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About this blog

Mostly Atari-related projects, and other ramblings. Home of the Artie the Atari comic strip.

Entries in this blog

Guardians of the Galaxy - Spoiler-free review

Currently waiting in line at the theater with my peeps (okay... I don't actually have any "peeps"... but I am saving seats for a couple of friends...) to see Guardians of the Galaxy. I'll admit I was surprised to hear Marvel was making this into a movie. I was a comic book collector and Marvel fan-boy in the 80's, and even I had never read the GotG comic book. I seem to recall something about it, but had just dismissed it as some weird, obscure title involving their "cosmic" characters, which I
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

8

Snowpiercer (?) - Spoiler-free review

Yeah... I'd never heard of Snowpiercer before, either. This despite it having a fairly-star-studded cast including Chris Evans (Captain America), John Hurt and Ed Harris.   I think this film is the reason for a bit of Avengers trivia. In The Avengers' shwarma end-credits scene, Evans is hiding his face with his hand. The reason being, he had grown a beard for another movie, and they couldn't completely hide it. And in Snowpiercer, he has a beard.   So I'm guessing Snowpiercer is that movie.
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

19

X-Men: Days of Future Past - Spoiler-free review

I'll admit I didn't have much interest in seeing the latest X-Men film. While I thought X-Men: First Class was good, the rest of the films in the series were very hit-or-miss. X-Men Origins: Wolverine was pretty bad, X-Men: The Last Stand was awful, The Wolverine was kind-of boring, and even in the first two movies which overall were pretty good, I felt that some of the characters were never really captured very well (Cyclops, Kitty, Rogue, Nightcrawler). The actors or writing for them just miss
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

1

China, or platinum

Depending on which list you go by, 20 years is either symbolized by gifts of china or platinum.   China, as in plates and stuff. Not necessarily things made in China. Although I'm sure you could easily enough find china made in China, thereby removing any sort of potential confusion.   Except for the whole platinum thing, which doesn't really make sense since it's actually more valuable than silver or gold, so shouldn't it be up higher? Like 75 or something?   Anyway… 20 years. That's how
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

4

It's only Fair

Back on December 9th... I showed up to work (the Character Animation program at CalArts - by the way, isn't that just about the worst website you've ever seen? Yes it is.) only to find the hallways abuzz with all sorts of lighting equipment, people I didn't recognize, cases full of gear and… alumni. Now, alumni aren't unusual around CalArts. A bunch of them teach there. We see them during the year as guest lecturers. But this was different in the sheer quantity of them. Feature film directors.
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

4

Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Spoiler-free review

10:52 PM   Sitting in a theater with just two other people (two more went to get snacks) waiting for the 11:00 PM show to start. I'd planned to go to the 10:00, but didn't get out of work in time. So stay tuned for the review - coming later tonight! Looking forward to the film. The reviews have been really positive. I guess I'll know in just over two hours.   Hey - two more people! We've got a crowd! Time to post this, then shut 'er down.     8 movie trailers and two-plus hours later…  
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

10

iBlog 4

I really, really like my iPad Mini. In the year since I bought it, I've used it far more than I ever expected to. So much so, that my iPhone's use dropped way off. I almost never play games on my iPhone anymore (unless it's the only iDevice with me), and only surf the 'net with it if I don't have Wi-Fi access (or again, if the iPhone's all I have with me). Although the iPhone is a lot easier to hide under the table during meetings. Plus, the iPhone is still my main music player, especially at wo
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

7

Homebrew Art, part 10 - Rainbow Invaders

Rainbow Invaders (2006)     Rainbow Invaders - my fourth contest win - is Silvio Mongo's excellent re-imagining of Space Invaders with multi-colored sprites and a ton of power-ups.   While I'm not particularly fond of using Atari-style labels, I still like the painting quite a bit, although it could certainly have benefited from a few more revisions. Some of the characters could use refinement - a clearer structure or a few additional details (better defined limbs, for example).   I've
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

2

Homebrew Art, part 9 - Strat-O-Gems Deluxe contest entries

Strat-O-Gems Deluxe (2006)   Strat-O-Gems Deluxe is John Payson's excellent color-matching puzzle game. I followed it during development and really looked forward to the game's release. But despite how much I liked the game, when the label contest rolled around, I had absolutely no luck coming up with any ideas for it.   When the contest began, I'd had an idea to make cartoon versions of the gems. Perhaps on some level I was inspired by the classic commercial, but I can't say it was a co
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

3

Homebrew Art, part 8 - 2005 MiniGame MultiCart

2005 MiniGame MultiCart (2005)     The 2005 MiniGame MultiCart - my second for-hire label - is a collection of mini-games. When I say "for-hire", I should probably point out that I get paid in store credit or homebrews. I don't ask for money or royalties. From my standpoint, this is still a hobby. If it starts crossing the line into work, then I need to step back from it. This has happened a few times, and as a result I'm more selective about the projects I take on now.   By a wide margin
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

4

Homebrew Art, part 7 - Go Fish! contest entries

Go Fish! (2005) This was the sixth label contest I'd entered, and with it my three-contest winning streak came to an end. But it was a good run while it lasted. Go Fish! is Bob Montgomery's take on games similar to Intellivision's Shark! Shark! I started with sketches in Painter. Each element was drawn on a separate layer so I could move them around as needed. Note in the first sketch there's a giant shark head looming in the background. I'd eventually move this into my second contest entry
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

0

Homebrew Art, part 6 - Warring Worms: The Worm (re)turns

Warring Worms: The Worm (Re)turns (2005) Warring Worms: The Worm (Re)turns was my first non-contest label. I was asked by Billy Eno to create the label for his update to his earlier game Warring Worms. WW:TWR is sort of like Surround but the players have weapons and the game variations number into the thousands. I don't recall if it was Billy or myself who thought of the concept, but basically it was a riff on a line from Austin Powers about sharks with "frickin' laser beams attached to thei
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

0

Homebrew Art, part 5 - Ultra SCSIcide

Ultra SCSIcide (2005) UltraSCSIcide is Joe Grand's update to his classic twitch game SCSIcide. This was my third contest win in a row, and I took a completely different approach to this one - photography. I came up with a couple of sketches in Painter - initially just a line drawing, then roughing in some color. The flames are an effects brush in Painter. My idea for it was straightforward - Ultra SCSIcide was a frenetically-paced game that takes place inside a hard drive, so I'd show the d
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

1

Homebrew Art, part 4 - Man Goes Down

Man Goes Down (2004 - unreleased) Man Goes Down is Alex Herbert's excellent, but still unfinished and unreleased platform game. This was the second contest I'd won in a row. Alex ran into health problems and couldn't get the game finished. Some time after the contest, he said he'd felt bad about my artwork not being used so he sent me a couple of his Vectrex homebrews. Super nice guy. Nobody's heard from him in years. I hope he returns to full health. Finishing the game would be nice, but tha
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

2

Homebrew Art, part 3 - The Krokodile Cart

Krokodile Cart (2004) The Krokodile Cart, by Armin Vogl, was a flash memory based cartridge that let users load and run almost any binary on a real 2600. I say "was" because it's been out of production for several years now, although you might be able to find a used one. This was the first contest I won at AtariAge, and given the number and quality of entrants, it surprises me to this day that my label was chosen. What was particularly cool about winning this contest was that it was a produc
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

5

Homebrew Art, part 2 - Backfire contest entry

Backfire (2003) Backfire was the second contest I entered (and lost). At the time, since I was still just getting back into drawing, I opted to make the label using 3D software (the long-defunct Infini-D) instead of illustrating it. The different elements were rendered out separately, then combined in Photoshop so I could tweak transparency and position, and add effects. What I was trying to go for was something reminiscent of the Imagic labels - where they kitbashed models and photographed t
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

0

Homebrew Art, part 1 - Climber 5 contest entries

This is the first entry in a series recounting label artwork I've created at AtariAge. In addition to labels that have been published, I'll also be posting designs I entered into contests - including the losers. This entry is from the latter category. I have a lot of these. Despite winning several contests, I've created far more losers than winners. The pictures showing the final artwork are 3D renderings (read this to find out why), which can be clicked on for larger views. Entries will be p
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

5

Homebrew Art - The Index

Four months ago, I set up a gallery of the label artwork I've created for AtariAge, with the intent of including short little descriptions about each project. Sort of like the blog entries I'd done for some of the labels I've worked on, but much, much shorter.   Note the operative word: "intent".   If you've followed my blog at all… you've probably figured out by now that I generally don't write entries that are "short". Except for Artie the Atari. Those are pretty short. But that's because
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

6
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