Death of the Arcade - My Tribute to the End of the 80s Video Game

Summer - 1984: Sweat beading. My expression reveals razor focus. THIS time I knew it was going to happen. AAA would very soon be replaced with TDW. And then I would be number one...nu-me-ro uno...and the talk of the small-town teen tabloids.

Throughout the 80s I pumped what probably amounted to thousands of dollars into the likes of Tempest, Defender, Asteroids, Missile Command, Joust, and various pinball machines. I loved it. We all loved it. Mechanical Madness was the name of the arcade in Rittman, Ohio.

Fast forward 24-ish years to an under-lighted, dank warehouse in Greenville, SC. Brisk rain understates this day.

Fred Collins was the undisputed Arcade King and Video Poker Magnate of Upstate, SC until his death a few years back. In December 2007, Collins Entertainment held a huge arcade auction, the kind that is advertised throughout the United States.

Inside was THE score for any 80s arcade junkie who didn't mind melting endless spoons full of his tincture du jor mixed and matched from whatever necessary in order to get that fix. Few were plug-n-play. Thousands were available. All were covered with various forms of debris.

This was the funeral.

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Bush Addresses UN, Cries

Call me an insensitive pig. I don’t care.

Imagine seeing the above headline in the NY Times or the WP (the insensitive pig musing isn’t that to which I refer).

Picture George Bush making his case for war to the UN, (take camera two) and a tight shot of the President of the United States of America with tears running down his cheek.

I have nothing personal against George or Hillary. I’m neither endorsing nor berating any party. And I believe that the decision-making emotional side of women keeps love alive and many of the world populous from killing one another.

I also believe that the majority of people view perception as reality.

When it comes right down to it, I don’t want any world nation to view the United States as a country that cries, EVER.

Don’t get me wrong, crying is a good thing. There is a lot of stress in the ever-day lives of every-day people. I would expect to see a president or a presidential candidate cry at, say, the funeral of a loved one. But that’s about it.

I haven’t made my decision yet, and I probably won’t until the chad puncher (or stylus in SC) is in my hand. I will vote while preserving the responsibility of being informed voter. I will vote for whomever I believe will best serve our nation. I will not vote for someone who cannot keep emotionally in check when the cameras are rolling.

There is no crying in baseball.

NCAA Football National Championship Game

Great Article About Jim Tressel
BCS Central Blog - Buckeyes In New Orleans
Current Photos - Buckeyes In New Orleans
The Columbus Dispatch - Buckeye Xtra
10 Reason Why Ohio State Will Win The National Championship

Baby Watch Causes Last Three-Person Christmas Caucus

Of Nothing In Particular

I wanted to get a blog in before I break for Christmas. I'm a state employee. We break for Christmas, ya know. It's true what they say, state pay is average to slightly below average. However the benefits are pretty darn cool.


Coming Soon: Death of the Arcade; A Photo Essay If you were a teen or pre-teen in the 80s and shoveled what seemed like millions of dollars, one quarter at a time, into the likes of Tempest, Defender, Asteroids, and other such earth-shattering advances in modern technology, you're going to like this photo essay.

One last thing: Have you ever seen one galaxy punch another? It's a bit hard to comprehend (and explain), but you can see the photo to the right.

This composite image shows the jet from a black hole at the center of a galaxy striking the edge of another galaxy. The main galaxy is the purple-ish blob in the lower left. The companion galaxy is the smaller purple-ish blog diagonal.

A jet of particles generated by a supermassive black hole at the center of the main galaxy (blue) is striking the companion galaxy. The jet is disrupted and deflected by this impact.

I think often about the nearly unimaginable size and nature of the objects within the universe. I also think often of my little girl and the nearly unimaginable complexity of the human body. If that's too much for you, maybe just start with the complexity of, say, just one eye...or your big toe...or your response to a cold...or the processes in the body that happen after you get a paper cut.

From what I was taught in school, it all started with a really big explosion. Bing, bang, boom, eight gazillion years later I've turned from a piece of carbon to having the intelligence to write/post a blog.

Yeah, I don't think so.