In Which Ralf23 Is A Creepy Internet Stalker, And Invites You To Be, Too.

So recently, the website Openbook came to my attention. It's a search engine specifically for Facebook status updates. It's motto "Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life. Whether you want to or not." invokes an ominous tone, so I guess it's supposed to be making a statement about online privacy or something. But then, I've never been quite sure how private people really wanted or expected Facebook status updates and other forms of Twitter-esque microblogging to be. In any case, I'm pretty much on the fence on whether this thing is really creepy, or just kinda creepy in an an obtuse, indirect way.

In the interest of journalistic integrity, I decided to spy on myself first, and compare notes with the rest of the Facebook community regarding opinions on that new Windows 7 commercial (where they included an overdubbed and re-appropriated version of the "Zombie Vs. Shark" viral video). I'm not particularly reassured by my findings.

For entertainment purposes, I've plugged in searches for favorite Dorkstuff topics (mostly vintage computers/games) and got a surprising number of relevant hits for many of them. I was actually trying to see how obscure I could get with a couple of them, but apparently people still dig 8-bit stuff on Facebook. Check it out:

23 Enigma (Hey, there's me again!)
Apple ][e, ][c, ][gs
Atari 2600
Castlevania
Clash At Demonhead
Commodore 64 (and related search "C64")
Rankin-Bass
Ren And Stimpy
River City Ransom
Sinclair ZX Spectrum
TRS-80
Turbografx 16

WTF Is Going On Here? - Part 3

Your guess is as good as mine...

8-Bit Vanilla Sky (With River City Ransom Sprites!).

Most of the time, I feel like I'm the only one left that still likes the movie "Vanilla Sky".

And we all know how I feel about River City Ransom, god amongst mere video games.

Here is a video that collides River City Ransom with Vanilla Sky, and creates a sandwich made of awesome.

The Ballad Of River City Ransom 2

The excellent website Lost Levels, dedicated to covering games that weren't (not to be confused with the other excellent site Games That Weren't), regaled this excellent tale of Armen Casarjian and the unlikely tale of what could have been an excellent tribute sequel to one of the best games ever made, River City Ransom.

The story's not long, so I'll summarize. In 2003, when Armen was 21 and working for Atari, he found out that the trademark for River City Ransom was running out (for the love of God, how?), and on a whim applied for it. Lo and behold, he got it. After assembling a small team, they attempted to fulfill all our dreams and make a sequel for the Game Boy Advance.

And because nothing works out like the movies would make you believe, Armen found out at a convention that Atlus just then (a decade and a half after the first release) decided to make a sequel to River City Ransom on the Game Boy Advance. Cruel, cruel irony.

Against the recommendation of his lawyer, Armen and his scrappy little crew backed off with their project, considering they only owned the trademark on the title, and not the charachters, plot or music.

And now if you don't mind, I'm gonna Google how to research trademark expiration.