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I recently had the honor of being a participating artist in Topps’ 5th series of Star Wars Galaxy trading cards, a series that I’ve been watching since the very beginning. Instead of using still frames from the films which we’ve seen a hundred times already, the Galaxy line of trading cards invites artists from all genres to create their own visions of the Star Wars universe. Recently, Topps stretched their participating artist list to include those who are known (or even relatively unknown) within the designer toy & street art worlds, and that’s where I came in. As a result of this project, I was given a complimentary box of cards.

It’s been a very long time since I’ve gone through a whole box of something and tore into randomized packs of stuff, but it’s a good feeling. It was one of my favorite aspects of collecting Heroclix – the lottery of trying to score a rare or powerful piece for your collection. As far as boxes of Star Wars cards go, each box of 24 packs is guaranteed to have one original sketch card – which is what everyone buying these packs is after. In terms of buying this set for its secondary market value, none of the many varieties of chase cards are nearly as valuable as these original artworks that are slipped into the regular packs of cards, and they come in three varieties : sketch cards, manga sketch cards, and shaped sketch cards. Some of these are sold for around $300, with many hovering around $50, and the occasional card not selling at all.

The basic set contains 120 cards in a huge variety of styles, from comic book, to beautifully painted, to propaganda-poster styled works which would look even more amazing if they were done up in actual poster size. Of course, you look at these images much more closely after you tear through the packs searching for chase cards.

Nearly every pack that I opened contained a chase card of some kind. While most were foil cards, depicting a character on a shiny background, one was a much rarer ‘gold foil parallel’ card of Darth Maul, only 770 of which were made. This accompanies the regular and bronze versions of the same card, which have backgrounds in slightly different colors. There were also 4 etched foil cards, which use an aesthetic that was once very, very rare when searching through packs of Marvel trading cards in the 1990s. It’s almost strange to see these types of cards as commonplace, but I don’t object to the new variety of chase cards featuring original art at all.

Finally, as I was nearing the end of my box, I found my chase card – a picture of Greeata (one of Jabba’s dancers) done by a mysterious artist whose signature was a scribble. If there is an element of disappointment in this, it’s that certain artists approached their sketch cards by producing the same image many, many times, instead of using each card as a new canvas for a new character, a new visual problem to solve. I had seen this card before, as someone else on the Scoundrel Publishing boards (where Star Wars card collectors gather and trade) had pulled a nearly identical card. Regardless, it was still an original artwork, and the art is expertly done, so I’m pleased to have a little part of someone else who participated in this set.

A full box yielded enough cards to complete a base card set as well, and enough to stick in the spokes of your bicycle, or whatever one does with extra trading cards now. Cut them up into little Tie Fighter replicas?

At this point in his creative career, Hayao Miyazaki has directed nine different animated feature films under his Studio Ghibli label, and every single one of them is available in the US, thanks to Disney and their talented team of translators, voice actors and dialogue-reconstructors. Take advantage of this.

While I have said before that I’m not a fan of what US television has done to anime, the films of Studio Ghibli feel like a beacon of intelligence among the horrible battling-trading-card-and-monster-shows-that-sell-merchandise which we’re now drowning in, or those cartoons that show just a few too many shots of schoolgirl underwear. While many of Miyazaki’s films focus around innocence, children, and the mystical circumstances they stumble into, rest assured that there are no underpants to contend with.

Disney has recently re-released some Miyazaki classics which you may have seen on the shelves a few years back : My Neighbor Totoro, Castle in the Sky, and Kiki’s Delivery Service. So, let’s dissect the differences of the US releases. It goes without saying that these are all excellent films – you can find detailed criticism elsewhere.

My Neighbor Totoro was released in 2002 by Fox, though this edition of the DVD was missing the original Japanese language track, and was presented in awkward fullscreen. It was again released in 2004 by Disney with an entirely new English voice cast, and again in 2010 – both of which are 2-disc sets which differ in special features.

The 2004 release, which features a colorful fishing scene over a river on the cover, includes a featurette with US voice actors Elle and Dakota Fanning, as well as the original trailer in Japanese and the complete film in storyboard form. The 2010 release, which uses a dark blue, rainy scene on the cover and a gold slipcase spine, features an extensive exploration of Studio Ghibli as they were making Totoro, previews for a few other films, and the same storyboard version of the film as the 2004 edition – as well as a beautiful little lithograph of the cover scene.

As a completist, do you want both? My favorite part of any animated DVD is the voice acting stuff, but the choice is yours. This film is so iconic that Ghibli uses Totoro as their logo. The earlier editions are currently out of print.

Castle in the Sky, which is also sometimes called Laputa, or a combination of the two, (and not to be confused with Howl’s Moving Castle, also by Studio Ghibli), was first released by Disney on DVD within the US in 2003. This version has a light blue cover with a tress in the center, and includes an introduction by Disney’s John Lasseter, the option to view the film as the original storyboards, the original Japanese trailers, and a behind-the-scenes feature with the voice talent.

The 2010 release, which has a floating girl and a gold slipcase spine, also includes the introduction from Lasseter, the original storyboards, and a new featurette about the awesome steampunk worlds of the film – but leaves out the voice actor features again, while including a small print of the cover. Both versions are still available at the time of this writing.

Kiki’s Delivery Service was also released in 2003, featuring a cover which uses a large portrait of the protagonist. This includes the same four types of features as ‘Castle’, while the 2010 release (depicting a girl on a broomstick flying over a cityscape), mimics the three features of the 2010 edition of ‘Castle’ also. All three of these films are being re-released now to accompany the release of Ponyo, which is the newest Miyazaki release.

One thing worth noting is that all of these are, and have been, available from other publishers which are not US-based. I’ve had a few experiences with attempting to purchase anime DVDs from discount distributors before, and the results have been completely disastrous. Unless it’s a producer that you trust and has a solid reputation for releasing films in the US, buying cheap anime DVDs is a colossal waste of money – unless you speak Japanese. Most often, the subtitles are completely unreadable, having undergone translation into Korean or Chinese, and then to English. Try doing this with any sentence in Babelfish and you’ll see what I mean. So, the only sure way to get your hands on these Ghibli releases and to enjoy them is to buy the real, Disney versions of them.

Years and years ago, hubby, the kids and I visited a family member near Wautoma, Wisconsin. We stopped for lunch and next to the restaurant was an antique store. Naturally, we had to stop in after our meal. We were immediately drawn to a gorgeous antique desk. Beautiful wood, lots of compartments and a classy brass nameplate. It turns out that this fabulous piece of furniture was from the 1920s and had once belonged to a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly. We admired it a great deal and asked the shop’s proprietor if he knew any of its provenance. He shrugged and said it belonged to a local family, passed down after the Assemblyman’s death. They would have liked to keep it but, unfortunately, needed the money more than a fancy heirloom. We were saddened to hear the story, but did understand.

It was a joy to see it, touch the wood and wish that we could afford to buy it and give it a good home. But alas, the price tag was $1,500. This equated to a year’s rent back then.  We did return about a year later, and it was sold.

Fast Forward to February, 2010. We stopped to shop at one of our favorite antique malls, Roscoe Antiques, in South Beloit, Illinois. Directly in front of us stood a magnificent desk, even more fantastic than the one we’d viewed years back. This is a multi-dealer mall, but as luck would have it, the owner was on the premises, working in his booth. He came forward and asked if we had any questions.  And we did! He shared with us that this was called a Wooton Desk, from the 1880s or thereabouts.  He had purchased it in central Illinois but was not able to learn anything about the desk’s history.  It is an astounding piece of furniture and had all the “bells and whistles” you could want in an office in that time-frame. Lots of cubbies, sliding drawers, various sized openings, probably secret compartments for special treasures (wish we had the time to check them out!)  We asked if we could take some pictures and he was glad to allow that.  He told us he would love to keep it and agreed it was truly special. But he had paid a hefty price for it and his intention was to sell it.

When we returned home, I “Googled” Wooton and found out that the design patents were granted to William S. Wooton in 1870. He was an Indianapolis, Indiana entrepreneur and his production ran from 1870 to 1884.  It was called a “secretary desk” and was intended to organize all records and keep documents in pigeon holes. While there was a certain amount of “snob appeal” in owning such a grand and complex piece of furniture, it was obsolete after only a short time. File cabinets, typewriter desks and stands and the like took over.

I know the ad for “apps for this and apps for that” are what people are looking for, but who wouldn’t love to have a grand piece of furniture like this in their home or office?

I have an intense appreciation for animation, so I’ve collected just about everything that Studio Ghibli has released here in the states. To call Ghibli ‘the Japanese Disney’ would be a disservice to both studios, but both create things of such epic atmosphere and depth that it’s no surprise they’ve joined forces to make the best possible stateside releases of all of Ghibli’s classic films.

The translation of Japanese animation to a US audience is usually a very dicey procedure when it’s cheaply done. You get subtitles that read like drunken haikus, enormous spans of plot inconveniently cut for brevity and clarity, and subtlety drained from the very core of what makes some Japanese animation stand apart from what US kids are usually given. So, even when Disney loads the American voice cast with celebrity names, and a few names pulled directly from their own teenybopper talent farms, they do a great job, such as with Ponyo, which was just recently released on DVD & Blu-Ray for the first time.

Subtlety is the key. Instead of fairytale princes in this retelling of ‘The Little Mermaid’, we have a regular kid. We have quiet magic interwoven so intimately with everyday life that all of the regular folks approach it calmly and with a sense of wonder, instead of suspicion and distrust. Instead of computer-heavy graphics, we have a film that was drawn by hand in the most tedious, organic way possible – but revealing none of the tedium in the final product. It’s the kind of quiet, real beauty that we don’t get enough of, so I’m thrilled that we’re getting this treat over here – and on Blu-Ray no less.

There are two versions of Ponyo out there – a simple DVD version, and a DVD / Blu-Ray combo pack that’s only very slightly more expensive. Let me just note that, as a collector who is new to Blu-Ray, the only things I have in this format so far are Disney and Pixar films. Both preserve the original soundtrack in Japanese and present the option of subtitles, if you’re a purist – but the English voice acting is really very good and completely undistracting.

The DVD includes a 5 minute featurette about the making of Ponyo, though it doesn’t really explore it in any depth. All of the real details are on the Blu-Ray disc, which explores these things from multiple angles, and adds even more neatness to the behind-the-scenes stuff that’s been accumulating on all of Disney’s Ghibli releases. No Ghibli or Miyazaki collection is remotely complete without this exceptional, inspiring animation.

[DVD graciously provided by BVHE]

Those of you who have read my blogs know that I am a seller of antiques and collectibles and one of my favorite places to do so is the flea market! Hubby and I set up at a small, local ‘flea’ this past weekend. It was our first time selling at this one, but had been there numerous times to buy, and with some success. There were probably 50 vendors. I am reluctant to call them ‘antique dealers’ since many were very new to it and had items that were more contemporary and probably plucked from boxes in their basements.

The lady next to us introduced herself as Mabel and told me it was her 2^nd time there.  She was quite old, perhaps in her late 70s, and came with a friend who had shared the rental costs with her. Her items were few and far between – I don’t think she had more than 15 items on her table.  And they were most likely from the low-end or discounted stores, for example, a ceramic lighthouse, 2 green bowls that were not from the Depression Era, and a cow figurine that had a chip. Mabel was a nice lady and I enjoyed chatting with her, but she was a little down because she had only sold one $5 item and it was nearly time to close up shop.  I gently suggested that next time she should bring more items, giving better offerings to the shoppers.  She smiled and said she had numerous collections and had her late husband’s things to go through, but hated to drag more than a boxful to the sale. I said I could understand that. And I did, at least until I saw her grandson come in to pack her up. He was about 6 foot 3 inches tall, a solid young man, and could readily have carried in as many boxes as she wanted.  Before she left, I asked her how she did and it turns out it was only the $5 she had mentioned earlier.  She told me she had sold $15 worth the last year and hoped she would top that.  I smiled and said “maybe next year” and she agreed.  I wonder if she’ll catch on and bring a nice assortment next year!

I shopped at a booth with a young man who shared with me that he had sold on an Internet site for over 3 years.  He told me that everything he brought had been tested on the site and not sold.  Gee, why would you tell that to buyers who may have intended to sell them that way. Now they know these were ‘rejects.’ While I was in the booth, he told me of a lady who just  bought a rather nice glass vase from him. They evidently haggled a bit and she walked out with the prize for $35 instead of the $50 he had originally wanted. He relayed the story and then he exclaimed to me (and anyone else in the area) that he had found it in a dumpster so it was ALL profit! Now, we all know that the intention of sellers it to make some money on their sales, but we did not need to know that it was free and the buyer was a “sucker” in his mind!

Among the many people through the booths was a former co-worker and his wife.  Through the years she has asked me to save any “sewing items” for her. Items such as darners, needle cases, unique buttons, etc.  Well, I had found the coolest item – a combination egg darner, needle case (the handle turned off), and it even had advertising on the ‘egg’ part! I held it for a few sales, waiting for her to show up and she did!  I proudly displayed the piece and expected her to be happy and ready to buy the treasure.  I offered it to her for a little over what I paid for it. She picked it up, turned it around, and said “Uhhh, I’m just not sure.” I said that it was OK, I’d put it in the display case and see if someone else liked it.  As luck would have it, the next person through was so thrilled with it they did not even quibble over the price (quite a bit more than I had quoted the friend.)  About 10 minutes later the friend returned, and said she’d take it. I had to tell her it had just sold and she pouted.  (You snooze, you lose is a famous motto in antique buying and boy, was this appropriate.)

You may recall my nemesis “NEWMAN” from earlier blogs.  This is a red-headed lady who has tortured me in searches for my treasures.  Some of our run-ins have been written about. Well, here she was at our booth.  She was, as usual, all smiles and trying to be a charmer (it does not work.) She asked how we were doing and we embellished a bit on our profits, and smiled back sweetly. She picked up a figurine and asked what our “best price” was.  We gave her a discount but she wanted more.  We came down a tad and she bought it.  She then proceeded to tell the story of a super vase she “stole” from a young man at the sale. She knew it was an expensive vase and she was able to get him to lower the price to $35! She was so proud.  I smiled even more sweetly after that and said it sounded like a great deal.  I was glad that the lad had shared the story with me.  I knew that he had gotten one up on my Newman and that made my day.

Any stories of the road you’d like to share or collections you are proud of?  CQ would love to hear about them.