A Brilliant Trade

We're all aware that shipping costs have increased this year. Unfortunately that's doubly true for international shipping. I've kept international trades to a minimum this year mainly because I can't really afford to dish out $30+ for a package that would've only cost me $20 max to ship out a year ago. Also I've had the benefit of going to Japan twice this year, meaning that I could just use Japan's Postal Service to send stuff for far cheaper.

But I did undergo a trade earlier in the year and a not too long ago I "completed" my second.

I use the word "completed" in quotes because this collector (@you_oh_ on Twitter) is the only one I trade with like I do with the rest of you. Which is to say that I send them stuff at random when I just want to ship things out for the heck of it. Padded packages have gotten expensive but PWE's are still manageable (even to Japan) so I have done a stupid but cost effective thing of sending cards in PWE's across the Pacific to them a few times. They're surprised and liked the cards enough every time (I think, hopefully they didn't get damaged). That they saw fit to zap me back.

@you_oh_ saw fit to send me some serial numbered Yankees and while that's fun and all, what really stole the show were the Dragons. Keep in mind that this is the same trading partner who once set me the entire 2017 BBM Dragons team set (among others). But even more than that was the awesome Luis Torrens sketch card seen above. This marks the second such sketch of Torrens to enter my collection (after The Lost Collector's bubble mailer sketch obviously) and is probably the seventh custom Torrens card overall to enter my collection. Which is kind of insane, it just really goes to show how generous and creative card collectors who really care about their trading partners can get.

As for the official cards, the Ultra XTAL Ogasawara card above certainly kicked things off in a big way.

It's limited to 50 copies and is very worthy of being from a set called Glory. It's truly glorious.

Ooh, here's my first ever jersey/memorabilia card of a Dragon. AND OF SHINNOSUKA OGASAWARA AT THAT!

This is an undershirt so no super mojo jersey patch here but still, it's fucking dope.

This one had 300 total copies made but you know what, this one's mine now and that's all that matters.

And finally there was super cool 3D card of Mr. Three Base, Masahiko Morino.

This one is numbered to 100 copies and is probably my first ever 3D card issued by a Japanese company.

As if that wasn't fun on it's own, @you_oh_ once again sent me a complete set.

A boxed set of 2019 BBM Chunichi Dragons Brilliant.

Brilliant was one of BBM's team oriented sets that was considered to be high end (and priced as such) because they wanted to capitalize on the hype around Akira Neo and really get people to pay for the potential of pulling his autograph.

This box sent my way was used/just the set so I don't know what the autograph that accompanied these cards was, but I can tell you that this was set 0543 out of 1050 total sets. Which in turn means that even though these cards don't have serial numbers on them, they're all technically limited to 1050 copies.

While I like the snazzy-ness of these Japanese boxes, there is always something to be said about how the way BBM packages these cards is a nightmare for the corners. I'm not a stickler about condition since I'm not a grader or anything, but I do have concerns when packaging is designed specifically for stuff to fail.

Eh screw it. It might not be autographed but I did get another Neo rookie (technically numbered out of 1050 copies) out of it either way. I consider that a win for me.

All in all this was a super simple but still super fun trade. This wasn't particularly pre-planned on either my or @you_oh_'s part, and honestly I'm just fine with that. This is a lot easier than going back and forth squabbling over value. Though I do really feel like I owe them a lot now. Luckily for me I've still got the remnants of my once proud Hiroki Kuroda PC to give me some massive ammo (@you_oh_ is a Hiroshima Carp fan BTW) *grins nefariously*.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

Unofficial

One of the best things about music is that you can transform it into something new entirely. You have remixes that take a certain song and modify it. You have sampling where you take bits or pieces of a song and use it to create something new entirely. The possibilities are fairly limited but could make for some interesting results.

Today's post will focus more on music I've come to enjoy that did not emerge from more traditional or even contemporary means. Which is to say that today's songs are entirely songs I discovered on the internet and will never be on iTunes or Spotify due to the nebulous copyright issues involved with such a thing. These were purely made for dumb idiots like me on the internet, by other dumb idiots who are more talented than me.

That last bit means that entities like OK Go, Epic Rap Battles of History and Lonely Island will not be featured here. They'll get their time eventually.

Steamed Hams Inc.

This is a masterpiece by YouTuber NPCarlson that combines two internet memes. The steamed hams bit from The Simpsons, and Feel Good Inc. by the Gorillaz. A great song that's been turned into a meme thanks to the internet absolutely loving Gorillaz.

The way this song managed to keep the flow and "plot" of the original steamed hams bit is incredible. This is what I think of when I think of dumb but very creative internet music.

Pop Danthology 2010-2015

Pop Danthology was a series of mashups that featured pretty much all of the biggest and notable pop songs that was brought to the world every year by YouTuber/motivational speaker/DJ, Daniel Kim. Unfortunately he got really fed up with YouTube's copyright system and stopped making them in 2015, which is a shame because these are all wonderful. As the years go by these also serve as mini time capsules. Because these encompass my junior and senior years of high school as well parts of my early college years. I'm sure that 40 year old me (should I live that long) will listen to these and weep.

Daft Mouth

YouTube visionary Neil Cicierega is the MASTER of these jokey mashup ideas that end up turning into fantastic bangers. This particular "album" was a big collection of songs remixed with Smash Mouth a capellas but it works so well. This song in particular is a highlight for me, mainly because I absolutely love Daft Punk.

Discord (Remix)

This is a remix of a song made by Eurobeat Brony. As that implies this is a song made by and for the My Little Pony fandom. I am not a "brony" or that into MLP (Star vs the Forces of Evil >>>), but that doesn't matter because this song is still pretty great. I do like this more than the original for sure, it's so poppy and energetic. Usually songs made by fandoms tend to be rather unsettling, but the Bronys of all people managed to make it work.
Also, despite the name I'm pretty sure this song named Discord is older than the popular website named Discord by a lot.

80s Remix: Closer

Apparently 80's style remixes of current pop songs were a big deal back in 2016 to 2018. This is a 80's style remix of The Chainsmokers' Closer (Feat. Halsey). It's pretty great. If you slipped into a scene from Stranger Things I wouldn't bat an eye. We have the YouTuber TRONICBOX to thank for this (and a bunch of other pretty great remixes), but unfortunately they've been inactive for a while. Sucks.

80s Remix: Believer

This is a remix by Twelve Tone Systems (BandCamp) and it's so much better than the original Imagine Dragons song that it's insane.

Regular Show: Gary vs David

This isn't an internet original perse. It's a track that was forged during a "battle" between two synth players in the Cartoon Network cartoon Regular Show. But it works as an instrumental track and I really really enjoy it. Unfortunately this isn't available on iTunes officially so these Fruityloops/GarageBand recreations will have to do. No disrespect there BTW, this one in particular is well done. Well done Ruisu River.

September Congratulations

This is a remix/mashup of Earth, Wind & Fire's September along with Post Malone's Congratulations. I have a theory that modern SoundCloud rappers would be better served having beats with some kind of groove or funk or some semblance of fun, and this kinda proves it. This was made by RNG who has made other mashups that are available on their BandCamp. They're all pretty hit or miss but I do like the Redbone (Childish Gambino) x Firefries (Owl City) mashup.

Red Fireflies

Yeah, this one. Might as well share it, it's nice.

DJ Pyro - Pyro Megamix 4

YouTuber DJ Pyro used to make some of the best remixes using a capellas from various rap songs and instrumentals usually made by Kajmir Royale. This particular one was one of the first I'd ever heard and it goes hard as fuck.

And I think I'll end it there. 10 tracks, all exclusive to the internet.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).