Jenn Frank ·
August 18, 2010 at 9:03 pm
· Filed under Places and Events
Geekadelpha’s Dan Tabor attended the Otakon anime convention in Baltimore a couple weeks ago, and today he uploaded his photographs to Flickr! And while I am ordinarily unmoved by cosplay, for some reason, all of these earnest, grinning kids really sell it for me (especially cleanly-shaven, babyfaced Gordon Freeman).
Everything Jude Buffum does and makes is inspired, but these 3 pieces for the upcoming 3G Show (Gremlins, Goonies, Ghostbusters) at LA’s Gallery 1988 absolutely take the, uh, the Zuul.
Each of Buffum’s movies-as-8-bit-video-game has already been making the rounds on Tumblr and Reddit today—although, to be fair, I first saw these at .tiff—but they are well worth reposting. So here they are again!
“I wanted to pick a pivotal moment in each film,” Buffum writes, “a scene where one of the characters makes a crucial discovery (or error).”
I especially like the direction Buffum took in his rendering of Gremlins as a 2D platformer: as in the movie, Kate is holding the gremlin threat at bay with flash photography. It’s very Fatal Frame, isn’t it? I would totally play that 8-bit game!
If you happen to be in Los Angeles this fall, I definitely recommend that you pick up some of Buffum’s limited-edition prints and, you know, mail them to me. The exhibit opens September 3rd and runs through the 22nd.
Also, if you happen to be in San Francisco right now, I definitely recommend the current solo show at Gallery 1988 SF, as it is all collage work by the Chicago artist who moonlights as Rotofugi Gallery’s curator. I think I’m obligated by law to mention that.
The 3G Show
Friday, September 3, 7-10pm
Gallery 1988
7020 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles
Because the inaugural meeting was such a success, the organizers of Indie City Games have arranged a tidy, half-day symposium for current and aspiring game developers based in the Midwestern United States. Among those scheduled to speak at the July 24 event: Ben Collins-Sussman demystifies interactive fiction; Dai5ychain’s Jake Elliott demonstrates the possibilities of Flixel; Puzzle Bots designer Erin Robinson explains Adventure Game Studio.
You know, there have been other blogs before this one that subscribed to exactly the same theme, and those made me laugh. (When I worked at Ziff, a coworker constantly refreshed one such blog out of grim paranoia, scanning the page for his own name, and that also made me laugh.) This Tumblog never made me laugh, though—in fact, it made me a little bit uncomfortable—so alarmingly serious seemed its author. Which is too bad, because vitriol can be hilarious, so long as it doesn’t get personal. And I’d rather laugh and squirm uncomfortably than never ever laugh, maybe.
In any case, author Ben Paddon now writes that he is closing up shop and hiatus-ing. I have strongly mixed feelings about it because, the truth is, I and a few friends have very actively followed Paddon’s ongoing catalogue of complaints, and as a reader, I’ll miss his blog. I suspect he’s exhausted himself by caring too much, though, and I do think the good games writing is more worth caring about than the bad.
Morning edit: without so much as a dramatic pause, Paddon keeps blogging
That incredible Samus Aran figurine (with LIGHT-UP HELMET and CANNON ARM) is, bafflingly, a customized Celsius vinyl toy, executed by artist Dave Quiles. Look at the details on her Varia suit!
This lovely bounty hunter is just one custom vinyl toy at the Ganmettal Celsius Custom Show, which opened July 10 at LA’s Toy Art Gallery.
The show also featured at least one Mega Man custom (well, duh, right?).
HEY HEY did you know that in my old life I did a ton of comic book performance art with like a troupe and everything? Didja?
Anyway, LOOK. Look at this! Look at how amazing all these video game performances sound! I’m glad we don’t live in Williamsburg because that’s where I got mugged at gunpoint, but I really wish we could all go to this in July!
I’d especially like to attend "Kewl-Aid Man in Second Life," because it sounds a lot like hanging out in Second Life with Scott Sharkey. He would fly around on his NES hoverboard, or we’d travel around in his TARDIS, and oh my God is it ever fun to harass people.
Kevin Bunch ·
December 30, 2009 at 11:39 am
· Filed under Places and Events
I live in the Metro Detroit area. It isn’t particularly well known as being a mecca of gaming, but we do have one of the finest, and weirdest, homages to gaming’s past within our lands.
The following is an interview I did with the business’s proprietor back in 2007. I wrote an article about it, but wasn’t writing for anything covering the beat. Having just found the article, however, I’ve touched it up a bit and provide to you the story of this odd little place tucked away in the suburbs of Farmington Hills.
Marvin Yagoda is a busy man.
Dressed in an off-white shirt and suspenders, Yagoda is moving all over the place as children and adults both crowd his workplace, Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum.
“I’ve got three birthday parties today,” he tells me. He is working on a small television displaying the tale of the world’s tallest man.
Now you can virtually stroll through Julien’s arcade exhibit, as photographed in April. Take your time with it, too—it’s absolutely heavenly. I don’t know what this says about me, but it’s very much the place I dreamt of as a kid. I wish there were photos of the arcade as it stood at Neverland, before the ranch was all but vacated.
I’m in a rush—why am I up! Why am I on my laptop, even?—so I’ll let Chris Person, who has been tearing up NYC to find the perfect T-shirt, do the talking. He writes,
Aside from hitting up UNIQLO Friday for Phoenix Wright shirt goodness, I actually went to check out the newly opened storefront for the fitted-hat and stylish streetwear aficionados at Mishka. Lo and behold, what did they have there? Oh nothing, just some cool clothes and the most awesome-ist custom-painted Street Fighter II cabinet ever, set to free play.
Jenn Frank ·
April 28, 2009 at 1:54 pm
· Filed under Places and Events
Beacon, New York’s Retro Arcade Museum opened its doors late last month. There, and for just $10 an hour, visitors can play curator Fred Bobrow’s collection of vintage pinball and arcade cabinets from the 50s, 60s, and 70s.
I suspect the handheld collection isn’t playable—as it’s behind glass—but, uh, it never hurts to ask?
“N-no…” I admitted. “But! That’s why I’m definitely coming to this one. Guilt!”
Game Over: Continue opens at GRSF on March 27. Check out the list—there’s art from trailblazers like CUPCO, Jeremyville, and Bigfoot. Plus, four special game/art installations will be playable in-store.
Jenn Frank ·
March 17, 2009 at 7:02 am
· Filed under Places and Events
LAN party at the cinematheque!
Taking residence in a movie theater (this theater, actually), Madrid’s Cinegames combines the flair of Captain EO with the special effects of Alien Encounter. Lights flash and adjust to match the action on screen. “Then we have the smoke,” explains developer Enrique Martínez. “If there are accidents or a car burns rubber, smoke appears.”
The result: a distinctly theatrical, shared experience among gamers who might ordinarily stay home. Yes, please.
For fans of retro games, the Classic Gaming Expo holds a certain allure. Ever since its founding in 1997 as the World of Atari expo, CGE has attracted guests from varying eras of the video game industry, including Steve Wozniak, Al Alcorn, Ralph Baer, and Rob Fulop. Collectors, exhibitors (who have ranged from Konami to Retro Zone), and video game enthusiasts the world over annually congregate for the event. Unfortunately, the 2008 show was canceled due to the inability of its organizers—Joe Santulli, Sean Kelly, and John Hardie—to find a venue, and it looks as if the 2009 show, too, has been canceled for as-yet-undisclosed reasons.
Therefore anyone curious about the expo might also be interested in the CGE 2007 DVD box set, which is finally available for preorder after spending roughly a year in editing. As someone who was there in 2007 (and in 2004), I can honestly say it was one of the most entertaining conventions I’ve ever been to. Standing around chatting with Keith Robinson from Intellivision about a Burgertime movie a few of my friends made, to playing actual Pong and Computer Space arcade machines, to visiting the museum: it was just an excellent time. This DVD box set may well be the closest anyone gets to recreating that feeling, at least for a while!
...if you live here in the Bay Area, I mean. And I totally understand if you’re busy. But if you are anywhere near the Haight on Saturday night, you could pop on by Giant Robot—the one here in San Francisco, not the hip LA one—and check out art by heavy-hitting art bigwigs (David Horvath) and unsung heroes (Martin Cendreda). I mean, only if you’re up for it.
I’m kind of loving Philadelphia lately. I love Geekadelphia, from whom I have borrowed liberally (shout-out to Eric!). I love the lads at Gamervision. I love the Liberty Bell and all it represents, which is liberty. And then there’s the VGXPO, which is something that is also in Philadelphia.
And now I am completely in love with The Hacktory.
While I was questing through current.com in search of the Gaymers video, I came across “Geeks and Toys Go Wild,” a viewer-created video of a Hacktory-sponsored event. The tiny DIY fest is so rough-around-the-edges and charming, just magical LEDs and chip music and, probably, alcohol. The Hactory video at Current may never make it all the way to TV, so—for now at least—you’ll have to check it out online, either here or embedded here:
I feel like there is this incredible nerd culture in Philadelphia that the rest of humanity doesn’t know about. Specifically, the goings-on at The Hacktory—classes on how to design circuit boards, or events with chiptune musicians dimly lit by demoscene graphics—remind me, bittersweetly, of the art collective gatherings and events that so captured my imagination when I was some college kid having her first brush with adulthood in her first real city. These community events were sincere, earnest, and wholly unmarketable. They were, to quote the Philadelphia Weekly, “Authentic Geek.”
Incidentally, The Hacktory turns one year old this month, hence the illustration of a layer-cake with LEDs that I am ‘borrowing’ from their blog.
The following is an interview I did with the business’s proprietor back in 2007. I wrote an article about it, but wasn’t writing for anything covering the beat. Having just found the article, however, I’ve touched it up a bit and provide to you the story of this odd little place tucked away in the suburbs of Farmington Hills.
For fans of retro games, the 
I’m kind of loving Philadelphia lately. I love 
