Jump to content
Have You Played Atari Today?
2600|5200|7800|Lynx|Jaguar|Forums|Store
  • entries
    945
  • comments
    4,950
  • views
    1,219,547

About this blog

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

Entries in this blog

Almost forgot!

Well, I've been so busy this month, I had almost forgotten that October marks the third anniversary of my blog.   Unlike my 200th Blog Entry Spectacular, I'm not planning anything special for the occasion. Mainly because I already missed it.   But it does give me an excuse for my annual reminder that once again - Baskin Robbins has pumpkin pie ice cream! I've already picked up my first quart.   (Don't forget to try it with a scoop of their chocolate. Good stuff.)   Anyway, I need to ge
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

7

Alpo Cow Lips

"Weird Famine" Yankovic doesn't quite have the ring to it that "Weird Al" does, but with his latest album, the Alpocalypse is upon us:     Alpocalypse is Al's first album in five years (his longest break). He had quite the challenge in following up Straight Outta Lynwood, which was one of his strongest and most successful albums in his 30+ year career. (Yes... "Weird Al's" been around that long.)   There are no apocalyptic-themed parodies on the album. Rather, according to a recent interv
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

7

Tron: Legacy Soundtrack

I picked up the Tron: Legacy Soundtrack by Daft Punk, and have been giving it a few listens.   It's not bad, although it's far more effective in context during the movie. Most of the soundtrack consists of low, long, rumbling chords driven along by plodding electronic rhythms. Not that that's all that bad... it does set an appropriate mood for the electronic world in the film, and the orchestrations help to add variety and intensity, but overall it just doesn't make for a great album to listen
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

7

Will Tron: Legacy tank at the box office?

"Tank"... get it?     Tron: Legacy is a huge unknown, and a big risk for Disney. The original film, while widely 'recognized' as innovative, was hardly boffo box office. However, the arcade game was a huge success, and a dedicated group of hard-core Tron nerds have kept the digital flame alive for nearly 30 years. So Disney obviously must see some potential here, or they wouldn't take the risk, right?   Well, Disney has also produced its fair share of box office bombs over the years. Th
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

7

The Olympics revisited

Wow... it's been four years already since I last blogged about the Winter Olympics!   I guess though, that's because it's been four years since the last Winter Olympics.   Anyway... I watched (actually recorded, then watched) the opening ceremonies tonight. I thought they were nicely done. The use of the floor with the video projectors was pretty cool, especially the parts where it "broke apart" into an ice floe, and then some whales swam through, shooting off their blowholes.   Actually,
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

7

Down on the farm

Today is National Popcorn Day!   I'm ashamed to admit, I wasn't aware of this until a couple of hours ago.   There are few things I like better than good popcorn. All of that fake-butter-soaked microwave crud is not good popcorn. About the only microwave stuff I like is Jolly Time's Crispy 'n' White Light. It actually tastes like popcorn... not chemicals.   No sir... I like my popcorn soaked in real butter. (Well, not soaked... but certainly well-drizzled.) Hey - indulge in moderation, rig
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

7

Blue Man Group

I went and saw Avatar the other week. I probably wouldn't have bothered, since I rarely go to movies anymore, but I was on vacation and my friends and I wanted something to go do. So we figured we'd catch an Imax 3-D showing, and hope the spectacle of the whole thing was worth the price.   I really didn't have any idea what to expect with Avatar, since I hadn't really been paying much attention to the trailers. I had a basic idea of the plot, and had heard the effects were amazing, but people
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

7

Homebreviews - part 28

Today marks the fourth anniversary of my blog! And to celebrate the event... the review that nobody thought would ever happen! (And no, I don't mean N.E.R.D.S 2 ) Yes, it's Actionauts. So, you're probably wondering, "How and or why the sweaty heck did you get Actionauts?!?" After all, I wasn't exactly enamored with the marketing fiasco associated with it. Simply put, I got a comp copy for having done some work on the manual and label. Ain't no way I'd plunk down $79.95 for an unfinished/p
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

7

Orwellian Dining

While out for lunch with family last week, I had the experience of eating at Old Country Buffet. You know the type of place - where you grab an empty plate and head over to any one of several troughs, er... buffets stocked with all manner of generally mediocre food. This type of restaurant is particularly good for those with kids (we had my three nieces in tow), since it gives them the opportunity to eat whatever they'd like. I myself loved going to The Royal Fork as a little kid for this very r
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

7

Set Phasers on "Preposterous"

I went and saw "Star Trek" Thursday night. And I'm a little disappointed.   You see, I had some choice material already thought-up for my review. About the movie being an utter, unwatchable train-wreck. About how they'd screwed everything up, and the characters were all just vapid, Hollywood pretty-boys. I even had a great line about how Star Trek the movie was basically like an over-the-hill Hollywood starlet that had had one-too-many plastic surgeries, and you kind of felt bad for it because
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

7

So much for that...

Well, I was going to try to go through the entire month of February without a new blog entry* (just to see if I could), but decided I couldn't let something pass by without griping about it: The Annie Awards.   The what?!   The Annie Awards. The animation industry's annual awards for (supposedly) excellence in animation. Well, actually, it's ASIFA-Hollywood's awards. What is ASIFA-Hollywood? It's the L.A. chapter of the The International Animated Film Society (how they got ASIFA out of that
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

7

Incoming! parts 3 and 4

I'd only planned on doing two contest entries (and therefore two blog entries) for Incoming!, but things happen. So with that, I present parts 3 and 4 of the 2 part series on the making of my Incoming! label contest entries.   Part 3   After the first round of entries were posted for the contest I was thinking, "what else could I do that would be different?" I came up with some vague idea about using the gun sights of a tank, but didn't have a clear design for it. So I started Googling for t
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

7

CarZzzz...

Despite the blog title, Cars isn't really a boring film.   Unless you're a little kid. Say, under 5. Maybe 7. Not having kids, it's a little hard for me to judge at what point stuff becomes boring for them (and it's been a lonnng time since I was 7). But based on kids in the audience (one of whom repeatedly kept asking "is it over yet"?), I don't think bringing really little kids to this film is a good idea.   I went to see Cars last week, and I have to admit, it's a much better film than I
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

7

Summer Full 'o Movies pt. 6 - Wall-E

And the Summer movie-fest rolls on!   So, another research trip to... okay... we skipped work again. But if anything qualifies as research to those who work in an animation program, it's Wall-E.   Prior to the feature, is Pixar's latest short film: Presto. This is a wonderful throwback to the classic animated short films of Warner Brothers and MGM from the 40's and 50's. It's silly, fun animation, for the sake of silly, fun animation. (And you can buy it on iTunes for $1.99 if you want.)  
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

7

iThink i'llPass on the iPhone

So AT&T announced their iPhone rates today.   Thanks, but no.   The minimum is $70 per month, all the way up to $130, and that's assuming you don't do any text messaging. You want that? Another $5 - $20.   I don't use my existing phone all that much (land line only - no cellphone), and even though the iPhone is an extremely cool device - I just can't see dumping that much extra money per month down the dumper just to use the thing. Especially since there's no sign of the one third-part
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

7

Is it Wiirth it?

First of all... it's 110° outside today. For the second day in a row. Tomorrow will be the same. Fortunately, on Sunday, it will finally drop "down" into the high 90's. This is one of those days where you're only outside long enough to run from one air-conditioned space to another.   Last wiikend, however, I got to go down to my friends' place in Redondo Beach, where it was nice and cool. It wouldn't take a whole lot of convincing for me to move down there, except I'd absolutely have to get a
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

7

From the lobby of the WTC

Remember the movie Escape from New York?   Near the end of the film, there's a scene where Kurt Russell and everyone is running through the lobby of the World Trade Center.   That was actually shot where I work - at CalArts, in the Main Gallery. The only thing I'm not sure of, is if they made it messier for the movie, or cleaned it up for the movie. (That's a CalArts joke... )   Anyway, it's 3:50 AM Sunday as I'm starting this blog entry. I just got home from the Character Animation Open S
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

7

The next 16 reviews

Here's the next batch of games I'll be reviewing. There will be quite a few more coming after these, but these are here now since they were all on my to-do list for one reason or other...  
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

7

More Holiday Treats

Well, since Fred just posted an announcement about selling off his remaining NWCGE copies of Gingerbread Man, and included a nice picture of the label artwork, I figured this would be a good time to post "the making of" blog entry for it.   First though, I want to recommend that you pick up this game. Directly from Fred, if possible. First of all, it's a really fun game (full review coming later). But also, Fred did a really great job of printing the manuals and labels. They're the best I've
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

7

b*nQ bl*G

Well, I was working on something completely unrelated... and decided to throw together another entry (or two) for the Q*bert b*nQ contest.   The other project I'm working on (another label and manual) is much more abstract, and uses flat, geometric shapes for the most part. So I decided to try that for b*nQ, seeing as how the approach is pretty much the opposite of what I already submitted.       The colors aren't as intense as in my earlier entry. Also, with a lighter background, ther
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

7

Homebreviews - part 16

So much for the "shorter reviews" theory... Elevators Amiss 3/5 Elevators Amiss was inspired by a game for the Atari 8-bit computers called Elevator Repairman. I even played Elevator Repairman to check out the original, and Elevators Amiss does do an excellent job of paying homage to that game - right down to the way the character's tiny little feet shuffle along. It's just that I don't care for either game very much. The object of the game is very simple - move your character across the scr
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

7

14 x 2600 + 1

I just got my latest haul from AtariAge, which means it will soon be time for... more Homebreviews!   A lot of them.   I'm also going to write reviews for a few things not shown here, just to have a complete set of reviews for everything I've gotten from AtariAge.   First though... it looks like I'm going to have to dust off my 7800.  
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

7

And then...

Well, it's January. Barely, but it's still January.   So it's time to dust off the old "To Do" list, and see what I have left to do in the upcoming year.   First, let's check the previous list(s)...   From February, 2006: Make "To-Do" List - This one never ends. Finish Colony 7 Sprites - Done! (game in progress) Finish Lady Bug sprites - Done! (and in the store) Make label for Four-Play - Done! (and in the store) Make Juno First sprites - Done! (game in progress) Make list of w
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

7
AtariAge
Forums
Store
General
Follow AtariAge

Copyright ©1998-2023 AtariAge

×
×
  • Create New...