Picked up an old arcade game for my buddy – Wizard of Wor. This game dates back from the latter arcade classic era, 1981. It shares the same robotic speech as Gorf from the same era (both of us actually have one of those machines, although mine currently languishes in my dad’s barn in OR). Basically the game consists of either one/two people in what seem like land-going spacesuits in a maze, zapping weird creatures, some of which are invisible at times (you can see them on the radar screen below the maze, though).

Once you clear the maze, other bad guys appear you have to zap of course (e.g. Warlock) – and then the Wizard himself may or may not appear. The game also has organ-style music at the start and end of each maze-zapping session, in addition to the weird voice.

Good stuff. This is also a convenient moment to shamelessly plug the upcoming 3rd annual pinball/arcade show here in Seattle next month, weekend of June 11-13. Come one, come all!

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It’s no secret Pixar makes great movies. Even their ‘mediocre‘ movies (by Pixar standards) are still a notch above regular theater fare these days. But there are a few that really stand out – both of Brad Bird‘s movies – The Incredibles and Ratatouille, certainly qualify.

Just watched Ratatouille again last night – what an enjoyable movie. The animation is yet again excellent (witness the ‘Remy goes down the sewage pipe on the cookbook’ sequence) – the characters are well-developed, and as per usual, there are a few surprises along the way.

As everyone likely knows by now, Ratatouille is the story of Remy the (country) rat in France who dreams of being a foodie and cook, despite the challenge of (in reality) being a garbage-eating rat. He makes it to Paris by virtue of a local kerfuffle created by himself and his brother Emile, and shortly connects with a poor ‘garbage boy’ simply trying to survive as a janitor in a formerly 4-star restaurant on its downhill slide. The result is a great story, with all the typical Pixar goodness to go with it.

Fave scenes and actors/characters – Peter O’Toole as the kingmaking, snobby food critic Anton Ego; Janeane Garafolo/Colette explaining (through the expert use of BIG knives) how to get ahead as a female French chef; the method used to prep Remy’s rat clan to help in the kitchen; and most of all, when Anton Ego tastes the ratatouille served him (special mention: his review of the food the next morning).

Like all Pixar movies, there are so many little nice touches along the way, it would be tough to list them all (and that’s part of the fun of rewatching them anyway). But one comes to mind, anyway – the ridiculous amount of old Citroen’s and 2CV’s driving around on the streets – I’m sure there are still a lot of them, but like vintage Beetles in the USA – they are getting a lot fewer and far between these days – sad…

One last comment – something I also really like about Pixar is that they aren’t afraid to have true emotion in their movies. The recent Up being a classic example – the montage where Ed Asner’s character’s life is shown in fast-forward review – VERY sad! Or in both Toy Story movies, there are nostalgic looks back via Randy Newman music in the background – again, definitely a human perspective. In Ratatouille, the scene with Remy’s dad showing him WHY humans are a dangerous lot to tangle with – pretty disturbing – but also why these movies are for the whole family, not just kids and not just adults. Well done, guys.

Anyway, watch and enjoy!

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Given the ending years’ of Genesis’ pop-based output, many people may not know their early sound was WAY different, with several more auteurs in the group (Steve Hackett and Peter Gabriel most notably). One of the great (albeit probably copyright un-friendly) things about YouTube is the persistence of five bazillion music videos of all types and stripes. So of late I’ve been checking out a few ancient (early 70s) Genesis videos up there, specifically The Knife, Dancing with the Moonlit Knight, and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (not long after this, Peter G. left the band, a couple albums later SH did, and Genesis morphed into a pop-outfit not long after that).

Historically I was really into Yes and King Crimson, two progressive rock peers of Genesis at the time – although both of them stayed ‘progressive’ arguably far longer. Each has a pretty different sound, although all of them (and others such as ELP) pushed the boundaries of what a rock song could be, including the scope, ambition and in some cases, pretentiousness of the music in the end – ELP ‘enjoyed’ probably the most slagging on this point during the punk era, pretty bad. But what’s interesting is to listen to other so-called ‘modern’ progressive bands since – I have been checking out Transatlantic on YouTube also – I like it, but I’m not sure if it ‘progresses’ beyond the 70s stuff – it almost sounds like they are largely paying homage to it in most cases, instead of trying to stretch the boundaries? As if I can tell anyway! 🙂 With Transatlantic specifically, the keyboards sound a lot like ELP or the big hammond organs of the time, if not played near as crazily or akin to classical music as the likes of Keith Emerson.

This music is definitely an acquired taste in many cases, but I’m definitely on the way to listening to more early Genesis to start – I already had nearly all the Peter G. stuff and/or Yes/King Crimson, so this will be a cool (old) new band to explore…..

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Being a huge newspaper/anime comics fan (also ‘traditional’ e.g. Marvel/DC too but not quite as much) it was a sad day many years ago when Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson hung up his drawing tools seemingly for good. Barring some nice compilation(s), there hasn’t nary been a peep out of him since the end of 1995, when he ended the strip.

Last October, a self-described ‘diehard fan’ published a biography of sorts on Watterson and most prominently, Calvin and Hobbes itself. I was finally able to read a copy of this book at the end of last week. My impressions are thus:

a) I liked the book. I liked the extent to which the author (Nevin Martell) goes all out to find every source and potential lead he can about C&H, its elusive author, and any other history, talkative peer cartoonist, diehard celebrity fan or supporting information he can find to tell the story at its most effective. I also appreciated the respect paid to Watterson’s privacy (especially considering what’s happened to privacy as a general matter since Watterson retired – going kablooie as we speak! :() even if it meant some information could simply not be obtained in the end. Good for Mr. Martell.

b) I was also glad to see this book come out because while the strip isn’t coming back, this country (and perhaps world?) needs Calvin’s biting commentary (and Hobbes’ sage wisdom, often looking at humanity from the outside with more than a small puzzled expression) more than ever. Not that C&H ever needed any help with growing their fan base, but this book helps remind us they are still out there when we need them, even if Watterson himself has long since moved on.

c) Finally – even after having read this book, i’m left with more than a little puzzlement myself – do I have a better sense of Bill Watterson the person? Do I better understand the sources of his enormous talent and special sensitivity as expressed in C&H? I have to say in both cases, possibly no. Despite reading a work as detailed as this one, i’m still wondering about Watterson’s fundamental abhorrence of his own success. I remember reading the Tenth Anniversary book some time ago and thinking BW came across as more than a little sanctimonious in the surrounding notes and essays included – Sure, he’s more than earned the right to have strong opinions about his own industry and his own/others’ place in it, but at times it came across like ‘most cartoonists are sellouts and I’m not, even though I’m way more successful than most of them!’ – not really the most convincing argument when examined in the bigger scheme.

I think Mr. Martell tries to strike a better balance on this particular point, and does take pains to point out the effect of BW’s stance on his peers and even his employers. While no one will be particularly sympathetic to a large publishing syndicate missing out on (yet another) big cartoonist cash-in – Watterson sets the bar higher than anyone before (and likely anyone else will, ever) in his ‘leave me alone’ stance. It is to his syndicate’s credit that they let him get away with it and not haul in the lawyers to get rid of him and keep the strip going with unknown writers and artists behind the scenes. Definitely adding to the allure of C&H – but still not completely explaining why BW felt so strongly about those issues.

Sidebar: The research done in this book paid off for me in two other neat ways – Martell interviews several cartoonists I had never heard of (and now can check out), and, he took a trip to the Cartoon Library and Museum at Ohio State University in Columbus. Bill Watterson contributed a very impressive amount of artwork, materials and personal items in and around C&H to this museum, meaning it’s going to be a ‘must visit’ next time I’m in Ohio, definitely!

I guess in the end, C&H is apparently one of those rare art creations we are simply meant to enjoy on any level we can, and not bother the creator for the ‘how’ beyond anything he cares to offer. And I can definitely live with that. Thanks to Mr. Martell for writing this book and for reminding us how great a creation C&H truly is, and how much Watterson really sweated the details to make it that way during its run.

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Saw this in today’s NY Times and it got me thinking – what is a ‘generation x’ anyway?

First, there are a lot of big words in the first few sentences and beyond. Far be it from me to castigate anyone about using an overabundance of enormous, hyperpretentious and likely overreaching words when a simple piece of profanity will otherwise do – there are still many I don’t understand in here.

It reminds me of an otherwise horrible book about Smashing Pumpkins (the band I like, Billy Corgan, a.k.a. Bat Boy, I can do without) that had so many big words rammed into the first 5 pages I couldn’t even finish the foreword without retching – back to the library (and for once, on time!) it went.

but back to the article. I will have to look at the underlying book they are indirectly reviewing here – ‘The Ask‘ – never heard of it or the author. But then they mention the much-despised (by me) Douglas Coupland who coined ‘generation x’ in the first place. Thanks, El Doo-shay – we’ll never live that one down. I had a roommate in college who was obsessed with that book, which naturally I read at one point and have loathed ever since.

What’s very spot-on in this article is the repeated slams on our aging 40-something sense of cool (“fake-vintage rock ’n’ roll T-shirt and thick-framed glasses”), the constant need for pop-culture-quip-meets-relevance in our daily conversations, and calling out John Cusack and Ben Stiller as movie archetypes of our generation. There are others, but these will serve quite well (and Lloyd Dobler loved Fishbone, so there!). I haven’t seen Greenberg yet, but will definitely have to now.

Also – the article implies/hints at the marked difference between compatriots of mine who have had children (and thus, being responsible adults, had their priorities completely adjusted for them by reality) rather than the self-indulgent ‘high drama’ I seem to have mastered of late. Or maybe not of late – maybe for way too long? Dunno.

this quote is telling:

“But what if you never gave up adolescence in the first place? What if you donned the binding garment of maturity only tentatively, and accessorized it with mockery, as if it were a hand-me-down from Grandpa or an ugly shirt plucked from a used-clothing rack? And what if, from the start, your youthful rebelliousness had been a secondhand entitlement, without a clear adversary?”

As someone who still revels in ‘sticking it to the Man’ (regardless of what form, major or minor, that takes, even if only a delusional metaphor many days) this sticks pretty well. If you are middle class, grew up in a suburban-style town, went to public school, went to college, etc. and now have a job that pays the bills – barring chronic illness or some sort of major tragedy – what do you have to bitch about? So where’s my ‘adversary?’ I’m not going to answer that, if you’ve been around me more than 10 min. you already know at least one 🙂 – but one thing is certain – even in going to graduate school, i’ve never connected with ‘suit society’ – and it’s only due to luck (being in the tech industry with its -shall we say ‘loose’ – theories of proper dress and hygiene) that i’ve largely avoided it as an adult. Being on the West Coast doesn’t hurt either. So maybe I never did grow up? Again, dunno.

Is this rambling getting anywhere? Back to the article – in talking more about the main character of The Ask – this quote sums it all up, doesn’t it?

……“If I were the protagonist of a book or a movie,” Milo says to his onetime boss, “it would be hard to like me, to identify with me, to like me, right?” The response is devastating: “I would never read a book like that, Milo, and I can’t think of anyone who would. There’s no reason for it.”

Wow. the above reminds me of Woody Allen’s classic Annie Hall quote about his relationships “I would never want to belong to any club that would have someone like me for a member.” Boom!!!! or the more modern version, from the (other) spokesman for our generation, Homer Simpson – and his attempts when a kid to join the ‘No Homers Club’ – Sad, but effective use of plurals, that.

What was the original point again? That someone wrote a book summing up ‘modern 40-something’ – yet most of us it describes don’t want to read it? Or that we are simply beginning to reach the midlife angst felt by others before (and will be felt by ‘millenials’ someday – ha – suck it!) and we 40.x still can’t deal with it.

Who knows? Interesting to ponder, though. And for those in the same age group who parade around like they’ve got it figured out – ha! I fart in your general direction! Your mother is a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries! The point is, they’re kidding themselves too – which based on the Bill Watterson book I literally just finished reading – gives me that evil, evil Calvin grin…muhhahaha!

So in summary, if you can find real meaning in the above, I have some beach property in Tibet that I’ll sell you for a song… 🙂

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just got back from seeing IM2 – pretty good! Was *slightly* disappointed to not see Terrence Howard back in this one, but Don Cheadle is about the best sub they could have hoped for (otherwise, we might have seen Chris Tucker or Eddie Murphy? – I like them both, but not here!) One pleasant surprise was Mickey Rourke as the bad guy Ivan Venko – I think he’s been on a roll since Sin City, really – and seems to have left loser movies like Wild Orchid far behind, thank god. Sam Rockwell is always funny and entertaining, too, and I’m glad they didn’t really try to have him be the second coming of Jeff Bridges from the last movie, either.

While at least one situation was a bit too much (ok, yeah TS owns the F1 car, but kicking out the driver just before the race is to start and having Tony Stark drive it instead? Yeah…..) – but all in all, this was a good summer movie, good performances all around and they tell us more about Nick Fury and SHIELD, too, so that’s not a bad thing either.

here’s another review (spoiler alert on it) – IMHO it’s way too cynical – lighten up! This is a COMIC BOOK MOVIE, for pete’s sake – not Saving Ryan’s Privates! Just go to IM2 and count the days until TRON Legacy 🙂

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I’m not watching any other trailers for this. I’m just glad they made a sequel! Dec. 17 2010, welcome to Cinerama…….

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Pretty d*** cool – if you haven’t ever read him – he was one of the ‘big three’ way back in Weird Tales days – the other two (better known than CAS) were H.P. Lovecraft (Cthulhu sushi, anyone? Tastes better than Soylent Green! :)) and Robert E. Howard (creator of Conan the Barbarian).

I had never heard of CAS myself until reading Stephen King’s ‘Different Seasons’ many many years ago – Different Seasons is really four novellas, the first 3 of which have since been made into movies – bu the fourth story – ‘The Breathing Method‘ – has not. If you’ve read it, you probably know why. But several times through the story King references CAS alien landscapes and settings, which got me interested in finding some stories to read.

Given no convenient ‘internets’ to check out at the time – I went to the next best thing – Powell’s Books – which actually had some used paperbacks (imagine that) – CAS is often as hard to find on the stacks as Philip K. Dick and for a while there, I was thinking CAS was harder to find than Kilgore Trout books. But, thankfully other fans exist out there too and besides the existing paperbacks here and there, a few hardback story collections have been put together. CAS didn’t write novels – only short stories and poetry.

Anyway, check out some of the stories here and enjoy – after which you may be ready to find a copy of The City of the Singing Flame all your own…..

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So a lifelong friend and I connected for some old-school gaming this weekend. And when i say ‘old school’ while not quite as old as say, Frisbee, Monopoly, or Go – these were still pretty old videogames. He has an extensive collection of old (mostly 70s-80s but a few are even older) videogame consoles – the same ones we used to play on the big ol’ 25″ tv in his basement back in the day. We actually had an Atari ‘flashback’ console for those – it has a ton of games built into it instead of plugging cartridges in and out all day – and it even has a few previously-unreleased and prototype Atari 2600 games as a bonus, which is pretty cool (and I’m sure doesn’t hurt sales :)).

So after some Atari, we hauled out the Bally Arcade, then sidetracked to a couple (real) arcade games – we both have several of these – a couple of mine are at his house) – then off for pizza. Then back for more Atari, followed by Colecovision (played through nearly all the cart’s he had, although the controllers on that system haven’t stood the test of time well – they were all but impossible to use) and then back to Atari with a brief sojourn in C64-land. We also surveyed several other systems he has around, but ultimately forgot to get around to hooking them up.

Then of course the required pilgrimage to Fry’s in Wilsonville, followed by a quick dinner and then to Ground Kontrol (an actual arcade in Oldtown Portland with 80s-90s videogames and about 20 pinballs – great stuff!).

We got done around 945 pm. And the good thing is, there are plenty more games for NEXT time 🙂 We need to get back to more C64 – and then some older PC and Amiga games we used to play for hours on end.

Ah, memories…..

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