Junk of the Week #2

"Velocity" by Dean Koontz paperback - $.25
"Merrick" "Violin" by Anne Rice hardcover - $.20 each
"The Mummy..." by Anne Rice paperback - $.20
"His Dark Kiss" by Eve Silver paperback- $.20
"The Talisman" by Stephen King & Peter Straub hardcover - $.50
"Night Shift" by Stephen King hardcover - $1.00
"Bride of the Far Side" by Gary Larson - $.20
"The Phantom of the Opera" by Gaston Leroux, possibly published 1911 - $2.00
8 Pack blank audio tape, still in wrapper - $.50
**Super Awesome Find of the Week**
1959 EKCO-Flint Egg Beater, Still in Original Box - $8.00

I have in my personal collection of old timey hand-cranked egg beaters approx. 60 or so pieces. There are 54 hanging on my wall at the moment, one I managed to find with the original jar on my counter, and a few odd ones here and there since I ran out of hooks and places to put new hooks on my walls. I have never, in the eight or nine years I've been collecting beaters, come across one IN THE ORIGINAL BOX. I didn't even know they came in boxes. After looking around a little I could only find one on eBay like this, though its box is in much better condition and mine is a year older, and its priced about what I paid for mine, so figuring in the shipping and handling I didn't pay I think $8 was a good deal. I usually cap my beater spending at $5 but the box blew me away. I flipped out a little, I admit. But I'm very pleased.

Other than that, most of today's finds were all about books. The paperbacks I got for a nice price and do plan to read eventually. Also, I admit I'm still a little flushed with the ten cent copy of "The Drawing of the Three" from last week. I picked up this copy of the "The Talisman" even though I have one just like it. I've sold Stephen King books before for a small profit, I'm hoping to do it again. Even if I resell it for $1 I've made money. Also, though I have three paperback copies, this is my first hardcover edition of Mr. King's short story compilation, "Night Shift" which contains perhaps my favorite of his short works, "Strawberry Spring." I dearly wish it had a dust jacket, but oh well.

The Anne Rice novels I bought because I couldn't remember if I already had them. I have a catalog of my books in the works but I've been too lazy to finish it. It turns out that I do not have the two hardcovers, but now I have an extra copy of "The Mummy..." for my own yard sale. I bet if I actually get around to reading Ms Rice's novels I would remember better what I already have. It's just that I'm still missing a few to the various series to read them in proper order.

"The Phantom of the Opera" is an old book I plan to eventually resell, though I would like to read it first. This copy appears to have been published in 1911, which is the only year listed under the copyright. Someone wrote their name on the inside cover and dated it 1925, so it is at least 84 years old, if no 98 or so. It's not in perfect shape, but isn't in bad shape either. It kind of fascinates me really, though I'm not sure why.

The audio tapes were excellently timed, honestly, as my beloved Creative mp3 player does not seem to be long for this world. The headphone jack is shorting out, worse now than before, and is only really good for listening in the car, where the chord doesn't get moved around. I can't use my headphones in it at all anymore, and that makes me very sad. I have absolutely NOTHING to budget towards a new one, so when the headphone jack goes it becomes nothing but a storage device. So I'm going to make a whole bunch of tapes for in my car, because I simply CANNOT listen to regular radio when driving, the commercials alone make me want to ram my car into a telephone pole. I wish I had a CD player in there, but the car was free, so I guess beggars can't be choosers, right?

That's it for this week. I was going to go to flea market tomorrow but I have a feeling I'll decide to sleep in instead. I know me, I do it every Sunday.

Junk of the Week #1

Homer Simpson Doll - Free
Winnie the Pooh Doll - Free
Large Coke Glass - $.25
Small Coke Glass - $.25
Blue Glass Vase - $.25
7" x 11" Pyrex Baking Dish - $1.00
"Duma Key" 2008 paperback - $.50
**Find of the Week**
"The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three" 1987 First Ed. Hardcover - $.10

Oh yeah, that's right. TEN CENTS. I couldn't get that dime out of my pocket fast enough. I did my research, a rare first edition of this book in hardcover tends to sell through collectors' sites for around $80 or so. I rule. I don't plan to sell this, of course, but it's great to know that's $79.90 I saved. I've been looking into some of the other Stephen King novels I bought second-hand over the past year, and my $1 hardcover "Danse Macabre" is also a rare first edition of about the same estimated value. I plan to research this some more this week. I'm pleased with the purchase of the "Duma Key" paperback, as well. I have it in hardcover, of course, and have read it, but I do plan to put my Stephen King collection together as a library display when I have the space to do so, and this is a very nice looking book. This plan leads to having a lot of copies of the same book, of course, but what the hell, I'm finding them cheap. I have four separate editions of "The Green Mile" now (the original 6 part 'serial' novels, the first paperback collected edition, the first hardcover collected edition, and the regular paperback edition for the movie w. Tom Hanks on the cover) as well as three paperback editions of "Night Shift" with different covers. I'm dying to have room to set up my black bookshelf and start putting this together, but it's probably going to have to wait till I eventually (hopefully) move to a bigger place.

As for the rest of the finds, it was a small haul but I'm quite pleased. That Pyrex dish should let me make a half-sized lasagna, which will be awesome because I can never get through a whole one before I'm sick of it. The vase needs a little cleaning up, but I'm a sucker for colored glass like that, especially at that price. I really shouldn't have bought the Coke glasses but I like them so much. I just have tons of drinking glasses I don't have room for already. I keep telling myself I'll be good but there's two more I need to find room for. And the Homer and Winnie the Pooh dolls make me smile, even more because they came from the free box. Never skip the FREE BOX!

So that's all my Junk for this edition. Can't wait to see what next week brings...

Junk of the Week: Prologue

Background...
Okay, so fun new project here. Since spending a good many months unemployed and strapped for cash, I've had to give up a lot LOT of things I used to take for granted, like comic books, movies, eating out, and even smaller things like paper plates and mouthwash. All of this is fueling a growing obsession with "Getting more for less." And now, with the onset of spring and decent weather, I'm back out every weekend for yard sales, flea markets, whatever. The first few weeks did not yield much, and my spirits were low, but throughout May my finds have gotten better and better, and it's doing a lot for my state of mind.

Thus, I have decided to start a new series here to chronicle my weekly finds from the world of second-hand junk, and, if I can remember, how much I paid. Before I post this week's entry (which has a REALLY good find, trust me) I thought I would post some things from the last few weeks...

Stitch - $2.00

It's funny, I'm not a big fan of the movie, but I love Stitch. Not the aliened-out version, the cute one where he's pretending to be a dog. I've got a small collection of Stitches going, and added this one two weeks ago. He's virtually the same as the one I sleep with at night (shut up), for which I paid $10 on sale at the Disney Store, but the tag on this one leads me to believe it came straight from Walt Disney World. Mostly because it says "Walt Disney World" on it. I bet they paid $30 for this. I got it for $2. And it's brand new. Go me.

Mouse in Sweater - $.50

Found this guy three weeks back. He's not a Boyds but he looks like one. Usually I'm on the lookout for Christmas mice, but I'm sucker for any mouse in a sweater, it seems.

Mushrooms - Free

Never ignore the FREE box! These were pretty dirty when I dug them out but they cleaned up nice. One for coffee, one for sugar, and a salt & pepper set, though I don't plan to put food in them.

Little Cowbell - $.50

Come on, how do I NOT buy the cute little cowbell? I gotta have the cowbell, baby.
...I still can't figure out why that bit is so damn funny.

Coke Trays (Not Vintage) - $4.00 each

Okay, it's a little more than I would normally pay for non-vintage things at a yard sale, but I just really, really like them, and it was several dollars less than the original asking price.

Weird Wizard Mug Thing - Less than $1.00

I got this in my dollar bag at a rummage sale, and I'm still not sure why I picked it up. It fascinates me. Sometimes I just like something because it's weird. I have no use for it, no where to put it, but there it is in my bedroom. Huh. Basically a giant mug, this thing is fourteen inches tall and six and a half inches at its base. I think it was probably meant to be purely decorative.

Tom Servo Head/Gumball Dispenser - $.25

I'm not sure why I keep picking up these Servo gumball things when I find them, but this should be about my sixth one, which include three red, one pink, one light blue, and one brown. I also have a few small ones I plan to paint up and put on my Christmas tree next year. Anyway, this one has a different base than all the others, I might have to look into that.

**Second-Hank Junk Find of 2008**
Spinning CD/DVD Tower - $15

I wanted to include this because it is the absolute most awesome thing I found all of last year. Every now and then I come up with something I need, and determine to look at yard sales before buying new, and you would be surprised just how often that works out to my favor. One day after deciding I wanted a food processor I found one brand new never-been-used-still-in-the-box for exactly $3. This is the case with my movie tower here. I've been debated buying a new one for some time, most of my catalogs have similar models for around $100 or more. To find this one at the low low $15 made me do the happy dance. When I got home, of course. They even loaded the thing into the van for me. It's not missing any pieces, any shelves, and the guy who owned it had even added some reinforcement touches that seem to work pretty well. I love this thing. BONUS: You can see a few more of my super awesome finds from last year actually on this stand. On the bottom shelf is my complete Doors Box Set, containing, I believe, nine CD's and originally retailing for over $120, for which I paid $5. And on the second shelf down there are my South Park DVD sets, two of which I bought at a yard sale in 'only-been-watched-once' condition, I believe they were seasons 5 and 10. Though they currently retail between $15 and $25 (depending on where you look) I paid $5 a piece. Wicked.


So stay tuned, and I will (hopefully) be posting my finds each week so I may squee about them in a silly manner that I hope some may find at least a little entertaining.

'Wolverine' Review: Sabretooth Kills a Hobbit

*Spoilers*


Saw X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE last night. I liked it. The way people were carrying on I thought it would be awful but it really wasn't. Could it have been better? Sure. Could it have been worse? Oh, most definitely. Do the words "Brett Ratner" ring a bell?

I would have liked to have taken a little more time, of course, work on some actual character development. Instead we're whipped along from one action scene to another so fast I wouldn't have caught half the characters' names except that I already knew who they were supposed to be. But I thought it was visually done pretty well, and it kept me entertained. Yes, it was mostly eye-candy, but I don't mind that. I liked the snarky Sabretooth and I thought they pulled Gambit off pretty well. Would have liked a little more of the WOLVERINE AND GAMBIT comedy show, of course, but I guess I just don't get my expectations up for these movies like I used to, and it leads to less bitching. I mean really, I might as well be yelling about the weather or the price of gas for all the good it does.

I think besides more Gambit I would've mostly liked a little more time with Striker's team of mutants at the beginning, I don't know what they called themselves. You know, Logan and Victor and Wade and the Korean dude and that guy from the Black-Eyed Peas and the guy who played Blob who kinda sounded like Buffalo Bill from SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Oh, and Merry. Every elite strike force should bring a hobbit along, for good luck if nothing else.

And yes, I know they messed up some of the characters, and the Deadpool fans are annoyed about some stuff, but again, you know, what did you expect? Yes, a more faithful, perhaps R-rated take on the X-books would be nice, but it's not gonna happen until FOX loses the rights to the franchise, so just relax and take what you can get. Oh, and I know that Gambit didn't actually have his trademark accent, but it's okay, because that accent is one that can go really wrong really easily, and if you can't pull it off don't try. It's like the yellow spandex, it might look good on the page, but on that big screen it's gonna get silly pretty quick.

I would like to point out one thing that really makes me laugh. Okay, so we're going to save these mutants from an island, huh? Since there are two people from LOST in this movie and we have to take a plane to get there, I'm assuming we're going to some cool remote island in the middle of a lake or the ocean or something. Oh wait, never mind.

Three Mile Island? Really? You had to fly there?? And jump out of the damn plane??? "This is really gonna hurt." Of course it is, stupid, the Susquehanna River is barely four feet deep! We've had rain every day this month and it still wouldn't be up to Jackman's shoulders! You know what, TMI is less than 200 YARDS from the eastern shore, and there are TWO BRIDGES, just walk over. Didn't look to be any security anyway. Damn. And I love how long it took police and fire crews to show up. If an unscheduled SIREN blows at TMI people call 911. Seriously, every single time they need to test a siren there are warnings on the news for a week ahead of time.

Though it was pretty cool to see a climactic battle of devastating mutant mayhem take place nearby. Sweet.

Anyway. In conclusion, I liked WOLVERINE. I've got no real complaints about the movie, I just wish there had been more to it. And maybe a little more naked Hugh Jackman.

By the way, my mom LOVED this movie. She instantly wanted to buy it. I honestly think she liked it ten times more than I did.


And one more thing, watch this, it's funny Deadpool stuff...




Okay, I'm out.