(no subject)

You know that Usenet kook who can't seem to shut up about their pet issue? They might be a corporate schill.

Thanks to ernunnos for the link, and recommending Coors to me.

Be careful in the past!

According to one article, everyone of European descent has at least one common ancestor who lived just a few centuries ago. The implications for genealogy and race relations are obvious, but less obvious are the implications for time travellers.

Have you played Atari today?

Infogrames is commisioning a portable Atari 2600 clone with 10 built-in games. Sweet!

Though QVC actually sold me a pirate Nintendo clone with 50 built-in games for $25

last Christmas. And, to tell the truth, if they really want to impress today's gamers, they should base that mini-console on the Atari 400 or 5200. The reason being that most of your really good arcade games have horrendous Atari 2600 ports, like the notorious Pac-Man, or the seizure-inducing Asteroids with its maddening flicker. But on the Atari 400, Pac-Man is nearly arcade-perfect, while Asteroids has a lot of extra features, and allows up to four players to play simultaneously. But it doesn't seem likely that they'll go that route, since companies have been making pirate 2600 clones with even more built-in games for years, at comparable prices. In contrast, I haven't heard of a clone of any of Atari's more modern consoles. Infogrames would probably have to design it from scratch, and I don't think they're willing to sink that kind of money into that.

In fact, I think the only reason they're releasing this clone is because someone came to them with a warehouse full of unsold $10 pirate machines and told them "I bet you could sell these for $20 if there were an official Atari logo on them!"

We'll see, though.

Long nights and small talk.

Last night, I went to the Bash on Ash, not for the usual swing dance night, but for the Rush tribute band playing to celebrate the release of Rush's new album. I'd never seen a tribute band before, and I kind of liked Rush, so I decided to give it a try. It took me a while to relax enough to really enjoy the music, but once I did I had a blast. The vocalist sounded exactly like Rush's vocalist, which I imagine must be rare. What's the Italian word that describes a voice like that?

My ears started ringing after a couple of hours, so I left and went to the lake where the displaced swing dancers had gathered. Not much mojo, but it was easier to talk to people there than it is when we dance at the Bash, so I enjoyed myself. Since I showed up late, I stayed until nearly midnight, when everyone else started to gather their things and leave.

I wondered whether the band was still playing at Bash, so I went back just in time to hear the last few riffs of the last song. I also got to be there while they called off some raffle ticket numbers, and one of them was ONE OFF from the one they gave me. Drat. They were going to play the new CD after the band left, but the room was full of smoke from all the pyrotechnics they used, and it was getting late. So I decided to call a cab from there and go home.

I noticed that outside the concert, I had engaged in far more small talk with the people around me than I used to on occasions like this. Perhaps my time in Europe taught me to reach out a little. But, now that quantity is up, quality seems to be down, as in the last 24 hours, most of the jokes I've tried to tell have fallen flat, and many of the things I've said have made little sense to those around me. I suppose now that I'm out of my shell and all that, I should just shut up and listen to people.

And there's a perfect opportunity for that this Sunday, where at the Border's Books in downtown Tempe, there's an Elvis Costello listening party. Having heard blergeatkitty rave about him for so long, I know I can expect to have a good time, and even meet some great people.

(no subject)

I'm taking tomorrow off.

Because I'm working Saturday.

Know any good movies I could see?

(no subject)

Ms. Pac-Man helps fight breast cancer!