Piper2381: September 2015

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Marcus Stroman Bobblehead

On June 7^th, 2015 the Toronto Blue Jays gave away the first Marcus Stroman SGA bobblehead. Unfortunately during spring training, Marcus sustained a leg injury (ACL) which caused him to miss most of the season. This injury prevented him from being an active player for the release of his bobblehead. Fortunately the determination and heart of Stroman pushed him to work his way back to the rotation and become a starter in September, HDMH.

This bobblehead is pretty much one of my favourites not only because Stroman is an inspiring figure, but because Stroman is displayed blowing a bubble. This feature is truly unique, and the pink contrast matches well with the white and blue Jays uniform. As bobbleheads are now collectable items and a multitude are released every year, I really appreciated it when unique features such as this are added to them and I hope to see more of this from the Jays in the future.

Marcus Stroman Wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Stroman

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p1u5ocBe0w

Sunday, September 20, 2015

Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America

Title: Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America

Author: Jeff Ryan

I hesitated on reading this book at first because I thought it was an updated version of another Nintendo book I had read years ago called, Game Over: How Nintendo Conquered the World. Game Over is an amazing book that provides a comprehensive history of Nintendo’s rise and success. Game Over is probably the best book written about Nintendo because it’s very detailed and it extensively profiles the people that were involved in the company. It doesn’t just tell you what they did, but also who they were and where they came from.

The only drawback of Game Over is that it was first published in 1993, i.e. before the N64, the DS, and the numerous other systems and games that have released since then. Thankfully the book has had updated versions throughout the years (up until 1999). So when I first saw Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America, I assumed that it was just another update of Game Over. However I was wrong because it’s written by a different author, Jeff Ryan a self described lifelong gamer.

Club Nintendo Calendar 2016

It’s a bitter sweet moment today as I finally received my last Club Nintendo prize. I was a member for a while, but neglected to enter my points when I bought new games. The reason I didn’t care so much was because the prizes in Club Nintendo North America weren’t that appealing. Usually you would have to spend hundreds of dollars on games, just to be able to cash the points in for something silly like a poster or greeting card set. So when I heard that Club Nintendo was closing, I cashed my points in for a Nintendo calendar. Unfortunately the deadline to submit points was over, so I wasn’t able to get a t-shirt (even though I would have had more than enough).

I’m not too upset over the calendar because it’s still a nice collectable from Nintendo. Although it’s a simple item, it’s still nicely made with bright colors and thick paper. What I particularly like about it the most, are the Japanese inspired themes used in all the illustrations. While it is a 2016 calendar, I would have preferred a year-round calendar that I could use every year. I guess for now I better make the most from this calendar in 2016.