Pointers of Self-Interest

Hi-de-ho, I just want to direct your attention to some other blogs I contribute to, 'cause interesting things are afoot there.

**********

Tim and I have completed another month's worth of found notes at A Blog Of Notes. I was honestly slacking this month, but Tim came through with some ridiculously awesome sounds. Tim has also just posted an excellent series of mixes of the April compile.

If you have the technology and inclination to look for musical notes in the world around you, Tim and I are always looking for sound geek contributors.

**********

The lovely and talented night photographer Remi Thornton, who is also a contributor to my blog The Signage Of Negative Space, recently returned from a trip to Chicago, where he took some pics of signage here and here.

This was kinda neat, in that I had previously taken pictures of these same signs. It's kind of cool to compare and contrast our pics, and see how much better a photo can look when someone like Remi is behind the camera! It's definitely made me step up with my "A" game (which relatively speaking is more accurately called a "B-" game).

We're at about 150 instances of negative space signage, but would love to get more geographical regions represented that I'm certain are oozing with negative space signage -- the NYC/California area, large urban centers across the world, etc.

**********

Who's In Charge Here? continues to chug along. Our current band is Belle and Sebastian. Vote for the leader of the band, based on the photo I have included, but please be kind, they are sensitive folk.

**********

That's all the self-pimping I have for you today! Excelsior!

Dungeons And Databases

It's been a couple months since I last provided you with an update as to my brother's progress on World of Warcraft (WoW).

My brother has a little problem. He's got a little something I'm going to call "organizational mania". It's probably more correctly identified as a strain of your garden-variety anal-retentiveness, but lemme just call it what I want to call it.

In WoW, one's character (or as they say in WoW, "toon") has lots of different body parts that can be festooned with gear, and a variety of weapons that can be wielded as well. For someone playing multiple toons, it can get rather confusing as to what toon is wearing what equipment.

When I was playing WoW's predecessor Diablo II, I would occasionally scribble down some of the belongings of my various characters. This is not a valid approach for my brother.

So, enter a new Microsoft Access Database application called Toon!. My brother wrote Toon! to keep track of all his characters' gear.

In my brother's words:

I created it was so I could check to see if any new item that dropped would be an improvement in equipment on any of my characters. In order to complete the database I had to overcome the following challenges:

1. I needed to concatenate all modifications into one line because MS Access does not permit nesting sub forms.
2. I needed to be able to minimize the application window to use as little screen space as possible (allowing me to easily enter data while having the game running).
3. Also wanted a "nice to have", that any new modification type encountered (strength, intelligence, attack power, etc.) would be automatically added to the modifications table.

Originally I was planning on using the report as a paper print-out and marking it up with updates, but I've since streamlined by making updates directly to the database. Still, the report is useful to have as an "at a glance" tool while playing.

So, please enjoy these screenshots of Toon!, a database application written by my crazy-organized brother.

Please note that in some of the thumbnails only a partial view of an application screen is displayed. Click on an image to view the app in its full screen glory.

Main screen (it's more functional than fancy-looking)


Screen to add a new toon:


Screen to edit an existing toon (can update toon data and edit equipment carried or worn by toon):


Screen to edit an individual piece of equipment on a toon:


Report of all items worn by toon:

Appropriate Yet Obnoxious

I was meeting my brother for lunch the other today. He works in a skyscraper in downtown Chicago.

As I was in the elevator, I glanced at a smallish monitor on the wall. The monitor was displaying a mixture of weather, factoids and advertisements. The thing that stuck in my head was the name of the company providing this service:

Captivate Network

I thought, "Hmm, that corporate name is sort of cute, in a completely obnoxious way."

They're playing on the words "captive" and "captivate".

First the definitions of each word, per the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.

________________________________
captive
Pronunciation:
\ˈkap-tiv\
Function:
adjective
Etymology:
Middle English, from Latin captivus, from captus, past participle of capere
Date:
14th century

1 a: taken and held as or as if a prisoner of war b (1): kept within bounds : confined (2): of or relating to captive animals <captive breeding>
2: held under control of another but having the appearance of independence; especially : owned or controlled by another concern and operated for its needs rather than for an open market <a captive mine>
3: being such involuntarily because of a situation that makes free choice or departure difficult <the airline passengers were a captive audience>
________________________________

captivate
Pronunciation:
\ˈkap-tə-ˌvāt\
Function:
transitive verb
Date:
circa 1555

1 archaic : seize, capture
2: to influence and dominate by some special charm, art, or trait and with an irresistible appeal
________________________________



The name of this corporate entity is essentially a wink at the fact that its advertisements are directed at people who cannot go anywhere, who are essentially trapped, imprisoned, immobilized in a small box with nothing to look at. Or maybe the content on their monitors really does have "irresistible appeal". But I'm not buying that.

From their website:

Day in and day out, Captivate gives you a one-of-a-kind opportunity to repeatedly reach your target audience during the business day. Our national network delivers more than 54.5 million monthly impressions to more than 2.5 million educated, motivated professionals in North America's largest markets.

Because we deliver your message to a captive audience in a focused, distraction-free environment, we have an average ad recall rate that exceeds that of most other media. We're memorable and measurable – and consistently generate strong, tangible results on behalf of our clients. When it comes to keeping your story top of mind with your target customer, Captivate takes your marketing efforts to new heights.

What's that? You say *you* want the Captivate Network experience? *You* want to be bombarded with some impressions?

Here you go!

Unconnected Tuesdays

Stoplight

Ice water

Attention: David Patrick Kelly

So, I bought two tickets to the Feelies' July 1st show at the Hoboken, NJ bar Maxwell's.

Both the July 1st and 2nd shows are sold out.

I was picking up the extra ticket for MizSplotchy. I had hoped my folks would have been able to babysit our three chilluns so we could jet up to Jersey for a couple days (they had been very gracious to take care of our kids during our trip to San Diego last fall).

Unfortunately, they have prior plans. Hey, I realize that's a lot to ask of my folks, particularly with such short notice, but my desire to see the Feelies has blotted out my sensitivity to others' schedules, emotions and plans.

Anyways, unless something unforeseen happens, chances are I'm going to be headed to Maxwell's by myself. But, I will have an extra ticket that is already paid for.

David Patrick Kelly, my adopted actor, if you want to see a sold-out live show for the low cost of nothing, I have a ticket for you. I am serious. You don't have to hang out with me or anything, just take the ticket with my compliments.

Hey, I'm not creepy or anything. I'm just a faceless person on the Internet offering you something. And what could go wrong with that?

Send me an email on the address listed on my profile if you are interested. I am fully licensed, bonded and insured to see concerts in the Tri-State area.

Love,


Splotchy

A Test Reel From Guillermo Del Toro's Upcoming Hobbit Films

I confess that I am excited, based on the footage contained in this clip.

Dem Bones

Steve Buscemi - Dem Bones

Audition

Well, it's started. Casting for my movie! The script has four male leads, two of which are already cast. We had auditions at the Portage Park Center For The Arts on Saturday, for the two remaining roles.

We didn't get a huge turnout (we advertised the fact that the roles would be non-paying, as this is a low-budget short film), but several people came in and read.

It was really neat having actors read the lines, and interact in a few of the scenes from the script. Some lines were delivered with an inflection that I hadn't heard in my head. Some lines came out generally clunky, revealing possibilities of improvement for dialogue -- you can think a line is natural-sounding, but if someone can't say it naturally there's a distinct possibility it's the words that are the problem. In either situation, it was pretty cool, as I could see something on the written page growing into a more flesh-and-blood, breathing thing. It was like a 2-D shape suddenly becoming 3-D.

After a while, it was hard to judge the effectiveness of a performance. But I felt in the moment. I knew when there was a direction I wanted to go in a scene, and I did a reasonably good job (I think) of conveying my intent to the actors.

It's really happening. The film is really going forward. It's pretty exciting.

My next big hurdle is storyboarding, and working with my friend who is shooting the film to solve potential visual problems that arise (special effects shots, dialogue scenes in a moving car, etc.).

We have a couple more people auditioning on Thursday night. I'm looking forward to it.

Oh My Yes It's Happening

When your favorite band last released some music in the early 90's, it's fair to say there's not going to be lots of fresh news of the band pumping through the Internet capillaries on a daily basis.

The Feelies are my favorite band. The Feelies album The Good Earth has been my favorite album for almost twenty freaking years. If you're curious, one of my Green Monkey Mixes, Speed It Up has two excellent cuts from The Feelies (one from The Good Earth, one from Crazy Rhythms).

I know it's possible to set up Google Alerts, what have you, to keep yourself up-to-date with breaking news regarding a topic, but I have never felt the need to do such a thing. For whatever reason, today I decided to do a blog search on "Feelies".



Holy crap. This photo was taken last month. The Feelies are back together. That's the elusive Bill Million second from the right.

In my search I discovered that The Feelies are playing at Maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ on July 1st and 2nd (they're also playing with Sonic Youth in Battery Park on the 4th).

I had promised myself that if the Feelies ever had a full-fledged reunion, I would travel from Chicago to see them. And that's what I am going to do.

I bought two tickets online today. They went on sale on April 23rd. I checked later in the day and both shows were sold out.

Can you believe my luck? I happen to search for the Feelies, discover a full-fledged reunion, and buy tickets for that reunion before they sell out. Holy crap.

I'll probably be flying into NYC or Newark on the 1st, and fly out on the 2nd. Hot damn tamale am I excited.

Feelies, take me away!

Where's The Meme, Boy? Where's It Hiding?

     _                  
    |_|          ___    
    | |         /___\   
   _| |_      (| 'o' |) 
 _| | | | _    (_ - _)  
| | | | |' |    _| |_       __
|          |   /     \     /  \___
 \        /  / /(. .)\ \__/   |___|_____
   \    /  / /  | . |  \__     _______|_|
     \  \/ /    ||_||     \    ___|
      \__/      || ||      \______|
                () ()      
                || ||
               ooO Ooo

Third Verse, Different From The First

The Ramones - Judy Is A Punk (CBGB's, 1974)


You know, I am thinking about cutting my words on this blog down significantly, and instead just post Ramones videos all spring and summer.

One Binder To Bind Them All

So, I was kind of panicking last night about the upcoming audition we're holding for my short film, S________ for the S__. I wasn't feeling very prepared.

So that's when I reached for the 3-ring binder. This one little stupid object makes me feel so much better about the film -- more organized, more in control. Now I can break this large project into more digestible pieces.

I have separators in my binder. Script! Schedule! Budget! Cast/Crew! Props! Camera!

I have a brand new lefty spiral notebook in my binder, that I swiped from MizSplotchy. I have Post-Its. I have pens.

I am so ready.

A Poem Accidentally Written In A Chat Session

I wrote a sentence in a chat with FranIAm this morning, then realized, hey, that ain't a half bad Dorothy Parker knockoff. Some minor word rearranging and behold:

Some people flourish
Some people wither
Some people are jerks
I want to punch in the kisser

Who's Ready For Some More ROT13ed Swear Words? I Sure As Fuvggvat Am!

We started this fun here. Let's continue the joy and love!

I'll repeat the verbiage from my original post, for those who have forgotten the spiel.

A list of ROT13-encoded swear words.

Pop them in the Input box of the ROT13 Decoder to the right and hit the "En/Decode input" button. I personally prefer decoding the words one at a time, as that adds to the excitement and sexual tension.

I suppose you could try guessing them first, if that's your inclination, but this post is more about the swearing than the quizzing.


1. shpxjvg
2. ternfl-nffrq tbbq-sbe-abguvat zbaxrl gvgf
3. Bu, pbpx!
4. shpx-n-qhpx
5. V tbg gur fybccl fuvgf
6. gvtug cnagf jrnevat zbaxrlsvatrerq pbecfrshpxre
7. qvegl onyyf fhpxvat wrexbss
8. fcbbtr-jenatyre
9. cvff ba lbhefrys, nffgbnq
10. hShpx

Blogs Are No Good For Sneakiness

I know blogs are websites moving through time. I know this.

And posts are more disposable than some old-skool webpage from the mid-90's. Those pages had permanence, baby.

This is an alert to you, dear readers. I am occasionally sneaky.

Like Sweet, Sweet Empty Space.

Looks empty, don't it?

It's not. Press your mouse button down and drag your mouse across the Empty Space post. I like doing stupid stuff like this. Now, I don't know if people didn't figure out my sneaky attempt, or they just found my attempt not particularly sneaky or interesting. I would prefer to think the former -- after all, Manx, the only person who answered my questions, had to be prodded with a sharp stick to notice the text.

So, this is me telling you, all out in the open and stuff, blatant, explicit.

I AM SNEAKY. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

I try to make this blog fun, and having the occasional easter eggs for my readers is just another fun thing (to me, at least).

Wow, it's been months since I did that "Sweet, Sweet Empty Space" post. I reckon I'm probably due for another bout of sneaking. Or maybe I just did one.

?

For Those Who Can Find It

Ahhh.

Vacation. For my family, but not for me, unfortunately.
Every student and teacher looks forward to the
return of warm weather, because it signifies that the school
year is at an end.

So, what then? Should I be like everyone
else in the workforce, working summer months? Or
could I make it as a teacher? Could I shoulder the
responsibility of attempting to impart knowledge to
eager minds, or minds eager to do anything but
tests and quizzes?

My mother was a teacher, giving junior high kids an art
education. But I can't teach art. I'd like to teach
magic, or trickery, scavenger hunts, puzzles with
elaborate clues. But can I find a job that pays me for that?

Let's say that I would turn out to be good teacher,
or that I was passable. Let's say I taught puzzles, or tricks
of language. The problem would be the next class.
Kids taking my class would have the answers to my questions.

Returning students could simply pass these questions, which
I labored over, to the next batch of students. It wouldn't be
Geography or Math, which is something relatively fixed, and
having relatively firm rules to base my teaching on. But
teaching tricks? Perhaps they're better done for fun.

Unconnected Tuesdays

River

Bassoon

Famous Last Lines To Movies Yet To Be Written

01. "Grab the hammer and the turkey baster. We're going to Vegas."


02. "Reginald, this is your chewing gum talking. Now listen very carefully..."


03. "We are the invasive species!"


04. "Ummmmmmmm... Infinity?"


05. "Mr. Johnson is dead and would like a word with you."


06. "If you ever need any spare body parts, you know where to find me."


07. "Oh, fistyloofing crumbcakes!"


08. "She was my giraffe and she always will be."


09. "Everybody do the shimmy!"


10. "That's the end of that. Or is it?"

Celebrity Audio Poll Closed

My recent poll has ended.

The readers of I, Splotchy have spoken.



It's a tie between Morgan Freeman and Jennifer Tilly.

I will attempt to contact their representation to inquire about hiring them to do some audio work for this blog.

Thanks to everyone who voted.

Bush Is Still Stupid, Cheney Is Still Evil

In case you were wondering.



UPDATE! (11:45am)

Yep, still stupid and still evil.


UPDATE! (1:00pm)

George Bush To Appear On "Deal Or No Deal" - this qualifies as stupid, doesn't it?


UPDATE! (2:58pm)

No news about Cheney. But rest assured, he's still evil.

I'm Not Sure How Random These Are, But There Are Six Of Them

A dreamy, steamy meme, from Freida Bee:

*Link to the person who tagged you.
*Post the rules on your blog.
*Write six random things about yourself.
*Tag six random people by linking to their blogs.
*Let each of the six know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment (on each blog).
*Let your tagger know when your entry is up.


1. I am really enjoying living in Brookfield lately. The sun is warming up things, and the friendly bunch of neighborhood kids are out playing again. My kids have a good time outside. There are three parks within walking distance of our house. We had a really nice and relaxing time at the Brookfield Zoo yesterday. It's not the big urban center of Chicago (the reason I moved up from Springfield in the first place), but it's cool.

2. My favorite word of praise is "cool". My favorite word of disapproval is "stupid".

3. I have recently realized that I am ignorant of a fair amount of enormously-popular celebrities currently walking around and getting their stupid pictures taken.

4. I don't ever want to have a dog, because a dog is a pooping baby that never grows up.

5. I hate clutter but am oblivious to filth. I could live in a really dirty apartment (and I have), but at least every dirty thing would be in its proper place.

6. I can't keep up with my 3-movies-at-home Netflix subscription. I'm going to need to ratchet it down a couple movies. Am I ever going to watch The Changeling? Maybe I'll just wait until Halloween.

Adverb Lightly

Danny Glover - Adverb Lightly

Splotchy, Amateur Neuroscientist

Well, now that I have seen faces in a few places, it seems my mind has opened up to the possibility of human faces in a variety of objects.

For instance, I looked down at our downstairs bathroom sink this weekend, which we've had for at least a couple years, and suddenly now there is a face as clear as day.



For those of you who want to see what this face would look like with a horribly runny nose, I have obliged you here:



This faucet face was always there, waiting for me to see it, but I didn't notice it until I started again exercising this strange little nook of my brain, a nook which I seemed to use quite a bit when I was younger.

It made me think about dreams. I usually don't remember my dreams, and when I do remember them, they usually slip away from me very easily. It's strange -- during the moments of the dream they are very real, but somehow their ephemeral nature makes them less memorable than something I physically experienced.

Years ago, I found an exercise that I could engage in to help me recall some of my dreams. I have a few dreams that I have been able to retain fragments of over the years -- a nightmare of a neon clown throwing pies at me, a dream where I jumped slow-motion into puddles. I have found that when I revisit these dream memories it opens up doors to other dreams. They just suddenly pop in my head. From these newly-remembered dreams I can then remember others, and so it goes like some sort of remembrance-chain. All these dreamed experiences are still lurking around in my head somewhere, it's just accessing them that's the tricky part.

Our brains help us get through life in so many ways, but are still well beyond the reach of our understanding (a brain understanding itself is kind of an interesting concept in and of itself). I think my renewed bouts of pareidolia and my dream-remembering exercises are somehow connected, but I'm not sure how.

Oh, just in case you're looking for a reflection of a nekkid Splotchy in those faucet pics, I *am* in the reflection, but am fully clothed. Sorry ladies!

peedway

This photograph was taken during a recent hunt for negative space signage.

Lake Alley / Miasma Row Update

So, after a very rough day at work on Friday (04/18), I finally pull into our alley at around 7:45pm.

I was surprised by a couple things. One, virtually all the water witnessed in the alley photo of Monday (04/14) had evaporated.

Two, the friendly elves of Brookfield had filled in one of the larger crevasses of the alley with some gravel.



Everything's coming up Splotchy!

Oh, before I forget, let me present the doodle for the other winner of the Name That Alley contest.

For Bubs: Bubs pulling a big-ass catfish out of the water.

In Need Of Medical Attention

I can already tell this is going to be a really rough day at work. I might need some treatment later.


Dean & Britta - Night Nurse





UPDATE! (12:56pm)

Wow, this day is even worse than I had initially thought! Send in Dr. Feelgood!


Mötley Crüe - Dr. Feelgood




UPDATE! (3:19pm)

The day is still stucky, and Dr. Feelgood has stolen all my pain pills. Oh, doctor! doctor!


Thompson Twins - Doctor! Doctor!




UPDATE! (5:02pm)

I'm still here! I'm angry! I'm still not having a good day! Send in Dr. Rock!


Ween - Dr. Rock




UPDATE! (6:07pm)

I'm still here, and will be probably until 7:45pm or so. But I took my headphones out of the computer and I'm listening to music. So screw medicine.

The Pixies - Debaser



Apples In Stereo - Signal In The Sky



Pizzicato Five - Twiggy Twiggy

Daffodil!

Previously:
Iris!
Marigolds!

Monkeyfingered

Hi.

Chances are you haven't seen my post from exactly one year ago today about ringdinging.

For this post, the relevant definition to this made-up word is the following:


ringdinging
Pronunciation: \ˈriŋ-diŋ-iŋ\
Function: noun
2: -- The act of promoting one's self through the introduction of some lazy conceit, or a feeble twist on a preexisting novel concept.


With that in mind, I present to you a new word I made up: monkeyfingered.

Being monkeyfingered is very similar to being rickrolled, except instead of this you get this.

I think the act of being rickrolled is funnier than being monkeyfingered, but I think "monkeyfingered" as a word is superior to "rickrolled".

To ensure your victim's surprise, use this URL, which will present them with a friendly monkeyfinger without giving away the joke in the actual web address text:

http://tinyurl.com/6nyotd

You're welcome!

Name That Alley Contest

This is my stupid alley. Note the slight accumulation of standing water. This amount of water will probably take a good week or two to fully evaporate.

It's a crap shoot in the suburbs of Chicago if you have alleys behind your house. Brookfield does, while its neighboring suburb LaGrange Park does not.

Our alley is mud with a thin veneer of gravel that remains in place for about a week. Attempts are occasionally made to level out the alley, but this also lasts for about a week.

It's possible to get one's alley paved with some kind of futuristic compound called "concrete", provided the cost be borne by the homeowners whose properties are contiguous with the alley.

You can read all about the ins and outs of Brookfield concrete alleyway requests in a Word document linked to on a helpful FAQ page!

While I go about gathering signatures for an "Alley Paving Petition", please help me assign this alley a name worthy of its suckiness.

Whoever suggests the name I end up using will have the opportunity to provide a doodle idea, which I will doodle for them at no cost.


UPDATE:

Something just occurred to me. I think I am also going to make up a street sign (or as close to a street sign as I can manage) with the winning name, and I am going to place this street sign on the telephone pole in the alley next to my garage, where it will be seen by all other people who have to use this stupid alley.

While I like a lot of the names suggested already, please keep in mind that people seeing the sign should be aware that the name of the alley is expressing how sucky the alley is.


SECOND UPDATE:

I have chosen two winners: Miasma Row and Lake Alley. Miasma Row, because it says how I feel. Lake Alley, because I think that would be the most appropriate sign for me to hammer onto a telephone pole, before the Brookfield authorities inevitably make me take it down.

Bubs and DGuzman, please feel free to suggest a doodle idea, and I will happily doodle one for you!


DOODLE UPDATE:


For DGuzman: The entire BushCo gang falling into the lake in Lake Alley.

I'm Just Wild About Pitfall Harry

Perhaps I shouldn't have groused about my inability to complete the game Pitfall in my recent Atari 2600 post, especially since there's a handy how-to guide to defeating it available on the Internet:

How To Beat Video Games 2 (1982) - Pitfall!

Atari 2600 MEGA Sound Quiz Answers

I cannot begin to tell you of the deluge of letters I have received urging me to reveal the answers to my recent Atari 2600 MEGA Sound Quiz, as I have not received any letters regarding it.

Still, what the heck, I'll post the answers now anyway.

Sound 01 - Adventure

Adventure was my absolute favorite game for the Atari 2600. I don't care that the dragons looked like ducks, or the sword was a left-pointing arrow. It was just a great game. When I got tired of playing the three levels of difficulty, I would then play around and get eaten by a dragon, then wait for the bat to come by and fly me around the world. Good times.


Sound 02 - Superman

This was a fun game, too. There was Lex Luthor with a helicopter backpack, flying pieces of Kryptonite, Lois Lane (who would kiss you to give you back your superpowers if you were hit by a piece of the Kryptonite), pieces of a blown-up bridge you had to assemble, etc. Being the naughty gamer that I was, there was a trick my brother and I would often pull at the end of the game. After you put all the bad guys in jail and restore the bridge, you return to the phone booth and change back to Clark Kent. You then have to walk to the Daily Planet to end the game. If you did it just right and got hit by Kryptonite as Clark Kent, then walked into the Daily Planet just as Ms. Lane was moving to give you a kiss, the game would end with both figures standing in the same place. The back of Lois Lane's dress would appear to be Clark Kent's erect penis (heh heh heh heh)

Clark Kent with a boner



Sound 03 - Haunted House

This may sound silly to you, but this game is pretty scary. You hear the wind pick up and you know there's death in your future. It's a good, tense game.


Sound 04 - Combat

I don't know if this was the case for everyone, but when we purchased our Atari 2600 console this game was included. I spent many a frustrated moment getting my ass kicked by my older brother.


Sound 05 - Airlock

I'll admit that this game did not have the best graphics or sound effects. Still, I had a fun time playing it. You had to escape a sinking submarine before the water drowned you. There just aren't enough games out there whose gameplay centers around drowning, are there?


Sound 06 - No Escape

Ah, the first appearance on the quiz by a game made by Imagic! Imagic games always had nifty multicolored sprites. In this game, you had to destroy various creatures by shooting tiles in a Roman temple so they would fall and crash on them. There are a variety of songs in this game, and they are all exceptionally groovy.


Sound 07 - Demon Attack

Another great game from Imagic. The creatures you needed to shoot would move all funky and erratic, as if they didn't want to get hit. Silly creatures!


Sound 08 - Pac-Man

A universally despised port of the celebrated arcade classic. The sounds are particularly annoying. I know the Atari had memory limitations, but how hard would it be to include the beloved "wakka-wakka" sound, anyway?


Sound 09 - Dodge 'Em

Fun, fun, fun driving game. One car tries to eat up all the dots, while the other car(s) try to crash into the car to stop it. You could play two-player on this game as well - with one person doing the dot-eating and the other person doing the car-crashing.


Sound 10 - Swordquest: Earthworld

The crappiest game I have ever played on the Atari 2600. Terrible.


Sound 11 - Pitfall

Finally, an Activision game makes an appearance on the quiz!

Activision made some great games for the Atari 2600. I also really appreciated their design aesthetic, even at my young age. Their cartridges were always a solid color, with bold white lettering spelling the title of the game. For some reason, it was just cool.

I would sometimes get angry at the Pitfall game, because there was a twenty minute time limit on the game and I could never finish it. I don't know if the game was completable or not.


Sound 12 - Chopper Command

Another game by Activision, where you pilot a helicopter that shoots airplanes and other helicopters in order to protect a truck convoy. A fun game. The helicopter's lasers (yes, you pilot a laser-shooting helicopter!) have a really nice sound to them.


Sound 13 - Megamania

Yet another game by Activision, and probably my favorite of theirs. Another Space Invaders descendant, except this time you shoot tires, cookies, bow ties, and hamburgers. I love the sounds of this game.


Sound 14 - Dragonfire

A reasonably entertaining game from Imagic, which consisted of a couple different scenes. It was kinda fun jumping over and ducking dragon fireballs, I guess.


Sound 15 - Yar's Revenge

Awesome, unique game. Great sound effects, great pulsating music in the background.


Sound 16 - E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial

Programmed by the same person who made Yar's Revenge. Hated throughout the land, primarily because of annoying holes that E.T. falls into, and falls into again, and falls into again, and...


Sound 17 - Vanguard

A nice port of the arcade game. Am I the only one who knows about this game? Oh, and my apologies to SamuraiFrog, who thought this was Flash Gordon. I said I didn't think there was a Flash Gordon game for the 2600, but there is (but I have never played it).


Sound 18 - Berzerk

The voice synthesizer from the arcade game is missing here, but it's still a very faithful version.


Sound 19 - Bowling

Sounds like it might be boring, but it's a fairly enjoyable game.


Sound 20 - Ms. Pac-Man

I am not really a fan of any of the Pac-Man games (in the arcade or on the Atari) but this version is infinitely better than the Pac-Man port.


Sound 21 - Donkey Kong

Unlike Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, I actually liked playing Donkey Kong in the arcade. This version was a bitter disappointment.


Sound 22 - Fantastic Voyage

This was one of the best cartridges I played on the 2600. It was produced by 20th Century Fox, who also produced the 1966 film. This game had so many neat features (no Raquel Welch, though) -- the heartbeat of the patient to give you an indication of his health, blood cells, antibodies that would attack you when you brushed up against arterial walls, etc. It's a game that probably a lot of people never got to play, which is a shame.


Sound 23 - Dolphin

Another game from Activision, and one which I had not played until recently. It was programmed by friend of the blog Matty Boy!


Sound 24 - Fast Food

Not the best game in the world. For God's sake, don't eat the purple pickles!


Sound 25 - Spider-Man

I remember seeing commercials for this and being really bummed out I never got my hands on the cartridge. After playing it through an emulator, I don't regret so much its absence from my youth. It's an okay game, but not great.


Sound 26 - M.A.D.

Sort of a ripoff of Missile Command, but I like it a lot better. I really like the low bass tones this game generates. I can't recall another 2600 game with sounds as deep as this game.


Sound 27 - Boxing

Another game from Activision, this one a little more sparse than their other cartridges. It's pretty addictive though, and you get a good feeling every time you land a punch on your opponent's stupid head.


Sound 28 - Warlords

A wickedly fun game. You could play four players at once, which was pretty amazing to me as a kid.


Sound 29 - Laser Blast

One of my least favorite Activision cartridges. But, the lasers looked cool at least.


Sound 30 - Frogger

A very decent translation of the popular arcade game.


So, if you are feeling the need to actually play any of these games, do what I did:

1) Download Stella, the wonderful Atari 2600 emulator. They currently have installations for Windows, Mac and Linux.
2) Each link I provided in the above answers takes you to an Atari Age page for the game. Look for a "Download ROM" link and save the zip file. Save off all your ROMS into one place, and when you start up Stella, point it to the folder containing your ROMS.
3) Enjoy yourself, you crazy minx, you!