The world's longest running pop culture podcast
Rants, reviews, news, observations, events, etc.
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:
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:
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
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.
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?
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?
