t post any pictures of that natural beauty here. However, 1. we covered this recently, and 2. when I got home, I was also kind of struck by how I really didn’t take many pictures of scenery. Some of that definitely had to do with my aforementioned constant battle to manage battery power (before my next serious trip, I really need to get an external battery pack), but some of it had to do with my desire, in the moment, to just appreciate what I’m seeing, rather than worrying so much about documenting it all. Sometimes, you just gotta look at stuff and take it in.

My Year in Hobbies 2019: September, Part I!

Yeah, to keep things from getting any more overwhelming, I needed to break September into parts (it looks like it’s going to be four parts, in fact). I don’t think I’ll need to do this with other months, but we’ll see. Without further ado…

September 2019, Part I: Brimfield!

Only made it out there once this year, and this was a good trip, so let’s make it count.

Women In Old Paintings Have Had It With Your Shit, Part I:

A painting of a woman with black hair and white skin, wearing a black dress with a white collar, and holding a small bouquet of flowers while sitting at a brown table with her left hand resting on it, in front of a brown background. The woman is staring straight ahead, and looks really annoyed.
A painting of a woman with black hair and white skin, wearing a black dress with a white collar, and holding a small bouquet of flowers while sitting at a brown table with her left hand resting on it, in front of a brown background. The woman is staring straight ahead, and looks really annoyed.
Two small, older McDonald's playground rocking horse-ish rides sit on green grass, with a patch of brown dirt and gravel in front of it at Brimfield Antiques Market, with other antiques in the background. At left, a red white and yellow boat with a McDonald's logo on the mast, silver handles, and a teal simulated sliver of ocean water at the bottom. At right, a similar ride, but the ride is an anthropomorphic Filet-O-Fish sandwich (a brown roll, brown fish filet, white tartar sauce to simulate the appearance of a tongue, wide white eyes with black pupils, and teal fins) instead of a boat.
Two small, older McDonald’s playground rocking horse-ish rides sit on green grass, with a patch of brown dirt and gravel in front of it at Brimfield Antiques Market, with other antiques in the background. At left, a red white and yellow boat with a McDonald’s logo on the mast, silver handles, and a teal simulated sliver of ocean water at the bottom. At right, a similar ride, but the ride is an anthropomorphic Filet-O-Fish sandwich (a brown roll, brown fish filet, white tartar sauce to simulate the appearance of a tongue, wide white eyes with black pupils, and teal fins) instead of a boat.

Sadly, these were pretty expensive. I think the Filet-O-Fish was about $300.

A 1970s Mattel Godzilla toy (a green action figure-type toy standing about 18" high with yellow claws, teeth and eyes, and a red strip of fire in its mouth that resembles a tongue) stands on a table, with a blue and green glass Tiffany lamp to its left, and a Mattel Shogun Warriors Dragun toy (also a large action figure, but a blue, red and black robot) to its right. More tables of antiques are visible in the background.
A 1970s Mattel Godzilla toy (a green action figure-type toy standing about 18″ high with yellow claws, teeth and eyes, and a red strip of fire in its mouth that resembles a tongue) stands on a table, with a blue and green glass Tiffany lamp to its left, and a Mattel Shogun Warriors Dragun toy (also a large action figure, but a blue, red and black robot) to its right. More tables of antiques are visible in the background.

This absolute unit (complete with still-working shooting fist) was $175, which I know because, even though I was extremely careful finding out that the fist still worked, the person whose table this was bellowed the number at me right after I tested it. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t usually make a practice of testing moving parts on antiques, because a lot can go wrong, but it’d been almost 40 years since I’d had a chance there, since, while I still have my Godzilla, he’s been missing his fist for a very long time.

A 1970s Mattel Shogun Warriors Dragun toy ( a red, blue, black and silver robot action figure toy standing about 18" high) stands on a table, with a wooden box to its left, and a Mattel Godzilla toy to its right. More tables of antiques are visible in the background.
A 1970s Mattel Shogun Warriors Dragun toy ( a red, blue, black and silver robot action figure toy standing about 18″ high) stands on a table, with a wooden box to its left, and a Mattel Godzilla toy to its right. More tables of antiques are visible in the background.

Before all you nerds panic that I’m not gonna show his friend from the Shogun Warriors, here. Here’s a pic of his friend from the Shogun Warriors. Yes, his friend is named Dragun. Yes, I actually did have to look that up, because I’m not nerdy in the Shogun Warriors way, personally, though I think I do have a 3 3/4″ plastic and die-cast figure of him somewhere in the house.

An ornate tower rotary phone standing about 30" tall, with a gold-brass finish, white inset for the rotary dial, a fleur-de-lis in the center of the rotary dial, and a silver and bronze finish receiver with an ivory-colored handle, speaker, microphone and cord stands on green grass among various other miscellaneous antiques.
An ornate tower rotary phone standing about 30″ tall, with a gold-brass finish, white inset for the rotary dial, a fleur-de-lis in the center of the rotary dial, and a silver and bronze finish receiver with an ivory-colored handle, speaker, microphone and cord stands on green grass among various other miscellaneous antiques.

This was the best phone in the entire goddamn market, and is in the running for best phone ever.

Two statues, one of a gold leopard with black spots, with golden jeweled eyes, and another of the Virgin Mary, a woman with white skin wearing blue and white robes, stand on the grass with some antique chairs off in the background.
Two statues, one of a gold leopard with black spots, with golden jeweled eyes, and another of the Virgin Mary, a woman with white skin wearing blue and white robes, stand on the grass with some antique chairs off in the background.

Right after this picture was taken, Mary’s head fell off. I didn’t do it. The dealer did.

A framed picture of professional wrestler Bill Goldberg, a man with white skin, no hair and a greying brown beard, photographed from the shoulders up. The photo is set against a black background with gold trim. Above his head is a facsimile of the tribal tattoo Goldberg has on his bicep, and below his shoulders, "GOLDBERG" is written in large black letters with gold trim.
A framed picture of professional wrestler Bill Goldberg, a man with white skin, no hair and a greying brown beard, photographed from the shoulders up. The photo is set against a black background with gold trim. Above his head is a facsimile of the tribal tattoo Goldberg has on his bicep, and below his shoulders, “GOLDBERG” is written in large black letters with gold trim.

I had a REALLY hard time not bringing this home, and I have regrets about not doing it. I also kinda wanted the phone, but that wasn’t cheap (I think it was in the $175-275 range), and I don’t have a land line in my house. This Goldberg picture, I would have an actual use for!

A box for a GE AM Miniature Radio with Carry Case from the late 1960s. On it, there are silhouettes of a man and woman dancing, and the body of an electric guitar, both inset on a background that's purple on the left side and orange on the right. The parts of the man and woman that show up against the backgrounds instead of the guitar are the opposite color of the main background (orange for left, purple for right).
A box for a GE AM Miniature Radio with Carry Case from the late 1960s. On it, there are silhouettes of a man and woman dancing, and the body of an electric guitar, both inset on a background that’s purple on the left side and orange on the right. The parts of the man and woman that show up against the backgrounds instead of the guitar are the opposite color of the main background (orange for left, purple for right).

The official AM radio of people who want to simultaneously be Jarvis Cocker from the band Pulp and a secret agent (assuming he’s actually not one, as I don’t think we’ve ever confirmed or denied that).

Glass back panel for a 1979 Gorgar pinball machine by Williams. A red devil stands behind a scantily-clad male barbarian with white skin, wearing a blue helmet, who is trying to rescue a scantily clad woman with white skin and brown hair from a bloody altar. "GORGAR" is written in teal lettering with silver trim at the top right.
Glass back panel for a 1979 Gorgar pinball machine by Williams. A red devil stands behind a scantily-clad male barbarian with white skin, wearing a blue helmet, who is trying to rescue a scantily clad woman with white skin and brown hair from a bloody altar. “GORGAR” is written in teal lettering with silver trim at the top right.

Any picture of Gorgar is a good picture of Gorgar.

A painting of a woman lounging against a wall, right hand resting on a pan, with white skin and black hair, in a burgundy Greco-Romanesque overdress pulled down on the left side to reveal a white shift, hanging off the woman's shoulder. A white rope belt is around the woman's waist. The woman appears to look at the viewer with equal parts exhaustion and contempt.
A painting of a woman lounging against a wall, right hand resting on a pan, with white skin and black hair, in a burgundy Greco-Romanesque overdress pulled down on the left side to reveal a white shift, hanging off the woman’s shoulder. A white rope belt is around the woman’s waist. The woman appears to look at the viewer with equal parts exhaustion and contempt.

And, finally, Women In Old Paintings Have Had It With Your Shit, Part II.

Strangely, I didn’t take any pictures of what I actually bought (a bunch of Fun Foods Baseball Pins to near-finish my set, and a couple of comic books, if memory serves), but I figure these pictures are more than enough to keep everyone busy.

Next up, I head to sunny Florida!

2020 Hobby Goals Part I: What Goes Where

I’ve been trying to figure this out FOREVER, basically since I opened this site in 2016, and I think I’ve finally got it. This will be a rare case of me mentioning my other website, and, since I’m in the process of moving people there from other social media (I deleted my Facebook account a week ago), it will likely be an extremely rare case of me cross-posting some of the information from this post on both of my websites.

If you’re wondering why I don’t talk more about the other site, or perhaps didn’t know I had it, I created this site just under four years ago, because I wanted some more separation between my personal life and discussion of my hobbies. At that point in time, I only had one website, and worse, one Twitter account, so people who were going to either would see me ranting about politics and mental health, then talking about what cards Bo and I had traded in the next breath. It was disorienting and uncomfortable for me, so it was probably also a pretty rough experience for my readers, as well.

Without further adieu, this was what I came up with:

This Website:

Gaming Hobbies:

Fantasy Baseball
Tabletop Games
Video Games

Internet Hobbies:

Hobby and Gaming Websites/Apps
Second Life

Physical Artifact Collecting Hobbies:

Action Figures and Other Toys
Books
Comic Books
Compact Discs/Records/Tapes/Etc.
Movies and Television (4K Blu-Rays/Blu-Rays/DVDs/VHS/Etc.)
Musical Equipment (Synthesizers, etc.)
T-Shirts
Trading Cards

Note that what I write about these here will only cover the collection and acquisition of the above. In the future, at least after I finish “My Year in Hobbies 2019”, which has some review content and is already in progress, all reviews of anything like recorded or live music, movies, television and books will be on my other website.

Spectator Sports:

Baseball
Hockey
Professional Wrestling

Travel:

Visits to Sellers of Artifacts
Sports Travel (Sporting Events, Museums, etc.)

My Other Website:

General:

Personal Thoughts
Thoughts About What’s Happening in the Wider World
Archival Stuff from Older Websites/Social Media/etc. Except Anything from the Old Trading Card Website

Physical Artifact Collecting Hobbies:

Concert Set Lists and Ticket Stubs

Other Creative Things:

My Own Recorded Music
General Photography

Reviews:

Books
Movies
Music (Recorded and Live)
Television

Travel:

Scenic Travel (Not Including Visits to Sellers of Artifacts, or the Sports Parts of Sports Travel)

For instance, in this case, if I traveled to Tokyo (and I hope to at some point in my life, and went to a New Japan Pro-Wrestling event, a NPB game, a video game store, and then actually saw a whole lot of Tokyo outside of my hobbies, the hobby stuff would be here, and the rest would be there.

You may also notice “Concert Set Lists and Ticket Stubs” on the list for the other site. The ticket stubs currently reside there, in a fairly large gallery. That gallery, despite being a gallery of physical artifacts, will most likely be staying put on the other site, and getting an update, as well. I thought about moving it, but that thought gave me a headache, so it’s out. To date, I’ve been posting physical set lists, when I get them, over here, but I think those will be moving to where the ticket stubs are. I’ve already changed my mind on this once, though, so stay tuned for more indecision.

I think this covers things, but we’ll consider this an evolving document, and if I need to adjust it over time, I will. Thanks for bearing with me as I sort things out!

My Year in Hobbies 2019: August!

August 2019:

A picture of a boxed Dungeons of Daggorath cartridge for Radio Shack's TRS-80 Color Computer. a blue-gray gargoyle points a sword at the camera in a maze with a yellow floor and bluew walls, with yellow and black Dungeons of Daggorath logo floating above him. Picture is framed by red trim. Box of cartridge is grey, with black trim and lettering around the outside, and white inner window trim near the window the cartridge is displayed in.
A picture of a boxed Dungeons of Daggorath cartridge for Radio Shack’s TRS-80 Color Computer. a blue-gray gargoyle points a sword at the camera in a maze with a yellow floor and bluew walls, with yellow and black Dungeons of Daggorath logo floating above him. Picture is framed by red trim. Box of cartridge is grey, with black trim and lettering around the outside, and white inner window trim near the window the cartridge is displayed in.

Not gonna lie, even though I’ve never owned a TRS-80 in my life (one of the few commercially-available American home computers of the early ’80s that I haven’t owned), I was REALLY tempted to get this, just because I have such fond memories of Bogarting TRS-80 time at my local Radio Shack as a kid to play it.

A Topps Now card of Cincinnati Reds outfield Aristides Aquino (pictured; a man with brown skin in a white uniform with red trim, wearing a red batting helmet, and swinging a black baseball bat in front of a crowd at a stadium). The card reads "Topps Now" in the top left corner, "10 Aug" in the top right corner, "Call-Up 2019" with the Cincinnati Reds "C" logo in the bottom right corner, and across the bottom, in 2 lines, it reads "Aristides Aquino" and "3-HR GAME, 7 HRs THROUGH FIRST 10 GAMES".
A Topps Now card of Cincinnati Reds outfield Aristides Aquino (pictured; a man with brown skin in a white uniform with red trim, wearing a red batting helmet, and swinging a black baseball bat in front of a crowd at a stadium). The card reads “Topps Now” in the top left corner, “10 Aug” in the top right corner, “Call-Up 2019” with the Cincinnati Reds “C” logo in the bottom right corner, and across the bottom, in 2 lines, it reads “Aristides Aquino” and “3-HR GAME, 7 HRs THROUGH FIRST 10 GAMES”.

 This cat had a pretty good couple of months. Yeah, I got in on his first Topps Now, albeit not out of the gate. He’s on my keeper league fantasy team now, too. We’ll see how that goes.

I hit a new-to-me bookstore in August, The Montague Bookmill in Montague, MA. Billed as “Books You Don’t Need In A Place You Can’t Find”, it’s a great store filled with solid inventory, built from a converted old mill building alongside the Sawmill River. Gorgeous location, comfortable shopping and browsing experience, highly recommended if you’re in the area or traveling through it. I picked up two books by downtown New York guys with similar hair…

Covers of Eric Bogosian's "Sex Drugs Rock & Roll" and Lou Reed's "Between Thought and Expression: Selected Lyrics of Lou Reed" books.
Covers of Eric Bogosian’s “Sex Drugs Rock & Roll” and Lou Reed’s “Between Thought and Expression: Selected Lyrics of Lou Reed” books. Bogosian book has a white cover with a picture of Eric Bogosian, inset in black and red, inside the words “BOGOSIAN SEX DRUGS ROCK & ROLL”, with an embarrassing-in-hindsight Frank Rich caption written underneath. Reed book has a bronze tone to the cover, with the book’s title written in black and bronze blocks above a black and white profile picture of Lou Reed, a man with dark hair and a black shirt on.

I had a cassette copy of the cast recording of the Bogosian play back in the ’80s, and I want to see how the material holds up. In Lou’s case, Lou’s Lou. He was an imperfect dude, to put it mildly, but for a generation and change, he was one of our imperfect dudes. I had kind of a Lou year in 2019, which we’ll revisit later…

In August, I also made it to my first live wrestling card in 17 years (the last time I went was the first MLW show in June of ’02), a collaborative show between Blitzkrieg Pro and Big Time Wrestling celebrating BP’s anniversary.

Here’s Bret “The Hitman” Hart and Ax (Bill Eadie) and Smash (Barry Darsow) of Demolition waving to the crowd after addressing them (all 3 were at the card signing stuff).

Demolition Ax (Bill Eadie, left, a man with black hair and white skin wearing a grey t-shirt, shorts and blue sneakers), Bret "The Hitman" Hart (center, a man with grey hair and white skin, wearing a black t-shirt and black jeans) and and Demolition Smash (Barry Darsow, right, a bald man with white skin, wearing a black t-shirt, black jeans and white sneakers) stand in a wrestling ring and wave to the crowd at a Blitzkrieg Pro/Big Time Wrestling event at CREC Civic Leadership High School in Enfield, CT on August 24th, 2019.
Demolition Ax (Bill Eadie, left, a man with black hair and white skin wearing a grey t-shirt, shorts and blue sneakers), Bret “The Hitman” Hart (center, a man with grey hair and white skin, wearing a black t-shirt and black jeans) and and Demolition Smash (Barry Darsow, right, a bald man with white skin, wearing a black t-shirt, black jeans and white sneakers) stand in a wrestling ring and wave to the crowd at a Blitzkrieg Pro/Big Time Wrestling event at CREC Civic Leadership High School in Enfield, CT on August 24th, 2019.

While I was there, I met “Freshly Squeezed” Orange Cassidy, hero of millions…or whatever.

The author (left, a man with brown hair and white skin, wearing a black Black Sabbath Volume IV t-shirt) and pro wrestler Orange Cassidy (right, a man with reddish blonde hair and white skin, wearing aviator sunglasses, a blue jean jacket, and a white t-shirt) give very mild thumbs ups to the camera at a Blitzkrieg Pro/Big Time Wrestling event, August 24th, 2019. Photo Credit: Bryce Remsburg
The author (left, a man with brown hair and white skin, wearing a black Black Sabbath Volume IV t-shirt) and pro wrestler Orange Cassidy (right, a man with reddish blonde hair and white skin, wearing aviator sunglasses, a blue jean jacket, and a white t-shirt) give very mild thumbs ups to the camera at a Blitzkrieg Pro/Big Time Wrestling event, August 24th, 2019. Photo Credit: Bryce Remsburg

The Freshly Squeezed one ran into some serious trouble that night, as he was facing The Boogeyman, and while OC is usually pretty chill about things, he was, understandably, very afraid.

Orange Cassidy (left, a shirtless man in blue jeans with reddish blonde hair and white skin) faces The Boogeyman (right, a shirtless man with brown skin, head painted red, wearing black pants) as the crowd looks on at a Blitzkrieg Pro/Big Time Wrestling event, August 24th, 2019.
Orange Cassidy (left, a shirtless man in blue jeans with reddish blonde hair and white skin) faces The Boogeyman (right, a shirtless man with brown skin, head painted red, wearing black pants) as the crowd looks on at a Blitzkrieg Pro/Big Time Wrestling event, August 24th, 2019.

So afraid, in fact, that after The Boogeyman spat worms at him (yes, really), he tried to run away. When he ran up into the stands, I actually tried to get him to hide behind me (yes, I, a 45 year old man with a history of head injuries, tried to intervene in a professional wrestling match; way to go there, Icarus…), so The Boogeyman wouldn’t see him, but he apparently didn’t feel like this was an effective enough strategy, so he kept running, but not before I got this “Blair Witch Project”-esque shot of him…

Orange Cassidy (front left, a shirtless man with reddish blonde hair and white skin) runs away from The Boogeyman at a Blitzkrieg Pro/Big Time Wrestling event on August 24th, 2019.
Orange Cassidy (front left, a shirtless man with reddish blonde hair and white skin) runs away from The Boogeyman at a Blitzkrieg Pro/Big Time Wrestling event on August 24th, 2019.

Eventually, not long after that, it ended poorly.

Professional wrestler Orange Cassidy (center, a shirtless man with white skin, wearing blue jeans and white sneakers with black soles) lies motionless in a wrestling ring as a crowd looks on at a Blitzkrieg Pro/Big Time Wrestling event, August 24th, 2019.
Professional wrestler Orange Cassidy (center, a shirtless man with white skin, wearing blue jeans and white sneakers with black soles) lies motionless in a wrestling ring as a crowd looks on at a Blitzkrieg Pro/Big Time Wrestling event, August 24th, 2019.

Orange Cassidy has since recovered, and landed on his feet in All Elite Wrestling, so he’s OK, I guess. I’m not sure what The Boogeyman’s been up to lately.

This entire exchange, including the part where I try to help Orange Cassidy hide from The Boogeyman, was captured on video from not one, but two different camera angles, so one of the more ridiculous things I’ve ever done in my life has been preserved for future generations (or however long YouTube lasts) to enjoy.

I show up around 3:43 on this one….

…and 4:26 on this one.

First-run movies watched in August 2019 (1): Hobbs & Shaw (it was the Snakes on a Plane of movies featuring both Hobbs & Shaw!)

Television seasons binge-watched in August 2019 (5): GLOW Season 2 (dark, and there are choice I wouldn’t have made, but I was still entertained), Kobra Kai Season 2 (better than it has any right to be, even if you don’t have the nostalgic familiarity with the characters that I do), The Strain Seasons 2-4 (I loved the first 2-hour episode, one of my best ever TV viewing experiences…and then they did 3+ more seasons of it…I really wish it had lived up to the promise of that first pilot).

Comic books cancelled or ending in August 2019 (1): Rolled & Told (Lion Forge). It’s sort of cheating, calling this one a comic book, as it’s really an all-ages, modern version of a Dragon Magazine-esque magazine covering Dungeons & Dragons, with a complete short adventure in each issue and, oh yeah, a comic within the magazine that serves as a lead-in to each adventure. I still have to go back and read a bunch of the 12 issue run they did before they went on hiatus (the series is supposedly coming back in Fall of 2020), because each issue is packed with articles and information. There’s a hardcover compilation of the run available now, if you can’t find single issues. If you play D&D on the regular, and/or want to, but have friends who are having trouble committing to a lengthy campaign, I highly recommend Rolled & Told.

September was a big month (and July/August weren’t exactly small), so bear with me, it may take a bit.