Following Tuesday’s adventures, our band went to a park I have never been to (unless you count California’s version of 30 years ago… ITHASN’T BEEN THAT LONG).  All I can say is OH, MY GOODNESS.  Universal Studios Florida features 2 worlds and something for everyone that is even cheaper than going to Disney (but I love Disney, too).  The first ride we caught was Jimmy Newtron’s Nicktoon Blast.  If you have young kids who enjoy watching the cartoon characters on Nickelodeon this is a must stop area.  Not only was the ride fun but in the shop following the ride, I saw Spongebob Squarepants.  Outside (not Nicktoon characters but still…) we saw Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, and the Mystery Machine.  Unfortunately, they were on their way out before we could get a photo.

Next ride was one that has been hyped since I was invited to go in late August-early September.  Let me tell you, if you enjoy the thrill of a roller coaster and the chills of a haunted house… you must ride Revenge of the Mummy.  The only problem being… and this is not the last time it happened… I was the jinx who caused the coaster to malfunction.  I’m not sure which ride started it off… maybe taylhis will be able to remind me… but it seemed that if there was a chance that a ride would stop, there I was in the middle.  This was even more memorable because Chris and I were trapped in the hot room.  But we eventually came to the ride’s climax.  It is a doozy.

The third highlight (not that I did not love ALL OF THE ATTRACTIONS… I could spend hours elaborating), was based on one of my favorite animated series.  The entire area surrounding the Simpson’s Ride is devoted to Springfield.  Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa… don’t think we saw Maggie were all there.  There is also a Quik-E-Mart featuring Squishees that we had to have.  We have been trying to figure out in which episode of the series Mr. Burns proclaims that his lunch consists of “One boullion cube.”  Anyone? But the simulated roller coaster is just a blast too.  It actually creates the sensation (however slight) of being on a coaster while being immersed in an animated adventure with the cast.  Animated thrill rides have come along way since even Star Tours was introduced at the now named Hollywood Studios at Disney World.

It is a seasonal thing… I was going to post a news article about a big spider in Australia, but after seeing some of the pictures, I decided not to. If you really want to look it up, it was about a spider the size of a person’s hand dining on a bird.

What really interests me is that there are so many different arachnids around the world. I always thought of the tarantulas as the big spiders. The tarantulas are not web weavers in general. But here was a rather large spider in Australia that actually spun a web that caught the bird.

Anyway what caught my attention to this story was the bird being the victim here. If I remember the song correctly the bird ate the spider, after it ate the fly….

Now who started going through the rest of the song???

Yes, that’s right the old video game of Pong, OK, actually it was the first video game, not quite Pong.

I’m old enough to remember the first Pong games in the city of Toledo. They was one located in the entry of a K-mart store. At least I think it was a K-Mart. I remember the game, not really the store local. 1 quarter allowed you to play the game. My older brother would let me play it on his cash. Well, he was 12 years older and had a job, I was around 12 when they first came out. I remember those few games with my brother. I looked up to him, and he had time for a jerky little kid.

Fast forward a few years, and there were video arcades, games in bars, and of course home game systems. They all really started because of Pong. If you read the links, you will have found out that Pong was not the first video game. It was the first game to really take the home market. The same game you had to pay a quarter for, you could play for free at home whenever you wanted.

Back in the 80’s there was PacMan, Ms PacMan, DigDug, Q*bert, Centipede and many others. These also came to the home market. Soon the home market was bigger than the Arcade business, so much so that you are hard pressed to find any independent arcades anymore. There are some arcades in a few restaurants, or in Family activity centers that deal with things you just can’t fit in your home. Me I grew up in the age of the arcade. There was an arcade in almost every mall. There were arcades set out by themselves or in strip malls. Turn a corner and you could find a place to play a video game. I liked these games, and was very good at a few of them.

Then came the home consoles. I never did get the hang of those games. Quirky joy sticks that didn’t work quite the same as the arcade. No heavy duty track balls. No big red firing buttons. Then the games started to use game pads. Tiny buttons that you had to know exactly which one to push and when. Nope, never got into those. At first I said it was because the graphics were so poor on the home games, then of course it was the poor joy sticks. But of course the graphics got better than anything we saw in the arcades, but the interface was still not quite right.

A reader of this blog, and a friend pointed the way to arcade style controls in his blog. It would be interesting to have my own arcade style game, but for me not really needed. I have enough to fill my time right now, I don’t need to add an additional hobby. Sounds like fun, if someone wants to invite me to play on their home arcade, well I’d be willing to give it a whirl, but I won’t be putting in my own. Has to be someone with lots of room though. Those arcade games can take up a bit of space….

Does anyone remember the old Atari game console? What were your favorites? I found a list here. My favorite, was Pong at the arcade machine with my brother…

On the topic of The Legend of Zelda I brought up a couple of posts ago, here are a few videos I turned up at Youtube/Google Video.  Enjoy!

[google-video]https://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2967926040995072267[/google-video]

Hilarious live action parody.  College video, so has some foul language at a couple of points.

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Japanese Legend of Zelda dance.  ‘Nuff said.

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Different live action video.  Funny soundtrack too.

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Remember I mentioned getting so into the first Zelda that I had a book of maps I drew?  Well, this could have been me if I had a video camera at the time and was more outgoing…

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Legend of Zelda the movie!  Wait, what was that release date again?

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[google-video]https://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4275555552047254064[/google-video]

Two in one- Super Mario Bros. and Legend of Zelda live in concert!  Be warned, this is a two hour video and has the music from these games in the styles of Jazz, Latin, Country and Bluegrass.  Performed September 14th, 2003 at the Nihon Seinenkan Hall in Tokyo, Japan.  I haven’t watched this yet but it looked interesting enough to post here.

HELLO EVERY PEOPLE!!! Morat he a go to Flor-ida country also.  One day, the two little girl people and Morat go outside and a find many, many snails.  We a put them inside a big bowl but we a run out of a room, so we a get bigger bowl.  Then, it was a time to go to the big, round golf ball.  But a before that, Morat he a go to a share time place.

This man person giving tour laugh at Morat very much. He say Morat should a go to Vegas.  He take Morat around the share time place and he see many womans working there. It a good thing woman not give me tour.  I say, Morat will a not take tour from womans.   He ask if they are married womans.  Some say yes.  I ask if they will go on Wife Swap trading on tv box.  They all say no.  I say Wooly Sheep.  They a just laugh and turn a red face.  Finally, strange man finish talking about share of time.  Morat say no thank you very much.

Morat then wait looooooong time for OHHO people to finish at their share time.  Man who gave talk come back a to Morat and say, “You’re still here?”I no understand a dis share time.  It a sound like a bunch of how you say, tech no speak.

When OHHO people come to a pick up Morat, they a go to the COT of EP at the Mouse house.  Many, many strange things.  We a go visit other countries like a you say No Way, and Mexico country.  I a tell little people to bring the snails to France for de escargot.  but a one thing I no understand.  WHERE IS LISWATHISTAN!!!  NO LISWATHISTAN AT MOUSE HOUSE!!! I WILL SUE DE MOUSE FOR 1 BOULLION CUBE!!! Or I just let Mouse drink all the soda of Italy.  Not a so good 🙁

But Morat a like many other things at eP of COT.  I like a the Big Golf ball ride.  OHHHHH… the woman inside sound a like the woman who is the boss of Oh-oh-Seven… her name is a M.

I a also like a very much the ride of Ellen.  Is Ellen married woman?  She a seem a little strange to me.  Ellen goes on Jeopardy on tv box.

But my a favorite part of the Golf Ball Place is the Soarin’.  Wooly Sheep.  EVERYONE WINS!!!  OH, Morat almost a forget about the little Fig ride.  The smelly animal made a big stink.  And little person say Morat made a stink.

My first night in Orlando was spent at a dinner theatre entitled Arabian Nights.  The theatrical portion was a charming story featuring a female genie in training.   However, the story took second place to the real stars of the show: a group of beautiful horses and their acrobatic riders.  There was daring stunts, magical scenes, a chariot race, and (my favorite part) the antics of the clownish rider.  Amazingly enough, the riders were varied in terms of experience although they all seemed to have been riding since birth.

The activity was not limited to the stage. The two year old member of our group decided that she was going to venture out on her own.  “I’ll be right back,” she said.  Fortunately, her escape was thwarted and all was well with our band.

Following the show, I got my first glimpse of the accomodations I would be using AFTER we made a slight detour back to Old Town.  At the condo, we decided to place an order that would become a staple the next two nights: pizza (specifically, Domino’s… if you want to call it pizza).  So, if you are planning a trip to Orlando and want to break away from the parks for a few hours, plan a trip to Arabian Nights, especially if your family includes small children.

The last 4 days have been some of the best times I have had in ages.  I was invited to go along to Orlando with my closest and dearest friends and their four children.  I flew out to meet them Sunday afternoon.  I flew from Toledo to Detroit (airtime a total of 17 minutes… strange) to Orlando International Airport (total airtime 2 hrs. and 2 mins).  On board the flight from Detroit, I shared my row with a family of four from Detroit.  The mother and 4 year old daughter shared my half while the father and little boy were across the aisle.  The little boy had a heart condition which caused him to need an oxygen tank.  And he slept the entire flight.  “He can sleep through anything.”  On the other hand, the precocious girl kept peering around asking all the pertinent questions (“Are we there yet?”) and looking out the window.  She even commented that the could see her house the we left behind hundreds of miles ago.  Adorable.

Before leaving, I wanted to take something to read to pass the time.  While approaching the gate for my flight in Detroit, I looked into the Borders Book Store to see if anything caught my eye.  I found Ian Fleming’s complete James Bond short stories in a volume entitled Quantum of Solace
.  AHHA… that is from whence the new movie takes its name.  I have gottem through the first  couple of stories and find it interesting that many of the movies are spliced together from plot lines from these stories.  The movie For Your Eyes Only is derived from the story of the same name as well as another entitled Risico.

Onto Orlando… Upon arriving, I decided to check in with my hosts.  After claiming my bag, I proceeded to the shuttle service and ATTEMPTED to get a transport to Old Town.  Unfortunately for me, the people at the counter knew nothing about where I wanted to go.  An older gentleman did not know the area at all.  His female counterpart acted like I was from outer space.  Via cell phone, Chris attempted to locate a stop at which the shuttle could drop me off, to no avail.  In the end, I took a cab to the amusement area that was reminiscent of a county fair or small amusement park.

After arriving at Old Town, I walked through the park rolling my suitcase and my carry on bag.  I’m sure that more than a few strange glances were given.  I did not care because I was about to join my friends and have a great few days.  I did get to ride the roller coaster that was very similar to the Wildcat at Cedar Point (I think the ride is still there), and the giant pirate ship that swings back and forth.  I’m glad Lisa and I decided to ride in the middle of the boat because she said that she was unsure if she would have been able to survive the ride closer to either of the ends.

Before we left the park, Chris and I looked at a ride that seemed to sling shot its riders high in the air.  Although the ride looked like a lot of fun, the $25 ticket price was more that I wanted to spend.  One thing though, I left my folder containing my flight info needed for my return on a bench inside the park.  Thankfully, some good soul found it and we were later contacted.

Well it has been quite some time since I played Dungeons and Dragons. Even longer since I played a Paladin. And I found out that sometime between the time I last played one to the current time, the Paladin (Holy Knight) went from being a scourge to all that is evil, to a joke commonly referred to as Lawful-Stupid.

If you are familiar with the game, it is one that takes place in the minds of the players. One person sets up the location/world/adventure, the others take their generated characters through this world. There are many different types of “Role Playing” games. Some take place in modern times, others in the realm of comic book heroes. I’ve played both of these types and many more. My favorite by far has been the realm of fantasy fiction dealing with Swords and Magic. That is the realm of Dungeons and Dragons.

I played at the time when many religious groups thought this was nothing better than evil incarnate. I had many conversations with them in my college days. What they never knew was that good generally triumphed over evil. Good characters of the “worlds” were generally more powerful than the evil. Good characters would band together and stay together more easily by the very rules of the game. Playing evil characters could be fun, but you generally ended up playing alone, or you hid your evilness from the others of the group. After watching many games, movies and reading a whole lot of books, my general rule for life is “Never work for the Bad Guy”. That only gets you a really short life. In the realm of Dungeons and Dragons, evil rarely prospered. This did change occasionally from group to group, but for the most part the rules stayed consistent in this.

Now back to the Paladin character. They were the protectors of all that was lawful and good. And if played well, they could become the most powerful characters in the game. They would have the backing of their order, followers and religion to help conquer evil. As I was saying, somewhere from the time I last played this type of character and today, they became a joke in some circles. From what I can gather, and have seen this was true in a lot of cases. The people playing this character did not know what it was to be Lawful and Good. The character from this ended up somewhere between “Dudley Do-Right” and the “Super Friends”, without the dumb luck of Dudley, or the massive power of the Super Friends. The name “Lawful-Stupid” was a good fit. Hopefully I can play this character with a bit more flair…

This of course got me wondering why would someone have a hard time playing a character that was “lawful-good”. By definition this is someone who obeys orders, follows the rules, deeply devotional, regimented in all they do, looks out for the poor, helps the needy and cares for the weak. All in all sounds like a good type to be around. But this was not somebody who ‘blindly’ followed the rules, or obeyed corrupt orders. They should help the poor, needy and week, but not just by charity. Teaching them to fend for themselves, lifting them out of their need and weakness would be the best choice. Too much devotion to the spiritual can make you blind to the world around you. If you have this spiritual calling, it is best to share it with those around you, at least by example. Regimented life can also go too far. Being too picky about the order of the day, can make you miss out on opportunities to help others. Sometimes this can be very difficult, especially with peer pressure. Do you then scale back your beliefs, or follow them to an extreme. In either case you have warped them from what they once were. You are no longer a person of conviction, but one of wishy-washy behavior. In other words somewhat of a joke.

Now in the preceding paragraph was I talking about the game, or real life? I don’t think that matters a lot. People have a hard time playing a Good character, and some have trouble being Good in real life. It is all in how we view the world. I am trying to play a “good” character in a game I get to play with my oldest daughter and her (dare I say my?) friends. I try to be a “good” person in my daily life. I’ll let you know which one is easier….

It is a specials time for me this week.  Yes, I did mean to spell it that way.  Monday I subbed for art in an elementary school and today I did music in middle school.  This day was one of those times where I did the same lesson for all classes.  Yes, that means all grades from 1st to 4th did the exact same thing.  Why would they all do the same thing?  Well, apparently Metra is sponsoring a safety poster contest and have done so for the last couple of years.  Kids from kindergarten through high school make posters that have to deal with safety around trains.  Each grade competes in their own contest so a 1st grader, for example, doesn’t have to go up against a middle schooler.  Some of the posters from last year are really good.  Too good in some cases I think.  Check out this poster for example:

This looks like a fine 2nd or 3rd grade entry, but kindergarten?  Hmm…  The previous year’s kindergarten winner looks a bit more age-appropriate.  So the kids got the details and started working on ideas for their posters, due in a short four months.  Anyway, check out all the previous winners at:

2007-2008 Winners
2006-2007 Winners

Today as I wrote above I did music.  This was a most enjoyable experience for me because I got to show videos for movie musicals.  6th grade got to see one of my favorites, Oliver! Well, the start of it.  Having been in Oliver! I was really able to get into it with the kids and talk a little about it and my own experience.  8th grade was next and they continued watching Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.  That’s right, the old one which in my opinion has the better Willy Wonka, played by Gene Wilder.  No offense to Johnny Depp’s acting, but that interpretation of the character just didn’t work at all for me.  Not much to say about this.  They were engaged 8th graders, and that’s what was important. 😀  A couple in the second class asked if I could skip the songs.  Let’s see now, the class is music and he wanted me to skip the music.  I think you can guess what my answer was as we continued to listen to “I’ve Got a Golden Ticket.” 😈

Moving to 7th grade (last classes of the day and relevant to the topic title) we got to see the start of Singin’ in the Rain.  I’ve never seen this before believe it or not.  It is now on the reserve shelf at the library waiting for me to pick it so I can finish it since I saw only the first 35 minutes of it, twice.  If you’ve seen this movie then you know there are some kissing scenes in it, several of them.  I couldn’t believe it when one of the seventh grade classes had some boys going “ewww” during these scenes.  I heard “cooties” as well, but to be fair this was probably a joke reaction to the ewws.  I would expect this from 4th graders, but I would have supposed the sex education the kids get in public schools would have desensitized them to things like kissing.  I guess not.  I guess I learn something every day. 🙂

Check this Oliver Twist picture out (click image for larger version)- funny! 😀

Mike R. Baker

Okay, I’m shifting gears for a post.  I really have nothing exciting to report for the last couple of days.  The second 6th-grade day went much like the first, though my perception of it was better because I really enjoyed working with the kids.  5th and 6th are probably my favorite age group to work with, though sometimes with a class that is a real problem I might let that get in the way and no longer enjoy it.  Friday was an ELL primary day.  It was a resource class so I worked with groups an hour at a time.  All we did was play board games.  Educational board games, but still.

So, why not talk about probably my favorite game series of all time?  I believe 1986 or 1987 was the year that the first Legend of Zelda was released here in the US.  When I received this game (gift I think) I was impressed with both the gold-colored cartridge and the fact that it actually saved games, no need to enter a long password to continue a game.  Never mind that later I would find out the consequence of this battery-backed save system was the game periodically being erased, something that couldn’t happen with a password system, though incorrectly writing down one could generate the same frustration.  I played and played this game, making my own book of maps which I still have somewhere.  When the quest was finished it really wasn’t because now there was another quest to play and map.

About a year later a new game game out- Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.  Though very different than the first, I still played this game a lot though I don’t remember mapping it like I mapped the first.  There is an interesting story to this one.  The US wasn’t the first to get a release of this game.  I was able to get an imported copy of it for a little over $100 at Gamer’s Paradise.  This was apparently a European release, or at least it had a multilanguage manual indicative of European releases.  The funny part of this story is that our admin here may have provided Gamer’s Paradise with the very copy I purchased, according to him!  I hadn’t even met him at this time but now of course we are close friends.

The third and fourth games in the series, for the SNES and Gameboy I had to wait to play as I didn’t own the systems.  I think C lent me his SNES to play that Zelda game, but the Gameboy one would have to wait for emulation on the computer before I would play that one, the color version of course.  Similarly, I would play the two Oracle games this way as well.  I never did try linking the two games with the emulator to get the bonus content that owners of both games would get after completing both.

In 2000 two programmers would make waves in the emulation world, fielding the wrath of Nintendo with their release of an emulator for a system that was still selling in stores- the Nintendo 64.  It required a 3DFX card and didn’t play many games, but one of the games it was made to play was none other than Ocarina of Time- the first Zelda in 3D.  Nintendo did an excellent job updating this game for 3D which was unlike many older games updated to a first-person 3D perspective and I soon found myself buying a 3D card for my computer to play this game.  Why didn’t I just spend my money on the N64 system and Zelda?  I don’t know- I guess I am more computer-centric and it must have been cheaper.  When the next title came out, Majora’s Mask, and it didn’t play well with emulators, C came to the rescue again and lent me his N64 this time so I could play this.  Different than the first N64 title, but still quite fun.

Over the last several years my need to play games, including Zelda, has been waning.  I did eventually obtain a Gamecube with Windwaker and eventually Twilight Princess (which I stopped about halfway through over a year and a half ago and haven’t picked up since), but I haven’t played games like the Four Swords adventures, the Minish Cap, or the Phantom Hourglass to name a few.  One of these days I may pick up a used DS, but considering how much I actually play games these days my money is probably better spent on other things.

Want to play Zelda-style games for free?  I’m not talking about emulation here, and certainly not about theft :o.  I’m talking about a program that can make and play games in the style of the original Legend of Zelda.  While the games are in the style of the original NES game, the graphics and sound on the adventures many people make are more in the line of later systems.  Some even use custom graphics to make non-Zelda games.  Zelda Classic can be had for Window, Linux, and OSX.  You can get Zelda Classic and quest files (the custom quests) at:

Zelda Classic main site (https://www.zeldaclassic.com/) (You can also get the main program for Windows here)

PureZC (https://www.purezc.com/)

Both sites have forums too, for discussion of Zelda Classic and quests for it.  If you want Zelda Classic for Linux, OSX, or just recent builds for Windows (only recent builds work correctly with Vista) you have to get it at https://www.shardstorm.com/. You will have to scroll down to find the latest Linux or OSX builds as the most recent are for Windows only.

Well, I hope you don’t mind my post on retrogaming.  I’ll get back to subbing news when I have something interesting to post.  Until then.