The clam ‘n jam on Saturday night proved to be lots of fun, despite the rain and the fact that I couldn’t partake in any of the clamming due to my allergy to shellfish.
Once again, its a huge party that MK’s old boss from her days Italian Ices throw each year (this year was number 26). The man’s name is Bruce and he’s bit of an enigma; MK is correct is saying that he sorta looks like WWE pro-wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin (though upon closer inspection, he looks more like WCW’s Bill Goldberg) and is more or less independently wealthy from just selling Italian ices around New Jersey, mostly the shores. He’s not a millionaire I think, but he does well enough to travel the world during the off seasons, as well as finance a huge yearly bash with plenty of booze, food, and enough flammable materials to keep a monster bon fire raging well into the night. Not bad for a guy who built his empire on Jersey teens hawking candy-colored frozen treats.
Anyway, the downpour was heavy at times, but if you stood right next to the fire, the rain would evaporate the half-second it hit you, causing everyone to be very steamy. The jamming component consisted of mostly older dudes playing acoustic renditions of various Beatles and Stones classics, plus other folk standards. I was expecting lots of pot smoking, but I think most people saved that for their camper trailers. Andy, MK’s best friend’s boyfriend, took the prize for most clams consumed in our party, around 40, or some other insane amount, both raw and cooked (and by the end of the night, he was regretting it). As for the booze you had the kegerator, which is an entire fridge converted into a working keg. We brought with us a bottle of rum which when mixed lemon ice was pretty damn nice, even though you could just feel the diabetes starting to form.
MK & I were going to go to the True Porn 2 release party last night, but the whole weekend was one of those slow lazy ones (you can thank the weather for that as well), so we opted to just stick with first gear. Though I did manage to score some Japanese candy at Wegman’s, catch some awesome Food Network programming, finally ate at a Checker’s, and got a hat for my Halloween costume, so it wasn’t a completely unproductive weekend.
But by the time I got home, the combo of too much junk food and sleeping on a really shitty bed got to me and immediately passed out. Still feeling it right now. Man, I’m getting old….
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- There’s not so much to talk about as there is to just see video game-wise. For instance, check out this rather nice teaser poster for King of Fighter XI:
- And click here for some Super Princess Peach scans from the latest issue of Nintendo Dream (courtesy of neo2046 who’s the GAF’s main man when it comes to the latest and finest scans from Japanese gaming mags). I have to admit, while I still think the overall concept is extremely stupid (and a bit sexist), it does look pretty damn awesome. Many are hailing it as the next true 2D Mario game; most of these folks are non-plussed with the non-sprite look of New Super Mario Bros.
- And remember the bonus DVD that Japanese gamers are getting with their Shadow of the Colossus? Well they’re also getting other stuff including a really nice t-shirt which has this design:
Its actually a re-creation that’s damn close to the original, which you can find here it’s original size, just in case you want to make your own shirt.
- Anyone also remember that device I mentioned that allowed one to play PSP games on a television? Well here’s the real thing I guess:
- As stated many times before, I have not been impressed with the Xbox 360. Till today. Check out this video from Project Gotham Racing 3 that features a bit of the New York City skyline (its a large file, so make sure to “save as” the file… hopefully the link will still be alive by the time you read this). Its easily the most impressive and realistic reproduction of NYC I’ve ever seen in a video game. All of a sudden, I’m extremely interested in the 360 all over again.
- So what’s the first video game ever? Pong? Wrong? Space War? Good guess, but still wrong. Its actually Tennis for Two, created by William Higinbotham, a scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1958. It was originally created to help steer visitors to the institute away from boredom, and the rest as they say is history.
With all that in mind, take a look at what the great grand-daddy of all video games looks like.
- And finally, get ready to take the very first look at the next chapter in the Zelda saga… The Legend of Zelda: The Light of Courage. Here’s video 1 and video 2.
And yes, you’re welcome.
- Oh, and I just found out some very bad (non-game related) news: the Aardman Animation studio has just been destroyed…. 
