Alright, here goes my second attempt at recapping the month that was September 2014:
- Began the month off in Seattle, as PAX Prime ’14 was winding down. I’ll provide a full rundown of the entire shindig, along with my most recent trip back “home” as a whole (including my brief stay on Vashon Island, which can be best described as being “Stephen King-esque”) in forthcoming, dedicated post. Though when that might be I can’t say, since I still need to detail PAX Prime ’13!
Till then, here’s a pic of myself and Jake Kazdal, at the FANGAMER [HEART] ATTRACT MODE opening. Aside from being the head honcho of 17-Bit, Jake was the only gaijin to have directly worked on Rez. In his arm are several of the two Rez inspired prints from the show, which he took back to Japan and passed along to his fellow ex-United Game Artists peeps…
- Here we have the very first thing I saw when I arrived back in NYC. As I was walking down 8th Ave, near Time Square, I saw some dude running directly towards me, being chased by a bunch of cops. And like an idiot I just stood there, letting them pass me by; should have totally pulled out my iPhone and fired up Vine! So this after the fact Instagram will have to do…
- Back to my most favorite game of all time, here’s how I spent the 15th anniversary of the Dreamcast…
- Around this time I also got myself a Roku box. Yes, as Dave (Mauro) puts it: “That thing that lets parents watch Netflix Instant on their TVs, right?” Pretty much. I actually got one for my dad years ago, and never thought about doing the same for myself.
That was, until my pal Anthony revealed to me the ace up Roku’s sleeves: its wild and wacky world of hidden channels. Simply put, the Roku is now my new favorite thing. It’s essentiality the gateway pirate television for the 21st Century. With it, I can enjoy…
* A channel that provides easy to follow instructions on how to make Japanese dishes, like sushi, sashimi, beef bowls, and curry.
* A channel that plays an old show from some local San Francisco PBS affiliate that centered on the forth coming desktop computer revolution, produced in the 80s.
* A channel that shows a constant stream of bank robbery footage from Texas.
* A channel that provides instructions on proper gun safety.
* A channel dedicated to one of the most beloved, yet completely under the radar, indie wrestling promotions in the US, Ohio Valley Wrestling.
* A channel that provides tips on how to live off the grid.
* A channel that’s basically a bunch of old dudes sitting around and painting historical war games miniatures.
* A channel that presents old Nickelodeon shows, including the commercials that originally aired during.
* A channel that livestreams a blind cat rescue, hence why it doesn’t matter if the lights are always on, but the constant 60s music that’s being pumped, and loudly, has to be driving them nuts.
* And finally, a channel called Bizarre TV that just the other night was airing Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, around 4am.
… Anyhow, I’m so in love with my Roku box that I simply can’t shut up about it, especially on Twitter. In which I’ve managed to convince no less than three friends of mine to pick one up for themselves! I’ve also thought about maybe starting a hidden/secret channel of my own?
- Back to video games, finally had Raina (Lee) over to check out my obscure PlayStation 1/2 import collection. Here she is doing an impression of Suzuki Bakuhatsu, the star of this bomb disposal game that looks like a Uniqlo ad (for those not in the know, I’ve got ya covered)…
And here’s Raina again, at Barcade Manhattan (real quick: better selection of games than the Billyburg location, but the bartenders in Brooklyn are far superior, plus I find both hipster d-bags and Chelsea yuppies equally annoying, so I’m hoping the St. Marks location will be the best option, even though my tolerance for NYU kids is fairly low as well).
Anyhow, she’s playing the one game everyone wants to give a spin, and should, but which is easier said than done: Sega’s holographic wonder, Time Traveler…
- Around this time was my trip to Asbury Park with the creator of Concrete TV, to check out the pinball museum…
… Which also warrants its own dedicated post, and which I hope to file soon after this one!
- Speaking of New Jersey, the middle of September was also the big screen premier of The King of Arcades…
It’s a documentary starring Richie Knucklez, the punk rocker turned retro arcade operator from Jersey, which Joe did the poster/DVD box art for. Plus the director is also involved in Joe & June’s forthcoming Garbage Pail Kids documentary. They actually did some filming for that, during The King of Arcades premiere; this is what all the interviewees sat in front of…
Anyhow, the highlight of the star-studded affair was the chance to say hello to Mr TNT Amusements himself, Todd N. Tuckey!
… For those unfamiliar with this hero to all video game and pinball enthusiast across Pennsylvania, I again have the low down over at Attract Mode.
Oh, and the other highlight was becoming acquainted with Jeff Zapata, a colleague of Joe’s from Topps and who another individual involved with the GPK doc. I discovered that Jeff is in the process of trying to recreate various fast food recipes at home, include the Big Mac special sauce (which is not as easy as one would think) and KFC’s 11 herbs and spices (which was apparently far easier to crack than one would expect).
- The following weekend was No Quarter 5 at NYU Game Center. My favorite game was, unquestionably, Dog Park…
Basically, you play a dog, and the goal is to have as much fun with other dogs as possible. You get points for running around and good old fashioned roughhousing in general. Not to brag, but I’m pretty good at it…
- That following Saturday was a return to Barcade Manhattan, to say hello again to someone I had just met the weekend prior, at the King of Arcade premier; George Leutz, who holds the world record for the highest score in Q*bert, was asked to set bar as high as he could for their very own machine…
George was a really nice guy! Got to ask him a bunch of questions, like if there are any performance enhancing drugs in the high score scene. But the best part is how he remembers the time I wrote about him for GameSetWatch ages ago, during a 70 hour long record breaking attempt in which I found great amusement from hearing him rambling on about aliens and the Egyptian pyramids.
Oh, and here’s Joe Simko attempting to give Dragon’s Lair a spin, with as much success as the average person…
- Had another meeting of the Obscure PlayStation Imports & Ramen Appreciation Society, with the star of the showing being this Famicom game in a NES-style cartridge housing. It was for a pay per play system found in Japanese hotels. The game is F-1 Race (only its Game Boy counterpart came to the States). And it wasn’t very good…
Unfortunately I had another obligation later that evening, so I wasn’t able to stay long for little known Super Fami classic Psycho Dream. According to fellow Society member Anthony John Agnello it’s the very first game by the same guy who would go onto create the PS2 kissing RPG Chulip…
- Back to the arcades, and in the OG Barcade in Williamsburg; here we have a mini reunion of the fort90forum crew, aka Isfet & dmauro, one credit-ing Double Dragon…
… For those interested in seeing how the game ends (was a first time for me, and was legit shocked), here’s the Hyperlapsed version.
- Guess what; might be doing a podcast again, real soon? Just throwing it out there.
- Oh, so I’ve been on a diet the past few months, plus a gym opened up a few blocks from where I live. And the change in the lifestyle has done wonders! For the most part I don’t miss junk food, though I will admit that it was hard passing up both chocolate glazed AND card tricks the other day…
- Time to head down the home stretch; this past weekend saw a special guest at the Spectacle Theater. The Cinefamily came to town, and brought with them a sampling of 16mm curiosities that they thankfully save from clutches of oblivion…
Highlights include…
* A instructional short by the Pasadena Police department, intended for its own officers, as to why shotguns are cool some of the time, but not all of the time.
* An experimental exercise by the father of the creator of the Simpsons, Homer Groening, which was all about water.
* A series of vignettes starring the Muppets, intended for employees at IBM.
* The very first commercial to start the Kool Aide Man.
* An Oscar nominated short called Doubletalk, in which everyone says one thing but is saying another, and which I believed I could find on YouTube but cannot (which sucks cuz it’s pretty awesome).
* And a 40 minute no budget sci fi epic based upon a Arthur C. Clarke short, one which blew away both myself and Chris Person. Also, both myself and Dave (Roman) couldn’t believe the ending, but apparently, that’s how story original ended as well.
- And finally on the very last night of September of 2014, alongside Dave once more, caught the Cabin Boy himself, aka Chris Elliot, live at UCB East.
It was a sit down interview that basically touched a little bit of everything: his early days as one of the original Late Night With David Letterman writers (some of my fondest memories as an elementary school student staying way past my bedtime was Elliot as The Guy Under the Seats), not only the sitcom that everyone knows and loves him for, Get A Life, but the numerous others that he tried to sell but never came to be (including Marlon Brando seeking to escape the pratfalls of fame by becoming the butler for some family in the Midwest, a la Mr. French), and how painful it was to see his daughter’s first awkward steps in the world of improv comedy.
Also, the man knows how to do foley for his own fight scenes, while it’s happening, plus rip apart shitty rice krispie treats like no one else. Now, I’m not going to say that he’s long been a hero of mine, but it was until I finally saw the guy in the flesh that it dawned on me how much of a fan I was, nor how much of an impact his comedy has had on me growing up. Again, not to a momentous degree, but enough to make an impact that I can still identify and trace. Was also definitely one of those “man, only in New York City” moments, which I sorely needed, especially after the past month or so.
- One last thing: a recap of all the posts I’ve done, over at Attract Mode…
* Congratulations! We Hope You Have Enjoyed Playing This Game”
* Google Translate Says: “This … this is dangerous!!” & “Fading CRT is retro-ish!”
* The Doc(Future) Is Back
* Zac Gorman’s Ideas For Sega Themed Shirts, A-Z
* Red Bull Is Doing A Documentary Series On Japanese Game Music… And It’s Actually Really Good?
* And I posted this already, but once more, All the excitement of pinball action can be yours!” Also, “Please don’t sleep!”
… Guess that’s it? Next time, more pinball pics!
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