Sunday, February 15, 2009
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Three posts in a row!
I neglect the blog for months, then three posts in a row! Ho Hum!
I'm in a couple of card Secret Santas this year - one on NSU's Card Talk board, and one on the Scoundrel board. The latter turned up at the weekend, and it is a really rather nice pair of Star Trek sketches by artist unknown (update: The artist is, in fact, Nathan 'SadLittle' Ohlendorf!):
Whoever the artist/Secret Santa donor is, Thank you! I'm most decidedly chuffed!
I'm in a couple of card Secret Santas this year - one on NSU's Card Talk board, and one on the Scoundrel board. The latter turned up at the weekend, and it is a really rather nice pair of Star Trek sketches by artist unknown (update: The artist is, in fact, Nathan 'SadLittle' Ohlendorf!):
Whoever the artist/Secret Santa donor is, Thank you! I'm most decidedly chuffed!
Economic Downturn? Bargain Central!
I've been picking up some amazing (for me at least!) bargains recently as far as cards are concerned. At Memorabilia I picked up some boxes for £1 each, and a Julian Glover autograph from one of the Topps Indiana Jones sets and a Grant Gould sketch of Irina for, respectively, £2.99 and £1.99.
This week, some eBay bargains arrived, including one of the two Thunderbirds The Movie autographs I was missing (Rose Keegan, aka "Transom") for which I paid a couple of quid - I now only need one more autograph, two of the more difficult promos and the Woolworths/The Sun redemption set to make as close to a master as I'll ever get!
Bad time to be a collector? I don't know. As is mentioned in the latest episode of the podcast (#14), there were plenty of bargains to be had on comparatively recent stock at the Memorabilia show; how much of this is due to dealers feeling the pinch and how much is just a lot of stock clearing I don't know, but whatever the reason is, I'll take advantage whilst I still have a (very) small amount of disposable income to spend!
This week, some eBay bargains arrived, including one of the two Thunderbirds The Movie autographs I was missing (Rose Keegan, aka "Transom") for which I paid a couple of quid - I now only need one more autograph, two of the more difficult promos and the Woolworths/The Sun redemption set to make as close to a master as I'll ever get!
Bad time to be a collector? I don't know. As is mentioned in the latest episode of the podcast (#14), there were plenty of bargains to be had on comparatively recent stock at the Memorabilia show; how much of this is due to dealers feeling the pinch and how much is just a lot of stock clearing I don't know, but whatever the reason is, I'll take advantage whilst I still have a (very) small amount of disposable income to spend!
Birmingham: The Return...
Episode 14 of the podcast is now online; entitled "Birmingham: The Return...", it looks back at the Memorabilia show and features Harris Toser and myself, with contributions from various artists, ealers and other attendees at the show.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Technology Highs and Lows 2 - The Unneccessary Sequel
I'm back from the Memorabilia show in Birmingham (at which I had great fun!) and realise that half the interviews I recorded on my new 'Mobile recording' kit did not run through the external microphone (which is higher quality than usual) but through the internal microphone (which is, frankly, pants) I should be able to retrieve something usable from most of it, but it's not going to be as good as I intended when I got the new kit. Rats.
My apologies in advance to the interviewees affected by this mistake on my part (I know what I did - I didn't manually select the right option); anyone I cannot edit into a listenable segment on the next podcast will get a huge plug from me instead.
My apologies in advance to the interviewees affected by this mistake on my part (I know what I did - I didn't manually select the right option); anyone I cannot edit into a listenable segment on the next podcast will get a huge plug from me instead.
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Technology highs and lows
It's been one of those weeks when I am let down by, and uplifted by, technology.
First, the let down: I record a podcast (UK CardCast, thanks for asking!) about non-sport cards and last week, I recorded interviews with Roxanne Toser of Non-Sport Update magazine, and Joanna Kohlbus & Kate RED Bradley - the latter two in a chatty converational call, the former on her own as more of a formal interview. All the recordings were made via Skype and a piece of recording software I've used in the past called Pamela. Pamela works well and I've had some excellent results for past episodes, even when there is more than one perosn on the other side of the call but, for some reason (and I can't work out if it's Pamela or Skype), most of the early part of the Joanna and Kate interview didn't record - I have long periods of silence (when I am speaking) interspersed wit hthe occasional comment or laugh from one of the ladies. I can recover (with judicious editing and some re-recording of my introductory comments) the start, but it's not something I'm happy about - I prefer a straight-off the call thing!
That said, the uplifting thing is that I now have a far higher quality recording kit for outside broadcasts! I occasionally report on shows and other events in person, and when I've done that in the past, I've used the voice recorder option on a tiny MP3 player - the sound quality isn't that great and I usually have to do a fair amount of tweaking to get something vaguely podcastable. Now, however, I have a Creative Zen 3 MP3 player, which has a Line-in socket (offering significantly better recording quality) and a proper external microphone! The first 'live' use of the new kit is the upcoming Memorabilia show at the NEC Birmingham 22-23 November.
The most recent episode of the podcast is now online - that's Episode 12 and features Harris Toser and Don Norton talking about the Chicago show, and Wolfie talking about some UK shows he's attended recently; the aforementioned "Women of Cards" show is being edited and (unless I have any other techie probs!) should be available this week; I should also be recording a shorter show looking forward to Memorabilia next week (just waiting for some information about a possible stage talk for Harris and myself!).
First, the let down: I record a podcast (UK CardCast, thanks for asking!) about non-sport cards and last week, I recorded interviews with Roxanne Toser of Non-Sport Update magazine, and Joanna Kohlbus & Kate RED Bradley - the latter two in a chatty converational call, the former on her own as more of a formal interview. All the recordings were made via Skype and a piece of recording software I've used in the past called Pamela. Pamela works well and I've had some excellent results for past episodes, even when there is more than one perosn on the other side of the call but, for some reason (and I can't work out if it's Pamela or Skype), most of the early part of the Joanna and Kate interview didn't record - I have long periods of silence (when I am speaking) interspersed wit hthe occasional comment or laugh from one of the ladies. I can recover (with judicious editing and some re-recording of my introductory comments) the start, but it's not something I'm happy about - I prefer a straight-off the call thing!
That said, the uplifting thing is that I now have a far higher quality recording kit for outside broadcasts! I occasionally report on shows and other events in person, and when I've done that in the past, I've used the voice recorder option on a tiny MP3 player - the sound quality isn't that great and I usually have to do a fair amount of tweaking to get something vaguely podcastable. Now, however, I have a Creative Zen 3 MP3 player, which has a Line-in socket (offering significantly better recording quality) and a proper external microphone! The first 'live' use of the new kit is the upcoming Memorabilia show at the NEC Birmingham 22-23 November.
The most recent episode of the podcast is now online - that's Episode 12 and features Harris Toser and Don Norton talking about the Chicago show, and Wolfie talking about some UK shows he's attended recently; the aforementioned "Women of Cards" show is being edited and (unless I have any other techie probs!) should be available this week; I should also be recording a shorter show looking forward to Memorabilia next week (just waiting for some information about a possible stage talk for Harris and myself!).
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Phew!
The new episode of UK CardCast is out, and it's a biggie! So long, in fact, that I've split it up into two parts.
The theme is sketch artists, and in it I have three extended interviews with Patrick Hamill, Kate Bradley and Dave Fox, and six shorter interviews conducted by Harris "The Star Of The Show" Toser at the recent New York ComicCon - listen out for a cameo appearence by John Czop!
It was fun recording the interviews, but a long episode requires a lot of editing, so rest assured that I won't be doing these every month!
In other news, I attended the Collectormania show in Milton Keynes at the weekend (thanks to Dave Brown, also, coincidentally, interviewed in the latest episode). I picked up a number of promos I needed, including the one I was missing from the Austin Powers set. This was the Collectormania that had John Barrowman, Eve Myles and Kai Owen from Torchwood (amongst many others) - the queues were terrific... I wasn't in any of the queues - I'm hoping some enterprising card manufacturer brings out a set of Torchwood trading cards with cast autographs...!
The theme is sketch artists, and in it I have three extended interviews with Patrick Hamill, Kate Bradley and Dave Fox, and six shorter interviews conducted by Harris "The Star Of The Show" Toser at the recent New York ComicCon - listen out for a cameo appearence by John Czop!
It was fun recording the interviews, but a long episode requires a lot of editing, so rest assured that I won't be doing these every month!
In other news, I attended the Collectormania show in Milton Keynes at the weekend (thanks to Dave Brown, also, coincidentally, interviewed in the latest episode). I picked up a number of promos I needed, including the one I was missing from the Austin Powers set. This was the Collectormania that had John Barrowman, Eve Myles and Kai Owen from Torchwood (amongst many others) - the queues were terrific... I wasn't in any of the queues - I'm hoping some enterprising card manufacturer brings out a set of Torchwood trading cards with cast autographs...!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Enterprising Bargains
It seems to be my year for finding bargain boxes - my local show still had some stock left over from their recent relocation clearance sale and I manged to get one box each of Enterprise Season one and four for £10 each.
Before opening the boxes, I said to myself how good it would be to pull one of the main cast, such as Dominic Keating or one of the big name guest stars, such as, perhaps, Brent Spiner. I didn't rule it out, but my luck in pack pulls hasn't been THAT good of late.
I'm sure you can guess the rest. First autograph pulled from the Season four box - Brent Spiner. First autograph pulled from the Season one box - Dominic Keating.
Life doesn't get much better (for me at least, as far as cards are concerned!)
Before opening the boxes, I said to myself how good it would be to pull one of the main cast, such as Dominic Keating or one of the big name guest stars, such as, perhaps, Brent Spiner. I didn't rule it out, but my luck in pack pulls hasn't been THAT good of late.
I'm sure you can guess the rest. First autograph pulled from the Season four box - Brent Spiner. First autograph pulled from the Season one box - Dominic Keating.
Life doesn't get much better (for me at least, as far as cards are concerned!)
Chatty, Chatty, Chatty
The new episode, Episode 08 - "The Non-Sport Crew", is now online and features 'fan-favourite' Harris Toser talking about Non-Sport Update magazine and the forthcoming Allentown show, Kenny "Bookins", the Creative Mind of Kreative Koncepts, talking about his new set "The Official HipHop Trading Cards", Don Norton, an old friend and trading partner of mine, as well as a regular contributor to NSU magazine, talking about Oddball 'cards', his upcoming article in NSU about card storage products, and Wolfie, the most prolific poster on NSU's Card Talk forum, looking back at the recent Collectormania show in Coventry.
Long show (a little over an hour) but I hope you persevere with it!
Long show (a little over an hour) but I hope you persevere with it!
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Best Bargain Ever!
A couple of weeks ago, my local card/comic store relocated to smaller premises and had a clearence sale on all the stuff they physically couldn't fit in at the new location.
I somewhat cheekily made a joke offer of £1 for a box of Thunderbirds The Movie cards complete with binder - it wasn't accepted, but I was told that an offer of £5 would be accepted - I leapt at the opportunity and shortly thereafter was opening the box in my living room.
For a fiver I got redemption cards for the Sir Ben Kingsley autograph, the Brains Check Shirt costume cards - I also got a couple of base sets and a really nice colour sketch of TB2 by Graham Bleathman.
Now, the set came out nearly 4 years ago, and as I only paid £5 I really wasn't expecting to redeem the autograph and costume cards - but, to give the highest credit to Cards Inc. and The Collector Zone, last week the two cards came back, complete with the redemption cards, the latter hole punched to show they had already been redeemed!
Bear in mind I also got the official binder, so I just need a couple of the "Pretty in Pink" chase cards (2 and 4, if you're interested!) and I'll have a mini-master set (i.e all the base and chase except the autos, sketches and costumes - and I'm working on them as and when I find cheap examples of the cards/artists I don't have)
I somewhat cheekily made a joke offer of £1 for a box of Thunderbirds The Movie cards complete with binder - it wasn't accepted, but I was told that an offer of £5 would be accepted - I leapt at the opportunity and shortly thereafter was opening the box in my living room.
For a fiver I got redemption cards for the Sir Ben Kingsley autograph, the Brains Check Shirt costume cards - I also got a couple of base sets and a really nice colour sketch of TB2 by Graham Bleathman.
Now, the set came out nearly 4 years ago, and as I only paid £5 I really wasn't expecting to redeem the autograph and costume cards - but, to give the highest credit to Cards Inc. and The Collector Zone, last week the two cards came back, complete with the redemption cards, the latter hole punched to show they had already been redeemed!
Bear in mind I also got the official binder, so I just need a couple of the "Pretty in Pink" chase cards (2 and 4, if you're interested!) and I'll have a mini-master set (i.e all the base and chase except the autos, sketches and costumes - and I'm working on them as and when I find cheap examples of the cards/artists I don't have)
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Fun with Harris and Joanna...
Last Sunday, I recorded the main part of the next episode (due to be uploaded later this week) with regular guest Harris Toser and Special Guest Joanna Kohlbus - ostensibly to talk about the past year, but mostly because I haven't spoken to Joanna before (though we have exchanged many emails and letters).
I can't speak for the other participants (though it is notable that neither of them flamed me with hate email afterwards - a good sign!) but I had great fun chatting with both Harris and Joanna and we got a good deal of gossip as well as some interesting and thoughtful comments which may well set up some future themed episodes!
Unfortunately, Joanna had to leave halfway through the recording, but I'm looking to get her on the show again soon!
It's STILL not too late to vote in the "Best of 2007" poll - there is an email link on the front page of the CardCast website, where you will also find a link to Rebecca Toser's "Nothing But Nets" charity campaign!
I can't speak for the other participants (though it is notable that neither of them flamed me with hate email afterwards - a good sign!) but I had great fun chatting with both Harris and Joanna and we got a good deal of gossip as well as some interesting and thoughtful comments which may well set up some future themed episodes!
Unfortunately, Joanna had to leave halfway through the recording, but I'm looking to get her on the show again soon!
It's STILL not too late to vote in the "Best of 2007" poll - there is an email link on the front page of the CardCast website, where you will also find a link to Rebecca Toser's "Nothing But Nets" charity campaign!
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Best of 2007
Well, the end of the year is nearly upon us and it occurs to me that now is the time when all good collectors should decide what their favourite sets of the year have been!
So, if you want to vote on the Top Ten of 2007, send an email to my podcast email address, listing your top three in no particular order (I'd like the set name and the manufacturer name).
Once all the votes are in (I haven't set a date yet, but probably the middle of January, as I want to do a look back at the highlights of 2007 episode towards the end of January) I'll tot them all up and work out which sets got the most votes.
Not many rules, but I will be strict about them:
So, if you want to vote on the Top Ten of 2007, send an email to my podcast email address, listing your top three in no particular order (I'd like the set name and the manufacturer name).
Once all the votes are in (I haven't set a date yet, but probably the middle of January, as I want to do a look back at the highlights of 2007 episode towards the end of January) I'll tot them all up and work out which sets got the most votes.
Not many rules, but I will be strict about them:
- All nominated sets MUST have been issued between January 1st 2007 and December 31st 2007 (that is to say the main set must have been available, not just preview sets or promos)
- Only ONE vote per person per household
- Those working for/with Non-Sport trading card manufacturers ARE permitted to vote, but NOT for sets produced by the company with whom they have a connection!
- My decision is final!
In the meantime, many thanks to anyone who actually reads this stuff, or who listens to the podcast or (even) does both! Your support is most gratefully received!
Au Res.,
Paul
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
New Podcast episode, same old croaky voice...
The new episode, 06, of UK CardCast is now online and available from iTunes, other podcast directories etc. It was recorded at the Winter Memorabilia 2007 at the NEC Birmingham and features interviews with a number of dealers, collectors and celebrities - it also shows how quickly a voice can disappear when one tries to interview people whilst sinking deeper and deeper into a rather sudden cold...
I haven't repeated the experiment with 'Enhanced for iTunes' that I tried with Episode 05 - the enhancements was just adding a couple of pictures that should have popped up at certain, relevant, points during the episode, but not everyone could actually see the pictures.
So, if anyone wants to see my pictures from the show (and those of others, including Harris Toser) pop along to the Non-Sport Update Magazine website, click on the "Card Talk" link and look in the 'Shows and Conventions' section.
Next episode hopefully just before Christmas - if I get the something special I have planed written up in time!
I haven't repeated the experiment with 'Enhanced for iTunes' that I tried with Episode 05 - the enhancements was just adding a couple of pictures that should have popped up at certain, relevant, points during the episode, but not everyone could actually see the pictures.
So, if anyone wants to see my pictures from the show (and those of others, including Harris Toser) pop along to the Non-Sport Update Magazine website, click on the "Card Talk" link and look in the 'Shows and Conventions' section.
Next episode hopefully just before Christmas - if I get the something special I have planed written up in time!
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Back From Brum
Last weekend was the Winter Memorabilia show at the NEC Birmingham and, as is now more-or-less traditional, I was there, hanging around on the Non-Sport Update stand.
I was also recording interviews for the next episode of the podcast (Episode 06, out some time in the next week!)
Met up with loads of friends from NSU Card Talk and picked up a few bargains to fill holes in the old collection!
I was also recording interviews for the next episode of the podcast (Episode 06, out some time in the next week!)
Met up with loads of friends from NSU Card Talk and picked up a few bargains to fill holes in the old collection!
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
New and Notable!
At time of posting, UK CardCast (my trading card podcast) is being featured on the 'New and Notable' ribbon on iTunes (in the Games & Hobbies section) and it is also at number 16 in the "Today's Top Podcasts' in Games & Hobbies/Hobbies...
To be honest, I only ever thought a couple of people would listen to the thing once I put it online, so the fact that over 100 people have downloaded episode 01, and 20 or so people have gone for episode 02 in the week since I posted it is fantastic!
Now, of course, I have to think aobut episode 03...
To be honest, I only ever thought a couple of people would listen to the thing once I put it online, so the fact that over 100 people have downloaded episode 01, and 20 or so people have gone for episode 02 in the week since I posted it is fantastic!
Now, of course, I have to think aobut episode 03...
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
The Show
I had great fun on Sunday - courtesy of the Daily Star (and it's not often that I can say that!)
The tabloid had a token collect thing a couple of weeks ago - collect two tokens, stick them to a coupon printed in the paper and you got free entry to Star Wars Celebration Europe at the London ExCel, Docklands (which took place last weekend) I don't usually get the Daily Star, but a friend on NSU Card Talk, John the Hat, had a spare and he very kindly sent it to me.
There is a full report on what I saw at the show, with pictures, on the NSU Card Talk board and I'll also be covering it in the next episode of the UK CardCast podcast (including a couple of card related interviews!) which should be online by the end of this week, but to summarise - Wow!
Great show, and I seriously hope this is used by other show organisers as the model for how shows SHOULD be...
The tabloid had a token collect thing a couple of weeks ago - collect two tokens, stick them to a coupon printed in the paper and you got free entry to Star Wars Celebration Europe at the London ExCel, Docklands (which took place last weekend) I don't usually get the Daily Star, but a friend on NSU Card Talk, John the Hat, had a spare and he very kindly sent it to me.
There is a full report on what I saw at the show, with pictures, on the NSU Card Talk board and I'll also be covering it in the next episode of the UK CardCast podcast (including a couple of card related interviews!) which should be online by the end of this week, but to summarise - Wow!
Great show, and I seriously hope this is used by other show organisers as the model for how shows SHOULD be...
Friday, July 06, 2007
C'est CardCast, est Arrive!
So I managed, after a lot of trial an error, to finish the first episode of the podcast, and it is online now at CardCast.co.uk - it has been submitted to a number of Podcast Directories, including Yahoo and iTunes, and I've been talking about it in a number of places. Already, there have been 52 downloads!!! And that's BEFORE iTunes has accepted it...
Monday, July 02, 2007
Nearly here...
It's been 10 months since I last posted here about the podcast, and I finally have some news ro report - it is nearly here! Last weekend I recorded (via Skype) an interview with Harris Toser, the Production Manager of Non-Sport Update magazine (thanks Harris!) and I also updated the website for the podcast (which you can find here:http://www.cardcast.co.uk/
I'm currently working on the introduction and news segments and I hope to have the first episode online by the end of this week.
I'm currently working on the introduction and news segments and I hope to have the first episode online by the end of this week.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Podcarding
It's still in a very early testing and planning stage, but (as far as I'm aware) the first UK based podcast devoted to Non-Sport Trading cards and related stuff should soon be making itself available! UK CardCast (as it will be called) will cover the whole gamut of non-sport, from a UK perspective, and will hopefully include reports on some of the major, and not-so-major, shows.
Our first test is Collectormania 10 in Milton Keynes next weekend!
Au Res.,
Paul
Our first test is Collectormania 10 in Milton Keynes next weekend!
Au Res.,
Paul
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Doctor Who and the Railway Generation...
Last Bank Holiday Weekend, I was in Milton Keynes. Yes, I know how to live the high life!
The REASON I was in Milton Keynes is because a friend had invited me to go to the Collectormania show, held at the Milton Keynes shopping centre it probably has a fancy, expensively consulted upon name, but I can't be bothered to look it up - it's a shopping centre).
This was as good an excuse as any I could find to test out my recently acquired digital camera, so I accepted the invitation.
Below (hopefully) a couple of the pictures I took at the show, which had appearences from a wide range of TV and film stars.
The REASON I was in Milton Keynes is because a friend had invited me to go to the Collectormania show, held at the Milton Keynes shopping centre it probably has a fancy, expensively consulted upon name, but I can't be bothered to look it up - it's a shopping centre).
This was as good an excuse as any I could find to test out my recently acquired digital camera, so I accepted the invitation.
Below (hopefully) a couple of the pictures I took at the show, which had appearences from a wide range of TV and film stars.
LeVar Burton and Jonathan Frakes introduce the new Captain of the Enterprise - a strict disciplinarian who will have NO bother with the Borg...
Alan Tudyk (Firefly/Serenity)
Ron Glass (Firefly/Serenity)
I took a lot more pictures; these can be found on the NonSport Update magazine 'Card Talk' message board: http://www.nonsportupdate.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
