BoomMF

Great White Hope stays where he is.

I stayed in Austin at a hotel just off campus, The Otis, and all the rooms have record players in them. You can check out titles from the library in the lobby to play in your room and, if you want, buy them. I came across the limited edition double LP version of Rio, which I've been looking for for a long time. It's very rare and each time it comes up on eBay or for sale otherwise it's $100 or more - it's a killer record but come on. Flipped it over and it's marked at $25. Well, don't mind if I do.

I played a bunch of Ultima Online back in the day, but Star Wars: Galaxies became my religion. There is an emulator that's pretty active (for a 20-year-old game that wasn't all that popular 20 years ago) called SWG:EMU, and I still play it from time to time.

These are from an Amazon seller (search "graded sports card display") and they're great quality. I'd like a few more to house the pro Longhorns collection (which would need about two of these displays). And I'm the same way, too sentimental for my own good. Most of these cards take be back to the precise moment in time when I got them and I can still feel that little twinge of excitement when 10-year-old Boom managed to snag them. I mowed lawns all summer for that 1985 Mark McGwire Topps Olympic Team rookie, which I got at a flea market on Harwin in Houston - (Funny-to-me story, when I was little I was the biggest Charlie Hustle fan there was, and though I never got his rookie, I was able to get his 2nd year card which was the prize of my collection for the longest. Then the betting thing happened and I had a "say it ain't so, Joe" moment and turned my back. So, I needed to find a new hero. While thumbing through my cousin's 1987 Topps collection, which is one of the ugliest designs in the modern era mind, I came across a visually stunning card that stood out like a sore thumb. It was of this massive dude wearing green, set against the green A's logo, which popped on that otherwise drab wooden design. I flipped the card over and the factoid was about this guy belting 49 homers as a rookie, an MLB record. Forty-nine homers as a rookie! Well that cinched it, I found my replacement for Pete Rose. This was just in time to catch the Bash Brothers era which began in earnest the next year so things were rosy after all. The moral of this story is I am shit at picking heroes.)

It's fucking Jeff Beck.

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A hobby is only such when you are allowed to take something cheap and simple and make it expensive and complicated, so back off.

Girlschool?! There must be something in the air because I was just listening to an all-girl band too. And as a PSA, if you're into vinyl and want an end-game cleaning solution, you need to check out iSonic's ultrasonic record cleaners. The body is the same as Kirmuss (sp?) But go for about 1/6 of the price of his machines. The way this thing has quickly rehabilitated some grungy records is almost magical.

Coincidentally she was the first one played.

Today's haul. When converting your jazz CD collection over to vinyl you need to start at the top, imo.

Still the goat.

The way Shaka is during the NCAA tournament you'd think he was a women's weight room.

Looking at the local Walmart I noticed a ton of 180g pressings of boner-inducing titles for the middle-aged set, but also saw a bunch of "Walmart Exclusive" records with colored vinyl, all of them thematic to the album. I know vinyl is hipster central and a lot have a religious need to only buy from mom and pop stores, but, hypothetically speaking, if someone couldn't care less about that, objectively how is the audio quality of these discs generally? I picked up Metallica's black album Walmart Exclusive version, because I'm middle-aged and it induced a boner, but should I go back and buy with reckless abandon?

Username checks out.

This is a shot of the display case with the important cards and sports figures from my youth as well as cards I picked up recently of players that were important growing up but I didn't have the funds then to collect the good stuff. (Cutoff to the right is Magic and Texas players collection. The Magic collection, for value, absolutely dwarfs the sports cards total in about a 10th the quantity of cards. But that's another story for another time.) If it's in this case and PSA graded, it's a 9 or a 10. And speaking of crazy prices recently, about 3 Super Bowl wins ago I picked up a PSA 10 (hologramed) 2001 Brady Black Diamond because, of the affordable Brady rookies, it looked by far the best - cool design and coloring. I paid $140. It's been selling at auction from between $5000 (non hologramed) and $10000 (hologramed) within the past few weeks. Jesus. That 1996 Kobe is also a PSA 10 that I got a few years ago for about $60. It's 5 digits now as well. Thinking about cashing out my childhood, but probably won't because I'm a sentimental fool.

Good lord.

Does anyone remember the HDNet series from 20 or so years ago call Masters of Time? It was about independent Swedish watchmakers and shot with stunning macro video of the miniscule intricate innerworkings of artisan handcrafted watches. From time to time I look for torrents of it but can never find it. As far as I know, it has never been officially released on any HD format, just the HDNet airing in 1080i. I'd love to get my hands on a hidef video of that documentary, it'd be great demo material. (There is a 480p video of the show on YouTube and now that I think about it, I may have asked this question way upthread but memory fails...)

If Kirk Hammett and Joe Satriani are on someone's all-time douche list I need to hit Urban Dictionary and update my definition of douche. Ten posts in on a dbag guitarists list and the score is Lindsey Buckinham: 0, Kirk Hammett: 1.

While you were hate scrolling, did you check out that Custom Shop Twin with an oh so coveted 5F8A circuit hand made by the mothership? That thing is drool worthy. I'd be serious about cheating and stealing to get one, but it doesn't have an effects loop or built-in step down because you and he are brothers from another mother who believe the way grandpa did it is the best way. Y'all are probably not wrong, but I'm a creature of convenience. Before the pandemic fucked us, he and Fender were set to release a Custom Shop V-front Dual Professional, the king ding-a-ling tweed amp. Power reduction, effects loop or no, there will be cheating and maybe a little stealing if Fender decide to be heroes again. I came close to putting a deposit on the Rift version of that amp, but I want my V-front to say "Fender" across the face because I'm vain and easily manipulated. (I still get the bothers when I see that pic of Billy Gibbons doing half a shocker in front of his collection of Duals.)

We going to Bonamassa at Moody for ACL on March 31st? I feel that we should...

LW25 If you go that route, don't forget extra solution or additive, because it will absolutely pull shit out of the air and leave a gunk to scrape off the bottom and the additive makes keeping the thing clean easier and eliminates any smells. The even have additives that add fragrances, and your man cave isn't complete until it smells of smooth smooth lavender.

I have a Venta Airwasher in the music room and works like a charm. Sitting here typing this at cool 45% relative. But, full disclosure, I've used exactly one humidifier in my life.

I've been trying to broaden playing opportunities in the pandemic, and I find TTS and the like to be lifeless, cumbersome experiences, so I put together a streaming setup. Watched a few streaming channels to cop their moves and the product came out surprisingly good. Even installed a little color-keyed area to display detail shots of game bits and cards so people can see them up close and study them. It works really well for games with no hidden hands and everything's public. But some of these game boards push 1080p to its breaking point. 4K is out of the question! ...for now.

#NGD I volunteer at an organization that rescues guitars from freezing cold climates. How silly do I feel this week. My first love was ESP. This is from one of their now defunct sub-brands, Xtone. It's a complete departure from the shred machines ESP is known for, which might be why Xtone never caught on. Regardless, it looks cool and that's most important.