Where Did All the Color Go

    A few months ago, I mentioned that I was seeing a lot of vehicles with matte grey finishes. I said they felt a little otherworldly with how that looked. It reminded me of video games, where the unimportant details were intentionally left bland and only partially rendered. Well, now that otherworldly quality has spread to other shades as well.

    Not only are there the same shade of grey everywhere, there are now muted, dull blue-grey cars. Just as bland and just as weird. While I admit I haven't been noticed vehicle colors that much lately, suddenly all I see in newer models are these wrong bland shades. Sure, neutral colors have been dominating the roads for many years now, but this newer trend of matte grey finishes is creeping me out. Black and/or white cars at least had some sparkle or depth to them. Even the grays and silvers had a certain shine to them. The current grays are just flat-out wrong. I just can't come up with a better word than 'wrong.' What's worse is that every other car and truck is in that same narrow range of gray. I guess that's way all of the cameras are around now. With every car looking the same, only license plates can differentiate them.

    The blue-gray tone is what I really hate. It is the same matte finish that drowns out the sparkle of the vehicle, making it feel duller than it should. If it were a lighter or darker shade, the feeling would go away. However, the combination of the matte and the gray makes the car just seem off. Like, it doesn't belong in this world. Or perhaps it is the onlooker who shouldn't be here. This trend seems to be expanding across more colors too. When I had car problems last month, I started to look for a new model. Many of the few non-neutral colors had the same gradient trend.  Not particularly bright, but not really dark either, nor even a true base color. Just a similar sameness of dull.

    This gray world doesn't just affect cars. Businesses have been doing the same thing for years, mainly fast food restaurants. Many places that use to be based around bright colors have switched over to grays and browns, with barely a hint of anything else that used to be cheery. That's one of the reasons why I love Long John Silver's. It's still mainly white with bright nautical blue and yellow highlights, with the drab colors appropriate for those portions mimicking ships and piers. That's much better than a place like McDonald's or Burger King going for all brown exteriors and gray dining areas.

    Even stores are going for this dull trend. I personally wouldn't want to spend a lot of time or money in a a store with a drab facade, and even less if the interior was just a dull grey. I'm not sure what feeling a store with such decorating choice is getting at. Even clothes seem to be duller lately. I was looking online at some stores to prepare for my annual pre-Thanksgiving shopping trip, and I couldn't find any shirts in bright enough colors to warrant a second look. Sure, winter trends darker, but these shirts were just drab. 

    Now, I like neutrals well enough, but my personal style craves pops of brightness, frequently in unusual colors. I'm afraid my style is going out of style as everyone else is being funneled into a drab, depressing gray world. When given a choice, I will always choose all colors at once, over almost none at all.

Let Me Be Your Soda Pop Reviewer

    Sorry about the dated KPOP Demon Hunters reference, but I couldn't come up with anything better for a title. After a month doing a capsule series on trading cards, I've come back to another recurring subject, pop. I've tried some of the latest releases over the last few weeks, so let us get into the reviews.

    First, there is A & W Root Beer Float.  It took awhile for me to find a store that sold it by the bottle, but I found one. I read some other reviews suggesting that the pop had hints of caramel, particularly butterscotch. I tasted that right away, even without those early suggestions. The flavor was so strong that I almost couldn't drink it. I'm not sure, but I may have also tasted a hint of vanilla as well. All in all, I did not like and would not really want to try it again.

    Next, there is the return of Coke Holiday Vanilla Cream. Coke seems to want to make this a seasonal exclusive. I'm not sure how this flavor differs from the new Vanilla Float flavor though. When I tried the Float flavor, I could barely taste any vanilla.  The same goes for the Holiday flavor. I didn't taste that much vanilla or creaminess.  As for the 'holiday' component, I couldn't be sure what that was supposed to be.  On the bright side, it didn't taste too much like Coke either, so I was able to drink it.  If just barely.

    Finally, there is Pepsi Vanilla and Cream. Unlike the previous two flavors, I drank this at home straight, no ice. (It was the day I had car problems and was stuck there. Fortunately, the car was fixed the following day.) Now, I've had problems involving Pepsi and vanilla/cream flavors. I found the recent Wild Cherry and cream flavor undrinkable. However, this flavor pairing of vanilla and cream worked. Neither one overpowered the other, and the unmistakable sweetness of Pepsi complemented both. I will be having this one again soon.

    There have been other holiday limited-editions that have come out recently, but I am not planning on trying any of them. Unlike the other flavors, I don't have any particular fondness for those. I could be surprised though if I did try them. I mean, I don't really drink Mountain Dew, but I was delighted by their Dirty cream soda variety. I liked it so much that I not only have had it multiple times, but I have also thought about trying some of their other varieties.

    What I am really looking forward to are the new flavors announced or rumored for next year. Sprite Chill will have a watermelon flavor. Both Coke and Pepsi will have strawberry and cream varieties. Coke as Strawberry Float, I think, and Pepsi as Strawberry Shortcake. Dr Pepper has had a Strawberry and Cream flavor for years, although it is my least like of the four regular varieties. I just find it too sweet. Dr Pepper will come out with a Vanilla Float version, supposedly in February. How this one will differ from the Cream Soda version is beyond me for now. Finally, the big rumor is that Pepsi will bring back Crystal Pepsi for next spring/summer. It was one of my all-time favorite flavors of pop. I've gotten it most of the times that it has been brought back, although the more recent trials haven't always been as good as the original.

    But my tongue will be waiting if this rumor is true.

Trading Card Recollections Part 4

    Just like my foray into traditional trading cards, I kept my purchases down to a few locations. In fact, the overwhelming majority of them come from just two stores.

• Page 3 Game Zone, Pikeville:  I didn't just get my first packs here, which included "Leviathan," but almost every pack and box for about a decade. I would get at least a deck and a few packs, before getting a whole box instead. After the 2003 flood, I would generally stop getting boxes. With the advent of specialty decks, I would stop getting those as well. I don't remember getting any packs there in over a decade. Strangely enough, the store started getting TCGs back before they started getting comic books after the 2025 flood that closed the store for months.
• Walmart, Pikeville:  I hate to say this, but I've been getting my occasional single pack of each expansion here for around ten years. I even once got a collector's box for a set that really intrigued me. It has been easier to just get that lone pack or two here, without the guilt of never playing the game in public whenever I go to Page 3.  It is somewhat cheaper at times as well.

    I also got a pack or two at other places, such as collectibles kiosks at the Huntington Mall and Fayette Mall. (Both locations have been out of business for a long time.) If I bought a pack elsewhere, I can't remember. I know BAM has them, but I don't remember buying any there, although I have looked for them.

    As for the various accessories, the ones I got the most were the magazines. The first one I got was The Duelist, which was the in-house magazine from Wizards of the Coast, the publishers of M:tG. It featured articles on the background for new sets, previews of rules and cards, and the general TCG scene. It covered all the games WOTC made, with the occasional tip into other companies. The final issue covered their new Pokémon game, which has since switched publishers. The mag I got the most was InQuest. While TCGs were the prime focus, it also covered RPGs and computer games as well. It lasted a few more years longer. Since then, I remember getting a few guides, but the market dried up years ago. Almost everything is online now. Still, I got these magazines at quite a few locations.

• Page 3 Game Zone, Pikeville:  Of course I got most the magazines here. In fact, I found my first two issues of Duelist here, including a free bonus issue that got put out at the last second to highlight a new set. I would wind up getting almost all of them here, as well as InQuest, before they got cancelled. 
• Readmore, both Prestonsburg and Coal Run: I remember getting an issue or two at these places. Mostly, I got a third party mag that tried to cash in on the budding TCG market, spun off from a publisher of similar products. Most didn't last.
• Kroger, South Williamson:  I remember getting an issue of Conjure here one time just before Easter. It was one of the weirdest magazines I got. They had a multi-part story involving someone getting a wish from a genie that ended up so wrong. The magazine actually lasted over a year, but I never got every issue.
• Babbages/GameStop, Huntington Mall: Page 3 didn't always get everything on my pull all the time. They missed an issue of Duelist, that was going to preview a major new set. Fortunately, they had it, even though the new issue was already out. In fact, I may have gotten it at Waldenbooks or Borders that same day. 
• Waldenbooks, Fayette Mall:  One summer trip, I managed to get a huge haul of M:tG stuff here, including an issue of Duelist. Still a great memory of finding so much at one time. I may have also gotten something at Joseph-Beth Booksellers as well over the years, but those memories aren't as sure.
• BAM, Huntington Mall:  I got my last TCG/trading card guide here years ago. It was mostly a collectors' price guide, but it also featured listing of cards for various games, including Magic. I think it was from Beckett. The last time I can remember even seeing such a magazine.

    That is all for this fall's capsule series. Come back next week for my usual blogcast. 

Trading Card Recollections Part 3

    Soon after I started collecting DC trading cards, another new product came into the market. This new product was Magic:  the Gathering, the first trading card game.  Similar to trading cards in both collectability and rarity, M:tG had packs of cards of various types used to play a game between two "planes walkers" battling for superiority, using spells representing creatures, enchantments, sorceries, and others.  I had read about the game in magazines for months before I finally decided to try it out. 

    When I got to my local comic book/collectibles store, the only packs they had in stock were for the current expansion, The Dark.  You needed a core deck to get the rules and enough resources to actually play, but I didn't really understand that at the time.  Anyway, I bought several packs. I may have opened some in my car before driving home, but I might have waited. I was amazed by what I saw when I did open them, whenever that was. The concept blew my mind. The art was incredible. I couldn't believe what I had gotten into.

    It would be at least another week or so after that before the basic decks were back in stock, and I of course bought a deck. And maybe some of the core set packs. After so many decades, I can't really remember. The store had sold out of the Dark expansion packs, meaning I got something at just the right time. While I didn't know enough about the game to play yet, I was hooked. By the next year, I was buying cards by the box, just to make sure I was getting as many cards as I could. Just one box per set, as I wasn't that greedy. 

    Other TCGs would pop up, but none would interest me as much as the original. I wasn't just getting the cards, but many of the spin off products as well. There novels, comic books, guides, and even a video game. Much later on, there would be other types of products, but I mostly ignored them.

    I never played though. I just didn't think I understood the mechanics enough to play in public. Yes, I knew the rules well enough to play, but I just wasn't comfortable in public settings back in the late 90s and early 2000s. I was more interested in the back stories of the world and the characters the actual game itself.

    Then, the 2003 flood happened. I managed to save most of my collection, at least the main set and many of the accessories. I lost a lot of the junk commons that I had many repeats of. I'm not sure what else I lost, because I would be too disappointed in finding out the details, so I haven't looked over most of the collection since. Just before the flood, I had just bought a box of the latest expansion and was getting ready to transfer the cards from the packs to the general collection. I was a little lazy, and I had put off the task for a few days. I would wind up losing almost all of the packs from that box, with only a few staying dry enough to keep. That would be the last set I would ever buy by the box.

    For the first year or so after the flood, I was more set on buying replacements for other lost products over new cards. So, I skipped buying boxes for the next few expansions, getting only a new deck and a few packs instead. This would be the norm for me ever since, picking up a few cards instead of spending money on entire boxes. With an occasional exception, I haven't bought more than that in a long time. In fact, I rarely buy more than one pack unless I really, really like the theme. I still buy some of the spin-offs, mostly the comics, but that is about it. I still love the worlds that the game represents more than the actual playing, but that original thrill left long ago. As the gaming trends have changed, I have found myself less liking the playing itself. There have been public outcry over some of the changes, and I feel the game might be on the verge of collapse. I honestly don't know what to think.

    Come back next week as I go into detail about some of the places where I bought my cards and accessories.

Trading Card Recollections Part 2

    Last week, I mentioned how I finally started collecting trading cards in college.  This week, I'll talk about some of the places where I got these cards. Note, I was very cut off from many social circles in the 90s when I did most of my collecting. Therefore, I didn't trade cards with anyone; I just collected on my own. Yes, I did keep back many duplicates in case I could trade, but the opportunities never came up. Neither did the need, as I wound up getting complete base sets pretty much on my own.

    I got the overwhelming number of packs from just two places. I may have bought a random pack somewhere else, but I can't remember for sure. I won't even try to name any others. Those two stores are

• Economy Drug, Pikeville:  I got my first DC cards here. In fact, I got almost my entire collection of that first set here. I may have gotten a few latter packs of latter sets here, but I found another store. I think they still sell sports cards here, although they just could be really old ones that they would rather leave out to try and sell rather than try to get newer ones. I haven't been inside in a few months, so I can't be sure.
• Page 3 Game Zone, Pikeville:  Once I realized that they sold my card sets too, I got most of them here whenever I had extra money from my regular purchases. I even started to get my cards by the box here. Once, I opened up my box and checked packs before I bought them, only to realize that I didn't have enough money on me to pay for them. I had to shamefully come in the next day to finish paying for them. Very embarrassing. This was at their original downtown location. I bought some more at their second store as well. Well before the time they moved to their current spot, I had stopped buying trading cards. They still sell cards, mostly sports-related as other properties have faded a bit. In fact, trading cards were some of the first products that came back after they were closed for months due to the 2025 flood.

    I would also get the occasional price guide/magazine. Sometimes, they would carry free samples of upcoming sets, either a pack or just a single card. Some of my comic book and video game mags would also have the samples. I won't repeat the names of those mags, as I just mentioned them recently. I won't mention the stores either, as I can't remember every single instance of whether or not an individual issue had a sample or not.

    I got my last trading card magazine about ten or so years ago. It was a Beckett price guide for both trading cards and trading card games (TCGs). I haven't seen any on newsstands recently. I think the guides are mostly online now, although it could be that no one carries them. Either way, I don't collect them in such a way that I would want a magazine or guide anyway.

    Next week, part 3 as I cover my concurrent history of collecting TCGs.

Trading Card Recollections Part 1

    I wasn't into baseball cards as a kid.  Other guys were, but not me. I wasn't a "sports guy" back then.  Still not one, really. It wasn't just baseball cards either. Cards for other sports were also not interesting. Even other types of trading cards were not my thing, even as the market was expanding beyond sports into humor and movies as themes. 

    Things changed when I was in college. I was wandering through a local drug store, checking up on the candy aisle, when I noticed a box of trading cards based on DC Comics characters. I 'knew' Marvel had started up their own line of trading cards, so it just made sense that DC would soon follow them. The packs came in wrappers featuring one of four of DC's biggest stars:  Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Deathstroke. (You probably have some questions. First, Batman wasn't featured, as the rights to characters from his part of the comic book world were tied up with another company, due to the Tim Burton movies out at the time. Second, Deathstorke was a villain who DC was really pushing, as his popularity was great enough that he would soon get his own series. Also, the suit was mostly orange, allowing four different colors to be prominent on the wrappers. Superman-blue, Wonder Woman-red, Green Lantern-green [duh}, and Deathstroke-orange.) I got one of each wrapper. 

    I could hardly believe what I saw. There were cards featuring major characters throughout the decades in various looks. Cards reproducing important comic books covers. (One of the ways they got to include Batman, although he was hidden in the corner of that cover.) Cards summarizing major stories, including a tiny detail of a hero with a pointy cowl. And of course, checklists. It took me months, but I collected the complete set, without having to trade for anything.

    For the next few years, I would collect each set as they came out. The rights to Batman finally returned, so his universe of characters could now be included. I was soon buying sets by the box, allowing me to complete a set almost immediately. The later sets would begin to include deluxe chase cards. I didn't try to get all of the chase cards when I first started collecting, but I always tried to get as many as I could. I even managed to get some of the super-rare hologram cards for a few sets. The first one was a Sandman hologram in the first DC Vertigo set. I had to mail in a request for one very rare chase card. The card came with golden confetti stars in the package.

    As the 90s wore on, my attention drifted to other things. Buying a box a year was getting tiresome.  Also, the sets ands themes stopped being as interesting. So, I stopped collecting them. This was just before DC stopped making that many sets. I think they have started back, but I can't confirm such things.

    Unlike so many of my collections, I still have every complete set. Somehow, they escaped the 2003 flood intact. Sure, I lost many of the excess repeats, but the complete sets survived. I haven't looked at them in decades, but they are still there, fairly safe in storage.

    Next week, in part two, I will take you to some of the places where I got these cards.  See you then.

Under Resurfacing Pressure

    Last week, the manager of the shopping center where my store, Booknotes, is located had two pieces of news.  The first was that his office would be moving off-site, as well as the medical scrubs store the office was located in. It didn't seem like a good idea for the manager to be moved to somewhere else, but I didn't have any say in that. It also seemed weird that a store would be making a second move in under a year, but that news didn't involve me at all. The second bit of news was that the parking lot of the center would be resurfaced that Friday and Saturday. About half of the lot would be worked on Friday, with the rest finished on Saturday. The Saturday part would be the one that would directly involve my store, as the spaces right in front of it would be cordoned off that day, preventing anyone from parking directly in front of the businesses. People would have to park at one end, and then they would walk down to wherever they needed to go.

    This would be bad for business, so we decided to close the store for that day. I hated to take off two Saturdays in a row, as I had already taken the first Saturday off for my annual late summer/early fall shopping trip that I mentioned in last week's post, but there was no way to park that far away and carry all we needed to that far. So, I quickly started to make plans for the weekend. I changed my shopping schedule began planning for the day off. Saturdays are generally main grocery shopping days for me, so rescheduling was going to be a pain, especially having to plan until the following Tuesday.

    Friday rolls around, and the parking lot is a mess. The west entrance is cordoned off, while the east entrance is down to one lane, and it is the more dangerous one where many wrecks have happened.  Instead of parts of the lot closed off, almost the entire lot is out. The entire west end is roped off up to the spots in front of my store.  This included the open furniture store, office supply store, and Amazon hub. Well, the last one is only partially open, but still. All of the spots in the center of the lot were cautioned off.  Only the spots in front of the stores were available all the way down. Even the area where the gas station used to be was affected. The only other spot clear was the section in front of the old grocery store. I could barely make it down the narrow lane down to my store. I had to park in a spot for customers, it was so bad. Worse, some people brought a car to pick up some tech from the recently closed scrubs store, and they blocked off a few spots for a few minutes. Later, some other people came by to the same place to get some plastic bag barely containing anything. Both could have parked behind the center to pick this stuff up. All day, customers and deliveries had to wind their way in and out, some in reverse, just to come to the stores.

    I almost changed my mind to come in Saturday, since it appeared that my section of the lot would be done by them, but I stayed home instead.

    On Monday, I came in and noticed that the lot was done. Everything had the new surfacing, and the lines were all painted in.  Even some of the curbs had been painted. There were more handicapped spots, and even a dedicated spot for one store owner who had a recharger installed.  The only part not done?  The spot in front of the grocery store. Twenty percent of the entire lot was untouched. It doesn't make any sense not to resurface the one part of the lot not in use. Except, we heard some news. See, the hospital who bought the center a year ago, said that they were going to convert the grocery store to a day care center. Apparently, those plans fell through, and it now won't happen. The same thing happened the last time they said they were making a day care center. Now, there is no telling what the hospital will do with the space, although there are plenty of rumors. 

    And none of them are good.