Server Update

Warning: Not in game footage.

So I was told by our server owner, to go ahead and announce that our server is open and ready.
Our server is 75.102.38.137:27015, feel free to drop by. Tonight at 7 we'll be having a Monday Memorial Night Mauling so if you want to play with a couple of us that's a good time.

So come on by let us know you came from Geek Streak, and get a free shout out! And maybe a can of paint. Whoo!

Another Sunday, Another Update

I'll post some content with this as well, but I wanted to let people know we're going to have another TF2 Tribe play today. 7pm Central, we've changed our group page on Steam so now you can sign up without being invited. Very important, but you still need to have Steam. (If you don't you can get it at the link, how were you planning on playing with us anyway?)

But the real big news is we have a Tribe Server. No it's not ready yet, we'll have a big announcement when it's ready. We'll have like a grand opening party or something. But we have one, it will be awesome, and you can get involved in it's creation (i.e. picking which maps and mods we put in) if you get involved.

If you join you too can be super cool, but not so super cool you won't get tickets from cops.


And since you guys have been so super cool here's one more link.
Signs like these make me sad I ran most of my marathons in foreign countries.

Valve wants a New Pay System

Members of Tr!be Gaming
getting ready to defend
the point

Valve's Gabe Newell recently gave an interview where he said that Valve wants to change the way gamers pay for their games. Wait, put down the pitchforks, they want to make it so that if you are a player other people like to play with, or you being on a server causes others to show up you'd pay less to buy other valve games. The flip side of this is talk of griefers and trolls having to pay full price and being charge extra for voice chat, so they don't run off other players.

I've asked some people what they think about this and the main reaction is people are for this, but they're worried about how they would gauge the trolls and griefers. Would this be a community based thing or vote on the servers you're on. Since this is just hypothetical I don't think there's too much to get worried about here, but it does make for some interesting talk about the future of gaming.

Nope, no griefers here.

One other thing that came out was talk of games moving from having a sequel every couple of years to having games updated every couple of months (much like Team Fortress 2 is updated now), supposedly Left for Dead 2 is quickly adapting a similar model, and Portal 2 may join the plan also.

Still want my Guard Dog for TF2.

I will say this if there is one company I trust to turn the industry on its ear, it's Valve. They do so many things right in their games. I maybe biased, but I was never a PC gamer, and I really was out of video games entirely aside from party games with my friends (i.e. Rock Band, Mario Kart, etcetera). It was Team Fortress 2 that really sold me on PC gaming, brought me back into first person shooters. But it's the Steam application that has really made it easier to buy games, and get a community going around these games.

So here's to you Valve thanks for all the hours of fun at such a low price. (Over 300 hours on TF2, grand total spent $10. $20 if you count getting my wifes copy of Team Fortress.)

Flick Picks 20: Tarantino, A Retrospective

Yes, I even sit in blood. What of it?

SPOILERS, btw, people, if you've never seen the movies I'm about to discuss. And if that's true, as soon as you finish reading this, go buy one of them and watch it.
Hello, again, Streakers! Boog here, with the the twentieth Flick Pick review. I wanted some kind of special here, but was unsure what to do. I had a few ideas, some of which I may still use for future milestones, but this time, I thought it would be appropriate to introduce what will become a series of retrospectives, a look into the careers and influences of actors and filmmakers that have influenced my love of cinema in all it's forms. The first, as evidenced by the bloody poster beside me, is Actor, Writer, Director, and Producer, Quentin Tarantino. This man made some of the first films I ever fell in love with, watched multiple times, and generally remains my personal all-time favorite filmmaker, for, except for one glaring error, that I will get into, ha has not been involved with a film that I didn't enjoy. So, first, what draws me to Tarantino films? Well, the first I ever watched was 1994's Pulp Fiction. At the time, I was going through my young man Action Hero Worship phase, and I was currently latched on to watching anything and everything Bruce Willis was ever in. So when I find this film with Uma Thurman on the cover, it's got Bruce Willis's name on it, so in to goes, not knowing a damn thing about what I was to be watching. So at first, I was greatly confused. Where is Bruce? Why are we following these somewhat ugly people? What the hell is this segment with John Travolta and Samueal L. Jackson talking about foot massages doing here? The structure of the story was so alien, to a young film watcher like myself, (the most unorthodox plot structure I had seen up to this point was a Bond movie), that I was forced to fully devote every faculty to the action onscreen, in hopes that what I was watched would be explained or connected to a later bit of the movie. Thankfully, it was, but when it was over, I was definitely a changed man.

Remembering a Legend of the Squared Circle

Randall Mario Poffo -- November 1952 - May 2011

By now, it's all over the news and internet -- "Macho Man" Randy Savage died from a heart attack while driving with his wife in Florida.  According to some reports, he lost consciousness and his Jeep careened through the median, into opposing traffic.  Randy's wife, Lynn, took the wheel to avoid hitting a motorcyclist and crashed into a tree.  She suffered minor injuries, but Savage was not so fortunate.  It was believed that he was already gone before the crash.

There are plenty of articles and stories about what happened, and me just repeating the facts would just sound like second-hand news.  No, I'm not here to report on his death.  I'm here to remember his accomplishments and his effect on an impressionable young boy growing up in suburban Missouri.

I grew up watching pro wrestling at a young age; my dad watched it, my cousin down the street watched it, even my grandmother watched it.  There were many larger than life characters who electrified the ring: Hogan, Piper, Snuka, the Ultimate Warrior.  But few superstars were as flashy, outspoken, or hard working as Randy Savage.  Inside or outside the ring, he left an impression.  When his entrance music, the classic "Pomp and Circumstance" played, you knew you were about to see a great performer.  Although he has won the World Wrestling Federation's World Championship Belt, he is more commonly considered the greatest Intercontinental Champion in WWF history.

In a time when wrestlers, such as Hulk Hogan, captured the attention of the fans, Randy Savage still found great success and secured himself as a wrestling legend (Take Wrestlemania III, for instance; while the battle between Hogan and Andre the Giant was extremely hyped, Savage's clash with Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat is still considered one of the greatest matches in pro wrestling history).  The Macho Man also had some great feuds with other wrestling legends, like Ric Flair, the Ultimate Warrior, and, of course, the Hulkster.

Not only was the Macho Man a consummate performer in the ring, he could cut a promo like few could.  With his gravelly voice, outlandish style, and, of course, his machismo, he earned the cheers and jeers of wrestling fans.  Whether he played a face or a heel, he made sure you never forgot him.  His dynamic personality lit up arenas for many years; so much that he became just as famous as the spokesman for Slim Jim snacks (if you don't know the famous line, by now, I'm not telling you), as well as his roles in TV shows and movies, such as wrestler Bone Saw McGraw in Spider-Man.

Strangely enough, Randy Poffo's original dream wasn't pro wrestling.  He tried to get into Major League Baseball.  At one time, he played for the St. Louis Cardinals in the Gulf Coast Minor League.  Unfortunately, this dream was broken and his destiny of a second generation wrestler was revealed (his father, Angelo Poffo, was a pro wrestler and a situp record holder).  The rest is pro wrestling history.

After his 30-year career, he withdrew from pro wrestling, but he kept his macho persona.  Recently, he seemed to be making a new life for himself, marrying Barbara Lynn Payne last year.  They celebrated their first anniversary only a few weeks ago on May 10, which makes Randy's death all the more tragic.

Randy and his new wife, Lynn, at their wedding in 2010.

Since his death, many great wrestlers have spoken out about the legacy that the Macho Man left in professional wrestling, including Chris Jericho, Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, The Rock, and Roddy Piper.  One of the most touching was a poem from former TNA wrestler Jay Lethal (Savage was one of his idols who he imitated with his "Black Machismo" persona).

This Monday, I watched Monday Night Raw, hoping they would show some sort of tribute for the man who gave so much to help make the WWE the greatest wrestling promotion in the 1980s.  While there has been said to be some rancor between Vince McMahon and Randy Savage, the 2009 release of the Macho Madness DVD has shown that the company recognizes the legacy of this amazing performer.  And, indeed, the live broadcast of Raw did air a tribute to Randy Savage, which, afterward, the crowd was chanting "one more match" and I did tear up a bit.

I wish the best for Randy's family, his brother, and his wife.  The world has lost one of the greatest, most crowd pleasing pro wrestlers in history.  Rest in peace, Mr. Poffo.  As you used to say, "Space is the place and the sky's the limit."

Video courtesy of WWEFanNation on YouTube.

Ginger, on Good Music Videos

So, I was hanging with my dog last night and we were watching music videos on YouTube. (Well, I was watching them and my dog was getting an intense back rub, but same difference right? Anyways...) I started thinking about what, in my opinion, makes a good video. Which ones do I keep going back too? What is it about them that draws me in? I came up with some examples, so let me know what you think.



Closer by Ne-Yo: To start, this song is well composed. It's catchy and it has a dance beat - two things I love. But what really draws me to this video is it's simplicity: The focus is on the singer and this woman who's bewitched him - unlike lots of other videos (some by Mr. Ne-Yo himself) that have the performer surrounded by booty short clad females, this truly focuses on the single relationship the song is about. Even in the one scene where he does have an overabundance of female attention, there's the symbolism of him pushing them away. The effects are used to enhance the video instead of make it - the the use of text draws attention to the lyrics themselves making it more about the song than anything else, and the true effects - like the light wall and the slight strobe effect - are used only when necessary to match the intensity of the song. The use of color is also a very big part of this video - or should I say, lack of? Almost all of the scenes without the main female are monochromatic - driving home the point that she's something more than the rest of them, at least in the performer's eyes. If I had to choose my favorite aspect of this video? It would definitely be the text - I've never seen anything like that before, and I love how it drives the focus of the video.



Her Morning Elegance by Oren Lavie: I'm not normally drawn to the folksy sound of this song, but I was so impressed with the visuals the first time I saw this that I've come to love it. The sort of stop animation feel kinda freaked me out at first, but I think it lends itself well to the "dream sequence" idea behind the set. I love the use of the everyday objects to create a set of sorts, filled with recognizable everyday things (I especially loved the train and the fish). Surprisingly, the child-like make-believe elements actually add to the authenticity of the set itself while still being somewhat lighthearted and fun. And again, I'm a big fan of simplicity in videos - the song should be able to stand on it's own and a video should enhance what's already wonderful about it.



Save the World by Swedish House Mafia: While this might not be say, film festival worthy, it's a lot of fun and it has a great message. I do want to know what happened to the woman's friend - the one in the red dress? If your friend got mugged won't you be a little more ... active? Or a least PRESENT? Anyways, I think the song is wonderful - we need more messages like this is music in general. A little heavy on the special effects in parts, but I'm willing to overlook it's faults for puppies. Everything is better with puppies. Especially a bad ass corgi and bull dog team. (Maybe I just like the idea of a herd of dogs coming to my rescue?)

Tr!be Meet-up.

Don't have much for you today. The rapture never happened, at least that I noticed.

But we are having a meet up today for Tr!be Gamers if you'd like to get involved we'll be playing TF2 via Steam, so just look for [tr!be]Kspaz13 and we'll get you involved. We'd love to see you there.

Updates

NASA has set the last space shuttle launch for the 28th of June. Its beginning to look like NASA will not be taking me up* on my offer to go with them. They still haven't written or called back. And I heard on the news the reason their only taking a crew of 4 is so their will be more room to bring parts for the International Space Station. So no I probably won't be going up on the space shuttle. Too bad. Your loss NASA.

According to Harold Camping the rapture is supposed to be today at 5 pm Central Time. NPR asks who will walk your dog after you're raptured. That's a good question, I can remember being young and being told that animals don't go to heaven. This is how you give your kids a crisis at the age of 5. This will be updated after 5 for whatever happens today. I've got money on nothing, or entire population of North Korea disappears (except for Kim Jong-Il), because I the odds were too good to pass up on the bet, and I do love an underdog.

Macho Man Randy Savage died: A couple of interesting articles pointed out that as Randy Poffo he had been a player in the Cardinals' Minor League organization.

You can also remember him in his epic battle with Hulk Hogan vs Kim Jong-Il.

Flick Picks 19: Teeth

 FIRST, LAST, AND ONLY WARNING: THIS REVIEW IS POTENTIALLY NSFW. NO PICTURES, BUT GENITALS ARE DISCUSSED.

Hello, Streakers! Boog here, with the second part of this week's review for me. The 19 Flick Pick, 2007's Teeth. I have actually avoided watching this film since it's release, due to the subject matter. SPOILERS! But, now having watched it, I don't get what the huge deal is. Sure there are some rather graphic bits in it I will never be able to unsee, but at it's heart it's just another boring horror flick, just with more assholes, so you can emphasize with the main character, who, as it turns out, is completely justified in turning into a serial killer with mutant genitalia. This film is under the Dimension "Extreme" label, and it's obvious why. Directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein, which you won't recognize, as he's only directed one other feature, 2009's Happy Tears, which honestly doesn't look that interesting.

Pageburners #1: Get Shorty, by Elmore Leonard

 Hello, Streakers! Boog here, with another double post this week. There will be page breaks so you can still get to all the geeky goodness my compatriots have served up before me. First, a thank you to kspaz for pointing out the coming Rapture. In anticipation, I have put together all of my carefully thought out feelings and opinions for my first Pageburners review. And, as seems to be my pattern, it's something I love, it has heavy influence on the decade I was born in, and the one I grew up in, and, it has to do with movies. The novel is Get Shorty. The writer is Elmore Leonard, and if I only ever review one book in my entire review career, I've gotta go with this one. You see, before this book, I read, but didn't really care for, contemporary crime fiction. There were a few books, but they had mostly a comedy focus, like the Dortmunder series from Donald E. Westlake, another favorite of mine. They were funny first, over the top, and no matter what happened, it was never meant to be shocking, or make you that the characters were in any true danger. They were just plain fun to read. and then I find this book. It's funny, to be sure, but it's hard, a little dark, and there really isn't a single character that you want to immediately root for, not even the book's protagonist, mob loan shark Chili Palmer. But it was still fun to read. And that was mind changing. A novel that focuses first on the crime, but get plenty of laughs along the way.

This Weekend

Two major events are going on this weekend. Supposedly Saturday the Rapture is going to happen. And then on Sunday Anonymous is going to mass hoax UFO sites across the web. So it could be an exciting weekend one way or another.

If the Rapture comes at least there will be a population decline. That could solve a couple of the world's problems.

And hopefully the UFO hoaxes don't lead to any riots, or general hysteria. Of course this time Orson Wells won't be involved. It's easy to freak out when someone who was the basis for the Brain tells you aliens are invading.

Other then that I hope everyone has a great weekend. I'll see you back here Saturday...most of you. You know just in case.

A Geek's Viewing of Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden

The movie's okay but the
game show was better.

First things first, a family member to some of our "Geeks who write" has died. I hope everything goes well for our geeks on their trip to the funeral. And I hope their families are okay otherwise and get through this troubling time with as much ease as is possible. As such there will probably be a couple of missed posts this next week. We'll try and have some things for you though.

Second thing Ace Ebb, became our newest Geek who Reads. Welcome to you, hope you like our little slice of the internet.

Third thing, damn that's a long title. A long time ago one of our local video stores closed, no this wasn't the Blockbuster that recently closed. And I picked up a copy of Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden. I never got around to watching it.

I watched it today, because well it wasn't going to get anymore relevant, and I couldn't come up with anything useful to do with this disk. Well I know where to get a prop if I ever need to make it look like a blew up a DVD, I considered doing that for the Last Airbender review, but the library would have charged me 20 something dollars for it.

2nd in 2006, not as proud
of this one.

My first award in 2003.
My favorite thing
to put on my resume.

What can I say, at least he ended up in Pakistan at the end, "way to go Morgan you were right there". I say that but then I remember I have been in the same country as many famous and infamous people several times, so at least I have that going for me. That and being Time's Person of the Year...twice.

I was worried this movie would turn into one big joke, but actually after watching it. I'm pretty pleased with it. Osama is what ties the movie together, but really it's more about why terrorism takes place, and how Al-Qaeda can recruit so many so easily.* If you feel cheated by this, well sorry, but I assume the title and subject matter were chosen because they would get butts into the theater.

So many of the people interviewed well spoken, and hate Al-Qaeda. But are distrustful of the United States' Governments way of handling things. I'd say that's fair, we have a tendency to prop up dictators, and the money we donate doesn't make it into the right hands, so it's not surprising that so many are angry with us. When I was in Camp Bondsteel in '02-'03 many of the ethnic Albanians (Albania being a mostly Muslim country) I talked to were happy to have us around and we're about as far removed from the terrorists you saw on the news as you can imagine. They drank, their wives weren't covered from head to toe, one in particular told me about all the great Albania pop stars and how big there breasts were. When I was out in the field the kids in the villages were more interested in our technology then our weapons considering at one time I got surrounded by a pack of 30 people watching me use a device to map the area.

Here is a photo of me after a rough
day in the army.
My friends love this photo.

Sorry, I got off topic. So really the title of the movie maybe outdated, but the subject matter isn't. So if your interested in the subject you might actually want to find this movie even if it is trying to cover a complex subject in a short time, or read the book I've listed below. Thanks for reading my weird meandering thoughts. See you soon.

*If you're looking for a intelligent and well written book on this subject I suggest Terror in the Name of God by Jessica Stern. Fair warning this is about all religious extremists, including abortion clinic bombers, so if you can't look at what our own countrymen do as well this book is probably not for you.

Hello, what are you doing in this show?

I already talked about how I was surprised to find out Mick Foley had been a voice actor in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Suddenly I was reminded of some other weird appearances of people in movies, and shows. Since we have the Avatar connection started lets start there. Did you know that Roxy Richter (the 4th evil ex) in Scott Pilgrim was played by Katara's voice actress. Here take a listen.

I think when Katara is angry in Avatar the similarity of the voice comes out, maybe this is because Roxy is always so angry in her brief appearances in the film.

Still it's quite a change in character and it surprised me when I made the connection.

But stranger still is while my wife and I were rewatching Firefly we came across a scene with a young Simon and River. My wife was noticed who was playing young Simon first, but I had to look it up.

So here is Zac Efron in Firefly.

I don't think I knew who he was when I first saw Firefly but this kid was in everything a little while later, and I can't think of anything he was in recently. *Looks on Wikipedia* okay, so he's going to be involved in a live action remake of both Jonny Quest, and Full Metal Panic.

I would not have guessed either of those. After we were done watching Firefly I got to looking to see what the cast had done in other movies, and found out Nathan Fillion had been in Saving Private Ryan as the wrong Private Ryan.

I could remember the scene but I couldn't remember Nathan Fillion being in the scene. Probably once again a victim of I didn't know who he was when I first saw this. Well here it is in grainy youtube glory.

So there you have it evidently some distant ancestor of Capt. Reynolds was involved in the invasion of Europe in World War II.

Also the other Captain in this video (Not Tom Hanks) is played by Ted Danson (you know Sam from Cheers).

So there you are these are all the recent surprises I've had when watching movies and TV shows. You just never know who's going to pop up when your going back and re-watching movies.

Forgotten Worlds - Dungeons & Dragons

When I was four, my older brother introduced me to something that would leave a huge impression on me.  This was something more impressive than any video game, blockbuster movie, or Saturday morning cartoon because it allowed me to tell my own stories.  Being a highly imaginative kid, I was enamored with such a phenomenon.  It was something that could have become a household name; spawning books, toys, video games, and a TV show; if not for the fact that "some people" thought it was a tool for Satanism (in my opinion, those people were the tools).  That thing was Dungeons & Dragons.

28 years later, I'm still playing tabletop rpgs.  I may have changed sides between companies a couple times, but I still enjoy rolling the dice to see if I'm drunk.  Back in the day, there was a certain mystique to Dungeons & Dragons that drew all those socially awkward dreamers, such as myself, to their friends' basements every week to become something much more fantastic.  Even though I don't play D&D anymore (I don't like 4th Edition) I still pay tribute to the pioneers of fantasy gaming.

In 1989, TSR released their second edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, which resurrected the interest in tabletop rpgs.  It was only a matter of time until someone orchestrated the awesome marriage between D&D and video games.  Capcom did just that -- not once, but twice.  When I first saw the majesty that was Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom in the arcades, my jaw hit the floor.  While fantasy arcade games with rpg elements were nothing new (just look at King of Dragons, Knights of the Round, and Cadash), this brought it to a brand new level.  Never before had someone so perfectly integrated a lot of the classes, rules, and creatures of D&D into a brilliant side-scrolling brawler.  Seriously, this game was the closest one could get to "Nerdvana".  Three years later, they followed up an awesome game with an even better one:  Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow Over Mystara.  While I've never seen the sequel in arcades, I did get the chance to play it at an old friend's house with the Dungeons & Dragons Collection import game for the Sega Saturn.

Of course, the games weren't exactly like playing D&D.  It didn't have a "Roll a d20" button, no saving throws, no THAC0 listings.  Actually, I don't think I would play a game that was that painfully adherent to the rules (and those games were made, just for the PC).  Tower of Doom captured the feel of playing D&D without all the bookkeeping.  The game was what a D&D game should look like: seamless, fast-paced fantasy action.

Both of these games were full to the brim with classic D&D style.  The adventures take place in the classic D&D setting of Mystara, which was, pretty much, your standard fantasy campaign.  You and your friends can go around rescuing villages and defeating vile beasts.  And what would D&D be without the monsters.  Capcom scoured the Monster Manuals to give the players plenty of creatures and enemies to slay.  I couldn't believe how psyched I was to fight the Manticore or the Black Dragon for the first time.  And the Lich?  Holy crap, that was awesome (if you didn't know, liches are my favorite fantasy adversaries).

There were also multiple paths you could take throughout gameplay.  While you still played through the same storyline and ultimately end up at the same destination, your journey was dictated by the choices you made. This allowed players to play different levels over others and added to the replay value. With each choice, you explore different areas, such as a swamp, a mountain pass, or a village under attack.  Each specific level had their own unique boss, so there was always something new and exciting to fight.

Of course, with all these adventures to embark on, treasures to collect, and enemies to slay, the world has to have heroes.  Each of the characters in these games run the gamut of the standard D&D classes, but you won't find any multiclassed characters (sorry, all you Fighter/Mage/Thief fans).  Four classes were available in Tower of Doom, and that number expanded to six in Shadow Over Mystara:

First off, you have the Fighter.  Strong, reliable, good with a sword -- your typical hack 'n' slash type.  Of course, he can't use magic, but there are magic items that allow him to use spells, should he find them.  The Fighter is my usual go-to guy when it comes to fantasy roleplaying, so I typically end up playing him in the game.

While not as good with a sword as the Fighter, the Elf makes up for it with the use of arcane spells.  She is a bit faster than the fighter, but loses some reach with her blade.  This Elf is a dead ringer for Deedlit from Record of Lodoss War, who, in turn, was inspired by a roleplaying group that creator Ryo Mizuno played in.

On the other side of the coin, the Cleric mixes divine magic with mace swinging combat abilities.  His healing spells are invaluable in an arcade game, but he's got a couple of offensive spells in his repertoire, such as the ability to turn undead (into dust, that is).

Rounding out the group from the first game, the Dwarf is another combat focused class.  Like everyone else who isn't the Fighter, his weapon's reach isn't very long, but no one can hit faster than he can with his axe.  He also has a higher resistance to spells than any other character.

The enigmatic Magic-User is one of the new classes featured in Shadow Over Mystara.  He's the weakest character, physically, but his arcane abilities are unmatched.

The other character from Shadow Over Mystara is the swift and sexy Thief.  Though not as strong as the Fighter, she makes up for it with the ability to detect traps, which can save your entire party from some unnecessary damage.






With their fantastic side-scrolling action, four player cooperative ability, and the quests, characters, and monsters straight from the pages of one of the most famous tabletop rpgs, both of these games are high on my list of all-time favorite arcade games.  It's a shame that they have not seen a console release since the days of the Sega Saturn (and that was only in Japan).  These games need to be available for current gen systems.  The XBOX 360 is perfect for four player arcade action (as evidenced by Konami's X-Men).  Someone at Capcom better get to work on that, seriously.

A lot of the images, including the video below, are from this great D&D arcade shrine, which features a lot of great resources.  Check out the link here and take a look.  The guy who made it also has some other great video game shrines you should see.  Just click the link for his homepage at the bottom of the shrine.



Until next time, keep your scores high and the quarters flowing.

Flick Picks 18: Stephen King's Desperation

WATCH ME!!! I COMMAND YOU! (Don't).

Hello again, Streakers! Boog here, tired and hung over from one of my favorite past times: The Stephen King Drinking Game. Basically, the more Stephen King movies you see, the harder it is to play this game without ending up in the hospital from alcohol poisoning. Today I bring you the aptly named Desperation, so called because it desperately wants to be scary. Or creepy. Or philosophical. Or vague. I'm not sure which. If you want, here is another trailer, but be warned, both of them are redband. SPOILERS! Interestingly enough, this 130 minute slow ride through hell has a pretty strong cast, including Tom Skerrit (Whiteout, Top Gun, Alien), Steve Weber (TV's Wings, Reefer Madness: The Musical), Annabeth Gish (TV's Brotherhood, SLC Punk!), Charles Durning (O Brother Where Art Thou, Peter's Dad in Family Guy), Matt Frewer (Watchmen, the 2004 Dawn of The Dead, Disney's Hercules, Max Headroom), and perennial favorite Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Star Trek: Nemesis). The problem is, the script, written by King, btw, is so linear and bare that none of them have much to do. Now to explain my own personal rules for TSKDG. First, if it's a King trademark, take a shot. Second, if it's a King cliche, take a shot. Third, whether it's a line, plot device, set piece, what have you, if it's being reused from an earlier King flick, take a shot. Now that you realize the peril my liver is in, let's take a look. The film opens on a deserted road, where a couple, including Annabeth Gish, passes by a dead cat strapped to a road sign. Dammit.(one shot). They start talking, revealing themselves to be from Salt Lake City (maybe a reference to Gish's role in SLC Punk!, maybe not), and that they are headed through Nevada to New York. Soon after passing the dead cat, they get accosted by a sheriff in his vehicle, played by Ron Perlman. The couple's names are Mary and Peter, but that doesn't matter, as they are superheroes. As such, I will call them by their hero titles: Boring Man and Idiot Woman. The Obviously Crazy Sheriff gets Boring Man out of the car, and over to the trunk, where he notices the license plate has gone missing. Boring Man opens the trunk to get a tool kit to fix it,  and Sheriff finds a bag of dope in the trunk. He arrests them, throws them into the back of his car, and drives like a madman back to town. The town of Desperation (Shot #2), Nevada, seems pretty empty, except for the bodies of animals and people in the street, giving it an empty, isolated quality (Shot #3).

There is no more fitting metaphor for this film, than this pic.

They get inside what passes for the police station, where we see the obviously dead body of a very young girl, and Boring succumbs to his only weakness: 3 rapid fire gut shots. Idiot Woman runs ahead of him up the stairs, into a one room jail, with four cells surrounding a center desk, with three of the cells already occupied. Idiot Woman gets her hands on a shotgun, but fires slowly enough to miss at point blank range, and then gets hurt by the sheriff pushing the desk into her, twice, while she just holds the gun without firing a second time, then gets the shotgun taken away from her. She gets placed in the only empty cell, and we get some introductions to the other cell dwellers. There's Charles Durning, here playing a character that we never learn his name, but serves as a useless exposition font, there's Matt Frewer, playing a Mr. Carver, a Mrs. Carver, and the most annoying little turd in this film, the Carvers' overtly religious son, David. I'm not saying that religious people are annoying, far from it. One of my best friends seriously considered entering the seminary for awhile. David's brand of religiousness, however, is annoying as all hell.

Seriously, I hate this kid.

 The Sheriff, his bit of scenery chewing over, leaves, and David starts praying. This pisses Mrs. Carver right the hell off, berating her son for praying to a God that would kill his little sister (the girl at the entrance to the building). Mr. Carver tries to calm her down, but she'll have none of it, until David reveals that he prays because of time a friend crashed his bike and should have died, but didn't, and believes it to be a miracle (shot #4). Well, Mom get even more pissed here, as she continues to yell at her son for having faith in a deity that would allow her precious little family to be destroyed. We then cut back to the desert, where we are introduced to Steven Weber, here playing a man called Steve Ames, and his hitchhiking sidekick, a lady named Cynthia Smith.They have some pointless conversation that eventually reveals that Ames works for a writer (shot#5) named John Edward Marinville. Oh, and Cynthia claims to be psychic (shot #6). Everything slows down for a minute as we finally get introduced to our writer/hero, riding a motorcycle, as he pulls over to take a piss. He finishes to find the Sheriff watching him, and after an awkward moment where it appears the Sheriff is a fan of his work, we learn that Marinville was a correspondent in Vietnam, and then the Sheriff uses the same bag of dope from earlier as an excuse to beat the living daylights out of him, and bring to the cells, throwing him in with Idiot Woman. The Sheriff then grabs Mrs. Carver and leaves, leaving a dog to guard the cells, and causing to David to pray even harder. And here's where the film starts to go real wonky. See, the Sheriff has been getting progressively worse, basically rotting little by little. The Egotistical writer even points this out. But that doesn't matter, as we see that David's praying is paying off, by having his dead sister visit him and leave him a bar of glowing green soap. David strips down (shot #7) and squeezes out of the bars, using the soap as a lubricant. He then walks around, finds a gun, comes back, shoots the dog, and finds the key to the cells, letting everyone else escape. They leave the jail area, and run into Steve and Cynthia, and they all find there way to an abandoned movie theater.

They're all getting ready to shoot the script. Literally. HA!

While this is happening, the Sheriff's car comes back, and we see that Mrs. Carver has now been possessed by whatever was controlling the Sheriff, and also speaks with his voice reverberating over hers. While in the theater, Durning's character tries to drink some Vodka, but Marinville talks to him privately, pointing out that he notices the same personal demons he once had (shot #8). We get some exposition from Durning, saying that the town once had a huge mine, worked mostly by Chinese, back in the 1800s, but there was a cave in, and only two workers escaped by pure luck, and that the mine hadn't been used since, until about a month ago, when it got reopened, and the Sheriff went nuts. David then finds a bag of sardines, prays, and passes the bag around the room, where we actually see that no matter what happens, the last tin of sardines pulled out is always replaced, so we actually get a minor miracle (shot #9). Durning then wanders off to the bathroom to get a drink form a bottle he hid in there, but then gets mauled by a window smashing cougar, causing everyone one to rush to his aid. Except for, of course, David, who gets a visit from his sister again, and he follow her to the projection room, where he finds a device he can watch with his eyes closed. (shot #10) This device gives him the true story, that the Chinese were mistreated, they uncovered a hole in the mine that was holding some nasty evil (shot #11), a demon of sorts (shot #12), that caused all the workers, starting with the two closest to the hole, to attack and kill everyone in sight. The two farthest from the hole, scared form the proceedings, run their cart into a wall by accident, causing the cave in. They get outside, only to be immediately hanged for ruining the mine. Well, the attempt at hanging stops when it is revealed that the demon, Tak, is possessing them both, and they escape. Durning's character dies on the floor of the bathroom after the cougar is killed, and Idiot Woman gets kidnapped while everyone looks for David.

Ummm... Why are we in this again?

Now that someone knows what's going on, David starts talking about God's will, and that all of them should go down to the mine to save Idiot Woman and seal the mine again, but Marinville walks off, basically saying it's not his problem, and here come the most idiotic, out of place moment in this film. Marinville turns the corner to be in front of the theater again, only to find himself in a bit a of dream/mystical sequence (shot #13), where it is revealed that the defining moment of his life, a restaurant bombing in Vietnam, happened because of Tak, now bringing the writer into the center of this divine conflict (shot#14). Somehow, David knows about the mystical reveal, because he talks with Marinville about it, and then the five start to head to the mine.

He finally read the whole script, after shooting it earlier.

 We now cut to Idiot Woman, who, after being scared of some spiders and snakes, who are only a small part of the animals being controlled in this movie (shot #15), realizes that they can't hurt her, due to the fact that she was kidnapped to become the next host body for Tak, as human bodies tend to rapidly break down from it's presence. She escapes with some help from the ghost girl, and drives away in the Sheriff's car, after ripping a bit of jaw and an arm from the possessed Mrs. Carver. She meets the others not too far from that location, and we see Mrs. Carver transfer Tak into a nearby bird. Marinville finds a shack with explosives, shoots it open, and grabs some ammonium nitrate. They start heading up the hill,  where Marinville pretends to trip, pushing over David and grabbing a shotgun shell from his pocket from earlier in the movie, that he shouldn't know about because he wasn't there when David acquired it. They get to the entrance to the mine, and Mr. Carver dies from a fatal case of bird force trauma to the head and neck. Idiot Woman, displaying a very out of place moment of badassery, grabs the bird in mid-flight, and snaps it's neck. Marinville then gets Ames to grab David, and tells the others to leave, and leave the shaft caving to him. They do. Marinville goes inside, walks down to the hole, and crawls inside, finding a huge cave with an altar to Tak (shot # 16), and pit I like to call the Donut Sarlacc. Marinville looks into the pit, and tendril of smoke/mist comes out. He puts on his bike helmet, which he didn't have at any point since he came into town, nor was he carrying it when he was outside the mine, and pulls down the visor, because the mist is retarded and can't move downward. The mist, now angry at being move a simple piece of plastic, pulls Marinville into the Donut Sarlacc, giving him the opportunity he needs to pour the ammonium nitrate into and around the hole the Tak mist comes from, plug the hole with the shotgun shell, and then shoot his own gun into the shell, which somehow causes the very rock of the mine's walls to become explosive, and blow the hell up. The four survivors watch some pretty bad CG clouds with Tak's face blow away, apparently signifying his defeat. As they are leaving town, they come across Idiot Woman's car, where she asks them to stop so she can grab an overnight bag. Inside, she finds a yearbook form David's school (which she somehow knows despite him never even mentioning that he want to school at all), with Marinville's handwriting on the front. Inside is a picture of Marinville with his sister, because hey, it's not like he cares about his parents or anything, and this somehow restores his faith in God and his divine plan. Seriously, even if you are in a state of Desperation to watch a Stephen King flick, don't watch this one. And now, to leave you with an explanation of the shots, as per the rules I describe earlier.
1 - Dead animals or people to signify danger (Cujo, Pet Sematary)
2 - Title of book or film used as a place or object name (Misery)
3 - Town or center of action being somehow isolated from the outside world (Dreamcatcher, or any other Stephen King based movie)
4 - Character with blind faith despite having no discernible reason for it (cliche)
5 - Having a writer as a character (King cliche)
6 - Having a Psychic character, or one who claims to be (Firestarter, Carrie)
7 - Stripping or sexualization of children (It)
8 - Main character struggling or having just beaten some personal problem, usually alcoholism (King cliche)
9 - Actual metaphysical evidence of the beyond(The Stand)
10 - Object delivering exposition to character(The Tommyknockers)
11 - Ancient Evil (King cliche)
12 - Ancient Evil being held underground (It, Graveyard Shift)
13 - Main Character getting exposition through a dream or mystical happening that connects them to the main plot(King Cliche)
14 - Main character now placed in center of conflict (King cliche)
15 - Animals being controlled, or being the evil, or some other facet of nature being involved (Pet Sematary)
16 - Cave with Altar or similar markings to the evil force (Graveyard Shift)
Also, I should add 17 - Evil deeds from Town's past coming to haunt them, usually in a parallel to main character (Tommyknockers, Children of The Corn)

Ginger's tips on making your own costumes

Though we haven't made an official post here on The Streak, our staff will be attending the Chicago Comic Con in August this year and we're super excited! This will be only the second convention I, personally, have attended and the first convention were I'll be cosplaying. Alchemilla, B@girl and myself will be making our own costumes from the Avatar: The Last Airbender series along with some other friends. Now, Alchemilla and B@girl are much more craftier than me and are pretty experienced at making their own awesome stuff, but since I'm knew to this I thought it would be fun to document my experience and share with you guys the ups and downs of my first major project.

To start off, I'll going to share some tips with you about how to go about starting a project. If you're anything like me, it always sounds like the best idea ever until you try to make it happen and then you have no idea where to start and what comes next. If you're not as fortunate as me to have a super women friend like Alchemilla to guide you though, hopefully this project series helps you out!

Great Toph referance: shows headgear, structure and detail.

To start, what I've learned my first week:

1. Do your research. Find a character you like and will be comfortable playing in a public setting. Nothing says you have to go all out and learn an accent or anything (though that can be fun!), but you want something within your ability range, so you don't get frustrated and quit, and you want something you love so you'll be motivated to finish and see your final project. For me, It's Toph. Her costume is fairly straight foreword with enough elements to be a little challenging and I love her character - spirited and opinionated with enough sass to sink a boat.

2. Reference Images! Don't be like me and just assume you remember the right shade of green or purple you need for that cloak. Trust me, you don't. Find as many detailed, full body shots as you can, from various angles. Fanart, though not always 100% accurate, can give you some ideas on how to make an element of your project more unique to you, how to make it better or better for a real world setting. (Just don't change it up enough that no one will recognize you.) Don't be scared to see how other people have done something too: Cosplay.com is full of fantastic costumes people much more talented have made functional.

I'm not sure I'd call that zing...

3. Find your pattern first. Bring your reference images, go to you local fabric store and look for patterns that suit your needs. If you're an inexperienced sewer and don't have your own Alchemilla to help you frankenstein something together, look for patterns as close to what you need as possible. (Don't forget to check the cheap pattern section either - you might find something that will work just as well at a quarter of the price.) Write down the brand and number of your patterns for reference later as well. The back of the pattern envelop will tell you how much fabric you need to make it, so you can estimate how much you actually need before you go hunting for your fabric.

4. Buy things on sale or with a coupon. That might sound condescending, but it's totally true. You might think you don't need that much for your costume, but those bracers alone need 5 different things. Fabric itself is something that can become exceptionally expensive, very quickly. Also, patterns can be ridiculous, though they occasionally go on sale, so always be on the look out. If it's not on sale or you don't have a coupon - don't buy it! Most fabric stores have sales flyers they send out all the time, and they usually have really great coupons, so sign up to get them in the mail or email. Also, most fabric stores have a clearance section - look there frist! Both Alchemilla and I found at least one of our fabrics there for our projects.

So much damn thread...

5. Don't forget the small stuff. You'll need thread to match every color fabric in your project. Also, think about: do you need ecstatic? Do you need any sort of button or attaching material (like Velcro)? Do you need any specific jewelry or adornments? It might help you to make a list before you start shopping, since missing one crucial thing can be a big pain.

I'll be starting the construction process soon, so check back next Tuesday or so for updates!

Beofre MST3K

First let me handle some business I forgot to do last week. I want to give a shout out to our new Geek Who Reads: Josh Francis. Totally slipped my mind last week when I was rushing to post twice. Thanks for reading Josh, hope you like it.

Now, let me let you in on a not so secretive secret. I love Mystery Science Theater 3000. Ever since I got a VHS tape in the mail from my uncle marked MST3K: the movie (with no other explination) I have loved this show.

But Mike, Joel, and the bots weren't the first ones to make fun of bad movies. They just probably got the most famous for it. One movie that (at least in my opinion) is the predecessor to the Satellite of Love* is the weird cult movie What's up Tiger Lily?

This movie was originally two serial spy movie in Japan called Internation Secret Police. A studio in America bought the films and then realized the films were too confusing for American audiences. There seems to be some discrepencies in the history of the film between Wikipedia, and IMDB. So I'll just stick with the facts. The film was re cut and re dubbed by Woody Allen (bare with me, I know a lot of people are turned off just by mention of his name but this films is worth the watch) and friends, and released in America in 1966 as the "What's Up Tiger Lily?"

The plot involves Phil Moscowitz Japanese spy, lovable rogue, and ladies man. He gets involved in a plot to steal back the recipe for the best egg salad sandwich in the world. An evil gang leader, Shepard Wong has stole it, and as prophecy tells us "He who controls the recipe controls the world."

If you can find this film on DVD it actually contains two separate audio tracks. Both containing some great jokes. I would argue neither track is superior.

I can't find a whole lot of great videos on youtube to give you an example and the trailer isn't really that great either. So hopefully this single scene will suffice.

Fair warning, this is a movie made in the mid 60's so their is quite a bit of sexism, but usually it's played up for laughs. Also since it's an older film it may seem to drag plot wise. There's a running gag of the band the Loving Spoonful being spliced into the film. That's right a folk band in a Japanese spy thriller. These are funny the first couple of times for being non-sequitur scenes, but quickly grow old, unless you like seeing how they're going to sneak them into the film.

One of my favorite scenes involves Phil in a fight with a would be assassin, when he finally subdues the assassin and ask him who he works for the assassin replies "Noone, I freelance." He then gives the cyrpic warning of "Beware of the man with, with...with...." and promptly dies.

I think any fan of bad movies, or MST3K owes it to themselves to track down this bizarre movie if only for one viewing.

*I'd also argue this movie bares responsiblity for Steve Oedekerk's Kung Pow: Enter the Fist. Another example of a re cut Asian film people either love or hate.

Free Comic Book Day!

Today is a special occasion for every geek, dork, nerd, and spaz:  Free Comic Book Day.  Go to your local participating comic book store and pick up some great free comics.  It's a perfect opportunity to find new titles you may like or get interested in something you may have missed.  For a full list of free comic books that may be available at your local store and more details, check out http://www.freecomicbookday.com.  Happy reading.

Flick Picks 17: Evil's City

 Hello Again, Streaker! Boog here, somewhat late in the day, I know, but I was trying to find words to properly describe the film I'm reviewing this week. Bland comes to mind. Boring, uninteresting, slow, too dark to see, and just plain bad come to mind as well. So boring and bland, in fact, that I dare you to find a trailer for it, because I couldn't. For any of it's three known names. It's most popular is Evil's City, but it was known as Crossing Acheron, or Demon Town, which is not to be confused with an apparently foreign franchise of horror films with the same name, as far as I can tell. Oh, SPOILERS! But, you see, I don't like any of those three names, so I came up with a new one. It's a little wordy, but it spells out everything you can expect: I (6th)Sense What You Did Last Summer Night(Of The Living Dead) in Silent Hill. Yeah, there are no less than four far better horror/thriller films represented here, each for about maybe five minutes apiece, plus padding, to make a barely 82 minute long movie. Oh, and this film gets extra cliche douche points; It starts with a Bible quote. And not just any overused Bible quote, the Mark 5:9 "We are Legion, For We Are Many", overused to be creepy and disturbing Bible quote. It doesn't get much better than that opener, either, sadly enough.

After the quote, the film opens to an apparent bloodbath being covered live by a news crew. And by covered, I mean the police just let the cameraman follow them inside to get shots of the bodies, albeit covered. I say bodies, because it's supposed to be three people they just found, but the close-up shots on them show it to be three shots of the same body, just at slightly different angles. Also, I'm sorry, but the body they show hasn't bled nearly enough to be considered dead, guys. Check him again, he only has a nosebleed, at best. We get introduced to our main characters, who I will call Douche Male, and Whiny Female. They find two others, and start talking with them about the incident. You see, they are all film students, Douche and Whiny from Cal State(which we find out in the last five minutes), the others being from UCC(which we find out maybe ten minutes before that). Douche and Whiny start snooping around the house, looking for a shot of the bodies, when they get interrupted the other main character, who I will call Douche Female, or DoucheFem, from now on. If you ever watch this film, you might be confused here, as DoucheFem is largely whiny, and Whiny, is a bit of a bitch, in these opening minutes. That all changes pretty quickly though.

After they talk at each other for a little bit, they get ambushed by this crazy dude, who we know is crazy because he repeats himself constantly, and whips himself around like a cokefiend in the middle of a bad trip .He puts a gun to Whiny's head, and keeps muttering something about "Acheron". This absolutely sets DoucheFem off, as she know starts pestering the crazy homeless man about it. She never gets her answer, however, as the world's laziest police sniper waits a whole fifteen seconds after he gets confirmation to take the kill shot he already reported he had. Then we get some weird, hazy thing resembling a car ride, and now we come to the first thing this film does that irritates the living crap out of me. 95% of the shots are shaky cam, or at some weird angle that doesn't let you see what the hell is going on. Well, that doesn't matter, as Whiny the UCC kids, the ones in the car, are drinking and driving and inevitably crash. Whiny then wakes up in a hospital, to have the UCC kids tell her she's been out for a week, then grab her and take her somewhere. When then, oddly enough, get a scene for every buddy cop film ever, as, due to Whiny "still being in the hospital", Douche, who was Whiny's cameraman, is now being assigned as DoucheFem's cameraman. This goes over about as well as you'd expect, but it's supposed to be okay because DoucheFem has done research. To find Acheron. And she has.
Although this place is supposed to be old enough to be only known in "the legends"(That's a quote just about every character uses, btw), DoucheFem has managed to pin down a general area. While the Douches are conversing, we get occasional cuts of the UCC kids telling Whiny about DoucheFem's research, and then mention that they've not only SEEN Acheron, they've BEEN there, and will take Whiny there, if only to beat DoucheFem to the story. So, Whiny and UCCs get there first, if only so we can get some padding scenes involving the Douches insulting rednecks, until we come across a unnamed character from earlier who offers to take them to Acheron, but only after giving all the cliched warnings in the book. ("Do you believe in Evil?") The Douches get to town, now about 20 minutes in, and nothing really happens for about forty minutes. The second annoying thing happens here. To let us know that Acheron is 'supernatural', the director washes out most of the color, making everything seem to blend from shot to shot. While that in and of itself is not a terrible technique, the problem comes in when about 75% of the shots inside Acheron, are shot at night. Washed out color palette, and night shots, equals, you can't see a goddamned thing. Whiny and the UCCs find school records showing a bunch of absenteeism in small period of time, and the Douches discover death certificates, and medical records for the same small period of time. Basically, everybody in town died within a month, leaving it abandoned. DoucheFem gets a few scenes during this time where really dials up the Douche Factor, taunting Douche Male, at one point trying to seduce him, and then runs off. About forty minutes in we get introduced to a small (5) group of soldiers, because Acheron is on government property, and they have been sent to corral these college students, and maybe send them to Gitmo. One can only hope.
These soldiers shuffle around for about twenty minutes while other inconsequential padding can take place. Then, at about the hour mark, Douche Male suddenly runs into a Random Exposition Goblin. The REG explains that Acheron is basically an analogue to the Bible's Sodom and Gomorrah, where everyone just wanted to live in sin. They became so depraved, that they wanted to become immortal to stave off the Final Judgment. Enter some random guy, who gives them a self replicating virus, which the entire town takes, probably in about 3 water tower's worth of Kool-Aid. They all proceed to die, but of course they come back as intelligent zombies capable of speech. Apparently(because we are given no explanation beyond what I'm about to write), this pissed off God so much, he damned the town, making it a living entity of evil, capable to clouding thoughts, misdirection, and drawing 'evil' souls to it like a beacon. Now all Hell breaks loose(HA!), as all of the soldier die within the next eight minutes. Douche and the REG find DoucheFem, and Whiny, and proceed to try and find an escape route. They run into a preacher, who does some redundant exposition of his own, then lets them leave. They all eventually find there way to a wall on the outskirts of the town's cemetery, where the world's worst fire effect is slowly trying to close in on itself, to trap them inside. The Douches get out, the REG and Whiny don't, because, also apparently, the UCCs have been dead since the car crash, the soldiers all died yesterday, the REG has been dead for a long time, and Whiny has been dead since she woke up in the hospital. I would care, but none of these characters ever does anything that makes me want to like them, or care in the slightest. If you ever get a chance to look into Evil's City, do yourself and head for the Raccoon City exit down the road. At least you'll get some excitement.

Forgotten Worlds - A New Kind of World Record

For the past few years, many arcade mavens, such as Billy Mitchell, Steve Wiebe, and Hank "Dr. Kong" Chien, have tried to take the top score on many arcade games.  Donkey Kong has been at the center of this competition, but it's only the tip of the iceberg.  Many other games beckon arcade aficionados to break new ground in world records.  One man is forging his own quest for greatness, but he's not going for a high score.  He's in it for the long haul.

Joel West has been playing arcade games and breaking records since the early '80s.  He was one of the gamers featured in LIFE magazine back in 1982 in Ottumwa, Iowa at Twin Galaxies Arcade and is also in the arcade documentary Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade.  He is the first gamer recognized by Twin Galaxies for holding the high score record to two arcade games at the same time.  He's been in competition for the top score for the arcade game Berzerk, a record he previously held.  This game has been known for having gameplay so frenetic, that two teenagers died from heart attacks after playing this game in the early '80s (no foolin', they died immediately after getting a high score).    While he doesn't hold the high score for Berzerk anymore, Mr. West is going for a different record: the longest single gameplay on one credit.  That means he must keep a single game going, from pressing start to "game over," for days without stopping.  For his shot at the record, he's aiming for 72 hours of straight gameplay.

His game of choice for beating the record is Frenzy, which is the sequel to Berzerk and considered to be tougher than its predecessor.  For those who don't know, in Berzerk and Frenzy, you play this guy with a laser gun.  You have to run through these rooms, shooting human hating robots and running from Evil Otto, this giant, robotic smiley face who comes back, even faster, every time you kill him.  There are certain elements of each game that differentiate between the two, but the gameplay is very similar.

Mr. West's first attempt at breaking this record happened at Big Bang 2010, a video game convention in Ottumwa, Iowa (if you want to know more about the arcade history of Ottumwa or the Big Bang events, check out an old article I wrote here).  He really wanted to break the record there to give the town a bit more press, but the Frenzy arcade machine there froze up only four hours into his attempt.  Undaunted, he recently tried again at New Jersey's Richie Knucklez Arcade during The Kong Off (which I talked about on the last Forgotten Worlds).  Unfortunately, he spent so much time traveling and setting up for the attempt that he didn't get a lot of sleep and tired out before breaking the record.

 Here, we see Billy Mitchell getting Joel West started

on his marathon run during The Kong Off

(photo courtesy of TheKongOff.com)

 
Despite these setbacks, Mr. West remains certain that he can claim a new world record.  He plans on returning to Richie Knucklez to make his third attempt.  So far, no date has been set for the event, but I'm keeping my ear to the ground and will let you know when he goes for the record again.  Until then, I wish Mr. West the best of luck.

If you want to see what Frenzy looks like, check out this video.



And, for no other reason than to make my wife happy, here's some pictures of red pandas.  Gawk at the random cuteness!

Aww...

 ...so charming.

 They just seem so cuddly.

Look, he's winking at you.

 They're even adorable when they're eating.

Okay, that was more cuteness than I could handle.  I hope my wife appreciates this.

I'll see you next week.  And, remember, keep your scores high and the quarters flowing.