Ask Me Anything!

Plus CT scanning of cards goes mainstream, and a LONG horror movie review

Author

Mike Junk Wax Hero
December 23, 2024

Wishing you all an early happy holiday season, whatever you celebrate! My family is all together for Christmas, and then we’re going to the Celtics game on New Year’s Eve. So I’m a happy guy.

I’ve never done an Ask Me Anything (AMA) before, so let’s do one before the end of the year.

First of all, it’s important to remember that I’m not an expert on cards. I’m happy to provide my opinions on things, or share details of my channel or newsletter.

Please keep the questions to topics I talk about:

  • Sports cards & the industry

  • YouTube

  • Newsletter

  • MLB/Red Sox

  • NBA/Celtics

  • Horror movies

  • TV shows

  • 1980s and 1990s Nintendo games

I’ll try to answer every question in an upcoming video and/or newsletter or two.

To ask me a question:

PRESENTED BY THE PENNYSLEEVER

You Deserve Good Card Supplies

Here are the products that I use from The Pennysleever:

On CT Scanning

I have not waded into CT scanning territory because, aside from a box of 1990 Donruss, I don’t own or care about sealed wax. I wouldn’t have anything to add to it, and doing a video just because I know it will get clicks isn’t of interest to me.

I’ve actually barely paid attention to it.

The Athletic did a big story on the fad, though. (I say fad because card manufacturers will almost certainly find a way to make this impossible. Right?)

I was most interested in this scan:

I had seen this type of image before, but seeing how precisely they can calculate centering was new to me.

The company most famous for doing the scanning has actually patented a process that will make it much more challenging for people to scan cards.

It’s really worth a read.

I sent the article to a friend, who said it was paywalled for him. I’m not sure why it wasn’t for me, since I’m not a subscriber. Sorry if it was for you.

Social Media Comes Through

You’ve Gotta Watch This

🗣️ YouTube Comment Of The Week

Both of these are from last week’s discussion of Topps using AI for cards:

🎬 Upcoming Videos

  • Another Attic Find Friday — I have a bunch of these again

  • #59-55 of my ACE 100 list

  • Amazing card room — seriously, this is amazing!

  • A subscriber’s killer music card collection

📩 Upcoming Newsletters

I hope you don’t mind a few newsletters a week until I catch up.

  • Topps and the case of the worsening collation

  • An absolutely bonkers vintage and pre-war collection my friend Oliver saw parts of on Saturday and is trying to help the person sell

  • Trimmed Ohtani card graded by PSA

  • Swapped jersey patches

  • A Paul Skenes card that surprised me

  • 2025 sports card industry predictions

Meanwhile, from my newsletter last week:

🎬 Channel Highlights From the Past Week

This is an interesting one. It got about as many views as I expected Friday night. And then at some point on Saturday afternoon, the algorithm grabbed it and pulled it to a ton more views. I love it when that happens, but I never really understand it.

And more ACE 100:

🎁 My Pickup Of The Week

Instead of talking about cards I bought, let’s talk about cards I didn’t buy.

Steph Curry’s rookie card is one I really want. PSA has only graded about 5,000 of them. Compare that to LeBron’s 2003 Topps, which has been graded 20,000 times.

8s sell for $700+, and anything under and 8 doesn’t come up for auction very often. A really nice 2 popped up on eBay last week, though, and I meant to put in a snipe bid but forgot.

It sold for a very affordable $330.

👻 Brief Horror Movie Review of the Week

Actually, this isn’t going to be all that brief. And there will be spoilers.

I watched “Nope” last week. It was one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen.

How did this get such good reviews? What did people like about this?

Which characters are we supposed to root for? OJ is dull and kind of sucks. His sister is cool and fun, I guess? But what is their backstory? Why would we care about them? And why do they not have any brother/sister chemistry?

Who is the antagonist? The “alien” thing that showed up 90 minutes in and then really didn’t do much?

What was the point of the Jupe character and his childhood acting backstory?

When OJ and his sister go to the Best Buy-like store, there’s one salesperson there. He sucks really badly. But he’s eager to go to their ranch to set up the system they buy. How does the only salesperson have time for that? And when he shows up, he tells them a weird story about his ex-girlfriend. Why? And somehow he ends up becoming best friends with OJ and his sister.

How is it that everyone seems to know about the alien thing, but it’s not national news?

After watching that movie I feel the way I felt after reading A Man Called Ove, one of the worst novels ever.

1 out of 5 stars

I’m going to see Nosferatu on Saturday with friends. I hope it’s a lot better than Nope.

Collector Has A Change of Heart; Is Giving MLB Debut Patch Card Back (I mentioned this story briefly on Sunday, but Horacio got comments from the seller!)

I’m also adding a Links section to future non-Monday editions! More and more links nowadays.

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Andrew Robert • 11 months ago

Like many, I have gotten back into the hobby over the past couple years. I'm coming from a bit of a different angle though: I played Magic the Gathering on a regular basis for many years. Eventually, I sold my collection cause I preferred playing online. At the same time I had been buying a few auto'd cards of my favorite UFC fighters as well as current/retired Bulls players.  
 
My wife understood MTG and collecting for the game - the cards have value based on rarity and usefulness in the game, but she still struggles to understand why we enjoy sports cards. The act of buying a card, getting it in the mail, putting it in a new sleeve/top loader, then putting it in a box is bizarre to her. I have a hard time explaining the appeal. She kind of gets the idea of collecting an auto of every fighter in the UFC hall of fame, but will also ask if I'm done buying cards once I get them all... 
 
So I guess my question is why do you collect and what do you do with your cards that aren't on display?

The user involved in the comment

Joe Gualtieri • 11 months ago

And I thought I didn’t like Nope! AW hits on some of it, but I’d add that film is also very much about the exploitation and marginalization of African Americans in the film industry. They were always there and important, but ignored for so much of film history. The themes and ideas behind the film are interesting, but the execution didn’t work for me either. I’d say the same about Peele’s Get Out, too, though to a lesser degree. Us is his best film and probably received the least praise of three.

The user involved in the comment

Mike Junk Wax Hero • 11 months ago

Thanks. I haven't seen Us so maybe I'll check it out.

The user involved in the comment

A W • 11 months ago

Hey Mike, 
Sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy “Nope.” It’s definitely not a typical horror film. It functions more as a social critique than a great story. In short, the movie is about the way we as a society exploit trauma for spectacle. We insist that horrible events be recorded in order to believe they are real, but when confronted with that evidence our first inclination is to turn it into a spectacle to profit from rather than understand it. As a result, we often avoid addressing trauma and instead begin to relate to it through fictionalizations rather than the actual experience. (Think when Jupe remembered the monkey attack as an SNL skit rather than his first hand account) If you are interested, I’ve included a link to a video that does a great job explaining the point of the movie. 
https://youtu.be/n74ZpnPY_yI?si=211u30-9n-RUQS-Q

The user involved in the comment

Mike Junk Wax Hero • 11 months ago

Thanks... that sounds really interesting, but the movie itself just wasn't.  
 
I appreciate the comment, though, which puts a different light on it.

The user involved in the comment

Bret Iverson • 11 months ago

Dear Mike,  
Happy Holidays! Ask Antthing? I purchased two big cards(Rose/Carew Rookies) to trade or sell for cards I wanted. I paid $200. The live auction said sales are final. I got a brief look at the cards no logo or modern date no big sign of reprint. Overall, got about 50 cards. Who made these "reprints" fakes? What do you do with them? Is there any value? I guess it's better than 4 o 5 grand lesson. Buy graded? Idea for Ebay with PSA allow buyer to get card graded at authentic verification. Thanks!

The user involved in the comment

Joe Gualtieri • 11 months ago

$330 for a PSA 2 of a paper base card from 2009 feels insane.

The user involved in the comment

Mike Junk Wax Hero • 11 months ago

Low pop, very high demand. And there weren't a lot of other options for a rookie card of him.

The user involved in the comment

Sam Hill • 11 months ago

AMA- Mike, are you into space-related sci-fi? One of my all-time favorite shows is “The Expanse.” Have you watched it? It started on the SyFy channel and ended its run on Prime. It’s based on a collection of novels.  
 
An obscure sci-fi movie on Prime that I’ve been trying to get people to watch for several years is, “The Vast of Night.” Have you watched it? It’s not the greatest film of all time, but I love it. I highly recommend for a short, low-budget gem.

The user involved in the comment

STEVEN PIZZO • 11 months ago

Ask you anything ok, if you could have a conversation with any athlete living or dead who would it be?

The user involved in the comment

David Kepple • 11 months ago

What is an NES game you enjoyed and played a lot but could never beat without cheat codes? For me, I would say it was Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. 
 
What is your favorite NES game inspired by a horror movie? 
 
Do you have a particular brand of case where you store slabbed or magnetic cards that aren’t on display?

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