Steel Town

For the last 2 weeks I have been working as a background actor (we are not extras) in a movie called Steel Town. It stars alot of well known actors including Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Dark Knight), Holly Hunter (The Firm), Ving Rhames (Mission Impossible), Rosie Perez (Untamed Heart) Viola Davis. I listed my favorite films these indivduals appeared in. Sorry Viola.

One comment that I would have to make would be about Maggie Gyllenhaal. Prior to me being part of this movie, I never thought of Maggie Gyllenhaal as anything special, however after seeing her in person. Wow! She is one person that the camera does not enhance. She is just incredible looking, very tall, long, well built and just amazing. She could walk into any nightclub in America and all eyes would turn from the other women to her.

Also, Ving Rhames is just an incredible actor and seems to be Shakespearian trained. He is just a commanding presence (though a lot shorter than he appears on camera -i.e. Tom Cruise.). Holly Hunter (incredibly fit), Rosie Perez (looking as she did almost 20 years ago in Untamed Heart and very hot in a blue dress), and Viola Davis seemed very very nice.

The shoot was not as pleasant but that is the reality of movie making. You are there for 8-12 hours for a 15 second to 2 minute scene shoot. No wonder movies take so long to make. It is very very hot because of all the lighting on the set and somewhat boring in between takes.  What I did not realize were that scenes are shot from many different angles thus causing the actors (including the background actors) to replay their scenes over and over again.

I also found it interesting that the assistant director does all the communicating with the actors and the director is more in the background. A shout out to Donald Sparks, the assistant director who had a great repore with the background actors and Daniel Barnz who seems kind of young to be a director.

The movie might not be everyone's cup of tea (it is about parents trying to get their kids into new elite charter school, giving them a better chance to succeed), i.e. no special effects, violence and bare naked ladies but it could be a feel good type of movie. I had a good time working, and urge everyone to go see Steel Town when it comes out (scheduled for 2012).  

Pete Mackanin #354

The awesomeness of this card is the Twins unifrom. There is so much going on here. You have the red caps with TC. The powder blue uniform with red numbering and lettering and you have that great patch on his shoulder. You also have the red white and blue on his shoulder sleeve. Plus the fact that he was a red white and blue batting glove while holding the bat. Also, check out the light tower in the back ground.
Finally, he obviously has something in between his cheek and gum. That face is bringing the intensity for this .226 lifetime batting average (as of the end of 1981) utility infielder.

Back Facts: Wound up the Twins No 1. second baseman down the September Stretch last year.

Panini Parallels vs. George Lucas's Star Wars

I have noticed a strikingly similarity between Panini Cards and Star Wars. Both take a concept and slightly vary it an infinite amount of times. For example, in 2010 Panini Threads football, the base cards had 6  (slighty) different parallel versions of itself. The insert Grid Iron Kings cards had 9 (slighty) different versions of itself. In some cases, the cards came in different colors, or with added materials or signatures or both.

In 1977, Star Wars came to the movie screens. I believe sometime in the late 1980s, it was remastered for better quality for the VHS tapes. In 1997, it was rereleased with additional footage. In 2004, there became a DVD version of the film. Sometime in the very near future in a galaxy close close by there will be a 3-D version of the film. There may have been other addtions (or parallel versions) that I can remember or don't know about.

But like Panini, George Lucas took his feature film and recolorized (different colors) it, added scenes (materials or signatures), 3-D it (materials and signatures) to give the public what it wants (or to milk a cow as much as he can or in Panini case, sell as many versions of a card that you can).

I have no doubt that the 3-D films will do well at the box office or some collector will try to buy all  nine versions of Steve Young Grid Iron King cards.

Scott Sanderson #288

A very tight shot of Sanderson that has interesting items in the background. To the left of Sanderson's head their appears to be a large building. To his right there appears to be an apartment building. This could be Wrigley field but I don't see ivy on the wall and probably think this is a spring training shot. The iconic Expos logo is all over this card.

Back Facts: Expos signed him off the Vanderbilt campus as thie No.3 pick in June '77 amateur draft.

Ron Oester #500

It looks like Ron's batting helmet is just a little too big for his head. He kind of looks like a little leaguer. Ron was kind of a non descript player during his career, never really excelling at any particular facet of the game.

Back Facts: Had another solid season with the bat and will likely remain at 2B now that Dave Concepcion is returning as Reds shortstop.

The interesting thing about that statement on the back of the card, it seems to insinuate that Concepcion might have been leaving the Reds but came back.

O.K. Topps Where is Justin Smoak's rc logo?

O.K., Justin Smoak came up last year with Seattle. However, he never made it into 2010 Topps Update and Highlight set. Should he have appeared in it? They way Topps has been designating rookie cards in the last few years appears to go this way. Players that come up in late August and September get a rookie card in the next years Series 1 set. Rookies that appear on opening day rosters appear in Series 2. Players that make their debut after opening day and to late August usually appear in the Updated Set. Smoak came up prior to late August last year so he should have appeared in the update set. He did not. Because he did not does that mean he does get a not rookie card logo. That does not make any sense. So now Smoak goes with any card being designated as his rookie card. Just because he did not appear in the update set does not mean he should not get the rookie card logo.

Damaso Gaarcia #479

Garcia was one of those Yankee prospects that actually panned out. The best thing about this card is the awesomeness of the Blue Jay uniform. The Blue Jays gave the Montreal Expos a run for best uniform from a Canadian team. I don't really like the blurred background but the shot shows a well proportioned Garcia.

Back Facts: Jays obtained him from Yankees with P Paul Mirabella and 1B Chris Chambliss 11/1/79 for C Rick Cerone amd P Tom Underwood