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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On Wednesday, September 10, 2008, Greg and I were audience members at Live with Regis and Kelly. The guest was Wayne Brady. The musical performer was…Wayne Brady, again. There was also a pre-recorded interview with actress Shirley MacLaine. Wow, we woke up at 6:30 a.m. for this?

Then, Regis and Kelly announced they were going to record an extra segment that would air during one of next week’s episodes and asked us audience members to stay an extra half hour. To Greg’s surprise, the segment featured the top NASCAR drivers, which was great because he’s a big fan, but for some reason, they were throwing ice cream at each other. What sense does that make?

In the screen shot above, you can see us in the audience! We’re the two pixelated blobs wearing white shirts.

After thinking about it for a while, I realized NASCAR fans must love ice cream, judging from how out of shape many of them are, so maybe the whole thing made sense after all.

Photos:
Flickr - Live with Regis and Kelly, NYC 9/10/08

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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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Gary Coleman, one of our first Hall of Lamers, decided to be yet another in the long list of celebrities trying their hand at perhaps the most difficult professional sport, baseball. Coleman was thrown out of the game before he even got to bat for the Madison Mallards up in Wisconsin.

Here’s the story from The Wisconsin State Journal:

Herbert determined the (pine tar) amount was illegal and — after Coleman offered to “wipe it off” — also found the bat to be corked. The umpire pulled out a piece of black rubber on the end of the bat and watched several “super balls” spill out of the bat.

“Looks like you’re going to have a short night,” Herbert joked as he threw Coleman out of the game.

Coleman took more offense with the short joke than he did his ejection, bumping the umpire to the delight of the 5,000-plus in attendance. Eventually, Coleman set up shop behind the third-base bleachers, signing autographs (at $20 a pop) and posing for photos (those were free).

So the whole thing was a joke? We’re not laughing. Billy Crystal earlier this year in spring training, did the same kind of stunt, with the Yankees, at age 60, getting one at bat. Garth Brooks spent a whole spring with the Padres in 1999 and the Mets in 2000, although he at least looked the part. Why do these celebrities try these things when they are old, fat, out of shape, and washed up?

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As discussed in episode 107, Greg and I saw the documentary film That Asian Thing in NYC today, July 27, 2008, as part of the Tribeca Cinemas Independent Features Film Festival. It was written and directed by our longtime friend and Paunch Stevenson Show guest Jonald Reyes.

The film was thought-provoking and humorous. Good job! Afterwards, Jonald held a questions-and-answers session with the audience, during which a woman was being projected onto the movie screen via webcam. That part was unnecessary and confusing. Who was she and what did she have to do with anything?

For updates regarding That Asian Thing, visit www.thatasianthing.com. You can also check out some pictures I posted:

Flickr - That Asian Thing, NYC 7/27/08

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Well, here are some photos and videos from two instances, Grindhouse (2007) and The Wicker Man (2006). In the Grindhouse double-feature, Rob Zombie contributed a mock trailer called Werewolf Women of the SS. At the end is a cameo from Mr. Cage, dressed as the infamous 1950s B movie character Dr. Fu Manchu. He starts screaming and yelling and doing this horrible laugh:

The Wicker Man: again, this was supposed to be a horror film? Cage is dressed in a bear costume, stung in the head by thousands of bees, keeps punching women in the face, and finally is set on fire and burned alive:

Here’s an absolutely terrific video remix of clips from The Wicker Man on YouTube, set to Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire:”

There’s also a “comedy” trailer created by a fan. Priceless!

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Hi, it’s Adam, Paunch Stevenson Show listener, guest, and blogger. I know we usually focus on things that annoy us, but here’s something I actually like.

A year and a half ago, I joined GameFly, the online video game rental service, and am happy with it. I log in, add games to my queue, and receive the first game in the mail. If that one’s out, I’ll receive the next available one instead. It only takes two or three days to arrive in the mail. It’s very easy, just like Netflix.

If you want to join, go here.

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There’s a restaurant called Silver Spurs on the corner of Broadway and E. 9th St. in Manhattan, only a few blocks away from Union Square Park. I’ve walked by it many times, but never ate there until this past Friday.

I went in and ordered the Salada Georgie. The description: “chicken chunks n’ shrimp combo atop garden-fresh greens, avocado.” The price: $12.75.

Service was below average, but that’s usually the case in NYC. I’m used to it by now. What I’m not used to is paying $12.75 for a salad that consists of rotten lettuce and shrimp that still has the shell on it.

I didn’t send the salad back or talk to the manager. A customer should never have to do that in the first place. Besides, what would the salad have been replaced with, more rotten salad?

I thought to myself, “How does the chef know he or she didn’t prepare this salad for a food critic?” Then I realized, I criticize movies, TV shows, video games, music, and people on The Paunch Stevenson Show all the time, so why not food, too? Hence, this blog entry.

I even took a picture, so you can see the disgusting rip-off salad for yourself. Obviously, I won’t be eating at Silver Spurs again.

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Who would his Vice President be?

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On Saturday, July 12, 2008, I went to the Apple Store on 5th Ave. in Manhattan. This location is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So how come I couldn’t go in?

The answer: because hundreds of people were lined up outside waiting to buy the new iPhone 3G and the Apple Store employees were only letting a few people into the store at a time. People like me who weren’t buying an iPhone had to wait in a separate line. The entire ordeal was ridiculous and unnecessary.

I hate waiting in line for five minutes at the grocery store, yet these fools were perfectly happy waiting in line for eight or nine hours to buy a telephone. You’d think it were a brand new invention.

What’s even more stupid is most of these idiots already have an iPhone from a year ago that’s 99% identical to the new one.

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As we discussed in episode 106, we got to meet James Rolfe, the Angry Video Game Nerd, at the Digital Press video game store in Clifton, NJ. Here are the photos:

Flickr - Digital Press, Clifton, NJ 6/28/08

Also, while browsing the store, we discovered there’s a Desperate Housewives video game:

Why?

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George Carlin
Born: May 12, 1937
Died: June 22, 2008 (age 71)

George Carlin was a Grammy-winning stand-up comedian, actor, and author noted for his political and dark humor. Carlin’s “Seven Dirty Words” comedy routine was central to the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, in which the judges ruled in favor of the government, granting it the right to regulate Carlin’s act on the TV and radio.

From 1963 to 2008, George Carlin had thirteen HBO comedy specials, starred in his own sitcom The George Carlin Show, wrote five books, and released twenty-three albums. He appeared in sixteen movies, including Car Wash (1976), Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989), Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991), Dogma (1999), and Jersey Girl (2004). He was also the first host of Saturday Night Live, which debuted in 1975.

On June 22, 2008, Carlin complained of chest pain and went to St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California. Carlin died of heart failure at the age of 71. He had a history of heart attacks, beginning in the late 1970s.

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Callahan’s, a northern NJ institution in the realm of hot dog joints, has closed its last location this month, on Route 46 in Little Ferry. The small chain was begun by Artie Castrianni in 1950 in Fort Lee. That site and one in Hasbrouck Heights also closed. Really stinks for me, I used to get a burger and fries there for lunch. Leaves only places like the great Rutt’s Hutt in Clifton and a few Stewart’s locations and places similar as old time NJ eateries.

Callahan’s website while it lasts…. http://www.callahanshotdogs.com/main2.htm
Also reported on the Second Helpings blog http://njmg.typepad.com/foodblog/2008/06/bad-news-along.html

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As we mentioned in episode 104, we were interested to see what filmmaker and Paunch Stevenson Show guest Scott C. Clements thought about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. He wrote to us:

“Regarding Indiana Jones 4, to be honest, I was so disappointed in it, it’s hard for me to even think about it. It was quite a bummer for me.

I remember when I was interviewed on your show, I expressed how skeptical I was about Indy 4 because I had lost faith in George Lucas and I was wary of Harrison Ford’s age and the 1950s setting.

As reports came in about Steven Spielberg’s attempts to refrain from the Lucas school of film making by sticking with old school action techniques instead of relying heavily on computer graphics, I started to think the project could actually be good. Also, the publicity photos of Harrison Ford and Karen Allen were incredibly flattering and the 1950s setting started to appeal to me because of its roots in George Lucas’s early work, American Graffiti.

However, my hope turned to dread as I sat through the movie. My biggest problem was with the villains. The didn’t do anything particularly horrible, so it was difficult for me to fear them. It took a second viewing to even figure out that they wanted to rule America with the crystal skull’s mind control powers. If I don’t fear the villain, there isn’t much drama. For example, when Nazi henchman Toht is about to burn Marion’s face off with a red hot poker in Raiders of the Lost Ark, my adrenaline starts pumping like crazy. He’s going to disfigure her, for God’s sake! Same when the Thugee priest, Mola Ram, from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom rips the heart out of a poor villager and laughs with glee as the man’s heart ignites into a ball of flames in his hand! This is one sick bastard and I’m terrified just thinking of what he’ll do to our heroes if he gets his hands on them.

This sort of danger was lacking a bit from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which was why that was the weakest film for me…until Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Cate Blanchett and her Russian henchman did little to make me take them seriously as a threat to Indy or the world. Cate had a rapier, but she didn’t stab or torture anyone with it so it was a pointless prop, in a character building sense. I have a strong suspicion that Lucas and Spielberg felt they had to play down the villainy of the Russians for political correctness’s sake. We all know the Russians were no Nazis. The Nazis were undeniably evil, so it was quite fitting for Indy to bash the living heck out of them in his previous adventures. But, he did little of that in this film, which really took away from the grittiness a true action film needs. Instead, this played as a mostly comedic Jones family reunion special. Put most simply, this “action” film had no spine.

And don’t even get me started on the fact that Indy almost never used his whip or gun! That was absurd! I also hated the lame comedy, including the ridiculously cartoonish-looking CGI gophers and pompadour-sporting monkeys. And what was with the friggin’ fridge scene? LAME!!!

I could go on and on bashing this piece of garbage; I am shocked that the critics have been so kind to it. I think they expect so little from Lucasfilm these days, that they’ve just thrown their hands up in surrender and said, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”

Spielberg and Lucas have become too diplomatic in their old age. They’ve lost the rebellious edge they had in their younger years. I really think they should leave the action blockbusters up to the next generation. Movies like Pirates of the Caribbean (Gore Verbinski) and Spider-Man (Sam Raimi) leave Indy 4 and the Star Wars prequels in the dust. It’s a sign of the changing of the guard.”

- Scott C. Clements
scarletavenger.blogspot.com/

Thanks for your review, Scott! Even though we enjoyed the movie, we know a lot of fans didn’t.

We’d like to know how our other listeners feel about the movie, too. Leave a comment and let us know what you think!

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USA Today - Thirst for bottled water unleashes flood of environmental concerns

The problem isn’t the water, it’s the use of resources. It takes a lot of oil to make all those little bottles and ship them, sometimes halfway around the world.

Plastic water bottles produced for U.S. consumption take 1.5 million barrels of oil per year, according to a 2007 resolution passed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. That much energy could power 250,000 homes or fuel 100,000 cars for a year, according to the resolution.

Cornell University professor and environmentalist Doug James said the irony of bottled water is that it’s marketed as clean and healthy when its production contributes to unnecessary environmental degradation.

“Take Fiji water, for example,” he said. “A one-liter bottle is taken out of the aquifer of this little island, and shipped all the way across the world, producing half a pound of greenhouse gases just so you can have this one-liter bottle of water.”

Professor James found that of the 30 billion plastic water bottles sold in the United States in 2005, only 12 percent were recycled. That left 25 billion bottles landfilled, littered or incinerated.

Stop buying bottled water and reuse the ones you already have!

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Greg and I saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull together in NYC this afternoon. Here are some pictures:

Flickr - AMC Loews 19th St. East, NYC 5/30/08

Did we love it? Did we hate it? Listen to our review in episode 104, which will be online Monday, June 2!

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As I mentioned in episode 103, Brian in NJ sent us a photo of the dueling Dr. Phils. Thanks!

Listen to episode 100 for clips from their new album!

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Stan Lee, former president of Marvel Comics, co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, and several other comic book characters.

In 1998, he started Stan Lee Media, a new internet-based production and marketing studio, which grew to 165 people and went public. He produced the animated web series The 7th Portal and voiced the characters Izayus, The Drifter, and The Accuser.

Near the end of 2000, investigators discovered illegal stock manipulation and in February 2001, Stan Lee Media filed for bankruptcy. Stan Lee’s lawyer Peter Paul fled to Sao Paulo, Brazil. Excelsior!

In 2003, Lee created the animated series Stripperella for Spike TV, which was cancelled after thirteen episodes. In 2004, he announced plans to collaborate with Hugh Hefner on a superhero cartoon featuring Playboy Playmates and announced another superhero show that would feature Ringo Starr as the lead character. ‘Natch!

On July 27, 2006, Who Wants to Be a Superhero? starring Stan Lee debuted on the Sci Fi Channel. At the July 2007 Comic-Con International, Hasbro introduced a Stan Lee action figure. ‘Nuff said!

(discussed in episodes 43, 45, 62, 72, 76, 78, 82, 96, 100, and 103)

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