Survey time

Can someone out there help? I can't decide which one of these is more erotic. They sure look good together.

consumer electronics recapitulate video game history

It's time to finally write down my theory from at least 10 years ago when I noticed how excited people were to play simple games such as hangman on the web when 8-bit computers like the Apple ][ did it over a decade earlier. The theory in a nutshell is:

As a technology develops the games it can play retraces the history of video games

It's either profound or obvious. There are some exceptions to the rule- most notably Tetris which seems to belong in the late 1970's but debuted in 1985. Plus, of course, some devices are better at certain types of games than others.

So where are we in 2007? People are playing early 1990's games in flash. We can now play Doom (1993) on digital cameras, PDAs, and MP3 players but not without a lot of hacking. These are often linux squeezed onto a consumer electronics device that runs a linux version of Doom. I'm not sure if I should count this kind of hackery.

Speaking of MP3 players, I recently bought my wife a brand new state-of-the-art Apple ipod nano. It comes with four games - two are arcade games: Arrow (a game like Hustle from 1977) and Breakout ( like Breakout from 1976 but not as sophisticated as Super Breakout from 1977). The other two games are a quiz game and solitaire. Videogame versions of those are from the mid 80's at the latest.

Hume Videos

In the forward to a Nancy compilation I have, Ernie Bushmiller's comics are referred to as "hume" ( as in "there's hume, humor, and humest"). No one laughs out loud at Nancy. Here's some "hume" videos: Donald Rumsfeld being silly, a schoolbus driver yukking it up, kids throwing ping-pong balls around and a crazy Japanese Pac-Man reenactment.

True this

What's your favorite 100-year old comic strip? Mine is The Outbursts of Everett True. It's a two-panel strip. Mr. True gets irritated in panel one and beats the crap out of the object of his irritation in panel 2. Really, what more do you need? More info here, but the first link is all you really need.

Goal!

Here's a whole page of this stuff, but this one's my favorite.

Bumwines

Read every single review on bumwine.com, especially the one for Cisco and Thunderbird. They claim Ripple is no longer made, I googled around and found that Fred G. Sanford mixes it with Cream Soda to make Cripple and with Champaigne to make Champipple, and (my favorite) with Beaujolais to make Beaujolipple.

Have a seat

About a grillion mashups on this site. Some of the mashups are interesting such as "doobie brothers vs. montell jordan", or flawless like "Michael Jackson vs. Stevie Wonder - Isn't She Lovely (CCC) (093)" but grab something nailed down and take a listen to the "Beastie Boys vs. Benny Goodman - Sw Swing it out (DJ Trip) (095)" from Mashups - Volume 1

Hi there. You scared the crap out of me.

I've only seen a few episodes, but I can honestly say it's more than a cheap Simpsons rip off.
For example, it has more Randy Newman references than any other cartoon I know ( family guy 1, all others 0). Check out the Family Guy multimedia archive for a taste. If you don't like that, then check out NWA's Fuck the Police with all the non-rude words removed.

Friday 3

1. Love Nine Inch Nails, but wish it were more gay? Voila!
2. Like jokes, but tired of funny punchlines? Voila!
3. Like Bill Maher's "New Rules" but are too cheap to pay for HBO? Voila! (you do still collect baseball cards, right?)

Whining Rap

Check out this kid rapper. Some of the best lyrics are near the end "I'm not mad because you're a cartoon character and you're gay for me"

100 Funniest Jokes of All Time

Check out this official list of 100 Funniest Jokes of All Time. You know it's accurate because it contains TWO Rita Rudner jokes and one by my favorite comedian Abraham Lincoln: "If this is coffee, please bring me some tea. If this is tea, please bring me some coffee"

Tufte Chapter

Yesterday Edward Tufte released a draft of another chapter of his upcoming book. Balls.