80's Movie Retro! WARGAMES

I remember this movie with Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, the guy from 9 to 5 and the other guy from Northern Exposure (man, I know my actors, don't I? LOL)

The reason this particular movie sticks in my head, was because the first time I had seen it. And it wasn't at home or at the movie theater, but in Junior High!





Right, I guess you're wondering why we weren't getting an education instead, we're watching T.V. in school. I think it was due to an event the school wanted to put on for the students for fun. To get rid of the stress created by Jr. High challenges. Perhaps, it was to have us students relate to the "coming of age" that the movie also portrays a rebelious student and his "attitude" problem as he makes his way to the administrative office.

I wonder if he deliberately got in trouble for the sole purpose of stealing the school computers password.

Funny, how clerks back then didn't know the actual value of the secure nature of the password, and just wrote the passwords on a list in plain site for everyone to see. Of course, I guess they figured no one would have use for those passwords, or even know what it was actually for. As far as they knew, it could've been someone's grocery list.

I found it awesome to see someone in the movie playing the Coin-OP games I always played. (Galaga in his case)

Now, there's this part in the movie where he decides to have his computer autodial every phone number listing in the area until an actual computer from a gaming company picked up (you could tell, because you could hear some callers answer his computer with "hello?")

Now THAT'S a dedicated gamer!!

But, now that I'm older, I think back and wondered.

1. Did people at home have access to modem technology at that time period?

2. If they DID have that kind of technology, did computer companies actually have phone numbers for THEIR computers that not only answered, but ALLOWED outside calls to come in just so they could respond? I found that hard to buy. I'm wondering how these other computers even have their own dedicated phone number so kids like him are able to even dial them.

3. I laughed when the computer asked him, "Shall We Play A Game?" that he answered with "Global Thermal Nuclear War", back then, people didn't even USE acronyms. Wouldn't it have been EASIER to just say, "I want to play GTNW"??

Resistance of Girl Nerdom is FUTILE!

Resistance of Girl Nerdom is FUTILE!

(Indeed it was futile, and indeed I could not resist. Resistance is Buddhaful :)

A story on how I thought this all came to be.

To follow-up my retro blog entry about video games and their evolution since the 80's, I thought I would talk about the evolution of the “Nerdy Girl”.

Now, I am just talking from my OWN take/my OWN personal experience. Perhaps I was ignorant at that time in my life, but...as far as I know, there were no nerdy women. At least, as far as I knew. Correct me if I am wrong, but did they keep on the down low?

AS FAR AS I KNEW.....women didn't really read comic books, women didn't read/watched Sci-Fi, and women never played Pac-Man. (Perhaps they played Ms. Pac-man? Who knows). If they had been entertain themselves the way nerdy men did, they probably did it hiding or in secret. The women I knew of were mostly into girly-girl things like “My Little Pony”, "Punky Brewster" and “Care Bears”.

The stigma of “The Nerd” stuck with mostly men. Men with lack of social skills and probably didn't get out much. You had “The Nerd” and you had “The Jock". Well, this is probably how HOLLYWOOD portrayed us.

As displayed in such movies such as "Revenge of the Nerds" and "Can't Buy Me Love" (the latter which made a more significant impact on me revealing bologna of the system of classes and labels), nerds were also portrayed as the brainiacs of these flicks, solving problems, and possibly impressing the blonde ditzy girly-girl with his brains and perhaps thinking twice about the advantage of even dating a nerd. It's nice to have someone that can help you out academically.

Often times, the women in these movies are portrayed at the cheerleader type who dates the members of the football team. How cliche'd, right?

The beautiful people vs. the nerdy people. Define "nerdy" and "beautiful" after all , it's in the eye of the beholder.

Fast forward to the present. I'm not sure how this whole nerd thing with women caught on, but I think it actually evolved along with the rest of society's appreciation for diversity, so now it's cool for women to be nerdy, too.

Now we see women dressed in gorgeous costumes and looking very similar to their comic book counterparts. You have a potpourri of nerds of ALL types and sub-cultures actually. It's a big melting pot of nerdom! I love it!

To NOTE though, one thing I have noticed in the year 2009 at recent conventions. The age groups of nerds.

Female nerds, teen aged to college aged make-up the majority of female nerdom, fewer women in their mid to late 20's, and 30's and beyond...it's like finding the Loch Ness Monster,

Though, while men continue to age into their golden years as they always have in their love for their hobbies, women who reach a certain age seem to, stop? I could be wrong on this though, but this is my own personal demographic that I had come across. But that's just a small amount. Perhaps their priorities change? It's a big mystery.

The younger group seem more focused on the Anime' related niche' (there is an accent mark in niche' right?)

Anyhow....wait...this just in! Apparently, Screamer, a mid-to-late 30's woman has been sighted! Hold on a second...lemme bring 'er up .....

Yowsa! Watch we're you're pointin' Megatron!

Apparently she has been to BotCon and looks like she had made a recent blog that she'll be on mynerdgirl.com

She's armed with a mic and a cobra cape Looks like we'll see some footage there. Man, this nerd girl thing is getting me excited! It's nice to have common interests with such ladies. ;-)

Well, I think I'll endt his for this evening, had enough excitement for ONE night. From here on out, ladies keep doin' what you're doing, it is indeed appreciated. And Screamer, I hope those toys don't fall on you during the night. :-)

I have a feeling I'll be posting some more retro stuff, tid-bits and other follow-ups to my previous posts.


- E.T.

Movie Quote of the Post! (Take a Wild Guess!): "I'd buy THAT for a dollar!"

All The Retro, Where Did It Go? The Video Game Evolution

I am a child of the 80's, back in the days of Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Tempest, etc. Remember the Coin-Operated games?

Then the Atari came out, and it's "Clone" "Sears Video Arcade" (it has the extra black and white lever, yes a game console that had LEVERS on it....guess the first game consoles were "machines" not systems)

I had the Sears Video Arcade. I got it for Christmas. Prior to that, I would make a B-Line in Sears just to play the displays they had on.....display (sorry, late night and I don't feel like using a Thesaurus). They had two systems at the time...the Nintendo and the Sears Video Arcade, go figure it was in a Sears store.

When I got the system for Christmas, I got the game that came with it, some kind of Target Shooting game and of course "Space Invaders" (notice my over usage of quotes in my post)

Hit game for the Atari in the 80's? PITFALL!

I recall a friend showing me a trick by pausing the game just as the opening and closing mud pit was, well...closing to the point where it looked like a Chevrolet symbol, he'd pause it and express, "Chevo-leeeeeeet" actually, it was more like "Chevo-laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!".

And what the heck was with that gosh awful digitized Tarzan yell, no wonder Pitfall Harry was alone in the Jungle, he'd scare them off as opposed to the "yells" well known function.

Ah, the good ol' days where I would play till my eyeballs fell out or my mom would tell me to go outside to play and get some fresh air.

Then came Atari Age Magazine

Then movies that came out that had some kind of video game mention in it, or a kid (such as the prodigy in Wargames) playing Galaga...and then....TRON. Movies that had kids playing video games in it...and back then....NERDS were pretty much outcasts.....basically, if you considered video games a "hobby", and football wasn't "your thing" there was something wrong with you.

But looking forward to being dropped off at the mall or arcade to play the new "Jungle Hunt" game was all I could think about, I was always trying to figure out what would happen if you got to the end of that game.

Also, there were a lack of women back then that just weren't into that kind of thing either.

Anyhow, fast forward to the future...the mid-90's

Hit Coin-Op game for the 90's:

Here they are in NO particular order!:

Killer Instinct

Mortal Kombat!

Street Fighter Series! (My favorite clip)

Hot CONSOLE game for the 90's (at least for me) I would have to say the Dragon Warrior Series, Megaman and Blaster Master


Man, I played these games all weekend, I didn't even care if they did not have saving point, I had to dedicate a full day to finish a game. (I think Dragon Warrior I could save though).

Anyways, to the point of the blog. (Didn't think I had one, didn't you? LOL)

Well, now that it's 2009, and there's a recession going on. The arcade I used to go to, is still there....the one thing I have noticed was the missing counter where the game room attendant you to be. Guess what, there's no game room attendant!! The place is being run like a laundry mat now. LOL Cutting costs man.

And the game rooms of these days are desolate, probably because of the current game systems out these days. I walked into the place, and the OLD games I used to play back in the 90's are STILL there! The screens faded though, just a relic of how things used to be.

I got nostalgic, and thought back to the days when the arcade would be PACKED on a Fri/Sat nights, us lined up taking turns playing the winner at the current fighting games, it was pretty wild and very social.

Now nothing but tumbleweeds in the place.

It's amazing how things have changed. That things aren't how they used to be. Guess people are staying in playing video games. Am I getting to be one of those old people that are complaining about how better video games were then than they are now? Well, I don't mean graphics and quality-wise, but the social aspect of it, it was cool to hang out at those places with friends and movies always depicted the same thing.

I think there used to be more movies in the 80's that either had some kind of video game theme to it, or at least had some kind of arcade on the set.

Remember "You Can't Do That on Television?" The skit "Blips Arcade" even then, video games mainstreamed into the environment itself.

Anyhow, that's enough nostalgia for now.

Talk to you later!

Help Minnie Minnie Vicious Win Kitten Koffin Zombies Pin-Up Contest!

Straight from the MySpace Page of Minnie Minnie Vicious

She announces:

Vote ONCE every 24 hours between NOW May 25th to June 5th!

I met this lovely young lass at a Comic Book convention, she's snuggly, beautiful, and full of personality!

Me and her snugglin

Me and Minnie met this very night the first time at a Convention After-party. I was just dancing my brains out, the whole "dance like no one's watching....." thing....but, I guess someone WAS watching. It was Minnie!

So get your votes going for this honey...you'll get FREE photos from her if you participate!

REGISTER TO VOTE NOW!

Straight from HER blog on MySpace:

Make me YOUR PinUp Calendar Girl!

But to do this...I need your help.

I am participating in the KittenKoffinZombies.Com PinUp Calendar Contest!
And I would really appreciate it if you can take a few mins to vote for me!The voting starts May 25th and ends June 6th - and you are open to vote ONCE EVERY 24 HOURS! :D

To vote, you must create an account, which is VERY quick and easy to do.

Just a User Name and Password. No big deal! Then you can go to the contest area (PinUp Contest) and place your vote!

There, you can also see a few photos of me as well as a quick bio. So take a moment to read that as well! :) Oh! Also, make sure that you have your popup blocker off, since when you click on voting, the lil voting screen pops up!

And if you are going to vote every day, please make sure you have 24 hours
in between each vote or it wont take your vote. Also, the site doesnt
warn you about this after you vote so make sure you keep track of it! I
do know that when you log in, it will say nothing under your username,
or it will say "it hasnt been 24 hours since your last vote" so take a
looksie before you do vote.... remember, your vote counts! :D

Also, (I know...another one) you can create an account per computer (ip address) it tracks this in the votes.

I know it seems like a lot but its not.

Just sign up, and vote once every 24 hours for me! Thanks!!!

You can click on this banner...

Also, feel free to copy and paste it around for me!!!

xox

Minnie Vicious

Ken's Birthday Night of Heroclixing!

Okay, it's been a while since I posted on my Blog here. I figured I'd post my time at my friend's house.

Okay, first I came over and got a GREAT shot of the B-day Cake!

Later I got some footage of Ken's SUPERMAN Collection!

Some up close photos, very nice collection!

Then did...you guessed it some CLICKING!!

Great shot from the bottom up!

Play-by-Play is done in "Thanos Blue"

Okay, the story here, is that it's down to me and Thanos against Aries and Silver Surfer.
Aries later bases me, does a flurry attack and I think misses once, and nails me with the other, he had perplexed his damage (his white power) up 2 points, and had me down to my CCE click and just toughness. It was then my turn, I think did CCE on him doing 5 clicks of damage on him. I took him out. Then it was just me and Silver Surfer, we shot at teach other through hindering terrain, but after being blasted by Aries (god of war) who soften me up, Silver Surfer finished me off, but I have to say THANOS held his own throughout most of the game...even took out Earth 2 Superman with his Pyschic Blast ability!

We also watched "They Call Me Bruce" starring Bruce Campbell! It was a great and fun day!!

Blast From The Past

Remember these cheesy 80's comic book ads? LOL

Heroclix Night at the Evil Tony Realm

Well, since our comic shop closed down and with the "Heroclix Hiatus" among us. We take to our humble abodes to play Heroclix. I designated Saturday Night as Heroclix Night at my place. It was kind of funny, prior to my friends showing up, they mentioned that since the local comic shop closed, they started playing in the Cafe Court instead. LOL. Pretty cool way to improvise, right? There were apparently a good amount of people that showed too. Anyhow, when they arrived at my place, we decided to get out our thousand point teams. I started off as the host and of course had my "Heroclix King" chair, as I sat there pondering with my sweaty brow what move I should make with my favorite 1,000 point clix.

I could tell this was going to be no picnic for me, Thanos, Thor, Silver Surfer, and Stardust! As you can see here, you could see what kind of intimidating adversaries I was up against!

Here were the clix I was up against


Yikes, it was the "Tin Man!" Whatever shall I do??


Before we could go on, Ken had to perform some routine maintenance on Anti-Monitor. Needed to install the batteries to see his eyes "glow"!!


Now here was the "in-game" session of our 1,000 pt game

Later, after this game we played a "5 Favorites" game of Heroclix

Here were my 5



Ken's 5 Favs

Chris's 5 favs (Ares of DC rules!)



Chris's custom clix of his OWN creation. Characters from Smallville

Finally, just a great shot of my Thanos about to be pwned by Superman!