And The Bats Just Keep On Coming

I'm sure you are starting to realize that I may be a bit Bat crazy 

Most everything I am picking up these days are Batman related. I do not have a problem with that personally. I'm sure that my other collections are wondering why I am not adding more brethren to their cliques.I'm sure Spidey would like to see more Spidey's added to his group, but everytime I see a real cool Batman item, I just can't help myself. I have to have it. Especially if it's something I have wanted for a while.

  

I have been wanting this POP Vinyl for quite sometime. I had seen it before, but I had passed up for something better. I have a bad habit of doing that. Whenever I see something I really want, I always think I'll find it later. 

Well, this time, it almost cost me because I stopped seeing them pretty quick. No matter where I went  never could find it. I really thought I messed up bad. I wasn't able to find it anywhere. No Barnes N Noble, No Toys R Us, No conventions. No where. I was convinced I would be going the eBay route, but lo and behold, I finally found it at a Barnes N Noble in Manhattan. I gleefully bought it and now it's in my Batman collection. 

As with my other POP figures, I love the look of this little guy. The pupil-less eyes, the lack of mouth. Looks like he should be the prime candidate of a horror flick. Great paint job on this guy too. Btw, can we get this costume in the next Superman movie. Please?

On the back of the figure there are some minor paint flaws that can be seen in the ripples of the cape. Looks like they didn't get the paint brush in there all the way.

One of the surprising things about this figure (aside from the numbering on the bottom of his boot) was that this was not a bobblehead like most POP Vinyls are. As you can see from the picture, the head is glued to the neck piece. I was expecting this to be a bobble, so I was kind of shocked to find that it wasn't. 

The back of the box shows the other Funko POP releases. Thanks to Gina, I already have the Joker. If I find The Riddler, I will pick him up as well. That is one cool looking POP figure. I'd probably pick up Superman as well.

Funko did a great job with this figure. This Batman is a great addition to my Batman collection and I'm so glad to have him. The next Funko POP Vinyl I will be picking up is the '66 Batman in October. If the pictures are accurate, then it will be yet another great addition to my POP collection. 

I may have to build a shelf just for the growing POP collection.

I'm A Fan, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

I have been a huge, ginormus Beatles fan ever since I was about 6 years old. I got into them through a friend who was a little bit older than me. I remember that year I had started listening to records (google it kids), singles in fact. I wasn't listening to anything that current. Most of the records my friends and I were listening to were songs like I'm A Believer, Sunshine Superman, Cracklin' Rose and Lola. I had a friend, Mark Fioritti (Sorry if I mispelled your name Mark) who played me a record that had an apple on the label. It's funny I remember the apple. I think it was because I hadn't seen on on a record up to that point. So, the first song he played for me was Hey Jude and from that day on, I was obessed with The Beatles.

Growing up, I read every book I could get my hands on about them and listened to all their albums, repeatedly. I remember working I was working at the Fordham Public Library the day the CD's were released. I rented Please, Please Me and With The Beatles and ran home with them. I remember I was beside myself when I first heard Paul, clearly, counting up then the opening of I Saw Her Standing There followed. It was awesome. I had a poster on my wall that a friend gave me for my birthday of the Beatles through various stages of their career and I have been looking for that poster on ebay for the longest time.

As I got older, I picked up various DVD's, books and other Beatle goodies. I wanted to take this week and show off various parts of my Beatles collection. It's actually very small, a lot smaller than I care to admit. But that's the beauty of a collector, you can always add to it and grow it as large as you would like.

So today, I wanted to show off my 3 Beatles Enesco figurines. These were released back in 1993. They made figurines of all four Beatles on black lacquered stands and an album cover slotted behind the figure on the stand. I got these three figures as a gift from my buddy, George. Don't remember if they were christmas or birthday presents. Very cool pieces to have in my Beatles collection.

Sorry about the flash on some of these pictures. But here is a shot of all three figures together

Here's George with Capitol's Meet The Beatles album cover. This was the album that introduced America to the Beatles in 1964.

This one is my personal favorite for two reasons. One, John was my favorite Beatle and two, The Beatles Second Album was one of the very first Beatles albums I purchased with my own money. I remember going into Alexander's on Fordham Road as a kid with my mom. We marched into the record department and I grabbed The Beatles Second Album and Help! and bought them with my own allowance money. It was a proud day for the young sexy geek. The only non Beatles album I also bought was The Police's Zenyatta Mondatta. It was 1980. I loved De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da.

Here is Paul with the Something New Album cover. This might be the only Beatles album as a kid I never got to hear. By the time I started buying my own music, Apple was releasing the british versions of The Beatles albums and I just never got to listen to this record, but hey if you heard The Beatles singing I Want To Hold Your Hand in german on one CD, it really doesn't matter right?

I never could get Ringo. At first, he was pretty hard to find. Once I did find him, he was pretty expensive. I saw a listing for him on ebay recently for $150.00 and that's not money I can spend on one thing right now.

I have been on a real Beatles kick as of late. I saw a restored version of Magical Mystery Tour on the big screen recently, watched The Ed Sullivan shows that had The Beatles on them, watched A Hard Day's Night and have been listening to their music non stop. This band is timeless and their music never sounds stale. I had the good fortune of seeing Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr on their tours multiple times and will continue to see them whenever they come around.

I love other bands like KISS, The Monkees, Depeche Mode, The Cure, etc. None of these bands come close to capturing my imagination like The Beatles did and still do to this day. Whenever I hear their music, I am back at school, listening to their records on that crappy record player and pretending I'm one of the Beatles, singing to the records and playing air guitar. I have heard thier songs hundreds, if not thousands of times and never tire of hearing them. That's why I know I will be a fan for life. Now to find more stuff to add to my Beatles collection.

Snoopy Bobblehead Night-Yankee vs Toronto Blue Jays 9/19/2012

Last Wednesday I was able to attend the Yankees/Blue Jays game at Yankee Stadium. It was Snoopy Bobblehead Night and I wanted to make sure I got one for my Yankees bobblehead collection, so I took the day off from work. I was the first one through the gates and I was thrilled when I was handed my Snoopy bobblehead. Yes! I had to take the day off from work, but I got the bobblehead.

I went straight to the right field seats for batting practice. The Yankees played the first game of a day/night doubleheader earlier, so I wasn't sure if there would be batting practice. The last time I attended batting practice, I caught a ball. The time before that, I got a ball. I wanted to see if I could make it 3 in a row.

I got to the right field seats and saw Derek Jeter taking hacks along with Alex Rodriguez. During Arod's turn, he launched a ball toward my section. I ran to the spot where I was sure the ball would land and sure enough, I felt the painful slap of rawhide meeting the skin of my hand, causing it to turn red. I did it, I caught ball #3 and from Arod no less. What a moment. What a.... the next thhing I knew, this older gentleman came over and slapped the ball out of my hand. I helplessly watched bounce 3 feet away and into the hands of another adult.

Ok, I realize it was just batting practice, but I will admit I lost it. I yelled I had that. The guy, smugly told me he didn't see my name on the ball. I held up my palm to show the redness so he could see it was in my hand when he smacked it out. He said I didn't close my fingers so it was fair game. I could see I wasn't going to win this arguement, so I walked away. Had that been a home run ball in an actual game, I might not have been so quiet.

It was close to game time and my buddy sent me a text message that he arrived. I wanted to see the look on his face when he saw how cool this bobblehead was and maybe he would think he should have taken a day off as well...until I saw him carrying the box as well. Oh well. Maybe I should have gone to work as well.

The game was a good one. Both the Yankees and Blue Jays scored a run each in their halves of the 2nd inning. That score held until Ichiro singled in Curtis Granderson with the go ahead run in the botom of the 8th. A half inning later, Raphael Soriano closed out the game and we all untucked our shirts for a 2-1 Yankee win.

Now, a look at the goodies

Snoopy looks great in Yankee blue, with pinstripe pants and Yankees cap. I realize it's the same bobblehead that was given out by the San Francisco Giants a year or 2 ago. As a huge Peanuts fan, I am hoping we get Charlie Brown and Lucy as well in the upcoming seasons.

 I think the only difference from the Giants give away, aside from the uniforms, was that Snoopy had a number, which I think was 07 on the back of his unifrom, while the Yankee one just has the MetLife logo. The 07 on the back of Snoopy's uniform was to signify the year the bobblehead was given out.

I also went to the Yankees Clubhouse store and picked up a Mickey Mouse figurine I have been eyeing for the last season or two. Yes, I am a fan of Disney and wanted this figurine to go with the Mickey Mouse All Star figurine I already owned.

Back of the box.

Here's Mickey decked out in the home pinstripes. Like the base he comes in with a small home plate with the Yankees logo on it.

Back of the statue has Mickey sporting 01 and his name on the top. Doesn't Mickey know there are no names on the back of the Yankee uni's? Shame on whoever issued that jersey to you. Now, I need to hunt down the Disney bobbleheads, which would make my Disney Yankee collection complete.

Would have been great to have bought home that Arod ball, but I think I did pretty well regardless. These new additions are going to look great in the Yankee bobblehead/figurine collection. No, they aren't players, but I love adding these to my collection as it diversifies the Yankee shelves and as a collector, I want my collection to differ from another Yankee collector's collection. I think one's collection is an extension of the personality of the collector and my love for cartoons is pretty well represented with Snoopy, Mickey and Woody before them. Now, if only they made Marvel or DC Yankee figurines/Bobbleheads....