I’m a huge fan of the National Lampoon’s Vacation movies. Out of the blue, Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo returned to their roles as Clark and Ellen Griswold. They even brought out a brand new Family Truckster!

The commercial appeared during the Super Bowl, but turns out homeaway.com filmed a full short film (14 minutes)! It’s pretty funny.

There’s also a behind the scenes video of YouTube here.

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Sammy Sosa…

• Said he didn’t take steroids. He did.
• Said he couldn’t speak English when asked questions by Congress. He can.
• Said the corked illegal bat wasn’t his. It was.
• Now says he turned white because of a skin rejuvenation treatment????

Good Grief.

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Finally, a role for “The Dush,” Eliza Dushku, that all should be proud of her for. She beat up Jimmy Fallon on Late Night!

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Regis Philbin is on overload lately. First, he appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman, dressed as Shrek. Next, there was news that ABC will bring back Who Wants to be a Millionaire this August for a two week run.

YouTube – Regis as Shrek on David Letterman

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As I’ve mentioned in episodes past, I am an avid motorsports fan, including the IndyCar series. The series will be shown for the first time on Comcast’s fledgling Versus network. Below is a promo from Versus for the coverage. It’s a short one done all in computer animation, where the cars transform into animals. Though this is not affiliated with Hasbro or Transformers at all. Yet another example though of the classic and proper way to animate a “Transformer.” Unlike the nonsense from Michael Bay.

Click on the image for the Video:

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Read all about it.

No, we’re not talking about Lynyrd Skynyrd’s 1976 song, which was covered nicely by Three Doors Down a few years ago, by the way. It’s the infamous maple syrup smell that has wafted throughout Greater New York City at random times over the last 4 years. I’ve caught a whiff of it many times. Usually when I am walking into work. Sometimes, like just last week, the syrup smell was very pungent, in my house in the middle of the night, with all of the windows closed!

Well, apparently, after hundreds of complaints from city residents over the years, Mayor Michael Bloomberg finally got to the bottom of it. The city and NJ environmental departments tracked the scent (I don’t know how they do that) to a small factory in North Bergen, NJ. The factory was making something with the herb fenugreek, which are seeds that contain an aromatic compound, sotolone, that is also found in maple syrup, so they are sometimes used to produce imitation syrup flavoring.

One might think it is nice to smell maple syrup in the air, that this should mask out the foul odors which have become a punchline for New Jersey. No I say. No. If I wanted to smell maple syrup, I want to be eating a flap jack!

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The J.J. Abrams led Star Trek film (2009) will have its first major trailer released this weekend as a preview during the new Bond film, Quantum of Solace. Entertainment weekly has posted the first image of the film’s Enterprise here.

Rob, find me the barf bag please!!! Now I’m thinking Shatner was wise not to be in this film.

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The HumanCar:

Inspired by the Flintmobile:

The HumanCar costs around $15,500, and is mainly made from recycled plastics. It weighs just 500 pounds and is powered by generating electricity from pumping several levers/handles, so you get exercise also. There’s an electric motor in case you get tired, too. It can reach speeds of 60 MPH, as well as serve as a power source for your home.

The only strange thing is that there’s no steering wheel?!?!

Video of the underlying design of the HumanCar:

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Other than Nintendo, Atari is the most widely used and associated name with
video gaming. Though the company, as many of us knew it, has been largely
out of business for 15 years, it still rules the roost in terms of classic
gaming. Like many, the Atari 2600 was the first video game system Rob and I had.

Here are some great web sites dedicated to the Atari family of home consoles
and computers:

• Atari Age is unquestionably the central hub for Atari enthusiasts, with its heavily used forum. All the news, finds, information, expertise, and game trading is there. It also has scans of cartridges, boxes, and manuals, plus screenshots, emulators, and ROMs for the Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, Lynx, and Jaguar.
• Atari Guide has a huge amount of game, box, and manual scans for Atari and the NES. It also has a master list of Atari 2600 games and pictures of the cartridges, all in one page.
• Atari Mania takes the visual archive to the utmost degree. There’s an enormous amount of scans of games, catalogs, you name it. All Atari systems are covered.
• Atari Protos has the most updated and thorough information and research on the many Atari prototypes and unreleased games that exist. Check it out and find out why games like The A-Team, Garfield, and Planet of the Apes never got released.
• Pitfall Jones has done the unthinkable! He has consolidated all of the scans of cartridges and screenshots of every Atari 5200, 7800, and 8-Bit Computer game! You can see what every cart looked like, all in one place.
• Atari Gaming Headquarters has a wealth of information for all the Atari consoles and computers, as well as Atari developed arcade machines. Marquees, artwork, advertisements, screenshots, and more.
• Atari 8-bit Forever is a tremendous source of information for the long line of Atari 8-bit computers.
• Atari 2600.com is an online store for a large number of hard-to-find classic console parts and games. It is very well maintained.
• Atari 7800.org has the most detailed technical information on the oft-forgotten Atari 7800 Pro System.
• Atari Museum is just what it says it is.
• 4 Jays has a ton of products to purchase for classic systems.
• Best Electronics has untold amounts of official Atari vintage products, especially for making repairs.
• The Video Game Critic is my favorite video game quick-review website. He’s got just one screenshot, a short paragraph or two, and a grade for each game. His opinion is unbiased and his web site is organized so much better than the overkill you get on sites like IGN.
• Digital Press Video Games has the tremendous game rarity and price guide. Of course, the forum is the hub for all classic and modern gaming discussion, no matter what console or computer.

There is one more website I’ve come across, the Atari 2600 Label Maker. The Atari 2600 had fantastic and unique artwork on the cartridge labels. Well, now you can make your own Atari game, so to speak! To that end, I’ve gone a step further (probably right off the cliff) and with the help of Photoshop…

Here are 140 fake labels of Atari 2600 games. Some are prototypes and unreleased games, but most are licensed titles that could have been made in the late 1970s and early 80s for the 2600: TV shows, cartoons, movies, etc. Some of these labels I found on the Atari Age forums and were done by members Marc Oberhäuser, Atariboy2600, and user42. I took some of their work and put it on scans of real cartridges. I created the majority of these labels, though.

In any case, I think this is the largest custom, faux, “what-if” Atari 2600 label archive in one place!

Popular 1970s and 80s TV Shows:

Magnum P.I., The Fonz, T.J. Hooker, Rockford Files, Knight Rider, Starsky & Hutch, Chips, Columbo, and Kojak

Space: 1999, Battlestar Galactica, Doctor Who, Charlie’s Angels, Bionic Woman, and The Six Million Dollar Man

Popular 1970s and 80s Children’s Shows:

Batman, Wonder Woman, The Hobbit, The Secret of Nimh, Scooby Doo, and Woody Woodpecker

Fraggle Rock, Inspector Gadget, Rainbow Brite, Voltron, Transformers, Thundercats, Dungeons & Dragons, Transformers, and Alf

Popular 1970s and 80s Sci-Fi Movies:

Diamonds are Forever, Moonraker, Close Encounters, Logan’s Run, Star Wars, The Black Hole, Escape From New York, The Island of Dr. Moreau, and Blade Runner

Popular 1970s and 80s Action Films:

First Blood, Rocky II, Death Wish, Escape from Alcatraz, Jaws, The Poseidon Adventure, Conan the Barbarian, The Beastmaster, and The Road Warrior

Popular 1970s and 80s Cult Movies:

Deliverance, Swamp Thing, Clash of the Titans, Death Race 2000, Evil Dead, Hercules, The Warriors, Gone in 60 Seconds, and Rollerball

Popular 1970s and 1980s Childrens Movies:

Grease, Annie, Herbie the Love Bug, Bad News Bears, The Muppet Movie, and Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure

Popular 1970s and 80s Comedy Movies:

Smokey and the Bandit, Caddyshack, Slap Shot, Cannonball Run, Revenge of the Nerds, 1941, Police Academy, Blues Brothers, and Daffy Duck’s Fantastic Island

Children’s Game Prototypes by Atari:

Dumbo’s Flying Circus, Donald Duck’s Speedboat, Snow White, Garfield, Good Luck Charlie Brown, Miss Piggy’s Wedding, Grover’s Music Maker, Bugs Bunny, and Sport Goofy

Licensed TV and Movie Game Prototypes:

Care Bears, Star Wars: Ewok Adventure, Incredible Hulk, Planet of the Apes, Dukes of Hazzard, The A-Team, Dune, The Pink Panther, and The Lord of the Rings

Other Game Prototypes by Atari:

Rubik’s Cube 3D, Elk Attack, Polo, Wizard, RealSports Basketball, Aquaventure, Boggle, and Combat Two

Other Game Prototypes by Third Party Developers:

Secret Agent, Meltdown, Pompeii, Wings, McDonald’s, and Save Mary

Ports of Popular Arcade Games of the Era:

Monaco GP, Le Mans, Galaxy Ranger, Space Ace, Dragon’s Lair, Mappy, Destruction Derby, Lode Runner, and Lady Bug

Goofy Games:

The Paunch Stevenson Show, Super Mario Bros., Alien vs. Predator, Jerry Hunt, Kiss: Destroyer, and Once Upon A Spy

Almost All of Mattel’s M Network Releases, Had They Featured the Intellivision Artwork and a Standard Cartridge:

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin, Adventures of TRON, Anteater, Armor Ambush, Astroblast, Bump ‘n’ Jump, Burger Time, Dark Cavern, Frogs and Flies, Master of the Universe: The Power of He-Man, International Soccer, Kool-Aid Man, Lock ‘N’ Chase, Loco Motion, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Space Attack, Star Strike, Super Challenge Baseball, Super Challenge Football, and TRON Deadly Discs

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Somehow, don’t ask me how, I came across a celebrity impersonator/look-a-like agency in the United Kingdom called Fake Faces. Some of the stand-ins either look nothing like the real person, or are simply wearing the costume of the celebrity’s most famous character, yet bearing little resemblance otherwise.

However, many…in fact most…are very good indeed, almost having me do a triple take. Here’s a few spot-on impersonators of some of our favorite celebrities.

Eddie Murphy and Sean Connery:

It’s England, so they’ve gotta have The Beatles (George, Paul, John, and Ringo):

They have a group photo of the George, Paul, and Ringo impersonators with a guy who looks nothing like John Lennon at all. Again, these guys look like the older, modern day Beatles. Perhaps they are insinuating that John Lennon would be fat and wearing a French beret if he were still alive?

For fun, here’s a guy who is supposed to be Billy Connolly. He has the expression and the hair down, but he seems to be constantly dying his goatee different colors. Why?

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