Never knew about this – I can see the similarity although the Zeppelin tune is arguably much more complex…songs can be played at the link…

Led Zeppelin Loses First Round in ‘Stairway to Heaven’ Lawsuit

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pretty dadburn weird…..even for a hardcore VW nerd like me….:)

People Impersonate The Internet’s Funniest Cats In This Absurd VW Spot

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only about another month until the 2015 NW Pinball and Arcade show on the weekend of June 5-7! Apparently this bad boy will be making its debut there….very, very cool!

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Thanks to Ed Fries, I got to play a real Computer Space tonight! Ed bought a Time2000 backbox from me (backbox for a vintage Atari pinball that I had around, it had been intended for a wall decoration for a gameroom that is likely to never get built out in that way, so decided to sell the BB. Ed bought my Atari Space Riders pinball some time ago). So I took the BB out to his house tonight, and in the arcade he recently built near his house in a separate building – lo and behold, a 1971 Computer Space resides.

Here’s the story of his Computer Space. And here’s some history links on the game itself:

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=7381 – KLOV
http://www.pinrepair.com/arcade/cspace.htm – Pinrepair.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Space – Wikipedia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhdu2Jh9cuc – The Dot Eaters (video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esp24NI9ixs – Computer Space making a cameo in the early 70s dystopian Soylent Green

I got to play one of these a few years ago at California Extreme, along with another extremely early Atari game – Space Race – but i honestly don’t remember the gameplay. It was very cool to *attempt* to play this – the controls look at first glance similar to the much later Asteroids (button to thrust, button to fire, two buttons to rotate the ship left and right) but the layout is effectively a mirror image of Asteroids, so hard to figure it out without practice.

One of the things I really like about this game – besides its age and heritage from the dawn of videogames – is simply that it represents a dream. When you look at that wild fiberglass cabinet, you know someone was thinking of science fiction when they designed it. They were thinking of inspiration and imagination, dreams of spaceships and exploration that wasn’t far removed from the Apollo 11 landing only a few years before – dreams that we still have in other forms, but to me, not quite the same, perhaps even a bit more cynical these days.

But when Computer Space came out, it was still at the dawn of solid state hitting both US industry far more broadly as well as the nascent consumer market not long after. For two kids at the local Sunshine Pizza Exchange in Oregon (and the far bigger, always extremely fun arcade down at Seaside, OR) the question was always “Can I have a quarter?” and “can I have another?”….

Thanks, Ed.

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Wow. Not quite as much for laughs as the past Seth Meyers/Obama Donald Trump takedown of a year or two ago, but BOOM! She gets in some serious zingers in the true Daily Show tradition (despite being from SNL)… video at link…

Cecily Strong Jabs Obama On Charlie Hebdo, Mom Jeans At White House Correspondents’ Dinner

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It would have been really interesting (and more than a bit eye-opening if you know much Atari lore) to watch this guy in action over the first half of the 70s….

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I had a buddy in high school that was really into them but I never got there. May have to check this out though….?

The Residents thrive on odd mix of fame and obscurity

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I always knew he could…. 🙂

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I can remember when digital watches were the ‘in’ thing, but I don’t remember this one….?

Apple Watch? Whatever. Reviewing the Timex Datalink, the world’s first smartwatch

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So having had to travel to TX over the past two weeks for work has given me time to read a few books (on the plane and in the hotel). So I revisited a couple PKD books, namely The Man in the High Castle, Radio Free Albemuth and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (upon which Blade Runner was based).

It was interesting, because I haven’t read The Man in the High Castle for many, many years, and was inspired given the recent Amazon-produced trailer of a likely upcoming miniseries based on the book. I have to say, that while the story is good and the research done to create the book was extensive (tells the story of what might have happened had the Germans and Japanese won WWII) – I was left a bit disappointed. The ending just ‘ends’ (to me anyway) and i’m not sure what to make of it. Still, a good read though.

Radio Free Albemuth is another interesting one, because it wasn’t published in Dick’s lifetime, the manuscript only surfaced after he passed away. I had read it originally before Bush became president, and after 9/11 sadly to me, some of its predictions actually came to pass – albeit in a more reduced fashion (and unlike President Fremont in the book – Bush actually LEFT office when his term was up). This book is also different because PKD is an actual character in it – half the book is told from his perspective – half from the other central character’s perspective. Each largely thinks the other is crazy – although both may be partially nuts, it’s hard to tell. The ending is not unlike that of A Scanner Darkly – where there is only a dim hope for the future – but hope nonetheless….

Finally, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. I have only read this book possibly 3 times (vs. the bazillion times i’ve seen Blade Runner). So I knew about but enjoyed rediscovering the several key plot points that are missing from the movie (Mercerism, Buster Friendly, everyone trying to own a real animal but often prevented because of persistent fallout – this is hinted at in the movie but never really talked about) – and chickenheads (william sanderson’s character). But I think the movie is actually somewhat more human and touching than the book, which left me a bit cold this time around. But given that the book repeatedly emphasizes the androids have no feelings (the movie is quite the opposite) I guess that’s no surprise.

It was good to revisit all three but I guess the perspective of time (and ever more sci-books read since) means I just feel differently about them this time around? PKD is still one of my fave sci-fi guys but I guess I’ve moved beyond him a little bit, too?

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