FIRE BURNS WOOD!

Battle Beasts FTW!  I have quite a nice collection!

Admin's Note: Not many people know that this toy line was originally intended as an unlicensed spin-off of Transformers. The Japanese name of the toy-line was "Beastformers", which was kinda silly cause they didn't actually transform into anything. My younger brother used to collect these, I had a few myself. They rocked.

And HERE's a great price/rarity guide for them.

I Kissed A Girl And Went To Hell?

Apparently a church in Columbus does not like Katy Perry...

Admin's Note: A gay rights group vandalized the sign shortly afterwards. I included a link in the title =)

The Church of Jediism

This will bring you at least 20 minutes of fun.  And yes, Jediism is an official religion on the UK census!

http://www.jedi-church.co.uk/

Admin's Note: Ganked the image below from the site.

Cute Little Fan Site For All Things Nerful

I recently scored a stash of assorted Nerful anatomy and needed a handy resource to figure out who was what. Lo and behold, I found this tasty and surprisingly comprehensive little site that allowed me to work it all out!(Admin Note: See Below.)

Just in case you are are unaware (and don't worry, the lady in front of me in line at the thrift store had no idea what they were either)-

Nerfuls were a line of figures made in 1985 by Parker Brothers. Despite what might be implied, they are not made of Nerf (also owned by Parker Brothers). The majority of the figures seperated into three parts - a round, golf-ball sized head, a bowl-shaped body that would cup the head, and either hair or a hat resting on top. The charachters were known for being surprisingly diverse, despite their simplicity, and each had their own distinct personality.

A limited re-release of the line (well, technically, only 4 of them), was part of a 1989 Burger King promotion.



Admin Note (05/2010): As of this point www.nerfuls.com is down. Changed the link at the top of the article to go to an old Tripod fan site. Leaving the old link down here just in case it ever comes back.

Fundamentalist Christians Can Be Artistic Too!

This truly insane photoshop collage above is meant to be a depiction of the Rapture. Note the heaps of Procter And Gamble products (Satanic, according to uban legend), Bilderburgs (ZOMG Jewish Bankers!), and the Pope riding the seven headed beast (those wily Catholics!)... what this cat has in Photoshop ability, he definitely lacks in subtlety...

But check out the shark head with the bug eyes, and Bush dressed as a priest and Tony Blair as... a... nun?

OMGWTFBBQ?

No matter how frighteningly insane the guy who made this must be, I gotta admit it's hard to make fun of...

I'd almost be willing to call it... kinda awesome. Definitely strong A- material.

Not like this guy-



I'm pretty sure the other side of that reads "Rice Krispies". Made of fail.

Both images taken from A Photographic Study Of Myspace.

They've Killed Fritz! - "Wizards"

"Wizards", another of my favorite movies as a kid. Thanks to the bizarre selection of mom-and-pop video rental stores (back at least half-a-decade before Blockbuster cookie-cutter chains sprouted everywhere), I got exposed to a lot of lesser known, underground animation as a kid. Back then, anything that was a cartoon was put in the "Kids" section.

12 Tasks Of Asterix - The Place That Sends You Mad

Just wanted to put a clip of one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite movies when I was a kid. Me and my brother watched this movie so many times when we were kids, it was bewildering to me that this movie wasn't a part of many people I know's childhood (it being a European cartoon).

A lot of stuff I enjoyed as a kid didn't age well, but I still find this funny. Enjoy.

Screwattack.com Visits Local (Austin,Tx) Video Game Store!

The guys from screwattack.com visit the North location of Austin,Texas based vintage video game store Game Over (one of my favorite places to browse in all of Austin). Wish they had spent more time in the museum (which is much more awesome than they give credit for). I wonder how hard it would be for me to arrange making a video there myself...

Anyway, awesome.

Surviving 2012 and Planet X (a five part series)

Brought to you by Marshall Masters, creator....I mean finder of the ancient Kolbrin Bible.

The LOLCat Bible.

Well. I guess it was inevitable. Here is an ongoing wiki project to translate the Bible into LOLCat. I thought I could say more, but to tell the truth I'm a little stunned. Have fun.

100 Commodore 64 Games In 10 Minutes!

Great fun video that lives up to it's moniker. LOTS of familiar titles in there... Last Ninja I and II, Defender Of The Crown, Archon, Giana Sisters, and there's even an Ultima thrown in there for good measure!

Apparently this guy opened up a Pandora's box with this one... I already see some new spin-off videos "Over 100 of the Best Commodore 64 Games", and "100 MORE Commodore 64 Games". I'm gonna check them out and come up with fun comparative reviews to post soon!

By the way, isn't that track during the first third of the video great? It's a remixed version of the theme from the C64 game "Flimbo's Quest"... Here's a vid of a guy playing the theme on 3 guitars and a bass. Shweet!

The 10 Richest People That Ever Existed (Wikipedia)

Man, economics is tough to figure out.

At the time I was gonna post this article (sometime yesterday) Marcus Crassus was the richest person to have ever lived, with an estimated modern value of his wealth at 7 TRILLION dollars. Some weird numbers have crunched, and he's now at Number 8, with a modern value of 181 billion dollars. What's weird is that it's the same 10 people for the most part, but their positions keep shifting, based on equations that sound like complete gibberish to me (I didn't realize the value of Roman Sesterces were still taken into account in modern economic formulae).

Anyway, I just figured that with these shaky economic times, it would be fun to take a look at the 10 people who have made, for lack of a better word, a straight-up stupid amount of money. As in, Bill Gates' entire net worth is less than 1/3 of the net worth of NUMBER 10.

Not that all of these individuals were allowed to enjoy their successes. One of the top 10 was the ill-fated Czar Nicolas II, who was executed by the Bolsheviks. For some reason, it surprises me that only one other of the top 10 was drug out and killed; that being our previously mentioned friend Marcus Crassus.

Legend has it that he was captured by the Parthinians (modern-day Iranians) and had molten silver poured down his throat to "soothe his thirst for wealth"...

Remember, though... this dude was the bad guy in "Spartacus", not just in film, but in real life too.

HREMAILS? Sneaky Easter Eggs From Sbemail 200

Hope I can do this without ruining the plot of Strong Bad Email 200, but if you want to check out Homestar Runner Email 49 and 24, the links to the Easter Eggs (which aren't linked to, you have to find) are included in this sentence.

Happy 23! Welcome Chad!

Well hey, if you haven't noticed, we've got a new contributor. Hey Chad, welcome aboard!

Also wanted to provide a link to my new, improved 23 site! I think I've compiled a monstrous amount of the lesser obvious 23 instances in history and popular culture.

I'd love it if anyone that has an instance I missed to post it in the comments section. Thanx!

Resistance is Futile!

Check out this two-part documentary!

Yay for technological communist facism!  Enjoy the Borg!

Tranny Formers!

Dack showed me this, and I have to say I can't stop laughing at it!

3000 Trees in Nepal Collapse!

In the wake of all these cryptozoology supernatural hoaxes, comes a real story.  Within 10 minutes, 3,000 trees in Nepal just fell over.  The weather was fine and as of right now they do not know what happened.  Locals beleve it's ghosts....check out the story by clicking on the title of this post!

Reactable FTW! (Complete Basic Demo)

My favorite Synthesizer EVER!

Admin Note: I've included below the rest of the demo, which demonstrates more complicated techniques. =)

Talk Like A Pirate!

September 19 was Talk Like A Pirate day. In case you missed it, this video will get you prepared for next years festivities!

Bacon Synchronicity

I assume you are already familiar with the Bacon Flowchart...



I originally saw this image on Boing Boing, and thought it was hilarious. I posted it as a Myspace bulletin. Within 6 hours, I got this strange "WTF?" letter from some guy I didn't know asking where I got it. Apparently, one of my Myspace friends reposted the bulletin, and someone else reposted it as well, leaving the chain intact, until through some sort of synchronicity more reminiscent of the Kevin species of Bacon, The bulletin was read by the original creator of the image! He wrote me, thinking I might have been attempting to take credit. I quickly assured him that was not true. Turns out the guy was from Austin as well, and when I related that I had found the image on Boing Boing, he was bewildered that the image he created days before in Austin for a laugh was already posted on a Canadian website.

I'm not gonna mention the guys name out of privacy, but when I clicked on his profile, he has plenty of pictures of his dog Dante, who I've heard is wise and loves bacon.

2NU Gives Their Only Hit Album Away For Free... Ponderous.

Remember the band 2Nu? Yeah, me neither; but I remember their novelty sound-collage hit "This Is Ponderous". If you were at least in third grade by the late 80s, see if this song doesn't ring a bell (not the real video).



This song was the only one of theirs to even reach marginal mainstream radio play. Want to get it high quality for free? Well, go to their website, where you can snag the whole dang album. If you decide you want to pay for it, they also have links to their iTunes page.

Two Craigslist Ads For Time Machines

Ok, the first one actually advertises a free "rocketship/boat/race car/fort/house/time machine", which is pictured below.



If that's not your speed, this guy is giving away a broken time machine, claiming the buttons are stuck and it can no longer go back in time, just forward at normal speed.

T.W.E.R.P.S - The Worlds Easiest Role-Playing Game!

I first came across this RPG system in 1995 at Mad Hatters gaming shop in Lubbock, Texas. I was sorting through the "Random" shelf, full of older manuals for lesser-known RPGs. I found the original "Basic" rules, as seen above, as well as the "Cyber-Punks" expansion. The incredibly simple rules (you only have two stats!) and the adorable, doughy charachter designs totally captured my imagination.

As I stated above, you have two stats and can play the game using two 10-sided dice. What adds the meat to your charachters is skills you can add to your character to aid in rolls. In each expansion, new sets of rules are added to the potential arsenal.

The expansion sets are hilariously reminiscent of GURPS. The published expansions include the above-mentioned cyber-punk set (which is also very reminiscent of Shadowgate, including expanded scenarios to include entry into a Neuromancer/Matrix-style computer world during gameplay), a magic expansion, a kung fu expansion, a post-apocalyptic expansion (called "Metaphysical Ninja Maniac Chainsaw Vitamin Junkies"), and expansions imitating the format of Star Trek and the X-Files.

Wikipedia Entry.

People Of Limited Seriousness - Newman And Hanniel

From the British comedy series Newman and Baddiel. I include this video not only because I sort of identify with the concept (especially the way I dressed in public during 2006 and 2007), but also because of the jab at Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine (still one of my favorite bands ever) at the 3:04 mark.

Crazy Daisy Ed - Classic Liquid Television

Behold... Crazy Daisy Ed. Not to be confused with Bob The Angry Flower. No really; Stephen Notley (Bob The Angry Flower's creator) makes a point in his FAQ to distinguish the difference between Bob (who tends to resemble a sunflower, technically), Crazy Daisy Ed, and El Seed from The Tick (cartoon, not comic book). Apparently the early 90s was a good time to be an anti-social vindictive flower with criminal tendencies, if you wanted to become a star.

Still, this brings back great memories.

Zlad - Electronik Supersonik

We have arrived onto the future, indeed.

Nine Minutes With The Hypnotoad.

You are feeling much calmer.

I Crave Your Input.

I see you guys out there, but I don't know what you're thinking. So from here on out, I've removed the captcha from the "Add Comments" feature. I'm not really a fan of captchas in the first place, I'm just overly cautious when trying out a new toy. Thanx for understanding =)

Plus, I've set it up so with each new post, you guys get to post comments without moderation for a week after the original posting. I will go in an clean stuff up if I have to, but I don't really anticipate much of that (so far).

Have fun!

Junker Headquarters - Your Source For All Things Snatcher

This site is an invaluable resource for fans of the Konami "digital comic" adventure game "Snatcher", with full translation for the original MSX release, to resources and trivia regarding the later (PC-8801, TG Super CD2 (which I own), as well as Sega CD, Sega Saturn, and Playstation) releases. Also covers related material, which is surprisingly extensive.

For those of you unfamiliar with the game, the plotline is kind of a hybrid of "Terminator" and "Blade Runner", but darker and viscerally creepier. You play as a hunter of "Snatcher" cyborgs that literally steal the skin of their victims in order to disguise themselves. The game contains some of the most legendary examples of video game gore ever, including a game over scene deleted from every American translation. Awesome.

The Manhunter Shrine: Source For All Things Manhunter

The great souce of screenshots, walkthroughs and trivia for the incomplete "Manhunter" series of computer games from Sierra On-Line. A series of games created by these guys-



If that does not convince you of the awesomeness of this wicked post-apocalyptic "They Live"-style conspiracy noir series of adventure games, then I don't know what will.

In the first two legendary games, "Manhunter: New York" and "Manhunter: San Francisco", the world has been hijacked by nefarious aliens known as "Orbs" that immediately turn the human race into cattle. The tracking disks the implant into the necks of all people do not work as well as planned, and can only reveal the location and not the identity of the person they are implanted in. Not to mention the fact that a group of rebels has fled underground, dropping off the grid entirely. Without knowing exactly why, you are selected as a Manhunter, tracking those that have attempted to evade surveilance...

Clash At Demonhead Playset!

Collection of funny flash videos featuring recurring characters from Clash At Demonhead, the greatest video game ever made for any system ever.

Many, arguably the best ones, are very NSFW. So be warned.

Take The Virtue Test From Ultima 4 Thru 9

This website re-enacts the classic into sequence from the "Avatar" arc of the Ultima computer game series, with music and everything. I tend to wind up a ranger when I answer honestly.

I Hacked The Illuminati - Telepathically!

What can I say? It brought a smile to my face =)

A tasty bit of over-the-top conspiracy-based absurdity.

Conspiracy Theory Rock!

Hilarious, brilliant cartoon Robert Smigel managed to sneak into Saturday Night Live in the late 90s. It was edited out of reruns of the same episode. Awesome stuff!

Awesomely Fast Speed-Run On Truly Awful Game

The title I made for this blog actually gives me a heaviness in my heart, cause to be honest I have a soft spot for this game. I really wanted to like this, the only game ever to let you play as the characters from the Dragonlance series of novels. Plus the game was converted to NES by FCI, who ported over a lot of truly classic American computer games (many of which also hold dear places in my heart).

And dammit, I really dig the music in this game. There, I said it.

But no, this game, in all forms, is a blight to the entire genre of side-scrolling RPG-based adventure games. Sad, cause with just a bit more work it could have been awesome. I feel bad for the crew at FCI, who must have been thinking "Do we really need to let the NES version suck as bad as the PC version? Well, the American crowd is really picky about canon, so best not mess with it."

A real shame.

Enough about me though, this guy just tears through it. I remember the first time playing this game myself involved me accidentally flinging half the party off a cliff, right off the bat.

You, sir, must have infinite patience to have conquered this travesty. You win at life, or at least these seven and a half minutes.

Eamon Adventurer's Guild - Archive Of Classic All-Text Adventures

If you recognize the above dragon, you likely remember Eamon, the revolutionary classic all-text role-playing game adventure series. It was awesome because it was the first one where you could create a character, and transfer said character to one of over 250 published games. In the same afternoon, your charachter could chase pirates through a musty cave, hunt alligators for bounty in a sewer, and then fight alongside the main characters through the major plot points of Tolkein's The Hobbit! As well as the characters themselves, some items, weapons and spells were transferrable, meaning (if you survived long enough) you could be slaughtering orcs with a shotgun!

The above archive contains the vast majority of the games, several of which are lovingly translated to several platforms (the original Eamon series was made on, and for, the Apple ][ computer system). It also includes tons of information, and even a few walkthroughs!

Me, I'ma go hunt some alligators...

Cool Java Applett That Mimics Classic Apple 2 Program

The above picture links to a cool Java applett; a replication of the classic Applesoft Basic Demo program called "Brian's Theme", created by Brian Howard in 1980. It came free on a disk with the Apple ][. I spent entirely too much of my childhood watching that program unfold, over and over. Man, this brings back memories =)

Free Classic Sierra On-Line Games From The Author Himself!

Al Lowe, most famous as the creator of the "Leisure Suit Larry" franchise, has placed the majority of the back-catalogue of his Sierra On-Line games (including Black Cauldron and Softporn Adventure) on his website as free downloads. He also includes some interesting anecdotal tidbits about each game as well.

Welcome Lyska!

Pending the technical difficulties of continuing to figure out precisely how to do it, this site will soon be featuring posts by the awesome Lyska also. As well as being one of the first people I met to own as many or more vintage video games as I, she's also a fellow self-published comic book artist as well as former fellow mohawk and multiple lip-piercing haver.

Welcome!

Star-Studded Amiga 2000 Commercial

A late-80s commercial for the Amiga 2000 featuring Tommy Lasorda, several NASA astronauts, The Pointer Sisters, and Tip O'Neill. Background music sound familiar? It's from the "Goonies" soundtrack. Strangely enough, they used that track in several Amiga commercials, including the following:



Indeed Steevie, you are a rodent.

Check Out This Scary Lunatic

"It's Great - I Can Watch My Stuff While Driving"

Yeah, glad to know you can still hear the traffic and what-not, buddy. I was rear-ended full-speed one time at a stoplight and my car was flung into on-coming traffic by a teenage girl who was distracted when her flip-flop fell off...

And here you are-

Driving.
At night.
Watching Video.
And Filming Yourself Doing It.

Yeah. That's a great idea.

21st century Wedding Anniversary Gifts

This post I consider in high form of minutiae worship, as it was inspired not from an article, but from the comment thread of an article.

This article from Boing Boing included an entrertaining discussion in the comment thread on a re-vamped list of wedding anniversary gifts for the 21st century. I've compiled and edited the list, as well as inserted a few new ones of my own-

1st Anniversary - His/Hers Identity Theft
2nd Anniversary - His/Hers RIAA Lawsuit
3rd Anniversary - His/Hers Tasers/Tasering
4th Anniversary - His/Hers Foreclosures
5th Anniversary - His/Hers No-Fly Lists
6th Anniversary - His/Hers Dickcopters
7th Anniversary - Addition To House To Include A Protest Zone
8th Anniversary - Visit From The Technoviking
9th Anniversary - His/Hers New Orleans Refugee (2008 model, not 2005)
10th Anniversary - His/Hers Rubber Bigfoot