The Black Phone (2021)

The Black Phone sequel is in theaters now, so I decided to give the original a watch and I'm glad I did.  The plot and acting are good.  I won't give too much away but it's set in the 70s amidst children being abducted and has the suspense you're looking for in this type of film.  I recommend this one.  

Random Wax: 2025 Topps Baseball Hanger Box

2025 Topps:  I don't like the Dodgers but it's hard to root against them.  I love Freddie and Mookie and so enjoy watching Ohtani.  I will root against them as they play Milwaukee though.  Freddie is 35 and has 2431 hits in his outstanding career.  Will he get to 3,000. Hard to tell as it'll take him staying healthy and playing at a high level but I'd love to see it.

Christian Yelich was with the Brewers when they last were in the NLCS in 2018.  They lost to the Dodgers that season but can get revenge in this year's NLCS.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto went 12-8 with a 2.49 ERA in his second MLB season.  As if LA needed any help.  I'll just ignore the struggles of the rest of their staff.

I like these League Leader cards.  We get player photos, stats and the league logo.  It's a win.

That Zach Eflin is a Purple Holo Parallel #/250.

I really like the Team Cards.

A Mike Piazza 1990 Topps Baseball, Diamante Foil Parallel and a nice-looking Call to the Hall insert.  Diamante parallels are nice looking in hand.

The back of a League Leaders card.  These are fun to look at and even more so in years to come.  Sale's ERA only bumped to 2.58 this season.

Team card back missing the stats for the team leaders.  Boooo Topps.  Otherwise, I like. 

Corbin Carroll led the league in triples (17) for the third season in a row.

Have to like that photo on the horizontal card.

Stars of MLB inserts. They come four to a hanger box.  I like that De La Cruz.

BREAKDOWN:

59 – Total Cards

9 – RC

4 – Stars of MLB

2 - Checklist

2 – Team Cards

2 – Future Stars

2 - Diamante Foil

2 – Retired Greats

2 – League Leaders

1 – Holo Foil

1 – Cal to the Hall

1 – 1990 Topps Baseball

1 – Purple Holo Parallel #/250

Jeepers Creepers: Reborn (2022)

Jeepers Creepers: Reborn isn't a movie I was aware of.  I watched this one based on my like of the first two in the series.  That was a mistake.  I should have looked up ratings.  It's a low budget movie sucking in folks like me who liked the others.  I've seen worse and I liked the premise when I read it.  It was just the plot, acting and how the movie is done that turned me off.

I enjoy the original Jeepers Creepers and Jeepers Creepers 2.  They are both flawed but I do like them.  Jeepers Creepers 3 was bad.  I guess there is a Jeepers Creepers Returns.  Better ratings than this one but after watching the trailer I'm out on it.  

Random Wax: 1990-1991 SkyBox Basketball (3 Packs)

90-91 SkyBox:  I've been sharing these three packs at a time for a year and a half, and I finally get to feature the GOAT with the first card.  MJ is the best player I've ever seen play.  He had an intesity to him I've rarely seen in other players.  As great as he was on offense, you didn't want him guarding you because he was just as good on defense.  And he was so freaking smart.  Words don't do him justice in my mind.  Random fact:  In his final season, at age 39, he averaged 20 points per game and played all 82 games.

My all-time favorite player, Dominique.  It was always fun watching him go up against Jordan, but he and the Hawks almost always fell short.  Doesn't diminish the fun it was to watch (in retrospect).  And we have a couple of great shooters in Drazen Petrovic (RIP) and Reggie.

In my mind, Xavier McDaniel was a power forward but he played small forward for the vast majority of his career.  He played big averaging 15 PPG and 6 RPG for his 12-year career,

We love the backs.  Another Reggie in Reggie Theus, my 3rd all-time favorite player.  He had a strong jheri curl game more than appropriate for the time.

Some solid players from back in the day.  Rod Strickland was All-NBA 1X but never made an all-star team.  The 2025-2026 NBA season starts in one week.

Plenty of great guards here.  Lever was a do it all guard who four times in his career averaged 8+ rebounds per game (two of those he averaged over 9 per game).  Ricky Pierce was an all-around guard who was named 6th Man of the Year 2X and was a 1X All-Star selection.  These are always so much fun!

BREAKDOWN:
45 – Total Cards
1 – Checklist

Slender Man (2018)

Slender Man came out in 2018. When I saw it pop up on my horror search, I wanted to give it a try.  It is alright.  Not great. Fairly easy watch but for some reason I thought it had done better in the theater and in reviews.  Typical teens make a poor decision and bad things involving a supernatural entity ensue.  I don't see myself rewatching it.  I wasn't invested in the main characters as much I would have liked, and the plot wasn't engaging.

There is some controversy around this mythical figure as there were real life events involving Slender Man that almost cost a youth their life.  There was another movie, Mercy Black, released based on the character as well.  

Random Wax: 1990 Pro Set Football (4 Packs)

1990 Pro Set:   Rod Woodson had 17 interceptions in his 17-year career and is the all-time leader in interceptions for touchdowns with 12.  He was selected as an All-Pro six times and is a member of the All-90s Team.  His one Super Bowl championship came with Baltimore in 2000.

Lots of defensive love with some really good photos on these cards.

And he was an excellent kick returner.

Love the art on the Super Bowl Collectibles inserts.  This is art I remember as a kid growing up.

Love the facts on the back as well.

I was a big fan of receivers in this era and 2X All-Pro Roy Green was right up there with my favorites.

Award Winner cards.  I like these.

Definitely an all-time favorite set of mine.  Even with no logo, there's something about it.

Maybe it's the Pro Bowl cards with in game photos? 

Always enjoy sharing these.  I don't think I have many more so I'll enjoy them while I can.

BREAKDOWN: 
60 – Total Cards
4 – Pro Bowl
4 – Super Bowl Collectibles
2 – Award Winners
1 - Coach
1 – League Leaders

2025 MLB Playoffs Championship Series

 We had some good baseball in the Division Series leaving us with Seattle - Toronto and Los Angeles - Milwaukee in the ALC and NLCS.  It was fun seeing Vlad Guerro Jr. have a great series against the Yankees.  He's so good and nice to see him shine on the big stage.  Seattle's Cal Raleigh got 8 hits in the Division Series overcoming a Detroit pitching staff that had a 2.98 ERA.  I'm looking forward to LA-Mil.  The Brewers just find ways to win with an offense who can seem to score against anyone.

I've said it before but Seattle - Milwaukee would be a great World Series as we'd get to crown a first-time champion.  The network would hate it but man it'd be fun.