Glenn Close Swatch Card

I recently watched Guardians Of The Galaxy for the second time, as the sequel's trailer made the rounds at the Super Bowl, looking good enough to go see in theaters, which in turn made me think of this card I got in a trade earlier this winter:

That's Glenn Close  - playing the role of Nova Prime - and two wardrobe pieces from the set of the first film, on card #CS-9 from Marvel's 2014 Guardians Of The Galaxy set and Cosmic Strings sub-set, manufactured by Upper Deck.

She will reprise her role as chief of the intergalactic police force in the next movie as well.

You may recall her from 101 Dalmatians (1996), but she received Academy Award nominations for The World According to Garp (1982), The Big Chill (1983), The Natural (1984), Fatal Attraction (1987), Dangerous Liaisons (1988), and Albert Nobbs (2011) - the first three sor Best Supporting Actress, the latter for Best Actress.

While she has yet to win an Oscar, she has three Tonys, three Emmys, two Golden Globes, a Drama Desk Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Awards. She has also been inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

Tiffany Selby Autograph Card

So many NHL teams have trouble with their goaltending that a few should perhaps be looking at their options with an open mind; if the traditional route doesn't work, perhaps thinking outside the box will. For instance, the Carolina Hurricanes had their equipment manager Jorge Alves suit up and actually play for 8 seconds in their 3-1 loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning earlier this season, leaving him with the franchise's best career goals-against average (0.00)...

And we all know Manon Rhéaume played for the Bolts in a preseason game 25 years ago...

So perhaps a team like the Calgary Flames or St. Louis Blues could have a look at Tiffany Selby and see what she can do...

That's a Preview card from Benchwarmer, ahead of their 2013 National convention, which sees her sporting a Koho stick - the brand that Patrick Roy used with the Montréal Canadiens from 1993-95 and with the Colorado Avalanche for the remainder of his career, i.e. three of his four Stanley Cups, two of his three Conn Smythes and a Hart nomination.

The last time we checked in on her, she was a model and aspiring actress. A lot has happened since, including regular appearances on Deal Or No Deal, being the official spokesmodel for Budweiser and Suzuki, the birth of her daughter, and a move back to Jacksonville, Florida instead of remaining in California.

Nowadays, she's a realtor for the Watson Group.

Jaime Hammer Autograph Card

Jaime Hammer realized she wanted to appear in the famed Playboy magazine when she and a number of her classmates spent a night at the Playboy Mansion in what was dubbed the Midsummer Night’s Dream Pajama Party, back in 1999... when they were 17.

A little over four years later, she became the first Arizona State University student to grace the magazine's front page for its College Girls edition. She went on to appear in numerous editions of the famous nudie zine, as well as Penthouse, where she was Pet Of The Month for November 2007.

She has also appeared in Perfect 10, Exercise & Health, and Open Your Eyes.

A Chicago native, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue her modeling career, but has since relocated to Las Vegas.

Nowadays, there are videos of her floating around porn sites where she undresses and lightly touches herself. She is also credited with appearing in some 40 softcore porn films as Sophia Taylor, though I do not know the extent of her, uh, participation in any of the scenes.

Prior to today, I wasn't aware of her doing anything but appearing in picture spreads and trading cards. I have a few of her Playboy trading cards I'd wanted to get signed in person eventually...

In any event, here she is, from Benchwarmer's 2006 Holiday set (card #14 of 16):

It features a beautiful on-card autograph in black sharpie. BW cards use some kind of coating that makes penny sleeves reflect badly when scanned, but this is a beautiful card to the naked eye.

Margot Kidder Autograph Card

By now you've probably witnessed the hate-on for Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice; coming out of the movie, having just seen Deadpool right before, I will admit to being slightly disappointed in the film, and I agreed with most commenters and critics that the two best features of the movie were Ben Affleck as Batman and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman.

But the following week, after reading and watching dozens of hours of bitching and unrepentant criticism, even I was taken aback, ready to defend its qualities against rampant negativity.

For the second time, however, Amy Adams was "just there" as Lois Lane, not stealing any scenes, not hindering any, but pretty much not doing anything except get into more trouble than Elisha Cuthbert in 24.

Perhaps it's because she's already a household name, whereas Margot Kidder used that role to parlay herself into a very successful career that included such credits as The Amityville Horror (1979), Heartaches (1981) and Pygmalion (1983).

She went through a breakdown in 1996 which slowed her career down, but she rose back to the spotlight touring with The Vagina Monologues (2002-2005), which led to some fine TV appearances such as The L Word, Smallville, and R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour, earning an Emmy for the latter.

She's involved politically, supporting Liberal causes such as the environment, fracking regulations, increased financial regulations and is famously anti-war.

And she's on card #A-MK2 from In The Game's 2011 Canadiana set:

It's the Black Version variant, which features a black-sharpied on-sticker autograph.

Benchwarmer Autograph Foursome Card

I ordered the Benchwarmers Father's Day set a while ago, and I received it in the mail yesterday, with a couple of bonus cards. This is the first one:

It's a dealer-specific quad-auto ''Thank You'' card meant for dealers as a thanks for conducting business with the brand, and features four on-card signatures in black sharpie or BW regulars Cassandra Lynn, Jennifer Korbin, Michelle Baena, and Paige Peterson, with pictures recycled from previously-released cards.

It's a bizarre card for me, considering I'd previously featured Cassandra Lynn Hensley when she died last year, and because I've met Michelle Baena and have actual in-person cards of hers signed - and there's the fact that I've featured Paige Peterson twice already.

I have hundreds of BW and model cards in general that I may get to feature eventually, but this particular compilation card rings weird; that, plus the fact that as a quad-card, I wouldn't know where/how to classify it in my alphabetically-stored binders, so I think this one will go straight to Ebay.

When I feature Benchwarmer cards, I usually write relatively complete summaries of the models' careers, but this being a quad-card, I feel it may be best just to go through it quickly and delve deeper when each one is featured by themselves.

A recap on Cassandra Lynn Hensley: she was Playboy's Playmate Of The Month in February of 2006 and she had a daughter when she died, at the age of 34.

Jennifer Korbin is mostly known as a model, whether in photo shoots or appearances on TV (including on Jimmy Kimmel Live!), but has also tried her hand at horror movies and was a regular and the star of the TV series Lingerie.

Michelle Baena only got into modeling at age 31, and even then, she didn't start out at the top. She participated in swimsuit competitions (finishing anywhere between 4th and 19th), but she caught her big break when Playboy made her Playmate Of The Month for May 2005. Since then, she's graced the cover of over 30 magazines and has been the most sought-after participant at conventions including Comic Con, and has been featured in the Lingerie Bowl.

Paige Peterson, well, she's been off the grid for a while now. Also a Lingerie Bowl alumnus, also a bit of an actress, she can do anything she sets her mind to. I hope she's happy wherever she is.

Lana Turner Swatch Card

Where do you begin with Lana Turner? Not only was her life pretty much an open book, her daughter Cheryl Crane even wrote an autobiography in which Turner plays a huge part without having been present for much of it - a feat she couldn't duplicate even in her films.

Discovered at 16 years old while buying a Coke after ditching school, she started off playing the part of the innocent, pure and often naive object of romantic affection in films such as They Won't Forget (1957) and Love Finds Andy Hardy (1958).

Tremendously beautiful (think Charlize Theron), she became a hugely popular pin-up model during World War II, which heightened her popularity and got her to star in four consecutive movies with the era's highest-regarded leading man, Clark Gable.

It was in 1946, with The Postman Always Rings Twice, that she switched the tables around and started playing the femme fatale - she who rather than answer to a leading man becomes the very reason for all of his actions. And, thus, meatier and better parts, and a wider recognition of her actual acting talent.

1947 was a huge year for her, as she starred in Cass Timberlane, Green Dolphin Street, and Homecoming (a Turner-Gable reunion) and was not only MGM Studios' biggest star, but also one of the highest-paid women in the United States.

But what goes up must come down, and between the tabloids having a field day of her eight marriages (and same number of divorces), her dating life in-between marriages, a two-year hiatus from filming and a few unwise film choices upon her return, the 1950s were not kind to Turner. It culminated when her daughter (who had previously repeatedly been sexually abused by one of Turner's ex-husbands, Tarzan actor Lex Barker) killed Turner's violent mobster boyfriend Johnny Stompanato in self-defense.

Hollywood loves a happy ending and redemption story, though, so that year ended with an Academy Award nomination for her leading role in Peyton Place. She slowed her pace from that point on, though, and from 1962 to 1980 only appeared in 7 films, as well as bit parts in three TV shows.

A long-time smoker, she died on June 29th, 1995, at the age of 74, from complications linked to throat cancer; she had previously won a battle against the illness in 1992, but it came back with a vengeance.

I have this card of ''The Sweater Girl'' (a term coined after her very first film and that she hated throughout her career, kind of like how Madonna despises being called ''The Material Girl'') to remember her by:

As is customary with recent Panini products, this swatch card is the same as the regular #14 card of the 2011 Americana set's Matinee Legends sub-set, but with a hole cut in the design to accommodate the piece of clothing, which Panini guarantees has been worn by Lana Turner at the bottom of the back of the card. The swatch cards are limited to 499, and just like for this Ginger Rodgers card, I have #130.

Hiromi Oshima Autograph (Redemption) Card

In the last part of my Benchwarmer Redemption series (for the moment), I present you Hiromi Oshima. The 34-year old is a pretty big deal, as she was only the second ever Japanese-born Playboy Playmate when she made the centerfold for the June 2004 issue.

Her adventure with the Bunny Family (and modeling in general) started when she was ''discovered'' on a beach while vacationing in Florida. Or as someone else could put it, a wise photographer got free eye and lens candy. She was part of the auditions for the 50th Anniversary Playmate hunt, then made the cover of the Exotic Beauties release, as well as starred in a bunch of their videos.

She has prepared her after-career with a degree in communications and already having some behind-the-camera credits as a ''photo production coordinator'', and is also a member of The Playmate Dancers troupe, which is like the Suicide Girls shows or The Pussycat Dolls without the hit songs (like back when they were just a burlesque show).

Her video credits include Nelly's Shake Ya Tailfeather and the Beyoncé - Lady Gaga hit Telephone, and her TV credits include Community and The Girls Next Door; she has also appreared in The House Bunny starring the incredible Anna Faris, and Race To Witch Mountain (with The Rock), which you can run to avoir watching.

Which brings me to this card, from Benchwarmer's 2014 Eclectic set, actually released in 2013 (card #47), signed in black sharpie:

What Eclectic is, basically, is a revamped version of the old Vault sets, which re-packaged leftover autograph cards of past sets / redemptions / events and differentiated them by stamping an extra logo on the card; the spin with Eclectic, on the other hand, is that it costs the same as a regular box (they can be found anywhere between $40-80), and contains a factory-sealed complete set of the 1994 Series 2 collection, 60 (sixty!) unopened packs of past editions (expect few of the costly ones and plenty of the older releases), a jumbo card from any possible release, plus a team bag (those things that hold top holders) filled with new and old inserts, including a new line of eponymous autographs, swatch cards, and Carmen Electra cards. The ''new'' checklist consists of 90 models, and my card is from the middle of the pack.

Funny how BW even have leftover cards from their sets where they re-sell you their leftovers.

Nikki Leigh Autograph (Redemption) Card

Back to the model redemption cards, this time with California native Nikki Leigh as a reminder that the Los Angeles Kings just took a 3-1 series lead over the Chicago Blackhawks, with a card from one of Benchwarmer's 2013 Hobby (75% likely) or 2013 Bubblegum (25% chance) sets - it's unclear because both shared a lot of the same designs - signed in black sharpie and un-numbered:

If they're going to release tons of sets each year and have them share designs, perhaps Benchwarmer should take a cue from Upper Deck (as Panini had this year) and identify the sets on the backs of cards, near the publishing information. Notice how the publishing info is distorted - I don't know if that's by design or a printing fault, but it works pretty well with the rest of what's going on there.

Nikki Leigh was Playboy's Playmate Of The Month for May 2012, fulfilling a dream she'd had since her early teens. She has since appeared in many videos for the brand, as well as hosting web specials (such as the Espys' red carpet event) and a radio show on Playboy Radio and LA's KDOC.

She has a B.A. in Sociology (I worked in that field for a decade myself), and graduated Cum Laude from California State University in Fullerton. The 5'3'', 112-pound dynamo - who was born 10 years after me pretty much to the day - has now set her sights on acting, with parts in the horror flick Unlucky Charms, as well as the 2013 racing film Snake And Mongoose (with Tim Blake Nelson, Noah Wyle, possible comeback kid and former 90210 star Ian Ziering, John Heard, Jesse Williams, and another Playmate, Jaclyn Swedberg), as well as the upcoming bikini musical Fearless with Hayley Hasselhoff (''plus-size'' model at size 14, and the daughter of David Hasselhoff's that didn't film him eating a cheeseburger off the floor in a drunken stupor).

We wish her the best.

Stacy Fuson Autograph (Redemption) Card

Here's a cool card I got as a redemption: a Stacy Fuson 2013 Thanksgiving autograph card (#35 in the set) from Benchwarmer, which wasn't released as a stand-alone set but instead was randomly inserted into mailings of people and dealers who purchased boxes around that time last Fall:

Granted, wicker baskets aren't the greatest design idea ever, and probably would have worked better as an Easter giveaway, but I'll gladly take it.

I like Stacy Fuson: she's two weeks older than I am (go Virgos - or Horses if you're into the Chinese horoscope!), and is as comfortable doing comedy (Shallow Hal, Entourage, Modern Family, that piece of garbage The Independent) as she is flaunting her assets (Playboy cover girl in 1997, Playmate Of The Month in February 1999, appearances on Baywatch, The Man Show, and in Iron Man 2), and can even have some fine, straight, serious moments hosting TV shows such as Wild On E! and The Real World, or with small parts on Party Of Five.

She also has her own line of... vitamins.

She's been on the Benchwarmer roster since 2003.

2 Jessica Landon Autograph (Redemption) Cards

I got some sweet mail today, and I didn't know whether to feature all 8 of the cards that came in that envelope at once, or separate them by person featured... I opted for #2. But I'm starting with a two-card lot, from Benchwarmer's 2013 Vegas Baby set (not in the original release, but numbered #59, as a redemption card):

That's the beautiful and very funny Jessica Landon, obviously a model, but also a TV and web personality with credits that include Robot Chicken and MadTV, as well as a few B-series horror flicks.

She also has these funny bits with the Casting Couch webseries:

She also participated in a lot of skateboard-related stuff, such as AKA: Girl Skater and Dr. Steve-O.

Her first appearance in Benchwarmer sets dates back to 2003. She likes playing cards, and participated in an ad for a Canadian poker website back when I was a pro (ranked in the top-50 in Québec's LTPQ) a couple of years back. I only joined the circuit to accompany my uncle, but had surpassed his ranking within 4 months...

Eléni (Lane Brody) Autographed CD

Lane Brody has been an active songwriter since 1982, and has been nominated for an Oscar (1984, for Over You) and an Emmy (the theme song to The Yellow Rose, which she co-wrote and sang with Johnny Lee and became a #1 country hit).

She had started single jingles in tons of radio TV ads, for brands such as McDonald's, 7Up, Juicy Fruit, and Beatrice Foods for their 1984 Olympics run (''You've known us all along!''), and made her way back to TV by guest-starring in Taxi, then in Heart Of The City.

I corresponded with her briefly before and at the turn of the millennium, and she was kind enough to send me autographed items once in a while. I came across this promo-version of her self-released 2001 album Familiar Places (through her self-owned label Records Records) while unpacking today; the album's original artwork was this:

She released that album under the name Eléni, which is the Greek root for the names Helen, Ellen, Elaine, and Lynn. The album mentions it was her given (birth) name, but her Wikipedia page instead says she came into this world as Lynn Voorlas, and is also known as Lynn Nilles. Then again, she always has been rather mysterious.

Another thing she always has been is an amazing musical talent with a rich voice. She transcends styles, though she has kind of gone back to country after flirts with jazz, traditional pop and Big Band-type songs. I expect a couple more quality releases from her in the future.

Rochelle Loewen Autograph Card

For years, Rochelle Loewen was my favourite Benchwarmer model, but it seemed she stopped appearing in their sets in 2007 after being a staple from 2003 onwards. This made me sad, but it also enabled me to acquire duplicates of her autographed insert cards from the various BW sets, most of which sold for less than $2 on Ebay. Through bidding on more than one at a time with similar ending times, I inadvertently ended up with more than 5 of each, and over 15 of the 2005 Signature Series. I am still sorting through them and will likely end up keeping the variants (coloured pens instead of black, etc) and selling back the rest, after featuring them here of course.

But I digress. So she was absent from Benchwarmer sets from 2007... until last year, when she returned as part of the 2012 Vault set - where the brand gets rid of their past-edition overflows and recycles them into a new set. This is card #36 out of 61, and features pictures from to separate sets, the front being from 2005; it is signed in black sharpie:

I may be wrong, but I think the reason she was a mainstay with BW was that she was also a WWE Diva for a while, which meant she was in L.A. a lot. She even represented the L.A. Temptations in the 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 Lingerie Football League seasons - all but one resulting in a Lingerie Bowl appearance.

After that, the Edmonton native moved back up North (this time to Calgary) to further her studies in broadcasting and was a part of the QR77 (770 AM on the radio dial) team until recently - which might explain the exile from Benchwarmer. In any event, she's back now, and hopefully will have new material in subsequent sets.

As a model, the Miss Hawaiian Tropic Canada 1999-2000 winner has graced the front pages of such magazines as Muscle & Fitness, Muscle & Fitness Hers and Playboy Lingerie Special.

April Scott Autograph Card

Time for a bit of a break from the hockey with another model / actress card, this time from April Scott, holding a pink baseball. I'm sure she'd get in the Hall Of Fame ahead of Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds...

This card is from Benchwarmer's 2012 National set, signed in black sharpie, manufactured at only 99 cases (12 boxes per case, 10 cards per box) for the 2012 National Sports Collectors' Convention held in Baltimore.

The picture on the front is very tasteful, and it's the picture on the back, surprisingly, that is the most sexy/sexual. I guess I've become an April Scott collector over the years, so I won't complain.

Paige Peterson Autograph Card

It's been a long time since I've made a model post, even though I've been falling on quite a few signed cards of late...

In that regard, I decided to feature someone I'd already talked about, Paige Peterson. The car is from Benchwarmer's 2012 Daisy Dukez set (card #52). For a little less than $100 (a little more after Canadian/Québec taxes...), a box of these usually lands you roughly 10 autographed cards and a shot at other types of memorabilia cards, such as some with embedded pieces of clothing, including the famous Daisy Duke shorts. They even got Catherine Bach (Daisy Duke herself) in the set!

I tried to find out more about Paige Peterson that I hadn't gotten into the last time around, but it seems she hasn't been in any movies since 2008's Meet the Spartans, and Benchwarmer's the only steady job she's got (good on them for sticking with her even after her arrest). Speaking of that, I don't know what ever came out of that domestic dispute, either - whether they're still together, if she did jail time, nothing.

I wish her the best...

Ginger Rodgers Swatch Card

Ginger Rodgers (born Virginia Katherine McMath) was a superstar like few others. Mostly remembered for her film/dance performances in numerous films alongside Fred Astaire, she also ruled the radio, theater and television.

She won an Academy Award for her performance in the 1940 film Kitty Foyle.

As is customary with recent Panini products, this swatch card is the same as the regular #7 card of the 2011 Americana set's Matinee Legends sub-set, but with a hole cut in the design to accommodate the piece of clothing, which Panini guarantees has been worn by Mrs. Rodgers, as is mentioned at the bottom of the back of the card. The swatch cards are limited to 499 (I have #130).

Caprice Bourret Autographed 8x10 Picture

Model? Try supermodel.

When the whole world knows you by your first name, and most folks don't even know your last name - you've definitely made a name for yourself. This is what Caprice Bourret has achieved, through modeling mostly, but since she has retired from the glitzy world of runways and advertising, she has successfully ventured into business endeavours such as her lingerie line By Caprice Lingerie, which she started first by licensing her name to a company (Debenhams) for them to make a buck off it, then by re-purchasing the rights to her name and releasing her own stuff; her brand-name has since expanded to include swimwear, sleepwear and bedding.

All this, of course, coming from a woman who between the ages of 23 and 28 was on the cover of over 250 magazines, the least of which was the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, but also Maxim, FHM, Vogue, GQ, Cosmopolitan, Esquire and many others. You'll notice those magazines are targeted to both men and women, teens and adults of all ages. She was all-encompassing as a hottie, but also had the brains to market herself like few others.

Because of that, she has gone on to host numerous TV programs - mostly in Britain, but on our side of then pond, she has also appeared in The Surreal Life. She has gone on to play in theater (Rent and The Vagina Monologues), and released a music single.

And every time she was on TV, whether a Reality TV show or presenting an award at a televised ceremony, she has always appeared as one of the smartest there, never flubbing her lines, always on point, always graceful. Some politicians have 20-people teams of writers and handlers and don't appear as natural and well-spoken in front of the cameras.

I sent Caprice an email on March 2nd and got this signed 8x10 picture (black sharpie, inscribed ''Lots of Love, xxxx'') on the 9th - a single week later, thanks to Her Majesty's post service, U.K.

Candice Michelle Autograph Card

Often times, I upload these ''girl cards'' knowing very few people will have heard of the person depicted on the card; this is not one of those times. Even if the name Candice Michelle doesn't ring a bell, you've seen her many, many times.

Born Candice Michelle Beckman-Ehrlich on September 30, 1978 - a mere 16 days after myself - in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, she moved to Los Angeles in 1999 after winning a few modeling contests. After enrolling in acting school, she started using her middle name as her last name and her career took off in a hurry. In addition to modeling, she appeared on a bunch of TV shows, including Party Of Five, 7th Heaven and the Cinemax softcore series Hotel Erotica.

In 2002, she appeared as Playboy's Cyber Girl Of The Week and could subsequently be seen in the films Tomcats (with Jerry O'Connell), Anger Management (with Adam Sandler), DodgeBall (with Ben Stiller) and A Man Apart (with Vin Diesel).

Having always been in top physical shape - to say the least - she often appeared on the cover of fitness magazines; it was only a matter of time before putting that body to work would become very lucrative. In 2004, she made her wrestling debut for the WWE and went on the win the Women's Championship belt. By the end of the decade, however, injuries - specifically recurring collarbone breaks - forced her out of wrestling, and she was free to resume her acting and modeling careers full-time.

She has been a regular cast member of Playboy TV's Totally Busted ( prank-based show) and, from 2005 to 2008, was the official Go Daddy Girl, appearing in four consecutive Super Bowl ads for the brand, before getting replaced by Danica Patrick. In movies, she now appears in more serious films, such as indie gem Thumbsucker and John Travolta's sleep-inducing follow-up to Get Shorty, Be Cool.

All in all, if you've watched TV or films or seen ads in the past decade, you've probably seen a lot more of the shapely Mrs. Michelle than you initially thought.

And chances are you don't mind seeing her here, from this beautiful autograph card from Benchwarmer's 2010 Signature Series (card #100A), signed in black sharpie. Because of who she is, her autographed cards are usually among the most valuable of all Benchwarmer cards; this one can already reach five times as much as others in Ebay auctions, and is considered to already be worth $25-35.